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Sick Airline Passengers; President Lobbies Own Party; New Solar Wings Installed During Spacewalk

Aired June 12, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: I couldn't help think in this meeting that I was proud to be a part of it. This was a democracy working at its best.

The president of the United States was here with us in the Capitol. He made a few comments in the areas that Senator McConnell has just mentioned, and then he took questions and comments from the senators for a long period of time.

It was a good exchange. The president made it clear to me and to others that he does not want just any bill, won't sign a bad bill, but he thinks this is an issue that needs to be addressed for the benefit of our country.

There are still problems remaining with it. And he wants to work with us to get this job done.

So, I thought it was a good effort. And working through how we move forward on immigration reform, I hope that the majority leader will work with us in a way to get it up in a fair process to move it forward.

Also, in the energy area, I'm prepared to -- as most senators are -- to have a lot of give-and-take in this area. But what worries me about this bill is it doesn't do a whole lot in terms of more energy production, making us more energy secure, and it could have a huge tax increase as part of it.

So, energy is an area we need to be working, and that's good. But this bill does not do very much yet, and we'll have a long way to go to make it something that will really benefit our country.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just not to confuse you, we've been following what had happened with regard to the immigration bill. Trent Lott actually talking about the energy bill there. It was also among the discussion with the president at that luncheon with key Republican leaders.

They talked about the energy bill, lowering gas prices. Trent Lott concerned about a tax increase. But what we've really been focusing on is the immigration bill. In fact, the president's trying to revive that and get Republicans to support him on that legislation.

No decisions have been made. They're just trying to move forward in coming to some sort of compromise on getting that legislation finally to the president.

We'll continue to follow this, obviously, from both sides. We're going to debate it coming up later in the NEWSROOM.

Also, there is a senator that thinks that the president is just flat-out wrong, and he's telling him to back off. He's one of the strongest critics of the immigration reform bill, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama.

Join us live in the NEWSROOM at 3:15 Eastern to hear what he has to say. And we'll continue to give you the back and forth on this issue.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Want to turn back to the story out of Miami we're keeping an eye on.

A flight there from Mexico landed with 45 people on board, 11 of them complaining of illness, sick. That is a picture of the plane there. This is Flight 420, again, from Mexico, landing in Miami. Eleven people sick.

And we're talking to our Elizabeth Cohen here about the CDC being on scene.

We've seen a couple of incidents the past couple weeks, certainly the TB case was the big one. But we've seen a few people come in here sick, traveling and being sick. CDC has been all over that stuff.

Now, again, this is immediate, and we're hearing CDC immediately -- and a lot of people think, well, they're just being extra careful. But you're saying this is standard stuff.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Standard operating procedure.

The CDC maintains staff at what are called quarantine stations at many airports, including the one in Miami. So, the way it works is that if the pilot knows that there is someone who is sick on board -- in this case there are 11 -- they will call the airline they work for and say, hey, we've got a problem. And so when the plane lands, the CDC is ready, along with public health officials from other groups, as well. Sometimes local health officials will board the plane and assess the situation.

This happens more often than you hear about. It just sort of happens and it turns out to be nothing. We're hearing more about it now because I think there's sort of extra added attention because of Andrew Speaker and his flights while he had TB.

So, yesterday, for example, what happened is there was a woman who was sick on a flight. It landed. The CDC boarded it.

The other passengers were let off the plane. This woman was brought to a hospital, and she was treated there. There was no isolation. There was no quarantine.

But you really want to be careful, especially 11 people sick. You really want to know what's going on there.

HOLMES: But the CDC doesn't have to get involved if there are 11. It can be one and the CDC...

COHEN: It can be one, correct, like yesterday. Right.

HOLMES: Yes, like yesterday. All right.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much.

Like I said, it happens all the time, just a little more attention to it.

COHEN: Right. It doesn't happen with 11 all the time, but right.

HOLMES: All right. Thank you so much.

COHEN: OK, thanks.

PHILLIPS: President Bush continuing to make a major push for his immigration bill. You just saw him step to the mics just a few minutes ago. He was in a luncheon with key Republican leaders, trying to persuade 15 more to sign off and revive his immigration legislation. This is what he said to reporters just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just had a good exchange with my fellow Republicans. We talked about a lot of issues.

I briefed them on my trip to Europe. We talked about -- they were very interested in the Ahtissari plan for Kosovo.

