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Supreme Court Blocks D.C. Handgun Ban; North Korea's New Day; Should All Adults in the Bronx Be Tested for HIV?
Aired June 26, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And we begin this hour with some disturbing news about your stocks and your retirement accounts.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely.
Susan Lisovicz joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange.
At last look, Susan, the Dow down 300 points or more. What's going on now?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're in the final hour of trading, and stocks continue to decline, Don, in one of the worst sell-offs of the year. Check it out, the blue chips right now down 306 points.
If it closed right here, it would certainly be in the top five worst sell-offs, also below 11500, a level we haven't seen since September of '06. There's no bombshells today. There have downgrades in the financial and automotive sectors, about familiar themes, concerns about consumer credit, the slowdown in the economy, and oil settling at an all-time high, above $140 a barrel on reports that Libya might cut production and OPEC's president predicting oil could hit $170 a barrel this summer.
Mind you, there was positive news on the economy today. GDP in the first quarter came in a tad higher than previous reports, and existing home sales came for May in better than expected. In fact, one economist sent out a note saying that the housing market has finally bottomed out. But it is certainly not injecting any confidence into the stock market, at least not so far.
We will continue to watch the numbers for you -- Don and Brianna, back to you.
LEMON: All right, Susan, thank you very much for at that.
We also have a bit of developing news. I shouldn't say a bit. It's huge news. For 217 years, Americans have wondered what the right to bear arms really meant and what, if anything, a well-regulated militia had to do with it. Well, now we know.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has overturned a near total ban on handgun ownership in Washington, D.C. The ruling holds, gun ownership is an individual right, not reserved for state-run militias, but not unlimited either. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia says: "Undoubtedly some think the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our nation and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable. But it is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct."
Now, Justice Stephen Breyer is among the four dissenters. He writes: "There simply is simply is no untouchable constitutional right to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."
Two other cities in two states urged the court to keep the ban in D.C. Siding with would-be gun owners were 31 states, the Bush administration and the National Rifle Association.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: The Supreme Court today has gone on record saying the founding fathers intended this to be an individual right. We acknowledge that. So, the Second Amendment as an individual right goes down as a real permanent part of American constitutional law. And that's a monumental victory.
PAUL HELMKE, PRESIDENT, BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: Justice Scalia specifically mentioned limitations on carrying concealed weapons, limits on who was able to acquire a gun, such as felons and the dangerously mentally ill, limits on where guns can be taken, such as schools and in government buildings, limits on the conditions of sale and limits on the types of weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Our Jeanne Meserve was in the gallery when portions of the high court opinion and dissent were read.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The big debate was, does this mean that gun ownership is key to militias or does it mean that individuals have a right to bear arms?
And what the majority said today is that the individual has rights. It's the first time they have dealt with this issue since 1939. The law in question in this particular case was an almost total ban on handguns here in the District of Columbia, which says that no resident of the city can lawfully have a handgun, even if their homes, even for self-defense. That is out the window now.
The mayor of the city reacted quickly.
ADRIAN FENTY, MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: As mayor, although I am disappointed in the court's ruling, and believe, as I had said for the past year, that more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence, it is important to both respect the court's authority and then to act quickly. And today I have already directed the Metropolitan Police Department to implement an orderly process for allowing citizens to register handguns for lawful possession in their homes.
MESERVE: The old law will remain in effect, but only for the next 21 years -- 21 days, rather.
But the larger implication, of course, is for the nation. I can tell you that the National Rifle Association is seizing on this ruling today and saying that today they are going to court in San Francisco, Chicago, and some other localities to challenge restrictions on guns that they have in place. This is just the opening salvo in the gun control war in the courts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, CNN's Jeanne Meserve -- thank you very much for that, Jeanne.
In just a few minutes, we will hear a voice that is sometimes drowned out in the gun rights debate, the voice of a victim.
KEILAR: After years of talking, today action. North Korea makes good on a promise, a new openness and a major move toward a much better relationship with the United States. North Korea handed over documents listing details about its mysterious nuclear program.
And tomorrow the plan is to remove dramatically a most visible symbol of that program. It's the cooling tower at a nuclear reactor complex, and it's going to be blown up, this, of course, not being done for free. There is a payoff. Some U.S. sanctions against North Korea are being lifted, although many remain in place. Plus, North Korea's place on an American list of terror states could change.
