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New Jersey Lawmakers may be Nearing Agreement to End Government Shutdown; President Engaged in Vigorous Outreach Over South Korea; Gaza Caught in Crossfire as Tensions Between Palestinians and israelis Rise; Beijing to Tibet Express Completes its Maiden Journey; President Bush Turns 60 Today
Aired July 06, 2006 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to track new developments out of New Jersey. Still some hopeful news at this hour. We're getting reports that lawmakers may be nearing an agreement that could end the dispute that shut down many state services.
CNN's Mary Snow has the latest from Trenton.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, we should know definitively within the next two hours, Governor Jon Corzine's press secretary saying that the governor does plan to a make a statement later this afternoon. Of course, everyone monitoring that and all the movement in and out of his office,
Lawmakers have expressed optimism that perhaps they reached a deal and could effectively end a government shutdown that is now in its sixth day.
It has hurt some 45,000 state workers alone. They were furloughed. You might see some of them behind me. Earlier today there was a rally. A few hundred people showed up trying to put pressure on lawmakers because they have been out of work since this government shutdown began.
Some are staying behind, saying that they are hopeful they will hear the news that they want to hear, that they can get back to work. Many said they didn't even have the money to pay bills this week, including rent and utility bills.
And, also, it's not just the state workers. Yesterday we saw the effect of the casino industry being hard-hit. Atlantic City in New Jersey has 12 casinos. That industry employs thousands of people who are not state workers, but are affected by that industry, have also had to be effectively laid off because there is no business down there.
So the governor today, earlier this morning, told lawmakers that each hour the state is digging itself further into a financial hole, certainly digging these workers into a financial hole and we expect some kind of news, definitive news within the next couple of hours -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, we'll be watching and waiting. Thanks so much. Mary Snow in Trenton. Breaking news at this hour. We have a winner in Mexico's election. Just minutes ago, on the left of your screen is conservative Felipe Calderon. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is vowing to challenge the results in court. So far we are learning that after a couple of different recounts, Calderon now wins.
Well, she allegedly hoped to gain $1.5 million for herself and a for a couple friends, but so far the woman trying to sell soda pop secrets is out, 25 grand for bond. Joya Williams will be released from court or she was in court recently.
Rusty Dornin was also in court to get a close watch at the proceedings. What happened?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it looks like, as you said, Joya Williams, who was the executive assistant to some unnamed high level Coca-Cola executive assistant, she will be released on $25,000 bond.
She's charged with wire fraud and also stealing and selling trade secrets.
The other men involved and that that are accused in this plot, they will be held until next Tuesday when there will be a preliminary hearing. We also did learn that, indeed, Ms. Williams has been fired from Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola attorneys also asked the judge to extend a protective order so that during court proceedings none of these trade secrets do become public. So that protective order will apply during the court proceedings.
Now, remember, these three are accused of plotting stealing secrets from Coca-Cola and trying to sell them to Pepsi. Pepsi was the one who alerted Coca-Cola to this scheme. Coke involved the FBI and after a series of clandestine meeting and exchange of documents and money, the FBI did arrest the three yesterday.
So it looks like Coca-Cola may be the real thing in this case, but Pepsi did the right thing.
WHITFIELD: That's very nice. Neither one's bubbles will be bursting over this. All right, Rusty Dornin. Thanks so much.
Last hour at the White House, President Bush met with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. Mr. Bush thanked the ambassador for his service and also had words of encouragement for the Iraqi people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... to assure the Iraqi people that when we give our word, we'll keep our word and we intend to work closely with the government and to help defend the people until this government is more capable of defending itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And a reminder, Mr. Bush plans a news conference tomorrow in Chicago. It is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Eastern. CNN will have live coverage of that.
When it comes to the White House stance on North Korea, the words to use are cautious, measured, rallying the allies, and push diplomacy, diplomacy and more diplomacy. Press Secretary Tony Snow took reporters questions earlier this afternoon.
Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, was there. Ed?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fredricka.
White House press secretary, Tony Snow, saying the president is really engaged in vigorous outreach at this point. Late last evening the president calling his counterparts in South Korea, Japan, getting them on board for tough action against North Korea because of these missile launches.
This morning the president also calling President Hu in China, calling President Putin in Russia, getting agreements that they want to try to get North Korea back to the table for six-party talks. But Russia and China so far are not on board for tough sanctions against North Korea, a stumbling block in this diplomatic effort so far for the United States.
