Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Rebuilding in Florida Estimated to Cost Billions; Bush to Outline Plans For Repositioning U.S. Troops

Aired August 15, 2004 - 18:00   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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Carol Lin. CNN LIVE SUNDAY is just ahead, but first, just a quick look at what's happening now in the news.
President Bush tours Florida and promises federal help. So far, 16 people have died from Hurricane Charley. More than a million people are still without electricity. Rebuilding will take billions of dollars.

John Zarrella has details in two minutes.

And in Iraq, coalition forces and rebels are fighting again in Najaf. Snipers killed two U.S. troops there today. The Iraqi government ordered journalists out for their safety. I'm going to wrap up today's Iraq news in 15 minutes.

And in Greece, the U.S. men's basketball team lost today to Puerto Rico today, 92-73, but the U.S. can still make it to the quarterfinals and possibly to a gold medal. Michael Holmes reports from the Olympics later.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Good evening, I'm Carol Lin. And welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just kind of numb. I was very emotional afterwards. I could only think the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: We're back at Charley's ground zero this hour to see how residents are beginning to put their lives back together. Also, another kind of story of hope and survival -- twins no longer conjoined. How are they doing just 11 days after they were separated? Their doctor joins me later this hour.

But right now we begin in Florida. The storm is gone, but now the hard work begins. Today, workers, supplies and money are pouring in to the communities devastated by Hurricane Charley. Our John Zarrella joins us now from Punta Gorda.

A lot of work to be done, John? JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, no question about it. And really, it is just beginning, really moving into full swing today with federal disaster aid pouring in here, ice pouring in, water pouring in, long lines of people waiting for those supplies to get here.

But they are here, and people have been patient, understanding. As we know, thousands of people without homes. And you know, these are the kinds of images and pictures that we've been seeing with the things that the people have to deal with here.

This was a beauty salon here in Punta Gorda. And you can see that everything inside is a total disaster, a total loss. People were here, the owners, looking through it, trying to pick through whatever little there is that they could salvage. And as you can see if you look up a little bit, you can see the roof is completely gone off of this structure as well.

Nothing much left here at all. Here's some of the debris that's been blowing around. You can't even tell if it's actually from this particular store.

You want to look out a little bit toward the street down here. And in the distance there's -- you can see a lot of the debris that's still lining the sides of the streets and a bridge over there that links Punta Gorda to Port Charlotte.

And for much of the day, although there isn't much traffic on there right now, it was absolutely jam-packed with cars, bumper-to- bumper traffic up there. And emergency officials here and the police and federal officials all saying, look we want people to stay off the roads if they can.

Most of the people, they're saying, that are out there are just spectators. They're people who want to come by and see what's happened here, and that's not what they need because in fact what they need is to have the streets clear so they can move around, they can get to places they need to get to fast. And it's hampering their efforts having all of these people, sightseers as they call them, just coming to see what happened.

Certainly we saw the same thing in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew, and it really complicates the search and relief efforts. And they're trying to tell people what we need to do is to actually get these people off the street so that they can go about doing their business -- Carol?

LIN: But John, still no power, still no water, right, in Punta Gorda?

ZARRELLA: Right. Still no power, still no water, still no telephones. And people we talked to say, yes, we need the water. We certainly need the electricity, but that's going to be weeks in some cases before any of those services are restored. But a lot of people we've talked to are saying, look, what we need more than anything else is a telephone because we can't even tell our loved ones who live in other places that we're alive, that we're well.

LIN: Good point.

ZARRELLA: So there are certainly people all over the country because as you know, lots of people here who are transplants from other places living here, and their relatives in other parts of the country, Carol...

LIN: Right.

ZARRELLA: ... have no idea that they're even alive -- Carol?

LIN: That's a good point. All right, thanks very much, John.

In a little bit I'm going to be talking with the city manager of Punta Gorda for the latest on how they're going to get that infrastructure set up again.

But there was an important visit to Florida today. President Bush saw the devastation firsthand. He toured through some of the hardest-hit areas. Marine 1 flew over demolished houses and uprooted trees to give him a bird's-eye view.

The president landed at an airport where the hurricane flipped small planes upside down. President Bush says federal help is being rushed to the area, that he was also impressed by aid on a smaller scale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're beginning to see neighbors helping neighbors, a lot of people who have been dislocated staying with a friend or neighbor. It's -- you know, out of these catastrophes, the spirit of America really shines. And that spirit is neighbor helping neighbor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The president's re-election campaign says the trip wasn't about politics. Florida is one of the central battlegrounds of the presidential race, as if you didn't know that by now after 2000.

Well, we've got two new storms, Danielle and Earl. Meteorologist Orelon Sidney is standing by in the weather center with more on trouble to come -- Orelon?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, hopefully not, especially not from Danielle. I just don't think Danielle is going to be a problem.

(WEATHER BREAK)

SIDNEY: Carol?

LIN: Will do. All right, thanks, Orelon. Punta Gorda is a quiet community, popular with retirees and families seeking a slower pace. Obviously that tranquility was shattered when the eye of Charley passed directly over the town.

For more on the damage, we're joined by city manager Willard Beck.

Mr. Beck, we just heard from John Zarrella, our correspondent on the scene. He described a situation where people, all they want at this point, not only just power and water, but they just want a telephone so that they can call out.

What's the status of at least trying to put some basic infrastructure back together again?

WILLARD BECK, FLA. CITY MANAGER, PUNTA GORDA: That's our particular mission right now. We have -- we're in the process of restoring our water system. It's going to take another day or so to get it all up.

We have -- we desperately need the telephone system so the communications link can be with the public. And we also need the power company to come in and help us. We're basically -- and the cell phones aren't working...

LIN: Yes.

BECK: ... very good, either.

LIN: Well, are you getting the help you need?

BECK: Yes, we're getting a lot of help right now, and we really appreciate it. It's very gratifying to look out and see the various different cities from all over the state, state agencies, and all the people who are coming here to give us that relief.

When you have this situation, you know, you think you're all alone when that storm is going over you. While it was going over, we had a few telephone calls and they said, we're on the way. So that was really helpful.

LIN: Yes.

BECK: They've come. FEMA is here. The president has been in town. The governor was here yesterday and offered us all the assistance we could use. And so, it's just a matter of getting us organized. We have a lot of police forces here in town that's going to step up and help our men and women. And we also have the national guard here, I believe, to help us, as well as reserves.

They're all here to work with us, and we need them right now.

LIN: Right. Is looting a problem?

BECK: We have a lot of damage here in the city.

LIN: Is looting a problem? I mean that's one of the reasons...

BECK: I beg your pardon?

LIN: Is looting a problem?

BECK: I don't know if it's major. We probably have some. We hope it's very minimal.

LIN: Yes, and just looking at...

BECK: Our telephones are not -- our telephones are not, service is not very good right now, so we may not be getting all the calls.

LIN: I see. I see, good point. And forgive us because there's obviously a delay on the satellite as I'm speaking to you.

I'm just wondering if you've had a chance to talk to some people and hear -- you're hearing some remarkable stories of how people are managing to communicate or trying to get water and food to one another. How are people coping?

BECK: They're doing -- I've been out in the neighborhoods, and they're doing very well, and they're taking it like, very well. And we told them -- what we have done, so you can understand, we have gone out and as soon as this storm ended, we had a crew here that was clearing all the streets, emergency recovery system.

LIN: Yes.

BECK: People could see we were doing something. We had our police and fire out before the storm and warned them when the storm was coming. And so we've done what we could to communicate with them. And we plan to do a lot more communicating with them now as the manpower allows us to do it. And now the storm is over.

LIN: Right.

BECK: Because we've got an awful lot of work to do. We've lost a lot of our trailers. A lot of our trailer homes communities are just demolished. They're flat.

A lot of our downtown older homes are demolished. And a lot of our houses out in the isles.

LIN: Yes, Willard Beck.

BECK: And all the -- they've got a lot of damage.

LIN: We have seen the pictures, and it is astonishing to behold and wonderful to hear how the community is coming together.

Thank you very much, Willard Beck, city manager at Punta Gorda.

BECK: Thank you.

LIN: Well, it's been more than a week since they've been together, but everyone is thrilled they're apart. Coming up, I'm going to talk to the lead pediatrician for the separated Filipino twins.

But first, a redeployment of military forces around the world, a look at where they're going and how many troops will be saying good- bye to their families once again.

