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CNN Live At Daybreak

Euro Edition: Morning Papers

Aired August 14, 2003 - 05:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now, though, to check on what's making headlines overseas in this morning's "Euro Edition." Hala Gorani live in London for us.
Good morning.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well the Hutton inquiry again, day four of that inquiry into the death of Dr. David Kelly here in the U.K. making front-page news in many of the papers.

I'll twist the focus on something else this time, the British man of Indian descent who was arrested in connection with the alleged plot to smuggle in a surface-to-air missile into the United States. Well, we know more about him. According to "The Times" of London, dell boy (ph) turned from rice to missiles, says the FBI.

This is something that "The Times" is focusing on today. More background on Hemant Lakhani. For a number of hours yesterday, we thought his name was Heckmant (ph) Lakhani and that name changed once the court papers were filed.

We know more about him, that he's a businessman who imported everything from Basmati rice to Sorries (ph) into the U.K., 68 years old. Allegedly believed he was supplying -- he was supplying a ground-to-air missile to terrorists. That's according to what the FBI was saying reported by "The Times."

And we have a whole timeline of exactly what happened, how the sting operation was conducted and the security sting had, according to "The Times" of London, backing by President George W. Bush of the U.S. and President Putin of Russia.

Now we also have front-page news today, and this is of great interest of course to U.K. citizens, the fact that British Airways is halting all of its flights to Saudi Arabia with a real security concern that British Airways aircraft might have been the target of Islamic terrorists in Saudi Arabia.

According to "The Guardian," there have been fears of an attack on civilian airliners since last May when a shoulder-held missile was fired at a U.S. Air Force fighter near Riyadh and missed its target. The Department of Transport has said here in the U.K. there is credible intelligence of a serious threat to U.K. aviation interests in Saudi Arabia. So that making front-page news as well. There are about eight flights a day from here, the U.K., to Saudi Arabia. Those are all suspended by British Airways.

And a quick last look there at U.K. troops in Iraq. "The Sun," the Rupert Murdoch owned tabloid, this is one of its big stories today. How hot does it have to be, asked "The Sun," for some of the soldiers working for British forces to be paid 15 extra pounds a week in hardship allowance? That's $22 a week. And right now kitchen chefs get it, those who work in non-air conditioned environments, construction personnel, some soldiers who work in the middle of the day, but others are saying we deserve it, too. And for now the Ministry of Defense is saying no, not yet.

COSTELLO: Yes, 22 bucks a week. Twenty-two bucks a week.

GORANI: Twenty-two dollars a week.

COSTELLO: That sounds like nothing to me.

GORANI: It would add, this is according to "The Sun," it would add about $350,000 extra dollars a month to a bill that is now about, I'm translating quickly from pounds to dollars, $225 million a month.

COSTELLO: Wow!

GORANI: So that's 10 percent extra a cost.

COSTELLO: Yes, when you break it down to each soldier, though, it's 22 bucks a week, which doesn't sound much for what they are doing over there, it just doesn't, I mean extra.

GORANI: No, it doesn't. One hundred forty degree heat when you have Army body armor, helmets and the rest of it. Of course it's a very difficult working situation for them as well. They are asking for this hardship allowance. They might get it. The MOD is saying case by case we'll think about it. I think that if "The Sun" keeps on making a big fuss about it every once in a while they might -- they might -- they might give in. We'll see though.

COSTELLO: Maybe so. Hala Gorani, many thanks, live from London this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 14, 2003 - 05:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time now, though, to check on what's making headlines overseas in this morning's "Euro Edition." Hala Gorani live in London for us.
Good morning.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well the Hutton inquiry again, day four of that inquiry into the death of Dr. David Kelly here in the U.K. making front-page news in many of the papers.

I'll twist the focus on something else this time, the British man of Indian descent who was arrested in connection with the alleged plot to smuggle in a surface-to-air missile into the United States. Well, we know more about him. According to "The Times" of London, dell boy (ph) turned from rice to missiles, says the FBI.

This is something that "The Times" is focusing on today. More background on Hemant Lakhani. For a number of hours yesterday, we thought his name was Heckmant (ph) Lakhani and that name changed once the court papers were filed.

We know more about him, that he's a businessman who imported everything from Basmati rice to Sorries (ph) into the U.K., 68 years old. Allegedly believed he was supplying -- he was supplying a ground-to-air missile to terrorists. That's according to what the FBI was saying reported by "The Times."

And we have a whole timeline of exactly what happened, how the sting operation was conducted and the security sting had, according to "The Times" of London, backing by President George W. Bush of the U.S. and President Putin of Russia.

Now we also have front-page news today, and this is of great interest of course to U.K. citizens, the fact that British Airways is halting all of its flights to Saudi Arabia with a real security concern that British Airways aircraft might have been the target of Islamic terrorists in Saudi Arabia.

According to "The Guardian," there have been fears of an attack on civilian airliners since last May when a shoulder-held missile was fired at a U.S. Air Force fighter near Riyadh and missed its target. The Department of Transport has said here in the U.K. there is credible intelligence of a serious threat to U.K. aviation interests in Saudi Arabia. So that making front-page news as well. There are about eight flights a day from here, the U.K., to Saudi Arabia. Those are all suspended by British Airways.

And a quick last look there at U.K. troops in Iraq. "The Sun," the Rupert Murdoch owned tabloid, this is one of its big stories today. How hot does it have to be, asked "The Sun," for some of the soldiers working for British forces to be paid 15 extra pounds a week in hardship allowance? That's $22 a week. And right now kitchen chefs get it, those who work in non-air conditioned environments, construction personnel, some soldiers who work in the middle of the day, but others are saying we deserve it, too. And for now the Ministry of Defense is saying no, not yet.

COSTELLO: Yes, 22 bucks a week. Twenty-two bucks a week.

GORANI: Twenty-two dollars a week.

COSTELLO: That sounds like nothing to me.

GORANI: It would add, this is according to "The Sun," it would add about $350,000 extra dollars a month to a bill that is now about, I'm translating quickly from pounds to dollars, $225 million a month.

COSTELLO: Wow!

GORANI: So that's 10 percent extra a cost.

COSTELLO: Yes, when you break it down to each soldier, though, it's 22 bucks a week, which doesn't sound much for what they are doing over there, it just doesn't, I mean extra.

GORANI: No, it doesn't. One hundred forty degree heat when you have Army body armor, helmets and the rest of it. Of course it's a very difficult working situation for them as well. They are asking for this hardship allowance. They might get it. The MOD is saying case by case we'll think about it. I think that if "The Sun" keeps on making a big fuss about it every once in a while they might -- they might -- they might give in. We'll see though.

COSTELLO: Maybe so. Hala Gorani, many thanks, live from London this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com