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Shuttle Flaw Could Lead to Launch Delay; Veteran Charged in Rape-Murder Case; Saddam's Daughter, First Wife on Most Wanted List; Osama bin Laden Calls for Terrorism in Iraq, Somalia; Boeing Awards Employee Stock Bonuses; Israel Blaming Hamas, Syria for Kidnapped Soldier
Aired July 03, 2006 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kyra Phillips at CNN world headquarters right here in Atlanta.
The third time may not be the charm for Space Shuttle Discovery. Liftoff once again in question. Our Miles O'Brien has the details on this latest setback.
Also, wanted in Iraq. Saddam's ex-wife and daughter make the list, but why are they so dangerous? And who else is on this most wanted list?
Plus, a former soldier charged in the rape and murder of a family in Iraq. CNN is following this developing story. LIVE FROM starts right now.
Topping our news this hour, another snag for the space shuttle. A crack in the foam on the fuel tank. Will it delay Discovery again? Our space correspondent, Miles O'Brien, is right on top of all this.
Miles, you've been in wait and see mode all weekend long. Now it's Monday. What's NASA telling you?
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we have gone through a couple of launch scrubs. That might have to do with why this crack has appeared on the external fuel tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
A meeting has been underway. We do expect to hear very shortly from the mission management team with their decision on how to proceed. Take a look at live pictures there. It's Launch Pad 39b. Looks like a beautiful day down at the cape. The space shuttle enveloped inside that gray scaffolding, sort of its cocoon there, the rotating service structure, they call it.
Let's go to an animated -- a graphic there. And I'll just give you a sense of where this crack was found. Right up in this area here. This is called the intertank region. There's actually two tanks inside that orange fuel tank. Oxygen is up here, behind the shuttle here is hydrogen. Inner tank area is right in the middle. And that's where the two meet.
There are some pipes which connect them on the outside. And one of those pipes, the one that feeds oxygen, is where this crack is located. Let's take a look at a close up of it now, this coming to us through the "Orlando Sentinel". And there you can see it right across. It's on a diagonal right like that. I don't want to keep it covered over. I just wanted to train your eye to it. It is all of five inches in length and 1/8 inch in depth.
That doesn't sound like very much, but if ice were to form in there, it could easily breakaway. It's a fairly substantial piece of foam. And given its location, as we just told you, sort of upstream of the orbiter itself, that is a big concern, because of course, we're talking about the possibility of some damage to the orbiter, harkening back to three and a half years ago, Space Shuttle Columbia, big piece of foam hitting the leading edge of the left wing, causing a fatal breach to the heat shield.
Let me show you how this foam is applied. Most of it is applied by a robotic paint operating system. There are key place like this where pipes and brackets occur where the application of the foam is done by hand, as you see here. It's done in New Orleans at the facility, the Michoud Facility there. You're seeing some of the hand spraying that goes on.
And every single case of foam that has been difficult for NASA and has caused problems and has fallen off has been hand sprayed foams. They've been working on techniques to make it go on a little more evenly with fewer air bubbles, less of an opportunity for it to crack.
Let's go back down to remind you what we're talking about here, the Space Shuttle Columbia. This is January of 2003. Take a look right there in that area. You can see that foam kind of blasts through there.
At the time NASA thought foam was a harmless thing, like a Styrofoam cooler blowing off of a pickup truck on a highway. They learned, of course, 16 days later that it was much more lethal than that, the crew of seven perishing as they returned to Earth.
NASA spent two years and a half and a billion dollars redesigning the tank, and look what happened last year when Discovery flew. Right down there, another big piece of foam falling away. In this case, fortunately, harmlessly, not striking the wing or any portion of the orbiter. But it really was a wakeup call for NASA to go for another redesign.
Still, in many cases, there are pieces of foam on there that are causing the attention of engineers and concern. And now that this crack has been found, NASA has to decide what to do about it. Everything from swapping out the fuel tank is an option to flying as is, is another option. Somewhere in between probably is the way we'll probably see this go. It can be repaired on the launch pad if need be. A patch can be made on that cracked foam.
So in just a short time, we should hear from the officials. As it stands right now though, the countdown clock resumed is continuing for a planned launch tomorrow, the Fourth of July, Independence Day. That would be a first-ever launch on Independence Day at 2:38 p.m. Eastern Time.
And Betty, you and I, we walked through those scrubs over the weekend. And it might very well be that the flexing that the tank goes through, as that super cold hydrogen and oxygen comes in, is the source of creating that crack. So that might make NASA managers think about tanking up or loading up that cold cryogenic fuel on a really bad weather day the next time.
