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CNN Live Sunday

9/11 Families Ratchet Up Pressure on Washington; More Violence in Iraq

Aired December 05, 2004 - 11:00   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's 11:00 a.m. in Washington, 8:00 a.m. in Los Angeles. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Ahead this hour, a drive to work turns deadly for more than a dozen Iraqi civilians as U.S. forces cross a grim milestone in the fight for Iraq. We'll have a live report from Baghdad.
Find out how families of 9/11 victims are ratcheting up the pressure on Washington to get an intelligence reform bill passed.

Plus, this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLIFF ARNEBUCK, COMMON CAUSE OHIO: Every form of irregularity that you can conceive of seemed to be happening in Ohio in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Why some say the U.S. presidential election results need to be given a second look.

But first a check of the top stories.

A prison swap between Israel and Egypt is complete. Egypt released Israeli business businessman Azzam Azzam today. He spent eight years in jail on spy charges. Israel meanwhile released six jailed Egyptian students. We'll have more on the exchange in a live report from Jerusalem at 14 minutes after the hour.

Russians rally. Rival groups are demonstrating in Moscow over the upcoming Ukraine presidential runoff. A pro-democracy group accuses the Kremlin of trying to influence the election. Meanwhile, a communist group demonstrated against opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. The run off is scheduled for December 26th.

A powerful pill in the fight against leukemia. Researchers say a new drug taken orally put 86 percent of trial participants into remission, meaning signs of their cancer disappeared. It's only phase one of the trial but doctors say the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug will save lives.

In Iraq, a morbid milestone for American forces. 1,000 U.S. troops have died in hostile action since the war began. This comes during a weekend of bloody attacks in Iraq. CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us live from Baghdad. Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, a very bloody day for Iraq. It began early in the morning about 6:30 in the morning close to the town of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. An Iraqi Army convoy was passing up the main highway. They were attacked by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. One Iraqi army person was killed, four wounded.

About two hours later about 50 miles north of there, again, on the same highway running north of Baghdad towards the Turkish border, the bloodiest attack occurred here. A busload of Iraqi civilian workers were turning up for work at a weapons collection compound run by the multinational force. They were contractors there hoping to collect those weapons, collect and destroy them. Two cars full of gunmen turned up at the bus stop just when the Iraqi workman were about to get off their bus. They opened fire, 17 of the Iraqis were killed, 13 wounded.

Another attack occurred just an hour later about 50 miles north of there, just outside the oil refining town of Beiji. There three Iraqi guard officers were killed. They were on duty at a checkpoint. What happened a bomber drove up in a car, detonated the car bomb and that killed the three Iraqi national guard officers working there. Also, there were a number of others injured at that particular checkpoint. 18 were injured along with them, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Nic, these attacks, these stepped up attacks are, in part, to blame or being blamed on the fact that these are forms of intimidation as we lead up to the January scheduled elections. Is there any way of determining at this point whether the many hundreds of volunteers, people who have decided to work for the elections in January, whether they are indeed intimidated and have decided not to participate in helping to make these elections happen as a result of all this violence?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly there is a lot of evidence to support that people are being intimidated and the insurgents have targeted people who are supposed to deliver election leaflets to people. They have been told, quite categorically in some cases, to destroy the papers or hand over the papers to the insurgents. Otherwise they will be targeted and killed.

It is having an impact on the elections, not in all areas of the country, but those areas where the insurgents are particularly active. Most all that has been happening there has been happening in Baghdad and happening in other cities around the country and it is happening on -- it is having an impact on those working to prepare for the elections.

The coalition officials here and indeed, the Iraqi government is completely plans to push ahead with the January 30th elections. So people that I've been able to talk to and it is much harder these days to get out and talk with Iraqis on the streets. But the people that I have talked to say the Iraqis I've talked to say that they do support the elections and that they do want these elections to happen. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson from Baghdad, thanks so much.

