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CNN Live At Daybreak
Arrest in Saudi Arabia of Cleric With Suspected Ties to Al Qaeda; Are Real Wages Falling?
Aired August 06, 2004 - 05:00 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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning about a terrorist suspect arrested in Britain. Was he plotting an attack in the U.S.?
It's Friday, August 6, and this is DAYBREAK.
Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in today for Carol Costello.
Now in the news, CNN has learned that a suspected al Qaeda terrorist in custody in Britain may have been a key player in planning the 9/11 attacks. Eisa al-Hindi is believed to have been in New York in early 2001 to collect intelligence on possible al Qaeda targets.
President Bush follows John Kerry in speaking to the Unity Conference in Washington today. John Kerry addressed the convention on Thursday. After his speech, the president heads to New Hampshire.
The government may wrap up its case today in the hearing against Private Lynndie England. An intelligence analyst testified that military intelligence agents took part in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison.
Three and a half hours from now the Labor Department releases July's job numbers. Experts believe the unemployment rate will stay steady at 5.6 percent.
Good morning -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
It's nice and cool outside.
LIN: Is it?
MYERS: Yes. Even down here in Atlanta.
LIN: That's good. That's a relief.
MYERS: You step outside in Detroit and the dog may take one step out and back up.
(WEATHER REPORT) LIN: Well, there are several new developments this morning on the terrorism front. A U.S. government official, or at least several officials, say a terror suspect arrested in Britain is a key al Qaeda operative. He's identified as Eisa al-Hindi. Law enforcement sources tell CNN Al-Hindi is believed to have been in the New York area in early 2001 and they believe he personally cased some of the buildings that sparked this week's raised terror alerts.
Now, in Saudi Arabia, security forces have arrested a top al Qaeda leader on their most wanted terror list. An interior ministry official identifies him as a cleric who gives religious justification for al Qaeda's activities. Al Qaeda and other terror groups have targeted non-Arabs in the kingdom in an effort to undermine the Saudi economy.
Now we move on to Pakistan. U.S. defense and intelligence sources say there are signs that terrorist training camps may have sprouted again. The sources say aerial surveillance gathered last month indicates vehicles and people recently moved into areas known to be al Qaeda training areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
And in Albany, New York, two mosque leaders are being held without bond this morning after being arrested in an FBI sting operation. They are charged with conspiracy and trying to launder money from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile. The government says the men believed the missile would be used in a terrorist act.
And British police also arrested a British man wanted on terrorism charges in a warrant issued by federal prosecutors in Connecticut.
To London now and CNN's Diana Muriel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A court hearing in central London today following the arrest of a 30-year-old man, Babar Ahmad, in central London on Thursday. The court hearing is at the request of the U.S. authorities, who have accused Babar Ahmad of trying to use the Internet and e-mail to raise funds, to finance violence and murder in Chechnya and Afghanistan.
Ahmad was arrested in central London on Thursday at 4:00 in the afternoon by officers from the Metropolitan Police Extradition and International Assistance Unit. He gave an address in Tooting in south London.
Officers from the anti-terrorist branch are searching three residential premises and one office premises in southwest London on behalf of the U.S. authorities. It's understood that Babar Ahmad is wanted by the FBI in Connecticut and the U.S. attorney, Kevin O'Connor, is expected to give a press conference in Connecticut later this morning.
Diana Muriel, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Now, about that al Qaeda arrest in Saudi Arabia, the officials there say that this arrest is extremely significant because the suspect is a cleric who was able to control the hearts and minds of terror recruits.
We're going to hear more now from CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His name is Fares Zahrani. He was detained in a planned operation yesterday evening in Abhar. That's a town southwest of Riyadh, a town in the mountains quite close to the border with Yemen.
He is described as being not a fighter, but a cleric, somebody who would give religious justification for al Qaeda's attacks. He has also been described as the sort of person who would have been a recruiter for al Qaeda, someone who would have encouraged young men by explaining to them an interpretation of the Koran which would encourage them to come toward al Qaeda's philosophy and join al Qaeda.
So security officials here say he is a very important catch for them. He is on Saudi Arabia's most 26 most wanted list that was issued in December last year. And they say that because of his role in recruiting, because he has this sort of ideological value to the known al Qaeda militants here, that it is a significant catch for them.
