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Flooding North and South; Violent Clashes in Israel; Senator Kerry in Afghanistan; Mubarak's Wife to Have Surgery; Great Gifts for Grads; John Edwards' "Nightmare"; Celebrating Civil Rights; Evacuations Ordered in Louisiana; IMF Head Accused of Attempted Rape

Aired May 15, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM this Sunday, May 15th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news in south Louisiana: mandatory evacuation orders are under way as floodwaters threaten thousands of homes, businesses and farms. Two thousand people in St. Landry Parish, west of Baton Rouge, are being told to pack up and leave. They have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Six other parishes in the region are also expected to flood.

The evacuations come after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started opening flood gates on the Morganza Spillway. Four of those gates are now opened. And more will likely be opened in the days ahead.

The move diverts floodwaters from the Mississippi River, away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. But that puts nearly 4,000 people in the Atchafalaya Basin, in path of that flood.

CNN Ed Lavandera is on the phone, joining us from St. Landry Parish, where people have gotten the word. They're packing up as fast as they can.

Ed, set up the scene for us.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, we're in a little stretch of a community along a manmade lake called Red Mile Lake. And this is one of the areas that have been -- where residents have been told they need to evacuate by late this afternoon.

So, we've come across dozens and dozens of encountered of people who have been packing up to their homes and trying to get to higher ground here. The water is not threatening them just yet, but there are so many areas that need to be cared of that authorities have been going door to door with the National Guard, local sheriff's deputies, that sort of thing, urging people to pack up.

You see people with moving vans up against their homes and trailers, packing up everything they can and getting out of these areas.

What's interesting, though, is that it's not the Atchafalaya River that will eventually flood a lot of these people out, it is the backwater. Once this water starts moving downstream toward Morgan City, a lot of this water gets pushed back up outside of the levees and that's what will threaten a lot of these communities.

In some of the neighborhoods we've been in today, residents tell us they've been told to expect five to 10 feet of water in their homes. And the worst part is that they've also been told to plan on being away a long time, perhaps as long as a month before the water recedes and they'll be allowed to come back in here and start assessing the damage. So, a long road ahead and a long day ahead for many of these people who are packing up and heading for higher ground -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, a month, that's a long time to be away and not even know how much longer it would have to be based on what kind of damage they may be incurring. So, where are the people going?

LAVANDERA: Well, you know, what's interesting, the real of sense that I've gotten from all the people that we've been talking to today, so many people have friends, either family. It's not like you have to go a real whole distance away to get away from the water. In many cases, people might just need to move a mile or so down the roads. So, you know, if they've got trailers or if they've got moving vans, a lot of -- you know, they're leaning on a lot of family and friends to be to just park the car with all their belonging on someone's property or move in with them temporarily.

So, you really get a sense that, you know, a lot of people are kind of leaning on those that they know best to help them get through this.

WHITFIELD: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much for that update.

Let's check in with our Jacqui Jeras with more on other gates that maybe opening on the Morganza Spillway and other parishes that gearing up for an onslaught as well.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. This water is just starting to move and we're talking about, you know, another couple days before it makes its way all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

So, the big goal at this point is basically just to maintain. So, we've got four of those floodgates which are open at this time, and they're expecting that they could be opening as many as 30 or so. And the whole idea is to keep the balance of that flow where it is so it doesn't cause any additional pressure or any additional strain on this levee system. But, you know -- so those things still have to work and they still have to hold for weeks ahead.

Let's talk about where that progression is here of that spillway now. Today, it should be heading down towards I-10. It should be reaching this level sometime into the afternoon hours, and then we're expecting it to make its way by tomorrow somewhere near the Baldwin (ph) area, near Grand Lake. And then as we head into Tuesday, that's the time when it's going to start to be approaching the area of Morgan City, and we've been talking about some questionable numbers of how high the water could go here, maybe as much as five feet, maybe a little bit more than that. So, we'll have to watch and see as they continue to open up more gates in the future.

So, let's talk about the river itself and what we're expecting here in terms of cresting yet, and where is that crest? Well, we're still talking until Thursday potentially until this thing moves towards Vicksburg and then we're talking about cresting maybe the 20th or 23rd.

