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Bush Faces GOP Opposition for Agenda; Immigrant Says Immigration Reform Would Hurt Many; Palestinians Work with Israelis to End Rocket Attacks; Entertainment News: "Da Vinci" Code, Sundance, U2 Tour

Aired January 21, 2005 - 14:30   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.


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking stories "Now in the News."
The body of a kidnapped Wal-Mart worker has been found. The Wednesday night abduction of Megan Leann Holden in Tyler, Texas, was captured on surveillance video you see here. Her body was found 40 miles west in Stanton, Texas. Police earlier arrested the suspected kidnapper at a hospital in Wilcox, Arizona, where he was being treated for gun shot wounds.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is stepping down. The agency he's led for the last four years says he will leave sometime in March. Powell says he's quitting to pursue other unspecified opportunities. His tenure at the FCC has been marked by stricter decency standards and support for changes in media ownership rules.

And Lance Armstrong says he is confident he will be cleared of a doping inquiry. French authorities have confirmed they are looking into allegations the six-time Tour de France winner took performance- enhancing drugs. The allegations first surfaced in a book about Armstrong. He is suing the authors.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: As President Bush embarks on a second term, he's already facing opposition to many of his proposals from several members of his own party.

CNN's Lisa Sylvester explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas predicted that the president's ambitious plan to overhaul Social Security will be rendered a dead horse.

Republicans are increasingly hesitant to get on board because of the cost, both financial and political. The president's proposal to create personal spending accounts for younger workers is running into stiff resistance from the AARP.

THOMAS MANN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: He may talk about the political capital he's earned, but that only works if -- if you can intimidate opponents, people who disagree with you and persuade them that the country is with you and not them.

But Democrats don't believe it. And Republicans are beginning to get very uneasy about it.

SYLVESTER: Mr. Bush's plan to create a guest worker program for illegal aliens may also be dead on arrival. Conservative Republicans are denouncing the president's proposal as a form of amnesty.

Judiciary committee chairman James Sensenbrenner, Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Representative Tom Tancredo, who heads the House Immigration Reform Caucus, are all in opposition.

REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: The momentum has shifted to our side. They are on the defensive. It's the first time it's ever been that way.

SYLVESTER: During the first term, Republicans stood behind the president's plan to lower taxes. This time, with a growing budget deficit, fiscal conservatives are resisting making the tax cuts permanent.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, when asked about the tough fight ahead on Social Security, acknowledged the political realities.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Legislation any time it goes through Congress tends to change during the process. The president works forward to working with members to move forward on legislation.

SYLVESTER: As the president begins his second term, he may find his so-called mandate is not enough. He may need some muscle.

(on camera) Congressional analysts think that, with a strong majority in the Senate, the president may be able to achieve some quick victories on the stalled energy bill and on tort reform. But even those issues are not a given.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right. We want to take a few more minutes to discuss possible problems President Bush could face in his second term, including from within his own party.

CNN contributor Bob Barr, and former Republican congressman, joins us now from Washington to talk about this.

Good afternoon. Thanks for being with us.

BOB BARR, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: Always a pleasure.

NGUYEN: Well, OK. Condoleezza Rice's confirmation was supposed to have taken place this week right before the inauguration. That has been delayed. What kind of message is this sending to the president right off the bat?

BARR: Well, it sends a message that nothing can be taken for granted in the upcoming session. And it also sends a message that Iraq, including the upcoming trial of the century, so to speak, with Saddam Hussein, is going to overshadow everything else on the Hill.

Now, the president can use that to his advantage by turning to that issue of Iraq and Saddam Hussein, for example, whenever he wants to sort of divert attention. But make no mistake about it, this is going to be a very difficult legislative session for the president.

NGUYEN: Iraq a big battle. But let's talk about Social Security for a moment. How big of an issue is this going to be for the president?

BARR: It's a humongous issue, and as your analyst there correctly stated, the first battle is not to be with Democrats on the floor of the House or the floor of the Senate. It's going to be with fellow Republicans in the Republican Caucus. There is not near a consensus on the Social Security reform or even the need for it at this point.

NGUYEN: So as we talk about momentum, he doesn't have a lot of momentum heading into the second term?

