New Record High for Unemployed Number; Calling Up Troops for Afghanistan Duty
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: His first foreign trip in office. This hour, President Obama arrives in Canada. What's on the agenda for the allies? Marriage proposal turned down. He turns on his loved one. A vicious attack changes her life forever. Now years later, she gets even. And U.S. calling up troops for Afghanistan, but will NATO also answer the call? We're live in Kabul. It is Thursday, February 19th, I'm Fredericka Whitfield in for Heidi Collins and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. This hour, President Barack Obama begins the first foreign travels of his presidency. The trip just across the border into Canada. The topics, Afghanistan, the economy, trade. Canada warmly embraces the new president, but is on edge over some of his policies. Are the world's biggest trading partners on a collision course? The president is due to land just minutes from now in Ottawa, Canada and that's where we find CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian. So Dan, what do we expect from this trip?</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well you talked about Canada and America being the world's largest trading partners, and that is correct. We're told about $1.5 billion worth of trade crosses the border every day. So that will be at the top of the agenda here as the president sits down for what they're calling a working lunch with the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper. He'll have along with him his top economic advisor, Larry Summers, also his climate and energy czar Carol Browner and others. And as they talk about NAFTA, they no doubt will hear some of the things that were brought up in the campaign. As you know, President Obama then running for president talked about how he wanted to renegotiate NAFTA to make it a stronger for labor and the environment. And that has brought a lot of concern from some Canadians. And so the president was asked about this during an interview recently with Canadian television, and he really has sort of softened his approach saying that during this time, these tough economic times across the world, this is - and in terms of trade, as well, we have seen a drop in trade. He said these are not the times to really do talk about pulling back at all in trade. But no doubt, NAFTA will be at the top of the agenda as they sit down and talk here today, Fredricka.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And will the president also be pressuring? We know they'll be talking about Afghanistan, will he be pressuring the Canadian troops to keep their troops in that country?</s>LOTHIAN: That's right. Because you might be aware that the parliament here has set a deadline for 2011 to pull back all of their ground combat troops out of Afghanistan. And you know there has been the question as to whether or not the president would put some pressure on Canada to perhaps keep their ground troops there much longer than them, because as you know, just recently, the president has talked about beefing up the number of American troops in Afghanistan, as the president really sees Afghanistan as a central front on the war on terror. The president has said he will talk about Afghanistan at this working lunch, it will be more from the standpoint of saying, listen, here is our commitment, this is what we plan to do in Afghanistan, but at this point no plan to really pressure the Canadians to stay there longer, past that 2011 deadline.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Dan Lothian, thank you so much in Ottawa. The leaders will also be talking about jobs, the economy. Well on this side of the border, now new numbers this morning on how many Americans are now living without a paycheck. And as we have heard so often lately, the news is worse than expected. CNN's business correspondent Stephanie Elam is in New York with the details. Stephanie.</s>STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The government's latest report says the number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped to a new record high for the fourth week in a row. The number now stands at 4,987,000. So nearly five million people. Meanwhile, new unemployment claims held steady last week at 627,000. But that is still a 26-year high. This comes just a day after the fed said unemployment could hit 8.8 percent this year. And the economy is likely to shrink for the full year. That's much worse than what the fed actually projected late last year. Now, moving on to wholesale inflation, the government says producer prices rose 8/10 of a percent in January. That was higher than expected, mainly because of high energy prices after a near two percent drop in December. That ends five months of decline there. But if you strip out food prices, the so-called core consumer price index, well that rose 0.4 percent, a tad more than expected after a 0.2 percent increase in December. However, investors seem to be shrugging it off today, not really concerned about inflation at this point. In fact, there was talk about deflation. So we have to see if this is a one-month blip or if this is a continuing trend, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Stephanie, thank you so much. Appreciate it.</s>ELAM: Sure.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Well, talk about getting a deal done in California. Another overnight session brings results in the state budget battle. The final votes passing just last hour. CNN's Ted Rowlands joins us live this morning from Los Angeles. So a lot of relief, or a lot of angst still?</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think a lot of everything, Fredricka. Another all-night session. Finally, though, a deal has been brokered at the state capital in Sacramento to address a $40 billion projected budget in the state of California. The stakes were high to get something done, because starting today the governor was going to halt some 300 construction projects around the state, meaning real job loss and something that all of these lawmakers knew constituents would not stand for. So they worked all night, they got it done. The governor is expected to sign this budget. Nobody is happy about it, but we will sign it at some point today, that's the expectation. Safe to say, it was a very long night for lawmakers in Sacramento.</s>DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH (R), CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE: We've been talking about this for days, hours on end. But here we are, the impacts are well-known. We have talked about it. $1,000 to $1,400 per California family. We're going to reach down with the power of government and say, we're taking that in order to fix the problem we created.</s>ABEL MALDONADO (R), CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE: Many, many Californians, this budget is a real-life and death situation. Let me tell you a bit about the impacts of our inactions here in California. Let me tell you who we hurt. There are teachers in classrooms throughout this state who work day and night to educate our kids. Many are afraid, but the pink slips that are about to be mailed to them. They need this budget.