Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Bombers from Two London Attacks May be Linked; Chicago Taking Heat Seriously; Space Shuttle to Launch Despite Fuel Sensor Problem; Video Game Blamed for Murder Spree

Aired July 25, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: In a popular resort town in Egypt, police are looking for a group of Pakistani men they think could be responsible for the deadly attack this weekend. Do they have ties to al Qaeda, too?
And triple digit temperatures across the Midwest. Some of the hottest weather ever. Heat warnings in effect. Residents looking for relief on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning to you from New York City. I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: And I'm Soledad O'Brien. We're coming to you live from London this morning. In fact, Miles, we are in Abington Square, which is really right in the heart of central London, very close to the House of Lords.

The investigation is now the focus here in London. A new arrest to tell you about. And also some links between the bombers who died in the July 7 attacks and the bombers who took off when their explosive devices failed to detonate. We're going to have an update on that investigation coming up in just a moment -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Soledad. Back with you very shortly.

Also ahead, live to the Kennedy Space Center, where NASA officials say tomorrow's launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is a go, even though engineers still can't figure out what is wrong with a bulky (ph) fuel sensor system.

Before we get to that, though, headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR: And I've got them. Thank you, Miles. Good morning to you.

Now in the news, tens of thousands of Protestors calling for Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to step down. She's accused of rigging last year's election. Crowds are gathering where Arroyo gave her State of the Nation speech earlier today. Some law makers have filed an impeachment complaint against her, but no word if there is enough support to get it to trial. Authorities in Egypt looking for several Pakistani individuals possibly linked to Saturday's attacks. At least 84 people were killed in Sharm El-Sheikh in the bombings there, more than 200 wounded. In the meantime, officials are monitoring roads leading out of the resort town to the mountains. They say suspects connected to the attacks may try to flee the city. We'll have much more on the Egyptian resort and why it may have become a target later this hour.

New York area commuters are being asked to share what's in their bags this morning. Police starting the first full work week of random searches. New Jersey also started to search bags and packages today. The beefed up security is an unprecedented move in light of the London bombings. We'll have the latest on the investigation there just ahead.

And a chunk of Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland, closed down this hour after a Greyhound bus overturns. We've been following the story since it happened less than two hours ago. Pictures from the scene show several people laying on stretchers. Authorities say some 14 people are injured. At least one of those injuries appears to be serious. And of course, the police believe right now that bus overturned because of slick roadways there, because it is raining. So be careful.

Let's head live to London now and Soledad.

Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Hey, Carol, good morning to you, and thank you very much.

Here in London, a formal inquiry is now underway into the death of that Brazilian national who was killed by police, shot five times at close range to the head.

Let's get right to Nic Robertson. He is not too far from here at Scotland Yard with the very latest on the investigation on several fronts this morning.

Hey, Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, hello.

Well, the investigation at the moment seems to be focusing on three men that the police have arrested over the weekend. It is not clear whether these three men are members of that four-man many bombing team that failed to -- whose bombs failed to go off last week. The police continuing to question them.

The police got another lead over the weekend when they found a suspicious package, which they said had similarities to the failed bomb packages of last week. They performed detonated controlled explosions and took the bag away for forensic examination.

Also, the police are following other leads at this time. They have said that the two bombings, that there was some similarities between the bombs. There are also the similarities we've heard about, the three trains and one bus attacked in each case.

But the biggest lead for the police at the moment seems to be potentially tying these two bombing cells together, potentially on a whitewater rafting trip in Wales. Two of the bombers from July the 7th were photographed on that trip. The police confirmed they are talking to that whitewater rafting company about both bombing investigations.

The company running the whitewater rafting trip says that it recognized two of the bombers from the July 7 bombing. They say there was a second group of men of the same ethnicity who went rafting in the afternoon. So a lot of speculation at this time. The police not saying too much, but a lot of speculation the two cells may be tied together through that whitewater rafting trip, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And, certainly, Nic, a very curious link. Nic Robertson for us at Scotland Yard this afternoon here in London.

Let's get back to Miles O'Brien, where it's morning in New York. Hello, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Hello, Soledad.

In this country, much of the country remains in the grip of a dangerous heat wave, as we speak, the high temperatures taking an especially heavy toll in the mid and southwest regions.

Today Illinois officials expected to ask the federal government to declare a state of disaster area, making Illinois eligible for some emergency funds.

Correspondent Chris Lawrence is in Chicago.

