Deadly Explosion Erupts Near So-Called "Assassin's Gate"
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, we're at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan. Two British civilians were killed today in an explosion near Baghdad's Green Zone. A third British civilian was wounded. An SUV hit an explosive device outside the checkpoint that's been dubbed "Assassin's Gate." The Green Zone is home to the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition. A vehicle carrying Norwegian peacekeepers was attacked in Afghanistan last night. One person was killed, another wounded in the rocket-propelled grenade attack outside of Kabul. The attack occurred in the same area where a Canadian peacekeeper was killed by a suicide bomber in January. Workers and security personnel were evacuated from a Paris airport terminal today, for fear that another section could collapse. Tons of concrete, glass and steel girders came crashing down at Charles de Gaulle Airport's new terminal. That happened yesterday morning. No word on what caused the collapse. The officials have lowered Sunday's death toll to four. Rescue teams were searching for more casualties. And President Bush spends the day in the White House ahead of his Iraqi transmission speech. Mr. Bush will address the nation at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. CNN, of course, will carry those remarks live. Live this hour, we have the cameras turned on in Baghdad. Coalition officials are set to hold a briefing any minute there. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt and spokesman Dan Senor will be leading that. They likely will face questions about a " Washington Post" report on a claim that General Ricardo Sanchez knew about prison abuses. Our Barbara Starr will be watching briefing for updates on the story. and as soon as the briefing begins, we will be going live to Baghdad. Let's begin with Iraq. Violence is once again dominating the headlines out of Iraq. Earlier today, a deadly explosion erupted near the so-called "Assassin's Gate." It's the entrance to the coalition headquarters. For the latest on that, let's go live to Baghdad and CNN's Guy Raz. Guy, Hello.</s>GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, hello. In another incident in Baghdad today that's become all too common; this time, killing two British nationals and wounding one. The explosion took place at about half past 1:00 local time today here in Baghdad. These British nationals were traveling in an armored SUV, a sport utility vehicle. It was traveling near, as you say, the Green Zone, an area -- an entrance to the Green Zone known as "Assassin's Gate." Now, it's unclear whether the explosion was caused by a roadside bomb or some kind of rocket-propelled grenade. We do understand from military officials at the scene that this has all of the hallmarks of a targeted assassination. There was very little damage around other vehicles. There was very little damage in shop fronts and storefronts on the road there. So it does appear, again, that this attack was specifically targeting those people who were traveling in that armored vehicle -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: And one of the problems I guess, Guy, with westerns trying to stay safe as they travel around Baghdad, the vehicles they travel in are somewhat obvious that they are carrying westerners by the nature of how protected they are.</s>RAZ: It's very, very difficult to get total and complete protection. This was an armored vehicle, there's no question about it, I saw it. But the vehicle was very badly charred, very badly damaged. In fact, the entire body of the car was on the pavement, was on the asphalt, the road. All four of the wheels of this vehicle were totally and completely blown up. Blown apart. So it's very difficult to guarantee security for anybody traveling in the city, whether it's in an armored vehicle or not -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Guy Raz in Baghdad. We will be back live to Baghdad in just a moment, as soon as the daily briefing from the Coalition Provisional Authority begins. Meanwhile, APTN says it has obtained home video of what locals say was a wedding that was hit in the U.S. military attack in Iraq last week; as many as 45 people were killed. The video shows a bride arriving, people dancing and a man playing a piano at that event. APTN crews shot video following the attack; and one victim appears to be the man who was playing the piano. The U.S. military says the attack targeted a high-risk meeting of high-level anti-coalition forces. Officials displayed passports, weapons and other items found at the scene to support their claim; and said that they found no evidence of a wedding. CNN is unable to ascertain when and where the home video was shot. There is also no way to be certain whether the event shown may have been attended by militants or foreign fighters. The U.S. will circulate a draft resolution today among fellow members of the U.N. Security Council. A senior State Department official tells CNN that this closed-door meeting will hear proposals for a larger U.N. role, a new multi-national peacekeeping force as well. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, an opponent of the war, said today that the June 30 handover should empower the government to make decisions on security and economic policy. Iraqi politician, Ahmed Chalabi says he is willing to testify before the U.S. Congress, to refute charges that he provided intelligence to Iran. Some lawmakers are brushing off the offer, saying Chalabi consistently provided flawed intelligence to the administration and that his credibility is seriously undermined. Chalabi says that the CIA director George Tenet is spreading rumors simply to discredit him. There are new concerns over nuclear activities of North Korea, as reports surface the communist country may have provided two tons of uranium to Libya. Official's stress the link has not been confirmed and it's still being investigated. Our national correspondent David Ensor has been developing this story and he filed this report just a short time ago.</s>DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials confirm that international inspectors have information that nearly two tons of uranium, found in Libya, may have come originally from North Korea. The revelation raises questions about who else North Korea might have sold nuclear materials to. Could they have reached terrorists through the black market as well as Libya? U.S. officials recently showed the press/gas centrifuge parts and other equipment used in the process of bomb making that were found in Libya when it decided to give up its weapons of mass destruction programs. The equipment came from the black marketeers under Pakistan's Dr. A. Q. Kahn. And the assumption until now was that the uranium found in Libya came from Pakistan as well. But now sources within the Kahn network have told international inspectors, according to U.S. officials, that the uranium originated in North Korea, which has denied having a uranium-based nuclear program of any kind. It admits to only to having a plutonium-based program. Sources say this information, that the uranium came from North Korea, has to be checked out. And the North Koreans have certainly not admitted to any such thing. But it raises new proliferation concerns, at the time when the Bush administration is focusing heavily on problems in Iraq and the coming handover. David Ensor, CNN, Washington.