Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Heavy Fighting in Najaf; Charley's Toll on Florida's Pet Population
Aired August 20, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: More fighting in Najaf as Iraq waits to find out if a religious leader will meet the demands of a political one.
It's Friday, August 20, and this is DAYBREAK.
Well, good morning to you on this Friday.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello.
Now in the news, heavy fighting in Najaf rages on. U.S. and Iraqi forces are facing off against fighters loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Iraqi government has warned the militants to stop fighting or face a major offensive. But it doesn't appear to have begun. Stay close. We are going live to Baghdad in just a few minutes for the latest from Iraq.
Now to Fallujah. Early morning air strikes by U.S. jets leave at least two Iraqis dead. Witnesses say Fallujah residents were shooting at a U.S. fighter jet with a machine gun before the bombs were dropped.
United Airlines reps are heading back to bankruptcy court in Chicago this morning. The airline is warning the court it will likely have to scrap its employee pension fund just to get back in the black.
Now to an explosion that rocks an underground gas storage facility in Texas for a second time. Check it out. This is a live picture right now. Everyone within three miles of the area in the town of Moss Bluff is being evacuated. The small town is about 40 miles northeast of Houston. The first blast sent flames 200 feet high early yesterday.
Well, flooding from typhoon Meggie is dealing a mega blow to Japan and South Korea. The death toll from the storm is now at least 13. Flooding and landslides have left thousands homeless. Meggie is now a tropical storm.
We had Charley, Meggie, it's that time of year -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We now even have Estelle out there in the Pacific, on its way to, right now at least south of the Hawaiian Islands in about seven days. We'll keep watching if it turns left or right. Hawaii is still in that. It will be called, remember the error of cone, the cone there that we talk about? The air that can go either way, if it goes left or if it goes right? Hawaii is still inside that cone.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: The battle raged all night in Najaf. Explosions lighting t sky and automatic weapons fire echoing through the streets. Much of the fighting was around the Iman Ali Mosque, where radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militiamen are still holed up.
CNN's John Vause is in Baghdad, north of Najaf, and he has the latest.
Hi there -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Betty.
It appears that since dawn, the fighting in Najaf has eased a little. There is still sporadic gunfire and the sound of explosions in an around the Iman Ali Mosque. But it does seem that the heaviest clashes were overnight.
U.S. warplanes bombed positions being held by the Mehdi militia. AC-130 gunships and helicopter gunships also hit targets east of the Iman Ali Mosque. There's also been reports of intense gun fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces and al-Sadr's men around the Najaf Cemetery.
Health ministry officials say seven people dead in Najaf over the last 24 hours, 39 wounded.
So far, no military offensive on the Iman Ali Mosque itself. But the Iraqi government appears to have increased the offensive to pressure Muqtada al-Sadr to leave the shrine, dissolve his Mehdi militia and hand over their weapons.
Al-Sadr, though, appears to be defiant. Once again, he's leaving the talking to his spokesman, saying there'll be no negotiations with the interim Iraqi government, only with a delegation from the newly appointed National Conference.
Also overnight, a spokesperson for al-Sadr has asked his supporters to hand control of the shrine over to senior Shiite religious authorities. This appears to be an attempt by al-Sadr to up the ante. There's no word yet back from those religious leaders if they have agreed to these terms.
The U.S. military has also been engaged in some serious fighting in Sadr City. That's a sprawling neighborhood, a slum, if you like, here in Baghdad. Tanks backed by helicopter gunships moved through the neighborhood. This is being described as the biggest U.S. offensive in Sadr City, a stronghold for Muqtada al-Sadr, the biggest offensive in the last few months.
The death toll in Baghdad in the last 24 hours, 10 killed, 82 wounded.
There have also been two air strikes in Fallujah, about 10 hours apart. The first air strike came when U.S. warplanes came under attack from small arms fire as well as anti-aircraft fire. They responded by sending missiles into an industrial part of the city.
The second time they fired missiles, the U.S. military says they, in fact, hit an ammunition dump or something like that. They report seeing a very big explosion.
But doctors in Fallujah say, in fact, that they hit a baby milk factory. The death toll there, at least five killed and six wounded -- Betty.
NGUYEN: That's not something we want to hear.
OK, John Vause from Baghdad, thank you.
Now we go to politics. John Kerry accuses President Bush of using surrogates to do his dirty work and Kerry is fighting back. At issue, campaign ads that attack Kerry's war record in Vietnam. Now, the ads are sponsored by a group of Republican leaning Vietnam veterans. They say Kerry exaggerated actions that led to him receiving a Bronze Star.
