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North Korea Vows to Bolster Nuclear Program; Prince Charles to Marry Camilla Parker Bowles
Aired February 10, 2005 - 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.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, Pope John Paul II is out of the hospital and back home at the Vatican. Crowds lined the streets of Rome to watch the pope mobile pass a little more than an hour ago. We'll have the latest report on the pope's health straight ahead this half-hour.
General Motors is recalling some 155,000 pickups and SUVs because of a possible brake defect. The recall includes the Hummer H2 and a number of different model trucks and SUVs from 2004 and 2005. GM says, so far, there have been no reports of accidents or injuries caused by that defect.
Putting pressure on Congress, President Bush is in Pennsylvania this hour promoting his plan to overhaul Social Security. Speaking earlier in North Carolina, the president said voters won't punish lawmakers for taking on a tough issue.
And we're about to hear a verdict in the federal case against a civil rights lawyer who is accused of going way too far to help a client. Lynne Stewart is charged with material support of a terrorist for allegedly helping imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman communicate with the outside world. Stewart could be imprisoned herself for 20 years if she's convicted. We'll keep you posted.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Out of the shadows, into the headlines, a bare-bones announcement on official TV asserts North Korea not only can produce nuclear weapons, and -- it said before -- and not only has the right to make nuclear weapons, as it's claimed before, but does have nuclear weapons and plans to make more and has no further use for a multinational negotiation on the issue.
Pyongyang cites the perceived threat from the Bush administration in deciding -- quote -- "to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal, having already manufactured nukes for self-defense."
Thus, North Korea reclaims its spot on the front-burners, talking points, radar screens of its many allied -- or alleged adversaries right along Iran.
Our coverage continues with CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and national security correspondent David Ensor.
Suzanne, let's start with you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, President Bush is spending his day on the road in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to push forward his Social Security reform plan.
But, of course, all eyes on the developments in these members of the so-called axis of evil, North Korea and Iran, North Korea's comments from earlier today, of course, generating this reaction from throughout the world. We're talking about from Russia, China, Britain, as well as, of course, the United States, all of them a united front, saying that North Korea must reengage in those six-party talks.
At the same time, however, the White House is trying to downplay some of those comments that were made, administration officials, including White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, saying that they have heard much of this type of talk before from North Korea, that kind of provocative language. It's certainly not the first time that they have threatened to walk away from those talks.
But it is the first time that North Korea has explicitly and publicly acknowledged that it has a nuclear weapons program. Privately, it admitted it to the United States before. Now, the Bush administration has been engaged in these multiparty talks. But what North Korea wants is one-on-one face time with this administration, with this president.
So far, President Bush has refused to engage in that way. We heard earlier from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her last leg of her European trip explaining why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: But the fact of the matter is that the world has given them a way out. And they should take that way out. We would hope that there will be six-party talks again and six-party talks soon, so that we can resolve this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, you may recall, Kyra, that it was back in the campaign that it was the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, who said that he would be willing, if he was in the White House, to engage in those one-on-one talks with North Korea.
The president has said in the past and administration officials continue to say that they do not believe that that is the wise course of action. They say it didn't work for the Clinton administration. They don't trust North Korea that it would work for this administration either -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux from the White House, thanks so much.
Now, U.S. officials tell CNN they're working up a major new report on the nuclear capabilities of Iran, keeping in mind those hugely discredited intel reports on Iraq.
More on this now from CNN's David Ensor in Washington -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the U.S. intelligence community is preparing a major new report for the Bush administration covering Iran's nuclear weapons-related programs.
We're told the report will take months. Officials decline to describe its scope, except to confirm that it will assess the status of Iran's long concealed nuclear weapons-related work.
Now, executive and congressional branch sources say that, given the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, following a national intelligence estimate which said that Iraq had active weapons programs, the work on this report, the Iran report, which is called a -- quote -- "memo to holders," will be particularly careful.
As one U.S. official put it -- quote -- "No one wants to be wrong again." U.S. officials say that, although the report will not be considered a national intelligence estimate, the same methodical procedures that are used with NIEs will be followed. NIEs, of course, are the most formal intelligence product prepared for presidents by U.S. intelligence. They generally take many months to prepare and often contain dissenting views from different parts of the intelligence community.
