Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Launch Lag; Bombing Probe; Sexless Marriage; That Magic Touch

Aired July 15, 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 for Carol Costello today. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, is it up and away or back to the hangar for the space shuttle this weekend?

And have you and your spouse become, well, just roommates? We'll take a look.

But first, "Now in the News."

New revelations in the CIA leak investigation. The Associated Press reports presidential adviser Karl Rove testified to a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA operative from journalist Robert Novak, and he later discussed the information with a "TIME" magazine reporter.

Los Angeles police have released part of a surveillance video showing a man firing at officers during a hostage shootout that left him and his toddler dead.

And Hurricane Emily is now a Category 4 storm. Sustained winds are at least 131 miles per hour. It's churning across the Caribbean toward the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.

And, Chad, it is churning quickly, isn't it?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It sure is. It's actually moving west at about -- or northwest, west northwest at about 20 miles per hour.

The eyewall itself is going through what we call an eyewall replacement cycle. It's almost like, if you spin a top too fast, the inside actually blows itself out. The eyewall got so small and so fast in the overnight hours that it was unable to sustain that small size and that very fast wind speed, so it kind of blew itself apart.

Now we kind of lose the eye a little bit. That'll be temporary. Next couple of hours, it'll make a brand new eyewall. The eyewall will start out pretty large, maybe 15 miles across, shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink, get faster and faster and faster.

Why is the center the fastest part? Think of an ice skater back in the Olympics, put their arms out, they spin around, they go slowly. They bring their arms in real close and they spin real fast. The closer you get to the center, at least right around the eyewall, that's where the fastest winds are. And that's just typical of anything. That's actually typical of a tornado, as well, as you get closer and closer to the center of angular momentum.

One hundred and thirty-five miles per hour as it moves very, very close to Jamaica. Concerned a lot here about Kingston. And then right through the Caymans and then right over Cancun. And as it hits Cancun at about 130 miles per hour, if it does, remember it could still go into the Yucatan Channel or farther south. That would be a damaging storm to anywhere there along that Yucatan Peninsula, all the way from Belize right on up to the tiptop.

WHITFIELD: Wow! All right, enormous.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: We begin this half-hour with the liftoff that wasn't and might not be. NASA still isn't sure when the shuttle Discovery will be able to liftoff. The sensor problem that stopped Wednesday's launch could keep the orbiter grounded until September. The launch window remains open, though, until July 31, and NASA is hoping to get airborne before then.

CNN's Sean Callebs has more from the Kennedy Space Center.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The mission management team here at NASA says Discovery could fly as early as Sunday. However, -- in their words -- "that is optimistic."

There are 12 technical teams across the country, from the Johnson Space Center to Marshall (ph) and Huntsville, Alabama and here, the Kennedy Space Center, trying to get to the bottom of the problem. However, it is an intermittent problem with one of the fuel sensors. It is a faulty fuel sensor. NASA doesn't know if it is in the bottom of the external fuel tank, if it is in the wiring or if it is in the shuttle itself. Discovery remains on the pad. However, if it is a problem in the external fuel tank and they have to go in that tank, it would be a rollback involved and this could take some time.

Now here basically is the problem. There are four of these sensors in the bottom of the fuel tank. We talk about fuel tank, it is actually two, oxygen here, hydrogen here. This is where the fuel sensor is. Now if it is a problem within the electronics, NASA would need to go in through one of these two panels. They are prepared to do that. They have another panel they could replace. But if they have to work on that wiring, it could take 10 days to 3 weeks. NASA is holding out hopes, but they say Sunday is optimistic.

Sean Callebs, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: In other news "Across America" this morning, a very close call for New York pedestrians who mostly escaped a building collapsing. The building crumbled while under demolition. The front wall and the roof came down, taking the scaffolding with it. The collapse crushed a bus shelter, but no one was seriously hurt.

St. Louis radio station KATZ has suspended two D.J.s. The host of the Chaos Morning Show (ph) reportedly talked with callers about how to fight a police officer and get his radio to prevent a call for help. The incident came eight days after a police sergeant was shot and killed in suburban St. Louis.

Thanks, but no thanks says Andre Agassi. The tennis star says he has no plans to trade this sports arena for the political arena. A fellow Las Vegas resident hoped to draft Agassi to run for Congress in Nevada.

Karl Rove says it was a reporter that told him the identity of an undercover CIA operative. According to The Associated Press, Rove told a grand jury it was not government sources that told him about Valerie Plame but it was columnist Robert Novak.

Let's go "Beyond the Soundbite" now with Joe Wilson, Plame's husband. The former ambassador talked to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE WILSON, FORMER AMBASSADOR: Well, it strikes me that it's typical of a Rove-type operation. "Slime and defend" is what it's been called in the past.