Things are moving quickly for North Korea today. As soon as it released a pile of documents on its secretive nuclear program, the U.S. announced relaxing some sanctions and the pending removal of North Korea from that list of terror states. But is it a fair exchange?
CNN's John Vause reports from Beijing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the day went on, reporters in Beijing scrambled for any news. China's chief negotiator briefly confirmed the deal was still on track. And an hour later, the North Koreans handed over the declaration, reported to be a 60-page account of all their nuclear activities.
But no one is taking them at their word, especially the U.S., which wants to know how much plutonium was produced at the aging Yongbyon reactor.
CHRISTOPHER HILL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Plutonium here is really the heart of the game, because that has to do with -- that's the stuff they make bombs out of.
VAUSE: But, for now, the North does not have to dismantle or even declare its stockpile of atomic weapons. That will be dealt with later. And there's no requirement to list which countries received North Korean nuclear technology, like Syria, according to the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only North Korea has built such gas-cooled graphite-moderated reactors in the past 35 years.
VAUSE: The Bush administration says Syria's nuclear reactor was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last September. Even so, the U.S. president has announced that North Korea will be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism within 45 days and end sanctions imposed under the Trading With the Enemy Act.
JOHN WOLFSTHAL, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: If the North Koreans are trying to pull a fast one -- they have in the past lied to us or given us misleading information -- and they get caught with that, then I think that any trust that we start to build could quickly unravel.
VAUSE: To build trust and show goodwill, North Korea says it will implode this cooling tower at the Yongbyon plant. The reactor there has already been partially disabled, but has yet to be dismantled.
(on camera): Critics accuse the Bush administration of letting North Korea off the hook, but supporters of this deal say the North will no longer be able to make nuclear bombs, and the threat from its existing arsenal will be contained while negotiations continue to try and eliminate it once and for all.
John Vause, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: President Bush today ordered some of those U.S. sanctions lifted, calling it symbolic gesture, recognizing a first step, the first he hopes of many.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea. If North Korea continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with the international community, much as Libya has done over the past few years. If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and our partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Behind bars for the rest of his life -- Neil Entwistle was sentenced this morning to two life terms without the chance of parole. He was found guilty yesterday of killing his wife and baby daughter while living in Massachusetts two years ago. Entwistle claimed that his wife, Rachel, killed their baby, then herself, and he tried to cover it up to protect her honor -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Well, aiming to get every adult in the Bronx tested for HIV, it's part of an ambitious plan being announced by the New York City Health Department.
Tests will be offered on a voluntary basis over three years. They will be given at designated sites. That includes emergency rooms, clinics and community centers. Health officials say the Bronx has the highest rate of AIDS-related deaths among New York's five boroughs.
LEMON: We have an update for you on those hikers everyone was looking for in the rugged Sierra Nevada. It turns out they hiked to safety and all of them are OK.
The nine teenagers and their two adult guides turned up at a remote store late yesterday afternoon. It was a few miles from where dozens of rescuers, volunteer mountaineers and parents were searching. The group was on a two-week Outward Bound adventure and was set to return tomorrow. The search was launched when the hikers became separated from their senior guide.
KEILAR: Gun sellers of course had a whole lot riding on today's landmark Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment. We are going to see what the outcome means for them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's talk now about guns.
For the first time since the Bill of Rights was passed in 1791, the highest court in the land has explained the right to bear arms. As we have been reporting, a 5-4 decision today overturns a longstanding ban on handgun ownership in the District of Columbia. And they think it may spread around the country with other lawsuits as well.
And by way of reaction, we have gone to a gun shop in Smyrna, Georgia, that has been embroiled in a lawsuit over gun crimes in New York City.
And CNN's Brooke Baldwin, there she is. She is there.
The question is, Brooke, have they seen more customers today as a result of the Supreme Court decision?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Don, I don't think they have seen any more customers, per se.
You can take a peek over my right shoulder and you can see, though, that there's pretty decent traffic just on a Thursday afternoon, people out and about in suburban Atlanta gun shopping.
I did speak with one woman earlier. And who knows. There could have been a couple others who were coming out here to buy a gun specifically to exercise that individual right to bear arms.
