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CNN Sunday Morning
GOP Lawmaker: He Warned House Speaker of Foley Scandal; British Newspaper Releases New Tape of 9/11 Hijackers; Latest Developments From Baghdad; Overpass Collapse in Canada; Brazil Plane Crash; 'Faces of Faith'
Aired October 01, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: New this hour, we have some new video to show you five years later of two 9/11 hijackers. "The Sunday Times" of London says it has obtained video of Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the September 11th attacks, at a bin Laden hideout in Afghanistan. Now, Atta, on the right, is seen with the hijacker of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
CNN has not been able to authenticate the tape, but we are following this developing story. So we're going to live to London in just six minutes.
Stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, new questions over a Republican congressman allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a 16-year-old boy. The head of the House Republican election effort says he raised concerns about Mark Foley months ago with the House speaker. Dennis Hastert's office says they were only told the messages were "overly friendly."
Well, we are waiting for word from Canada this morning on the fate of people trapped in cars after a highway overpass collapsed. Look at this video. It happened yesterday near Montreal.
A witness described the overpass as collapsing like a house of cards. It's not known how many people were in the vehicles.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: In the heart of the Brazilian rainforest there are no survivors in the crash of a civilian jetliner. That's the word now from Brazilian Ministry of Defense officials. One hundred fifty-five people were onboard this plane. Brazil's president has called for three days of mourning in his country.
Now over to Reynolds Wolf to find out what's going on with the weather for you.
Reynolds, what you got?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You bet.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: Back to you.
SANCHEZ: We'll look forward to hearing what you have to offer up. Thanks a lot.
We run down the top stories every 15 minutes here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines is coming up at 7:15 Eastern.
NGUYEN: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is October 1st.
You know, I was shopping yesterday. They already have Christmas items out. It's not even Halloween yet. October 1st, everybody. Still in October.
Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
SANCHEZ: Do you know why they do that?
NGUYEN: Why?
SANCHEZ: Because they can make money off it.
NGUYEN: That's true. Try to get it in your head early.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez.
Thanks so much for being with us.
NGUYEN: Well, the fallout in Washington, let's talk about that for a minute, because House Republicans are coming under fire for their party's handling of a scandal that has forced one of their own from office. Florida's Mark Foley resigned over allegations he sent sexually suggestive messages to a 16-year-old former congressional page. The scandal triggered a high-stakes debate just weeks before critical midterm elections.
CNN White House Correspondent Dana Bash explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: House Republicans are now mounting an extraordinary effort to explain their own conduct in the Mark Foley scandal and are suggesting there should be a criminal investigation of his. A strongly-worded statement from the top three House Republican leaders came on a day they tried to answer key questions, what did they know and what did they do about it?
We got some of those answers Saturday, including a correction of sorts from House Speaker Dennis Hastert. He and his top aides insisted to CNN Friday that Hastert knew nothing about any questionable Foley conduct until late last week. But on Saturday, Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York revealed he actually knew months ago about one e-mail exchange between Foley and a former page and brought it to the speaker's attention.
Hastert says he has no reason to dispute that, but insists he does not explicitly recall this conversation. Hastert's statement released late Saturday does go into detail explaining how at end of last year, several of his top aides were aware of one questionable but not explicit e-mail exchange between Foley and a former page and set in motion what Republicans insist was an investigation.
That inquiry, which was nearly a year ago, consisted of two Republicans on the House Page Board confronting Foley, telling him to immediately cease contact with the young man and be mindful of conduct with other pages. Yet, late Saturday, the only Democrat on that three-person Page Board released his own statement saying he knew nothing about this.
"I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with a House page, and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter." That from Democrat Dale Kildee.
Now, while there are still open questions about what GOP leaders knew and the action they took to investigate, one thing the House speaker and other GOP emphatically deny is any knowledge of sexually explicit instant messages to young men that forced Foley's abrupt resignation. Now, that not only overshadowed a handful of legislative victories before Republicans got before leaving town full time to campaign, it also kept Republican leadership aides at work all day on Saturday coordinating their public statements, trying to limit political damage.
And to that end, late Saturday evening, the House Republican leadership released a harshly-worded statement calling Foley's conduct "unacceptable and abhorrent," and calling for Foley's resignation to be followed by the "full weight of the criminal justice system."
Now, the GOP leaders said they're taking measures to protect pages and setting up a toll-free number for pages and family members to call with complaints and concerns.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: If the GOP is on the defensive, then what are they going to be doing about it throughout the day? This is certain to be a scandal that will be among the topics that Wolf Blitzer's going to be asking White House counselor Dan Bartlett about this morning. You can see the interview on "LATE EDITION," beginning at 11:00 Eastern, right here only on CNN.
We also would like to know what you think of the scandal. Foley's e-mail scandal, beginning to end, what do you think? What are your thoughts on this?
E-mail your comments. Our address, weekends@cnn.com.
NGUYEN: And a little bit later we're going to be talking about possible criminal charges that could come from this. And we'll see if that has any legs to it.
In the meantime, though, let's talk about this, the faces of terror before the attack. A London newspaper says it has new video of two September 11th hijackers. "The Sunday Times: is releasing the video on its Web site this hour.
Now, you're looking at a still frame from that video. The paper says it shows ringleader Mohammed Atta and hijacker Ziad Jarrah at a bin Laden hideout in Afghanistan.
Now, we see the banner up there, but if you -- if we can drop that for a minute, you can see the time or the date stamp when that was shot there in 2000. And it was January 18, 2000, to be exact. Part of that 1 in front of the 8 is missing there.
But this is the first known picture of Atta and Jarrah together. And it could help piece together Atta's whereabouts in early 2000.
Well, CNN has not been able to authenticate the tape, but our correspondents are tracking this developing story.
Paula Newton joins us now from our London bureau with more on the video and its significance.
I know that we're waiting to get the full extent of this video as it's being released on the Web site, but what do you know so far about it, aside from what we've already discovered?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, the video has been released now on "The Sunday Times" Web site. We did wake up to this headline this morning. "The Sunday Times" of London calling them "The Laughing 9/11 Bombers."
As you said, we cannot independently confirm these -- this tape at all. What "The Times" says, though, is that it is almost an hour long, as well as showing the two hijackers. And remember here, now, Betty, these are crucial, two figures that U.S. sources have described as the ringleaders, the pilots, really the masterminds behind the September 11th plot.
We've been told that they, on this tape, are announcing their martyrdom wills. And it's very interesting that it is in fact a full 21 months before 9/11 happened.