Here at home, families of 9/11 victims are galvanizing at ground zero. They're pushing for passage of the intelligence reform legislation. The families are holding another vigil today at the World Trade Center site in New York. They have been collecting signatures at ground zero all week and will give those signatures to House Speaker Dennis Hastert tomorrow. Families want a House floor vote on the bill. President Bush has also been pressuring lawmakers to pass the intelligence reform bill, but with Congress returning to session tomorrow, he's still at odds with some House Republicans over the legislation. CNN's Kathleen Koch is live from the White House with details on that. Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, now the president may be getting some push back from a Senate Republican, as well. Senator John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee tried to put out a statement expressing concern about whether or not the bill preserves the chain of command, making certain that troops in the field will still have first priority in getting the intelligence that they need.

So President Bush has been turning up the heat. He's been calling members of Congress, as has the vice president. The president lobbying for the intel bill in his weekend radio address. Some say that he should do more, though, others, at least one Republican leader, are predicting that a deal will be reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D) MINORITY LEADER: The president, who controls both houses of Congress, should use his power and he said that he has power. He has a mandate. Let him pull a few bucks out of that pocket of mandate and give it to the House and Senate and say, here is part of my mandate. I want this legislation to pass.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R) TENNESSEE: I think everybody's going to come to the table and in the best spirit of the way these bodies work when they work well will come together and there will be compromise, but compromise that will be to the satisfaction of the majority of people in the House and the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And though so lawmakers do have new concerns about the intel bill, it's gotten a boost from a powerful Pentagon figure, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. General Richard Myers came out Thursday saying that his initial concerns about the intelligence bill have been addressed. As for a final vote, Congress does come back to work. It's back in session on Monday and Senator Frist is predicting that by mid-week, that he believes that conferees could come up with a bill that will pass. Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch at the White House, thanks so much.

The nation's intelligence operation plays an important part in protecting America's ports. The Coast Guard and U.S. Customs Service also have significant roles to keeping the seaways safe. CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 9/11, port security has become a Coast Guard mantra.

CPT. PETER V. HEFFENGER, U.S. COAST GUARD: Detect, deter, prevent and respond to any terrorist-type incident.

MARQUEZ: The preventing is done by identifying high interest ships long before they reach U.S shores and once they're here, it's the Coast Guard's job to board them, to ensure crew and cargo check out. The nation's busiest seaport, it's a Herculean task.

HEFFENGER: I don't want to discover something when it's already in the port.

MARQUEZ: What's in the port are containers. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach process 45 percent of the containers carrying goods like clothing and electronics arriving on U.S. shores.

HEFFENGER: Modern seaports weren't designed with security in mind. They were designed for efficiency.

MARQUEZ: For port workers, background checks and TSA identity cards are on the way. In the age of terrorism, the threats to such a vast system are easily imagined.

VERA ADAMS, U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE: Traditional explosives, anything radioactive that might be coming in, that might be used against the country and people coming in.

MARQUEZ: So while the Coast Guard secures the ships, the Custom's Service is responsible for what's inside each container.

ADAMS: We have a layered system of filters.

MARQUEZ: The number of containers are so vast that only a small fraction, about 6 percent are identified for X-ray scanning, either dockside or by more traditional means and even a smaller number of goods are inspected by hand. The Custom's Service says the key to security is in identifying those containers that need to be searched or scanned.

ADAMS: It's important to focus on examining all the containers we identify as high risk, not to have a certain set percentage as a goal.

MARQUEZ: Law enforcement officials say protecting U.S. ports and shipping supply lines comes down to intelligence. Knowing every shipper worldwide, how they operate and who their friends are. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Turning now to the steroid scandal. In major league baseball, steroid abuse is going to be a major talking point at the baseball players union meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, this week. The league has come under harsh scrutiny following reports last week alleging that Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi used performance enhancing drugs.

Meanwhile, Arizona Senator John McCain has issued a warning. He says baseball has until January to get its drug problem under control. If not, McCain says, he'll introduce legislation to get the job done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) ARIZONA: It's very clear that there was a number of people involved in this. And, finally I don't care much about Mr. Bonds or Mr. Sheffield or anybody else. What I care about are high school athletes who are tempted to use steroids because they think that's the only way they can make it in the major leagues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And baseball's steroid problem is apparently nothing new. Former MVP Jose Canseco admitted years ago that he took steroids and said other players used them, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE CANSECO, FMR. MLB PLAYER: In general, there are certain athletes who use steroids in a proper fashion under supervision and so forth under a doctor's care and there are other athletes who don't take it under supervision or under a doctor's care and really use higher dosages that are necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Canseco talked to CNN last night. Despite admissions by Canseco and others, the Baseball Players Association still does not have random, year-round drug testing and the scandal leaves open the question of the validity of some sports records.

