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CNN Live At Daybreak

Hurricane Emily Picking Up Power; British Prime Minister Tony Blair Meeting With Muslim Community Leaders

Aired July 19, 2005 - 06:30   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello this morning. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for waking up with us today. Chad Myers has your forecast in just a moment, but also coming up this half hour, the CIA leak controversy. It is not just about what Karl Rove said anymore. Now his boss's words are also in the spotlight.
And Hurricane Emily is picking up power as it gets ready to hit land yet again. We will track the storm.

Right now, though, here's a look at what's now in the news. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeting this hour with Muslim leaders in Britain. They are talking about the backlash against Muslim in the wake of those deadly July 7th terrorist bombings and how to deal with radical Muslims.

Fresh from a state dinner at the White House, the leader of the world's biggest democracy, India's prime minister, will address a joint meeting of Congress this morning.

A typhoon is bearing down on southeastern China after causing heavy damage in Taiwan. The storm shut down Taiwan's capital, uprooting trees and street signs and washing away bridges and homes. More than 800,000 people on the Chinese coast have evacuated.

CNN is your hurricane headquarters. We are watching Hurricane Emily very closely this morning and the storm is moving ever closer to landfall once again. Now that puts residents along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Mexico in jeopardy. CNN's Kareen Wynter is on the South Padre Island in Texas and she joins us with the latest there.

It looks all calm and quiet right now.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The calm before the storm. Very, very calm right now, Betty. In fact, about an hour and a half ago, people were actually out here taking a dip in one of the pools here where right along the beach, surrounded by hotels and condominiums, a very popular tourist destination this time of year.

Now, right now, Emily is currently a category one hurricane, that's a minimal hurricane. It's a bit breezy at this hour, but besides the wind there is really little indication that a storm could be making its way toward the area as forecasters have predicted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WYNTER (voice-over): A hurricane watch is in effect across southern Texas. Here in Brownsville, residents are keeping a weary eye on Emily's movements.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had to go to Wal-Mart and get like big 35 gallon tanks, the plastic containers to put like all my pictures and personal belongings that I don't want to get damaged with water just in case my roof blows off my house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people are really worried about the hurricane. Worried what effect it's going to cause and when it's going to come in. Especially being on the north side of it.

WYNTER: Across the border, in Mexico, many are mopping up after the storm. Tourist hot spots on the Yucatan Peninsula, such as Playa del Carmen resort, got whacked Monday with high winds and torrential rains. Some tourists took cover at this hotel-turned-emergency shelter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... people in one room waiting 'til the game (ph) is over.

WYNTER: A lot of debris left but little structural damage reported.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, these hurricanes, they got nothing on tornadoes.

WYNTER: Emily weakened after making landfall but later picked up steam as it moved through the warm gulf shore waters. Forecasters predict the hurricane could make landfall in northeastern Mexico late Tuesday, possibly clipping a small portion of southern Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER (on camera): Now, some parts of Texas are under a mandatory evacuation. Authorities say they'll continue to monitor Emily's progress throughout the day, Betty and decide whether or not to issue more orders.

NGUYEN: Kareen Wynter in South Padre Island. Thank you for that update.

Let's get another update on Emily with Chad Myers. Emily struck land there in Cozumel what, a category four? But now it's just a category one.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Now it's a category one. Ninety miles per hour. So it's still gaining strength. When it came off the Yucatan Peninsula it had been over land for so long, from about Cozumel right on through to Progresso, the storm lost all of its intensity and well now it's gaining intensity again, it's gaining strength, and there's our reporter right there. A couple reporters, South Padre Island. The storm is still traveling on up toward the west-northwest. Going to travel probably south of South Padre and hit a very populated area here of Mexico and then even in to Monterrey. Four million people live in that town, city if you will, of Monterrey.

The storm is forecast to make a little turn to the left, but hurricane warnings now are in effect for South Texas, for where our reporter was, South Padre, all the way north to Port Mansfield. So that area - and that's only about 40 miles of Texas, but anyway, there are warnings now posted not just watches.

Ninety miles per hour right now. It'll be 115 by the time it makes landfall, a little after midnight tonight. Landfall is a relative term because in fact there is not much land right through here. It is kind of a lagoon. It's called Laguna Madre. It's kind of a swampy little area through here and I guess that's some good news, but by the time it gets into the mountains, that big city, which is right there, I showed you earlier, Monterrey, is in trouble with some flooding.

