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CNN Saturday Morning News

Obama Hosts G8 Summit; Private Rocket Launch Stalls; Ex- Boyfriend Turns Suicide Bomber; Obama & Romney Ads Play Nice; Building a Family Beyond Borders; Eat Small, Lose Big; Shooter Takes Aim at Georgia School Bus; Uncovering History: Confederate Civil War Prison Discovered; Castro's Niece to Visit U.S.

Aired May 19, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY. It is Saturday, May 19th. Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye.

The blind activist who broke free from imprisonment in China is on a flight right now to the U.S.

High stakes, high security, President Obama hosting world leaders at his retreat in Maryland this hour.

And the first commercial mission to the international space station is a dud.

First though this hour -- debt, defense and diplomacy are the themes at the high-stakes Group of Eight Summit happening right now at Camp David.

President Obama welcomed the world leaders just a short time ago, laying out the ground work they hope to cover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning we're going to be spending a lot of time on economic issues, obviously the Euro Zone will be one topic. And all of us are absolutely committed to making sure that both growth and stability and fiscal consolidation are part of a overall package that all of us have to pursue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: CNN White House correspondent Brianna Keilar is following the developments near Camp David. Brianna, good morning to you. Tell me the latest from there?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've gotten under way with some of their welcoming sessions. We saw President Obama make some remarks this morning. You kind of see it's sort of casual here. They're really trying to get down to brass tacks and deal with this issue of the Euro Zone crisis. And you could almost even see really just how weighty of a subject this is, Randi, last night, by some of the arrivals. I looked and saw Angela Merkel, the head of Germany arriving and President Obama asked her how she was doing, she kind of shrugged and he said, "Well you have things on your mind." This is a really tough situation as Europe really looks to make some kind of change.

The Euro Zone crisis going into year three. They've done a lot of belt tightening, cutting government spending. They haven't seen their economies really be able to take off.

And Angela Merkel is under a lot of pressure to change course as really she's kind of looking around and seeing some of the new faces no doubt at this summit Randi. Because there are some leaders, France and Italy, who have really paid that political price during this really tough time.

KAYE: Yes it is sort of the -- the weekend of summits if you will. We have the NATO summit tomorrow. What do leaders plan to focus on that?

KEILAR: NATO is going to be all about Afghanistan. Well this summit, there has been some focus on Iran and Syria and the Euro Zone crisis really being the big thing. It's really about next steps forward in Afghanistan. And it's interesting because there are some new players to the game as I mentioned here at the G-8 summit. The same with NATO.

President Obama hosted the President of France -- the new President, Francois Hollande at the White House yesterday. And you could see that there are some of differences between the two. Hollande campaigned on pulling French troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year. The plan for U.S. troops and NATO troops is the end of 2014.

So you can see there are some differences to be worked out, some agreements of course have already been -- have already been reached. But we'll be seeing more details coming out of this NATO summit in the next couple of days -- Randi.

KAYE: Brianna Keilar, thank you very much.

And President Obama leaves for Chicago late today for a second round of marathon talks, as we mentioned at the NATO summit, heavy security is in place to head off protests already playing out there. A handful of arrest are reported but most of the demonstrations we're told have actually been peaceful.

Bound for freedom, a blind Chinese human rights activist who pulled off a Houdini-like escape from armed guards in China and found his way to the U.S. embassy is on a plane right now headed to New York. Chen Guangcheng's departure from Beijing happened suddenly this morning. A Texas-based human rights organization, China Aid tells us Chen was told to pack up and whisked to the airport with his wife and children.

Chen spoke with the founder of China Aid just before departing Beijing and next hour the founder Bob Fu, will join me to talk about today's dramatic revelations.

A last-second technical snag has put SpaceX's rocket launch on hold, delaying its plans to become the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. John Zarrella is in Miami. He's been watching it all morning.