Plus an upsetting day in Athens for the millionaire U.S. all-star team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: All right. We want to talk a little bit about what is happening around Iraq as well as what's happening with U.S. troops around the world.

Right now it's unclear how the redeployment plan could affect U.S. troops in Iraq where there seemingly is no end to the violence. Of course, we're talking about the redeployment of troops that President Bush is going to be officially announcing tomorrow. Most of those troops coming from Europe and Asia, not Iraq and Afghanistan.

And you're looking at some of the most recent violence there inside of Iraq. Two Iraqis were killed by mortar shells in Baghdad today. Seventeen others were wounded. Three of the mortars hit a bus station near the convention center.

And take a look at this number -- 1,500 Iraqi representatives are there in Baghdad picking an advisory group for the country's new interim government.

Today's opening session was disrupted when Shiite leaders called for an end to the fighting in Najaf. Rebels loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr clashed with Iraqi and U.S. forces in Najaf again today. Two Al-Sadr supporters were killed, and journalists have now been ordered out of the city by Iraqi police and Iraqi forces.

Iraq's interior ministry says 25 heavily armed foreigners are hold up inside the Imam Ali mosque there, and they are threatening to blow it up if attacked. Two U.S. troops were killed by sniper fire near the shrine today.

Now President Bush, as I was talking about, is getting ready to shake up U.S. forces around the world. Tomorrow, he is expected to outline the plans for repositioning tens of thousands of U.S. troops, bringing many of them home.

Of course that sounds like good news. Our Elaine Quijano reports on where they would actually come from.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush is set to announce what Pentagon officials say has been in the works for some time, a change in where and how the United States positions its military forces around the world. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed it earlier this month.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We've decided that it's time to shift our posture in Europe and Asia and around the world and move from static defense, which does not make much sense today, to a more deployable and usable set of capabilities.

QUIJANO: Pentagon and senior administration officials say the president's announcement will describe a major reduction and repositioning of U.S. forces overseas. While they won't talk total troop numbers, they say most reductions will come from Europe, the rest from Asia. One official says the plan would bring some 100,000 family members of military support staff back to the United States.

The move, say officials, is designed to reflect a ready posture for the war on terror rather than the cold war stance adopted years ago when officials believed the Soviet Union posed the biggest threat to America.

U.S. officials emphasize they've consulted with American allies and members of Congress along the way.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), FOREIGN RELATIONS CHAIRMAN: So this is a fundamental change, and it's a change probably in the tactics of our military so that our people will be more mobile, more available at other places all over the earth.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: There are some things that we should do to re-deploy troops so that they're in the best position possible for what the new threats are.

QUIJANO: The president's decision comes against the backdrop of election year politics and the Iraq war. One Democratic senator suggested Mr. Bush's motivation is to ultimately put more troops in Iraq, but others cautioned against that.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: But the fact is if you do put more troops in, than you sink deeper into that terrible word "quagmire," and it is not unlike what we found in Vietnam over years. You just keep putting more and more troops in, propping up governments, propping up governments.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on his way back from a trip overseas to Europe and Asia told reporters today that a proposed realignment would likely take place over the course of several years.

Meantime already, a spokesman for the president's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, is suggesting that this move is motivated because President Bush has overextended U.S. troops worldwide.

White House officials have repeatedly insisted that the president makes his decisions based on the view of commanders on the ground with respect to the situation in Iraq. That is something that we have continued to hear, Carol, from this White House whenever the troop question comes up.

What they will say is that the president does look to those people who are in theater when making those decisions in Iraq -- Carol?

LIN: All right, thanks very much. Elaine Quijano at the White House.

Now we want to make a shift. We're going to plenty of action to report from the Olympic games in Athens today.

There were some record-setting performances and some stunning upsets. CNN's Michael Holmes has it all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A day of upset on day two of competition here at the Athens 2004 Olympic games.

Let's start with the Iraqi soccer team, and what a performance they have put on. They beat Portugal a couple of days ago. Their second-round match was against Costa Rica and they won, 2-0.

This is a team that doesn't even have a home ground. They had to qualify playing in neighboring Jordan. Now, they are two wins away from playing for an Olympic medal, an extraordinary story.

Another upset, the dream team, the American basketball team had a nightmare start today at Olympic campaign. They went down to Puerto Rico. Not only did they go down, they were thrashed 92-73. The millionaires of the NBA being given a lesson in defense.

Now, also the 4x100 meters freestyle event, that saw another upset. It spelled the end of the campaign by Michael Phelps, the young American, to get eight gold medals at these Olympics. Best he can do now is seven gold medals, which would equal Mark Spitz' efforts back in the '70s.

The American team got the bronze in this event. The gold went to South Africa, blistering pace. They got a world record. The silver went to the Netherlands.

The women's 100-meter butterfly an interesting story, too, won by Petria Thomas of Australia. This now means that she has won an Olympic medal in three consecutive games, an extraordinary performance for her.

In the tennis, Andy Roddick and Venus Williams, as one might expect, go through. Britain's Tim Henman was knocked out. Now it's been a very windy day here in Athens. In fact, it's been so windy that the rowing that was meant to start at Marathon, about 26 miles from here, meant to start tomorrow, it's now been postponed.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Athens. (END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And in other news, he is headed to court again tomorrow, but he had a message of faith today.

Still to come, Michael Jackson addresses his fans after Sunday service.

But first, an update on the separated Filipino twins. I'm going to talk to their lead pediatrician, Dr. Robert Marion.

And later, Charley left thousands of people without food or a home. How one agency is helping to feed and restore the fate of so many people.

But first, grab a pen. Here is a couple of -- well, here are a couple of phone numbers you can call to donate to the victims of Charley.

FEMA: 1-800-621-FEMA (3662).

Florida Emergency Information 24-hour Hotline: 1-800-342-3557.

We're going to provide these numbers to you again later in the broadcast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Eleven days ago, doctors at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York completed the final surgery to separate two-year old Filipino twins, Carl and Clarence Aguirre.

Now, CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has an update on them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLENE AGUIRRE, TWINS MOTHER: I can see them alive and lying on the bed with two separate beds, and it's really unbelievable.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable and unusual.

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: Their recovery has been, I think, beyond our best expectations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually astonished not to see any of the problems that we expected, the swelling of the brain, the venous infarctions. And these were all things that we were concerned about.

GUPTA: Almost all previous conjoined twins had problems immediately after the operation. When los dos Maria's, the two Maria's from Guatemala were separated two years ago, Maria Teresa suffered a life-threatening infection. She is now death.

The Bajani twins from Iran both died after a 52-hour operation. With Carl and Clarence, Dr. Goodrich operated in stages, performing four operations over 10 months instead of one mammoth one. That led to less blood loss, less anesthesia at any given time and hopefully a faster recovery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking them through a staged procedure like this made all the difference in the world.

GUPTA: Still, they're not nearly out of the woods yet. Doctors need to see the effects of disconnecting two brains that were fused together and communicating. It will take weeks before they're out of critical condition, and a year before they have their skulls completely replaced.

They are separate for sure. And Arlene also wants them to be independent. For now, they're just getting to know each other for the very first time.

AGUIRRE: One thing more, I want them first to see what the reaction, if they really see each other.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: So how are they doing? Well, Dr. Robert Marion is the lead pediatrician at the Montefiore Medical Center and the boys' lead pediatrician. He joins me live from New York.

Doctor, I'm just wondering how are Carl and Clarence doing?

DR. ROBERT MARION, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: Well actually, Carol, they're doing pretty well. I just saw them a few minutes ago before coming here.

LIN: Terrific.

MARION: And they're awake and alert and watching TV, which is what they were doing prior to the surgery.

LIN: Have they actually seen each other?

MARION: They're looking at each other, but I don't think they really understand who the kid in the bed next to them actually is. You know, when they were at Blythedale Children's Hospital getting therapy, they were in a playgroup with a bunch of other kids.

And I think they just think that this is just one of those other kids from the group. It hasn't sunk in this is their twin brother who was attached at their head.

LIN: What is an average day for them like now?

MARION: Well, most of the -- since they're still recovering from the surgery, they're spending all of their time lying in bed, most of the time watching TV. But they will interact with a lot of the TV programs that they're watching, especially the "Wiggles," which is their favorite TV show.

