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Live From...
Cornerstone Laid for New Skyscraper at Ground Zero; U.S. Conducts More Air Strikes on Fallujah
Aired July 05, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Here's what's happening at this hour.
Iraqi police in Fallujah say U.S. planes bombed a home there, killing eight people, including three children. So far, the U.S. military not commenting on the strike. The U.S. has been targeting buildings it says are safe houses for militants led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi.
Firefighters letting an oil pipeline fire burn -- south of Baghdad just burn itself out. Insurgents attacked it on Sunday. The damage line feeds oil from Iraq's southern fields to refineries in the central and northern parts of the country.
The U.S. military ordering 650 dependents out of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Pentagon sources say there is creditable intelligence Bahrain could be the site of the next terrorist attack on Americans. The airlift is expected to begin within a matter of days.
They're the soccer champs of Europe and the toast of Greece. Tens of thousands of fans have filled the Olympic stadium in Athens to welcome home the nation's soccer team. The Greek team beat Portugal one-nil in the finals yesterday after upsetting France, Spain and the Czechs in earlier matches.
PHILLIPS: A safe location, that's where Iraq insurgents claim to be holding a U.S. Marine say they have taken him. In a statement sent to Al-Jazeera, the militant group calling itself The Islamic Response says that Corporal Wassef Hassoun is alive. The statements also says that Hassoun has promised not to go back to the U.S. military.
There have been conflicting reports about Hassoun's fate. Over the weekend, three Islamic Web sites posted a messages reporting Hassoun had been killed, but The Islamic Response denies that.
Elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. planes return to Fallujah today. Four previous attacks on the city of targeted buildings said to be safe houses for the network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now with details on the latest strike -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, of course it's nighttime in Iraq now, and U.S. warplanes have conducted an air strike against what is described as a Mujahedeen safe house. Four 500-pound bombs and two 1,000-pound bombs were dropped from U.S. warplanes, about four tons of weapons. According to officials at the Fallujah hospital, eight people were killed.
Now, this is the fifth strike in recent days against houses in the city, part of the network that the U.S. believes is controlled by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgent leader believed to be responsible for attacks against civilians and the U.S.-led coalition. No indication Zarqawi was there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Thanks so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A Democratic official is telling CNN John Kerry has decided on a vice presidential running mate and he'll announce his choice soon. But the Kerry camp says the senator has not made up his mind about who's joining him on the ticket. You figure.
Meanwhile, Kerry spent the weekend in America's heartland. CNN's Kelly Wallace has more on the trip and Kerry's possible picks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): John Kerry seems to be enjoying this moment. Strutting his stuff in Iowa, where the movie "Field of Dreams" was filmed, all the while keeping everyone guessing about who he will choose as his running mate, and when.
(on camera): What are the main factors that he is considering in making this decision?
STEPHANIE CUTTER, KERRY CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Kelly, I can't get into what -- what's going on in his mind. And, you know, it's up to him. You know, he's playing his cards very close to his chest, as he should.
WALLACE (voice-over): So, was this a clue or just coincidence? Kerry spent Sunday with Tom Vilsack of Iowa.
GOV. TOM VILSACK (D), IOWA: How are you?
WALLACE: The rags to riches governor is believed to be on the short list.
RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign is not about me.
WALLACE: Also on the list, Democratic sources say, Congressman Dick Gephardt and Senator John Edwards, who dodged questions yesterday in North Carolina, but didn't stop auditioning for the job.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: Do everything in your power to make sure that Senator John Kerry is the next president of the United States.
WALLACE: The only real clues from a Kerry campaign source who told CNN, "The senator wants someone who has national, not regional appeal, has demonstrated leadership ability, and is compatible with Kerry on every level." In addition to choosing a running mate, the senator is courting rural voters. His bus trip through the heartland was all about trying to make the case that, despite his big city home town, he is a lot like them.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It really doesn't matter whether it's a Democrat idea or Republican idea. It matters whether it works for America.
WALLACE: Smalltown USA could play a major role in '04. Al Gore lost the rural vote decisively to George W. Bush in 2000. John Kerry hopes to change that.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, one politician is all but ruling himself out as Kerry's running mate. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware is telling CNN he is the most unlikely vice presidential pick out there. Biden has been mentioned as a long shot on the VP list by some of the punditry class.
