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CNN Live Sunday

Is Somalia a Safe Haven for Terrorists?; Widespread Violence in Iraq this Weekend; Possible Reforms To Mine Safety Regulations; Lawsuit Charges to Decrease Junk Food Ads; Canadian Firms Rush to Extract Key Ingredient in Tamiflu From Christmas Trees

Aired January 22, 2006 - 19:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead in this hour, a new breeding ground for terror and new recruits for al Qaeda. CNN's Barbara Starr travels with the U.S. military for this exclusive report.
And a possible punch in the stomach for the nation's economy. Ford Motor Company appears ready to announce thousands of jobs cut.

Also ahead, how your Christmas castoffs are helping fight the bird flu.

It's January 22, and you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin.

To our top story in just a moment, but first, these are the stories making news right now.

Former president Gerald Ford is still in a California hospital suffering pneumonia. He was admitted just over a week ago and was expected to be released Thursday, but doctors decided he needed more treatment. Ford's spokeswoman says he is doing well and his condition is not life-threatening.

The White House issued a statement tonight strongly defending its domestic eavesdropping program. The White House insists it's a critical tool in preventing future attacks, and it says Democrats who question the operation's legality are being -- and I'm quoting here -- "misleading and outlandish."

And higher prices at the pump. The cost of a gallon of self- serve regular gas jumped more than three cents over the last two weeks to an average of $2.33. That follows a nearly 17-cent-per gallon hike since December 2. Experts predict more gas prices increasing in the weeks to come.

Our stop story now.

It was a high-seas chase, not a high-speed chase. But the pursuit was just as dramatic.

The U.S. Navy says it captured suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia. The USS Winston S. Churchill began following the ship Friday after reports of an attempted attack. It radioed the crew but got no response. The ship finally stopped after the Americans fired warning shots.

The commander of the Navy's Nassau Strike Group was on the Churchill when it happened. I talked with him a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. MARTY ALLARD, COMMANDER, NASSAU STRIKE GROUP: That's when the second round of warning shots were fired, and at that time, that's when the suspected -- the suspect vessel and the personnel aboard surrendered, and then they started communicating with us on a radio.

LIN: So who did you find out -- who were they, and what did they have on board?

ALLARD: Ma'am, we have determined that there were 26 people on board, and were Somalia, and 16 were Indian. And we did not find anything particular aboard. It's just -- it was a cargo dowel (ph), and it had some coal on it and things like that.

LIN: We had a report that there were some weapons that were found on board. Is that true?

ALLARD: Ma'am, I can't discuss what was really found right now with the weapons because there's an investigation going on, and I don't want to compromise any of the evidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, pirate attacks have been become epidemic off the coast of Somalia. At least 23 hijackings and attempted attacks have been reported just in the last 10 months.

And it's not only Somalia's waters that are dangerous. Some describe the country itself as a safe haven for terrorists.

CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Horn of Africa, approaching Somalia. This remote area is one of the front lines in the war against al Qaeda.

CNN is with a small U.S. military team. These troops mainly conduct humanitarian relief, but they are watching al Qaeda, because al Qaeda is watching them.

(on camera): The U.S. military has brought CNN to this place, where it almost never comes. This the border of Somalia, a place that is ungoverned, uncontrolled, and now there is great concern that al Qaeda and other terrorists groups are moving through this region.

(voice over): This is one of the countless watches and photos of Osama bin Laden distributed in villages across Somalia in the last several weeks. Major General Timothy Ghormley, commander of the military task force for the Horn of Africa, gave it to CNN. It's part of a new al Qaeda recruiting campaign here.

MAJ. GEN. TIMOTHY GHORMLEY, U.S. MARINE CORPS.: We know for a fact that there are -- there's an East African al Qaeda cell in Somalia. It's been referred to as "Mad Max and the Thunderdome" in southern Somalia. And that's exactly what it is.

STARR: Somalia has no central government, and the U.S. has limited knowledge of what is happening ever since its withdrawal after 18 troops were killed in 1993.

Military intelligence is now watching for several top al Qaeda operatives in this region. Two in particular are Haroon Fasul (ph), involved in the U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi and Saleh Ali Saleh Naban (ph), the main planner behind an attack on an Israeli airliner in East Africa.