The president today himself had a press availability with the Canadian prime minister, Mr. Harper, Stephen Harper. The president did stress, as you noted, diplomacy and more diplomacy, perhaps mindful of the fact that he has been accused of not going the extra diplomatic mile before the war in Iraq.
Here's what the president had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We're dealing with a person who was asked not to fire a rocket by the Chinese, the South Koreans, the United States, the Japanese and the Russians, and he fired seven of them, which then caused the secretary of state and myself to get on the phone with our partners and reminded them of the importance of speaking with one voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: You can hear the president there stressing the effort for an international coalition he is trying to build against North Korea to take some tough action first, before the United Nations Security Council. The president will have another effort to really press the case face-to-face with the leaders of china and Russia next week when he heads to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ed Henry at the White House. Thank you so much. HENRY: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: North Korea's missiles may not have threatened the U.S. this time. Well, what about next time or the time after that?
Here's our national security correspondent, David Ensor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not surprisingly, on North Korean television, the announcer said nothing about the missile firings and nothing about the failure of the Taepodong-2 long-range missile within 40 seconds of launch.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: This backfired. This blew up in Kim Jong-il's face.
ENSOR: Said one U.S. official, "It sounds like they are thinking about how to play this.
BUSH: One thing we are learned is that the rocket didn't stay up very long, it tumbled into the sea.
ENSOR: U.S. officials and analysts say it clearly did not go as planned.
CIRINCIONE: We had six scuds and one dud fired. All of them landed in the Sea of Japan, all of them thousands of miles away from America's shores.
ENSOR: U.S. intelligence and the Pentagon have been watching the Taepodong launch pad for weeks with spy satellites, aircraft and surveillance ships. Officials say North Korea has more Taepodongs, though their reliability is now in question.
DAVID KAY, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: The most interesting sidebar story is going to be what happens in Pyongyang. Who vouched for the reliability of this missile and what are the consequences now that it failed?
ENSOR: That will be hard for American intelligence to know. North Korea is an extraordinarily difficult society to penetrate. While South Korean intelligence likely has agents in the North, most of the assessment of Kim Jong-il's motives and intentions must be educated guesses and nothing more. On that basis, some analysts say the goal was less to test missiles, more to make a statement.
JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, MIT: The fact that they shot off another, what, six other short-range missiles that had nothing to do with sort of verifying or collecting data shows that it really is about politics, less about security.
ENSOR: But other analysts and intelligence officers say don't assume Kim Jong-il's missile launches were foolish, from his point of view. (on camera): The North Korean scientists will learn from the failure of the Taepodong and from the other tests. And Kim has reminded the world how serious the risks of war with North Korea would be and how limited the military options are.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: He served a year of dangerous duty in Iraq by mistake. Straight ahead, how a clerical error caused one man to leave the comforts of home to enter a war zone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: It's times like these that we rely on people who have actually been to North Korea for information not censored or controlled by the government. Earlier I spoke with Hans Blix, the former chief U.N. weapons inspector. He's most notably associated with the search for WMD in Iraq.
He believes North Korea poses the biggest threat on earth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, FMR. U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I think the North Koreans want to tell the world that they are dangerous. They are not threatening but they are dangerous, just as the U.S. and Japan and others would send ships in the Sea of Japan not so long ago and non- proliferation security initiatives are also telling by this gesture that the U.S. and others can inflict pain if they wanted to.
But it's not a signal that they would. You must try to imagine what makes North Korea tick. Why do they act as they do? And first of all, they want to preserve their independence. They don't want the government to lose its power.
And I think, therefore, what the U.S. and others have offered, namely, security to them, is important. We may not like the regime and most of us don't do that, but threatening with regime change I think would be the worst thing you can do if you want to persuade them to go off their course towards nuclear weapons.
WHITFIELD: When you talk about nuclear threats globally, how does Iran and North Korea compare? Which one is more frightening to you?
BLIX: It's evident the North Koreans have come much further and they have quantities of plutonium. Some people estimate, experts estimate that it might be enough for six weapons. That's possible.
