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220,000 Remain Without Power in New York State; Cleanup in Hawaii Continues; U.S. Government Confirms North Korean Nuclear Test

Aired October 16, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

North Korea's nuclear test, it is for real. Will new sanctions work? How high are the stakes? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travels to the region.

PHILLIPS: Paradise tossed -- the Hawaiian earthquake, the damage, the tourists stuck, the impact on the islands.

LEMON: A CNN exclusive: a rare look inside the Iraqi insurgency through one of their own.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Tornado warnings in Texas and Louisiana.

Let's get straight to Jacqui Jeras working everything for us.

Hey, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys.

Yes, two could be on the ground right now. We're concerned about this warning that you see right here. This is for Jasper County in Texas, a possible tornado just southwest of the city of Jasper, moving up to the north and to the east. A tornado could be on the ground.

We have had at least seven reports of tornadoes so far this morning, early afternoon -- so, very likely that we could be seeing some more possible touchdowns, and some more damage.

Also, into northern Louisiana, up there towards Bastrop, you can see that. This is for Morehouse Parish, a possible tornado on the ground, this one also moving up to the north and east. Here, you can see where Monroe is. This is along I-20, just to the north of there, pulling north, so, away from I-20.

We do have a watch which remains in effect across the entire area, until 7:00 local time, for tonight. More flooding rain will continue to be a problem -- 10 inches estimated in this area, potentially, to the north of I-10, to the north and east of the Houston area, and an additional one to three, on top of what you already have. Flash flood warnings remain in effect across much of southeastern Texas and into some parts of Louisiana. And watches now have been posted farther to the east, almost the entire state of Mississippi, as well as a few counties here over into Alabama.

We have also been monitoring the situation in Hawaii. What has been going on here today, weather wise, is, we have a cold front which is moving very slowly across the islands. And this could bring in some flash flooding. And why we're particularly concerned about that is because that ground may be a little bit unstable because of the earthquake.

What was solid ground could just need one small trigger to cause any rock slides. Or, possibly, some mudslides and debris flows will be a concern, if we get some heavy rainfall, especially into the higher elevation. Maui is under a flash flood warning. One to three inches can be expected. The Big Island, where most of the damage occurred, is dry now, but this cold front is moving into your neighborhood by late this afternoon and into tonight, with rain continuing throughout the day tomorrow -- Kyra and Don.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jacqui.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Thank you very much for that.

And digging out and dusting off in Hawaii -- as you heard Jacqui mention, earthquake damage leaves some areas looking like a war zone. But most agree it could have been a whole lost worse. Few serious injuries and no deaths are reported after yesterday's 6.7-magnitude quake and dozens of aftershocks.

Still, many roads, bridges, and buildings are out of commission. And Hawaii's governor has declared the entire state a disaster area. People are being asked to stay off the phones and roads.

And, as a crash course in flash floods, if you can't see the road, don't try to drive through it. Rescue crews in southeast Texas have their hands full today, pulling stranded drivers out of their cars. Some places saw up to 10 inches of rain overnight. And we have heard reports of several tornadoes. At least two deaths are being blamed on the storm.

The bodies of two women were found in an SUV, reportedly surrounded by eight feet of water.

PHILLIPS: Well, power is out still. School is out again. Patience is short, of course, after last week's freak October snowstorm in western New York.

Reporter Julie Fine of CNN affiliate WKBW has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE FINE, WKBW REPORTER (voice-over): Many of the out-of-town utility vehicles come here to the command center, before they head out on to the streets to help get western New York out of this mess. Right now, almost 220,000 customers still do not have power.

(voice-over): Their necessity is matched by attitude. Meet the utility workers that came into town just last night to help get Buffalo back up and running.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are treated like rock stars. We come rolling in, everybody is clapping: Yeah. They're here.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, we will be coming to your neighborhood soon.

FINE: This is the first day for this group. It will be a long one, 16 hours, and they got ready to go just after 5:00 this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been to Louisiana, Florida. We have been all over helping people -- California. This is just something else -- just something that we do for a living.

