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CNN Live At Daybreak
British Police Take in More Terror Suspects; NASA Puts Brakes on Shuttle Program
Aired July 28, 2005 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.
It is Thursday, July 28.
British police have taken in more terror suspects. Word from Britain's top police officer this morning -- these guys are not amateurs.
Also ahead, NASA puts the brakes on its shuttle program. What does this mean for the crew already in space?
And heading south -- that's where some jobs may be going if you listen to CAFTA'S critics. So what is CAFTA and how will it affect your family?
ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
COSTELLO: Good morning to you.
We'll have more on those stories in just a minute.
Also ahead, the dictator and the dissident -- what's it like to be a friend of Kim Jong Il's? We'll hear one woman's remarkable story of camaraderie with the reclusive North Korean leader.
But first, now in the news, the president wins one on the Hill, but barely. Just a few hours ago, the House approved a new free trade agreement by a two vote margin. CAFTA eliminates trade barriers with Central American countries and the Caribbean. Our Carrie Lee will have more on our "Business Buzz" at the half hour.
President Bush will address that Boy Scout jamboree today in Virginia. Thunderstorms forced the cancellation of opening ceremonies last night, which included the planned presidential speech. Earlier in the day, about 300 Scouts and adults were treated for heat related problems. They were waiting for the president to arrive. Four Scout leaders, as you know, were killed earlier this week in an electrical accident.
A desperate dash for food in India. Record rain levels have flooded the Mumbai region. More than 400 are dead. Many of the victims drowned or died in mud slides.
To the Forecast Center now and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Let's get to the London terror investigation now. more arrests were made early this morning during raids in the Tooting area of South London. The latest action comes in the wake of the arrest of one key suspect, an actual alleged bomber, in the July 21st bombings.
Let's get more from CNN's Mallika Kapur in London.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Scotland Yard has confirmed that they have arrested nine men in London earlier this morning in connection with the wider investigation into the July 21st failed bomb attacks here in London. All the nine arrests this morning taking place in the Tooting area of South London and all of them taking place under the Terrorism Act of 2000.
The arrests this morning were divided between two properties. Police arrested six men at one location and three men at another location. All the nine suspects are being held in police custody at a secure location in Central London.
Police authorities are remaining very tight-lipped about the identity of the nine men. But a police spokeswoman has confirmed that the men who are being held here in London are not the three suspected bombers that they are still looking for after the botched July 21st attack on the British capital.
These arrests today come just 24 hours after police made a significant breakthrough in their investigations. It was just early yesterday morning that police managed to arrest Yasin Hassan Omar, who they believe was the man behind an attempted bomb attack on the Warren Street tube station in London on July the 21st. Yasin Hassan Omar is in police custody and he's being held at a very secure location, the Paddington Green police station, in Central London, for questioning.
Mallika Kapur reporting from New Scotland Yard, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: We've told you that these suspects are being held under Britain's Terrorism Act of 2000. For what that entails, let's take a look at the DAYBREAK Data File, shall we?
The Act includes wider powers for police to stop and search. They can also detain possible suspects for up to seven days without a hearing. And the Act created new offenses, such as inciting and providing terror training.
Also, CNN has learned that another arrest has been made in the Daniel Pearl investigation. Pearl, a "Wall Street Journal" reporter, was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in early 2002. Pakistani police and intelligence officers arrested a man Wednesday who they believe is linked to his killing. Four other men have been convicted in the case.
In Afghanistan, a U.S. military helicopter is forced to make a hard landing, but no one hurt. It happened as American forces were trying to move into the border city of Spin Boldak on Wednesday. A fire destroyed the chopper, which was one of two operating in that area.
Still in Afghanistan, Army investigators say a military helicopter crash that killed 18 in April happened because the crew became disoriented in a dust storm. The investigation found the pilots over controlled the craft when they lost visibility and they became disoriented.
No more space shuttles will fly until NASA figures out its falling foam problems. Several pieces fell off during Discovery's launch on Tuesday.
(AUDIO CLIP, "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD," LOUIS ARMSTRONG)
COSTELLO: Discovery's crew got back to work this morning after hearing Louis Armstrong. That was their wake up call. They're using cameras on the International Space Station to look for damage. But if damage leaves them stranded in space, there won't be another shuttle standing by to bring them home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL PARSONS, SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER: In the end, we came away with we had enough data that showed this was a very -- that we have had very few problems with the power ramp and that we decided that it was safe to fly as is.
Obviously, with the event that we've had, we were wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You will remember that a piece of foam caused the Columbia disaster.
We'll have a live report from CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien.
That's coming up at the bottom of the hour.
Investigators in Aruba still hoping to get to the bottom of a catch basin as part of their search for Natalee Holloway. The pond is near a spot where two brothers say they last saw the Alabama teenager on the night she disappeared.
