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Crisis between Gaza and Israel deepens; Gov. Richardson withdraws his name from Commerce nomination; Obama to meet with policymakers on stimulus package; New U.S. embassy in Baghdad opens; Protests spot the globe over violence in Mid East
Aired January 05, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Two huge stories and the world is watching this morning. Sirens well and explosions thunder in Gaza. The crisis with Israel deepens.
And in Washington, an incoming president and his new challenges. Barack Obama gets to work today on the nation's lousy economy. New details on his plans and what they could mean to you.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Today is Monday, January 5th and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A new era on the horizon. Change and challenges ahead. President-elect Barack Obama leaving Chicago yesterday for the nation's capital, 15 days, as you know, until inauguration here on the steps of the U.S. capital.
His biggest challenge, pulling the nation out of the recession. Today, he's meeting with key members of Congress about his economic stimulus plan. That could cost up to $775 billion. But he'll be doing that without the man he wants as commerce secretary.
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has withdrawn his nomination. We'll have a little bit more coming up on that later.
First, though, we want to get right to the president-elect's plans for the bruised economy. Our Kate Bolduan is in Washington.
So, Kate, what are we expecting to happen with this meeting today?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it just appears that they're really going to know where the leaders in Congress, as well as the president-elect, stand, as the president-elect starts trying to make his pitch to Congress.
New details of the Obama's -- of Obama's recovery plan are emerging this morning. According to an aide of the transition, the president-elect is crafting a $300 billion tax cut for workers and businesses to be included.
It appears it could be an attempt to try to win more Republican support. Many -- many have been concerned that the plan to focus on government spending. And you can expect that to be a focus of the discussion as Obama set for a full day of meetings today with congressional leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice over): The next Congress hoping to hit the ground running with a visit from the president-elect today. Priority one -- an economic stimulus package.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We must recognize the economy is in deep trouble.
BOLDUAN: But even before they start, lawmakers are lowering expectations. That goal of getting a stimulus bill to the new president's desk on day one?
REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: I doubt that, frankly. It's going to be very difficult to get the package put together that early so that it can have sufficient time to be reviewed and then sufficient time to be debated and passed.
BOLDUAN: President-elect Obama is meeting with congressional leaders to make his pitch. Win over support and try to put his recovery plan to paper.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need an American recovery and reinvestment plan that not only creates jobs in the short term, but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long term.
BOLDUAN: Obama's plan could cost in the neighborhood of $775 billion and proposes doubling renewable energy production, infrastructure spending, like rebuilding roads, bridges and schools, as well as offering tax breaks.
OBAMA: Create 3 million new jobs, more than 80 percent of them in the private sector.
BOLDUAN: But Republicans are already voicing concerns over the potentially eye-popping price tag and the timeline.
SEN. MITCH. MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: What I worry about is the haste with which this may be done. This is an enormous bill. It could be close to a trillion dollar spending bill.
Do we want to do it with essentially no hearings and no input from Republican senators who represent half of the American population?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Now both sides are calling for bipartisan support of whatever the final package looks like. Republicans want to have their say in the process and the Democratic majority may not want to be solely responsible for such massive spending on the heels of all of the government bailouts.
Now as for the president-elect, the tentative schedule is to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 11:00, then Senate majority leader Harry Reid, as well as take part in a bicameral, bipartisan sit-down with key lawmakers.
And I just did confirm with an aide to the transition that the President-elect Obama is planning for a speech on the economy Thursday in Washington to lay out his economic principles to the public -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Well, Kate, it is kind of confusing. I know we don't have much time here, but, you know, talk to me talk to me about these hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars.
People do wonder exactly where all this money is coming from. And now it sounds like, you know, there's more that we're talking about, but it's a percentage of money that's already been carved out for this, right?
BOLDUAN: It -- appears to be so. It seems like that -- those tax cuts would be about 40 percent of the maybe $775 billion. A lot of...
COLLINS: Yes, I mean, we don't really know, right, what kind of a sum we're talking about?
BOLDUAN: Exactly. And -- these are all little details that are coming out slowly and, hopefully -- well, it needs to at some point make sense as to what the plan is and that's kind of -- probably what part of the discussion is, this, today, and this week.
COLLINS: Absolutely. Little details that often equal billions, huh?
