The July edition of Inside The Middle East will be hosted by CNN's International Security Correspondent, Paula Newton.

The Morning Express with Robin Meade team launched a new blog this morning. According to the site:

It's Morning Express like you've never seen it before! Hear from Robin
Meade and the rest of the show crew for our thoughts on everything from politics
to sports... to those bizarre stories that have us buzzing behind the scenes.

Check it out at http://www.cnn.com/morningexpress.

CNN Pressroom - CNN, Cox Communications Provide Money, Manpower to KaBOOM! to Fix Katrina-Damaged Playground

CNN and Cox Communications New Orleans recently made a contribution to KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization that empowers communities to build playgrounds, to continue their long-term commitment to the renewal of the New Orleans community after Hurricane Katrina. CNN’s Fit Nation, a multi-platform initiative to stop obesity, will launch its first activity in 2008 at Pontiff Park in Metairie, La., to emphasize the benefits of a healthy lifestyle as the region continues its recovery from nearly three years ago.

As part of that contribution, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and other CNN employees will join volunteers from the community and Cox Communications New Orleans to rebuild the playground at Pontiff Park on Saturday, June 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (CT). The park design is based on drawings provided by children from the community who attended a KaBOOM! “Design Day” event in April.

Gupta will also tape House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta from the build site, interviewing local community leaders who come out to help. House Call is a program dedicated to the latest health and medical developments and airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 to 8 a.m. (CT).

“I had the opportunity to see the destruction Katrina caused first-hand while I was reporting from New Orleans after the hurricane,” Gupta said. “I’m glad that Fit Nation can contribute to the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region by creating a space for the community to use in achieving an active lifestyle.”

Hurricane Katrina damaged the park when five feet of water covered the grounds for nearly two weeks. The new playground will provide more than 10,000 children annually with a place to play in Jefferson Parish.

Video excerpts of the build will appear on www.CNN.com/FitNation, which also includes an interactive special section featuring fitness success stories, tips for staying fit and weekly updates from Gupta and CNN’s medical unit.

The playground build marks the first Fit Nation activity in 2008. CNN’s Fit Nation initiative began in 2006 as an ongoing multi-platform initiative to stop obesity and encourage healthier lifestyles. Over the past two years, Fit Nation and Gupta have traveled across the country engaging people in their own communities to get more active and develop local programs to meet the challenges of being overweight. In July and August, the Fit Nation mobile tour will visit cities across the United States, including Dallas, Seattle, Minneapolis, Minn., and Columbus, Ohio.

“Cox New Orleans continuously strives to better the communities it serves,” said Greg Bicket, senior vice president and general manager of Cox New Orleans. “Working with KaBOOM! has proved a perfect fit for the company’s local outreach efforts. Cox works to improve the quality of life in the greater New Orleans area and stresses the importance of employees’ active involvement post-Katrina in rebuilding, improving and renewing Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard and St. Charles parishes.”

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with CNN and Cox in this endeavor,” said Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! CEO and co-founder. “We’re optimistic that promoting healthy and active lifestyles through PSAs and other programming on CNN will produce positive change on multiple fronts. There’s no question that increasing the amount of time children play on a playground is a critical component to our goal of improving fitness and health.”

KaBOOM! is a national non-profit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since 1995, KaBOOM! has used its innovative community-build model to bring together business and community interests to construct more than 1,400 new playgrounds, skateparks, sports fields and ice rinks across North America. KaBOOM! also offers a variety of resources, including an online community, regional and national trainings, grants, publications and the KaBOOM! National Campaign for Play, which includes Playful City USA and the Playmaker Network – a national network of individual advocates for play. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., KaBOOM! also has offices in Chicago and San Mateo, Calif. For more information, visit www.kaboom.org.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is chief medical correspondent for the health and medical unit at CNN. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon and an assistant professor of neurosurgery, plays an integral role in the network’s medical coverage, which includes American Morning, the weekend show House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and coverage of breaking medical news. Based in Atlanta, he also co-hosts Accent Health for Turner Private Networks, contributes health news stories to CNN.com, writes a column for TIME magazine, is a contributor to CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. In 2007, Gupta’s first book, Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today, became a national bestseller.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with 6.2 million total residential and commercial customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network. Cox Business is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates the Travel Channel. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com, www.coxbusiness.com, and www.coxmedia.com.