When we're talking about New Orleans now, for example, Fredricka, you know, it's cresting there now. And we were talking about the 23rd before that was going to happen. The reason that is, is because they're controlling the flow of the water, and basically it's going to be cresting until maybe the 23rd, before the whole river begins to move on down. So, it's a very delicate balance.

WHITFIELD: That was what was anticipated and that was actually what the hope was?

JERAS: It's doing exactly what it was designed to do right now, exactly. So, as long as those levees hold all the way through, you know, nothing worse is going to happen, say, in Baton Rouge and into New Orleans as well, as long as they continue to monitor that flow. It has to do with the amount of water that they need to push through the spillway in order to keep that water at the level it is through the Mississippi River.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll check back with you throughout this hour and this afternoon. Jacqui Jeras, thanks so much.

Meantime, we shift gears quite a bit. Another top story we continue to follow, this, the head of the International Monetary Fund being accused of attempted rape. Police say Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to sexually assault a housekeeper in his luxury Manhattan hotel. He was arrested after authorities pulled him off an Air France flight headed for Paris.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is standing by live now in front of the courthouse there in New York where Strauss-Kahn is expected to enter a plea today.

Susan, what more can you tell us about this extraordinary case?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the plea is expected to be not guilty.

You know, Fred, it was just over 24 hours ago this alleged violent sexual assault occurred, and it's been a very long day and night for the alleged victim in this case, and certainly, the same can be said for the defendant who is being charged, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

He is expected in court at some point today, but we don't know when. We think it's this afternoon, but it might even happen tonight, from what we understand, according to officials. His appearance is expected to be brief. He has already been charged but he will hear the charges read against him by the judge who is in court, and then he will be asked to enter a plea. His lawyer tells us he will plead not guilty and it is likely that he will ask for bail. We don't know what, of course, will happen as of yet. Other than that, his defense attorney is not saying much about what's happening with this case. And, in fact, the defendant has not yet been brought to the courthouse.

He is being charged with criminal sexual -- a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.

Here is what the alleged victim, a chambermaid, said to police last night about what happened. She went into this luxury suite. This is a $3,000-a-night room. She entered it yesterday, thinking it was empty in order for her to clean it, when she said she was confronted by Mr. Strauss-Kahn. She said that he was naked, that he dragged her into a bedroom and then into a bathroom, tried to force himself on her sexually, and she was able to finally get away and notify the hotel.

They called police, but by the time that authorities got there, Mr. Kahn had already left the hotel, and police, we understand, are examining all kinds of videos and cameras from that hotel and around it to see whether they can establish him leaving the hotel or anywhere on the premises.

The police then finally caught up with him when he was on a plane. And just before they closed the doors on the plane, the port authority police were able to bring him off the plane. He did not offer resistance, we are told, and they brought him in for hours and hours of questioning.

From what we understand, he didn't cooperate. But, finally, at about 2:00 this morning, he was formally charged. Now, we wait to see what will happen next for this very prominent man. He will have certainly legal repercussions as well as political ones as well given his position -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, Susan, he is married. He is married to a French journalist. They live in Washington, D.C. What's the explanation for why he was on a plane going to France?

CANDIOTTI: You know, the International Monetary Fund has issued a statement, but isn't saying much about whether he was in New York for business or on personal time and where he was headed. However, it does appear, according to the latest information we have, that there are business meetings that are being held in Brussels probably Monday, and so it is likely that someone else will step in for Mr. Kahn at that time. But we don't know precisely what his plans were when he was getting on that flight for Paris.

WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much from New York. We'll get more details from you as they become available throughout the day.

In the meantime, just moments ago, CNN learned that the IMF executive board will hold an informal session later on today. There, they will be briefed on the Strauss-Kahn arrest and how to move forward.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest comes at a time when expectations where high in France that he would actually be the presidential candidate in next year's election.

Here is CNN's Jim Bittermann from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's difficult to overstate exactly what a bombshell the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been. As a director of the International Monetary Fund, he had dealings with heads of state. He had a meeting this afternoon, for example, programmed with Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany and meetings this coming week about the Greek financial crisis up in Brussels. And he was going to be at the table during the G-8 Summit here at the end of May.