Well, he spent eight years in an Egyptian prison as an accused spy for Israel. But this morning he's a free man and back home. Find out what today's developments could mean for the Middle East peace process. We'll have a live report from Jerusalem coming up next.

Plus, was all the voting in this country on the up and up? We'll separate fact from fiction when it comes to allegations of voter fraud.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In what might be seen as warming of relations between Egypt and Israel, the two countries made an exchange of prisoners today. CNN's John Vause joins us from Jerusalem -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. Azzam Azzam is an Israeli Arab businessman who worked at a textile plant in Cairo. Back in November 1996, the Egyptian authorities accused him of spying on Egypt for the Israeli Secret Service. Among the charges was that he would transfer secrets to the Israeli Secret Service by using women's underwear soaked with invisible ink.

Now earlier today, he was released from his Israeli prison. He crossed the border at Taba into Israel. He phoned his family telling them that he was coming home. He also spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon thanking the prime minister for personally negotiating his release. Ariel Sharon said welcome home, back home to Israel. Now it seems that this deal was worked out by the Egyptian foreign minister and the head of the Egyptian intelligence on a visit to Israel last week. The Egyptian Hosni Mubarak telling Ariel Sharon that this was a personal gesture.

Now, in return, Ariel Sharon has released six Egyptian students who were arrested in August this year, though caught sneaking into Israel, though armed allegedly with 14 knives as well as an air rifle, prosecutors allege that they were part of a plot to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers.

Now, these students maintain they were just coming into Israel looking for work, but earlier before Azzam Azzam was released, the six student were released and they are now on their way home. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And John, what will they say to perhaps the future relations between Israel and Egypt? Are people overly optimistic?

VAUSE: What we're seeing, yeah, what we're seeing is that there has been this warming of what has been a very, very cold peace between Israel and Egypt. Of course they signed a treaty back in 1979 between these two countries but there has been a great deal of strain of the relationship, especially over the last four years.

After the start of the Palestinian uprising, Egypt withdrew its ambassador to Tel Aviv. A short time after that uprising, there is even talk now that that ambassador may be sent back to Tel Aviv. If you cast your mind back to a few weeks ago, Israeli soldiers shot and killed some Egyptian policemen, three Egyptian policemen on the border with Gaza. Ariel Sharon phoned personally to apologize for that. Mubarak accepted that apology very very quickly. This relationship has been on the mend and has been on the up, if you like, ever since the bombing of the Hilton Taba in October of this year, both countries promising to work closely on measures like security, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: John Vause in Jerusalem, thanks so much for that report. Now, a look at some other stories making news around the world.

First to Africa, gunfire is reported between U.N. forces and militia groups in the democratic republic of Congo. U.N. forces have been flying over the region, looking for troop movements from Rwanda. Meantime, Rwanda strongly denies its forces are moving across the border into neighboring Congo.

In the Philippines, relief supplies of food and water finally reaching provinces cut off by days of deadly flooding. Four major storms have struck in the past two weeks. More than 1,000 people are dead or missing. Helicopters are carrying out the sick and wounded.

And in Tokyo, the problem is too much wind. Record-setting high winds in the Japanese capital have injured at least 14 people. Gusts have been clocked at more than 90 miles per hour, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

John Kerry isn't contesting his loss to President Bush in the November election, so what did hundreds turn out for at an Ohio rally? And they're demanding a recount, why? We'll explain coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: And for those who just couldn't get enough election year hoopla, Louisiana's two congressional run offs have been decided. Republican Charles Boustany, a retired heart surgeon, beat out Democrat state Senator Willy Mount in the seventh district. Further south in the third district, Democrat Charles Melancon eked out a victory over Republican Billy Tauzin. Melancon beat Tauzin by barely 500 votes for a seat that Tauzin's father had held for more than 20 years.