One of the most vocal critics is Larry Thurlow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY THURLOW, U.S. NAVY (RET.): John, on more than one occasion, embellished his record, in fact, I will say lied about what he did there, and then John uses his war record as the central plank in his platform for his bid for the presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer -- bring it on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now, the White House has refused to condemn the ad and it dismisses Kerry's accusation as completely false.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Senator Kerry knows that his latest attack is false and baseless. The president has condemned all of the ads by the shadowy groups and we have called on Senator Kerry to join us in calling for an end to all the unregulated soft money activity that is going on in this campaign. And the president has stayed focused on the issues and the choices that the voters face. That's what this ought to be about. There are some clear choices that the voters face for the future. This should not be about the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So, for more information about both presidential candidates and their stance on the issues, check out our special online coverage. That's at cnn.com/elections.
Today marks one week since hurricane Charley made landfill and parts of coastal Florida still look like a war zone. In all, emergency officials say 23 people were killed either during the storm or in hurricane related accidents. The damage is estimated at $7.4 billion, more than any hurricane since Andrew. And around 335,000 customers are still without electricity. It could be several more days before all homes and businesses get their power restored.
And, of course, while human loss of a hurricane is immeasurable, Charley's toll on Florida's pet population is also tough for some families to bear.
More on the efforts of animal rescuers from reporter Cynthia Smoot of CNN affiliate WTVT.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CYNTHIA SMOOT, WTVT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might whimper, too, if your entire world had just turned upside down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are all animals that have now been literally displaced by the storm. Some of them are lost -- we don't know where their owners are, we don't know how to find their owners. Some of them are animals that have been surrendered by their owners.
SMOOT: The Suncoast Humane Society in Englewood is full of hurricane survivors. Some have collars, some have tags, few have any form of I.D.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that beautiful collar. That collar was custom made and somebody has put that on the dog, but there is no I.D. on him.
SMOOT: They're using a letter system. X means they're lost. There are lots of those. F means foster. They'll try to find a temporary home while the owner gets back on his or her feet.
(on camera): But the saddest letter of all has to be O. That stands for owner surrender. And that means someone who was wiped out by the storm, they don't have any place to live, so they don't have any place for their pets to live, either, and they give them up permanently.
(voice-over): And that's where Rick Chaboudy and the Humane Society of North Pinellas come in. They've picked up nearly 100 animals from Suncoast since Sunday. And to date, 50 cats are headed to New York, to the North Shore Animal League America on Long Island.
RICK CHABOUDY: Whenever there's an animal need or a disaster, we try to respond. We've been to earthquakes in California. We've been down to hurricane Andrew in the past, and as well as the Exxon Valdez up in Alaska.
SMOOT: While the cats head north, Chaboudy will head south again soon to pick up even more lost pets.
CHABOUDY: We're here for the long run. We'll do what we have to do. You know, this is the way it's supposed to work when something this serious happens, and it's working.
DEBBIE DRAKE: This is Debbie.
SMOOT: And Debbie Drake is counting on it. She expects they'll be doing this for a while. DRAKE: We could be looking at two to three weeks of bringing in animals of this magnitude. I hope not. But we could be looking at that. And I think we'll still be seeing residual long after that.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NGUYEN: And that was Cynthia Smoot of affiliate WTVT reporting.
Rescuers say they've seen every type of animal this week, from dogs and cats to parrots, goats, llamas, even lions.
Well, the stars of the music industry want to help victims of hurricane Charley. Clear Channel Communications will auction off 43 autographed guitars from celebs like Tom Petty, Kenny Rogers, and, yes, Britney Spears. Who knew she played guitar? You can bid online through September 20 at www.stormaid.com.
Google.com is already causing quite a stir on Wall Street. Coming up, we'll tell you how much the company's stock went up and what the expectations are. Live from the NASDAQ. That's at 6:13.
Then, at 6:15 Eastern, if it happens in Africa, CNN's Jeff Koinange tells us and the world all about it. And he sits down with me this morning to share the highs and lows of his job.
Plus, a little bit later, we'll visit the hometown of an Olympic gold medalist miles away from the competition. But Hamm is in their hearts.
First, though, we'll take a look about what's going on this Friday.
Thanks for watching.
You're watching DAYBREAK for a Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: After three up sessions, Wall Street starts the day on the minus side.
The Dow opens down 42 points. The Nasdaq is off about 11 1/2.
And the S&P 500 is down about 4 points.
Time now for a little business buzz.
Did Google's first day of trading live up to all the hype?
Carrie Lee reports and she's live at the Nasdaq market site in Times Square.
I'd say it's a pretty good day for Google.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly a good day for investors, Betty. Google's shares trading higher, closing higher by 18 percent, to finish out at $100.34 a pop. This after Google priced its stock at $85 a share on Wednesday night.
Shares opened up about $95, hit a high of $104.06, before retreating down a little bit. There's a sign from yesterday. The Nasdaq welcoming Google. I have to say, yesterday was a rather unconventional day. The Nasdaq nor Google was saying much about the IPO expected. In fact, we didn't get the official confirmation that Google execs were actually here on site until about 45 minutes before the market opened.