From that point of view, it is a huge story. But also domestically here in France, it's a huge story, because Dominique Strauss-Kahn was the leading candidate for president. He regularly out-polled over the last few months, out-polled all the other candidates, including incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy. And for political analysts here, this was huge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it would be outstanding, amazing. I would even use the word of secretary general of the socialist party, Martine Aubry, saying it's just a thunderstorm. I would say if Strauss-Kahn is out of the political process for the presidential elections, definitely, we will be starting about a political tsunami.

BITTERMANN: My leading politicians here did not want to talk about the Strauss-Kahn case until more is known about it. But one did, Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far right party. She said she wasn't particularly surprised because rumors have circulated for years about Strauss-Kahn's sexual indiscretions, especially after a 2008 case in which he was tried with sexual harassment at one of his subordinates at the International Monetary Fund. He was later cleared of those charges but he had to apologize to the fund, and it said, in fact, that he showed very bad judgment.

When we talked to people on the street today, they were in no hurry to pass judgment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Even if it's true or not, even if he is proven innocent, it will definitely leave a mark in the months to come and it will be a decider. So, yes, I think it's all over for him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think, like most people, Dominique Straus-Kahn is innocent until proven guilty. Indeed, everybody has in mind a certain history coming back to the service (ph). But Dominic Strauss-Kahn is a French citizen who must be judged like all the others, so we hastily await the outcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Firstly, it's a question of credibility. The fact that he fled speaks for itself. It's not the situation itself. The situation is dealt with. A crisis situation should be managed and a man who is supposed to have strong shoulders to manage a government must be able to face this situation, not run away. It's obvious.

BITTERMANN: Anne Sinclair, the well-known television anchorwoman wife of Dominic Strauss-Kahn, is telling reporters that she doesn't believe for one second the charges that have been leveled against her husband.

Irrespective of whether those charges are ultimately proven be to be true or false, a great deal of damage has already been done to one of the world's highest flying political personalities.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Dominique Strauss-Kahn won't be heading up the IMF while he's facing these sexual charges. The fund's number two official, John Lipsky, will step in as acting managing director.

Now, here's a quick look at what the IMF does. The fund is like the world savings and loan. It has around $360 billion to lend gathered from nearly 200 member countries. The U.S. contributes around $70 billion to that fund.

Meantime, now, an arrest warrant could be issued for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for crimes against humanity. An official close to the International Criminal Court tells CNN to expect a formal charge tomorrow. It's the first time the ICC has investigated allegations while a conflict was taking place.

Sony plans to start a gradual restoration of its PlayStation services today. This is after a security breach knocked it off line April 20th. That breach exposed personal details of 77 million PlayStation users.

And the space shuttle Endeavour is expected to launch on its final mission tomorrow. A faulty heater delayed last month's scheduled liftoff. The shuttle's commander is Mark Kelly. His wife, recovering Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is back at the Kennedy Space Center to watch that scheduled launch tomorrow. Endeavour will deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

Steroids, controversy and Pete Rose. I sat down with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, and he talks about all three topics, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This week in Atlanta, Major League Baseball is celebrating its civil rights history honoring past legends and looking to the future. Among those reflecting: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

I talked exclusively to Selig about a number of issues, including performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So, it's cleaner now than ever is what you're saying? BUD SELIG, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL COMMISSIONER: No question. We banned amphetamines, which were a great problem in Major League Baseball for years. The incidents of steroids in terms of players (ph) is almost down to nothing. We're the only American sport testing for human growth hormone. We're giving blood tests in the minor leagues.

And so, I'm proud of where we are. We always have to be on the lookout, chemists are always trying to develop things, but this is the first time baseball ever had a drug testing program. We went through the cocaine era in the '80s, we went on a lot of other -- there was never any testing done. Now, there's very stringent testing and I'm very proud of the great progress we've made.

WHITFIELD: How will that impact the eligibility of players in the Hall of Fame? When you hear names like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, Jose Conseco and their records and the potential of Hall of Fame. Yet, at the same time, the cloud of performance enhancing drugs are there.

SELIG: I like to answer your question, but that's going to be up to the Baseball Writers Association of America. I mean, they're going to have to make that judgment in the years to come.

WHITFIELD: Will it be your judgment that weighs --

SELIG: No, that's strictly up to the Baseball Writers Association of America. So, they'll have to make their own individual judgments on players, as they do now.

WHITFIELD: So, when it comes to a Pete Rose, your opinion of a Pete Rose weighs very heavily on whether he should be in the Hall of Fame?

