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CNN Live Today
U.S. Military Vows to Pacify Fallujah; 9/11 Investigation; Spain Bomb; Buzz on the Web; Audrey Seiler Case
Aired April 02, 2004 - 11:00 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast and 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast. From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning, once again, I'm Daryn Kagan.
We begin this hour in Iraq where two American troops have been killed in separate attacks. A roadside bomb killed a soldier with the 1st Armored Division while on patrol in Baghdad. And a Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Division was killed in a province west of Baghdad.
The U.S. military is pledging to come down hard on insurgents in Fallujah after this week's grisly attack on four civilian contractors.
Senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers is in Baghdad with the latest -- Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Over the past few days, there has been genuine fury on the part of U.S. officials here in Baghdad at the murder and butchery and mutilation of the four American civilian contractors who were killed in Fallujah on Wednesday. One of the reasons for that, of course, was that the American public has not seen graphic images of the war like those up until this date. It showed clearly the hatred among some Iraqis of the American people.
And there is a thinly veiled threat of vengeance by U.S. officials here. The U.S. is saying the Marines are prepared to go back in, retake Fallujah. And they are also saying that the perpetrators of this crime will be hunted down, and that Fallujah will be pacified, as other Iraqi cities have been.
There was another manifestation of the hatred of Americans in this country today. There was a very large demonstration on the streets of Baghdad. This is Friday prayer day. Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims poured out onto the streets.
The demonstration was initially to protest the closure of a Shiite newspaper by the American administrator here, but it quickly turned into a much larger anti-American demonstration. The crowds shouted things like, "no to America," "no to Israel," "yes to jihad and holy war." They also shouted that the Governing Council and America are infidels, and they demanded the right to fight America.
One leading Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric today in his Friday sermon warned the Americans that the Iraqis are preparing their own intifada, their own resistance to the American occupation of this country -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Walter Rodgers in Baghdad.
One of the civilians killed in Fallujah this week was 32-year-old Jerry Zovko. He came from Ohio. Zovko joined the Army at age 19. And after his military duty, he signed on with the firm Blackwater Security, which provides security services in Iraq.
Zovko's brother, Tom, appeared on CNN this morning. He talked about his family's loss with our Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM ZOVKO, VICTIM'S BROTHER: And this last time, when he left in September, he came to see me and my family, before he left, when he had a chance to take a vacation. And when he left, he said, you know, he wanted to go and do what he could, to make it a better place.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: How has the pictures and the coverage influenced you this past week?
ZOVKO: It's -- I've got -- I have mixed emotions. Very extremely mixed emotions. You know I try not to think about it, think about them. But I think they're necessary to show everyone what's going on, you know what -- he went there to prevent something like this.
HEMMER: The pictures are one thing, Tom, and the brutality and the details of the story are another. Have you had time to reflect on that?
ZOVKO: No, not as -- no, no. I'm -- no. He -- it still hasn't sunk in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The commission investigating 9/11 hopes to learn more next week about what Clinton administration officials told the Bush White House about al Qaeda. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice goes before the panel next Thursday.
Our Elaine Quijano joins us from the White House with details on that -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn.
Well that, undoubtedly, was one of the topics on President Bush's mind as he left Washington for an event taking place in Huntington, West Virginia. The president is traveling there to talk about job training. He will be meeting with some folks at Marshall University before going on to a fund raising event in Georgia later this afternoon.
But, as I said, other administration officials here, not just the president, of course, very focused on this public testimony of Dr. Condoleezza Rice before the September 11 Commission next Thursday. The White House very anxious, very eager for that public testimony to happen. Officials want to answer those criticisms put forth by Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism chief, that the Bush administration was not focused on fighting terrorism, on fighting al Qaeda before September 11.