CNN's Sean Callebs joins us now live from Aruba with the latest on efforts there -- good morning.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Indeed, the sun coming up here in Aruba. This marks the third day that authorities have been draining that pond. We say pond. It's probably only about two feet of water. And the night that Natalee Holloway went missing, there was probably only a couple of inches of water in there.
Now, authorities are searching that, this, after a witness came forward and said that she saw Joran van der Sloot as well as two teenagers from Suriname, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, drive into a club that is right across from there. That was about 2:30 in the morning on the day that Natalee Holloway was missing. And the witness said that van der Sloot appeared to be covering his face as the three drove into the area.
However, law enforcement authorities tell CNN that they are not checking that pond because of exactly what the witness said. They're checking it simply because of the proximity to where the three were the night that they were seen with Natalee Holloway.
Meanwhile, van der Sloot was back in court yesterday. His attorney was challenging a judge's ruling forcing van der Sloot to provide a DNA sample through a saliva swab. But this challenge came after the fact. The DNA test has already been done. Authorities already have the information. The attorney doesn't want that used in court if, indeed, formal charges are filed against van der Sloot.
And, also, Carol, remember we've heard a lot about that duct tape that apparently had some blond strands of hair attached to it. We know that some of that information is now at the FBI in Quantico, Virginia. Others -- another part of it the Dutch authorities have. We could, could, I stress, get the first preliminary evidence back as early as today from that DNA test to find out if, indeed, those hairs could have been Natalee Holloway's. The FBI says it will probably be, however, Friday or Saturday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, of course, we'll follow that.
Sean Callebs reporting live from Aruba this morning.
The battle is on within the Senate Judiciary Committee over access to conservative Judge John Roberts' legal writings. The White House has provided the Committee thousands of documents of Roberts' work in the Reagan administration Justice Department. But Judiciary Committee Democrats want Roberts' paperwork from his time as deputy solicitor general in the first Bush administration. Democrats say those documents will give them a better sense of Roberts' thinking on abortion, school prayer and some other hot button issue.
The White House disagrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: We haven't seen or reviewed any of those documents. It wouldn't be appropriate for us to do so. That's privileged information that is related to the confidential deliberative process between attorney and client.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule confirmation hearings on Roberts.
In other "News Across America" this morning, still missing in Philly. A $10,000 reward being offered for information about Latoyia Figueroa, a pregnant woman who was last seen July 18th. She has a 7- year-old daughter who friends and family say she would never leave. So they're very concerned this morning.
The license plates are now OK in Utah. A judge ruled that the state cannot block plates from being used. The judge says that a reasonable person would not find the messages to be offensive. The state may still appeal the decision.
Outrage over a proposed ghetto style talent show for summer camp kids, well, they won't stop the event. Several African-American community leaders in Miami were upset over the name, so the Miami parks director, who is black, simply changed it. Friday's event is now being called the Funky Style Talent Show. And it will still include a watermelon eating contest.
Still to come this hour, she's seen a side of North Korea that few have ever been able to share with the outside world. She's actually friends with the country's infamous leader. We'll hear her story.
And some call it NAFTA'S evil cousin. We're talking about CAFTA this morning, after last night's surprise yes vote in the House.
And imagine this -- you're on a plane and it gets diverted. Who exactly made that decision? Why was it made? What went into it? We'll talk with Ben Mutzabaugh, our travel expert, about that.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
New developments overnight in the London terror attack investigation. Police have arrested nine men in connection with those July 21st botched bombings. That comes after one of four suspects in last week's attacks was arrested yesterday in Birmingham.
Ahmed Ressam has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for plotting to bomb the L.A. airport. The Algerian was arrested after a U.S. border guard found explosives in his car when he arrived from Canada in December of 1999.
In money news, a stamp honoring emergency workers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks has raised $10.5 million for their families. Emergency personnel who were disabled in the attacks also benefit from the sale of those stamps. In culture, violent video games are being restricted in Illinois. A new state law bans the sale of violent or sexually explicit video games to anyone under the age of 18. Similar measures have been ruled unconstitutional in other areas across the country.
In sports, Red Sox pitcher Matt Clement says he hopes this hit in the head -- ooh -- will not keep him off the field for long. He actually rejoined the team at the ballpark yesterday. He was released from the hospital -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, that's great news.
COSTELLO: Clement said getting hit was more shocking than it was painful.
MYERS: Because he just doesn't remember it.
COSTELLO: Oh, he's got a hard head, man.
MYERS: Wow!
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Chad, we have a great picture of the space shuttle. Take a look.
MYERS: Oh, wow!
COSTELLO: That's the Earth down there. Isn't that something else?
MYERS: What? What (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
COSTELLO: I know there's a lot of controversy about the shuttle program right now, but you have to admit, these kinds of pictures are just fascinating.