BARR: Not on these domestic issues. The momentum that the president has, if he has any, is more on the international front than it is on the domestic front. He's going to have to do a lot of building very early in this year if he's going to hope to have any chance for legislative successes domestically.

NGUYEN: And in sticking with domestic issues, let's talk about immigration and the guest worker program. How much of a battle is this going to be?

BARR: This is going to be one that, if I were advising the White House, I would stay away from. The people in this country are very worried about immigration, both from an economic, a social, and a security standpoint, and opening that can of worms right now, I think, would be a serious mistake. And I don't think the White House would win the issue.

NGUYEN: There's a lot of talk about filling William Rehnquist, chief justice, position. How do you think the president is going to tackle that?

BARR: By all indications, he's very serious about putting forward some strong constitutional conservatives, and if he does, I think he stands a pretty good chance of getting them through. This is one issue on which the White House clearly has the high road.

Now, the Democrats are not going to roll over and play dead, but I think he should do very well in getting his picks through.

NGUYEN: You mentioned not rolling over and playing dead. If you're a Democrat right now, looking at his plan, the second term, what are the striking points? What's the president's weakest areas?

BARR: Probably the Social Security issue. It's at once the most important because it affects so much of our economy, but it also is the most difficult. For many, many decades, it's been the so-called third rail of American politics. Nobody wants to touch it.

And they are just waiting in the bushes with ammo in their guns for the president to head up to the Hill on that one.

NGUYEN: All right. Bob Barr, always a pleasure. We appreciate your insight today. Thank you.

BARR: Sure.

NGUYEN: Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Betty, all week we've been take ago look at the president's agenda through the eyes of various constituents. Today, in the final installment of our series, "What's in it for Me?", CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace looks at what immigrants stand to gain or lose in the second Bush term.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Hempstead, Long Island, Carlos Canales is always on the move. The community organizer spends his days trying to help migrant workers like these men, who are waiting for construction work. Many are here illegally.

CARLOS CANALES, WORKPLACE PROJECT: They are not illegal. They come here because they want to support their families. They want to make the living. They want to take food to the table.

WALLACE: Canales was once in their shoes. He fled El Salvador's civil war in 1986. Now he's a legal resident in the U.S., working towards citizenship. His hopes for the new Bush administration?

CANALES: Give the immigrant the same opportunity that was given to all of those that came before us to the United States.

WALLACE: President Bush has promised to try and grant temporary worker status to some of the eight million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. But Canales says that doesn't go far enough.

CANALES: You come here as an escape, to work with not only the right, but just the right to -- just to work. Like an animal.

WALLACE: He knows some Americans instead want a crackdown on illegal immigration. In fact, one of the first measures Congress will take up, one Republican lawmaker's push to ban states from providing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), WISCONSIN: American citizens have the right to know who is in their country.

WALLACE: As well as a right to prevent their tax dollars from going to illegal immigrants, says this California radio host.

KEN CHAMPEAU, RADIO HOST: California has a cost of about $5 billion a year for illegal immigration. That's education, healthcare and all the other services that are used. People are tired of that. WALLACE: But Canales says any crackdown on illegal immigration won't stop people from coming to the United States illegally.

CANALES: We don't come because we want to violate your laws here. We come where we need, we need to come. This is a matter of necessity.

WALLACE: He says he's not too hopeful about the future, saying he doubts the president, who promised immigration reform during the campaign, will deliver.

CANALES: I don't see the logic. I mean, in politics, everything is a business. He didn't do it before he was in election, why does he have to do it now?

WALLACE: Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Palestinian security forces make a move to protect Israelis. Up next, we'll explain what's behind this new cooperation between bitter rivals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: In the Middle East yet another effort to end the violence. This time, Palestinian security forces are being deployed in northern Gaza. It's the latest attempt to curb militant rocket and mortar attacks against Israelis.

CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Palestinian security forces gather in northern Gaza Friday. Not just to protect Palestinians but also Israelis.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is trying to curb Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli communities, the clearest sign of security cooperation between the two sides in more than four years.

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): In the past, this task could not be carried out, but today things were facilitated so that they could be near the borders and so do their job as national security forces.

HANCOCKS: Abbas continues to discuss the need for restraint with militant leaders in Gaza this week. His officials tell us talks are going well.

