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CNN Live At Daybreak

Euro Edition: Morning Papers

Aired October 15, 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: Time now to check on what's making headlines overseas in this morning's 'Euro Edition.'
Tony Campion live in London.

Tony, what are those front pages looking like today?

TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well, you know three interesting stories to talk to you about, and the first one is a pretty serious one, but I think it's worth even mentioning anyway. This is today's "Telegraph" newspaper. Of course this is the kind of a broad sheet, tabloidy broad sheet newspaper, if that makes sense.

Story is about a guy who has been found guilty. This is the first time that somebody is found guilty of using the HIV virus as a weapon. What this guy did is he knew that he had HIV and he went out, he deliberately infected women with the virus by deliberately requesting to have unprotected sex, refusing to use a condom or any other means of protection. And he's been prosecuted and he's going to go to jail for it and he may even end up dying there.

The first person in 137 years to be convicted of transmitting a sexual disease, which in the 19th century I believe was a crime in its own right. But this is actually GBH they have convicted him of, which is grievous bodily harm. In the United Kingdom, this is a crime where normally you would attack somebody with a hammer or deliberately do something very, very bad to them.

Interesting, I mean this -- you know this is absolutely setting a precedent. Using HIV as a...

COSTELLO: Hey, it's happened here in the United States. It's funny how...

CAMPION: Is that right? Yes, well we're catching up with the times.

COSTELLO: Yes, the same things happen all over.

CAMPION: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's a small world. What else do you got for us?

CAMPION: Absolutely. OK, let's move on. One more thing, this has happened in the United States as well, but just a sign, also, of how technology isn't keeping up with the demands that we put on it. This is coming out of "The Independent" newspaper, and millions of homes in Britain could be blacking out this winter. Essentially they are warning us that what happened in New York, what, a couple of months back, could happen here because we're essentially not capable of generating enough electricity to cope with a cold snap.

Normally they like to have like 20 percent spare in terms of generating capacity. They're breaking it down just to 2 percent. I think it's pretty much inevitable that London's going to go black at some point and probably very cold, as well, over this winter.

Let's move on, I know we haven't got an (UNINTELLIGIBLE) amount of time here, and this is an interesting one. Want to tell you about this guy. Can you see this guy's picture here?

COSTELLO: Yes.

CAMPION: This is a bloke called DBC Pierre, and DBC stands for "Dirty But Clean" Pierre. His real name is actually Peter Finlay. He's won the Book of Prize. Now the Book of Prize is a very, very prestigious novel writing prize here in the United Kingdom. I don't know how closely it's followed there.

And why it's interesting is that this guy is a rogue would be the right word to use. And this explains why he's, you know, "dirty but clean" is a reference to a bit of a change in his character. He's a self-confessed serial conniving -- there's a word that I can't say on TV, but again, it begins with B and it sort of trips off the tongue in that phrase, if you understand.

He's got a history as a treasure hunter, a smuggler. He spent 10 years conning people, essentially, and that culminated in effectively stealing the proceeds of a sale of a flat of an American artist. He did this elderly American artist out of his home, ran off with the money.

So he now wins 50,000 pounds, which is about, obviously, $70,000, $75,000, for writing this novel. And he says what's he going to do with the money? Well he is going to give it back to the people to whom he owes it. He is a Mexican-Australian guy.

And the book, incidentally, is interesting, it's about a 15-year- old Texan. The title is "Vernon God Little." And the judges gave him the prize because they said it's a coruscating black comedy reflecting alarm and fascination with modern America. It could be worth the read.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you very much, Tony Campion, much enjoyable today.

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 October 15, 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: Time now to check on what's making headlines overseas in this morning's 'Euro Edition.'
Tony Campion live in London.

Tony, what are those front pages looking like today?

TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well, you know three interesting stories to talk to you about, and the first one is a pretty serious one, but I think it's worth even mentioning anyway. This is today's "Telegraph" newspaper. Of course this is the kind of a broad sheet, tabloidy broad sheet newspaper, if that makes sense.

Story is about a guy who has been found guilty. This is the first time that somebody is found guilty of using the HIV virus as a weapon. What this guy did is he knew that he had HIV and he went out, he deliberately infected women with the virus by deliberately requesting to have unprotected sex, refusing to use a condom or any other means of protection. And he's been prosecuted and he's going to go to jail for it and he may even end up dying there.

The first person in 137 years to be convicted of transmitting a sexual disease, which in the 19th century I believe was a crime in its own right. But this is actually GBH they have convicted him of, which is grievous bodily harm. In the United Kingdom, this is a crime where normally you would attack somebody with a hammer or deliberately do something very, very bad to them.

Interesting, I mean this -- you know this is absolutely setting a precedent. Using HIV as a...

COSTELLO: Hey, it's happened here in the United States. It's funny how...

CAMPION: Is that right? Yes, well we're catching up with the times.

COSTELLO: Yes, the same things happen all over.

CAMPION: Yes.

COSTELLO: It's a small world. What else do you got for us?

CAMPION: Absolutely. OK, let's move on. One more thing, this has happened in the United States as well, but just a sign, also, of how technology isn't keeping up with the demands that we put on it. This is coming out of "The Independent" newspaper, and millions of homes in Britain could be blacking out this winter. Essentially they are warning us that what happened in New York, what, a couple of months back, could happen here because we're essentially not capable of generating enough electricity to cope with a cold snap.

Normally they like to have like 20 percent spare in terms of generating capacity. They're breaking it down just to 2 percent. I think it's pretty much inevitable that London's going to go black at some point and probably very cold, as well, over this winter.

Let's move on, I know we haven't got an (UNINTELLIGIBLE) amount of time here, and this is an interesting one. Want to tell you about this guy. Can you see this guy's picture here?

COSTELLO: Yes.

CAMPION: This is a bloke called DBC Pierre, and DBC stands for "Dirty But Clean" Pierre. His real name is actually Peter Finlay. He's won the Book of Prize. Now the Book of Prize is a very, very prestigious novel writing prize here in the United Kingdom. I don't know how closely it's followed there.

And why it's interesting is that this guy is a rogue would be the right word to use. And this explains why he's, you know, "dirty but clean" is a reference to a bit of a change in his character. He's a self-confessed serial conniving -- there's a word that I can't say on TV, but again, it begins with B and it sort of trips off the tongue in that phrase, if you understand.

He's got a history as a treasure hunter, a smuggler. He spent 10 years conning people, essentially, and that culminated in effectively stealing the proceeds of a sale of a flat of an American artist. He did this elderly American artist out of his home, ran off with the money.

So he now wins 50,000 pounds, which is about, obviously, $70,000, $75,000, for writing this novel. And he says what's he going to do with the money? Well he is going to give it back to the people to whom he owes it. He is a Mexican-Australian guy.

And the book, incidentally, is interesting, it's about a 15-year- old Texan. The title is "Vernon God Little." And the judges gave him the prize because they said it's a coruscating black comedy reflecting alarm and fascination with modern America. It could be worth the read.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you very much, Tony Campion, much enjoyable today.

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