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CNN Live At Daybreak

'International News Desk'

Aired February 10, 2004 - 05:38   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: We told you about that breaking news this morning of a devastating plane crash in the United Arab Emirates.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here. He's gathered some more information on that.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, Carol, good morning.

We were actually helped in covering a story that's happened in the United Arab Emirates of this Iranian plane crashing because we have an operation in Dubai, a CNN Arabic Web operation. We have a number of journalists working there who were able to help us to get the information very quickly and to send a camera down there to get some pictures.

Now, what's interesting, this is an Iranian airline, not the national airline, but a local airline from Kish, which is an island just off the coast of Iran. And what's interesting, this airline has had a number of crashes in the past. The Iranian state airline has had a number of crashes. And something that we hear repeatedly from Iranian officials when crashes like this happen is that they feel handicapped by the international sanctions on Iran that they say do not allow them to get the supplies and service that they need for the planes operating.

It's not entirely clear whether that is the case, but that is something that the Iranian officials put out repeatedly.

COSTELLO: So they would fly anyway, even though they can't make the planes safe?

CLINCH: Well, of course, that's the question. If the planes aren't safe, should they be flying, could they be flying? But they do repeatedly put out the word that they feel handicapped by these sanctions and not allowed to get the parts that they say they need. So that's...

COSTELLO: The strange part, I know there's a lot of strange parts to these pictures, I was watching as they were coming into CNN earlier this morning and so many people are around this crash. The photographers were able to get right on top of the crash scene.

CLINCH: Right. The reports are that it was about to land at an airport, which is a large airport, and there would have been people, a lot of people there very quickly on the scene. So it's not out in the middle of nowhere. There are reports that one adult and a child survived. That hasn't been confirmed yet, but we're watching on that very closely.

COSTELLO: And our reporter before had mentioned a baby.

Are you talking about the baby?

CLINCH: Right. That's the baby, yes, and, again, that hasn't been confirmed, but we're watching to see if that is confirmed. So that'll be interesting to follow-up.

On Iraq, as well as sort of the bigger picture of what's going on there, we're watching very closely in Iraq over the next few days for a meeting we expect between the U.N. envoy who's there, Brahimi, and the Ayatollah Sistani, the Shiite leader who has been calling for early elections before the U.S. hand over. The U.N. putting itself in the middle there, saying they're going to talk to Sistani, find out exactly what he's asking for and see if there's a compromise that can be reached.

That meeting has not taken place yet, but we do expect it to happen, perhaps as soon as today or perhaps in the next day or two. So watching that closely in Iraq, as well.

A number of quirky stories, just very quickly on that. In China, we're following, we've actually been trying to do a story on this boom of Chinese companies using U.S., big names in America, pop stars, politicians, for their marketing. And this is one we found in the research for this. This is President Clinton.

We're pretty sure, very sure, I should say, that President Clinton did not give permission for this, but a Chinese company using his image to promote a face cream in China.

COSTELLO: That rejuvenates you, I understand.

CLINCH: It rejuvenates your face. It's some kind of metal face cream. Now, again, pretty clear that Clinton did not give permission.

On the other hand, we are hearing -- we don't have any pictures of this, but we're hearing that a Chinese entrepreneur has gone to the Trade Commission in Beijing asking for permission to use the trade name Bush to market diapers in China. He says that the...

COSTELLO: What?

CLINCH: ... the name Busha, as it's pronounced in Chinese, stands for not wet in Chinese and so he wants to use that name. We are told by the Chinese Trade Commission that it's unlikely he'll be given permission to use the name Bush to market diapers.

COSTELLO: Really?

CLINCH: So, interesting.

COSTELLO: Just crazy.

Thank you, David. CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: It's just crazy.

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 February 10, 2004 - 05:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We told you about that breaking news this morning of a devastating plane crash in the United Arab Emirates.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, is here. He's gathered some more information on that.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, Carol, good morning.

We were actually helped in covering a story that's happened in the United Arab Emirates of this Iranian plane crashing because we have an operation in Dubai, a CNN Arabic Web operation. We have a number of journalists working there who were able to help us to get the information very quickly and to send a camera down there to get some pictures.

Now, what's interesting, this is an Iranian airline, not the national airline, but a local airline from Kish, which is an island just off the coast of Iran. And what's interesting, this airline has had a number of crashes in the past. The Iranian state airline has had a number of crashes. And something that we hear repeatedly from Iranian officials when crashes like this happen is that they feel handicapped by the international sanctions on Iran that they say do not allow them to get the supplies and service that they need for the planes operating.

It's not entirely clear whether that is the case, but that is something that the Iranian officials put out repeatedly.

COSTELLO: So they would fly anyway, even though they can't make the planes safe?

CLINCH: Well, of course, that's the question. If the planes aren't safe, should they be flying, could they be flying? But they do repeatedly put out the word that they feel handicapped by these sanctions and not allowed to get the parts that they say they need. So that's...

COSTELLO: The strange part, I know there's a lot of strange parts to these pictures, I was watching as they were coming into CNN earlier this morning and so many people are around this crash. The photographers were able to get right on top of the crash scene.

CLINCH: Right. The reports are that it was about to land at an airport, which is a large airport, and there would have been people, a lot of people there very quickly on the scene. So it's not out in the middle of nowhere. There are reports that one adult and a child survived. That hasn't been confirmed yet, but we're watching on that very closely.

COSTELLO: And our reporter before had mentioned a baby.

Are you talking about the baby?

CLINCH: Right. That's the baby, yes, and, again, that hasn't been confirmed, but we're watching to see if that is confirmed. So that'll be interesting to follow-up.

On Iraq, as well as sort of the bigger picture of what's going on there, we're watching very closely in Iraq over the next few days for a meeting we expect between the U.N. envoy who's there, Brahimi, and the Ayatollah Sistani, the Shiite leader who has been calling for early elections before the U.S. hand over. The U.N. putting itself in the middle there, saying they're going to talk to Sistani, find out exactly what he's asking for and see if there's a compromise that can be reached.

That meeting has not taken place yet, but we do expect it to happen, perhaps as soon as today or perhaps in the next day or two. So watching that closely in Iraq, as well.

A number of quirky stories, just very quickly on that. In China, we're following, we've actually been trying to do a story on this boom of Chinese companies using U.S., big names in America, pop stars, politicians, for their marketing. And this is one we found in the research for this. This is President Clinton.

We're pretty sure, very sure, I should say, that President Clinton did not give permission for this, but a Chinese company using his image to promote a face cream in China.

COSTELLO: That rejuvenates you, I understand.

CLINCH: It rejuvenates your face. It's some kind of metal face cream. Now, again, pretty clear that Clinton did not give permission.

On the other hand, we are hearing -- we don't have any pictures of this, but we're hearing that a Chinese entrepreneur has gone to the Trade Commission in Beijing asking for permission to use the trade name Bush to market diapers in China. He says that the...

COSTELLO: What?

CLINCH: ... the name Busha, as it's pronounced in Chinese, stands for not wet in Chinese and so he wants to use that name. We are told by the Chinese Trade Commission that it's unlikely he'll be given permission to use the name Bush to market diapers.

COSTELLO: Really?

CLINCH: So, interesting.

COSTELLO: Just crazy.

Thank you, David. CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: It's just crazy.

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