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CNN Live Sunday

Search for Clues in Egypt Continues

Aired July 24, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN ANCHOR: Unfolding this hour, two terror investigations, a search for clues in Egypt and an apology in London. We're live with developments.
Plus, putting computer chips in passports. It could help identify and catch terrorists who are plotting against the U.S. So why isn't this kind of technology already in place? We'll examine that.

And he was trapped for five days in a lava field, surviving only off of berries and water that he squeezed from moss. Wait until you hear how he was rescued. Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Lisa Sylvester. Those stories ahead. But first, headlines now in the news.

Progress but no promises. That's how Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sums up her latest diplomatic mission to the Middle East. Rice has spent the last few days meeting separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The visit comes just weeks before Israel is scheduled to begin its plans to pull out of the Gaza and parts of the west bank.

Today, in southwestern Afghanistan, an American soldier was killed and another was wounded. The U.S. military says their unit was attacked by 15 to 20 insurgents.

Lance Armstrong has just tightened his grip on the Tour de France trophy. He's now won the race for an amazing seventh time. A live report from the French capital is straight ahead.

But first we begin in Egypt where security forces are sweeping the Sinai peninsula. They are looking for clues into a series of deadly bombings at a popular tourist area. At least 84 people are dead. More than 200 injured and at least two groups have claimed responsibility for yesterday's attacks. We get the latest now from CNN's Chris Burns. He's live from Sharm el-Sheik with more on the investigation. Chris?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now at least over my shoulder, you can see there's a canvas behind my back. That is the covering over of the hotel that was bombed a couple of days ago. It seems that the police and the authorities here are trying to get back to some kind of sense of normalcy, to get the tourists back on the beach. So far it's not working very well, because the beaches are quite deserted, the streets of the town quite often quite deserted, very eerie situation here, though some tourists are sticking around. Of course, people are remembering those frightening pictures from a couple of days ago, that video that we saw from the tourists showing that explosion and that is what the authorities are trying to get to the bottom of and scouring the Sinai near this region. A semi official newspaper says that they have detained at least 20 people. Other reports say as many as 70 or more though authorities are refusing to give any details about this. The interior minister has said that there could be a link to the Taba bombings of last October that killed some 36 people, including some Israelis. So they are saying that perhaps there is some kind of a link there.

Meanwhile, security here in Sharm el-Sheik has been exponentially increased. We see so many more police on the street and it was already heavily guarded and yet now they've brought more. You see police dogs sniffing for bombs under cars. You see hotels blocked off and they're checking everything, every bag that is going through the door, really a sense of an armed camp here as they try to get to the bottom of it and they try to prevent any further attacks.

Also the cleanup is under way. Authorities and work crews are picking apart some of the buildings that have been shattered by this explosion, by these explosions. They hope to start rebuilding as soon as they can. It's very important. It's a very important industry for this country and they've got to make it work fast. Lisa?

SYLVESTER: Chris, how does this hurt this latest round of violence hurt the tourism industry?

BURNS: Well, you know, it is a $6 billion tourism industry as of last year. Some 8 million people visited this country, the pyramids, Luxor and these beautiful beaches here on the Red Sea Riviera, very important for this country. It is one of the most important industries in this country and that is why people are very concerned.

Will this affect it? Will this hit it? Now if you go back to the Luxor attacks, the massacre by Islamic militants of more than 60 people, most of them tourists in Luxor along the Nile. That was in 1997. The country did a broad effort to -- through publicity, through security, to win back those tourists and now we saw record tourists last year even with those Taba bombings last year. So the hope is that they can get past this and they can show that there is security and that even some people, one tourist couple I talked to just a while ago said, look, they're from England. They've been through IRA attacks. They've been through attacks in London just recently. They say look, it can happen anywhere. We're going to go on vacation and we're coming back here. Linda. Lisa.

SYLVESTER: Very good. Chris Burns reporting from Egypt.

In Iraq today, at least 25 people are now reported dead in a suicide car bomb attack in southeastern Baghdad. Thirty three others were wounded. The bomb exploded near the al-Rashan (ph) police station. Authorities say most of the casualties were civilians. Elsewhere, the U.S. military reports a Marine killed by an improvised explosive device in a city northwest of Baghdad. In London, the search for clues and suspects in Thursday's failed terrorist bombings goes on. In the wake of the fatal shooting of a Brazilian man not connected to the case, outrage over his death is growing. Brazil's foreign minister has asked for a meeting today in London with British foreign Secretary Jack Straw. CNN's Jonathan Mann is keeping track of the latest developments and he's with us now from Scotland Yard. Jonathan?

