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CNN Saturday Morning News
Rebels Closer to Tripoli; Syrian Sources: 29 Killed; Flash Flooding Claims Lives in Pittsburgh; 82-Year-Old Brooklyn Woman Fights Eviction Based on Predatory Lending Claim; Protecting Your Online Presence With Virtual Credit Cards; Club Drug Ecstasy Could Help Treat Blood Cancers
Aired August 20, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is August 20th. Good morning, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. T.J. Holmes is off this morning.
And we're watching a developing story this hour. In Libya, rebel forces are closing in on Tripoli. Will its leader, Moammar Gadhafi, flee or stay and fight? I'll get a live update from Tripoli in just a moment.
A New York grandmother is being evicted. The neighborhood comes to her defense, and now the building's owner says he may have a way for her to stay. How about that?
And the next time you go shopping online, you may want to protect yourself with a virtual credit card number. So what is it? We will explain.
But first, the developing situation in Libya this morning. Rebel forces tell CNN that four Arab nations have been asked to take in Moammar Gadhafi's family. Libyan officials are denying that. The report comes as U.S. officials say Gadhafi may be preparing for a last stand in Tripoli.
Rebel fighters have been battling Gadhafi forces less than an hour's drive from Tripoli. Our Sara Sidner along with security personnel for her crew has been watching the battle for one key city on the approach to the capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just a 40-minute drive from Tripoli, rebels battle their way closer to the capital. This is the city of Zawiya. On this day, even if you could not see the firefight close up, you could hear its deafening sounds reverberating from the eastern part of the city.
(on camera): So it is just getting too close. There are snipers on tops of building. There's loud bangs. There's artillery fire. There are mortars. So we've got to get out of here.
(voice-over): Despite the firing around him, a rebel fighter who did not want to be identified to protect his family was confident of victory.
(on camera): Considering the fighting is fierce here in Zawiya, how long do you think you could push into Tripoli?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, in a couple of days.
SIDNER: A couple of days?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of days or one week maybe.
SIDNER: You think it is that soon?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so because we are controlling 80 percent of Zawiya.
SIDNER (voice-over): But to push forward, they need to secure the whole city for Gadhafi's army is doing everything it can to keep a hold of this strategically important town.
(on camera): Why is Zawiya so important?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because of oil factory.
SIDNER (voice-over): Zawiya has one of the last remaining functional oil refineries in the country and is the most direct supply route to the capital, Tripoli.
As of now, the rebels have captured the refinery. We are told there is a large amount of oil still left in the storage tanks.
But the opposition fighters say, for them, this is not about oil, it's about securing their homes and neighborhoods.
Most of the town is shuttered, abandoned by frightened residents, but some families remain. This family is staying put, including the children, even though missiles and mortars are falling around their home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): A person feels unsafe and can't rest because of the (INAUDIBLE) rockets. They hit us every night, but we are resisting by staying in our homes until liberty. But we do feel fear, especially for the children.
SIDNER: She and the rebel fighters are convinced the end of the Gadhafi regime is near. But most here agree, trying to take control of nearby Tripoli will be one hell of a fight.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Zawiya, Libya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: So the question this morning is: Will Gadhafi keep fighting till the end or could he be losing his grip on his 42-year reign in power?
Let's get the latest now from our Matthew Chance, he's live for us in Tripoli.
So, Matthew, a Department spokesperson told CNN that it's impossible to say when he will go, but it is clear that he will go. Is that wishful thinking?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, to some extent, although, clearly, Colonel Gadhafi has seen his -- the territory under which he controls shrink rapidly, particularly in the last three weeks.
That fight for Zawiya which Sara is witnessing is one of those key strategic battles, which isn't over yet. There is still fierce fighting in the east of the town between Gadhafi loyalists and the rebels backed by NATO war planes in the skies over Libya, and that will be a decisive battle.
It's certainly already had the effect of cutting the main supply route an effect of cutting the main supply route into Tripoli. And along with the other rebel advances in the south and east of the capital, it has had the effect of encircling Tripoli and cutting it off from any flow of supplies. And so, that is having a real impact psychologically on the residents of the town, is putting additional pressure on the regime.
And so, you know, who knows what will happen in the days and weeks ahead?
CHO: Matthew, I know you are somewhat limited in where you can go. In fact, severely limited and you are watched by government minders. So I know you are confined, in large part, at that hotel where you are.
But you can describe for us what you hear and sort of see out the window. And you've witnessed a lot of NATO airstrikes. Have they picked up recently?
CHANCE: They have. I think over the course of the past four or five days, or maybe three or four days, that NATO has really been stepping up its attacks on various targets inside Tripoli. And every half hour or so, there is a huge thud somewhere in the city. Last night, we saw smoke rising from areas not far from this government- controlled hotel where we are confined to.
Occasionally, every couple of days, the minders that are assigned to us, the government minders take us out on a trips on a coach. Today, they said they're going to take us to the site of an airstrike.
