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Casey Anthony Release Date Change; Unemployment Rate Rises to 9.2 Percent; GOP Reaction to Poor Jobs Report; NASA's Countdown to Last Launch; Arrest in UK Hacking Scandal; Royals at the Rodeo; U.K. Phone Hacking Scandal; Tabloid's Sordid Success
Aired July 08, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Guys, thanks so much. And Christine, don't go far, because we are talking about that disappointing news on the jobs front.
ROMANS: I won't.
PHILLIPS: OK. Stay right there.
Just moments ago, as you heard Christine say, the Labor Department reporting only 18,000 jobs were added in June. That's much worse than economists predicted.
And of course, those live pictures we can't get enough of. The shuttle is fueled, the crew is suited up but the weather could still cancel today's historic launch. We are live at Kennedy Space Center hoping that it will take off in time.
And an arrest in that huge hacking scandal in Britain. The "News of the World's" former editor and the prime minister's former aide.
All right. Like we told you, we want to start with those jobless numbers. Our Christine Romans, once again, back with us there in New York.
Christine, let's talk about, is this really as bad as it sounds?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look. As one economist said -- Ian Shepherdson, he said this is a big bucket of very cold water.
You have 18,000 jobs created overall. And look, the estimates had ranged from 80,000 to 125,000. So the market and economists had expected at least a little more jobs creation than that.
And when you dig within the numbers you can see that government jobs were shed. Some -- wow. Some thousands, 57,000 private sector jobs created but 39,000 government jobs lost. And the unemployment rate went up.
So this tells you, Kyra, bottom line, that private companies are not confident to hire in big numbers at all and the government, local and state government, because of budget cuts, continue to slash jobs. This is what the trajectory looks like. We've come from massive job losses there over about a year ago, 192,000 four months in a row of bad jobs. And then you saw job created and it has petered out, only 18,000 jobs created.
Kyra, another thing that when we dig into these numbers, you look at the revisions, you look to see what prior months were changed either higher or lower, and we found another 44,000 jobs that we thought had been created, weren't. So it was from other months that were revised down about 44,000.
Manufacturing, construction, temporary services, jobs in these areas were all basically flat. I zeroed in on where there were some jobs created, in health care, about 24,000 jobs in health care. That's in line with what we've seen months by months by months. I guess 14,000 in health care.
Mining had 8,000 jobs, professional and business services, rather, had 24,000 jobs created there. So that's where you saw the jobs growing.
Now look at those numbers and how big those numbers are -- or how small those numbers are, because you need 150,000 jobs created every month, Kyra, just to keep up with new people in the population.
Just new people -- 150,000 is what you need just to absorb people. Anything above that, then you start lowering the unemployment rate. So this is a clearly a disappointment and already you're starting to see the press releases coming out from Eric Cantor's office, John Boehner's office, you'll hear from, I'm sure in moments, from all of the Republican presidential candidates, who are going to say, this is a failure of stewardship on the president's part. We'll hear from the White House a little bit later about what they think about these numbers.
PHILLIPS: Which leads us perfectly to our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
Christine, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Sure.
PHILLIPS: You know, the new jobs report already what we're being told getting reaction from Republicans.
You know, Paul, this is what the president has been talking about at every speech and every town hall meeting that he's been doing and it's still -- this is not looking good.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And, Kyra, as Christine was saying, listen, my e-mail was just -- my BlackBerry was bouncing in the last few minutes just because there have been so many responses from Republicans in Congress and also Republicans running for the White House.
We keep saying this, Kyra. What's the most important issue on the minds of Americans? The economy. What's the most important economic issue? Jobs.
The first person out of the gate, really about three or four minutes after the release of the report was the House Speaker John Boehner. And he has said in a statement right off the top, "The American people are still asking the question, where are the jobs?" And his statement was followed by a bunch, a bunch of other top Republicans in Congress.
Who was the first Republican presidential candidate to have a statement, Kyra? That was Michele Bachmann. She gets the honors. The congresswoman from Minnesota who was equally critical of the president and his policies when it comes to jobs and the economy - Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So, yes, the Americans -- I mean it's really a mixed bag when you want to ask the question, you know, what do they think of the president and how he's doing with regard to jobs.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Overall his approval ratings are mid to upper 40s but specifically on jobs it's lower. The most recent poll, one from Bloomberg. Take a look at this right here.
And the question was easily asked, do you approve or disapprove of how the president is handling creating jobs. And you could see right the there, 38 percent approve, 57 percent disapprove. Not a great number.
