Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Latest on Wildfires in California's Yucca Valley; Mood in Mumbai a Day After Bomb Blasts

Aired July 12, 2006 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: For more of the best political team on television with Wolf Blitzer, the "SITUATION ROOM" comes your way weekdays at 4:00 p.m. and then at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
Time to get off that couch, grandpa. Hey, that's what the scientists are saying. A new study found that elderly folks who do some light housework every day tend to live longer than those who don't. Now, we're not talking about really big activities here, just things like vacuuming and unloading the dishwasher. The research appears in the "Journal of the American Medical Association."

On to Southern California now. The deserts there battling a major blaze. Look at these flames. Forestry officials say they are making progress, but the fire is far from under control.

Our Kyung Lah is following the story.

She is in Yucca Valley, just north of Palm Springs -- good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

We're entering the warmer part of the day now. Humidity is still very low and what you're seeing now, at least what we're seeing now here in the high desert is some wind. And that is going to be very difficult for firefighters as they try to contain this fire.

What you're seeing here now, this wind is actually sort of pushing the southern part of this fire north. This fire is burning northwest. This means that it is heading toward a densely forest area, the San Bernardino County Forest area, and that means that this fire could actually get picked up at that point.

The good news is that it's burning away from some homes in this region. So, some of the people who evacuation out of this area, we're starting to see them, even though they have been told to get out, are starting to go back to their homes, at least in the southern terrain.

The latest update we have for you from the fire department is 26,000 acres have burned, 60 percent containment. So that is some progress. Three hundred residences evacuated. But 300 structures currently are threatened.

At this point, firefighters say that there is a lot of dry brush out here. And now with this wind and the heat and the low humidity, they say that at this point they can see flare-ups. And so they're very concerned about that -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We're seeing a lot of horses in these pictures.

This is horse country?

LAH: This is horse country. There are a lot of horses in this area and a lot of people care very much about their horses. So we're seeing trucks drive out of this area with horses in the back and a lot of these folks are trying to get them out as quickly as possible. And some of the people who have been evacuated very quickly because of these erratic winds have had to leave some of their smaller animals behind.

KAGAN: Kyung Lah live from Yucca Valley in Southern California.

Thank you.

To international news now, it is being called an act of war. Two more soldiers captured. Israeli troops moving in and the fighting spreads. The latest is just ahead.

And a high flying mission -- two Shuttle Discovery astronauts taking a stroll this morning. Well, some live pictures -- there we go. Live pictures back there.

Testing a procedure. Get this, NASA wants it to work, but NASA hopes it never has to use it.

We'll explain, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: New developments in the intensifying situation in the Mideast.

Here is what we now know. Israel took its fight against militants to Southern Lebanon today. Israeli troops and warplanes moved in after clashes along the border. We've learned that seven Israeli soldiers have been killed and that the group Hezbollah said it captured two others.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that he considers that capture an act of war. His cabinet meets next hour to consider a response.

Witnesses say Israeli forces bombed roads, bridges and militant targets. Reuters reports two Lebanese civilians were killed in a strike on a bridge. The fighting here in addition to the Israeli offensive underway in Gaza.

New evidence in the Mumbai train explosions. Police say they have found timers in pencils at three of the seven blast sites. The timers are believed to have detonated bombs made of RDX, which is one of the most powerful military explosives.

Also today, authorities raised the death toll to more than 185. Another 700 people are injured.

Despite those figures, millions of commuters are cramming into trains again today. Many of them are doing it out of necessity. They just have to go to work. Others are doing it in defiance, determined not to let the terrorists disrupt the way of life in India's financial capital.

CNN's Seth Doane is in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, with more on the aftermath of those terrorist attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SETH DOANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The worst terrorist attack on Indian soil in more than a decade rocked the port city of Mumbai. Gruesome pictures gave a glimpse of what unfolded.

Under darkness and further hampered by monsoon rains, the rescue effort revealed a bleak picture.

How could this city ever recover from such a disaster?

