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CNN Live Today

Iraqi Interim Government Shuts Down Al-Jazeera Network

Aired August 09, 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.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARLENE AGUIRRE, TWINS MOTHER: I already called my family after I received from Dr. Staffenberg that my boys were are already separated. I told them that I am the mother of two separated boys. And I'm very proud of it.

So they were happy. They was laughing, crying, and it's really amazing, you know. And as for the plan, I don't know yet because all I want to do is be sure that my two boys are really in good condition for everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we will hear from one of the doctors on the twins' progress at about 40 past this hour.

Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols faces sentencing on state murder charges. Nichols was expected to speak at the sentencing that began last hour. He faces a second life prison term for the 1995 bombing that killed 168 people.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Drew Griffin.

We begin this hour with Iraq and the fighting in Najaf. The governor there has given the go-ahead for military operations near the holy Imam Ali Shrine. That's where fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr are hold up.

Former Iraqi leader Ahmed Chalabi and his nephew vow to fight charges leveled against them by an Iraqi court. Chalabi is accused of counterfeiting.

His nephew faces an arrest warrant in connection with a murder. Chalabi says the charges are part of a political conspiracy against him and his family.

CNN's Matthew Chance has details in this report from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well he was once the darling of the Pentagon, even tipped at one stage to be the leader of the new Iraq to succeed Saddam Hussein. But how Ahmed Chalabi has fallen from grace, accused in the past several months of being involved in a spying controversy, implicated in a spying ring for Iran.

He's been accused of supplying false intelligence to the international community in the run up to the war with Iraq regarding the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now, he has this arrest warrant leveled against him. The accusation is money laundering involving some scam involving counterfeit Iraqi dinars.

Of course, Ahmed Chalabi denies those accusations. There's also been reports, there's also been an arrest warrant, rather, issued against his nephew, Salem Chalabi. He's a crucial figure in Iraq because he's the director of the special tribunal for war crimes here in Iraq set up by Salem Chalabi, amongst others, in order to try members of the former regime, foremost amongst them, of course Saddam Hussein.

Salem Chalabi has had an arrest warrant issued against him for a suspected murder, which is being investigated. He denies any involvement in any murder as well as his uncle, saying that both accusations have been leveled against the two Chalabis by former Baathists setting out to discredit these former opposition figures.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: We have this, too. The Baghdad offices of the Arab language network Al-Jazeera are closed this morning. Over the weekend, government officials shut down the Baghdad office for a month. Iraq's interim prime minister accuses Al-Jazeera of inciting violence and distorting the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYAD ALLAWI, INTERIM IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: We have asked an independent commission here in Iraq to monitor Al-Jazeera for the last four weeks on daily basis. And to get us a report out of the monitoring to see what kind of violence they are advocating and inciting hatred and problems and racial tensions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Al-Jazeera protesting the government crackdown in Iraq. The network's Washington bureau chief was a guest earlier on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAFEZ AL MIRAZI, AL-JAZEERA D.C. BUREAU CHIEF: It's really regrettable that a government that was installed in power mainly to give and provide a model for democracy in the Middle East is just mimicking other authoritarian regimes as the committee to protect journalists here, based in New York, said in a statement -- just mimicking authoritarian regimes in the region by cracking down on independent media like Al-Jazeera. It's the same list of accusations that we got used to hearing from other regimes in the Middle East and in the Arab world. And here, unfortunately, the Iraqi government is following the same path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Al-Jazeera can still be seen on Iraqi TV during the closure of its Baghdad office.

Pakistani intelligence sources telling CNN the Bush administration cut off a good source of information by going public with the name of accused al Qaeda operative Mohammad Kahn. Khan is a computer expert secretly arrested in Pakistan and was apparently being used in a sting operation to net other al Qaeda figures. But that ended when he was identified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The problem is that when you're trying to strike a balance between giving enough information to the public so that they know that you're dealing with a specific, credible, different kind of threat than you've dealt with in the past, you're always weighing that against kind of operational considerations.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: They should have kept their mouth shut and just said, we have information. Trust us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Published reports indicate al Qaeda remains creative in its drive to attack the United States. White House officials say that includes targeting the U.S. capitol and U.S. congressmen. "Time" magazine and "The New York Times" reporting new forms of attack as well, they include limousine-packed car bombs and hijacked tourist helicopters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD CHUA-EAON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Trucks would have been too obvious and they wouldn't have been able to bring them too close to the building, they thought. But a limo stripped out and packed with explosives driven up, no one seemed to mind and no one seemed to would have stopped the limo.