</s>DARRELL STEINBERG (D), CALIF. STATE SENATE PRES. PRO TEM: This is not really a time of celebration, when you think about the difficult decisions that we have been called upon to make. It is, however, a time for great relief. That this crisis is about to be behind not us, but behind California.</s>ROWLANDS: Now, the stalemate was broken by the middle guy, that second guy you heard speaking there, Abel Maldonado. He is a moderate republican, in the central part of California. He broke from party ranks. He's probably going to get some political backlash for it, but he is actually on his way out. As part of the deal, Fredricka, he got everybody to agree to change the election laws in the state, making open primaries, which has really put a lot of people, a lot of legislators nervous now, because it's going to have some of those solid seats up for grabs next election. We'll see what happens. Bottom line is, California at least now has a plan to address this unbelievable $40 billion budget, as one state lawmaker put it today, it was a disgusting process from start to finish. A lot of partisanship.</s>WHITFIELD: I remember that sound bite. That was very terse too. And you know, Ted, there is a statement now coming from the governor, perhaps you know on the other side of the (inaudible) respond a little bit to it, and how you measure whether this is a huge victory for him. He said, in his statement, I'm extremely proud of the members of the legislature, both republicans and democrats, who had the courage to stand up and put the needs of Californians first, rather than approaching this unprecedented crisis with gimmicks and temporary solutions, we took the difficult but responsible steps to address our entire $42 billion budget deficit and pass historic bipartisan reform measures. I wonder at least for the governor is this sort of redemption, because he was getting a lot of grief initially that 20,000 jobs, at a minimum, would have to be potentially cut.</s>ROWLANDS: Yes. You know, he needed to get this done. There is no doubt about it. And he was getting absolutely no cooperation from his own party, in getting this done. This bipartisan deal that was negotiated over the last three months. But it was a disgusting process. And the pathetic reality is, in this state, like Washington, it is so partisan, if you break ranks, you hear from your own party. They will mount a campaign against you the next election. So these lawmakers are petrified, not because of voters, but because of their own party. The governor was able in the end, apparently, I guess he's going to take credit - everyone is going to take credit for it, that is the other disgusting part of this, the back end, but, you know, it's done and the bottom line is, nobody is happy. Sales tax increases, and spending cuts in the billions. Nobody is happy, but at least there is a plan now to deal with this.</s>WHITFIELD: And at least now some security on some jobs, which is really important.</s>ROWLANDS: Absolutely.</s>WHITFIELD: In this day and age, too. All right, Ted Rowlands, thanks so much. Appreciate it.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Tornadoes, hail and lightning strike take aim at Georgia. At least one person, in fact, is dead. Seven others were hurt. A number of funnel clouds were spotted late yesterday. This one, just south of Atlanta. Right there. A National Weather Service confirmed that several tornado touchdowns did indeed occur, one was tracked across south Georgia and into the Florida panhandle. And then just east of Atlanta, hail the size of baseballs, or at least really big marbles there, and wind gusts of 75 to 80 miles an hour causing most of the damage. Rob Marciano in the weather center. You know all this reminds me was kind of this time last year where we had that tornado that came right through downtown Atlanta, if off by about a month or so.</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you're right. It was in the beginning of March. And this is the time of year when the south and southeast will get tornadoes. So yesterday was nothing out of the ordinary. A big event, so we had five tornadoes, maybe more as we get more data in. But over 100 reports of hail. And this is the - the little symbols indicate any place that got some hail, and in some places, we had some serious hail, over three inches in diameter. So that will certainly at the very least, take a tooth out. All right. North of Tampa in through Daytona Beach, this is what's left of the storms that were firing across parts of Georgia and the panhandle, overnight last night. Tornado watches have been dropped. This thing is weakening as it heads towards Ormond Beach, towards Orlando. Tampa will get a little squirt from this, but that should be about it. Cold air moving in behind us. We're still getting lake-effect snows off Lake Michigan from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo. Some of this extending all the way to Fort Wayne and then a lesser amounts of lake-effect but certainly some enhancement as everything rotates around the storm that came through. Some snow across parts of the Ohio Valley, and then into upstate New York and the north country. And just across the river there, in Ottawa, Ontario, where Mr. President is. I think we have a live shot. Do we? Temperatures there in the lower 30s with snowfall in the forecast. There it is. WESH. Where is this, Eddy? We don't know where this is. OK. All right. Somebody from the affiliate, tell me where WESH, and we'll give them the credit that's due. All right. We've got some airport delays, Newark, an hour and 20, and La Guardia, you got 45-minute delays there. So those will be on the increase probably. We got a little bit of wind heading across the northeast, and all it takes is that, to get things going. Fire danger across parts of the western panhandle of Florida and across parts of Texas. High pressure, warm conditions across the west coast. Big ridge building in after what has been a pretty long week and a half of some horrible weather. So you'll see nice weather from almost Seattle all the way down to San Diego as storms kind of deflected out here and will remain there for the next couple of days until probably the end of the weekend. It will be 71 in L.A., 56 degrees in Kansas City, 31 in Chicago, 36 for a high in New York and 17 degrees in Dallas.</s>WHITFIELD: OK.</s>MARCIANO: Orlando. That was in Orlando.</s>WHITFIELD: Just because we're all over the map, you know, hey, we've got to show Orlando and spend time with some of these affiliates across the country. So I know WESH. Orlando. The complete antithesis of Ottawa temperatures.</s>MARCIANO: Yes, for sure.</s>WHITFIELD: But that's OK.</s>MARCIANO: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: We'd like to share the wealth a little bit.</s>MARCIANO: Sorry, Mickey Mouse.</s>WHITFIELD: But at least we saw in Dan Lothian's live shot that it was snowy and quite pretty in Ottawa.</s>MARCIANO: It is.</s>WHITFIELD: So there we go. A little prelude to your live shot.</s>MARCIANO: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Rob.</s>MARCIANO: All right. Well, more U.S. boots will soon be on the ground in Afghanistan. Commanders say their mission won't be easy. So what do they face? We're live in Kabul.