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CNN Saturday Morning News

Horrific House Fire Near Pittsburgh; Surprise Visit to Baghdad by Condoleezza Rice; Prince Harry Reportedly Heading to Iraq; Suicide Attack in Pakistani Courtroom

Aired February 17, 2007 - 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: Now in the news a horrific house fire this morning near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CNN affiliate WTAE now is reporting that six children and one adult have died in that blaze, a second adult was injured.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: A surprise visit to Baghdad today by Condoleezza Rice. The Secretary of State is meeting with U.S. and Iraqi officials about the latest security measures. She next travels to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Britain's Prince Harry reportedly will be sent to southern Iraq within days that is according to the "Daily" Newspaper. The prince is an officer in the British army, Britain's defense ministry calls that report speculative.

NGUYEN: At least 15 people are dead following a suicide attack inside a Pakistani courtroom, a judge among the dead. Now, it's still unknown what case was being heard at the time. At least 24 others were injured in the blast, some critically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't say out loud we did not get that house because mommy is African-American. And they didn't want to give her a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The dream of homeownership killed by racial barriers. Coming up in 30 minutes, a special edition of "Open House," uncovering America.

From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, Georgia, I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: Good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for being with us today.

I want to tell you about a lot of activity in Iraq this morning. First, two car bombs exploded in a busy market in Kirkuk, killing at least six, wounding 45. This new violence comes as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes a surprise visit to Baghdad. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's plane reportedly circled for about 30 minutes over Baghdad's International Airport due to on-going military operations on the ground. A small taste of the violence that Iraqis and U.S. troops here face on a daily basis. Before she began her meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki as well as senior Iraqi and U.S. officials.

Rice's aim is to make a preliminary assessment of the Baghdad security plan that has been put forward by the Iraqi government and the U.S. administration, dubbed "Operation Law and Order." Rice saying that the initial indications were that the Iraqi government was meeting its benchmarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Hello. I want to say that we are very impressed with the leadership of the prime minister and his team thus far. We believe that they're clearly showing that this can be a new face for the people of Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: The main aim of this operation is to lay down a framework for Iraq's political process to move forward, and hopefully, jump-start its economy. Some Iraqi officials are saying that the violence in the capital has decreased over the last few days, saying this is an initial sign of success of this operation, but it might be premature to be making those statements just yet. The U.S. military is saying that they believe that the insurgents have merely blended back into the local population, chosen to lay down their arms while they sit back, wait, and assess the security operation before they move forward in their attacks.

A trend that we have seen in the past is that when U.S. and Iraqi presence is increased, sectarian violence does go down, which indeed is something that we have seen over the last few weeks. But we have also seen a number of massive attacks against marketplaces, which have had a devastating death toll.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

HOLMES: A Senate showdown today over President Bush's Iraq plan. Democrats are pushing for a vote on a resolution passed by the house. It rebukes the president's plan for a troop buildup in Iraq. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed to bring up the resolution in the Senate today, but Republicans are blocking a vote on the issue through a procedural move. Not clear whether Reid and his allies where get the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and vote on the resolution.

Of course, the house passed their own resolution, and it's now non- binding and mostly symbolic, but the Democrats say that the resolution passed by the house sends a clear message -- the U.S. needs a new direction in Iraq. The resolution says Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces. But, it says, Congress disapproves of the decision of President Bush to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq. Some Republicans call it a sign of weakness in the war on terror. Democrats say it puts the president on notice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: What this is about is saying to the president, you've had four surges, they have not worked. And they haven't worked, but you've sent our military in with their hands tied behind their back because you haven't done the diplomatic or the political initiatives necessary.

REP. GREG WALDEN, (R) OREGON: In short, we broke it; we need to fix it before we leave it. But fixing Iraq does not mean ending all religious differences, differences that have ripped apart that region for 1300 years or more. Fixing Iraq does not mean installing our forum of democracy. Fixing Iraq means ensuring a new terrorist haven is not created or allowed to be created from which they can train and plan safely to carry out attacks against the west.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: President Bush is forging ahead with his Iraq strategy despite the house resolution disapproving of his plans. But he's urging lawmakers not to go further and limit funding for the troops. White House correspondent Elaine Quijano joins us now with the latest on the president's reaction. Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, T.J. That's right. Well, you know, this vote in the house was certainly not a surprise to the Bush administration. In fact, for days the White House had been trying to really downplay the impact of this non-binding resolution. At the same time, the White House clearly gearing up for a fight with lawmakers over the funding of U.S. troops. In a written statement, White House press secretary Tony Snow again challenged Congress, saying that they must approve the president's request for funding, some $100 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, saying, now, "The president believes that the Congress should provide the full funding and flexibility our Armed Forces need to succeed in their mission to protect our country."

