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American Morning
North Korea Sanctions; Violence in Iraq; Foley Investigation; Nobel Peace Prize; Nuclear Reality; America Votes 2008
Aired October 13, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Friday, October 13. I'm Miles O'Brien.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Soledad O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Let's go to the news wall.
Top story this morning, what to do about North Korea? Japan wants one thing, the U.N. wants another. Can everyone find middle ground on sanctions against the North?
NGUYEN: We're also following these stories. Take a look.
The congressman in charge of the page program takes his turn on the hot seat before an ethics panel on the Mark Foley scandal.
O'BRIEN: The Nobel Peace Prize just announced in Oslo, Norway. We'll tell you about the winners.
NGUYEN: And an October surprise for Michigan and upstate New York. Take a look at this, an early season snowstorm just shut down schools, downed trees and even knocked out power to tens of thousands of people.
And that gets us right to Chad Myers at the CNN Center.
Chad, severe weather overnight, now we have all this snow, what is going on?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is an ugly morning in Buffalo, New York, over 100,000 people without power now this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
O'BRIEN: Even by Buffalo standards it sounds like a mess.
MYERS: Even by Buffalo standards this is a bad one, yes.
O'BRIEN: OK, thank you, -- Chad Myers.
MYERS: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: The U.S. pressing for punishment this morning in the wake of North Korea's claims it has exploded a nuclear bomb. At the United Nations, a possible vote on sanctions, but will the Chinese and the Russians go as far as the U.S. hopes? No question Japan is on board, already imposing sanctions today.
We get more now from Atika Shubert in Japan and Hugh Riminton in Beijing. Let's begin with Atika. She's in Hiroshima, a city, obviously, that knows all too well the impact of nuclear weapons, -- Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Miles. In fact, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima really ushered in the nuclear age. In fact, you can see behind me Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb Dome. That was one of a very few buildings left standing. Just to give you an idea of the devastation that happened here, 80,000 people killed instantly when the bomb was dropped, tens of thousands more killed by radiation poisoning.
And because of that horrific history, Japan's prime minister has said Japan will not pursue a nuclear deterrent, despite North Korea's test and recent threats. Instead, it, today, slapped financial sanctions on North Korea. Specifically, it is barring North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports, also prohibiting the export and import of North Korean goods and preventing North Korean government officials from traveling into Japan. So clearly being the first country to impose some harsh measures intended to punish North Korea -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Atika Shubert in Hiroshima, thank you.
Lots of diplomatic action on this story. We're tracking the talks on several fronts. In Pyongyang right now, the Russians are trying to make some headway. And the Chinese and the South Koreans, they're huddling as well, concerned an over-the-top reaction might prompt a collapse of the Kim Jong-Il regime or perhaps even worse.
CNN's Hugh Riminton joining us live from Beijing with more, -- Hugh.
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well any school students who want to see diplomacy at work, just pay attention in here. We've been watching so much diplomacy, so much shuttling between capitals, and what we've really seen emerging out of all of this is that the United States is not going to get the sorts of sanctions that initially it was looking for. It needs to get something through the U.N. Security Council. That means it has to get China on board, otherwise China could veto it.
China had sent very strong messages, with South Korean support, they don't want to do anything that might provoke Kim Jong-Il do doing something even worse. Hence, the U.S. language is going to be watered down.
However, this is diplomacy, China and South Korea have also received a message from Washington and they have stepped up in their most recent statements their language. They say they will never accept a North Korean nuclear weapon. They have urged North Korea to not do any other thing that might possibly worsen an already bad situation and they've urged them to get back to talks. Those two countries, China and South Korea, and Russia, will support sanctions in some form -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And just the fact that China will support sanctions in some form, that is significant?
RIMINTON: It is significant. It means that you're going to see at the end of this the U.N. Security Council come out with a set of sanctions, maybe not as tough as Washington initially wanted, but it's going to be a message to North Korea. It's also going to be unanimous in one statement. There is total condemnation for North Korea testing a nuclear weapon. None of these nations directly grappling with that country say they will accept Kim Jong-Il with a bomb -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Hugh Riminton in Beijing, thank you, -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well police again the target in Iraq this morning. A bomb blast inside a police station kills at least two people.
CNN's Cal Perry is live now in Baghdad with the latest on this violence there, -- Cal.
