Israelis Rally to Oust Olmert
ROESGEN: When you buy a house, you have to worry about late mortgage payments or, worse, foreclosure. But now some lenders are teaming up to help you if you're stuck with a high-risk loan. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us about it -- Susan.</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Susan. It's a huge problem. We've been reporting on it for months now. The plan is to help out homeowners who have adjustable rate mortgages which have gone way up, and those with sub prime loans, loans to people with damaged credit histories. Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, organized a group of lenders, and they came up with a set of principles to help out homeowners. The seven-point plan pushes for lenders to contact adjustable rate borrowers early on to see if they qualify for a more stable fixed rate loan. Lenders will try to modify the terms of the loan before interest rates reset to a higher rate in an effort to keep mortgage payments affordable -- Susan.</s>ROESGEN: So if you're buying a house now, which lender should you look for? Who's agreed to this?</s>LISOVICZ: Well, some of the biggest players in the market, literally, Susan. Some of the participants include the Mortgage Bankers Association, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, HSBC holdings, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and AARP. However, two of the biggest mortgage lenders are holding out, at least right now: Countrywide Financial and Wells Fargo. Today, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York proposed legislation that will provide federal funds for homeowners and increase lending standards. Many critics claiming the high rate of late payments and foreclosures on lending, claiming they sign up people for loans that they cannot afford after that low teaser rate expires.</s>LISOVICZ: Coming up, it's almost graduation time for students. That means making the transition to college. For parents, a big transition, too. It means huge university bills. Next hour, we'll tell you what some schools are doing to actually help out with the costs. Imagine that. Don, Susan, back to you.</s>ROESGEN: OK. A lot of parents will be waiting for that. Thanks, Susan. We'll see you later.</s>LISOVICZ: You're welcome.</s>LEMON: Hello, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.</s>ROESGEN: And I'm Susan Roesgen, filling in for Kyra Phillips. Her father was in the E.R. with a heart attack. She was rushing to his side. So how did she end up in jail instead of the hospital? You won't believe how it happened. You're in the</s>CNN NEWSROOM. LEMON: That story in just a moment. But, first, a large crowd is still growing in Tel Aviv. It looks and sounds festive but these tens of thousands of Israelis are furious at their prime minister and they want him to leave office. CNN's Atika Shubert is there. Atika, what is the scene like now?</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, there are tens of thousands of people at the square behind me and as you can see, the festival concert-like atmosphere. There have been music acts, but also speeches by family members who lost loved ones in the war in Lebanon last summer. People here are very angry in what they perceive to be failures of leadership by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. They say they want him to resign now.</s>LEMON: Atika, how likely is it --</s>SHUBERT: Sorry?</s>LEMON: We're just listening to the event there. It does sound like a celebration. How likely is it that this event will achieve its goal? Is Mr. Olmert even considering stepping down?</s>SHUBERT: Well, you know, so far he survived a rebellion in his own party, rebellion in his cabinet. But the question is, is this going to be enough pressure now to force him from office? It really depends a lot on the momentum. Can they keep up the momentum? But his advisors saying this may be a good way to vent frustrations, but it will not be enough to force the office. We'll have to wait and see what his reaction is tomorrow morning once they see this rally.</s>LEMON: Very interesting the way they're handling this rally. Atika Shubert in Tel Aviv. Thanks Atika.</s>ROESGEN: To borrow a phrase from Paul Revere, the British are coming, the British are coming. Britain's Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip arrived shortly for the queen's first official U.S. visit in 16 years. Their chartered British Airways jet will land in Richmond, Virginia in less than two hours. The queen will speak to the Virginia assembly today and tomorrow she'll visit Jamestown, the first British colony in the new world 400 years ago. The queen and prince will attend the Kentucky Derby in Louisville on Saturday, you know how she loves her horses and then she heads to Washington for the rest of her visit. We will have live coverage of the royal couple's arrival in Virginia at 3:00 Eastern right here in the</s>NEWSROOM. LEMON: The British are coming. I guess they are. I guess they are.</s>ROESGEN: Yeah, we love them.</s>LEMON: He was fired for something he said but Don Imus has a whole lot more to say and a key clause in his contract might just back him up. That's straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.