We'll have more "Ticket Talk" on Kerry's Veepstakes. Hey, it's a holiday, it's the summer. Why not? Tune into "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff, following LIVE FROM..., at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
PHILLIPS: In other news across America, officials in Fort Lauderdale say a former Olympic wrestler accused of crashing his SUV into an airport terminal is in the hospital for psychological evaluation. The 1997 Cuban defector allegedly slammed into an unstaffed ticket counter, smashed through a wall, and tried to run from the crash scene. No injuries were reported other than his minor scrapes.
Pennsylvania's governor has signed into law a bill that could bring in more slot machines than any other state except Nevada. Revenue from the 61,000 gambling devices would be used to cut property taxes in Pennsylvania by an average of 20 percent.
Its distributor says "Spider-Man 2" opened even more strongly than its hit predecessor. Since opening Wednesday, the summer blockbuster has taken in about $180 million at the box office. That's a record for a six-day opening. Michael Moore's controversial anti- Bush film "Fahrenheit 9/11" dropped to number two.
O'BRIEN: At Ground Zero in New York, they're taking the first steps to heal the fractured skyline. A 20-ton slab of granite now in place that will serve as the cornerstone for the new Freedom Tower. When finished, it is expected to be the world's tallest building. Our Alina Cho reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What the curtain revealed was breathtaking, a 20-ton piece of New York granite, now the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower, the first and tallest building to be built at Ground Zero.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: Today, as we lay this cornerstone, we remember the liberties that are the bedrock of our nation, the foundation that can never be shaken by violence or hate.
CHO: Along with the music, there was symbolism this Fourth of July. The son of a port authority police officer who died on 9/11 read the Declaration of Independence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hold these truths to be self-evident...
CHO: The height of the Freedom Tower is symbolic, 1,776 feet to mark the year America declared its independence, a spire that echoes the profile of the Statue of Liberty, all the vision of master planner, Daniel Libeskind.
DANIEL LIBESKIND, WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE MASTER PLANNER: One thinks of how incredible to redirect and rebuild New York in a way that is inspiring, that is meaningful, and that is not just founded on height, but on the liberties and freedoms that this country was founded on.
CHO: Family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 were on hand. John Foy lost his mother-in-law.
JOHN FOY, LOST FAMILY MEMBER ON 9/11: It feels good. It's -- this is like -- it's a closure and it's a new beginning.
CHO: Some touched the inscription. Others want construction to wait for a memorial to be built first at what they regard as sacred ground.
WILLIAM HEALY, LOST FAMILY MEMBER ON 9/11: This is a gravesite. Today would have been much more appropriate had it been the cornerstone for the memorial.
CHO: A memorial will be built here and is set to open around the same time as the tower.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: What our enemies sought to destroy, our democracy, our freedom, our way of life, stands taller than ever before.
CHO (on camera): What is clear about this ceremony is that it marks the first step in rebuilding here at Ground Zero. What the final landscape will look like or when that will happen is still an open question.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Heading home after a long holiday weekend? Why your car might not be getting the gas mileage you thought it would.
O'BRIEN: Plus, lose weight while playing video games? Impossible you say? Well, as a matter of fact, an enterprising team -- teen has found a way to do it.
PHILLIPS: On your mark, get set, oh, it's time for the annual wife-carrying competition. Miles, did you enter this year?
O'BRIEN: No, I missed out this year. I...
PHILLIPS: Because your wife carries you.
O'BRIEN: You know, I've got to tell you right now, that guy needs a lighter wife right there.
PHILLIPS: Oh!
O'BRIEN: That's another story. Let's go to break quickly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Gas prices these days are prompting many motorists to keep an eye on fuel economy. But in the case of the EPA, gas mileage numbers, what else -- what you see, rather, is not always what you get. That story now from CNN's Jonathan Freed in Detroit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it the gas mileage gap, the difference between a vehicle's promised fuel performance and what people really experience on the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it getting the proper mileage? No, not at all.
FREED: The gap has always been there, often as much as 15 percent, fueled by factors like individual driving habits, road conditions and what you're hauling around. What's driving people to notice it more these days? Higher prices at the pump.
ED GARSTEN, DETROIT AUTOMOTIVE REPORTER: We've talked to dealers who said this is the first time in recent memory that they can remember people even looking at the sticker to see what the fuel economy standards are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fuel labels that the public -- the public sees today probably do not reflect accurately the mileage that the public is getting.
FREED: The Environmental Protection Agency tests hundreds of cars every year and decides what goes on that fuel economy sticker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every new vehicle is tested exactly the same way, under the same conditions so that people can compare one model's fuel efficiency with another model.
FREED: But the EPA admits that its test criteria hasn't been revised in 20 years, contributing to the mileage gap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Air-conditioning wasn't as widely used as it is today, speed limits are higher, there's more urban congestion. People spend more of their time in traffic.