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well good morning to you, Betty.
Insurgents promising more attacks around Ramadan, and that is exactly what we're seeing here in Iraq. Today, in the town of Hilla, about 60 miles to the south of Baghdad, someone managed to get a bomb of some kind into an elite police headquarters, killing the commander of that unit, killing his aide and wounding some seven others.
Now, as I said, Betty, it's been an especially bloody month. Maj. Gen. Caldwell, who is the U.S. military spokesman here in Iraq, saying there has been a serious spike in violence, that he expects it to even get worse, which is a stark admission when you look at in the first 13 days of October 39 U.S. troops killed in combat -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Cal Perry joining us live this morning from Baghdad.
Thank you, Cal.
O'BRIEN: More testimony today on Capitol Hill as lawmakers try to learn what Republican leaders knew about former Congressman Mark Foley and when they knew it. Today, the Republican in charge of the page program will tell the story. Yesterday, it was Foley's former chief of staff who says he issued warnings years ago.
CNN's Andrea Koppel with more from Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Next up in the Ethics Committee hot seat, Congressman John Shimkus, the Republican Chairman of the House Page Board, and the only member of the board who was notified last fall about over-friendly e-mails sent by now ex-Congressman Foley to a former page in Louisiana.
On Thursday, Kirk Fordham, Foley's former Chief of Staff, answered questions behind closed doors for four-and-a-half hours. When he finally emerged, he wouldn't answer reporter's questions, but his attorney did, saying that his client had been both truthful and cooperative.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: President Bush, meanwhile, propping up the embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert. The president offering up praise and support during his million-dollar fund raiser in Chicago yesterday, never mentioned the Foley controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to say this to you, I am proud to be standing with the current speaker of the House who is going to be the future speaker of the House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: It was the pair's first appearance together since the Foley scandal broke.
Ohio Republican Bob Ney planning to plead guilty today to two felony charges. The Justice Department recommending a sentence of just over two years. Ney has admitted to conspiracy and making false statements in connection with the Jack Abramoff influence case. Ney also expected to resign his House seat today, -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, a little more than an hour ago the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize were announced in Oslo, Norway. I say winners because the prize, well, it's being split between a person and a bank.
CNN's Paula Newton is with us from London with all these details.
OK, so how is this split going to work, -- Paula?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting. It caught a lot of us by surprise, but I have to say it's an inspired choice. It is a Bangladeshi economist, Muhammad Yunus, and the banks that he founded, the Grameen Bank.
This is the concept, Betty, of microcredit, lending as little as $50 with no collateral to poor families, mainly women, in fact. And that, over the years, has transformed their lives. It's really proven how that kind of self-employment can get off -- can get people working, self-sufficient and in the end, really end poverty.
I think what is so interesting in the Nobel committee here this morning is that they decided that they were going to set a trend by making this kind of a commitment to what is not what we deem to be the normal kind of Peace Prize winners in terms of having brokered a peace deal.
The chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee described the man who many people have said is the banker to the poor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Change in law, giving to extremely poor people, particularly poor women, for income-generating activities without collateral. You take the initiative to change your own lives, to earn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Yunus said that he was delighted and was so happy that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has decided to endorse his dream of a poverty-free world. And that's what's interesting here, Betty, this is not what we think of as the traditional Peace Prize winner. Here the Nobel committee is starting to link that concept of people digging themselves out of poverty to the path to peace and democracy in many developing nations around the world -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes, it's really a great program. And we talk about this split and how it's going to obviously go to a good cause. Remind our viewers how much this prize money really is.
NEWTON: It's $1.3 million. And you know this is a bank that's actually lended billions out in the last few decades. But what it does more than the actual prize money itself, which I'm sure the economist and the bank will put to good use, is it builds momentum behind that concept of microcredit, to let people know, hey, this has been working for more than three decades, let's not lose sight of how important these unsecured loans are to people at the poorest reaches of society all over the world.
NGUYEN: Very true.
Paula Newton joining us from London.
Paula, thank you.
O'BRIEN: Still to come in the program, fear over a nuclear bomb held by the North Korea, potentially, again reminding the world of what happened 61 years ago, the first nuclear attack on Hiroshima.