Perhaps hijacking helicopters and launching attacks on the New York, New Jersey area. Parts of New York, there were photographs that were marked midtown, downtown so that whoever had taken over the helicopter would be able to tell what part of town they were in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: "Time" is reporting that raid that netted Kahn provided intelligence agents with three laptop computers and 51 computer disks all filled with names e-mail addresses or phone numbers of other al Qaeda operatives. This is a developing story and Jeanne Meserve, our homeland security correspondent, has been working her sources in Washington -- Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Drew, a homeland security official is taking some issue with those reports you mentioned earlier, saying the U.S. has no evidence to indicate that al Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack on New York City or any other city using tourist helicopters.

Officials have said that at least one New York area helipad was on a list of sites distributed to law enforcement last week because they had been mentioned in recent intelligence seized in Pakistan.

But an official says that unlike the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank and other sites that headed the list and led to the hike in the threat level, there was not a lot of specific detail about the helipad or helipads.

A bulletin was sent out to law enforcement around the country last Friday, however. It's opening line reads "We have no evidence al Qaeda is planning an aerial attack using helicopters in New York City or the United States."

The bulletin did recommend that passengers be thoroughly screened and be required to show IDs and that luggage and cargo should be known to people onboard. It also recommends that suspicious inquiries, loitering and people posing as helicopter pilots or ground personnel should be reported to authorities.

The bulletin is a sign of concern, but according to this homeland security official, no specific intelligence that helicopters were going to be used as a mode of attack.

Back to you.

GRIFFIN: Jeanne Meserve back in Washington. We want to take a closer look now at the reason behind the terror alerts in Washington, New York and New Jersey. Securing those three areas ratcheted up with the discovery of the al Qaeda had conducted reconnaissance on potential targets.

CNN's Brian Todd explains it's revealed in tapes newly obtained by CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surveillance, an al Qaeda staple. This tape showing what's believed to be the al-Muhaya housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This is that same neighborhood and the product of that reconnaissance. November of last year, suicide car bombs setting off three explosions kill at least 17 people at al-Muhaya and wound more than 100. This type of surveillance now very much in the American public consciousness as officials ratchet up the terror alert based partly on information about the casing of financial buildings in the U.S. at least three years ago.

RICE: Al Qaeda does meticulous planning over many years.

TODD: On this tape we learn how the November attack in Riyadh was planned from the group believed to have carried it out, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

BEN VENZKE, INTELCENTER: And it's the kind of expertise that is frequent and frequently used in trained on by al Qaeda cells around the world.

TODD: CNN obtained this tape from a group called Intelcenter, a consulting firm that works with U.S. government agencies. Experts who we consulted confirm the authenticity of the tape.

We see al Qaeda members displaying rocket propelled grenades and surface-to-air missiles, but the operational part of the tape is perhaps the most chilling. A diagram is shown of what Intelcenter says is the al-Muhaya complex.

And a technique which later proved very effective -- a vehicle is painted with the markings and insignia of the Saudi security forces. Those vehicles were used to breach the al-Muhaya compound.

We also see a man next to one of the vehicles later identified as Faris al-Zahrani, an al Qaeda operative killed in that suicide attack.

This tape, produced some months ago, was originally posted on a Web site. We asked Intelcenter why al Qaeda would tip off people on their operational techniques.

VENZKE: It's used for instructional material for future recruits. It's released after attacks to drive fund-raising and as a morale boost for the group.

TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Just moments ago, a judge sentenced convicted Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols to 161 consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Nichols already serving a life sentence without parole for the deaths of eight federal agents killed in the bombing. This second sentence is to be for the deaths of 160 others and a fetus killed in the 1995 blasts.

We turn now to a brutal slaughter. Police say one man and three teenagers viciously beat and stabbed six people because of an argument over clothes and a video game. Robert Cannon, Jerome Hunter, Michael Salas and Troy Victorino will make their first appearance in court there in the hour, in about two hours. Police say three of them have already confessed.