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lisa, 52 people were killed earlier this month in attacks on the public transit system here. So a lot of people in this city of 8 million are -- well, they have very mixed feelings about going back into the subways. Imagine, though, how the relatives of the victims must feel and yet they did exactly that. They gathered to go back to some of the sites that the terrorist suicide bombers had attacked to get a better sense of what exactly happened there and perhaps to get a better sense of closure.

But there's been a 53rd name added to the list of the dead. He was not the victim of a terrorist. He was, it seems, the victim of a very bad mix-up. Jean Charles de Menezes is a Brazilian electrician, a 27-year-old man who was working here in London was shot and killed by police apparently simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The police say that they had a house under observation. He emerged. He didn't respond to their commands in an appropriate way. They mistook him for a suicide bomber and they did what they thought was appropriate.

Still, it raises an enormous amount of questions among many people, understandably so and a lot of Brazilians have been out on the streets trying to show their concern, their sorrow, their anger. A small group of them marched from Big Ben to here at Scotland Yard today and after that march was over, we had a chance to meet with one of them who in fact was a close friend of the slain Menezes. He was Fausto Suares, a 26-year-old who had also come to London to work and now is reconsidering really whether he wants to be here. He has a lot of questions about what's happened over the last few days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUSTO SUARES, FRIEND OF VICTIM: It's hard to say, you know, but we are all in shock at the moment. So that's why we are here now to find out what exactly happened, why they kill him. You know? Because I think we are not safe anymore in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Scotland Yard has been issuing some details about the killing. It is still under investigation. But it fell to the man who's in charge here, the metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair, to try to speak to the public and answer some of those concerns. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN BLAIR, METROPOLITAN POLICE COMMISSIONER: Deeply, deeply regretful action, but we also have to recognize that it's not -- why this happened is not just a matter of police policy or police action, but the context in which the police officers were operating, in which people have chosen to use suicide as a weapon on London streets and under London streets and that changes the context. We have to consider what would have happened if these officers had not shot and that man had been a suicide bomber and got on the tube and the doors closed with the officers having taken the wrong decision. That would have been absolutely dreadful. The most important thing I can do is to offer our regrets. But then you have to move on in the biggest operation the metropolitan police has ever undertaken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: One thing to keep track of, keep in mind is that the first attacks July 7th took the lives of four suicide bombers. The copy cat attacks were botched and so there may be as many as four men still wandering around the city who are clearly prepared to die in more attacks. Lisa?

SYLVESTER: Jonathan Mann from Scotland Yard, thank you very much for that report.

In parts of the United States, an unrelenting heat wave makes this weekend a good weekend to stay indoors. Triple digit temperatures are expected again today across much of the Midwest and desert southwest. In Kansas City, Missouri, high temperatures there have been hovering around the 100 degree mark this weekend. At the city zoo, visitors are eating lots of ice cream. You can see them there. Misting machines are running full force and visitors are urged to drink a lot of water. The hot weather is blamed for at least one death in the area. In Arizona, the sun just keeps baking the streets and sidewalks. More than a dozen people in the region have died from the heat. Let's check in now with CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano for more on this sweltering weather. Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Lisa, out west, at least in Arizona, places like that, little bit of relief. So that's good news. They'll see temperatures that will be more close to normal or average. Monsoon beginning to kick in out here. Look at the satellite picture and you can see where the clouds are not bubbling right in the middle part of the country and that's where the temperatures are hot. So obviously no cloud cover and a big dome of hot air sitting over this part of the world so that's where we have seen the hottest temperatures.

Some records from yesterday. I should point out that there haven't been a tremendous amount of records. Really, the main thing with this heat wave has been how long it's lasted and how many people it's affected. And Nebraska, 107 yesterday; 105 in Omaha; Denver got into the act at 102 and even LA at 86 degrees. It's certainly warm for this time of year. Heat and humidity begin to push up from places like Kansas City and St. Louis where yesterday was over 100. Now Chicago will get into the act. There are some cooling thunderstorms, but they're pretty much rolling across parts of Michigan. Daytime highs, 102 St. Louis, 100 in Chicago. And that does not include the humidity. Those temperatures are measured in the shade, Lisa, so excessive heat warnings out for those parts of the country. SYLVESTER: Now that heat wave headed our way. Let me ask you, Rob. Tropical storm Franklin continues to veer away from the Florida coast, but I understand there's another system, Gert that we're watching in the Caribbean.

MARCIANO: Yeah, last night one popped up actually in the southern Gulf of Mexico, the bay of Campeche and it bubbled up into a very weak tropical storm. This is Franklin. That's gone as you mentioned, but Gert right here is going to make land fall in Mexico, only 40 mile an hour winds, but tremendous amount of rain fall and we had a hurricane just last week, made landfall north of here that brought a lot of heavy rain. So that will create more problems because some of the ground is already saturated. But Gert, not a big wind maker. It will bring some rain and it will Mexican landfall later on tonight.