Also, they're searching for survivors in the Gulf of Mexico after a gas pipeline was run over. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Are you heading to Buffalo today? Forget about it.
Chad Myers is here to tell you about the sloppy scene there.
Hello, -- Chad.
MYERS: I'm watching some of the video just come down from one of our affiliates here. We'll get it to you as soon as we can turn it around.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you guys.
NGUYEN: All right, Chad, thank you.
And while the world decides what to do about North Korea's nuclear ambitions, there is one country that knows all too well the horrors of a nuclear attack.
CNN's Atika Shubert gives us a sobering reminder of what happened in Hiroshima.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT (voice-over): For most of the world, nuclear war is a nightmare that can only be imagined. For Hiroshima, it was a reality. August 6, 1945, the world's first nuclear attack, an explosive force the equivalent of more than 12,000 tons of TNT traveling faster than the speed of sound. A giant fireball engulfs the city, 80,000 die instantly, 90 percent of the buildings collapse or burst into flames. Months and years later, tens of thousands more die from radiation poisoning. In all, an estimated 200,000 perish.
(on camera): If you think it can't happen today, consider this, today's nuclear weapons are 1,000 times more powerful. Out of the eight nations that are believed to have them, half have gone to war in the last few decades. And now the very public display of North Korea's claim that it too has a nuclear weapon.
(voice-over): Yoshiko Kagimoto (ph) was 14 years old, just a mile away, a little more than two kilometers from the atomic blast in Hiroshima. She tells her incredible story of survival over and over to younger generations, hoping to prevent history from being repeated. She takes North Korea's nuclear test as a personal challenge.
"I can never forgive North Korea for conducting that test," she says. "I want those presidents and world leaders to see this place and listen to the stories of those who survived. I would then ask them if they're still there to create a nuclear weapon. They wouldn't be human if they did."
Tourists from around the world flock to Hiroshima. It is a sobering experience. These Australian teenagers now fear North Korea has increased their odds of seeing a nuclear attack in their lifetime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I think it -- something can definitely happen, and I definitely fear through my whole life that something will happen.
SHUBERT: They pray to witness instead the abolishment of all nuclear weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think we should have them at all. We never want anything like this to ever happen again. SHUBERT: Hiroshima's peace clock, which counts both the number of days since Hiroshima and the number of days since the nuclear test, is now spinning faster. For some, a sign the world is one step closer to another Hiroshima or worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: A natural gas explosion in Louisiana. The full extent of the damage may not be known yet. We're going to give you details of what we know coming up.
And later, falling stars. One of the contestants on "Dancing With the Stars" is bowing out,and it's not because the judges decided to give the boot. There's more to this than that. We have the scoop for you. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: We can scratch Virginia Governor Mark Warner off your list of presidential candidates. Warner was on the short list for the Democratic nomination but bowed out yesterday, claiming he wants to have a real life.
Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider with more.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Mark Warner was touted as the ultimate red state Democrat, the moderate southern governor who was popular with rural voters, NASCAR fans and Republicans.
MARK WARNER, FORMER VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: Rank-and-file Democrats everywhere energized and want our party to be a party of hope, not a party of anger.
SCHNEIDER: Warner was called the anti-Hillary, the fall-back candidate Democrats could turn to in case Senator Clinton faltered. So who's affected by Warner's decision not to run?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: It affects Hillary Clinton, it affects Evan Bayh and it effects John Edwards.
SCHNEIDER: Clinton looks even more like the front-runner. Bayh faces less competition for the title king of the red state Democrats, but the Democrat who is likely to benefit most is Edwards.
PRESTON: He's from the south, but he has a lot of liberal support, union support.
SCHNEIDER: Edwards appears to be running strong in Iowa, where he came in second in 2004 ahead of Howard Dean. Edwards' economic populism could help him with union voters in Nevada five days later.
D. TAYLOR, CULINARY WORKERS' UNION: And our members use bread- and-butter issues that are important.
SCHNEIDER: A week later, South Carolina, Edwards' native state, he won that primary last time. If she runs, there is no question that Clinton would take up a lot of political space.
PRESTON: Not only is she soaking up the money, Hillary Clinton is soaking up advisors and she's soaking up support across the country.
SCHNEIDER: There may be some space to her left for a strong anti-war Democrat energized by the net roots. There will also be space for the un-Hillary, the Democrat who claims to be more electable than the New York senator, someone who shows better in the red states, the candidate formerly known as Mark Warner.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.