Some members -- some people, al Qaeda members on that most wanted list, the 26, still remain at large. But over recent weeks and months, Saudi officials have either captured or killed the greater part of that list of 26.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: That was Nic Robertson reporting in from Saudi Arabia.
If you want to any more about these terror threats, you can, of course, log onto our Web site. It's cnn.com. There's a special report on fighting terrorism.
But right now we want to move to news across America this Friday morning.
People in central California were sent scrambling for higher ground after a dam broke on the middle fork of the American River. A three to four foot wall of water rushed down the river after a release gate failed. Helicopters warned campers and hikers to evacuate immediately.
An Army specialist who pleaded guilty in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal heads to the witness stand today. Jeremy Sivits is scheduled to testify on the third day of the preliminary hearing for PFC Lynndie England. She is facing 19 counts of abuse and personal sexual misconduct.
And Scott Peterson won't be in court today. New evidence in his trial led the judge to halt the proceedings. A source close to the case tells CNN some physical evidence was found near the remains of either Laci Peterson or her unborn son. The defense is being given time to examine that new evidence. The trial is expected to resume on Tuesday. And that is when former mistress Amber Frey is expected to take the stand, something we've been waiting for for quite some time.
In the meantime, Salt Lake City police say it may take another month before they find Lori Hacking's body. They are at a landfill this hour, right this hour, this early, sifting through 3,000 tons of garbage. Mark Hacking's father said his son just snapped before killing his pregnant wife and tossing her body in a trash bin. The family released this statement. And it says: "As recently reported in the media, over the weekend of July 24, Mark Hacking provided information to family members to assist in finding Lori. At that point, steps were taken to relay this information to the proper authorities as quickly as possible and to halt the majority of the search efforts until further information was available."
Now, Mark Hacking is under arrest but hasn't been charged in this case, at least not yet.
Now, you may be the lucky one, or one of the lucky Americans with a job. But are you earning what you're wroth? At least at 15 past the hour we're going to go see if you're making enough money. And at 25 past the hour, we're going to meet a heavy lifter who's getting ready to head for Athens. And she's hoping to bring home the gold.
And stay close because at 55 past, our own Jeanne Moos shows us the most bizarre of the bizarre ads floating around on the Internet this political season.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Record high oil prices greased the skids on Wall Street. The Dow opens this morning below 10000, at 9963. That is down 163 points. The Nasdaq opens at 1821, down 33. And the S&P 500 opens at 1080, down almost 18. But the day is still young.
Now, when was the last time you had a raise? Economists say there's been a troubling trend recently when it comes to getting more money. So it might not be so hard to believe that your wages, when adjusted for inflation, are actually falling.
Here's CNN's Ceci Rodgers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For many Americans, take home pay is not keeping up with rising costs. Energy and gas prices are at record highs. Health care and medical insurance costs are soaring. Earnings adjusted for inflation, known as real earnings, have shrunk more than 1 percent in the past year. Economists say it's worrisome.
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ECONOMY.COM: Wage growth is very slow. It's very constrained. The job market has improved, but it's still very soft. There are still many people who are unemployed, under employed. Employers still have the upper hand in negotiations with their employees and employees just aren't getting those pay increases.
RODGERS: Economy.com studied employment industry by industry and found another disturbing trend. Fifty-five percent of the new jobs created in the past year were in low wage industries such as restaurants, retailing, hotels and temporary help positions. The question is why? Most likely, businesses still lack confidence in the economic recovery and are reluctant to bring on new employees for higher wage positions.
Not everyone agrees that stagnant wages are a problem. In fact, some economists say that people are simply looking at the wrong statistics.
BRIAN WESBURY, BUSINESS CONSULTANT: When you include tips, commissions and bonuses, we see growth in wages or in earnings of about 3.7 percent in the past year. So that's faster than inflation. So it's a completely different picture.
RODGERS: Even so, in past recoveries, base wages have shown strong gains.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
Have a good day now.
RODGERS (on camera): No one can predict when wages will pick up. The Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, has speculated they will, as long as the economy continues to steadily grow.
Ceci Rodgers for CNN Financial News, Chicago.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: A windy day there in Chicago.
Let's go overseas now for a quick check of the financial numbers.
For that, there's Robyn Curnow in London -- good morning, Robyn.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.