Iran does not. Iran was working on the technique of enriching uranium and they appear to have succeeded in perhaps in enriching milligram quantities up to a level of four percent. But they would need many kilograms, up to a level of 90 percent. So Iran is years away from a sufficient amount of material for a bomb, whereas the North Koreans probably have plutonium for a number of nuclear bombs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: One Ohio man spent a year in Iraq diffusing road side bombs. Jim Dillinger is proud of his service. But there's one problem. He wasn't supposed to be there. Reporter Deb Haas, of CNN affiliate WCPO, explains how the military sent Dillinger to war by mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM DILLINGER: I guess I assumed that they knew what they were doing.
DEB HAAS, CNN AFFILIATE, WCPO: Assumptions aside, Jim Dillinger did make some calls, but says when a national guard captain told him there was no mistake, he reported for duty and was sent Iraq in one of the most dangerous areas, to one of the most dangerous jobs.
DILLINGER: We were looking for the roadside bombs.
HAAS: Dillinger saw soldiers seriously injured. Some in his battalion died.
DILLINGER: The road bombs, that's the worst, just the worst, because you don't know when it's going to happen or where and that's what you're looking for every second.
HAAS: And every second brought risks he shouldn't have faced. A clerical error that misstated his discharge date was to blame.
DILLINGER: I'm sorry that the military, you know, as important as something like that is, sending someone over there, that they can make such a careless mistake.
HAAS: Dillinger is 45 now, was 43 when called for duty. He got home this past December on his 20th anniversary. He regrets only time.
DILLINGER: You can't get it back. My son grew six inches while I was gone. I don't get that back.
HAAS: He did get two other things, though, things he wouldn't change.
DILLINGER: A tremendous amount of how important my family is to me. To me, things that I took for granted like that before I left.
HAAS: Not anymore. Then there's that other thing, the meaning in his time in Iraq, finding bombs before they found victims.
DILLINGER: Our mission, our job, the role he we played in maybe bringing a few of those home. It was worthwhile from that aspect. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We now bring you some of the names and stories behind the casualty numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are today's fallen heroes: 19-year-old Army Specialist Kyle R. Miller Minnesota was killed by a roadside bomb near Mosul, Iraq last month. His mother, Cathy, says Kyle was outgoing, fun-loving and always wanted to make everyone laugh. His father, Randy, says he wants Kyle to be highly honored for what he did for our country.
Army Specialist Jeremy Jones of Omaha, Nebraska was also killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. His mother says his 3-year-old son, Anthony, says he misses his daddy and talked about him often. He also leaves behind 5-month-old daughter.
Army Sergeant Roger P. Pena, Jr., of San Antonio was killed in Afghanistan last month. While he was based on Kabul, he would send home videos of himself reading children's books for his two boys. On June 8th, he told his mom to pray for him. Five days later he was killed when his convoy came under attack.
These are just three of the 2,536 men and women who have sacrificed their lives in Iraq and the 244 who have died in Afghanistan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Still too close to call. Will this prove to be the summer of the bear or the summer of the gator. Here's yet another mark in the bear column. And although it has something to do with golf, it has nothing to do with Jack Nicklaus.
Lauren Brown, with our affiliate News 12 New Jersey, has the story from Hardyston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE PETTA, BEAR ATTACK VICTIM: I was bleeding from my nose and I had blood all over my front shirt, claws marks on my shirt.
LAUREN BROWN, NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY REPORTER (voice-over): This is what George Petta was wearing when he was attacked Thursday by a bear.
PETTA: What was going through my mind is, "I hope I don't die. I hope I don't die."
BROWN: The 37-year-old groundskeeper's brush with death began on the green of the 17th hole. It was early in the morning when he was tending to the grounds as he always does before the players arrive.
But just as George placed the pin placement, the bear emerged from this wooded area.
PETTA: I heard a lot of commotion in the background, put my tools on the ground, turned around and there's the bear.
BROWN: He says it was then when the bear scratched his armed and legs and struck him in the face.
PETTA: Crazy, scary. Didn't know what hit me.
BROWN: And George says it happened so quickly, within two or three minutes. And then after he was attacked, the bear retreated into the woods. Golfers out today say they are shocked.
YOUNG KWON, GOLFER: Yes, it's scary on the golf course. It's quite scary.
PETTA: I heard of people being chased by dogs, people being chased by ducks, but not by a black bear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: That's a lucky man. The bear had been seen lurking around the course for a couple of weeks before the attack. It was euthanized and now it's being tested for rabies.
Apple's iPod dominates the digital media player market, but may soon get competition from the biggest name in the software industry.