NGUYEN: Right, yes. That makes good sense, but let me ask you this. You mentioned that they could possibly fix it while it's out on the pad. But in doing so, wouldn't they have to build some scaffolding? And that's going to take some time. So could they really realistically launch tomorrow?
O'BRIEN: Well, take a look at that pad. If you put that through the telestrator, and I'll show you exactly why it is possible.
If you look at that rotating surface structure, underneath there is -- that is the inner tank region right in there. And if you look, there is scaffolding access. This whole facility here, the rotating service structure, is designed for this kind of scenario. So they have access to the external portion of the orbiter that is not reachable by the normal gantry there. And it's been closed up there. So it might very well be they have good access to this location and can do the job. That's a good question.
NGUYEN: We'll wait and see what NASA has to say. That news conference should be happening any minute now. And when it does, of course, Miles, we will bring it live and you will be there to assist us. Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right.
NGUYEN: Well, the allegations are simply chilling. U.S. soldiers suspected of raping and killing an Iraqi woman and killing three members of her family? Now, there are charges against a former soldier.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is at her post with the details on this.
Tell us about these charges and who they're against.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, the charges indeed are very disturbing. We now have received the 11-page arrest warrant from the Justice Department.
It speaks of an incident involving alcohol, drinking by soldiers, dressing themselves in dark clothing and going to the house of an Iraqi family, where it is alleged, according to this arrest warrant, that Steven Green, 21 years old, formerly a member of the 101st Airborne Division, raped one of the Iraqi women and then was involved in the shooting, killing of three other people in the house.
It's a very complicated situation in terms of the details that are laid out. But one thing that the Justice Department is now saying is that Steven Green was, in fact, discharged from the army, from the 101st Airborne Division, that he received an honorable discharge but that, according to this 11-page document, he was discharged, quote, "due to a personality disorder."
This event happened back in March, but just came to light a couple of weeks ago when soldiers in the unit spoke about it during a stress debriefing that they had received after the deaths of privates Menchaca and Tucker. Of course, you'll remember those were the two young soldiers that were apparently abducted and then brutally murdered by Iraqi insurgents. So they spoke then finally of this incident that they had information on back in March.
Green is now charged in the civilian court system in the United States. And under the law, he can be charged for crimes committed while he was on active duty in the military, just as if he had committed those crimes in the United States as a civilian, not in the military.
But the military still may have the option, Betty, of bringing him back on active duty and charging him under the military justice system. At least three other soldiers are said to have been involved in the same incident -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Barbara, these are some really serious allegations. So if he is convicted -- let's just say it goes to that point -- what could he face?
STARR: Well, under the charges of murder that could be brought -- that are apparently being brought against him, he could, of course, face the death penalty, and for the charges of rape, according to the Justice Department, he could face life in prison.
At this point, they are, we want to emphasize, allegations and charges. No one is convicted yet.
NGUYEN: Right.
STARR: But this 11-page arrest warrant spelled out by the U.S. Justice Department has an extraordinary amount of very disturbing detail. As I said, that there had been drinking, that they dressed in dark clothing, that they went to a house where they knew these Iraqi citizens were living, that they had plotted, conspired in the words of the Justice Department, to carry out this act. And then have sought to cover up their crime -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Very disturbing. Barbara Starr, thank you for that.
Well, two more U.S. military families are getting the worst possible news. Another U.S. Marine was killed in Iraq today. And a soldier died on patrol last night.
It has been a deadly day for Iraqis, as well. At least 12 killed in attacks all across the country. Dozens were hurt, including two soldiers and two police officers when a suicide car bomber blew himself up near a Baghdad hospital. He was the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, but did al Qaeda sell out Abu Musab al Zarqawi? That's what a woman said to be his first wife tells an Italian newspaper. She's quoted as saying al-Zarqawi had become too powerful, too troublesome for al Qaeda. So she says the network struck a secret deal with U.S. intelligence in exchange for a promise to let up on the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Al-Zarqawi's family, though, says it hasn't been in touch with this woman in two years.
A new most wanted list to tell you about. And this one's all in the family. That's more next right here on LIVE FROM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Another live look at the launch pad there in Florida as we await a news conference from NASA to talk about this crack found on the shuttle insulation, the foam there. We'll bring that to you live when it happens.