If this -- if this can be authenticated, what it will show is a couple of things. One, is the fact that it took a very, very long time for this plot to come together. And it gives authorities certainly a play-by-play on what these men were doing before, how long it took, how involved the al Qaeda operation in Afghanistan at the time was. And that gives them a lot of insight into any kind of future terrorist planning. The more they know, the more forensic evidence they have to tell them exactly what led up to 9/11, the better able they are to quash any terrorism threats in the future.
The thing that's interesting here though, Betty, is that we're told there is no audio on the tape. And also, "The Sunday Times" said that through a U.S. source they have been told that U.S. authorities have been unable to really get much from the video. They've tried reading the lips and they still can't decipher much from it. So you pretty much have to infer.
Also interesting, it shows Osama bin Laden in Kandahar, basically giving a speech to about a crowd of 100. Very crucial here, Betty, that even 21 months before 9/11 happened, that Osama bin Laden felt it necessary to get the two masterminds in Afghanistan and indoctrinate them again, if you will.
He knew that he would be sending them back out into Europe, back out into the United States, and at any point in time they may fail in their mission. He wanted to make sure that he had that time with them again and explain to them exactly what he felt their mission would be and the fact that they could not diverge from that mission. Of course, they were also there getting some more training.
Again, as we said, we cannot authenticate this in any way, shape or form. We are continuing to follow the developments as "The Sunday Times" releases the video on the Web site -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Paula, thank you so much for that. Of course, we'll be checking in with you a little bit later and give you a chance to look at that video.
Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Another new videotape. This one allegedly shows the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq and a claim by Iraqi officials that they're close to killing or capturing Abu Ayyub al-Masri. But some major new developments this morning from Baghdad on this.
And let's bring in our Michael Ware, who's been following some of the details.
Michael, what do you have for us this morning?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have is Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie has just finished a press conference, where what he's essentially doing is, this is a counter punch to Al Qaeda in Iraq's own propaganda campaign during this holy month of Ramadan offenses. We saw a few days ago al-Masri released an audio statement where he announces the launching of a military campaign during Ramadan, part of which he said includes targeting Westerners, Christians to be kidnapped, and hopefully traded for the blind Islamic cleric being held in New York in relation to the World Trade Center bombings.
What we have here is Iraq's national security adviser. He's akin to Ambassador Negroponte in the U.S., the head of --- the national intelligence director. He's saying, we are hunting al-Masri, we are close to him. He has promised the Iraqi people that, "During this holy month, we will have him for you, either dead or in chains."
He then shows a videotape of al-Masri. It's essentially a lesson. It's teaching young jihadis how to put a car bomb together. However, from the banner that we see in this tape, it's clearly very dated.
The national security adviser says al-Masri is responsible for as many as 2,000 car bombs in Iraq. However, we already knew this.
We already knew that al-Masri was one of the veterans of this campaign, and had been leading it from almost the beginning. So the threat that we are close to capturing him, we heard this time and time again, which was, Zarqawi, the previous leader -- and until his actual death, these were promises unfulfilled.
So this is clearly the national security adviser of Iraq trying to counter al Qaeda's propaganda campaign -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: And it goes on and on.
Michael Ware, thanks so much for that comprehensive report. We certainly appreciate it.
Betty, over to you.
NGUYEN: Coming up, putting out the welcome mat. A California mayor declares his city a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. Protesters, for and against, well, they are sounding off. We have a full report in about five minutes.
SANCHEZ: Also, the war on terror, a way to mold impressionable young minds before al Qaeda finds them. It's our focus on faith. It's coming up in about 30 minutes.
NGUYEN: And we are going to take you live to Montreal, where an overpass has collapsed. We understand cars still trapped beneath it. We'll have an update coming up right after this break.
Stick around. You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There are some new images emerging this morning of two 9/11 hijackers. "The Sunday Times" of London says it's obtained video of Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the September 11th attacks, at a bin Laden hideout in Afghanistan. Atta, on the right here on the screen, is seen with the hijacker of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
CNN has not been able to authenticate the tape.
New questions arise after Republican Mark Foley resigned. The congressman from Florida allegedly sent inappropriate e-mails to a 16- year-old boy. The head of the House Republican election effort says he reported concerns months ago to the speaker of the House. However, Dennis Hastert's office says, no, they were only told that messages were "over-friendly."
The story we'll be focusing on throughout the day in our political debate.
Also, NATO expands its control in Afghanistan. A spokesperson says -- for the alliance -- says about 12,000 U.S. troops will come under NATO command in a few days. But about 8,000 American troops whose main job is tracking al Qaeda terrorists will remain under U.S. command.
NGUYEN: Brazil's president calls for three days of mourning to honor the victims of a deadly plane crash on Friday. It took almost 24 hours for rescuers to find the wreckage in the Amazon rainforest. You can see why. It's a very dense area. A government official says no one survived that crash.
We run down the top stories every 15 minutes right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, with in-depth all morning long. So your next check of the headlines coming up at 7:30 Eastern.
SANCHEZ: What a scene in Canada. A tragic scene, to say the least. An overpass has collapsed. It's crushed cars and drivers beneath it.
The situation occurred yesterday near Montreal. A short time ago there was word that crews had finally reached some of the vehicles that are trapped in some of the debris, as we show you what these pictures look like.
Let's do this now, let's go to Jed Kahane of CTV, who is following this story for us.
Jed, what's the situation there?
JED KAHANE, REPORTER, CTV: Well, Rick, in the middle of the night they managed to reach the two cars that were trapped under this overpass when it just sheared off around the noon hour yesterday. In those cars, they haven't confirmed how many people are dead. But at least four is what we understand. That will be confirmed shortly by the police, we expect.
The traffic was going along on a Saturday afternoon, and about an hour before this overpass came down, there were complaints to the transport department here that concrete chunks were falling. They sent an inspector by who picked up some of those chunks but didn't see fit to close the overpass down, and about an hour later it simply came crashing down.
There were cars on top. They plummeted down to the highway below. Two people are in critical condition in hospitals, and now we have as yet an unconfirmed number of dead, but we believe it will probably be as high as four.
SANCHEZ: Two questions for you. One about those inspectors and why they didn't act, and the other one, which I think is more important at this point, is the people who were trapped.
How long were they trapped? And is there any sign of life at all still left over there, or any glimmer of hope that somebody could still be saved under this rubble?