Meanwhile, some voters in Ohio aren't ready for the presidential election to end just yet. About 400 people gathered outside the state house in Columbus demanding a recount of the votes cast in this year's presidential election. Protesters claim that election day irregularities and in some cases fraud gave the state's 20 crucial electoral votes to President Bush.

And with more on the situation in Ohio, we turn to CNN's Adaora Udoji.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) These Ohio voters are not convinced President Bush won their state giving him four more years in the White House.

CLIFF ARNEBUCK, COMMON CAUSE OHIO: Every form of irregularity that you can conceive of seemed to be happening in Ohio in this election.

REV. JESSE JACKSON: Make a case for recount.

UDOJI: Helped by Reverend Jesse Jackson, they plan to challenge official results to be released Monday and demand a recount, even though Senator John Kerry's losing campaign is not contesting the outcome. Ohio election officials say the results are sound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats and Republicans are working together to make sure they get it right. UDOJI: It's not just Ohio. Complaints and accusations have flooded on to the Internet and in headlines almost faster than fact checkers can check them, some theories quickly debunked by fact. "The Boston Globe" reports in North Carolina it initially appeared nearly 4,500 electronic votes had disappeared. Later, an election official explained fatigued workers missed a computer signal. It was corrected.

The "New York Times" reported on accusations in Cleveland that there were more votes counted than there were voters. It turned out to be a clerical error. But the nonpartisan Verified Voting Foundation is looking into reports of more than 37,000 incidents of election irregularities and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission acknowledges there were glitches across the country. Machine didn't work, workers showed up late, you name it. They're reviewing it all.

DEFOREST SOARIES, ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION: The fact is the election results can be trusted. The margin this year for president was wide enough for us not to believe that any glitches would impact the outcome of the presidential race.

UDOJI: Still, three Democratic congressmen have raised more election questions. They asked the General Accounting Office to look into alleged problems and it is. Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Let's get a look at the Sunday weather picture with Orelon Sidney. Good morning to you Orelon.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, good morning. It's an interesting day across the plain states. We've been watching since early this morning an area of low pressure that moved across the southern tier and then is continuing now into the Midwest. Ahead of that and along the system, you're finding quite a bit of rainfall. The northern edge here, you're getting some snow as far north as Lincoln, Nebraska now.

Most of the rain has moved out of Texas, even though east Texas continues to get soaked this afternoon. We'll continue to see the rain spreading eastward and northeastward as much as two inches to fall in some locations in the next 24 hours. Not looking at much severe weather, but we're watching a new storm system that is going to pull into the west tomorrow. It's really going to change conditions in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles. You're going to be pretty nice today. Los Angeles has some rain, your high 63 expected.

But tomorrow, a new Pacific system starts to pull in to northern California. There you can see as much as five inches of rain along the coast. Multiply that by six to 10 and you can see over 30 inches of snow in the higher elevations of the northern Sierra and the southern Cascades. We also have a risk of severe thunderstorms tomorrow right across eastern Texas, the Mississippi valley and the Gulf coast as far north as the lower great lakes. That's as a cold front system pushes into some warm and humid air across the east.

It will be snowing in the great lakes tomorrow and in New England and we'll see temperatures generally on the warm side in the southeast, but you're going to be cooling off once the front passes through. Highs in the 60s and 70s for Monday, colder air due in on Tuesday. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right Orelon, I predict a lot of happy skiers out there. All that snow. That's nice.

SIDNEY: Yes, indeed.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot Orelon.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Putting religion before sports. A California football team refuses to play a championship game scheduled on Sundays. We'll tell you why they'll still get a chance at the title anyway.

First, here's Howard Kurtz with a preview of RELIABLE SOURCES.

HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Coming up, the U.S versus the neighbor to the north. President Bush's visit to Canada shed some lights on dueling images of the two countries in the press.

Plus, should reporters go to jail to protect their confidential sources? With a number of journalists around the country facing jail time, we'll talk about the media under siege.

Plus, Tom Brokaw's farewell and the speculation sweepstakes over some high-profile positions in politics and the press. That's all next on "RELIABLE SOURCES."