The NIE, the now famous one on Iraqi WMD, however, was prepared in just a matter of weeks, prior to congressional vote giving the president support for possible military action. And it was the embarrassment of that that is very much in people's minds today as they say that this report is going to take many months indeed -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: David, within the ranks of the military, sources have talked about strike planning when it comes to Iran and that there are plans on the table. What do your intel sources say?
ENSOR: There are always plans. The military's job is to have plans for eventualities which may never come to pass. So there are indeed of course plans on how you would attack Iran if you had to.
But they are very much back-burner plans. There's no intention to use military action. What this is about is trying to get better intelligence, trying to come to a really considered judgment as to what is Iran really up to with these nuclear facilities -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: David Ensor, thanks so much -- Tony.
HARRIS: As democracy goes, it's a tentative baby step by a longtime U.S. ally. For the first time ever, these men in Saudi Arabia are voting in an election. Men in Riyadh had a chance to cast ballots for position in the city government. It is the only city voting. And, in line with Saudi custom, women were barred.
That aside, it is regarded as the kingdom's first-ever election that otherwise conforms to international standards.
PHILLIPS: Pope John Paul II is settling back at the Vatican after spending more than a week in a Rome hospital. Doctors gave the 84-year-old pontiff the all-year earlier in the day.
And, a short time ago, he was bundled into the pope mobile for the five-minute drive to the Vatican, hundreds of well-wishers cheering him along the way.
HARRIS: Now to a union that's been 34 years in the making. Yes, we're talking Charles and Camilla, Britain's crown prince and his longtime lady love, and word that they will wed. How do Britons feel about this royal engagement?
CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is outside Buckingham Palace -- Fionnuala.
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Tony. It would seem that, some 35 years after the couple first met, their union will be formalized in a civil ceremony, not a royal religious ceremony, but a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle just outside London on April the 8th.
The carefully choreographed announcement was made earlier this morning from the prince's London residence, Clarence House. And, in that statement, it made clear that, should Charles become king, Camilla will not be queen. She will be known then as the princess consort. But until then, once she's married, she will be known as the duchess of Cornwall.
This, as I say, was a carefully choreographed statement between Downing Street, church leaders here and the monarchy. And one of the reasons, of course, it is so sensitive is that both are divorcees. And once Charles becomes king of England, he would then be the head of the Church of England, the Anglican Church here.
Some are saying that his remarriage could cause a disestablishment of the church, a separation of church and state. Many in London, though, that we were talking to today are quite happy or either don't care that Charles is marrying his longtime love. But, of course, the specter and the ghost of Diana, princess of Wales, his first marriage, hovering in the background, causing many to be reminded of another royal marriage back in 1981 and wondering whether or not this is the fairy tale marriage -- Tony.
HARRIS: Fionnuala Sweeney, live from just outside of Buckingham Palace -- Fionnuala Sweeney, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well, while the world will no doubt be watching that royal wedding come April...
HARRIS: Right now, all eyes are on a different march down the aisle. We're talking about Fashion Week. We'll show you what's hot and what's not as we check out Vera Wang's new line.
PHILLIPS: Thinking of cloning your kitty? Well, one state wants to make sure pet owners aren't seeing double.
HARRIS: And just ahead, a real cliffhanger. A hiker falls 40 feet, but help comes to the rescue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: President Bush budget proposal, revealed this week, would consolidate many economic development programs into a new agency and give it about $2 billion less. The biggest of these programs is HUD's community development block grants.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim profiles one group in Detroit that relies on this funding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When John George walks out his front door, he's already at work, trying to save his neighborhood.
JOHN GEORGE, FOUNDER, BLIGHT BUSTERS: I don't mind getting my hands dirty for a good cause. So, this is how I dress, because it's directly related to what I do.
OPPENHEIM: What he does is run Blight Busters, a community-based organization that builds mostly single-family homes on Detroit's northwest side. Everything he wears and drives is covered with logos and slogans.
GEORGE: You have to understand that affordable, clean, decent housing, I believe, is almost a God-given right.
OPPENHEIM: George is proud of his success stories, like Lavonne Bingman, a single mom who, with her four children, moved into a house built with the help of federal grants.
LAVONNE BINGMAN, DETROIT RESIDENT: My kids, all four of them, they haven't had no troubles over here.
