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CNN Live Saturday

Runoff Vote in Big Easy; Iraq Cabinet Mostly Formed

Aired May 20, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," in eastern Kentucky, five workers were killed today in an explosion at a mine in Harlan County. One miner was able to get out alive and it is not known what caused the blast.
In Louisiana, the battle of New Orleans is under way. Voters are going to the polls in a runoff election, pitting incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin against Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu. The outcome will help determine the course of one of the biggest reconstruction projects in U.S. history.

And a day of deadly violence ushers in Iraq's new unity government. Parliament approved the incoming prime minister's picks for the cabinet, but at the same time, a series of attacks, including a roadside bombing in Baghdad, killed at least 27 people.

And in the Middle East, Palestinian security forces say a senior Islamic Jihad commander was killed today in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces blame the man for firing missiles at Israeli towns. Three other people were also killed. And in a separate Gaza attack, a Palestinian intelligence chief was wounded and his body guard killed in what's being called an assassination attempt by a rival faction

The Space Shuttle Discovery is on the launch pad, awaiting its next mission. It was moved yesterday. And NASA plans to send the shuttle into orbit sometime in early to mid July. After Discovery's mission last summer, the shuttle fleet was grounded because foam insulation was still snapping off the external fuel tank.

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KEILAR: And we update the top stories every 15 minutes here on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Your next update is coming up at 2:15 Eastern.

Welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Brianna Keilar.

Ahead this hour, how to rob a bank, for one thing, you don't need a gun anymore. And a little girl who knows all about hard times reaches out to victims of New England's flooding.

But first, our top story.

Voters in a storm battered city are choosing their next leader. The runoff election for mayor of New Orleans is under way right now. The incumbent, Ray Nagin, is up against a fierce challenge from Louisiana's lieutenant governor, Mitch Landrieu. CNN's Sean Callebs is covering the story for us in New Orleans.

And can you tell us, Sean, just break down the key issues here in this race.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, really, the issues, nothing new to this area. It's what this area has coped with ever since the storm. If you just look over here, over my left shoulder a little bit, you see one of the major issues, that's housing, where people are going to live.

You see those trailers? Those are actually FEMA trailers right here on the campus of the University of New Orleans. They had been here for months and they haven't been used. It is a problem. It is something the city has been wrestling with, where to put all of its displaced residents.

Another, all the debris that has piled up, that has really been a campaign issue for Mitch Landrieu. He said it's just demoralizing for people to drive around and take a look at that. It just wears you down day in and day out.

Thirdly, the health care system in this area, what are they going to do about that? Jobs, they want to find good jobs, not just service industry jobs for so many of the people who left this area -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So, Sean, whoever wins here, be it Landrieu or Nagin, they are going to have to cooperate with the city council there. What's the outlook right now?

CALLEBS: Well, it's not just the city council. In many ways it's how they are going to deal with the state, Governor Blanco, and the federal government. Because the federal government really controls the purse strings, the billions of your federal tax dollars that are going to be coming in here to rebuild the area, make sure the levees are safe.

And they have to have a good relationship because the Congress has been very leery about writing any kind of check, especially a blank check to this area that has requested billions in aid to begin the rebuilding process.

And then when the money comes to the state, think about it, so many of the people who lost houses in this, can qualify for up to $150,000 under a special provision. That money has not come into this area yet. There could be a tremendous wave of reconstruction in the next few months, but really, a lot of it's going to gauge on how well this area makes it through this hurricane season.

And what they're looking for, what the voters are looking for, a leader who can give them hope, who can guide them at this time. Both Nagin says -- Nagin says he is the man, they've already started down a path. Keep going that way. But Landrieu says, you know what, time for a change. It has been nine months, this city is still in chaos and they need to make steps forward -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Sean Callebs reporting for us from New Orleans. Thanks so much for that report, Sean.

And you'll find no better coverage of this historic election than right here on CNN. We have got up to the minute reports from New Orleans all day long. And we'll have the results for you when they start coming in.

Another coal mine explosion is in the news today, this one is in Kentucky at the Darby Mine No. 1 in Holmes Hill, about 250 miles southeast of Louisville. Five members of an overnight maintenance crew died and there's no word yet on the cause.

In January, 12 people died in the Sago Mine disaster in West Virginia. A total of 31 coal miners have died across the country so far this year, compared to 22 deaths over all of last year.