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 December 5, 2004 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's 11:00 a.m. in Washington, 8:00 a.m. in Los Angeles. I'm Fredricka Whitfield at CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta. Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. Ahead this hour, a drive to work turns deadly for more than a dozen Iraqi civilians as U.S. forces cross a grim milestone in the fight for Iraq. We'll have a live report from Baghdad.
Find out how families of 9/11 victims are ratcheting up the pressure on Washington to get an intelligence reform bill passed.

Plus, this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLIFF ARNEBUCK, COMMON CAUSE OHIO: Every form of irregularity that you can conceive of seemed to be happening in Ohio in this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Why some say the U.S. presidential election results need to be given a second look.

But first a check of the top stories.

A prison swap between Israel and Egypt is complete. Egypt released Israeli business businessman Azzam Azzam today. He spent eight years in jail on spy charges. Israel meanwhile released six jailed Egyptian students. We'll have more on the exchange in a live report from Jerusalem at 14 minutes after the hour.

Russians rally. Rival groups are demonstrating in Moscow over the upcoming Ukraine presidential runoff. A pro-democracy group accuses the Kremlin of trying to influence the election. Meanwhile, a communist group demonstrated against opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. The run off is scheduled for December 26th.

A powerful pill in the fight against leukemia. Researchers say a new drug taken orally put 86 percent of trial participants into remission, meaning signs of their cancer disappeared. It's only phase one of the trial but doctors say the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug will save lives.

In Iraq, a morbid milestone for American forces. 1,000 U.S. troops have died in hostile action since the war began. This comes during a weekend of bloody attacks in Iraq. CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us live from Baghdad. Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, a very bloody day for Iraq. It began early in the morning about 6:30 in the morning close to the town of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. An Iraqi Army convoy was passing up the main highway. They were attacked by insurgents firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. One Iraqi army person was killed, four wounded.

About two hours later about 50 miles north of there, again, on the same highway running north of Baghdad towards the Turkish border, the bloodiest attack occurred here. A busload of Iraqi civilian workers were turning up for work at a weapons collection compound run by the multinational force. They were contractors there hoping to collect those weapons, collect and destroy them. Two cars full of gunmen turned up at the bus stop just when the Iraqi workman were about to get off their bus. They opened fire, 17 of the Iraqis were killed, 13 wounded.

Another attack occurred just an hour later about 50 miles north of there, just outside the oil refining town of Beiji. There three Iraqi guard officers were killed. They were on duty at a checkpoint. What happened a bomber drove up in a car, detonated the car bomb and that killed the three Iraqi national guard officers working there. Also, there were a number of others injured at that particular checkpoint. 18 were injured along with them, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Nic, these attacks, these stepped up attacks are, in part, to blame or being blamed on the fact that these are forms of intimidation as we lead up to the January scheduled elections. Is there any way of determining at this point whether the many hundreds of volunteers, people who have decided to work for the elections in January, whether they are indeed intimidated and have decided not to participate in helping to make these elections happen as a result of all this violence?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly there is a lot of evidence to support that people are being intimidated and the insurgents have targeted people who are supposed to deliver election leaflets to people. They have been told, quite categorically in some cases, to destroy the papers or hand over the papers to the insurgents. Otherwise they will be targeted and killed.

It is having an impact on the elections, not in all areas of the country, but those areas where the insurgents are particularly active. Most all that has been happening there has been happening in Baghdad and happening in other cities around the country and it is happening on -- it is having an impact on those working to prepare for the elections.

The coalition officials here and indeed, the Iraqi government is completely plans to push ahead with the January 30th elections. So people that I've been able to talk to and it is much harder these days to get out and talk with Iraqis on the streets. But the people that I have talked to say the Iraqis I've talked to say that they do support the elections and that they do want these elections to happen. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson from Baghdad, thanks so much.

Here at home, families of 9/11 victims are galvanizing at ground zero. They're pushing for passage of the intelligence reform legislation. The families are holding another vigil today at the World Trade Center site in New York. They have been collecting signatures at ground zero all week and will give those signatures to House Speaker Dennis Hastert tomorrow. Families want a House floor vote on the bill. President Bush has also been pressuring lawmakers to pass the intelligence reform bill, but with Congress returning to session tomorrow, he's still at odds with some House Republicans over the legislation. CNN's Kathleen Koch is live from the White House with details on that. Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, now the president may be getting some push back from a Senate Republican, as well. Senator John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee tried to put out a statement expressing concern about whether or not the bill preserves the chain of command, making certain that troops in the field will still have first priority in getting the intelligence that they need.

