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CNN Live At Daybreak

A Tough Job; Panda Peeking

Aired July 13, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta today for Carol Costello. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, it's like any other big city, but with some extremely unique issues. Later, we meet the mayor of Baghdad.

And you could waste away the day watching this cuddly thing, but where's the new baby? The inside story of the stars of the panda cam.

But first, our top stories.

British investigators are questioning a man they arrested north of London in connection with those deadly mass transit terror attacks last week. They are also searching six homes. The investigation is now focusing on four men seen on closed circuit television in a subway station before the explosions.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due back in Washington this morning after visiting four East Asian countries. Her last stop was South Korea for talks on resolving the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.

The shuttle Discovery is set to liftoff at 3:51 Eastern this afternoon. This is a live shot of the launch pad right now. Yesterday, NASA had to replace two protective tiles after a plastic cockpit window cover fell off and hit the tiles.

And don't forget to tune in to CNN for Discovery's launch later this afternoon. Miles O'Brien hosts the special coverage beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Let's check in again with Chad this morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Fredricka.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Well if only it were as easy to understand as a hotel break-in or an intern in a blue dress. But this scandal is a messy jumble of politics and confidential sources that has the president's spokesman playing some serious dodgeball and a woman sitting in jail for an article she never even wrote. In case you're confused, like a lot of people are, we thought we'd take you back to the beginning.

It started in July of 2003, former U.S. Diplomat Joseph Wilson published an opinion article in "The New York Times" talking about his trip to Africa in 2002. Wilson said he saw no evidence to support the Bush administration's claim that Niger supplied nuclear materials to Iraq.

Eight days later, Robert Novak identified Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative. Novak wrote that Plame was the one who suggested that her husband be sent to Niger. Novak cited two administration sources. Wilson immediately charged that this was a case of White House retaliation.

That September, the Justice Department launched an investigation. President Bush declared that he would take -- quote -- "appropriate action" if anyone in his administration leaked classified information.

Ten days later, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Karl Rove and two other aides assured him they were not involved.

One week ago, Judith Miller of "The New York Times" went to jail for refusing to reveal her source on the story, even though she never wrote a story. Matthew Cooper from "TIME" magazine got permission from his confidential source to testify. And this past Sunday, "Newsweek" magazine reported that Karl Rove was indeed one of Matthew Cooper's sources. At least his name appeared in the notes.

Another problem plaguing the Bush administration, alleged prisoner abuse and who's responsible? FBI investigators reportedly have recommended that the former commander at Guantanamo Bay be reprimanded for failing to oversee the interrogation of a high-value detainee who was allegedly abused. That's according to The Associated Press. It says the recommendation was rejected by the head of the U.S. Southern Command. The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing today on that very issue.

President Bush says he's actively seeking recommendations for someone to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The president met with some key Republican and Democratic senators to discuss the vacancy and the timing of his nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: The president listened. He didn't comment. He listened. He took in what all of the people had to offer. So he is certainly making available the opportunity for everyone to get all of their ideas in to him. And I think he's also signaled that he's going to take the time to allow that to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: I feel comfortable and good that we're going to be able to have someone that is a consensus candidate. We certainly hope so. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Justice O'Connor announced her retirement last month. The senators say they plan to have a replacement confirmed by October when the court reconvenes.

Following up a story we told you about yesterday, Los Angeles police are still trying to determine who fired the shot that killed a toddler being held by her father during a standoff with police. L.A.'s police chief says the officers were in a difficult situation. They had already rescued the man's teenaged daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF WILLIAM BRATTON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: In the interview with the daughter, with our harshest negotiators, she indicated that the father had threatened to kill her, kill the baby, kill himself, kill the mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The two-and-a-half hour standoff happened Sunday. Jose Raul Pena fired on police three times while holding his daughter, Suzy. The little girl died in the final volley after Pena confronted police in an alley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRATTON: If, in fact, the death of the 17-month-old was at the hands of Los Angeles police officers, that compounds the tragedy, it compounds the grief of this department and our officers that they would have taken such a young life while trying to rescue that young life. But it does not change anything relative to what we were working with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The police chief says autopsy results expected tomorrow will determine whether the girl was killed by police officers or the father.

Still to come, who would take on running the city of Baghdad? You'll meet him after this hour.

Plus, one of the more addictive Web sites we've seen in a while, a mama panda and her newborn. You'll have to see it for yourself.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: I'm not recognizing that tune.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is now 40 minutes after the hour, and here is what's all new this morning. NASA says it's a go. Space shuttle Discovery is set to liftoff shortly before 4:00 p.m. Eastern today from the Kennedy Space Center. Some tiles knocked off near the tail were replaced on Tuesday.

The Texas group that helped search for missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba has come home. The director of Texas EquuSearch says the team did all it could to find the girl. Holloway has been missing now for more than 40 days.

In money, former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers will be sentenced this morning in his $11 billion fraud conviction. That's coming after a federal judge denied his request for a new trial.

In culture, it's official, Prince Albert is now the ruling monarch of Monaco. His coronation took place amid the usual pomp and circumstance associated with European royalty. His father, Prince Rainier, died in April.