Presidential election is still over a year -- a year away, about a year and a half away. But, you know, these numbers need to change for the president for his reelection -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Paul Steinhauser out of D.C. Paul, thanks so much.
And of course for all the political news, you can go to our Web site, 24/7, CNNPolitics.com.
And it's a historic day for NASA as it gets some added drama from Mother Nature. Live pictures now of Atlantis on the launch pad at Kennedy Space center.
The shuttle program's final flight scheduled to blast off in just a little bit more than two hours. But the weather? Pretty iffy.
CNN's John Zarrella and Chad Myers are there.
John, let's go ahead and start with you. NASA says they are a go for the launch right now, right?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. For now. And you know, what would a shuttle launch be, Kyra, if it wasn't for a weather issue, right? And, you know, I recall back in 1988 on the first flight after the Challenger accident, the flight of Discovery, we were here.
And it looked just like this. There was no way they were going to go. And right before launch, the skies parted. It was clear blue. And Discovery took off and then 30 minutes later, it was all cloudy again.
So I think NASA is saying, look. We're going to count this down. We think we've got an opportunity to get off the ground. That's what they're saying. And that's what they're going to go ahead and do.
The crew is on board. All four astronauts are seated on the shuttle. They are ready to go. The vehicle is ready to go. There are no issues, at least not with the vehicle. The only thing they're watching right now, Kyra, the weather.
PHILLIPS: Yes. And what do you -- what are the costs of scrubbing this thing -- John?
ZARRELLA: Well, you know, a shuttle launch is about half a billion dollars. The turnaround, you factor in the overtime particularly if you're going to be going on a weekend, it's tens of thousands of dollars when they scrub and they have to turn around. But each launch is half a billion per shuttle. And of course that's one of the reasons, we know, Kyra, that the shuttle program is going away.
PHILLIPS: Right.
ZARRELLA: It's just too expensive. Yes.
PHILLIPS: And it's a costly mission, that's for sure. All right. John, stand by, please.
Chad Myers, you're over there at the Visitors Center watching the weather, of course. What do you think? Where are the storms now? How is it looking?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we had blue skies earlier. They have now clouded over. But we have the latest Doppler radar right here. And all the rain, this well passes -- well toward Tampa. And nothing really headed here. A little dot right there, that's where we are.
We are in a big black hole with rain. So if we could take that out of the equation and all we have to do is get these clouds a little bit higher even if they're overcast and they're not quite as thick as we are having it right now, this thing will still fly today.
And somebody just walked by me, they said I heard there's a 30 percent chance, but I'm still here because if I had a 30 percent chance of winning the lottery I certainly would have bought a ticket. So there you go, people are optimistic. It still is a lot better than it did yesterday when it rained here all day long -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. We're keeping our fingers crossed. We've got some special coverage just ahead, that's for sure.
Chad, thanks.
Just over two hours until liftoff hopefully. Our crews at Kennedy Space Center will keep monitoring the launch preps and the weather for us so to stick with our special coverage of NASA's very last shuttle mission.
Now this is one of those stories that's really hard to tell. A fan at a Texas Rangers game was with his young son and he died after falling out of the stands head first. It was about 20 feet to the ground right there.
He was actually trying to catch a foul ball that tossed his way by star outfielder Josh Hamilton. A fan sitting nearby there talked about what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ball hit his hand. It kind of threw him off balance. So he just went head first. I think it was just -- it was just -- it was not -- it looked awful because you knew there was no way he was going to, you know, land on his feet.
I mean he had to -- he disappeared so you couldn't see anything, but the way he fell, it looked like it was just straight on his head.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, players in the Oakland A's bullpen said that the man was conscious as he was carried out on a stretcher. He even asked somebody to check on his son.
Something like this also happened last July at the Rangers ballpark. Another fan fell 30 feet from the second deck while trying to catch a foul ball. That fan Tyler Morris survived but suffered a fractured skull and a sprained ankle.
British phone hacking scandal gets deeper by the day. London police have now arrested the former editor of "News of the World." The tabloid accused of breaking into people's voicemail accounts and bribing police.
That former editor is also the former communications chief for Prime Minister David Cameron who is calling for investigations and reforms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is a wake-up call. Over the decades, on the watch of both Labor leaders and Conservative leaders, politicians and the press have spent time courting support, not confronting the problems.
Well, it's on my watch that the music has stopped. And I'm saying, loud and clear, that things have got to change.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, CNN's Dan Rivers is following the developments out of London.