So John what exactly went wrong? What was the problem?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes you know history on hold, Randi. I talked about three weeks ago with Elon Musk the CEO of SpaceX and he told me that he said, you know, I always knew that rocket science was hard, but it's even harder than I thought it was is what he told me.

And I think it's even harder than what he thought he thought it was now. It's turned out that it is certainly difficult. SpaceX is finding out what happened was today, that one of the nine rockets on the Falcon Nine Rocket that was going to lift into orbit the dragon spacecraft, one of those nine was -- was registering too much pressure in the engine compartment, so with half a second left before the liftoff, the -- the computer system, the automated computer system shut the whole thing down.

Now, the President of SpaceX at a news conference today, from the Kennedy Space Center, talked about what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWYNNE STOTWELL, PRESIDENT SPACEX: What we're doing now is we are de- tanking the vehicle, saving the flight termination system, doing what we call a TTEP sweep, which basically clears the ignition fluid and we should have some technicians up into that engine about noon today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: So if they find that it's not a serious issue with the engine, they may be able to try again on Tuesday morning, early morning hours. If it's something more serious, they could have to change out that one main engine.

And Randi, you know this is hugely important. It's a validation of the NASA philosophy. This entire change in direction. NASA retired the space shuttles, turning over commercial to the commercial companies flying to the station with astronauts and cargo.

So this is the first step, a validation flight, getting the first commercial company off the ground so to speak and it didn't go so well today.

KAYE: Yes -- off the ground or not off the ground. But if this essentially is successful, John, I mean, do you think this could start a space race for private companies too?

ZARRELLA: Oh I don't think there is any question. There are half a dozen companies out there who are all in the mix right now, vying for NASA money to fly to the station with crews and with cargo. And beyond that, you have a lot of other companies talking about hotels in space, small space stations. So, yes, no question that this -- the dawn of -- of the age of airplanes, now you're looking really at -- you know at commercial airliners and now you're looking at the dawn perhaps of a new age of space exploration. KAYE: Well, it's exciting to be living in it, isn't it?

ZARRELLA: Yes, it sure is.

KAYE: All right John Zarrella, thank you very much.

A love relationship gone bad ends in an apparent suicide bombing. A man took his ex-girlfriend hostage, set her free after hours of negotiation and then blew himself and her home up according to police in British Columbia. They say the man went to the home yesterday, ordered the woman's four kids and current boyfriend to leave at gunpoint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOANNE JONES, WITNESS: And then I heard the children screaming. So I came to the front window and saw the two girls running out of house quite hysterical and crying. So I ran to the front door and as I got to the front door, another man I have not seen with a smaller child came running out, screaming at the girls to run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The fourth child escaped through a window. Investigators say the bomber was still distraught over the breakup from two years ago.

The ad war has begun in the race for the presidency. See how combative the first round of campaign commercials are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Are you sick of negative campaign ads? Well perhaps politicians are taking notes because in the first round of general election ads Mitt Romney and President Obama are playing nice.

But negative commercials are still out there, they are just not from the candidates themselves.

CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser takes a look -- Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Good morning, Randi. Have you wonder what Mitt Romney would do if elected president on his first day in the White House? A new campaign commercial spells it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Day one, President Romney immediately approves the Keystone Pipeline, creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked. President Romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that reward job creators not punish them. President Romney issues order to begin replacing Obama care with commonsense healthcare reform. That's what a Romney presidency will be like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: The ad which hit TV stations in key battleground states yesterday is the first general election spot by Romney and it pretty much stays positive. It seems right now Romney is letting others do the dirty work on TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama's agenda promised so much.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must help the millions of homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Promise broken. One in five mortgages are still underwater.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: That's a new ad out this week by the Independent pro Republican group Crossroads. They say they're spending big bucks to run the spot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His mother got him up before dawn to do schoolwork. She knew what it meant for his future. With hard work and student aid, his life was transformed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: President Obama's re-election team is also staying pretty much positive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He double funding for college grants, capped federal student loan payments, passed the largest college tax credit ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: This spot began hitting TV stations yesterday. It's part of a huge ad this month by the re-election team. But they, as well as an Independent pro-Obama group are spending some money to attack Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They closed it down, they filed for bankruptcy, without any concern for the families of the communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: The plant that employed those steel workers was bought and then years later, shut down by the private equity firm that Romney co-founded. All those ads in just a week and guess what? We've got five and a half months to go.