NGUYEN: We'll be watching it, Chad. Thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: And for the latest updates on where Emily is going, also where it's been, you'll want to keep it tuned to CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

The president may soon announce his choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. We want to check in now with CNN's Miles O'Brien for a look at what's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Betty. There is speculation this morning that President Bush is close to picking a nominee for Supreme Court justice. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter met last night with President Bush, even delayed a softball game for that. Must have been important.

What did they talk about? We're live at the White House and at Capitol Hill, of course, with the latest on all of that.

Then cell phone use and cancer. Betty, you a big cell phone user?

NGUYEN: Oh, I use it all the time. That's the only phone I have. I don't have a home phone.

O'BRIEN: Well, you have them just like connected to our ears and for years and years there's been debate over this whole issue, is there some sort of link between brain cancer, brain tumors and cell phones. Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to check in with that.

You remember the attorney Johnny Cochran, of course, had a brain tumor. There is an allegation by his family that there may be some kind of link there. He will explore the details and get to the facts.

All that later, on AMERICAN MORNING.

NGUYEN: Very interesting, Miles O'Brien. We'll see you then at 7 o'clock, Eastern.

Well, it seems President Bush isn't changing his tune but his tone, rather, on the CIA leak investigation. We want to listen to what the president said about the leak back in 2003.

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT (video clip): Listen, I know of nobody - I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I would like to know it and we will take the appropriate action, and this investigation is a good thing.

NGUYEN: But the investigation has progressed and more information has now become public. This is what the president had to say on the subject yesterday.

BUSH (video clip): I don't know all the facts. I want to know all the facts. But the best place for the facts to be done is be by somebody who is spending time investigating. I would like this to end as quickly as possible so we know the facts and if someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration.

NGUYEN: The emphasis now seems to be on criminal activity and not just inappropriate behavior. But that determination will be left up to investigators and CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us now from Washington with more on the president's message. Sounds like it's changed just a little bit, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, there is a belief, although the White House denies it really is a change, but there is a belief he has raised the bar a little bit, that the president had indicated before that he found that somebody was involved in leaking, crime or not, that was the implication, that he would be dismissed. Now there are others, if you really want to get in the minutia, that say that what he said yesterday isn't consistent with that.

The president, of course, decides when he wants to let somebody go or not. What's interesting, also, is now we are suddenly hearing all the drumbeat about the imminent probability that we're going to have a Supreme Court justice named. The president just, in a brief appearance before the press yesterday really wouldn't talk about that except to say that he was trying to at the appropriate time name somebody in time for that person, male or female, to be on the court when the new term begins in October.

The other thing, however is that it serves the purpose, and it's probably going to be the big story of the day, of taking some of the spotlight away on the hubbub over the CIA leak, Karl Rove and all that type of thing. So all of the tangled games that are being played at the White House are being played very hard this morning.

NGUYEN: You know, it is a tangled web. A lot of it is a he- said, she-said, who said what, who said what to who (sic). But with all of this coming out and all of the differences in what's being said, is this is a big credibility issue for the White House? FRANKEN: Well, it is a credibility issue. How big it is determines on a number of factors. How much, largely how much the people of the United States care. Now there is a new ABC poll that has come out which indicates that it might be a credibility issue. There has been a huge drop in the number of people who believe that the administration has been forthcoming in the investigation into this leak which identified Valerie Plame.

The current figure is, if the question is, Is the White House fully cooperating with the leak investigation? Only yes, 25 percent are saying yes. No, 47. That's a drop from what it had been just a short time ago.

NGUYEN: Yeah, very interesting. Bob Franken on the phone from Washington, thank you, Bob.

Still to come right here on DAYBREAK, the president has a lot on his plate. After that big state dinner last night he could be naming a Supreme Court nominee today as we just mentioned.

And when Barbie goes to battle with Darth Vader, who wins? We'll take a look at that. At the toy wars taking place in the business world.

But first, here is a look at what else is making news on this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A look now at how the international markets are trading today. Tokyo's NIKKEI is up six points. The London FTSE is down about nine and the German DAX up nearly 12 points.

Time now for a little business buzz. The force was not with Barbie in the latest quarter. Carrie Lee joins us now to talk about how these toys are outselling Barbie, of all things. Everybody loves Barbie, right?

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you would think so, Betty, but Darth Vader, Barbie, well, a tough competition there. Both Mattel and Hasbro reported their quarterly results yesterday and looks like Star Wars is hot, Barbie is not. Hasbro says its profits rose 56 percent, helped by better than expected sales of Star Wars toys. Now, the latest Star Wars movie came out on May 19th and the company said toy sales were better compared to the prior two Star Wars movies.

Funny, if you go to Hasbro's Web site, take a look at this. You can find over 600 Star Wars items, including this Darth Vader version of Mr. Potato Head. Who knew you could buy something like that.