All right. Kate Bolduan, we sure do appreciate that. Thanks so much.
And also CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar will be live on Capitol Hill in just a few minutes. We'll have a little bit more discussion on the president-elect's plan to help the economy and exactly what lawmakers are saying about it.
Israeli forces are pounding targets in Gaza this morning from the air, land, and sea. Its troops reportedly are the edges of Gaza City which has virtually no electricity and little food and water.
Palestinians say more than 500 people have been killed. 2,000 wounded in the past 10 days.
Warning sirens also sound in southern Israel as militants fire more rockets from Gaza. A senior Hamas leader in hiding says the Gaza leadership has no intention of stopping the rocket fire in response to Israeli attacks.
The area we're talking about is roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C. Through its air and ground attacks, Israeli troops essentially have split the territory in two now.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is joining us now on the telephone from the Israeli-Gaza border.
So, Ben, explain a little bit about what you're seeing around you this morning.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're at the northern end of the Gaza Strip on the Israeli side. We can't go in because the Israeli government isn't allowing journalists in.
But what we've seen is that compared to yesterday, it is -- the bombardment is somewhat less in this area, although I did see sort of the central Gaza area that there was a large explosion just a little while ago.
We know that the Israeli troops have made major inroads into the areas around this city. They have yet to really go into the highly populated areas, the refugee camps where 80 percent of the population of Gaza lives.
We do know that the Israeli tanks have reached the sea south of Gaza City in an area called Netzarim, which is formerly until September of 2005 was an Israeli settlement.
They have effectively cut Gaza in half, which means that not only Hamas fighters and ammunition can't be moved around the Gaza Strip, but it's also very difficult for ambulances and supplies -- relief supplies that have been allowed in today to move around Gaza.
And I know -- we know, for instance, from the Israeli government, that 80 truckloads of food and medicines have come in to the Gaza Strip today. Those supplies desperately needed, but that is only a drop in the bucket compared to the needs of Gaza at the moment.
Rockets firing out of Gaza continue. In fact, some reached Beersheba, which is about 25 miles outside of Gaza. Also some hitting Ashkelon where we are. We saw several rockets being fired from what looked like a Jebaliya refugee camp going over our head and hitting the town of Sderot, the Israeli town of Sderot, behind us.
We understand there are no casualties in that strike -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Well, obviously, Ben, that fighting goes on but interesting that you state some of that aid is now getting in today, so we know you'll stay on top of that situation for us as we continue to watch all day long here on CNN.
Ben Wedeman for us on the telephone on the Israeli-Gaza border today.
The fighting has triggered intense demonstrations, as you might imagine, and a flurry of diplomatic efforts to secure some kind of truce.
Joining us now from Washington, Dr. Ziad Asali. He's with the American Task Force on Palestine.
Thank you for being with us, Doctor -- a medical doctor that you are, you have an interesting story, too, because you actually trained in Jerusalem and practiced -- pardon me, Beirut -- and practiced in Jerusalem and yet you are with this group.
Tell us a little bit more about your reaction to the ground attack that was launched on Gaza by Israelis this weekend.
ZIAD ASALI, AMERICAN TASK FORCE ON PALESTINE: Yes. Well, as usual, the most tragic part about this is that the Palestinian civilians suffer. No matter who makes decision on their behalf or on behalf of anybody else, the price is inevitably and always paid by the Palestinian people.
Right now we really do have an exceptionally tragic situation in the humanitarian sense in the Gaza people where there is 1.5 million people living.
Of course, this -- this is a story that has repeated itself frequently and is destined to be repeated until we get Palestinian state where the Palestinians would have their own independent sovereign state alongside Israel where the root causes of all these conflicts start and can end.
COLLINS: Well -- it must be so very difficult -- and you, you mentioned, you know, the women, the children, and even the men who want absolutely nothing to do with Hamas -- or what its agenda may be.
What choices do you have? Do you find yourself in the middle of this barrage of bombs overhead? I just --I wonder what that life is like and where you go and what you can possibly do to survive.
ASALI: I -- think people have to be exceptionally focused on the end result here. If the end result is not going to be a Palestinian state living alongside Israel, there will be more problems and everything that anybody does will eventually crash on this cycle of violence that is, that is fed by so much passion, a sense of injured dignity, a sense of victimization on --
COLLINS: On both sides.