KAHANE: No, police have said that their rescue operation is over. There were two cars under there, that's all. When they got to them, they were only about a foot high because of the incredible weight of the structure that fell onto the highway below. So they were killed immediately. That is certain.
The people who fell down from the top were still on top of the structure, but some of the cars were mangled and pinned in the wreckage. Those people were pulled out fairly quickly and taken to hospitals. Six injured in all. And two of them are still in critical condition this morning.
SANCHEZ: Who will be answering questions today from reporters like yourself as to why it is that an inspector would go out there, see chunks of concrete on that street, and literally walk away without closing the highway or doing something else?
KAHANE: Well, that's what the police are going to try to find out, and the transport officials will have to answer. In addition, there are a number of people who have said -- although these haven't been confirmed by the transport department -- that they had complained in the previous weeks about things they had seen on that structure, that it was a little bit out of alignment, if you will.
So the question is, did they know even further prior to one hour before this structure came down that something was wrong, and did they fail to do something about it? But of course, they had that chance one hour before to shut it down completely. Why they didn't, we just don't know. But
the infrastructure here in Canada, there are a number of bridges like this where the infrastructure is in bad need of repair and concrete chunks do fall down. So for that inspector, a few concrete chunks on a highway wouldn't be something entirely out of the ordinary. The question is, did he take the trouble to look further beyond that and see if anything was seriously out of the ordinary...
SANCHEZ: Yes, especially...
KAHANE: ... that would have allowed him to make that decision to shut it down.
SANCHEZ: ... especially if he had been called there. Certainly a story where people will be asking why not something -- why something wasn't done sooner.
We thank you so much, Jed, for bringing us up to date. And there's another story where people are going to be asking, perhaps, why something wasn't done sooner.
NGUYEN: A lot of questions, in fact, to this story.
SANCHEZ: Exactly. This is a development.
And the situation with Congressman Mark Foley, and people who may want to know why they waited so long for a television network to stop this from occurring.
NGUYEN: We're also following some other stories. Hurricane Isaac, that's churning in the Atlantic. Where is it headed? Well, that's the question. And meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is keeping a close eye on it.
Good morning, Reynolds.
WOLF: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a look at this, folks. Rain, flooding and landslides. That is the forecast after a typhoon tore through Vietnam.
Look at the winds there.
Local media reports say at least three people were killed and 70 injured. The typhoon has now been downgraded to a tropical storm and it's moved into neighboring Laos. But it was still a major force when it hit the Philippines last week. Disaster officials there say the death toll has risen to 76, with nearly that many still missing.
Boy, they're having a rough time of it there in Southeast Asia.
SANCHEZ: And you know what's interesting is -- and maybe, Reynolds, you can shed some light on this, this year we're having probably one of the lightest hurricane seasons that -- I've been covering this thing for decades and decades.
NGUYEN: Compared to last year and the year before? My.
SANCHEZ: It's been a while, huh?
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: The e-mail scandal raises questions, new questions in Washington. So we're following the latest developments involving this man, Republican Congressman Mark Foley, who has now resigned, of course.
NGUYEN: Plus, our focus in "Faces of Faith" this morning, how to win the hearts and minds for the young Muslims for the U.S., critical in the war on terror. "Faces of Faith," that's coming up in about 15 minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: "Now in the News" on your Sunday morning, a British newspaper says it has obtained new video of two 9/11 hijackers. "The Sunday Times" says the tape shows ringleader Mohammed Atta and hijacker Ziad Jarrah laughing before recording their wills. The paper says the tape, dated January 18, 2000, is from a bin Laden hideout in Afghanistan.
We're going to have more on this developing story throughout the morning. Well, House Republicans face questions over the Mark Foley scandal. The congressman resigned his Florida seat after accusations he sent sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old boy. A leading Republican says he informed the speaker of the House months ago; however, Dennis Hastert's office says they were only told the messages were "over-friendly."
We'll have more on this.
In the heart of the Brazilian rainforest there are no survivors in the crash of a civilian jetliner. That is the word from a Brazilian Ministry of Defense official. One hundred fifty-five people were on board. Brazil's president has called for three days of mourning.
All Israeli soldiers are now out of Lebanon. Israeli military officials say the last phase of withdrawal was completed today. Israel had already withdrawn most of the 10,000 troops it sent to Lebanon in July. The pullout, well, it fulfills a key condition of a U.N. resolution that ended the month-long fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
SANCHEZ: Now back over to Reynolds Wolf for a quick check of your weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: We do run down the top stories every 15 minutes here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, with in-depth coverage all morning long. You next check of the headlines is coming up 7:45 Eastern.
NGUYEN: From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, October 1st, the beginning of a new month. We're well into fall.
Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez.
Want to thank you so much for being with us this morning.
There is a published report today that links some of the names in baseball, big names in baseball, with allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs. The "Los Angeles Times" report is based on statements former pitcher Jason Grimsley allegedly made to federal agents in late May and early June. The report relies on information from two anonymous sources.
Now, according to the newspaper, Grimsley implicates Houston Astros picture Roger Clemens. "The Times" says that Grimsley told investigators in an affidavit that Clemens "used athletic performance- enhancing drugs." The paper says other names in the affidavit include Clemens' fellow Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte. The agent for both of these players, Randy Hendricks, has reacted to the report. Regarding Clemens, Hendricks tells The Associated Press, "I've grown weary of having to defend Clemens from innuendo and conjecture about every six months for the last several years, when he's complied with all of the rules and the regulations."
Regarding Pettitte, he says, "Andy is just surprised and stunned and has no knowledge of any such activity."
Now, according to "The Times" report, Grimsley also allegedly told investigators that Baltimore Orioles player Miguel Tejada used anabolic steroids. Tejada denied the allegations and comments to "The Baltimore Sun." He said, "I know that I've never used that, and I know I am clean. I'll get checked out for anybody, any time, any moment, whenever they want."
Grimsley, the former pitcher who allegedly made the accusations, admitted using growth hormone steroids and amphetamines. "The Times" says its report is based on the affidavit investigators used to search Grimsley's house.
Players' names were blocked out of the affidavit when the document was originally made public on May 31st, but the "L.A. Times" says it located an unnamed source with unauthorized access to an unedited affidavit, one that wasn't blacked out. The paper was allowed to see an unaltered report briefly and red aloud some of what was blocked out in the affidavit made available to the public -- Betty.
