president obama will be talking economics and the importance of a college education when he rolls into western new york on thursday. it's all part of the administration's two-day economic bus tour. mr. obama will also make a stop in pennsylvania. on friday, we'll get an important indicator how the country's housing market is doing when the new home sales report is released. last month, sales surged 8.3%. that's your weekly five. you are in the cnn newsroom. nice to have you here with us. massive wildfire in idaho is forcing thousands of families to pack up and leave their homes we have new photos of the huge wildfire we want to show you here. this is from i-reporter john koth. strong winds are creating huge clouds of smoke. more than 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze as we speak. evacuation orders now cover 2,200 homes and six communities. the beaver creek wildfire has

burned more than 100,000 acres and is only % contained. paul, we learn snow guns are being used to protect some areas from the fire. tell us how that works. >> basically the sun valley resort seeing the fire could be getting dangerously close decided it would use the snow guns to lay a soggy perimeter around the resort. earlier today, i smoke spoke with someone from the resort. >> we have the largest computerized snow-making system in the world. we can turn it on in the summertime to wet some of the areas in case of spot fires. we are really working in coordination with the fire team that's here. they're doing an amazing job. >> firefighters being praised on the ground. we understand 1,200 firefighters

now on the beaver creek fire. we have 8 engines, 20 water tankers, 11 helicopters. the elk fire raging in idaho about 150,000 acres is almost completely out. they've been able to shift resources from some of these other idaho fires to the beaver creek fire. in all, more than 400,000 acres have burned in idaho on nine major fires. there are 39 major fires burning in the west. tough times especially in idaho, pam. >> those strong winds are not helping the situation out there. paul, thank you. now let's talk to an idaho man who evacuated his home as the fire got closer. john koth took these dramatic photos of the massive flames and joins me on the phone from haley, idaho. looks like you were close to the fire when you took those photos. tell us about that. >> we are located in the subdivision right about 1/4 mile

from the ridge you're seeing there. my family evacuated, i came back to check on the neighbor's house, watch ours and i suddenly found myself with several other firefighters and they were looking for a better view. we wound up on the roof. that's where those photos came from. dramatic fire-fighting. can't praise the firefighters enough for their super human efforts to stop what you see there when it got down to the river below it. >> what was it like to see it and to be there in person? it's just unbelievable looking at your pictures. i can't imagine being there. >> i think i've never been in a war zone, but i guess that would be a good description of it. there were four helicopters with hoses that were sucking up water out of ponds nearby. they were flying directly over the house. there was fire coming from both ends at that point. there was a fire north of there at deer creek and another one -- excuse me south deer creek and

north greenhorn. they converged in that region you're looking at there. >> i know you had to pack up all your belongings, evacuate your home. what was that feeling like? >> it's a sickening feeling. we've been through this before in 2007. was the castle rock fire that hit the same area. actually, it's working as a buffer to protect right now. you have to say what things mean the most to you. typically, it's not the things you think. you grab your photos and your laptops with all your photos in them. you grab your special certificates and insurance papers and load up and get out. >> john koth, i'm glad you and your flaamily are okay. thank you for sharing the pictures with us. >> thank you. a small plane crash in missouri killed two people today. kctv reports a single engine aircraft went down after

take-off. the two victims were the only people on the plane. it happened at the charles b. wheeler downtown airport in kansas city. national transportation safety board is investigating. an attorney for one of the former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky's abuse victims settled his civil suit with the university. sandusky was convicted on multiple child sex abuse charges. the client known as victim number 5 is the first sandusky victim to settle with the university. recall organizers in san diego are kicking off their effort to throw mayor bob filner out of office. a rally was set to begin last hour. volunteers gathered signatures to force a new election. filner is facing multiple accusations of sexual harassment. the last count, 16 women have gone public with accusations against him. now some new claims about the death of princess diana nearly 16 years ago.

relatives of a british special forces sniper reportedly claim a member of the british military killed her. now scotland yard is assessing the credibility of the claim. >> reporter: a brutal car crash in a dark tunnel chased by paparazzi. princess diana's death in 1997 was a violent tragedy. conspiracy theories abounded, including an allegation she and her companion dodi al fayed were murdered by a member of the british military. investigations dismissed that. a judge led inquiry in the ufrp k concluded her death was unlawful killing caused by the gross negligence of the driver of her car and the vehicles chasing her. now britain scotland yard says they are scoping new information on her death, assessing its relevance and credibility. according to the british press association, the information allegedly comes from the parents-in-law of a former

british soldier. this comes weeks after the birth of prince george, princess diana's grandson, third in line to the british throne, son of principles william and kate middleson. for many in britain, the image of the young family brought back warm memories of princess diana with the newborn prince william in her arms. august 31st will be exactly 16 years since the death of princess diana. this new information, whatever it may be, will almost certainly reignite controversy around her and speculation about how she died. atika shubert, cnn, london. >> we want to pass along this programming note. prince william talks to max foster about his life as a father. you can see parts of that interview tomorrow morning on "new day" beginning at 6:00 a.m. eastern time only here on cnn. he's accused of murdering his girlfriend on valentine's day, but says he mistook her for a home invader. more on oscar pistorius' upcoming day in court.

