[Harris:] So here we are, the bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
[Collins:] Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. The nation's largest automaker about to rev up again today. G.M. and its striking union come to terms on a tentative contract. CNN's Kate Bolduan is in Warren, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, with the very latest. Kate, good morning.
[Kate Bolduan, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Heidi. Well, both parties calling this tentative agreement historic, G.M. even saying that these were the most complex and difficult negotiating sessions in the history of the relationship between UAW and G.M. And we're still waiting for some of the details of this tentative agreement to come out. G.M. has announced that one of the major sticking points they have finally decided on, and that is G.M. will be shifting the control of the retiree health care benefits to the UAW. This will happen through the UAW's controlled health care trust fund. And G.M. will be contributing tens of billions of dollars into that fund and that will cover 340,000 retirees and their spouses. Now, the UAW says union leaders they unanimously supported this tentative agreement. Of course, they're hoping to push the ratification process through. It's expected to start this weekend. If you take a listen to a little bit more from what the UAW president said this morning.
[Ron Gettelfinger, Uaw President:] A lot of hard work has went into it and we successfully resolved a lot of difficult issues. This bargaining committee gave it their all, under the leadership of Vice President Carl Rapson and his staff. We feel very good about this tentative agreement.
[Bolduan:] Now, G.M. says that this tentative agreement will help close that competitive gap with non-union automakers such as Toyota and Honda. So, a good step forward. But going on from here, Heidi, they do need to push through that ratification process and then also the UAW needs to enter into talks with the two other major automakers to try to hammer out those contracts, as well Heidi.
[Collins:] Yes. We also heard that there, you know, obviously there's quite a bit of concessions here. And according to the UAW, they also did not get any of these guarantees that would mean they wouldn't suffer any more job losses. What about that?
[Bolduan:] Well, that is one thing that other than the health care benefits that is one thing that, when we spoke to people out here, Heidi, yesterday, that is one thing that was so important. They wanted guarantees that the G.M. would be would offer guarantees that they will invest in U.S. Plants, that vehicles will be made in U.S. Plants. But that's something that we're still waiting to hear a little bit more on. We do know that the Associated Press has reported that G.M. has
[Collins:] OK. Very good. We know you'll be following it for us, as well as Ali Velshi out there, too.
[Harris:] Yes.
[Collins:] Kate Bolduan, thank you.
[Harris:] Well, here's a kick breakdown of the tentative contract. The deal shifts most of G.M.'s unfunded retiree health care obligation to a trust fund by the union. That was G.M.'s top priority in these negotiations. The estimated cost still $51 billion. Man. G.M. would pay much of that obligation. Its share, we're told, would cost tens of billions of dollars. The union would then invest the money and take over the health care responsibility. Included in that coverage, about 340,000 G.M. retirees and their spouses.
[Collins:] Protests led by Buddhist monks reportedly now turning violent in Myanmar. The military regime in the country formerly known as Burma clamping down on demonstrators. Details from CNN's Dan Rivers now who reports from Myanmar's border with Thailand.
[Dan Rivers, Cnn Correspondent:] Sources inside Myanmar are telling us that the protests have now ended for the day, after a ninth consecutive day of demonstrations of defiance against military rule. Again, tens of thousands of people, including many monks, have taken to the streets. Today, there are reports of clashes with riot police, reports that riot police fired into the air, over the heads of demonstrators, and reports that many demonstrators were injured some beaten back by riot police using batons. One unconfirmed report of one monk having been shot dead. So it seems the situation has escalated, that there are now violent clashes and that this is, perhaps, the beginning of the feared crackdown by this military government. Where we are, right on the border with Myanmar, we've managed to cross over into the small provincial town of Tachilek today. There was no sign here of any protests or defiance. We talked to a few people. Everyone here knew what was going on in Yangon and in Mandalay, but very few people here were willing to go on camera to talk about it. And there was no sign of any demonstrations here. The impression we got was that this was a picture that was mirrored in lots of other small, remote provincial towns, that people didn't want to stick their head above the parapet, that most of the dissent seems to be in the big cities of Mandalay and Yangon. Dan Rivers, CNN, on the Thai-Myanmar border.
[Harris:] A very strange story coming from Florida this morning. A bank employee used in a robbery. He says he was kidnapped. A bomb was strapped to his chest. What of this? Susan Candiotti joins us now from Miami. Susan, what are you hearing?