So President Bush has been turning up the heat. He's been calling members of Congress, as has the vice president. The president lobbying for the intel bill in his weekend radio address. Some say that he should do more, though, others, at least one Republican leader, are predicting that a deal will be reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D) MINORITY LEADER: The president, who controls both houses of Congress, should use his power and he said that he has power. He has a mandate. Let him pull a few bucks out of that pocket of mandate and give it to the House and Senate and say, here is part of my mandate. I want this legislation to pass.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R) TENNESSEE: I think everybody's going to come to the table and in the best spirit of the way these bodies work when they work well will come together and there will be compromise, but compromise that will be to the satisfaction of the majority of people in the House and the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: And though so lawmakers do have new concerns about the intel bill, it's gotten a boost from a powerful Pentagon figure, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. General Richard Myers came out Thursday saying that his initial concerns about the intelligence bill have been addressed. As for a final vote, Congress does come back to work. It's back in session on Monday and Senator Frist is predicting that by mid-week, that he believes that conferees could come up with a bill that will pass. Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch at the White House, thanks so much.

The nation's intelligence operation plays an important part in protecting America's ports. The Coast Guard and U.S. Customs Service also have significant roles to keeping the seaways safe. CNN's Miguel Marquez reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 9/11, port security has become a Coast Guard mantra.

CPT. PETER V. HEFFENGER, U.S. COAST GUARD: Detect, deter, prevent and respond to any terrorist-type incident.

MARQUEZ: The preventing is done by identifying high interest ships long before they reach U.S shores and once they're here, it's the Coast Guard's job to board them, to ensure crew and cargo check out. The nation's busiest seaport, it's a Herculean task.

HEFFENGER: I don't want to discover something when it's already in the port.

MARQUEZ: What's in the port are containers. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach process 45 percent of the containers carrying goods like clothing and electronics arriving on U.S. shores.

HEFFENGER: Modern seaports weren't designed with security in mind. They were designed for efficiency.

MARQUEZ: For port workers, background checks and TSA identity cards are on the way. In the age of terrorism, the threats to such a vast system are easily imagined.

VERA ADAMS, U.S. CUSTOMS SERVICE: Traditional explosives, anything radioactive that might be coming in, that might be used against the country and people coming in.

MARQUEZ: So while the Coast Guard secures the ships, the Custom's Service is responsible for what's inside each container.

ADAMS: We have a layered system of filters.

MARQUEZ: The number of containers are so vast that only a small fraction, about 6 percent are identified for X-ray scanning, either dockside or by more traditional means and even a smaller number of goods are inspected by hand. The Custom's Service says the key to security is in identifying those containers that need to be searched or scanned.

ADAMS: It's important to focus on examining all the containers we identify as high risk, not to have a certain set percentage as a goal.

MARQUEZ: Law enforcement officials say protecting U.S. ports and shipping supply lines comes down to intelligence. Knowing every shipper worldwide, how they operate and who their friends are. Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Turning now to the steroid scandal. In major league baseball, steroid abuse is going to be a major talking point at the baseball players union meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, this week. The league has come under harsh scrutiny following reports last week alleging that Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi used performance enhancing drugs.

Meanwhile, Arizona Senator John McCain has issued a warning. He says baseball has until January to get its drug problem under control. If not, McCain says, he'll introduce legislation to get the job done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R) ARIZONA: It's very clear that there was a number of people involved in this. And, finally I don't care much about Mr. Bonds or Mr. Sheffield or anybody else. What I care about are high school athletes who are tempted to use steroids because they think that's the only way they can make it in the major leagues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And baseball's steroid problem is apparently nothing new. Former MVP Jose Canseco admitted years ago that he took steroids and said other players used them, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE CANSECO, FMR. MLB PLAYER: In general, there are certain athletes who use steroids in a proper fashion under supervision and so forth under a doctor's care and there are other athletes who don't take it under supervision or under a doctor's care and really use higher dosages that are necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Canseco talked to CNN last night. Despite admissions by Canseco and others, the Baseball Players Association still does not have random, year-round drug testing and the scandal leaves open the question of the validity of some sports records.