NGUYEN: In another story, out of office and under legal scrutiny, Republican Congressman Mark Foley has resigned over allegations he sent sexually suggestive messages to a 16-year-old former congressional page. He could also face criminal charges.
Well, could he? That's the question.
Our guest has the legal perspective from both sides. Pam Bethel is a former federal prosecutor. She now works as a criminal defense attorney, and she joins us live this morning.
Thanks for being with us.
PAMELA BETHEL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, thank you. And thank you for having me.
NGUYEN: Sure. Well, you know, first up, what do you think about the chances that Foley could possibly face criminal charges? Are they real?
BETHEL: I think -- oh, they're very real. What his conduct could be characterized as contributing to the (INAUDIBLE) of a minor, soliciting a minor for sexual activity. There are several charges that could be brought that would fit within this conduct.
NGUYEN: Well, does this all, though, hinge and depend upon a page coming forward and saying, yes, I do want to press charges, or could these charges go ahead without that happening?
BETHEL: Well, usually you need the victim to come forward, because usually it amounts to a he said-she said kind of contest. In this case, however, you've got the e-mails themselves. And I think those e-mails are so explicit, that even if the victim chose not to testify or cooperate, I think a prosecutor could get a conviction.
NGUYEN: You just labeled -- I should say just laid out some of the possible charges. What kind of ramifications, what kind of punishment would come with them? I mean, what could he possibly face?
BETHEL: Well, look, they're all felonies. And anywhere from a few years in jail to maybe 10 or 15 years in jail. This culture's become very sensitive to pedophilia and acts of pedophilia, and that kind of conduct is not tolerated. So if he is proven guilty, he will face time, serious time in jail.
NGUYEN: Well, there's a lot of questions, too, as to who knew what, when. Any possibility that some of the other folks in Congress who knew about this, maybe didn't act, could face charges as well?
BETHEL: I don't think criminal charges. I think each person who was involved in this may have to face their own political ramifications. But as I understand it, no one knew about it before it happened. They all learned about it after.
And, you know, it depends on who you believe what happened next. But based on what I now know, I do not believe anyone else would be facing criminal charges.
NGUYEN: So as we look at this unfold, and it is developing rather quickly, you're hearing from all sides. Many people have their own opinions of it. What is key in the investigations as they continue, and we'll see much more of them in the days to come?
BETHEL: Well, what will be key will be the number of young people involved, if there's more --- my understanding is that there is definitely more than one -- the level of -- the salacious nature of the e-mails, and basically the timing. When did this conduct begin and when were the last acts of this conduct?
NGUYEN: All right. Well, we'll be watching.
Pam Bethel, a former federal prosecutor.
Thanks for your time today.
BETHEL: You're quite welcome.
SANCHEZ: We are taking it global now. So -- and to do that, we turn to our international desk.
NGUYEN: Yes. Brenda Bernard joins us with some new developments this morning.
Brenda, what do you have? BRENDA BERNARD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, gunshots on the streets of Gaza this morning. These pictures coming in to CNN just a short time ago.
It was Palestinian against Palestinian. Security sources say at least one person was killed and 12 others wounded. The fighting erupted when police took to the streets of Gaza City in Canyones (ph). They were protesting the Hamas-led government which has not paid them since it took power seven months ago. Hamas officials sent its executive security force into the streets to confront the protesters.
Just last hour in Thailand, a new prime minister was sworn into office. Military coup leaders picked one of their own, former army chief General Surayud Chulanont, as the interim leader. He is seen as someone who can help stabilize the political situation because of his record of achievements and reputation for incorruptibility.
Coup leaders have also announced an interim constitution. It reserves the powers they gained following a bloodless coup two weeks ago.
And the world has a new reigning beauty. Eighteen-year-old Tatana Kucharova, she's the new Miss World. The high school student from the Czech Republic was crowned last night in Warsaw, Poland, beating contestants from more than 100 countries.
In addition to the judges this year, fans had a voice in picking the winner. They text-messaged their votes from around the world -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Wow. And she's just a high school student, huh?
BERNARD: Yes, 18.
NGUYEN: Good for her. All right.
SANCHEZ: Hey, could you pronounce her name one more time?
BERNARD: Yes, right. I couldn't get it out the first time. Tatana -- I know that.
NGUYEN: He prolonged the segment so he can watch more video of her.
BERNARD: I think so.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: All right, Brenda. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. We certainly appreciate it.
Still talking about international stories, though. Let's get the very latest now on the plane crash that we've been telling you about on the Brazilian rainforest.
Journalist Tom Hannigan is good enough to join us again from Sao Paolo.
Did they ever make their way -- or did any of the rescuers finally make their way to this plane crash? When last we talked they had only spotted it.
What do we know at this point, Tom?
TOM HANNIGAN, JOURNALIST: They actually now have rescuers on the ground. They had about seven men who spent the night at the site. Extremely difficult terrain, very dense jungle.
We have pictures that the air force took of the crash site yesterday, and it's just looking at a sea of green. You can barely make out the plane under the tree canopy.
They have restarted the main rescue effort today, but they're still at the stage of just trying to clear a landing area for rescue helicopters in the forest. But early indications are that they have found no survivors so far.
SANCHEZ: Any indications at this point, any reports from witnesses as to what they may have seen that may lead investigators to be able to figure out what caused this plane to go down?
HANNIGAN: Well, we do know that a private corporate jet was involved in some incident at the time that the Gol Boeing went off the radar. And the pilot of that plane said that a large shadow came out of nowhere at high speed, clipped his plane, and forced him into emergency landing.
And investigators are working on the theory that that large shadow was the Gol plane. The question is, was the Gol in difficulty already? Was it something that fell off the Gol plane and clipped this corporate jet? Or were the two planes on what would be extraordinarily rare, on a collision course in midair?
SANCHEZ: Wow. Tom Hannigan, bringing us the very latest details from Brazil.
We certainly thank you. A story that we'll be keeping tabs on throughout the morning.
NGUYEN: Yes. And unfortunately, no survivors out of that crash.
Well, the war on terror, winning the hearts and minds seems to be critical in the fight against al Qaeda. But how is the U.S. doing in this effort?
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's ahead in "Faces of Faith." It's in about five minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This afternoon at 1:00 Eastern on "This Week at War," are Afghanistan and Pakistan allies or enemies in the war on terror? CNN correspondents discuss that, plus the war in Iraq, and CNN's revealing documentary on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
John Roberts hosts "This Week at War" today at 1:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: A British newspaper is saying that it's obtained new video of the two 9/11 hijackers. "The Sunday Times" says that the tape, videotape, shows ringleader Mohammed Atta and hijacker Ziad Jarrah laughing before recording their wills.