Military officials here say terrorist groups have made threats to attack the 1,400 U.S. troops here in the Horn region. Ghormley believes there are training camps inside Somalia, and the threat is expected to only grow.

GHORMLEY: We're winning up in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are going to have to go some place. They will have to move to another area, an where there is safety, where they can begin to rebuild.

STARR: This remote landscape, this is where al Qaeda can readily move.

Barbara Starr, CNN, on the northern border of Somalia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, there's sympathy and support today for the world's most wanted man, and it's happening in Pakistan. Outrage there continues over a U.S. airstrike nine days ago. Thousands of people turned out today near the site of the attack, chanting, "Long live Osama bin Laden."

U.S. officials believe the airstrike killed several senior al Qaeda members. But Pakistan's prime minister says that is bizarre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAUKAT AZIZ, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: We had no idea that this would take place. We generally are aware that there's activity in this area. And the normal standard operating procedure is, because we have the people on the ground, you can rely on electronic intelligence up to a point, but you need human intelligence and you need people there to capture.

That is why 13 people who were apparently civilians have died, and we have -- we are still investigating the whole area, combing the area. There is no evidence as of half an hour ago that there were any other people there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LIN: Well, U.S. officials say the airstrike targeted Osama bin Laden's number two man. They still don't know his fate, but it is likely he was not killed.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

The search continues now for an American journalist kidnapped in Iraq, but U.S. and Iraqi forces are also dealing with widespread violence this weekend.

CNN's Michael Holmes is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After something of a lull, more violence around Iraq. Police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 23 men on Sunday who had been kidnapped north of Baghdad last week after being rejected entry into a police training academy.

The men were among 50 returning on a bus from Baghdad to their homes in Samara when they were stopped at a fake police roadblock. All of them were kidnapped. Now at least 36 of those 50 has been found dead.

Nine people, meanwhile, including four children and four Iraqi police officers, were killed early Sunday in two separate incidents in the volatile Diyala province, according to local officials. Now, the children died in an early-morning rocket attack on the home of an Iraqi police officer. Now, the police officer wasn't home. His family was. The four policemen were killed and nine wounded in a pre-dawn roadside bomb blast that targeted their patrol in Baquba.

Meanwhile, no news on the captive American journalist Jill Carroll. However, the kidnapped son of a former Iraqi official appeared on Saturday in a video televised on Arabic language television saying his captors have threatened to kill him unless Iraqi security forces stop cooperating with the Americans.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It's been a source of high drama in Iraq. Tuesday, the trial of Saddam Hussein resumes. Former members of his regime are expected to testify.

Now, what is uncertain is who will be presiding over the proceedings. The chief judge, as you might recall, of the tribunal resigned more than a week ago. Hussein and seven others are charged with crimes against humanity.

Now, a U.S. Army interrogator has been convicted in the death of an Iraqi major general. Six military jurors found Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. guilty of negligent homicide yesterday. Welshofer was accused of putting a sleeping bag over the general's head, sitting on his chest, and holding his hand over the general's mouth during an interrogation.

Welshofer faces a dishonorable discharge and more than three years in prison when sentenced tomorrow.

Now to northern Utah, the scene of a mountaintop drama today. Four injured hikers were airlifted by a rescue helicopter to safety. They're part of a Korean climbing group forced to endure a frigid night on Mount Olympus after several were injured during a fall.

Rescuers brought them special gear last night. Three other members of the climbing group were guided off the mountain yesterday by foot. Rescuers waited with the injured until today and finally brought them out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. JON FASSETT, SALT LAKE CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT.: This is very difficult. It expends a lot of energy.

Anytime we have to hoist somebody, it's a dangerous operation. That's why we won't do it at night unless it was absolutely necessary. And in these conditions, because her condition was stable, we decided to wait until daylight to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, one of the climbers, a woman, broke her back on the mountain.

The nation's coal mines are coming under increasing scrutiny. Fourteen men are dead after two West Virginia mine accidents in three weeks. And tomorrow, a Senate panel begins a hard look at conditions underground. But today, they are mourning in Melville, West Virginia.

CNN's Chris Huntington is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All is quiet around the Aracoma Mine now. The rescue teams have pulled out.

There were no services Sunday at the Bright Star Free Will Baptist Church which for days had been the sanctuary for the miners' families, their hopes and their prayers. Just silent remembrance for Don Bragg and Elvis Hatfield, two veteran miners who could not escape a conveyor belt fire.

