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Five-year-old Survives in Woods for Two Days; Developments in the West Bank; Space Station Update
Aired June 15, 2007 - 13:00 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 CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for Don Lemon.
To the victors go the spoils and here they are. Hamas fighters make themselves at home at the presidential compound in Gaza.
PHILLIPS: Politically and geographically Palestinians are divided like never before. Is their cause now shattered?
HOLMES: CNN's Ben Wedeman following developments in the West Bank. Aneesh Raman in Cairo, where the Arab League is watching and worrying, but we are going to start with Ben. Hello.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're in Nablus in the West Bank and of course the situation here is much more stable than in Gaza but in Gaza itself we have seen Hamas taking full control of not only the Gaza strip, but the key security headquarters of the Fatah movement. We have seen these incredible pictures of Fatah, of Hamas gunmen making themselves at home in the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, sitting at his desk. Some of them picking up the telephone and pretending to talk to Condoleezza Rice. We have also seen scenes of looting as ordinary Palestinians have made their way into these compounds to basically take away whatever they can. This underscores the still instability in Gaza, where Hamas was struggling for six days in running gun battles against their Fatah foes. Now the situation is that Hamas is clearly in control of Gaza, and in the Fatah -- in the West Bank, Fatah is struggling to keep control of the place. There are a lot of people who actually support Hamas in the West Bank. They have kept a fairly low profile we have seen as Fatah gunmen have gone into the offices in various cities of the West Bank to trash them. We were on scene, on hand as some of them went into the media bureau of Hamas in Nablus. They shot their way through the door and started to throw desks and chairs out the windows and then lit fire to the place. So the feeling is that some of the instability we have seen in the Gaza strip could be spreading to the West Bank.
PHILLIPS: Ben, where is the manpower and the equipment coming from for Fatah to take on Hamas militarily?
WEDEMAN: They have had weapons for quite some time. You have to remember that with the Oslo Treaty that was concluded in 1993 that the Palestinian authority was supplied with weapons, was supplied with weapons from Jordan, from Egypt and other sources and that's where many of these weapons come from. But a lot of weapons have been smuggled as well. Fatah does have a simple arsenal. It doesn't have tanks or anything along those lines, but they have a lot of machine guns and a lot of bullets. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Ben Wedeman via broadband there from Nablus, we'll continue to check in with you. T.J.?
HOLMES: Meanwhile alarmed Arab leaders are holding an emergency summit in Egypt and CNN Middle East correspondent Aneesh Raman is joining us now live from Cairo. Aneesh, how worried are they about what's happening in Gaza right now?
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Hey T.J., very worried. These are diplomats that are shocked to a large degree at how quickly things have destabilized in Gaza, as you mentioned an emergency session of the Arab League underway right now, foreign ministers from well over half of the member states are present. In terms of what we expect in a few hours at a press conference is a resolution to be announced with the Arab League, Unified Voice, calls for a ceasefire and as well calls for both Fatah and Hamas to be part of the Egypt brokers mediation process. Now, in short, none of that will impact the situation in Gaza tonight or tomorrow. In effect, the only import of this meeting is to show that the Middle East is a region on edge and that these are member states in Arab countries that are very concerned at what's happening in Gaza because the Achilles heel T.J. that's being exposed here is that not only does the Arab League not have contact with the Palestinians, but Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt have also failed to bring Fatah and Hamas together. So if (INAUDIBLE) can do that and all of them say that the Palestinian Israeli issue is a poor issue to everything else in the Middle East, that does not forecast a good situation here in the years to come, T.J.
HOLMES: Again Aneesh, I think I heard this in your answer there. But the emergency session, they're talking, they can show -- this can be a show of support, a show of unity among these Arab leaders, but at the end of the day, they can't really do anything to stop the fighting that's going on there.
RAMAN: They can't. They can't even get the leadership of Fatah and Hamas to come together at the same table. The Egyptian delegation that was in the Palestinian area trying to do that over the past week is now reportedly on its way back to Cairo, they've given up. It's not going to happen in the short term. So if they can't even get the two sides to meet, there is very little they can do to change things on the ground. What we are waiting to see is whether one, they say any future aid to the Palestinians by the Arab League will be contingent on some unified government and two, how they deal with the current political situation. Because earlier today, the president appointed a new prime minister, the old, or I guess the son of the current Prime Minister Haniya is now stepping down, he's rejecting that appointment. So Arab governments are caught in between Fatah and Hamas now in terms of just who to deal with.