[Susan Candiotti, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Tony, it was certainly a very, very scary sight yesterday, as this man told police he was taken hostage from his own home and his body was strapped with explosives. In fact, a law enforcement source describes the device as a couple of cylinders and some wires. They say it looked very, very real. The bank robbers allegedly they did drive this man to the bank, went inside. He works there. He's an employee, so other people recognized him. And the bank robbers got away with a lot of money. And then this man sat outside the bank while authorities finally approached him, removed the device from his body, defused it. We still don't know precisely whether it was a bomb or not. They're testing it. But this man and his girlfriend were questioned for hours. In fact, the alleged victim was kept at the police headquarters until 2:30 this morning. Authorities say they still have a lot on their mind, a lot they want to ask him, and they're not satisfied just yet about exactly what occurred. Here is the Hollywood police spokesman.
[Capt. Tony Rode, Hollywood, Florida Police:] We're just at this point now where we have an opportunity to do an extensive interview of the bank employee to see if, in fact, number one, is this legit? Is this all a hoax? Is he truly a victim? Did he somehow, some way, participate in this alleged bank robbery that apparently, you know, procured an enormous amount of money?
[Candiotti:] Now, at this time, the police tell us they are still calling this man a victim. They did let him go home. But they told us overnight that they still have a lot of questions that they're asking him, a lot of questions in their own mind, holes in some of the responses that they got from this man. So they haven't closed the books on this one yet. And, remember, they still have to test that device to see whether it was for real. What is for real is the fact that a couple of robbers got away with, I said, a ton of money Tony.
[Harris:] Man, just just bizarre. All right, Susan Candiotti for us in Miami. Susan, thank you.
[Collins:] E. coli fears fuel another food recall. This time it's ground beef. Some 330,000 pounds of frozen hamburger patties being recalled by Topps Foods. The New Jersey-based company also markets the meat under the brand names Kohler Foods, Butcher's Best and Sand Castle Fine Meat. All the boxes carry the code EST9748. The beef was distributed nationwide, too. At least six people in New York got sick. All are now recovering.
[Harris:] We'll have to check the weather now. Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center what are you keeping an eye there?
[Marciano:] Oh, you've got to see.
[Harris:] You've got a big map up there.
[Marciano:] A big map.
[Harris:] Looking at the
[Marciano:] You guys, I know well, Tony and...
[Harris:] Yes?
[Marciano:] You know Heidi is a big fan of country music. Yes? She's just nodding so where where were you going with this?
[Collins:] I do like it. I like the lyrics a lot.
[Harris:] But would you call yourself a big fan?
[Collins:] I would not call myself a big fan.
[Harris:] Yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes. OK.
[Marciano:] So this is...
[Collins:] I do like it.
[Harris:] Because that would have been new information for me about you.
[Collins:] Yes, I do like it.
[Marciano:] Breaking news Heidi Collins...
[Collins:] Great writing. Look it, it's on the crawl now.
[Harris:] There you go.
[Collins:] I'm so excited about fall, you know?
[Marciano:] Yes, really.
[Collins:] Aren't you?
[Harris:] Yes.
[Collins:] He loves the heat.
[Marciano:] It makes me want to play some country music.
[Harris:] I do. A Toby Keith fan. We've established that.
[Marciano:] Who isn't a Toby Keith fan, right, you know?
[Collins:] Right. Right. I almost saw him in Vegas...
[Harris:] Always working to bail you out there, Rob.
[Collins:] Like, Toby Keith in Vegas, you know, kind of an interesting venue, right?
[Harris:] Yes.
[Collins:] OK, more on this later, because I know everyone is riveted about this.
[Marciano:] A developing story, no less.
[Collins:] Yes.
[Harris:] Whoo. Amazing stuff.
[Collins:] All right, Rob, thank you.
[Marciano:] I got you.
[Harris:] And still to come in the NEWSROOM, war dollars. The Bush administration requesting more money for war in Iraq. Find out how much and what it's for.
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn White House Correspondent:] I'm Suzanne Malveaux in New York, covering where President Bush is meeting with Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, and critics saying dealing with issues in what they believe has been a forgotten war in the war on terror.
[Collins:] The opening bell today. It happened just a few minutes ago. We'll be talking more about this tentative deal that was reached between General Motors and the UAW. We're wondering what that will do to those numbers today, if anything at all today. We'll talk with Susan Lisovicz a little bit later on.