FINE: The trucks rolled out about 7:00 to a substation. Other crews who have been in western New York longer are already at work. On Florida Street in the city, people were finally getting their power back. And it's crews from York, Pennsylvania, getting it done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it will bring a lot of relief, because I -- I'm living with my father here. And he's elderly. I'm trying to take care of him. And it's not easy without any electricity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like storm work, for that reason, to make guys like him happy, you know, get him back in power.

FINE (on camera): And there is even more evidence that help is on the way. On our way here on Intestate 90, we saw more than 50 trucks from the Midwest. Right now, there are utility trucks from 10 states, coming from as far as Virginia and Kentucky.

For CNN, I'm Julie Fine in Buffalo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Lawyers are supposed to speak for their clients, but rules are rules. Thus, well-known New York attorney Lynne Stewart has just been sentenced to prison over a case she worked on a decade ago.

CNN's Allan Chernoff has the details for us -- Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Don, but the sentence not nearly as stiff as what prosecutors had been pushing for.

Prosecutors wanted Lynne Stewart to spend 30 years in prison -- the sentence, 28 months, so, far less than it could have been for Lynne Stewart. She is the attorney who represented the convicted terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. He is the terrorist who was convicted of plotting to blow up the United Nations building and other sites here in New York City, including the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.

Now, what Ms. Stewart was convicted of, she actually was convicted of transporting messages from the sheik's followers to him while he is serving a life sentence in prison, and then back to the followers, including a message telling the followers to rise up in arms against the government of Egypt, an effort to, hopefully, the sheik hoped, to at least overthrow the Egyptian government -- so, some very serious charges.

She was convicted of aiding terrorism, but the sentence coming out just a little while ago, 28 months in prison, as I said, far less than the government had been pushing for.

Ms. Stewart, before the judge, said that she already is suffering terribly because of the loss of her legal career, now that she is a convicted felon. Also, her attorneys pointed out that she suffers from diabetes. She has just finished treatment for breast cancer, surgery, and radiation. And the judge also is permitting her to stay out on bail until her appeal is completed -- Don.

LEMON: Allan Chernoff, thank you, sir.

PHILLIPS: All right, let's get back to the quake in Hawaii right now.

Roads, bridges, and buildings are getting sized up for stability. And all the islands are under an official state of emergency.

CNN's Chris Lawrence keeping track for us in Kona. He joins us now on the phone. We had a little trouble with the live signal because of all the conditions there.

Chris, give us an update.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the FEMA team is -- will be flying in later today to assess some of the damage.

But, in the meantime, local crews are really kind of fanning out all over the island to look at some of the roads and the bridges, trying to see if the earthquake compromised their structural integrity.

If you could take a look, this is a live picture of the road we're standing at right now. The bridge behind these people has been closed down to all traffic. They live on the other side of that bridge. They're being allowed to walk across, but no cars are being allowed in or out, after the inspectors saw actual pieces of that bridge falling off underneath it.

We have seen huge boulders that just came rolling down the mountain, right onto some of the main highways. The crews have been out. They have been trying to break down those boulders, and clear them off the main highway, to kind of at least let traffic start moving in and out of that area.

Unfortunately, we have had some reports that homes have been burned in this area. That is often the case with earthquakes. It starts a lot of gas or electrical fires. And, in this case, one, or at least -- possibly several homes may have burned not too far from us.

But, overall, when you talk to people here, when you look at the magnitude of this quake, a lot of people here feel -- feel that the Big Island could have been a whole lot worse off.

PHILLIPS: Chris...

LAWRENCE: Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris, don't you find, just getting to know the people in that community, essentially, they -- they always have a very laid- back and relaxed attitude? I mean, that's how people are on the islands. And are you getting a sense for that, too? Because, as we watch this and listen to the interviews, it just seems they're moving along, doing the cleanup, doing what they need to do. And, remarkably, we have had no reports of any fatalities.