The Google shares did start trading at about 11:55 and rather nice gains for the first day of trading. Of course, today is another day. We'll see what happens. But this has really made the founders of the company, as well as the CEO, at least so far very wealthy. The two founders' stock now worth about $3.8 billion each. The CEO stake about $1.4 billion. And overall the company earned $1.2 billion on the sale. So we'll see what happens going forward -- Betty.
That is the latest on Google.
Also, we are looking at futures today. It looks like yesterday's selling is going to continue. Futures looking a bit weak. One stock to watch, The Gap last night reporting profits, as expected, of $0.21 a share for the recent quarter -- back to you.
NGUYEN: That's thanks to all your shopping at The Gap, Carrie.
All right...
LEE: Always doing what I can to help the economy.
NGUYEN: Always.
Thank you.
Well, your news, money, weather and sports.
The time right now is 6:16 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning. Intense fighting in the Iraqi city of Najaf leaves seven Iraqis dead.
Meanwhile, an aid to Muqtada al-Sadr says the cleric is prepared to hand over control of a shrine to religious authorities. That holy shrine is at the heart of a Shiite uprising.
Another huge explosion rocks an underground gas storage facility in Texas. Take a look at these pictures. Flames are shooting high into the sky over Moss Bluff, which is near Houston. Residents within a three mile radius are being evacuated and additional shelters are being set up.
Now to money. Mortgage rates continue their summer slide. Freddie Mac says the average for 30-year mortgages dropped 5.81 percent. It is the lowest level in four months.
In culture, move over Monopoly, make room for Trump. The Donald releases a new board game encouraging players to cut a deal and make billions of dollars. Yes, it's that easy. And it's called Trump, The Game.
In sports, U.S. gymnast Carly Patterson wins the gold medal in the women's all around. She becomes the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic all around since Mary Lou Retton back in 1984. I remember those games. I wanted to become a Betty Lou thanks to those games -- Chad.
MYERS: Look at her go. Man, she was spectacular yesterday.
NGUYEN: I know.
MYERS: Hey, good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, we do have a special guest with us this morning at CNN Center.
Our own Jeff Koinange is in from the field.
He is the bureau chief in Nigeria and coordinates our news coverage across Africa.
Jeff, that's a lot of ground to cover and reporting from Africa has unique challenges. We want to talk about many of those challenges. We want to talk on a personal basis really.
Let's start with Sudan. We've all seen the pictures, a horrifying situation. But what's it like to really be there seeing all this death and desperation?
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, it's like nothing you've ever seen in your life, and I've covered some pretty tough patches on the continent. But Sudan is like nothing you have ever seen. People are literally dying like flies. And the United Nations, who has called it the world's worst humanitarian disaster, they predict that at best a couple of hundred thousand more will die by the end of the year. At worst, a million will die.
So what they're trying to do is just save the ones they can, literally. So they look at a person and they see if they can survive the next 24 or 48 hours, boom, they leave them alone, go to the next.
NGUYEN: They don't even tend to them?
KOINANGE: They don't even bother. There's no use. They don't have the resources. They just tend to the ones they can save.
NGUYEN: It's got to be hard, because the rest of the world, yes, we see the pictures, but with a slow economy in the U.S., with the war in Iraq, how do you get the rest of the world to pay attention to really care about the needs in Sudan?
KOINANGE: It is so difficult. And, again, Africa is not of much strategic interest to the U.S. And there are so many problems. Where do you begin?
I've got to tell you a story about when U.S. secretary general -- Secretary of State Colin Powell came to Sudan and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. They both came roughly a day apart.
Secretary of State Colin Powell gets in on the night, meets with the government, goes into the camps the next day, he spends all day there. He comes back in the evening. We were the only people he interviewed -- who got to interview him.
He was angry. He was so, you know, he said the Sudanese government is directly responsible for what's going on. He directly laid the blame at their door.
The next day, Kofi Annan goes in, a carefully laid out itinerary. He gets -- he was going to visit Camp A, Camp B, Camp C. He gets to Camp A, empty. Nobody there. No sign of life.
NGUYEN: What happened?
KOINANGE: Apparently the people had been moved the night before. The only sign of life there was the carcasses of dead donkeys. When they asked the government where these people were, they said we moved them for their own safety.
Again, this is the Sudanese government's, this is how they behave. This is how they want to show the world that they are controlling the situation on the ground. If they can't control that militia, called the Janjowe (ph), if they can't reign them in, there's a lot more problems ahead. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
NGUYEN: This has to take a bit of a personal toll, because you're human just like the rest of us. You've covered the AIDS pandemic.
How do you put on your reporter's hat but at the same time try to put your personal feelings aside?
KOINANGE: You just have to, Betty, because it's such a difficult story. AIDS, it's decimating generations across the continent. We're talking about the working class generations, young men and women who are the lifeblood of any economy, literally decimating; from South Africa, where one in 10 people are said to be infected; in tiny Botswana, population of three million, 36 percent of them are infected. That's over a million people.