For those of you who live in the battleground states, watch out -- Randi.

KAYE: Thank you, Paul.

Adopting kids from another country can be tough, both financially and emotionally. We'll bring you the story of one mom who fought hard to bring her kids home.

And if you're just leaving the house right now, just a little reminder for you. You don't have to turn away. You can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also watch CNN Live from your desk top. Just go to cnn.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back.

Going outside the U.S. to build a family. Some would-be parents are willing to put up with the hassle and the high cost for a child to call their own. In 2010, 53,000 children were adopted through public agencies within the U.S. For international adoptions by Americans, that number hovered around 10,000 last year. It has fallen steadily since 2004.

The difference in costs can be substantial. These are the high-end numbers, more than $40,000 for domestic adoptions and more than $64,000 for international adoptions. For some going outside America's borders just makes more sense.

Fiona Hall has adopted two children, one from Nepal and one from China. Good morning, Fiona. Thank you for joining us. So why did you go outside the U.S. to adopt?

FIONA HALL, ADOPTED CHILDREN OUTSIDE U.S.: You know, that was pretty simple for me. I had a friend who had adopted three children from China, and I knew that they had a proven process. And so after I got a divorce and I knew I wanted to have a family, she kind of steered me in that direction. So it was really nothing more than that.

KAYE: And before you adopted Graham, you got pretty far in the adoption process from what I understand for another little boy in Nepal, only to have him yanked away from you. But yet you thought that he was going to be yours, correct?

HALL: Yes. That is absolutely correct. And actually I blame the agency for that actually. They gave me a picture of a little boy and said this is your son and matched me to him. And quite candidly, the day after the check cleared, they called and said, you know, he might not be yours, so they just changed the government. So, you know, we're going to hang tight. And I said how do we advocate for this child?

I was devastated. But it was a couple of months later, I found out that they had given the child my picture and told him that he had a mommy and he actually was going to school. You know, one of the parents told me that he was going to school and that it was game on. I had to take it on myself. The agency was not supportive. I went to Nepal myself to advocate -- to fight for that child. Yes. KAYE: And you had actually spent some money. You didn't only invest emotionally but financially as well, right. Helping to improve the orphanage where he was.

HALL: Oh, huge. The living conditions there were just -- we had no concept of it in this country. It was awful.

They had medical care. There was a child who ended up passing away, but then I got him a nurse to take care of him before he did. Furnished the whole orphanage. I was very, very careful that it was a donation of goods and never, never, never cash. But you know, stocked the kitchen with food. I mean it was just something you just don't believe until you see it.

KAYE: And did you ever find out what happened to him?

HALL: Oh, I fought for him. I fought for him all the way through the process. As a matter of fact, he has a family in Italy; and the mother and I are in touch.

KAYE: Oh, that's great news.

(CROSSTALK)

HALL: I'm sorry. Let me tell you -- I have a picture of him getting off the plane in Milan, Italy where I know his ears are touching behind his head, he's smiling so big.

KAYE: Oh, that is so nice. That is a wonderful end to that story. But between Nepal and China, which would you say gave you a harder time just in terms of trying to adopt?

HALL: Oh, my goodness. China was smooth sailing. I had a great agency. They'd been in the business for 20 years. They're about the children. Except for the wait time which is about the government of China, it's not about the agency.

Nepal, my friends will tell you that, you know, China was an adoption, Nepal was a rescue. I mean it was absolutely -- we just didn't know what was going to happen until the very last minute.

KAYE: And Fiona told me that there are lots of adoption agencies out there that are unscrupulous. So it's very important for potential parents to do their due diligence, of course, before selecting an agency.