So, Dan, what do you think? Did this news conference help take some of the pressure off the prime minister?
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, no, I don't think it does. I mean I think, you know, he was in a pretty difficult position. He had no choice but to admit that, yes, it was his decision to take on this former "News of the World" editor Andy Coulson, a decision that now, in light of the fact that Andy Coulson is currently in a police station answering questions about this phone hacking scandal, that decision looks a pretty bad one.
And I think the prime minister had no real choice but to just face that and as he said, he took responsibility for it, and you know, he's going to kind of live with that decision.
I think it is going to be something that will dog him now, given everything that's happened in the last few days, given that this newspaper behind me now has closed down. Basically, shamed out of existence by its own behavior.
And the question is, you know, will there be other arrests now? Already we are being told that another "News of the World" staffer or former staffer is answering questions at another police station right now. We're waiting to find out if other people are now going to be arrested as this police investigation widens.
PHILLIPS: We'll follow along with you. Dan Rivers, appreciate it.
Fueled up and fingers crossed with an eye to the sky on the weather as we draw nearer to the historic final liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis.
Also ahead lightning strikes a tree near a makeshift memorial for Caylee Anthony, hours after her mom learned that she'll be released from prison.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories "Cross Country."
Residents of Grand Rapids, Michigan, recovering from one of the bloodiest days in the city's history. Police say a man wanted for shooting seven people to death and wounding two more led them on a high speed chase and gun battle. Police say the man took hostages before killing himself. The hostages were not hurt.
In Watsonville, California, FAA is investigating a plane crash that caught part of the town's community hospital building on fire. Crews quickly put out the flames. We're told the flames skidded into the building killing both people on board.
Police in San Francisco have arrested this guy in connection with a theft of Picasso painting valued at more $200,000. Police said the man just strolled into the gallery Tuesday and walked right out with it. A nearby security camera, as you can see here, captured his get- away.
Looks like Casey Anthony will spend a little more time in prison than the court first indicated. The date of her release was changed from July 13th to July 17th. Anthony was sentenced to four years in prison for lying to police but she got credit for time served and good behavior.
CNN's Martin Savidge joins us live from Orlando. However, some interesting twists coming out with regard to this case, Marty.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, Kyra. I mean, this is a story that continues to develop and continues to still baffle people in many different ways. All of the focus lately has been on the jurors and many people, of course, dissatisfied with the verdict that they rendered and wondering how is it possible that the jurors could do what they did.
And this has raised the issue of trying to identify the jurors. As you may recall, that immediately after the verdict, all 12 jurors declined to speak to the media. Well, the media isn't necessarily taking that. And so, they decided to file a suit to try to gain the identities of the 12 jurors.
And that's what was heard in the court yesterday by the Judge Belvin Perry. Now, he is very reticent about giving those names out for obvious reasons. Emotions are running very high, he's worried for their safety; he knows they are being hounded by the media. He knows there are death threats that were coming against them.
But here's the case -- the laws in Florida are pretty clear. They say that, look, sunshine laws mean you have to release their names at some point.
PHILLIPS: And, apparently, Marty, what I was referring to is that some of the jurors are not welcomed in local restaurants now? Signs actually going up around town?
SAVIDGE: Yes. Right. This would almost seem to bear out exactly what the judge has been worried about. And this is in Pinellas County, in the Clearwater area, which is where the jury was selected from. Remember, there was a change of venue as far as they feared that you couldn't find enough jurors here who hadn't heard about the case. So, they went to a neighboring county.
Well, there is a restaurant that has now put up a sign that says Pinellas County jurors are not wanted. The owner of the restaurants says, look, he polled his employees. They all felt the same thing. They disagreed with the verdict. It's their right, he says, if they want to pick and choose who comes in their place of establishment.
So, they put the sign up. Some of their customers agree. Some disagree. It, certainly, is a troubling sign.
PHILLIPS: All right. We sort of save the interesting headline I guess for the last, most interesting, twist in all of this. A lightning strike at the tree where Caylee Anthony has the memorial site. This happened, apparently, during the sentencing?
I mean, this just seems a little too eerie.
SAVIDGE: Right. Make of this what you will. But it occurred yesterday. We have some very stormy weather as you've heard down there in the Cape area. And it's same up here and shortly after we heard what the release date was going to be for Casey Anthony that there was apparently a lightning strike.
Nobody actually saw it, but they did see the damage to the tree and it's quite apparent. And this is a tree that's located in the swampy grove area where Caylee Anthony's memorial.
