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College of Cardinals Will Begin Deliberations April 18th; President and Mrs. Bush on Way to Rome for Pope's Funeral

Aired April 06, 2005 - 10:31   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we have the latest now from Rome, where they may be weary from hours of standing in line, but the thousands who traveled many miles to see their pope won't let the mile-long lines stop them. Live pictures there from Vatican City. Literally thousands of pilgrims there in Vatican City there to view the pope's body. More than one million people have already filed bass in the first 24 hours. Earlier today, the cardinals in Rome read the pope's will. The actual text of that document will be released on Thursday.
Also the College of Cardinals, who will choose the next pope, announced that they will begin their deliberations on April 18th.

For more on the Cardinal's Conclave, we turn to CNN's Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher, who joins us from Vatican City.

Good morning. Good afternoon to you in Italy.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: Hi. Good to see you.

There is no way really to predict who will be the next pope of the 117 cardinals who gather on April 18th.

GALLAGHER: No. There's no way, that's the short answer. We can speculate a lot, but this is a decision even the cardinals don't know who will be the next pope. They might have their own favorites and their own ideas, they have to come to a compromise. If everyone has their own favorite, they might have 100 choices for a pope. So they will have to take a vote, probably see where it's going and then decide to put their heads together and find a compromise.

KAGAN: Explain to us the culture how this works, because the individual cardinals, as I've been reading, are not supposed to politic amongst each other. You're not supposed to go as a self- promoter into this conclave.

GALLAGHER: Well, of course. You know, you don't want to have a cardinal who's walking around saying I think I'd be the best person for the job. I don't think any of them would be doing that. What happens of course is that somebody else might say I think he'd be the best person for the job. That's allowed. But you know, you wouldn't want to have somebody who's being arrogant and thinking that he should be elected and telling other people. It doesn't work like that, obviously. So what happens is, you know, there are some older cardinals who have had a lot of experience with these things and probably have some ideas of their own, and they will try and let that filter down to the other less experienced cardinals and give their reasons, of course, and so they will have to sort of refer to things of the cardinal has done in the past, some books that he's written, and so on. So there's a lot of discussion, let's say, rather than politicking.

KAGAN: And there'll be some changes with the way it's done, thanks to Pope John Paul II.

GALLAGHER: Well, yes. Of course the voting is the big change. Two-thirds majority is the first instance. But if they don't arrive at a two-thirds majority after a certain number of ballots, they can go to an absolute majority. So some suggest that this could be a tactic used by those cardinals who want to hold out for their favorite candidate. They might try and wait until they can reach that certain amount of votes that's required for them to move to an absolute majority, and it might help them get their candidate in. But I don't know that we should be saying that they're going to be using these sorts of tactics. I think they have to wait and see the first two days or so to see how it's playing out -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Is there any indication looking over history how long it takes to select a new pope?

GALLAGHER: Well, recently history suggests perhaps three to four days. That's kind of an average, we could say. But of course it's been as long as three months, even several years without a pope or with several popes. So -- but I think recent history is a good indicator, and we expect three to four days. We could have one on the first day. They'll do one vote on Monday the 18th.

KAGAN: And you'll be tracking it, from Vatican City. Delia Gallagher, thank you.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: President and Mrs. Bush are on their way to Rome for the pope's funeral. They lead an official delegation that includes other VIPs. But there's one name that's missing from this group, and it's raising some eyebrows and making many wonder whether they may be some politicking going on.

CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash is filling us in now from Washington.

Dana, pick it up.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rick.

Well, the president and first lady left the White House just a few hours ago, of course, heading to Andrews Air Force Base. And there, they picked up the rest of their exclusive five-person official U.S. delegation head though pope's funeral. Now en route, as we speak, are the president and first lady, of course, former President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Bush's father, former President Clinton and the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Now it's a remarkably high-ranking group. And just to put it into context, the last time a pope died, John Paul I in 1978, then President Carter sent his mother, Lillian. And you can see the kinds of people that are going, as we speak, to Pope John Paul II's funeral.