Now President Bush himself did not comment on the vote after meeting yesterday with a man he's chosen to become the new U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Instead, the president said that he had spoken with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki and said that he was pleased the prime minister was meeting benchmarks. Those include delivering Iraqi troops to the fight, as promised, also moving forward on a deal to share oil revenue.

That, of course, is a critical component of political reconciliation in that country. But President Bush also saying that not only should those benchmarks be good news for the Iraqi people, but also for U.S. lawmakers who have persistent doubts about his strategy.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: It should give people here in the United States confidence that this government knows its responsibilities and is following through on those responsibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: So at a time when the White House is facing continued opposition to his plan for some 21,000 additional troops to secure Baghdad and the al Anbar Province in western Iraq, the president again trying to make the case that lawmakers should give his strategy more time. Arguing that already there are signs the plan is working. At the same time, T.J., clearly the president is not backing down from his position to send more troops to Iraq.

T.j.

HOLMES: All right, our Elaine Quijano for us this morning from the White House. Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: Well, we've been talking about a winter blast. All that heavy snow and now this. Look very closely, a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood is coping with a water main break. It turned the street into a sheet of ice nearly two feet thick. There's no shoveling this stuff. Snow plows can't even come through. So all these vehicles are simply entombed in ice until the next thaw, but the question is, when's that?

HOLMES: Yeah, when's that happening, Reynolds?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What a headache. You always say if you have a choice, you would rather snow than ice. And it's so heavy. They will warm up. You're asking when the warm-up will take place, I'd say by the middle of week. We'll see a tremendous change in parts of the Ohio Valley. What we're seeing today, though, some scattered snow showers, nothing too heavy. But for people who are just completely weary with the winter weather, this is the last thing they want to see. Unfortunately, Mother Nature's goes to have its own way. So we'll be seeing scattered snow showers from Ft. Wayne back to Detroit, even in Chicago, southward on I-70, even into St. Louis. About one to two inches possible there.

In Florida, the stories not snow, but cold, with temperatures that are still mainly into the 30s and the 40s. In Jonesville, that is between Jacksonville and Gainesville, about 37 degrees, 41 in Indian Lake Estates. It's going to warm up into the 60s. So expect a nice day in parts of Florida.

Meanwhile, back into the Carolinas and extreme North Georgia, we're looking at a different situation. Snow again, a possibility of maybe one to three inches of snowfall from about 35 feet and higher into the Appalachians. Now, obviously, if you happen to be in the Ohio Valley, one to three inches of snowfall not really a big deal. But if you're in this part of the world, it is huge. Johnson City southward and Asheville, spots mainly east of Knoxville could see the snow fall from tonight into tomorrow afternoon.

That's the latest on your forecast. We'll have a lot more coming up. But for now, back to you at the news desk.

NGUYEN: Well, we have quite a story for you, Reynolds. WOLF: Bring it on.

NGUYEN: In case you haven't heard, the buzz this morning is what some maybe call a bizarre story. Some may have expected this. Out of Los Angeles, yep, you saw that right. That is Britney Spears shaving her head.

HOLMES: This is a photo from x17online. The pop queen went into a salon and shaved her own head.

NGUYEN: "Us" Magazine has a story with a lot of details on this and we spoke with the magazines Bradley Jacobs a little bit earlier this morning about this very strange episode

BRADLEY JONES, US MAGAZINE (via telephone): She came in and said she wanted her head shaved. The hairdresser refused. So she literally grabbed the hair clipper and started doing it herself.

NGUYEN: Bradley, did she say why? I mean, did she --

JONES: Yes.

NGUYEN: Offer any information?

JONES: They asked why she wanted to shave her head, and she said, "I don't want anyone touching me. I'm tired of everybody touching me," another employee there told "Us" Magazine she wasn't making sense at all and you could tell she's not in a good place at all and that she's totally freaking out. She was a nightmare to deal with. But, now, this incident yesterday with shaving her head and getting the two tattoos that followed, followed a cross-country flight. She got onto an airplane, domestic -- she got onto a domestic flight. She sat in the very back, in Miami yesterday.

NGUYEN: So she went coach?

JONES: She went coach. She sat in the back in Miami, flew all the way to L.A., got, went to her house for less than 20 minutes, then got back in her car, went out, got her head shaved, then went from there and got two tattoos, and I have the details on the tattoos as well. One of them is on her lower hip. It's a black, white, and pink cross. The other one is on her wrist, and it's a red and pink set of lips.

HOLMES: OK, tattoos, that's one thing, but the baldhead is probably the part you'll be talking about for a while.

NGUYEN: Scratching our heads.

HOLMES: Our heads with hair this morning.

NGUYEN: That is, at least for now.