What does it mean? Somebody is taking sides here from above? Well, I suppose viewers have to read into it what they will. But it is certainly very interesting about the timing -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: It sure is. Marty, thanks.
Well, coming up, it's the final countdown for Atlantis and the shuttle program. Storms, though, threatening to rain on NASA's parade. We'll get an update, though, from Kennedy's Space Center.
A huge blow to the job market. The unemployment rate rose last month. We will take you live to the New York Stock Exchange for details.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking showbiz headlines this morning.
ABC says it will continue producing episodes of "All My Children" and "One Life to Live," even after they leave the airwaves. Broadcast of "All My Children" end s in September. "One Life to Live," January. But the soaps will be made available online and through Internet- enabled TV sets.
David Beckham shows that he can handle a camera almost as well as a soccer ball. He took this shot of his wife who is carrying their fourth child. Posting it on his Facebook page. Beckham contends Posh didn't know he was taking the picture.
And Chicago "Sun Times" says lead candidate to host next February's Oscars is Oprah Winfrey. Newspaper says now her show is over, viewers will tune in because they have been missing their daily Oprah fix.
A shocker this morning at Wall Street -- June jobs report came in much worse than expected. Only 18,000 positions were added last month and the unemployment rate actually rose to 9.2 percent.
Alison Kosik with the bad news -- Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
You can put it lightly I guess like this. You know, Wall Street was really stunned by this number. We saw an immediate reaction on Wall Street. Futures fell 100 points and fallen a bit lower than that even -- this is after hearing that hiring slow to do a near standstill last month with the economy gaining only 18,000 positions in June. You know, we expected 125,000.
And guess how many we need? We need 150 to 200,000 positions just to keep up with population growth. So, this came in even weaker than May, which May was a shocker in itself, if you remember that. And adding insult to injury, even that number in May was revised lower. Remember May? Initially we heard that only 54,000 jobs were added to the economy. Now, now that was revised lower to 25,000.
Even more bad news: unemployment rate ticked up to 9.2 percent, Kyra. Bottom line, it's hard to find anything redeeming in this report, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Yes, you got to wonder -- what does it mean for us going forward?
KOSIK: Yes, you know what? I tell you what, this report calls into question a rebound at the end of the year that so many people have talked about.
But you know what? Fed Chief Ben Bernanke -- he gave us kind of a heads-up to this a few weeks ago, that a job market is weaker that expected. But you know, that's a huge worry to hear the Fed chairman saying that -- even Bernanke doesn't know why the economy is slowing down, why it's continuing like this.
You know, it's just not good news for the recovery. If people don't have jobs, Kyra, they're not going to have money to spend. It's not going to move the economy forward.
It really leaves these questions as to whether this is a soft patch or something rougher going on here with the economy -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Alison, usually I thank you. I don't know if I should thank you for this news.
KOSIK: I know! I wish I had something better to say.
PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
We're also keeping our fingers crossed for the crew aboard Atlantis. They're pretty anxious to get things going. But the last shuttle launch ever is still not a sure thing. We'll bring you the very latest from the Kennedy Space Center.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories:
It's pretty ugly, folks. June's jobless rate ticked up to 9.2 percent and just 18,000 jobs were added in month.
British Prime Minister David Cameron calling for an investigation into the "News of the World" phone hacking scandal and media titan Rupert Murdoch is shutting down the paper.
Will and Kate's next stop on their North American tour is Los Angeles. It will happen about nine hours from now. Duke and duchess of Cambridge will attend the jobs fair for our vets and an inner city arts school.
All right. A lot of fingers crossed right now in Florida.
You're looking at live pictures right here of Atlantis on the launch pad, at Kennedy Space Center. The crew is aboard. And according to the plan, the hatch has just been closed for liftoff. It's scheduled for 11:26 Eastern Time. But some storms are also threatening to scrub this historic last launch. We're watching the weather as well.
CNN's Brooke Baldwin and Carol Costello are both there.
So, Brooke, still all systems go?
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So far, Kyra Phillips, all systems are go.
Let me pick u and see -- I do see some blue skies sort of through the clouds here. That is a good sign if the hatch is closing. So far 11:16 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, that is when we should see this 135th and final launch of the space shuttle.
Quickly, the last major hurdle that was crossed was right around 1:30 this morning when the weather meeting happened. So, we know the fuel tank is full. We also have seen the pictures of the crew of four of the Atlantis sitting nose up. So, that's also a good sign.