FREED: So, to help short-circuit this type of sticker shock, the EPA is designing a new test. Automakers, especially those building hyper-efficient hybrids, say that will only fix part of the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Educating the customer in terms of what they're getting is going to go a long ways in terms of managing their expectations.
FREED: Hybrid makers, like Ford, Honda and Toyota, believe their fuel-frugal cars are often unfairly criticized, insisting the gap is just more noticeable if you're promising as much as 60 miles per gallon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been our experience that about 85 to 90 percent of our customers are getting the mileage that they're seeing on the window sticker. Certainly some people get less; we've had a number of reports of people getting more.
FREED: The EPA's updated test won't be ready for months. And it says if a manufacturer knows a vehicle doesn't live up to its window sticker promises...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Car companies are allowed to use the best data that they have available, even if the data does not agree -- agree with EPA's values.
FREED: But automakers worry if they do that and the other guy doesn't, they'll be at a competitive disadvantage.
Jonathan Freed, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: For many immigrants the journey to America is a flight to freedom. It can also be a real culture shock as they try to adjust to ways that are very different from what they left behind. This is the case of one family from Somalia. Here's CNN's Carol Lin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Halima Mukomas (ph) and her family arrived in Chicago, Illinois, on a frigid November day. Strangers a world away from the murderous Somali civil war that killed a half million people so far. Halima's (ph) husband, Maridi (ph), remembers 10 years ago, when warring gangs opened fire in his village. His family scattered, his mother and seven siblings are still missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The war was very terrible.
LIN: He ended up in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp, another kind of hell on earth, where disease claimed so many lives. Seven years of paperwork, security checks and interviews later, the United Nations told Maridi Mukomas (ph) that he, Halima (ph) and their children could go to the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): God gave to me the blessing to come to America.
LIN: Photojournalist Denise McGill met the Mukomas (ph) in Kenya and documented the journey of these primitive Bantu tribes people into 21st century America.
DENISE MCGILL, PHOTOJOURNALIST: It just almost took my breath away, like how -- how are they going to survive? How -- how are they going to make it? And how -- just emotionally, how could they cope with all the changes they -- you know, that they were about to encounter?
LIN: Cars, lights, traffic, virtually unheard of. They never had plumbing or used electricity. Church volunteers taught them how doorknobs worked. Shopping American style was overwhelming. That was seven months ago.
(on camera): The picture and everything.
(voice-over): Now, Maridi (ph) has a driver's license.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before, I was dreaming to drive.
LIN: Now, the dream is alive. The Christian volunteers helping to settle this African Muslim family have become a big part of their lives. The Mukomas (ph) children are already on the move. But World Relief counselor Issam Smeir sees a rough road ahead.
ISSAM SMEIR, MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR: There will be a lot of clashes because we're talking about dating, we're talking about like the way they dress. Parents now are the ones who depend on their children to translate for them.
LIN: And Halima (ph) and other Somali Bantu women are starting to assert their rights. Halima (ph) tells me she wants a job. She also wants to drive a car.
(on camera): Maridi (ph), how do you feel about that, your wife driving a car, working?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good.
LIN: It's good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that she's going to help me.
LIN (voice-over): Halima (ph) is pregnant. If she has a girl, I ask if she will let her daughter go to American parties and date? "Yes," she tells me. She says her daughter can go where ever she wants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will decide when I get...
LIN (on camera): When you get a daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LIN: Yes.
(voice-over): Maridi Mukomas (ph) still gets some government refugee assistance, but his restaurant job pays most expenses. He hopes to buy a house one day. This, he says, is the American dream.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, Carol also reports that concern about terrorism has made it more difficult for refugees to enter the U.S. legally. Since 9/11, that number has dropped by more than half.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The government is spending millions of dollars to spruce up a national treasure: its largest and most isolated coastal fort. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Standing on scaffolding that hangs from the side of a sheer brick wall, Mike Higginbotham is working to put back together a piece of history that sits surrounded by water in the middle of nowhere.
MIKE HIGGINBOTHAM, PRESERVATION MASON: If you need something, you just don't go to the hardware store and get it. You better hope you brought it out here with you.
ZARRELLA: Higginbotham, a brick mason, and a handful of co- workers are part of a phase one of the restoration of one of America's most remote natural treasures, Fort Jefferson. The 16-million brick fort sits in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles of Key West on the Dry Tortugas Islands. Built in the mid-1800s, it served as a fortress to protect shipping lanes through the Gulf of Mexico.