HOLMES: A strange obsession. We want to hear from you this morning. Send us emails at WEEKENDS@CNN.com. We're going to be airing some of these a little later, but we want to know what you think about this celebrity obsession. A lot of people won't admit to it, but people just absolutely love this stuff. So don't be shy and be honest with us about America's and maybe your obsession with celebrities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even the steadiest surgeon has minor vibrations in his hands. The DaVinci corrects for that shaking, allowing more precision than is humanly possible.

NGUYEN: Medical advances in the military make it to the civilian world. And coming up in three minutes, how robots are making heart surgery a lot easier.

HOLMES: Also, getting a mortgage, what does that have to do with the color of your skin? Is racism killing the American dream for some Americans? Coming up in about 20 minutes a special edition of "Open House."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because of their race? To me, especially in a bank, because green is the only color I think they should look at.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Teens, sex, and partying. It's a combination that put one teen away for ten years. And it's got lawmakers fighting mad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact of the matter is, though, we have a 17- year-old with a 15-year-old. You stand yesterday in front of the Senate, and you say it was a rape. It wasn't a rape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they did to a semi conscious girl I would classify as a rape, even if the prosecutor wouldn't. As an individual, I would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The debate after the verdict, tonight at 10:00 Eastern, Rick Sanchez confronts a Georgia State Senator on why a young man sits behind bars for ten years while the jury didn't call it rape.

Traditional surgery getting an upgrade, now heart surgeons can now work on their patients without even being there. CNN's Chris Lawrence explains in this "Tech Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to re-engage your right arm.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tiny robotic fingers are moving precisely around this woman's heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here it is, I'll get it.

LAWRENCE: Metal hands manipulated by the actual surgeon who sits several yards away. If all goes well, this mother of three will be back to work in a couple weeks.

DR. DANIEL BETHENCOURT, LONG BEACH MEMORIAL MED CTR: We don't cut the chest, don't cut the bone, we don't have to rewire back together.

LAWRENCE: For the last six months, Rene Lepage has been exhausted.

RENE LEPAGE, HEART SURGERY PATIENT: I would come home, make dinner, sit down. I would be asleep.

LAWRENCE: But she's a working mom with three teenagers and chalked it up to that.

LEPAGE: I think women tend to rationalize, say you know, I'm a little tired, but I guess I have reason to be tired. So I never really thought it was a problem.

LAWRENCE: A doctor's visit detected the cause. Rene's heart valve was damaged and could possibly fail. She opted for surgery using a relatively new but minimally invasive system called Da Vinci. It was initially developed to allow military doctors to remain in their city and operate on wounded soldiers miles away. Even the steadiest surgeon has minor vibrations in his hands. The Da Vinci corrects for that shaking, allowing more precision than is humanly possible.

BETHENCOURT: It's as if her hands and wrists are inside the chest wall of the patient. And so the combination of 3-d vision, plus better flexibility of the instruments gives us a dramatically better control.

LAWRENCE: Rene looks forward to having the energy of a 48-year-old instead of someone 20 years older.

LEPAGE: So many people depend on you, especially if you're a mom. You're running around. But you're really not good to anyone if you're not in good health.

LAWRENCE: Thanks to this surgery, she should be just fine.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Long Beach, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, "Open House: Uncovering America." Today we look at discrimination in housing. Disputes and controversies from Atlanta to Dallas to Harlem. That's "Open House," 9:30 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

HOLMES: And we're just three minutes away from today's "Jerry's Jump Start." There he is, sporting the baldhead long before Britney Spears even thought about going bald. He'll be talking about regaining balance and how slim men can build muscle mass and possibly end up looking like that. Jerry's answers to your email questions, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: So are you facing another Saturday morning worried about what to do to get fit? Or with you working out but still gaining that weight? Well, our fitness guru Jerry Anderson is hear to answer your viewer email questions. He joins from us Los Angeles with his Britney Spears do. Looking good, Jerry.

JERRY ANDERSON, FITNESS EXPERT: Thank you. Good morning, Betty.

NGUYEN: In fact, I think your hair may be longer than hers. We'll delve into that later. We have some good questions. First up from Jay W. He writes, "Over the past few years, my balance has become horrible. I'm 69 years old and I'm a female and I want to know, what can I do?

ANDERSON: Right. You know, it's amazing, JW, a lot of people after age 65 do get a problem with their balance. But what you can do, take the sobriety test. What you do is just walk, walk one foot in front of the other about 20 steps, then walk backwards one foot behind the other about 20 steps. That will help your balance. And you can also do step to the front toe touches, step to the front, step to the side, step to the side, step back, step back --

NGUYEN: You need music with that.

ANDERSON: Yes, you put music on that. That's good for coordination. This is another one that's really good, you sit and stand. Get a chair out, sit down and stand up, sit down and stand up. That improves your balance, your strength, the whole works. That will make a big difference; so put that in three times a week. Make sure you rest a little bit and you will improve your balance and strength, very, very important. That's the way you go about it.