More attacks, more carnage in Iraq. A series of attacks killed at least 31 people, including two when a mortar round hit a Sunni mosque in Baghdad. A roadside bomb in the capital Sadr City area killed 19 and wounded 58. Today's violence failed to stop what the Bush administration has been waiting for for the past three years, a new Iraqi cabinet finally sworn in.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote is in Baghdad with that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A dramatic day at the convention center, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, appearing before the country's parliament, unveiling his cabinet, announcing Iraq's first full-term government, one that will serve for four years since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

NURI AL-MALIKI, PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE: (through translator): Ladies and gentlemen, members of parliament, I'm honored to present to your council the government agenda, which will form the basis of the work of our government. And we hope to gain your confidence.

CHILCOTE: The parliament then approved the prime minister's candidates for each of the government's 37 ministries, but this is still effectively not a complete government. The politicians here were unable to come to a final agreement on who should run the key positions at the interior and defense ministry.

Instead, the prime minister saying that those positions will be occupied on a temporary basis until the politicians can work out who will run those ministries for the next four years. In fact, the prime minister himself will become the acting interior minister. He has appointed a Sunni official to become the country's acting defense minister.

It was also not a day without scandal. One of the secular politicians leading his faction out of the parliament in a walk-out, declaring that this, again, is a sectarian government.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Don't expect a short mission for National Guard troops President Bush plans to deploy to the border with Mexico. According to a Pentagon memo obtained by the Associated Press, it may last at least two years with no end in sight.

The memo doesn't spell out the cost or when soldiers would be deployed. But officials in the California Guard tell the Associated Press they were told deployments wouldn't begin before early June.

In his weekly radio address today, Mr. Bush touched on another hot button issue in the immigration battle.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some people think any proposal short of mass deportation is amnesty. I disagree. There's a rational middle ground between automatic citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a program of mass deportation. Illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty, pay their taxes, learn English and work in a job for a number of years.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: In the Democratic response, Congressman Mike Honda of California dismissed the president's overall plan as a public relations campaign.

"Going Global" now, an American soldier has been killed, another six wounded in a firefight in southern Afghanistan. Troops have been fighting what they call a spring offensive by the Taliban. The U.S.- led coalition says it has killed more than 60 enemy fighters this week.

And Indonesia's Mount Merapi bubbled and hissed more steam and ash today. Scientists say there is less activity though, but they add the mountain remains dangerous. Authorities refuse to lift an evacuation order, but some people bored with camp life have resumed normal lives in the shadow of the volcano.

And China is celebrating a milestone, completion of the world's largest dam. It stretches a mile-and-a-half across the Yangtze River. The reservoir it created forced more than a million people to relocate. The dam will provide enough electricity to light up Shanghai on a peak day.

Robbing banks has become a high-tech exercise. Find out how your bank may be at risk from thieves who don't use masks and guns.

Also, our legal team is here to debate the latest twists in the Duke lacrosse case and what role can businesses across America play in rebuilding New Orleans?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KEILAR: About a quarter past the hour now. Here's what's happening in the news. It's a battle that could go down to the wire. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin facing a tough challenge in his bid to keep his job. In today's runoff election, voters are choosing between Nagin and Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu.

In eastern Kentucky, another mining tragedy. Five coal miners were killed in an early morning explosion. Another miner survived but there's no word yet on what caused the blast.

And in Southern California, reports of a foiled plan to attack a school. The Los Angeles Times says two teenagers are accused of stockpiling ammunition and bomb-making materials for a Columbine-style attack on their high school north of L.A. But were arrested before they could carry out the plot.

In Iraq now, a milestone in that country's road to democracy. Parliament has given its stamp of approval to the prime minister- designate's cabinet. But because of political bickering, permanent defense and interior ministers still have not been named.

And we update those top stories every 15 minutes on CNN LIVE SATURDAY. And your next update is coming up at 2:30 Eastern.

When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, the famous thief said, quote, "because that's where the money is." These days, the philosophy may be the same for crooks but the tactics have become a lot more sophisticated.

Here's Drew Griffin with an excerpt from this week's "CNN PRESENTS" program titled "How to Rob a Bank.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Houston veterinarian Mike Jenet (ph) opened his clinic in 1999...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's real tender in her abdomen.

GRIFFEN: He also opened a $90,000 line of credit with Bank One.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still have the original first check from this account, check 1001.

GRIFFEN: Then why would he get a notice from Bank One two years later, claiming he owed $85,000?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm thinking to myself, how can this be? I have never even used this account.