How do you detach yourself from that? You just have to go in, single out one story, one person, one individual, one family and let them tell the story. That's the best way I think we can do it because you can parachute into any country, do a story and not give it enough justice. If you single in on an individual, tell the human side of that story, people will react.
NGUYEN: That's got to be a big responsibility, to do it justice. I mean that's where you come in. It has to be hard, an emotional toll there.
KOINANGE: It is. It's tough, but it's also great because like someone once said, journalism is the first draft of history. We get a front row seat on those stories. And that's a privilege in some ways. And it's our responsibility to get that story out. And these days with live TV, with video phones, with real time, everybody across the planet is watching this network.
And, again, CNN out there is so popular. When there's a breaking news story, everybody is watching us. So we have that added responsibility. Tell the story just so that we can get a reaction outside.
NGUYEN: So what's been the hardest story you've had to cover?
KOINANGE: Toughest ever has to be Liberia. I spent three months there in the summer of 2003. And up until the last minute, when former President Charles Taylor was -- kept saying that he's not going to leave, not going to leave, and then he finally got on that aircraft, on that August 11 morning. I'll never forget. Up until that day, I didn't think he was going to leave. And if he hadn't left, the entire capital would have been razed by those rebels, who had surrounded it and were getting ready to go in.
We saw so many people being killed. So many people were starving, no home, no shelter, no food, fleeing from their villages. It was a terrible, terrible story.
NGUYEN: You have seen it all. Quickly, we're almost out of time, the most rewarding story for you.
KOINANGE: The most...
NGUYEN: We've got to put that in here.
KOINANGE: Absolutely. We've got to put it in. It's got to be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. NGUYEN: Wow!
KOINANGE: And I did this for a story. I'll tell you why real quick. By the year 2020, there will be no snow left on Kilimanjaro, according to scientists, because of global warming, deforestation, human encroachment, all of that. So we went up there with a camera crew, spent four and a half days there.
NGUYEN: We're looking at video. It's beautiful.
KOINANGE: It was amazing stuff. And getting to the peak, 19,340 feet, or just under 6,000 meters...
NGUYEN: And you did that.
KOINANGE: And I did that.
NGUYEN: Way to go!
KOINANGE: It was amazing. That was the most fulfilling story.
NGUYEN: Wonderful.
We're so glad that you're here, at least in Atlanta, for a little while.
KOINANGE: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Jeff, thank you so much.
KOINANGE: It's good to be here, Betty.
Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, the world spotlight may be focused on Athens, Greece right now, but Olympic pride is just as strong in one Midwest town. The hometown of the brothers Hamm, when we come back.
Plus, a little later, the debate over John Kerry's military record. It's playing out in TV ads that aren't necessarily sponsored by the candidates themselves.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, there's talk about gymnastics this morning, because 16-year-old Carly Patterson, she is going to become a household name. She won in the women's all around. There is a picture of her right there. And she is the first U.S. woman to win the all around title since Mary Lou Retton back in 1984.
Good news for her. Maybe we'll see her on a box of Wheaties some time soon.
Well, the gymnastics events are providing plenty of drama. Earlier this week, Paul Hamm made an amazing comeback from twelfth place to win gold in the men's all around competition. Now, his face is so famous in Athens, he didn't even need to show his credentials to get back into the athletes' village.
But nowhere is the 21-year-old so familiar as in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I hope I said that right. The story of hometown pride now from CNN's Chris Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're very proud.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Signs are springing up all over the small town of Waukesha, Wisconsin, tributes to Olympics Paul Hamm and his twin brother, Morgan. After ringing up high scores in his first three events in the all-around final, Hamm vaulted into first place. Just as quickly, his family watched him tumble all the way to 12th .
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that was devastating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart broke. I said, he's great, he did wonderful, the best he could, OK.
LAWRENCE: Even Hamm himself almost lost hope.
PAUL HAMM, GOLD MEDAL WINNER: After I had that mistake on vault, I thought for sure that I had cost myself any medal, really.
LAWRENCE: But Hamm had been tested before by years of hard work at home.
MORGAN BUTLER, FAMILY FRIEND: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) calling it the Olympic barn now.
LAWRENCE: Family friend Morgan Butler watched the twins grow up on this farm, training with whatever they could. Their dad turned a railing into parallel bars, set up a trampoline in the barn, and built a pommel horse from an old maple tree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time-wise and money-wise and everything, it's a lot of investment for the parents. But it sure paid off.
LAWRENCE: In a way no one could have imagined. With the high bar his last hope, Hamm stuck the performance of his life, winning gold by 0.012 of a point.
PAUL HAMM: Think I probably daydreamed about winning the Olympics, you know, thousands of times. And I did not ever picture myself having a mistake and then winning.
LAWRENCE: But there's no mistaking now that this town is home to a true champion.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Waukesha, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NGUYEN: People in Waukesha had to be filled with pride today. Well, DAYBREAK continues in just a moment.