Now speaking of President Carter, in 1979, there you see a picture of him greeting John Paul II here. He was the first president ever to greet a pope at the White House. So the question is, why isn't he a part of this official delegation?

Well, the White House said they did invite President Carter. They had a back-and-forth discussion whether he would come. He decided not to come. A spokesperson for Mr. Carter said that once they realized the delegation was so limited, the seats that the Vatican was giving the U.S. were so limited, that he decided to give up his seat. Now both the White House and spokesman for President Carter say that there are no hard feelings, that this isn't a snub, and President Carter issued a statement saying that he will always relish the memories he has of Pope John Paul II -- Rick..

SANCHEZ: One is left wondering if there's not a lot more to that story, but we will leave it at that, Dana, and go on to the second topic, which is other people from the United States going. For example, a congressional delegation -- will there be one?

BASH: There will be two actually. And as I mentioned before, the official delegation is just five, because the Vatican essentially is giving the U.S. five seats in the basilica. But it has not stopped members of Congress for wanting to go to pay their respects to the pope, and actually 40 members of Congress are about that -- are going to head over to Vatican City to attend. There will be two delegations, one from the Senate. That will include the Senate majority leader Bill Frist, and Democrats also, like, for example, Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. On the House side, they will led by their Democratic and Republican leaders.

Now there were some questions about whether or not they would have hotel rooms, whether or not they would actually be able to attend. We are told that they do have places to stay, and they will be attending the funeral, but probably in St. Peters Square, and certainly not in the basilica -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Did you mention New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?

BASH: She is not going. Her husband will represent that family.

SANCHEZ: OK. Dana Bash following that story for us. We appreciate it. It's an exclusive guest list, as you heard Dana explain, and you can keep track on your own on who's on it, who's not on it, by logging on to CNN.com. There, you will find up-to-the- minute information on everything happening, before during and after the pope's final.

KAGAN: Other news from Europe now, Monaco's Prince Rainier died early today after nearly a month in the hospital. He was the longest reigning monarch. During his 56 years in power, he transformed the tiny country into a playground for the rich and famous.

As the 81-year-old Rainier's health has failed in recent weeks, the job of governing was handed over to his son, Prince Albert.

Despite Monaco's small size, it occupied a prominent place on the world stage, especially for people with lots of money. Most would say it was because of Prince Rainier.

CNN's Jim Bittermann has a closer look at the man behind the monarchy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was one of the longest serving monarchs of one of the smallest countries in the world, and Prince Rainier III of Monaco deserves much credit for keeping and putting and keeping his tiny principality on the map. At first, the dashing, young prince used the reflected glamour of the French Riviera to attract growing numbers of tourists to his casino and hotels. But it was his whirlwind courtship and eventual marriage to American movie actress Grace Kelly that gave Monaco the glittering image that continues to draw the cruise liners full of visitors, even today.

Prince Rainier, not always comfortable in public, worked behind the scenes to burnish and benefit from Monaco's glittering image. He fought to keep Monaco independent from France, and to preserve its status as a tax haven, something that led columnist Art Buchwald to label Monaco a sunny place for shady people.

Members of the Monaco jetset call Rainier the builder for the way he packed the once obscure fishing village Monte Carlo with high-rise apartments to shelter and protect the rich.

STEPHEN BERN, "LE FIGARO" NEWSPAPER: Monaco and southern France are in shock after the surprise announcement of the death of Princess Grace.

BITTERMANN: But that focus on the family turned tragic in 1982, when Monaco's magic came to an end for Prince Rainier. The car carrying his princess plummeted off one of the country country's winding roads, and the next day she was dead. There was shock and sorrow around the world, but no more so than in the royal family itself. At the funeral, Prince Rainier repeatedly broke down in tears. The loss of Princess Grace, the pillar of the family, had a great impact on him, and many said the children, too. Caroline and Stephanie were soon making the covers of all the gossip magazines, their lives rich with scandalous behavior and tragic affairs.