And, finally, the last time I'm told we really need to watch is the nine-minute mark on that countdown clock. That's the final hold. It lasts through about half an hour and that's when the crews get in there and ultimately decide to go, no-go decision.
So, that's the latest in terms of the launch. We're also waiting for -- real quickly, I just want to tell you here, I'm at the Kennedy Space Visitor Complex. You see this mock-up of the shuttle behind me. We are hoping to see the space shuttle Atlantis go up this morning. It will return right here to Kennedy Space Center.
So, any visitor from the world in 2013 can come take a look at the real deal right here, two years. Kind of exciting. Hoping tourists continue to come down to Cape Canaveral -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Perfect segue because our Carol Costello is in the middle of the action, where a lot of people have come out to say so long to the shuttle, right, Carol?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, people told me last night that there would be a million people today and from what it looked like yesterday, because it was raining all day, I said, come on! But take a look. This is a piece of land off the highway.
Look at all of these people waiting for the people waiting for the shuttle to launch. And they're from every part of the county -- Missouri and Tennessee and Kentucky and the great state of Michigan.
Let me introduce you to my new friend, Kyra. This is Dick.
Dick, welcome. I should welcome you!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, right.
COSTELLO: How long have you been here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been here since yesterday. Flew in from Detroit and got here yesterday afternoon and stayed in a motel in Orlando.
COSTELLO: So, you actually planned for this? You got the hotel a month in advance so your grandson Jacob could see this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've always said I wanted to see a launch and kept putting it off, putting it off, putting it off -- and being this is the last one, I said I've got to do it! So I invited my grandson to come with me.
COSTELLO: That's awesome.
So, how long have you been sitting on this beach waiting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since 4:30 this morning.
COSTELLO: Oh, are you a little tired?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit, yes. But he won't let me sleep!
COSTELLO: I bet you won't. That's good for you, Jacob.
So, Jacob, how do you feel about this shuttle about to be launched?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I think about it. It will be really exciting and it will look really good.
COSTELLO: Do you think it will be a big boom? What do you think it's going to look like?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I think it will be smoke coming out of it and some -- when it goes up into the clouds, I think I will get to see some parts fall down and stuff.
COSTELLO: It will be exciting. Probably will be smoke coming out of it.
Why is this an important moment for you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, because I've always been interested in the space program and, like I said, being it's the last phase of this particular program, I wanted to be a part of it. So here I am.
COSTELLO: It's worth being here since 4:30 this morning. Thank you, Dick and Jacob. We appreciate it.
So, Kyra, everybody here keeping their fingers crossed the launch will go off at 11:26 Eastern time. It will be right over there. So, keep your fingers and your toes crossed for us, Kyra!
PHILLIPS: We all are, believe me, We want to see it happen, too. Carol, thanks so much.
And as Carol pointed out, just under two hours to liftoff, hopefully. Our crews at Kennedy Space Center will keep monitoring the launch preps, the weather, so stick with us for our special coverage of NASA's very last shuttle mission.
President Obama set to talk about the disappointing jobs news next hour. Let's check in with CNN White House correspondent Brianna Keilar. Brianna, pretty bad news for the president.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is very bad news for the president, Kyra. He will be in the Rose Garden at 10:35 a.m. Eastern time. The White House announcing that he'll make remarks on the job numbers. And actually announcing even before those numbers came out publicly at 8:30 a.m. that he was going to do this. Certainly a sign that we got that something was up with the numbers.
And, obviously, we understand, it's because they are not good. 18,000 jobs the Labor Department says in the month of June. And, of course, this isn't good for the president because the economy is the issue. It is the issue above all else, and that includes going into the 2012 election. This gives Republicans a huge opening to criticize the president, which they have already done in earnest very quickly after these numbers came out, Kyra.
And you have heard the White House in past months saying you cannot look at individual numbers, saying really you need to look more at trends. But as these numbers coming out this month for June and also with May and April numbers as well being revised downward, that's a much more difficult argument to make that this isn't a trend we are seeing. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right. And let's go ahead and switch while I have you, if you don't mind. The debt ceiling talks? Any update there on where we stand?
KEILAR: What I can tell you is this is a very critical period. Ther are staff members underneath President Obama, underneath the top eight lawmakers from Congress who are engaged in these discussions working furiously. There will be another meeting at the White House on Sunday.
And where things stand right now, under consideration is a much bigger package. The ante has been upped from instead of about $2 trillion in deficit savings over ten years, instead they're looking at $4 trillion savings package over ten years. And there's no guarantee they will come to agreement on this, although both sides saying that they certainly realize the importance of increasing the debt ceiling before August 2nd.