HOLMES: All right, Aneesh Raman for us in Cairo. Aneesh, thank you as always.
Meanwhile, Hamas' grip on Gaza, how will it affect the rest of the region? How will it affect the U.S.? We're going to be talking to a Middle East expert, that's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Well no one has talked about jumping ship, not yet anyway, but those Russian computers that help steer and maintain the international space station are still on the fritz, and scientists back on earth are still trying to figure out why. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow. Matthew, what are you finding out from that part of the world?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly Kyra looks concerning from down here on earth, doesn't it? But we're being assured by the Russian Space Agency that we've spoken to that there is no crisis on the International Space Station. There's no problem in the long term either. What we know is that all of the computers on board the space station, the mainframe computers, have gone down. They're incredibly important, these computers. They're run by the Russian segment of the space station. They were built by the European Space Agency and given to the space station, but it's the United States, the Americans, that are getting the blame for this. The computers actually oversee the likes of both systems of the space station, the oxygen and the water supplies, also its position in orbit over the earth. And it seems to have been a problem that developed when two U.S.-made solar panels, solar wings were fitted to the international space station during a space walk by U.S. astronauts earlier this week. That led to some kind of power surge. It disrupted those computers and they have been out of action ever since. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Well Matthew, does this put any of the astronauts in danger?
CHANCE: Well, it's a good question. And certainly that's the concern both at mission control here in Russia and at NASA as well. At the moment the line we're getting from space agency officials that it doesn't. They hope that in the short term they can oversee those essential kind of controls from the space shuttle "Atlantis" which is currently docked with the international space station and in the longer term, they hope to get this problem fixed. What the Russians have said is that they will consider flying out a transport aircraft, a transport space shift, earlier, in the next few weeks, two weeks ahead of schedule to take new power sources to those computers if all other efforts fail. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Matthew Chance live from Moscow, thanks Matthew.
Repair day at the space station. Two astronauts outside, fellow astronauts and cosmonauts inside. Our Miles O'Brien here on earth that's in about 30 minutes.
HOLMES: Immigration reform is back from the dead. Last week's political goner is suddenly showing signs of a pulse and maybe revived on the floor of the Senate. So what happened? President Bush actually agreed this week to back billions of dollars for tougher border security and work site enforcement. Mr. Bush spoke this morning to Latino religious leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Each day our nation fails to act, the problem only grows worse. I will continue to work closely with members of both parties to get past our differences and pass a bill I can sign this year.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The immigration bill could return to the Senate floor as early as next week. As many as two dozen amendments are likely to be considered under a deal hammered out last night.
PHILLIPS: A public memorial will take place tomorrow for Ruth Graham, a daughter of Christian missionaries who became the help mate, soul mate and guiding light of the world's pre-eminent evangelist. Graham died yesterday at her home in North Carolina with her husband, Reverend Billy Graham and their five children right there by her side. She'd been very ill for a long time and President and Mrs. Bush are calling Ruth Graham a remarkable woman of faith. She was 87 years old.
HOLMES: I do want to give you an update about a missing girl in Illinois. A Villa Park girl five-year-old has been found ok. Sad story is that her grandfather who she was with was pulled from a river where the two had been hanging out apparently. Again, the five-year- old girl was with her grandfather, 62-year-old David Klamenke. This was in the Kankakee River is where the two were. They had been missing almost two days now. The two had gone boating on this river, had been missing now for two days. The five-year-old actually walked up to the rescuers, who were out there along the banks of this river and pretty much said hey, here I am. She appeared to be in pretty good shape, pretty good condition, but, unfortunately, her grandfather had been pulled from the river not too long before she was found. The fears of course were that the girl might have gone into the water as well. But the grandfather sadly perished, he was killed, drowned it appears, just an accident there. The little girl told people she had gone -- that the grandfather had gone swimming and of course he did drown. But the little girl, good news, has been found and appears to be ok. Just updating you there on the story we had been following. Kind of bittersweet is what they describe it there, the rescuers. But that's the update.
PHILLIPS: All right, straight ahead, descending into chaos, can the building blocks of Middle East peace be salvaged in the rubble of Gaza? We've got an expert to weigh in on the domino affect and whether the U.S. will be forced to get involved.
HOLMES: And he is the man to blame if you ask Duke's lacrosse team how their lives have changed. Will his career take a hit? Mike Nifong, in defense of his prosecution.