OPPENHEIM: But ride farther with John and the subject changes to this, demolition. And you will hear his frustration.
GEORGE: A neighborhood should not have this. Would you live around this?
OPPENHEIM (on camera): No.
GEORGE: Would anybody live around this mess? Well, why should we have to? Because we don't have a lot of money? That's why we have to live next to this?
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In Detroit, there are thousands of eyesores like this, abandoned homes on a waiting list to be torn down. Until they are, the rotting buildings can stop growth and present a major safety hazard, especially to kids.
GEORGE: They could get hurt. They could get raped in here. Nothing ever good happens at an abandoned crack house or an abandoned home. OPPENHEIM: Groups like Blight Busters have relied on community development block grants to pay for demolition and reconstruction. George says, if those funds in Detroit are cut by more than half, as the president's budget proposes, the blight will stay put.
(on camera): What's in it for other Americans who sometimes look at cities like Detroit as unfixable, or where lots of money has been spent and they don't see it being better?
(CROSSTALK)
GEORGE: Well, you know, what they have to understand is, people that live in Detroit are people. We're living, breathing human beings. And we're Americans. If you have people that are living in squalor, what kind of children, what kind of people do you think that would help produce?
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Blight Busters in is better shape than other groups, because it relies more on private and corporate dollars and less on government money to make a difference.
TYRAN GRISSOM, NEW HOPE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: This area has been severely blighted for years.
OPPENHEIM: But Tyran Grissom of New Hope Community Development faces a more difficult future. His organization helped restore 40 homes and build six new ones. And he estimates more than 25 percent of the funding came from federal grants.
(on camera): What happens to your group if block grant funding essentially dries up? Will you keep doing what you're doing?
GRISSOM: Oh, no. Oh, no. It would be -- if we were to continue what we were doing, it would be really tough, straining, and could force our doors to close.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The impact of budget cuts can be widespread, but, in Detroit, community organizers and city officials are especially alarmed. For a city that's been struggling for two generations to regain its balance, any loss of money is a threat to improvement. And those who have worked hard to make things better, like Tyran Grissom and John George, see these proposed cuts as a major blow.
GEORGE: It's one thing to cut fat. But when you cut muscle and bone, you're going to kill the very thing you are trying to help or save. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Once again, that was Keith Oppenheim.
And stay with CNN as we continue to bring you stories and in- depth reporting on the president's budget proposal.
HARRIS: News across America now. In Georgia, the case of the tainted cake. Two 13-year-old girls get supervised probation for serving a cake baked with glue and modeling clay to their classmates. They initially faced attempted much charges, but that was changed when it was found there was nothing toxic in the cake.
California will be asked to consider a ban on pet cloning. State lawmaker Lloyd Levine says he will introduce a bill to ban the sale of cloned pets. And that would put the brakes on one cloning company, which says it has already cloned a cat.
And a rescue in Los Angeles. A 14-year-old girl is plucked from the side of a cliff. She fell while hiking and was rescued -- take a look at these pictures -- by firefighters and sheriff's deputies using a helicopter. The teenager froze with apparent fear about 150 feet up that cliff. The girl received just minor injuries.
PHILLIPS: What are the ingredients for hot fashion?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FERN MALLIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "7TH ON SIXTH": It takes a little chutzpah. It takes a little cash. And it takes a lot of talent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. Just ahead on LIVE FROM, a little chutzpah, a little cash. We're going to take you to the runways of New York for Fashion Week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, it's time to check your style barometers. Let's bolt to the New York City Fashion Week.
Kate Betts, once again, editor in chief "Time Style & Design," she joins us with designer Vera Wang.
And we're not talking about wedding dresses, are we, Kate?
KATE BETTS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "TIME STYLE & DESIGN": No. These are beautiful, beautiful dresses inspired by Flemish painting, the most gorgeous colors with lots of details, like beading and fur and velvet and gorgeous bouquets, and satins, really an unbelievably beautiful collection from Vera Wang.
And here we are backstage after the show with Vera herself.
Vera, tell us a little bit about your inspiration. You just said it was Flemish painting?
VERA WANG, DESIGNER: It was Flemish painting, because they were painters that loved to explore light and illumination of color and the fact that colors could even be dark, but they could shine. So, this is very much a collection about mixing all different textures and all different tonalities. And I loved it, because it had a bit of the classic, but then we really twisted the shapes around and the combinations around a lot.