Well, he spent eight years in an Egyptian prison as an accused spy for Israel. But this morning he's a free man and back home. Find out what today's developments could mean for the Middle East peace process. We'll have a live report from Jerusalem coming up next.

Plus, was all the voting in this country on the up and up? We'll separate fact from fiction when it comes to allegations of voter fraud.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In what might be seen as warming of relations between Egypt and Israel, the two countries made an exchange of prisoners today. CNN's John Vause joins us from Jerusalem -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. Azzam Azzam is an Israeli Arab businessman who worked at a textile plant in Cairo. Back in November 1996, the Egyptian authorities accused him of spying on Egypt for the Israeli Secret Service. Among the charges was that he would transfer secrets to the Israeli Secret Service by using women's underwear soaked with invisible ink.

Now earlier today, he was released from his Israeli prison. He crossed the border at Taba into Israel. He phoned his family telling them that he was coming home. He also spoke with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon thanking the prime minister for personally negotiating his release. Ariel Sharon said welcome home, back home to Israel. Now it seems that this deal was worked out by the Egyptian foreign minister and the head of the Egyptian intelligence on a visit to Israel last week. The Egyptian Hosni Mubarak telling Ariel Sharon that this was a personal gesture.

Now, in return, Ariel Sharon has released six Egyptian students who were arrested in August this year, though caught sneaking into Israel, though armed allegedly with 14 knives as well as an air rifle, prosecutors allege that they were part of a plot to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers.

Now, these students maintain they were just coming into Israel looking for work, but earlier before Azzam Azzam was released, the six student were released and they are now on their way home. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And John, what will they say to perhaps the future relations between Israel and Egypt? Are people overly optimistic?

VAUSE: What we're seeing, yeah, what we're seeing is that there has been this warming of what has been a very, very cold peace between Israel and Egypt. Of course they signed a treaty back in 1979 between these two countries but there has been a great deal of strain of the relationship, especially over the last four years.

After the start of the Palestinian uprising, Egypt withdrew its ambassador to Tel Aviv. A short time after that uprising, there is even talk now that that ambassador may be sent back to Tel Aviv. If you cast your mind back to a few weeks ago, Israeli soldiers shot and killed some Egyptian policemen, three Egyptian policemen on the border with Gaza. Ariel Sharon phoned personally to apologize for that. Mubarak accepted that apology very very quickly. This relationship has been on the mend and has been on the up, if you like, ever since the bombing of the Hilton Taba in October of this year, both countries promising to work closely on measures like security, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: John Vause in Jerusalem, thanks so much for that report. Now, a look at some other stories making news around the world.

First to Africa, gunfire is reported between U.N. forces and militia groups in the democratic republic of Congo. U.N. forces have been flying over the region, looking for troop movements from Rwanda. Meantime, Rwanda strongly denies its forces are moving across the border into neighboring Congo.

In the Philippines, relief supplies of food and water finally reaching provinces cut off by days of deadly flooding. Four major storms have struck in the past two weeks. More than 1,000 people are dead or missing. Helicopters are carrying out the sick and wounded.

And in Tokyo, the problem is too much wind. Record-setting high winds in the Japanese capital have injured at least 14 people. Gusts have been clocked at more than 90 miles per hour, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

John Kerry isn't contesting his loss to President Bush in the November election, so what did hundreds turn out for at an Ohio rally? And they're demanding a recount, why? We'll explain coming up next.

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WHITFIELD: And for those who just couldn't get enough election year hoopla, Louisiana's two congressional run offs have been decided. Republican Charles Boustany, a retired heart surgeon, beat out Democrat state Senator Willy Mount in the seventh district. Further south in the third district, Democrat Charles Melancon eked out a victory over Republican Billy Tauzin. Melancon beat Tauzin by barely 500 votes for a seat that Tauzin's father had held for more than 20 years.