PHILLIPS: Reaping the benefits of O.J. Simpson's would-be tell all. Guess who may profit now? You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're coming up on 1:15 here in the CNN NEWSROOM and here are three of the stories we're working on. An uncertain future for Palestinians, that's Hamas while they celebrate their victory in Gaza. The West Bank remains in the control of the Fatah faction.
Another failure of another computer reboot aboard the international space station. Controllers are concerned, but insist we have no crisis here.
Also, a new lead prompts a new search in southern Portugal for a 4-year-old British girl missing for six weeks now. So far police have found nothing.
PHILLIPS: He didn't deny it, North Carolina prosecutor Mike Nifong admitted today that he crossed the line in the Duke lacrosse sex assault case. Nifong has been testifying in his own defense at his ethics trial, now winding down in Raleigh. Listen to this as Nifong answers a question about inappropriate comments to the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you acknowledge that as a result of making many of the statements that you made to the media in this case that this panel will find that there were violations of the rules of professional conduct that will get his to the second phase in this case?
MIKE NIFONG, DURHAM CO., N.C. PROSECUTOR: Yes, sir. With respect to the media statements, I do.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Players were eventually cleared by the state attorney general's office. They've been in court listening to testimony. One testified just before Nifong, and he said he went from being known as an athlete, to being viewed as a rapist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
READE SELIGMANN, EXONERATED DUKE LACROSSE PLAYER: That was the hardest point. Because this entire thing -- this is called the Duke Lacrosse rape case and the rape charges were thrown out, and we continued to be -- and we continued to live this life of, you know, the cloud hanging over our heads, sexual assault and kidnapping. And it's just - at that point we felt like we were just being -- I mean, and it always felt that way, but at that point, it felt almost like a sick joke, like we were being toyed with. Like he was doing it, you know, maliciously, on purpose, to us.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Testimony this afternoon is expected to focus on the far more serious accusations of deliberately withholding DNA evidence from the defense. Nifong could be disbarred if found guilty of that. HOLMES: Just a few minutes ago, a surprising turn of events in the controversy over O.J. Simpson's still unpublished book. The title "If I Did It." The subject, the Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman murders. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti with us now live from Miami with the update. Hello to you Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi T.J. We all remember that book, remember the huge outrage after it was going to be published. A book written by O.J. Simpson in which he said that he didn't do the murder, didn't commit the murder, but if he had, this is how he would have carried it out. Ever since then when it wasn't published, there has been a battle over who has the rights to that book. And now a major victory for Fred Goldman, father of Ron Goldman. A judge has ruled in essence that Fred Goldman does have the rights to that book, can make a play for it. And joining us now to talk about his reaction to that is the lawyer representing Fred Goldman who had a victory in court today. This is Paul Battista. Can you tell us in essence what today's court ruling by this bankruptcy court really means?
PAUL BATTISTA, ATTORNEY FOR FRED GOLDMAN: What it really means is that Fred Goldman finally has the opportunity to realize in the judgment he got against O.J. Simpson some 10 years ago. This judge today found that O.J. Simpson engaged in a scheme to defraud Mr. Goldman in connection with the writing of his book, the payments that were made by the publisher to Mr. Simpson from his book that Mr. Simpson hid from Mr. Goldman, so it's a huge victory.
CANDIOTTI: And that's because the payments went to a corporation, correct? That was set up, in essence, according to the judge, by O.J. Simpson but put in his daughter's name. Explain that?
BATTISTA: That's exactly right. O.J. Simpson in an effort to hide the money that was being paid by the publisher to him for this book, created with others a corporation called the (INAUDIBLE) Associates, put it in the names of his children and then proceeded to funnel money through that corporation back to himself, all in an effort to conceal it from his creditors, principally, Mr. Goldman.
CANDIOTTI: And then that corporation filed for bankruptcy.
BATTISTA: That corporation filed for bankruptcy, we believe in an end run to stop a California state court from ordering and concluding an auction sale of the book rights. They ran to Florida, filed a bankruptcy and here we are only a couple of short months later, with the judge finding that Mr. Simpson engaged in that scheme to defraud.
CANDIOTTI: So that corporation owned the rights to the book and now the judge is saying that Fred Goldman has the rights to go after the rights of the book in the terms of the bankruptcy.
BATTISTA: In essence the answer is yes. The company, Lorraine Fork Associates, owns the rights to that book, as well as by the way the next book that Mr. Simpson may end up writing. And we now, Mr. Goldman has, is the largest creditor of this company, some $38 million. And so ultimately, whatever happens to this book, Mr. Goldman will be the biggest beneficiary of.