The paper says the tape, dated January 18, 2000, is from a bin Laden hideout in Afghanistan. Atta is there on the right of your screen, by the way. More on this developing story in our next hour.
Republican leaders are facing a house investigation now, the Mark Foley case, and how it was handled. For example, was it handled soon enough?
The Florida congressman resigned just yesterday after allegations he sent inappropriate e-mails to a 16-year-old boy. A leading Republican says he warned the House speaker months ago. Dennis Hastert's office says they were only told the messages were "over- friendly".
NATO expands its control in Afghanistan. A spokesperson for the alliance says about 12,000 U.S. troops will come under NATO command in a few days. But about 8,000 American troops whose main job is tracking al Qaeda terrorists will remain under U.S. command.
NGUYEN: Well, Brazil's president calls for three days of mourning to honor the victims of a deadly plane crash on Friday. It took almost 24 hours for rescuers to find the wreckage in the Amazon rainforest. And you can see why.
It's so dense there. The canopy -- you can barely see the wreckage underneath that. Well, a government official says no one survived the crash.
And this just in to CNN. We want to let you know from Reuters news agency that many forces have killed an al Qaeda fugitive convicted of the 2002 attack on a French oil tanker. It's really all the information we have right now. But this coming into CNN from Reuters news agency, breaking news that many forces have killed an al Qaeda fugitive convicted of a 2002 attack on a French oil tanker.
As soon as we get more information on this, we'll bring it straight to you.
And as you know, we do run down the top stories every 15 minutes right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, with in-depth coverage all morning long. So, your next check of the headlines is coming up at the top of the hour.
SANCHEZ: Many argue that the war on terror should not be fought necessarily with military might, but by winning hearts and minds, especially the hearts and minds of the young all over the world.
Because our next guest says in the battle to reach the young al Qaeda seems to be winning and winning big, in our "Faces of Faith" segment, we welcome this morning Dr. Eboo Patel. He's a Muslim who is Indian-American and concerned about what he sees.
Not quite sure what that video was that we were watching there, but let me ask you to make your argument about how al Qaeda seems to win the hearts and minds of the young, and we are not.
EBOO PATEL, INTERFAITH YOUTH CORE: Good morning, Rick.
I think al Qaeda has a very clear message, and their message is one of religious totalitarianism. And that basically boils down to, there is one legitimate way of being and believing on earth, and every other way needs to be destroyed.
I think that there needs to be a powerful movement on the other side, and that movement is called religious pluralism. Religious pluralism stands for the idea that people belonging to different communities and believing in different creeds need to be able to live together in some sort of mutual loyalty and trust. That's the movement that I believe in, and that's the movement that I think young people can play a key role in.
SANCHEZ: Well, how far away is the United States, or are the allies, or the world that seems to be trying to rid itself of al Qaeda, from doing that? I mean -- what I mean is, compare our policy now to what you would like to see our policy be.
PATEL: Well, the United States actually is blessed with a great genus, and that's a genus of religious diversity. We're the most religiously diverse nation in the world. We have Muslims, we have Jews, we have Buddhists, we have Christians, we have Baha'is. And in America, those people get along from different backgrounds.
SANCHEZ: OK. But we...
(CROSSTALK)
PATEL: They're sort of on (INAUDIBLE) together.
SANCHEZ: We know what it's like here. Tell us what we need to do over there.
PATEL: I think the United States needs to -- needs to actively flash this image of religiously diverse people cooperating for the common good across the world. We particularly need to do it to young people.
We live in a very young world right now. Seventy-five percent of Jordan is under 30. The average age in Iraq is 19.5. Those young people need to see examples of religious people from different backgrounds cooperating to serve others, which is precisely why I...
SANCHEZ: So how do we -- how do we that, though? How do we make them see that?
PATEL: Well, I think that it's by showing images of young people from different religious backgrounds serving together. That's the most powerful way of saying, different religions have something very, very strong in common, the idea of serving others. In Judaism...
SANCHEZ: What do you mean -- what do you mean show them? Should we begin some kind of ad campaign with commercials that are broadcast all over the world? Is that what you mean?
PATEL: I think that we should be -- I think that a key part of this can be exchanges between different parts of the world.
Right now, my organization, the Interfaith Youth Corp, is doing an international interfaith youth exchange with Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan. We're bringing a group of religiously diverse Jordanian young people and a group of religiously diverse American young people together to build houses, to tutor children, to show that Islam, Judaism, Christianity stand for serving others.
SANCHEZ: Final...
PATEL: And young people...
SANCHEZ: Final question before we're out of time. do you think our policy right now is too militaristic?
PATEL: I think that -- that our -- that we need to increase the role of civil society actors in building religious pluralism. And I think that young people are absolutely core to that strategy.
SANCHEZ: So your question is yes or no? Is it too militaristic or is not too militaristic?
PATEL: I think you're asking a complex question. And I would say that we always need to be doing civil society dimensions of this -- of this challenge.
SANCHEZ: Doctor, it's very kind of you to join us. We certainly appreciate it.
Dr. Eboo Patel.
Thanks so much.
PATEL: Good to be with you. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Betty, over to you.
NGUYEN: All right. We do want to bring you more information as we're getting it about what has happened in Yemen.
Yemeni anti-terrorism forces have killed Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabeei, who escaped from prison after he was convicted of an attack on a French oil tanker. And security officials are bringing us that information. And again, Yemeni forces have killed an al Qaeda fugitive, essentially, who took part in a 2002 attack on a French oil tanker.
And again, this is coming from Reuters news agency. And we will bring you more information on this, more details, just as soon as we get it in.
In the meantime, though, you can forget YouTube. CNN.com has some of the best video in cyberspace. We all know that, right?
But Nicole Lapin is here just to show you more proof.
Good morning.
NICOLE LAPIN, ANCHOR, CNN PIPELINE: Absolutely. Good morning, Betty.
Well, from "governator" to porn star, we have that and some of your favorite video clips coming up as CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, during the week we show you a lot of video right here on CNN that sometimes shocks, it can amaze, or just make you laugh. And a lot of it, you might say, hey, how can I watch that again? I do that a lot of times.
And don't really know how to do it? Well, Nicole Lapin is here to show us just how to do that.
I hate when that happens. I want to see it, I want to show somebody because this is the best video out there, and then you're going, OK, how do I get that back?