This 10-year-old has written a book and it is all about how he lost weight and inspired his family to follow his lead. You need to hear his advice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the U.S., but earlier this morning, I spoke with a pre-teen who struggled with it and then he decided to do something about it. He has even written a book, called "Portion Size Me". I asked him why he made the change in his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSHALL, CO-AUTHOR, "PORTION SIZE ME": A kid the next day at school started bullying me, and I really just got tired of it because it all started to add up. And so, in sort of like a heat of the moment decision, I went to my mom and said, mom, let's do something to, you know, fix ourselves. We were all eating really, really bad.

And after I thought about it for a couple of minutes, I thought that was a really good idea.

KAYE: Yes, it was a really good idea. But, mom, Alexandra, I want to ask you, what was your reaction? You have Marshall coming to you, telling you not only does he want to change what he's eating, but he wants to change the whole way your entire family eats.

ALEXANDRA, MOTHER OF MARSHALL: It was -- I had kind of a two-fold response. My first response was I was hurt and shocked that he was hurting so much. I kind of wasn't really tuned in to his emotions at the time.

And then the second thing was I was actually excited about doing a family project together. It gave us an activity and a responsibility to each other over the summer. It was -- it was really fabulous thing.

KAYE: Marshall, let's talk about your weight. Because you lost what, like 36 pounds, right?

M. REID: Yes. And we --

KAYE: What is -- what is the plan, though? It's not just about portion size, right?

M. REID: Yes, it actually starts with six goals. We all sat down to sort of come up with easy, smaller goals to help achieve one big goal. And all these goals all go into, you know, eating real foods, reading ingredients, exercising. And we noticed a lot of the times like we'd go into the grocery store and buy a can of peas. And it ends up, there is high fructose corn syrup in a can of peas and high fructose corn syrup is like fake sugar. And we really wanted to stay away from fake sugars like that.

A. REID: We wanted to take the opportunity to view food differently and make it a part of our life instead of just a reaction in our life. We wanted to view food as fuel, and we didn't want to -- as a parent, I didn't want to put this measurement of weight or a specific, you know, that type of definite goal. Mostly I wanted to be able to step back and view food as nutrition and have a healthy relationship with it.

That's why we developed these six goals to have a healthy relationship long term with food.

KAYE: And I love when you talk about portions because it's incredible what a true portion is. Isn't it? When you actually look at what it might be. I mean obviously this is one of your goals. But really making sure that you watch the portion sizes, and you get moving as you were saying.

But Alexandra, you're a busy mom with a couple of kids and at the time of all of this, your husband was stationed in Iraq, you were eating out a lot. So how has it been for your family and how much weight have you lost?

A. REID: That's not fair to ask on TV.

KAYE: I'm sorry.

It's motivating, though. It's very motivating.

A. REID: I will say I have dropped pounds, but mostly we all have a lot more energy. We have a lot more endurance, more stamina, and we're happier. I don't know exactly -- I'm not a now nutritionist or doctor. I don't know how you end up being happier when you have good food, but it's true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: A unique site. Police cars escorting buses to school? We'll tell what has parents and police so worried.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Top stories, now.

A committee niece human rights activist at the center of a human rights firestorm is headed to the U.S. Right now Chen Quangcheng and his wife and children unexpectedly boarded a plane for Newark this morning. China has granted Chen permission to pursue studies in New York.

A big disappointment today for SpaceX after their rocket failed to lift off. NASA says it was a last-minute engine malfunction, engineers hope to reschedule for Tuesday. If all goes well, space x will be the first private space company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Sation.

One child has died from a bombing outside a school Italy. This happened in the coastal town of Brenzi. Someone remotely set off three gas cylinders. No known motive, but some fear it could be the mafia. The blast happened as kids were arriving for class at a vocational school.

Police looking for a man trying to take a shot at a school bus in Georgia. He fled when a resident ran after him.