CANDIOTTI: Now can you try to answer why would Mr. Goldman want to publish this book that caused such a stir.
BATTISTA: Well ultimately, let me start from the beginning. This all started with Mr. Goldman trying to prevent Mr. Simpson from recovering on this book or earning money on this book and that has led us to this place. Could we have predicted what was going to happen several months ago or last year when Mr. Simpson started to write the book? No. We are where we are now today and if that means in a twist of fate that the book gets published and Mr. Goldman recovers from it, that's what it means.
CANDIOTTI: What does Mr. Fred Goldman have to say about this?
BATTISTA: I have not been able to reach Mr. Goldman, I've only been able to reach his daughter Kim who is just thrilled about the outcome. This has been a long road for them. This week it's been 13 years since Ron Goldman was murdered and they have not given up, they do not intend to give up.
CANDIOTTI: So now in essence it turns out, T.J., this book might eventually one day be published, and Fred Goldman, if in fact that happens, will be able to get some of the benefit from it to offset that $30 million wrongful death settlement. How long will all this take? That's a question we'll all be asking in the months and perhaps years to come, we'll see. T.J.?
HOLMES: And we know you'll be there when we get that answer. Yes, strange turn of events there on who's going to publish this book now. Susan Candiotti for us in Miami. Thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: Live pictures now out of Momence, Illinois. Ok, not live shot but this is taped turn just moments ago from our affiliate WGN out of Chicago. Right here, where this exact river is, a five- year-old Villa Park girl that disappeared almost two days ago while boating on the Kankakee River just walked up to searchers today. The sad part is, it happened just hours after her grandfather's body was pulled from the water. When that happened, of course there was a concern and search for his little five-year-old granddaughter that was with him. And we are being told that it was bit of a bittersweet moment because of the death of the grandfather, but finding the little girl. I'm being told now that we have the Kankakee County sheriff on the line or the public information officer, I apologize, Ken McCabe. Chief, let me ask you, how long had you -- first of all, did the family know that the granddaughter had been off with the grandfather swimming in the river? And was there an ongoing search for the two of them when they didn't come home?
KEN MCCABE, KANKAKEE COUNTY, ILLINOIS SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Yes, there had been a two-day ongoing search, both the land and obviously the water for the last two days. We received a report at 10:30 Tuesday night of them both being in the boat and missing.
PHILLIPS: And what did the little girl tell you when she came walking up to you. Was she able to communicate what happened? MCCABE: We are currently interviewing her at the hospital. At the point she was recovered, when I walked up to her, I just asked her if she was ok, and she said yes. I asked her what her name was and she told me she was Hanna.
PHILLIPS: And apparently her grandfather had gone swimming and do we know what happened? If he had a heart attack or something happened, did he get caught in a current there in the river?
MCCABE: We don't know that yet. Again, we'll obtain some information this afternoon from her when we interview her at the hospital to find out exactly what happened. And then there is an autopsy scheduled for later today I believe. If not today, then tomorrow and the coroner will have a cause of death.
PHILLIPS: Now she is five years old, she was missing for almost two days. How did she survive? Did she sleep, did she eat? I mean it's pretty remarkable that she was able just to walk up to you and was in pretty good condition.
MCCABE: Yes, she was amazingly calm and in pretty good shape. She was a little dirty, but she was pretty calm and said she was swimming with her -- her grandfather went swimming and her name was Hanna.
PHILLIPS: How did she sleep, did she tell you if she slept or did she eat anything, how did she survive?
MCCABE: I don't have any of that in yet. We're kind of in the preliminary stages. Again, we wanted to make sure she was ok first, so we got her transported to the hospital, and there are detectives there talking to her now. We have a press conference at 2:00 where we should have some more of the answers.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll check in there. Chief Ken McCabe, appreciate it.
MCCABE: Ok.