Prince Albert now takes power in Monaco, but the real question is not the succession, but whether Monaco itself can prosper in the same way it did under Prince Rainier, the shy man who fought during more than a half century in power to turn an undistinguished family fiefdom to into a Capitol of fantasy, wealth and glamour.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: This news coming from Vatican City. We're looking at live pictures of thousands of people right now standing in line, making their way past the body of Pope John Paul II. The Vatican saying that more than a million people have already filed past.

Well, they've had, at some point, to decide that they're going to have to cut off the line. That decision has been made and now they're telling people you must be in line by today, by 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 p.m. Rome. If you are in line at that point, you will be allowed to wait and then file past and pay your last respects to the pope. But after 4:00 p.m. Eastern and 10:00 p.m. Rome time today, there will no longer be the opportunity to view the pope before Friday's funeral.

SANCHEZ: What amazing show of support and reverence for this man. It makes you think if they left this open a couple of more weeks, they'd still have thousands of people waiting in line.

KAGAN: Here's another little interesting bit of information. So many people have come to Rome for this that they just don't have enough hotels for everybody. Well now we're learning that the mayor of Rome has issued an informal invitation for citizens to...

SANCHEZ: To open their houses.

KAGAN: ... open their houses to let visitors come and stay. That would be a nice gesture.

SANCHEZ: And then to boot, you have 200 world leaders, all meeting in one place between Thursday and Saturday, going to the funeral on Friday.

KAGAN: Including President Bush, Mrs. Bush and two former presidents.

SANCHEZ: What a story. Well, let's turn things to business now. The business of business, as they say.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Hey, another story coming out of New York City in just a bit. This one a nightmare for one Chinese food delivery man, stuck in an elevator for days.

SANCHEZ: Days and days?

KAGAN: When CNN LIVE returns, we'll tell you how he finally got out and what he has to say about how he got stuck there in the first place.

SANCHEZ: And why nobody came to his help.

KAGAN: But he already had the Chinese food.

(COMMERCIAL BERAK)

SANCHEZ: Here's that story Daryn had mentioned just a little while ago. Really amazing story. Just about everybody in New York is talking about this. Friday night, a deliveryman drops off an order of Chinese food in a Bronx apartment building. That was his last delivery of the night, by the way, important to note.

It was also the last time that anyone saw him until yesterday, when he was discovered trapped all that time inside an elevator. Here to explain what happened in the meantime is Roger Clark from affiliate in New York One.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROGER CLARK, REPORTER, NEW YORK ONE (voice-over): Ming Kuang Chen left the Montefiore Hospital Tuesday afternoon after quite an ordeal. He says he was stuck in an elevator for nearly three and a half days without food or water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wants to thank everyone spend time look for him in the past four days.

CLARK: The 35-year-old Chen, who doesn't speak much English, was reported missing Friday night after not returning from a Chinese food delivery to Tracy Towers, a massive apartment complex. His bicycle was found outside and there were fears he had been mugged or worse, for the money he was carrying. Police searched the building over the weekend but didn't find him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's tired, he sleeps in the elevator.

CLARK: Chen was finally able to alert building workers he was stuck through an emergency intercom. With the help of the fire department and a and a mechanic, the elevator was brought down to the lobby. Firefighters found Chen inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a guy that was there supposedly for three days, he didn't look too bad to me. But he was a little wobbly when he was walking. I have no idea how he felt because we weren't able to communicate him.

CLARK (on camera): When he arrived at the hospital, the emergency room doctors says that Chen was some what disheveled, looked very tired and was suffering from mild to moderate dehydration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Felt dizzy, lightheaded. He had some headache. He felt weak. I believe at some point, he almost passed out, but he actually never lost consciousness in the elevator.

CLARK (voice-over): While Chen was able to leave the hospital Tuesday afternoon, there are still questions lingering about the incident. Building management says while the elevator's mechanism was jammed, the emergency intercom was working. However, it's recorded as being pushed only once since Friday night, and that was at 4:10 Tuesday morning. Chen says he screamed for help, but would not say why he didn't try the intercom sooner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's really tired today. He didn't talk too much.