In sports, in the Tour De France, or I should say the Tour De Lance, well, same thing. Lance Armstrong dominated the first mountain stage of the tour. Once again he's wearing the leader's yellow jersey.

And in weather -- Chad.

MYERS: Boy, he didn't like not wearing that jersey.

WHITFIELD: No, he was a little sharp tongued, wasn't he?

MYERS: Yes, he made up those two-and-a-half minutes in a big, big hurry.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, Chad.

You know when I mentioned Lance Armstrong, he was sharp tongued because you know he really kind of whipped his team into shape saying I don't know what's a matter with their legs. I'm going to have a talk with them.

MYERS: Is that right? Yes.

WHITFIELD: And it worked,...

MYERS: All right.

WHITFIELD: ... because they ended up winning that stage.

MYERS: We got three guys in the top 10.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's impressive.

MYERS: Yes. WHITFIELD: All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: 2008 Summer Olympics are still three years away, do the math, but China says it's just about ready now. The newly finished Nanjing Olympic Center Stadium and Natatorium opened Tuesday. Talk about slick, look at that. And, as you can see in the photo, it is huge. This is a picture of the inside of the natatorium.

The complex has a stadium for field events, a track, swimming venue, gymnasium, tennis center, all the seating to hold the Games all in one place. Here's another photo showing the open stadium and much of the seating. And you can see some of the sweeping edges of the facility. Just makes you want to go there, doesn't it. Three years to plan, you can make it happen.

Well this was the scene at Paris City Hall last week as the International Olympic Committee announced that London, and not Paris, would host the 2012 Olympic Games. Paris was upset, as you can imagine. They weren't cheering like the folks in that screen there in London. Well now the mayor says his city will not bid for the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 either. Saylave (ph).

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Iraq, the mayor of Baghdad wears a suit to work, certainly that's normal. But how many big city mayors do you know who wear a flak jacket and get an armed escort everywhere they go?

His story from our Aneesh Raman in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nine a.m. and the day begins as any other, the flak jacket comes off, the endless paperwork comes out. Ahead of Dr. Alaa Tamimi is the near impossible, running Baghdad.

MAYOR ALAA TAMIMI, BAGHDAD: It is not undivided (ph) infrastructure, but even it's bad in the behavior of the people itself.

RAMAN: Few would want this job. Even fewer could do it. Tamimi has done it for 16 months. His now a well known face. And at an 11:00 a.m. meeting with deputies, his commitment commands respect.

TAMIMI: I've got pretty big problems now. But it's really difficult being in this life meet people like me.

RAMAN: Tamimi fled Iraq in 1995, swearing he'd return only to be buried or when Saddam fell. He never expected it would be the latter.

TAMIMI: I'm very proud of the Balkans (ph). RAMAN: Now the engineer by training is trying to bring back basic services with a paltry budget. The attempt ripe with frustration. Weeks ago, he was ready to resign.

TAMIMI: Anyone when he had the job should do something, should have means to do his job.

RAMAN: By means, Tamimi means money. He's asked for $1 billion U.S. dollars to run Baghdad this year. He says he got $85 million.

But in an afternoon meeting at the behest of the prime minister, he's persuaded to stay on.

(on camera): The difficulties facing Tamimi are really unparalleled in the world. New York, for example, has an operating budget 600 times that of Baghdad with roughly the same number of residents.

TAMIMI: I am one of the best who can handle such activity.

RAMAN (voice-over): It's a city where while interviewing the mayor his lights go out and a city where security is a permanent issue. Every visit to a site here comes with both peril and purpose.

TAMIMI: You know the explosion happened before 15 minutes. You see the American there. This is our weapons against terrorists. We want to work. We want to construct.

RAMAN: Working some 18 hours a day while his family stays abroad, Tamimi's boyish face exudes youthful energy and idealism. His passion for Baghdad is astounding.

TAMIMI: I prefer my country more than my family. I prefer Baghdad more than my son. This is my country. This is my city.

RAMAN: At home, his son's pictures are everywhere, their connection obvious, but his thoughts of what's to come are typically mixed.

(on camera): Do you think you'll create the Baghdad one day that he'll want to move back to?

TAMIMI: I hope. I hope. I am optimistic. I am not so sure (ph).

RAMAN (voice-over): What Tamimi hopes Baghdad can be is what keeps its mayor motivated and so tomorrow he'll do this all again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, Fredricka, again the key hurdle to everything here is security. Further evidence of that this morning as a U.S. military convoy was apparently targeted. The victims, though, Iraqi children. The convoy had stopped in eastern Baghdad to hand out treats to kids. At that point, a GMC truck exploded. At least 24 people have died, many of them children, including one U.S. soldier, and at least 25 others wounded -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And almost that is becoming an every day occurrence that this mayor is now having to deal with, along with the rest of the citizens.

Aneesh Raman, thanks so much, from Baghdad.

In the next hour of DAYBREAK, live from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where space shuttle Discovery is finally expected to get off the ground later today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: "Entertainment Headlines" for you this morning.