HOLMES: Hamas' grip on Gaza, how will it affect the rest of the region and the U.S. We'll talk with a Middle East expert, that's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: A ticking time bomb, federal health officials say more and more people are infected with lyme disease. So with summer just around the corner, we're going to tell you what you need to know to stay safe outdoors. That's straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
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HOLMES: Well it should come as no surprise that rising energy prices caused a big jump in inflation last month. So why is the stock market, which hates inflation, rallying? Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with the answers for us. Good afternoon to you, ma'am. SUSAN LISOVICZ: Good afternoon to you. Yeah, we're seeing a nice rally in this final trading day of the week. And in fact, it could be a three-peat. But, yes, if you look at some of the numbers we got today on inflation, doesn't look so good. Inflation at the consumer level shot up in May. The government's consumer price index rose 7/10ths of a percent, thanks to a more than five percent jump in energy prices. And of course those record high gasoline prices in particular were particularly bad. That's the fastest pace since the fall of '05, following Hurricane Katrina which shut down Gulf Coast oil production. But if you strip out food and energy prices, the so- called core rate edged up just one tenth of one percent. That's proof that so far the recent jumps in those volatile categories haven't spilled over to prices of other goods, still even though core prices are under control, many consumers certainly feeling the effects of sharply higher energy and food prices. But clearly Wall Street likes what it sees. T.J.?
HOLMES: Ok, that doesn't make sense to us. The irony, here, we've been told to cut back on imported oil. Trying to do that and that's one of the big culprits for other sources of inflation.
LISOVICZ: Right, and we talked about the core price T.J., it strips out energy and food. And food has also been sharply higher. President Bush of course calling for the nation to cure it's addiction to oil and that's fueling a surge in demand for ethanol, which is made from corn. As a result, corn prices have been surging. Prices are now at $4 a bushel. That's twice their historic level. That's pushed up prices for human fuel if you will, like beef, chicken, pork, milk, eggs. After all, corn is a big ingredient in animal feed. Prices of food made from grain have also been on the rise, soda, candy and cookies too, which often use corn syrup as a sweetener. One bright spot however, May's CPI, the consumer price index, showed food prices rising three tenths of a percent. That's a significant slow down from the beginning of the year. Well as we mentioned, investors currently like that core number on consumer prices. Inflation fears sent the markets on a roller coaster ride over the past two weeks, but stocks are back, close to record levels, at least for the Dow. The Dow got within four points of an all-time high. Checking the numbers, the Dow right now up 98 points, off its high for the session today. That's about a gain of about three quarters of a percent. The NASDAQ composite meanwhile is up nearly 1 percent. Oil, by the way, is up 2 bucks at $68.25. So corn at $4 a bushel. Oil at $68.25. You figure. Apple, by the way, its much-anticipated i-Phone could give a big boost to AT&T. In NEWSROOM's next hour I'll tell you what or who the company has to gain. T.J. and Kyra, back to you?
HOLMES: All right, we will see you then. Susan, thank you as always.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Just to update you on a story that we're following out of Momence, Illinois. A five-year-old girl came walking up to searchers, amazingly, barely injured, surviving almost two days on her own. The sad part is, her grandfather was found dead. His body was pulled out of the river here in the Kankakee River. They had gone swimming and had been missing. There was a search on for both of them. The grandfather, unfortunately, has passed, but remarkably the five-year-old survived almost two days out here on her own. Walked up to searchers and told them that she had just been trying to figure out how to get her way back home after her grandfather had gone swimming and not come back on shore. He's going through an autopsy to try to figure out what happened. If he drowned or if something else had happened and she's being checked out at a local hospital, getting more details on how she was able to survive all by herself out there for almost two days. Bittersweet story out of Kankakee.
HOLMES: It's repair day at the space station. Two astronauts outside. Fellow astronauts and cosmonauts inside. Our Miles O'Brien wishing he was there. He's actually here on earth with us and he's in the NEWSROOM, next.
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HOLMES: Hamas fighters seal their takeover of Gaza today by storming the presidential compound. Days of Palestinian versus Palestinian violence caused huge destruction. Hamas fighters stomped on photos of the late Fatah leader Yasser Arafat and of current president Mahmoud Abbas. They sat at Abbas' desk. One of them picked up a telephone and pretended to talk with the U.S. Secretary of State saying quote, "Hello Condoleezza Rice, you have to deal with me now." Hamas and his Fatah party remain in control over the West Bank at least for now. Joining us now to discuss all of this is Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland. Sir, thank you for being with us. First, should we read anything into that, these fighters who made it into that compound, the presidential compound are calling out the United States? Is this something that hey maybe it's just some folks joking around or is there more to it, are they calling out the U.S.?