MIKE RYAN, NATIONAL PARK RANGER: It was designed to be a powerful deterrent. And by building it so powerfully, you know, the ultimate goal was that no enemy would dare attack.
ZARRELLA: But for 160 years, the fort has been under attack by salt air, humidity and baking sun. Iron embedded around brick-cannon portals called embrasures is rusting. As it does, it expands and displaces the brick, which collapses into the sea. Because the fort is so remote and accommodations basically nonexistent, 15 to 20 workers at time, no more, will spend up to a year on the job.
MIKE HUNT, EXHIBIT SPECIALIST: We have to capture all of our own drinking and bathing water, water for doing the construction work itself. ZARRELLA (on camera): At its peak in 1864, 2,000 people lived here, military personnel, their families and prisoners. So just how big is this fort? Well, you could fit two Roman coliseums inside or Yankees Stadium.
(on camera): At one point, the massive prison wing held 900 men. Its most famous guest lived in this room. Dr. Samuel Mudd, sentenced to hard labor for his role in Lincoln's assassination, spent four years. It will take six years and 18 million government dollars to restore the fort to the way it was when Mudd paced the floor in shackles and irons.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: There you go, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Opah! Opah!
PHILLIPS: Live pictures in Athens, Greece. Greek heroes is what they are. Greece welcomed home its victorious soccer team, straight from their Euro Cup win today. Tens of thousands of fans have turned out, as you can see. They're all very excited.
It's the first time Greece has ever won a major soccer tournament. And the Euro Cup is one of the most prestigious trophies there is. So live pictures; the team right there in the bus, trying to clear the way, actually, so they don't get mobbed. But I don't think there's going to be any way around that. And all these fans gathered at the old Olympic stadium there. Pretty awesome site.
O'BRIEN: I love those Greek gyros with a little extra onions on them. Well, that's different. Yes, that's another thing entirely.
PHILLIPS: Those are really good.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Anyway...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: ... on the grease.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations to all in Athens. And we just hope they figure out how to control the crowd by the time the Olympics starts. That's another story.
All right. Well, here's a story about a race with a real finish line, so to speak. The wife-carrying championships in Finland this weekend open to all. Two Estonia students took top honors for the seventh straight year.
The contest has its roots in local lore. Apparently, as late as the 19th century, Finish men would commonly go to other villages to steal women. Obviously not politically correct these days. That's -- the Estonian couple, who aren't married, by the way, won the women's weight in beer, as well as a sauna (ph).
PHILLIPS: The only time it's OK to have a fat wife.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right. Toss aside your joysticks and the cumbersome mouse controllers. There's a new video game you may actually want your kid to get hooked on. CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Video games, lots of hours on couches, teenage obesity, they all seem to go together. But what about a video game that might also be a weight loss aid? Seventeen-year-old John Polchowski (ph) used to spend up to three hours a day playing video games alone in his room. Then he got hooked on a game called "Dance Dance Revolution," or "DDR.".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I kept on playing, I got better. I noticed it was getting to be a really good workout. And I tried to use that to become -- to make it a goal and lose a lot of weight from it.
GUPTA: After playing the game for one to two hours every day for a year, he started to lose weight. Along with eating healthier, John eventually lost 70 pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was able to do it whenever I want. I don't need to get other people.
GUPTA: John's mother knows that he probably couldn't have done it without "DDR."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to lose weight, I think, without doing exercise also. So -- and this was something he enjoyed.
GUPTA: Dr. Richard Adler is a pediatrician who has been tracking active video games and their success in fighting obesity.
DR. RICHARD ADLER, PEDIATRICIAN: There's never been anything that I have seen that has the potential for increasing physical activity like this. It has a potential for being -- being absolutely tremendous in terms of its impact on children.
GUPTA: There are no official numbers on how many kids have lost weight with these games, but manufacturers are developing more interactive games involving skateboarding, fighting and more dancing. Maybe other kids will see some of John's success.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel a lot better. I always have a lot more energy. I'm more outgoing. I can go out and do stuff and enjoy it a lot more. I'm not really confined to my house like I used to be.
GUPTA: The video games that for too long kept kids housebound might now help them get up and get out. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Are you trying to dance, or you just practicing your...
O'BRIEN: Just practicing, yes. It's a good...
PHILLIPS: He's got the video game down here.
O'BRIEN: It's a video game that gives you dancing lessons, too.
That wraps up LIVE FROM... for today.
PHILLIPS: Now, to take us through the next hour of political headlines, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 5, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Here's what's happening at this hour.