LAPIN: Well, you can get it back and you can watch it again. You can show your friends if you want to, Betty.
NGUYEN: OK.
LAPIN: It's all at CNN.com.
NGUYEN: You were talking about some video you were going to send me a little bit earlier.
LAPIN: Oh, I'll do that later.
Well, let's take a look at some of the highlights from this week.
First off, let's check out this surveillance video from last week in Manchester, New Hampshire. A convenience store clerk whacked a would-be robber with a Louisville slugger. Now, you can see him right there. He was -- the robber was holding another customer at knife point, and that's when the clerk reached for the bat and then took a swing.
NGUYEN: There we go.
LAPIN: And then a man in Indiana, serving life for killing and molesting a little 10-year-old girl named Katie Coleman. Well, the man was recently seen in prison with something written across his forehead, a tattoo right there, "Katie's Revenge." And it looks like other prisoners forcibly tattooed him.
NGUYEN: Wow.
LAPIN: A porn star for governor? This is only in California.
Watch this video of Mary Carey on the San Diego State University campus last week. Well, Carey is running for governor for the second time.
NGUYEN: I was going to say, she's done that once before.
LAPIN: Now, you remember her. Yes, the first time was during the recall effort of 2003, of course.
And you can find all of these stories and all of the great video at cnn.com, or you can look on the on demand section of your CNN Pipeline player.
NGUYEN: OK.
LAPIN: All you have to do is click in a key word and you can search for it and you'll find that.
NGUYEN: That's where it is.
OK, Nicole Lapin. Thank you for that.
LAPIN: Sure.
NGUYEN: Well, a London newspaper releases new photos of two 9/11 hijackers. We'll have a live report on this development in just three minutes.
SANCHEZ: Also, could the steroid scandal surrounding a former big league pitcher be ensnaring two baseball superstars? We're going to have all the details on this story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Faces of terror. A British newspaper this morning posted online new video showing two of the September 11th hijackers a year and a half before their suicide mission. We'll have much more on this.
From the CNN Center this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is October 1st, good morning, 8:00 am at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta, 1 p.m. in London. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
SANCHEZ: I'm Rick Sanchez. Thanks for being with us. A live report from London by the way is straight ahead. First, though, a check of the other headlines that we're following this hour.
We begin with this. A message to the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. Your time is running out. That's what Iraq's national security adviser is telling Abu al Masri. Iraq leaders showed videotape today they say it shows al Masri teaching his followers how to make car bombs. Meanwhile police in Baghdad have lifted a curfew that was put in place Friday, but the violence still hasn't stopped. A bombing apparently targeted a military convoy in Baghdad. Three people were killed when a bomb exploded in a crowded area outside Fallujah.
We're following a story out of Yemen as well. Yemen of course, you remember, for the USS Cole and the fight on terrorism that has been long been going on there even pre-9/11. Several news services are reporting Yemen anti terrorist forces have killed an al Qaeda fugitive. The fugitive escaped out of Yemen prison after being convicted of the attack on the French oil tanker in 2002.
Betty.
NGUYEN: Well back here at home, more questions over on a Republican Congressman allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a 16-year-old boy. The leading house Republican says he raised concerns about Mark Foley months ago with the house speaker, but Dennis Hastert's office says they were only told the messages were overfriendly. As you know Foley was resigned his seat on Friday. We're going to have the latest in less than five minutes for you.
In the meantime, a grisly process underway near Montreal, Canada. Look at these pictures. Crews are picking their way through tons of rubble after a highway overpass collapsed, crushing at least two cars. It happened yesterday. As of this morning the fate of the occupants well that is still unknown, but officials say it looks grim.
SANCHEZ: In the heart of the Brazilian rain forest there are no survivors in the crash of a civilian jetliner. That is the word from a Brazilian ministry defense official, 155 people were on board when the plane crashed Friday. Brazil's president has called for three days of mourning because of this.
Now let's go over to Reynolds Wolf for a check of some of the weather systems that might be developing over our part of the world.
What do you say Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. We have scattered showers this morning in New York and Boston as well as places like Watertown and up in Syracuse, but by the time you head back to work tomorrow morning we're expecting mostly sunny skies. For the weekend it looks rainy, by the time you get back on Monday it dries out. How's that for timing. We'll take a look at the rest of the forecast around the nation plus an update on the tropics. It's all moments away.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. We run down the top stories for you right here every 15 minutes on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. In-depth coverage all morning long and your next check of the headlines is schedule for 8:15 Eastern.
NGUYEN: It is a missing chapter in the horrible saga of September 11th. A British newspaper says it has new video of two September 11th hijackers. The "Sunday Times" says the tape shows the hijackers at a Bin Laden hideout in Afghanistan. CNN has not authenticated details of this tape. CNN's Paula Newton is tracking developments from our London Bureau and I understand Paula you had opportunity to look at this tape.
NEWTON: I have and of course it incredibly disappointing about the videotape is although it runs almost an hour long there is absolutely no audio on the tape. As frustrated as I've been looking at it, we know that U.S. authorities who had this tape in their possession for several years were also frustrated and that as much as they scoured it and tried to get through lip-readers to go over it, they could not make out in coherent detail exactly what was on the tape. Just to let you know the tape starts with in southern Afghanistan.
It is where Osama Bin Laden near Kandahar where he had his camp. He was giving a speech to about a hundred people. What was most important for U.S. authorities there in that piece of tape was to scour all of the faces. It was interesting, there were so many faces shown over and over again in that crowd. They have been scouring those faces and apparently have identified several in the crowd. Again we stress, this is an old video that has been in the in possession of the U.S. authorities that had it in their possession for quite some time.
Chilling, though, is the two masterminds of 9/11 and that would be Muhammad Atta who are actually laughing. They're in this tape together. And they're almost as if they are getting ready to start up a comedy routine, but really what they're doing is going over a piece of paper which happens to contain their wills, their martyrdom, basically, speeches and then they proceed to make those speeches in this tape. Again there is no audio so we can't know what they're saying, but we have seen these kinds of martyrdom tapes before.
Interesting point as well this was 21 months before September 11th. It took a long time for them to hatch this plan, to really make up the details of it and they were in southern Afghanistan almost two years before the plot was carried out.
Betty.
NGUYEN: Here is what I want to know, Paula. British authorities have had this in their possession for quite some time and how did the "Sunday Times" get it? And why are they releases it now?