CLARK: There was speculation that Chen did not use the intercom sooner because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Police say his family told them he's in the country illegally, and that, in turn, has Councilman John Lou (ph) accusing the NYPD of violating Bloomberg Administration policy not to reveal anyone's immigration status out of concern that federal authorities might take action. As for Chen, he may sue building management since tenants say the elevators there are often broken.

In the Bronx, Roger Clark, New York One.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Other stories making news coast-to-coast this morning.

In Los Angeles, two teenagers had to be plucked from the fast- moving waters of a flood-controlled channel. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to rescue both the boys, ages 13 and 17. Neither was seriously hurt.

In Florida, the spectacular sight of hundreds of migratory sharks swarming near shore. The spinner sharks are not especially aggressive towards humans. What does that mean, not especially? But swimmers and surfers are advised to stay out of the ocean until the sharks move on. Good, good advice.

Onto beavers. In Bangor, Maine, animal control officers saying heavy spring runoff in a nearby creek is to blame for a beaver looking for some new digs in a subdivision. Area residents managed to keep the critter from getting hit by a car until some help could arrive. The beaver was safely moved to a more suitable habitat. No dams in that subdivision.

SANCHEZ: You read that very well, by the way.

KAGAN: Well, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Nice job with the beaver and the sharks. It was a real...

KAGAN: Animal beat.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's, well, 54 minutes after the hour. I'm a little nervous after handling those or watching you handle them, actually.

KAGAN: The sharks?

SANCHEZ: It's a scary...

KAGAN: Well, let me take care of the time. 10:54 on the East Coast, just about 7:55 in the West. Stay with us. We're going to check on your morning forecast. Especially important here in the Southeast.

SANCHEZ: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You've heard the term joint session of Congress. What you're looking at here is a joint meeting of Congress, both houses coming together to hear a foreign dignitary, who is going to be talking to them. It's going to presided over by the vice president of the United States. As you can see there -- you can see all the way through your screen, that is, in fact, vice president Dick Cheney.

Viktor Yuschenko, the president of the Ukraine, will be delivering a keynote address to this joint meeting of Congress. And we will be bringing it to you when it happens. As far as we understand, he is not yet in the room. When he comes in, we're going to be sharing those moments with you.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, plenty of news to follow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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Aired April 6, 2005 - 10:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we have the latest now from Rome, where they may be weary from hours of standing in line, but the thousands who traveled many miles to see their pope won't let the mile-long lines stop them. Live pictures there from Vatican City. Literally thousands of pilgrims there in Vatican City there to view the pope's body. More than one million people have already filed bass in the first 24 hours. Earlier today, the cardinals in Rome read the pope's will. The actual text of that document will be released on Thursday.
Also the College of Cardinals, who will choose the next pope, announced that they will begin their deliberations on April 18th.

For more on the Cardinal's Conclave, we turn to CNN's Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher, who joins us from Vatican City.

Good morning. Good afternoon to you in Italy.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: Hi. Good to see you.

There is no way really to predict who will be the next pope of the 117 cardinals who gather on April 18th.

GALLAGHER: No. There's no way, that's the short answer. We can speculate a lot, but this is a decision even the cardinals don't know who will be the next pope. They might have their own favorites and their own ideas, they have to come to a compromise. If everyone has their own favorite, they might have 100 choices for a pope. So they will have to take a vote, probably see where it's going and then decide to put their heads together and find a compromise.

KAGAN: Explain to us the culture how this works, because the individual cardinals, as I've been reading, are not supposed to politic amongst each other. You're not supposed to go as a self- promoter into this conclave.

GALLAGHER: Well, of course. You know, you don't want to have a cardinal who's walking around saying I think I'd be the best person for the job. I don't think any of them would be doing that. What happens of course is that somebody else might say I think he'd be the best person for the job. That's allowed. But you know, you wouldn't want to have somebody who's being arrogant and thinking that he should be elected and telling other people. It doesn't work like that, obviously. So what happens is, you know, there are some older cardinals who have had a lot of experience with these things and probably have some ideas of their own, and they will try and let that filter down to the other less experienced cardinals and give their reasons, of course, and so they will have to sort of refer to things of the cardinal has done in the past, some books that he's written, and so on. So there's a lot of discussion, let's say, rather than politicking.