Iraqi police in Fallujah say U.S. planes bombed a home there, killing eight people, including three children. So far, the U.S. military not commenting on the strike. The U.S. has been targeting buildings it says are safe houses for militants led by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi.
Firefighters letting an oil pipeline fire burn -- south of Baghdad just burn itself out. Insurgents attacked it on Sunday. The damage line feeds oil from Iraq's southern fields to refineries in the central and northern parts of the country.
The U.S. military ordering 650 dependents out of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. Pentagon sources say there is creditable intelligence Bahrain could be the site of the next terrorist attack on Americans. The airlift is expected to begin within a matter of days.
They're the soccer champs of Europe and the toast of Greece. Tens of thousands of fans have filled the Olympic stadium in Athens to welcome home the nation's soccer team. The Greek team beat Portugal one-nil in the finals yesterday after upsetting France, Spain and the Czechs in earlier matches.
PHILLIPS: A safe location, that's where Iraq insurgents claim to be holding a U.S. Marine say they have taken him. In a statement sent to Al-Jazeera, the militant group calling itself The Islamic Response says that Corporal Wassef Hassoun is alive. The statements also says that Hassoun has promised not to go back to the U.S. military.
There have been conflicting reports about Hassoun's fate. Over the weekend, three Islamic Web sites posted a messages reporting Hassoun had been killed, but The Islamic Response denies that.
Elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. planes return to Fallujah today. Four previous attacks on the city of targeted buildings said to be safe houses for the network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now with details on the latest strike -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, of course it's nighttime in Iraq now, and U.S. warplanes have conducted an air strike against what is described as a Mujahedeen safe house. Four 500-pound bombs and two 1,000-pound bombs were dropped from U.S. warplanes, about four tons of weapons. According to officials at the Fallujah hospital, eight people were killed.
Now, this is the fifth strike in recent days against houses in the city, part of the network that the U.S. believes is controlled by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgent leader believed to be responsible for attacks against civilians and the U.S.-led coalition. No indication Zarqawi was there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Thanks so much -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A Democratic official is telling CNN John Kerry has decided on a vice presidential running mate and he'll announce his choice soon. But the Kerry camp says the senator has not made up his mind about who's joining him on the ticket. You figure.
Meanwhile, Kerry spent the weekend in America's heartland. CNN's Kelly Wallace has more on the trip and Kerry's possible picks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice-over): John Kerry seems to be enjoying this moment. Strutting his stuff in Iowa, where the movie "Field of Dreams" was filmed, all the while keeping everyone guessing about who he will choose as his running mate, and when.
(on camera): What are the main factors that he is considering in making this decision?
STEPHANIE CUTTER, KERRY CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Kelly, I can't get into what -- what's going on in his mind. And, you know, it's up to him. You know, he's playing his cards very close to his chest, as he should.
WALLACE (voice-over): So, was this a clue or just coincidence? Kerry spent Sunday with Tom Vilsack of Iowa.
GOV. TOM VILSACK (D), IOWA: How are you?
WALLACE: The rags to riches governor is believed to be on the short list.
RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign is not about me.
WALLACE: Also on the list, Democratic sources say, Congressman Dick Gephardt and Senator John Edwards, who dodged questions yesterday in North Carolina, but didn't stop auditioning for the job.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: Do everything in your power to make sure that Senator John Kerry is the next president of the United States.
WALLACE: The only real clues from a Kerry campaign source who told CNN, "The senator wants someone who has national, not regional appeal, has demonstrated leadership ability, and is compatible with Kerry on every level." In addition to choosing a running mate, the senator is courting rural voters. His bus trip through the heartland was all about trying to make the case that, despite his big city home town, he is a lot like them.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It really doesn't matter whether it's a Democrat idea or Republican idea. It matters whether it works for America.
WALLACE: Smalltown USA could play a major role in '04. Al Gore lost the rural vote decisively to George W. Bush in 2000. John Kerry hopes to change that.
Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, one politician is all but ruling himself out as Kerry's running mate. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware is telling CNN he is the most unlikely vice presidential pick out there. Biden has been mentioned as a long shot on the VP list by some of the punditry class.
We'll have more "Ticket Talk" on Kerry's Veepstakes. Hey, it's a holiday, it's the summer. Why not? Tune into "INSIDE POLITICS" with Judy Woodruff, following LIVE FROM..., at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific.
PHILLIPS: In other news across America, officials in Fort Lauderdale say a former Olympic wrestler accused of crashing his SUV into an airport terminal is in the hospital for psychological evaluation. The 1997 Cuban defector allegedly slammed into an unstaffed ticket counter, smashed through a wall, and tried to run from the crash scene. No injuries were reported other than his minor scrapes.