NEWTON: It was the British authorities; it was U.S. authorities that obtained this video in Afghanistan after they invaded probably some time in 2002. The "Sunday Times" says that they got it from a journalist who wrote the article and then they proceeded to post the video on the tape. We should say this a few media outlets in the United States have appealed to the U.S. government to release these tapes before, but so far in court they'd been unsuccessful.
NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Paula Newton, thank you for that Paula. We appreciate it.
And there is much more on the war on terror coming up this afternoon on "This Week at War," including a preview of the "CNN Presents" documentary on defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. That is at 1:00 Eastern only on CNN.
SANCHEZ: Another disappointment for the White House. This time the disappointment is about their response to accusations that a Republican Congressman alleges lead sent inappropriate messages to a 16-year-old boy. That's the word being used in fact by White House officials. Disappointment about Mark Foley. Foley has resigned and the Republican Party is now facing questions. Did house leaders ignore the early warnings? Did they do enough and will the scandal impact the upcoming midterm elections? Here's CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash.
BASH: House Republicans are now mounting an extraordinary effort to explain their own conduct in the Mark Foley scandal and are suggesting there should be a criminal investigation of his. A strongly-worded statement from the top three house Republican leaders came on a day they tried to answer key questions, what did they know and what did they do about it? We got some of those answers Saturday including a correction of sorts from house speaker Dennis Hastert.
He and his top aides insisted to CNN Friday that Hastert knew nothing about any questionable Foley conduct until late last week, but on Saturday, Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York revealed that he actually knew months ago about one e-mail exchange between Foley and a former page and brought it to the speakers attention. Hastert says he has no reason to excuse that, but insist he does not explicitly recall this conversation. Hastert's statement released late Saturday does go into detail explaining how at the end of last year several of his top aides were aware of one questionable, but not explicit e-mail exchange between Foley and a former page and sent in motion what Republicans insist was an investigation.
That inquiry which was a year ago consisted of two Republicans on the house page board confronting Foley, telling him to immediately cease contact with the young man and be mindful of conduct with other pages. Yet, late Saturday, the only Democrat on that three person (INAUDIBLE) released his own statement saying he knew nothing about this.
"I was never informed of the allegations about Mr. Foley's inappropriate communications with the house page and I was never involved in any inquiry into this matter. That from Democrat Dale Kildee. Now while there are still open questions about what GOP leaders knew and the action they took to investigate, one thing the house speaker and other GOP leaders all emphatically deny is any knowledge of sexually-explicit instant messages to young men that forced Foley's abrupt resignation. That not only over shadowed a handful of legislative victories Republicans got before leaving town full time to campaign, it also kept Republican leadership aides at work all day on Saturday coordinating their public statements trying to limit political damage and to that end, late Saturday evening the house Republican leadership released a harshly-worded statement calling Foley's conduct unacceptable and abhorrent and calling for Foley's resignation to be followed by the full weight of the criminal justice system.
Now the GOP leaders said they're taking measures to protect pages and setting up a toll-free number for pages and family members to call with complaints and concerns.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
SANCHEZ: One thing is for sure; there is no question the Sunday talk shows will be buzzing about this Foley resignation. We do want to know what you think about this. Send us an e-mail. What are your thoughts? The address is WEEKENDS@CNN.com. Your thoughts on this Foley e-mail sex scandal.
NGUYEN: The Foley story does have a lot of Washington lips flapping, but the buzz on Bob Woodward's new book on the Bush administration, that's gotten so loud it, too, has the White House responding and we'll get some perspective now. Let's go to CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House. Very interesting here, what is the White House saying about the book?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Betty, the White House has basically been working feverishly since Friday to down play everything that Bob Woodward wrote in this book. Press Secretary Tony Snow Friday comparing it to cotton candy, saying it sort melts on contact. Saying it's something that we heard before. Then the White House really went on the offensive yesterday on Saturday putting out a list of talking points called, "Five key mitts in Bob Woodward's book" and in that release and also in the press conference, Tony Snow took out the major points in the book disputing his claim with the president ignored an early request for more troops in the war in Iraq, also disputing the claim that the then Chief of Staff Andy Card led a concerted campaign to get Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld removed.
That the first lady also wanted to see Rumsfeld removed. In the Friday briefing Tony Snow called it, "Ridiculous. These reports of a feud between Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but the fact really that the White House is paying so much attention to this book shows how concerned it is about the distraction factor here. The midterm elections are roughly five weeks away and the White House, the Republicans wanted to be focused on what they considered the president and the parties strong suits, the Homeland Security, the war on terror and now here we have the Woodward book and sort of having a piling on effect after the release of the national intelligence estimate last week.
Both of them casting doubt now on the president, the administration's conduct of the war in Iraq. Its characterization of the war there and certainly the administration as somewhat of a state of disarray. So these are certainly not the kinds of issues that the president of the White House wanted to be talking about, wanted to be wrestling with five weeks before the midterm. The real question here is how long will the buzz on this book continue and it will continue to dissipate before the midterm elections, before November?
Back to you.
NGUYEN: Kathleen we're calling it a White House buzz or Washington buzz and there's definitely a buzz around you. Sounds like someone's mowing the lawn there. Kathleen Koch, thank you for that. Well CNN will have much more on this story when White House counsel Dan Bartlett sits down with Wolf Blitzer to talk about the administrations handling of the Iraq war on "CNN's Late Edition." You want to watch it, that's today at 11 Eastern.
And tomorrow night Bob Woodward drops more of a shocking new allegations about the war in Iraq, the White House and the upcoming elections. That is on "Larry King Live" Monday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
SANCHEZ: You talk about buzzing a little while ago on several occasions. The baseball world is buzzing as well. Buzzing about new allegations of doping against some of the biggest stars in the game. More on that story is coming up in our next hour.
NGUYEN: First, though, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a preview of today's "House Call." take a look.
DR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well thanks guys. A really intriguing show on tap this morning. We're looking at medical mysteries, the rarest of the rare conditions, something few doctors ever even see. You will visit a woman whose body is slowly turning into bone, all bone and hear about a disease that isn't even considered a disease yet. A heated debate between doctors and researchers. All of that coming up on "House Call" at 8:30.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: A message this morning to the new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, your time is running out. That's what Iraq's national security adviser is telling al Masri. The Iraqi leader showed this videotape that you're looking at today. They say in it you see al Masri teaching his followers how to make car bombs to be used in their country.