CNN Pressroom - Dr. Sanjay Gupta Anchors July 6 Special with UNICEF Ambassador Lucy Liu, Musician Joel Madden

CNN will focus a lens on the world’s children in harm’s way and examines child survival issues in-depth during its global broadcast, The Survival Project: One Child at a Time. Anchored by CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the special will focus on healthcare, education, water sanitation and protection from violence for children. UNICEF ambassador Lucy Liu and Good Charlotte musician Joel Madden join Gupta as panelists for the program and speak about their experiences with UNICEF.

Following recent crises in Myanmar and China, CNN viewers moved by the devastating stories and images are looking for ways to help. In May, the month of the devastating natural disasters in both nations, the “Impact Your World” special section on CNN.com more than doubled the previous month’s page view numbers for users looking for information on how to help.

Shot in high-definition television before an audience at the Alliance Theater inside Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, The Survival Project: One Child at a Time will premiere on Sunday, July 6, at 8 p.m. and will replay at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. All times Eastern. The broadcast will be simulcast on CNN and CNN International.

Clay Aiken, Dayle Haddon, Joel Madden, Ne-Yo, Nicole Ritchie, Al Roker, Marcus Samuelsson and Amare Stoudemire appear in special video diaries of their volunteer experiences and encourage viewers to help children around the world.

For the first time since the United Nations began tracking child mortality, the number of children who die each year before their fifth birthday has dropped below 10 million. Bringing the stories of these children to CNN viewers from four continents, Gupta and international correspondents Wilf Dinnick, Jill Dougherty and Dan Rivers will brief viewers on the challenges that remain to save more lives through the innovative works of organizations such as UNICEF. The United Nations Children’s Fund operates in more than 150 countries in an effort to reduce the child mortality rate everywhere.

Gupta will report on the 1,500 children who live with HIV/AIDS in Peru, as well as those orphaned by the disease. From Laos, Rivers will report on the impact of the second largest worldwide killer of children under age five – a lack of clean drinking water. Dougherty will report from Baghdad on children who have been displaced due to war and conflict. Dinnick will report from Ethiopia on how vaccinations and nutritional supplements are saving the lives of children and pregnant women.

“CNN’s correspondents will show the challenges faced by children around the world and will offer viewers an opportunity to affect helpful change,” said Sue Bunda, executive vice president of content development and strategy for CNN Worldwide. “The global reach of our networks uniquely positions us to produce an international broadcast like this that displays the scope of the challenges that must be met.”

“As many as 9.7 million children die each year before their fifth birthday, largely due to preventable causes like measles, malaria, and diarrhea. That is 26,000 children every day," said Caryl Stern, president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “We’re extremely grateful to see the world’s top news network not only highlighting the difficulties facing children’s survival, but moreover, challenging its audience to put an end to this injustice.”

Tenisha Abernathy is the executive producer for The Survival Project: One Child at a Time.

CNN’s Impact Your World initiative is a multi-platform effort to empower its global audience to make a difference in response to stories reported online and on air. Viewers can find resources to help children around the world by visiting www.CNN.com/impact.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

For images associated with this broadcast, please visit www.turnerinfo.com

As posted here earlier, we were wondering if 360° has gotten a new look online.... it has. You can now visit the site via http://www.ac360.com. It has a great new look, and Anderson posts about the new look here.

This week, The AC360° blog has a new look. Does this mean at the AC360° website will be getting a new look to match the new look to the Lou Dobbs website? Stay tuned...

• Aneesh Raman left CNN. :(

• Alicia Keys posted a special commentary to CNN.com prior to her documentary "Alicia in Africa" which premieres July 4th.

• These anchors/reporters have new photos added to CNN.com:

Mari Ramos

Alina Cho

Robin Curnow

Nkepile Mabuse

Chad Myers

Fareed Zakaria