But in the meantime, the stock market, well, it closed just a few minutes ago due to the independence holiday. The Dow closed up nearly 78 points. It's at 11,228 right now. We'll check in with Cheryl Kisoni (ph) at the stock exchange. That is coming up when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAGHAD HUSSEIN, SADDAN HUSSEIN'S DAUGHTER (through translator): I wish the Iraqis peace, security, and a bright future, better than what they have today. But I think from what I hear and see on television, the situation is bad and getting worse day by day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Interesting when you hear who that's from: Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter. Yes, in an interview with CNN in 2003 just after the capture of her father. Well, today she and her mother are among Iraq's most wanted. Baghdad has released a list of 41 fugitives who it says have blood on their hands.
CNN's Arwa Damon has a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Topping that list of 41 is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. He is also No. 6 on the United States list of 55. Under Saddam Hussein's regime, he was the deputy commander of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, and to date he is the senior most Ba'ath Party official still at large.
Two interesting names on that list, at No. 16 and 17, Saddam Hussein's daughter, Raghad, who currently resides in Jordan as a guest of the royal family there. She is accused by the Iraqi government of financing and providing logistical support to the former regime elements of the insurgency operating here in Iraq.
And his wife, who is believed to be in Qatar, Sajida, accused by the Iraqi government of providing guidance as well as finances to insurgents operating here.
Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security advisor, said that the Iraqi government has specific evidence that she took billions of dollars out of Iraq, placed them in a bank in one of Iraq's neighboring countries and that millions of dollars of that money ended up directly in the hands of terrorists here in Iraq to fund terrorist acts here in this country.
Now, the national security advisor saying that bringing these 41 individuals to justice was his country's top priority. This was their way of bringing the insurgency under control, putting this list out to the people. He said it was crucial to show the Iraqi people that the government was taking its job seriously.
And in fact, Iraqis that CNN spoke to this morning said that they believed that this was a positive step by this government, that now finally, they were seeing the government take action.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. So let's get to the flurry of threats from the top ranks of al Qaeda, including two taped statements in four days from Osama bin Laden. With more on the story from Washington, national security correspondent David Ensor.
David, what have you gathered from these two messages?
DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first one, of course, was a message of condolence and mourning for the death of al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader in Iraq who died in an American air strike.
The second one, the one that came out this weekend, was a call to supporters of al Qaeda in Somalia and Iraq, two places where al Qaeda sees both opportunity and risk at this time. And bin Laden is basically calling for -- for terrorism to be committed, for freedom fighters to fight against the United States, the coalition forces in Iraq, and also its allies.
He talks a lot about the government of Iraq, the various governments that have been in place since Saddam Hussein was ousted, all of them Shiite. He talks about Prime Minister al-Maliki and his supporters.
And while it isn't a call for a jihad against all Shiites, it's full of language that criticizes anyone who supports al-Maliki, anyone who supports this government. It talks about apostates, in other words, heretics, not a very complimentary word in the Muslim lexicon.
So in a way, bin Laden here is taking on the Shiites. And it's a bit of a shift, perhaps, tactically, from where he's been in the past. Here's a bit of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN, LEADER OF AL QAEDA (through translator): Our Muslim people in Iraq need to learn that no truths should be accepted with the crusaders and the apostates. There shouldn't be any half solutions and there is no way out for them except by fighting and holding onto their struggle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENSOR: So there's kind of the theme from Osama bin Laden, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, David.
We want to get straight now to NASA down in Florida, where a news conference is underway about the shuttle and its possible launch tomorrow. Let's take a listen.
JOHN SHANNON, DEPUTY PROGRAM MANAGER: ... the condition of the orbiter, the SRBs, the pad everything. And they document any anomalies or anything that they didn't expect in what's called a problem report or an interim problem report. And -- and we got one of those on a crack in the foam that holds -- that surrounds a bracket that holds on the feed line.
And this is the locks tank. This is the locks feed line that runs down the tank. And there are several brackets down the side that hold it structurally onto the tank itself.
The structure that is holding it -- we have a slide we can show you -- but there's essentially some foam around here. And when the tank, when we fill it up, it shrinks. And of course, when you detank, it expands. And what you need is an articulating joint here at the bracket that can move back and forth as the tank moves, relative to the locks feed line.
And what we think happened yesterday is when we had all of that rain that obviously is what scrubbed the launch, we had some condensation running down the locks feed line itself here, and it's very cold. And it froze and we got some ice built up in that articulating joint. And when the tank was emptied, and it started to warm up, it started to expand. And we think some of that ice stayed in that joint and it crushed a little bit of that foam. And what the -- what the inspection team reported was a small crack in the -- in that joint.
