[Betty Nguyen, Cnn Anchor:] In Gulf Shores, Alabama, they've got the headaches and heartbreak you'd expect in a place where a Category 3 hurricane made landfall. And they've also got some alligators they can't quite account for. Our account comes now from CNN's Gary Tuchman and the search for Chuckie. Hey there, Gary.
[Gary Tuchman, Cnn National Correspondent:] Betty, hello to you. And that's right, Chuckie the alligator a very famous tourist sight here in Gulf Shores, Alabama, at the zoo. He's 12 feet long, he weighs between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds. He is a man-eating alligator. He has been missing since this hurricane passed through. We actually spotted him yesterday. Our photographer got a shot of this huge alligator swimming in the flooded waters right next to the zoo. They had hoped to lure the alligator with bait, with dead chickens, chickens that had been killed in the hurricane, tied to a fishing line. They hoped the alligator was going to swim to the chickens and then they would lasso the alligator around the neck. They weren't able to get the alligator to bite, so to speak. The waters near the zoo have now receded, but the alligator is still missing. And he could be anywhere. Now, we can tell you, on a more serious vain, right now the skies are completely blue. There is not a cloud in the sky. An amazing contrast to almost precisely 36 hours ago when the eye of this hurricane crossed right through here in Gulf Shores with its 110-mile- an-hour gusts that we experienced here. This island, Gulf Shore is a barrier island, about an hour to the southeast of Mobile, Alabama, is still closed to people who live here and will be closed for another 48 hours. But we were able to get a tour a short time ago of the beach front to give you an idea of what kind of damage they experienced. And the damage is truly immense. There are many stores and businesses that have lost all their walls. Amazingly, you still see merchandise neatly put on the shelves, but the walls of the stores are gone. Homes that were on stilts on the beach now completely collapsed. Some homes on stilts are still there, but other ones are gone. It was very arbitrary. And then the sand. Tons of sand pushed from the beach into the streets. You don't even recognize the streets anymore. Now, they are very fortunate here in Baldwin County, Alabama, where the eye crossed through. It appears there were no serious injuries, no casualties. Obviously, this has been a deadly storm in other parts of the United States. They are very grateful here for the lack of casualties, but they have a lot of damage to clean up. And so far, people here are not allowed to come to their homes to see it. Betty, back to you.
[Nguyen:] Obviously, they want to get back very soon. You said possibly 48 hours. The police chief in Gulf Shores says it may even be two weeks before people will be allowed back in.
[Tuchman:] Well, that's right. Often cases it's longer than that. They are anticipating allowing people back in 48 hours, not necessarily to stay, but to see what kind of damage they had. As far as coming back here to live, it's anybody's guess when that will happen.
[Nguyen:] It's going to take some time. All right. Thank you so much, Gary Tuchman Miles.
[Miles O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] A measure of the former Ivan's power is the number of homes and offices, stores, restaurants and other business that don't have it power, that is. At last check, almost two million utility customers from Louisiana to North Carolina are without electricity as we speak, and many of those may be facing a long, dark, very warm weekend. Others are luckier, with power crews from neighboring states pitching in. The outage figures are slowly going down. Ivan still makes quite a splash on radar screens. And don't even get us started on Jeanne and Karl. Jacqui Jeras is watching all of them in the overworked weather center, and there's even one out in the Pacific which she might give us a preview of as well.
[O'brien:] Two city-shaking explosions. At least eight people killed, dozens are injured. A shocking and tragic occurrence in any city, but this is Baghdad, and the latest turn in a violent downward spiral. CNN's Walter Rodgers is there today for us.
[Walter Rodgers, Cnn Sr. International Correspondent:] These Iraqi police vehicles bore the brunt of the latest suicide car bomb that killed three policemen and five civilians in central Baghdad. This witness said a car first approached the temporary Iraqi checkpoint but was turned away. Then he said the suicide bomber drove back to the checkpoint and blew himself up. Earlier in the morning, two other suicide bombers tried to attack a U.S. Army checkpoint further up the same street, but soldiers opened fire and the suicide bombers were killed before they could hurt others. In between these two checkpoints Iraqi children fled, continuing gun battles between the U.S. military and the insurgents. This as the Americans tried to weed out stubborn resistance here in Baghdad, but they get no credit from the Iraqis. A woman complained the Americans have been here for 24 hours and there are so many wounded. The Iraqi Health Ministry estimated 10 wounded. At Friday prayers, the hostility again bubbled in sermons. In this Shiite mosque, the faithful vow to spill their blood for Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of a rebellious militia. This Muslim sheik denounced what he called the criminal acts perpetrated against the Iraqi people in Fallujah and in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City, by what he called, "the arrogant occupiers." The Americans were also denounced amid the rubble of another U.S. air strike in Falluja. This Iraqi calling President Bush a criminal who should stop boasting about freedom. U.S. warplanes targeted another Abu Musab al-Zarqawi meeting site in Falluja. U.S. military sources claim 60 of his supporters were killed, but Iraqi police say 20 civilians died in the air strike. [on camera]: No matter which death toll you choose to believe, the numbers continue to jump upward for both Iraqis and Americans, challenging, at least in the eyes of many Iraqis, the premise this war has been a success story. Walter Rodgers, CNN, Baghdad.
[Nguyen:] Also overseas, a notorious Chechen separatist leader is claiming responsibility for the Russian school massacre. At least 335 people were killed at the end of the three-day hostage drama in Beslan earlier this month. Half of them were schoolchildren. Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev is claiming responsibility in a rambling e-mail message on his group's Web site. He says his group was also behind last month's bombing of two Russian airliners and an attack on a Moscow theater in 2002. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia will carry out preemptive strikes against terrorists. The Russian leader rejected calls to seek a dialogue with Chechen separatists.
[O'brien:] A big scene today at the Santa Barbara County courthouse. Here's why. You probably guessed it. Michael Jackson shows up in court, the white team there. A mother and her toddlers almost get swallowed by a road. And get ready for a new drill at the airport medical metal detectors, not medical. New screening procedures start next week.