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Mass Killing in Wisconsin; Bulgaria Last Scheduled Stop on President Bush's European Trip; Suicide Bomber Attacks Bridge in Iraq, Killing Three U.S. Troops
Aired June 11, 2007 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Monday morning. It is June 11th.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Serving 10 years for teen sex. A Georgia judge could decide today whether to free Genarlow Wilson.
HARRIS: Symbolic statement or playing politics? The Senate Democrats are forcing a no confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
COLLINS: And looking for an autism link. Activists who blame vaccines and scientists who don't face off in court.
In the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And at the top this hour, in prison and maybe on the cusp of freedom. This morning a judge is expected to rule on the early release of 21-year-old Genarlow Wilson.
The Georgia man is serving a 10-year prison sentence for having what's described as consensual sex as a teenager. At the time he was 17, the girl was 15. Under Georgia's old law, he was convicted of aggravated child molestation. The offense has since been reduced to a misdemeanor.
COLLINS: A horrific crime scene in Wisconsin. Six people shot to death. Among them, twin baby boys. This morning, investigators piece together what happened.
More now from CNN's Keith Oppenheim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a small town, the sounds of a massacre.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I just heard a rapid succession of shots.
OPPENHEIM: Saturday night, police are called to this white house in Delavan, Wisconsin. In a minivan outside, they find a 2-year-old girl shot in the chest. She was alive. But inside the home, six people, four adults and two 2-month-old twin boys, all shot and found dead.
Relatives of the victims were stunned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what kind of person would do that.
OPPENHEIM: Kim Acara (ph) is the mother of one of the victims. She identified her daughter as 19-year-old Vanessa Iverson (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police stopped at my house this morning and asked me if I had heard from her and when was the last time I saw her.
OPPENHEIM: What wasn't clear, who was responsible and why.
FRANCISCO FIGUEROA, VICTIM'S COUSIN: All I know is that they were just having a good time and somebody was just angry.
OPPENHEIM: Neighbors and relatives told us they suspect this was a domestic dispute, a murder-suicide. But police did not confirm that, leaving open the possibility someone fled the scene.
CHIEF TIMOTHY O'NEILL, DELAVAN POLICE: We want to make sure there's no stone unturned.
OPPENHEIM: Authorities would only say there was no danger to the neighborhood at this point. That was perhaps slight comfort to a community trying to understand a brutal attack on four adults and three small children.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: President Bush wrapping up his trip to Europe this morning. His last stop, Bulgaria. The president boarding Air Force One just moments ago en route back home.
The latest now from CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry in the Bulgarian capital.
Ed, good to see you. Hey, tell us more about the president's day in Bulgaria.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's certainly trying to project a positive imagine here, end this weeklong European tour on a high note. The president all smiles today after his bilateral talks with the Bulgarian president, Georgi Parvanov. And the president heads home feeling good about some incremental progress on some key issues.
As you know, he's been working on missile defense, climate change, and aid to Africa. But of course, waiting in Washington for the president are some very big problems.
Iraq, of course, at the top of the list. But also, on the domestic front, the president today having to push back against Senate Democrats who are scheduling this vote of no confidence against the president's embattled attorney general, Alberto Gonzales. The president, at a press conference today here in Bulgaria, called that a meaningless debate. And despite signs that his immigration reform bill may be dead, he made a bold prediction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The political process sometimes isn't pretty to look at it. There's two steps forward, one step back.
We made two steps forward on immigration. We took a step back. And now I'm going to work with those who are focused on getting an immigration bill done and start taking some steps forward again. And I believe we can get it done.
I'll see you at the bill signing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: You can hear that, "I'll see you at the bill signing." The president almost defiant in his tone, and he will start that rescue effort tomorrow, jumping right into the fray.
As soon as he gets back into Washington, he's heading to Capitol Hill tomorrow afternoon for lunch with Senate Republicans. He will immediate start lobbying some of his own party leaders in order to try to get them to rescue this bill -- Tony.
HARRIS: So, Ed, before the president stopped in Sofia, he was in Albania, and some described that stop as a bit of a love fest.