If we can pull up the very first slide here, we'll take a look at that. I hope you can see it. The middle picture, the black circle shows that crack, and that was the initial report that we got, and we started working with the team to make sure that we understood the physics, what could have caused that and -- and what it would mean to us.
As we moved the rotating service structure around, and I think it was just so coincidence, any residual ice in there that was creating a pinch point that caused that crack in the first place melted, and that small piece came out of that cracked area and landed down on the launch platform. And that's -- pull back up to slide No. 1 again. You can see it right there.
And John Chapman, the project engineer, will show you roughly how big it is, but you can tell it's about three inches in length. It's triangular shaped and it's about that thick. So it was a very small piece.
Now, the obvious question is, "Well, gee, if this would have happened in flight and this piece of foam would have come off, would that have been an issue?" And the answer is no, absolutely, it would not have been an issue. It is less than half the size that we think can cause damage to the orbiter.
So although it is in an area that we don't like to have foam come off, this was not unexpected, and it would not have caused any damage to the orbiter itself.
We called the MMT together to go over this, since we took an IPR on it, and to talk about maybe what the impacts to our launch could be. And we came up with three considerations that we need to go and think about.
The first is you know, that TPS is there for a couple reasons. One is for aerothermal heating. You want to make sure that the underlying structure does not get too hot and potentially could fail. The team is very confident that there's not going to be an issue with the foam that was lost in that area with any aerothermal heating, because that structure is -- has got a lot of margin to it, and John will tell us more about -- about that.
The other one is ice formation. Because we like that foam to be there so that we don't get ice to form, we've had that discussion about will this cause additional ice that could damage the orbiter to form? And the answer is that we're still doing analysis on that. We're going to look at it.
What I think will probably happen is we will not come up to a very conclusive answer tonight, but I am very comforted by the fact that we have an ice team that goes out there, and they have excellent views of this area. And we will have very clear criteria that if ice were to form out there that was -- was a danger to the orbiter, that the ice team would see it and we could stop the count and we could go do something else.
The other piece is the -- even though we have really good views of this area, obviously, we pinched it. And we cracked the foam and lost a little bit. There's some concern with the team of did you damage any other foam along that strut? And the -- let's go to slide No. 2.
This is the kind of the after picture after the foam came out of that little -- little pinched area. And it looks like it just came off all in one nice piece and there's no additional cracks. This photo really doesn't do justice to the high resolution that we got with the team on the ground that does the inspection. They actually use a telescope with a camera attached to it, and they got really high resolution pictures of that.
But you can't see the complete top area of that strut. And that was the third concern. The first was aerothermal. The second was ice formation. The third was making sure that there was no other foam that was pinched in there that could potentially come off.
And what we -- what we decided to do today in the MMT, and it was a fairly short meeting, was to -- to allow the team to have some time to go answer those questions, do the aerothermal analysis, make sure we have sufficient structure there to not have a problem, go review the ice formation. We've done a lot of tests, as you can imagine, over the last couple of years to understand ice formation, make sure that the rules on the book are correct.
And third was to go think of ways that we could inspect the rest of that foam and make sure that it's all intact and the team's looking at different opposites with boroscopes (ph). We have a platform we could move up there to look at it, but that -- that would take an additional day to do, and Mike can run through the schedule on that a little bit.
So what we decided to do was to continue with the plan that we were on, to continue with the loading of the hydrogen for the fuel cells, keep the team marching down that path. And we're letting the ET project and the systems engineering team go off and run the appropriate analysis and also letting the pad guys look at different ways that we could go inspect that area.
And we're going to meet back again at 6:30 tonight and summarize where we are with the analysis, summarize where we are with the inspection, try and clear all our concerns and go launch tomorrow.
If we decide that, well, you know, we're a little bit uncomfortable with this or we haven't completed our analysis or we need some more data, there is the potential that tonight, I would decide that -- that we've got our hydrogen loaded up, we're good to go, but we want to go out there tomorrow with the platform and just make 100 percent sure that there's no other -- no other problems with that strut.
And I have no preconceived notion for exactly how that discussion is going to go. We gave the different teams their actions to go off and work. And we're going to come back at 6:30 and review that.
And I am going to stop talking for a minute. I'm going to let John Chapman, the ET project manager, go over the -- kind of what that system does, how it works, and some of the -- some of the history.