A quick little story. I was talking to Jay Wallace. He's the owner of this store. And he told me -- just to give you perspective because people don't totally understand this -- for gun owners -- and many of them are lifelong gun owners -- he says he will remember this day in history, just as he remembered the assassination of JFK. That is how big a deal this day is in our nation's history. Who knows what kind of national implications this will have, but, as far as we know, D.C. -- or, rather, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down that ban in D.C. on carrying handguns -- Don.
LEMON: And you know what? Not just in any gun store. And as we told our viewers a little bit earlier here in the NEWSROOM, this particular gun store, this owner was involved in a very heated battle over big city gun regulations, wasn't he?
BALDWIN: Right, Don. And it's actually still going on.
This store, Adventure Outdoors, is one of 27 stores across the country accused essentially of not really following protocol in selling the guns. What happened was these guns were found in New York City and many of them were involved in crimes. Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- this is according to this store's owner -- he says Mayor Michael Bloomberg was doing this simply as a power play.
The owner of this store says he did everything by the books as far as selling guns. But, again, Don, this is ongoing. They are in litigation right now.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for your reporting. We appreciate it.
BALDWIN: Sure.
KEILAR: Well, you know, almost everything having to do with guns in America is debatable, individual rights, state, local, and federal laws, the Constitution. But one fact is painfully clear. Guns kill and they maim and sometimes they put healthy young people into wheelchairs for the rest of their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN FERGUSON, GUNSHOT SURVIVOR: I was walking to my girlfriend's house and a kid came by and shot me. It's not like you see it on TV, that, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. No, when you get shot, it's in seconds you start losing all your vitals. You start to black out.
You can hear sometimes, but, mostly, you can't look, you can't see. I could roll back. That's when I knew I was paralyzed.
Being a quad, you are an infant. You start over. You learn how to live all over again. Everything you do, you have to start over as if you were a kid. And it's humiliating.
My name is Steven Ferguson. I'm from northwest D.C.
Yes, this is what I have got to do every day, ride the metro access everywhere I go.
I got injured in 1996 with a gunshot to my shoulder. I grew up with him through school. His family knew my family. So, he's serving time now for my injury. It's just not now. I always thought guns were bad. I grew up with a gun around me, and I never picked it up a day in my life and used it on anyone, because I wasn't brought up that way.
Gun violence is inherited through your peers, who you see, who you're around, what you hear.
I look at the wheelchair as my legs now. Mentally, you want to walk so bad, and you know you can't. It's been a struggle every day since then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Steven told his story to CNN photojournalist Bethany Swain in our D.C. bureau. This is part of a series produced by CNN photojournalists. It's called "Different Perspectives on Guns in America." And you can see more views at CNN.com or right here on CNN.
LEMON: Wow. Very interesting story there.
Well, one day before an extremely controversial election, we're monitoring developments in Zimbabwe. Stay with us for the very latest from our Zimbabwe desk coming up.
We're also following developing news on Wall Street, the Dow down almost 300 points and oil trading at a new intraday high. What does it mean for you and your wallet?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
KEILAR: A robot that powers itself could be the next big thing in underwater research.
Miles O'Brien takes us out to sea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just going to kind of hang it over the edge and then wait for a nice wave and then we will let it go.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It look like a torpedo or even a cruise missile, but the Scarlet Knight is on a peaceful and historic mission to cross the Atlantic, the U.S. to Spain, 2,400 miles.
SCOTT GLENN, PROFESSOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: This is the first time anybody has crossed the ocean with an underwater robot. And so that's a big thing for us.
O'BRIEN: Scott Glenn co-leads a team at Rutgers University probing just beneath the surface of the sea with battery-powered robotic gliders.
GLENN: They move by changing their buoyancy. BOB HESS, MARINE TECHNICIAN: This is where the actual rubber piston moves in and out.
O'BRIEN: The piston pulls about a cup of water into the nose and down it goes about 300 feet. Then it starts pushing the water back out, and the glider floats toward the surface. The sawtooth pattern is incredibly efficient. A glider can go for months. A robot with a propeller lasts only hours.
Every four hours, Scarlet Knight surfaces and phones home a report on its position, health, water temperature, and salinity.
O'BRIEN (on camera): What are you looking for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we look for is as much environmental data as we can possibly get.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Gliders are revolutionizing the study of the oceans, crucial controllers of our climate.
OSCAR SCHOFIELD, PROFESSOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: We know the oceans are changing. We know that will change life on Earth. We don't know where it's going.