PROF. SHIBLEY TELHAMI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Well there is certainly a little bit more to it. But I think in the end, they are not the ones who are making the decision. You have all sorts of people in this emotional environment after many years of competition with Fatah forces, and many of them feeling under the thumb of these forces, feeling in control now. And that's -- they reveal it. In the end it's going to be, the political leadership that will make a decision, and clearly they are sending a signal that they want to play. They don't see this as an isolated operation. I think from the American point of view, though, it really is going to raise some very challenging questions, not only about how did we get here. Clearly American policy hasn't worked. It's been a failure on this score, but the takeover of Gaza happened so rapidly, that it changes the environment radically. I think not just for American interests, but for the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the regional players, the Israelis, and certainly for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and so the U.S. is going to have to re-examine all of these options on the table.
HOLMES: You said reexamine some of the U.S. policy. Let's go to one here that a lot of people would point at, at least the policy on Iraq. Iraq was supposed to be this beacon of democracy and democracy was supposed to spread throughout the region. It appears that in some cases the opposite is happening. How do you or do you directly connect what we see happening in Iraq to what we see now happen in the Palestinian territory?
TELHAMI: Well first, you know some of it obviously isn't related to Iraq. Clearly there has been a -- the Palestinian-Israeli front has been a troubled front and a lot of the dynamics were not related to Iraq. And the differences between Hamas and Fatah have been strong for a long time. But a lot of the patterns that spread, the priorities, the shift, the empowerment of militant groups, all of that is somewhat related to Iraq. I mean after all the administration itself said, look, you're going to expect a domino effect. Of course they expect it to be a domino effect. They expected Iraq to influence events in the region positively. And Iraq hasn't influenced events in the region, but negatively. Part of it has to do with the strategy that the U.S. followed, which is let's remove or weaken governments we don't like. Well, I'm sorry, but if you do that, you better have an alternative because if you have anarchy, you're going to have a lot of groups finding a place to operate. And second, it's empowerment, I mean there is a sense that the way to defeat an unpopular American foreign policy and to defeat Israel and to defeat unpopular governments, is to rally behind militant, non-state groups and clearly we see that upsurge across the region in that regard.
HOLMES: Is it too late for the U.S. to change course? Is it too late now to try to have some influence in that region? Does the U.S. have any options now to help out?
TELHAMI: Well in the short term, not very much. I mean American policy is not very credible. A lot of people are not going to operate on promises. We can announce the policy. People are not going to really listen to words. The question is whether we can reshape it. The United States remains a super power, the only one. It still has alternatives and options. Governments in the region still want to work with the U.S., many of them need the U.S. So there are many policy alternatives. But in the short term, I think it's very difficult for the U.S. to have direct influence on events on the ground, and I think what we can see is that the worst thing to do is to rush without consultation to make judgments as we did immediately after Hamas' election by going to war practically against them, trying to bring them down instead of giving them space to operate. Right now we shouldn't rush into those kind of judgments, I think instead what we need to do is try to consult with all of the key players in the region to find what the optimal solution is for the current dilemma.
HOLMES: An optimal solution, everybody is looking for one and has been for quite some time. Shipley Telhami, Anwar Sadat professor of peace and development, the University of Maryland. Sir, we appreciate your expertise and thank you for your time.
TELHAMI: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Here is something to think about before you step outside. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a huge jump in lyme disease. So what can you do to protect yourself? CNN medical correspondent Judy Fortin here with some answers. Where do we begin?
JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well this is the time of the year when you need to start thinking about how you prevent lyme disease and there's good reason for that Kyra. The CDC is reporting that cases of lyme disease have more than doubled in the U.S. since 1991. Now that's the first year that cases were required to be reported. About 10,000 cases were reported in that year. But in 2005, there were 23,000 cases. Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through ticks. They're about the size of a pencil dot and they can be prevalent in wooded, suburban and rural areas. They're most often carried by animals like birds or mice and they can jump onto humans and then bite them. A bull's eye rash shows up in about 60 percent of patients. You can have flu like symptoms, severe headaches and joint pain can last for days and for weeks. And anyone who's ever had lyme disease will tell you, it can make you miserable.
PHILLIPS: So where are they prevalent?
FORTIN: Well pretty much in every state in the country you can find cases of lyme disease. But it's especially common in the northeast. Now the majority of cases are reported in 10 states, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Duchess County in New York has the highest infection rate in the U.S. Now the up surge in numbers could be because the cases have to be reported. And another possible explanation, the disease is spreading to states that haven't previously seen a lot of lyme disease. For instance, parts of northern California are now reporting tick infection rates that are similar to the northeast where lyme disease has been a problem for some time now. And a lot of people there are concerned about that still.