Pennsylvania's governor has signed into law a bill that could bring in more slot machines than any other state except Nevada. Revenue from the 61,000 gambling devices would be used to cut property taxes in Pennsylvania by an average of 20 percent.
Its distributor says "Spider-Man 2" opened even more strongly than its hit predecessor. Since opening Wednesday, the summer blockbuster has taken in about $180 million at the box office. That's a record for a six-day opening. Michael Moore's controversial anti- Bush film "Fahrenheit 9/11" dropped to number two.
O'BRIEN: At Ground Zero in New York, they're taking the first steps to heal the fractured skyline. A 20-ton slab of granite now in place that will serve as the cornerstone for the new Freedom Tower. When finished, it is expected to be the world's tallest building. Our Alina Cho reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What the curtain revealed was breathtaking, a 20-ton piece of New York granite, now the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower, the first and tallest building to be built at Ground Zero.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), NEW YORK: Today, as we lay this cornerstone, we remember the liberties that are the bedrock of our nation, the foundation that can never be shaken by violence or hate.
CHO: Along with the music, there was symbolism this Fourth of July. The son of a port authority police officer who died on 9/11 read the Declaration of Independence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hold these truths to be self-evident...
CHO: The height of the Freedom Tower is symbolic, 1,776 feet to mark the year America declared its independence, a spire that echoes the profile of the Statue of Liberty, all the vision of master planner, Daniel Libeskind.
DANIEL LIBESKIND, WORLD TRADE CENTER SITE MASTER PLANNER: One thinks of how incredible to redirect and rebuild New York in a way that is inspiring, that is meaningful, and that is not just founded on height, but on the liberties and freedoms that this country was founded on.
CHO: Family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 were on hand. John Foy lost his mother-in-law.
JOHN FOY, LOST FAMILY MEMBER ON 9/11: It feels good. It's -- this is like -- it's a closure and it's a new beginning.
CHO: Some touched the inscription. Others want construction to wait for a memorial to be built first at what they regard as sacred ground.
WILLIAM HEALY, LOST FAMILY MEMBER ON 9/11: This is a gravesite. Today would have been much more appropriate had it been the cornerstone for the memorial.
CHO: A memorial will be built here and is set to open around the same time as the tower.
GOV. GEORGE PATAKI (R), NEW YORK: What our enemies sought to destroy, our democracy, our freedom, our way of life, stands taller than ever before.
CHO (on camera): What is clear about this ceremony is that it marks the first step in rebuilding here at Ground Zero. What the final landscape will look like or when that will happen is still an open question.
Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Heading home after a long holiday weekend? Why your car might not be getting the gas mileage you thought it would.
O'BRIEN: Plus, lose weight while playing video games? Impossible you say? Well, as a matter of fact, an enterprising team -- teen has found a way to do it.
PHILLIPS: On your mark, get set, oh, it's time for the annual wife-carrying competition. Miles, did you enter this year?
O'BRIEN: No, I missed out this year. I...
PHILLIPS: Because your wife carries you.
O'BRIEN: You know, I've got to tell you right now, that guy needs a lighter wife right there.
PHILLIPS: Oh!
O'BRIEN: That's another story. Let's go to break quickly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Gas prices these days are prompting many motorists to keep an eye on fuel economy. But in the case of the EPA, gas mileage numbers, what else -- what you see, rather, is not always what you get. That story now from CNN's Jonathan Freed in Detroit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it the gas mileage gap, the difference between a vehicle's promised fuel performance and what people really experience on the road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it getting the proper mileage? No, not at all.
FREED: The gap has always been there, often as much as 15 percent, fueled by factors like individual driving habits, road conditions and what you're hauling around. What's driving people to notice it more these days? Higher prices at the pump.
ED GARSTEN, DETROIT AUTOMOTIVE REPORTER: We've talked to dealers who said this is the first time in recent memory that they can remember people even looking at the sticker to see what the fuel economy standards are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fuel labels that the public -- the public sees today probably do not reflect accurately the mileage that the public is getting.
FREED: The Environmental Protection Agency tests hundreds of cars every year and decides what goes on that fuel economy sticker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every new vehicle is tested exactly the same way, under the same conditions so that people can compare one model's fuel efficiency with another model.
FREED: But the EPA admits that its test criteria hasn't been revised in 20 years, contributing to the mileage gap.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Air-conditioning wasn't as widely used as it is today, speed limits are higher, there's more urban congestion. People spend more of their time in traffic.