LIN: Anybody with kids knows who the "Wiggles" are, four Australians in colored tee shirts dancing around.

MARION: They love the "Wiggles." It's interesting that each likes a different segment. You know, Clarence has his favorites, and Carl has his favorites. And they're very different in what they really like.

But yesterday they were playing their tambourine and their maracas in time to the music, so they're really like any other two years old kid.

LIN: Yes. And when Dr. Gupta was talking about the effect of separating two brains, essentially, it sounds like they've got motor skills. But what are you watching for? Have you seen a loss in other skills, a gain in other areas?

MARION: Right, we haven't seen any loss. As Dr. Goodrich was saying during the previous piece. We really had expected them to have some diminution in some of their functioning after the surgery. And we really haven't seen anything. They really are basically performing the same way that they were prior to the surgery.

LIN: That's remarkable.

MARION: With one small addition.

LIN: What's that?

MARION: They are now able to eat. And they really weren't able to eat because they were spending all of their time laying on their back or on their side. Now they can really sit up in bed and take food by mouth.

LIN: Dr. Marion, do you have any idea what the long-term prognosis is for these two kids?

MARION: So far, the long-term prognosis in all of our minds is excellent. I think we all truly believe that these kids have a shot at getting through this, growing up, going to school. I think we all believe that Clarence is going to become a neurosurgeon and Carl will become a plastic surgeon. And they'll specialize in separating conjoined twins.

LIN: Well, they certainly have a lot of early experience, Dr. Marion.

MARION: Absolutely.

LIN: That's terrific. And I'm sure their mother -- oh, gosh -- she must be so thrilled to see her two boys in two beds.

MARION: Right, as she said before, it was really her dream to see them separated. And really, this is her dream come true. And it really is an astonishing accomplishment on the part of the surgeons. LIN: It is, Dr. Marion. We're going to follow up on this story. And thanks so much for being with us today.

MARION: Sure, thank you so much for having me, Carol.

LIN: Well, we've got some other news today, too.

The plot is thickening. Coming up later, new twists and turns in the scandal surrounding New Jersey governor, Jim McGreevey.

And talk about loyal fans, a closer look at what some people would do to bid their final farewell to "Phish."

But first, you've seen the pictures and heard the stories of devastation. Up next, how you can help the victims of Hurricane Charley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back, and here's a quick look at what's happening now in the news.

President Bush tours the hurricane devastation in southwestern Florida and promises that federal disaster aid is on the way. The state's death toll from the storm is now 16.

And John Kerry is spending the weekend at his family's Idaho home. Kerry attended church this morning, and he's going to be back on the campaign trail Tuesday.

And retail gasoline prices took a tumble over the last three weeks. Prices are down nearly a nickel a gallon. But crude oil prices closed Friday at an all-time high, so gas prices are expected to rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARK FOLEY (R), FLORIDA: People always want to look for faults. They won't find any here. I'm pleased with the deployment of water, with the deployment of trucks. We've got 3,000 trucks staged, ready to rebuild this community. We expect power to be on hopefully within the next 48 to 72 hours for most locations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Congressman Foley represents one of the hardest-hit areas, Punta Gorda, where there is no running water or power right now.

Salvation Army workers are also helping victims of Hurricane Charley across the state. They set up a new command center four years ago in Tampa for just such an emergency, and today it's coordinating relief efforts throughout the state.

Joining me now from Tampa is Major Steve Hedgren. He is the divisional commander in Florida for the Salvation Army.

Commander, how are things going right now on the ground in terms of getting food, water and basic supplies to people?

MAJ. STEVE HEDGREN, SALVATION ARMY: Well, we've been establishing ourselves in about 40 different locations through the path of the hurricane. And so today, yesterday and today have been very busy getting food to those locations.

We're trying to provide as much as we can, hot meals. And in the next few days, we'll be providing to those location cleanup kits, so the residents can begin to start cleaning up their houses.

LIN: Taking a look at some of the numbers, 22 shelters across the state, 2,600 people homeless having to live in those shelters. Goodness knows how many people are having to seek shelter in other people's homes.

Is the situation, as it stands right now on the ground today, is it going to get better or do you think it's going to get worse?

HEDGREN: Well, each day our experience has been that we make progress in helping people, and they themselves begin to pick up the pieces. What we're going to be looking at in the next few days is obviously providing food and water and ice. Those are needed items during the first couple days of recovery.

And then as this week begins to progress, you see a picking up the of the spirit of people, of rebuilding, and then we'll be very much involved in that process ago as well.

LIN: Have you been on the ground talking with folks out there?

HEDGREN: A little bit today, I'll be doing it all day tomorrow, heading down to Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.

LIN: Because I'm wondering what amazing stories you've come across, in terms of people just being ingenious about trying to get by.

HEDGREN: Well, it's amazing. I remember stories from Hurricane Andrew when we served down there in '92. And the stories are very similar. People are just happy, first of all, to be alive and to have someone there caring for them and helping with them.

And again it's amazing how quickly the human spirit just begins to pick up the pieces and rebuilding begins.

LIN: Yes, because how are people communicating without phone service? How are they getting to stations where they can get water and maybe even food?

HEDGREN: Well, by word of mouth at the various locations. And where there is a little bit of self-service, we're able to communicate to neighborhoods.

But basically, it's -- you see the Salvation Army canteens and other relief agencies, and the word just gets around that there is food and a minimum of building supplies right now that we're able to give to them.

LIN: Remarkable the work that you're having to do now, and obviously with the experience in the state of Florida to do it.

HEDGREN: Yes.

LIN: Thank very much.

HEDGREN: Thanks.

LIN: Major Steve Hedgren.

Well, Charley has come and gone, but new storms are swirling out at sea. Meteorologist Orelon Sidney tracking all of them from our weather center -- Orelon?

SIDNEY: That's right, Carol. 'Tis the season, and it's getting to be very active. We didn't have our first tropical cyclone in this Atlantic season until July 31st. That turned out to be Alex. And then we've just had one after the other. We've had, of course, Bonnie, Charley, Danielle and Earl.

(WEATHER BREAK)

SIDNEY: Carol?

LIN: A little bit of everything. Thanks, Orelon.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

LIN: Elsewhere across America right now, firefighters report progress containing a wildfire that has almost charred 11,000 acres northwest of Sacramento, California.

Another blaze has burned through the mountain community of French Gulch near Redding. Nearly 300 residents had to evacuate.

In Eagle, Colorado, lawyers for the woman accusing basketball star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault are taking flack for criticizing the judge in the case. The attorneys have complained their client cannot get a fair hearing at Bryant's trial because of court mistakes.

A member of a legal self-regulation panel says they may have violated a gag order and ethics rules.

In Santa Monica, California, pop star Michael Jackson will appear with members of his family at a pre-trial hearing tomorrow on child molestation charges. Jackson's attorneys will be confronting district attorney Tom Sneddon, his legal nemesis for more than a decade. Today Jackson took time to speak with some of his fans after a church service.

Another band bites the dust, Phish performs its farewell concert this evening near Coventry, Vermont. When weekend rains made parking areas too muddy to take more cars, many Phish-heads walked 15 miles for their last chance to see the legendary jam bad. Jack Thurston of affiliate WCAX joined nearly 70,000 fans at the Newport State Airport concert site.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK THURSTON, WCAX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Phish takes the stage in Coventry, the slip, slap, slurp of mud is the festival ground sound. Heavy rains wake worms from their dirt naps, making for creative choices in footwear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. They're staying dry. It's all good.

THURSTON: Move over chestnuts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We roasted our soaks over an open fire last night. It was fantastic.

THURSTON: The day wasn't so toasty for cars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the vehicles stop moving, we'll still be moving.

THURSTON: Horses can hoof it through the muck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically it's your crowd control. They're used to the mud because of being in the barnyard and that type of thing. It doesn't bother them at all.

THURSTON: Tons of mulch help sop up the slop. Fans know what it takes to dry out for good.

UNIDENTIFIED FAN: Another 20, 30 truckloads for my 10 by 10.

THURSTON: But one group here is used to dealing with the dirt. A farmers market gives Vermont growers high hopes for peddling produce.

UNIDENTIFIED MERCHANT: Well, we don't have high hopes for the weather.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Good grief, what people will do to see a concert. Thanks to reporter Jack Thurston of WCAX.

Phish performs the last of three weekend farewell concerts late tonight near Coventry, Vermont, just in case you want to walk those 15 miles.