LAWRENCE: No, no, no -- no even serious injuries, Kyra.

You know, I -- we heard reports of one person with a broken arm. During earthquakes, you're always going to get a lot of lacerations and cuts, just because of all the -- the glass that breaks, but no serious injuries, let alone any fatalities, which is just a -- a -- a great thing, when you consider that this was a pretty serious earthquake.

I mean, it's 6.7 magnitude, several major aftershocks. And the people here, you know, they have kind of that attitude of very -- very easy-going. You know, you take what comes to you in life, and you just move on. And there is absolutely no sense of panic here at all.

People are just kind of going about the day, trying to do the best they can to clean up what they have to.

PHILLIPS: Chris Lawrence, in Kona -- thanks, Chris.

LEMON: For a week, the world assumed, speculated, questioned. Now we know for sure whether North Korea really conducted a nuclear test.

Our Jamie McIntyre has the latest for us at the Pentagon -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, confirmation today from the U.S. government that, after analyzing that second test, they now believe that they're in a position to confirm that North Korea did, in fact, test a nuclear device a week ago in the northeast section of the country.

The results came from a second test from a U.S. military plane specially designed to collect samples from the atmosphere. Those samples were analyzed. And, late on Friday, the -- sources from Washington began to tell CNN that the tests from the plane had come back positive.

But in a -- in a -- in a move that was underscored by the caution that they wanted to put into the analysis of these results, the final results were not released until today, when a statement was put out by the Director of National Intelligence Office, saying essentially that the tests do confirm that a nuclear test was -- was conducted by North Korea, although they put the yield at less than a kiloton.

And that is consistent with what the U.S. intelligence community believed all along was that it was a much smaller-than-expected test, perhaps indicating a partial failure, at least, in part of that test. It comes as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is traveling to the region. She's going to visit Japan, South Korea, China, and Russia, she said, to -- to rally U.S. allies, as they try to urge North Korea to go back to the bargaining table for those six-party talks.

North Korea will be faced with some tough sanctions. But the U.N. resolution calling for those sanctions rules out military action. The U.S. has said all along it has no intention of attacking North Korea -- Don.

LEMON: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon -- thank you, Jamie.

PHILLIPS: Let's back to Hawaii. We have been trying to link up with local reporters there that have been following that earthquake. It pretty much rocked the islands.

KHON reporter Tannya Joaquin joins us now live out of Honolulu.

Tannya, what is your sense for how this is all going down at this time?

TANNYA JOAQUIN, KHON REPORTER: Well, today, it has been now exactly more than 24 hours since the earthquake woke up everyone, jolted everyone out of their beds.

So, right now, everything is in assessment mode. We have structural engineers checking out some of the bridges and a sinkhole that's developed in the primary highway linking Kona to Hilo this morning.

Also, one of the big effects of the earthquake was the power outage, which particularly struck Oahu, where the most population is of the islands. And we can report that the power, for the most part, was restored to everyone around 2:00 a.m. -- so, nearly 24 hours without power. And, as you can imagine, that had many effects, from people without food, without water, also without gas, and people, for the most part, stranded at airports, too -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about for -- what we have been hearing from -- from locals there, just friends that we know within the newsroom, that residents, for the most part, prep for this type of activity, whether it's an earthquake or concerns about a tsunami, just the location of where you are, where you live.

Do you -- do you feel that, that, pretty much, people are -- are ready for something like this, somewhat prepared, stocked up?

JOAQUIN: Well, we certainly are in the middle of hurricane season, so, Hawaii residents are no strangers to natural disaster.

However, I think everyone here would agree an earthquake is not something that we're used to. If you look back, over the past 30 years, we have only had three that were bigger than this 6.7 earthquake. So, it's not very common here. And, this one, everyone remarked how long it seemed to be.