Kyra, this really puts everything on the table. We are talking about potentially entitlement reform, Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. Possibly tax reform. Democrats want to see tax increases; Republicans don't. And certainly there will be a lot of spending cuts in this But what is interesting the interplay on this between the job numbers and the debt talks. As soon as those poor job numbers came out this morning, Republicans were saying you know what? This is further proof we cannot have tax increases in these debt talks. So, certainly there's an interplay between the two.
PHILLIPS: All right. Brianna Keilar at the White House. Brianna, thanks.
Well, we've had real housewives from places like New York, Atlanta, Miami, Beverly Hills. Well, how about from the Bible? Yes, we will talk to the producer of "Real Housewives of the Bible," next.
And there was a royal rodeo at the Calgary stampede in Alberta. They are wrapping up their Canadian tour. What do you think of Will and Kate in a big Texas hat?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The debt ceiling and the dismal job numbers. GOP responding to both. Eric Cantor, majority leader, live now.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R-VA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: -- because the discussion in those talks turned to the other side insisting that we raise taxes. Now, it just does not make sense for Americans to suffer under higher taxes in an economy like this. And as the speaker said, there is no way that the House of Representatives will support a tax increase.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. A city of history. A lot of history is being made. Unfortunately, it's the unacceptable history in this country.
Today marks 800 days since the Senate even planned a budget, passed a budget. You look at the numbers today, unacceptable. As a small business owner, this started when he was 20 years old. You look at the country today and I wonder if I would have made that same decision today if I was 20 -
(END LIVE COVERAGE)
PHILLIPS: All right. We will continue to monitor the GOP's response there to the debt ceiling and also those June jobless rates -- or the June jobless rate that has ticked up and also the jobs that HAVEN'T -- the amount of jobs rather that didn't get created like the president had hoped. OK, we are following that live.
Meanwhile, we're going to take a totally different turn here. There's "Desperate Housewives," "Basketball Wives," even "Real Housewives" from all kinds of cities. Women bickering over everything catty, trashy, backstabbing detail in their marriages. So, how about some bickering of biblical proportions?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDETNIFIED MALE: I'm tired. When is dinner going to be ready?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tired? I'm tired of your mistress calling and talking about child support!
UNIDETNIFIED MALE: Here we go again. When are you going to finally let that go? It's been two years!
UNIDETNIFIED FEMALE: You expecting me to bury something that's still alive?
UNIDETNIFIED MALE: You know what? This ain't even about her. It's about your insecurities and your inability to give me the child.
UNIDETNIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe you said that to me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Whew! That's right. This is "Real Housewives of the Bible." It's not a reality show that dances on the dark side of marriage, but rather a show that hopes to help married couples walk in the light.
Ty Adams is a Web-based evangelist and author. She actually produced the DVD series. So, Ty, you say you created this after frustrated by network reality television. Why were you frustrated?
TY ADAMS, CEO, HEAVEN ENTERPRISES: Because of the volatile relationships you see on reality television. Doesn't depict real-life relationships, and it doesn't provide any solutions or advice as to how to get over these complicated obstacles and challenges that we have in relationships -
PHILLIPS: All right. I want to talk -
ADAMS: -- so that is how it came about --
PHILLIPS: Yes. Go ahead.
ADAMS: I'm sorry. I was just looking at the clip as you all were looking at it. That was actually a depictment of Abraham and Sarah. Here you have Abraham, who has a baby's mamma. He was in an adulterous affair, and a child came about as a result of that. And so, you don't have to look any farther for any drama. All you have to do is look in the Bible.
PHILLIPS: There's a lot of drama in the Bible, and I love how you take this approach.
ADAMS: Yes, it is.
PHILLIPS: I want to ask you how you picked these certain females to be your characters. Let's roll another clip and then I'll have your explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This house, this land. I married an absolute fool. And here I sit day in and day out by myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Pretty powerful emotions. Tell me why you chose her.
ADAMS: This is Abigail. A woman who is married to a fool. A beautiful woman. Very smart and wise, but she wasn't smart in picking or choosing the man that she married. Here she is married to a fool and lonely in a marriage. There is nothing worse than being married and lonely.
And so, we chose Abigail because it depicts so many lives of so many women who are frustrated in marriages. And they think that the way to get out is to actually have a divorce. But there are also solutions that the actual -- the love menu, if I can say that, the Bible is so full of a wealth of information. I call it the romance love novel.
