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Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Accused of Playing Politics; Missile Defense System Fails Test; Gunmen in Greece Set 11-Hour Deadline

Aired December 15, 2004 - 14:00   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: No dollars for Disney. Orlando, Florida, cries foul after homeland security skips sending cash to America's most visited tourist destination.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Vaccine controversy. Did a shot meant to save lives end up harming American servicemen and women? They tell their stories this hour.

WHITFIELD: Candidates come forward on the first day of campaigning for the Iraqi election. Will that country be ready next month?

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

WHITFIELD: A bomb blast in Iraq today could heighten tensions between religious factions ahead of next month's scheduled landmark elections.

CNN's Chris Lawrence has developments from Baghdad now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the first day of campaigning for next month's election here in Iraq, a bomb has exploded at a mosque in Karbala. The bomb exploded at the entrance to a mosque, and the blast killed at least seven Iraqi people and wounded many more.

All of this comes as many people predicted an upsurge in violence here in Iraq, as we get closer to next month's elections.

And on this same day, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi promised to rebuild Iraq's army, as he announced his own candidacy for next month's elections. Allawi's coalition is more than 200 strong, but he's already being accused by some here in Iraq of playing politics.

It was Allawi himself who, just yesterday, surprised a lot of people by announcing that the trials for Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants could begin as early as next week.

CNN has now learned from a well-informed observer that this is not a trial but more of an investigative hearing, where the judge will hear evidence, listen to questions, listen to the answers to questions, and try to determine if there is enough evidence to go forward with a trial.

The men will have certain rights. They will be represented by a lawyer. And this part of the proceeding will be held confidentially, not out in public.

And it will involve two defendants. One is a former Iraqi army commander. The other is Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as Chemical Ali. Now, he is accused of committing some of the worst crime during Saddam Hussein's rule, including gassing nearly 5,000 Kurds in northern Iraq during the late 1980s.

As for Saddam Hussein, we are told that he will be tried after his aides so that prosecutors can gather more evidence from the trials of the men who worked for him, collecting more evidence to perhaps tie some of the killings that were committed during his rule to a direct order from Saddam Hussein.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Mission unaccomplished. The U.S. suffers a big setback today in getting the national missile defense system off the ground. The first full flight test on the system in almost two years ended in failure.

National security correspondent David Ensor joins us with the details.

What does this mean, David?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, as you say, it was to be the first test in nearly two years. And some see its failure as a real embarrassment for the Bush administration.

In 2002, President Bush said limited parts of the missile defense system would be operational by the end of this year. And that now looks less likely.

What happened was that the interceptor missile designed to hit a mock warhead simply failed to launch. As in the past, the interceptor was supposed to take off from the Kwajalein test range in the Marshall Islands, as this one did some time back.

But officials say an anomaly of unknown origin caused the interceptor to shut down automatically in its silo. The test followed a week of delays caused by weather and technical glitches.

Critics are calling this a serious setback for the program, which is a key part of the Bush administration's national security strategy. A limited missile defense program with missile interceptors based in Alaska and California that are designed to shoot down incoming missiles from a rogue state such as North Korea. The problem is that the technology is extraordinarily complex, and the administration is trying to deploy parts of it before they have been as fully tested as the Pentagon usually likes to have.

The system will not be fully operational until this giant X-band radar under construction in Texas has been towed all the way around South America and deployed, floating in the Pacific Ocean near Alaska.

Pentagon officials are saying the target missile with the mock warhead did launch successfully from Kodiak, Alaska, and they say the program officials are now going to review the prelaunch data on the interceptor to try to figure out what went wrong -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David, is this the same area that you went to visit not long ago? You actually did an exclusive report, and you toured around the system. Is this the same one?

ENSOR: Well, it's all part of the same interceptor system. What I went to look at recently was the Texas construction site where the X-band radar is being built. And that's where those pictures came from.

But the mock warhead was fired, as you saw on that map a moment ago, from Kodiak, Alaska, and the interceptor that was supposed to be hit and didn't launch was coming out of the Kwajalein Islands. There they are, way out in the middle of Pacific. So that's where the failure occurred.

PHILLIPS: So parts of it are still working? Right?

ENSOR: It's a very complex system, made up of everything from radars to interceptors to satellites that watch. Parts are working; parts are simply not. And you know, this has -- it's got to work or you can't declare it deployed. That's the problem for the Bush administration.