KAGAN: And there'll be some changes with the way it's done, thanks to Pope John Paul II.

GALLAGHER: Well, yes. Of course the voting is the big change. Two-thirds majority is the first instance. But if they don't arrive at a two-thirds majority after a certain number of ballots, they can go to an absolute majority. So some suggest that this could be a tactic used by those cardinals who want to hold out for their favorite candidate. They might try and wait until they can reach that certain amount of votes that's required for them to move to an absolute majority, and it might help them get their candidate in. But I don't know that we should be saying that they're going to be using these sorts of tactics. I think they have to wait and see the first two days or so to see how it's playing out -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Is there any indication looking over history how long it takes to select a new pope?

GALLAGHER: Well, recently history suggests perhaps three to four days. That's kind of an average, we could say. But of course it's been as long as three months, even several years without a pope or with several popes. So -- but I think recent history is a good indicator, and we expect three to four days. We could have one on the first day. They'll do one vote on Monday the 18th.

KAGAN: And you'll be tracking it, from Vatican City. Delia Gallagher, thank you.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: President and Mrs. Bush are on their way to Rome for the pope's funeral. They lead an official delegation that includes other VIPs. But there's one name that's missing from this group, and it's raising some eyebrows and making many wonder whether they may be some politicking going on.

CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash is filling us in now from Washington.

Dana, pick it up.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rick.

Well, the president and first lady left the White House just a few hours ago, of course, heading to Andrews Air Force Base. And there, they picked up the rest of their exclusive five-person official U.S. delegation head though pope's funeral. Now en route, as we speak, are the president and first lady, of course, former President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Bush's father, former President Clinton and the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Now it's a remarkably high-ranking group. And just to put it into context, the last time a pope died, John Paul I in 1978, then President Carter sent his mother, Lillian. And you can see the kinds of people that are going, as we speak, to Pope John Paul II's funeral.

Now speaking of President Carter, in 1979, there you see a picture of him greeting John Paul II here. He was the first president ever to greet a pope at the White House. So the question is, why isn't he a part of this official delegation?

Well, the White House said they did invite President Carter. They had a back-and-forth discussion whether he would come. He decided not to come. A spokesperson for Mr. Carter said that once they realized the delegation was so limited, the seats that the Vatican was giving the U.S. were so limited, that he decided to give up his seat. Now both the White House and spokesman for President Carter say that there are no hard feelings, that this isn't a snub, and President Carter issued a statement saying that he will always relish the memories he has of Pope John Paul II -- Rick..

SANCHEZ: One is left wondering if there's not a lot more to that story, but we will leave it at that, Dana, and go on to the second topic, which is other people from the United States going. For example, a congressional delegation -- will there be one?

BASH: There will be two actually. And as I mentioned before, the official delegation is just five, because the Vatican essentially is giving the U.S. five seats in the basilica. But it has not stopped members of Congress for wanting to go to pay their respects to the pope, and actually 40 members of Congress are about that -- are going to head over to Vatican City to attend. There will be two delegations, one from the Senate. That will include the Senate majority leader Bill Frist, and Democrats also, like, for example, Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. On the House side, they will led by their Democratic and Republican leaders.

Now there were some questions about whether or not they would have hotel rooms, whether or not they would actually be able to attend. We are told that they do have places to stay, and they will be attending the funeral, but probably in St. Peters Square, and certainly not in the basilica -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Did you mention New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?

BASH: She is not going. Her husband will represent that family.

SANCHEZ: OK. Dana Bash following that story for us. We appreciate it. It's an exclusive guest list, as you heard Dana explain, and you can keep track on your own on who's on it, who's not on it, by logging on to CNN.com. There, you will find up-to-the- minute information on everything happening, before during and after the pope's final.

KAGAN: Other news from Europe now, Monaco's Prince Rainier died early today after nearly a month in the hospital. He was the longest reigning monarch. During his 56 years in power, he transformed the tiny country into a playground for the rich and famous.

As the 81-year-old Rainier's health has failed in recent weeks, the job of governing was handed over to his son, Prince Albert.