ASALI: On -- every side. On every side. And now, particularly, disproportionately, of course, on the Palestinian side. Radicals will always find a way to use this and build on it and to further pull the area into further conflicts on both sides, again.
COLLINS: Do you believe that if Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel, there would be a chance of another cease-fire? There would be a chance for discussions regarding what you say is absolutely has to happen to the Palestinian state?
ASALI: Yes. Well, you know the cease-fire is now a -- humanitarian request, if not a political request for so many people. It is, it is hard for me to imagine that the Israelis would consent to a cease-fire now while they are in, in the process of an operation that is rolled out for some time, I'm afraid.
On the other hand, there will be mounting pressure in the Arab, the Muslim world, in Europe and in the United States because, precisely, because of the humanitarian disaster situation and the pictures that will keep coming out of Gaza...
COLLINS: Yes.
ASALI: ...to put an end to this.
COLLINS: Very quickly...
ASALI: There will be a balance at some point in time and there'll be a United Nations resolution for that cease-fire.
COLLINS: Well, hopefully. Before we let you go here, I just want to play some sound from the Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and this is what she had to say to our Christiane Amanpour regarding the military action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How long can this go on?
TZIPI LIVNI, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Until a moment in which we have Hamas weaker, in which we know that they understand that the Israelis not willing to leave realities in which our cities are still being targeted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: More than 500 people dead, 2,000 injured at this point by way of Palestinians.
How much longer can Hamas fight back?
ASALI: Hamas will fight back and Hamas is, in fact, will fight back for a long time. All it has to do is to have a few of its leaders survive in order to proclaim that their own survival is the survival of the movement and then they would -- might be able to say that they stood up for Israel and then capitalized politically on that.
Until we realize that there is a larger game which is the -- occupation and the need to end the occupation or create the Palestinian state, this thing will go on.
COLLINS: Well, we certainly do appreciate your perspective and your time here today.
ASALI: Thank you.
COLLINS: Dr. Ziad Asali, thank you so very much.
And of course, after the break, we are going to have a view from Israel as well. We're going to be hearing from a consulate general right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And we've got our crews mobilized in the Middle East as well. Among them are Anderson Cooper. Tonight he'll be broadcasting live from the Israeli-Gaza border. That'll happen at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: In the Middle East, the bloodshed is now in its tenth day. Israeli -- Israel says it struck at least 30 Hamas targets overnight in Gaza. The militants responded by firing rockets into southern Israel.
Today, delegates from the European Union are pouring into the region in hopes of brokering some sort of peace.
Now we turn to Israeli's perspective in all of this. Reda Mansour is a consulate general based right here in Atlanta.
I wonder if you heard our last interview there when the gentleman that we were speaking to, a Palestinian, did say that really the only way to resolve the situation, as it has been over the past several decades, is to create a Palestinian state.
Your thoughts on that.
REDA MANSOUR, ISRAELI CONSULATE GENERAL TO THE U.S.: Well, what I have to say is welcome, you know? We have been talking about two- state solution at least since 1993. We were few times very close into signing that agreement.
Sometimes I -- think that Israel is more interested in the two- state solution than some of these extreme groups. We're willing to sign it today on independent Palestinian state and most of these territories giving the Palestinians their freedom and liberty.
The problem here is that what we're fighting is a movement that is not interested in independent Palestine. This is an Islamic extreme group, a terrorist group that is interested in this kind of situation we have now.
The innocent civilians from both sides are suffering. No hope in the future. This is their daily work. This is their vision.
COLLINS: I want to have you listen as well. Just in case you missed it, too, the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. Actually, we're not going to listen to her because we did just play it.
But she did say that, you know, this is not going to stop until we have weakened Hamas and as we continue to watch what we have seen on our air, some of these pictures coming in live for the past 10 days of this barrage of rockets and bombs going over from both sides, quite frankly.
Does it feel like there's going to be a Palestinian state any time soon or even talks regarding that between the two sides? MANSOUR: Well, let's, first of all, remind people Israel is out of Gaza. We left Gaza in 2005. The Palestinians, and especially Hamas, could decide that this is a free territory. Now let's rebuild it and, and start the future in Gaza and we have plenty to build upon. Beautiful Middle -- Mediterranean coast and abundance of energy and possibilities.