PHILLIPS: Got you. National security correspondent David Ensor, thanks -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: High stakes and high drama today in Athens, Greece. Armed attackers stormed a commuter bus, taking several people hostage. Fifteen hours into the standoff some, but not all, of the hostages have been freed.

CNN's Alessio Vinci joins us from the scene with the very latest -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

Well, the very latest is that the hostage-takers have now set a new deadline to -- until 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. That's roughly 11 hours from now, for the Greek authorities to meet their demands.

The hijackers are asking one million euros. That's roughly $1.3 million, as well as safe passage to the airport and a flight to Moscow. Unless they say -- and if those demands are not met, they say they will blow up the bus.

The hijackers are believed to have guns, as well as some explosives.

The situation remains extremely tense here. Within the last half hour or so, we did hear one single gunshot being fired. One police official here, who's preventing us from getting anywhere near this bus, is confirming to me it was, indeed, a gunshot. It was unclear who fired and in which direction.

At this time, seven hostages remain on that bus. There were -- 14 of them have been released throughout the day. The hostage-takers in setting a deadline are making it clear that until tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. no more hostages will be released.

Greek officials were extremely happy and very confident that throughout the day the negotiations have been going very well. Fourteen hostages released in 14 hours. That's a very good record.

However, the latest deadline (NO AUDIO) now will no longer be released until the next 11 hours or so is giving Greek officials some concern, of course.

Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: And Alessio, what's the condition: no more hostages will be released by tomorrow morning or what?

VINCI: Or they will blow up the bus. Basically, they have guns, and they have some explosives. The hostage-takers throughout this day have made a single request. That was a safe passage to the airport and a flight to Moscow.

However, later this afternoon, the hijackers have, indeed, put forward a new request, a request for $1.3 million by tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. Otherwise, they will blow up the bus, they say.

Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alessio Vinci, thanks so much for that update coming out of Athens, Greece -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: In other news around the world now, new revelations about a poisoned presidential candidate in Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, new tests reveal that Viktor Yushchenko has 6,000 times the normal level of dioxin in his blood. But experts say the opposition leader is probably past the worst effects, and he should gradually recover.

From riches to rags. The embattled Russian oil company Yukos says it's filing for bankruptcy. Yukos was once Russia's biggest oil producer. Its former CEO, a critic of Russia's president, is in jail facing fraud and tax evasion charges.

A Christmas squabble between the U.S. and Cuba. Havana is demanding the U.S. mission take down a Christmas display that includes a reference to 75 imprisoned pro-democracy activists. The decorations face a busy street there in Cuba.

Is homeland security distributing anti-terror dollars fairly? Questions being raised after one of the world's most popular tourist destinations finds out there's no check in the mail for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You threw yourself completely into this and what strikes me is, were you intimidated at all?

KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: Huge. Hugely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey rises to a big challenge and talks with CNN about that. That's later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: To help keep you safe, the Department of Homeland Security gives local governments millions of dollars for manpower, training and equipment. But how do they decide which cities get how much money?

CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve looks at a place that is trying to make the case for help but is getting none at all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mickey Mouse and...

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A little Orlando magic captured on home video by the Duffield family of Vineland, New Jersey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's my mom and dad. Say hi.

MESERVE: Fun? Absolutely. But even here, the threat of terrorism is with them.

KIM DUFFIELD, TOURIST: We're from the northeast area, which is near New York and Washington, D.C. So I think we live with that all the time, the fear.

MESERVE: The Orlando area is the No. 1 family tourist destination in the world, home to Disney World, Universal Studios and scores of other amusements.

Local emergency officials worry about security a lot, and they are dumb-founded that Orlando is not getting any urban security grant money this year from the Department of Homeland Security. SHERIFF KEVIN BEARY, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Quite frankly, I was flabbergasted.

MESERVE: Flabbergasted because theme parks have been mentioned as possible terrorist targets, the threat seen enough to permanently restrict airspace over Disney World.

BEARY: I go to bed worrying about it at night, and I wake up every morning worrying about it. And it's time that they start worrying about it in Washington, D.C.

MESERVE (on camera): The Department of Homeland Security says it considers a variety of factors in awarding the grant, including the number of threat investigations in a city, the amount of critical infrastructure, and most important, the population.