In Pennsylvania, a T-ball/baseball coach sentenced for offering an 8-year-old boy money to bean an autistic teammate. Mark Downs offered to pay one of his players $25 to hit a mildly autistic boy with a ball because he didn't play as well as his teammates. Downs got one to six years in prison.
In California, the same deadly strain of E. coli bacteria in the national spinach recall linked to a cattle ranch now. Federal investigators say the strain was found at a ranch within a mile of the spinach fields, but a state health official says it's not a direct cause-and-effect link just yet.
In Kentucky, the city of Louisville banned smoking in all public places, with a couple of exceptions. One of them, Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is, and at tobacco manufacturing facilities. Kentucky is one of the nation's top tobacco-producing states. The ban takes effect next July, -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Miles, it's a good thing you're not trying to sell a home because we do have some good and bad news. Now the housing market, that's cooling off; but those stocks, they are on fire!
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
The housing market, I mean, this is nothing new, right?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Official confirmation though from the Federal Reserve -- Betty.
NGUYEN: The official word.
SERWER: It is now official, the housing market is cooling off. This according to the Federal Reserve just released Beige Book survey of the U.S. economy says that the housing market is tapering off in the majority of the 12 regions across the United States, lower prices, weaker sales, more unsold homes. Still, the economy continued to grow as we head into the fall and winter months. That's the good news.
The real good news, though, is the stock market. Wow! Almost up 100 points yesterday, Betty. Look at those green arrows. We're streaking.
NGUYEN: What was it do you think?
SERWER: I know exactly what it was,...
NGUYEN: OK.
SERWER: ... lower oil prices again. Oil prices continuing to decline, now below $58, and that is just putting real money back into the pockets of consumers and also back into the pockets of businesses. Only 53 points away from the next threshold, Dow 12,000. We may get there today. We may get there some time this week, next week, next month, who knows? You never know.
NGUYEN: Just sometime soon would be nice.
SERWER: I'm not going to call it! Soledad is actually pretty good at that sometimes.
And then how about this one, Nasdaq meet Jasdaq. What is Jasdaq? Jasdaq is the Japanese high-tech stock index. Nasdaq and Jasdaq apparently in talks to form an alliance. And this is part of a big trend we've seen, which is stock markets around the world getting together. The Nasdaq owns a piece of the London Stock Exchange. The New York Stock Exchange partnering up with Euro-next, a big exchange over across the Atlantic. And so this is just part of a trend that we are seeing.
And one thing I should also mention, I forgot to say, as far as the stock market goes, futures are up this morning, so it looks like maybe the rally will continue.
NGUYEN: That's a good sign. Might see that record.
And coming up, you're going to be talking about Wal-Mart.
SERWER: Yes, Wal-Mart in a battle with its workers, and this time it looks like the workers got the better end of things.
NGUYEN: OK, we'll wait for that one.
In the meantime, do you watch "Dancing With the Stars," -- Andy?
SERWER: I have watched a little bit of this, -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Because I know you have some moves.
SERWER: You know, yes, a guilty pleasure.
NGUYEN: Some really fly moves.
SERWER: Thank you! I'm glad you know that.
NGUYEN: Well, there is some drama on the show. Let me tell you about it. Country music star Sara Evans has dropped out of the competition. Yes, yesterday she announced that she is filing for divorce. She's been married since 1993, and because she wants to be with her three children, she is leaving the show.
Miles, are you just heart-broken over this? I know you are.
SERWER: Sleepless.
O'BRIEN: Beside myself.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I am sorry. Once Tucker Carlson left, I left the show. I was such a huge fan of his.
NGUYEN: Well you know here's the question, though, all those other people who got booted and she remained on the show, I wonder how they feel now that she's just dropped out of it all?
O'BRIEN: Yes, should they bring somebody back?
NGUYEN: Right.
SERWER: Tucker!
O'BRIEN: I don't know, maybe. Bring Tucker back. There you go.
All right, still to come in the program this morning, the latest on the fallout over North Korea's suspected nuclear bomb explosion. Japan is stepping up with some tough sanctions, but there's a disagreement with other nations on what to do.