Now, one of the president's closest advisers, Karen Hughes, says that despite the administration's initial concerns about Dr. Rice testifying in a public forum, they are now relieved that she will be appearing before the 9/11 Commission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN HUGHES, SENIOR BUSH ADVISER: I'm very glad, again, as a communicator and as an American, that he was able to resolve it in a way that protects the constitutional principle by stating clearly, in writing, that this is exceptional, this is an extraordinary set of circumstances, but also allows Dr. Rice to do what I know she wants to do and that is to publicly share the facts with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, the administration also hopes to change the perception on the part of some September 11 family members that the Bush administration has something to hide. They hope that Dr. Rice's very public testimony, public appearance before the commission, will do that.
Now related to the September 11 Commission, right now we understand that commission members are trying to determine what documents they, in fact, do have. There's been some concern expressed by Bruce Lindsey, he is the former Deputy White House Counsel for President Clinton, that perhaps the commission did not receive all of the documents that it had requested. We understand from a spokesperson for the 9/11 Commission that they are taking inventory of what they do have. That process is expected to take about a day and a half.
As for the White House, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan saying that they are continuing to cooperate with the commission -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House.
Want to go back now to one of our top stories and that's taking place in Spain. The discovery of another bomb along a Spanish rail line.
Our Al Goodman standing by with more on that -- Al.
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wait a minute, so I hold on to the cell phone in my...
KAGAN: Al, are you with us? Al Goodman in Spain.
GOODMAN: Stand by.
KAGAN: Al?
GOODMAN: OK.
KAGAN: All right, we will work on getting Al ready to go, standing by in Spain with more on the bomb discovered underneath a Spanish rail line.
We're going to take a break.
Last year at this time, her story was captured in the attention of the nation. Up next, hear how former POW Jessica Lynch is doing a year after her incredible rescue.
Also, there may be some good news for the White House on a job front. More on that just ahead.
And e-mail with more memory than you ever thought possible. Is it possible and what's the catch? Regina Lewis has your buzz on the Web when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: CNN LIVE TODAY will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: All right. Looks like we've worked out the bugs and can get Al Goodman live from Spain. The latest on an apparent terror bomb plot that was disrupted and a potential disaster averted -- Al.
GOODMAN: Hello, Daryn.
There was a bomb on Spain's main Bullet railroad network in this train track right behind me. If you can see in this area, I'm going to just step out of the way, in this area right behind me, a bomb, several hours ago, was found here on this Bullet train track that connects Madrid with Seville, perhaps the most prestigious train track in all of Spain.
Now the Interior Minister Angel Acebes said to the nation on a -- in a televised news conference hours ago that this bomb contained 10 to 12 kilos of explosives. That's 22 to 26 pounds of explosives. He said it might have been dynamite. They were checking on that. He said it was connected to a detonator, which in turn was connected to a very long cable. So someone obviously putting this here to disrupt the service, but it was found.
And all of this, of course, Daryn, coming just three weeks after the Madrid commuter train bombings. That's about an hour north of where I'm standing. We're in Toledo province. Those Madrid commuter train bombings killing 190 people, injuring more than 1,800. As a result of all of this, the bomb has now been found on this track. A civil guard officer, who is standing here, has told me that the bomb has been deactivated. He's not talking about the type of explosives that were contained in it. But the Interior Minister and the Defense Minister have just held an emergency meeting in Madrid to announce stepped up security in a nation that thought security was already stepped up after those train bombings three weeks ago -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Al Goodman with the latest from Spain.
There's more violence today in the Middle East, as well. Israeli police entered a Jerusalem holy site today and clashed with rock- throwing Palestinian protestors. Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades against the protesters. There were a number of injuries and at least 14 arrests. The location of the clashes is one of the holiest sites in Islam. It's above the Western Wall, which is the holiest site in Judaism.
A raging inferno in Colorado, and it doesn't look like it will be over anytime soon. The latest on the wildfires coming up next.
And later, new information about Michael Jackson's accuser on this the day that Jackson's lawyers are back in court.
We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: A wildfire threatens nearly two dozen homes in Colorado. Officials say the fire near Fort Collins has grown to more than 5,600 acres this morning. Residents of Livermore have been told to prepare for possible evacuations. Strong winds and dry conditions are fueling the fire. Crews are hoping for higher humidity this afternoon and rain by later in the day.