NGUYEN: I like that. OK. So Marilyn has this question for you, Jerry, "Says I'm over 50 and in the process of losing weight through diet. I find in a given week I may lose three to five pounds, but as soon as I do a gym workout, I gain a pound back the next day."

ANDERSON: Wow.

NGUYEN: So the question is, am I putting on muscle weight that offsets the weight loss?

ANDERSON: Now, here's the thing really. This is kind of set up this doesn't look good for you. Three to five pounds a week, that's a major problem. I only recommend one to two pounds of fat loss a week. So you're kind of setting yourself up for failure. Regroup, eat a little bit more. For you to lose three to four pounds of fat a week you're only eating 800 calories, your body's not functioning properly. So increase your calories, focus on one to two pounds of loss a week. You're not gaining muscle while you're working out; you're losing muscle because you're losing weight without exercise. Betty, what's amazing is if you lose weight without exercise, 60 percent of the weight loss source comes from muscle and you have to take in more calories than you burn. Marilyn, back it off. Strength training, exercise, strength conditioning and mental fitness and you'll be fine. If you do succeed losing weight without exercise, you'll end up flabby. That's not what you're after.

NGUYEN: Not at all. But she indeed is working out. So that's a good thing.

ANDERSON: Right.

NGUYEN: Now this is from Morgan. This is an interesting problem. She says, "My genetics make it impossible for me to build muscle. I'm 59 years old, 5'6" and 150 pounds it says I've used weights and a rowing, a rowing machine but I can bench press 57 pounds and press overhead even less now it was just a few years ago that I could lift 97 pounds.

ANDERSON: Wow!

NGUYEN: Please do an episode for us weaklings. Awe! Is he a weakling or just doing it wrong?

ANDERSON: Morgan, what? No, that's not true! Here's the bottom line Morgan, we've got to get you on track. The bottom line, anybody that watches "Jerry's Jump Start" is not weight; you're powerful, straight up! But here is what I want you to do; I want you to get your workout under control. Focus on the gross set. That means when you're working out, which set is building the muscle? That's where you should put the majority of your energy. If you're doing five sets, you have to identify the gross set, the one that you're working the hardest on. Once you find that set, really take all your energy and push it and blow it out. Betty, that's a way I've been able to maintain my muscle mass. I put all my energy on the gross set, not in the warm-up.

NGUYEN: What do you mean by the gross set though?

ANDERSON: Which one of those sets are making your muscles and bones stronger. That's the one you should put all the energy in. Most people waste their energy on the sets that don't produce the results.

NGUYEN: So the heavier weights?

ANDERSON: Yes, the heavier weights. Instead of doing a lot of repetitions on a warm-up, do about six to eight repetitions on the warm-up. Then when you get to the set that's challenging, give it all you got and explode. That's when you get the gross set. Identify that and know what you're working on.

NGUYEN: That's the plan straight up, right, Jerry?

ANDERSON: That's the definite plan. Has how you build muscle. You can have this, you can have that.

NGUYEN: We're still working on it. We've got to run. So, what is your problem? Whether you have an exercise issue or just a nutritional nightmare, we do want to hear from you. Email us at WEEKENDS@CNN.com and Jerry will answer those questions next week.

ANDERSON: Yes.

NGUYEN: Right, Jerry? See you here at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

ANDERSON: You know that's right!

NGUYEN: See you then.

So what happened while you slept? A check of the morning's top stories is just three minutes away.

Then, the race factor in mortgage lending. A special edition of "Open House" takes a look at why the quest for the American dream may be leaving some behind.

And coming up at the top of the hour, what happens when a para glider and a thunderstorm meet? We've got details of an amazing survival story from down under.

Then at 11:00 Eastern, the fallout from Britney Spears' shocking new look. Her hair didn't just fall out, she shaved it off. We have more details on that. Stay with us.

ERIK TORKELLS, EDITOR, BUDGET TRAVEL: If you're not careful, you may find that your frequent flier account is no longer valid it used to be that airlines gave you three years of inactivity before they'd cancel your account. But recently, U.S. Airways and United both changed their policies to 18 months, same as Continental. Delta changed its to two years. Only Northwest and American still let accounts remain stagnant for the full three years. There are two main ways to keep your account live you can accumulate miles or you can redeem miles, but you don't necessarily have to fly to do it.

One thing you can do to accumulate miles is to register your frequent flier account number with a car rental company or a hotel and when you stay there or rent a car, you'll get a little bit of miles that will keep your account active.

Likewise, all these airlines have what they call retail partners. And if you buy something from them, your account stays alive. Songs from itunes or merchandise from Target or a Starbucks gift card. But as long as you buy it through the links that go through the airlines' websites, it counts as activity. The work is now up to you in terms of making sure your account doesn't lapse.

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