And falling snow beats falling leaves, just another autumn in Buffalo. We'll take you there live, if we can dig out the live truck, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Good morning to you! It is Friday, October 13. I'm Miles O'Brien.
NGUYEN: October 13!
O'BRIEN: Don't think twice about, you know, I'm going to fly my plane today.
NGUYEN: I think Soledad is off today. She knows it's Friday the 13th.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
NGUYEN: Not coming in.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Soledad O'Brien today.
O'BRIEN: Let's get right to the news wall on this lucky news day. Some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
Can the international community agree on punishment for North Korea? Japan wants one thing, the United Nations wants another.
NGUYEN: The congressman in charge of the page program takes his turn in the hot seat. Representative John Shimkus will tell the ethics committee what he knows about Mark Foley's explicit emails.
O'BRIEN: An October surprise for Michigan and parts of upstate New York, an early season snowstorm shutting down schools in Buffalo, downing trees, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people.
And you know who is going to tell us more about that. Chad has been watching this one.
MYERS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: That's one of the many places in the world you've lived, Chad, so you know what it's like there and the snow is a problem there.
MYERS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: But when the leaves are still on the trees, that's bad.
MYERS: That is, that's the problem today, really. They get snow. Buffalo gets snow all the time. I lived there 13 years. We would not even cancel school unless it was six inches or more in West Seneca.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: A lot of talk this morning about how to punish North Korea, and there are mixed signals on whether diplomats are really in tune on what to do. Japan isn't waiting for the world. It is marching down the sanctions road, while other nations are still trying to figure out what to do.
Let's get the latest now from CNN's Atika Shubert. She is live from Hiroshima, Japan -- Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the only country to know what a nuclear attack is like is actually Japan, of course, hit, first of all, here in Hiroshima. In fact, I'm in front of Hiroshima's dome, which is almost directly under where the atomic bomb was dropped, engulfing the city in an almost 300-meter fireball on August 6, 1945.
Eighty thousand killed instantly, 90 percent of the buildings destroyed. And it is precisely because of that horrific history that Japan says it will not build a nuclear deterrent against North Korea, despite the recent tests and the recent threats.
Instead, it is taking those economic sanctions, as you point out, (INAUDIBLE) sanctions on today, specifically banning North Korean ships from entering all Japanese ports, also prohibiting the export and import of North Korean goods. Also, North Korean government officials will not be permitted to travel in Japan for the next six months. So taking some very harsh measures there, not at all waiting for the United Nations. Japan is clearly intending to punish North Korea.
O'BRIEN: Atika, there isn't a tremendous amount of trade as it exists between North Korea and Japan. So will these sanctions really have an impact?
SHUBERT: It won't really have as much impact, perhaps, as Japan would hope for. It has, in fact, already imposed financial sanctions in the past with little effect.
North Korea's economy is very isolated, so it's unlikely that this will have much effect. It's more symbolic. In fact, right now, Japan's main challenge is convincing China and South Korea, which are the two lifelines into North Korea, to try and take the same punitive measures that they're taking, but of course that's going to be a very tough challenge indeed.
O'BRIEN: Yes. They're concerned about the impact, should that regime topple or perhaps even worse.
Atika Shubert in Hiroshima.
Thank you very much -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Let's get you now to the Mark Foley investigation. The Republican congressman who heads the page program is expected to testify today. Yesterday, the House Ethics Committee spent hours questioning a former Foley aide.
CNN's Andrea Koppel has more now from Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Next up in the Ethics Committee hot seat, Congressman John Shimkus, the Republican chairman of the House Page Board, and the only member of the board notified last fall about over-friendly e-mails sent by now ex- congressman Foley to a former page in Louisiana.
On Thursday, Kirk Fordham, Foley's former chief of staff, answered questions behind closed doors for four and a half hours. When he finally emerged, he wouldn't answer reporters' questions, but his attorney did, saying that his client had been both truthful and cooperative.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert is getting some top-level backing. President Bush joined Hastert for a campaign rally in Chicago, and CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry has that part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Four weeks before the midterm elections, President Bush gave the embattled House speaker a shot in the arm yet again at a Republican fund-raiser in Chicago.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am proud to be standing with the current speaker of the House, who is going to be the future speaker of the House.