They were interested in my conversations with Vladimir Putin on missile defense. We talked about the energy bill.

We talked about the energy bill. We talked about the appropriations process. And we talked about immigration.

Some members in there believe that we need to move a comprehensive bill, some don't. I understand that.

This is a highly emotional issue. But those of us standing here believe now is the time to move a comprehensive bill that enforces our borders and has good workplace enforcement, that doesn't grant automatic citizenship, that addresses this problem in a comprehensive way.

I would hope that the Senate majority leader has that same sense of desire to move the product as I do -- or the bill that I do and these senators do, because now is the time to get it done. It's going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of effort. We've got to convince the American people that this bill is the best way to enforce our border. I believe without the bill it's going to be harder to enforce the border. The status quo is unacceptable.

And I want to thank those senators on both sides of the aisle who understand the time is now to move a comprehensive piece of legislation. The White House will stay engaged.

Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, in order to move it along, as the president has mentioned, he needs to convince 15 Republican leaders to support him on reviving this immigration. He didn't say a lot. He just said they're trying to move it forward and trying to negotiate.

Let's try and read between the lines now with our analysts.

Joining us, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and Republican strategist John Feehery.

John, I want to start with you because I know you're looped in with Republicans on the Hill.

He's got to convince 15 members of his own party to support him on this. It doesn't look like -- well, it appears the president is losing a lot of loyalty within his own party.

JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, this is a very divisive issue within the Republican conference. There's no doubt about it. But the ending of this bill kind of reminded me of the ending of "The Sopranos". It was very unsatisfying for everybody.

PHILLIPS: But they didn't go to black.

FEEHERY: They didn't go to black, but they almost did.

I think it's extraordinarily important that -- this is going to be a two-step process. First, they want to get all the Republicans to get the 15 votes that are necessary, and then they want to bring that to Senator Reid and have him -- because he's the ultimate maestro of this orchestra. He's the one that's going to say whether you can bring it up or not. And if they get the Republicans together, then they'll bring it up again.

PHILLIPS: What's it going to take, Donna?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, Senator Reid has delivered. Eighty percent of the Democrats supported the bill. Only seven Republicans voted to end cloture, voted to bring the bill to an end in a timely manner.

So, I think it's up to the president. Senator Reid said yesterday in his letter to, you know, exercise some leadership and to try to recruit those eight additional members to support this bill. PHILLIPS: What do you think, John, about Senator Jeff Sessions? I mean, he's making no bones about it. I mean, he's going right at the president and saying there are a lot of flaws in this and forget about it.

FEEHERY: Well, listen, Senator Sessions has been very consistent on this. He doesn't like the bill.

You know, he has a very strong viewpoint, but, you know, that's where the president has to go in and make sure that Senator Sessions is not the majority voice in the Republican caucus. But this isn't just about the Republicans. I mean, Senator Reid did prematurely cut off the debate on the bill, and he's got to get -- you know, they've got to get back to this bill and let the Senate work out the process.

PHILLIPS: Well, Donna, do you think it's more of adding time to the debate, or is the president going to have to give on some of the issues that he's really pushing for, or are Republicans just going to have to be persuaded and this is it?

BRAZILE: In the final 48 hours of the debate, Senator Reid allowed 44 amendments. In fact, he gave Republicans additional time to put forward amendments and they refused to do so. So I don't think you can lay the blame on Senator Reid's doorstep or the Democrats.

It's up to the president to help deliver those votes needed to get the Republicans on board for passage of the bill. Senator Sessions has major gripes with the bill, Senator DeMint, others. This bill is not a perfect bill. Everyone has stated that. Even Senator Kennedy has stated that. But the bottom line is the current -- the status quo is worse than this bill, and I think the Senate should move this bill forward.

PHILLIPS: John, 44 amendments?

FEEHERY: Well, you know, the fact of the matter is this is the Senate. And people like to talk a lot in the Senate. I'm a House guy, so I always get frustrated with the Senate and what it's talking about. Sometimes it's a necessary part of the process.

And you know, Senator Sessions and others are going to have their say. But at the end of the day -- you know, the factor of the matter is a lot of the Republicans who support this bill voted against cloture because they didn't think it was soup yet. It's like a chef. It's like "Hell's Kitchen".

You've got to get all the soup right. It wasn't ready yet, and Senator Reid really prematurely served it.