NGUYEN: You've been listening to John Shannon, the deputy program manager talking about this crack there on the oxygen feed line. What he says is it was caused by -- caused by a buildup of ice.
We're going to bring in Miles O'Brien to talk in detail about this.
While he says it was not unexpected and that it wouldn't cause any damage to the orbiter, they are still investigating. And it seems like -- now correct me if I'm wrong, did they take that little piece off to look at it?
O'BRIEN: The piece actually fell off.
NGUYEN: OK.
O'BRIEN: The piece fell off. It was actually found at the base at the mobile launch platform, hundred or so feet below. And that's when the connection was made between what was a crack initially and then ultimately you can see here the piece which fell off of it.
And as he said, just remember, this piece far below the threshold for a piece that would cause damage to the orbiter. But the question is, has it laid the groundwork for another much larger piece to fall off? That's what this is all about. No one is certain where that stands right now.
So what they're doing, they're marching to two -- two time lines here. They're preserving the option to fly tomorrow by topping off some on board fuel tanks. There's a liquid hydrogen tank that runs the fuel cells which generate electricity on the space shuttle which should be topped off, which they were going to do anyway in time for launch.
So keep the countdown clock going. They'll go back and they'll think about ways they can further inspect it. I'm told -- and then also consider, quite frankly, the factor of the weather tomorrow to see if it's really going to be as good as it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be a better day. And then come back and make a decision as to whether to take a closer look at that.
As you said, Betty you pointed out very well a little while ago how do you get to it? And while that rotating surface structure helps quite a bit, there still is some additional platforms. You were right, some additional platforms that would need to be installed to get to that spot.
And so all of that, with inspection and all the things and closing out and all the things you'd have to do basically would make tomorrow's launch impossible. So that's why they're not committing to that just yet.
But if they have any lingering questions when they meet again at 6:30 tonight, I suspect John Shannon will order that inspection, and you'll see at least a one-day slip.
Now, if that inspection determines that there's another big piece missing on the top where they can't see, then we're into a whole different scenario where they might want to patch and move on.
Once again, you know, here we are three and a half years after Columbia, this falling foam issue. You know, we... NGUYEN: Keeps haunting NASA.
O'BRIEN: It is something that has always been there. It's now, we know the implications. And so every time we see one of these cracks -- I remember there was a launch not too many years ago where woodpeckers were pecking at that external fuel tank.
NGUYEN: I remember seeing that.
O'BRIEN: You remember that one, yes?
NGUYEN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: So, I mean, if post Columbia that would be a horrifying notion to imagine woodpeckers. At the time we thought it was kind of funny.
So now it's a whole different ball game when it comes to the slightest crack there in the external fuel tank. And some of this frankly, too, is a public relations issue for NASA.
NGUYEN: Quickly, let me ask you one thing before you move on. I know you have a guest that you want to speak with. But if this doesn't go off tomorrow, if this is a no go, when is the next possible launch?
O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, each day there's a launch opportunity up until July 19.
NGUYEN: OK.
O'BRIEN: And then what happens is each day, each day you can make it to the space station it gets a little bit earlier in the day. And then eventually, by July 19, you start running out of daylight. They want to launch during daylight.
NGUYEN: OK.
O'BRIEN: And then they pick up the window again August -- end of August.
Let's bring in Dave Wolf, NASA astronaut, who's been listening to the briefing along with us, as well.
And Dave, interesting to me how they're preserving the option to -- to launch tomorrow, but still, going down this path of trying to learn more about this tank, Dave.
DAVE WOLF, NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, that's true, Miles. And as you've seen, being so involved over the years with us, we tend to run parallel paths while analyses are going on. We find we don't have to make ultimate decisions until certain data is available.
O'BRIEN: So, what should that tell you, though? I mean, if there's any outstanding issues, any lingering concerns, I suspect they're going to want to take a closer look at this crack. WOLF: And that's certainly true. And as I don't know if you had a chance to hear the mission management briefing that just went on. John Shannon made that point very clear that, unless he's perfectly sure that we understand this situation and that it won't impact our launch, he'll go ahead, and we'll put the structures you referred to back in place, take closer looks and do whatever is necessary.
We do have through the 19. And for that matter we have on beyond that if we need to, to launch safely.
O'BRIEN: Yes. You mean with when the next window opens up for that matter. You're right. I mean, there is.