George Howell with more on this. Are police any closer to catching a suspect?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are not saying exactly what they have on the person that they are looking for, but you do get the sense they are putting a lot of attention on one particular neighborhood, the Graystone neighborhood there in Hampton, and all day we saw a great deal of police presence there.

You get the sense from everyone you speak to, from police to residents that everyone is taking the threat against a school bus very seriously.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL (voice-over): On the last day of school in Clayton County, Georgia, this is the last thing any parent wanted to see at a school bus stop, but the heavy police presence here since a man pointed this rifle at a school bus comes as welcome news to many.

(on camera): There's the helicopter right there, right over your neighborhood. Are you surprised by that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I've been seeing it all week so I'm happy to see it each morning I'm out here.

HOWELL (voice-over): From an eye in the sky to dozens of squad cars on the streets, Clayton County Police essentially moved into this neighborhood after the threat was reported Monday, their main focus to keep close watch of grade school students as they make their way to and from school and to reassure parents like Anjannette Grigley.

ANJANNETTE GRIGLEY, PARENT: I am nervous. I have students in the Clayton Country school system. I'm just nervous and scared.

HOWELL (on camera): So what's your protocol as far as taking the kids to the school bus in the morning? I see you're out here.

GRIGLEY: Yes, sir. I'm out here and I'm patrolling my children, and I'm watching them as they get on and off the bus.

HOWELL (voice-over): Witnesses spotted the man in this neighborhood on Monday crouched down in someone's backyard, pointing a rifle at a school bus. The police say one of the witnesses yelled at the suspect.

He dropped his rifle and a note pad with some information on it that investigators are looking into and he took off on foot. Another witness then gave chase. The police say the suspect pulled out a handgun and fired one shot, but missed.

(on camera): Are you any closer to finding this person?

DEPUTY CHIEF TIM ROBINSON, CLAYTON COUNTY, GEORGIA POLICE: Well, we've had a lot of information coming in and we're working several leads and we're hoping that that will lead to a suspect, but right now we don't have a suspect.

HOWELL (voice-over): As police talk with neighbors to determine a description of the man they're looking for, the Clayton County School District suspended all outdoor activity as a precaution.

(on camera): How do police patrols like that help you in the school district situation? DOUGLAS HENDRIX, CLAYTON COUNTY SCHOOLS: Well, it builds confidence. It builds confidence not only for the school district, but I'm sure it builds confidence for the community as well.

HOWELL (voice-over): Even as bus drivers make their final rounds through the neighborhood, people here hope the patrols will continue until the alleged gunman is caught.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And back now here with George Howell.

Do police have any idea who this guy might be?

HOWELL: Early on, there were a few descriptions that came out. Police thought initially it was an African-American male. Then another witness gave some information to lead them to ask is it a Hispanic male? They've backed off initial descriptions and trying to put together all the information they got to put together a composite sketch.

KAYE: What a frightening time for parents and kids for sure. Thank you.

HOWELL: Thank you.

KAYE: Police are urging anyone with information to come forward.

These people have discovered something really exciting after digging forages, they have unearthed a 150-year-old secret. We'll tell you what it is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: History buffs in Georgia are thrilled with this discovery. They have unearthed a prison camp that is 150 years old and offering a unique look into prison life during the Civil War.

Reynolds Wolf joins me to talk about this. How exactly did historians just stumble upon this?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Believe it or not, it all came from a former inmate at this place who kept a diary some 5,000 pages long, a whole bunch of water colors, and what he did years ago brought clues to the Civil War site and what they found. This is truly amazing.

Take a peek.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF (voice-over): Deep in the Georgia woods, archaeologists are revealing the most pristine Civil War site ever discovered. Each shovelful brings them closer to a story 150 years in the making.

SUE MOORE, PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY: It really is a unique site.

WOLF: This is Camp Lawton, A Confederate Civil War prison.

KEVIN CHAPMAN, GRADUATE STUDENT, GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY: If we were here 150 years ago, you WOULD be standing in a recently cleared field surrounded by a wall about 12, 15 foot high.