I want to show you what we're looking at here today. And the big story is, of course, this light crude price here, over $44 a barrel in the U.S. But here in London, futures for Brent crude are up $41.26.
Now, these are record highs, both sides of the Atlantic seeing these oil prices just shoot through the roof. Now, there's a reason for this and that is Yukos, that embattled oil company. This is its price in dollars at the moment, down 18 percent. Now, this comes after the Russian government seems to have had a turnaround and it rescinded the fact that it said it might give a financial lifeline to this company. They're having a dispute over a tax bill, a $7 billion tax bill. And with that news that the government is not going to be giving that financial lifeline to Yukos, the shares have dived again and, of course, investors globally are concerned because Yukos is the biggest oil company out in Russia and they're very concerned about tightening of supply from Russia and, of course, that also globally.
And along with that big fire at that oil refinery in the U.S., again, negative sentiment globally among investors that we are looking at some very tightening of supplies. It is sentiment, as many people say, is this the real case? But either way, many people wondering are we going to hit $50 a barrel for oil?
Our main markets, we've not got -- we haven't got any numbers up here at the moment. But really you can see the main thing is that we're in the red. These arrows firmly pointing down.
The FTSE has been treading down all of the day.
The DAX has been one of the big movers.
And really these markets very much influence by the soaring oil prices.
LIN: All right, thanks very much, Robyn.
Just an indication of things to come, probably here today in the United States.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's now 16 past the hour and here's what's new this morning.
The Bush administration says North Korea is carrying out supposedly banned weapons tests in Iran. An administration official says development of ballistic missile technology in Iran is actually being done for North Korea.
Searches are under way in the Northeast U.S. as part of the investigation into the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001. The FBI and postal inspectors are in western New York and Ocean County, New Jersey. Five people died after being exposed to the poison.
In money, Saturn is recalling almost all of its SUVs due to failures in government rollover tests. More than 245,000 Saturn SUVs are involved. Rear suspension problems caused the vehicles to fail rollover tests.
And in culture, Olympic sports on your cell phone? European broadcasters are offering live coverage of the upcoming Summer Games on the Internet. But here in the United States, coverage will only be available on a tape delay basis.
Now in sports, is Michael Vick hurt again? The Atlanta Falcons quarterback suffered an apparent hamstring injury during practice. But he says it won't keep him off the field. He missed 11 games last season after breaking a bone in the same leg. Ouch -- Chad.
MYERS: I know. I know. I know.
LIN: Can you imagine playing on an injured leg?
MYERS: Yes, he tried last year, he really did. And he was really the hope for Atlanta last year. But after he went down, man, it just didn't work out.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: All right, a generation takes to the skies. Coming up, the fast and the furious get fired up.
And her dream is to be the strongest woman in the world. And you don't want to argue with her. We're going to tell you how this young Georgia woman is going for the gold in Greece.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Friday, August 6.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Here are our DAYBREAK "Eye Openers."
The locusts -- look at this.
MYERS: Oh, yes.
LIN: The locusts have descended upon West Africa. The worst swarm in more than 15 years has already led at least one nation to declare a state of emergency. They're thickest in Mauritania, where they have stripped trees, crops and even the presidential garden. You thought the cicadas were bad. Can you believe that? It looks like seaweed on the beach.
MYERS: It looks like, I don't know...
LIN: Not something we want to discuss at 5:22 in the morning.
MYERS: It doesn't look yummy.
LIN: Hey, Timmy, Lassie fell down the well. It took firefighters about 45 minutes to reach this pooch. What a little sweetie. Chad, he fell 15 feet into an uncovered well. You know, apparently he has a habit of falling into wells.
MYERS: Well, I know, but good thing it wasn't a child. Keep that thing covered up.
LIN: There you go.
All right, high fliers were in focus today. One of the X Games, we're going to talk about this.
MYERS: Yes, there you go. The X Games started yesterday.
LIN: What do you think of those? Exactly what are the X Games? This is like extreme sports?
MYERS: It's broken bones on TV, basically.
LIN: All right, this apparently is what this guy, Chuck Carruthers, did.
MYERS: That was amazing.
LIN: Yes. Nailed a seat grab verial (ph) 360 in the MotoX Motocross tricks competition.