</s>KAGAN: Want to show you a live picture from the White House; the presidential bouquet in the White House Rose Garden. At this hour, President Bush offering his congratulations, or he's getting set to, to the reigning WNBA champions that would be the Detroit Shock. They captured the title in 2003, and the WNBA season just getting underway. More on that ahead. Also, those gas prices, they seem to keep going up. Is there any relief? Any hope for relief? Find out as we check the pain at the pump. And tornadoes tear through the heartland with more bad weather expected. The complete forecast ahead. Also, the big names on tour this summer, we'll tell you who and where. This is CNN LIVE TODAY.</s>KAGAN: We will get to the weather in the Midwest in just a moment. But first, let's go to live to Baghdad, the daily briefing beginning with the Coalition Provisional Authority. Here is Dan Senor and Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.</s>KAGAN: We've been listening to Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority out of Baghdad at the daily news briefing. A couple of nuggets coming out of today's news briefing, a lot of questions about the U.N. Security Council and a resolution that the U.S. will be putting before that to try to get approval of the over -- turning over of the government. That is just coming up on June 30. Also some questions about President Bush's speech. He is scheduled to address the nation tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. You'll see that speech live righter here on CNN. We have a lot more news out of Baghdad, Iraq, and right here in the U.S. We'll get to that after this break.</s>KAGAN: All right. We've all seen the offers. You sign for a credit card, there is the travel rewards, and you can see the world. Well, the world might seem like a much smaller place after you read that credit card's fine print. Gerri Willis has done that for us, and she has today's "Top Five Tips" on travel reward cards. Gerri, good morning.</s>GERRI WILLIS, CNNFN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Good morning, Daryn. Good to see you. I know everybody loves these travel rewards cards, but the devil is in the details. OK. First off, these kinds of cards divide into two different kinds. Cards affiliated with the airlines, and then "generics" that are issued by financial institutions. By and large, you're going to get a mile for every dollar you spend. Now, here's the caveat. It will take 25,000 points to get a free trip. That's right, 25,000 points! Keep in mind, too, that the airline affiliated cards have high APRs. That means high interest rates, 15 to 18 percent. What's more, they're going to have annual fees of 50 bucks to $150 -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: So you have to look at how many miles or dollars. When I use that card, I say it's not dollars, it's miles.</s>WILLIS: Well, that's the danger right there.</s>KAGAN: Yes.</s>WILLIS: You get sucked into spending a lot more than you might spend and then you don't pay it off inside that month. And pretty soon you're paying very high interest charges as well. Keep in mind the average family spends about $5,000 a year on their credit card. If you take that into consideration, it's going to take them five years to actually get a free ticket. So I'm not sure that's worth it for most people. If you spend under $10,000 a year, you're probably better off with a cash back charge or a rewards program instead of these travel offers -- Daryn.</s>KAGAN: Then I thought it was interesting to read a lot of people racking up the miles don't actually use them.</s>WILLIS: Absolutely. You know, 75 percent of the frequent flyer miles out there, never get used. Now, if you have some of these and you're wondering how you can use them if you don't have enough for an actual flight, there are things you can do. At Points.com. you can actually get gift certificates or even use them at participating retailers, Starbucks and eBay included. Yippee. There is also something called MileDonor.com. This is a charity Web site where you can turn the points over for a charity. That's a great idea as well. If you want the 101 though on the airline cards and what they offer, FrequentFlyer.com is a great place to go.</s>KAGAN: If you're looking to sign up for stuff, don't stay focused on the credit cards. There are other things to join.</s>WILLIS: That's right. You know, you can spend a little bit of money and get a lot in rewards without having to play this game with the miles and the dollars and then end up having big interest charges. AARP for people who are eligible, the American Association of Retired Persons, they have a membership that costs $12.50 a year and you get 50 percent off on 400 Sheraton hotels. Now, that's not an airline hotel but it will reduce the cost of your vacation. Another one to pay attention to here, the American Historic Inns has a special deal. You pay about 50 bucks for a card and they get you savings at many B and Bs across the country. Savings of 25 to 50 percent. So for a little up front, if you do love to travel, you can save a lot of money.</s>KAGAN: And let's get to the good stuff, the free stuff. Tell us how to get free stuff, Gerri.</s>WILLIS: Well, Daryn, free is good. We love free, right?</s>WILLIS: A couple of Web sites you want to check out for free things. TripAdvisor.com will give you the best travel deals out there, really ways to save dollars and cents. There's also Travel Buddies Worldwide which is a great Web site for singles. And check out HotelClub.net as well. Lots of deals out there. Some of them are free. Beware what you're going after, Daryn, because some things are just not all they're cracked up to be.</s>KAGAN: Isn't that true? And we're talking credit cards here. Gerri, thank you for the free advice.</s>WILLIS: You're welcome.</s>KAGAN: We will see you later in the week. We are at 33 minutes past the hour. A lot of news coming out of the Baghdad today. Also here in the U.S., seeking support for the handover plan in Iraq. That is one mission ahead for the Bush administration. A preview of the president's speech tonight. And Ralph Nader gives John Kerry his two cents about who might be his running mate. We'll name names just ahead. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com