Oh, Ed Henry, let's listen in to a bit of the love fest.
And Ed, the chant was, "Bushie! Bushie! Bushie!" We wanted to play that, because we haven't heard that often when the president travels abroad.
What was going on here in Albania?
HENRY: Well, if you look at the poll numbers, he is not hearing it at home in the United States either. And you're right, when we travel with him abroad, you know, the president faced some large protests in Italy, Germany. He's not very popular around the world because of the war in Iraq.
Well, what's going on there is that the White House is carefully choreographing these last two stops. Albania, in particular, a real key ally of the United States in the war on terror, and for decades has really been strong with the United States, whether it's a Democratic or Republican administration. And what's going on here, Tony, I can tell you that locals there in Albania were telling us that back in the days of the Clinton administration, when Bill Clinton helped in terms of Kosovo and all the ethnic Albanians there trying to save them, there was a baby boom of Bills and Hillarys, a lot of babies with those names. Now people talking are talking about a baby boom of Georges and Lauras.
So, this not exactly, you know, the test case for the whole world.
HARRIS: Yes, yes.
HENRY: This is an area of the country -- Albania in particular, they love the president of the United States, whether it's a Democrat or a Republican -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Ed Henry with us this morning.
Ed, appreciate it. Thank you.
COLLINS: Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales likely facing a no confidence vote in the Senate. The vote pushed by Democrats is expected later today. Gonzales under fire for last year's dismissals of some federal prosecutors.
During his stop today in Bulgaria, President Bush stood firmly behind his attorney general. He dismissed the no confidence vote as pure politics. Gonzales is a longtime friend and legal adviser to the president.
HARRIS: Fact-finding mission to Iraq. Britain's next prime minister, Gordon Brown, in Baghdad this hour. He is meeting with Iraq's prime minister today. Brown says he wants to assess the situation on the ground before taking office later this month.
Britain has been reducing troop levels in Iraq. Three out of four provinces that were under British control have been handed over to Iraqi troops.
COLLINS: Under attack in Iraq, crucial parts of the country's infrastructure. This morning, three U.S. soldiers are dead, crushed in the collapse of a highway overpass. The structure blown up by a suicide bomber. Six other U.S. troops wounded in the attack south of Baghdad Sunday night.
Live now to our Paula Hancocks in the Iraqi capital.
Paula, good morning to you.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Heidi.
Well, that's right. This happened at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday evening, when a suicide car bomb detonated just by a checkpoint.
Now, we know that three were killed of the U.S. military personnel. Six more wounded. They were medevaced out as soon as most of them could be freed. There were U.S. military bulldozers brought in and engineers to try to free those trapped beneath the rubble.
Now, certainly, this is something we have been seeing for some time. These insurgents targeting the infrastructure, targeting bridges, and also, significantly targeting any kind of checkpoint or police checkpoints.
Now, we certainly know over the past couple of days there have been four or five incidents where police stations or police patrols have been targeted in all different parts of Iraq. So certainly this has been something we have been seeing for some time -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Paula, talk a little bit if you could about these increased attacks now that we are seeing, not only in just in Baghdad, but all over the country.
HANCOCKS: That's right. Yes, on Sunday we also have an attack in Tikrit, just near Tikrit, in the north of Baghdad. Fifteen people killed in that particular suicide bomb attack. Now, that also was just outside of a police station.
In Baquba, also north of Baghdad, another one killed and two wounded in a hit-and-run attack on a police patrol. And then, also, in Samarra, just about 60 miles north of Baghdad, just about 1:00 this afternoon, just a few hours ago, another Iraqi police patrol was targeted.
This is something we are seeing more and more of. And also, it's not just the infrastructure, but certainly these police patrols are definitely being targeted.
COLLINS: The latest coming our way. Live from Baghdad this morning, Paula Hancocks.
Paula, thank you.
HARRIS: Recovering from some stormy weather this morning in parts of the nation's midsection. More on the way.
Storm clouds dropping marble-sized hail on Ogalalla, Nebraska. This scene near Interstate 80. The aerial also got torrential rain.