Despite Monaco's small size, it occupied a prominent place on the world stage, especially for people with lots of money. Most would say it was because of Prince Rainier.

CNN's Jim Bittermann has a closer look at the man behind the monarchy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was one of the longest serving monarchs of one of the smallest countries in the world, and Prince Rainier III of Monaco deserves much credit for keeping and putting and keeping his tiny principality on the map. At first, the dashing, young prince used the reflected glamour of the French Riviera to attract growing numbers of tourists to his casino and hotels. But it was his whirlwind courtship and eventual marriage to American movie actress Grace Kelly that gave Monaco the glittering image that continues to draw the cruise liners full of visitors, even today.

Prince Rainier, not always comfortable in public, worked behind the scenes to burnish and benefit from Monaco's glittering image. He fought to keep Monaco independent from France, and to preserve its status as a tax haven, something that led columnist Art Buchwald to label Monaco a sunny place for shady people.

Members of the Monaco jetset call Rainier the builder for the way he packed the once obscure fishing village Monte Carlo with high-rise apartments to shelter and protect the rich.

STEPHEN BERN, "LE FIGARO" NEWSPAPER: Monaco and southern France are in shock after the surprise announcement of the death of Princess Grace.

BITTERMANN: But that focus on the family turned tragic in 1982, when Monaco's magic came to an end for Prince Rainier. The car carrying his princess plummeted off one of the country country's winding roads, and the next day she was dead. There was shock and sorrow around the world, but no more so than in the royal family itself. At the funeral, Prince Rainier repeatedly broke down in tears. The loss of Princess Grace, the pillar of the family, had a great impact on him, and many said the children, too. Caroline and Stephanie were soon making the covers of all the gossip magazines, their lives rich with scandalous behavior and tragic affairs.

Prince Albert now takes power in Monaco, but the real question is not the succession, but whether Monaco itself can prosper in the same way it did under Prince Rainier, the shy man who fought during more than a half century in power to turn an undistinguished family fiefdom to into a Capitol of fantasy, wealth and glamour.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: This news coming from Vatican City. We're looking at live pictures of thousands of people right now standing in line, making their way past the body of Pope John Paul II. The Vatican saying that more than a million people have already filed past.

Well, they've had, at some point, to decide that they're going to have to cut off the line. That decision has been made and now they're telling people you must be in line by today, by 4:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 p.m. Rome. If you are in line at that point, you will be allowed to wait and then file past and pay your last respects to the pope. But after 4:00 p.m. Eastern and 10:00 p.m. Rome time today, there will no longer be the opportunity to view the pope before Friday's funeral.

SANCHEZ: What amazing show of support and reverence for this man. It makes you think if they left this open a couple of more weeks, they'd still have thousands of people waiting in line.

KAGAN: Here's another little interesting bit of information. So many people have come to Rome for this that they just don't have enough hotels for everybody. Well now we're learning that the mayor of Rome has issued an informal invitation for citizens to...

SANCHEZ: To open their houses.

KAGAN: ... open their houses to let visitors come and stay. That would be a nice gesture.

SANCHEZ: And then to boot, you have 200 world leaders, all meeting in one place between Thursday and Saturday, going to the funeral on Friday.

KAGAN: Including President Bush, Mrs. Bush and two former presidents.

SANCHEZ: What a story. Well, let's turn things to business now. The business of business, as they say.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Hey, another story coming out of New York City in just a bit. This one a nightmare for one Chinese food delivery man, stuck in an elevator for days.

SANCHEZ: Days and days?

KAGAN: When CNN LIVE returns, we'll tell you how he finally got out and what he has to say about how he got stuck there in the first place.

SANCHEZ: And why nobody came to his help.

KAGAN: But he already had the Chinese food.

(COMMERCIAL BERAK)

SANCHEZ: Here's that story Daryn had mentioned just a little while ago. Really amazing story. Just about everybody in New York is talking about this. Friday night, a deliveryman drops off an order of Chinese food in a Bronx apartment building. That was his last delivery of the night, by the way, important to note.