By midday in this Mumbai train station not far from the blasts, we found riders pushing to get back on the trains, partially out of necessity, partially out of defiance.

"Taking the train is something we have to do every day," he tells me, "and we are not scared."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what Bombay is all about. This is the spirit of Bombay. And I would surely want to give a message to the people who think by doing such things they would scare people. I don't really think so.

DOANE (on camera): Almost everyone I've spoken with here at this train station has said the same thing -- why wouldn't I come back to the train stations? Trains are an essential part of life, of getting around Mumbai, and if we don't come, it'll show terrorists that they've won.

But not everyone here in Mumbai is having such an easy time following these attacks.

(voice-over): State-run-hospitals were where many of the first casualties were taken. The wounded still lay dazed.

In the ICU, a ventilator keeps this man alive. His body twitches as doctors try to save him. And outside we meet a man who searched through the night to find his son, only to identify him in the morgue.

Mumbai is a city of people who pride themselves on their resilience. But for many here, the bombing disrupted everything that was normal.

Seth Doane, CNN, Mumbai.

(END VIDEO TAPE) KAGAN: A failure to cooperate -- that is how U.S. envoy Christopher Hill sums up North Korea's response to diplomatic efforts on the nuclear issue. Hill met today in Beijing with China's foreign minister. The U.S. is calling for a firm stance against North Korea after Pyongyang test fired seven missiles last week.

Hill says North Korea should stop its tests and return to disarmament talks. A proposed U.N. resolution about sanctions is on hold while China tries its hand at diplomacy.

Summer storm season underway, and that makes this the perfect time of the year to prepare and protect yourself and your family. Today, stocking up before the emergency.

Our Gerri Willis walks you through a shopping list with the help of the New Jersey Emergency Management Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: So, Kevin, we obviously want a first aid kit, right?

KEVIN J. HAYDEN, NEW JERSEY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Absolutely. Yes.

WILLIS: What should be in it?

HAYDEN: Well, first of all, you want to talk about water. Everyone in your house should have at least a gallon of water to two gallons of water per person per day.

WILLIS: And meds?

HAYDEN: Meds, yes. You want to make sure that those medications stay updated. You don't want to have medication in there for two years if there's no disaster and then when it's time to use them, they're outdated.

WILLIS: That means I'm going to have to check this kit like at least every year, right, and make sure everything is updated?

HAYDEN: Every six months.

Another thing that's not bad to put in there, believe it or not, is a whistle like this one.

WILLIS: Why would you want a whistle?

HAYDEN: Well, you could be stranded there and you want to alert emergency responders to where you are. And something like a whistle would be able to gain their attention.

WILLIS: That could have helped a lot of people in Katrina.

So, Kevin, what do you have?

HAYDEN: Flashlights.

WILLIS: Four?

HAYDEN: At least four. If you have a family of four, if you have a family of five, then five.

WILLIS: So one per person?

HAYDEN: Sure. You don't know how long you'll be without power and you might need that light.

WILLIS: And you need batteries.

HAYDEN: Plenty of them.

WILLIS: We're going to have to get a lot of batteries, right?

HAYDEN: Yes.

In your kit, you should have a radio because you won't power, and one that runs on batteries.

WILLIS: So, I can imagine that after you've been out of power for a few days, you might be wondering how you're going to eat?

HAYDEN: Correct. Yes.

WILLIS: So what do you do?

HAYDEN: Get a grill. Get a grill and get some charcoal and some lighter fluid. And if not that, a propane grill. Because if you have a natural gas grill...

WILLIS: Yes.

HAYDEN: You might be out of luck or you might lose electricity, if you have an electric stove at home. So a grill is not a bad option.

WILLIS: OK, so we'll be eating well, at the very least.

So, Kevin, I want to get a generator.

HAYDEN: Not a bad idea, but there's some things you should be aware of safety-wise.

WILLIS: Well, like what?

HAYDEN: Well, first of all, I wouldn't attempt to hook up a generator to your entire service, electric service at home. That could be very dangerous and you should only do that with an electrician, a licensed electrician.