And God is so concerned and so detailed about our lives, even with sex, even with romance and intimacy. You can find anything in the Bible that you want. And she was actually in a sexless marriage. She was not even having sex with her husband.
Now, when you think about the Bible, you don't think of eroticism, passionate sex. Like oh, the Bible? No, God is so engaged about our sexual relationships that he wants to be able to put an end to the 40 million marriages that are in sexless marriages.
You talk about the book the Song of Solomon. Passionate and erotic. And we bring that story alive so that we show our audiences themselves on actual -- in this DVD series.
PHILLIPS: So, let me ask you then. Are you targeting -- it sounds like you're not just trying to target the Christian audience but you're trying to reach the secular audience as well and say, hey, look. You know? The Bible isn't necessarily what you think it is.
ADAMS: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: It really is a lot more exciting. Take a look. Here is how I perceive it, and how I want to portray it.
ADAMS: Whether you are of Christian faith or not, there are principles that apply to love that are applicable to whatever faith or lifestyle that you live. It's foundational truth.
God is the author of love. He wants us to be able to experience that love in its depth, in the essence of it and why not better than go to the author or the manufacturer of it? And so this is not simply a Christian perspective, if I can say that. But it's a universal language because all of us, most of us want to experience that impact, that kind of love.
PHILLIPS: I had never heard of a web-based evangelist until I met you, Ty. It's a fascinating approach to the show and to the Bible. Thanks for talking to us about it. It's actually a DVD series, and you can check it out online. Thanks so much, Ty.
ADAMS: Thanks so much, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
And if you want to find out more about the "Real Housewives of the Bible," here is where you can check it out. All things religion, CNN Belief Blog. That's CNN.com/belief.
All right. Coming up, there was a royal rodeo at the Calgary stampede in Alberta. What do you think of Will and Kate in those gallon hats? How many gallons is it, by the way? I can't remember.
We'll talk about them wrapping up their trip in Canada in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories across country.
Talk about moonlighting. A former TSA employee is accused of stealing electronics from air travelers while on duty. Police say an airport employee found Nelson Santiago Serrano rifling through luggage and stealing an iPad. Authorities say he confessed to ripping off $50,000 worth of electronics.
Bet these kids slept well in Lamont, Colorado. But it's not really funny. A woman claims that her three children were served alcoholic beverages Monday night at Chili's. She said she ordered three fruit smoothies and they were served in kiddie cups loaded with tequila. The restaurant is now investigating the incident.
And from Boca Raton, Florida. Don't squeeze the bride to be because she may be wearing toilet paper formed into a wedding dress. There's actually an annual contest for this, folks. The winner taking home a thousand bucks which equals a whole lot of two-ply.
Principle William and his new bride Kate wrapping up their Canadian tour with a stop in Calgary. They tour the city's medical research center as you see right here and they also participate in an event that for many Canadians is synonymous with Calgary, the Calgary stampede.
Our Max Foster, oh wait, Max, what happened to -- to your cowboy hat? I saw it yesterday. Did you get a lot of flak for that?
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. One day only, Kyra. One day only for the cowboy hat. I got far too many tweets about that particular episode.
Just to set the scene to you here Kyra. This is going to be their -- this is going to be their first stop in L.A.
The limousine is going to come up here where the Beverly Hilton here and they're going to come along the red carpet and they are going to come into the hotel. And this is going to be their first big event here in L.A. a new major event.
PHILLIPS: Got you.
FOSTER: It's all about promoting an area of east London which they want to promote as a high-tech area of the city. And a bit of a Silicon Valley, I guess.
And then they're going to have a big party at the Consul General's house, residence here in L.A. And you'll see a few big names there. And you're going to see some big political names as we understand it.
But that's what they're going to do on the first day here, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. And now tell us about the -- the bull ride here. Is it true, they both did it?
FOSTER: Well this is the -- the stampede last night was a big success for them. They dressed up in these cowboy outfits, they pulled it off a lot better than I did as you just suggested and they went there to this -- this stampede events and they watched the bull riding and they got -- they got in a wagon and they really threw themselves in. They've been doing that throughout the trip.
And today, they're actually going to launch the stampede parade. They're going to travel the routes of the parade and there's going to be 300,000 people turning out to see them on that. It's been a great success for Canada.
This is how the prince summed things up in terms of the tour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE WILLIAM: In 1939, my great grandmother Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother said of her first tour of Canada with her husband King George the VI. Canada made us.