And on Interstate 25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, a frightening scene for travelers. Look at this. An apparent tornado dropping from the sky. There is no word of any injuries or damage.
COLLINS: We've seen so many of those lately, it seems like, anyway.
Jacqui Jeras joining us now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Britain's Prince Harry causing a stir yet again. These pictures purportedly of the 22-year-old prince posing with women at a Calgary bar last week. CBC News says he stayed until after the bar closed and had a few drinks with the ladies.
HARRIS: All right.
COLLINS: Is that a crime?
Prince Harry is third in line to the British throne. He's reportedly in Calgary to train at a British army base in Canada.
HARRIS: Deadly floods in China. Dozens dead, hundreds of thousands forced to flee.
That story straight ahead for you in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Drivers have something to get pumped up about. Hey, gas prices, they're down. Have you noticed?
The dollars and cents ahead in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Out, then in again. Paris Hilton in jail. Visitors pay a call to the hotel heiress. That story in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: They're calling it a toilet paper caper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is facing potentially three years of incarceration for three rolls of toilet paper. See, I can't say it with a straight face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That's one roll for every year. Right?
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: But not everybody's laughing. A possible third strike for one woman.
Details ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The numbers are staggering. The CDC says about one in every 150 children has autism or a related disorder.
This hour, families who say their children's autism was caused by vaccines gets a chance to make their case. Those claims are being heard by a special federal court. The families are seeking payment from a $2.5 billion compensation fund. Previously, studies have found no association between autism and the vaccines in question.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on the mystery of autism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a true medical mystery. The secrets of an autistic brain.
WENDY STONE, VANDERBILT KENNEDY CENTER.: There is no identified single cause of autism that is universal for all children. Well -- and there may never be.
GUPTA: As with many mysteries of the mind, doctors point to genetics and environment as culprits. But as the mystery starts to unfold, we learned that it could be more complicated than that.
The newest research shows that there is something that a child is born with that allows outside factors to wreak havoc on their little brains. More simply, these children are not necessarily born with autism, but they are born with the potential to develop it.
And what exactly are those outside factors? Not sure.
STONE: Before we're born, it's the mother's womb and placenta. After we're born, it's what we eat, it's what we breathe, it's what we drink. And there are so many different things out there. And that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is.
GUPTA: Still, any parents of an autistic child will have theories. When Zack's Couch's parents learned he had autism, his mother began to change his diet, worried he was eating something that was causing him to get worse.
Some families believe that a preservative in some childhood vaccines called Thimerasol is causing autism in their children. The CDC says no scientific link.
DR. ROBERT DAVIS, CDC: Now that we have the data coming in, there is no data to suggest that the Thimerasol or the mercury in vaccines is linked to autism.
GUPTA: And what about the genetic link? Well, doctors at Vanderbilt are studying siblings of autistic children.
STONE: They are at elevated risk for developing autism. Even from birth, we can start following these children. And we can identify the very earliest signs.
GUPTA: Catching those early signs may help doctors get one step closer to solving the mystery.
So what exactly is happening in an autistic brain? At the University of Pittsburgh, doctors are seeing what's happening inside the autistic brain. The picture here shows a normal brain on the left, an autistic brain on the right with dramatically fewer connections lighting up.
No, we still don't know what exactly causes it or even how to explain the rising rates across the United States. But every day, we're getting closer to solving the mystery of autism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still to come, mission Atlantis. A successful orbital dance for the space shuttle.
Back on Earth, NASA takes a closer look at the spacecraft's skin.
That story ahead in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Arming the Sunnis in Iraq. Who's providing the weapons? In some cases, the U.S.
Working with former enemies to fight al Qaeda, coming up in the NEWSROOM.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How about some good news about gasoline prices? I'll drop the latest on you.
That's coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: NASA still examining a potential heat protection problem on the space shuttle Atlantis. But for the astronauts it's business as usual.
CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On my mark -- 3, 2, 1, mark.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was a photo opportunity among the stars. The space shuttle Atlantis showing off with a back flip, and the space station crew, ready with telephoto lenses, giving the orbiter the paparazzi treatment for a minute and a half. The pictures will be used to ensure the shuttle's heat shield is intact.