Abbas has called recent attacks on Israeli communities counterproductive to the Palestinian cause, potentially jeopardizing Israel's plans to pull settlements out of Gaza this year, a move Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says will not take place, quote, "under fire." But the current mood on both sides appears cautiously optimistic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We pray to God this will bring security. We pray to God that the Israelis will comply.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hopefully, there will be peace. We don't want a war and neither do they. Believe me, you know you want to go to bed relaxed. You want to work and sleep well.

HANCOCKS: Amidst the air of compliance, Israeli partially reopened Gaza's Rafah Crossing with Egypt Friday. It was closed in December after a militant attack killed five Israeli soldiers. It's the first time in a month thousands of Palestinians stuck in Egypt can return home.

(on camera) There has been a sharp drop in violence in Gaza over the past two days. Much could depend on whether the militants continue to hold their fire. But Israeli leaders have already warned the Palestinians that failure to stop these rocket and mortar attacks would lead to a large-scale military operation.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: We will have a check of the financial markets next.

HARRIS: Plus, Ron Howard's mention to bring "The Da Vinci Code" to the big screen gets some good news from France.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the book had the whole world talking. Next up, "The Da Vinci Code: The Movie," but the film with an Italian name is going to have a French setting.

With that and other showbiz news today, let's go to CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson. There she is, live in Los Angeles.

Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here I am live. Hi, Tony. Thank you so much.

From Hollywood to Paris, the international best seller, "The Da Vinci Code," is headed behind the walls of the Louvre. France's culture ministry has approved film crews to go inside the famous museum in an effort to promote tourism and boost Paris' show business industry.

Director Ron Howard, who is bringing the book to the big screen, will be allowed to film in select locations in the museum's grand gallery. That's the place where the novel begins -- Tony.

HARRIS: Brooke, they have to close the museum for the filming. That's got to happen, right?

ANDERSON: You don't have to close the museum. In fact, it will likely take place in the evenings and on Tuesday, Tuesdays when the Louvre is actually closed to the public anyway. That's actually how they did it in 1999, the last time the Louvre allowed filming within its walls, and that was actually for a French mystery.

All right. Moving now from Ron Howard's project to another famous director/actor, Robert Redford. He has officially opened the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT REDFORD, DIRECTOR/ACTOR: I'm here tonight because I wasn't invited to another event.

With what we've seen over the 21 years here, we've seen an improvement of quality and diversity just like we had hoped. And so I think that the best of independent film is really yet to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Redford encouraged filmmakers to speak their minds and expressed his hope that Sundance could be a platform for diverse films and opinions.

The festival, started back in 1981, takes place in Park City, Utah. Each year, that city's population surges from -- get this -- 7,500 to 45,000 people during the festival.

Many of this year's 120 films will focus on modern American values.

Well, they're valued by Americans and millions of other fans around the world, too: international music sensation U2. And those fans will be glad to hear the Irish rockers are set to hit the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Bono and the guys have announced their forthcoming "Vertigo" tour will kick of in San Diego March 28. While all dates have not yet been announced, the tour will stretch across the U.S. before making its way to Europe this summer.

Conservative estimates put the tour's potential gross at about $250 million, which will likely make it the highest grossing tour of the year.

And say, Tony, I know you're a huge music fan. If this tour makes its way to Atlanta, are you going to get tickets?

HARRIS: Are you kidding me? I've never seen U2. I would love to see U2. You can count on that.

ANDERSON: I know. Well, if you don't make it to the show, in fact, they're performing at the Grammys February 13, so you can catch them on TV before then.

HARRIS: Very good. That's in February, right? The Grammys are in February? Yes, yes, yes.

ANDERSON: February 13.

HARRIS: OK, got it. I marked it down.

ANDERSON: They're nominated as well.

HARRIS: Brooke, good to see you.

ANDERSON: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Take care.

NGUYEN: They're great in concert, by the way. You need to get out and see them.

HARRIS: I need to see them. I do.

NGUYEN: Well, the latest industry in the hot seat for outsourcing is a struggling U.S. airline, but have they gone too far this time?

HARRIS: Well, let's get the update. David Haffenreffer joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange with that story.

Hi, David.

(STOCK REPORT)

NGUYEN: Thank you, David.

HARRIS: Thank you.