(APPLAUSE)
HENRY: Conservatives have called on Dennis Hastert to resign for -- in the words of "The Washington Times" -- giving phony answers to questions about what did he know and when did he know it in the Mark Foley page scandal.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Having President Bush come out and defend him means quite a lot. It might actually stop the hemorrhaging.
HENRY: Hastert, though, is still bracing for a House ethics probe that's heating up. And on the campaign trail, some Republicans have canceled fund-raisers with Hastert, cutting and running from a radioactive speaker. But not the commander in chief, who phoned Hastert last week to tell him to hang in there and then backed Hastert at a Rose Garden press conference Wednesday.
BUSH: I think the speaker's strong statements have made it clear to not only, you know, the party members, but to the country, that he wants to find out the facts.
HENRY: The president's support for Hastert stands in stark contrast to four years ago, when Mr. Bush slammed then Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, who later lost his leadership post. The difference, Hastert has delivered for the president, and Mr. Bush will need the speaker more than ever in the final two years of his presidency.
PRESTON: He's basically a lame duck after the November 7th elections. And right now, if Denny Hastert were to be forced out as speaker of the House, that would basically doom Mr. Bush's presidency for the rest of his term.
HENRY (on camera): The White House will give Hastert another vote of confidence this weekend, when Press Secretary Tony Snow headlines a fund-raiser for the speaker.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Listen up, kids. It is a snow day in Buffalo, and it isn't even Halloween. A rare October snowstorm blanketing upstate New York, knocking out power to at least 150,000 customers there.
Our affiliate station WKBW is helping us out this morning, dug themselves out.
Julie Fine in buffalo.
How's it going, Julie?
JULIE FINE, REPORTER, WKBW: This scene here, with the trees down, pretty much the scene right now throughout western New York. You can see about a foot of snow on the ground here, some power lines down.
We just saw some lightning. Again, we have been pelted with rain, snow and hail here in western New York.
The National Weather Service now reporting a new statistic for western New Yorkers, the snowiest October on record yesterday with more than eight inches of snow. That breaks a record from 1917.
Power crews are on the road. We have been told by Mayor Byron Brown of the city of Buffalo more than 200,000 customers in the area are without power today. Officials here, of course, telling people to be patient in this weather and to be very careful, again, because of all the downed power lines on the road.
There are driving bans for most of the area. People, again, being encouraged to stay home unless they have to go out for this October surprise on Friday the 13th.
Reporting for CNN, Julie Fine in Buffalo.
NGUYEN: Well, the latest now on the crash of a small plane into a New York City high-rise. While New Yorkers mourn the death of New York Yankee Cory Lidle, they are forced to ask a sobering question: how could his plane get close enough to Manhattan to crash into that building in the first place?
Well, Mary Snow has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There's still shock over the plane crash that killed Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and a flight instructor, but some New Yorkers are equally surprised that five years after 9/11, a small plane could get so close to the city skyline.
JOHN GARRISON, LIVES NEAR CRASH SITE: I have often wondered, why would they allow this? I mean, this is really crowded airspace.
PATRICIA MONTAGUE, NY BUSINESS OWNER: I thought after 9/11, that was totally supposed to be banned.
SNOW: New York Governor George Pataki said he didn't know that a small plane could fly above New York's East River under flight visual rules only, meaning it was not required to communicate with the flight control tower. GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: This is something that I was surprised as any other New Yorker yesterday, that someone flying visually, not under the control, I believe, of any of the towers of the airports, could just circle Manhattan.
SNOW: Pataki is calling on the FAA to review its rules as some security analysts are asking what-ifs in the wake of Wednesday's accident.
CHARLES SLEPIAN, CEO, FORESEEABLE RISK ANALYSIS CENTER: If in that aircraft sitting alongside the pilot was not an instructor or a passenger, but rather 200 pounds of explosives, when that plane flew into that building, we would have seen a major disaster.
SNOW: Some pilots say more restrictions are not necessary. They point out, it would be easier to load a car or truck with explosives than a plane.
PHIL BOYER, PRESIDENT, AIRCRAFT OWNERS & PILOTS ASSN.: A small plane, the type of airplane that -- that went into the east side building is about the size of a Honda Civic and the weight. It doesn't carry much fuel. It can't carry much of a pay load.