Susan Lisovicz joins us now from New York with more on that -- Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: And, Fred, that could only be Microsoft, which could start selling a digital music and video player to compete with the iPod by Christmas.
According to published reports, the Microsoft player would offer a similar consumer experience to the iPod with hardware, software and online music store all working together.
And the player may have one advantage over the iPod. It would reportedly let users download music and videos wirelessly, without having to be plugged into a computer.
Several different players have challenged the iPod's dominance, none to date successfully. Microsoft reportedly has tired of relying on other companies to produce a successful device that uses its software. So it's decided instead to build the hardware on its own -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so what are the chances the new device really could be a serious challenger?
LISOVICZ: Well, most analysts, Fred, say that in order to compete effectively with Apple, Microsoft needs to have the player and service ready in time for the holiday season.
The hardware, software and online experience for the user will have to work seamlessly since Apple's got it down at this point. A big part of Apple's success has been the functionality and ease of use of its iTunes online music store. iTunes, at this point, accounts for more than 70 percent of all digital music sales in the U.S. And Apple isn't resting on its laurels. The Apple Insider Web site says the company has filed a number of patents for new iPod designs, including a 12-key layout, similar to a cell phone, rectangular scroll strips, similar to laptops, and one with no buttons or hand controls at all.
Microsoft will reportedly be giving prototypes of its new device to record companies in the coming weeks. Microsoft, by the way, has no comment on the story -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Of course, they don't want to reveal their secrets just yet.
All right, well, what's happening on Wall Street overall?
LISOVICZ: We've got a mixed session in the final hour trading. Fred, blue chips are getting a boost, as we reported earlier, from Altria, the parent of Philip Morris, which makes the number one cigarette, Marlboro.
Its shares right now are jumping 5.25 percent after the Florida supreme court upheld the lower court's to reject a $145 billion verdict against the tobacco industry.
Right now the blue chips are gaining, about 68 points, for nearly two-thirds of a percent. The NASDAQ composite is on the plus side, but just barely, not even one point.
And that's the latest from Wall Street. I'll be back in about half an hour with a full roundup of the trading day.
Stay with us. "Live From" will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: And now back to a story we told you about at the top of the hour. A recount in Mexico has shifted in favor of the conservative presidential candidate.
The vote count shows Felipe Calderon, on the left side of your screen, with an insurmountable lead. He reportedly had officially won, but official results aren't expected until about 5:00 eastern.
The apparent runner-up, Andres Manual Lopez Obrador, is vowing to challenge the results in court. He wants a complete recount.
Hope is sprouting in the Garden State. The "Associated Press" reports there has been an agreement to end the New Jersey budget showdown that has shot down Atlantic City casinos and many state services. Hundreds of idle casino workers rallied at the capitol today. They say they are hurting financially.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ARMSTRONG, HARRAH'S CASINO WORKER: Financially? Very badly. I depend on tips I've been out of work two days and it really affects me with paying my bills and food on the table, and every other person in Atlantic city that's out of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Governor Jon Corzine gave his third speech to the legislature in three days. He called on the lawmakers to approve a budget already.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JON CORZINE (D), NEW JERSEY: No one wants to hear another speech. No one wants to hear more excuses, most certainly not the citizens of New Jersey. They want a budget and they want a government that works for them. Let us resolve to pass a budget that can be agreed upon today. We can do this today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Lawmakers had been discussing a proposal that could combine a sales tax hike with a reduction in property taxes. A source told the A.P. that an agreement will be announced later on today.
A big win for big tobacco. The Florida Supreme Court has rejected what would have been the largest jury award in U.S. history, $145 billion in punitive damages. The class action lawsuit targeted the nation's biggest cigarette companies on behalf of hundreds of thousands of ailing Florida smokers. Today's ruling upholds many of the original jury's findings ,but declares the award, granted six years ago, was excessive.
Gay rights activists were left at the altar today twice. The highest courts in two states ruled against gay marriage. First, the New York Court of Appeals upheld a state law that bans same-sex marriages. Later, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld a state constitutional amendment that does the same thing.
It's a chilling look at an American tragedy. Officials today released 930 pages of documents taken from the homes and cars of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two Colorado teenagers responsible for the 1999 Columbine high school massacre.
CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Authorities here in Colorado have now released nearly a thousand pages of diary entries and other writings by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two teenage gunmen responsible for the Columbine High School massacre which ended in the deaths of 12 students and a teacher.
We are still going through these writings, but many of the people who have seen them say they are disturbing and show two troubled teenagers. But it also shows that these two young men went through a great deal of planning in planning out this attack.
In the writings we have seen so far, they talk about having the proper gear list. They talk about the equipment that they've purchased. And six months before the attack, Eric Harris wrote in a journal that there were only a hundred people in the entire school that he would like to see survive his attack. And at one point he wrote, "God, I want to torch and level everything in the whole area, but bombs that size are hard to make."
These documents were released because of a lawsuit. The sheriff says he would never have released these documents, but he hopes now that mental health experts can learn something from it, but he is worried that people will read this on the Internet, and it might inspire some sort of copycat crime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a risk in releasing that because of the fact that we know it will be spread all over the world, and hopefully will take it in the best light possible as far as analytical, as opposed to getting information to some would-be copycat killer out there.
LAVANDERA: The sheriff could have also released what is known as "The Basement Videotapes," but he chose not to. In the sheriff's words, the tapes are a call to arms by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, reaching out to other teenagers maybe considering to do what they did here in 1999. The sheriff hopes those tapes will never be seen.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Golden, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: New pictures now from New York City, where an apparently disturbed man attacked subway riders with two cordless power saws. The suspect grabbed the saws from a work bench at a station on the Upper West Side near Columbia University. He started slashing at passengers as they waited on the platform before he jumped the turnstile, then fled. The terrifying pre-dawn attack sent a 64- year-old man to the hospital with a gash in his chest. He is now in critical but stable condition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC PRESCOTT, WITNESS: I hear the man keep yelling, and I'm looking, and I see a guy standing over somebody, what looked like -- looked like, you know -- looked like, you know, saws or something. And I'm hearing this drilling, oh, he's drilling me!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, police found the power saws in the trash can, but they're still looking for the suspect.
Natural causes. The final word on the death of Ken Lay. Given his upcoming sentencing for his role in the spectacular collapse of Enron, the company he founded, Lay's sudden death prompted speculation of suicide. Now the autopsy results are in, and they confirm Lay died of heart disease.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ROBERT KURTZMAN, MESA COUNTY CORONER: There is no evidence of foul play. The postmortem examination revealed that Mr. Lay had severe coronary artery disease. There was evidence that he had had a heart attack in the past. The only aspects of the examination that are outstanding at this particular point are toxicology and microscopic analysis of tissues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Lay died at his vacation home near Aspen, Colorado. A memorial service will be held in Houston, but no date has been set.
Tensions on the rise, Israeli troops on the move. In northern Gaza, more than a dozen Palestinians reported killed today. As many as ten killed in two Israeli Air Force strikes. Now Hamas government leaders are calling for Palestinian security forces to join in the fight. It's not clear how many will. In the past, the fight has mainly involved Palestinian militants who this week launched rockets into southern Israel. They have also claimed responsibility for last week's attack on an Israeli army post and the kidnapping of a soldier. The militants holding him want Palestinian prisoners released. Israel refuses.
Caught in the crossfire, just about anybody who lives in Gaza. With all that's happening, some are too frightened to leave their homes. Others try to go about their business as usual, and all have opinions.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the airwaves of El Manar Radio are opened to the public, the phone lines light up. Everyone wants to talk about the current situation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HANCOCKS: This caller says the Israeli soldier should not be released because "it's a good card in our hands. Because of the occupation and the bombing," he says, "we are dying."
Most callers last week wanted to see the soldier released with promises from Israel to release Palestinian prisoners it holds. After nightly air strikes, they now want the promises first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
HANCOCKS: This man says everybody is interfering to release the soldier, but they've forgotten the Palestinians suffering.
Gazans have lived through the fear of shelling and nightly air strikes before. NEHAD EL-BELTAJY, EN MANAR RADIO PRESENTER (through translator): Some callers are angry because of the occupation, because they keep bombing us. But in another way, they are used to the bombing. The bombing makes them closer to the resistance.
HANCOCKS: The streets of Gaza are quieter than normal. Many go out only to buy what they need, then return home.
Rosie's (ph) Beauticians used to be teeming with customers almost all day long, but since the kidnapping and Israel's response...