PHILLIPS: So, Donna, what's the final ingredient?

BRAZILE: Well, first of all, the ingredients that the Republicans want to stir in the bill right now will make it a lot more distasteful to the rest of the -- not just the Republican caucus, but the Democrats. So I think it's important that the president put some leadership forward, get those eight senators on board, invite them over to the White House tonight, pop some popcorn, and watch the last episode of "The Sopranos".

PHILLIPS: We're just going to try not to fade to black as we're following every part of this debate.

Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Republican strategist John Feehery, great discussion. Thanks to both of you.

FEEHERY: Thank you.

BRAZILE: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, they were sick, but apparently not sick enough to go to the hospital. The passengers we've just been telling you about from that flight from Mexico to Miami, 11 passengers of being sick, CDC was called -- well, those passengers have gone about their way.

They were all offered, of course, a chance to go to the hospital. They have chosen not to do so.

The CDC, apparently, and health officials there have deemed them apparently not a threat to anybody else, and so they have been let go and released and are on their merry way. Again, it's a situation we were watching for some time, the past half hour or so, but 11 people complained of being sick.

The CDC called in, of course, to check it out and make sure things were all right and nobody was contagious. But it has been taken care of now, and those 11 passengers allowed to leave and refused to go to a hospital. So it appears that situation has been taken care of.

Now we turn to another airport situation not quite taken care of, not about sick passengers, but I guess some of this weather will make you sick if you're not catching your flight like you thought you were.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, still to come here, they'll have to tuck before they roll -- home, that is.

Up next in the NEWSROOM, space blankets and solar wings, that can only mean Miles O'Brien. He's going to have the latest on the shuttle Atlantis.

PHILLIPS: And here on Earth it's dry as dust. How dry is it? Well, some states are even praying for rain.

Details straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: Well, they look like pleated window shades, and they've been boxed up for quite a bit, so opening the new solar panels on the International Space Station is going to be a bit tricky. Got to get a little dust off.

Our space expert, Miles O'Brien, here with an update.

Tell us about these things, please, sir.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: I'm also a pleated blind expert, T.J., yes.

HOLMES: All right. That will help.

O'BRIEN: Beware the stiction (ph), I say. The stiction (ph), static friction. It's what NASA was most worried about today as it began the process of deploying those huge solar arrays, 230 or 240 feet tip to tip. The good news is everything went well.

About 15 minutes ago they were all deployed. This is what happened a little while ago as they came out.

And you can see what T.J.'s talking about here. They're all just kind of bunched up accordion style, like a shade, and they sit in those boxes for quite some time waiting for launch.

The first time they tried to unfurl one of these deals back in 2000, they didn't really account for the fact that there would be this stiction (ph) thing. And it made a real mess.

It caused a kind of -- well, you see -- you see what happens when things stick? It kind of causes that little crack the whip deal. And this is -- you know, we're talking about a $367 million piece of hardware, so you want to make sure it's done with great care.

HOLMES: And how long are we talking about they've been boxed up? We said a while. How long are we talking about they've been folded up like that?

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's many months, because, you know, it gets sent to the processing facility. And once you close it up you don't want to mess with it, right?

HOLMES: OK.

O'BRIEN: So months and months it sits there. And it's in a climate-controlled scenario. It's not like it's sitting in a U-Store- It on Route 1 in Florida.

But they nonetheless are -- you know, it does get stuck eventually. So what they -- and what they've learned over time is, if you make sure it's deployed in the sunshine, extend it about halfway, let it bake there for a while, and then continue on -- and sure enough, they've got this thing figured out.

So, everything has been deployed so far. This is the primary goal of this mission. But there's still some work ahead for them.

The astronauts yesterday were involved in the real gritty work of just -- they were like electrical contractors, actually, out there for six hours and 15 minutes, putting connections together, taking off the shipping material, essentially.

There you see astronaut Jim Reilly. You know how you can tell it's him?

HOLMES: How?

O'BRIEN: See those red lines there?

HOLMES: All right.

O'BRIEN: That's him. The red lines -- the other guy has no stripes.

HOLMES: Has no stripes. He's not as stylish as this guy.

O'BRIEN: Yes. I think they should do numbers like baseball teams. Don't you?

HOLMES: That's not a bad idea. Why don't you just put the names on them? How about that?