SELIG: Well, that was different. Pete broke an existing rule of 70 years. My office was created by Kenesaw Mountain Landis and the Black Sox scandal, and that's a matter still under review.

WHITFIELD: So, you might change your mind on that?

SELIG: Well, I didn't say I would change my mind, but it is under review, and I understand the pros and cons of the Rose situation.

WHITFIELD: In your lifetime, did you think you'd see a Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame, with all those reviews (ph)?

SELIG: Not a judgment that I would like to make, no.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Bud Selig later this hour, hear what commissioner he thinks about the number of African-Americans in baseball on the field and in the front offices.

School officials lying about students' standardized test scores? Well, those in the know say it is happening a lot. Find out and a sneak peek at tonight's CNN documentary, "Don't Fail Me: Education in America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Are your children learning enough in their science and math classes? You may not be able to answer that question because state and federal education officials say some public schools lie to parents about children's proficiency.

CNN's Soledad O'Brien reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Were you lying to parents about --

PHIL BREDESEN, FORMER TENNESSEE GOVERNOR: Oh, we absolutely. I mean --

O'BRIEN: Outright lying to parents about how well their kids were doing?

BREDESEN: In one case, eight grade math, we were telling 83 percent or 84 percent of the kids that they were proficient when they took the national test.

O'BRIEN: What was the real number?

BREDESEN: Twenty-two.

O'BRIEN: Twenty-two percent instead of 84 percent?

BREDESEN: Instead of 84 percent. And we just said, look, you know, you may feel good for a minute if you think that, but you're not doing these kids a favor by lying to them like that.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): High scores on easy state tests made Tennessee seem like an education powerhouse. The truth? Tennessee was one of the lowest-performing states in the country.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Today begins a new era, a new time, in public education in our country.

O'BRIEN: In 2001, the passage of No Child Left Behind tied student test scores to federal education dollars.

(on camera): President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, the states have to report their standardized test scores, but they're making their own tests. You're going to need to report your own numbers. But guess what? You get to design your own test.

BREDESEN: I think that pushed an awful lot of states of the direction of, well, we don't want these bad things to happen. We don't want to lose federal funding. We don't want to be held up as bad school systems. So, let's make it work. Let's make it work.

O'BRIEN: And make it work means they dumbed down the tests. BREDESEN: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: Governor Bredesen said very bluntly, "We lied. We lied to parents in the state of Tennessee." How many other states are lying?

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: In many, many states around the country, we have been lying to students, lying to families.

O'BRIEN: What's many? More than half?

DUNCAN: Yes. Yes, probably more than half. Absolutely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Tune in tonight for CNN's "Don't Fail Me: Education in America." It starts at 8:00 Eastern.

Sex crime charges aimed at a major figure on the world economic stage. Full details on the attempted rape allegations, his arrest and whether he can claim diplomatic immunity. All of that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Floodwaters rushing out of the Morganza Spillway are already having an impact in Louisiana. Some 2,000 residents in St. Landry Parish are being told to evacuate today. The parish is west of Baton Rouge and people have been preparing for these evacuation orders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here, the boat (INAUDIBLE), for us for four days in and out. You have people coming, going to their camps, get everything they own out of their camps because they probably won't have a camp left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We took a chance. We purchased the property because we love the river, the river has always been a part of our lives, and if the river destroys property, then that's what has to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Two more floodgates on the spillway opened just a short time ago, so floodwater is now pouring through four gates on the Morganza Spillway.

Evacuations are also under way north of the U.S. border, in Canada, flooding in Lake Manitoba, near Winnipeg. It's so bad that a dike was deliberately breached to divert water. That has residents facing some difficulty choices there.

Cameron MacIntosh with the CBC explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMERON MACINTOSH, CBC REPORTER (voice-over): This is where the water needs to go. The Fairford Dam is up at top of Lake Manitoba. It can't handle the amount going through, so now, the lake is now backing up like a bathtub.

Four First Nations have evacuated close to 400 people from their homes. Dennis Sinclair is going next. At the rate the water is rising, he doesn't think his house will survive.

DENNIS SINCLAIR, EVACUEE: I don't think so, no. It's probably eroded or molded underneath because the water just comes in from underneath the ground of it.