They was pigeon roosts, as they were called, guard towers, around the exterior of the stockade. And within the stockade, there was what was called the deadline. It was called the deadline, because to cross it was death.

WOLF: Walton was, for a brief time, he largest camp in the Civil War. Slaves built it in 1864 to ease overcrowding in the notoriously built Anderson Prison. Everyone evacuated six weeks later as General William Tecumseh Sherman began his fiery march to the sea.

CHAPMAN: A lot of them didn't know they wouldn't be returning when they left, so they wouldn't have taken time to gather their equipment.

WOLF: This discover happened by accident.

MOORE: When Kevin came in to see me, and wanted a thesis project. I said I have a project for up we won't find anything, and you can move on and get your Master's.

WOLF: Kevin Chapman took on the project, and using watercolors by a former prison, stumbled onto the site.

CHAPMAN: The first day of the survey, we within 20, 30 minutes, found a U.S. Large cent. To find that, meant the site was fairly pristine.

WOLF (on camera): What are we seeing here?

CHAPMAN: This is called a feature, just a stain in the soil. And as you can see, it is square shaped, and that's exciting to us, because nature doesn't do square. This stain right here could be possibly where a timber has been cut and squared off and sunk into the ground and deteriorated and left a trace there for us to find today.

WOLF (voice-over): Each shovelful unearths a new discovery -- buttons, a key, a picture frame, a pipe from Scotland, a coin from Argentina -- treasures that belonged to prisoners so far from home.

(on camera): What have you learned about these people? Has there been anything that surprised you?

CHAPMAN: Absolutely. The amount of ingenuity we are seeing in the artifacts, the will to survive. The levels of society they developed within their environment. This is about the little people, the men who fought in the front lines, whose names didn't get recorded by history. That's what we're doing is telling their story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: That's a great story. It's hard for me to believe it hasn't been looted before? WOLF: It's very rare. Just finding the site to be honest with you is a rarity. I mean, you think about the most popular Civil War sites, most people would lean toward Gettysburg, not too far from Philadelphia, the most visited sight and you have you millions that visit every year and these sites are combed over by looters, people searching for that stuff. Hard to find places like that. This one really pristine, a lot of treasures there.

KAYE: You got down and dirty, digging away. What was the most exciting thing about it?

WOLF: The thing that was exciting about it, this happened 150 years ago and you can find one item that links you to a person in the past. Now, granted, these people were prisoners, they were going through some of the most traumatic experiences of their entire life, and some of the people forgotten in history. But you find this one thing, a belt buckle, nail, coil. Something that is a connection, a link and that connection is pretty amazing.

KAYE: You weren't allowed to put anything in your pocket?

WOLF: Absolutely not. I would love to, but didn't do it.

KAYE: Reynolds, thank you for that.

WOLF: You bet.

KAYE: Newly released evidence in the Trayvon Martin case answers some questions, but may raise even more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A trove of evidence just released in the Trayvon Martin investigation is giving us the most detailed look yet what happened that fateful February night in Florida. The information does shed light on notable contradictions, but many questions still remain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE (voice-over): The first bit of ambiguous evidence, these pictures, George Zimmerman, who says he killed Trayvon Martin in self- defense, told investigators Trayvon attacked him and slammed his head into the concrete. If that's true, are these wounds consistent with a head hitting pavement? Documents released Thursday show Zimmerman had abrasions to his forehead, bleeding and tenderness at his nose, and a small laceration to the back of his head. And if it was so bad, why didn't Zimmerman go to the hospital? Zimmerman declined to be transported to the hospital, even after he told officers his head hurt and that he felt light-headed.

And there's this. If there was a prolonged struggle, would Zimmerman's DNA be on Trayvon Martin's hands? An analysis of scrapings from underneath the teenager's finger nails did not contain any of Zimmerman's DNA. But the autopsy done on Martin does show a cut. A, quote, "one quarter by one eighth inch small abrasion on the left fourth finger." An indication he might indeed have been punching Zimmerman.