FREED: So, to help short-circuit this type of sticker shock, the EPA is designing a new test. Automakers, especially those building hyper-efficient hybrids, say that will only fix part of the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Educating the customer in terms of what they're getting is going to go a long ways in terms of managing their expectations.
FREED: Hybrid makers, like Ford, Honda and Toyota, believe their fuel-frugal cars are often unfairly criticized, insisting the gap is just more noticeable if you're promising as much as 60 miles per gallon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been our experience that about 85 to 90 percent of our customers are getting the mileage that they're seeing on the window sticker. Certainly some people get less; we've had a number of reports of people getting more.
FREED: The EPA's updated test won't be ready for months. And it says if a manufacturer knows a vehicle doesn't live up to its window sticker promises...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Car companies are allowed to use the best data that they have available, even if the data does not agree -- agree with EPA's values.
FREED: But automakers worry if they do that and the other guy doesn't, they'll be at a competitive disadvantage.
Jonathan Freed, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: For many immigrants the journey to America is a flight to freedom. It can also be a real culture shock as they try to adjust to ways that are very different from what they left behind. This is the case of one family from Somalia. Here's CNN's Carol Lin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Halima Mukomas (ph) and her family arrived in Chicago, Illinois, on a frigid November day. Strangers a world away from the murderous Somali civil war that killed a half million people so far. Halima's (ph) husband, Maridi (ph), remembers 10 years ago, when warring gangs opened fire in his village. His family scattered, his mother and seven siblings are still missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The war was very terrible.
LIN: He ended up in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp, another kind of hell on earth, where disease claimed so many lives. Seven years of paperwork, security checks and interviews later, the United Nations told Maridi Mukomas (ph) that he, Halima (ph) and their children could go to the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): God gave to me the blessing to come to America.
LIN: Photojournalist Denise McGill met the Mukomas (ph) in Kenya and documented the journey of these primitive Bantu tribes people into 21st century America.
DENISE MCGILL, PHOTOJOURNALIST: It just almost took my breath away, like how -- how are they going to survive? How -- how are they going to make it? And how -- just emotionally, how could they cope with all the changes they -- you know, that they were about to encounter?
LIN: Cars, lights, traffic, virtually unheard of. They never had plumbing or used electricity. Church volunteers taught them how doorknobs worked. Shopping American style was overwhelming. That was seven months ago.
(on camera): The picture and everything.
(voice-over): Now, Maridi (ph) has a driver's license.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before, I was dreaming to drive.
LIN: Now, the dream is alive. The Christian volunteers helping to settle this African Muslim family have become a big part of their lives. The Mukomas (ph) children are already on the move. But World Relief counselor Issam Smeir sees a rough road ahead.
ISSAM SMEIR, MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR: There will be a lot of clashes because we're talking about dating, we're talking about like the way they dress. Parents now are the ones who depend on their children to translate for them.
LIN: And Halima (ph) and other Somali Bantu women are starting to assert their rights. Halima (ph) tells me she wants a job. She also wants to drive a car.
(on camera): Maridi (ph), how do you feel about that, your wife driving a car, working?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good.
LIN: It's good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that she's going to help me.
LIN (voice-over): Halima (ph) is pregnant. If she has a girl, I ask if she will let her daughter go to American parties and date? "Yes," she tells me. She says her daughter can go where ever she wants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will decide when I get...
LIN (on camera): When you get a daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LIN: Yes.
(voice-over): Maridi Mukomas (ph) still gets some government refugee assistance, but his restaurant job pays most expenses. He hopes to buy a house one day. This, he says, is the American dream.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Now, Carol also reports that concern about terrorism has made it more difficult for refugees to enter the U.S. legally. Since 9/11, that number has dropped by more than half.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The government is spending millions of dollars to spruce up a national treasure: its largest and most isolated coastal fort. Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Standing on scaffolding that hangs from the side of a sheer brick wall, Mike Higginbotham is working to put back together a piece of history that sits surrounded by water in the middle of nowhere.
MIKE HIGGINBOTHAM, PRESERVATION MASON: If you need something, you just don't go to the hardware store and get it. You better hope you brought it out here with you.
ZARRELLA: Higginbotham, a brick mason, and a handful of co- workers are part of a phase one of the restoration of one of America's most remote natural treasures, Fort Jefferson. The 16-million brick fort sits in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles of Key West on the Dry Tortugas Islands. Built in the mid-1800s, it served as a fortress to protect shipping lanes through the Gulf of Mexico.