But the quiet in Melville may be the quiet before a storm, a storm the governor is unleashing to overhaul mine safety.

GOV. JOE MANCHIN, WEST VIRGINIA: These two men that perished in this mine, the 12 men that perished -- the 12 men that perished in the Sago Mine -- I can only say to each one of their families, that they have not died in vain. They're going to look back and one day say, Because of my dad or because of my uncle or my brother or my cousin, we have laws now that other people will be saved.

HUNTINGTON: Manchin is demanding more rapid response to mine disasters, electronic tracking for underground miners and mandatory reserve oxygen stations in the mines.

MANCHIN: We are doing and will do everything humanly possible to make sure they're able to return home every night to their family and loved ones.

HUNTINGTON: Manchin has the power to push that through in West Virginia. He's counting on his state's congressional delegation to make it federal law as well.

(on camera): The technology to make coal mining safer is readily available. But critics of the coal companies point out that they are often reluctant to spend what is really needed to substantially upgrade safety procedures. That's why Governor Manchin and other West Virginia lawmakers say it's time to force the coal companies to invest in new safety equipment.

REP. NICK RAHALL (D), WEST VIRGINIA: It's unfortunate that every coal mine health and safety law on the books today is written with the blood of coal miners. It takes a tragedy, unfortunately, to toughen these laws and to pass them in the first place.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Coal mining has to be done, it needs to be done, it's in America's interest that it be done, and it has to be done safely and responsibly. And it shall be.

HUNTINGTON: But too late for the men who died in the Sago and Aracoma mines.

Chris Huntington, CNN, Melville, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: It is dark, dirty and dangerous, a world usually seen only by miners, until now. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, I'm going to talk with a documentary producer who will give us a rare glimpse into a miner's life.

Now, come tomorrow, roughly 25,000 more Americans could be looking for a new job. We are going to preview Ford's massive restructuring plan next.

SHANON COOK, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. I'm Shanon Cook.

When we go global, Iranian citizens join hands to defend their country's nuclear program. We'll have the details when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Time now to check on some other news around the world.

Bolivia celebrates the inauguration of a new president. With more, here's Shanon Cook -- Shanon. COOK: Hey there. Thanks, Carol.

Evo Morales was actually quite moved today as he was sworn ins a Bolivia's first-ever indigenous president. The former cocoa farmer said his presidency marks the end of the discrimination and oppression of Bolivia's Indian minority.

Morales has also vowed to reduce poverty. Bolivia is South America's poorest country and has been plagued by instability. Hopes are high that Morales will turn thing around.

In Iran, a show of supports for the country's nuclear program. About 1,000 athletes gathered to form a human chain in front of a key nuclear facility. This as Iran's government calls the upcoming emergency session by the governing board of the U.N. security watchdog an unnecessary political move. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful research, not weapons.

And at the Vatican today, celebrating 500 years of service by the Swiss Guard. These are the men who protect the pope.

Guards clad in their signature red, blue, and yellow uniforms attended a blessing by Pope Benedict. Today there are about 110 members of the Swiss Guard, all of whom, did you know, are required to be at least 5'9 tall.

And finally, a Colombian beekeeper charms his way into the "Guinness Book of World Records." Thirty-five-year-old Marin Tellez managed to cover himself with 400,000 africanized bees. Some people call these bees killer bees, but that obviously didn't scare Tellez. And now his hometown is buzzing with news of his accomplishment.

Carol, he broke a seven-year-old California record of a mere 350,000 bees.

LIN: Oh, my god.

COOK: I know.

LIN: Did the man get bit?

COOK: Well, he did. He got stung about 100 times. Can you imagine?

LIN: How do you recover from something like that? I guess you just look at your world record.

COOK: Well, he did try to break the world record last year, but he only made to it 200,000 bees. So I think this time he was determined to, you know, endure as many bites as necessary to beat that record.

LIN: Well, I guess his wife won't be calling him "honey" anytime soon, will she?

All right. Thanks, Shanon. COOK; Thank you.

LIN: Well, Ford Motor Company is expected to announce major job cuts tomorrow. America's second largest automaker has been hurt by falling sales of cars and sport utility vehicles. And company officials admit the changes being planned will be painful.