Much of Massachusetts remains under a flood warning today, but the worst appears to be over. The slow-moving storm dumped up to six inches of rain in some locations and that caused flooding in low-lying areas. The high water forced a few schools to close and some sections of highway were shut down this morning.
Want to go ahead and talk about what is hot on the Web. And for that we bring in Regina Lewis, talking about what people are looking up on AOL and other news, as well.
Regina, good morning.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good morning -- Daryn.
KAGAN: First, let's start with something that we thought perhaps was an April Fool's joke yesterday. Turns out it's the real deal. Google going to offer e-mail, but there's a catch.
LEWIS: Well, it's called g-mail. And it's not available yet. So that would certainly be the first catch. All you really have to know is Google equals God. I'm kidding, sort of, but certainly they are very powerful. And they did throw a lot of people off by being kind of casual about this announcement and then posting something on their site that said, do you want a job that's out of this world? If you clicked on it, it told you about their plant that they have on the moon. And then that made a lot of people think maybe this whole thing is a joke.
I would just offer this, and with all due respect to my friends that are engineers, sometimes computer scientists with Ph.D.s, their humor a little different than everybody else's. Turns out g-mail is not launched yet. You can sign up for it, and that's really how it played out.
KAGAN: But the catch is here it's going to be free but they're going to read your e-mail, right, and you might get advertising attached?
LEWIS: Well, Google's whole thing is that they're going to sort it for you.
KAGAN: Sort, OK.
LEWIS: They are going to save it to the end of time and they do offer -- I mean this is their -- they are a search engine. So if based on your e-mail and what you like and what you don't, would you get ads served up to you that are related, probably. We'll see where it goes.
KAGAN: All right. That sounds a little big brotherish.
How about mourning a significant pop star from the Latino world?
LEWIS: Yes, Adan Sanchez, in a tragic accident this week, a 19 year-old Spanish singer. And young Latinos are one of the fastest growing groups online. And they came on in droves this week to get more information and details on the tragic accident, two, to download his songs and his music and to send well wishes to the family. It's really a modern way to mourn, particularly for young people. A lot of people are calling this relating it to the death of Salina.
KAGAN: Other news involving young people, prom dresses. I guess in this age of Janet Jackson, actually there's a backlash and modesty is in?
LEWIS: This is fascinating. There is a site called ModestByDesign.com. And their slogan is, clothing your father would be proud of. And the prom dress styles, I think, are absolutely lovely. The hemlines are a little bit longer and they're proven to be incredibly popular.
The Red Service on AOL, which is for teens, did an interactive fashion show this week. And the thing that got one of -- some of the most traffic was the classic styles.
Now girls are still adding their touch. This year watch for what they're calling bling, a lot of costume jewelry, because they're frankly trying to replicate the look that you've seen firsthand on the red carpet. And the styles just seem to be a little less Janet Jackson/Britney, a little more Elizabeth Smart, if you will.
KAGAN: All right, good. We'll be in favor of class there. And how about scurrying cicadas?
LEWIS: We'll this is kind of gross.
KAGAN: All right.
LEWIS: We'll end on sort of a gross note. The 17-year cicadas are supposed to emerge this summer. And because of the rarity, there's tons of information online. If you are having a May wedding in the east of this country, you might not need a band. Apparently the males are very loud.
Also, people sharing recipes. It is a delicacy. And apparently, and this is when I knew my Google searching had gone too far, they taste a little like potatoes with a touch of clam sauce.
KAGAN: What happens...
LEWIS: And I thought, you know what, that's more than I need to know.
KAGAN: What happened to tastes like chicken?
LEWIS: Yes!
KAGAN: Yes.
LEWIS: I mean this is just really going to be ugly. But on a practical front, this is what I was searching for, it's not going to hurt your garden. So you just kind of have to live through it. They go away.