JOHN FILLER, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, the way we do the population numbers is specifically within a city limits, the legal boundaries of the city.

MESERVE (voice-over): Under this formula Omaha, Nebraska, got $5 million. Omaha does have twice the population of Orlando, but the metro Orlando area has twice as many people as metro Omaha, and far more visitors.

REP. RIC KELLER (R), FLORIDA: For the Department of Homeland Security to say, we only look within the city limits 185,000, and we ignore the 1.6 million people in greater Orlando and we ignore the 43 million tourists, is absolutely brain-dead.

MESERVE: Brain-dead, says Keller, because local emergency personnel have to protect everyone, not just citizens.

Orlando area officials are asking DHS to change its mind and its funding formula, which they say relies too much on math and not enough on common sense, to keep families like the Duffields safe, as well as happy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye, Disney, we'll miss you.

MESERVE: Jeanne Meserve, CNN Orlando, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Poisoned politics. New information on the poisoning of a Ukrainian presidential candidate. Straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Allan Chernoff from the New York stock exchange. We'll update the markets. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Officially, they've been at peace for 25 years. But in reality, relations between Israel and its biggest Arab neighbor, Egypt, have been a bit frosty.

However, a recent trade deal may leave many Israeli officials to believe a new chapter in that relationship opening up.

CNN's Guy Raz has more from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ordinary setting for an extraordinary trade deal 10 years in the making, Egypt and Israel finally agreeing to develop joint free trade districts called qualified industrial zones.

It's being called the most important deal since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979.

RASHID MOHAMED RASHID, EGYPTIAN TRADE MINISTER: Economic interests are not the only goals of our cooperation. It is our deep belief that the qualified industrial zones will contribute to a just and comprehensive peace process in the region.

RAZ: Days before the deal was signed, Egypt released convicted Israeli spy Azam Azam from prison, and that came days after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak praised Ariel Sharon, a man long vilified in the Arab world. The comments were widely broadcast on Israeli television.

And just as Mubarak was surprising Israelis, a leading Cairo newspaper, "Al-Ahram," widely seen as a sort of unofficial part of the Egyptian government, ran an editorial saying, "It's time to drop the negative attitudes towards Israel and relations with it. Relations with Israel should be developed in a way that will fulfill the achievable interests."

SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: They have a definitely different attitude toward Israeli/Egyptian relationship. I think it's a strategic decision that was taken by President Mubarak.

RAZ: Israeli leaders privately are calling it unprecedented. Egypt's foreign minister traveled to Israel recently, an effort to thaw relations. And the trade deal is seen as, perhaps, a back door channel for Egypt to improve trade ties with the United States through Israel.

SHALOM: I think the president of Egypt realizes the time has come to move toward a better understanding with Israel. And by that I would like to believe that it will take with them many other moderate Arab countries that will follow them in order to have better relations with Israel.

RAZ: But while official relations may be warming, it's a different story on the streets. Egyptian journalists staged a demonstration in Cairo against the Israeli trade deal.

Most Egyptians strongly identify with the Palestinian cause.

(on camera) But the Palestinian cause is one thing Egypt's government hopes to champion by strengthening ties with Israel. Cairo is said to be seeking a greater diplomatic role in the region. Warmer relations with Israel, it hopes, will hasten that possibility.

Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Get ready for another boom in the PC business. But don't expect today's leaders, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, to stay in the lead.

WHITFIELD: Allan Chernoff joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain all of that -- Allan.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. From the CNN center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half hour.

They rolled up their sleeves when they were ordered to get anthrax vaccines. But now some service members say that obedience ruined their health. A CNN investigation straight ahead.

WHITFIELD: And what do you think about the idea of allowing cell phone use on commercial airlines in flight? E-mail us at LiveFrom.com -- @CNN.com. We'll have some of your answers coming up.

First, here's what's happening now in the news.

PHILLIPS: President Bush insists his government backs a strong dollar policy. In a meeting with Italy's prime minister today, Mr. Bush pledged he'll work with Congress to reduce the ballooning U.S. government deficit and reassure world markets. His administration has never intervened in currency markets to support the dollar.

CNN's parent company, Time Warner, has reached a sentiment with the Justice Department over allegations of accounting fraud at the company's AOL division. Officials tell CNN that the company will pay $210 million. Time Warner still faces shareholder lawsuits over that issue.