MIRIAM FARIS, BEAUTY SHOP OWNER: This is the worst I've seen it in 22 years. I'm really stressed out now, because of the supersonic booms, mainly. And the electricity goes off. There you go.
HANCOCKS: Most of the women who still come to Rosie's after a week of airstrikes only come because of a special occasion. Ghada's uncle is getting married. Having her hair done gives her a temporary sense of normality.
GHADA AL SHORAFA, GAZA CITY RESIDENT: Maybe for hours. Not for the whole day. Because we'll -- we're getting again to the bombing. So it's only for hours.
HANCOCKS: Miriam tells her clients, get used to it, we have to live with it. And so they to try.
FARRAH, GAZA CITY RESIDENT: We're trying. It's like we're pretending that everything is normal, but it's not. We are pretending, actually.
HANCOCKS: Even during shelling, many Gazans come to the beach, the main release for children and the place they can actually be children. The beach here is known as "The Window," the only place people from Gaza can look out to see the rest of the world.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Gaza City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Some live pictures now out of Southern California. You're looking at Pomona, California, where firefighters and others crews are trying to control a grass fire that is out of control, seemingly, right along the highway there, so much so that it is threatening some nearby homes. And emergency crews have blocked off a couple lanes on that highway just in case some of those flames might jump, because that often happens with some of these grassfires. But they're trying to battle it on the ground there, and as you see, from the air, in these taped pictures as well.
Coming up, glad to see ya! The crew of the International Space Station is busy welcoming its latest visitors, the Shuttle Discovery astronauts. LIVE FROM soars into outer space after this word from our mission control.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Pretty record flooding here, record losses, five more Pennsylvania counties have been declared disaster areas after last week's disastrous flooding in New York state. First reports show at least 1,000 homes are destroyed. Less than five percent of homeowners there said to have flood insurance.
Unstable, unsafe -- that's the official condition of this earthen dam in Rockville, Maryland. It's finally stopped leaking a week after the flooding, but state officials still fear for its long-term safety. They've told engineers to shore it up.
Hot and dry, stormy and windy -- it's all in the forecast depending on where you live. Reynolds Wolf is here with a look at the weather picture -- Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot, Reynolds.
Well, nice to see you, come on in. Nobody is more excited to see the crew of the Shuttle Discovery than the two astronauts aboard the space station. It's been a lonely time for them, three months. The docking seen here on CNN went without a hitch, but before that Discovery's commander flipped the spacecraft over so that the space station crew could photograph the shuttle's belly, looking for any signs of damage.
We are seeing live images of their mission underway right now. The crew's pictures that were taken earlier of the underbelly that will be sent to NASA, all of them will finally make it to NASA within the next couple of hours. The experts are going over some of the other photos with Discovery's crew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY CECCACCI, SHUTTLE FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Right now, there's no concerns, the way I understand it, from what Mr. Hale and Mr. Shannon have been talking about. And we gave them the specific information that came out of the MMT, so they are not being, you know, kept in the closet or anything about any of the impacts that we did have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, the flight director says everything is going so well that NASA is leaning toward giving the shuttlenauts an extra day in space. A final decision could come tomorrow.
Back here on earth, history made in Tibet. The Beijing to Tibet Express completed its maiden journey, crossing China on the highest train tracks in the world yesterday. Antelopes, yaks and nomads dotted the scenery. And the ticket price included an unusual amenity: oxygen.
Our Dan Rivers was aboard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A high-tech "all aboard" on a huge computer display for the first Beijing to Tibet Express. China's dream of offering a passenger train service from Beijing to one of the most remote provinces has finally been realized after 40 years.
(on camera): Well, this will be one of the great, epic train journeys in the world. I'm about to board the very first Beijing to Lhasa express. We're going to travel 4,000 kilometers across China, about 2,500 miles, and we're going to climb almost 17,000 feet, about 5,500 meters. It all promises to be quite a ride.
(voice-over): It might have been commissioned by communists, but the high-tech rail cars were built by a Canadian company. Because the train travels so high, the carriages are filled with extra oxygen to minimize altitude sickness. And if that doesn't work, there's always warm American beer served with flat screen DVD entertainment or propaganda, depending on your view.
There's no doubt this is an engineering feat of staggering proportions, costing $4.2 billion, involving 100,000 workers in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. But critics say the line has already scarred this virgin landscape irreparably and could change Tibetan culture forever.