MACINTOSH (on camera): A couple of days ago, this road was dry. Now, they're expecting at least another half meter of water here. It's rapidly cutting off access to people's homes. It's not just this community feeling the impact. All of that out there isn't the lake, it's farmland.

(on camera): These are some areas of Manitoba's prime livestock lands, up to 10,000 cattle may need to be moved.

ARVETT NOTTVEIT, RANCHER: If we couldn't -- if we can't get the cattle off of here, we talked about euthanizing part of the herd.

MACINTOSH: People here feel forgotten and they're frustrated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we are denied I think for information.

MACINTOSH: Chief Garnet Woodhouse says the province never told residents here what to expect. He says the situation is just as critical as in the South.

CHIEF GARNET WOODHOUSE, PINAYMOOTANG FIRST NATION: We hear it on TV. Every second, every minute, we see on TV at what's happening over there, every step they take. What about this area?

MACINTOSH: If it weren't for flood control, Dennis Sinclair is confident he wouldn't be leaving.

SINCLAIR: I think they caused enough damage. What can you say?

MACINTOSH: At current flow rates, it could be months before all that water empties and the flooding here recedes.

Cameron MacIntosh, CBC News, Fairford, Manitoba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, incredible flooding all throughout North America. Big winter has a lot to do with it, all that snowfall --

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: -- both in Canada and the Northern United States also.

JERAS: Yes, absolutely. It's hard to believe they did the same thing, you know, that we did here, and that was just yesterday. So, our neighbors to the North are suffering, just as much as the United States. Three thousand homes have been covered in water in that area. Many people have been forced to evacuate.

To put it in perspective for you, here you can see the U.S.-Canadian border, North Dakota, Minnesota here. Here's Lake Winnipeg and we'll zoom in. We'll show you that river that they're talking about, the Cinnabon -- I think I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.

I don't have the best French accent in the world and this is the area where they release it. You can see rivers will often form these little oxbows where they'll cut themselves off eventually and then they'll flow into this other area.

So they breached the levee here in the hopes of reducing further flooding and releasing some of that water down the line. You mentioned the snowpack that they had up there, Fred. Take a look at the satellite image from NASA.

This is what it looked like all winter long, so all the blue you're seeing in those area, that's all that snow cover and now take a look at what it is now after everything has melted. So you can see all of this pooling of water all over the place, so still very, very saturated.

We've got some other flooding concerns that I just want to give some folks into the mid-Atlantic and the northeast a heads up on. We've got an area of low pressure that's kind of getting cut off from the main low here, and we're expecting some very heavy rain in the next couple days.

Take a look at the forecast for the next five days. We're talking as much as two to four inches in some areas. In addition to that, we're going to have what we call coastal flooding, and that's when the winds combine with high tide to bring that water into places like the Potomac and into coastal areas and bring standing water in there.

So this is going to be a big focus in the coming days ahead, as well as what's going on along the Mississippi River. We'll talk a little bit more about that coming up in the next hour.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we'll look for that. Thanks so much, Jackie. Appreciate that.

All right, well, it is a major shock wave racing through the world's economic community from New York to Paris. The head of the International Monetary Fund is in New York City police custody charged with attempted rape.

Authorities pulled Dominique Strauss-Kahn after a hotel employee reported that Strauss-Kahn attacked her in his Manhattan suite. Strauss-Kahn not only leads the IMF, the International Monetary Fund, but he is considered a strong candidate in France's next presidential election.

Jeffrey Toobin is with me now by phone. He is CNN's senior legal analyst. Jeffrey, give me an idea what the road ahead is here now. We understand that he has already pled not guilty, but because he was on a Paris-bound flight, clearly he might be a flight risk, so are we talking about no bond or no bail possibilities for him?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): Well, just to cut to the chase. He is in a world of trouble. The issue of bail is the one that will come up first.

But certainly the longer term and greater problem is if he is convicted of sexual assault, which is a very serious crime in New York State as it is everywhere, he could be looking at multiple years in prison.

Obviously, we have to learn what the facts are and they ultimately have to be presented to a court, but given these circumstances. He is looking at a lot of legal trouble for the foreseeable future.

WHITFIELD: Yes, because of his position with the International Monetary Fund, would there be diplomatic immunity that he would be able to lean on?