The Phish farewell falls fittingly on the 35th anniversary of that rock concert of all rock concerts, Woodstock. Baby boomers who once burned draft cards now clutch their AARP cards, but they still flock to the remote field near Bethel, New York, where the Who, Jimmy Hendrix, a host of other performers and 400,000 rain-soaked fans said good-bye to the '60s. And on a final pop culture note, sorry guys, Nicky Hilton is no longer available. The younger sister of reality TV star Paris Hilton has gotten married.

Nicky Hilton, she is 20 years old. You can see her on the left of your screen. That's her. She married a 33-year-old new York money manager in a surprise ceremony early this morning, very early, 2:30 in the morning. And where else but in Las Vegas, and yes, Paris was there.

Three days after a stunning announcement, some new twists. Still to come, the latest in Governor Jim McGreevey's New Jersey shocker.

And it's no longer an issue of age or race. Now the question looms, will you date across political lines.

And Obama versus Keyes, what the two Illinois U.S. Senate candidates have to say about each other in the morning talk shows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The Senate race in Illinois is creating some sparks these days. You might remember Democrat Barrack Obama is running against Republican Alan Keyes.

Keyes, who lives in Maryland, well he was recruited by Illinois Republicans after they were unable to find a candidate there. They went after each other today on the Sunday talk shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: I think both he and the Republican Party are making a mistake in thinking that race was in the equation. I haven't run a race-based campaign. And if you look at the coalition that I put together in the primary, it wasn't based on any kind of racial ideology. It was based entirely on my position on jobs and education and health care, things that cut across racial boundaries and geographic boundaries.

And so I think that the Republican Party has mistook the reason why we've been doing well in this campaign. They perhaps have seen it through a racial lens, but that's not a perspective that I view.

ALAN KEYES (R), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: Barrack Obama claims an African American heritage yet stands against the very things that were the basis for the oppression of my ancestors. And people were saying that this somehow represents the heritage of black Americans.

I do not believe it does represent their heritage when you are willing, in contravention of the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence, that we are all created equal and endowed not by human choice but by our creator with our inalienable rights to stand there and say that something like abortion, deep issue of justice, is a matter of choice. And when somebody comes to me...

(END VIDEO CLIP) LIN: Well, and in New Jersey, there is politics of a very different sort going on. The state's governor James McGreevey says he will resign in November after admitting he had a homosexual affair.

The story centers around this man, Golan Cipel, who was once an aid to the governor. Cipel says he is not gay and that McGreevey sexually harassed him.

His attorney tells the "New York Post" there was no affair, but according to the Associated Press, Cipel's attorney tried to get the governor to pay $50 million to keep it quiet.

Now the FBI is involved in an investigation.

This is probably a bit of a turn, but finding the right partner in love is a problem that faces many single folks. But finding someone to love who is of the same political persuasion as you now can be really tough.

As Alina Cho reports though, technology may be coming to the rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jen Tramontozzi is 26, single, and a member of the New York's Young Republicans Club.

Yes, traditionally liberal New York where Tramontozzi says Republican suitors are in short supply.

JEN TRAMONTOZZI, REPUBLICAN: When I tell people I'm a Republican, they're kind of like, ooh -- like their face just falls and their so disappointed. They're like, oh no, everything was going great until you had mentioned that.

CHO: Dan Cohen is a also a single, New Yorker. He's a Democrat looking for a lovely liberal.

DAN COHEN, DEMOCRAT: It's one signal. It's not the only one, but it's -- for me, it's been a good one at determining whether or not I would get along with that person.

CHO: Cohen and Tramontozzi disagree on politics but agree on dating strategy; both want to date members of their own political party.

TRAMONTOZZI: I feel like, you know, if I dated someone who was a liberal, he would just be getting annoyed with me all the time. Or I'd be like, well I don't understand why he doesn't get it. He's not seeing it my way.

CHO (on camera): Little doubt that this year's election is going to be a close one, Bush, Kerry, red states, blue states. It's political lingo most of us have heard, and now it's popping up on Internet dating sites. So, if you're looking for love, get ready to show your colors. (voice-over) More than a half dozen Web sites are out there to help both single Republicans and Democrats find their political soul mate. Sites like conservativematch.com and actforlove.org, a liberal site started by John Hlinko who is now engaged to a fellow Democrat he met on the Web.

JOHN HLINKO, "ACTFORLOVE.ORG": We're getting people in a lot of the red states because they're the ones that are having trouble finding other progressives, finding other Democrats.

CHO: Some do make it work. Despite disagreeing politically, Arnold, Maria, Carville, Madeline. Dan Cohen says no way.

You're a blue state?

COHEN: I'm a blue state guy. And I don't think I could date anybody but a blue state gal.

CHO: Red states need not apply.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, it's been a struggle on the greens today, and Tiger Woods is feeling the pinch.

Stay with us because we're going to take you live to the PGA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, disappointment is marring the day for golfer Vijay Singh in the final round of the PGA championship, but not for his playing partner, American Justin Leonard.

Our Steve Overmyer has been watching the action on the greens at Whistling Strait. Whistling Strait.

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: You like that? It's up in Wisconsin, the dairy state.

LIN: Does it say something about the weather today?

OVERMYER: It definitely does because I think that has been the MVP, at least of the fourth round here. The winds in the firmer greens at Whistling Straits are really playing as difficult as anticipated.

Of the top six golfers, only one is playing under par. Chris Dimarco finished with a 71. He is at eight under. And that might be good enough for a playoff if Justin Leonard falters in the tough conditions.

Right now Leonard is up one stroke at nine under through 17, though he is on the green on 18, so he is in prime position to win the major. As for Tiger Woods, it was an up and down day that saw him cut four birdies to offset his five bogey, carding a one over 73, well off the pace in yet another major tournament.

This makes Tiger "0" for his last 10 major championships. You know what, for a guy that's suppose to be attacking a Jack Nicklaus record of 18 major titles, it's been a disappointing two and a half years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, 2-TIME PGA CHAMPION: Well, it's frustrating because I didn't win. You know, it's as simple as that. I was -- I felt like I was playing so well coming into this event, and I was. And it's unfortunate that I just didn't continue it that way.

Today, I just didn't feel it at all. I mean, I putted just as bad today as I did the first day, and it's not good when the putter feels like a sledgehammer in your hands, you know? Especially as well as I've putted the entire year, to feel that poorly over a putt is very unusual, especially this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OVERMYER: One other note, though. Tiger does break the record for 330 consecutive weeks at number one. He will remain at number one. A lot of people were wondering whether or not Ernie Els would be able to catapult past him for the world's number one ranking, or maybe Vijay Singh.

LIN: Yes.

OVERMYER: But that's not going to happen. Tiger is going to be remaining number one for at least another...

LIN: Yes, our standards for him are so high.

OVERMYER: That's the thing. You know, he's got eight major championships already. He's 10 away from tying Jack Nicklaus. And everybody has this mentality of where Tiger Woods should be on a weekly basis.

Two and a half years he's not won a major championship. And people are talking like he's in a drought.

LIN: Right.

OVERMYER: He's still the number one golfer in the world, though.

LIN: So for Justin Leonard, what would it mean for him?

OVERMYER: Well, right now, it would be his second major championship. And right now, he's in pretty good shape as he is approaching the ninth, or the 18th green.

He got a one-stroke lead. There are three guys, though, trailing him right now at eight under par. So if he falters on this 18th hole which, by the way, they call diabolical.

LIN: Yes, I know it's funny.

OVERMYER: So, if he falters on this 18th hole, we could be seeing a playoff.

LIN: All right. Tough job you have watching all the sports of the day.

OVERMYER: I know. It is, yes.

LIN: Thanks, Steve.

OVERMYER: Sure.

LIN: Well, that's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up at 7:00 Eastern, on "People In The News," profiles of pop female singers Madonna and Britney Spears.

At 8:00, the pressure is on at the Olympic games, and perhaps nowhere is the pressure more intense than in gymnastics. I'm going to take a look at the competition.

And at 9:00 Eastern, President George W. Bush and Laura Bush join Larry in an exclusive interview.

And you've seen his amazing video of Hurricane Charley. Join me tonight at 10:00 in our prime-time show when I interview hurricane hunter Jim Reed.

The hour's headlines when we come back and then "People In The News."