There's also a mystery about how they know to come out every 17 years. Do these things count? Do they have a clock? Who knows?
KAGAN: They get the memo. They get the e-mail or the memo?
LEWIS: You think?
KAGAN: Yes.
LEWIS: Possibly.
KAGAN: They check online.
Regina Lewis, from AOL, thanks for stopping by. Appreciate that.
LEWIS: Sure.
Let's check in on weather. Orleon Sidney getting back to the weather stories. (WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Yesterday he was grabbing the spotlight on Capitol Hill. Today it is back to harsh reality for Michael Jackson. His lawyers are in court. We go live to Santa Barbara County coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Let's check the headlines 'At This Hour.'
A bomb was found today under the high-speed rail track that runs between Madrid and Seville. Investigators say the device contained about 26 pounds of explosives. State Radio says the explosive appears to be the same type used in the Madrid train bombings three weeks ago.
Officials are said to be widening their probe into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative Valerie Plame. The "New York Times" says investigators want to know whether White House aides lied or mishandled secret information. The paper says prosecutors may be preparing to go back to the grand jury to seek indictments.
NATO raised the flags of seven new member countries today at headquarters in Brussels. All 26 ministers of the organization then held their first formal meeting. The new members are the Baltic States, along with Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia.
And police in Madison, Wisconsin are planning a news conference any moment now on the Audrey Seiler case. The college student says that she was kidnapped Saturday night and held for four days. Police did release a composite sketch of a suspect.
And for more on that news conference, which is set to begin any minute in Madison, let's go to our Jonathan Freed who is standing by -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
I think that what we should do is walk everybody through the basic sequence of events and hit the high points over the last two months so that we'll be primed and ready to listen to this news conference that, as you say, is scheduled to begin in the next few minutes or so.
Audrey Seiler, back on February 1, said that she was attacked while out walking after midnight. She said that she was struck from behind, knocked unconscious and that she woke up a couple of blocks away behind a building and that she wasn't otherwise hurt and wasn't robbed. Now police found that peculiar at the time, and they investigated to the degree that they did.
But then you fast-forward until this past Saturday, when early in the morning, around 2:30, the security camera in her apartment building caught her leaving without a coat or a purse. Now as a result of the first incident that she reported in February, police kicked off a full-scale search for her right away. It was only classified as a missing person case, yet the posture that the police took suggested a much more significant interest in the case than just that.
Now on Wednesday, a passerby at around 1:00 Central Time, a passerby in a marshy area, about two-and-a-half miles away from where Audrey Seiler lived, spotted somebody that they thought looked like the person that everybody was searching for. Called police. Police moved in. Turned out to be Audrey Seiler. She was taken to hospital and then about five hours later released. Doctors talking about how she was in much better shape. They were impressed with the condition that she was in and even her frame of mind.
Now, just yesterday, at a news conference right here where we are in Madison, Wisconsin, police came out at the end of the day with a very focused and tightly written and carefully worded statement talking about inconsistencies, that they were investigating inconsistencies in the testimony from witnesses and from Seiler herself. Now they were careful to say that this is not unusual in investigations of this nature, but they were very specific about using the word inconsistencies.
And then today, this morning first thing, police say that they were -- that they were holding a news conference today to deal with -- quote -- "a significant change in the direction of the case." Now that is what we are standing by for right now. There has been a lot of speculation in town. We don't want to really get into speculation itself, but people here in town have become, we'll say, skeptical as to the story.
And police have continued to say that the sequence of events, the fact that these two things have happened to the same person over a two-month period of time, they were calling those unusual and interesting. So we're all standing by to see what the "significant change in the direction of the case," to quote police, will be -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Police were very -- were very specific yesterday that they were just going to come out and read a statement, no questions. Have they given any indication, Jonathan, of the format of today's news conference?
FREED: No, they haven't, as far as I know, although they have given us a lot of notice. We found out early this morning when the public information officer for the police department, who has been the main point of contact for us, he seemed somewhat buoyed when he said look
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 April 2, 2004 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast and 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast. From CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning, once again, I'm Daryn Kagan.