CNN's Ali Velshi has more details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Here we go again. Just two months after GM announced 30,000 job cuts and a dozen plant closings, Ford looks like it's also about to stall.

On Monday, Bill Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford and now the company's CEO and chairman, is expected to announce a massive restructuring plan that could include 25,000 layoffs. About 20 percent of Ford's North American workforce could be wiped out. One analyst we spoke with said plants in Atlanta, St. Louis, Minnesota, Canada and Mexico are likely targets.

REBECCA LINDLAND, GLOBAL INSIGHT: It's hard to really point the blame at any one particular issue that's facing Ford right now, but certainly good products solve a tremendous amount of issues.

VELSHI: But good products don't outweigh soaring healthcare and pension costs and sales are still stuck in reverse. Detroit tried waging a price war introducing zero interest financing and paid what the employee pays pricing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I have left is black with this color interior.

VELSHI: But Ford has now lost market share to Toyota and Honda among others for ten straight years. It now has the lowest market share it's had in 80 years. Ford's problems don't necessarily point to the death of auto making in the U.S., just dire days for Detroit.

LINDLAND: You may say, well, this is the death of the American automotive industry, and the jobs that manufacturing jobs, but it's really not. This is not an outsourcing issue because Honda's opening new plants. Hyundai just opened a plant in the south. Toyota is adding a new plant in Texas. Nissan just opened a plant in Mississippi.

VELSHI: Car making dollars are still coming to the U.S. The problem is the bucks just aren't stopping in Detroit anymore.

Ali Velshi, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, pain and suffering in Pakistan. We are going to show you how some victims of the October earthquake are barely surviving today. And up next, remembering an American hero. Twenty years after her doomed flight into space, we remember Christa McAuliffe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: It was 20 years ago this week that the shuttle -- the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded and all seven crew members died. Among them, Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher in space.

For the first time, her family, friends and colleagues reveal a side of her that we never knew. Here's a preview of tonight's "CNN PRESENTS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her payload was education. She, herself, was the payload, and she was carrying experiments that were typical kind of experiments that a teacher would conduct in a classroom. And the shuttle was going to be her classroom in space.

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE, SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER: It's hard for kids to realize that you can build something that's not attached to anything. But in zero gravity, you can do that or, you know, in space you can do that. So at that point I want to be able to let it go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very important to her to write her own lesson plan. And I don't remember all the details, but there was some headquarter's involvement. And, you know, they had her ideas on what Christa should do, but she made it clear that she had her ideas on what she should be doing as the teacher in space in this classroom in space.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just would never script out what you're going to say, and we would laugh and say, you know, we're not -- you know, Christa would say, "Well, you know, I'm not an actress. You know, I'm not pretending I'm a teacher. I am a teacher, and teachers don't do this."

MCAULIFFE: I'm much more comfortable in -- when I'm teaching in front of a classroom. I'm much more comfortable talking about something and doing something at the same time. And that's not distracting to kids if you're talking about the thing that you're doing. It's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first leapfrog in zero gravity. One leap for us. Two leapfrogs. Three leapfrogs. Whoa!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, I'd like to introduce to you, or -- to perhaps a person you came to see, and that's Christa McAuliffe, our payload specialist, teacher in space.

(APPLAUSE)

MCAULIFFE: Well, I am so excited to be here. We watched Columbia go over the Houston area this morning, and that was a thrill. I don't think any teacher has ever been more ready to have two lessons in my life.

I've been preparing these since September, and I just hope everybody tunes on day four now to watch the teacher teaching from space. I'd like to introduce...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's when it really struck me, oh, my god, she's actually going into space. And then I asked her if she was afraid. I said, "Are you afraid?" And she said, "No." And she had complete faith in NASA that they wouldn't let anything happen to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: "CNN PRESENTS: Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars," it airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

So what is it like to work inside a mine? Up next, we're going to give you a rare, inside glimpse at this dangerous job.

And still to come, how your discarded Christmas tree could help the world fight the flu.

Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Here's a quick look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

The U.S. Navy is questioning 26 suspected pirates. They were captured in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. Navy officials say the men were on board a boat seized yesterday after a U.S. destroyer chased it down.