For more on this, we want to go to Tim Stockman of affiliate WFTV. He is live in Volusia County, Florida -- Tim?

TIM STOCKMAN, WFTV CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Drew, since their arrest, all four of the suspects have been held here at the Volusia County jail. And today, for the very first time, they will face a judge and answer for these six murders.

According to the Volusia County sheriff's office, the last time Robert Cannon, Jerome Hunter, Michael Salas and the alleged ring leader, Troy Victorino were together, they were wearing dark scarves and carrying aluminum baseball bats and knives as they methodically went through this house in Deltona and killed all six people inside. They also killed the family dog.

The bodies were so badly beaten, it took days to identify the five victims. As a matter of fact, the last one still has not been positively identified. It was that brutal.

The reason for these murders, according to the sheriff, a dispute over a video game console and some clothes. The sheriff has taken this crime very personally. As a matter of fact, he is the one who made the final two arrests yesterday.

The first appearance is scheduled for 1:15. The judge is expected to deny bond.

Reporting live from Volusia County, Tim Stockman reporting. Back to you, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Tim, incredible story. Thank you for that report.

She is Scott Peterson's other woman and now she is getting ready to tell her story in court. A look at what's to come in the Peterson murder trial out in California. That's ahead.

And later, it is a humanitarian crisis like nothing you can imagine. Christiane Amanpour on the ground showing us the true devastation in Sudan when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARBY MULLANY, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Darby Mullaney at the New York Stock Exchange where stocks are bouncing off their lowest levels of the year. But surging oil prices and last week's disappointing jobs report are still a dark cloud over Wall Street.

Right now, the major averages are squeaking out small gains. The Dow industrials up 25 points. And the Nasdaq is a third of a percent to the up side. McDonald's in the news today. McDonald's says that worldwide sales at restaurants open a year or more rose 6.8 percent last month. It credits healthier menu options and better service. But McDonald's stock is slightly lower right now.

That is the latest from Wall Street.

CNN's LIVE TODAY will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: In the Scott Peterson case, evidence and expectations. The defense looking at key evidence they say could clear their client.

As a key witness gets ready to take the stand there. Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could Scott Peterson walk out of court a free man as a result of this newly discovered evidence? His attorney Mark Geragos thinks it's possible, but legal observers here are doubtful.

MICHAEL CARDOZA, LEGAL ANALYST: My sense of this is whatever it is will not end this trial. But it certainly could help the defense.

DORNIN: Geragos says it could potentially exonerate Peterson. A source close to the case tells CNN it's adhesive, physical evidence found close to the remains of Laci Peterson or her unborn son.

Following the evidence announcement, Geragos emerged from court with Peterson's mother, Jackie, but refused to elaborate.

MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: Look, all I can tell you is that obviously, as the judge indicated, we need to follow up on it and that's what we're going to go.

DORNIN: Geragos said, outside the courtroom, the evidence was turned over to the defense by the prosecution. Two days earlier, prosecutors were soundly rebuked by the judge for not turning over all evidence to the defense. Judge Alfred Delucchi was so angry he struck down the testimony of one prosecution witness.

Another prosecution witness testified Peterson searched the Internet for boat and fishing information early in the same month his wife went missing. Last week's proceedings also revealed that Peterson ordered pornography channels to be added to his cable TV just a few weeks following his wife's disappearance.

Court will resume Tuesday and coming up, the star prosecution witness is expected to finally take the stand. Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's former girlfriend. In a trial that often has many empty seats in the courtroom, for this witness, there won't be any.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City California. (END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: His life was very much an open book, but the specifics of his death are a mystery. How did funk legend Rick James die?

Forensic experts in California are doing toxicology tests to find out. Those tests, though, could take 12 weeks. An autopsy has already failed to show how the 56-year-old singer died.

James, famous for songs like "Superfreak" and infamous for an addiction to cocaine died in his California home on Friday.

Up in flames, smoke rising over Chicago, firefighters try to battle an inferno. We're going to have more than on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: One hundred sixty firefighters in Chicago are battling a blaze on the city's south side this morning. Take a look. An abandoned commercial building is burning.

This building covers about a two-city block area. Quite hot there. Quite hot in the West.

Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras for a check of the national weather scene -- Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Drew. That smoke is probably blowing around a little bit. Winds in the Chicago area right now about 10 miles per hour in the southwest. All that smoke would be blowing up to the north and to the east.

(WEATHER BREAK)

JERAS: Drew, back to you.

GRIFFIN: Jacqui, thank you so much for that.

Picks and clicks now, some of the most popular stories on CNN.com.

Four charged with fatally beating and stabbing six people in Deltona, Florida, allegedly a dispute over a video game.

Pakistani sources say intelligence leaks in the U.S. have jeopardized efforts to catch more al Qaeda members there.

Koko is OK. The gorilla used sign language to tell doctors about a toothache and got some prompt medical attention.

And Alan Keyes is running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois even though he lives in Maryland and has no ties to the state.

And convicted Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols just sentenced to a second life sentence for the deaths of 160 people in the 1995 bombings. It's the scene of an international tragedy. From ethnic cleansing to starvation, the situation in Sudan, it is getting worse.

Christiane Amanpour takes us there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: I'm Drew Griffin in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening now in the news for Monday, this 9th day of August.

Published reports say al Qaeda may try to use a limousine packed car bomb, a speed boat or a hijacked tourist helicopter to attack the U.S.

"Time" magazine and "The New York Times" reporting the information recovered in computer files seized recently in Pakistan. However, a homeland security official says the agency knows nothing of al Qaeda planning an attack using such information.

One hundred sixty-one consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. That is the sentence for Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols handed down by a judge just moments ago.

Nichols is already serving a life sentence for the deaths of eight federal agents killed in that bombing. This second sentence is for his conviction in the deaths of 160 others and a fetus killed in the blast in 1995.

Californians being urged to cut back on electricity usage throughout the middle of the week due to soaring temperatures. Both in California and in the Northwest, officials say little danger of blackouts this time for now, but supplies there apparently are tight.

Trace amounts of the antidepressant Prozac are turning up in the drinking water in the U.K. A British paper says 24 million prescriptions were written in 2001 in Great Britain. That's a country of just 60 million people.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

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


Aired August 9, 2004 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARLENE AGUIRRE, TWINS MOTHER: I already called my family after I received from Dr. Staffenberg that my boys were are already separated. I told them that I am the mother of two separated boys. And I'm very proud of it.

So they were happy. They was laughing, crying, and it's really amazing, you know. And as for the plan, I don't know yet because all I want to do is be sure that my two boys are really in good condition for everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we will hear from one of the doctors on the twins' progress at about 40 past this hour.

Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols faces sentencing on state murder charges. Nichols was expected to speak at the sentencing that began last hour. He faces a second life prison term for the 1995 bombing that killed 168 people.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. in the West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Drew Griffin.

We begin this hour with Iraq and the fighting in Najaf. The governor there has given the go-ahead for military operations near the holy Imam Ali Shrine. That's where fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr are hold up.

Former Iraqi leader Ahmed Chalabi and his nephew vow to fight charges leveled against them by an Iraqi court. Chalabi is accused of counterfeiting.

His nephew faces an arrest warrant in connection with a murder. Chalabi says the charges are part of a political conspiracy against him and his family.

CNN's Matthew Chance has details in this report from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well he was once the darling of the Pentagon, even tipped at one stage to be the leader of the new Iraq to succeed Saddam Hussein. But how Ahmed Chalabi has fallen from grace, accused in the past several months of being involved in a spying controversy, implicated in a spying ring for Iran.

He's been accused of supplying false intelligence to the international community in the run up to the war with Iraq regarding the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now, he has this arrest warrant leveled against him. The accusation is money laundering involving some scam involving counterfeit Iraqi dinars.

Of course, Ahmed Chalabi denies those accusations. There's also been reports, there's also been an arrest warrant, rather, issued against his nephew, Salem Chalabi. He's a crucial figure in Iraq because he's the director of the special tribunal for war crimes here in Iraq set up by Salem Chalabi, amongst others, in order to try members of the former regime, foremost amongst them, of course Saddam Hussein.