MYERS: Glad you understood that.
LIN: All right, Chris Cotter from CNN Sports -- there he goes, a big hug from the little lady.
MYERS: They've been doing that now 10 years on ESPN.
LIN: All right, Chris Cotter is going to talk to us about that in the next hour.
MYERS: OK, good.
LIN: From the X Games to the Summer Games. The Olympics are just a week away now. And as part of our continuing series on America's Olympians, we focus on a woman worth her weight, her weight in gold.
Here's our Jason Bellini.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cheryl Haworth is 21 years old. She weighs 296 pounds.
CHERYL HAWORTH, OLYMPIC WEIGHT LIFTER: I'm a super heavyweight lifter. And that bulk and that size helps me move a lot of weight.
BELLINI: Until Haworth took up weight lifting in high school, she was self-conscious about her size.
HAWORTH: Every girl, especially, they always have that one hang- up, you know? Like I hate my nose, or my teeth are crooked or this and that. Like, that was just my one thing, but it never really bothered me that much, because I was -- I was never too unpopular.
BELLINI: Popularity isn't a problem for her now either. During competitions, Haworth's fans shout her nickname, Fun.
MICHAEL COWEN, WEIGHT LIFTING COACH: Cheryl came in this gym many years ago, and she had a t-shirt with the words "fun" across the front of the shirt. She wore it every day for like six weeks straight. Same outfit.
HAWORTH: I did not. That's a lie and you know it.
BELLINI: At 17, Haworth was the third strongest woman in the world. She won the Bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics. In Athens, she hopes to become the strongest.
(on camera): You don't seem like the bragging type.
HAWORTH: No. But I'm just saying, like, it is nice to think about it occasionally.
BELLINI: And others can brag about you?
HAWORTH: Yeah. And I can overhear them bragging about me.
BELLINI (voice-over): In 2000, Haworth lifted 319 pounds in the clean and jerk.
HAWORTH: I don't know why it is called the clean. I don't know why it's called jerk.
BELLINI: In the snatch events, she lifted 275 pounds.
(on camera): This time, Cheryl's coach plans to start her at 281 pounds and is prepared to take her as high as 297 pounds.
(voice-over): Haworth lifts the rough equivalent of a refrigerator above her head.
She knows it is not always pretty.
HAWORTH: Nobody looks good lifting weights. My cheeks blow up. You know, my face gets red. You look straight ahead and you look nuts. But if you're a real athlete, you're not going to be concerned with how you look anyway.
BELLINI: But she's sure she'll look pretty good wearing gold.
Jason Bellini, CNN, Savanna, Georgia.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Good luck.
Be sure to tune into "ANDERSON COOPER 360" for more Olympic profiles, because tonight white magic gets lumbered up for his won run at a gold medal. Anderson is going to explain that one at 7:00 p.m. We just like to offer you riddles at 25 minutes past 5:00 a.m.
And here's what's next in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.
A major revelation factoring into the war on terror. A big catch in the U.K. paints a frightening picture of what could have happened here in the United States. And following, well, following that story, is al Qaeda establishing terror training camps in Pakistan? We're going to take you live to Islamabad, so stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: A suspected terrorist arrested in the U.K. Is there a U.S. connection?
It's Friday, August 6, and this is DAYBREAK.
Good morning and welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.
From CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. Carol Costello is off today.
Now in the news, one of a dozen terror suspects arrested this week in Britain may have scouted financial institutions in the U.S. for possible attacks. A law enforcement source says in 2001, al Qaeda leader Eisa al-Hindi was in three of the buildings named in this week's terror alert for financial institutions.
The hearing for PFC Lynndie England, charged with abusing prisoners in Iraq, resumes two and a half hours from now. Yesterday, a military intelligence agent testified that agents participated in the abuse of three prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
The Labor Department reports the July job numbers three hours from now. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 5.6 percent. But the real story will be the number of jobs created last month.
And get ready for more pain at the pump. Oil prices shot to new highs again this morning on world markets. U.S. light crude in New York at $44.73 a barrel.
Chad -- good morning again.
MYERS: Good morning.
And I just $1.68 a gallon yesterday.
LIN: And we have the cheapest gas in the country, Chad, in Georgia.