Now, I lived through the California earthquakes. I'm a California girl. And, so, I lived through the San Francisco and the Northridge earthquake. And, comparatively speaking, this one seemed like it went on for an eternity.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

And, so, just kind of looking forward, is there a concern about aftershocks? Is there concern about another earthquake?

JOAQUIN: There is.

We have had some reports of some smaller aftershocks this morning. And the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center here has warned residents to be aware there will likely be aftershocks, but nothing of the magnitude of what we saw yesterday.

But we do have a flash flood watch in effect today. And because of the heavy rain possible over the islands and the seismic activity we saw here yesterday, there's a fear that there could be some more rock slides and some other earth compromised. So, we are going to keep a big watch on that today.

PHILLIPS: All right, we will keep following it, too.

Tannya Joaquin from our affiliate KHON -- thanks, Tannya.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: A message from Iraq's insurgents -- a militant spokesman addresses the American public. That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tornado warnings in Texas and Louisiana, and now reports of coastal flooding.

Jacqui Jeras, what do you know?

JERAS: Well, we got a real problem in the town of Hackberry. This is in Cameron Parish.

And if Cameron Parish sounds familiar to you, if you don't live there, this is where Hurricane Rita came ashore. There are people in some FEMA trailers there. They're getting flooded out right now. There's about one to two feet of water across much of the town that is getting into those FEMA trailers, and their appliances and all their floors are now covered with water.

There is the Houston area. Here is Beaumont-Port Arthur. And right now, under the light -- lighter green, that is where Cameron Parish is. Now, what is going on, this storm system that we have been talking about all day, with all the flooding in Houston, all the tornadoes that we have dealing with, well, we have got a real long fetch here associated with this.

Basically, we're talking about some very strong winds. And with the high tide coming in, that's bringing that water out of the ocean, and up over onto land. And look at how strong some of these winds are, coming in out of the south. Our computer is estimating, what, between 25- and 40-mile-per-hour winds, so, all that wind pushing that water up on the coast.

And there are coastal flood watches and warnings in effect throughout much of the southeast Texas coast and much of southwestern Louisiana coast -- so, really becoming a problem here, not to mention the heavy rain that's coming down.

Now, we do have some brand-new tornado warnings which have been coming in, this one in Texas. There's Dave Hennen running the radar for me -- Newton County under a tornado warning until 2:45 p.m. Most of these tornadoes have been moving in a northeasterly direction.

We have also started to kick up some activity over into parts of Mississippi. You're not under a watch just yet, but could be getting one later on this afternoon -- Copiah County under a tornado warning, as well some adjacent counties here -- Jefferson Davis County until a tornado warning until 3:00, local time, for you.

These storms are also moving on up to the north and east -- so, really an unfolding, serious situation. We have got coastal flooding. We have got the rain flooding. And we also have the threat of tornadoes ongoing through at least 7:00 tonight. And we will watch these all spread eastward throughout the afternoon and evening -- back to you guys.

LEMON: All right, Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much.

JERAS: Mmm-hmm.

PHILLIPS: Well, a developing story from U.N. headquarters, a vote of deep concern to the Bush administration. It's Venezuela's bid to join the Security Council.

With the latest, CNN's Richard Roth.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you remember what it was like running for high school president and college class president?

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: There is that giddiness inside the General Assembly, because it's not precooked results. We actually have some suspense here inside the august General Assembly hall. That's where they actually vote on who will be the next five countries who get two-year non-permanent seats on the Security Council.

But the real fuss is over Venezuela's candidacy. You remember, in this same hall, President Chavez of Venezuela, a few weeks ago, said, in effect, about President Bush: The devil was just here. There's a smell of sulfur in the air.

Well, the question is, will those -- will those comments hurt or help Venezuela's candidacy? Right now, Venezuela is locked in a stalemate with Guatemala. No one really could guess who was going to win. But we have had four rounds of voting so far. Guatemala is in the lead -- the last tally, 10 votes shy of the required number needed.

But Venezuela creeped up five votes from between third and fourth ballots. And what is interesting here is that, on this ballot, countries could actually nominate another country in the Latin American-Caribbean region. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton has been heavily supporting, as Washington wants him to, Guatemala's candidacy.