Salem Chalabi has had an arrest warrant issued against him for a suspected murder, which is being investigated. He denies any involvement in any murder as well as his uncle, saying that both accusations have been leveled against the two Chalabis by former Baathists setting out to discredit these former opposition figures.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: We have this, too. The Baghdad offices of the Arab language network Al-Jazeera are closed this morning. Over the weekend, government officials shut down the Baghdad office for a month. Iraq's interim prime minister accuses Al-Jazeera of inciting violence and distorting the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYAD ALLAWI, INTERIM IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: We have asked an independent commission here in Iraq to monitor Al-Jazeera for the last four weeks on daily basis. And to get us a report out of the monitoring to see what kind of violence they are advocating and inciting hatred and problems and racial tensions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Al-Jazeera protesting the government crackdown in Iraq. The network's Washington bureau chief was a guest earlier on CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAFEZ AL MIRAZI, AL-JAZEERA D.C. BUREAU CHIEF: It's really regrettable that a government that was installed in power mainly to give and provide a model for democracy in the Middle East is just mimicking other authoritarian regimes as the committee to protect journalists here, based in New York, said in a statement -- just mimicking authoritarian regimes in the region by cracking down on independent media like Al-Jazeera. It's the same list of accusations that we got used to hearing from other regimes in the Middle East and in the Arab world. And here, unfortunately, the Iraqi government is following the same path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Al-Jazeera can still be seen on Iraqi TV during the closure of its Baghdad office.

Pakistani intelligence sources telling CNN the Bush administration cut off a good source of information by going public with the name of accused al Qaeda operative Mohammad Kahn. Khan is a computer expert secretly arrested in Pakistan and was apparently being used in a sting operation to net other al Qaeda figures. But that ended when he was identified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The problem is that when you're trying to strike a balance between giving enough information to the public so that they know that you're dealing with a specific, credible, different kind of threat than you've dealt with in the past, you're always weighing that against kind of operational considerations.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: They should have kept their mouth shut and just said, we have information. Trust us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Published reports indicate al Qaeda remains creative in its drive to attack the United States. White House officials say that includes targeting the U.S. capitol and U.S. congressmen. "Time" magazine and "The New York Times" reporting new forms of attack as well, they include limousine-packed car bombs and hijacked tourist helicopters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD CHUA-EAON, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Trucks would have been too obvious and they wouldn't have been able to bring them too close to the building, they thought. But a limo stripped out and packed with explosives driven up, no one seemed to mind and no one seemed to would have stopped the limo.

Perhaps hijacking helicopters and launching attacks on the New York, New Jersey area. Parts of New York, there were photographs that were marked midtown, downtown so that whoever had taken over the helicopter would be able to tell what part of town they were in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: "Time" is reporting that raid that netted Kahn provided intelligence agents with three laptop computers and 51 computer disks all filled with names e-mail addresses or phone numbers of other al Qaeda operatives. This is a developing story and Jeanne Meserve, our homeland security correspondent, has been working her sources in Washington -- Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Drew, a homeland security official is taking some issue with those reports you mentioned earlier, saying the U.S. has no evidence to indicate that al Qaeda is planning to carry out an attack on New York City or any other city using tourist helicopters.

Officials have said that at least one New York area helipad was on a list of sites distributed to law enforcement last week because they had been mentioned in recent intelligence seized in Pakistan.

But an official says that unlike the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank and other sites that headed the list and led to the hike in the threat level, there was not a lot of specific detail about the helipad or helipads.

A bulletin was sent out to law enforcement around the country last Friday, however. It's opening line reads "We have no evidence al Qaeda is planning an aerial attack using helicopters in New York City or the United States."

The bulletin did recommend that passengers be thoroughly screened and be required to show IDs and that luggage and cargo should be known to people onboard. It also recommends that suspicious inquiries, loitering and people posing as helicopter pilots or ground personnel should be reported to authorities.

The bulletin is a sign of concern, but according to this homeland security official, no specific intelligence that helicopters were going to be used as a mode of attack.

Back to you.

GRIFFIN: Jeanne Meserve back in Washington. We want to take a closer look now at the reason behind the terror alerts in Washington, New York and New Jersey. Securing those three areas ratcheted up with the discovery of the al Qaeda had conducted reconnaissance on potential targets.