Chris, tell us about the measures that are being taken there to protect folks.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, later today city officials will still be going door to door, checking on some of the older folks who live alone. And if a caseworker thinks someone is in immediate danger, they've got the authority to take them out of their home and get them into some air conditioning until things cool down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Like a lot of the Midwest, Chicago just simmered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hot. It's really hot, man.

LAWRENCE: Temperatures topped 100 degrees in 13 states. St. Louis, Missouri, hit 104. Omaha, Nebraska, 105. Chicago broke 100 for the first time in six years, missing its all-time record by two degrees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like I'm in Cancun, Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're dying here.

LAWRENCE: You can say that now, and people won't take you literally, but not 10 years ago not here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seems to be another heat-related DOA.

LAWRENCE: A heat wave hit Chicago in the summer of 1995. The mayor said, "Let's not blow it out of proportion," and the city didn't take it too seriously. Four days later, Chicago was using refrigerated trucks to cart the bodies away, and the heat had killed more than 700 people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no question that the system failed.

LAWRENCE: Now social workers go door to door...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Roosevelt.

LAWRENCE: ... checking on older people like this man. If they don't have air conditioning or a way to keep cool, the city is bringing them to cooling centers until the temperature goes down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most susceptible people are seniors living alone, and the No. 1 protective factor is air conditioning.

LAWRENCE: For the folks who couldn't stand to stay indoors, they got by with whatever they had on hand: umbrellas, paper fans, and bottles of ice cold water.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: The Chicago Fire Department says it appears the heat killed three people. Now, the medical examiner has not confirmed whether that exactly was the cause. And a city official says that's not unusual to have that kind of discrepancy, and it can take up to a few days after a blistering day like Sunday to determine how many people died and whether the heat had anything to do with it.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Lawrence in Chicago, thank you very much.

The countdown continues toward the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery tomorrow morning, even though NASA engineers still perplexed by that faulty fuel sensor problem that caused the scrub on July 13.

Sean Callebs live at the Kennedy Space Center with more on that.

What are the folks at NASA saying today, Sean?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, miles, pretty much exactly what you just said. They are still moving ahead with the countdown. Right now we are 26 and a half hour from scheduled liftoff of Discovery.

As you mentioned, they are still perplexed by the faulty fuel gauge problem. They have had 14 teams of scientists and engineers working on this for the past ten days. But basically, they say it is an anomaly. They cannot put their finger on exactly what is wrong.

We'll take you out live now to launch pad 39-B and Discovery, where at this time tomorrow, we certainly expect that the seven astronauts will be suited up, either inside or climbing inside the orbiter. It would be about 2 1/2 hours to liftoff. You remember, that is when the launch was scrubbed 10 days ago.

The fuel sensor is basically there for an engine cutoff. It's one of four sensors, and they are there for -- they have a backup to the backup to the backup in the hydrogen area of the external fuel tank. Basically, as the shuttle was lifting off, it would dictate when they were running low on fuel, when they were out of fuel.

If the sensor wasn't working, there is the chance that the engine could shut off too soon, and the space shuttle would be forced to make an emergency landing somewhere around the globe, something that has never been done. And if would shut off too late, it could potentially keep burning, and that could lead to a catastrophic problem.

So that is what they are concerned about. And without question, NASA here says they are still struggling with the ghost of Columbia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE HALE, DEPUTY PROGRAM MANAGER, NASA: I wake up every day, and I ask myself, are we pushing too hard? Are we doing this thoroughly? Have we done the right technical things? Have we asked the right people? Have we built the test properly? I am committed -- and I think the whole team is committed -- to doing this in a safe manner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: There you hear it. They believe that the concern is not a safety issue, Miles. They expect that everything is going to move smoothly. But they say if that same problem, if the exact same problem crops up again tomorrow, they are prepared for liftoff -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, it's interesting, Sean. What they've done in this case is they have embedded a test in an actual countdown. And when they start fueling up at midnight tonight, they'll actually be doing a series of tests as they do the fueling. So it's sort of, I guess, a bit of a risky move. But when you have a tight launch window, that's what you've got to do.

CALLEBS: Exactly. And one thing we heard from Michael Griffin is he would like to see the exact same problem crop up. Then they would know more what they were dealing with.

You know, they had the same problem back in April during a test, but it was with a different external fuel tank. That led a lot here to believe that the problem wasn't in the fuel tank, but rather somewhere within the wiring. But they replaced a great deal of the wiring that goes to the sensor. So at this point, they still don't know exactly what is going on -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: All right. Lots of good engineers working on it, though. We know that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right there.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Sean Callebs.