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


Aired August 15, 2004 - 18:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Carol Lin. CNN LIVE SUNDAY is just ahead, but first, just a quick look at what's happening now in the news.
President Bush tours Florida and promises federal help. So far, 16 people have died from Hurricane Charley. More than a million people are still without electricity. Rebuilding will take billions of dollars.

John Zarrella has details in two minutes.

And in Iraq, coalition forces and rebels are fighting again in Najaf. Snipers killed two U.S. troops there today. The Iraqi government ordered journalists out for their safety. I'm going to wrap up today's Iraq news in 15 minutes.

And in Greece, the U.S. men's basketball team lost today to Puerto Rico today, 92-73, but the U.S. can still make it to the quarterfinals and possibly to a gold medal. Michael Holmes reports from the Olympics later.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Good evening, I'm Carol Lin. And welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just kind of numb. I was very emotional afterwards. I could only think the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: We're back at Charley's ground zero this hour to see how residents are beginning to put their lives back together. Also, another kind of story of hope and survival -- twins no longer conjoined. How are they doing just 11 days after they were separated? Their doctor joins me later this hour.

But right now we begin in Florida. The storm is gone, but now the hard work begins. Today, workers, supplies and money are pouring in to the communities devastated by Hurricane Charley. Our John Zarrella joins us now from Punta Gorda.

A lot of work to be done, John? JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, no question about it. And really, it is just beginning, really moving into full swing today with federal disaster aid pouring in here, ice pouring in, water pouring in, long lines of people waiting for those supplies to get here.

But they are here, and people have been patient, understanding. As we know, thousands of people without homes. And you know, these are the kinds of images and pictures that we've been seeing with the things that the people have to deal with here.

This was a beauty salon here in Punta Gorda. And you can see that everything inside is a total disaster, a total loss. People were here, the owners, looking through it, trying to pick through whatever little there is that they could salvage. And as you can see if you look up a little bit, you can see the roof is completely gone off of this structure as well.

Nothing much left here at all. Here's some of the debris that's been blowing around. You can't even tell if it's actually from this particular store.

You want to look out a little bit toward the street down here. And in the distance there's -- you can see a lot of the debris that's still lining the sides of the streets and a bridge over there that links Punta Gorda to Port Charlotte.

And for much of the day, although there isn't much traffic on there right now, it was absolutely jam-packed with cars, bumper-to- bumper traffic up there. And emergency officials here and the police and federal officials all saying, look we want people to stay off the roads if they can.

Most of the people, they're saying, that are out there are just spectators. They're people who want to come by and see what's happened here, and that's not what they need because in fact what they need is to have the streets clear so they can move around, they can get to places they need to get to fast. And it's hampering their efforts having all of these people, sightseers as they call them, just coming to see what happened.

Certainly we saw the same thing in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew, and it really complicates the search and relief efforts. And they're trying to tell people what we need to do is to actually get these people off the street so that they can go about doing their business -- Carol?

LIN: But John, still no power, still no water, right, in Punta Gorda?

ZARRELLA: Right. Still no power, still no water, still no telephones. And people we talked to say, yes, we need the water. We certainly need the electricity, but that's going to be weeks in some cases before any of those services are restored. But a lot of people we've talked to are saying, look, what we need more than anything else is a telephone because we can't even tell our loved ones who live in other places that we're alive, that we're well.

LIN: Good point.

ZARRELLA: So there are certainly people all over the country because as you know, lots of people here who are transplants from other places living here, and their relatives in other parts of the country, Carol...

LIN: Right.

ZARRELLA: ... have no idea that they're even alive -- Carol?

LIN: That's a good point. All right, thanks very much, John.

In a little bit I'm going to be talking with the city manager of Punta Gorda for the latest on how they're going to get that infrastructure set up again.

But there was an important visit to Florida today. President Bush saw the devastation firsthand. He toured through some of the hardest-hit areas. Marine 1 flew over demolished houses and uprooted trees to give him a bird's-eye view.

The president landed at an airport where the hurricane flipped small planes upside down. President Bush says federal help is being rushed to the area, that he was also impressed by aid on a smaller scale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're beginning to see neighbors helping neighbors, a lot of people who have been dislocated staying with a friend or neighbor. It's -- you know, out of these catastrophes, the spirit of America really shines. And that spirit is neighbor helping neighbor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: The president's re-election campaign says the trip wasn't about politics. Florida is one of the central battlegrounds of the presidential race, as if you didn't know that by now after 2000.

Well, we've got two new storms, Danielle and Earl. Meteorologist Orelon Sidney is standing by in the weather center with more on trouble to come -- Orelon?

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, hopefully not, especially not from Danielle. I just don't think Danielle is going to be a problem.

(WEATHER BREAK)

SIDNEY: Carol?

LIN: Will do. All right, thanks, Orelon. Punta Gorda is a quiet community, popular with retirees and families seeking a slower pace. Obviously that tranquility was shattered when the eye of Charley passed directly over the town.

For more on the damage, we're joined by city manager Willard Beck.

Mr. Beck, we just heard from John Zarrella, our correspondent on the scene. He described a situation where people, all they want at this point, not only just power and water, but they just want a telephone so that they can call out.

What's the status of at least trying to put some basic infrastructure back together again?

WILLARD BECK, FLA. CITY MANAGER, PUNTA GORDA: That's our particular mission right now. We have -- we're in the process of restoring our water system. It's going to take another day or so to get it all up.

We have -- we desperately need the telephone system so the communications link can be with the public. And we also need the power company to come in and help us. We're basically -- and the cell phones aren't working...

LIN: Yes.

BECK: ... very good, either.

LIN: Well, are you getting the help you need?

BECK: Yes, we're getting a lot of help right now, and we really appreciate it. It's very gratifying to look out and see the various different cities from all over the state, state agencies, and all the people who are coming here to give us that relief.

When you have this situation, you know, you think you're all alone when that storm is going over you. While it was going over, we had a few telephone calls and they said, we're on the way. So that was really helpful.

LIN: Yes.

BECK: They've come. FEMA is here. The president has been in town. The governor was here yesterday and offered us all the assistance we could use. And so, it's just a matter of getting us organized. We have a lot of police forces here in town that's going to step up and help our men and women. And we also have the national guard here, I believe, to help us, as well as reserves.

They're all here to work with us, and we need them right now.

LIN: Right. Is looting a problem?

BECK: We have a lot of damage here in the city.

LIN: Is looting a problem? I mean that's one of the reasons...

BECK: I beg your pardon?

LIN: Is looting a problem?

BECK: I don't know if it's major. We probably have some. We hope it's very minimal.

LIN: Yes, and just looking at...

BECK: Our telephones are not -- our telephones are not, service is not very good right now, so we may not be getting all the calls.

LIN: I see. I see, good point. And forgive us because there's obviously a delay on the satellite as I'm speaking to you.

I'm just wondering if you've had a chance to talk to some people and hear -- you're hearing some remarkable stories of how people are managing to communicate or trying to get water and food to one another. How are people coping?

BECK: They're doing -- I've been out in the neighborhoods, and they're doing very well, and they're taking it like, very well. And we told them -- what we have done, so you can understand, we have gone out and as soon as this storm ended, we had a crew here that was clearing all the streets, emergency recovery system.

LIN: Yes.

BECK: People could see we were doing something. We had our police and fire out before the storm and warned them when the storm was coming. And so we've done what we could to communicate with them. And we plan to do a lot more communicating with them now as the manpower allows us to do it. And now the storm is over.

LIN: Right.

BECK: Because we've got an awful lot of work to do. We've lost a lot of our trailers. A lot of our trailer homes communities are just demolished. They're flat.

A lot of our downtown older homes are demolished. And a lot of our houses out in the isles.

LIN: Yes, Willard Beck.

BECK: And all the -- they've got a lot of damage.

LIN: We have seen the pictures, and it is astonishing to behold and wonderful to hear how the community is coming together.

Thank you very much, Willard Beck, city manager at Punta Gorda.

BECK: Thank you.

LIN: Well, it's been more than a week since they've been together, but everyone is thrilled they're apart. Coming up, I'm going to talk to the lead pediatrician for the separated Filipino twins.

But first, a redeployment of military forces around the world, a look at where they're going and how many troops will be saying good- bye to their families once again.