But the fact of the matter is, of course, that this is not a Joe Wilson or Valerie Wilson issue. This is an issue of whether or not somebody leaked classified information to the press, who then published it, thereby putting covert operations and a covert officer at some risk.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "CNN WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": What would have been so bad if your wife would have recommended you to go to Niger for this investigation?

WILSON: Well, of course from my perspective, it wouldn't have been bad at all. This was a legitimate request to answer a national security question. I was well qualified to do so, indeed. As a Senate Select Committee report says, I had made a trip in 1999 to Niger to look into other uranium-related matters, so I was well known to the CIA.

But I believed then and I believe now that -- and I know that Karl Rove was, in fact, engaged in pushing the Novak story, including calling a reporter and saying, "Wilson's wife is fair game." I find that to be an outrageous abuse of power from a senior White House official.

BLITZER: What's going to happen, in your opinion, when all the dust settles in this? WILSON: Well, I believe that the special council will have the last word on this. And I have full faith in the institutions of our government and in the personal qualities of Pat Fitzgerald and of the FBI team that is working to support him.

BLITZER: So if -- and this is the final question -- if there are no charges leveled against Karl Rove, will you apologize to him?

WILSON: I believe Karl Rove should be fired. I believe Karl Rove should be fired because I believe it's an outrageous abuse of power for somebody sitting in an office next to the president of the United States to be personally engaged in a smear campaign against citizens of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wilson says his wife was not working undercover at the time her identity was revealed.

The search is on for another man wanted for questioning in the London bombings and that search has led the FBI to North Carolina.

CNN's David Mattingly has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The FBI would like to know what Egyptian national Magdy El-Nashar was doing during his time in Raleigh, North Carolina, particularly as a student in chemical engineering at North Carolina State. University officials tell us he was enrolled here briefly only in the spring of 2000 for that one semester. He was a graduate student in chemical engineering.

One person, a fellow Egyptian who knew him at the time, says El- Nashar, during that time, was seemed to be a regular guy, not someone who ever demonstrated any radical beliefs. He also said that El- Nashar had plans to go back to his native Cairo and to enroll in classes in England to continue his education. Something that apparently came through for him, as we have now learned that he obtained a doctorate in biochemical engineering at the University of Leeds.

As for his footprint here, it was very slight. University officials say there was not even any photographic record of him when he attended college here. We went to his last known address, a very small apartment just off campus. We talked to his former property manager who tells us that she has turned over all of her old records to the FBI.

But at this point, investigators on both sides of the Atlantic are unable to say exactly what connection, if any, he has to this case.

David Mattingly, CNN, Raleigh, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: Still to come this hour, feel like you've been over a barrel lately? Well, there's good news on the horizon for oil prices.

And later, getting a feel for Harry Potter.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's about 18 minutes now before the hour, and here's what's all new this morning.

The Associated Press reports presidential aide Karl Rove told a grand jury that he learned the identity of a CIA spy from columnist and CNN's political analyst Robert Novak, and he later discussed it with a "TIME" magazine reporter.

CNN has learned there is evidence connecting last week's bombings in London to a plot British police foiled last year. In that case, police arrested eight British Muslims and seized more than a half ton of explosive material.

In money, oil prices have plunged in a continuation of Wednesday's sell off. It's in reaction to a report from an international energy watchdog group that says China's demand for oil is growing slower than expected.

And in culture, SpongeBob SquarePants is pushing fruits and veggies. He'll appear on packages of carrots, spinach and citrus starting next month. And Nickelodeon says Dora, the Explorer, and other Nick characters will follow suit.

In sports, six-time defending champ Lance Armstrong is still ahead of the pack in the Tour De France. The 13th stage is today, and Armstrong has a 38-second overall lead. Still holding on to that lead.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Just one second shy of his lead yesterday, Chad. That's pretty good.

MYERS: That really is. You know I mean considering how many riders there are and where they all finish and then so many stages, boy, he's just hanging on though.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: Thirty-eight seconds, not enough of a comfortable margin for me.

Let's take a look at what Emily is doing right now. We have winds at 135 miles per hour. It is a Category 4 hurricane. It is going to brush Jamaica with some very heavy winds, possibly 120 to 135, as it moves just south of that island nation. And then right through and into the Caymans, across the Yucatan and possibly even into Texas.

Notice the cone, though, all the way up even from Corpus Christi, as far south as even maybe as Honduras. The storm, still, not done turning left or turning right. Remember how many times Dennis turned? We have to watch the cone, not the line.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, that's good to hear.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Thanks, Chad.