MIKE RYAN, NATIONAL PARK RANGER: It was designed to be a powerful deterrent. And by building it so powerfully, you know, the ultimate goal was that no enemy would dare attack.
ZARRELLA: But for 160 years, the fort has been under attack by salt air, humidity and baking sun. Iron embedded around brick-cannon portals called embrasures is rusting. As it does, it expands and displaces the brick, which collapses into the sea. Because the fort is so remote and accommodations basically nonexistent, 15 to 20 workers at time, no more, will spend up to a year on the job.
MIKE HUNT, EXHIBIT SPECIALIST: We have to capture all of our own drinking and bathing water, water for doing the construction work itself. ZARRELLA (on camera): At its peak in 1864, 2,000 people lived here, military personnel, their families and prisoners. So just how big is this fort? Well, you could fit two Roman coliseums inside or Yankees Stadium.
(on camera): At one point, the massive prison wing held 900 men. Its most famous guest lived in this room. Dr. Samuel Mudd, sentenced to hard labor for his role in Lincoln's assassination, spent four years. It will take six years and 18 million government dollars to restore the fort to the way it was when Mudd paced the floor in shackles and irons.
John Zarrella, CNN, Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: There you go, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Opah! Opah!
PHILLIPS: Live pictures in Athens, Greece. Greek heroes is what they are. Greece welcomed home its victorious soccer team, straight from their Euro Cup win today. Tens of thousands of fans have turned out, as you can see. They're all very excited.
It's the first time Greece has ever won a major soccer tournament. And the Euro Cup is one of the most prestigious trophies there is. So live pictures; the team right there in the bus, trying to clear the way, actually, so they don't get mobbed. But I don't think there's going to be any way around that. And all these fans gathered at the old Olympic stadium there. Pretty awesome site.
O'BRIEN: I love those Greek gyros with a little extra onions on them. Well, that's different. Yes, that's another thing entirely.
PHILLIPS: Those are really good.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Anyway...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: ... on the grease.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations to all in Athens. And we just hope they figure out how to control the crowd by the time the Olympics starts. That's another story.
All right. Well, here's a story about a race with a real finish line, so to speak. The wife-carrying championships in Finland this weekend open to all. Two Estonia students took top honors for the seventh straight year.
The contest has its roots in local lore. Apparently, as late as the 19th century, Finish men would commonly go to other villages to steal women. Obviously not politically correct these days. That's -- the Estonian couple, who aren't married, by the way, won the women's weight in beer, as well as a sauna (ph).
PHILLIPS: The only time it's OK to have a fat wife.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: All right. Toss aside your joysticks and the cumbersome mouse controllers. There's a new video game you may actually want your kid to get hooked on. CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Video games, lots of hours on couches, teenage obesity, they all seem to go together. But what about a video game that might also be a weight loss aid? Seventeen-year-old John Polchowski (ph) used to spend up to three hours a day playing video games alone in his room. Then he got hooked on a game called "Dance Dance Revolution," or "DDR.".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I kept on playing, I got better. I noticed it was getting to be a really good workout. And I tried to use that to become -- to make it a goal and lose a lot of weight from it.
GUPTA: After playing the game for one to two hours every day for a year, he started to lose weight. Along with eating healthier, John eventually lost 70 pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was able to do it whenever I want. I don't need to get other people.
GUPTA: John's mother knows that he probably couldn't have done it without "DDR."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to lose weight, I think, without doing exercise also. So -- and this was something he enjoyed.
GUPTA: Dr. Richard Adler is a pediatrician who has been tracking active video games and their success in fighting obesity.
DR. RICHARD ADLER, PEDIATRICIAN: There's never been anything that I have seen that has the potential for increasing physical activity like this. It has a potential for being -- being absolutely tremendous in terms of its impact on children.
GUPTA: There are no official numbers on how many kids have lost weight with these games, but manufacturers are developing more interactive games involving skateboarding, fighting and more dancing. Maybe other kids will see some of John's success.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel a lot better. I always have a lot more energy. I'm more outgoing. I can go out and do stuff and enjoy it a lot more. I'm not really confined to my house like I used to be.
GUPTA: The video games that for too long kept kids housebound might now help them get up and get out. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Are you trying to dance, or you just practicing your...
O'BRIEN: Just practicing, yes. It's a good...
PHILLIPS: He's got the video game down here.
O'BRIEN: It's a video game that gives you dancing lessons, too.
That wraps up LIVE FROM... for today.
PHILLIPS: Now, to take us through the next hour of political headlines, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."
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