O'BRIEN: Yes, why not? Why not? We should send a memo.

HOLMES: All right.

O'BRIEN: Anyway, they had a successful spacewalk.

While they were out there, they got word they have another important task on their to-do list, and it will send them to the back of the shuttle, to this bump area here on the robot arm, to a place which isn't one of the hottest places on the shuttle, but where the thermal blanket has come loose.

Take a look at the picture. You've seen it by now. But just wanted to let you know. A lot of people were worried about this because it looks really -- it looks bad, doesn't it?

It's not that big, but it doesn't take too much size. This is about six inches across the top, four inches that way. And that is the graphite epoxy skin of these orbital maneuvering system pods.

The air would come in this way, the hot air, and the theory is this would kind of catch it and cause it to collect and would cause a hotspot, would cause some damage to it for sure. And so, given the fact that they think it's going to be a relatively easy fix, they're going to do it.

Here's the blanket material, and here's why they think it's easy, T.J. See, look how it stays up this way.

HOLMES: Yes.

O'BRIEN: It's woven glass and silica, and when you push down on it, it listens. It minds you. So, they're hoping it will be a simple fix. We'll be watching that -- T.J. HOLMES: All right, Miles. We've got to let you go. We've got to get back to D.C. But thank you for the graphite epoxy skin and stiction (ph) and all the words we learn when we talk to you.

We'll see you soon.

O'BRIEN: Happy to help. All right.

PHILLIPS: Democrat from Nevada, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, now speaking about the immigration discussion with the president.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: Eighty percent of the Democrats did. And so, as I've said, when we finish energy, we'll take a look at what proposals the Republicans give to us. I hope it's something that is -- that they can live up to. Because we'll move on to immigration when they have their owner act together. Fourteen percent of the Republicans supporting the president's bill won't do the trick.

I would also say that I hope the president spent a little bit of time talking about a bill he got from us yesterday, stem cell. We are within one senator of having a veto that's overridden if the president decides to veto this again, which I think would be a real shame.

I've told Senator McConnell that I'm not going to take advantage of the Senate seat in Wyoming being vacant, but I have told him it appears to me that -- I'm sorry -- it doesn't matter whether there's 98 or 99, the number is the same as to a veto override. But I discussed that with Senator McConnell yesterday and told him to take a look at it. I'm quite certain that I am right.

Also, I would hope the president spent a little bit of time talking about energy. He finally has uttered the words "global warming," which we appreciated. But we have a real problem throughout the world and in America, because we're the ones that use most of the fuel, gasoline, oil, the coal.

I said this yesterday and I'll just repeat it. Twenty-one million barrels of oil we use today.

PHILLIPS: Democratic Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid, just talking about the discussion that's be been happening at that luncheon with the president of the United States.

Obviously we're focusing on the immigration bill today, trying to see if the president is able to persuade 15 Republicans to join him in reviving that immigration bill. But obviously you can see, hearing from Democrats and Republicans just about 15 minutes ago, another big discussion, the energy bill, and lowering gas prices, and the concern about the tax increase. All of that a discussion as well at that luncheon, in addition to hammering out some sort of compromise on the immigration bill. The president of the United States coming up to the mic, speaking not long ago, only the second time he has ever done that in his presidency. So we'll keep following that discussion and see how far it gets. Possibly a decision by the final voting time there in July.

Meanwhile, David Letterman not laughing at a jailbreak in Montana. The man accused of plotting to kidnap his son is on the run.

Details straight ahead from the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A little-known Chinese van is playing a big role in ranking the world's top automaker.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with the details on a little-known Chinese van.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

PHILLIPS: It's as dry -- dry as a bone out here, actually, spreading from coast to coast. Some states are praying for rain. We're going to give you details from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes.

Part of the country facing flooding from heavy storms, but in the rest of the U.S., people are literally praying for rain.

PHILLIPS: We'll take a closer look at the growing drought in America. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Everybody talks about the weather, right? But here in Georgia, the governor wants folks to pray for rain. The peach state is one of several suffering through the worst drought in decades. Casey Wian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A plea from the mayor of Los Angeles.

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, L.A. MAYOR: Today I'm asking every Angelino to reduce their water consumption by 10 percent.

WIAN: And a prayer from the governor of Georgia. Sonny Perdue declared June 11th a day of prayer for rain and relief from a devastating drought.