We begin this hour in Iraq where two American troops have been killed in separate attacks. A roadside bomb killed a soldier with the 1st Armored Division while on patrol in Baghdad. And a Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Division was killed in a province west of Baghdad.
The U.S. military is pledging to come down hard on insurgents in Fallujah after this week's grisly attack on four civilian contractors.
Senior international correspondent Walter Rodgers is in Baghdad with the latest -- Walter.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
Over the past few days, there has been genuine fury on the part of U.S. officials here in Baghdad at the murder and butchery and mutilation of the four American civilian contractors who were killed in Fallujah on Wednesday. One of the reasons for that, of course, was that the American public has not seen graphic images of the war like those up until this date. It showed clearly the hatred among some Iraqis of the American people.
And there is a thinly veiled threat of vengeance by U.S. officials here. The U.S. is saying the Marines are prepared to go back in, retake Fallujah. And they are also saying that the perpetrators of this crime will be hunted down, and that Fallujah will be pacified, as other Iraqi cities have been.
There was another manifestation of the hatred of Americans in this country today. There was a very large demonstration on the streets of Baghdad. This is Friday prayer day. Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims poured out onto the streets.
The demonstration was initially to protest the closure of a Shiite newspaper by the American administrator here, but it quickly turned into a much larger anti-American demonstration. The crowds shouted things like, "no to America," "no to Israel," "yes to jihad and holy war." They also shouted that the Governing Council and America are infidels, and they demanded the right to fight America.
One leading Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric today in his Friday sermon warned the Americans that the Iraqis are preparing their own intifada, their own resistance to the American occupation of this country -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Walter Rodgers in Baghdad.
One of the civilians killed in Fallujah this week was 32-year-old Jerry Zovko. He came from Ohio. Zovko joined the Army at age 19. And after his military duty, he signed on with the firm Blackwater Security, which provides security services in Iraq.
Zovko's brother, Tom, appeared on CNN this morning. He talked about his family's loss with our Bill Hemmer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM ZOVKO, VICTIM'S BROTHER: And this last time, when he left in September, he came to see me and my family, before he left, when he had a chance to take a vacation. And when he left, he said, you know, he wanted to go and do what he could, to make it a better place.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: How has the pictures and the coverage influenced you this past week?
ZOVKO: It's -- I've got -- I have mixed emotions. Very extremely mixed emotions. You know I try not to think about it, think about them. But I think they're necessary to show everyone what's going on, you know what -- he went there to prevent something like this.
HEMMER: The pictures are one thing, Tom, and the brutality and the details of the story are another. Have you had time to reflect on that?
ZOVKO: No, not as -- no, no. I'm -- no. He -- it still hasn't sunk in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: The commission investigating 9/11 hopes to learn more next week about what Clinton administration officials told the Bush White House about al Qaeda. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice goes before the panel next Thursday.
Our Elaine Quijano joins us from the White House with details on that -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn.
Well that, undoubtedly, was one of the topics on President Bush's mind as he left Washington for an event taking place in Huntington, West Virginia. The president is traveling there to talk about job training. He will be meeting with some folks at Marshall University before going on to a fund raising event in Georgia later this afternoon.
But, as I said, other administration officials here, not just the president, of course, very focused on this public testimony of Dr. Condoleezza Rice before the September 11 Commission next Thursday. The White House very anxious, very eager for that public testimony to happen. Officials want to answer those criticisms put forth by Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism chief, that the Bush administration was not focused on fighting terrorism, on fighting al Qaeda before September 11.