Following four founds of voting, with no clear winner, John Bolton had this comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: I think it's very clear there's a candidate with a strong predominant vote. We have been through four rounds. I suppose we will go through a number of more rounds. And, you know, all I can say is, in the year 2000, I spent 31 days in Florida. This has just begin.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: John Bolton was counting votes for George Bush then.

A Venezuelan diplomat said the battle is on. That was his comment. Venezuela accuses the U.S. of using its power to stop its candidacy Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, is it likely that either of the countries will withdraw?

ROTH: They both say they're in it. In 1979, it went three months between Cuba and Colombia. Many hope it doesn't go that long.

PHILLIPS: By the way...

ROTH: I only brought one suit in. (LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: By the way, were you class president?

ROTH: No, I wasn't.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: I was a reporter on the high school newspaper...

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: ... trying to find out who would win.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Outstanding.

Richard Roth, thank you. I was only class secretary. Don was president. So, we got it all covered.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Thanks so much, Richard.

LEMON: Richard can report on it.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Thank you.

A congressman resigns -- a scandal that won't go away. And the question remains, who knew what, when, about Mark Foley? A House panel is hearing more testimony today -- details coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back to work for a House panel investigating a former congressman's behavior and how other lawmakers behaved in response.

Mark Foley resigned last month over inappropriate messages to congressional pages. The House Ethics Committee has already heard from some key figures. But top leaders, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, have yet to testify -- appearing today, chief of staff to Louisiana Congressman Rodney Alexander.

Alexander's office reported some of Foley's e-mails to Hastert aides last fall. Alexander is scheduled to testify on Wednesday.

PHILLIPS: Well, we have seen rolling blackouts and electricity shortages during the past couple summers.

And, as Susan Lisovicz tells us from the New York Stock Exchange, the problem could get a whole lot worse.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

A new study says demand for electricity is increasing three times as fast as resources are being added. According to the North American Electric Reliability Council, electricity demand will increase by about 20 percent by 2015. That's about 141,000 megawatts demand growth.

But facilities supplying only about a third of that are in the works. And, of course, that leaves a huge shortfall. The council said part of the problem is that energy regulators haven't been promoting conservation and using the most energy-efficient equipment. The report says electricity supply in many parts of the U.S. and Canada could fall below safe levels in the next two to three years -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, are there new power plants in the works to make up the difference?

LISOVICZ: Well, one would hope so, but getting permits to build new power lines, Kyra, has become more difficult.

In the meantime, power companies are proposing building dozens of new coal fire plants. But coal plants can be big polluters. And, so, those proposals have met resistance from politicians and environmentalists alike.

Regulators could push utilities toward cleaner-burning coal plants. But they cost more and are still based on unproven technology. And, so, utilities are not embracing them either.

Well, we are seeing some power on Wall Street, where the Dow hit yet another intraday high. Shares of UnitedHealth Group are losing 2 percent, following the resignation of its longtime chairman and CEO. This comes after an internal probe found his stock options were likely backdated to inflate his returns, which have been valued at more than $1.5 billion.

Just take a look, quick look, at what is happening on the Dow industrials. We are now 13 points from Dow 12000. We're late in the session. Don't know if it could happen today, but we're seeing a nice rally here -- the Nasdaq, meanwhile, gaining about a third of 1 percent.

And that is the latest from Wall Street -- more from the NEWSROOM straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, more twists and turns in the Duke University rape case. You may recall a woman told police back in March that three duke lacrosse players raped her in a bathroom at an off-campus party where she'd been hired to perform as a stripper. Well, there have been questions about that case from the start. DNA tests failed to find a definitive match, but D.A. Mike Nifong vowed press ahead anyway. An indictment soon followed.