A Texas abduction takes a horrible turn. Up next, the latest on the Wal-Mart worker kidnapped as she left work Wednesday night. Plus, what you should do if you find yourself in a similar position.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 21, 2005 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Checking stories "Now in the News."
The body of a kidnapped Wal-Mart worker has been found. The Wednesday night abduction of Megan Leann Holden in Tyler, Texas, was captured on surveillance video you see here. Her body was found 40 miles west in Stanton, Texas. Police earlier arrested the suspected kidnapper at a hospital in Wilcox, Arizona, where he was being treated for gun shot wounds.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell is stepping down. The agency he's led for the last four years says he will leave sometime in March. Powell says he's quitting to pursue other unspecified opportunities. His tenure at the FCC has been marked by stricter decency standards and support for changes in media ownership rules.

And Lance Armstrong says he is confident he will be cleared of a doping inquiry. French authorities have confirmed they are looking into allegations the six-time Tour de France winner took performance- enhancing drugs. The allegations first surfaced in a book about Armstrong. He is suing the authors.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: As President Bush embarks on a second term, he's already facing opposition to many of his proposals from several members of his own party.

CNN's Lisa Sylvester explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas predicted that the president's ambitious plan to overhaul Social Security will be rendered a dead horse.

Republicans are increasingly hesitant to get on board because of the cost, both financial and political. The president's proposal to create personal spending accounts for younger workers is running into stiff resistance from the AARP.

THOMAS MANN, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: He may talk about the political capital he's earned, but that only works if -- if you can intimidate opponents, people who disagree with you and persuade them that the country is with you and not them.

But Democrats don't believe it. And Republicans are beginning to get very uneasy about it.

SYLVESTER: Mr. Bush's plan to create a guest worker program for illegal aliens may also be dead on arrival. Conservative Republicans are denouncing the president's proposal as a form of amnesty.

Judiciary committee chairman James Sensenbrenner, Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Representative Tom Tancredo, who heads the House Immigration Reform Caucus, are all in opposition.

REP. TOM TANCREDO (R), COLORADO: The momentum has shifted to our side. They are on the defensive. It's the first time it's ever been that way.

SYLVESTER: During the first term, Republicans stood behind the president's plan to lower taxes. This time, with a growing budget deficit, fiscal conservatives are resisting making the tax cuts permanent.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, when asked about the tough fight ahead on Social Security, acknowledged the political realities.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Legislation any time it goes through Congress tends to change during the process. The president works forward to working with members to move forward on legislation.

SYLVESTER: As the president begins his second term, he may find his so-called mandate is not enough. He may need some muscle.

(on camera) Congressional analysts think that, with a strong majority in the Senate, the president may be able to achieve some quick victories on the stalled energy bill and on tort reform. But even those issues are not a given.

Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right. We want to take a few more minutes to discuss possible problems President Bush could face in his second term, including from within his own party.

CNN contributor Bob Barr, and former Republican congressman, joins us now from Washington to talk about this.

Good afternoon. Thanks for being with us.

BOB BARR, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: Always a pleasure.

NGUYEN: Well, OK. Condoleezza Rice's confirmation was supposed to have taken place this week right before the inauguration. That has been delayed. What kind of message is this sending to the president right off the bat?

BARR: Well, it sends a message that nothing can be taken for granted in the upcoming session. And it also sends a message that Iraq, including the upcoming trial of the century, so to speak, with Saddam Hussein, is going to overshadow everything else on the Hill.

Now, the president can use that to his advantage by turning to that issue of Iraq and Saddam Hussein, for example, whenever he wants to sort of divert attention. But make no mistake about it, this is going to be a very difficult legislative session for the president.

NGUYEN: Iraq a big battle. But let's talk about Social Security for a moment. How big of an issue is this going to be for the president?

BARR: It's a humongous issue, and as your analyst there correctly stated, the first battle is not to be with Democrats on the floor of the House or the floor of the Senate. It's going to be with fellow Republicans in the Republican Caucus. There is not near a consensus on the Social Security reform or even the need for it at this point.

NGUYEN: So as we talk about momentum, he doesn't have a lot of momentum heading into the second term?

BARR: Not on these domestic issues. The momentum that the president has, if he has any, is more on the international front than it is on the domestic front. He's going to have to do a lot of building very early in this year if he's going to hope to have any chance for legislative successes domestically.

NGUYEN: And in sticking with domestic issues, let's talk about immigration and the guest worker program. How much of a battle is this going to be?