BETTS: The shapes are beautiful. You had that sort of mid-calf length.
WANG: Yes.
BETTS: Which has been a point of discussion this week, because some other designers also did that.
WANG: I do know. I heard that.
(CROSSTALK)
BETTS: And people said it's very unwearable.
WANG: I don't look at other designers before I show.
But I think that it isn't even about the length, because you can shorten a skirt to there, like my daughters do. But I think it's more about a sense of style. And I like to think that my clothes are pretty wearable, for the most part.
BETTS: They are.
Now, you are the ultimate expert on wedding dressing and wedding designs, so tell us what you think Camilla Parker Bowles should wear to her wedding, the big news of the day.
(CROSSTALK)
WANG: Well, first of all, I had to hear -- listen twice to make sure I really heard what I heard.
But I think, actually, for her, the quieter the better, because, you know, Diana was such an icon and such a fashion star and media personality. And I think, you know, she should really try to be her own person.
WANG: Should she wear white?
BETTS: I have no trouble with white. I just think that it should be, you know, a bit subdued and classic.
BETTS: Yes, classic all the way.
WANG: Classic all the way.
BETTS: No calls from her for you? Not yet.
WANG: Not from the palace yet, no, Kensington or Buckingham, no, not yet. Not yet.
(LAUGHTER)
BETTS: Thank you very much.
WANG: OK. Thank...
(CROSSTALK)
BETTS: Congratulations again. That was a beautiful collection.
PHILLIPS: Kate, that was my question. I wanted to know if she was going to do the dress, because we reported on it in the past 20 minutes. It's true. The word is out there. Will Vera do it?
BETTS: The word is -- oh, really? Well, she said no, they haven't called her yet.
PHILLIPS: Oh.
BETTS: So I guess she should stay close to the phone.
PHILLIPS: Yes. She better be checking that cell phone. All right, Kate Betts...
BETTS: Checking it every five minutes.
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks so much. And I know Kate will get the exclusive if indeed it happens. Thanks, Kate.
BETTS: Thank you. Have a good day.
PHILLIPS: All right.
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
PHILLIPS: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.
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Aired February 10, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, Pope John Paul II is out of the hospital and back home at the Vatican. Crowds lined the streets of Rome to watch the pope mobile pass a little more than an hour ago. We'll have the latest report on the pope's health straight ahead this half-hour.
General Motors is recalling some 155,000 pickups and SUVs because of a possible brake defect. The recall includes the Hummer H2 and a number of different model trucks and SUVs from 2004 and 2005. GM says, so far, there have been no reports of accidents or injuries caused by that defect.
Putting pressure on Congress, President Bush is in Pennsylvania this hour promoting his plan to overhaul Social Security. Speaking earlier in North Carolina, the president said voters won't punish lawmakers for taking on a tough issue.
And we're about to hear a verdict in the federal case against a civil rights lawyer who is accused of going way too far to help a client. Lynne Stewart is charged with material support of a terrorist for allegedly helping imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman communicate with the outside world. Stewart could be imprisoned herself for 20 years if she's convicted. We'll keep you posted.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Out of the shadows, into the headlines, a bare-bones announcement on official TV asserts North Korea not only can produce nuclear weapons, and -- it said before -- and not only has the right to make nuclear weapons, as it's claimed before, but does have nuclear weapons and plans to make more and has no further use for a multinational negotiation on the issue.
Pyongyang cites the perceived threat from the Bush administration in deciding -- quote -- "to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal, having already manufactured nukes for self-defense."
Thus, North Korea reclaims its spot on the front-burners, talking points, radar screens of its many allied -- or alleged adversaries right along Iran.
Our coverage continues with CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and national security correspondent David Ensor.
Suzanne, let's start with you.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, President Bush is spending his day on the road in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to push forward his Social Security reform plan.
But, of course, all eyes on the developments in these members of the so-called axis of evil, North Korea and Iran, North Korea's comments from earlier today, of course, generating this reaction from throughout the world. We're talking about from Russia, China, Britain, as well as, of course, the United States, all of them a united front, saying that North Korea must reengage in those six-party talks.