Meanwhile, some voters in Ohio aren't ready for the presidential election to end just yet. About 400 people gathered outside the state house in Columbus demanding a recount of the votes cast in this year's presidential election. Protesters claim that election day irregularities and in some cases fraud gave the state's 20 crucial electoral votes to President Bush.

And with more on the situation in Ohio, we turn to CNN's Adaora Udoji.

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ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) These Ohio voters are not convinced President Bush won their state giving him four more years in the White House.

CLIFF ARNEBUCK, COMMON CAUSE OHIO: Every form of irregularity that you can conceive of seemed to be happening in Ohio in this election.

REV. JESSE JACKSON: Make a case for recount.

UDOJI: Helped by Reverend Jesse Jackson, they plan to challenge official results to be released Monday and demand a recount, even though Senator John Kerry's losing campaign is not contesting the outcome. Ohio election officials say the results are sound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democrats and Republicans are working together to make sure they get it right. UDOJI: It's not just Ohio. Complaints and accusations have flooded on to the Internet and in headlines almost faster than fact checkers can check them, some theories quickly debunked by fact. "The Boston Globe" reports in North Carolina it initially appeared nearly 4,500 electronic votes had disappeared. Later, an election official explained fatigued workers missed a computer signal. It was corrected.

The "New York Times" reported on accusations in Cleveland that there were more votes counted than there were voters. It turned out to be a clerical error. But the nonpartisan Verified Voting Foundation is looking into reports of more than 37,000 incidents of election irregularities and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission acknowledges there were glitches across the country. Machine didn't work, workers showed up late, you name it. They're reviewing it all.

DEFOREST SOARIES, ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION: The fact is the election results can be trusted. The margin this year for president was wide enough for us not to believe that any glitches would impact the outcome of the presidential race.

UDOJI: Still, three Democratic congressmen have raised more election questions. They asked the General Accounting Office to look into alleged problems and it is. Adaora Udoji, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Let's get a look at the Sunday weather picture with Orelon Sidney. Good morning to you Orelon.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, good morning. It's an interesting day across the plain states. We've been watching since early this morning an area of low pressure that moved across the southern tier and then is continuing now into the Midwest. Ahead of that and along the system, you're finding quite a bit of rainfall. The northern edge here, you're getting some snow as far north as Lincoln, Nebraska now.

Most of the rain has moved out of Texas, even though east Texas continues to get soaked this afternoon. We'll continue to see the rain spreading eastward and northeastward as much as two inches to fall in some locations in the next 24 hours. Not looking at much severe weather, but we're watching a new storm system that is going to pull into the west tomorrow. It's really going to change conditions in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles. You're going to be pretty nice today. Los Angeles has some rain, your high 63 expected.

But tomorrow, a new Pacific system starts to pull in to northern California. There you can see as much as five inches of rain along the coast. Multiply that by six to 10 and you can see over 30 inches of snow in the higher elevations of the northern Sierra and the southern Cascades. We also have a risk of severe thunderstorms tomorrow right across eastern Texas, the Mississippi valley and the Gulf coast as far north as the lower great lakes. That's as a cold front system pushes into some warm and humid air across the east.

It will be snowing in the great lakes tomorrow and in New England and we'll see temperatures generally on the warm side in the southeast, but you're going to be cooling off once the front passes through. Highs in the 60s and 70s for Monday, colder air due in on Tuesday. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right Orelon, I predict a lot of happy skiers out there. All that snow. That's nice.

SIDNEY: Yes, indeed.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot Orelon.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Putting religion before sports. A California football team refuses to play a championship game scheduled on Sundays. We'll tell you why they'll still get a chance at the title anyway.

First, here's Howard Kurtz with a preview of RELIABLE SOURCES.

HOWARD KURTZ, RELIABLE SOURCES: Coming up, the U.S versus the neighbor to the north. President Bush's visit to Canada shed some lights on dueling images of the two countries in the press.

Plus, should reporters go to jail to protect their confidential sources? With a number of journalists around the country facing jail time, we'll talk about the media under siege.

Plus, Tom Brokaw's farewell and the speculation sweepstakes over some high-profile positions in politics and the press. That's all next on "RELIABLE SOURCES."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com