Jill Billante
AC360° Senior Producer
Chef John Besh grew up in Louisiana, stayed in New Orleans through Hurricane Katrina, endured the BP oil spill and today owns six restaurants in that city.
He told us today that the city came back stronger after Katrina, and while it’s not something you wish would happen, he said it made the town tougher.
While stirring a pot of crabs in the kitchen of his restaurant August, he told us that together, everyone resurrected the city.
For more of Anderson’s conversation with chef John Besh, tune into AC360° tonight, 10pET
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Tonight, simply remarkable pictures from deep underground. 33 Chilean miners, alive, but now, for the first time, they're also fully aware that they could be down here until Christmas. Unless a new 'Plan B' can get them out sooner. Plus, five years after Katrina, an up close look at how Habitat from Humanity volunteers are helping rebuild the city.
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CNN Wire Staff
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/27/pakistan.floods/t1larg.jpg caption="Flood-hit villagers ride and their belongings on a bullock cart on the outskirts of Sajawal, Sindh province, Pakistan on August 25" width=300 height=169]
Flooding has displaced an additional 1 million people in Pakistan's Sindh province in the past two days, according to new UN estimates released Friday.
"We have more people on the move, to whom we need to provide relief. An already colossal disaster is getting worse and requiring an even more colossal response," said Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Giuliano said rains have forced the evacuation of an estimated 1 million people in southern Sindh in the past 48 hours.
"The magnitude of this crisis is reaching levels that are even beyond our initial fears, which were already leaning towards what we thought would be the worst. The number of those affected and those in need of assistance from us are bound to keep rising. The floods seem determined to outrun our response," he said.
CNN Political Ticker
The Democrats' point man for holding onto the party's majority in the House admitted Friday that the reach and intensity of conservative talk radio and television will be a "challenge" this fall but said voters will be smart enough to see through the "outrageous rhetoric on the right."
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Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, took specific aim at Fox News personality Glenn Beck, who is headlining a "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington this weekend alongside Sarah Palin.
The rally, to be held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, is being billed as a "non-political event." Van Hollen called that claim nonsense.
Karl Penhaul
CNN
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://www.cnn.com/video/world/2010/08/27/vo.chile.miners.anthem.chileangovt.640×360.jpg caption="Miners in Chile crammed into tight space with few comforts" width=300 height=169]
The 33 men trapped in a mine 2,300 feet below the surface in northern Chile face a physical, social, psychological and sanitary ordeal as they await a rescue that could take four months.
The miners are sharing a space the size of a small U.S. apartment. They don't have a toilet, and it's damp and hot with little air circulation. They won't see the light of the sun until sometime in November or December.
Doctors have given the men advice about how to keep their limited living space clean: Portions of a 131-foot-long (40-meter) shaft are being used as a latrine. The shaft is connected to the main 538-square-foot (50-square-meter) cabin, which is being used for sleeping, washing and praying.
The men have split into two shifts so half can rest, while the others keep busy doing tasks, exercising or playing card games or dominoes. Stretchers that were stored in the rescue cabin are being used as beds.
CNN
The Edge
Chef Paul Prudhomme
Richard Simmons
Patricia Clarkson
Spike Lee
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the 'Beat 360°' pic:
Actor David Hasselhoff attends The Dome 55 on August 27, 2010 in Hannover, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
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Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
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All this weekend tales of Katrina will fill the air, as surely as that massive storm did five years ago; stories of homes and lives lost, communities and hopes regained. As a former resident of New Orleans, it all fascinates me. Like details of the oyster harvest and the starting lineup for the Saints.
But I also understand why others, like say folks from Maine or North Dakota, might say
“Why does this matter to me?”
Let’s put aside all those fuzzy notions of caring for your fellow human beings. Let’s even suppose that you don’t give a crawfish’s tail for music, great cooking, or any of the half dozen items within your reach right now that came through the Port of New Orleans.
Katrina still matters because momentous events are one of the clearest measures we have of whether or not our leaders know what the heck they are doing. Most of us can’t fathom the national debt. The economy is as clear as mud. International affairs? We don’t grasp that too easily either, unless they involve “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” But natural disasters, we get. And when a politician and his team screws up the response, we pretty much all know it. Honestly, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent did you really need a DC pundit to tell you that the photo of President Bush flying over the Katrina wreckage was a mistake?
Chicago got its first female mayor because the guy in office blew the cleanup from a big blizzard. Floods. Wildfires. Earthquakes. Unusually high humidity. When something in the natural world goes wrong, the way it is handled by our leaders highlights their strengths and weaknesses in bricks and mortar terms. At least a lot more than a hearing in the Appropriations Committee.
I don’t have electricity? You don’t get my vote. Roads impassable? Do not pass go. We’re out of clean water? You’re out of office.
The long term ability of our leaders to hang in there, keep dealing with the troublesome problems that linger after the TV cameras leave…well, in many ways that’s the real measure of leadership. That’s what disasters can show us, and that’s why Katrina still matters.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent