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CNN Live At Daybreak

Euro Edition: Morning Papers

Aired August 28, 2003 - 05:47   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: Let's check now though on what's making headlines overseas in this morning's "Euro Edition." Tony Campion live in London.
Good morning, Tony, what's up there?

TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Well, you know no surprises at the first story I'm going to tell you about, you have just mentioned, Tony Blair is only the second British Prime Minister ever to testify at a judicial inquiry. It's all over the papers, specifically, let's just take a look at "The Times." What happened yesterday, of course, was that our Defense Secretary, the British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon testified. He made it really difficult for Tony Blair today, because he says the buck stops at No. 10, says Hoon. Front page of "The Times," influential broad sheet papers, you know. And he's essentially saying wasn't him, everyone should look to Tony Blair for the evidence.

And take a look at what the tabloid the "Daily Mirror" says, it wasn't me. And I'm just going to read this to you. It was No. 10, Alastair Campbell, who's the Press Secretary, Blair's chief of staff, the civil service, my secretary, MI6, some bloke who I met down the pub, anyone else I can think of. Geoff Hoon very definitely trying to get the blame away from his own doorstep. And a very bad pun in the "Daily Mail," who done it is the question. You know it wasn't me who exposed Dr. Kelly, says, and they're calling him the hapless defense chief, everyone else was to blame.

Question marks really as to what happens to Geoff Hoon at this point, does he stay in the Cabinet, does he keep that job, does he get another one, obviously we have to wait and see. But it really is absolutely crucial what Tony Blair says about that and he is testifying even as we speak.

Move on to pick up a couple of other stories. Tell you firstly about something that's in "La Figuro" in France, just very briefly, an exclusive interview with the Reagan former Undersecretary for Defense Richard Purl. He says that he thinks the administration of Iraq by the United Nations is a bad idea. And he goes on to cite his reasons.

He says when is there a precedent for this? When has the United Nations ever met with success in the territories that it has been given to look after? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says there isn't a single occasion. The article, incidentally, does also ask him well has the U.S. ever done any better? But you've got to -- you're going to have to read the article yourself if you want the detail on that. And finally, here's one in "The Sun." Always up for a laugh "The Sun." Leonardo da Pinchi is the headline in the tabloid paper. A 15 million pound masterpiece has been nicked. What that means in your language is that an $80 million masterpiece has been stolen. The masterpiece in question is the Madonna with the Yarn-Winder. This was stolen from a Scottish castle, actually, the Drum Landry (ph) Castle which is in the south of Scotland, the home to the Duke of Buklu (ph). He's 79 years old. He's Britain's 53rd richest man.

And what happened is two crooks just sort of breezed into his castle. They paid $9 each for a ticket to have a look around, just like any other tourist, but one of them had an ax. How he got in with an ax is a bit of a question. But they walked off with this painting, anyway, 19 inches by 14 inches and just drove off with it, essentially. It's absolutely an astonishing story. Here's "The Sun's" verdict on what they're going to do with it, they're going to swap it for heroin. It's a great story at the end of it all.

COSTELLO: Jeez!

CAMPION: That's a quick look at the headlines anyway.

COSTELLO: So he was using the ax as a weapon to keep the other people at bay while they took the painting off the wall?

CAMPION: I think it wasn't actually used. I'm not aware of anyone having been injured with the ax. But yes, I mean it was definitely there as a threat. They are said to have manhandled a lady assistant out of the way. They're not used to this sort of thing in the south of Scotland. It's not a particularly violent area of the country and you know this was just a regular tourist trip having a look around a lot of beautiful works of art.

This guy, as I say, Britain's 53rd richest man, actually owns about a third of $500 million worth of art. There's a fantastic Rembrandt in his collection as well. So I mean it might be a bit cynical to say he's not going to miss it in terms of monetary value, but he's said to be very upset by the whole thing.

COSTELLO: Well I can understand why. Tony Campion reporting live from London for us this morning.

CAMPION: Yes.

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 28, 2003 - 05:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check now though on what's making headlines overseas in this morning's "Euro Edition." Tony Campion live in London.
Good morning, Tony, what's up there?

TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Well, you know no surprises at the first story I'm going to tell you about, you have just mentioned, Tony Blair is only the second British Prime Minister ever to testify at a judicial inquiry. It's all over the papers, specifically, let's just take a look at "The Times." What happened yesterday, of course, was that our Defense Secretary, the British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon testified. He made it really difficult for Tony Blair today, because he says the buck stops at No. 10, says Hoon. Front page of "The Times," influential broad sheet papers, you know. And he's essentially saying wasn't him, everyone should look to Tony Blair for the evidence.

And take a look at what the tabloid the "Daily Mirror" says, it wasn't me. And I'm just going to read this to you. It was No. 10, Alastair Campbell, who's the Press Secretary, Blair's chief of staff, the civil service, my secretary, MI6, some bloke who I met down the pub, anyone else I can think of. Geoff Hoon very definitely trying to get the blame away from his own doorstep. And a very bad pun in the "Daily Mail," who done it is the question. You know it wasn't me who exposed Dr. Kelly, says, and they're calling him the hapless defense chief, everyone else was to blame.

Question marks really as to what happens to Geoff Hoon at this point, does he stay in the Cabinet, does he keep that job, does he get another one, obviously we have to wait and see. But it really is absolutely crucial what Tony Blair says about that and he is testifying even as we speak.

Move on to pick up a couple of other stories. Tell you firstly about something that's in "La Figuro" in France, just very briefly, an exclusive interview with the Reagan former Undersecretary for Defense Richard Purl. He says that he thinks the administration of Iraq by the United Nations is a bad idea. And he goes on to cite his reasons.

He says when is there a precedent for this? When has the United Nations ever met with success in the territories that it has been given to look after? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says there isn't a single occasion. The article, incidentally, does also ask him well has the U.S. ever done any better? But you've got to -- you're going to have to read the article yourself if you want the detail on that. And finally, here's one in "The Sun." Always up for a laugh "The Sun." Leonardo da Pinchi is the headline in the tabloid paper. A 15 million pound masterpiece has been nicked. What that means in your language is that an $80 million masterpiece has been stolen. The masterpiece in question is the Madonna with the Yarn-Winder. This was stolen from a Scottish castle, actually, the Drum Landry (ph) Castle which is in the south of Scotland, the home to the Duke of Buklu (ph). He's 79 years old. He's Britain's 53rd richest man.

And what happened is two crooks just sort of breezed into his castle. They paid $9 each for a ticket to have a look around, just like any other tourist, but one of them had an ax. How he got in with an ax is a bit of a question. But they walked off with this painting, anyway, 19 inches by 14 inches and just drove off with it, essentially. It's absolutely an astonishing story. Here's "The Sun's" verdict on what they're going to do with it, they're going to swap it for heroin. It's a great story at the end of it all.

COSTELLO: Jeez!

CAMPION: That's a quick look at the headlines anyway.

COSTELLO: So he was using the ax as a weapon to keep the other people at bay while they took the painting off the wall?

CAMPION: I think it wasn't actually used. I'm not aware of anyone having been injured with the ax. But yes, I mean it was definitely there as a threat. They are said to have manhandled a lady assistant out of the way. They're not used to this sort of thing in the south of Scotland. It's not a particularly violent area of the country and you know this was just a regular tourist trip having a look around a lot of beautiful works of art.

This guy, as I say, Britain's 53rd richest man, actually owns about a third of $500 million worth of art. There's a fantastic Rembrandt in his collection as well. So I mean it might be a bit cynical to say he's not going to miss it in terms of monetary value, but he's said to be very upset by the whole thing.

COSTELLO: Well I can understand why. Tony Campion reporting live from London for us this morning.

CAMPION: Yes.

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