WILLIS: Well, any other safety considerations? Because that seems pretty easy to avoid. HAYDEN: One of the things that we're really concerned about is carbon monoxide poisoning. You should never bring one of these generators into your home.

WILLIS: So, Kevin, I think we've got everything we wanted.

HAYDEN: I think we're set.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KAGAN: you can find the full list of storm supplies on our Web site, cnn.com/openhouse.

Tomorrow, Gerri is going to continue her Prepare and Protect series. She show you what to look for when returning to a storm- damaged home. That's tomorrow morning on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

A high-flying mission. Two Shuttle Discovery astronauts taking a walk this morning. Live pictures from space we're looking at there. Testing a procedure that NASA hopes it never has to use.

How does that work?

We'll explain.

Details ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're looking at live pictures. This is the Yucca Valley in Southern California, just north of Palm Springs.

This fire, over 17,000 acres h burned so far -- 0 percent containment. A number of people have been evacuated. Thirty homes have been destroyed. They're also worried about an area of Pioneer Town. This is a former movie set where a number of westerns were shot in the '40s.

We'll continue to watch that story out of Southern California.

Meanwhile, Carol Lin has been listening into about what officials are saying about Chicago and that train derailment from yesterday -- Carol, what are you hearing?

LIN: Well, Daryn, just a short time ago, we heard from the Chicago Transit Authority, saying that they are going to inspect each concrete panel in this tunnel panel by panel to make sure that -- that none of them fall ever again. I mean this fell on a Honda Accord, killing a woman inside.

And just a short time ago, we heard from Mayor Daley about this -- excuse me. I'm sorry. That was the Boston "Dig" story.

I'm talking about the fire in the transit tunnel.

Just a short time ago, we heard from the mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: The CTA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the accident and we'll make those findings known as soon as the NTSB deems appropriate.

It appears that our emergency response worked properly. It was rapid, efficient and coordinated. Of course, there are always opportunities learned from these types of emergencies. We will be evaluating all of our procedures.

I'd like to commend the passengers of this train for their calm and orderly response.

Also, I would like to -- this had to be a very frightening experience, especially in the light of train bombings in India that occurred several hours earlier.

In any emergency there is always some initial confusion. Yet the vast majority of passengers remained calm and helped each other off the train and onto the ledge along the side of the tunnel so they could make their way to safety.

I also want to compliment the CTA motorman. He did an excellent job, from all the reports.

LIN: All right, Daryn, once again, I'm sorry. There was a tunnel fire. There was a fire after a train derailed in Chicago on Wednesday. About 1,000 people were on board at the time. At least two injured passengers are still in the hospital today. And the mayor having kind words about the passengers and how they handled the situation.

And, once again, this still under investigation after a train derails in Chicago Wednesday and started a fire in a tunnel.

KAGAN: All right, Carol, thank you for that.

We go way, way into space. A different type of transportation here. The Shuttle Discovery -- the astronauts on a high flying mission this morning. They're testing a technique that could be used -- would be used to repair damage to the shuttle's heat shield. It's a procedure, though, that NASA hopes it never has to use.

Miles O'Brien with an update from New York.

So they want it to work, but they don't want to use it.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There you go. It's always good to be prepared. They're kind of -- it's kind of a Boy Scout thing.

KAGAN: All right.

O'BRIEN: Be prepared, right? KAGAN: And it's putty.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

KAGAN: They're using putty and a caulk gun.

I find that fascinating.

O'BRIEN: Yes. They're getting their putty and caulk gun-merit badges today, for sure.

Take a look at the space walkers. Live pictures now coming to us from space. There you see Mike Fossum and just up there a little bit, just a teeny little bit of Piers Sellers. Oh, he's floating out of screen right now.

And down here, it's kind of interesting what they're doing. They have these little kind of -- it almost looks like, you know, a beekeeper's thing, you know, with all the little boxes in there. And each one of those has an example of a deliberately broken piece of heat shield.