Well still to come this morning, the real Slim Shady can still stand up, but some of Eminem's entourage are laying down in hospital beds this morning. We'll show you the tour bus crash that almost turned tragic next.

And what do you get for the married couple that has everything? How about sex? Are your kids and careers dashing your passion? Find out what you can do about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well time to check our "Web Clicks" this morning, Chad, what stories are getting the most attention on the Web site. Let's go to CNN.com right now.

First up, a tour bus...

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ... for rap star Eminem crashes and overturns after apparently hitting trucks on the interstate in Missouri.

MYERS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And he wasn't on.

MYERS: He was not on the bus. There were 11 members, though. Seven of the people were actually taken to the hospital from all of this. He was not on the bus. He was traveling to a big concert in Denver and some of the lower guys were coming in, you know, on that bus. Doing 85 or 90, according to some authorities there. The witnesses were saying that it swerved off the road, then back on the road, hit a truck. And actually a couple of motorcyclists were also taken to the hospital as well. So they may slow down that tour for a while.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it's amazing. But you know it could have been worse, so thankfully no one seriously injured, no life-threatening injuries that is.

MYERS: That's right. WHITFIELD: Well up next, critics slam California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's million-dollar endorsement deal with "Fitness" magazines and those magazines being flex and muscle and fitness. Apparently he is a consultant for those magazines and usually -- and has promised 1 percent of the $5 million made in revenue from the advertisements. Well some folks don't like that -- Chad.

MYERS: Well, he's a fitness guy. Guess they should have known that when they elected him, right, right?

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's what he says. That's his argument. But apparently...

MYERS: He wants California to be a fit state.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well some of the critics say that there's a real conflict of interest because his pay is coming from that advertising revenue that I mentioned.

MYERS: I get it.

WHITFIELD: And apparently last year he vetoed a bill that would have imposed government regulations on dietary supplement industry. Well guess what, a lot of those ads in those magazines are from dietary supplement companies.

MYERS: Oops.

WHITFIELD: So therein lies what some say is a conflict of interest.

All right, well, finally, this story. Some recovery of memory may be possible if Alzheimer's Disease is caught early. A new study is suggesting that that certainly sounds hopeful, doesn't it?

MYERS: There's going to be some great, great advances from stem cells, to Alzheimer's, to Parkinson's and diabetes, all these things are -- you know just in our next 5 or 10 years in our lifetime, the advances in medicine are going to be just phenomenal.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Well they're crediting this research as a mutant protein named Towel (ph), apparently poisons the brain cells. Well they think that maybe by blocking its production that might help some of the sick neurons recover. We'll see. The early stages of that study.

All right, well, Chad, thanks so much.

You want to know what everyone else is reading this morning, point and click your way to CNN.com/mostpopular. The top 10 stories on our Web page are right there for you.

Well has your mate become more like a roommate than a spouse? If your marriage is missing that certain something, the numbers say you're not alone.

CNN's Jason Bellini has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TARA PATERSON, MOTHER: I don't want to hear another word out of you until your plate is clean.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it's dinnertime at the Patersons, chaos is the main course on the menu. Adam is 7, Katen (ph) is 3. For Chris and Tara Paterson, evenings aren't for winding down. By the time their kids are in bed, they're so exhausted that sex is the last thing on their minds.

CHRIS PATERSON, HUSBAND: I mean, if we have it once a month, I'm all right with that.

BELLINI: Physiologists define sexless marriage as couples having sex no more than 10 times a year. A whopping 15 to 20 percent of married couples fit the category.

JANE GREER, MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPIST: It's far more epidemic than people realize, because couples do not like to talk about the fact that they're not having sex. It's something that makes each person feel badly, oftentimes filled with shame.

BELLINI: Chris says after 10 years of marriage, he's come to accept it.

C. PATERSON: When either one of the two of us is stressed, there's no loving that night.

BELLINI: Chris is a contractor. He also coaches Adam's baseball team.

C. PATERSON: Ready, Ben (ph)?

BELLINI: Tara runs a business from home.

T. PATERSON: My newsletter is due out today.

BELLINI: And takes charge of the children.

T. PATERSON: My goodness, you're covered!

BELLINI (on camera): The Paterson's isn't exactly a DINS relationship, double income, no sex, it's more of a DISS, double income, some sex. If they weren't so busy, would they be intimate more often? That part is a little unclear.

T. PATERSON: Sometimes it's as simple as you're just not in the mood. I mean, I don't think it's always all the other things going on.

BELLINI (voice-over): The sexperts say that whether induced by kids or work, not having sex can itself become a routine.

