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CNN Live At Daybreak

Latest on President's Trip to Denmark as He Gears Up for G-8 Summit

Aired July 06, 2005 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is Wednesday, July 6, and the storm season is upon us, even if it is a little earlier this year than usual.
Cindy's fizzling out, Dennis is gaining steam and people in the South are getting wet.

Also, down to the wire -- Olympic officials are casting their ballots right now. We'll find out soon which city will feel the thrill of victory.

And it was a horrifying and violent ordeal and now a little girl is telling the chilling details.

ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.

WALLACE: Good Wednesday morning, everyone.

I'm Kelly Wallace in today for Carol Costello.

We will have more on those stories in just a moment.

Also ahead, are your writing skills holding you back or maybe even costing you money?

And Ford ups the ante in the auto business, matching G.M.'s bargain offer.

But first, these stories now in the news.

The Dutch Air Force joining the search for Natalee Holloway today. Three F-16s equipped with lasers and special cameras are scheduled to fly over Aruba. The expanded search comes after Holloway's father said the FBI indicated it was unlikely that the teenager would be found alive.

Two reporters could find themselves in jail today. Matthew Cooper of "Time" magazine and Judith Miller of the "New York Times" are in contempt of court for not releasing their sources concerning the investigation into who leaked a CIA operative's name to the press.

And James Stockdale has died. You'll recall he was Ross Perot's running mate back in 1992. The retired vice admiral was a prisoner of war during Vietnam and won the Medal of Honor for his service. And now we're going to go to Denmark, to our Elaine Quijano, White House correspondent there, with some of the latest on the president's trip to Denmark as he gears up for the G8 summit in Scotland -- Elaine, hello to you.

With the latest from there?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kelly.

Well, just a short time ago, President Bush appeared before reporters along with the prime minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. They talked about a number of international issues. Of course, this just ahead of the G8 summit, in which the main focus will be on Africa and also the issue of climate change.

But during the question and answer session with President Bush and the prime minister, the questions that seemed to dominate had to do more with domestic issues, namely the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and President Bush's next step in trying to choose a nominee.

Now, the president specifically talked about some of the criticisms, he was asked about some of the criticisms of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, perhaps someone who may be on a short list of possible nominees. The president, rather, Attorney General Gonzales, rather, has been critical condition by some conservatives as perhaps not being moderate enough to be a suitable nominee. The president says that he is a long time friend and he does not like it when friends of his get criticized.

But the president also described his thinking in choosing a nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There'll be no litmus test. I'll pick people who, one, can do the job; people who are honest, people who are bright and people who will strictly interpret the constitution and not use the bench to legislate from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: And on the international front, as I mentioned, questions about Africa and also climate change. The president, after his meeting with the prime minister, meeting now with the queen of Denmark, as well as her husband, Prince Henrik. The president will then leave for the G8 summit in Scotland -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Elaine, thanks so much.

We'll be watching your reports throughout the day.

Elaine Quijano reporting from Copenhagen, Denmark.

And now to tropical storm Cindy and Dennis, which is right on her heels. We've got all our eyes on all of Cindy's movements.

Meteorologist Chad Myers is in the Weather Center and CNN's Dan Lothian is in the heart of it on the Gulf Shore in New Orleans.

We begin with Chad, though -- Chad, what is it looking like right now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Actually, New Orleans really missed the bullet on this one, and we knew that it would. The storm moved east of New Orleans, really battered Gulfport and Biloxi and now Mobile. Another tornado warning for Mobile County, northern Mobile County, actually, north of the town of Mobile. But you can see the big read area here.

I'll zoom in to show you where it's going. Really, it's from Citronelle northward, as the storm travels on up here. I'll get rid of the tornado warning and zoom in a little bit more. And Citronelle is right about there. The storm is circulating and moving on up now, even into southern Washington County.

If we kind of zoom out a little bit, I'll show you where this thing is all going to go. Right now, it's over Louisiana. It's headed over Atlanta. And right here through Atlanta, Birmingham, right on up even into the Blue Ridge Parkway, for that matter, flood watches galore with this. This is going to be a rainmaker. It had some winds, 60, 70 miles per hour. That was the maximum wind with this storm. But it is still spinning now. It's still going to make rain, obviously the potential for some tornadoes this morning.