O'BRIEN: But gliders may just show us the way.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Brunswick, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Well, there is no need to call security at a Tim McGraw concert, because the country star lays down the law, and then he doesn't even miss a beat. Wait until you see the video ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Time now to tell you about some of the stories we're working on for you today in the CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. Supreme Court hands gun groups a huge victory. In a 5-4 ruling with national implications, the court says Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns is unconstitutional.
North Korea today turned over a long-awaited declaration, a detailed statements about its nuclear program. President Bush says he will start the process to remove North Korea from the U.S. terrorism blacklist.
And Neil Entwistle has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. He was convicted just yesterday on killing his wife and baby daughter.
KEILAR: Topping our political ticker, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is out on the campaign and the fund-raising trail today in a key battleground state. McCain held a town hall meeting at Cincinnati's Xavier University, where he talked pocketbook politics and congressional help for cash-strapped homeowners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American dream is many things, educate our children, have a better life. There's many things that are associated with the American dream, live in a safer world. But one of the fundamentals is the right -- is the ability of Americans to own their own home. We see that continuously eroded. So, we're going to have to act, and act effectively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: McCain's itinerary today includes a private meeting with area religious leaders and then a scheduled fund-raiser in upscale Cincinnati suburb.
And for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, campaigning as well for votes and financial support today, Obama spoke at an economic competitiveness forum at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, noting present-day challenges and what may lie ahead if the nation doesn't change course.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just as we have to provide relief to Americans who are struggling, we also have to recognize that we're failing to put ourselves in a position to compete effectively in the global economy.
Our country faces challenges to our leadership in this young century. Our children will grow up facing competition from their counterparts in Beijing and Bangalore. If we don't change course, there's no guarantee that the American dream will be there for my daughters or your sons, as it was there for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Obama and Hillary Clinton kick off their so-called "Unity Tour" tomorrow in, where else, but a town called Unity -- Unity, New Hampshire, in fact. Well, tonight, we'll get a sneak peek tonight performance in joint fundraising effort.
And CNN correspondent -- pardon me -- CNN senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, joining us now for a preview of what's to come.
Candy, behind the scenes, what is the purpose and the desired outcome of this gathering of fundraisers?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's for Barack Obama to pick up some more people that can help him fundraise. Because they have been raising funds for Hillary Clinton, they obviously know Hillary Clinton's donors. And one would assume that Hillary Clinton's donors, having lost the election, would be more open to a Clinton fundraiser.
So they're getting them together. It's going to behind closed doors. There will be a reporter in there to kind of say what's going on. But this is really intended to kind of get the money side of it settled down.
Now, you know, the problem, of course, is that it's also about a public show of unity. Look, we're getting our fundraisers together and tomorrow we're going to go campaign together. So this is very much a public message that isn't always mirrored in private. They do have some bones of contention. Personally, it's a little difficult to come off such a rough and tumble primary that went on for 17 months and sort of forgive and forget.
So this kind of healing process is going to go on for a while. But publicly, everybody is doing all the right things. He's being complimentary to her. She's telling people please vote for him, come on board. So they are moving, at least on one level to going forward. The staff still have problems together. There are still some issues not worked out to the Clintons' liking. The Obama people think that maybe the Clintons are looking a little bit like sore losers. The Clinton people think he looks like a sore winner.
So there's some stuff that has to go on, but publicly, this fundraiser and tomorrow, the Unity event, are sending that message on the vote -- look, we're together.
KEILAR: And yesterday, Candy, Senator Obama was asked about former President Bill Clinton's role in his campaign.
Here's some of his response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If the question is do I want Bill Clinton campaigning for us -- for the ticket leading into November, the answer is absolutely yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: So why does this keep coming up, Candy?
I mean is there really any doubt that President Clinton is going to be campaigning for Obama?
CROWLEY: No, he'll do it. It's a matter of degree, how -- you know, how vociferously will he go out there and campaign for Barack Obama?
And, by the way, the question was hey, you had these big old rallies with Al Gore and with John Edwards and Bill Clinton puts out a one sentence statement from his office saying that, of course, President Clinton will do whatever he's asked.
So it's been tepid. We knew from the final months of that campaign that Bill Clinton was very upset. He felt that his era -- the Clinton era in the '90s -- was dissed by Barack Obama, who, on occasion, did say that the late '90s were sort of the same old same old politics and he wanted to change the tone.