BARR: This is going to be one that, if I were advising the White House, I would stay away from. The people in this country are very worried about immigration, both from an economic, a social, and a security standpoint, and opening that can of worms right now, I think, would be a serious mistake. And I don't think the White House would win the issue.

NGUYEN: There's a lot of talk about filling William Rehnquist, chief justice, position. How do you think the president is going to tackle that?

BARR: By all indications, he's very serious about putting forward some strong constitutional conservatives, and if he does, I think he stands a pretty good chance of getting them through. This is one issue on which the White House clearly has the high road.

Now, the Democrats are not going to roll over and play dead, but I think he should do very well in getting his picks through.

NGUYEN: You mentioned not rolling over and playing dead. If you're a Democrat right now, looking at his plan, the second term, what are the striking points? What's the president's weakest areas?

BARR: Probably the Social Security issue. It's at once the most important because it affects so much of our economy, but it also is the most difficult. For many, many decades, it's been the so-called third rail of American politics. Nobody wants to touch it.

And they are just waiting in the bushes with ammo in their guns for the president to head up to the Hill on that one.

NGUYEN: All right. Bob Barr, always a pleasure. We appreciate your insight today. Thank you.

BARR: Sure.

NGUYEN: Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Betty, all week we've been take ago look at the president's agenda through the eyes of various constituents. Today, in the final installment of our series, "What's in it for Me?", CNN national correspondent Kelly Wallace looks at what immigrants stand to gain or lose in the second Bush term.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Hempstead, Long Island, Carlos Canales is always on the move. The community organizer spends his days trying to help migrant workers like these men, who are waiting for construction work. Many are here illegally.

CARLOS CANALES, WORKPLACE PROJECT: They are not illegal. They come here because they want to support their families. They want to make the living. They want to take food to the table.

WALLACE: Canales was once in their shoes. He fled El Salvador's civil war in 1986. Now he's a legal resident in the U.S., working towards citizenship. His hopes for the new Bush administration?

CANALES: Give the immigrant the same opportunity that was given to all of those that came before us to the United States.

WALLACE: President Bush has promised to try and grant temporary worker status to some of the eight million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. But Canales says that doesn't go far enough.

CANALES: You come here as an escape, to work with not only the right, but just the right to -- just to work. Like an animal.

WALLACE: He knows some Americans instead want a crackdown on illegal immigration. In fact, one of the first measures Congress will take up, one Republican lawmaker's push to ban states from providing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER (R), WISCONSIN: American citizens have the right to know who is in their country.

WALLACE: As well as a right to prevent their tax dollars from going to illegal immigrants, says this California radio host.

KEN CHAMPEAU, RADIO HOST: California has a cost of about $5 billion a year for illegal immigration. That's education, healthcare and all the other services that are used. People are tired of that. WALLACE: But Canales says any crackdown on illegal immigration won't stop people from coming to the United States illegally.

CANALES: We don't come because we want to violate your laws here. We come where we need, we need to come. This is a matter of necessity.

WALLACE: He says he's not too hopeful about the future, saying he doubts the president, who promised immigration reform during the campaign, will deliver.

CANALES: I don't see the logic. I mean, in politics, everything is a business. He didn't do it before he was in election, why does he have to do it now?

WALLACE: Kelly Wallace, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Palestinian security forces make a move to protect Israelis. Up next, we'll explain what's behind this new cooperation between bitter rivals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: In the Middle East yet another effort to end the violence. This time, Palestinian security forces are being deployed in northern Gaza. It's the latest attempt to curb militant rocket and mortar attacks against Israelis.

CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Palestinian security forces gather in northern Gaza Friday. Not just to protect Palestinians but also Israelis.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is trying to curb Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli communities, the clearest sign of security cooperation between the two sides in more than four years.

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (through translator): In the past, this task could not be carried out, but today things were facilitated so that they could be near the borders and so do their job as national security forces.

HANCOCKS: Abbas continues to discuss the need for restraint with militant leaders in Gaza this week. His officials tell us talks are going well.