Israelis, when the lived there, used to exports a lot of vegetables and fruits to Europe from there and we left a lot of know- how there.
Instead of taking all of this potential and starting the dream of free Palestine from there, Hamas took it over and started a nightmare there of Taliban-land immediately. And part of the reason -- the views that we're seeing right now is that Hamas make sure that they embed their terrorists inside civilian buildings.
COLLINS: Right.
MANSOUR: They put their missiles as we could see in the footage that you had in the last two days, they have missiles under schools, mosques and, in some cases, even hospitals.
So the only way to deal with this kind of extreme groups is to let them understand that this will not work. You know, it'd been tried over the last 70 years time and again and it didn't work.
The only way to resolve a conflict with Israel is through negotiation and we're willing to negotiate. We are standing by for that. We -- we are very happy that the international community now is for that.
And as you could see, most of the voices of the international community understand that Hamas cannot continue terrorizing half of Israel...
COLLINS: Yes.
MANSOUR: ... for more time.
COLLINS: What is your view, quickly, on what President-elect Barack Obama should be doing first regarding this situation?
MANSOUR: I think, you know, you have a great footage of President-elect Obama which is very sincere and personal because when he stood in that Israeli City in the south of Sderot, and he saw that pile of fallen rockets behind him, the only thing that came to his mind is that if my daughters would be living here, I would do anything possible to protect them.
And so I think he understands that the movements like Hamas, terrorist movements have to be dealt with sometimes militarily. But at the same time, we have to keep hope and we have to promote a political process and we have to work with moderate Arabs and moderate Palestinians all over the Middle East together, because our Middle East today is not Israel against the Arabs. It's extremism against moderates and we -- always should work for that end.
COLLINS: Well, I know you're watching the situation very closely just like we are. It's a very, very complicated one, obviously, not a new situation, indeed.
Once again, we sure do appreciate your time, Reda Mansour. Thanks so much.
MANSOUR: Thank you.
COLLINS: Again, we do have our crews mobilized in the Middle East. Among them, our own Anderson Cooper, tonight, will be broadcasting live from the Israeli-Gaza border. It will come at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN tonight.
Barack Obama moves to Washington and the economic crisis is waiting. Today, new details and new price tags.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Looking ahead. President-elect Barack Obama, not officially sworn in but already working. Mr. Obama is meeting today with top congressional leaders from both parties to talk about his economic recovery plan.
CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar is live on Capitol Hill now with more.
So these are going to be some complicated and probably pretty intense discussions today.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Don't we wish we could be a fly on the wall in these? Definitely.
COLLINS: I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: The president-elect is going to be meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. So a meeting with Democrats first. And then those -- and they, along with Vice President-elect Biden, they will powwow then with the top Republicans in Congress, Mitch McConnell in the Senate, John Boehner in the House.
And just to look at this Obama plan as we know the details, some of them, the price tag could go as high at three-quarters of a trillion dollars. We just learned this morning from a transition aid that this will include $300 billion in tax breaks.
The Obama plan is also to double spending on renewable energy production and a key component of it is spending on infrastructure which is something Harry Reid said will bring back some of those jobs that we've seen go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REID: For every billion dollars we spend on infrastructure, we create 47,000 high-paying jobs and a lot of lower paying jobs from that. What does that mean? It means that we can do some bridges, highways, dams, roads. We can work on schools, libraries.
We can do things with laboratories that we are certainly lacking. We also have to do mass transit work which is important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now we are still waiting to see the fine print of this proposal, but Republicans are very much concerned about a couple of things, one of them being just the sheer enormity of this package, as you can tell by what Senate Republican leader Mitchell McConnell said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: I think the national debt is a serious problem. It's already entirely too high and that's one reason why I think we ought to make sure that we follow the admonition of the speaker last year in talking about stimulus packages.
She said they ought to be timely, temporary and targeted. In other words, we ought to try to avoid the temptation to use this stimulus package as a basis for systemically increasing spending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Republicans are also very concerned that this whole economic package is going to just be ran through Congress without really a chance to go over it with a fine tooth comb, without a chance to make sure that there's proper oversight in place.