Now in the news, new images emerging of the two 9/11 hijackers more than a year before the attacks on America. The "Sunday Times" of London says it has video; this is a freeze of that video by the way of ringleader Mohammed Atta and hijacker Ziad Jarrah in Afghanistan in January of 2000. Atta is the one on the right. CNN has not verified the details on that videotape.
A former Thai army chief has been sworn in as the countries interim prime minister. He replaces the man overthrown by military officers just last month in a bloodless coup. Surayud Chulanont will lead the new government at least until elections are held a year from now, we understand.
Betty.
NGUYEN: In southern Lebanon, Israeli tanks and troops left early today, turning control of the area over to United Nations troops. This according to Israeli security sources; the withdrawal fulfills a key condition of the August cease-fire that comes hours before the holiest of Jewish holidays Yom Kippur.
A huge fire burning in southern California since Labor Day. Now firefighters say they have contained 87 percent of it. It was started by someone burning debris on Labor Day, called the day fire that has been burning for almost a month and has become the fifth largest wildfire in California history.
We do run down the top stories every 15 minutes right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines coming up at 8:30 Eastern.
SANCHEZ: We had a couple of weekends in a row where, Reynolds, you were chasing down hurricanes for us.
NGUYEN: A busy man.
SANCHEZ: Huge storms and --
NGUYEN: That's why you get paid the big bucks. We're not going cry for you.
SANCHEZ: This weekend you basically, I'm thinking I'll have to give some of the check back.
WOLF: I know it's been really a pretty quiet weekend. We've had a lot of things working in our favor in some places where we've been getting rain especially places like southern California. I'll get to that coming up in just a second. But first lets talk about this hurricane, this is Isaac. Isaac continues to rumble in the Atlantic. Winds at 80 miles per hour, gusting to 105. It is a category 1 storm expected to stay away from the U.S. mainland and weaken as we get into Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday moving deeper into the Atlantic and out of harms way.
Meantime this morning we're seeing some scattered showers to the northeast, in fact as we zoom in on the big apple, here's New York City and Long Island, back over to Yonkers. Some strong cells beginning to develop, not severe at this time, but it will give you a damp morning, no question about it. Take a look at this view from New York City. It's not bad if you don't mind the cloud cover, but if you're going to out and grab a bagel and maybe some coffee, bring the umbrella with you, you'll certainly need it.
Now lets go back and talk about some scattered showers where we need them. Right now we've got the possibility of some rainfall in southern California. A 20 percent chance, very light rainfall, but for the firefighters that are working the day fire just about 70 miles to the north northeast of Los Angeles, they'll take any help they can get. They're doing a great job there and we certainly have our thoughts out for them.
Meanwhile, a look at the rest of the nation, dry conditions for the central and southern Plains, scattered showers possible for portions of the Great Lakes and the northern Plains and along the Gulf Coast could see some rain drops through Alabama and into Louisiana. That's a look at your forecast. Let's send it back to you.
SANCHEZ: You don't like the idea of giving back some of your check for slow weather days.
NGUYEN: Just move along.
SANCHEZ: We'll just have to give you a raise on the busy days.
WOLF: Whatever it takes.
SANCHEZ: Thanks Reynolds.
NGUYEN: Well all morning long we've been talking about the fallout from the sudden resignation of Congressman Mark Foley.
SANCHEZ: Now we would also like to know what you think about this. We want to keep those e-mails coming. We understand from our producers we have been getting a lot of e-mails and they're very heated as it might be expected on a sex scandal like this. Again it's WEEKENDS@CNN.com. E-mail us at WEEKENDS@CNN.com. We will be reading some of those we have received thus far. Also this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day is a step toward the eventuality of FOP. By their mid-20s, most people with the condition have formed a full second skeleton, becoming forever immobile.
NGUYEN: See that? Muscle turning to bone. A medical mystery researchers have really been studying and a cure get this that could be on the horizon. Weekend "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is up at the bottom of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What is the best overall workout that includes cardio, strength training, endurance and flexibility? You might be surprised. "Forbes" Magazine ranked squash as the number one healthiest sport.
TOM RUMPLER, SQUASH PRO: There's the social ness of it of being with a buddy. I'm going beat you and then there's the absolute, flat out hard workout, hitting the ball and running as hard as you can for an hour.
COSTELLO: Tom says squash is a game you can play for a lifetime and it's fun to master.
RUMPLER: The object of the game is players have to alternate hitting the ball.
LIZZY WARNER, SQUASH PLAYER: I'm pretty flexible from just playing squash over the years, but also, I run a lot and it's just really increased my endurance and it's just great.
COSTELLO: Sawyer says playing squash also strengthens his tennis game.
SAWYER DUNCAN, SQUASH PLAYER: You burn something like four times as many calories playing an hour of squash as you do an hour of tennis, so it's a great workout. COSTELLO: Carol Costello, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. All morning long we've been talking about the scandal that is involving former Representative Mark Foley who has just resigned as a result of this e-mail sex scandal involving a 16- year-old boy. We wanted to know what you thought about the story and our producers tell us after looking at some of the emails --
NGUYEN: Many e-mails.
SANCHEZ: You not only heated e-mails, but that you're very mad about this. A lot of people are angry about this and they're expressing themselves in no uncertain terms. Many of them you can't use.
NGUYEN: Absolutely cannot, but we're going to share with you the one that we can read on the air. This one coming from Virginia.
SANCHEZ: Yes it says, "Well this is Tawfiq who writes from Vienna, Virginia. He says, "Well this is the "hypocrisy" at its best, we said it all along, GOP is the party of do what I say not what I do. Maybe our value voters should wake up and smell the coffee."
NGUYEN: J.M. writes, "There definitely needs to be an in-depth investigation completed prior to the elections and the truth about who knew what concerning this incident should be revealed to the public." Again these are some of the more sanitized e-mails that we can read on the air because we're getting a lot of heated ones from you. We do want to ask you to keep them coming. We want to hear what you have to say. Please put them in words that we can use on the air, again here is the question Foley's e-mail scandal, what do you think about it? How do you feel? E-mail us, WEEKENDS@CNN.com.
SANCHEZ: That gentleman asking for an in-depth investigation is a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. So a marine.
After years of soaring home prices the housing market has hit a bumpy road.
NGUYEN: It sure has, but there is a silver lining and we'll tell you how to take advantage of this cooling trend next hour.
SANCHEZ: First, though, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in the house and he's taking a closer look at medical mysteries that have stumped researchers. Weekend "House Call" is straight ahead.
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