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can you see that? [speaking polish] [off screen] did he apologize? [off screen] thanks, micah! [off screen] bye, guys. bye. see ya. oh my god! every day, more people connect face to face on the iphone than any other phone. i miss you. parts of the southeast feeling more like the pacific northwest these days. that's because constant rain is hitting several gulf coast states hard. look at this video. ft. lauderdale, florida, has gotten 11 more inches of rain than it's used to since june. more rain is in the forecast. that's increasing fears of flooding since the water has nowhere to go. olympian runner oscar

pistorius is expected to be indicted tomorrow charged with murdering his girlfriend on valentine a day. the story says he thought she was an intruder when he killed her. the trial will likely last many months due to motions and postponements. we may see scenes like this. korean family members reunited for a short time. officials from north and south korea agreed to restart the reunion program possibly next month. the last family reunions happened in 2010 before the current north korean leader came to power. tear gas, riots and attempt to free prisoners. details on the deadly confrontation in egypt next. but first -- >> this week on "the next list," journey to the roof tops with urban bee keeper andrew kote. >> i help run the new york city bee keepers' association. i help run bees without borders.

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in egypt today, 36 people died in one violent incident in cairo. this truck was carrying members of the muslim brotherhood from one prison to another when militants reportedly attacked it trying to free the people inside. prison pr it's nighttime in cairo with a strict curfew. protesters have been demanding muhammed morsi be returned to office. let's talk about what the u.s. can or should be doing in egypt. good to see you both. >> good to see you. >> i want to start with comments made this morning by john mccain

on cnn. he told candy crowley that the u.s. lost credibility in egypt and the u.s. should cut off aid all together. then candy asked him to describe the obama administration's overall policy toward the middle east. >> there is no policy and there is no strategy. therefore, we react and we react poorly. >> obviously harsh words from senator mccain. what do you think? does he have a point? >> i think even obama advisors would be hard pressed to tell you what is the obama doctrine when it comes to the middle east? is it whack-a-mole via drone policy, speak loudly, carry a trig or infamously lead from behind. we've seen a patch work of approaches that are contradictory. we helped lead the strikes from libya to try to liberate libyans

from gadhafi's rule. we did that to protect ben ghazi. benghazi became a death trap for our american ambassador and three other americans. the perpetrators still haven't been brought to justice. i don't think anyone can pinpoint what is obama's strategy is for u.s. policy and u.s. interest visa vie the middle east. >> he does have to walk a fine line. this is a delicate balance. egypt is america's strongest arab ally. it's a fine line to walk. what do you think? >> i think if you want to look at our foreign policy over the last five years, you could do that or you could be more intelligent about it and look at the way we've been handling foreign policies the last five decades. we tried a strategy of buying support. we tried a strategy putting in leaders who have become dictators in order to support u.s. interests. i strongly disagree with senator mccain. we did not lose our influence or credibility in egypt over the

past couple of weeks. we lost it years ago as we continued to prop up mubarak and the egyptian people knew he was a dictator. that's when we lost our credibility. in terms of what obama is doing, i do agree it seems to be a haphazard policy, sort of approach towards the michel. to say this is something that's inherent to the obama administration is disingenuous and seems to forget u.s. history. >> it was president obama who made a great show of going on his first trip to the middle east in june of 2009 within a few months being inaugurated, tripping off his trip in cairo, university, where he said we would extend our hands. here we are and president obama in his own press conference last week said both sides in this egyptian conflict are blaming the united states. we seem to have not even gotten anything positive out of the president's approach.

>> senator mccain went to sir use, he gets back talking about we need to support the good guys and we find out he's taking pictures with kidnappers. he doesn't know who the good guys and bad guys are. saying obama isn't doing anything or a clear picture of the government dealing with this region is disingenuous. >> i think it's a fair critique of this administration. and their, as you say, haphazard approach. >> do you think obama should have taken that extra step and cut off the $1.3 billion in aid to egypt? >> while i agree with the senator's critique of the administration's policy, i don't agree with his solution. unfortunately, there are not really great sides to be picking here. president obama made a fetish of democratically-elected governments, particularly with morsi giving him a phone call after his win. hamas was democratically elected and they are a tyrannical

thuggish group. we did buy our relationship with egypt with all this military aid, but for a very good aim and that was to keep israel safe and keep that peace accord in place. >> l.z., granderson -- final word. >> i was just going to say, yeah, you can say we bought support out of asia, but what happened to the egyptian people? i go back to senator mccain's statements about the u.s. losing credible. we lost credibility because we continued to support a dictator who was killing his own people. we stepped on their back for decades. >> thank you both for sharing your opinions. cnn's "cross fire" begins next month. the program debuts september 16th. american city is telling

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>> in today's "american journey" one city's plan to attract more immigrants. st. louis has less immigrants than most cities. >> reporter: frozen yogurt is a hot comedy among the summer heat of st. louis. nobody is happier than jason jan. when he came from malaysia 15 years ago, he hoped to open a business, and now he has a string of places like this. nothing but praise for his adopted home. >> great city to raise my kids. most importantly, has been very immigrant-friendly. >> reporter: that is a message local leaders are desperate to get out ever since a study found this area lags far behind other cities in attracting immigrants. the nonprofit international institute here serves 7,000 a year, but that's half as many as

expected in a town this size. the institute is now a key component in the mosaic project, an ambitious plan to make this area much more inviting to immigrants. >> st. louis wants to be a welcoming community, and that's what we are going to do. >> reporter: it city is helping immigrant groups connect with loans, opportunities, education. this is not just a feel-good measure. a study found immigrants are more likely to open businesses, create jobs, raise wages and pursue higher degrees than the general population. as for jason jan, well, the jobs he created may be permanent. he's applied to become a u.s. citizen. tom foreman, cnn, st. louis. i'm pamela brown at the time warner center in new york filling in for don lemon. thank you for keeping us company on this sunday. "anderson cooper special report, kidnapped" is next.

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