GOV. SONNY PERDUE, (R) GEORGIA: God is a God of mercy, God of grace. And he uses, obviously, weather many times to influence the affairs of men.

WIAN: The national drought monitor shows dry conditions spreading and intensifying in recent weeks. Drought is now present in about a third of the United States. Los Angeles has received just four inches of rain since last July, the driest year in more than a century.

VILLARAIGOSA: We could be facing a potentially, very hot summer. The convergence of no rainfall, no snow melt, and a very hot summer is the perfect storm.

WIAN: In Florida, Lake Okeechobee is dry and partly on fire and the southeast is suffering its worst drought in more than 50 years. In Nevada, officials warn Lake Mead could be dry in ten years, endangering water supplies in three states.

And in California, wildfire season arrived months ahead of schedule. Twenty-three counties are already eligible for federal disaster assistance.

BRAD RIPPEY, USDA METEOROLOGIST: A lot of the west is going to be facing a situation where there's not much water to use for irrigation and other purposes this summer. We're going to go into late summer and fall with the water supply situation that could reach crisis levels in some basins in the west.

WIAN: The federal government is trying to help. Congress recently passed $25 million in emergency drought relief for agriculture.

SEN. HARRY REID, (D) NEVADA: We were able to finally, after all the many years, get drought relief, disaster relief, for farmers and ranchers.

WIAN: Forecasts for the summer are not encouraging. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the drought will either persist or intensify in most areas and spread to others.

(on camera): For the south east, federal weather officials say the best hope for and end to the drought may be the upcoming hurricane season.

Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now if we could only get the rain without the damaging winds.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: All eyes on earmarks, some people like to call it pork. Funds set aside for lawmakers. Pet projects and they are on the rise, along with a partisan debate on how much you and other lawmakers should know about them. We want to get now to our pork reporter Brianna Keilar standing by for us in Washington and she is not our pork reporter but ...

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That sounds so bad.

HOLMES: It does a little bit, doesn't it? Good afternoon to you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Hi, there, T.J. Well, you know, in the past we haven't always known which member of Congress was responsible for an earmark. Now when Democrats came into power this election, they passed rules in the House saying they would identify the sponsors of earmarks.

Now Congressman David Obey, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee is saying that all 30,000 plus earmarks in next year's spending bills will be listed publicly but not right off the bat. He says they'll be disclosed this summer before Congress gives final approval of the bills containing the earmarks.

Democrats now are on the defense with Republicans accusing them of breaking their promise to make the earmarks process more transparent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: Now, the American people are tired of earmarks that go for illicit purposes. They're tired of the spending levels in these bills. And Republicans today are going to declare war on our Democrat majority over these secret slush funds.

REP. DAVID OBEY, (D) APPROPRIATIONS CHMN.: The public will have and every member of Congress will have and you will have a month to scrub that list, and if you see any item that you think we ought to be squawking about, you let us know and we'll be squawking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Democrats say their plan gives members of Congress plenty of time to challenge and defend earmarks. It also gives advocacy groups that target this so-called pork more time to make some noise over some of these pet projects.

And the changes are more sweeping than past efforts at earmark reform. But advocacy groups stay it still violates the spirit of what Democrats said they would do when they came into power in January, T.J.

HOLMES: I want to make sure we got it right. There's a bit of a delay. What's the problem with just putting the list out there now?

KEILAR: Well, Obey today pointed a finger right at Republicans. He said that his staff has spent so much time dealing with budget and other issues created by the last Republican Congress, that there simply hasn't been time. That's what he says.

Now, he said next year that he expects next year the earmarks will be included in the spending bills farther out to be debated on the House floor. But right now, he said if the earmarks were compiled, it would take weeks and then the spending bills would already be out the door of the House, T.J.

HOLMES: OK, just don't have the time. Alright. Again, CNN's Brianna Keilar, good to see you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: Don't put off until tomorrow what you can start serving today. That's the position of Special Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, on Scooter Libby's bid to stay out of prison fighting his conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice.

You will recall, a federal judge sentenced the vice president's former chief of staff to 30 months. Fitzgerald argues it's highly unlikely that Libby's conviction will be overturned.

HOLMES: And it was supposed to be a unity government, but now Palestinians are killing each other. A city in chaos. That is next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Palestinians taking aim at each other. The leaders of rival factions in the crosshairs. Today, the Palestinian prime minister's house came under attack for the second day in a row.