TOOBIN: Well, let me answer that in two ways. First, it appears that someone who is with the IMF does not enjoy diplomatic immunity. Second, even if he did have diplomatic immunity, there are many exceptions to diplomatic immunity.

And a crime of violence, like sexual assault, is almost certainly one that would not be covered by diplomatic immunity. So as this case progresses, I assume this issue will be aired out in the courts. But it is unlikely it would be of much help to him in the long term.

WHITFIELD: Now, will there be both domestic -- I guess, will he have to straddle both the domestic judicial system as well as an international one because of his position, even though this allegedly took place in New York, in the United States of America?

TOOBIN: No, not at all. This is not an international matter at all. New York, being the cosmopolitan center that it is, has non-citizens arrested all the time, and they are entitled to have contact with the embassies of their host nation.

And certainly French consular officials are -- will have the right to go see him and make sure he has a lawyer, and I understand he's hired Benjamin Braufman who is one of the finest lawyers in New York City.

So other than having access to people in his embassy, he is just going to be treated, as I understand it, like any other criminal defendant who is facing various serious charges.

WHITFIELD: All right and does it strike you that so quickly after the allegations, they managed to locate him on a plane, and just before the doors were to close, actually apprehend him?

TOOBIN: Well, it is a bizarre story at every level, and the fact that they pulled him of a plane is, of course, another peculiar aspect, but the NYPD is a famously good police force. And I'm not surprised that they got their man. And we'll see how the legal system treats him now.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeffrey Toobin, senior legal analyst for CNN. Thanks so much. Appreciate that. Other news we are following today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): On Israel's borders, Palestinians facing off with - facing off and clashing with Israeli troops in the - and on the Lebanese border. Several people are reported killed. Many more hurt. Today is the day every year when Palestinians angrily protest the creation of Israel.

Senator John Kerry, in the meantime, is in Afghanistan. He said today there is evidence that the Pakistani government knows about insurgent activity on both sides of the border. He also says the death of Osama Bin Laden opens up, quote, "a new phase of operations in the region."

And the wife of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is set to have open heart surgery today. Suzanne Mubarak reportedly suffered a heart attack two days ago while she was being questioned about her husband's corruption charges.

Back in this country now, it is graduation season, so what do you buy the grad who has just about everything? Some suggestions next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, so it's graduation season, and while many college and high school seniors seem to have it all, our gadgets expert Marc Saltzman has a few more gift ideas for you.

And all of them are tech items related to iPads as well as Blackberries and so we're going to begin with alarm clocks. First of all, I thought that was nearly obsolete. Who uses an alarm clock anymore? Everybody is using their Blackberries or their iPhones to wake them up.

MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: That's right. Well, the clock docks are still popular so these are docking stations for your iPhone or iPod Touch that turns it into a, you know, a power speaker and you can wake up to your favorite songs.

So this is a great night table and nice bedside companion, if you will. But what's neat about this one here, the iHome IA 63 is that when you dock in the iPhone or iPod Touch in the middle and you want to watch videos, well, watch this.

You just press a button on the wireless remote or on the clock dock itself, and it spins it around. Look at that.

WHITFIELD: Cool.

SALTZMAN: So, it's -- there's a video clip of us chatting on --

WHITFIELD: I recognize that person. Well, that is really me.

SALTZMAN: That's sleek, $99, and it charges up your favorite gadget, too.

WHITFIELD: That's good. Early in the morning you do need bigger letters to figure out what time it is so that is very handy. OK, and then there's this jam box. It sounds to me like an earlier version of the boom box. That too I thought was obsolete, but school me.

SALTZMAN: Yes, but a miniature version. Look at this. It's about the size of a stick of butter, but it can blare about 85 decibels worth of audio wirelessly from your favourite nearby device, any Bluetooth device.

It could be a laptop. It could be a tablet or a smart phone like this Blackberry. It wirelessly connects with whatever is nearby and it is a portable fashion-conscious speaker, if you will. It has four different colors and styles to choose from. It's hard to get an idea of the texture on it, but it's really funky.

WHITFIELD: Mesh-like.

SALTZMAN: If you're wirelessly attaching it to a phone or tablet, when a call comes in, it has a built-in microphone so it lets you take a call through this speaker. And it last about nine hours on a single charge by the way.