PHILLIPS: So how do you prevent it?
FORTIN: Well the easiest thing to do is try to stay out of wooded areas where you would find ticks that may be infested with ticks. You can also wear white or light-colored clothing to see if ticks are crawling on you. You could tuck your pants inside your socks so that ticks won't crawl inside your pants. Use a bug spray with a 20 to 30 percent DEET. But check with your pediatrician if you're a parent to see if you need a lower concentration for children. And when you come inside, make sure you do a tick check. This is especially important with kids who have been playing outdoors. And you can also reduce the risk of tick infestation by getting rid of brush if you're a homeowner, cutting your grass and spraying your lawn. And if you think you have lyme disease, make sure you see a doctor right away because treatment with antibiotics is most often the best way to catch this early.
PHILLIPS: Tick check, say that four times really fast. Easier said than done. Thanks Judy, appreciate it.
HOLMES: Tainted toothpaste and two people end up in the emergency room. Two people from a suburban New York family reportedly became seriously ill after using a counterfeit version of Colgate toothpaste. The Food and Drug Administration had issued a recall saying the phony product may contain a toxic chemical commonly used in antifreeze. We're told its showing up in discount stores in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania. PHILLIPS: Repair day at the space station. Two astronauts outside, fellow astronauts and cosmonauts inside. Our Miles O'Brien right here on earth, in the NEWSROOM, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Have stapler, will travel, outside the international space station. Two astronauts on a mission this afternoon to fix a heat shield blanket on the shuttle. Inside, a bit of a different problem. Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien on top of it all, and if he could, he would take his stapler.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: I would literally be on top of it if I could.
PHILLIPS: And yes you would and your sewing kit. You'd be fixing everything from the blankets to the computer.
O'BRIEN: Sewing kit, I'm good with computers, I can do a soldering gun, if need be. I'm available, I just want them to know this.
PHILLIPS: You got an A in home ec.
O'BRIEN: Serious business up there. First of all, let's go live to space. Actually, there's not a great picture right now. But let's look at some of the video we're seeing fed down just recently. A space walk is underway. Just got a new task added to it. Take a look at these pictures. This is in the crew air lock, and it's kind of hard to see, but basically this is before they got in their suits. There's the suits, there they go. Now they're getting in the suits, we're talking about Jim Riley, we're talking about Danny Olevias. This is space walk number two for them. Putting on their gloves and getting ready to go out. First thing on their agenda is to fix that thermal blanket, which is pulled up. It's about a four-inch by six- inch triangle right near the tail of the Atlantis. They don't want to come back through the heat of re-entry with it there. They say it's no danger to the crew, but it is enough to cause some concern for damage this is graphite under here, this little piece. And they're concerned it will cause some damage. So if you can fix it, why not? So here is the plan. Kyra, first of all, here is a little piece of the blanket. You notice what it does, we talked about this, it kind of stays up. First plan is to go over and push it down. It should obey. But the concern is that as they come back in, the wind will just pull it right back up. So they went to the shuttle medical kit and they got one of these, it's a surgical stapler. They're just going to pop a few staples in there like so and affix it to the blanket right next to it, and hopefully that will be good to go for reentry.
All right, let's talk about what's going on with the computer system. Because that in the long run is a really big (INAUDIBLE). This is what we're talking about, these are unique computers, total of six of them, you need only two. They operate in pairs at any given moment to run the heart and soul, the Russian side of the space station. Manufactured by Daimler Benz, Solid State Computers. Ever since Monday when the space shuttle crew put on that brand new solar array, which was the primary addition. The computers have not been functioning properly. Last night while you were sleeping they were going through all of these wires with all of these scopes and checking for electromagnetic radiation or noisy power. Basically what you want is kind of a good little sine curve there, and if it's too squiggly, that can be bad for the hardware. This stuff apparently is sensitive for that kind of stuff. But here's what they did, they found, first of all, they found no unusual voltage spikes and they took the computers off the American power completely, generated by these solar arrays, took it off. Ran them through the Russian system and they still wouldn't boot up properly. So something else is going on. There was no smoking gun and so just a little while ago, we heard that the space walkers after they work on that blanket and do some of the other tasks, they're going to go back to one of the cables that they plugged in when they first installed it and they're going to unplug it, because it was when they plugged this particular cable in, that things started going kafluey from Moscow's perspective on their computers. The hope is unplug it and then when they have an opportunity to look at it overnight, our time, maybe, just maybe, that will be the cable, maybe there's a short in that cable, which caused all the problems and these computers will boot back up. But the bottom line is Kyra, this is a mystery and in the long term, the space station needs these computers, must have these computers in order to maintain the outpost.