Catherine and I now know very well what she meant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: He is effectively saying, I think, Kyra, this is a historic visit -- visit for them. So it's a bit of history. It's what the Queen Mother's trip was to her. It was a really big deal for her and it's a big deal for them.
PHILLIPS: Max, thanks.
Well, they will be headed to Los Angeles now and we'll follow the rest of that trip.
All right, a day after the bombshell that the British paper was going to fold, "News of the World's" former editor arrested in connection with the huge hacking scandal. More on the fallout next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: London police have arrested the former editor of "News of the World" the British tabloid accused of breaking into people's voice mail accounts and bribing cops for scoops. That former editor is also the former communications chief for Prime Minister David Cameron. He had a news conference this morning and Cameron promised full investigations into all of this, and then tore into the tabloid over one hack in particular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I cannot think what was going through the minds of the people who did this. That they can hack into anyone's phone is disgraceful, but to hack into the phone of Millie Dowler, a young girl missing from the parents, who was later found to be murdered is just truly despicable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, believe it or not, that's one of the nicer things that people had to say about "News of the World" over the years. Richard Quest looks back at the tabloid's history, hits and misses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was in 1843 that the first "News of the World" rolled off the presses. Priced at just three pence it was the cheapest paper of its time and it was aimed directly at the working classes. Before long, the British paper had established itself as the most widely read Sunday paper eventually reaching sales of around two and a half million copies each week.
Fast forward to 1969 and the paper changes hands. Rupert Murdoch becomes their new owner, and the "News of the World" is Murdoch's first Fleet Street folly. For the years, that followed the newspaper built a reputation on hard-hitting exclusives. Hugely exposing the embarrassments of celebrities and politicians.
Prince Harry, age 16, was one of the many to be exposed. And then there was David Beckham, he was exposed as an adulterer when they uncovered a secret affair he was having with his personal assistant.
In 2005, the paper published a seemingly mundane story about Prince William injuring his knee. It was another exclusive for the "News of the World" that made its reputation getting scoops. Royal officials realized that the story could only have been sourced by the illegal interception of Prince William's mobile phone voice mail. And right there began the chain of events, allegations and scandal that enveloped members of the royal family, celebrities, politicians and now murder and bomb victims.
Richard Quest, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right, coming up, the crew's aboard "Atlantis" anxious to get going, but the last shuttle launch ever still not a sure thing. Our special coverage with Anderson Cooper starts in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Stories making news later today: next hour President Obama is set to meet with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
11:26 this morning, weather permitting space shuttle "Atlantis" set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center. Stick around for our coverage.
And later tonight, the royal couple Will and Kate arrive in Los Angeles.
All right, on Wall Street, it's all about jobs today. A devastating report released last hour that shows that only 18,000 positions were added last month, and the unemployment rate rose.
Alison Kosik, at the New York Stock Exchange; so Alison Wall Street now open for business and how are stocks looking?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, initially when the bell rang we saw the stocks tank over 100 points. Now they've recovered a bit. The DOW only down 87 points.
But I'll tell you when this report came out, Kyra, we heard traders on the floor here gasp. They were stunned. Only 18,000 jobs were added to the economy in June. And even worse than that, that May number that we were all shocked about that was worse than first thought, because we first thought that 54,000 jobs were added, now that was lowered to just 25,000. And what this shows is that you know that May wasn't that one-time blip; that we could really be in for a tough haul ahead -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, there's a lot of fine print in the report as well. Is there anything good at all in there?
KOSIK: Ok. So I was looking really closely, and I will be honest with you, there is not much that's good in there. But there is one good thing; hey, look, it isn't as bad as last year. Take a look.
Back in June of 2010, we lost 192,000 jobs, and even at one point this year we even gained some momentum; you know, adding jobs from January, February, March, and April.
But, you know what? To be honest with you the bad news with this report is just overwhelming. 18,000 jobs added to the economy and it is just not good enough to get this recovery moving, to get a move on this recovery. We really need to see 150,000 to 200,000 jobs added just to keep up with population growth.
We also found out that average working hours fell, so those with jobs are working fewer hours and making less money, and to boot one more bad thing, why not? The average hourly earnings for all of us also fell. So not much redeeming in this report -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. Quick --
KOSIK: Sorry.
PHILLIPS: In five seconds or less, anybody watching the shuttle coverage there at the New York Stock Exchange. Any TVs switched over to CNN to watch?
KOSIK: Yes, I see the CNN TVs on down there, yes.
PHILLIPS: Perfect. Well, that does it for us. CNN's special coverage of the shuttle "Atlantis" launch starts right now.