SYLVESTER: That area just seems like it can't catch a break. All right. Thank you Rob Marciano.

MARCIANO: You bet.

SYLVESTER: The beach is a great place to cool off this weekend in Florida. In Pensacola, people are heading back to the beach for the first time since hurricane Dennis a couple of weeks ago. This was the scene on Pensacola beach right after the storm swept ashore along the northwest Florida coastline. Dennis slammed the region with 120 mile an hour winds. Much of the area still has not recovered from last year's devastating hurricane Ivan.

A long and winding journey as Lance Armstrong pedals his way to victory. A live report on the ride of his life and lost in a lava field, found by a passing helicopter. One man's survivor story ahead.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I started to think about all the deadlines that the department missed, I feel like I'm waiting for the cable guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Frustration over the lack of a screening system that could help our security. CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: Welcome back to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Lisa Sylvester. A look now at other news across America. An Amber alert is posted in Nevada for eight-year old Lydia Bethany Rose Rupp. Police say the girl was abducted Friday night from her home in Fernley, possibly by a convicted sex offender. She is 4'9" with brown hair and brown eyes. The suspect, 47-year old Fernando Aguerro was last seen driving a silver or blue Kia Rio without a license plate. In Jacksonville, Florida, a twisted game of truth or dare leads to charges of sexual assault at two church affiliated day care centers. The pastor's son is charged with molesting 10 children. The state has suspended the licenses of the Kids Palace centers, run by Faith ministries.

And in Texas, a dramatic helicopter rescue. The Coast Guard picked up a family of five stranded near the Mado Gorda (ph) island lighthouse. The family was out for a day of boating when bad weather grounded their craft. Everyone is reported fine after the unexpected adventure.

In Paris, an amazing feat by Lance Armstrong. Just moments ago, he won his seventh, his seventh straight Tour de France. The race started three weeks ago and ended on the most famous avenue in Paris, the Champs Elysees. CNN's Jim Bittermann has been watching the race wrap up in the French capital and joins us. Jim?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lisa, a little bit of a technicality here. The race is actually still on. There's still one more lap to go. However, Lance Armstrong has already won because of a technical call by the judges here. What's happened is that about 45 minutes ago, it was raining here. The streets were slick. And as they came into Paris, the judges do as they sometimes do in this race, if the conditions get too dangerous, the judges call the times at that point as the -- when they arrived in Paris.

So unbeknownst to this crowd out here, Lance Armstrong had already won this race, even though the riders have still got yet another couple of minutes of racing. Maybe by the end of this report, we'll see the end of it splashing by those arrival line which is just a few meters from where I am standing right now. Armstrong, pedaling hard throughout this race, although I must say the pace is very leisurely this afternoon. They were running about 20 to 25 minutes below the estimate, probably because of that rain that I mentioned. But also, just because I think they were honoring Armstrong this last day, they gave him the lead most of the way.

Now in this last run up and back down the Champs Elysees here, they in fact, there's been a couple of sprinters that have broken away from the pack but just to show you how dangerous it has been with the rain slicked pavement, just before they got to Paris, one rider went down right in front of Armstrong. Armstrong was able to stop. He came to a complete stop, put his leg out and went around the rider who went down. But this is a kind of race where until the last rider is in, you really don't know how it's going to end, although today because of what the judges have done about 45 minutes ago, we know that Armstrong has won this race. Lisa?

SYLVESTER: Very good. Thank you very much, Jim Bittermann.

A fingerprint, iris pattern, face are unique physical characteristics each of us have. So why aren't these identifiers used in passports, a tool that could help screen out terrorists. We'll try to answer that question just ahead. Plus, after spending nearly a week on a lava field, one man's amazing story of survival and his rescue. CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: CNN security watch looks at passports. Experts say they could be used to help screen potential terrorists and keep them out of the country. All that's needed are tiny computer chips that encode very personal information, so-called biometric identifiers. But CNN's homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve reports that plan is barely off the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Computer chips are in birthday candles and greeting cards, but chips are not in passports. Chips that would contain biographical and biometric information, chips that would make passports more secure and harder to forge. These chips are not in passports because of bureaucratic and technical delays.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I start to think about all the deadlines the department has missed to move, I feel like I'm waiting for a cable guy.

MESERVE: In a so-called e-passport, the chip is barely discernible. It will contain a digital photo, a biometric chosen by the international organization which sets passport standards. When a computer reads the embedded image, an immigration officer can match it to the photo on the front page and the person at the counter.