Now, last night on "60 Minutes," another woman hired to perform at the party said the accuser never gave her any reason to believe that she'd been attacked. Kim Roberts also denied a key aspect of the accuser's statement to police, that the lacrosse players pulled them apart and dragged the accuser into the bathroom where she was allegedly raped.

LEMON: Three consecutive life terms for Joseph Edward Duncan. He's convicted -- a convicted sex offender who today pleaded guilty to killing three people in May of last year in order to kidnap two children, Dylan and Shasta Groene. In exchange for that plea, Duncan will avoid the death penalty in Idaho, but he still faces federal charges and a possible death sentence if convicted.

PHILLIPS: Well, digging out and dusting off in Hawaii. Earthquake damage leaves some areas looking like war zones, but most agree, it could have been a whole lot worse. Few serious injuries and no deaths are reported after yesterday's 6.7 magnitude quake, and dozens of aftershocks.

Joining us now, KGMB News 9 executive producer Christi Young, on the phone from Honolulu. She actually lives in the town of Mililani, just outside of Honolulu, which is further inland.

Let's start by just talking about where you live, particularly. And when -- you're an E.P., you knew you had to get to the newsroom. You might not have even left the newsroom when all this went down. You know, tell me how you found out about it and how you started working the story.

CHRISTI YOUNG, KGMB EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Oh, my gosh, it was something -- I've never experienced something like this before. Where I live in Mililani is right in the center of Oahu. Not used to a lot of severe weather. When hurricanes come, we're not really that much affected. But in Mililani, I woke up with the shaking. It just started shaking. I went to the computer to see if there was an earthquake and I lost power like two minutes later.

I looked at my husband and I said, something's gone wrong, I've to get into work. And I just hopped in the car. And from Mililani to half an hour away, near -- about 20 minutes away from Waikiki is where the station is. Power was out everywhere. Intersections were completely black. Nobody knew what to do. And it was raining at the time, so it was just a really dangerous and frightening situation. Nobody had any information on the radio for like the first five minutes, and, of course, all of the television stations were knocked off by the power outage.

So it was really uncertain, and it was really kind of frightening, especially in Oahu where we don't feel earthquakes very often. It was the first time I've ever felt something like that.

PHILLIPS: So was it tough to cover the story immediately, then, because of the power outages and you got knocked off the air? YOUNG: It absolutely was. And not only was that being knocked off the air, our telephone service got knocked out. I don't know if it was power hit, but all cell phone service, we hit problems. I know the switch boards were clogged. We couldn't even call anyone. I know that Honolulu police dispatch was down for about 20 minutes.

Luckily, they were able to get everything back up and running fairly quickly. But for a good hour, it was just absolute chaos, because nobody could get in touch with anyone.

PHILLIPS: Sure, because all of your contacts are in your computer, right? So you didn't know when to start calling.

YOUNG: For a long time, we just sat in the dark newsroom, calling everyone we could think of to try to get to the station and just trying to figure out what our next move was. And just trying to think of our families at home who were sitting in the dark. And, in fact, this morning, I'm still in the dark. More than 24 hours later, I still don't have any power.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Christy Young, we'll keep checking in with you. Sure appreciate you calling in.

YOUNG: No problem. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet. One of our affiliates there, KMBG 9 News in Hawaii.

LEMON: A message to North Korea, Iran and the rest of the world from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tomorrow, she heads to Asia to make sure North Korea's neighbors are enforcing new U.N. sanctions. Now, here's what she told reporters at the State Department just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: North Korea cannot endanger the world and then expect other nations to conduct business as usual in arms or missile parts. It cannot destabilize the international system and then expect to exploit elaborate financial networks built for peaceful comers. Resolution 1718 points the way. We expect every member of the international community to fully implement all aspects of this resolution, and we expect the Security Council to aggressively monitor the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Secretary Rice says Iran should learn a lesson from the North Korean ordeal and scrap its nuclear ambitions as well. Rice plans to visit Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing this week.

The blare of air raid sirens, a common sound of the streets out Seoul for decades. These days, South Koreans are perking up their ears a bit more. But they're not exactly scrambling for cover.