Some country music stars are giving it all for the Hall. The singers including Kenny Chesney and Vince Gill are donating one night of concert proceeds to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

And just in case you were wondering because you hadn't seen them lately, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz both have new movies debuting in next month's Toronto International Film Festival. Paltrow stars in "Proof" with Anthony Hopkins. Diaz is featured in the movie "In Her Shoes," and it's about two sisters.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be available in Braille just three days after the book is released. In the past, blind readers have had to wait three weeks, or rather, weeks for the Potter books. A new arrangement will have the book out much sooner in nine volumes.

And you can get more entertainment news every night on "ShowBiz Tonight." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News.

And do you remember those "Where's Waldo" books? Well there seems to be a new version, it's called panda cam. But while Waldo was supposed to be hard to spot, the star of the panda cam, well, can't even really see it.

CNN's Jeanne Moos takes a look, or at least she tries to.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What do pandas and dairy products have in common, at least newborn pandas?

JO GAYLE HOWARD, REPRODUCTIVE SCIENTIST, NATIONAL ZOO: We always refer to it like a stick of butter, because it's about the same size, about the same weight.

MOOS: And that makes finding the National Zoo's newborn panda on their panda cam like trying to find a stick of butter in a bamboo stack.

(on camera): Where is the baby?

(voice-over): Sure, you can see mom. And here, the baby's squealing. But we dare you...

(on camera): ... find the panda baby.

(voice-over): Why look at the infant panda through two grainy Web cams trained on the cubbing den?

(on camera): No one, no one, not even the zoo staff, has seen the baby in person. They've only seen it through the monitor.

(voice-over): That's to avoid disturbing mother and child during the first few weeks of the baby's life.

(on camera): I hope it's not sitting on the baby.

(voice-over): After all, mom weighs 245 pounds. The baby is only three or four ounces.

The best place to watch panda cam is at animalplanet.com, though mom is always hogging the picture.

(on camera): It seems almost like an invasion of privacy.

(voice-over): Watching panda cam isn't always spellbinding, but it sure beats other Web cams. Like the once famous coffee pot cam at a computer lab. Then there's B-cam, the Hog's Breath bar cam, jail cam. And of course, CornCam, where you can watch corn grow. Makes panda cam seem bearable.

(on camera): It's taking a nap. Wake up! Come on! Action!

(voice-over): We in the media and movies spoofing us use pandas to pander to our audience.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And to watch. The mood is tense. Hey, you're making me look stupid! Get out here. Panda jerk!

MOOS: On the National Zoo Web site, they offer everything from pandas on credit cards, to panda hotel packages.

(on camera): Panda package with free breakfast. What do you get, bamboo?

(voice-over): Room service.

Since you can only catch a glimpse of the real baby panda, the zoo's expert uses a fake baby panda for show-and-tell. Here's what another baby panda looked like. They've been compared to bald gophers. And since they're calling it a stick of butter, got milk?

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: It's so cute and tiny. And look, here is the image right here as they're -- or as they're sleeping, right -- Chad?

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: They're very -- well I guess they would be, you know it is kind of early, 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. So forget trying to spot the little baby.

What was that?

MYERS: It takes a few seconds to load it. And I actually have it on my screen back here. And I put it on theater mode so it actually goes full screen. It actually would make a real good screen saver for the day, I guess, if you wanted it.

WHITFIELD: It would.

MYERS: Yes, it would be awesome.

WHITFIELD: How precious.

MYERS: Congratulations to that zoo.

WHITFIELD: No kidding.

MYERS: And, obviously, mom and dad as well.

WHITFIELD: Well you know what's interesting, that you know people wonder why in the world is it so tiny? You know it only -- the gestation period is only three months. Why is it so tiny? And how could such a tiny little creature be enveloped by a mom without being crushed or anything? Well, apparently she really has to protect it, because they're born without fur and they're really vulnerable to a lot of infection. And they're also born blind. So they're going to need mom for a long time.

MYERS: Yes, with only three months gestation,...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: ... obviously you can't get a lot done there. And so a lot of it takes place outside the mom's body, so.

WHITFIELD: That's so sweet.

MYERS: And this zoo went through an awful lot to make this happen.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: They've really worked at this.

WHITFIELD: It's a lot of work.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: In vitro.

MYERS: So congratulations to them. WHITFIELD: All right, Chad, thanks so much.

MYERS: You bet.

WHITFIELD: The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It is Wednesday, July 13.

Just hours to go before NASA's return to space. Two-and-a-half hours to go there was tragedy in the sky. Now there's new -- two-and- a-half years, rather. Now there is hope in the air. Discovery is on track for launch.

Plus, we'll take you across the pond where a broad terrorism probe narrows its focus.

And are you checking in? You might want to check out your hotel bill first.

Good morning, everyone.

We'll have more on the upcoming shuttle launch in a moment.

Also ahead, no pizza for you. Find out why one man's support of the war landed him in jail.

And there are scams that can hit you close to home. We'll tell you how to keep them far away.

But first, "Now in the News."

At least 150 people were killed and 800 others injured when three trains collided today at a train station in Pakistan. Authorities say one of the train engineers missed a signal at a station causing the crash.

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