But as we go to break, here's a look at the other American gold medal winners from Thursday's Olympic events in Athens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 20, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: More fighting in Najaf as Iraq waits to find out if a religious leader will meet the demands of a political one.
It's Friday, August 20, and this is DAYBREAK.
Well, good morning to you on this Friday.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello.
Now in the news, heavy fighting in Najaf rages on. U.S. and Iraqi forces are facing off against fighters loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The Iraqi government has warned the militants to stop fighting or face a major offensive. But it doesn't appear to have begun. Stay close. We are going live to Baghdad in just a few minutes for the latest from Iraq.
Now to Fallujah. Early morning air strikes by U.S. jets leave at least two Iraqis dead. Witnesses say Fallujah residents were shooting at a U.S. fighter jet with a machine gun before the bombs were dropped.
United Airlines reps are heading back to bankruptcy court in Chicago this morning. The airline is warning the court it will likely have to scrap its employee pension fund just to get back in the black.
Now to an explosion that rocks an underground gas storage facility in Texas for a second time. Check it out. This is a live picture right now. Everyone within three miles of the area in the town of Moss Bluff is being evacuated. The small town is about 40 miles northeast of Houston. The first blast sent flames 200 feet high early yesterday.
Well, flooding from typhoon Meggie is dealing a mega blow to Japan and South Korea. The death toll from the storm is now at least 13. Flooding and landslides have left thousands homeless. Meggie is now a tropical storm.
We had Charley, Meggie, it's that time of year -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We now even have Estelle out there in the Pacific, on its way to, right now at least south of the Hawaiian Islands in about seven days. We'll keep watching if it turns left or right. Hawaii is still in that. It will be called, remember the error of cone, the cone there that we talk about? The air that can go either way, if it goes left or if it goes right? Hawaii is still inside that cone.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: The battle raged all night in Najaf. Explosions lighting t sky and automatic weapons fire echoing through the streets. Much of the fighting was around the Iman Ali Mosque, where radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militiamen are still holed up.
CNN's John Vause is in Baghdad, north of Najaf, and he has the latest.
Hi there -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Betty.
It appears that since dawn, the fighting in Najaf has eased a little. There is still sporadic gunfire and the sound of explosions in an around the Iman Ali Mosque. But it does seem that the heaviest clashes were overnight.
U.S. warplanes bombed positions being held by the Mehdi militia. AC-130 gunships and helicopter gunships also hit targets east of the Iman Ali Mosque. There's also been reports of intense gun fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces and al-Sadr's men around the Najaf Cemetery.
Health ministry officials say seven people dead in Najaf over the last 24 hours, 39 wounded.
So far, no military offensive on the Iman Ali Mosque itself. But the Iraqi government appears to have increased the offensive to pressure Muqtada al-Sadr to leave the shrine, dissolve his Mehdi militia and hand over their weapons.
Al-Sadr, though, appears to be defiant. Once again, he's leaving the talking to his spokesman, saying there'll be no negotiations with the interim Iraqi government, only with a delegation from the newly appointed National Conference.
Also overnight, a spokesperson for al-Sadr has asked his supporters to hand control of the shrine over to senior Shiite religious authorities. This appears to be an attempt by al-Sadr to up the ante. There's no word yet back from those religious leaders if they have agreed to these terms.
The U.S. military has also been engaged in some serious fighting in Sadr City. That's a sprawling neighborhood, a slum, if you like, here in Baghdad. Tanks backed by helicopter gunships moved through the neighborhood. This is being described as the biggest U.S. offensive in Sadr City, a stronghold for Muqtada al-Sadr, the biggest offensive in the last few months.
The death toll in Baghdad in the last 24 hours, 10 killed, 82 wounded.
There have also been two air strikes in Fallujah, about 10 hours apart. The first air strike came when U.S. warplanes came under attack from small arms fire as well as anti-aircraft fire. They responded by sending missiles into an industrial part of the city.
The second time they fired missiles, the U.S. military says they, in fact, hit an ammunition dump or something like that. They report seeing a very big explosion.
But doctors in Fallujah say, in fact, that they hit a baby milk factory. The death toll there, at least five killed and six wounded -- Betty.
NGUYEN: That's not something we want to hear.
OK, John Vause from Baghdad, thank you.
Now we go to politics. John Kerry accuses President Bush of using surrogates to do his dirty work and Kerry is fighting back. At issue, campaign ads that attack Kerry's war record in Vietnam. Now, the ads are sponsored by a group of Republican leaning Vietnam veterans. They say Kerry exaggerated actions that led to him receiving a Bronze Star.