Plus an upsetting day in Athens for the millionaire U.S. all-star team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: All right. We want to talk a little bit about what is happening around Iraq as well as what's happening with U.S. troops around the world.

Right now it's unclear how the redeployment plan could affect U.S. troops in Iraq where there seemingly is no end to the violence. Of course, we're talking about the redeployment of troops that President Bush is going to be officially announcing tomorrow. Most of those troops coming from Europe and Asia, not Iraq and Afghanistan.

And you're looking at some of the most recent violence there inside of Iraq. Two Iraqis were killed by mortar shells in Baghdad today. Seventeen others were wounded. Three of the mortars hit a bus station near the convention center.

And take a look at this number -- 1,500 Iraqi representatives are there in Baghdad picking an advisory group for the country's new interim government.

Today's opening session was disrupted when Shiite leaders called for an end to the fighting in Najaf. Rebels loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr clashed with Iraqi and U.S. forces in Najaf again today. Two Al-Sadr supporters were killed, and journalists have now been ordered out of the city by Iraqi police and Iraqi forces.

Iraq's interior ministry says 25 heavily armed foreigners are hold up inside the Imam Ali mosque there, and they are threatening to blow it up if attacked. Two U.S. troops were killed by sniper fire near the shrine today.

Now President Bush, as I was talking about, is getting ready to shake up U.S. forces around the world. Tomorrow, he is expected to outline the plans for repositioning tens of thousands of U.S. troops, bringing many of them home.

Of course that sounds like good news. Our Elaine Quijano reports on where they would actually come from.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush is set to announce what Pentagon officials say has been in the works for some time, a change in where and how the United States positions its military forces around the world. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed it earlier this month.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We've decided that it's time to shift our posture in Europe and Asia and around the world and move from static defense, which does not make much sense today, to a more deployable and usable set of capabilities.

QUIJANO: Pentagon and senior administration officials say the president's announcement will describe a major reduction and repositioning of U.S. forces overseas. While they won't talk total troop numbers, they say most reductions will come from Europe, the rest from Asia. One official says the plan would bring some 100,000 family members of military support staff back to the United States.

The move, say officials, is designed to reflect a ready posture for the war on terror rather than the cold war stance adopted years ago when officials believed the Soviet Union posed the biggest threat to America.

U.S. officials emphasize they've consulted with American allies and members of Congress along the way.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), FOREIGN RELATIONS CHAIRMAN: So this is a fundamental change, and it's a change probably in the tactics of our military so that our people will be more mobile, more available at other places all over the earth.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: There are some things that we should do to re-deploy troops so that they're in the best position possible for what the new threats are.

QUIJANO: The president's decision comes against the backdrop of election year politics and the Iraq war. One Democratic senator suggested Mr. Bush's motivation is to ultimately put more troops in Iraq, but others cautioned against that.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: But the fact is if you do put more troops in, than you sink deeper into that terrible word "quagmire," and it is not unlike what we found in Vietnam over years. You just keep putting more and more troops in, propping up governments, propping up governments.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: Now, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on his way back from a trip overseas to Europe and Asia told reporters today that a proposed realignment would likely take place over the course of several years.

Meantime already, a spokesman for the president's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, is suggesting that this move is motivated because President Bush has overextended U.S. troops worldwide.

White House officials have repeatedly insisted that the president makes his decisions based on the view of commanders on the ground with respect to the situation in Iraq. That is something that we have continued to hear, Carol, from this White House whenever the troop question comes up.

What they will say is that the president does look to those people who are in theater when making those decisions in Iraq -- Carol?

LIN: All right, thanks very much. Elaine Quijano at the White House.

Now we want to make a shift. We're going to plenty of action to report from the Olympic games in Athens today.

There were some record-setting performances and some stunning upsets. CNN's Michael Holmes has it all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A day of upset on day two of competition here at the Athens 2004 Olympic games.

Let's start with the Iraqi soccer team, and what a performance they have put on. They beat Portugal a couple of days ago. Their second-round match was against Costa Rica and they won, 2-0.

This is a team that doesn't even have a home ground. They had to qualify playing in neighboring Jordan. Now, they are two wins away from playing for an Olympic medal, an extraordinary story.

Another upset, the dream team, the American basketball team had a nightmare start today at Olympic campaign. They went down to Puerto Rico. Not only did they go down, they were thrashed 92-73. The millionaires of the NBA being given a lesson in defense.

Now, also the 4x100 meters freestyle event, that saw another upset. It spelled the end of the campaign by Michael Phelps, the young American, to get eight gold medals at these Olympics. Best he can do now is seven gold medals, which would equal Mark Spitz' efforts back in the '70s.

The American team got the bronze in this event. The gold went to South Africa, blistering pace. They got a world record. The silver went to the Netherlands.

The women's 100-meter butterfly an interesting story, too, won by Petria Thomas of Australia. This now means that she has won an Olympic medal in three consecutive games, an extraordinary performance for her.

In the tennis, Andy Roddick and Venus Williams, as one might expect, go through. Britain's Tim Henman was knocked out. Now it's been a very windy day here in Athens. In fact, it's been so windy that the rowing that was meant to start at Marathon, about 26 miles from here, meant to start tomorrow, it's now been postponed.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Athens. (END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And in other news, he is headed to court again tomorrow, but he had a message of faith today.

Still to come, Michael Jackson addresses his fans after Sunday service.

But first, an update on the separated Filipino twins. I'm going to talk to their lead pediatrician, Dr. Robert Marion.

And later, Charley left thousands of people without food or a home. How one agency is helping to feed and restore the fate of so many people.

But first, grab a pen. Here is a couple of -- well, here are a couple of phone numbers you can call to donate to the victims of Charley.

FEMA: 1-800-621-FEMA (3662).

Florida Emergency Information 24-hour Hotline: 1-800-342-3557.

We're going to provide these numbers to you again later in the broadcast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Eleven days ago, doctors at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York completed the final surgery to separate two-year old Filipino twins, Carl and Clarence Aguirre.

Now, CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has an update on them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLENE AGUIRRE, TWINS MOTHER: I can see them alive and lying on the bed with two separate beds, and it's really unbelievable.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable and unusual.

UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: Their recovery has been, I think, beyond our best expectations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually astonished not to see any of the problems that we expected, the swelling of the brain, the venous infarctions. And these were all things that we were concerned about.

GUPTA: Almost all previous conjoined twins had problems immediately after the operation. When los dos Maria's, the two Maria's from Guatemala were separated two years ago, Maria Teresa suffered a life-threatening infection. She is now death.

The Bajani twins from Iran both died after a 52-hour operation. With Carl and Clarence, Dr. Goodrich operated in stages, performing four operations over 10 months instead of one mammoth one. That led to less blood loss, less anesthesia at any given time and hopefully a faster recovery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking them through a staged procedure like this made all the difference in the world.

GUPTA: Still, they're not nearly out of the woods yet. Doctors need to see the effects of disconnecting two brains that were fused together and communicating. It will take weeks before they're out of critical condition, and a year before they have their skulls completely replaced.

They are separate for sure. And Arlene also wants them to be independent. For now, they're just getting to know each other for the very first time.

AGUIRRE: One thing more, I want them first to see what the reaction, if they really see each other.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: So how are they doing? Well, Dr. Robert Marion is the lead pediatrician at the Montefiore Medical Center and the boys' lead pediatrician. He joins me live from New York.

Doctor, I'm just wondering how are Carl and Clarence doing?

DR. ROBERT MARION, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: Well actually, Carol, they're doing pretty well. I just saw them a few minutes ago before coming here.

LIN: Terrific.

MARION: And they're awake and alert and watching TV, which is what they were doing prior to the surgery.

LIN: Have they actually seen each other?

MARION: They're looking at each other, but I don't think they really understand who the kid in the bed next to them actually is. You know, when they were at Blythedale Children's Hospital getting therapy, they were in a playgroup with a bunch of other kids.

And I think they just think that this is just one of those other kids from the group. It hasn't sunk in this is their twin brother who was attached at their head.

LIN: What is an average day for them like now?

MARION: Well, most of the -- since they're still recovering from the surgery, they're spending all of their time lying in bed, most of the time watching TV. But they will interact with a lot of the TV programs that they're watching, especially the "Wiggles," which is their favorite TV show.

LIN: Anybody with kids knows who the "Wiggles" are, four Australians in colored tee shirts dancing around.