Bill Clinton also feels that he was framed as a racist during the campaign. So he's angry about those things. And you add onto it that his wife lost, which clearly was not his goal, he has some things still that he's getting over.
One of the people that's fairly close to him said, you know, give him a break. He'll get over this. But so far, we haven't heard a peep from him, except for that one statement, since Hillary Clinton went ahead and made a concession speech.
She doesn't have, however, the luxury of time that he does. She was being pressured by the party to start this unity thing. She was the candidate. She had to do it.
So he can lay back a little bit.
KEILAR: No shortage of drama.
CROWLEY: Absolutely.
KEILAR: Candy Crowley, thanks for that.
CROWLEY: Sure.
KEILAR: Well, all of the latest campaign news right at your fingertips. You can check it out at CNNPolitics.com, where we also analysis from the best political team on television, all of our folks like Candy. You can check it out there at CNNPolitics.com.
LEMON: A bomb shattered the relative calm in Iraq. The Associated Press reports three United States Marines died west of Baghdad today in a suicide bombing at a meeting of forces opposed to Al Qaeda. Several leading Sunni sheikhs also were killed in that attack that left 20 people dead. In Mosul, a bombing at an Iraqi government compound killed 18 and wounded 60.
Well, today, the military tells us that for the first time ever, a ground-based anti-missile rocket has killed a dummy warhead that split from its booster. The interceptor rocket fired from Hawaii had to distinguish between the target and its booster rocket, which were fired from a plane before separating. The ground-based system and sea- based aegis system are being tested as defenses against enemy missiles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM MCGRAW, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR: Get rid of this guy. He scares me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Country music star Tim McGraw took concert security into his own hands Tuesday night in Washington -- Washington State. This whole thing captured here, as you can see, on cell phone camera. It was uploaded onto YouTube. Witnesses say that a man who appeared to be intoxicated was harassing a female concertgoer during McGraw's rendition of "Indian Outlaw". You can see security there, but McGraw called for security and when none of them arrived soon enough, he personally bounced the man and then the band, they just kept playing as the fan was escorted offstage.
McGraw, you can see right there, went back to singing without missing a beat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRICIA JOHNSON, ATTENDED CONCERT: He gets up and starts acting like he's going to fight Tim McGraw. And he's just like ah. And you see Tim McGraw in the video like kind of, you know, going, like, OK. All right. We're going to fight.
Let's go. And -- just strange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Tim McGraw has guns, so I wouldn't take that man on.
LEMON: Don't mess with Tim McGraw.
KEILAR: But, you know, a concertgoer says that the kicked out fan told him he thought McGraw was helping him on stage so he could sing with him. Oh, that didn't happen. And the first words McGraw sang after the man was booted, "I ain't looking for trouble."
I love this story. I love it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Don't mess with McGraw, right?
KEILAR: Nope.
LEMON: All right.
One day before an extremely controversial election, we're monitoring developments in Zimbabwe.
Stay with us for the very latest from our Zimbabwe desk. There's Isha Sesay -- hey, Isha.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Less than 24 hours before polls open in Zimbabwe, international pressure is increasing to call off the runoff election, amid reports of violence and intimidation. Meanwhile, today, in a surprise move, incumbent President Robert Mugabe says he may be willing to discuss a power sharing agreement with the opposition.
Let's head straight now to our Zimbabwe desk -- Isha Sesay, that's a new one.
ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL: It certainly is, Don.
We're working flat out here in the International Desk to have all bases of this story covered.
Yes, Mugabe is saying he may be open to negotiations. But the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, saying there will be no talks if the election goes ahead.
Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday, the secretary-general of the United Nations adding his voice to the growing chorus of people saying that the vote must be cancelled.
Let's listen to what he has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: That under these circumstances, where one cannot expect a credible and fair election, this presidential runoff election should be postponed until such time where we can create the fair and credible conditions for the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, you may remember that Morgan Tsvangirai actually pulled out on Sunday. The elnisi (ph) leader and many others besides have said that his supporters have been killed over the last couple of weeks, tens of thousands displaced from their homes and thousands beaten.
Don, just a snapshot of the situation on the ground.
LEMON: Hey, what is this we're hearing, Isha, about these fake poll numbers?