One of the most vocal critics is Larry Thurlow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY THURLOW, U.S. NAVY (RET.): John, on more than one occasion, embellished his record, in fact, I will say lied about what he did there, and then John uses his war record as the central plank in his platform for his bid for the presidency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer -- bring it on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Now, the White House has refused to condemn the ad and it dismisses Kerry's accusation as completely false.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Senator Kerry knows that his latest attack is false and baseless. The president has condemned all of the ads by the shadowy groups and we have called on Senator Kerry to join us in calling for an end to all the unregulated soft money activity that is going on in this campaign. And the president has stayed focused on the issues and the choices that the voters face. That's what this ought to be about. There are some clear choices that the voters face for the future. This should not be about the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So, for more information about both presidential candidates and their stance on the issues, check out our special online coverage. That's at cnn.com/elections.
Today marks one week since hurricane Charley made landfill and parts of coastal Florida still look like a war zone. In all, emergency officials say 23 people were killed either during the storm or in hurricane related accidents. The damage is estimated at $7.4 billion, more than any hurricane since Andrew. And around 335,000 customers are still without electricity. It could be several more days before all homes and businesses get their power restored.
And, of course, while human loss of a hurricane is immeasurable, Charley's toll on Florida's pet population is also tough for some families to bear.
More on the efforts of animal rescuers from reporter Cynthia Smoot of CNN affiliate WTVT.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CYNTHIA SMOOT, WTVT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might whimper, too, if your entire world had just turned upside down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are all animals that have now been literally displaced by the storm. Some of them are lost -- we don't know where their owners are, we don't know how to find their owners. Some of them are animals that have been surrendered by their owners.
SMOOT: The Suncoast Humane Society in Englewood is full of hurricane survivors. Some have collars, some have tags, few have any form of I.D.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at that beautiful collar. That collar was custom made and somebody has put that on the dog, but there is no I.D. on him.
SMOOT: They're using a letter system. X means they're lost. There are lots of those. F means foster. They'll try to find a temporary home while the owner gets back on his or her feet.
(on camera): But the saddest letter of all has to be O. That stands for owner surrender. And that means someone who was wiped out by the storm, they don't have any place to live, so they don't have any place for their pets to live, either, and they give them up permanently.
(voice-over): And that's where Rick Chaboudy and the Humane Society of North Pinellas come in. They've picked up nearly 100 animals from Suncoast since Sunday. And to date, 50 cats are headed to New York, to the North Shore Animal League America on Long Island.
RICK CHABOUDY: Whenever there's an animal need or a disaster, we try to respond. We've been to earthquakes in California. We've been down to hurricane Andrew in the past, and as well as the Exxon Valdez up in Alaska.
SMOOT: While the cats head north, Chaboudy will head south again soon to pick up even more lost pets.
CHABOUDY: We're here for the long run. We'll do what we have to do. You know, this is the way it's supposed to work when something this serious happens, and it's working.
DEBBIE DRAKE: This is Debbie.
SMOOT: And Debbie Drake is counting on it. She expects they'll be doing this for a while. DRAKE: We could be looking at two to three weeks of bringing in animals of this magnitude. I hope not. But we could be looking at that. And I think we'll still be seeing residual long after that.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NGUYEN: And that was Cynthia Smoot of affiliate WTVT reporting.
Rescuers say they've seen every type of animal this week, from dogs and cats to parrots, goats, llamas, even lions.
Well, the stars of the music industry want to help victims of hurricane Charley. Clear Channel Communications will auction off 43 autographed guitars from celebs like Tom Petty, Kenny Rogers, and, yes, Britney Spears. Who knew she played guitar? You can bid online through September 20 at www.stormaid.com.
Google.com is already causing quite a stir on Wall Street. Coming up, we'll tell you how much the company's stock went up and what the expectations are. Live from the NASDAQ. That's at 6:13.
Then, at 6:15 Eastern, if it happens in Africa, CNN's Jeff Koinange tells us and the world all about it. And he sits down with me this morning to share the highs and lows of his job.
Plus, a little bit later, we'll visit the hometown of an Olympic gold medalist miles away from the competition. But Hamm is in their hearts.
First, though, we'll take a look about what's going on this Friday.
Thanks for watching.
You're watching DAYBREAK for a Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: After three up sessions, Wall Street starts the day on the minus side.
The Dow opens down 42 points. The Nasdaq is off about 11 1/2.
And the S&P 500 is down about 4 points.
Time now for a little business buzz.
Did Google's first day of trading live up to all the hype?
Carrie Lee reports and she's live at the Nasdaq market site in Times Square.
I'd say it's a pretty good day for Google.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly a good day for investors, Betty. Google's shares trading higher, closing higher by 18 percent, to finish out at $100.34 a pop. This after Google priced its stock at $85 a share on Wednesday night.
Shares opened up about $95, hit a high of $104.06, before retreating down a little bit. There's a sign from yesterday. The Nasdaq welcoming Google. I have to say, yesterday was a rather unconventional day. The Nasdaq nor Google was saying much about the IPO expected. In fact, we didn't get the official confirmation that Google execs were actually here on site until about 45 minutes before the market opened.