JOEL SHAW, CSO, CRYPTOMETRICS, INC: It will allow you to confirm that the person standing before you presenting that passport is the rightful holder.

MESERVE: A prototype containing my digital photo is used to demonstrate how passports could provide even more security benefits if partnered with facial recognition technology.

STUART CARD, VP, CRYPTOMETRICS, INC: We need eyes, nose, corners of mouth typically for facial recognition.

MESERVE: Facial recognition maps the face and matches it to others. It can be fooled by identical twins, the changing faces of children and plastic surgery.

CARD: Nose changes, cheekbone changes, would change the fundamental skull. That would be problems for facial recognition.

MESERVE: Some day facial recognition might allow digital passport photos or photos taken at an immigration check point to be run against terrorist databases. Cameras might pick known terrorists out of a crowd and send alerts to law enforcement. But there is a problem. Right now, terrorist databases use a different identifier. RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: The picture is not that useful because we don't have a picture database of terrorists. We have databases of names and databases of fingerprints but we don't have any of pictures.

MESERVE: At a congressional hearing, some asked why fingerprints weren't mandated on e-passports, along with or instead of photos. Officials said some people would resist.

ELAINE DEZENSKI, DHS: Often times there is the perception that if you're fingerprinting travelers, it's a akin to booking someone on a criminal charge.

MESERVE: Fingerprints are a tried and true technology. But they aren't foolproof either. An Oregon lawyer, for instance, was mistakenly held in connection with the Madrid train bombing based on a bad fingerprint match. To effectively close gaps in security, some think there needs to be a single biometric standard across all border protection programs.

REP. CHRISTOPHER COX (R) HOMELAND SECURITY CHMN: We have got very quickly to move from these Balkanized different programs into a seamless integration of information. And we have got to put that information at the fingertips of the people who are at the border.

MESERVE: The U.S. has begun field tests of e-passports and will require them of some visitors by October of next year. But because it takes a decade to replace passports already in circulation, a full deployment won't happen any time soon. For CNN's America bureau, Jeanne Meserve, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. "Reliable Sources" is coming up at the bottom of the hour and Howard Kurtz has a preview. Howard.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thanks Lisa. Coming up, the second the Supreme Court nominee. Are the media being tough on John Roberts or practically anointing him? Why do they get so carried away with speculation about other possible candidates? And has the story taken the press off the trail of Karl Rove and the CIA leak investigation? Plus making history at the "LA Times" and viewers weigh in on Bob Woodward and me. All that ahead on "Reliable Sources."

SYLVESTER: Sounds good. We'll be watching Howard. Thank you.

A tropical paradise turns into a nightmare for one man who became lost for nearly a week in a lava field. Just ahead, who's credited with his rescue?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYLVESTER: An amazing story out of Hawaii. A hiker lost in a field of lava for five days is safe. An eagle eye team riding in a sightseeing helicopter spotted the reflection of a mirror used by the hiker. The man says his rescue came just in time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILBERT DEWEY GAEDCKE, SURVIVOR: There was two points at which I really came to terms with my own death. I had to write off the hope of being rescued because it was killing my survival. These rocks that are like -- they're like four foot glass rocks that are hollow in the middle and they break when you step on them and you fall through and they're just the most vicious terrain I have ever seen in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: The hiker survived by squeezing water out of moss he found on trees and licking moisture off of leaves. Stay with CNN. Up next, "Reliable Sources" with Howard Kurtz deals with the media coverage of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. Then At noon Eastern on "Late Edition," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales shares his thoughts on the president's high court nominee. And at 2:00 Eastern, "People in the News" profiles east coast rapper 50 Cent and piano prodigy Alicia Keyes. But first, here's a look at the headlines now in the news.

Egyptian security forces sweep the Sinai peninsula. They are searching for those responsible for yesterday's bombings at a popular Red Sea resort. At least 84 people are dead and more than 200 wounded. So far, two groups have claimed responsibility.

In London today, police are briefing relatives and friends of the victims of the July 7th terrorist bombings. They're also allowing them to visit the attack sites.

Meanwhile, police say they will not drop their shoot to kill policy aimed at stopping suicide bombers. That's despite the shooting death of a Brazilian man not connected to Thursday's failed bombing attempts.

And the countdown for Tuesday's planned launch of the Shuttle Discovery is still on track. That word a short time ago from NASA. The space agency says right now, there are no significant issues that would affect the planned launch.

I'm Lisa Sylvester. More news at the top of the hour on "LATE EDITION." RELIABLE SOURCES begins right now.

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