While we wait to see what those pictures show, NASA engineers are looking long and hard at the loose corner of this thermal blanket. It is a small triangle four by six inches near the orbiter's tail. Engineers believe it was pried loose by the supersonic air flow during launch, but they're not too concerned about it. And here's why.
JOHN YOUNG, STS-1 COMMANDER: OK. We want to show you our own spots here. We do have a few tiles missing off of both of them.
O'BRIEN: During the first shuttle flight in April of 1981, the same area was covered with heat-resistant tiles, and 16 of them fell off during launch. Columbia, of course, had a happy landing after that mission.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The space shuttle Atlantis now entering in to the International Space Station.
O'BRIEN: Certainly the crews did not portray any signs of worry. After the shuttle docked at the station and the hatch opened, they smiled, embraced and mugged for the cameras. And earlier, the shuttle crew sent back some shots of their morning routine -- shaving, brushing teeth, bundling the trash, and doing some vacuuming.
Just make sure you're holding on when you flip the switch in space.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, it pays to be a CEO. Compensation for America's corporate execs has skyrocketed to new heights, with some CEOs making more than movie stars, even pro athletes.
Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Stephanie, great to see you.
ELAM: Hi, Tony.
HARRIS: So, no surprise here. So America's top CEOs -- that sounds like a reality show. America's top CEOs raking in big wads of cash, huh?
ELAM: Yes, they definitely are. They're taking it all the way to the bank.
HARRIS: Yes.
ELAM: So you can still make all the money and have gone to college, and you don't have to be a pro athlete or, you know, be a Hollywood star.
HARRIS: There you go.
ELAM: There's another way to go. You could do this -- and in fact, this is according to The Associated Press, which has done its own study about this. But they're saying that half made more than $8.3 million last year. That's a lot of money for them to be pulling in.
HARRIS: Wow. Yes. Who are the top earners here?
ELAM: Well, let's talk a little bit -- let's do a little comparison here just to give you an idea.
HARRIS: Oh, great. Great. Great.
ELAM: Let's talk a little bit about Yahoo's chairman, Terry Semel. He pulled in $71.7 million last year. That's despite being behind Google in profit growth and stock performance.
But let's compare that to a pro athlete. Let's say the highest paid pro athlete in baseball, A-Rod.
HARRIS: OK.
ELAM: Alex Rodriquez -- $27 million. That's how much he made. So that's two and a half times as much as he was getting.
HARRIS: Boy, it's great work if you can get it.
ELAM: If you can get it, it definitely is not a bad thing.
Now, I should point out that this is the AP formula, and it differs from how the SEC looks to make comparisons on how much someone is making. The AP says that their formula adds up salaries, bonuses, perks, as well as above-market interest on pay that is set aside for later, other stock market options, and what they would be worth if they were cashed out at that time.
So it's a little different.
HARRIS: Hey, look -- right, but the perks -- add in the perks. Perks amount to real income here.
Hey, how about gas prices? I know there's a bit of a dip according to the latest Lundberg Survey.
How much?
ELAM: We'll take a little bit of a dip. It's about down seven cents that we've seen over the last three weeks. So that would put us at $3.11 a gallon for regular self-serve.
This is -- the Lundberg Survey actually takes a look at 5,000 gas stations nationwide. And this is the first drop that we have seen since January.
During that period, gas has been up $1. So any little bit of relief here obviously makes a lot of help.
And the other issue here, too, obviously, is it's we're almost into summer and the summer driving season. Many people were afraid we were looking at $4 a gallon perhaps, but now it looks like that may not be what -- the direction that we're going. Obviously, it's still early, but at this point, it's giving people a little bit of hope that $4 is not where we're heading.
HARRIS: Right. So enjoy your seven cents until, what, the lead- up to the Fourth of July holiday weekend? I'm such a cynic on this.
ELAM: Take your seven cents right now. It may not last. But I can tell you, Tony, you know, in Chicago, they're paying the most, $3.61 a gallon.
HARRIS: Even more than California?