SESAY: Oh, absolutely. We have heard from the opposition party, who are accusing Mugabe's party of planning to deploy state polling agents. Now, the idea, they say, is that they'll deploy these people, who will pose as representatives from their party.
Now, our viewers may be wondering, well, what's the point of doing this?
They say it's because they want to make it seem as if Tsvangirai is actually participating in this vote, even though he officially pulled out of the scheduled runoff earlier this week, Don.
LEMON: OK. There's also a surprise move that the secretary general of the opposition party was released on bail on Thursday.
What do you make of that? SESAY: A lot happened today. He turned out to be surprisingly, suddenly released from prison on bail. He was arrested on June 12th on a number of charges, including treason. He was facing the death penalty. But on Thursday, he was set free on bail, as I said. He handed over his passport and the -- his -- the papers for his house, should I say. And basically the feeling is that he was arrested in the first place because they wanted the -- the Zanu-PF Party wanted to intimidate the opposition party. But now the courts are saying that the evidence against him is weak and he's on bail. He's out on bail.
LEMON: All right.
Isha Sesay at our International Desk.
Isha, we appreciate that. Thank you.
SESAY: Thank you.
KEILAR: Remember that lost tribe of the Amazon that we told you about a while back?
Well, it turns out that it wasn't so lost, after all. The guy who took these pictures now says that the tribe was discovered almost a century ago, back in 1910. He says he told the other story to try to protect this tribe from logging that threatens its habitat. He says that he, in essence, rediscovered the group after a friend sent him Google Earth coordinates and maps showing a strange clearing in the jungle.
Well, wait until you hear the plan for battling AIDS in part of New York.
And if it works there, who knows?
LEMON: Well, it's not quite Niagara Falls, but New York City hopes it will become a tourist attraction nonetheless. Look at that. The water is falling, in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Should all adults in the Bronx be tested for HIV?
New York City health officials are announcing a program intended to do just that.
So why are they doing it?
How are they going to make this work?
With some answers now, live from New York, CNN's Ines Ferre -- hi, Ines.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Brianna.
Well, why are they doing it? Well, in the Bronx, because the Bronx actually has the highest incidence of death rates from AIDS in New York. And many, they say, are not getting early enough treatment for the virus. That means that they're not getting -- they're not getting diagnosed early enough in order to treat the virus effectively.
So what are they trying to do?
They're trying to target the Bronx, to get some 250,000 people in the Bronx who have never been tested for HIV/AIDS to get tested.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSE DAVILA, BRONX AIDS SERVICES: This is a minority disease. And the Bronx, predominantly Latino and black is being highly impacted. And there is cultural values for our populations to prevent the transmission of HIV. And having this campaign offers another dimension for us to work with those populations in giving them the prevention message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Of course, historically there have been stigmas, Ines, about testing from AIDS in but, especially in the Hispanic and other minority communities, historically.
Is that still going on right now?
FERRE: Oh, yes, definitely. And I spoke to one Hispanic who has had HIV since 1984. And he says that especially in the Hispanic community, people don't talk about HIV/AIDS. They don't talk -- women tend not to talk about sex, about using condoms, etc. So listen to this person and what he had to say about this topic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMAS NAVARRO, HIV POSITIVE: Most of the people that -- they believe that they cannot be infected with HIV. So they're in denial for that. So they're not going say that I have to go get -- be tested for HIV to find out if I've been infected. So most of the people, they get tested then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FERRE: So what health officials are trying to do is really routinize this testing. So what they want to do is when somebody goes to a hospital or when they go to a clinic, they will be asked if they would like to have this type of testing done. And what they're hoping to do is get all those people who have never been tested to be tested. And if this program is effective in the Bronx, then it could be effective in other counties and other cities in the U.S.
KEILAR: Yes. Because a lot of people, of course, do what New York does -- or look to them for some sort of model. FERRE: Um-hmm.
KEILAR: OK, Ines.
Ines Ferre for us in New York.
Thanks.
FERRE: Thank you.
LEMON: Well, because it's so dry in Northern California, the governor is asking people not to buy any fireworks this year, much less light them. Some towns like Watsonville are taking it one step further. City council members have banned the sale of fireworks. Various nonprofit groups normally run those booths. Well, and shutting them down will cost them about $230,000. The city is looking at other ways to help the groups raise some money there.
Bone dry out West and in the South.
So where does the rain go?