MYERS: It seems like gas has been going down and the barrels have been going up. So I'm just kind of waiting for this delayed reaction of the prices start going back up again.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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Aired August 6, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning about a terrorist suspect arrested in Britain. Was he plotting an attack in the U.S.?
It's Friday, August 6, and this is DAYBREAK.
Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in today for Carol Costello.
Now in the news, CNN has learned that a suspected al Qaeda terrorist in custody in Britain may have been a key player in planning the 9/11 attacks. Eisa al-Hindi is believed to have been in New York in early 2001 to collect intelligence on possible al Qaeda targets.
President Bush follows John Kerry in speaking to the Unity Conference in Washington today. John Kerry addressed the convention on Thursday. After his speech, the president heads to New Hampshire.
The government may wrap up its case today in the hearing against Private Lynndie England. An intelligence analyst testified that military intelligence agents took part in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison.
Three and a half hours from now the Labor Department releases July's job numbers. Experts believe the unemployment rate will stay steady at 5.6 percent.
Good morning -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
It's nice and cool outside.
LIN: Is it?
MYERS: Yes. Even down here in Atlanta.
LIN: That's good. That's a relief.
MYERS: You step outside in Detroit and the dog may take one step out and back up.
(WEATHER REPORT) LIN: Well, there are several new developments this morning on the terrorism front. A U.S. government official, or at least several officials, say a terror suspect arrested in Britain is a key al Qaeda operative. He's identified as Eisa al-Hindi. Law enforcement sources tell CNN Al-Hindi is believed to have been in the New York area in early 2001 and they believe he personally cased some of the buildings that sparked this week's raised terror alerts.
Now, in Saudi Arabia, security forces have arrested a top al Qaeda leader on their most wanted terror list. An interior ministry official identifies him as a cleric who gives religious justification for al Qaeda's activities. Al Qaeda and other terror groups have targeted non-Arabs in the kingdom in an effort to undermine the Saudi economy.
Now we move on to Pakistan. U.S. defense and intelligence sources say there are signs that terrorist training camps may have sprouted again. The sources say aerial surveillance gathered last month indicates vehicles and people recently moved into areas known to be al Qaeda training areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
And in Albany, New York, two mosque leaders are being held without bond this morning after being arrested in an FBI sting operation. They are charged with conspiracy and trying to launder money from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile. The government says the men believed the missile would be used in a terrorist act.
And British police also arrested a British man wanted on terrorism charges in a warrant issued by federal prosecutors in Connecticut.
To London now and CNN's Diana Muriel.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A court hearing in central London today following the arrest of a 30-year-old man, Babar Ahmad, in central London on Thursday. The court hearing is at the request of the U.S. authorities, who have accused Babar Ahmad of trying to use the Internet and e-mail to raise funds, to finance violence and murder in Chechnya and Afghanistan.
Ahmad was arrested in central London on Thursday at 4:00 in the afternoon by officers from the Metropolitan Police Extradition and International Assistance Unit. He gave an address in Tooting in south London.
Officers from the anti-terrorist branch are searching three residential premises and one office premises in southwest London on behalf of the U.S. authorities. It's understood that Babar Ahmad is wanted by the FBI in Connecticut and the U.S. attorney, Kevin O'Connor, is expected to give a press conference in Connecticut later this morning.
Diana Muriel, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Now, about that al Qaeda arrest in Saudi Arabia, the officials there say that this arrest is extremely significant because the suspect is a cleric who was able to control the hearts and minds of terror recruits.
We're going to hear more now from CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His name is Fares Zahrani. He was detained in a planned operation yesterday evening in Abhar. That's a town southwest of Riyadh, a town in the mountains quite close to the border with Yemen.
He is described as being not a fighter, but a cleric, somebody who would give religious justification for al Qaeda's attacks. He has also been described as the sort of person who would have been a recruiter for al Qaeda, someone who would have encouraged young men by explaining to them an interpretation of the Koran which would encourage them to come toward al Qaeda's philosophy and join al Qaeda.
So security officials here say he is a very important catch for them. He is on Saudi Arabia's most 26 most wanted list that was issued in December last year. And they say that because of his role in recruiting, because he has this sort of ideological value to the known al Qaeda militants here, that it is a significant catch for them.