And on that front, Democrats are lengthening their timeline for getting this done. We heard Steny Hoyer, a Democrat leader in the House of Representatives say the goal now looking more like to have this completely finalized by mid February -- Heidi?
COLLINS: OK. Well, we are watching and waiting, that's for sure. Interesting meetings today. I know you'll be following them.
Thank you, Brianna.
CNN's money team always ready to break down the complicated stories that impact your wallet. So here to crunch some of the numbers for us, CNN senior chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, joining us now from New York.
Hey there, Ali. Yes, boy, that's a lot of money, obviously. A lot of people out there wondering where exactly is it all going to come from? If we're talking about just 40 percent of it that comes from the original package...
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right.
COLLINS: ... where's the rest? What does it do to the deficit?
VELSHI: Yes, I mean, it comes from the same place so much as the rest of this money has come from and that is nowhere. It doesn't exist which is why...
COLLINS: Yes. Credit.
VELSHI: ... the deficit continues to increase, which is why we really do have to think about this in the long term. There are some things that have to be done immediately and many people agree, maybe grudgingly, that things have to be done right now to help the economy out but fundamentally, what's the long-term plan?
So that -- the issue here is that we're talking about 40 percent of the almost $800 billion package that we're looking at. For individuals the effect would be about $500 credit on their taxes. That is against the money that you pay. The payroll taxes on -- Medicare and Social Security would be about a thousand dollars for a family.
And then there's a business side of this as well. There are credits for losses that you have taken in your business in 2008 and possibly in 2009. Writing off losses to a maximum of $250 million for a company and you can reduce your tax bills going back five years, which means you can actually get money back that you've already paid to the government under certain circumstances. And if you hire new people or reverse layoffs, you get more money.
Now the thinking here, Heidi, is that if you give companies money to spend, if they save money on their taxes that they use that money to invest...
COLLINS: Sure.
VELSHI: ... and hire more people. It doesn't always work but that's the thinking.
COLLINS: Yes, because when you look at that the way you line it out you kind of have to say to yourself, boy, who would object to this? I mean everybody's getting money and some people are getting money back.
VELSHI: Right.
COLLINS: They feel like that they lost before but, you know, a lot of times there are others who would say if it looks too good to be true, maybe it is?
VELSHI: Yes, remember that -- you know, we tried that stimulus package last spring. It did not have the desired effect. So, again -- some things are being done, as Brianna said, for political reasons but when you start spending -- and we thought that stimulus package last spring was huge. We were talking about less than $150 billion.
COLLINS: I know. VELSHI: You know we've just started talking in terms of numbers that are inconceivable. We -- easily trillion rolls off the tongue more easily than it ever used to. So there are some people coming out this morning saying they are a little surprised that this has been -- a bit of an about-face for the Obama administration and unclear -- you know when you have a budget problem, Heidi, you either spend less money or you take in more money.
This is a proposal to spend more money and take in less money.
COLLINS: Right.
VELSHI: Not entirely sure the math works on this.
COLLINS: Yes. No. All right, well, we're watching that as well. So much out there.
VELSHI: Yes.
COLLINS: All right. Our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi. Thank you, Ali.
VELSHI: OK.
COLLINS: As you know, it's about that time. Opening bell about to ring on Wall Street and investors are prepared to kick off the first full trading week of the year.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look at what we can expect during today's session.
Back at your post there. Hi, Susan.
(LAUGHTER)
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Back at my post. And I did not bring the noise makers for a brand new year.
COLLINS: That's all right.
LISOVICZ: Investors certainly hoping the major averages will follow in the footsteps of Friday's big gain. The first trading day of 2009. The Dow Jones Industrials rallied more than 250 points in the first trading day of the year. Stock traders Almanac however says, remember, as goes January, goes the New Year.
The S&P gains in January's first five days precede full year gains 86 percent of the time. So that's the January effect. So we'll be watching the first five days. At the moment, well, we're looking at modestly lower open. We got a big batch of economic data that due out this week, including the monthly jobs report on Friday.
Later today, investors will focus on the auto sector as the major carmakers release their December sales figures. The numbers expected to continue the trend of sharply lower sales in the wake of the ongoing recession. Some analysts expect sales in the U.S. to plunge as much as 40 percent. The chief forecaster reported sales all of last year likely to be the worse since 1974.