This, though, as you said, is Dennis. Dennis is going to be problems. We're going to obviously see a lot of jokes with the name, but the problem is that at this point in time, 2:00 a.m. Sunday, or maybe we could call it midnight Saturday night, it's in the Gulf of Mexico, 115 miles per hour, has its sights set on somewhere from Texas to the Florida coast, with Mobile being in the middle of that line.

Don't focus on the line. You've got to focus on that cone. But 115 miles per hour, you'd better focus on something.

WALLACE: Chad, is it unusually early to have a possibility of a hurricane, in July?

MYERS: This is the first time ever that there have been four named storms by July 5. And, absolutely, for a category three. You bet.

WALLACE: OK.

Well, we're going to go now out into the elements.

You can say the Big Easy is a bit uneasy this morning.

And our Dan Lothian is in the middle of it.

He's joining us now live from New Orleans -- good morning to you, Dan.

What's the situation like on the ground there?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kelly.

Well, as the storm has moved through here, things have calmed down quite a bit. There is still some rain falling here. There is still a bit of wind, but not what we experienced earlier in the morning and certainly overnight, when the winds, as you heard, were anywhere between 35, up to 70 miles per hour through the New Orleans region.

Some of the damage, what we have seen, in some areas you have localized flooding, some roads that are impassable, cars going through what look like streams or rivers. Also, some trees have fallen down. We've heard reports of some roads that have been blocked by trees that have fallen down and also some power lines have been knocked down.

We're still trying to get a good beat on how many people are without power, but there are some reports that hundreds of thousands of people are without power. The power company here put some 1,100 crews on standing by to be able to respond to the power outages and to restore power.

In terms of evacuations, we were told by emergency management officials that there were no mandatory evacuations in Louisiana, but they did encourage some of the folks who were in the low lying areas to move to higher ground, to move away from the water and also some of the people who worked on oil rigs were pulled off those rigs, evacuated. That is something, we're told, that typically happens whenever there is any major storm development occurring.

So, once again, the wind has died down, the rain has also died down, but we still have some localized flooding and also some roads that are being blocked by trees and power lines that have fallen down -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Dan, people there are certainly breathing a sigh of relief, no doubt.

Dan Lothian reporting this morning from New Orleans.

Thanks so much.

We appreciate it.

And now for our CNN "Security Watch." More than 100 chemical plants could become tempting targets for terrorists. A new report being released today says the storage facilities are all near population centers of more than a million people. An attack on any of those plants would result in what experts say is a worst case scenario. The exact locations of the suspect plants aren't being released by the government for security reasons.

U.S. officials are using a broader definition of the term "terror." A new Web site says there were nearly 3,200 terrorist incidents whirlwind last year. That is nearly five times the number of attacks the State Department listed earlier using a more narrow definition of what constitutes a terror attack. The Web site, www.tkb.org, went online about six hours ago.

And, of course, be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Now to the case of Natalee Holloway.

The family of the missing teenager has been told to expect the worst. Her father says the FBI told the family that it is likely the 18-year-old girl is not alive. She's been missing since May 30. But her father, David Holloway, is not giving up hope.

He spoke to CNN affiliate WTOK in Meridian, Mississippi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE HOLLOWAY, FATHER: They're still conducting the ground search and until that's completed, that's probably when we'll have to say that we've done all we can do. And then you've got the ocean factor, which -- and then off the island. So once the ground search is completed, I don't know where else to go from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Meanwhile, Natalee Holloway's mother made an emotional plea for the two recently released suspects in the case to be kept in Aruba.

Well, still to come on this Wednesday on DAYBREAK, working the counter at McDonald's is about to get a whole lot more stylish.

Also, how well did you do in high school English? Do you know your pronouns from your adverbs or were you better at math? We'll take a look at all things grammatical.

And it may sound more like your did sister, but tropical storm Cindy isn't playing around. We'll update your weather forecast just ahead.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Wednesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: It's a cloudy day here in New York City, but I'm told that is Will Smith lifting our spirits here in Manhattan.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's about 13 minutes after the hour and here is what is all new this morning.

In a little more than an hour, the International Olympic Committee will announce which city will host the Summer Olympics in 2012. Paris, New York, London, Madrid and Moscow are competing.

In money, tropical storm Cindy is being blamed for another rise in oil prices. Fears over the disruption of shipments from the Gulf of Mexico pushed the price to nearly $60 a barrel.

In culture, a musical version of the movie "The Color Purple" is coming to Broadway in December. The 1985 film was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. None of those stars is involved in the Broadway production.

