Preview -- World News Tonight 07/05/01
July 5, 2001 -- — Good Afternoon. And happy Fifth of July.
First and foremost, thanks to everyone we met and worked with up in Boston over the last couple of days. It's a great town.
We're used to quiet news days on holidays — but "the 5th" is no holiday we're aware of, and still the news world is pretty quiet.
We plan to begin tonight with one man's very tough assignment. He is being asked to take over the reins at an institution that had recently been accused of botching several high-profile jobs, every one of which pertained in one way or another to the law, justice, and national security. Well, that's what Robert Mueller is being asked to do. Mr. Mueller was tapped by President Bush today to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
ABC's John Cochran will report on the nominee, and the difficulties he may face. Then correspondent Pierre Thomas reports on why Mr. Mueller has such a tough job ahead, at the FBI.
A story we first reported Friday is getting stickier. An Air Force sergeant stands accused of raping a young woman on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where some 26,000 American servicemen are based. Today that story shows signs of producing a real rift between the Japanese and U.S. governments, and also between the Pentagon and the State Department. We'll talk to ABC's John McWethy about all this.
The "other news" basket today certainly has some variety to it. The American flag and President Lincoln; prisoners in Turkey and detainees in China; Ely Callaway and Jennifer Capriati. And we'll have the results of a U.N. report on the best places on the planet to live. The United Nations has ranked 162 countries.
Bob Jamieson has a story tonight that will startle anyone who has ever rented a car. You spend a few days driving, you never see a policeman, and when you return the car you're presented with fines running to several hundred dollars. Again, no speeding tickets from the cops; but some very stiff penalties from the rental company. What's this about? Bob reports from New Haven, Conn.
We take a Closer Look tonight at a sign of our times. The dot-com casualties are finding new lives — in the Peace Corps. As ABC's David Wright reports from San Francisco, a growing number of people are saying, "Ask not what the economy can do for you ..." Ask instead what you might give in return. And the answer, for more and more Americans, is a tour of duty in the Peace Corps.
Finally, mixing tourism and medical care. The travel package that might include a tour of some ancient temples, and angioplasty; a visit to a hill-tribe community, and plastic surgery; or maybe knee surgery, followed by a weekend at a white-sand resort. ABC's Mark Litke reports tonight from the Thai capital Bangkok.
We hope you'll join us. On this Fifth of July.
Peter Jennings