The auto numbers, obviously, will share the spotlight with President-elect Barack Obama who is expected to meet with congressional leaders today to discuss his plans to stimulate the economy. We've already talked about that.
Also on The Hill today, Congress holds a hearing on the SEC's role in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme, which cost investors an estimated 50 billion. The commission reportedly heard rumbling about Madoff's methods nearly a decade ago.
And just a short while ago, Heidi, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, Apple CEO Steve Jobs released a statement about his health. Jobs' rapid weight loss last year fueled speculation that his cancer may have returned. He says his doctors believe he is actually suffering a treatable hormone imbalance, which caused the weight loss. Jobs says his doctors expect he will regain that weight by the spring. Apple shares, meanwhile, are up three percent.
Unfortunately, three major averages are lower in the first minute of trading. The Dow is down 60 points or two-thirds of a percent as are the NASDAQ and the S&P 500. By the way, did you catch who rang the opening bell this morning, Heidi?
COLLINS: I couldn't see. No, I didn't. Who was it?
LISOVICZ: It was a diverse group of people, including the New York counsel general from the People's Republic of China, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and NBA commissioner David Stern, all together celebrating the 30th anniversary of U.S.-China diplomatic relations. And China very important to the U.S. economy.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Yes, no question. All right, very cool. All right, Susan, sure do appreciate that.
LISOVICZ: Talk to you later.
COLLINS: Talk to you later.
Blood shedding Gaza outrage at its borders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTORS: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Truckloads of vital aid hit a roadblock, and we'll tell why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The Middle East, the violence escalates, the tensions rise. One place where there's a lot of anger, Egypt's border with Gaza. Trucks carrying vital aid have been delayed, and now serious frustration is growing. CNN's Karl Penhaul is at the Rafah border crossing in Egypt.
Karl, tell us what's happening there.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN VIDEO CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, we told a spokesman from the Prime Minister's office here in Egypt, and he said that border crossing could now remain closed for another two or three days largely because in the course of this morning and through part of the afternoon, we saw Israeli airstrikes ramp up just across there about 400 yards from where I'm standing now. But certainly throughout the day, Sunday, when the border crossing was closed again the entire day, a lot of tension there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTORS: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
PENHAUL (voice-over): Aid workers and truck drivers chant in solidarity for the Palestinians. The gates are firmly shut at Egypt's border with Gaza. All are calling to get through. Some are vying to join the fight against Israelis. At least 30 trucks of vital medical aid were blocked at the Rafah crossing, Sunday. Meanwhile, just yards away in Gaza, the casualties were mounting as Israel pressed ahead with its ground assault.
DR. KONSTANZ CONTANTINIDIS, DOCTORS FOR PEACE: We have angriness, let's say, and we feel very disappointed because we came here from Greece.
PENHAUL: The Egyptian government has condemned the Israeli assault but it is no friend of Hamas, and insists the border cannot be fully opened without the presence of European Union monitors.
The crossing has been opened for a few hours on some days to allow aid in. A wounded Palestinians are moved out. But Egyptian authorities kept it shut Sunday because Palestinian border guards had fled in the face of the Israeli advance. Jalil Al-Nish works for U.K. charity. He says the Gazans cannot wait.
JALIL AL-NISH, AID WORKER: I was finishing the ground. It's a disaster. They hit everywhere. They target everywhere. And they fire from anywhere. They don't care if there's children or families or anything, they hit back.
PENHAUL: Keeping out of the chaos, Palestinian Antar Mahmood waits and worries. He is loaded with all the food and cooking oil he can carry for relatives trapped across in Gaza. He says his brother's house was flattened on the first night of the Israeli ground assault.
"I just called home and asked what happened, and they said your son Muhammad (ph) has been wounded. He's alive, but he's wounded," he says. He's so close, but so far. The border crossing is some 300 yards wide, but you have to go through three checkpoints, two Egyptian and one Palestinian.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL: And it's not just the Israeli government that's trying to keep the media out of Gaza so that we can't see for ourselves the scale of that humanitarian crisis. The Egyptian government is not allowing journalist to get across the Rafah border crossing.
And also today, they even tried to throw out a checkpoint along the highway about fifteen kilometers, about ten miles from Rafah to prevent us coming even to overlook the border where we are now. We did manage to get here after all, though, Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Karl. Great work. We didn't realize that about Egypt. Thanks so much. Karl Penhaul for us, live today.
President Bush is saying little publicly about the fighting in Gaza. His Secretary of State says Washington is talking to various parties about a solution. CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House now.
Elaine, any word? The president is going to be sending anybody over there?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, there is no word on whether perhaps, for instance, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice might be headed to the region, but interesting to note she did cancel a planned trip to China.
But the Bush administration itself is holding firm, standing behind Israel as it has for more than a week now since the Israeli campaign began.
Now, President Bush in his weekly radio address reiterated that he does not want to see a one-way ceasefire. Vice President Dick Cheney also laying out the U.S.'s position, that it wants to see a sustainable and durable peace.
But the United States clearly holds Hamas responsible for starting this latest round of violence by firing its rockets into Israel. And, Heidi, the bottom line for the Bush administration, it says it is up to Hamas to put an end to the violence by stopping those rocket attacks.
Heidi --
COLLINS: The administration is in an interesting and pretty complicated situation, though, given the date. I mean, it's just a few days now until the President-elect Barack Obama takes over. So you wonder what it is that they could and should be doing at this point.
QUIJANO: Well, that's exactly right. Certainly, the transition time is a very implicated time, but the Bush administration, when asked about that, even in the early days of this campaign, that was a question that was raised. They say, look, our position would not change.
COLLINS: Sure.
QUIJANO: Hamas is still responsible, in their view, for having to continue to provoke Israel, and they say really, again, the ball is in Hamas' court.
Heidi --
COLLINS: All right. CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.
And we do have our crews mobilized of course in the Middle East. Among them our own Anderson Cooper. Tonight, he will be broadcasting live from the Israel-Gaza border. That's at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.
Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf standing by now to give us a picture of what's happening weather-wise all across the country.
Hey there, Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Yes, no kidding. All right, Reynolds, thank you.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You bet.
COLLINS: A new year, a new building. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad officially opens for business under security so tight even CNN had limited camera access.
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COLLINS: Just days after handing over control of the green zone to Iraqi forces, the U.S. officially opens its brand new embassy in Baghdad. CNN's Jill Dougherty was at the dedication ceremony and joins us now live.
Hello to you, Jill.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi. Well, you know, it's over budget and behind schedule, but finally, the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is open. They had a dedication ceremony today with the ambassador and other dignitaries complete with a flag raising.
And it really is an amazing complex. The biggest U.S. embassy in the entire world. 104 acres. And these kind of buff colored, the dobby-colored buildings surrounded by very high walls, guard towers, razor wire and a lot of security.
The original cost or the budget for this was $592 million. But there is a congressional report citing State Department records saying that it could increase by another $144 million.
So quite a lot of money. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, however, told CNN that there is a good reason for having an embassy of this size. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN CROCKER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: And as our military presence ramps down, many other aspects of our relationship are going to ramp up. That's the point of the strategic framework agreement.
Those committees are forming. They will be meeting in the coming weeks to focus on how we in Iraq move ahead in the whole range of relations -- economic, commercial, educational, scientific, financial, you name it. So we will need a large presence here for some time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGHERTY: And this has really been a week of a lot of symbolic turning points. Last week, we had the turnover of the green zone, as you mention, to Iraqi control under the security agreement. And then, also, they moved out of the old embassy, which was The Republican Palace, used to belong to Saddam Hussein, and now they are in the new building.
Heidi?
COLLINS: Jill, any idea what the average Iraqi civilian is saying about having U.S. embassy there in Baghdad?
DOUGHERTY: Well, interestingly, one thing that some Iraqis have pointed out is that if they wanted to get a visa to the United States, before they had to go out of the country to do it, to go to a consul or office, let's say in Jordan. And now they could actually do it here so that will be an advantage.
It's quite an amazing structure, though. A bit off putting but at least there is a representation now that is in one place and available to the people of Iraq.
All right. CNN's Jill Dougherty for us in Baghdad. Thanks so much, Jill.
It could be a big Senate showdown. Roland Burris is heading to Washington today to claim the open Senate seat from Illinois, that is if he can get in the Senate door.