By the way, that's -- this is the rear portion of the space shuttle there, just so you know, to orient where you are right now. You're in the payload bay.

They've been out now for approaching five hours. And basically they are out there because of what happened three-and-a-half years ago. You've seen the video before. I'll show it to you again. Take a look at this location right in here. That's where, 87 seconds after launch, a pound--and-a-half piece of debris hit that leading edge of the wing on the Space Shuttle Columbia. It caused an eight inch hole in that leading edge portion.

There really isn't a repair that would fix that under any circumstances. But in the case of Columbia, NASA had never even considered -- they hadn't really looked into repair. Very early in the space program, in the shuttle program, they looked at it, but they discounted it. They thought it would be impossible to do.

Here's the thing, the most -- the hottest spots on an orbiter as it comes back in -- it kind of comes in like this -- is the nose cone and then the leading edge -- 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit is what it gets to.

So if you had a dent or a ding in there and you were concerned about whether it would withstand the test -- I mean it is, after all, aluminum underneath here -- what would you do about it? And this is what this is all about.

So take a look at this the close-ups here. Some tools you would find very familiar, Daryn. You probably have them in your house. The old caulking gun-and the old...

KAGAN: And I know where it is. O'BRIEN: ... and the old putty knife. The putty knife right there. You know, imagine having to patch your dry wall and if you do it wrong, you might die. I mean that's some pressure.

KAGAN: Right.

But let me ask you a sciencey thing...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

KAGAN: ... because I read something as a non-science person I thought was interesting. One of the reasons they're not really sure how it works -- you were talking about temperature earlier. But because of the lack of gravity, the bubbles don't really rise to the top like they would if you were working on your shower or something.

O'BRIEN: That's right.

KAGAN: How about that for a little science reading from the news anchor?

O'BRIEN: I'm actually very impressed.

KAGAN: Thank you, sir.

O'BRIEN: You've got a real temperature problem, as we talked about, a tremendous swing of temperatures, about a, you know, it's like about a 200 degree swing from day to night there. It really is tremendous. So that's one thing.

And then, yes, without gravity, bubbles don't behave like they're supposed to -- or like we're used to, put it that way. And so all of that -- all of that was discovered last year when they first tried this. And now they're kind of doing a little bit of a do-over to see if they can get it right.

KAGAN: Honey, could you do that caulking thing again? Honey do list (ph). At the end of the day, that's what it is.

O'BRIEN: There you go.

There you go.

KAGAN: Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right.

KAGAN: All right, we're going to have much more on what's happening in North Carolina. An inmate being transferred grabs an officer's gun. We'll tell you what happened with that incident. That's coming up just ahead.

Right now a quick break.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A serious situation in North Carolina, where an inmate tries to take an officer's gun.

Carol Lin tells us more -- Carol.

LIN: Jackson, North Carolina, Daryn.

This happened in the Northampton Courthouse, where Willie Forrest was on trial for first degree murder. He became agitated inside the courtroom and the court officers had to restrain him.

At that point, Willie Forrest apparently grabbed one of the officers' guns and he shot that officer in the shoulder. He got into a struggle with a second officer in that courtroom. And it took a third officer to step in, restrain him and then shot him to death.

Willie Forrest on trial for first degree murder. He was already serving time for an undisclosed charge right now.

But a very dramatic scene in that courthouse. Right now the officer who was shot in the shoulder is currently in stable condition. And it appears that the wound, thank goodness, is not life- threatening.

KAGAN: All right, thank you, Carol.

Ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, what's next in the Mideast after Israeli forces move into Lebanon?

We'll talk with Farid Abboud, the Lebanese ambassador to the U.S.

And Israel has promised what they're calling a painful response to the capture of two of its soldiers. Next hour the Israeli cabinet meets to decide just what that response will be. That and more at the top of the hour on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Meanwhile, I'm Daryn Kagan.

I'll be back in about 20 minutes with the headlines from here in the U.S.

See you then.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com