CNN's Brian Todd explains it's revealed in tapes newly obtained by CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surveillance, an al Qaeda staple. This tape showing what's believed to be the al-Muhaya housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This is that same neighborhood and the product of that reconnaissance. November of last year, suicide car bombs setting off three explosions kill at least 17 people at al-Muhaya and wound more than 100. This type of surveillance now very much in the American public consciousness as officials ratchet up the terror alert based partly on information about the casing of financial buildings in the U.S. at least three years ago.

RICE: Al Qaeda does meticulous planning over many years.

TODD: On this tape we learn how the November attack in Riyadh was planned from the group believed to have carried it out, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

BEN VENZKE, INTELCENTER: And it's the kind of expertise that is frequent and frequently used in trained on by al Qaeda cells around the world.

TODD: CNN obtained this tape from a group called Intelcenter, a consulting firm that works with U.S. government agencies. Experts who we consulted confirm the authenticity of the tape.

We see al Qaeda members displaying rocket propelled grenades and surface-to-air missiles, but the operational part of the tape is perhaps the most chilling. A diagram is shown of what Intelcenter says is the al-Muhaya complex.

And a technique which later proved very effective -- a vehicle is painted with the markings and insignia of the Saudi security forces. Those vehicles were used to breach the al-Muhaya compound.

We also see a man next to one of the vehicles later identified as Faris al-Zahrani, an al Qaeda operative killed in that suicide attack.

This tape, produced some months ago, was originally posted on a Web site. We asked Intelcenter why al Qaeda would tip off people on their operational techniques.

VENZKE: It's used for instructional material for future recruits. It's released after attacks to drive fund-raising and as a morale boost for the group.

TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Just moments ago, a judge sentenced convicted Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols to 161 consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Nichols already serving a life sentence without parole for the deaths of eight federal agents killed in the bombing. This second sentence is to be for the deaths of 160 others and a fetus killed in the 1995 blasts.

We turn now to a brutal slaughter. Police say one man and three teenagers viciously beat and stabbed six people because of an argument over clothes and a video game. Robert Cannon, Jerome Hunter, Michael Salas and Troy Victorino will make their first appearance in court there in the hour, in about two hours. Police say three of them have already confessed.

For more on this, we want to go to Tim Stockman of affiliate WFTV. He is live in Volusia County, Florida -- Tim?

TIM STOCKMAN, WFTV CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Drew, since their arrest, all four of the suspects have been held here at the Volusia County jail. And today, for the very first time, they will face a judge and answer for these six murders.

According to the Volusia County sheriff's office, the last time Robert Cannon, Jerome Hunter, Michael Salas and the alleged ring leader, Troy Victorino were together, they were wearing dark scarves and carrying aluminum baseball bats and knives as they methodically went through this house in Deltona and killed all six people inside. They also killed the family dog.

The bodies were so badly beaten, it took days to identify the five victims. As a matter of fact, the last one still has not been positively identified. It was that brutal.

The reason for these murders, according to the sheriff, a dispute over a video game console and some clothes. The sheriff has taken this crime very personally. As a matter of fact, he is the one who made the final two arrests yesterday.

The first appearance is scheduled for 1:15. The judge is expected to deny bond.

Reporting live from Volusia County, Tim Stockman reporting. Back to you, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Tim, incredible story. Thank you for that report.

She is Scott Peterson's other woman and now she is getting ready to tell her story in court. A look at what's to come in the Peterson murder trial out in California. That's ahead.

And later, it is a humanitarian crisis like nothing you can imagine. Christiane Amanpour on the ground showing us the true devastation in Sudan when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DARBY MULLANY, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Darby Mullaney at the New York Stock Exchange where stocks are bouncing off their lowest levels of the year. But surging oil prices and last week's disappointing jobs report are still a dark cloud over Wall Street.

Right now, the major averages are squeaking out small gains. The Dow industrials up 25 points. And the Nasdaq is a third of a percent to the up side. McDonald's in the news today. McDonald's says that worldwide sales at restaurants open a year or more rose 6.8 percent last month. It credits healthier menu options and better service. But McDonald's stock is slightly lower right now.

That is the latest from Wall Street.

CNN's LIVE TODAY will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: In the Scott Peterson case, evidence and expectations. The defense looking at key evidence they say could clear their client.