Now, one of the president's closest advisers, Karen Hughes, says that despite the administration's initial concerns about Dr. Rice testifying in a public forum, they are now relieved that she will be appearing before the 9/11 Commission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN HUGHES, SENIOR BUSH ADVISER: I'm very glad, again, as a communicator and as an American, that he was able to resolve it in a way that protects the constitutional principle by stating clearly, in writing, that this is exceptional, this is an extraordinary set of circumstances, but also allows Dr. Rice to do what I know she wants to do and that is to publicly share the facts with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, the administration also hopes to change the perception on the part of some September 11 family members that the Bush administration has something to hide. They hope that Dr. Rice's very public testimony, public appearance before the commission, will do that.
Now related to the September 11 Commission, right now we understand that commission members are trying to determine what documents they, in fact, do have. There's been some concern expressed by Bruce Lindsey, he is the former Deputy White House Counsel for President Clinton, that perhaps the commission did not receive all of the documents that it had requested. We understand from a spokesperson for the 9/11 Commission that they are taking inventory of what they do have. That process is expected to take about a day and a half.
As for the White House, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan saying that they are continuing to cooperate with the commission -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House.
Want to go back now to one of our top stories and that's taking place in Spain. The discovery of another bomb along a Spanish rail line.
Our Al Goodman standing by with more on that -- Al.
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wait a minute, so I hold on to the cell phone in my...
KAGAN: Al, are you with us? Al Goodman in Spain.
GOODMAN: Stand by.
KAGAN: Al?
GOODMAN: OK.
KAGAN: All right, we will work on getting Al ready to go, standing by in Spain with more on the bomb discovered underneath a Spanish rail line.
We're going to take a break.
Last year at this time, her story was captured in the attention of the nation. Up next, hear how former POW Jessica Lynch is doing a year after her incredible rescue.
Also, there may be some good news for the White House on a job front. More on that just ahead.
And e-mail with more memory than you ever thought possible. Is it possible and what's the catch? Regina Lewis has your buzz on the Web when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: CNN LIVE TODAY will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: All right. Looks like we've worked out the bugs and can get Al Goodman live from Spain. The latest on an apparent terror bomb plot that was disrupted and a potential disaster averted -- Al.
GOODMAN: Hello, Daryn.
There was a bomb on Spain's main Bullet railroad network in this train track right behind me. If you can see in this area, I'm going to just step out of the way, in this area right behind me, a bomb, several hours ago, was found here on this Bullet train track that connects Madrid with Seville, perhaps the most prestigious train track in all of Spain.
Now the Interior Minister Angel Acebes said to the nation on a -- in a televised news conference hours ago that this bomb contained 10 to 12 kilos of explosives. That's 22 to 26 pounds of explosives. He said it might have been dynamite. They were checking on that. He said it was connected to a detonator, which in turn was connected to a very long cable. So someone obviously putting this here to disrupt the service, but it was found.
And all of this, of course, Daryn, coming just three weeks after the Madrid commuter train bombings. That's about an hour north of where I'm standing. We're in Toledo province. Those Madrid commuter train bombings killing 190 people, injuring more than 1,800. As a result of all of this, the bomb has now been found on this track. A civil guard officer, who is standing here, has told me that the bomb has been deactivated. He's not talking about the type of explosives that were contained in it. But the Interior Minister and the Defense Minister have just held an emergency meeting in Madrid to announce stepped up security in a nation that thought security was already stepped up after those train bombings three weeks ago -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Al Goodman with the latest from Spain.
There's more violence today in the Middle East, as well. Israeli police entered a Jerusalem holy site today and clashed with rock- throwing Palestinian protestors. Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades against the protesters. There were a number of injuries and at least 14 arrests. The location of the clashes is one of the holiest sites in Islam. It's above the Western Wall, which is the holiest site in Judaism.
A raging inferno in Colorado, and it doesn't look like it will be over anytime soon. The latest on the wildfires coming up next.
And later, new information about Michael Jackson's accuser on this the day that Jackson's lawyers are back in court.
We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: A wildfire threatens nearly two dozen homes in Colorado. Officials say the fire near Fort Collins has grown to more than 5,600 acres this morning. Residents of Livermore have been told to prepare for possible evacuations. Strong winds and dry conditions are fueling the fire. Crews are hoping for higher humidity this afternoon and rain by later in the day.