WHITFIELD: This is insane. OK and --

SALTZMAN: It's called the Jambox. I'm sorry, I wanted to see it's called the Jambox from Jawbone, those folks who make the trendy, Bluetooth headsets.

WHITFIELD: Yes, OK, cool and now Kindle. Everybody loves their Kindles. You have something special about this Kindle.

SALTZMAN: So this is a new one, I think it's great for grads. It's called the Amazon Kindle with Special Offers. This is a discounted or subsidized Kindle that gives you the same functionality as the $140 one or $139, but it's $114 because there are a few adds that you'll see.

One is in the screen saver mode instead of -- or along with showing artwork and famous quotes and all that, you'll see some ads. Then there is a little banner as well at the bottom of the screen.

But for 114 to get an Amazon Kindle, it's a Wi-Fi version, it's a great deal. You know the drill. You can store up to 3,500 digital books on here. Something that's thinner than most magazines and weighs about the same as a tube of toothpaste.

And it also has digital newspapers and magazines as well so great gift idea for a grad who loves to read.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, my head is about to explode. Information overload, all this stuff is so cool. I want all of it now and I haven't even graduated. The next thing is your favorite. Tell us about this.

SALTZMAN: All right, I have to pick it up here. This is the iCade and it is designed for the iPad or iPad2. This is a retro gaming cabinet. Take a look at this. It's nearly a foot tall and you're iPad goes in the middle here.

And then you can download the Atari classics app that has a hundred different games on it and then you use these retro-controllers. Look at that, an old school joystick. This is just like right out of the '80s joystick and eight different buttons. So this is a great gift, I think, for any gamer on your gift list --

WHITFIELD: Of any age.

SALTZMAN: Yes, but you do need a tablet. You do need the iPad or iPad 2 and it is also like that speaker I showed you earlier, it uses Bluetooth technology. So it wirelessly communicates with the tablet and then you play your games like that, you know, having a lot of fun with it.

WHITFIELD: That is fun. I hope my son is not watching because he's not graduating from anything, not yet, but he's going to want that. So let's hope he's not watching.

SALTZMAN: And - to have never seen probably a real iCade cabinet this is a blast as well.

WHITFIELD: Of course, all right. Thanks so much for the kid in all of us. Mark Saltzman, thanks so much.

SALTZMAN: You got it.

WHITFIELD: OK, so for more information on high-tech ideas and reviews, just go to cnn.com/tech and look for the gaming and gadgets tab.

All right, former presidential candidate John Edwards may have to testify again. Our legal guys weigh in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: John Edwards, former U.S. senator, former vice presidential candidate, he's back on the hot seat. Forced by a judge to go under oath again and answer more personal questions about his one-time mistress. It's part of a civil case and our legal guys tackled it this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He goes to his first deposition, John Edwards, and he refuses to answer like three-quarters of the questions they asked him.

So now objections are made to the court, so the judge says, I'm going to sit and listen. Ask him questions and I'll make rulings on each one you object to right there. That doesn't happen in real life, Fred. Trust me, it doesn't happen like that.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does.

HERMAN: Yes, but the judge has released certain documents to the press. He's waiting until after this Edwards deposition. I think he's going to release everything that should be out there, but Edwards is stupid because he's under criminal investigation and he's waiving his First Amendment rights here. I can't believe he's giving a deposition.

WHITFIELD: Wait a minute, so you can refuse to give a deposition?

FRIEDMAN: Of course, he can refuse. Yes, look, here's a deal. This is a civil matter, a civil matter. Hold on. After the deposition starts in this civil matter, because there is a federal grand jury and some of the things that he's being asked will be incriminating, he's clearly going to be interposing his constitutional rights.

He's clearly not going to answer certain questions. So the bottom line on whether or not Ms. Rael Hunter was actually his photographer for the purposes of federal campaign funds will probably not be answered. Yes, she took pictures, all right, but not for the purposes of a federal campaign fund.

WHITFIELD: And also at issue is this I infamous videotape, the one that the friend, Andy Young found in the house that he was staying in, but then Rael Hunter says, that's my tape. So now at issue now as well as ownership of this tape, where is that going or does it continue going nowhere?

FRIEDMAN: No, no, no. If you put something in the garbage, Fredricka, do you consider that gone or do you believe you have the right to privacy?