Yesterday, they took us to a place which had been hit by NATO missiles. It turned out it was the house of the intelligence chief in Libya. But even though that was hit, the school next door was damaged and a medical store. And so, they just very keen to show us what has been struck by NATO.
CHO: Matthew Chance, it reminds me of my time in North Korea when you are watched by those government minders, but we appreciate you staying there and bringing us those reports. Matthew Chance live for us in Tripoli, thank you very much.
Meanwhile, more pressure on Syria this morning as President Bashar al-Assad battles efforts to remove from power. Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Opposition spokesmen say 29 people were killed yesterday when security forces fired on protesters in several locations.
Now, this video, we should mention, is from earlier this month.
The European Union's Political Security Committee is calling for an embargo on Syrian crude oil. On Thursday, Washington imposed its own stiff economic sanctions on Syria and called for al-Assad to step down. Oil and gas, by the way, make up about a quarter of Syria's economy.
Back in the U.S., the car that played a central role in the Casey Anthony case is scrap metal. An assistant for the attorney representing Anthony's parents says that Pontiac Sunbird was crushed Thursday in a Florida junkyard. Prosecuting attorneys contend that the odor from the car's trunk was human decomposition. Casey was cleared last month of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
Well, he is being called a hero, but now he is afraid he could be deported. That man there, Antonio Diaz Chacon's wife says he has been living illegally in the States for four years. On Monday night, Chacon witnessed a man grab a 6-year-old girl from an Albuquerque neighborhood. He jumped in his truck and chased the alleged abductor's van for several miles until the van crashed and Chacon then rescued a little girl.
His wife says, it could have been their child.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA DIAZ, HUSBAND STOPPED ABDUCTION: Just the fact that it could have been us on the other side. It could have been us as worried parents just longing for her to come home. And, I don't know, just the fear of what could have happened, what could have been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The 29-year-old van driver has been charged with kidnapping and child abuse.
A lot going on in the weather department and our Reynolds Wolf, of course, is watching all of it for us.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: A mother and two children are dead after flash flooding hit Pittsburgh yesterday. Take a look at these pictures. The fast-moving storm dropped heavy rains, submerging several cars and stranding drivers, happened in the Highland Park area. Rescue crews found the vehicle with the woman and kids inside as the flood waters receded. Just an awful story. And at last report, authorities are still looking for another woman who has yet to be found.
It is 12 minutes after the hour. I want to get a check on the forecast with Reynolds Wolf.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHOW: An 82-year-old woman in Brooklyn is fighting eviction from her home. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY LEE WARD, FIGHTING EVICTION: It means everything because I have put everything into this house all these years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: She is a pistol.
She says she is the victim of predatory lending and won't move without a fight. We will have her story after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: A woman in Brooklyn, New York has lived in the same home for 42 years, but soon she may be getting kicked out. The great- grandmother says she is the victim of predatory lending, and just like a tough New Yorker, she is not leaving without a fight.
Our Susan Candiotti reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PROTESTOR: We want justice for our people.
PROTESTOR: Honk your horn.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Early Friday, supporters rallied outside the home of 82-year-old Mary Ward. A marshal was due any minute to evict her from the only home she has known since 1969.
WARD: Well, it means everything because I have put everything in the house all these years.
CANDIOTTI: Ward ran into trouble in the mid-1990s when she refinanced in order to raise cash to fight for custody of her great- granddaughter. She was hoping to cash out $10,000.
WARD: I turned and looked at the check when he handed it to me. I almost passed out. It was $1,467.51.
CANDIOTTI: Far less than the $10,000 she expected. She still has a copy of that check.
WARD: The very next day, I went to the district attorney's office cause I didn't know what to do.
CANDIOTTI: The lender turned out to be shady, but Ward could not get the loan rescinded and the house fell into foreclosure. After a long legal battle, her home was sold at auction three years ago; the new owner wants her out.
WARD: I have no intention of leaving. Now if they break in and take me, I won't resist.
CANDIOTTI: CNN was inside Ward's home mid-morning when her local assemblywoman interceded, setting up a meeting with Ward and the new owner.
ANNETTE ROBINSON, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYWOMAN: The marshal will not be taking any action today.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
CANDIOTTI: After the closed-door meeting, CNN caught up exclusively with the owner. He told us he is considering a proposal from Ward's lawyers to hand the property over to a non-profit that would allow Ward to stay in her home.
SHAMEEM CHOWDHURY, BUILDING OWNER: You know, I had a meeting with them and we try to work together as much as --
QUESTION: Do you -- you could not come to a resolution upstairs? What -- why was that not possible?
CHOWDHURY: I did not get a chance to talk to her. This is the first day I'm talking to her.
QUESTION: This is the first day?
CHOWDHURY: Yes.
QUESTION: Do you think you'll be able to come to a resolution?
CHOWDHURY: I hope so.