It was also the last time that anyone saw him until yesterday, when he was discovered trapped all that time inside an elevator. Here to explain what happened in the meantime is Roger Clark from affiliate in New York One.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROGER CLARK, REPORTER, NEW YORK ONE (voice-over): Ming Kuang Chen left the Montefiore Hospital Tuesday afternoon after quite an ordeal. He says he was stuck in an elevator for nearly three and a half days without food or water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wants to thank everyone spend time look for him in the past four days.

CLARK: The 35-year-old Chen, who doesn't speak much English, was reported missing Friday night after not returning from a Chinese food delivery to Tracy Towers, a massive apartment complex. His bicycle was found outside and there were fears he had been mugged or worse, for the money he was carrying. Police searched the building over the weekend but didn't find him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's tired, he sleeps in the elevator.

CLARK: Chen was finally able to alert building workers he was stuck through an emergency intercom. With the help of the fire department and a and a mechanic, the elevator was brought down to the lobby. Firefighters found Chen inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a guy that was there supposedly for three days, he didn't look too bad to me. But he was a little wobbly when he was walking. I have no idea how he felt because we weren't able to communicate him.

CLARK (on camera): When he arrived at the hospital, the emergency room doctors says that Chen was some what disheveled, looked very tired and was suffering from mild to moderate dehydration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Felt dizzy, lightheaded. He had some headache. He felt weak. I believe at some point, he almost passed out, but he actually never lost consciousness in the elevator.

CLARK (voice-over): While Chen was able to leave the hospital Tuesday afternoon, there are still questions lingering about the incident. Building management says while the elevator's mechanism was jammed, the emergency intercom was working. However, it's recorded as being pushed only once since Friday night, and that was at 4:10 Tuesday morning. Chen says he screamed for help, but would not say why he didn't try the intercom sooner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's really tired today. He didn't talk too much.

CLARK: There was speculation that Chen did not use the intercom sooner because he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Police say his family told them he's in the country illegally, and that, in turn, has Councilman John Lou (ph) accusing the NYPD of violating Bloomberg Administration policy not to reveal anyone's immigration status out of concern that federal authorities might take action. As for Chen, he may sue building management since tenants say the elevators there are often broken.

In the Bronx, Roger Clark, New York One.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Other stories making news coast-to-coast this morning.

In Los Angeles, two teenagers had to be plucked from the fast- moving waters of a flood-controlled channel. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to rescue both the boys, ages 13 and 17. Neither was seriously hurt.

In Florida, the spectacular sight of hundreds of migratory sharks swarming near shore. The spinner sharks are not especially aggressive towards humans. What does that mean, not especially? But swimmers and surfers are advised to stay out of the ocean until the sharks move on. Good, good advice.

Onto beavers. In Bangor, Maine, animal control officers saying heavy spring runoff in a nearby creek is to blame for a beaver looking for some new digs in a subdivision. Area residents managed to keep the critter from getting hit by a car until some help could arrive. The beaver was safely moved to a more suitable habitat. No dams in that subdivision.

SANCHEZ: You read that very well, by the way.

KAGAN: Well, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Nice job with the beaver and the sharks. It was a real...

KAGAN: Animal beat.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's, well, 54 minutes after the hour. I'm a little nervous after handling those or watching you handle them, actually.

KAGAN: The sharks?

SANCHEZ: It's a scary...

KAGAN: Well, let me take care of the time. 10:54 on the East Coast, just about 7:55 in the West. Stay with us. We're going to check on your morning forecast. Especially important here in the Southeast.

SANCHEZ: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You've heard the term joint session of Congress. What you're looking at here is a joint meeting of Congress, both houses coming together to hear a foreign dignitary, who is going to be talking to them. It's going to presided over by the vice president of the United States. As you can see there -- you can see all the way through your screen, that is, in fact, vice president Dick Cheney.

Viktor Yuschenko, the president of the Ukraine, will be delivering a keynote address to this joint meeting of Congress. And we will be bringing it to you when it happens. As far as we understand, he is not yet in the room. When he comes in, we're going to be sharing those moments with you.

KAGAN: Meanwhile, plenty of news to follow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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