And I will be back at the space station, at Kennedy Space Station -- Kennedy Space Center -- I'd like to go to the space station, but that's another story. And be sure to join us here for a special extended edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We'll take you right through the launch, which is set for 10:39 a.m. Eastern Time, assuming all those fuel sensors don't give them fits. And that, of course, could happen.

Let's check the weather, though. Chad Myers at the CNN Center. And weather actually looks pretty good. Sixty percent favorable for launch was the last I saw. Right?

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: So Harvey's not an imaginary storm, right?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's still an imaginary storm.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Chad. Appreciate it.

MYERS: All right.

M. O'BRIEN: A little later, we'll go back to Soledad in London with the latest on the bombings probe.

Also, Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, could his wife's political affiliations and her statements on abortion impact his nomination?

And next, a controversial video game at the center of a cop killing trial in Alabama. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The video game Grand Theft Auto may be described as a game of fantasy, but the adults only -- we hope -- video series is being blamed in part for an all too real killing spree at an Alabama police station. Jurors at a trial opening today expected to hear testimony that the alleged killer was influenced by the video game.

Correspondent Dan Lothian with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happened early on a Saturday morning, a little more than two years ago in the west Alabama city of Fayette.

TOMMY WILLIAMS, PARAMEDIC: As I was driving to work, I got a call that says, "You've got to get down here now. It's bad."

LOTHIAN: More than a dozen shots riddled police headquarters, killing 55-year-old officer Arnold Strickland, 40-year-old officer James Crump, and 38-year-old dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer.

WILLIAMS: This was just a tragedy, and it was -- I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

LOTHIAN: The suspect, 18-year-old Devin Darnell Thompson, was being booked on a stolen auto charge when he allegedly grabbed one of the victim's guns, opened fire, then led authorities on a high speed chase in a stolen police car. He was later arrested.

(on camera) Charged with capital murder, Thompson, who has now legally changed his last name to Moore, pleaded not guilty by reason of serious mental defect. Then came a twist that attracted national headlines: allegations that a video game, Grand Theft Auto, may have inspired the crime.

(voice-over) Players are rewarded for stealing cars and killing cops. His defense attorney has told prospective jurors to expect testimony about video games.

And in a separate civil case, family members of the victims are suing the companies that made the game, sold it to him, and built the machines to play it. Attorney Jack Thompson filed the $600 million wrongful death lawsuit.

JACK THOMPSON, LAWYER: We know that these cop killing games are leading to these killings, because that's what they are. They're murder simulators.

LOTHIAN: The makers of the game had no comment, but an editor at a publication that reviews video games defended it, saying, "I don't think playing the game will make you a killer."

And another editor at "GamePro" magazine says, "In general, violence shouldn't be blamed on a game of fantasy."

SID SHUMAN, "GAMEPRO" MAGAZINE: They've been described as murder simulators. I think that's bunk.

LOTHIAN: Fantasy versus reality in the case of a troubled teen who could face the death penalty if convicted.

Dan Lothian, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Rockstar Video, the maker of Grand Theft Auto, may also be in hot water on Capitol Hill. A congressional hearing today to determine whether the game's makers should be in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission for programming sex scenes into the game.

Back to Soledad in London.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. Thanks.

Still to come this morning, police all across Britain are reacting in many different ways to the bombings here. A little bit later this morning, we're going to get the perspective of some young Londoners. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The relentless heat wave baking much of America broke more than 200 records last week in the western U.S. alone. The high temperatures are taking a heavy toll, too, in the Midwest. Chicago's high on Sunday, 104 degrees, just shy of the all-time city record in recorded history, 105.

It happened on the very same date in 1934, coincidentally, or not perhaps. Ten years ago, a heat wave there killed 700 people.

Matt Kelsch is a meteorologist with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. He joins us from Denver this morning.

Matt, good to have you with us. We think about hurricanes a lot; we think about tornadoes. In the way we cover those events you might think those are more deadly events, but heat is a big killer, isn't it?

MATT KELSCH, METEOROLOGIST: It certainly is. In fact, research now shows it's the biggest killer of the different weather phenomenon.

M. O'BRIEN: Why is that, do you think?

KELSCH: People, particularly the elderly that have heart conditions or respiratory distress, heat could actually really trigger those problems and kill people in fairly significant numbers.

M. O'BRIEN: And you mentioned the elderly. Obviously, the elderly at risk. Who is at risk the most, people with respiratory problems, as well?