Karen McGinnis joins us now.
Where does it go -- Karen?
(WEATHER REPORT)
KEILAR: Beautiful, breathtaking, a wonder of nature -- except wait a minute, these are not nature's handiworks. No, they aren't. But they are considered art -- four mammoth waterfalls that empty into the East River in New York. This display, it actually cost $15.5 million to build, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes that the waterfalls will actually generate more three times that in tourist dollars.
LEMON: Wow! that's interesting to look at that.
Look at this video. Summer in Southern California can get mighty hot. So a dip in the ocean isn't a bad idea -- unless, like this young deer, you can't get back to shore. Lifeguards with the Los Angeles County Fire Department were called to help herd him back to the sandy beach. It took them a while, but they finally did make it.
Well, the deer is OK. And the wildlife officials plan to return him to the Santa Monica Mountains.
Good for him.
All right, on the Atlantic side, it took more than a couple of people to save this animal -- the 900-pound -- is that a nice thing? I guess it's what it is -- a melon-head whale. It washed ashore on -- what is that, Plea Linda Beach (ph) -- I don't know that beach -- which is near NASA. Rescue crews from Sea World came armed with a large sling, a lot of wet towels and spray bottles. The whale is now at Gulf World in Panama City.
KEILAR: Well, he has traveled across country twice and he hasn't spent a cent on gas. We'll tell you about this greasy rider.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. It's getting close to the closing bell and the Dow not doing well. At one point, down almost 350 points.
We're going to get to that.
But first we want to get to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
KEILAR: He is standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna and Don, thanks very much.
Straight ahead, we're going to be hearing from Barack Obama. He's just given a new interview. We'll share some of that with you.
Also, more on the Supreme Court's first ever ruling on the constitutional meaning of gun rights. Now that it struck down Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban, how are Barack Obama and John McCain reacting?
How might this affect their presidential contest?
Also, North Korea reveals secrets of its nuclear program. The U.S. rewards that nation. One Republican Congressman thinks the president is simply wrong, trying to improve his legacy.
And it's all about unity -- Democratic Party unity, that is. It will be on display in Unity, New Hampshire.
But who needs it more?
Would it be Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?
All that guys and a lot more coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
Was that on purpose, Wolf, Unity?
BLITZER: Yes.
LEMON: Did they pick Unity just because -- OK.
BLITZER: And they got exactly the same number of votes during the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, as well. So it's symbolically very important.
LEMON: All right.
Wolf Blitzer, we'll be watching.
Thank you.
KEILAR: As gas prices topped $4, some drivers have found a way to fill up for free.
LEMON: Well, they're relying on a new kind of takeout from restaurants.
And Alina Cho reports on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Greg Melville revs up his 1985 Mercedes, you might smell French fries.
GREG MELVILLE, DRIVER: If you're driving behind me, you're going to have -- you're probably going to get a craving for McDonald's.
CHO: That's because his car runs on waste oil from restaurants. And with record gas prices, it only took a year-and-a-half to recoup the $2,000 he spent to buy and install the conversion kit, which he bought online.
MELVILLE: We've driven the car maybe 60,000 miles on the vegetable oil.
CHO: Those miles took Melville and a friend across country twice, using all types of leftover grease -- and never stopping at a gas station. By the end of the trip, Melville and his buddy were aromatically challenged.
MELVILLE: We could smell the inside of the car before we got inside the car.
CHO: Even without a specially equipped car, you can buy veggie fuel at a regular gas pump like this one in Asheville, North Carolina. It works in any car that runs on diesel fuel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We actually recycle waste vegetable oil that's right here in our community and turn it into fuel that's sold right back to our community.
CHO: Melville admits his primary motive for converting his car, aside from helping the environment, was to save money. Yes, some days his car smells like fried fish, other days onion rings.
So what does he think of people who might call him and other veggie car drivers, well, freaks?
MELVILLE: Well, if we're a bunch of freaks, at least we're frugal freaks.
CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: The closing bell...
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Very funny. Frugal freaks. Veggie freaks.
LEMON: Okey-dokey.
We've got some serious news happening on Wall Street, though.
KEILAR: Yes.
LEMON: We want to get to it really quickly.
Susan Lisovicz is standing by. Not a good day -- Susan.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
LEMON: All right, Susan. Thank you.
KEILAR: Let's head now to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.