And rescuers near Salt Lake City airlifted four hikers to safety from a Utah Mountain. Officials say that the Korean group got into trouble near the mountaintop yesterday, and fell down a steep slope. The hikers spent the night on the snow-covered peak before being airlifted out.

Gasoline prices are racing back up again. The Lundburg Survey released today shows gas prices across the country jumped another three cents a gallon just in the past two weeks, about 20 cents since early December. Gas now averages $2.33 a gallon.

A Senate panel is taking a hard look at mine safety tomorrow, and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered; 14 men are dead after two West Virginia mine accidents in just the last three weeks. Two miners trapped by a fire Thursday were found dead yesterday inside a mine in Melville.

And the only survivor of an accident at Sago Mine earlier this month, remains in a light coma. Twelve of his colleagues died.

And we talk about the dangers for miners, but people who don't work in the mines rarely go beneath the earth's surface to actually see where the miners work. In 1997 a documentary producer filmed inside a Brookwood, Alabama, coal mine after being told by management and miners it was considered a safe place to work. Yet, just a few years later, two gas explosions at the Jim Walter Resources mine killed more than a dozen miners.

That filmmaker, Patrice O'Neill, is with me tonight, as well as Bruce Dial, who is a former inspector with the federal Mine Safety Health Administration.

Good evening to both of you.

Patrice, I want to start with you. and I have been friends for 15 years now, and you have done some incredible work. A lot of it investigative, but in this particular case, you weren't looking for, you know, a hard news story, necessarily, you were trying to illustrate life. It's so surprising that this could -- the accident, the gas explosions happened just a few years after you were inside.

PATRICE O'NEILL, EXEC. PRODUCER, "THE WORKING GROUP ": Yes, actually, Carol, we were looking for solutions in the workplace. And when we went into this mine in Alabama, they had addressed many of the issues like black lung and there has been a lot of progress on safety, and getting the methane gas out.

In 1997, we went there, and we had discussed it with the United Mine Workers and with the company and they said there are some real safety features in this mine. It still was -- I've covered the workplace for over 15 years now, and I have to say going into the coal mine is one of the most disturbing things I've ever done.

But, as what I understand, conditions deteriorated in this mine over the years, and a lot of the safety features were not being heeded, which is one of the problems that we're facing now is continued violations.

LIN: And, you know, when we take a look at this video, Patrice, what is it like to actually descend into a mine and see the work in those tunnels?

O'NEILL: People that do this kind of work consciously step out of the world that we know. That was my feeling. They step onto an elevator or hop onto a belt, and they are gone. In this mine, the Brookwood mine, it's 2,000 feet under the ground. And you get onto an elevator and you go down, down, down, down.

You get to the bottom, and you have to continue this trip on what's called a mantrip, which is a train that takes you into where the coal is. It's hard to describe the sensation of knowing that you don't have oxygen. The only oxygen you have is really on your back. You're carrying it with you. Of course, there's oxygen there in the mine, but if it gets cut off, this is what you have, is what's our back.

LIN: Uh-huh. O'NEILL: And the light that you have is from your helmet. And that's how miners get around. There is obviously some lighting, where work is being done, but for a large part of the day, miners have to rely on their own helmets for light.

LIN: Uh-huh.

O'NEILL: And that's something you don't think about.

LIN: No.

O'NEILL: You walk along, and I was aware of feeling like I would stumble at any moment.

LIN: And to have the ceiling, you know, people crouching through the tunnels trying to get the terribly difficult work done.

I want to bring Bruce Dial into this conversation.

Bruce, in that particular case, in this Brookwood mine, there was a fine of $430,000. Your organization imposed on that mine after those gas explosions. But there were appeals, and it ended up being $3,000, which seems hardly enough to -- to make up for the lives lost there. It's in appeal right now, but doesn't this illustrate how mine companies, the penalties aren't that great and there isn't a lot of incentive to implement more safety standards.

BRUCE DIAL, MINE SAFETY EXPERT: Right. The Mine Safety Act that was passed in 1977, was the first time that they provided monetary fines for violations. Many of the violations are what they call non S&S, which means it's only a $50 to $60 fine, which is not a great amount of money. Most of the money that the operator puts out for fines, they are not that much. They have banks of lawyers and everything else that talk to MSHA to try to get the fines reduced.