WHITFIELD: Boy.

FRIEDMAN: That's the issue here and I think ultimately Andy Young made - he's fishing around the garbage, but he may very well prevail in keeping that tape.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: You can catch Avery and Richard with me every weekend beginning Saturday noon Eastern.

Time now for CNN Equals Politics and updates. We're keeping an eye on all the latest headlines on the cnnpolitics.com desk. Here's what's crossing right now.

Mike Huckabee has decided not to seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate made the announcement last night on his Fox News show.

In Chicago tomorrow, a big changing of the guard at city hall. Richard Daley's record long 22-year stint as mayor comes to an end. Former White House chief of staff Rohm Emanuel will be sworn in.

And speaking of Khicago, President Barack Obama and a Miami reporter are waging a bet on the NBA Eastern Conference finals. The reporter has promised the president a box of cigars if the Bulls win. Mr. Obama has promised Chicago hotdogs if the Heat beats his hometown team. The NBA Eastern Conference finals start tonight. Watch it live on our sister station, TNT.

And now for the latest political news, you know exactly where to go cnnpolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Baseball's Fifth Annual Civil Rights game is under way right here in Atlanta, the Braves versus the Phillies. Commissioner Bud Selig says it's the perfect setting given Atlanta's history in the Civil Rights Movement.

So is Major League Baseball keeping pace with past progress? Here's my exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: You are celebrating the civil rights of baseball, and as it pertains to baseball, noticeably the number of African-American players is very low. Same goes for the number of black managers and ownership among blacks. How important is it to you to change that part of history?

BUD SELIG, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL COMMISSIONER: First of all, we have seven or eight minority managers now, which is -- we got up to 10, but in that area we're doing all right. We're doing great in front offices.

In fact, Richard Lapcheck gave us a grade of "A" this year on all that. We were a little deficient in terms of hiring of women. As for the African-American players, we're working on that. We have -- we're building academies all over America.

We built an academy in Compton, California. We have one in Houston. We're going to build one in Miami. We're going to build one in Philadelphia, so we're really working.

I think you'll see that there will be great progress in coming years. You know, you just don't solve that problem overnight.

WHITFIELD: What is at the root of the deficiency, in your view?

SELIG: If you'll remember, I always said the most powerful and greatest moment in history was Jackie Robinson coming to the big leagues. It produced great players like Henry Aaron who's sitting over there and Willie Mays and Bob Gibson, Ernie Banks, tremendous.

Somehow in the '60s and into the '70s, we lost that. I don't know why. Nobody seems to know why, but we're going to get it back and we're really working hard. The inner city's RBI program was 150 million kids playing baseball so I like where we are.

As for the front offices, we have three or four minority general managers, but we have assistance and farm directors, scouting directors, so I think in the coming four or five, six years, you're going to see a lot of progress.

WHITFIELD: You see room for improvements?

SELIG: No question about it and there will be improvement.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Bud Selig, in a couple of hours, the commissioner will answer a question some of you had about instant replay in games.

Also at 4:00 Eastern Time, I will tell you how to hit home runs in your career. It all starts with networking. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you an hour from now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: These are the top stories we're following. The head of the International Monetary Fund is charged in New York with attempted rape. Police say 62-year-old Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to attack a housekeeper at his luxury Manhattan Hotel.

He also is accused of committing a criminal sexual act and unlawful imprisonment. Strauss-Khan is expected to enter a not guilty plea during a court appearance later on today.

And Senator John Kerry is in Afghanistan today. The Massachusetts Democrat insists that the Pakistani government knows that insurgents are crossing the border between the two countries. He also says the death of Osama Bin Laden opens up a, quote, "new phase of the U.S. operations in the region."

And the first mandatory evacuation orders are in place in Louisiana as the Mississippi River's floodwaters surge through a Morganza spillway. Two thousand people in St. Landry Parish west of Baton Rouge are being told to pack it up and get out. Right now four flood gates on the Morganza spillway are open. More openings are planned in the days ahead.

And now that a faulty heater is fixed, the space shuttle "Endeavour" is expected to launch tomorrow morning. Recovering Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is back in Florida to watch the launch. Her husband, Mark Kelly, is commanding the shuttle's final mission.

And I'll be back in one hour from now. Meanwhile, "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.