The Hamas leader was not hurt. Earlier, masked gunmen killed the head of Fatah in northern Gaza and surrounded the home of Fatah's spokesman. No word on what's happened to him. The factional fighting has spilled into the West Bank where the Palestinian government is based. The month-long power struggle is threatening to explode into all-out civil war.

CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, those caught in the middle just want out of the line of fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At the border with Egypt, an exodus from anarchy. With fighting between Fatah and Hamas growing worse by the hour, people like Gaza resident, Aburami (ph), say it is time to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Unfortunately, things are so unstable, everybody wants to leave, he said. You can't move here. You can't do anything. People are being suffocated.

WEDEMAN: For those who stay behind, scenes like these are becoming ever more common. Go to hell, Hamas, screams this woman, mourning the killing by Hamas gunman of Fatah leader, Jamael Abjudian (ph). His body was riddled with more than 40 bullets.

Somewhere in Gaza, a truce was reached between the gunmen of Fatah and Hamas. One of the reasons the truce has been called, to allow high school and college students to take their final exams. The schedules for the exams were posted, but Tuesday, most were canceled. Tuesday Hamas issued a two-hour ultimatum to Fatah-controlled security forces to vacate their positions in Gaza or face attack. And when the ultimatum expired, they made good on their threats.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who also leads the Fatah movement, appears incapable of halting the bloodshed.

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The internal clashes are very unfortunate and harmful to us, he says. They happen at a time when the two sides are working very hard with Egyptian mediators to put an end to these incidents.

WEDEMAN: If previous cease-fires are anything to go by, Gaza seems destined to sink into utter chaos.

The house of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismiah Hamil (ph), who was also a Hamas leader, was targeted presumably by Fatah gunmen to use rocket-propelled grenades.

And while the two biggest factions are busy tearing one another to pieces, others like these members of Islamic Jihad are focused on a different foe -- Israel.

Hitting yet again the Israeli town of Sterot (ph). Here a rocket slammed into goods intended, ironically, for Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We send them food, says this worker, and they send us rockets.

WEDEMAN: Surveying this damage, an Israeli minister hints of action to come.

AVI DICHTER, ISRAELI PUBLIC SECURITY MIN.: They keep launching every day for more than a year, every day, literally. Some rockets towards Europe and one way or another, it is going to be solved and I'm not going to elaborate on that, by any means.

WEDEMAN: Normal life in Gaza, to the extent that there ever was normal life there, has come to a virtual stand still.

(on camera): The fighting in that tormented strip of crowded land increasingly looks like a full-blown Palestinian civil war. Some say it might better be described simply as gang warfare.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Genarlow Wilson will spend at least 23 more days in prison. Lawyers are trying to get him out while the state appeals a court decision that could free him for good.

They learned today that his bond hearing will not be held until July 5th. Wilson thought that he'd get out yesterday after a judge threw out his ten-year sentence for consensual teenaged sex. But the state attorney general argues the judge overstepped his authority. Bottom line, Wilson is still behind bars.

The prosecutor now the prosecuted in North Carolina. Mike Nifong is the Durham County District Attorney who went after players on Duke University's lacrosse team last year. All the charges against the players were dropped. Now the state bar is trying Nifong for possible ethics violations including withholding evidence and lying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHERINE JEAN, N.C. BAR COUNSEL: He said if these Duke lacrosse players haven't done anything wrong, one wonders why they would need lawyers.

He detailed Ms. Manageum's allegations on national television repeatedly as if they were established fact. He expresses personal belief in the truth of Ms. Manageum's allegations. He went on national television and demonstrated the choke hold that the lacrosse player who allegedly assaulted her, had put on her neck. He described how she struggled to breathe during the alleged attack, stated he was confident a sexual assault took place in that house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, a conviction could get Nifong disbarred. Court TV reported earlier that at least one of the cleared players will take the stand and talk about what the investigation did to him.

HOLMES: Well, most filmmakers are worried about critics. Michael Moore says he worried about Uncle Sam. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, "Sicko" stirs up drama before the movie hits the big screen.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: This guy broke his ankle. How much did this cost him? You know, a big bill when he's done, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, (INAUDIBLE) is free.