LIN: All right. So these hearings are starting tomorrow. The story's hot right now, right, because these tragedies just happened. They can cool just as quickly as the next news cycle comes around. What are you looking for out of these hearings? What do you want to see that will guarantee miners' safety and safety soon?

DIAL: One thing, I hope there's more money put into research on the technical data that could help in these situations. I hope there's more money put in MSHA so that an inspector doesn't have to just go through and look for obvious violations, but are able to spend time at a certain mine, and watch for unsafe acts that are not just a violation of standard.

LIN: Uh-huh. Patrice, you know, you see the story in the miners' faces, the people that you've interviewed over time. What are your thoughts on what you want to hear out of Washington?

O'NEILL: Well, one of the things that's really disturbing is that the Mine Workers Union did their own investigation after the Brookwood explosions, where 13 miners were killed. They made a series of recommendation and they contend that if these recommendations had taken place, and if they'd been heeded, that the Sago disaster could have been avoided. I think that's the kind of think we have to look at. How can we make sure this doesn't happen again?

LIN: Bruce, when inspectors actually go in, when they do find a violation, what is supposed to happen? I mean, when does the hammer actually come down on a company that is not keeping the mine safe for its workers?

DIAL: Well, when an inspector goes in the mine and they observe a violation, the first thing, it has to be a violation of a mandatory standard. That means, a regulation that's already on the books. If there is no regulation on the books already, there's not much that an inspector can do about it. Except just point it out.

LIN: Uh-huh.

DIAL: If they do find it is a violation of a standard, they will write a citation, and then they will set an abatement time, which gives a period of time for the mine operator to repair it. If it is not repaired within that time, then an inspector can write an order to shut that area of the mine down until it is repaired.

LIN: But all of that takes so much time and the investigation is just beginning in the latest mine disasters.

DIAL: Yes.

LIN: Patrice, we just have a few more seconds. What do the miners -- go ahead.

O'NEILL: We hear that the inspectors are doing a good job on the ground. They are finding the violations. The problem is at the top. It's enforcement, and I think that's something that we all hope that people in Washington really seriously look at in the coming days.

LIN: Patrice O'Neill, thank you very much. And Bruce Dial, pleasure to have you.

DIAL: Thank you.

LIN: Well, turning now to American's obesity epidemic. It is deceptive advertising perhaps, in children's programming that's making kids fat? That is at the heart of a new lawsuit against food giant Kellogg and Nickelodeon's parent company, Viacom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIN (voice over): Sherri Carlson is the mother of three children, ages four, eight, and 11; her biggest concern? Keeping junk food away from her kids.

SHERRI CARLSON, PLAINTIFF: It's an uphill battle. I try.

LIN: Carlson says her children are always asking her to buy high-sugar snacks that they see on store shelves and on television commercials. She blames kid friendly advertising for her children's cravings.

CARLSON: They make it enticing with fun upbeat, eat this and have fun kind of situations. You know, if I go offer a granola bar, it's not quite the same as, you know, having some fun with a Pop Tart or something.

LIN: Carlson joined two consumer activist groups in a pending class-action lawsuit, in Massachusetts against Viacom, owner of the children's network Nickelodeon and the cereal maker Kellogg. The plaintiff's say Kellogg and Viacom practice deceptive advertising by specifically marketing high-sugar products to young children. They want them to stop airing junk-food ads for programming for kids under eight years old.

They also want both corporations to stop using popular children's figures like Spongebob Squarepants.

CARLSON: Do you know who this is?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spongebob.

CARLSON: Yes.

LIN: Carlson says her youngest child, four-year-old Paige, is already responding to this type of advertising.

CARLSON: She'll see a character, and even if she's never tasted the product, never even had it, but since she sees her friends on the box, she wants it.

LIN: Kellogg and Nickelodeon declined to speak to CNN on camera, but released the following statements.

Nickelodeon says it "has been an acknowledged leader and a positive force in educating and encouraging kids to live healthier lifestyles. "

Kellogg says "it is proud of its products " and the contributions they make to a healthy diet. "We have a long-standing commitment to marketing in a responsible manner and our messages accurately portray our products."

Carlson disagrees.

CARLSON: Nickelodeon, yeah, they have really good health messages, and then, you know, they put on some junkie ad right after the health food messages.

LIN: The Center for Science in the Public Interest, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit, agrees that both Nickelodeon and Kellogg have initiatives to promote children's health, but they say it's not enough.