Right now, planes are no-call zones for cell phone users. And maybe you like it that way. But the FCC is looking at lifting that ban. It's commissioned to study potential technical problem. The FCC also voted to allow airlines to provide high-speed Internet connections.

Six thousand times higher than normal: that's what experts are saying about the level of dioxin in blood samples from Ukrainian opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. That's the second highest ever recorded in a human being. Researchers hope to identify the poisoning agent by the weekend. WHITFIELD: The Pentagon says it is moving quickly on armor upgrades for Humvees and other vehicles in Iraq. It's all about reducing casualties, especially from improvised roadside bombs.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another roadside bomb detonates, a typical attack that has killed or wounded hundreds of American troops. The insurgent's camera keeps rolling as U.S. soldiers help those wounded in the Humvee.

CNN asked military expert James Carafano to look at the video to see what can be learned.

JAMES CARAFANO, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: It's good for the Americans to know that there could be somebody watching them when they do these things, and that it's good for the Americans to look at this to see how they respond to it and looking for things the bad guys might see in the way they respond to it.

STARR: U.S. troops are stepping up countermeasures. Every attack is analyzed; convoy routes are changed often. There is more reconnaissance.

Military officials emphasize that armor alone, the subject of so much controversy, is not the total solution against improvised explosive devices.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID RODRIGUEZ, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: You're looking at every place by how the thing was put together, how it was detonated, what type of material was used in it, what type of technology, because people design things differently.

STARR: New intelligence indicates explosives set off to the side of the road are proving very deadly. Part of the longer-term solution? New armored vehicles are being tested on the streets of Iraq that can better survive attacks, including a new version of the armored Humvee with a mounted laser that can destroy explosives up to 250 meters away.

New armored security vehicles are with U.S. military police units. They can survive 12-pound blasts under each wheel. Many convoys now carry jammers designed to keep remotely detonated devices from exploding, but some convoys still travel dangerous roads without these high-tech packages.

(on camera): As the attacks continue, last month, the Air Force increased cargo flights into Iraq by 30 percent, Keeping another 400 trucks and 1,000 military personnel off those dangerous roads.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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Aired December 15, 2004 - 14:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: No dollars for Disney. Orlando, Florida, cries foul after homeland security skips sending cash to America's most visited tourist destination.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Vaccine controversy. Did a shot meant to save lives end up harming American servicemen and women? They tell their stories this hour.

WHITFIELD: Candidates come forward on the first day of campaigning for the Iraqi election. Will that country be ready next month?

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

WHITFIELD: A bomb blast in Iraq today could heighten tensions between religious factions ahead of next month's scheduled landmark elections.

CNN's Chris Lawrence has developments from Baghdad now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the first day of campaigning for next month's election here in Iraq, a bomb has exploded at a mosque in Karbala. The bomb exploded at the entrance to a mosque, and the blast killed at least seven Iraqi people and wounded many more.

All of this comes as many people predicted an upsurge in violence here in Iraq, as we get closer to next month's elections.

And on this same day, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi promised to rebuild Iraq's army, as he announced his own candidacy for next month's elections. Allawi's coalition is more than 200 strong, but he's already being accused by some here in Iraq of playing politics.

It was Allawi himself who, just yesterday, surprised a lot of people by announcing that the trials for Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants could begin as early as next week.

CNN has now learned from a well-informed observer that this is not a trial but more of an investigative hearing, where the judge will hear evidence, listen to questions, listen to the answers to questions, and try to determine if there is enough evidence to go forward with a trial.

The men will have certain rights. They will be represented by a lawyer. And this part of the proceeding will be held confidentially, not out in public.

And it will involve two defendants. One is a former Iraqi army commander. The other is Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as Chemical Ali. Now, he is accused of committing some of the worst crime during Saddam Hussein's rule, including gassing nearly 5,000 Kurds in northern Iraq during the late 1980s.

As for Saddam Hussein, we are told that he will be tried after his aides so that prosecutors can gather more evidence from the trials of the men who worked for him, collecting more evidence to perhaps tie some of the killings that were committed during his rule to a direct order from Saddam Hussein.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Mission unaccomplished. The U.S. suffers a big setback today in getting the national missile defense system off the ground. The first full flight test on the system in almost two years ended in failure.