At the same time, however, the White House is trying to downplay some of those comments that were made, administration officials, including White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, saying that they have heard much of this type of talk before from North Korea, that kind of provocative language. It's certainly not the first time that they have threatened to walk away from those talks.
But it is the first time that North Korea has explicitly and publicly acknowledged that it has a nuclear weapons program. Privately, it admitted it to the United States before. Now, the Bush administration has been engaged in these multiparty talks. But what North Korea wants is one-on-one face time with this administration, with this president.
So far, President Bush has refused to engage in that way. We heard earlier from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her last leg of her European trip explaining why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: But the fact of the matter is that the world has given them a way out. And they should take that way out. We would hope that there will be six-party talks again and six-party talks soon, so that we can resolve this issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, you may recall, Kyra, that it was back in the campaign that it was the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, who said that he would be willing, if he was in the White House, to engage in those one-on-one talks with North Korea.
The president has said in the past and administration officials continue to say that they do not believe that that is the wise course of action. They say it didn't work for the Clinton administration. They don't trust North Korea that it would work for this administration either -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne Malveaux from the White House, thanks so much.
Now, U.S. officials tell CNN they're working up a major new report on the nuclear capabilities of Iran, keeping in mind those hugely discredited intel reports on Iraq.
More on this now from CNN's David Ensor in Washington -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, the U.S. intelligence community is preparing a major new report for the Bush administration covering Iran's nuclear weapons-related programs.
We're told the report will take months. Officials decline to describe its scope, except to confirm that it will assess the status of Iran's long concealed nuclear weapons-related work.
Now, executive and congressional branch sources say that, given the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, following a national intelligence estimate which said that Iraq had active weapons programs, the work on this report, the Iran report, which is called a -- quote -- "memo to holders," will be particularly careful.
As one U.S. official put it -- quote -- "No one wants to be wrong again." U.S. officials say that, although the report will not be considered a national intelligence estimate, the same methodical procedures that are used with NIEs will be followed. NIEs, of course, are the most formal intelligence product prepared for presidents by U.S. intelligence. They generally take many months to prepare and often contain dissenting views from different parts of the intelligence community.
The NIE, the now famous one on Iraqi WMD, however, was prepared in just a matter of weeks, prior to congressional vote giving the president support for possible military action. And it was the embarrassment of that that is very much in people's minds today as they say that this report is going to take many months indeed -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: David, within the ranks of the military, sources have talked about strike planning when it comes to Iran and that there are plans on the table. What do your intel sources say?
ENSOR: There are always plans. The military's job is to have plans for eventualities which may never come to pass. So there are indeed of course plans on how you would attack Iran if you had to.
But they are very much back-burner plans. There's no intention to use military action. What this is about is trying to get better intelligence, trying to come to a really considered judgment as to what is Iran really up to with these nuclear facilities -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: David Ensor, thanks so much -- Tony.
HARRIS: As democracy goes, it's a tentative baby step by a longtime U.S. ally. For the first time ever, these men in Saudi Arabia are voting in an election. Men in Riyadh had a chance to cast ballots for position in the city government. It is the only city voting. And, in line with Saudi custom, women were barred.
That aside, it is regarded as the kingdom's first-ever election that otherwise conforms to international standards.
PHILLIPS: Pope John Paul II is settling back at the Vatican after spending more than a week in a Rome hospital. Doctors gave the 84-year-old pontiff the all-year earlier in the day.
And, a short time ago, he was bundled into the pope mobile for the five-minute drive to the Vatican, hundreds of well-wishers cheering him along the way.
HARRIS: Now to a union that's been 34 years in the making. Yes, we're talking Charles and Camilla, Britain's crown prince and his longtime lady love, and word that they will wed. How do Britons feel about this royal engagement?
CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is outside Buckingham Palace -- Fionnuala.
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Tony. It would seem that, some 35 years after the couple first met, their union will be formalized in a civil ceremony, not a royal religious ceremony, but a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle just outside London on April the 8th.
The carefully choreographed announcement was made earlier this morning from the prince's London residence, Clarence House. And, in that statement, it made clear that, should Charles become king, Camilla will not be queen. She will be known then as the princess consort. But until then, once she's married, she will be known as the duchess of Cornwall.
This, as I say, was a carefully choreographed statement between Downing Street, church leaders here and the monarchy. And one of the reasons, of course, it is so sensitive is that both are divorcees. And once Charles becomes king of England, he would then be the head of the Church of England, the Anglican Church here.