GRIFFEN: Around the country, other Bank One customers were asking the same question, because they had the same problem.

(on camera): A Bank One fraud investigator described it as a gusher, a problem so big, the bank need help from the feds. What was eventually uncovered is a chilling example of employees stealing the private information we all entrust to our banks.

It is a whole new way to rob a bank.

MATTHEW BOYDEN, U.S. POSTAL INSPECTOR: Oh, it's a lot easier, and a fairly sophisticated and common way to do it.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): How did they do it? Step one, getting account information. And what could be better than the customer service center where the ringleaders recruited rogue employees to build an information pipeline. Name and address, mother's maiden name, date of birth, Social Security Number and account number.

Step two, take over the account. Some of the juiciest targets were businesses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get one of your boys to give you a hand with that.

GRIFFIN: Ronnie Sanders (PH) owns Triangle Metals. Unbeknownst to him, someone called Bank One and said Triangle Metals had a new address, had moved from an industrial section of Nederland, Texas, to this house in Houston, 100 miles away.

When a batch of freshly printed checks arrived at the phony address, the heist when into overdrive, $37,000, $38,000, $39,000 checks, fraud totaling $195,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a form of bank robbery. That's for sure.

GRIFFIN: Some of the largest checks were paid to the order of Floyd Turner and paid to the order of Ronald Humphrey. Turner and Humphrey are former professional football players, teammates on the 1994 Indianapolis Colts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this for real? That's just really hard to believe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: The full report, "CNN PRESENTS: How to Rob a Bank," airs tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Cruise ships, they are known for their party atmosphere, right? But there's really one person you don't want joining in on the fun. And that story is coming up.

Also, a plane ends up under the water. You'll see how one man on shore reacted and made a difference.

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KEILAR: And let's take a quick look now. We have got pictures. Look at that, Andrews Air Force Base, amazing what those planes are doing there at the air show. And that's going on throughout the day. And obviously they are having some pretty good weather there.

Let's go "Across America" now. A cruise ship captain is out of a job today because the Coast Guard says he was about to set sail drunk. The Mercury, part of the Celebrity Cruise's family, got on its way to Alaska with a relief captain.

And thousands of people protest "The Da Vinci Code." They call the film heresy. The movie is based on Dan Brown's religious mystery novel. The premise, Jesus secretly married Mary Magdalene. Director Ron Howard responds to "Da Vinci" critics this way: "This is a work of fiction, it's not theology, it's not history."

And outside Seattle today, a vintage plane sits under water. Look closely and you can actually make out the outline there. Mimi Jung with affiliate KING looks at the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIMI JUNG, KING REPORTER (voice-over): Just a few hundred yards from landing on a private airstrip, a 65-year-old vintage Air Coupe crashes in a rocky bay in front of stunned witnesses.

RON REYNOLDS, RESCUER: I just grabbed a paddle and grabbed my kayak.

JUNG: Ron Reynolds saw the plane upside down in the water and knew he had to help.

REYNOLDS: At the time was thinking, you know, well, somebody has to -- you know, we have got to get out there and maybe help them, see what's going on, if there are any survivors.

JUNG: Sky KING was overhead as Ron reached the two men, 61-year- old Dale Powell, and his 34-year-old son Ryan were in the water but alive.

REYNOLDS: There was a younger guy out there. And he pointed to the older gentleman, you know, saying, grab him, you know, get him.

JUNG: Neighbors say the elder Powell was piloting the plane and was attempting to land when they heard the engine sputter then stop before taking a nose dive into the water. But amazingly, both men made it to shore safely.

CHIEF PAUL BOSCH, KEY PENINSULA FIRE DEPT.: The firefighters and paramedics met them on the shoreline and walked them to the ambulance. They were relatively uninjured.

JUNG: A happy ending to what could have been a fatal disaster.

REYNOLDS: It definitely feels good, yes. I feel like I made a couple of friends, you know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And affiliate KING tells us federal investigators will look over the plane for clues to the crash.

It's time for you to judge what our legal experts have to say about the Duke lacrosse case. Our "Legal Briefs" segment is just ahead.

And can business leaders from across the U.S. rebuild New Orleans' economy? Coming up, you'll see how some of them are giving it a shot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Just about half past the hour now. Here is what is happening in the news.

In eastern Kentucky, a mine explosion has killed five miners. Another miner was able to walk out. It happened in Harlan County and an investigation into the cause is now under way.

The outcome is crucial. Voters in New Orleans are deciding who should oversee the city's long recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

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