As a key witness gets ready to take the stand there. Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could Scott Peterson walk out of court a free man as a result of this newly discovered evidence? His attorney Mark Geragos thinks it's possible, but legal observers here are doubtful.

MICHAEL CARDOZA, LEGAL ANALYST: My sense of this is whatever it is will not end this trial. But it certainly could help the defense.

DORNIN: Geragos says it could potentially exonerate Peterson. A source close to the case tells CNN it's adhesive, physical evidence found close to the remains of Laci Peterson or her unborn son.

Following the evidence announcement, Geragos emerged from court with Peterson's mother, Jackie, but refused to elaborate.

MARK GERAGOS, SCOTT PETERSON'S ATTORNEY: Look, all I can tell you is that obviously, as the judge indicated, we need to follow up on it and that's what we're going to go.

DORNIN: Geragos said, outside the courtroom, the evidence was turned over to the defense by the prosecution. Two days earlier, prosecutors were soundly rebuked by the judge for not turning over all evidence to the defense. Judge Alfred Delucchi was so angry he struck down the testimony of one prosecution witness.

Another prosecution witness testified Peterson searched the Internet for boat and fishing information early in the same month his wife went missing. Last week's proceedings also revealed that Peterson ordered pornography channels to be added to his cable TV just a few weeks following his wife's disappearance.

Court will resume Tuesday and coming up, the star prosecution witness is expected to finally take the stand. Amber Frey, Scott Peterson's former girlfriend. In a trial that often has many empty seats in the courtroom, for this witness, there won't be any.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City California. (END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: His life was very much an open book, but the specifics of his death are a mystery. How did funk legend Rick James die?

Forensic experts in California are doing toxicology tests to find out. Those tests, though, could take 12 weeks. An autopsy has already failed to show how the 56-year-old singer died.

James, famous for songs like "Superfreak" and infamous for an addiction to cocaine died in his California home on Friday.

Up in flames, smoke rising over Chicago, firefighters try to battle an inferno. We're going to have more than on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: One hundred sixty firefighters in Chicago are battling a blaze on the city's south side this morning. Take a look. An abandoned commercial building is burning.

This building covers about a two-city block area. Quite hot there. Quite hot in the West.

Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras for a check of the national weather scene -- Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Drew. That smoke is probably blowing around a little bit. Winds in the Chicago area right now about 10 miles per hour in the southwest. All that smoke would be blowing up to the north and to the east.

(WEATHER BREAK)

JERAS: Drew, back to you.

GRIFFIN: Jacqui, thank you so much for that.

Picks and clicks now, some of the most popular stories on CNN.com.

Four charged with fatally beating and stabbing six people in Deltona, Florida, allegedly a dispute over a video game.

Pakistani sources say intelligence leaks in the U.S. have jeopardized efforts to catch more al Qaeda members there.

Koko is OK. The gorilla used sign language to tell doctors about a toothache and got some prompt medical attention.

And Alan Keyes is running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois even though he lives in Maryland and has no ties to the state.

And convicted Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols just sentenced to a second life sentence for the deaths of 160 people in the 1995 bombings. It's the scene of an international tragedy. From ethnic cleansing to starvation, the situation in Sudan, it is getting worse.

Christiane Amanpour takes us there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: I'm Drew Griffin in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening now in the news for Monday, this 9th day of August.

Published reports say al Qaeda may try to use a limousine packed car bomb, a speed boat or a hijacked tourist helicopter to attack the U.S.

"Time" magazine and "The New York Times" reporting the information recovered in computer files seized recently in Pakistan. However, a homeland security official says the agency knows nothing of al Qaeda planning an attack using such information.

One hundred sixty-one consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole. That is the sentence for Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols handed down by a judge just moments ago.

Nichols is already serving a life sentence for the deaths of eight federal agents killed in that bombing. This second sentence is for his conviction in the deaths of 160 others and a fetus killed in the blast in 1995.

Californians being urged to cut back on electricity usage throughout the middle of the week due to soaring temperatures. Both in California and in the Northwest, officials say little danger of blackouts this time for now, but supplies there apparently are tight.

Trace amounts of the antidepressant Prozac are turning up in the drinking water in the U.K. A British paper says 24 million prescriptions were written in 2001 in Great Britain. That's a country of just 60 million people.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

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