Much of Massachusetts remains under a flood warning today, but the worst appears to be over. The slow-moving storm dumped up to six inches of rain in some locations and that caused flooding in low-lying areas. The high water forced a few schools to close and some sections of highway were shut down this morning.
Want to go ahead and talk about what is hot on the Web. And for that we bring in Regina Lewis, talking about what people are looking up on AOL and other news, as well.
Regina, good morning.
REGINA LEWIS, AOL ONLINE ADVISER: Good morning -- Daryn.
KAGAN: First, let's start with something that we thought perhaps was an April Fool's joke yesterday. Turns out it's the real deal. Google going to offer e-mail, but there's a catch.
LEWIS: Well, it's called g-mail. And it's not available yet. So that would certainly be the first catch. All you really have to know is Google equals God. I'm kidding, sort of, but certainly they are very powerful. And they did throw a lot of people off by being kind of casual about this announcement and then posting something on their site that said, do you want a job that's out of this world? If you clicked on it, it told you about their plant that they have on the moon. And then that made a lot of people think maybe this whole thing is a joke.
I would just offer this, and with all due respect to my friends that are engineers, sometimes computer scientists with Ph.D.s, their humor a little different than everybody else's. Turns out g-mail is not launched yet. You can sign up for it, and that's really how it played out.
KAGAN: But the catch is here it's going to be free but they're going to read your e-mail, right, and you might get advertising attached?
LEWIS: Well, Google's whole thing is that they're going to sort it for you.
KAGAN: Sort, OK.
LEWIS: They are going to save it to the end of time and they do offer -- I mean this is their -- they are a search engine. So if based on your e-mail and what you like and what you don't, would you get ads served up to you that are related, probably. We'll see where it goes.
KAGAN: All right. That sounds a little big brotherish.
How about mourning a significant pop star from the Latino world?
LEWIS: Yes, Adan Sanchez, in a tragic accident this week, a 19 year-old Spanish singer. And young Latinos are one of the fastest growing groups online. And they came on in droves this week to get more information and details on the tragic accident, two, to download his songs and his music and to send well wishes to the family. It's really a modern way to mourn, particularly for young people. A lot of people are calling this relating it to the death of Salina.
KAGAN: Other news involving young people, prom dresses. I guess in this age of Janet Jackson, actually there's a backlash and modesty is in?
LEWIS: This is fascinating. There is a site called ModestByDesign.com. And their slogan is, clothing your father would be proud of. And the prom dress styles, I think, are absolutely lovely. The hemlines are a little bit longer and they're proven to be incredibly popular.
The Red Service on AOL, which is for teens, did an interactive fashion show this week. And the thing that got one of -- some of the most traffic was the classic styles.
Now girls are still adding their touch. This year watch for what they're calling bling, a lot of costume jewelry, because they're frankly trying to replicate the look that you've seen firsthand on the red carpet. And the styles just seem to be a little less Janet Jackson/Britney, a little more Elizabeth Smart, if you will.
KAGAN: All right, good. We'll be in favor of class there. And how about scurrying cicadas?
LEWIS: We'll this is kind of gross.
KAGAN: All right.
LEWIS: We'll end on sort of a gross note. The 17-year cicadas are supposed to emerge this summer. And because of the rarity, there's tons of information online. If you are having a May wedding in the east of this country, you might not need a band. Apparently the males are very loud.
Also, people sharing recipes. It is a delicacy. And apparently, and this is when I knew my Google searching had gone too far, they taste a little like potatoes with a touch of clam sauce.
KAGAN: What happens...
LEWIS: And I thought, you know what, that's more than I need to know.
KAGAN: What happened to tastes like chicken?
LEWIS: Yes!
KAGAN: Yes.
LEWIS: I mean this is just really going to be ugly. But on a practical front, this is what I was searching for, it's not going to hurt your garden. So you just kind of have to live through it. They go away.