In sports, Lance Armstrong is back in the familiar yellow leader's jersey after the fourth stage of the Tour de France. Armstrong used a flawless ride to take a 55 second lead over the rest of the field.

And in weather, a busy morning, indeed -- Chad.

What's it looking like for tropical storm Cindy?

MYERS: Well, Cindy here, right over and just very close to Biloxi, really, as it continues to spin around. But this storm cell right there, northern Mobile County heading up into southern Washington County, that's the cell right there with the tornado warning on it. So keep that in mind if you're anywhere north of Mobile. You're going to have to watch out for that most of the day, as there is a tornado watch in effect over almost all of that area.

The storm does travel across Mississippi, Alabama into Georgia, and eventually even into the Blue Ridge Parkway. The next storm system, though, south of Puerto Rico, north of Aruba. That's the storm that we're really concerned with. Dennis looks like it's going to be a category three, 115, maybe 120 miles per hour in the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday. Not worried about that just yet, obviously, for today. But it is going to be a significant storm as it moves on by.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WALLACE: More of DAYBREAK coming up right after this.

Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And time now for a little "Business Buzz."

A major makeover is in the works at McDonald's. The fast food chain wants a top notch designer to dress up its employees in hip new uniforms. Tommy Hilfiger and P. Diddy are said to be top choices for the job. McDonald's says it wants uniforms that workers will want to wear outside the restaurant.

Pink slips will be going out at Sanyo Electric Company. The world's biggest maker of rechargeable batteries for consumer electronics says it plans to cut 15 percent of its global workforce over three years and close factories. The Japanese company is struggling to recover from record losses. And DHL is going to stop cigarette deliveries to individuals. The package delivery company has reached an agreement with the New York attorney general. The state is negotiating with other companies and the United States Postal Service. Critics say such restrictions simply boost an illegal market for cigarettes in which no one asks the age of a consumer.

Well, the news is getting bleaker and bleaker for the parents of Natalee Holloway. There is still no sign of the Alabama teenager, who has been missing in Aruba since May 30th. Her father talked to our Meridian, Mississippi affiliate, WTOK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLLOWAY: Well, the FBI told us about two weeks ago that things didn't look good, in fact, they felt like foul play was involved and don't expect a miracle, that type of stuff. And, of course, we still hold one thread of hope. But realistically they told us that, you know, she's probably not alive, or likely not alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Meantime, the past few days in Aruba have been eventful and emotional when it comes to the investigation.

CNN's Chris Lawrence brings us up to date.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Deepak and Satish Kalpoe arrived home after 26 days in jail, two mothers had almost opposite reactions.

NADIRA RAMIREZ, MOTHER OF KALPOE BROTHERS: I can't even explain how happy I am to see them, to hug them.

LAWRENCE: Nadira Ramirez called her sons innocent. Natalee Holloway's mother called him criminal. BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, MOTHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: Help me by not allowing these two to get away with this crime.

LAWRENCE: Beth Twitty asked Aruban officials to notify the U.S. State Department if the brothers leave the island.

TWITTY: I'm asking this in the name of my beautiful, intelligent and outstanding daughter, who I haven't seen for 36 days and for whom I will continue to search until I find her.

LAWRENCE: The judge ruled there's not enough evidence to keep the Kalpoes. They can leave the country, but their mother says they won't. She's even canceled a family trip to Suriname.

Natalee's family is getting some help from a virtual eye in the sky. Holland has sent three F-16s to Aruba rigged with infrared sensors and sonar equipment. After a test flight Tuesday, they'll start searching the entire island tomorrow. Natalee's friends say they last saw her five weeks ago, leaving a bar with the three young men. On the Sunday afternoon before their latest court hearing, police said all three reconstruct what happened the night Natalee disappeared. Step-by-step, investigators took them to several spots on the island, including the beach where Joran Van Der Sloot says he left Natalee alive and well sometime after 2:00 a.m.

JOSSY MANSUR, "EL DIARIO" NEWSPAPER: They wanted to know for sure that Joran would take them exactly to the places that he said he took Natalee to that night.

LAWRENCE: Prosecutors won't say why the judge detained Van Der Sloot and let the Kalpoes go. They say all three changed their stories, and other evidence does not support those stories. An attorney for one of the brothers says the longer you keep someone in jail, the stronger your evidence should be.

RUDY OOMEN, DEEPAK KALPOE'S ATTORNEY: My client's case was the other way around. The longer they stayed in detention, the more proof came out that they didn't have to do anything with the disappearance itself.