But the fact is, there is this whole notion that the space shuttle has a certain amount of time to fly 16 missions. And at a certain point, you've got to go with what is always going to be not a perfect vehicle but as close to perfect as it can be.
WOLF: Right. As you see, and as Mr. Griffin, Administrator Griffin pointed out so astutely, we'll never be perfectly safe and have every question answered. And any real program does, in fact, have a budget and a schedule pressure. And we have to trade those.
And that's what we're in the business of and we want the public and all of you to live it with us, the difficulty of these decisions with which we are faced. Any human error is so poorly tolerated in this environment.
O'BRIEN: All right. Final question for you, Dave Wolf. I'm curious if this will change the thinking about when to load up that fuel tank for those super cold cryogenic fuels in the future. What he said was the combination of that super cold fuel inside and the moist day, the rain that deluged us all there yesterday, was a bad combination. Maybe that will be farced into further decisions on whether to tank up that rocket in the future.
WOLF: Exactly. And I was just listening in the other ear as some technical discussions are going on very much addressing the point you just made. And that's why the mission management team needed this extra time as necessary to investigate paths of thought like you point out.
O'BRIEN: Dave Wolf, NASA astronaut, watching it for us, helping us understand. Thanks for your time.
Back to you, Betty.
NGUYEN: We'll stay on stand by. Thank you, Miles.
Well, employees at one big aerospace company are getting a nice Fourth of July gift. Cheryl Casone joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain.
A nice gift, eh?
CHERYL CASONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Hi, there, Betty. NGUYEN: Hi.
CASONE: About 63,000 Boeing employees qualified for stock bonuses worth about $5,400 per worker. Not bad. It's free money. The amount is based on the company's stock performance over the last two years.
Boeing rewards employees if its stock price rises more than three percent a year. Boeing beat that mark easily. Its stock has increased about 24 percent in the past year, 29 percent the year before that.
The incentive program has been around for 10 years. But this is only the second time the bonuses are being paid out.
Boeing has a separate bones plan for its executives, and the head of the company's commercial airplane unit got staff bonuses this year worth more than $6.5 million.
NGUYEN: Nothing to sneeze at, at all. Hey, speaking of hefty paychecks, one top executive is actually saying, "No, I don't want my bonus."
CASONE: "Yes, not important. Just give it to someone else." Absolutely.
Steve Jobs, big surprise here, Apple Computer's chief executive, has asked not to be paid a $65,000 salary for serving on the board of Walt Disney.
Jobs became a Disney director earlier this year when Disney bought Pixar animation studios. Jobs was also the CEO there. He has a history of taking token salaries, including just $1 a year to head up Apple.
But he's going to be OK. He has stock options and big ownership positions in his companies, not to mention other perks. In 2001, Apple gave him a Gulf Stream 5 jet worth more than $43 million.
Well, that is the latest from Wall Street. Coming up next hour, why one Fourth of July tradition may be in danger of exploding and fading away. Stay with us. LIVE FROM will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Falling foam aside, if NASA gives the go-ahead, will the weather cooperate this time around? Jacqui Jeras is here with the latest on this launch forecast. The weather has not cooperated over the last couple of days, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. And unfortunately. Too bad it's not taking off right about now, because actually, conditions are looking pretty good off the cape there. You can see some showers and thunderstorms offshore. They have to be at least 10 miles away from the launch pad in order for it to take off. These are about 25 to 30 miles away. We take a look at a live picture, and there you can see it sitting on the pad, and look at some of those puffy cumulus clouds. None of these that I see there are the towering cumulus, the kind that you'd be real concerned about. And you can see plenty of blue sky around there. Winds are relatively calm, about 10 miles per hour at this time.
Now, showers and thunderstorms, of course, are a big problem over the weekend. Today, we've got just a couple of them out there. Chances today and tomorrow both are much better than what we saw over the last couple of days. There you can see very nice conditions.
There's about a 40 percent chance we'll give it this thing not happening because of the weather tomorrow. Winds should be fine. Overall condition should be fine. It's just if we get some of those cumulus clouds coming in or an isolated shower or thunderstorm. Those are the two things that could potentially delay this because of the weather for tomorrow -- Betty.
NGUYEN: That's on the weather side of it.
JERAS: Right.
NGUYEN: They have other issues that they're dealing with. Jacqui Jeras, thank you.
Deadlines and defiance in the Middle East. Palestinian militants suggest time is running out for a captured Israeli soldier unless Israel frees some Palestinian prisoners. But Israel insists it won't be blackmailed and holds the Palestinian Authority and Syria responsible for the safety of the soldier.