MICHAEL JACOBSON, CTR. FOR SCIENCE IN PUBLIC INTEREST: If you see the kind of foods that bear characters like Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents and so on, it's junk, 90 percent or more. LIN: Sherri Carlson knows that kids will always want to eat sugary foods and hopes this lawsuit will protect them.

CARLSON: Our kids are so important and they are so vulnerable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, Wonder Bread is lobbing a new loaf on to store shelves. It's launching a whole-wheat line. The bread maker is baking up two whole-wheat versions. Both are supposed to look and taste like the white, spongy original. The move may help Wonder Bread some of the market that it lost when consumer began rejecting carbs or demanding whole-grain products.

It's the middle of winter and some Pakistanis are facing the brutal weather in makeshift tents. All because of an earthquake three months ago. How can they possibly cope? We'll show you what's happening next.

And still to come, the world-wide shortage of Tamiflu. How manufacturers are dealing with the problem using a surprising source.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: October 8th, 2005, a powerful earthquake rocks South Asia, and Pakistan bears the brunt of the disaster. Tens of thousands are people there are killed and millions more are left homeless. And now, another danger, freezing weather and illness have settled into some hard-hit villages. And children are among the first to feel the impact. Dan Rivers has this heart-wrenching report from northern Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is the only way to get to the village of Moori Patan. A treacherous path covered in snow and ice. We're hiking up 6,500 feet to live alongside the survivors of last October earthquake to see for ourselves how they are surviving the winter.

The locals watch on with bemusement. We're the first non- Pakistanis to ever have set foot here. And as we arrive, the weather closes in. And we're appalled by what we find. The families here are living in flimsy cotton tents. This is supposed to be the warmest part of the day, but the children have no protection from the extreme conditions.

(On camera): When do they go back to school?

(Voice over): Baby Sophia is comforting her baby sister in the wreckage of the family home. She's been ill for three weeks. She has pneumonia.

That afternoon, Mohammed Sabia (ph) and his wife, Chartoum (ph), take me past the wreckage of their home where they lost their first daughter, to the grave of their second child, Pavim (ph). This childless couple offer silent prayers. Pavim was just 18 months old. She died just 24 hours ago, a victim of the cold.

We've camped in the middle of this snow-bound community, to experience just how grueling life here is. The more we look, the more desperate this place seems. The most vulnerable of Moori Patan are weakening each day. The nearest doctor is a six-hour walk away. For some, it's an impossible journey.

By 6 o'clock it's dark, and the temperature is dropping below freezing. Fully dressed, an entire family huddles together to try and sleep.

(On camera): When we came to this village, we weren't quite sure what to expect, but this is about as desperate as it gets. There are a dozen people crammed into this tent, and the tent itself is really flimsy. It's not even waterproof. The blankets they got won't keep them warm at night, and the ground here is frozen solid.

We're only putting up with it for a week, but for these people, they've got to stay here every single night.

(On camera): Going to bed here brings fear. It is the night, and it's the gnawing cold that so often claims the weak. Dan Rivers, ITV News, Pakistan.

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LIN: If you'd like to help Pakistan's sick and dying children, here's one number to call 1-800-770-1100. The United Nations is at the forefront of international organizations rushing to provide help.

Now "In Case You Missed It," let's check the highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows. Plenty was said about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, and his chances of getting an up or down vote on the Senate floor.

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SEN. GEORGE ALLEN, (R) VIRGINIA: I think he's going to be an outstanding Supreme Court justice, respecting the will of the people in our representative democracy, and if the Democrats want to filibuster, let them. We'll pull the constitutional trigger.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: There is no question, many are disappointed in some of the answers that Samuel Alito gave. But to vote against him is one thing. And to filibuster requires what I think is a much higher standard.

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LIN: On CBS's "Face The Nation" Republican Senator Pat Roberts and Democratic Joe Lieberman assessed the ongoing threat from Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and the possible meaning behind last week's release of a new bin Laden audio tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. PAT ROBERTS, (R) KANSAS: This may be an effort for him to at least say, hey, I'm still around. I'm still here. But we should take that warning very seriously.

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN, (D) CONNECTICUT: The greatest danger is that Al Qaeda will strike at the center of power in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia. and essentially take over one of those countries. And, of course, that would be disastrous.