Some are saying that his remarriage could cause a disestablishment of the church, a separation of church and state. Many in London, though, that we were talking to today are quite happy or either don't care that Charles is marrying his longtime love. But, of course, the specter and the ghost of Diana, princess of Wales, his first marriage, hovering in the background, causing many to be reminded of another royal marriage back in 1981 and wondering whether or not this is the fairy tale marriage -- Tony.
HARRIS: Fionnuala Sweeney, live from just outside of Buckingham Palace -- Fionnuala Sweeney, thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well, while the world will no doubt be watching that royal wedding come April...
HARRIS: Right now, all eyes are on a different march down the aisle. We're talking about Fashion Week. We'll show you what's hot and what's not as we check out Vera Wang's new line.
PHILLIPS: Thinking of cloning your kitty? Well, one state wants to make sure pet owners aren't seeing double.
HARRIS: And just ahead, a real cliffhanger. A hiker falls 40 feet, but help comes to the rescue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER UPDATE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: President Bush budget proposal, revealed this week, would consolidate many economic development programs into a new agency and give it about $2 billion less. The biggest of these programs is HUD's community development block grants.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim profiles one group in Detroit that relies on this funding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When John George walks out his front door, he's already at work, trying to save his neighborhood.
JOHN GEORGE, FOUNDER, BLIGHT BUSTERS: I don't mind getting my hands dirty for a good cause. So, this is how I dress, because it's directly related to what I do.
OPPENHEIM: What he does is run Blight Busters, a community-based organization that builds mostly single-family homes on Detroit's northwest side. Everything he wears and drives is covered with logos and slogans.
GEORGE: You have to understand that affordable, clean, decent housing, I believe, is almost a God-given right.
OPPENHEIM: George is proud of his success stories, like Lavonne Bingman, a single mom who, with her four children, moved into a house built with the help of federal grants.
LAVONNE BINGMAN, DETROIT RESIDENT: My kids, all four of them, they haven't had no troubles over here.
OPPENHEIM: But ride farther with John and the subject changes to this, demolition. And you will hear his frustration.
GEORGE: A neighborhood should not have this. Would you live around this?
OPPENHEIM (on camera): No.
GEORGE: Would anybody live around this mess? Well, why should we have to? Because we don't have a lot of money? That's why we have to live next to this?
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In Detroit, there are thousands of eyesores like this, abandoned homes on a waiting list to be torn down. Until they are, the rotting buildings can stop growth and present a major safety hazard, especially to kids.
GEORGE: They could get hurt. They could get raped in here. Nothing ever good happens at an abandoned crack house or an abandoned home. OPPENHEIM: Groups like Blight Busters have relied on community development block grants to pay for demolition and reconstruction. George says, if those funds in Detroit are cut by more than half, as the president's budget proposes, the blight will stay put.
(on camera): What's in it for other Americans who sometimes look at cities like Detroit as unfixable, or where lots of money has been spent and they don't see it being better?
(CROSSTALK)
GEORGE: Well, you know, what they have to understand is, people that live in Detroit are people. We're living, breathing human beings. And we're Americans. If you have people that are living in squalor, what kind of children, what kind of people do you think that would help produce?
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Blight Busters in is better shape than other groups, because it relies more on private and corporate dollars and less on government money to make a difference.
TYRAN GRISSOM, NEW HOPE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: This area has been severely blighted for years.
OPPENHEIM: But Tyran Grissom of New Hope Community Development faces a more difficult future. His organization helped restore 40 homes and build six new ones. And he estimates more than 25 percent of the funding came from federal grants.
(on camera): What happens to your group if block grant funding essentially dries up? Will you keep doing what you're doing?
GRISSOM: Oh, no. Oh, no. It would be -- if we were to continue what we were doing, it would be really tough, straining, and could force our doors to close.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The impact of budget cuts can be widespread, but, in Detroit, community organizers and city officials are especially alarmed. For a city that's been struggling for two generations to regain its balance, any loss of money is a threat to improvement. And those who have worked hard to make things better, like Tyran Grissom and John George, see these proposed cuts as a major blow.
GEORGE: It's one thing to cut fat. But when you cut muscle and bone, you're going to kill the very thing you are trying to help or save. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Once again, that was Keith Oppenheim.