National security correspondent David Ensor joins us with the details.

What does this mean, David?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, as you say, it was to be the first test in nearly two years. And some see its failure as a real embarrassment for the Bush administration.

In 2002, President Bush said limited parts of the missile defense system would be operational by the end of this year. And that now looks less likely.

What happened was that the interceptor missile designed to hit a mock warhead simply failed to launch. As in the past, the interceptor was supposed to take off from the Kwajalein test range in the Marshall Islands, as this one did some time back.

But officials say an anomaly of unknown origin caused the interceptor to shut down automatically in its silo. The test followed a week of delays caused by weather and technical glitches.

Critics are calling this a serious setback for the program, which is a key part of the Bush administration's national security strategy. A limited missile defense program with missile interceptors based in Alaska and California that are designed to shoot down incoming missiles from a rogue state such as North Korea. The problem is that the technology is extraordinarily complex, and the administration is trying to deploy parts of it before they have been as fully tested as the Pentagon usually likes to have.

The system will not be fully operational until this giant X-band radar under construction in Texas has been towed all the way around South America and deployed, floating in the Pacific Ocean near Alaska.

Pentagon officials are saying the target missile with the mock warhead did launch successfully from Kodiak, Alaska, and they say the program officials are now going to review the prelaunch data on the interceptor to try to figure out what went wrong -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David, is this the same area that you went to visit not long ago? You actually did an exclusive report, and you toured around the system. Is this the same one?

ENSOR: Well, it's all part of the same interceptor system. What I went to look at recently was the Texas construction site where the X-band radar is being built. And that's where those pictures came from.

But the mock warhead was fired, as you saw on that map a moment ago, from Kodiak, Alaska, and the interceptor that was supposed to be hit and didn't launch was coming out of the Kwajalein Islands. There they are, way out in the middle of Pacific. So that's where the failure occurred.

PHILLIPS: So parts of it are still working? Right?

ENSOR: It's a very complex system, made up of everything from radars to interceptors to satellites that watch. Parts are working; parts are simply not. And you know, this has -- it's got to work or you can't declare it deployed. That's the problem for the Bush administration.

PHILLIPS: Got you. National security correspondent David Ensor, thanks -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: High stakes and high drama today in Athens, Greece. Armed attackers stormed a commuter bus, taking several people hostage. Fifteen hours into the standoff some, but not all, of the hostages have been freed.

CNN's Alessio Vinci joins us from the scene with the very latest -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

Well, the very latest is that the hostage-takers have now set a new deadline to -- until 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. That's roughly 11 hours from now, for the Greek authorities to meet their demands.

The hijackers are asking one million euros. That's roughly $1.3 million, as well as safe passage to the airport and a flight to Moscow. Unless they say -- and if those demands are not met, they say they will blow up the bus.

The hijackers are believed to have guns, as well as some explosives.

The situation remains extremely tense here. Within the last half hour or so, we did hear one single gunshot being fired. One police official here, who's preventing us from getting anywhere near this bus, is confirming to me it was, indeed, a gunshot. It was unclear who fired and in which direction.

At this time, seven hostages remain on that bus. There were -- 14 of them have been released throughout the day. The hostage-takers in setting a deadline are making it clear that until tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. no more hostages will be released.

Greek officials were extremely happy and very confident that throughout the day the negotiations have been going very well. Fourteen hostages released in 14 hours. That's a very good record.

However, the latest deadline (NO AUDIO) now will no longer be released until the next 11 hours or so is giving Greek officials some concern, of course.

Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: And Alessio, what's the condition: no more hostages will be released by tomorrow morning or what?

VINCI: Or they will blow up the bus. Basically, they have guns, and they have some explosives. The hostage-takers throughout this day have made a single request. That was a safe passage to the airport and a flight to Moscow.

However, later this afternoon, the hijackers have, indeed, put forward a new request, a request for $1.3 million by tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. Otherwise, they will blow up the bus, they say.

Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alessio Vinci, thanks so much for that update coming out of Athens, Greece -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: In other news around the world now, new revelations about a poisoned presidential candidate in Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, new tests reveal that Viktor Yushchenko has 6,000 times the normal level of dioxin in his blood. But experts say the opposition leader is probably past the worst effects, and he should gradually recover.