Some members -- some people, al Qaeda members on that most wanted list, the 26, still remain at large. But over recent weeks and months, Saudi officials have either captured or killed the greater part of that list of 26.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: That was Nic Robertson reporting in from Saudi Arabia.
If you want to any more about these terror threats, you can, of course, log onto our Web site. It's cnn.com. There's a special report on fighting terrorism.
But right now we want to move to news across America this Friday morning.
People in central California were sent scrambling for higher ground after a dam broke on the middle fork of the American River. A three to four foot wall of water rushed down the river after a release gate failed. Helicopters warned campers and hikers to evacuate immediately.
An Army specialist who pleaded guilty in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal heads to the witness stand today. Jeremy Sivits is scheduled to testify on the third day of the preliminary hearing for PFC Lynndie England. She is facing 19 counts of abuse and personal sexual misconduct.
And Scott Peterson won't be in court today. New evidence in his trial led the judge to halt the proceedings. A source close to the case tells CNN some physical evidence was found near the remains of either Laci Peterson or her unborn son. The defense is being given time to examine that new evidence. The trial is expected to resume on Tuesday. And that is when former mistress Amber Frey is expected to take the stand, something we've been waiting for for quite some time.
In the meantime, Salt Lake City police say it may take another month before they find Lori Hacking's body. They are at a landfill this hour, right this hour, this early, sifting through 3,000 tons of garbage. Mark Hacking's father said his son just snapped before killing his pregnant wife and tossing her body in a trash bin. The family released this statement. And it says: "As recently reported in the media, over the weekend of July 24, Mark Hacking provided information to family members to assist in finding Lori. At that point, steps were taken to relay this information to the proper authorities as quickly as possible and to halt the majority of the search efforts until further information was available."
Now, Mark Hacking is under arrest but hasn't been charged in this case, at least not yet.
Now, you may be the lucky one, or one of the lucky Americans with a job. But are you earning what you're wroth? At least at 15 past the hour we're going to go see if you're making enough money. And at 25 past the hour, we're going to meet a heavy lifter who's getting ready to head for Athens. And she's hoping to bring home the gold.
And stay close because at 55 past, our own Jeanne Moos shows us the most bizarre of the bizarre ads floating around on the Internet this political season.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Record high oil prices greased the skids on Wall Street. The Dow opens this morning below 10000, at 9963. That is down 163 points. The Nasdaq opens at 1821, down 33. And the S&P 500 opens at 1080, down almost 18. But the day is still young.
Now, when was the last time you had a raise? Economists say there's been a troubling trend recently when it comes to getting more money. So it might not be so hard to believe that your wages, when adjusted for inflation, are actually falling.
Here's CNN's Ceci Rodgers.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CECI RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For many Americans, take home pay is not keeping up with rising costs. Energy and gas prices are at record highs. Health care and medical insurance costs are soaring. Earnings adjusted for inflation, known as real earnings, have shrunk more than 1 percent in the past year. Economists say it's worrisome.
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ECONOMY.COM: Wage growth is very slow. It's very constrained. The job market has improved, but it's still very soft. There are still many people who are unemployed, under employed. Employers still have the upper hand in negotiations with their employees and employees just aren't getting those pay increases.
RODGERS: Economy.com studied employment industry by industry and found another disturbing trend. Fifty-five percent of the new jobs created in the past year were in low wage industries such as restaurants, retailing, hotels and temporary help positions. The question is why? Most likely, businesses still lack confidence in the economic recovery and are reluctant to bring on new employees for higher wage positions.
Not everyone agrees that stagnant wages are a problem. In fact, some economists say that people are simply looking at the wrong statistics.
BRIAN WESBURY, BUSINESS CONSULTANT: When you include tips, commissions and bonuses, we see growth in wages or in earnings of about 3.7 percent in the past year. So that's faster than inflation. So it's a completely different picture.
RODGERS: Even so, in past recoveries, base wages have shown strong gains.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
Have a good day now.
RODGERS (on camera): No one can predict when wages will pick up. The Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, has speculated they will, as long as the economy continues to steadily grow.
Ceci Rodgers for CNN Financial News, Chicago.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: A windy day there in Chicago.
Let's go overseas now for a quick check of the financial numbers.
For that, there's Robyn Curnow in London -- good morning, Robyn.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.