SNOW: The city's mayor also questions tighter restrictions, saying they would overload an already badly-stretched air traffic control system.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK CITY: Having everybody controlled doesn't necessarily make it safer. It may make it less safe, because the controllers can't handle the volume.
SNOW (on camera): The governor has proposed making temporary restrictions permanent. The FAA says it's reviewing its guidelines.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: A natural gas explosion in Louisiana. Three people are still missing. We'll tell you how it happened, bring you up to date on that. This story is coming up in our program.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Here's a look at what CNN correspondents all around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Hugh Riminton in Beijing.
Some painful and difficult progress made in the last few hours on the key question, what to do about a nuclear North Korea. Japan has decided to go it alone with sanctions against North Korea. It says it will no longer allow imports for the next six months -- not that there was a great deal of trade anyway.
Meanwhile, China, South Korea and Russia, the three countries that directly border North Korea, have all been working to water down the language and the sanctions being proposed in the U.N. Security Council by Washington. South Korea's argument -- let's choose only sanctions that might be effective, not sanctions based on emotions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: I'm Robin Oakley, reporting from St. Andrews in Scotland, where Tony Blair continues the struggle to persuade northern Ireland's political parties to resume power-sharing and regain control of their affairs from London. But Mr. Blair also faces a devastating critique of his policy in Iraq from Britain's most senior soldier, General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff.
General Dannatt calls for British troops to quit Iraq or face catastrophe. He says their presence is exacerbating, not helping the security situation, and he says the attempt to bring liberal democracy to Iraq has been a naive failure. Such criticism from a serving soldier is unprecedented.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew chance in Moscow.
The newspaper where murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya worked has published her last unfinished article in a special edition that alleges high-level torture at the hands of the Kremlin-backed Chechen security forces in the breakaway Russian Republic of Chechnya. It's accompanied by personal testimonies from torture victims and by very graphic photographs and videos which are far too gruesome for us to broadcast.
It's the kind of reporting which made Anna Politkovskaya renowned throughout Russia and beyond. It's also the kind of work that her colleagues say may eventually have got her killed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNNC O'REILLY: I'm Paula Newton in London. And the Nobel Peace Prize winner surprised many this morning.
Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank jointly won for their revolutionary concept of microcredit. It has transformed lending in developing countries, where as little as $50 has transformed the lives of poor families. Economist Yunus has studied and taught in the United States, and he's been pioneering the concept of microcredit for more than three decades.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: For more on these or any of our top stories, log on to our Web site, CNN.com.
NGUYEN: Well, back here in the U.S., it's 6:45 Eastern. And if you're just heading out the door, consider yourself lucky, because a lot of folks can't even dig out this morning.
Chad Myers is at the CNN weather center with the traveler's forecast.
Chad, it's Friday the 13th. I guess this is par for the course.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Bad -- yes, a bad joke for Buffalo.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: The fateful journey of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle. I followed that exact flight path that led to that dramatic crash, and I'll show you firsthand how challenging that flight was.
Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In Louisiana, the Coast Guard is searching for three people still missing after an offshore natural gas pipeline explosion yesterday. Three workers were killed and at least one other critically burned when two barges hit the pipeline, causing the explosion and fire.
The latest now on Wednesday's crash in Manhattan, that small airplane piloted by Yankees pitcher, Cory Lidle. His flight instructor, Tyler Stanger, on board. Apparently, that propeller was moving at the time that it struck that building, that high-rise building.
NGUYEN: Really?
O'BRIEN: So there was some question about whether there was engine failure. It turns out that the engine was, in fact, running. So that takes one thing off the list.
NGUYEN: OK. But still, there's so many on that list, so many questions to be answered.
O'BRIEN: There are a lot of questions. And so I decided the best way to learn a little something about what was going on was to take a flight. I have the identical airplane that Cory Lidle had, and I took that same flight, a little bit higher, and we were talking to air traffic control. I just felt that was safer. NGUYEN: Right.
O'BRIEN: But, in any case, you can see what they saw as it led up to that crash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: 122, Charlie, Victor, (INAUDIBLE), northbound departure.
So basically what we're going to do here is we'll try to recreate the river portion of that flight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: We'll go down the southern part, down south, the Hudson River, circle the lady, as they say, the Statue of Liberty, and then up the East River and turn back around to the south and back in.