The Google shares did start trading at about 11:55 and rather nice gains for the first day of trading. Of course, today is another day. We'll see what happens. But this has really made the founders of the company, as well as the CEO, at least so far very wealthy. The two founders' stock now worth about $3.8 billion each. The CEO stake about $1.4 billion. And overall the company earned $1.2 billion on the sale. So we'll see what happens going forward -- Betty.
That is the latest on Google.
Also, we are looking at futures today. It looks like yesterday's selling is going to continue. Futures looking a bit weak. One stock to watch, The Gap last night reporting profits, as expected, of $0.21 a share for the recent quarter -- back to you.
NGUYEN: That's thanks to all your shopping at The Gap, Carrie.
All right...
LEE: Always doing what I can to help the economy.
NGUYEN: Always.
Thank you.
Well, your news, money, weather and sports.
The time right now is 6:16 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning. Intense fighting in the Iraqi city of Najaf leaves seven Iraqis dead.
Meanwhile, an aid to Muqtada al-Sadr says the cleric is prepared to hand over control of a shrine to religious authorities. That holy shrine is at the heart of a Shiite uprising.
Another huge explosion rocks an underground gas storage facility in Texas. Take a look at these pictures. Flames are shooting high into the sky over Moss Bluff, which is near Houston. Residents within a three mile radius are being evacuated and additional shelters are being set up.
Now to money. Mortgage rates continue their summer slide. Freddie Mac says the average for 30-year mortgages dropped 5.81 percent. It is the lowest level in four months.
In culture, move over Monopoly, make room for Trump. The Donald releases a new board game encouraging players to cut a deal and make billions of dollars. Yes, it's that easy. And it's called Trump, The Game.
In sports, U.S. gymnast Carly Patterson wins the gold medal in the women's all around. She becomes the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic all around since Mary Lou Retton back in 1984. I remember those games. I wanted to become a Betty Lou thanks to those games -- Chad.
MYERS: Look at her go. Man, she was spectacular yesterday.
NGUYEN: I know.
MYERS: Hey, good morning, everybody.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well, we do have a special guest with us this morning at CNN Center.
Our own Jeff Koinange is in from the field.
He is the bureau chief in Nigeria and coordinates our news coverage across Africa.
Jeff, that's a lot of ground to cover and reporting from Africa has unique challenges. We want to talk about many of those challenges. We want to talk on a personal basis really.
Let's start with Sudan. We've all seen the pictures, a horrifying situation. But what's it like to really be there seeing all this death and desperation?
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, it's like nothing you've ever seen in your life, and I've covered some pretty tough patches on the continent. But Sudan is like nothing you have ever seen. People are literally dying like flies. And the United Nations, who has called it the world's worst humanitarian disaster, they predict that at best a couple of hundred thousand more will die by the end of the year. At worst, a million will die.
So what they're trying to do is just save the ones they can, literally. So they look at a person and they see if they can survive the next 24 or 48 hours, boom, they leave them alone, go to the next.
NGUYEN: They don't even tend to them?
KOINANGE: They don't even bother. There's no use. They don't have the resources. They just tend to the ones they can save.
NGUYEN: It's got to be hard, because the rest of the world, yes, we see the pictures, but with a slow economy in the U.S., with the war in Iraq, how do you get the rest of the world to pay attention to really care about the needs in Sudan?
KOINANGE: It is so difficult. And, again, Africa is not of much strategic interest to the U.S. And there are so many problems. Where do you begin?
I've got to tell you a story about when U.S. secretary general -- Secretary of State Colin Powell came to Sudan and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. They both came roughly a day apart.
Secretary of State Colin Powell gets in on the night, meets with the government, goes into the camps the next day, he spends all day there. He comes back in the evening. We were the only people he interviewed -- who got to interview him.
He was angry. He was so, you know, he said the Sudanese government is directly responsible for what's going on. He directly laid the blame at their door.
The next day, Kofi Annan goes in, a carefully laid out itinerary. He gets -- he was going to visit Camp A, Camp B, Camp C. He gets to Camp A, empty. Nobody there. No sign of life.
NGUYEN: What happened?
KOINANGE: Apparently the people had been moved the night before. The only sign of life there was the carcasses of dead donkeys. When they asked the government where these people were, they said we moved them for their own safety.
Again, this is the Sudanese government's, this is how they behave. This is how they want to show the world that they are controlling the situation on the ground. If they can't control that militia, called the Janjowe (ph), if they can't reign them in, there's a lot more problems ahead. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
NGUYEN: This has to take a bit of a personal toll, because you're human just like the rest of us. You've covered the AIDS pandemic.
How do you put on your reporter's hat but at the same time try to put your personal feelings aside?
KOINANGE: You just have to, Betty, because it's such a difficult story. AIDS, it's decimating generations across the continent. We're talking about the working class generations, young men and women who are the lifeblood of any economy, literally decimating; from South Africa, where one in 10 people are said to be infected; in tiny Botswana, population of three million, 36 percent of them are infected. That's over a million people.