ELAM: Which is weird, I know.
HARRIS: Yes.
ELAM: California is always up.
And Hawaii, they're always up there.
HARRIS: Yes.
ELAM: Jackson, Mississippi, however, is the lowest. You could go there and get $2.67. Maybe you can just put it on your driving plan for the holidays...
HARRIS: Hey now. There's some thought.
ELAM: ... and get some lower gas. And, you know, visit a state you haven't been to before, perhaps.
HARRIS: I'm looking for satisfaction wherever I can find it.
Stephanie Elam "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Stephanie, thank you.
ELAM: Thanks.
COLLINS: Still serving his time after a change in the crime law. Will Genarlow Wilson go free?
It is decision day -- in the NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Teaching tolerance. Britain backing Muslim religious academies, but what lessons are really being learned?
A closer look straight ahead for you in the NEWSROOM.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
Is the U.S. now arming Sunni insurgents? I'll have that coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Bottom of the hour. Good morning, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: And I'm Heidi Collins.
In prison and maybe on the cusp of freedom. This morning, a judge expected to rule on the early release of 21-year-old Genarlow Wilson.
The Georgia man is serving a 10-year prison sentence for having what's described as consensual sex as a teenager. At the time, he was 17. The girl was 15.
Under Georgia's old law, he was convicted of aggravated child molestation. The offense has since been reduced to a misdemeanor.
HARRIS: Looking for help in Iraq from an unlikely source. U.S. Troops turning to some of their former attackers. The military negotiating with Sunni fighters, in some cases providing them with weapons, to help battle Al Qaeda linked insurgents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: If I've got indications there's somebody out there killing our soldiers, we ain't talking to them. We're killing or capturing them. We're not -- we haven't crossed that line and we won't cross that line.
Having said that, there are folks out there -- there's populations out there who have tendencies to do activities like plant IEDs or they could have equal tendencies not to plant the IEDs and we're trying to push them on our side of the fence. That's what we're trying to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Joining us now to talk more about this, Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr -- Barbara, but, boy, how does the military determine who's who?
How risky a plan is this?
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's risky and it's tough -- Tony, to determine exactly that.
Who is who?
General Lynch, commander of the 3rd I.D. -- Infantry Division -- pretty much making that clear there. The U.S. Is not going to deal with people that it believes have been directly responsible for killing U.S. Troops, but it is going to deal with Sunni insurgents and it's already doing so.
Several commanders over the last several weeks have made some sort of vague indications about this. But now it appears to really be underway -- talking to them, offering them support, even the possibility of weapons if they are willing to work within the system.
You know, it's out in Anbar Province that this first really started happening, when many of the Sunni leaders began to turn against Al Qaeda out there in al-Anbar Province and tried to work and work with Iraqi security forces. So they're hoping that they can begin to spread that effort by supporting some of these people if they turn against violence, if they turn against Al Qaeda -- Tony.
HARRIS: Some might wonder if this is an indication that the so- called surge is not working.
STARR: Well, it's an indication that the so-called surge or the, you know, build up of U.S. Troops certainly is not going to be enough to end the violence. That's very clear. So they are absolutely turning to other elements and working with some of these people, they believe, is one way to really begin to tamp it all done.
But so far, you know, all the statistics show still, as we speak, violence is on the up tick...
HARRIS: Yes.
STARR: ... killings against U.S. Troops, sectarian killings, all of it -- Tony.
HARRIS: CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, for us this morning.
Barbara , thank you.
STARR: Sure.
COLLINS: And the latest attempt at immigration reform now on life support. The Senate instead focusing on other business today, like possible action on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
CNN's Gary Nurenberg takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The administration insists the immigration bill isn't dead.
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez on CNN's "LATE EDITION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LATE EDITION") CARLOS GUTIERREZ, COMMERCE SECRETARY: No. We -- this is alive and well and we are determined -- more determined than ever.
NURENBERG: Many of the bill's advocates blame Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for pulling the bill too quickly. One Democrat said Sunday it will now take the president's involvement to give it a chance of passing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LATE EDITION")
SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: If the president steps in and leads, Wolf, better than 50/50. Without that kind of leadership, less than 50/50.