MOORE: I'm asking about hospitals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore has stashed away a copy of his upcoming movie in Canada. Moore is afraid the U.S. government will confiscate the movie "Sicko" because parts of it were filmed in Cuba. U.S. citizens aren't allowed to travel to Cuba without government approval. Moore didn't get Uncle Sam's OK, but the filmmaker says his trip was legal because he went for a journalistic endeavor. "Sicko" is Moore's look at the healthcare industry.

HOLMES: All right, if you're a "Sopranos" fan, chances are you're still talking about that controversial finale Sunday night.

Here's the scene, mob boss Tony Soprano's family meet for dinner at a restaurant, some shady characters lurk nearby, the tension mounts, she can't park that car. His daughter parked the car. She was trying to parallel park. Please do it. Well, all this happens, the screen goes black, the end, it's over.

"The Sopranos" creator David Chase says the scene speaks for itself. He says, "No one was trying to blow people's minds, or thinking, "Wow, this'll [tick] them off." People get the impression that you're trying to [mess] with them and it's not true."

As far as making a "Sopranos" film, Chase says, "I don't think about [a movie] much. I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, "Wow, that would make a great movie," but I doubt it."

So, there you go. HBO, where "The Sopranos" ran for six seasons, is owned by Time Warner, the parent company of CNN., in the interest of being open.

Well, tonight at 9:00 p.m., Larry Birkhead and baby Dannielynn, doing "LARRY KING LIVE." It's his first primetime interview since winning custody. That'll come your way at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and then Thursday night, Angelina Jolie joins Larry to talk about her new film, "A Mighty Heart." Again, that's right here on CNN.

PHILLIPS: Well, they arrived as a couple but will leave as a party of eight. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, a family is born.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An avalanche caught on tape. I-Reporter Dane Brodke captured this man-made avalanche earlier this year. It was triggered by a ski patrol while they toured (ph) Baldy Peak (ph) in Alta, Utah.

Wild weather continues to be a driving force for our i-Reporters. Whitney Purvis got a close look at this tornado in New Mexico Saturday.

VOICE OF WHITNEY PURVIS, I-REPORTER: When I first saw it, it was sort of -- it looked like a little bit of a dust devil, which I think it rapidly became a funnel cloud and that's when I knew I should grab my camera. And I just luckily got to take a video of it because you can see it really getting stronger and stronger.

I don't think I really realized that it was so close to the highway. I think I was a little bit entranced by the whole thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can check out more videos and pictures at CNN.com. Just look for the i-Report logo. And as always, remember, stay safe and out of harm's way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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PHILLIPS: Well, talk about a baby boom. Six babies born to a couple in Phoenix, Arizona, yesterday. Brian Le'shai (ph) says that watching them enter the world was a surreal moment. The three girls and three boys are all doing well. The couple describes their reaction at hearing how many babies they were going to have like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY MASCHE, MOTHER OF SEXTUPLETS: When she got past three and got to four, I started bawling. And then she got to five and then I was like, please stop. And then she's like, oh, there's a sixth one. And I was like, oh.

BRYAN MASCHE, FATHER OF SEXTUPLETS: I was just blown away by it. I can't get upset, I can't start crying, I can't, you know, because she's breaking down, and I start breaking down, you know, we're going to be a mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, just 10 hours before the sextuplets arrived, a Minnesota woman delivered six babies. It's rare that two sets of sextuplets are born less than a day apart. Can you believe that? But fertility experts say it may become more common as more couples are using artificial methods to conceive their babies.

HOLMES: Stay away from that stuff.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: We've got a strange ritual drawing attention to an Italian town (ph) in Spain where they jump babies. Every year at the end of the Corpus Christi Festival, mothers line up their babies and grown men jump over them. Have to be good athletes to jump over the sextuplets, though.

The men represent the devil, apparently. A lot of women might say that. And it's believed that they take the evil from the infants as they pass over them. Now, we do hear that these men have never missed a landing and that is a good thing.

We, however, are about to land in the next hour of the NEWSROOM, which starts right now.

PHILLIPS: Hello everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for Don Lemon.

Well, they sat, they talked, they ate, did they settle anything? President Bush tries to make the Immigration Reform Bill a little easier for his fellow Republicans to swallow.

PHILLIPS: One top senator calls the closed-door luncheon democracy at its best. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Bush trying to keep the Immigration Reform Bill alive, but many in his own party are dead-set against it.

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