I'd be kind if a described the cabins as cozy, but many passengers pass the 48-hour journey without even a bed.
Lee Nan (ph) is perhaps the oldest man on board. The 82-year-old says he's been looking forward to this journey from the start. The communists planned the project more than 40 years ago.
But not everyone is so upbeat. Zuksi Suran (ph) is a recently graduated Tibetan student. He's worried Tibetan culture will be further diluted by a large influx of Han Chinese to Tibet who'll be able to get to the remote mountain province far quicker and cheaper than ever before.
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RIVERS: I watch the awesome scenery slide past. As we ascend, the air gets even thinner and staff advise us on using oxygen mask.
(on camera): We're now on the highest stretch of railway track anywhere in the world. My altimeter has just gone over 5,070 meters, more than 16,000 feet, and even in this oxygen-enriched carriage I'm really short of breath. And I can only imagine how the people who built this railway were suffering.
(voice-over): Suwanna (ph) Lake glides past, hundreds of yaks graze in the pasture. At lunch, I get a chance to taste yak meat. As we near Lhasa, the track is guarded by military police, alone, but on guard just in case. It has been a spectacular journey and represents a spectacular change for Tibet, allowing access like never before.
(on camera): For the first time ever, rail passengers are arriving here in Lhasa from Beijing. Next year, it's estimated 4,000 people a day will arrive into this once remote mountain province.
Dan Rivers, CNN, Lhasa, Tibet.
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WHITFIELD: Well, George Bush takes the cake, and that's only fitting. It is his birthday, after all. LIVE FROM salutes his 60th. But before we go to break, besides President Bush, who else is blowing out 60 candles today? Another famous name shares his birthday. Do you know who it is? We'll tell you after this.
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WHITFIELD: So name two things America's first and 43rd presidents have in common? Hint: it is not wooden teeth. Obviously, Washington and Bush share the name George, and both also mark their 60th birthdays in office. In fact, President Bush is the 11th sitting president to hit three score.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has more on the occasion.
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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On America's 230th birthday...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you.
MALVEAUX: ... President Bush celebrated his 60th, first with troops at Fort Bragg, then later at the White House with family and friends. But today is the real day he turns the big 6-0.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This year, the first of about 78 million baby boomers turns 60, including two of my dad's favorite people, me and President Clinton.
MALVEAUX: So how will Mr. Bush mark this day? The president's father celebrated his 80th with a leap of faith.
MARILYN MONROE, ACTRESS (SINGING): Happy birthday, Mr. President.
MALVEAUX: John F. Kennedy's steamy 45th incited scandal.
Mr. Bush's birthday will likely be more low key, but he hasn't shied away from talking about his age.
BUSH: I blame my gray hair on my mother. I used to think 60 was old, didn't you?
MALVEAUX: "Newsweek's" Evan Thomas says the president's journey has been like many of his peers. EVAN THOMAS, "NEWSWEEK": You know the 60s knocked a lot of people for a loop, including George Bush. He passed an enormous milestone in the 1980s when he quit drinking and became born again.
MALVEAUX: Thomas says Americans have also watched Mr. Bush mature during his presidency.
THOMAS: And a lot of people thought that he wasn't really ready for it. Then, bam, you have 9/11 and all of a sudden he has the greatest crisis any president has faced in a long, long time. And he had to grow up in a real hurry. And he did show tremendous strength and resolve right away.
MALVEAUX: But with every president, the demands of the job add years to one's face.
BUSH: Just getting warmed up.
MALVEAUX: But unlike most of his predecessors, Mr. Bush, the athlete, is the envy of many half his age.
WAYNE SLATER, "DALLAS MORNING NEWS": He demonstrates to a lot of people in this generation that turning 60 doesn't make you a physical wreck.
MALVEAUX: Wayne Slater covered Mr. Bush as Texas governor and now president. He says the president's outlook suggests that perhaps the adage is true, that age is just a number.
SLATER: There is an aspect of George Bush's personality, which has not changed, and that's a kind of not immaturity, but a certain playfulness that I think remains.
BUSH: Anybody want a piece?
MALVEAUX: Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And happy birthday to Mr. President. Remember we asked you had to name another famous person born July 6th, 1946 to fill in that profile there? Turns out George W. Bush shares his birthday with Rocky, Rambo, Sly. You know him as all of those things, and Sylvester Stallone.
More LIVE FROM in a minute.
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