NGUYEN: Mr. Vader Head.

LEE: Doesn't look so tough when you see him in that form.

NGUYEN: No. Not at all.

LEE: Kind of cute.

As for Mattel, posted a net loss. Results came in below expectations. Barbie sales were actually down four percent because of increased competition.

Now, Barbie still is the number one to brand overall but still her star it looks like has faded a little bit. The stocks, meanwhile, are headed in opposite directions. Mattel has been struggling recently, while Hasbro actually hit a new 52-week high yesterday. So we'll see how these stocks do going forward.

Meanwhile, early indications looking like a higher open for stocks today. Markets did fall yesterday on disappointing profit news from Citigroup. But Big Blue, IBM last night posted strong results and that is helping early indications early this morning.

Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: All right. Carrie Lee, thanks for giving us a lowdown on those toys. Have a good day.

LEE: You, too.

NGUYEN: All right. So where is the line when it comes to personal privacy in the digital age? That defining line may be hard to find but everything is so easy to find on those Internet search engines. Joining us live from Washington is Ari Schwartz, associate director for the Center of Democracy and Technology.

I guess, first of all, when we talk about these search engines, Google, Yahoo!, all the numerous ones out there, what kind of information do they have on us when we go to those sites and type in our searches?

ARI SCHWARTZ, CENTER FRO DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY: Well, they are gaining a lot more information. If we look at - first of all, they have all the information that's on the World Wide Web and we've been increasing the amount of information that's being put onto the Internet.

But now they're moving into new kinds of services. They all provide e-mail, they provide location information, looking up where people want to go, travel information, etc. So they are gaining a lot more information about people.

NGUYEN: Yeah, we have a graphic that we're going to try to put up that just really illustrates all that they do know, thinks like you mentioned like e-mail, instant messages, also user name, billing information, Web site traffic, driving directions, why would they want to keep information on our driving directions?

SCHWARTZ: Well, as they collect this kind of information, they can use it to target advertising that way, they can use it to help do research about what people want to see in the future. So they are trying to collect information. The question is what do they use it for, how long do they store it, do they explain that to people, do people understand that when they're typing in the information?

NGUYEN: Well, that's my question to you. How - I mean, it's one thing to collect this information because you have to, I guess, in a way to make that search happen, but to store it is a whole 'nother issue. How long do they store this information?

SCHWARTZ: Well, it depends on the service and it depends on the kind of information. We have different laws in the U.S. for different types of information and I think it is very confusing for consumers and it's really incumbent upon a search engine to explain that to consumers.

Google and Yahoo! both have done good jobs in some areas explaining things to consumers but in other areas it's very confusing. E-mail is the perfect example of that. Under certain circumstances e- mail, even after you hit the delete key the e-mail stays around for a certain period of time and Google doesn't give a pledge as to how long to keep it for.

Although in other areas Google is the best at explaining how information is used.

NGUYEN: You know, storing this information can be very problematic simply because we have heard a lot lately about credit cards, for example, that information being stored and then that information being hacked into and used by people who really shouldn't have access to it.

So, that being the case, what can we do as Web surfers, searchers on the Internet, to protect ourselves?

SCHWARTZ: Well, there are several things that you can do. First of all, you can, as you're entering in and starting to use new services you can try and read the policies. If it's confusing to you, then perhaps that's not the right place to go. Perhaps there is a competitor that explains things better so that you can understand it.

Also, I think that although there is that lag in deletion, I think deleting mail is something that is a good thing to do over time. Deleting your search results on your side helps to some degree, although the information is stored in the long term.

Checking out - learning more, I think, about how to control personal information as it goes across is very important.

NGUYEN: Bottom line, knowledge is power, make sure you protect yourself out there.

Ari Schwartz, thank you so much for your time this morning.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you.

NGUYEN: When DAYBREAK returns, we will look at an issue of supreme importance. A seat on the nation's highest court is vacant. Is President Bush about to make a nomination? And will he pick a moderate or a conservative? We will have a live report. But first here is a look at who is celebrating a birthday on this Tuesday, July 19th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Welcome back on this Tuesday. It is 6:51 Eastern and here is what will be making news today.

Lawyers for terrorist suspect Jose Padilla go to a Virginia federal court today. They will argue that the government is violating Padilla's rights by holding him indefinitely without charges. Now he is accused in a plot to set off a radioactive dirty bomb.

It is also day two of the trial stemming from the nation's first Vioxx-related lawsuit. Drug maker Merck is accused of downplaying questions about the painkillers' safety. Vioxx was pulled from the market last year.