OK. So here's the Hudson River. The Hudson River is a much more forgiving place to fly, isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To some extent, Yes. You have more options, places to land. You circle the statue.
Head up the East River, 122, Charlie, Victor, then cross over the north end of Manhattan, back to New Jersey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charlie, Victor (INAUDIBLE) your request.
O'BRIEN: Now suddenly, the East River, when you approach the East River, it's quite evident it's a lot tighter. It's a tight little canyon corridor of air space, isn't it?
Now, we're in a different position. We're talking to controllers. They weren't. So they had to stay within the confines of this river. But I can see how tight it is to make a turn here.
This is a thrill. I mean, this really is a thrill, but it's also something that requires a lot of attention.
I'd be reluctant to come through here with just one pilot. Somebody to work the radios, another set of eyes and ears. I just think that this is -- this is a fairly intense bit of flying here because of all the things that are going on.
We've gone through LaGuardia airspace twice, Newark airspace. We've got JFK over there. This is a busy little piece of airspace, to be sure.
This is pretty much the turn they would have been trying to make, only lower. And it's a very, very tight turn. That is...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow!
O'BRIEN: ... that is a box canyon, is what that is. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're absolutely right.
O'BRIEN: So what you have to consider here is we're at 2,000 feet. That was about double the altitude they were at, and we were -- so we weren't really boxed in by that canyon as they were. And even then, I can see, I can see the kind of situation they were in, depending on how much speed they had, exactly what the wind was doing, which was blowing them toward Manhattan. They were in a -- in a situation where they really had no place to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling towers, 122, Charlie, Victor, transit to Teterboro, landing. Straight in for 27 and 43 miles -- 122, Charlie, Victor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: It was quite a flight.
NGUYEN: Yes, a tricky one. I mean, you're an experienced pilot, but I think what was so shocking is when you showed the building that was hit. You can actually legally fly through there.
O'BRIEN: Yes. There's this corridor. It's kind of a tunnel, if you will, but it has a dead end because of LaGuardia's airspace.
That little corridor there on the East River really was probably designed more for helicopters, and there's a sea plane base there. The Hudson River side of it, there's no dead end. On both the north and south end you can keep going.
And so that tricky little dead end there is something to reckon with. It really wasn't set up for little planes to be flying around through the buildings.
NGUYEN: Through the air.
O'BRIEN: In any case...
NGUYEN: And you see what happened. All right. Thank you, Miles.
Well, up next, Andy is "Minding Your Business," and we're going to be right back with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer's here with some Wal-Mart news, and a little bit of a legal battle.
Hello, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Hello, Miles.
We're going to the state of Pennsylvania this morning, where a jury -- a state jury, that is -- found that Wal-Mart has been, well, not treating its employees so well. It broke Pennsylvania labor laws, making them work through rest breaks and off the clock.
Today the jury comes back into the courtroom to figure out how much they should award these employees in terms of damages. Lawyers estimate the award could be as much as $62 million -- 187,000 employees in the state are a part of this suit.
Now, Wal-Mart faces all kinds of other pieces of litigation similar to this. For instance, it settled a $50 million action in Colorado recently, and it's appealing $172 million claim in California.
So you multiply this by 50, plus the legal costs, and it starts to add up.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it does.
SERWER: Though, the company has $11 billion of profits.
O'BRIEN: So they can pay some lawyers, can't they?
SERWER: They can, but at some point, you know, the negative PR, which obviously is a huge problem for this company, starts to really add up.
O'BRIEN: You bet.
SERWER: Another story we want to tell you about that actually involves Wal-Mart, too, in a way. Medco, the big drug prescription company, is offering pharmaceuticals to employees through insurance companies at a discounted rate. These would be generics, and it's somewhat similar to Wal-Mart's plan that we've been talking about in Florida.
In this case, it would be offering a 90-day supply for $10, generics, which is actually even cheaper than the plan that Wal-Mart has put forth. Eight hundred and 18 different medications, which is bigger than Wal-Mart.
So, the drug companies, it looks like their profits may be eroding if these companies that are offering drugs are offering the lower prices.
O'BRIEN: Boy, it changes the economics in that game quite significantly.
SERWER: It really does.
O'BRIEN: All right. Andy Serwer, see you in just a little bit -- Betty.
SERWER: Absolutely.
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