Our Dan Rivers is in Seoul. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We can just hear, right on schedule, the beginning of this civil contingency exercise. There is an air raid siren sounding here in the middle of Seoul and this is a part of a regular drill. And as soon as people hear this siren, they are supposed to go inside, either go down into the metro or inside shops.

As you can see, most people seem pretty complacent about it at the moment. A few people looking around wondering what they should do. The idea is this is a practice for some sort of military attack on Seoul from North Korea. And the idea is that all the traffic is supposed to stop, people are supposed to get out of their cars and go inside, people on the street are supposed to clear off the streets and go down into the metro.

And this drill has been going on, on and off in some form, since the end of the Korean War in 1953. You can see the streets are beginning to empty here. There's no real sense of urgency, it must be said. You would think, though, given the events here in the last week, it's only a week since North Korea announced that nuclear test. You would think there would be an added sense of urgency, an added edge to this drill. It certainly seems pretty relaxed from what we're seeing here.

But this is taking place amid a backdrop of continuing shuttle diplomacy in the region. The secretary of state for America, Condoleezza Rice, is due out in this area later on in the week. Ahead of her, the America's point man on this issue, Christopher Hill, will also be here. He'll be here in Seoul, discussing how to implement those sanctions and how to make them bite.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: His face is hidden, but his goals are clear.

PHILLIPS: A member of the Islamic army of Iraq answers questions from CNN and makes a surprising claim. You're going to hear it straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

Dow industrials up 34 points. We're monitoring the numbers from the market. Susan Lisovicz is, too. We'll be back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Numbers are up, they're down, nearing 12,000. Will we hit a record? Susan Lisovicz, live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Just when we thought it was there, Susan, it started to back off. Where are we now?

(MARKET REPORT) LEMON: Chaos in downtown Baghdad. Police fire wildly at a scene of -- a road side bombing near a bank where police and reporters had converged after an earlier blast. At least 18 people were killed today in and around the capital. Another 26 bullet-riddled bodies were found in Baghdad neighbors.

In Basra, British authorities say a security guard was wounded when gunman fired a rocket propelled grenade at a four-wheel drive. And reports of ethnic cleansing in Balad. At least 91 people have died in sectarian attacks triggered by Friday's discovery of 17 murdered Shiite workers. Sunnis fleeing the city say Shiite police and militia ordered them out.

As we've reported, the number of coalition troops who have lost their lives in Iraq has hit 3,000. Most, of course, are Americans. Five died over the weekend, raising the U.S. death toll to 2,767. In the background, a powerful militant group has renewed an invitation to negotiate with U.S. forces.

With that story, CNN's Michael Ware.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've had a very rare opportunity to gain access to the Islamic Army of Iraq insurgent organization. This is the leading insurgent group among a broad faction of the insurgency, responsible for many of the attacks against U.S. forces. We effectively were able to conduct an interview with the spokesman of this group by forwarding questions and having that videotaped response come back.

Now, it's fascinating stuff. Here in this month, October, only 16 days old, already at least 49 U.S. deaths, with a rising death count against Iraqi civilians and security forces as well. As we see. the Ramadan offensive.

Here, he comes out and says, with the lead up to the midterm elections, reiterates the group's offer to hold negotiations or discussions with U.S. forces. He also gives us a window into the structure of his organization and the role of al Qaeda in the insurgency. He also gives a reality check on the sectarian violence, all throughout making many very savvy American cultural references, from the Vietnam War to Watergate to President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" statement.

But he also talks about one of the motivating factors behind the Sunni insurgency, and that's fear of Iranian interference. He says very clearly to CNN that a by-product of the U.S. occupation is the entrenchment of Iranian influence here in Iraq, and he says this is one of the major motivating forces that is sustaining the insurgency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated): America and Iran have occupied Iraq. America is a disease that caused the infection, which is the Iranian occupation.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WARE: So this is a very, very savvy address to the people of America. So in this interview, we hear this key insurgent group talking directly to the people of America, asking them to question President Bush's record on Iraq.