And is it right to make airline pilots retire at age 60? That's what a Senate panel will consider when it discusses the so-called age 60 rule.

Meantime, some other pilots are in a different kind of spotlight. Federal authorities have charged 40 California pilots with lying about their health or criminal histories in order to get their licenses.

Now on to another subject. Is President Bush on the brink of choosing a Supreme Court nominee? The pressure is on and some insiders say a name could be announced today. CNN's Dick Uliano joins us now live from Washington with the latest on the Supreme wait.

So what are the chances of getting a name today, Dick?

DICK ULIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, good morning, Betty. Well, the president could pick someone today. It could be later on in the week. The point here is that White House officials have refused to discuss the names of top prospects or say when the president would make his pick. The president has said his goal is to get somebody named and confirmed by the Senate by the October term and of course only the president and the search team know who he is considering but the news media and interest groups have wondered about the president naming perhaps attorney general Alberto Gonzales, who would, of course, be the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

And then there of course, Betty, is pillow talk. First Lady Laura Bush is not an adviser but she does have the president's ear ...

NGUYEN: Yes. She says she wants a woman.

ULIANO: Exactly. So some women - some interest groups have speculated that the women who may have a chance include Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Jones, that's the New Orleans court. Edith Jones. And Janice Rogers Brown, recently confirmed to the DC Court of Appeals as another possibility. She is from California and Maura Corrigan, a judge on the Michigan Supreme Court.

But bottom line, Betty, we are going to have to wait and see.

NGUYEN: Yeah, but of course, I have to ask you, though, of all these names that you've mentioned, have you been watching the progress, have you seen who has been interviewed, who is on the list to be interviewed, what do we know about that?

ULIANO: Well, that what we know is that only the president and his search team really know in fact who the president is talking to and President Bush says that he has interviewed some, he is reviewing their resumes, their curriculum vitae, in his words, and he also says, Betty, that he is consulting the Senate and will continue to consult the Senate because the president has acknowledged it's a really important decision.

NGUYEN: It sure is and maybe we'll hear more about it today with the announcement of a nominee.

Dick Uliano, CNN Radio, thank you.

Well, do you know what action to take if you're caught in a possible terrorist attack?

CNN's Carol Costello joins us now for a look at what's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Very interesting, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Interested too - Good morning, Betty.

The London bombings focused new attention on the mass transit security here in the United States, so would you know what to do in the middle of a terrorist attack on a bus or subway? A former counterterrorism officer with the CIA joins us with some tips on how you can stay safe.

Plus, the newest Harry Potter sequel is already one for the record books. It is the fastest selling book in history, selling nearly 10 million copies in the first 24 hours alone, but how does it stack up against the great literature of the past? We'll get into that. The power of Potter.

And that's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Back to you, Betty.

NGUYEN: Do you think those fans really care about the great literature of the past? They just want that Harry Potter book, find out who dies in this.

COSTELLO: Probably so, but in the future, maybe we'll care about the ...

NGUYEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... literary nature of the Harry Potter books. Who knows?

NGUYEN: All right, Carol. Thank you. We'll see you soon.

Time now to give away that DAYBREAK coffee mug, Chad.

MYERS: Ironic that our question yesterday was about the Harry Potter book, wasn't it?

And here are your questions from yesterday. "How many copies of the new Harry Potter book sold in the first 24 hours?" Talking midnight to midnight and that official number was 6.9 million.

And "Name the two luxury vehicles given the high marks, the highest marks in recent crash tests." And that was the 2005 Audi A6 and the 2006 Infiniti M35.

The winner, Vertis Hall. Hey, Vert. From Grand Blanc, Michigan. They have the Buick Open up there. Congratulations. Coffee mug is in the mail.

Questions for today. "When is the next launch window for the Space Shuttle Discover?" And "What percentage of credit card companies' revenue come from late fees?"

Oof. Go to cnn.com/daybreak and submit your answers there.

NGUYEN: I bet you've sent a little money to those late fees, huh, Chad?

MYERS: I try not to.

NGUYEN: I try not to, but every now and then - Thanks Chad.

Well, when we come back, a look at this morning's headlines. This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now in the news. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeting with Muslim community leaders. He wants their help in how best to battle Muslim extremism.

Thousands of Israelis are gathering near Gaza right now. It is part of a three day protest against the government's plans to pull out of Gaza and a small part of the West Bank.

And the man who commanded American troops in the Vietnam War has died. Retired General William Westmoreland was 91. He always contended that the U.S. did not lose the war in Southeast Asia.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I am Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello. AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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