QUESTION: Do you have an objection to letting her stay in her house? She is now living --
CHOWDHURY: I will talk to her again, OK? Thank you.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Ward, the proud granddaughter of a slave, returned home from the meeting to cheers.
(CHEERING)
CANDIOTTI: She is safe from eviction for a few more weeks, but after that, her fate depends on whether her lawyers can strike a deal with the owner. WARD: Yes, it will be hard. But justice is going to be done, and soon. Dignity for all. They are trying to take away our dignity, but they'll never take away my dignity.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Area politicians say it is often African- American women who are targeted by predatory lenders. Now the shady company involved in this deal was forced out of business, but some of the key players of that company are back in business. CNNMoney was unable to reach them for comment, however, supporters of Mary Ward are trying to keep her in her home.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Brooklyn.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Well, let's hope that she is able to stay in her home.
Coming up, looking for a way to make sure your credit cards don't expose your card to hackers? Stay right there. Financial analyst Clyde Anderson joins me after the break with a look at virtual credit card numbers. What are they? We'll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHOW: Welcome back.
When you buy something online, do you hesitate before typing in your credit card number? I know I do. So what if you had a special number that would not compromise your account even if the hacker got a hold of it?
Financial analyst Clyde Anderson joins me now from New York to explain.
So, Clyde, we're talking about virtual credit card numbers, and I have to tell you, I have to admit, I know they have been around for awhile, but I had not heard about them.
So what are they, and how do they work?
CLYDE ANDERSON, AUTHOR, "WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS...": Well, you know, it's interesting. A lot of people have not heard about these instant numbers that you can get from your credit card provider, but the beauty is that they do exist. And we know that identity theft is one of the nasty crimes out, so be able to protect yourself, especially in this the age when a lot of people are making online purchases.
So it's a dummy number, it's a 16-digit number that's different from your regular number that you can use to make online purchases. But you can limit it for the amount of time to use it, have an expiration date. So that's how it protects you.
CHO: So this is a number that you can get through your bank or credit card company, and it has an expiration date, as you mentioned. So you can use it once or you can use it a couple of times or for a month, or how does -- how does that work?
ANDERSON: That is the beauty. That is the beauty. You can set it up, you can decide to have a certain amount and it will expire after a certain date. Or you can have it for a one-time purchase and one-time use. So you king of choose depending on the provider and what options they have available.
And so, that makes it required that they have this number, they can only use it at certain websites or they can only use it for a certain period of time. So if thieves to get the number and they try to use the number, it probably will not work at another provider.
CHO: Is it free or does it cost anything to get this?
ANDERSON: That is another wonderful thing, it's free. And so, this a free service, free technology that's available to really help protect you. And again, a lot of people just don't know that it's there, but I think it is a great tool to protect you.
Now, you have to be careful because, again, you remember, it will expire or you will have a certain date that it will expire or an amount that you can have it expire.
The only thing is, say, if you are going to, say, rent a car and you rent the car online, you want to be careful. When you go and you show your card, you're going to have that different number on your card. So that's something to be careful about as well. Just kind of take note.
CHO: Now I want to ask you this because nothing is foolproof, obviously. But people -- and you say this is hacker-proof, so how is that so? I don't want to get too techie on people, but explain to me exactly how it is hacker-proof.
ANDERSON: Well, the number -- it's a special number that is encoded. And so, if you say I only want to use this one time and I want to use it at ABC website, that's what's going to happen and you're only going to use that card one time. So if somebody else tries to use that card, they know it is fraud.
Now, again, you said everything is not foolproof, so there are some ways around this and some hackers have probably already found this, but it's limited. The thing about it is that you have to make sure that you dispute anything that happens on your credit card that you feel that you weren't responsible for quickly. So the quicker you notice it, so it is key to look at the bills, the faster you can get it taken care of.
CHO: Clyde Anderson, financial analyst, I'm glad you are holding down the fort in New York where I generally spend most of my days, where I live. Say hi to my friends there for me.
ANDERSON: Good to be here. I'll hold it down. I sure will.
CHO: All right, Clyde, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday and your weekend. ANDERSON: Thank you.
CHO: A surprising health story for you this morning. The club drug Ecstasy is being tested as a possible treatment for cancer. We'll have that story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Beautiful sunny day in the nation's capital. Washington D.C. a sunny 69 degrees.
Good morning, Washington, and good morning, everybody.
A bit of surprising health news this morning. The drug ecstasy is actually being tested as a treatment for cancer. Scientists in England say -- in Australia, rather, say they have found a modified form of Ecstasy, or MDMA, may have potential in trading blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia. The study says the lab-modified version of the drug is 100 times more powerful against cancerous compounds than the club-version drug. It also has a reduced toxic affect on the brain.
I'm Alina Cho, thanks for joining me this morning. More news at the top of the hour, but first, "SANJAY GUPTA MD" begins right now.