And stay with CNN as we continue to bring you stories and in- depth reporting on the president's budget proposal.
HARRIS: News across America now. In Georgia, the case of the tainted cake. Two 13-year-old girls get supervised probation for serving a cake baked with glue and modeling clay to their classmates. They initially faced attempted much charges, but that was changed when it was found there was nothing toxic in the cake.
California will be asked to consider a ban on pet cloning. State lawmaker Lloyd Levine says he will introduce a bill to ban the sale of cloned pets. And that would put the brakes on one cloning company, which says it has already cloned a cat.
And a rescue in Los Angeles. A 14-year-old girl is plucked from the side of a cliff. She fell while hiking and was rescued -- take a look at these pictures -- by firefighters and sheriff's deputies using a helicopter. The teenager froze with apparent fear about 150 feet up that cliff. The girl received just minor injuries.
PHILLIPS: What are the ingredients for hot fashion?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FERN MALLIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "7TH ON SIXTH": It takes a little chutzpah. It takes a little cash. And it takes a lot of talent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. Just ahead on LIVE FROM, a little chutzpah, a little cash. We're going to take you to the runways of New York for Fashion Week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, it's time to check your style barometers. Let's bolt to the New York City Fashion Week.
Kate Betts, once again, editor in chief "Time Style & Design," she joins us with designer Vera Wang.
And we're not talking about wedding dresses, are we, Kate?
KATE BETTS, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "TIME STYLE & DESIGN": No. These are beautiful, beautiful dresses inspired by Flemish painting, the most gorgeous colors with lots of details, like beading and fur and velvet and gorgeous bouquets, and satins, really an unbelievably beautiful collection from Vera Wang.
And here we are backstage after the show with Vera herself.
Vera, tell us a little bit about your inspiration. You just said it was Flemish painting?
VERA WANG, DESIGNER: It was Flemish painting, because they were painters that loved to explore light and illumination of color and the fact that colors could even be dark, but they could shine. So, this is very much a collection about mixing all different textures and all different tonalities. And I loved it, because it had a bit of the classic, but then we really twisted the shapes around and the combinations around a lot.
BETTS: The shapes are beautiful. You had that sort of mid-calf length.
WANG: Yes.
BETTS: Which has been a point of discussion this week, because some other designers also did that.
WANG: I do know. I heard that.
(CROSSTALK)
BETTS: And people said it's very unwearable.
WANG: I don't look at other designers before I show.
But I think that it isn't even about the length, because you can shorten a skirt to there, like my daughters do. But I think it's more about a sense of style. And I like to think that my clothes are pretty wearable, for the most part.
BETTS: They are.
Now, you are the ultimate expert on wedding dressing and wedding designs, so tell us what you think Camilla Parker Bowles should wear to her wedding, the big news of the day.
(CROSSTALK)
WANG: Well, first of all, I had to hear -- listen twice to make sure I really heard what I heard.
But I think, actually, for her, the quieter the better, because, you know, Diana was such an icon and such a fashion star and media personality. And I think, you know, she should really try to be her own person.
WANG: Should she wear white?
BETTS: I have no trouble with white. I just think that it should be, you know, a bit subdued and classic.
BETTS: Yes, classic all the way.
WANG: Classic all the way.
BETTS: No calls from her for you? Not yet.
WANG: Not from the palace yet, no, Kensington or Buckingham, no, not yet. Not yet.
(LAUGHTER)
BETTS: Thank you very much.
WANG: OK. Thank...
(CROSSTALK)
BETTS: Congratulations again. That was a beautiful collection.
PHILLIPS: Kate, that was my question. I wanted to know if she was going to do the dress, because we reported on it in the past 20 minutes. It's true. The word is out there. Will Vera do it?
BETTS: The word is -- oh, really? Well, she said no, they haven't called her yet.
PHILLIPS: Oh.
BETTS: So I guess she should stay close to the phone.
PHILLIPS: Yes. She better be checking that cell phone. All right, Kate Betts...
BETTS: Checking it every five minutes.
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks so much. And I know Kate will get the exclusive if indeed it happens. Thanks, Kate.
BETTS: Thank you. Have a good day.
PHILLIPS: All right.
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
PHILLIPS: "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.
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