KELSCH: Right. People that generally unhealthy or older anyway, which is why it's actually difficult to figure out exactly what the toll of heat is, because they tend to be natural causes that are kind of induced by the heat stress.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I guess we take a heat wave and we lump together some deaths which might have occurred otherwise and presume that's part of the heat. It must be difficult to come up with statistics.

KELSCH: Right. Well, what the researchers do is they figure out what the typical death rate would be from things like heart attack, for example, and then figure out how many more occurred because of the heat, and those numbers are pretty large.

M. O'BRIEN: Why don't you give us a big picture, meteorological look at what's going on right now. Why are we seeing this kind of heat? Why now?

KELSCH: Well, every summer, as the sun angle increases and we get more direct sunshine into the continent, we tend to develop what we call a big dome of warm air over the land region. Some summers that's bigger than others. Some summers it's more localized.

This summer, it's been pretty intense, particularly in the northeast and southeast quadrants of the country, places like Chicago, Ohio, upstate New York, and also places like Arizona, Colorado, and Utah have had particularly persistent heat waves.

M. O'BRIEN: I think we have a map which shows this dome that you refer to.

KELSCH: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And I'm curious what makes it go away?

KELSCH: Well, what happens, as the sun weakens, meaning that the sun angle is moving further south as we get toward the Fall, we start getting colder air develop again to our north, and eventually that starts plunging down into the United States. It's just as we get later in the summer, there's less intense sunshine, and it starts breaking up.

M. O'BRIEN: So we just sort of have to wait it out then in this situation?

KELSCH: That's pretty much what happens. Now sometimes what happens is you get more moisture come in, and although that doesn't truly cool you off, you have more clouds that can reduce the day time temperatures.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk about where this fits into the big picture. Scientists now tell us that the jury is pretty much in. Climate change is happening. And you have to wonder, when you see all these heat waves, if there's some link here between global climate change and the way the planet is generally heating up, and these isolated killer heat waves.

KELSCH: Right. But we have to be careful that one heat wave doesn't prove global climate change. What we look for is, is there a pattern where there's more heat waves than there are cold waves over a number of years? And also things like what's happening to the glaciers and the different mountain regions or the polar ice caps or ocean temperatures?

Those are all better measures of what the earth's temperature is, and because of what's happening to those things, there is a general consensus that the earth is warming.

M. O'BRIEN: So you really can't say, then, that the heat wave that we're seeing here right now with the specific sort of local conditions, regional conditions, have anything to do with this global effects that we're seeing? KELSCH: In the sense that we can't say one heat wave does. If we look over ten years and we find there are cities that have had more heat records than cold records, then that might be part of the pattern. But even in a warmer Earth, we'll still have heat waves and cold waves.

M. O'BRIEN: Are we starting to get that pattern, though? Are you starting to see that kind of data?

KELSCH: There are cities that are showing that pattern. But like I say, we look for the more global things like ocean temperatures and the fate of polar ice caps and mountain glaciers, and those, we are seeing this tendency for a warmer earth.

M. O'BRIEN: We can only hope things will cool down soon for those folks who are affected right now. Do you expect to see anything soon that will give these folks some relief?

KELSCH: Actually, there is a little bit of a cooler air mass kind of breaking into that dome of hot air we have over us. Tuesday and Wednesday, they'll feel that in the Midwest. And by Wednesday and Thursday up in the northeast, it will cool down a little bit. But that might just be temporary. Looks like the heat will return. We still have a lot more summer to go through.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. A lot more summer. Meteorologist Matt Kelsch, thanks for dropping by. We appreciate it.

KELSCH: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. Thanks.

Still to come this morning, we've got the very latest on the investigation here in London. Into both the July 7th attacks and also last week's attempted attacks. Is there a link? Is there a connection? We talk with a terror expert just ahead. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for "AMERICAN MORNING Quick News." CNN.com/AM is the place to get it.

Still to come, a Mideast tourist haven trying to cope in the face of terrorism. We'll take a closer look at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: And welcome back, everybody. It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and I'm coming to you live from London. Ahead this morning, a closer look at the possible connections between the July 7 bombings in London and the failed bombings that took place exactly two week later. One possible link runs through a whitewater center in Wales. We've got an intriguing piece of the puzzle up ahead. And we'll talk with a terror expert about that coming up.

Also this morning, reports that a fifth bomb found in London over the weekend.

First, though, let's get right back to Miles. He's in New York this morning.

Hey, Miles, good morning again.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Also ahead, the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, where a terrorist attack over the weekend killed 84. We're looking at the significance of this site and why it has become a terror target.

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