From riches to rags. The embattled Russian oil company Yukos says it's filing for bankruptcy. Yukos was once Russia's biggest oil producer. Its former CEO, a critic of Russia's president, is in jail facing fraud and tax evasion charges.

A Christmas squabble between the U.S. and Cuba. Havana is demanding the U.S. mission take down a Christmas display that includes a reference to 75 imprisoned pro-democracy activists. The decorations face a busy street there in Cuba.

Is homeland security distributing anti-terror dollars fairly? Questions being raised after one of the world's most popular tourist destinations finds out there's no check in the mail for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You threw yourself completely into this and what strikes me is, were you intimidated at all?

KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: Huge. Hugely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey rises to a big challenge and talks with CNN about that. That's later on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: To help keep you safe, the Department of Homeland Security gives local governments millions of dollars for manpower, training and equipment. But how do they decide which cities get how much money?

CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve looks at a place that is trying to make the case for help but is getting none at all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mickey Mouse and...

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A little Orlando magic captured on home video by the Duffield family of Vineland, New Jersey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's my mom and dad. Say hi.

MESERVE: Fun? Absolutely. But even here, the threat of terrorism is with them.

KIM DUFFIELD, TOURIST: We're from the northeast area, which is near New York and Washington, D.C. So I think we live with that all the time, the fear.

MESERVE: The Orlando area is the No. 1 family tourist destination in the world, home to Disney World, Universal Studios and scores of other amusements.

Local emergency officials worry about security a lot, and they are dumb-founded that Orlando is not getting any urban security grant money this year from the Department of Homeland Security. SHERIFF KEVIN BEARY, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Quite frankly, I was flabbergasted.

MESERVE: Flabbergasted because theme parks have been mentioned as possible terrorist targets, the threat seen enough to permanently restrict airspace over Disney World.

BEARY: I go to bed worrying about it at night, and I wake up every morning worrying about it. And it's time that they start worrying about it in Washington, D.C.

MESERVE (on camera): The Department of Homeland Security says it considers a variety of factors in awarding the grant, including the number of threat investigations in a city, the amount of critical infrastructure, and most important, the population.

JOHN FILLER, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, the way we do the population numbers is specifically within a city limits, the legal boundaries of the city.

MESERVE (voice-over): Under this formula Omaha, Nebraska, got $5 million. Omaha does have twice the population of Orlando, but the metro Orlando area has twice as many people as metro Omaha, and far more visitors.

REP. RIC KELLER (R), FLORIDA: For the Department of Homeland Security to say, we only look within the city limits 185,000, and we ignore the 1.6 million people in greater Orlando and we ignore the 43 million tourists, is absolutely brain-dead.

MESERVE: Brain-dead, says Keller, because local emergency personnel have to protect everyone, not just citizens.

Orlando area officials are asking DHS to change its mind and its funding formula, which they say relies too much on math and not enough on common sense, to keep families like the Duffields safe, as well as happy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye, Disney, we'll miss you.

MESERVE: Jeanne Meserve, CNN Orlando, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Poisoned politics. New information on the poisoning of a Ukrainian presidential candidate. Straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Allan Chernoff from the New York stock exchange. We'll update the markets. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Officially, they've been at peace for 25 years. But in reality, relations between Israel and its biggest Arab neighbor, Egypt, have been a bit frosty.

However, a recent trade deal may leave many Israeli officials to believe a new chapter in that relationship opening up.

CNN's Guy Raz has more from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ordinary setting for an extraordinary trade deal 10 years in the making, Egypt and Israel finally agreeing to develop joint free trade districts called qualified industrial zones.

It's being called the most important deal since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979.

RASHID MOHAMED RASHID, EGYPTIAN TRADE MINISTER: Economic interests are not the only goals of our cooperation. It is our deep belief that the qualified industrial zones will contribute to a just and comprehensive peace process in the region.

RAZ: Days before the deal was signed, Egypt released convicted Israeli spy Azam Azam from prison, and that came days after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak praised Ariel Sharon, a man long vilified in the Arab world. The comments were widely broadcast on Israeli television.

And just as Mubarak was surprising Israelis, a leading Cairo newspaper, "Al-Ahram," widely seen as a sort of unofficial part of the Egyptian government, ran an editorial saying, "It's time to drop the negative attitudes towards Israel and relations with it. Relations with Israel should be developed in a way that will fulfill the achievable interests."