NURENBERG: The president travels to Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with Republican senators, but made it clear in a weekend radio address any blame for failure will be shared.
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I urge Senator Reid to act quickly to bring the bill back to the Senate floor for a vote and I urge senators from both parties to support it.
NURENBERG: The Senate Monday turns its attention to a no confidence vote on the president's attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, whom Democrats believe has politicized the Justice Department. Gonzalez didn't seem worried when asked about it Tuesday. ALBERTO GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm spending my time focused on what's important to the American people.
NURENBERG: The no confidence effort is led by New York Senator Charles Schumer.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Only because George Bush puts his friendship with Alberto Gonzales above the proper running of the Justice Department, above rule of law taking precedence, do we have to have a no confidence vote.
NURENBERG: The administration says a no confidence vote will make no difference.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If they want to have a symbolic vote, that's fine. But the president still supports Alberto Gonzales and Alberto Gonzales will remain the attorney general of the United States.
NURENBERG (on camera): Gonzales isn't the only high level administration official on the hot seat this week. On Thursday, a federal judge could decide whether or not to send former Dick Cheney Chief of Staff Scooter Libby to prison, pending appeal of his convictions for lying and obstructing justice in the CIA leak case. When asked if the president would pardon Libby, if, in fact, he is sent away at the end of the week, White House Spokesman Tony Snow said: "That's up to the president and I'll let him announce it, if and when he decides to do so."
It could be an interesting week.
Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: Massive flooding in China, with more than half a million people forced to flee their homes.
CNN's John Vause has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The heavy rain began mid-last week, bringing surging floodwaters and landslides across southern China. Rivers burst their banks, sweeping away bridges. Roads collapsed and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland are now under water.
According to state run media, more than 50,000 homes have been destroyed. Some residents were taken to safety by rescue crews and more than half a million people forced to flee the rising waters. Many are now homeless.
And while the south is awash, the west and the north of the country is in the grip of severe drought. Rivers have run dry and, in parts, the crisis so severe, trucks are delivering emergency water supplies.
This is just the start of the summer floods. Authorities had earlier warned they would be bad, especially along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Last year, wild weather here claimed almost 3,000 lives. The forecast for southern China -- more rain this week, more misery to come.
John Vause, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: Wow!
Jacqui Jeras watching all of the weather for us.
HARRIS: Yes.
JACQUI JERAS, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COLLINS: Nasty pictures coming out of Beijing.
JERAS: Absolutely.
COLLINS: How about the U.S.?
Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COLLINS: The death of a gifted teen athlete blamed on a common over the counter sports cream. We'll tell you the story ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Out then in again -- Paris Hilton in jail. The hotel heiress how housed in a cell. That story ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: Finding their place in the world -- Muslim children in Britain flocking to religious schools with the backing of the British government.
CNN's Paula Newton takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As pious as their prayers, as earnest as they are about their studies, students at the Leicester Islamic Academy know there's no escaping it -- that crude and suspicious stereotype.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Islam doesn't teach to bomb people and kill others. It's like, they teach us stuff like moral values.
NEWTON: There is a waiting list to get in here. More and more Muslim families are opting for faith schools and the British government approves. It will spend millions of dollars fully funding this academy next fall. There are seven more like it.
MOHAMMED MUKADAM, LEICESTER ISLAMIC ACADEMY: They become good Muslims and, as I put it, you know, they have a holistic approach to life as Muslims. So we don't radicalize them. We just give them an opportunity to be able to develop their faith.
NEWTON: But there is a highly charged debate of Muslim schools with a familiar vocabulary -- segregation, isolation, sectarian.
(on camera): And all of it inflamed by the accusations of a teacher that worked here, at the King Fahad Academy in London.
His allegations?
That textbooks supplied to the school by the Saudi Arabian government were teaching hate.
(voice-over): Allegedly referring to Jews as apes and Christians as pigs.
COLIN COOK, FORMER MUSLIM SCHOOL TEACHER: I was appalled because this is contrary to the teachings of Islam. Islam teaches tolerance and this is intolerant. It's teaching racial hatred.