I want to show you what we're looking at here today. And the big story is, of course, this light crude price here, over $44 a barrel in the U.S. But here in London, futures for Brent crude are up $41.26.
Now, these are record highs, both sides of the Atlantic seeing these oil prices just shoot through the roof. Now, there's a reason for this and that is Yukos, that embattled oil company. This is its price in dollars at the moment, down 18 percent. Now, this comes after the Russian government seems to have had a turnaround and it rescinded the fact that it said it might give a financial lifeline to this company. They're having a dispute over a tax bill, a $7 billion tax bill. And with that news that the government is not going to be giving that financial lifeline to Yukos, the shares have dived again and, of course, investors globally are concerned because Yukos is the biggest oil company out in Russia and they're very concerned about tightening of supply from Russia and, of course, that also globally.
And along with that big fire at that oil refinery in the U.S., again, negative sentiment globally among investors that we are looking at some very tightening of supplies. It is sentiment, as many people say, is this the real case? But either way, many people wondering are we going to hit $50 a barrel for oil?
Our main markets, we've not got -- we haven't got any numbers up here at the moment. But really you can see the main thing is that we're in the red. These arrows firmly pointing down.
The FTSE has been treading down all of the day.
The DAX has been one of the big movers.
And really these markets very much influence by the soaring oil prices.
LIN: All right, thanks very much, Robyn.
Just an indication of things to come, probably here today in the United States.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's now 16 past the hour and here's what's new this morning.
The Bush administration says North Korea is carrying out supposedly banned weapons tests in Iran. An administration official says development of ballistic missile technology in Iran is actually being done for North Korea.
Searches are under way in the Northeast U.S. as part of the investigation into the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001. The FBI and postal inspectors are in western New York and Ocean County, New Jersey. Five people died after being exposed to the poison.
In money, Saturn is recalling almost all of its SUVs due to failures in government rollover tests. More than 245,000 Saturn SUVs are involved. Rear suspension problems caused the vehicles to fail rollover tests.
And in culture, Olympic sports on your cell phone? European broadcasters are offering live coverage of the upcoming Summer Games on the Internet. But here in the United States, coverage will only be available on a tape delay basis.
Now in sports, is Michael Vick hurt again? The Atlanta Falcons quarterback suffered an apparent hamstring injury during practice. But he says it won't keep him off the field. He missed 11 games last season after breaking a bone in the same leg. Ouch -- Chad.
MYERS: I know. I know. I know.
LIN: Can you imagine playing on an injured leg?
MYERS: Yes, he tried last year, he really did. And he was really the hope for Atlanta last year. But after he went down, man, it just didn't work out.
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LIN: All right, a generation takes to the skies. Coming up, the fast and the furious get fired up.
And her dream is to be the strongest woman in the world. And you don't want to argue with her. We're going to tell you how this young Georgia woman is going for the gold in Greece.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Friday, August 6.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Here are our DAYBREAK "Eye Openers."
The locusts -- look at this.
MYERS: Oh, yes.
LIN: The locusts have descended upon West Africa. The worst swarm in more than 15 years has already led at least one nation to declare a state of emergency. They're thickest in Mauritania, where they have stripped trees, crops and even the presidential garden. You thought the cicadas were bad. Can you believe that? It looks like seaweed on the beach.
MYERS: It looks like, I don't know...
LIN: Not something we want to discuss at 5:22 in the morning.
MYERS: It doesn't look yummy.
LIN: Hey, Timmy, Lassie fell down the well. It took firefighters about 45 minutes to reach this pooch. What a little sweetie. Chad, he fell 15 feet into an uncovered well. You know, apparently he has a habit of falling into wells.
MYERS: Well, I know, but good thing it wasn't a child. Keep that thing covered up.
LIN: There you go.
All right, high fliers were in focus today. One of the X Games, we're going to talk about this.
MYERS: Yes, there you go. The X Games started yesterday.
LIN: What do you think of those? Exactly what are the X Games? This is like extreme sports?
MYERS: It's broken bones on TV, basically.
LIN: All right, this apparently is what this guy, Chuck Carruthers, did.
MYERS: That was amazing.
LIN: Yes. Nailed a seat grab verial (ph) 360 in the MotoX Motocross tricks competition.
MYERS: Glad you understood that.
LIN: All right, Chris Cotter from CNN Sports -- there he goes, a big hug from the little lady.