And new details also reveal the first neighbor to encounter Zimmerman after the shooting found him winded.

WITNESS 13 (voice-over): Yes, he was having a hard time cause he -- looked like he had just got his butt whooped. So he was a little bit more of a, you know, not shock but like just getting up type of thing.

KAYE (on camera): There's also this unanswered question. As the two men fought, who was it neighbors heard yelling for help? In a 911 call, one police sergeant counted a man yelling "help or help me" 14 times in just 38 seconds.

KAYE (voice-over): Listen to this 911 call. You can hear someone yelling in the background.

(YELLING IN BACKGROUND)

DISPATCHER: So you think he's yelling help?

KAYE: The discovery documents show competing versions of the events. Of those who say they heard the struggle, some told police they thought they heard a young boy screaming for help. One witness, Witness 6 as he's called in the documents, thought it was the voice of a grown man.

WITNESS 6 (voice-over): There was a black male with a black hoodie on top of either a white guy or now that I found out I think he was a Hispanic guy with a red sweatshirt on, on the ground yelling out help.

KAYE: The FBI looked into this too, but their audio analysis was inconclusive, saying it couldn't determine whose voice it was due to the, quote, "extreme emotional state" of the person yelling, plus overlapping voices. The FBI said there was an "insufficient voice quality" on the recording.

And what about that racial slur Zimmerman, a white Hispanic, allegedly used when describing Trayvon?

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN, (voice-over): The back entrance. (INAUDIBLE).

KAYE: FBI analysis released Thursday said they could not definitively identify the word Zimmerman used due to weak signal level and poor recording quality. That word is key to the racial discrimination argument and legal experts say, without definitive evidence he used a racial slur, the chances Zimmerman might be charged with a federal hate crime diminish.

But an interview, which is also part of the discovery, with one of the Zimmerman's former co-workers says something else. The man, who was Middle Eastern, said Zimmerman is a racist and a bully.

FORMER CO-WORKER (voice-over): I was portrayed like the um -- I don't know if you ever watched comedy, this guy is called Ahmed the terrorist?

POLICE: No.

FORMER CO-WORKER: OK. So it's this little guy. He's got this weird voice and some -- that was me in the story. So the story turned my accent to 'No! I kill you!'"

POLICE: OK.

FORMER CO-WORKER: And he kept going and going and going.

KAYE: And finally the question of drugs in Trayvon Martin's system. In his 911 call, just before the shooting, Zimmerman indicated the teenager looked like he was on drugs on something. But even though we now know Trayvon's blooded had THC in it, the active ingredient in marijuana, that may not mean he was high. One toxicologist cautioned THC can linger in a person's system for days, even spike after death. And HLN's Dr. Drew Pinsky warned marijuana typically does not make someone more aggressive.

With all the new details released this week, you think we'd be closer to learning the truth about what happened. But, really, the one thing we know for sure is that a single gunshot fired straight into the chest of Trayvon Martin killed him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: The witness described as witness six who said he heard it was Zimmerman yelling for help later said he wasn't sure who it was. Just more questions.

NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield.

Hello.

FRERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you.

Of course, our legal guys will be along and talking more about that mountain of evidence.

KAYE: There's 183 pages.

WHITFIELD: To whose advantage, defense or prosecution? They will examine that.

Our legal guys will talk about suspended NFL player, New Orleans Saints player. Eaves you turning the tables and suing because of the bounty scandal involving New Orleans Saints.

Similar to at home pregnancy testing, how about at home HIV testing? Some medical experts say it is just as effective as in the doctor's office blood test, at home saliva test to see if you test positive for HIV. We're going to be exploring that.

Cloud computing. What is it? Is it more effective, this form of computing, more effective storing the information from your computers on hard drive or is cloud computing the way to go? Is it secure for information. We're going to go through that cumulous matter. KAYE: I'm trying to figure it out. Remember when blog was the new word. Cloud is new, blog is part of our every day. Cloud isn't something I've embraced yet.