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COLLINS: Well, it was a long time coming, but it's looking like Minnesota may finally have its second senator. You're looking at him. A state election board is announcing today Al Franken is the winner in the bitterly contested U.S. Senate race. A recount determined Franken beat incumbent Norm Coleman by 225 votes.
And Coleman's campaign may still challenge the certification. They claim about 650 votes were unfairly rejected in the recount and some ballots were counted twice. They have seven days now to file a new challenge.
A big Senate showdown may be looming and the confrontation could begin right at the Senate's front door. Roland Burris, the man Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich picked for senator is expected to show up for work tomorrow.
But Senate Democrats still furious at the governor over accusations of corruption, don't think he should be seated. Burris says he has a legal right to be there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF ROLAND BURRIS (D), FMR. ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am the duly appointed -- legally appointed United States senator from the State of Illinois. And I certainly expect that the senators will recognize that and do not deny Illinois its equal representation as we get under way in this 111th Congress.
It is my hope and prayer that they will certainly have gotten the message that what the governor has done regardless of his problems, they're not my problems, there's no taint on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Roland Burris talking with our Don Lemon. Burris is optimistic senators will agree to seat him tomorrow. Senate Democratic leaders scheduled a meeting with him for Wednesday. We'll be watching that story for you.
Still, 15 days before he starts the job, but President-elect Barack Obama already living the role. Mr. Obama no longer flies commercial. In the sign of things to come, he arrives in Washington in style yesterday, aboard a military jet with crew members wearing jackets saying Air Force One. The Air Force 757 military jet is used as a backup for Air Force One. He also chatted with reporters onboard the jet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you know, what happened was Malia's friend had dropped off an album. The two of them together. They're friends since preschool, and I just looked through the pages. The house was empty.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What about when they left yesterday?
OBAMA: Well, they are -- they are just -- they are having fun.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you looking forward to going to Washington?
OBAMA: Yes, although living in a hotel for two weeks, we kind of did that for two years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A plane is never technically called Air Force One unless a president is in it. The president-elect flew commercial when he vacationed in Hawaii last week, in case you are wondering. A new school and a new life for the nation's new first daughters. The president-elect's two daughters Sasha and Malia began classes today at the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in Washington. The two girls left the Hay-Adams Hotel with the new First Lady to be early this morning, in a motorcade that emerged from a security tent outside the hotel. The president-elect taking office as we said in 15 days.
We've got a live report at the top of the hour on the challenges he faces and his plans to fix the economy.
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COLLINS: Protests continue all over the world against the violence in Gaza. Officials across the globe have had their hands full trying to control the rallies.
CNN correspondent Lonzo Cook has the story.
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LONZO COOK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Loud protests in the Lebanese capital. The day after Israel launched its ground offensive into Gaza. Demonstrators tried to reach the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Lebanese police first used water cannons to turn them away. When that failed, they fired tear gas.
Condemnation of Israeli actions at a political rally called by a Turkish Islamic political party in Istanbul attended by thousands. In Indonesia, women made up the majority of protestors who numbered several hundred.
Competing groups in Melbourne, Australia, several thousand marching in support of the Palestinian people, denouncing Israel's military incursion. Elsewhere in the same city, more respectful treatment of the star of David at a smaller rally in support of the Israeli campaign.
In Rome, Pope Benedict called for prayers for an end to the conflict in Gaza. "War and hatred are not the solution," he said. And while Israeli ground and air attacks continue, diplomatic moves are underway.
A European Union special delegation landed in Egypt before heading to Israel. Tony Blair, the Middle East Quartet Envoy, already in Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
In a separate mission, French President Nicholas Sarkozy heads to the region for meetings with Arab and Israeli leaders. While British Prime Minister Gordon Brown added his voice to the calls for an end to hostilities.
GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We need an immediate cease-fire. The blame game can continue afterwards. But this dangerous moment, I think, requires us to act.
COOK: Sunday evening in central London, a familiar sight. COOK (on camera): As protests here outside the Israeli embassy in London continue for a second week, demonstrators hope that the recent flurry of diplomatic activity will finally bring the Israeli military action in Gaza to an end.
Lonzo Cook, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Barack Obama wakes up in Washington --