SILVAN SHALOM, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: They have a definitely different attitude toward Israeli/Egyptian relationship. I think it's a strategic decision that was taken by President Mubarak.

RAZ: Israeli leaders privately are calling it unprecedented. Egypt's foreign minister traveled to Israel recently, an effort to thaw relations. And the trade deal is seen as, perhaps, a back door channel for Egypt to improve trade ties with the United States through Israel.

SHALOM: I think the president of Egypt realizes the time has come to move toward a better understanding with Israel. And by that I would like to believe that it will take with them many other moderate Arab countries that will follow them in order to have better relations with Israel.

RAZ: But while official relations may be warming, it's a different story on the streets. Egyptian journalists staged a demonstration in Cairo against the Israeli trade deal.

Most Egyptians strongly identify with the Palestinian cause.

(on camera) But the Palestinian cause is one thing Egypt's government hopes to champion by strengthening ties with Israel. Cairo is said to be seeking a greater diplomatic role in the region. Warmer relations with Israel, it hopes, will hasten that possibility.

Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.

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PHILLIPS: Get ready for another boom in the PC business. But don't expect today's leaders, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, to stay in the lead.

WHITFIELD: Allan Chernoff joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain all of that -- Allan.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. From the CNN center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half hour.

They rolled up their sleeves when they were ordered to get anthrax vaccines. But now some service members say that obedience ruined their health. A CNN investigation straight ahead.

WHITFIELD: And what do you think about the idea of allowing cell phone use on commercial airlines in flight? E-mail us at LiveFrom.com -- @CNN.com. We'll have some of your answers coming up.

First, here's what's happening now in the news.

PHILLIPS: President Bush insists his government backs a strong dollar policy. In a meeting with Italy's prime minister today, Mr. Bush pledged he'll work with Congress to reduce the ballooning U.S. government deficit and reassure world markets. His administration has never intervened in currency markets to support the dollar.

CNN's parent company, Time Warner, has reached a sentiment with the Justice Department over allegations of accounting fraud at the company's AOL division. Officials tell CNN that the company will pay $210 million. Time Warner still faces shareholder lawsuits over that issue.

Right now, planes are no-call zones for cell phone users. And maybe you like it that way. But the FCC is looking at lifting that ban. It's commissioned to study potential technical problem. The FCC also voted to allow airlines to provide high-speed Internet connections.

Six thousand times higher than normal: that's what experts are saying about the level of dioxin in blood samples from Ukrainian opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko. That's the second highest ever recorded in a human being. Researchers hope to identify the poisoning agent by the weekend. WHITFIELD: The Pentagon says it is moving quickly on armor upgrades for Humvees and other vehicles in Iraq. It's all about reducing casualties, especially from improvised roadside bombs.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest on that.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another roadside bomb detonates, a typical attack that has killed or wounded hundreds of American troops. The insurgent's camera keeps rolling as U.S. soldiers help those wounded in the Humvee.

CNN asked military expert James Carafano to look at the video to see what can be learned.

JAMES CARAFANO, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: It's good for the Americans to know that there could be somebody watching them when they do these things, and that it's good for the Americans to look at this to see how they respond to it and looking for things the bad guys might see in the way they respond to it.

STARR: U.S. troops are stepping up countermeasures. Every attack is analyzed; convoy routes are changed often. There is more reconnaissance.

Military officials emphasize that armor alone, the subject of so much controversy, is not the total solution against improvised explosive devices.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID RODRIGUEZ, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: You're looking at every place by how the thing was put together, how it was detonated, what type of material was used in it, what type of technology, because people design things differently.

STARR: New intelligence indicates explosives set off to the side of the road are proving very deadly. Part of the longer-term solution? New armored vehicles are being tested on the streets of Iraq that can better survive attacks, including a new version of the armored Humvee with a mounted laser that can destroy explosives up to 250 meters away.

New armored security vehicles are with U.S. military police units. They can survive 12-pound blasts under each wheel. Many convoys now carry jammers designed to keep remotely detonated devices from exploding, but some convoys still travel dangerous roads without these high-tech packages.

(on camera): As the attacks continue, last month, the Air Force increased cargo flights into Iraq by 30 percent, Keeping another 400 trucks and 1,000 military personnel off those dangerous roads.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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