LAWRENCE: That leaves Joran Van Der Sloot as the last suspect still in custody and the question of what happened to Natalee Holloway unanswered.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALLACE: And, again, that was CNN's Chris Lawrence reporting.

"News Across America" now.

Representatives from New England are hoping to save some of their military bases today. They'll be meeting with members of the Base Closing Commission. Three large bases in Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts are among the targets for closure. Lawmakers are hoping to persuade the commission to change the recommendations.

At least one family has filed a lawsuit against the BTK killer. The wrongful death class action suit was filed on behalf of Marine Hedge family. Hedge was killed by Dennis Rader in 1985. The family's attorney says the family is not seeking any money, but the suit would stop Rader from profiting from his crimes. Other victims' families are considering whether to join that suit.

And a zoo intern is recovering today after an attack by this adult gorilla. The attack took place at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Zoo officials blame human error for the attack. The ape knocked down and bit the intern while she was in the usually restricted outdoor area of the gorillas' enclosure.

Well, when it comes to writing, a lot of Americans don't have the right stuff, and they are paying dearly for it. The National Commission on Writing is out with a new report on state employees. Get this. It says 70 percent of professional state employees have adequate writing skills, but the same is true for only 33 percent of clerical and support staff. And what's the cost for remedial writing training? A whopping $220 million a year, about $425 per employee.

Joining us now, former Senator Bob Kerrey, chairman of the National Commission on Writing.

Senator, thanks for waking up with us.

We appreciate it.

BOB KERREY, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON WRITING: You're welcome.

WALLACE: Well, many of us, when we heard this, were outraged. Nearly a quarter of a billion dollars spent on remedial writing.

How big of a problem do we have on our hands?

KERREY: Well, actually, that quarter of a billion is just the tip of the iceberg at the government level. I mean the survey that we did was just of state employees, not of health or education employees. That's another $250 million. And then state and the local employees are about four times that. So it's a much bigger number, all government -- state and local government employees.

You know, the even worse news is that last year we surveyed the Business Roundtable and we found the same thing in the private sector.

What's happened, we think, is that just within the last 10 years or so, the demand for writing skills has gone up sharply and our schools simply have not been able to respond.

There's some good news. The commission found some awfully good successes. The California Writing Project, for example, actually works. It leverages private money, it leverages local money. It's working in many, many school districts. But it takes time. It takes time to get the job done and right now I would guess taxpayers are spending, you know, a couple billion dollars a year. And that's just direct costs, let alone the indirect costs of clerical people or even professional people making mistakes because they simply can't write well and as a consequence, all of a sudden we've found ourselves frustrated by bureaucracy, discover that it costs an awful lot more to correct a mistake than when you do it wrong the first time.

WALLACE: And, Senator, it's interesting, in this age of e-mail, it appears writing inadequacies are becoming more and more apparent. In that survey you're talking about a response on why we're seeing such bad writing, someone saying: "The sender is composing on the spot." We're talking about e-mail. "You might do a spell check, but you can't do a 'thought check.' It's like blurting out something without thinking it through."

So in the age of e-mail, are we not stopping long enough to think before we write?

KERREY: Well, I'm not sure the technology, actually, has produced the deterioration of writing. We didn't have -- we have not made that conclusion that e-mail has. In fact, in some ways, e-mail at least encourages young people to compose their ideas into words. At least they're doing their composition. They may be doing it incorrectly, their sentence structure may not be right, it may not be terribly compelling once you try to put it down into either a government document or a letter or some business document, as well.

The bottom line here is that in both the private sector and the public sector, if you're trying to get a job and you're trying to hold a job, you'd better learn to write. And if our schools don't allow the time for our teachers to be able to prepare our young people, if our parents don't put as much effort into writing as they do into reading -- and both skills are very much compatible, one produces the other -- you know, your young son and daughter simply are going to find themselves in the workplace, either in the government or the private sector, unable either to get the job they want or to retain it.

WALLACE: A bit of a wake up call for all of us.

Former Senator Bob Kerrey, chairman of the National Commission on Writing.

Thanks for joining us today.

We appreciate it.

Well, and then there were how many? We're counting down from five to one for 2012. We're following that Olympic equation all morning long.

Also, tropical storm Cindy has tropical storm Dennis hard on her heels. We'll tell you what's brewing in the Atlantic just ahead.

Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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