How do you detach yourself from that? You just have to go in, single out one story, one person, one individual, one family and let them tell the story. That's the best way I think we can do it because you can parachute into any country, do a story and not give it enough justice. If you single in on an individual, tell the human side of that story, people will react.
NGUYEN: That's got to be a big responsibility, to do it justice. I mean that's where you come in. It has to be hard, an emotional toll there.
KOINANGE: It is. It's tough, but it's also great because like someone once said, journalism is the first draft of history. We get a front row seat on those stories. And that's a privilege in some ways. And it's our responsibility to get that story out. And these days with live TV, with video phones, with real time, everybody across the planet is watching this network.
And, again, CNN out there is so popular. When there's a breaking news story, everybody is watching us. So we have that added responsibility. Tell the story just so that we can get a reaction outside.
NGUYEN: So what's been the hardest story you've had to cover?
KOINANGE: Toughest ever has to be Liberia. I spent three months there in the summer of 2003. And up until the last minute, when former President Charles Taylor was -- kept saying that he's not going to leave, not going to leave, and then he finally got on that aircraft, on that August 11 morning. I'll never forget. Up until that day, I didn't think he was going to leave. And if he hadn't left, the entire capital would have been razed by those rebels, who had surrounded it and were getting ready to go in.
We saw so many people being killed. So many people were starving, no home, no shelter, no food, fleeing from their villages. It was a terrible, terrible story.
NGUYEN: You have seen it all. Quickly, we're almost out of time, the most rewarding story for you.
KOINANGE: The most...
NGUYEN: We've got to put that in here.
KOINANGE: Absolutely. We've got to put it in. It's got to be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. NGUYEN: Wow!
KOINANGE: And I did this for a story. I'll tell you why real quick. By the year 2020, there will be no snow left on Kilimanjaro, according to scientists, because of global warming, deforestation, human encroachment, all of that. So we went up there with a camera crew, spent four and a half days there.
NGUYEN: We're looking at video. It's beautiful.
KOINANGE: It was amazing stuff. And getting to the peak, 19,340 feet, or just under 6,000 meters...
NGUYEN: And you did that.
KOINANGE: And I did that.
NGUYEN: Way to go!
KOINANGE: It was amazing. That was the most fulfilling story.
NGUYEN: Wonderful.
We're so glad that you're here, at least in Atlanta, for a little while.
KOINANGE: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Jeff, thank you so much.
KOINANGE: It's good to be here, Betty.
Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, the world spotlight may be focused on Athens, Greece right now, but Olympic pride is just as strong in one Midwest town. The hometown of the brothers Hamm, when we come back.
Plus, a little later, the debate over John Kerry's military record. It's playing out in TV ads that aren't necessarily sponsored by the candidates themselves.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, there's talk about gymnastics this morning, because 16-year-old Carly Patterson, she is going to become a household name. She won in the women's all around. There is a picture of her right there. And she is the first U.S. woman to win the all around title since Mary Lou Retton back in 1984.
Good news for her. Maybe we'll see her on a box of Wheaties some time soon.
Well, the gymnastics events are providing plenty of drama. Earlier this week, Paul Hamm made an amazing comeback from twelfth place to win gold in the men's all around competition. Now, his face is so famous in Athens, he didn't even need to show his credentials to get back into the athletes' village.
But nowhere is the 21-year-old so familiar as in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I hope I said that right. The story of hometown pride now from CNN's Chris Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're very proud.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Signs are springing up all over the small town of Waukesha, Wisconsin, tributes to Olympics Paul Hamm and his twin brother, Morgan. After ringing up high scores in his first three events in the all-around final, Hamm vaulted into first place. Just as quickly, his family watched him tumble all the way to 12th .
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that was devastating.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart broke. I said, he's great, he did wonderful, the best he could, OK.
LAWRENCE: Even Hamm himself almost lost hope.
PAUL HAMM, GOLD MEDAL WINNER: After I had that mistake on vault, I thought for sure that I had cost myself any medal, really.
LAWRENCE: But Hamm had been tested before by years of hard work at home.
MORGAN BUTLER, FAMILY FRIEND: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) calling it the Olympic barn now.
LAWRENCE: Family friend Morgan Butler watched the twins grow up on this farm, training with whatever they could. Their dad turned a railing into parallel bars, set up a trampoline in the barn, and built a pommel horse from an old maple tree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time-wise and money-wise and everything, it's a lot of investment for the parents. But it sure paid off.
LAWRENCE: In a way no one could have imagined. With the high bar his last hope, Hamm stuck the performance of his life, winning gold by 0.012 of a point.
PAUL HAMM: Think I probably daydreamed about winning the Olympics, you know, thousands of times. And I did not ever picture myself having a mistake and then winning.
LAWRENCE: But there's no mistaking now that this town is home to a true champion.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Waukesha, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
NGUYEN: People in Waukesha had to be filled with pride today. Well, DAYBREAK continues in just a moment.
But as we go to break, here's a look at the other American gold medal winners from Thursday's Olympic events in Athens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