NEWTON: And some do find that threatening. "The Last White Kids" is a British documentary that foretells the story of segregated schools.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE LAST WHITE KIDS," COURTESY MENTORN/CHANNEL FOUR)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't have 98 percent and then just a little 2 percent and that little 2 percent of Greenland is our kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Parents here complain schools need to be more racially mixed if children are to be confident of who they are in British society and their place in it. The young white girls in this film wear a head scarf and go to mosque to fit in.
The boys?
They have divided their school along the crudest of racial lines. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE LAST WHITE KIDS," COURTESY MENTORN/CHANNEL FOUR)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a porky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not a porky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a porky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: The boys who study at the Leicester Academy, though, say the fear isn't misplaced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People, if they think that Islamic schools make us anti-social, then they've got -- then, actually, they've got the wrong idea, because we actually -- we do socialize with other people and other groups, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's about racial harmony and ism...
NEWTON: But from some of the young women here, a revealing insight. They identify themselves first and foremost as Muslims.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whereas being British, it's like a question of what is being British?
Nobody has really answered that question as of yet.
NEWTON: As more and more Muslim children live and breathe their faith at school, racial and cultural integration seems to become an ever more complicated idea.
Paula Newton, CNN, England.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HARRIS: A test for Alberto Gonzales -- the attorney general expected to face a no confidence vote later today on Capitol Hill. The latest in the NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Caught on tape -- a 72-year-old woman attacked. Police now with a suspect in custody. Details coming up in THE NEWSROOM.
COMMERCIAL
COLLINS: An arrest this morning in a disturbing attack in Cincinnati.
CNN affiliate WCPO now reporting police have a 18-year-old in custody. He is accused in this attack caught by a surveillance camera. It's a little hard to make out, but in it, a 72-year-old woman is being beaten.
The woman says she was hit twice, her money and car stolen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH HENDERSON, ATTACK VICTIM: When he hit me the second time, I thought if I don't give this guy this key, he's going to kill me. And so I went on and gave him the key.
It makes me angry because they shouldn't be able to do that, you know?
And they're these young kids and they're on the street. They're out of school now and they're just roaming the streets looking for trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Police later found the woman's car abandoned and out of gas. They say the 18-year-old under arrest was found in a separate stolen car.
HARRIS: Paris Hilton in jail, then out of jail, now back and getting visitors. That's her sister Nicky showing up at the jail, surrounded by photographers. Nicky says her sister is being strong.
And the Paris Hilton case out of the ordinary for more reasons than you might think.
CNN's Chris Lawrence takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paris Hilton was immediately assigned a cell at Lynwood Jail. Quantrell Johnson wasn't so lucky.
QUANTRELL JOHNSON, FORMER LYNWOOD INMATE: I mean, I was down there for five days until I got a bed. It was five days before I got a bed and one shower.
LAWRENCE: While Hilton kept isolated from other prisoners, Johnson slept on a reception center floor -- surrounded.
(on camera): Were there a lot of other women in the same room with you?
JOHNSON: In the same room. They have put like, maybe, 35 women. It's one toilet and one little sink and all these...
LAWRENCE: In that space?
JOHNSON: In that space. And all of you guys be crunched up in there like a sardine.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): L.A. County is not supposed to hold more than 20 inmates at this reception center for more than a day. The sheriff is under federal orders to reduce overcrowding. In the past year, Lee Baca says he's had 52 other inmates with a sentence similar to Hilton's. SHERIFF LEE BACA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: And I can assure you, with the policy, most likely, most of the 52 didn't serve any time at all in the county jail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to Dr. Prison radio.
LAWRENCE: Prison expert Steve Sholl (ph) has never heard of an inmate getting locked up, sent home and brought back in.
STEVE SHOLL: They're kind of playing her as a ping pong ball.
LAWRENCE: But Baca didn't release Hilton solely to due to overcrowding. He sent her home to deal with psychological problems. Inmates typically wait a week to see a doctor. And Johnson says they're only let out on a stretcher for serious medical conditions.