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LIN: Remember, every Sunday at 7:00 Eastern, we're going to bring you the best headlines from the Sunday talk show circuit.

Well, did you ever think your Christmas tree could help fight bird flu? It does. Find out how, straight ahead.

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LIN: Checking what we have in our pop culture patrol. The Steelers have a spot in the Super Bowl XL. Pittsburgh beat Denver 34- 17 today to win the AFC Championship. They will face either the Carolina Panthers or the Seattle Seahawks.

Say sayonara to NBC's "The West Wing ". The once popular drama has suffered severe ratings woes in recent seasons, so NBC says it's pulling the plug on the fictional White House. "The West Wing" is expected to cap its seven-year run in mid-May.

There was some blood-thirsty competition at the box office. Kate Beckinsale's new movie "Under World Evolution" took the top spot. The vampire thriller earned more than $27.5 in its debut.

The Christmas tree you threw out a couple of weeks ago has a lot more uses than you probably thought about. A Canadian company says a chemical found in the trees could be a key to fighting bird flu. CNN's Daniel Sieberg reports.

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DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Once January rolls around, what could be more useless than last months Christmas tree? Well, here's a shock -- someday soon, discarded holiday days to play a big role in the fight against bird flu.

JIM PETERSON, GRO-BARK: We're grinding the trees first to try and break it down to finer pieces so we can extract the needles.

SIEBERG: Turns out the needles of trees like pine, spruce, and fir are rich in something called shikimic, the main ingredient in Tamiflu, one of the only drugs known to be effective against the strain of avian flu that health experts worry could mutate and trigger a pandemic, spreading from human to human like a cold.

PETERSON: Unless you can get them from the forest, it's as fresh as you can get it. SIEBERG (on camera): Right. You can smell it.

PETERSON: Yeah?

SIEBERG (voice over): There's also the smell of money. There's a worldwide shortage of shikimic acid, traditionally refined from anise, the cooking spice. The price of shikimic acid has jumped 1,000 percent, from abut $45 a kilogram a year ago to over $500 a kilo today.

Now, a Canadian tree recycler, called GRO Bark, is processing discarded trees and donating them to Biolyse, another Canadian company that's taking a new approach to manufacturing the shikimic acid.

(On camera): Getting the needles from a place like GRO Bark is actually just the beginning of a fairly complex process. Once they get the needles here to the lab, they have to be dried, pulverized, and then sent to these vats, where they begin chemically extracting the acid.

(Voice over): The worldwide bird flu scare has triggered a run on Tamiflu, and the drug is in short supply. The Biolyse's CEO, Brigitte Kiecken, worries there won't be enough Tamiflu to go around in an emergency.

BRIGITTE KIECKEN, CEO, BIOLYSE PHARMA CORP.: On a personal level, I'm scared, and on a professional level, I'm terribly frustrated.

SIEBERG: Swiss company Roche Pharmaceuticals own the patent on Tamiflu and is the world's only manufacturer. Biolyse hopes to sell the shikimic acid to drug firms in developing countries, not covered by the Roche patent. It could be used in the United States and elsewhere in the case of a disaster. Infectious disease experts are encouraged.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: People are trying to work out contingency plans to make sure there is a more equitable distribution. I'm sure they'll never be perfect, but without work now, it will certainly be chaotic later.

SIEBERG: The Canadian lab is receiving trees from all over, and not just Christmas trees.

KIECKEN: The ravages of Katrina have left trees that had fell, and they were ready to collect these needles for us, and we've had Girl Guides of Canada from out West call us and say they are collecting the needles from the trees, and all kinds of very, very positive contacts.

SCHAFFNER: I was absolutely entranced that there's a small company in Canada that's making this shikimic acid out of the needles of Christmas trees. I was ready to donate our own.

SIEBERG: Biolyse is hoping to get needs from half a million trees, which they say would make many about 5 million doses of bird flu medication, turning a Christmas tree into a surprising gift. Daniel Sieberg, CNN, St. Catherine's, Ontario.

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LIN: There's much more ahead on CNN. Coming up next, "CNN Presents, Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars." The family of America's first teacher selected to travel in space, reveals her hidden side, and shares their private pain in the public tragedy. That's coming up, after a quick check of the hour's headlines.

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