[Andrea Koppel, Cnn Anchor, Next@cnn:] Hello. I'm Andrea Koppel at the CNN Center in Atlanta. NEXT@CNN begins in a moment, but first headlines right now. CNN has obtained new pictures of a man believed to be terrorist leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. Sources tell CNN the man shown in these six photographs is in fact Al Zarqawi, who has been linked to Al Qaeda. It is not clear how recently the photos were taken. But they appear to have been taken at the same time and place. The United States considered Al Zarqawi the most wanted man in Iraq and it has placed a $25 million bounty on his head. Faced with intense international pressure, Syrian president Bashar Al Assad has announced a troop redeployment plan in Lebanon. All Syrian troops in the country will be moved to the Bekaa Valley, and later to the Lebanon's Syrian border. The plan falls short though of demand by President Bush and other world leaders for Syria to pull all of its forces out of Lebanon. Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena is now back home. She's arrived in Italy one day after being injured by American troops who accidentally fired on her car as it sped toward Baghdad's airport. Sgrena has been held captive by Iraqi insurgents for a month. The Italian security officer who helped negotiate her release and was also in the car was killed in yesterday's incident. Time now for a check on the weekend weather. Here's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras.
[Jacqui Jeras, Cnn Meteorologist:] Hello everyone I'm Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Weather Center. Some wet weather today across the southwest, from San Diego extending all the way over to San Antonio, some heavier showers into western Texas and some thunderstorms, a little snow in the higher elevations across northern Arizona and into New Mexico. Including the Flagstaff area. A little clipper moving through the center Appalachians and across the Mid Atlantic states, mostly bringing in some rain, but a bit of a wintry mix, especially into West Virginia, and that cold front drops on down toward the Gulf coast today. Nice conditions in the upper Midwest, and also in the Rockies. Some very mild temperatures for you in Denver today, with the high near 60 degrees, 62 in
[Koppel:] Thanks Jacqui. I'm Andrea Koppel in Atlanta. There is much more news at the bottom of the hour. NEXT@CNN begins right now.
[Daniel Sieberg, Cnn Anchor, Next@cnn:] Hi, I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN, global flyer glides into the history books as pilot Steve Fossett makes the first solo flight around the world without refueling. Also, Yellow Stone National Park tries to balance the demands of snow mobilers with those of nature lovers who want clean air and quiet. And Philadelphia's football stadium needs to be in concession stands technology. All that and more on NEXT. Pilot and adventurer Steve Fossett added another aviation record to his collection this week, by completing the first nonstop solo flight around the world without refueling. There was no shortage of drama and nervous moments.
[Sieberg:] The first shower he got from financer Sir Richard Branson probably was not one he needed, but it was exactly what he wanted. Sixty seven hours aloft after logging about 23,000 miles, pilot Steve Fossett was celebrating right back where he started. And the world became a little bit smaller because of it.
[Steve Fossett, Pilot:] Well, that was something I've wanted to do for a long time.
[Sieberg:] It started after almost a month waiting for the right jet stream to help propel him around the world. And problems almost instantly. Fossett's GPS failed, leaving him flying blind. It would have stopped the show, but it was quickly fixed. Then there was just the sheer exhaustion of flying alone for such a long period of time.
[Fossett:] Yes, I'm feeling tired, and I'll be very happy to finish the trip and get on the ground.
[Sieberg:] Only pilot fatigue seemed to be in the way of the man who held 102 world records before this flight, including a daring around the world balloon trip that took several tries before succeeding in 2002. This go-around, Fossett wanted to get it right the first time. Legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan was commissioned to build the global flier. Rutan also built Voyager which flew around the world with two pilots in 1986.
[Paul Moore, Project Manager:] There's been a rather troubling development with regard to the fuel that Steve has on board. There's a discrepancy to the tune of 2,600 pounds.
[Sieberg:] That's about 15 H2 hummers' worth of fuel that mysteriously disappeared or didn't register on the gauges. The 100 plus mile per hour tailwinds from the jet stream encouraged Fossett to push on.
[Fossett:] I believe that we no longer need to give any more consideration to landing in Hawaii. I have every hope of making it to Salina tomorrow.
[Sieberg:] And he made it look easy. Designer Rutan gave Fossett an 8.5 on the landing.
[Burt Rutan, Globalflyer Designer:] No question about it, Steve is a different animal than most of us.
[Sieberg:] And after nearly three days with virtually no sleep and just a liquid diet, the pilot looked forward to a nap and his first real meal.
[Fossett:] I haven't thought about that yet. It won't be a milkshake, though.
[Sieberg:] Quite an amazing accomplishment. Well back in the world of commercial aviation, the Federal Aviation Administration is looking at ways to improve cockpit voice recorders. The so-called black boxes, which are actually orange, that capture the details of every flight. The plan calls for more sound and statistics, but no pictures. Kathleen Koch has the story in our "Getting There" segment.
[Kathleen Koch, Cnn Correspondent:] When Alaska air flight 261 crashed off the coast of California in 2000, investigators checking the cockpit voice recorder heard pilots already well into wrestling with an emergency situation. Such scenarios could now change, as the FAA proposes the recorders hold not just 15 or 30 minutes, as they do today, but two hours of audio.
[Marion Blakey, Administratior, Faa:] We are going to have a much longer period of time in which we will actually know what was said, what transpired in the cockpit. That's critically important.
[Koch:] Ten minutes of backup power will be required, so voice recorders keep taping when the main power fails. Flight data recorders will have to hold 25 hours of data instead of just eight, and they'll take measurements much more frequently. Instead of measuring movements of aircraft component like the rudder every quarter or half second or pilot maneuvers once a second, those measurements will be taken every 16th of a second. The FAA says besides providing more clues to solve crashes, the changes will make flying safer.
[John Hickey, Dor, Of Aircraft Certification:] The sooner I can get a cause to an accident, the quicker I can respond to the safety issue in the existing fleet.
[Koch:] The FAA has no plans to require cameras in the cockpit. Pilots oppose them, but experts believe they're critical in solving small airplane accidents like the 2002 crash that killed Senator Paul Wellstone.
[Fred Frances, Fmr. Ntsb Vice Chhm:] Having video recorders in that kin of an airplane where they do not have cockpit voice recorders, where they do not have flight data recorders is something that should be a high priority.
[Koch:] The improvements in the recorders that often refer to as black boxes will cost airlines $256 million, but they won't start showing up in aircraft until 2008 at the earliest.
[Unidentified Female:] Coming up, computers and floppy disks may hide evidence that you can't see, but forensic detectives can. We'll show you how they uncovered digital secrets. And later in the show, electronic medical records could improve healthcare. So why are so few hospitals using it?