JOHNSON: Other than that, you're in there. You're in there.
LEONARD LEVINE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I've never had a client actually get out of jail because of medical reasons, but, again, it hasn't been necessary in a case like this, because they already would have been out after serving a few days, just because of the overcrowding.
LAWRENCE: In fact, 32 counties in California release inmates early, with Los Angeles leading the way. In less than four years the county has released 150,000 inmates, some of them violent offenders.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: The death of a teen athlete -- an over the counter cream at the center of the investigation.
Allan Chernoff has the details. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How could their daughter have died?
Richard and Alice Lynn Newman keep wondering, as any parent would, after learning 17-year-old Ariel died from having too much of the active ingredient of Bengay in her body.
ALICE LYNN NEWMAN, MOTHER OF ARIELLE: We just miss her so much. She was doing all the right things. She wasn't doing anything that she shouldn't be doing.
CHERNOFF: Seventeen-year-old Ariel, her parents say, used Bengay only occasionally, before track meets. She was the star captain of her team -- a clean kid, her parents say, who didn't drink or do drugs, on her way to college, and, ironically, thinking of pursuing a career as a pharmacist.
NEWMAN: She got the track scholarship for college. And now she'll never get to experience these things. And we miss her so much. All my other three children -- it's horrible. We're going through such an ordeal.
CHERNOFF: Ariel died in her sleep April 3rd. The two month investigation by the New York's medical examiner concluded Ariel died after the body absorbed too much methyl salicylate, the key ingredient in Bengay and other muscle creams.
(on camera): There are only a few warnings on both the Bengay box and tube: "Don't use with a heating pad or on wounded skin, don't ingest and use only three to four times a day."
(voice-over): Doctors say only in very large quantities can the drug impact a user's lungs and kidneys.
DR. MARC SIEGEL, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: This is very rare. This is not the first case, but it is very unusual to see this. We've only seen a few cases of this.
CHERNOFF: Johnson & Johnson, which recently bought Bengay from Pfizer, told CNN: "Bengay has been on the market since 1898 and is safe and effective when used as directed."
After speaking with the medical examiner, Ariel's parents believe for some reason their daughter was not able to excrete the product as well as other people, which may have caused her tragic death.
Allan Chernoff, Staten Island, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: Frightening scenes along a New Mexico highway packed with travelers. Funnel clouds in the desert southwest, ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Prince Harry -- new photos, new controversy.
Hello, ladies!
That story coming up for you in THE NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: A mass killing in Wisconsin -- some of the dead born just months ago. The grim details coming up in THE NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): This was the scene in Muskat, Oman, when Cyclone Gonu hit the Persian Gulf nation last week.
I-Reporter Zavier Raja Chelladurai was on the scene capturing these amazing pictures. Automobiles stacked on the of each other, some even stuck under the pavement.
Ronnie Schwartz was at the scene and sent us this picture.
RONNIE SCHWARTZ, I-REPORTER: I just leaned out the window and snapped some shots. And the streets outside the hotel are flooded. Mostly sort of roads washed away, cars being washed along the roads, that kind of thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my god. Dude, that is so it.
MARCIANO: A little closer to home, that's amateur storm chasers Matt Kaskavitch and his partner, capturing one of five tornadoes that hit Wisconsin last Thursday.
MATT KASKAVITCH, I-REPORTER: We pulled up on the side of the road next to where the home was destroyed. We looked out into -- and saw the rotating low cloud and the single vortex tornado.
MARCIANO: See more amazing pictures and videos from our I- Reporters at ireport@cnn.com.
And always remember to stay safe and out of harm's way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A deadly attack in Iraq. This time, a suicide bomber targets a bridge and more U.S. Troops die. We'll talk about it, ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: Some relief at the pumps. Gas prices dropped $0.07 in the last three weeks, according to a national survey. It is the first decline since January. The Lundberg Survey says, on average, drivers will pay $3.11 a gallon for self-serve regular gasoline. Analysts say that's because gas from overseas refineries costs less.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Stay informed all day in THE CNN NEWSROOM.
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