WHITFIELD: This is a how-to, suits you and your lifestyle.

Who didn't love Donna Summer and her music. Upon her death, hearing the collection of her music and just remembering all the great songs from the '70s and '80s, many of which resonated well into the 2000s, lots of artists sampling. We're going to be talking with a notable music author who is going to talk about the legacy, the look of donna summer, the sound of donna summer. Her style. How it has left an indelible mark on music overall.

KAYE: Stunning and so talented.

WHITFIELD: A lot coming your way beginning at noon eastern time.

KAYE: Thank you, Fred, very much.

Coming up in a moment the daughter of Cuba's leader is coming to the United States. Find out why critics say the U.S. Is not taking advantage of her visit like it should.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Wind-driven wildfires are burning with a furry in Arizona. Gladiator and sunflower fire have devoured more than 23,000 acres. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf with a look at that.

How bad is it?

WOLF: It's quite a mess attachment a look at this. See what you have yesterday. Numbers are mind boggling. 65,000 acres burning in the sunflower fire. The gladiator fire over 13,000, 2,000 in bull flat. The good news there, it's about 80% contained. One of the issues, incredibly strong wind over the last few days. Dry conditions difficult for the wildfires to really be hampered or stopped. We do expect the winds will die down and do so briefly. Human still low. We do expect winds to accelerate as wets into Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week. Really every hour is going to make a big difference this weekend in terms of stemming the blaze. Hopefully they will get a good handle on it. Back to you.

KAYE: It's that wind that does it.

WOLF: Certainly it.

KAYE: All right, Reynolds. Thank you.

The rile of a gay rights activist next week is drawing fire. Not because of what she does but her last name which happens to be Castro. Here is correspondent Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Her family name says it all. Castro. She's coming to the United States. Mariela Castro Espin, daughter of Cuban leader Raul Castro, granted a visa by the State Department to attend an academic conference.

In Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, some Cuban-Americans are furious.

TERESA PENICHET, CUBAN-AMERICAN: She's coming here just to spread their Communism, because that's what it is, and they're coming under false pretence to try to lift the embargo.

DOUGHERTY: The 50-year-old directs the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana. She's an activist for gay rights in Cuba, which were none existent in the early years of Fidel Castro's regime, but have changed in recent years.

In a 2008 interview with CNN, Castro is seen to be brushing off her communist pedigree.

"The only advantage is that the person who's now president is also my papa and I can talk to him," she said. "But don't think I can talk to him a lot."

The Bush administration granted Castro Espin a visa in 2002, but some lawmakers say it's an outrage to do this time.

REP. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN (R), FLORIDA: People in hunger strikes, dissidents in Cuban jails. Nothing has improved. It's all gotten worse. And yet, here it's all systems go for the Obama administration. Raul Castro's daughter wants to come to the U.S., sure, she's an academic let her come.

DOUGHERTY: Ros-Lehtinen points to Alan Gross, an American imprisoned in Cuba on charges of subversion. She says the Obama administration should send a message to the Cuban leader by refusing his daughter a visa.

The State Department, citing privacy concerns, won't comment on the Castro Espin's case, but says about 100 Cuban academics were invited to the conference in San Francisco; 77 applied for visas, as of Friday 60 got them, 11 were denied, 6 were still being processed.

A U.S. presidential proclamation rules out visas for high-level officials of the Cuban government or Communist Party, for military police and spies. But they can make exceptions if there are no security concerns and the reason for applying is legitimate.

Raul Castro's daughter appears to have passed that test, but not in Miami.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an offense to the Cuban-American community in the U.S.A. and a big offense to all patriots.

DOUGHERTY (on camera): The State Department says it doesn't link visa policy with larger political and economic rights issues. It's based on law. And if Congress wants to change that law, the State Department says Congress can.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield.

WHITFIELD: Have a great day.

KAYE: You, too.