CNN's John Vause has more on the standoff. He joins us from Gaza -- John.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been now less than 10 hours until a deadline set by the Palestinian militants holding Gilad Shalit. They're demanding an end to the Israeli military operation here, an end the air strikes, an end to the artillery shelling and the release of all Palestinian women and inmates under the age of 18 currently being held by the Israelis, about 400 in total, along with another 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
In a statement which was faxed to news organizations including CNN, the hostage takers warned, quote, "If the enemy does not meet our demands, we will consider the case closed."
The Israeli response seems to be mixed. The prime minister says there will be no negotiations, that his country will not be blackmailed, but the head of the military says all options are being considered and there are some reports in the Israeli media that the army has prepared a list of prisoners who may be released, those who do not have blood on their hands. Israeli is holding all of the Palestinian Authority responsible for the fate of Gilad Shalit. And to make their point over the weekend, a missile was fired at the office of the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Hanniyeh. The air strike was carried out in the early hours of the morning. And no one was hurt.
Meantime, thousands of troops and tanks are on stand by, awaiting the order to begin a rescue mission to try and save the 19-year-old Israeli corporal -- Betty.
NGUYEN: John, as time ticks away, Israel is not only pointing its finger at the Palestinian authority but also Syria. Talk to us about that connection.
VAUSE: Israel has often blamed Syria for being the protector and paymaster of the militant group Hamas. The exiled political director of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, is based in the Syrian capital of Damascus. And Israel says because of his presence of Khaled Meshal in Damascus and the sponsorship of Syria, Syria has a direct hand in whatever happens, not just in Gaza and the West Bank but also in Israel or Cyrus, attacks carried out by Hamas on Israeli targets.
Israel sent a very clear message last week to the Syrians, sending F-16s over the house of the Syrian president above his summer residence, and they knew that he was home at the time -- Betty.
NGUYEN: John Vause joining us by phone from Gaza City. John, thank you for that.
Well, the military says it killed 20 extremists in Afghanistan. A statement issued today says a coalition patrol was fired on yesterday in Helmand province. The patrol returned fire and fought off insurgents with help from reinforcements.
Now the statement says two members of the coalition force were hurt.
A U.S. general says Washington is bucking up against Afghanistan's national army to the tune of some $2 billion. It is the second such commitment. The gift to include some 200 Humvees and 2,000 assault rifles. The U.S. goal is to arm and train a force of 70,000 Afghans, about twice the current force.
Speed, a broken wheel, both of them blamed for a deadly subway accident in Spain. A frantic cell phone call alerted first responders that a subway jumped the tracks into the seaside town of Valencia. More than 30 people were killed, dozens of others hurt.
It happened just days before Pope Benedict is scheduled to visit the city for the World Meeting of Families. After he was told of the accident, the pope said prayers for the victims.
Going to talk about driving under the influence of a cell phone. That's right. Coming up, a new study shows it more dangerous than you think.
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NGUYEN: Take a listen to this. There may be an intriguing connection between your teeth and your brain. Taking care of one may help the other.
New research at UCLA shows gum disease may play a role in clogging the main blood vessels leading to the brain. Those clogged arteries mean more of a chance of a stroke. Researchers believe untreated dental disease could speed up hardening of the arteries.
Well, drivers, beware. Driving and talking on a cell phone can be just as dangerous as driving drunk. Really? Well, CNN's Tom Foreman filed this report for "AC 360".
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In their study of 40 drivers taking 160 trips in a driving simulator, researchers at the University of Utah expected a few fender benders. What they did not expect was that legally drunk, yes, drunk test subjects would do better than drivers on cell phones.
FRANK DREWS, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: I think that is a fair statement. I mean, what we found is a significant increase in accident rates when driving and conversing on a cell phone, and we didn't find this increase in our study when people were legally drunk.
FOREMAN: Professor Drews demonstrated what he found. We conducted half our interview by cell phone while he was in the simulator.
DREWS: Hello.
FOREMAN: And just like his subjects, he says he was hitting the brakes more slowly, having trouble following the flow of traffic.
(on camera) What's the speed limit where you are?
DREWS: It is actually, a good question. I don't know.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And several times, he nearly crashed.
DREWS: There's a big -- oh, my god. There's a big...
FOREMAN: Still, there are questions about this research. It was a small sample of drivers who were barely drunk, and most drunk driving accidents occur with people well above the legal limit for intoxication.
