Countdown Newsletter -- 02/07/06: Praising King

[Patsy Stone]

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Tonight on Countdown
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Thousands of mourners shivered in the cold Tuesday morning as they waited for one last chance to say goodbye to Coretta Scott King at a final viewing and then the funeral for the "first lady of the civil rights movement." Former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accompanied President Bush on Air Force One to Atlanta for the funeral. "I always really admired her," Clinton said of King. "I liked her very much. I liked being with her. I liked the way she maintained her dignity in the face of all the difficulties she faced." The lines to view King's body before her funeral started forming before 3 a.m. By the time the doors opened at 6:30 a.m., people toward the end were warned that if they stayed in line they likely wouldn't get into the funeral because lines already were forming there. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11173305/

We'll have highlights of this extraordinary funeral.

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

Despite President Bush's warnings that public challenges to his domestic surveillance program could help terrorists, congressional Republicans and conservative activists are split on the issue and are showing no signs of reconciling soon. GOP lawmakers and political activists were nearly unanimous in backing Bush on his Supreme Court nominations and Iraq war policy, but they are divided on how to resolve the tension between two principles they hold dear: avoiding government intrusion into private lives, and combating terrorism. The rift became evident at yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing into the surveillance program, and it may reemerge at Thursday's intelligence committee hearing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020601463.html

Fires were reported at four more rural Baptist churches Tuesday following rash of suspected arsons that burned five others south of Birmingham last week, a state official said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11217468/

NATO peacekeepers and Afghan police exchanged fire with protesters who attacked a NATO base Tuesday in the second straight day of violent demonstrations in Afghanistan over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Four protesters were killed and dozens wounded a day after four other Afghans died in a similar protest. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10705393/

Pop star Britney Spears has defended photos of her holding her baby son on her lap while driving, saying she was trying to escape the paparazzi. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4689522.stm

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- Wildflowers may not be the only thing sprouting up along a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 35 in Ellis County this spring. Seeds of an illegal plant were inadvertently sown after a police officer stopped a car with no license plate light early Friday morning and smelled a strong odor of marijuana. When the officer returned to his car and called for backup, the driver drove away, Milford Police Chief Carlos Phoenix said. As several law enforcement agencies joined the chase, the fleeing driver tore open and threw 17 to 19 bags out of his window. "There was marijuana flying everywhere," Phoenix told the Waxahachie Daily Light. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MARIJUANA_CHASE?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
Describing it as the discovery of a "Lost World," conservation groups and Indonesia on Tuesday said an expedition to one of Asia's most isolated jungles had found several dozen new species of frogs, butterflies, flowers and birds. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11114156/

The British Muslim cleric whose North London mosque was the centerpiece of some of the most important terrorism cases of the last decade was sentenced to seven years jail on Tuesday for inciting murder in his sermons. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11215625/

Police searching the bedroom of an 18-year-old accused of two slayings and a rampage at a gay bar found a cache of weapons, a homemade poster with a Nazi swastika and a troubling final message. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11208324/from/RS.4/

Nearly 2,000 homes were under a mandatory evacuation order early Tuesday as firefighters battled a wildfire that had consumed an estimated 3,500 acres near Orange County suburbs. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11208073/

General Motors Corp., under shareholder pressure to return to profitability, announced Tuesday it is cutting in half its yearly dividend to $1 a share and reducing the salaries of its chairman and senior leadership team. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11214833/

U.S. home sales will drop in 2006 as mortgage rates climb and house prices inch up at rates far below those notched last year, a trade group said on Tuesday, noting the long-awaited housing slowdown has begun. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11219068/

Anti-capitalist protesters vowed on Tuesday to mount street demonstrations at the Winter Olympics and try to disrupt U.S. First Lady Laura Bush's visit to the host Italian city. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11218784/

Thousands of Steelers fans, some holding signs that simply said "Thanks!", crowded downtown streets Tuesday for a parade honoring the team's Super Bowl win. Many fans held Terrible Towels and waved "Champs!" signs in mid-20s temperatures amid snow flurries. Several held signs with a photo of Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr. and the words "We remember." Others wore black-and-gold hard hats. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11202665/