He certainly vows that the insurgency is going nowhere, yet reiterates the chance to discuss what effectively would be ceasefire or peace talks.

LEMON: And that was CNN's Michael Ware reporting for us from Baghdad. Now he was able to forward questions to an Islamic Army of Iraq. The group's spokesman replied by videotape. Very interesting.

PHILLIPS: Coming up next in the NEWSROOM, she is not a resident, but officials decide that's immaterial.

LEMON: Oh yeah. Madonna gets the go-ahead to adopt a little boy from Malawi. Details on what happens next from the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live to New York. Lynne Stewart -- a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced here to 28 months in prison for helping terrorists and lying to the U.S. government. She's giving her first statement.

LYNNE STEWART, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR SHEIK RAHMAN: This is a moment that I share with every supporter that came, that called, that sent me a card, that stopped me in the street, the cab driver who gave me the thumbs up this morning. It's everybody who had some role to play in this. I am very grateful to the judge, that he gave me time off for good behavior.

And he gave it to me in advance of the sentence, when he said my extraordinary work meant that I could not get a sentence that the government wanted. They were disappointed, but I tell you, he did a fair and right thing, and I am grateful to him, but I am more grateful to the people, the people who showed up today, the people who have showed up, the people who had the meetings, the people who had dinners in apartments, the people who raised funds, whatever it was. The support and love of the people is what has sustained me.

(APPLAUSE)

PHILLIPS: Well, lawyers are supposed to speak for their clients, but rules are rules, and that's why well-known New York attorney here, Lynne Stewart, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison over a case that she worked on a decade ago. Stewart represented a blind Egyptian sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted of plotting to blow up five New York landmarks and to kill the president of Egypt. You remember this famous videotape.

In 2000 Stewart released a statement from the imprisoned sheik, even though the court forbade him from any contact from the outside world. She could have gotten up to 38 years. As you can see, she's received a lot of support from individuals in New York, civil rights supporters, because they just believe in what she represents. Meanwhile, she broke the rules. Twenty-eight months behind bars now.

LEMON: A closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Plus, is there anything red wine can't do? Researchers are finding more benefits from a glass or two of wine. It might not make you smarter but it could still help your brain. Cheers, to you health. Right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer...

PHILLIPS: ... standing by in "THE SIT ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour.

Hey, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys, thanks very much.

Will conservative voters be with Republicans or against them in this crucial midterm election? We're going to show you the latest mobilization effort.

And we'll speak live with the author of a new book, a former White House insider who claims the Bush White House manipulated the Christian right.

And the Justice Department opens an investigation into whether a Republican Congressman helped his daughter win lobbying contracts. Why now, three weeks before election day?

All that, coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

LEMON: All right, Wolf. Thank you very much for that.

Just desserts for a Georgia man who ruined Christmas. A judge in suburban Atlanta ordered Wendell Rogers into anger management for fighting with his wife in front of their kids, their two kids, last Christmas morning. The judge also told Rogers to take the family to one of Atlanta's most expensive restaurants for this year's Christmas dinner. He has to show the judge the receipt.

PHILLIPS: That was a talker in our meeting today, right? That's a creative judge. I want to know where they went to dinner, did they have a good time and why this woman is staying with her husband?

LEMON: Don't fight over...

PHILLIPS: Don't you want to know all of this?

LEMON: And don't fight over the bill.

PHILLIPS: Exactly. That's right. He's paying. Well, we've heard how a little red wine can help your heart, right? Now it seems that a glass or two can also protect your rain. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say that red wine might help spare brains from damage after strokes. They can also -- they also think, rather, a couple of glasses a day could provide that protection ahead of time. Tests on mice using a compound from red grapes showed an increase in an enzyme that shields nerve cells from damage.

LEMON: And it's about four minutes from the time that I'm supposed to go out and protect my brain.

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