There's also a mystery about how they know to come out every 17 years. Do these things count? Do they have a clock? Who knows?
KAGAN: They get the memo. They get the e-mail or the memo?
LEWIS: You think?
KAGAN: Yes.
LEWIS: Possibly.
KAGAN: They check online.
Regina Lewis, from AOL, thanks for stopping by. Appreciate that.
LEWIS: Sure.
Let's check in on weather. Orleon Sidney getting back to the weather stories. (WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: Yesterday he was grabbing the spotlight on Capitol Hill. Today it is back to harsh reality for Michael Jackson. His lawyers are in court. We go live to Santa Barbara County coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Let's check the headlines 'At This Hour.'
A bomb was found today under the high-speed rail track that runs between Madrid and Seville. Investigators say the device contained about 26 pounds of explosives. State Radio says the explosive appears to be the same type used in the Madrid train bombings three weeks ago.
Officials are said to be widening their probe into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative Valerie Plame. The "New York Times" says investigators want to know whether White House aides lied or mishandled secret information. The paper says prosecutors may be preparing to go back to the grand jury to seek indictments.
NATO raised the flags of seven new member countries today at headquarters in Brussels. All 26 ministers of the organization then held their first formal meeting. The new members are the Baltic States, along with Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia.
And police in Madison, Wisconsin are planning a news conference any moment now on the Audrey Seiler case. The college student says that she was kidnapped Saturday night and held for four days. Police did release a composite sketch of a suspect.
And for more on that news conference, which is set to begin any minute in Madison, let's go to our Jonathan Freed who is standing by -- Jonathan.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
I think that what we should do is walk everybody through the basic sequence of events and hit the high points over the last two months so that we'll be primed and ready to listen to this news conference that, as you say, is scheduled to begin in the next few minutes or so.
Audrey Seiler, back on February 1, said that she was attacked while out walking after midnight. She said that she was struck from behind, knocked unconscious and that she woke up a couple of blocks away behind a building and that she wasn't otherwise hurt and wasn't robbed. Now police found that peculiar at the time, and they investigated to the degree that they did.
But then you fast-forward until this past Saturday, when early in the morning, around 2:30, the security camera in her apartment building caught her leaving without a coat or a purse. Now as a result of the first incident that she reported in February, police kicked off a full-scale search for her right away. It was only classified as a missing person case, yet the posture that the police took suggested a much more significant interest in the case than just that.
Now on Wednesday, a passerby at around 1:00 Central Time, a passerby in a marshy area, about two-and-a-half miles away from where Audrey Seiler lived, spotted somebody that they thought looked like the person that everybody was searching for. Called police. Police moved in. Turned out to be Audrey Seiler. She was taken to hospital and then about five hours later released. Doctors talking about how she was in much better shape. They were impressed with the condition that she was in and even her frame of mind.
Now, just yesterday, at a news conference right here where we are in Madison, Wisconsin, police came out at the end of the day with a very focused and tightly written and carefully worded statement talking about inconsistencies, that they were investigating inconsistencies in the testimony from witnesses and from Seiler herself. Now they were careful to say that this is not unusual in investigations of this nature, but they were very specific about using the word inconsistencies.
And then today, this morning first thing, police say that they were -- that they were holding a news conference today to deal with -- quote -- "a significant change in the direction of the case." Now that is what we are standing by for right now. There has been a lot of speculation in town. We don't want to really get into speculation itself, but people here in town have become, we'll say, skeptical as to the story.
And police have continued to say that the sequence of events, the fact that these two things have happened to the same person over a two-month period of time, they were calling those unusual and interesting. So we're all standing by to see what the "significant change in the direction of the case," to quote police, will be -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Police were very -- were very specific yesterday that they were just going to come out and read a statement, no questions. Have they given any indication, Jonathan, of the format of today's news conference?
FREED: No, they haven't, as far as I know, although they have given us a lot of notice. We found out early this morning when the public information officer for the police department, who has been the main point of contact for us, he seemed somewhat buoyed when he said look
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