And a recent study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that, while cell phone talking is dangerous, the crash risk is even higher for people who are reaching for things, distracted by sights along the road, or overly tired.
In addition, the cell phone industry says look at the real world. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we see is over the last ten years, accidents going down while cell phone usage has gone up almost 4,000 percent. So if it was as sinister of a behavior combination as many claim it is, we think we'd see a proportionate rise in accidents. And that's just not happening.
DREWS: Sorry.
FOREMAN: Nevertheless, the professor says with nearly one in ten drivers using a cell phone at any given moment, his research should give lawmakers something to talk about.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Explains why not talking on their cell phone while driving (ph). Anderson Cooper has more stories about your safety. "AC 360" airs weeknights at 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific.
You want to be on the lookout, because a resident at one zoo has gone missing and neighbors could help solve this case. We'll tell you how. More LIVE FROM next.
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NGUYEN: The rivers are down, but many people in the northeast aren't exactly celebrating. They, too, are very busy mopping up all that mud and grime left behind by those historic floods.
Hundreds of New Yorkers still aren't allowed to go home. It's just not safe enough. Floods are blamed in the deaths of at least 20 people. Roads and bridges all across the region need to be repaired, and there's no telling how many millions of dollars it will take to fix everything.
Hot, humid and a bit of stormy weather out there still in the nation's capital. Thunderstorms rolled through this morning, knocking out power to about 22,000 homes. But that's not dampening spirits for a capital Fourth. Look at these pictures. About 500,000 people are expected for the annual concert and fireworks display at the National Mall.
No days off for firefighters out west. Holiday revelers are blamed for this fire southwest of Portland, Oregon. A stash of fireworks was found near where the fire broke out.
Grass fires are also burning near Boise, Idaho, all sparked by lightning. Firefighters are trying to keep a half dozen of them from inching any closer to homes. Winds are the main worry there.
And in southern Nevada, it is smoke, a wildfire in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge was ballooned -- or has ballooned to 21,000 acres. It's just 50 miles from Las Vegas. And another fire has burned about 2,500 acres. Well, it is an unplanned holiday for 45,000 state workers in New Jersey, where lawmakers have missed their deadline to come up with a budget. Atlantic City casinos could join courts, state offices, beaches and other services already shut down. Gaming halls and racetracks are under constant state supervision and will close Wednesday morning if there is still no budget. The governor is pushing a one percent hike in the sales tax to cover a deficit.
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GOV. JON CORZINE (D), NEW JERSEY: We will have already cut $2.5 billion. We cut higher education. We've cut spending on education. We've cut all kinds of things already.
And it is just an issue of whether we're going to go deeper into not being able to provide basic services that the public really wants to see, including, by the way, protecting them, homeland security, make sure we have state police.
So you know, I don't think it's an issue of whether we're prepared to cut spending, because we have already done that to a very large degree, the highest degree that has occurred anytime in recent history in Trenton.
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NGUYEN: And Corzine is urging lawmakers to work around the clock until they agree on spending.
They came to watch a boat race, but a runaway car provided more drama than anyone ever wanted. The car plowed through fans before slamming into the Ohio River in Madison, Indiana. Eleven people were injured, four seriously. Among those hospitalized, the 18-year-old driver of that car. Police say charges could be filed.
What happened to the sea lions in Long Beach? That's what people are asking, because three of five sea lions died at the Aquarium of the Pacific died within 24 hours. Friday a 7-year-old female died from a bad reaction to anesthesia during emergency surgery after delivering a still born pup. The next day, a 4-year-old female and her pup were found dead.
Saturday's high temperatures have experts thinking that heat exhaustion could be a possible cause. The pup, barely a month old, was the first born at the aquarium since it opened back in 1998.
Well, the search is on near Roanoke, Virginia's Mill Mountain Zoo. A 20 pound Japanese Snow Monkey named Oops -- appropriately named Oops -- escaped Sunday morning. Zoon workers looked all day and resumed searching this morning.
The zoo's curator says Oops could be dangerous if approached but probably wouldn't go out of her way to hurt anyone. They hope she'll be easier to spot when she gets hungry.
Now she is called Oops, because her parents weren't supposed to reproduce.
Back now to the Kennedy Space Center. Going to show you a live picture, and we'll head down there in just a few minutes for the status of the Space Shuttle Discovery is being determined hour by hour. NASA is still holding that briefing. We'll get the latest from our Daniel Sieberg live in Florida. More LIVE FROM next.
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