GREER: You really do want to take the time and dress up and put the emphasis on how you look and how you smell and am I putting my best foot forward, like you did in the beginning of the relationship.

BELLINI: Chris gets it.

C. PATERSON: They need to be put in the mood. I mean, if you start -- if you want to have sex on Friday, you better start talking -- thinking about doing stuff on Wednesday. I mean, they just don't click and OK, let's go.

BELLINI: Tara may prefer reading to sex most nights.

C. PATERSON: I would like more, but I'm not -- that's not -- that's not what I'm married for.

BELLINI: But, both insist that all they really need is love, not sex.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Round Hill, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well at least they've got a sense of humor about it.

Well still to come on DAYBREAK, her clothes came off in some pictures, now the gloves are coming off in court. Cameron Diaz takes on the guy she says tried to blackmail her. That's coming up next.

And it isn't magic that's helping blind children to appreciate the adventure of Harry Potter. Jason Carroll gets a feel for the story coming up next.

Then new at 6:00, why would anyone pull a stunt like this? Keep those comments to yourself and find out the real reason why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: "Entertainment Headlines" for you this morning.

Cameron Diaz took the stand in the criminal trial of a photographer accused of using topless pictures of the actress to allegedly blackmail her. Well the photographer took the shots of Diaz back in 1992, then, allegedly, threatened to sell them unless Diaz paid him $3.5 million.

Pope Benedict is apparently no fan of boy wizard Harry Potter. A German writer says the pope wrote her a letter two years ago when he was a cardinal. The pope reportedly criticized the books by British writer J.K. Rowling saying they -- quote -- "erode Christianity in the soul." The Vatican has no comment. The pope and his secretary are on vacation.

Despite what the pope says, the boy wizard is back. The latest installment of the series "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" goes on sale at the stroke of midnight.

And as CNN's Jason Carroll reports, it's speeding its way to blind fans as well. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're off the conveyor belts, shot by photographers, security is tight. Fans everywhere, like these children, anxiously awaiting the arrival of "Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince."

(on camera): Who is a Harry Potter fan? Just raise your hands.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a Harry Potter fiend.

CARROLL: A Harry Potter fiend?

(voice-over): These Potter fiends know all about the midnight magic parties at book stores on the eve of a new Potter release. They cringe when they're sighted friends, those who can see, get the books first.

(on camera): What was that like for you guys, having to wait?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was so annoying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Painful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so annoying.

CARROLL (voice-over): All of these children are blind, students at the Perkins School in Watertown, Massachusetts. Eddie Tabor says he usually can't get Braille or audio copies of a new Potter book until weeks or months after it's released.

EDDIE TABOR, STUDENT/HARRY POTTER READER: Everyone else can be talking about the book.

CARROLL (on camera): Right.

TABOR: And they get to read it right away. And we're just like sitting there, like, come on, I want my copy.

CARROLL (voice-over): Michelle Smith (ph) has been told she looks like Potter's friend, Hermione. And so she likes to follow what happens to Hermione, but she prefers to read it in Braille, not listen to it on audio tape.

(on camera): What's the difference to you between listening and reading it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes you like miss the punctuation marks. And so you don't know who is saying it.

JUDI CANNON, LIBRARIAN: This is the book of the season.

CARROLL (voice-over): Judi Cannon is the school's librarian. CANNON: Everyone is going to be talking about this book. And one of the important things as being a blind person is to participate in those discussions. It's very, very important.

CARROLL: So important, the book's publisher put aside concerns the plot would get out, and gave the National Braille Press an advance copy to be translated.

WILLIAM RAEDER, PRES., NATIONAL BRAILLE PRESS: It's a mighty good feeling to get this out in a timely fashion.

CARROLL: This time, Harry Potter in Braille will be released almost at the same time as the written version, just a day or two following it. The Braille version is nine volumes long, each one containing about 130 pages. That adds up to nearly 1,200 pages, twice the number of the written version.

(on camera): You've got, in your hot possession here, what a lot of people want to take a look at and get their hands on.

RAEDER: Yes.

CARROLL: I think a lot of people are going to be -- you know are shocked that we're this close to it.

RAEDER: Well it is close.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry.

CARROLL (voice-over): Very soon, Potter fans, like Ashley Bernard, can stop re-reading the last book and start talking with her classmates about the new one.

ASHLEY BERNARD, STUDENT/HARRY POTTER READER: The day it comes out, everyone is going crazy. So, you know, I want to have it as fast as possible so that I can join in the talk.

CARROLL: Will Harry Potter finally defeat his nemesis Voldemort? This time, wannabe wizards everywhere won't have to wait to read what happens.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Watertown, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow!

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

The next hour of DAYBREAK begins in just 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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