PHILLIPS: So it couldn't be just as simple as just too much power. You know like at home, we put three plugs into the same room we blow everything out.
O'BRIEN: It could have been. They might have fried some hardware. That's the real concern, is if there's a deep hardware failure. Software you can deal with.
PHILLIPS: But they have two backups though, right? You said six computers. So does that give you a plan B and a plan C?
O'BRIEN: Right. But what if fried at least partially all six? And they can't come back, then you have a real problem with the hardware.
PHILLIPS: Right.
O'BRIEN: Now they were able to get it kind of limping back to life. So maybe these computers are partially hurt. There is some concern that backup power supplies were damaged. So now they're talking, the Russians are talking about bringing up a freighter, a progress freighter, unmanned, that was supposed to fly in August, maybe as soon as the third week in July. And now so they're going to try to get those computers back up and running, sure, but in the meantime, they're trying to come up with ways to fly the station without them. And that's where they are right now.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll keep following it, thanks Miles.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome.
HOLMES: Talking with Barack Obama. Democratic presidential candidate sits down with CNN contributor Roland Martin for a TV One interview. That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: A dad just can't get the image out of his head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I keep thinking what if? People they don't think about that, but we do.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Tell you what, a young girl goes on the ride of her young life on top of a truck. We'll explain what happened and how she made it through. That, coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Senator Barack Obama, in the race of his life. He wants to be the next president. But he still trails Democratic frontrunner Senator Hillary Clinton in the polls. CNN contributor Roland Martin is also a commentator for TV One and he spoke with Obama in an interview to air on TV One in its entirety on July 2nd at 10:00 p.m. eastern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: How do you balance being an African-American, running for president?
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My general attitude is that whether you're white, black, Hispanic, Asian, whatever demographic you come from, we all have a stake in making sure that we don't have young people who are shooting each other on the streets. If I'm talking about those issues in general terms, then I hope that 'm not just appealing to the African-American vote when I say something like that.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, we'll talk more about that interview with Roland Martin in the next hour of the NEWSROOM. A footnote on fundraising here, Obama is apparently keeping close step with Senator Clinton. In the first reporting period Obama had raised $25 million, that's just under Clinton's $26 million.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a wild ride not in daddy's truck, but on daddy's truck. An amazing story of survival, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It was like an amusement park ride, minus the amusement. This three-year-old Georgia girl survived a ride atop the camper on her father's pickup truck. And it wasn't a slow ride either. Here is Katherine Kim of CNN affiliate WXIA.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KATHERINE KIM, WXIA (voice-over): By most accounts, three-year- old Krista Whitlow shouldn't be alive. Instead, she happily eats her strawberry shortcake, seemingly unaware of the pain. Carey Whitlow watches his baby girl with a great deal of pain. The sight of her wounds, wounds him deeply.
CAREY WHITLOW, FATHER: You know I'm thinking what if? People say don't think about that, but we do.
KIM: Carey had a quick errand to run Tuesday afternoon.
COLLEEN WHITLOW, MOTHER: He circled the vehicle and realized he forgot his phone.
KIM: That's when Krista climbed on top of her dad's camper wanting to ride along. Carey drove off unaware of his precious cargo.
(on camera): Krista apparently was gripping onto the top of her dad's camper for five whole miles. Now police say this is where they found her off of Jim Hood Road where she apparently let go of her grip. A passing driver says he saw her fall. But daddy's little girl got back up and chased after her dad.
CAREY WHITLOW: She said she got tired and wanted to step off and fell. I didn't know.
KIM: It wasn't long after that, Colleen called Carey frantic, Krista was missing. No one could find her at home.
COLLEEN WHITLOW: You know you feel like as a parent your job is to love and to protect your kids. And you know we just, of course we feel like we let her down.
KIM: They soon found their miracle Krista cozy in her hospital bed, feeling a little guilty herself.
CAREY WHITLOW: She smiled and I bent down to kiss her and she licks my face and, like, sorry, dad. She thought she was in trouble. All she wanted to know is if she was still a good girl or not.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Ah! Well police say they don't believe any foul play was involved, but an investigation is under way just in case.
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