Abbas has called recent attacks on Israeli communities counterproductive to the Palestinian cause, potentially jeopardizing Israel's plans to pull settlements out of Gaza this year, a move Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says will not take place, quote, "under fire." But the current mood on both sides appears cautiously optimistic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We pray to God this will bring security. We pray to God that the Israelis will comply.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hopefully, there will be peace. We don't want a war and neither do they. Believe me, you know you want to go to bed relaxed. You want to work and sleep well.

HANCOCKS: Amidst the air of compliance, Israeli partially reopened Gaza's Rafah Crossing with Egypt Friday. It was closed in December after a militant attack killed five Israeli soldiers. It's the first time in a month thousands of Palestinians stuck in Egypt can return home.

(on camera) There has been a sharp drop in violence in Gaza over the past two days. Much could depend on whether the militants continue to hold their fire. But Israeli leaders have already warned the Palestinians that failure to stop these rocket and mortar attacks would lead to a large-scale military operation.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: We will have a check of the financial markets next.

HARRIS: Plus, Ron Howard's mention to bring "The Da Vinci Code" to the big screen gets some good news from France.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, the book had the whole world talking. Next up, "The Da Vinci Code: The Movie," but the film with an Italian name is going to have a French setting.

With that and other showbiz news today, let's go to CNN entertainment correspondent Brooke Anderson. There she is, live in Los Angeles.

Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here I am live. Hi, Tony. Thank you so much.

From Hollywood to Paris, the international best seller, "The Da Vinci Code," is headed behind the walls of the Louvre. France's culture ministry has approved film crews to go inside the famous museum in an effort to promote tourism and boost Paris' show business industry.

Director Ron Howard, who is bringing the book to the big screen, will be allowed to film in select locations in the museum's grand gallery. That's the place where the novel begins -- Tony.

HARRIS: Brooke, they have to close the museum for the filming. That's got to happen, right?

ANDERSON: You don't have to close the museum. In fact, it will likely take place in the evenings and on Tuesday, Tuesdays when the Louvre is actually closed to the public anyway. That's actually how they did it in 1999, the last time the Louvre allowed filming within its walls, and that was actually for a French mystery.

All right. Moving now from Ron Howard's project to another famous director/actor, Robert Redford. He has officially opened the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT REDFORD, DIRECTOR/ACTOR: I'm here tonight because I wasn't invited to another event.

With what we've seen over the 21 years here, we've seen an improvement of quality and diversity just like we had hoped. And so I think that the best of independent film is really yet to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Redford encouraged filmmakers to speak their minds and expressed his hope that Sundance could be a platform for diverse films and opinions.

The festival, started back in 1981, takes place in Park City, Utah. Each year, that city's population surges from -- get this -- 7,500 to 45,000 people during the festival.

Many of this year's 120 films will focus on modern American values.

Well, they're valued by Americans and millions of other fans around the world, too: international music sensation U2. And those fans will be glad to hear the Irish rockers are set to hit the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Bono and the guys have announced their forthcoming "Vertigo" tour will kick of in San Diego March 28. While all dates have not yet been announced, the tour will stretch across the U.S. before making its way to Europe this summer.

Conservative estimates put the tour's potential gross at about $250 million, which will likely make it the highest grossing tour of the year.

And say, Tony, I know you're a huge music fan. If this tour makes its way to Atlanta, are you going to get tickets?

HARRIS: Are you kidding me? I've never seen U2. I would love to see U2. You can count on that.

ANDERSON: I know. Well, if you don't make it to the show, in fact, they're performing at the Grammys February 13, so you can catch them on TV before then.

HARRIS: Very good. That's in February, right? The Grammys are in February? Yes, yes, yes.

ANDERSON: February 13.

HARRIS: OK, got it. I marked it down.

ANDERSON: They're nominated as well.

HARRIS: Brooke, good to see you.

ANDERSON: Good to see you, Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Take care.

NGUYEN: They're great in concert, by the way. You need to get out and see them.

HARRIS: I need to see them. I do.

NGUYEN: Well, the latest industry in the hot seat for outsourcing is a struggling U.S. airline, but have they gone too far this time?

HARRIS: Well, let's get the update. David Haffenreffer joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange with that story.

Hi, David.

(STOCK REPORT)

NGUYEN: Thank you, David.

HARRIS: Thank you.

A Texas abduction takes a horrible turn. Up next, the latest on the Wal-Mart worker kidnapped as she left work Wednesday night. Plus, what you should do if you find yourself in a similar position.

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