MYERS: They've been doing that now 10 years on ESPN.
LIN: All right, Chris Cotter is going to talk to us about that in the next hour.
MYERS: OK, good.
LIN: From the X Games to the Summer Games. The Olympics are just a week away now. And as part of our continuing series on America's Olympians, we focus on a woman worth her weight, her weight in gold.
Here's our Jason Bellini.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cheryl Haworth is 21 years old. She weighs 296 pounds.
CHERYL HAWORTH, OLYMPIC WEIGHT LIFTER: I'm a super heavyweight lifter. And that bulk and that size helps me move a lot of weight.
BELLINI: Until Haworth took up weight lifting in high school, she was self-conscious about her size.
HAWORTH: Every girl, especially, they always have that one hang- up, you know? Like I hate my nose, or my teeth are crooked or this and that. Like, that was just my one thing, but it never really bothered me that much, because I was -- I was never too unpopular.
BELLINI: Popularity isn't a problem for her now either. During competitions, Haworth's fans shout her nickname, Fun.
MICHAEL COWEN, WEIGHT LIFTING COACH: Cheryl came in this gym many years ago, and she had a t-shirt with the words "fun" across the front of the shirt. She wore it every day for like six weeks straight. Same outfit.
HAWORTH: I did not. That's a lie and you know it.
BELLINI: At 17, Haworth was the third strongest woman in the world. She won the Bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics. In Athens, she hopes to become the strongest.
(on camera): You don't seem like the bragging type.
HAWORTH: No. But I'm just saying, like, it is nice to think about it occasionally.
BELLINI: And others can brag about you?
HAWORTH: Yeah. And I can overhear them bragging about me.
BELLINI (voice-over): In 2000, Haworth lifted 319 pounds in the clean and jerk.
HAWORTH: I don't know why it is called the clean. I don't know why it's called jerk.
BELLINI: In the snatch events, she lifted 275 pounds.
(on camera): This time, Cheryl's coach plans to start her at 281 pounds and is prepared to take her as high as 297 pounds.
(voice-over): Haworth lifts the rough equivalent of a refrigerator above her head.
She knows it is not always pretty.
HAWORTH: Nobody looks good lifting weights. My cheeks blow up. You know, my face gets red. You look straight ahead and you look nuts. But if you're a real athlete, you're not going to be concerned with how you look anyway.
BELLINI: But she's sure she'll look pretty good wearing gold.
Jason Bellini, CNN, Savanna, Georgia.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Good luck.
Be sure to tune into "ANDERSON COOPER 360" for more Olympic profiles, because tonight white magic gets lumbered up for his won run at a gold medal. Anderson is going to explain that one at 7:00 p.m. We just like to offer you riddles at 25 minutes past 5:00 a.m.
And here's what's next in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.
A major revelation factoring into the war on terror. A big catch in the U.K. paints a frightening picture of what could have happened here in the United States. And following, well, following that story, is al Qaeda establishing terror training camps in Pakistan? We're going to take you live to Islamabad, so stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: A suspected terrorist arrested in the U.K. Is there a U.S. connection?
It's Friday, August 6, and this is DAYBREAK.
Good morning and welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.
From CNN's global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. Carol Costello is off today.
Now in the news, one of a dozen terror suspects arrested this week in Britain may have scouted financial institutions in the U.S. for possible attacks. A law enforcement source says in 2001, al Qaeda leader Eisa al-Hindi was in three of the buildings named in this week's terror alert for financial institutions.
The hearing for PFC Lynndie England, charged with abusing prisoners in Iraq, resumes two and a half hours from now. Yesterday, a military intelligence agent testified that agents participated in the abuse of three prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
The Labor Department reports the July job numbers three hours from now. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 5.6 percent. But the real story will be the number of jobs created last month.
And get ready for more pain at the pump. Oil prices shot to new highs again this morning on world markets. U.S. light crude in New York at $44.73 a barrel.
Chad -- good morning again.
MYERS: Good morning.
And I just $1.68 a gallon yesterday.
LIN: And we have the cheapest gas in the country, Chad, in Georgia.
MYERS: It seems like gas has been going down and the barrels have been going up. So I'm just kind of waiting for this delayed reaction of the prices start going back up again.
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