MARION: They love the "Wiggles." It's interesting that each likes a different segment. You know, Clarence has his favorites, and Carl has his favorites. And they're very different in what they really like.

But yesterday they were playing their tambourine and their maracas in time to the music, so they're really like any other two years old kid.

LIN: Yes. And when Dr. Gupta was talking about the effect of separating two brains, essentially, it sounds like they've got motor skills. But what are you watching for? Have you seen a loss in other skills, a gain in other areas?

MARION: Right, we haven't seen any loss. As Dr. Goodrich was saying during the previous piece. We really had expected them to have some diminution in some of their functioning after the surgery. And we really haven't seen anything. They really are basically performing the same way that they were prior to the surgery.

LIN: That's remarkable.

MARION: With one small addition.

LIN: What's that?

MARION: They are now able to eat. And they really weren't able to eat because they were spending all of their time laying on their back or on their side. Now they can really sit up in bed and take food by mouth.

LIN: Dr. Marion, do you have any idea what the long-term prognosis is for these two kids?

MARION: So far, the long-term prognosis in all of our minds is excellent. I think we all truly believe that these kids have a shot at getting through this, growing up, going to school. I think we all believe that Clarence is going to become a neurosurgeon and Carl will become a plastic surgeon. And they'll specialize in separating conjoined twins.

LIN: Well, they certainly have a lot of early experience, Dr. Marion.

MARION: Absolutely.

LIN: That's terrific. And I'm sure their mother -- oh, gosh -- she must be so thrilled to see her two boys in two beds.

MARION: Right, as she said before, it was really her dream to see them separated. And really, this is her dream come true. And it really is an astonishing accomplishment on the part of the surgeons. LIN: It is, Dr. Marion. We're going to follow up on this story. And thanks so much for being with us today.

MARION: Sure, thank you so much for having me, Carol.

LIN: Well, we've got some other news today, too.

The plot is thickening. Coming up later, new twists and turns in the scandal surrounding New Jersey governor, Jim McGreevey.

And talk about loyal fans, a closer look at what some people would do to bid their final farewell to "Phish."

But first, you've seen the pictures and heard the stories of devastation. Up next, how you can help the victims of Hurricane Charley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back, and here's a quick look at what's happening now in the news.

President Bush tours the hurricane devastation in southwestern Florida and promises that federal disaster aid is on the way. The state's death toll from the storm is now 16.

And John Kerry is spending the weekend at his family's Idaho home. Kerry attended church this morning, and he's going to be back on the campaign trail Tuesday.

And retail gasoline prices took a tumble over the last three weeks. Prices are down nearly a nickel a gallon. But crude oil prices closed Friday at an all-time high, so gas prices are expected to rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARK FOLEY (R), FLORIDA: People always want to look for faults. They won't find any here. I'm pleased with the deployment of water, with the deployment of trucks. We've got 3,000 trucks staged, ready to rebuild this community. We expect power to be on hopefully within the next 48 to 72 hours for most locations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Congressman Foley represents one of the hardest-hit areas, Punta Gorda, where there is no running water or power right now.

Salvation Army workers are also helping victims of Hurricane Charley across the state. They set up a new command center four years ago in Tampa for just such an emergency, and today it's coordinating relief efforts throughout the state.

Joining me now from Tampa is Major Steve Hedgren. He is the divisional commander in Florida for the Salvation Army.

Commander, how are things going right now on the ground in terms of getting food, water and basic supplies to people?

MAJ. STEVE HEDGREN, SALVATION ARMY: Well, we've been establishing ourselves in about 40 different locations through the path of the hurricane. And so today, yesterday and today have been very busy getting food to those locations.

We're trying to provide as much as we can, hot meals. And in the next few days, we'll be providing to those location cleanup kits, so the residents can begin to start cleaning up their houses.

LIN: Taking a look at some of the numbers, 22 shelters across the state, 2,600 people homeless having to live in those shelters. Goodness knows how many people are having to seek shelter in other people's homes.

Is the situation, as it stands right now on the ground today, is it going to get better or do you think it's going to get worse?

HEDGREN: Well, each day our experience has been that we make progress in helping people, and they themselves begin to pick up the pieces. What we're going to be looking at in the next few days is obviously providing food and water and ice. Those are needed items during the first couple days of recovery.

And then as this week begins to progress, you see a picking up the of the spirit of people, of rebuilding, and then we'll be very much involved in that process ago as well.

LIN: Have you been on the ground talking with folks out there?

HEDGREN: A little bit today, I'll be doing it all day tomorrow, heading down to Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte.

LIN: Because I'm wondering what amazing stories you've come across, in terms of people just being ingenious about trying to get by.

HEDGREN: Well, it's amazing. I remember stories from Hurricane Andrew when we served down there in '92. And the stories are very similar. People are just happy, first of all, to be alive and to have someone there caring for them and helping with them.

And again it's amazing how quickly the human spirit just begins to pick up the pieces and rebuilding begins.

LIN: Yes, because how are people communicating without phone service? How are they getting to stations where they can get water and maybe even food?

HEDGREN: Well, by word of mouth at the various locations. And where there is a little bit of self-service, we're able to communicate to neighborhoods.

But basically, it's -- you see the Salvation Army canteens and other relief agencies, and the word just gets around that there is food and a minimum of building supplies right now that we're able to give to them.

LIN: Remarkable the work that you're having to do now, and obviously with the experience in the state of Florida to do it.

HEDGREN: Yes.

LIN: Thank very much.

HEDGREN: Thanks.

LIN: Major Steve Hedgren.

Well, Charley has come and gone, but new storms are swirling out at sea. Meteorologist Orelon Sidney tracking all of them from our weather center -- Orelon?

SIDNEY: That's right, Carol. 'Tis the season, and it's getting to be very active. We didn't have our first tropical cyclone in this Atlantic season until July 31st. That turned out to be Alex. And then we've just had one after the other. We've had, of course, Bonnie, Charley, Danielle and Earl.

(WEATHER BREAK)

SIDNEY: Carol?

LIN: A little bit of everything. Thanks, Orelon.

SIDNEY: You're welcome.

LIN: Elsewhere across America right now, firefighters report progress containing a wildfire that has almost charred 11,000 acres northwest of Sacramento, California.

Another blaze has burned through the mountain community of French Gulch near Redding. Nearly 300 residents had to evacuate.

In Eagle, Colorado, lawyers for the woman accusing basketball star Kobe Bryant of sexual assault are taking flack for criticizing the judge in the case. The attorneys have complained their client cannot get a fair hearing at Bryant's trial because of court mistakes.

A member of a legal self-regulation panel says they may have violated a gag order and ethics rules.

In Santa Monica, California, pop star Michael Jackson will appear with members of his family at a pre-trial hearing tomorrow on child molestation charges. Jackson's attorneys will be confronting district attorney Tom Sneddon, his legal nemesis for more than a decade. Today Jackson took time to speak with some of his fans after a church service.

Another band bites the dust, Phish performs its farewell concert this evening near Coventry, Vermont. When weekend rains made parking areas too muddy to take more cars, many Phish-heads walked 15 miles for their last chance to see the legendary jam bad. Jack Thurston of affiliate WCAX joined nearly 70,000 fans at the Newport State Airport concert site.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACK THURSTON, WCAX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before Phish takes the stage in Coventry, the slip, slap, slurp of mud is the festival ground sound. Heavy rains wake worms from their dirt naps, making for creative choices in footwear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. They're staying dry. It's all good.

THURSTON: Move over chestnuts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We roasted our soaks over an open fire last night. It was fantastic.

THURSTON: The day wasn't so toasty for cars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the vehicles stop moving, we'll still be moving.

THURSTON: Horses can hoof it through the muck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically it's your crowd control. They're used to the mud because of being in the barnyard and that type of thing. It doesn't bother them at all.

THURSTON: Tons of mulch help sop up the slop. Fans know what it takes to dry out for good.

UNIDENTIFIED FAN: Another 20, 30 truckloads for my 10 by 10.

THURSTON: But one group here is used to dealing with the dirt. A farmers market gives Vermont growers high hopes for peddling produce.

UNIDENTIFIED MERCHANT: Well, we don't have high hopes for the weather.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Good grief, what people will do to see a concert. Thanks to reporter Jack Thurston of WCAX.

Phish performs the last of three weekend farewell concerts late tonight near Coventry, Vermont, just in case you want to walk those 15 miles.

The Phish farewell falls fittingly on the 35th anniversary of that rock concert of all rock concerts, Woodstock. Baby boomers who once burned draft cards now clutch their AARP cards, but they still flock to the remote field near Bethel, New York, where the Who, Jimmy Hendrix, a host of other performers and 400,000 rain-soaked fans said good-bye to the '60s. And on a final pop culture note, sorry guys, Nicky Hilton is no longer available. The younger sister of reality TV star Paris Hilton has gotten married.

Nicky Hilton, she is 20 years old. You can see her on the left of your screen. That's her. She married a 33-year-old new York money manager in a surprise ceremony early this morning, very early, 2:30 in the morning. And where else but in Las Vegas, and yes, Paris was there.

Three days after a stunning announcement, some new twists. Still to come, the latest in Governor Jim McGreevey's New Jersey shocker.

And it's no longer an issue of age or race. Now the question looms, will you date across political lines.

And Obama versus Keyes, what the two Illinois U.S. Senate candidates have to say about each other in the morning talk shows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The Senate race in Illinois is creating some sparks these days. You might remember Democrat Barrack Obama is running against Republican Alan Keyes.

Keyes, who lives in Maryland, well he was recruited by Illinois Republicans after they were unable to find a candidate there. They went after each other today on the Sunday talk shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: I think both he and the Republican Party are making a mistake in thinking that race was in the equation. I haven't run a race-based campaign. And if you look at the coalition that I put together in the primary, it wasn't based on any kind of racial ideology. It was based entirely on my position on jobs and education and health care, things that cut across racial boundaries and geographic boundaries.

And so I think that the Republican Party has mistook the reason why we've been doing well in this campaign. They perhaps have seen it through a racial lens, but that's not a perspective that I view.

ALAN KEYES (R), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: Barrack Obama claims an African American heritage yet stands against the very things that were the basis for the oppression of my ancestors. And people were saying that this somehow represents the heritage of black Americans.

I do not believe it does represent their heritage when you are willing, in contravention of the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence, that we are all created equal and endowed not by human choice but by our creator with our inalienable rights to stand there and say that something like abortion, deep issue of justice, is a matter of choice. And when somebody comes to me...

(END VIDEO CLIP) LIN: Well, and in New Jersey, there is politics of a very different sort going on. The state's governor James McGreevey says he will resign in November after admitting he had a homosexual affair.

The story centers around this man, Golan Cipel, who was once an aid to the governor. Cipel says he is not gay and that McGreevey sexually harassed him.

His attorney tells the "New York Post" there was no affair, but according to the Associated Press, Cipel's attorney tried to get the governor to pay $50 million to keep it quiet.

Now the FBI is involved in an investigation.

This is probably a bit of a turn, but finding the right partner in love is a problem that faces many single folks. But finding someone to love who is of the same political persuasion as you now can be really tough.

As Alina Cho reports though, technology may be coming to the rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jen Tramontozzi is 26, single, and a member of the New York's Young Republicans Club.

Yes, traditionally liberal New York where Tramontozzi says Republican suitors are in short supply.

JEN TRAMONTOZZI, REPUBLICAN: When I tell people I'm a Republican, they're kind of like, ooh -- like their face just falls and their so disappointed. They're like, oh no, everything was going great until you had mentioned that.

CHO: Dan Cohen is a also a single, New Yorker. He's a Democrat looking for a lovely liberal.

DAN COHEN, DEMOCRAT: It's one signal. It's not the only one, but it's -- for me, it's been a good one at determining whether or not I would get along with that person.

CHO: Cohen and Tramontozzi disagree on politics but agree on dating strategy; both want to date members of their own political party.

TRAMONTOZZI: I feel like, you know, if I dated someone who was a liberal, he would just be getting annoyed with me all the time. Or I'd be like, well I don't understand why he doesn't get it. He's not seeing it my way.

CHO (on camera): Little doubt that this year's election is going to be a close one, Bush, Kerry, red states, blue states. It's political lingo most of us have heard, and now it's popping up on Internet dating sites. So, if you're looking for love, get ready to show your colors. (voice-over) More than a half dozen Web sites are out there to help both single Republicans and Democrats find their political soul mate. Sites like conservativematch.com and actforlove.org, a liberal site started by John Hlinko who is now engaged to a fellow Democrat he met on the Web.

JOHN HLINKO, "ACTFORLOVE.ORG": We're getting people in a lot of the red states because they're the ones that are having trouble finding other progressives, finding other Democrats.

CHO: Some do make it work. Despite disagreeing politically, Arnold, Maria, Carville, Madeline. Dan Cohen says no way.

You're a blue state?

COHEN: I'm a blue state guy. And I don't think I could date anybody but a blue state gal.

CHO: Red states need not apply.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, it's been a struggle on the greens today, and Tiger Woods is feeling the pinch.

Stay with us because we're going to take you live to the PGA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Well, disappointment is marring the day for golfer Vijay Singh in the final round of the PGA championship, but not for his playing partner, American Justin Leonard.

Our Steve Overmyer has been watching the action on the greens at Whistling Strait. Whistling Strait.

STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: You like that? It's up in Wisconsin, the dairy state.

LIN: Does it say something about the weather today?

OVERMYER: It definitely does because I think that has been the MVP, at least of the fourth round here. The winds in the firmer greens at Whistling Straits are really playing as difficult as anticipated.

Of the top six golfers, only one is playing under par. Chris Dimarco finished with a 71. He is at eight under. And that might be good enough for a playoff if Justin Leonard falters in the tough conditions.

Right now Leonard is up one stroke at nine under through 17, though he is on the green on 18, so he is in prime position to win the major. As for Tiger Woods, it was an up and down day that saw him cut four birdies to offset his five bogey, carding a one over 73, well off the pace in yet another major tournament.

This makes Tiger "0" for his last 10 major championships. You know what, for a guy that's suppose to be attacking a Jack Nicklaus record of 18 major titles, it's been a disappointing two and a half years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, 2-TIME PGA CHAMPION: Well, it's frustrating because I didn't win. You know, it's as simple as that. I was -- I felt like I was playing so well coming into this event, and I was. And it's unfortunate that I just didn't continue it that way.

Today, I just didn't feel it at all. I mean, I putted just as bad today as I did the first day, and it's not good when the putter feels like a sledgehammer in your hands, you know? Especially as well as I've putted the entire year, to feel that poorly over a putt is very unusual, especially this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OVERMYER: One other note, though. Tiger does break the record for 330 consecutive weeks at number one. He will remain at number one. A lot of people were wondering whether or not Ernie Els would be able to catapult past him for the world's number one ranking, or maybe Vijay Singh.

LIN: Yes.

OVERMYER: But that's not going to happen. Tiger is going to be remaining number one for at least another...

LIN: Yes, our standards for him are so high.

OVERMYER: That's the thing. You know, he's got eight major championships already. He's 10 away from tying Jack Nicklaus. And everybody has this mentality of where Tiger Woods should be on a weekly basis.

Two and a half years he's not won a major championship. And people are talking like he's in a drought.

LIN: Right.

OVERMYER: He's still the number one golfer in the world, though.

LIN: So for Justin Leonard, what would it mean for him?

OVERMYER: Well, right now, it would be his second major championship. And right now, he's in pretty good shape as he is approaching the ninth, or the 18th green.

He got a one-stroke lead. There are three guys, though, trailing him right now at eight under par. So if he falters on this 18th hole which, by the way, they call diabolical.

LIN: Yes, I know it's funny.

OVERMYER: So, if he falters on this 18th hole, we could be seeing a playoff.

LIN: All right. Tough job you have watching all the sports of the day.

OVERMYER: I know. It is, yes.

LIN: Thanks, Steve.

OVERMYER: Sure.

LIN: Well, that's all the time we have for this hour. Coming up at 7:00 Eastern, on "People In The News," profiles of pop female singers Madonna and Britney Spears.

At 8:00, the pressure is on at the Olympic games, and perhaps nowhere is the pressure more intense than in gymnastics. I'm going to take a look at the competition.

And at 9:00 Eastern, President George W. Bush and Laura Bush join Larry in an exclusive interview.

And you've seen his amazing video of Hurricane Charley. Join me tonight at 10:00 in our prime-time show when I interview hurricane hunter Jim Reed.

The hour's headlines when we come back and then "People In The News."

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