MYERS: Now what -- now, that's a picture of the shuttle from what?
COSTELLO: From a satellite, maybe.
MYERS: Oh, that's interesting.
COSTELLO: How are we getting that, Brian? Can -- pardon? From the space station. From the International Space Station.
MYERS: Oh, how awesome is that?
COSTELLO: That is cool. I could look at that all day.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But we don't have time.
MYERS: OK. COSTELLO: Let's talk about this now, because this is rather bizarre. U.S. and North Korean envoys met face-to-face at the six nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Pyongyang just this weekend returned to the discussions after a 13-month boycott.
An unlikely public relations resource in the stand-off might be an 87-year-old grandmother. Really.
Stan Grant tells us about her.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She is a mother, a grandmother and a South Korean. Perhaps the last person one would expect to be friends with the reclusive North Korean leader. But here she is in footage from 1995, provided by North Korea's official film production unit, inside the inner sanctum of what many call Kim Jong Il's hermit kingdom.
The South Korean dissident is seen meeting one-on-one with a young Kim Jong Il, who had just taken over as leader following the death of his father, swept along by cheering crowds.
PARK YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I met him when Kim Il Sung passed away. We attended a memorial service together. That was 10 years ago, the place of his father's death. It was a somber moment.
GRANT: Park Yong-Kil was Kim Jong Il's guest for a month. Treated like visiting royalty, the South Korean did not see what so many aid workers have reported, the starving millions, the hundreds of thousands in labor camps. But she saw a glistening Pyongyang, the faces of smiling children. Her image of President Kim not the reckless playboy of reputation, not the tyrant leader brandishing the threat of nuclear weapons.
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): He loves art, like movies. He also directs plays. He has a huge collection of art. He loves plays, music. I think he's a soft man. He's soft and strong.
GRANT: She's not ashamed to say she likes the Kim Jong Il she sees. It was Park Yong-Kil's late husband who led her to North Korea. A Presbyterian pastor and activist seeking to reunite the North and South, he struck up a friendship with Kim Il Sung while he was ruling North Korea in the '80s, an unlikely pairing of a Christian pastor and communist dictator. It cost him and his family dearly. Sentenced to seven years prison in 1989 for illegally traveling to the North, violating South Korea's national security law.
(on camera): Over here is the last?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the last (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
GRANT: The last picture with your husband?
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The last picture.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
GRANT (voice-over): He died out on bail in 1994. So she took up his fight, traveling to North Korea, making the walk back across the demilitarized zone and under arrest, put in prison for four months, her family blacklisted, her children unable to find work in South Korea. She says it is a price her family has been willing to pay for the hope of healing a people torn apart.
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I am very thankful. I have three sons and one daughter. They have the same ideas as their father. They never complained.
GRANT (on camera): It's you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes.
GRANT: Ten years ago?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten years ago, yes. Ten years ago.
GRANT: You and...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kim Jong Il.
GRANT: Kim Jong Il.
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Kim Jong Il, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she was at the back of Kim Jong Il and he wants to come her with...
GRANT: He wants her to walk with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, by him. Yes. Yes.
GRANT (voice-over): Miss. Park, afraid to venture North again, but keeping in touch with Kim Jong Il this past decade. Just last weekend, she did meet him again, this time part of an official South Korean delegation, Chairman Kim asking specifically for his old friend to come. He was happy, she says, talkative, talking about survival, about his nuclear weapons, saying they are only for North Korea's protection. She says the world should not see him as a threat.
YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): It would be the end of the world if he uses it. Do you think he would do that? He's a very soft person. I don't think such a person would want war. I was never threatened by him.
GRANT: And there's something else -- a deeply personal observation about the dictator. YONG-KIL (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I noticed two pictures of his mother on the bookshelf. Kim Jong Il lost his mother young. He always missed his mother and tried to please his father and be a good son. Such a man can't be evil.
GRANT: Now 87, Park Yong-Kil feels secure enough to be able to talk openly about her friendship. Hers has been a life of family, faith and sacrifice. She has suffered for her relationship with Kim Jong Il. She and her husband have been a potent P.R. tool for North Korea. The official propaganda video from their trips years apart showing them visiting the same places, the same cheering crowds, greeted by the same smiling children. This is an image Kim Jong Il would like the world to see and a message he would like the world to hear, a message carried by a grandmother from the South about a dictator from the North, an unlikely friendship, but one still flourishing a decade later.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Stan Grant joins us now live from Seoul, South Korea.
Stan, she seems like a lovely woman. But the way she describes him, soft and strong, this is man who starves his own people.
GRANT: Indeed, it is, Carol, and that's such a mixed picture coming out of North Korea, isn't it? We know so little about North Korea. We know even less about Kim Jong Il. It's not called the hermit kingdom for nothing.
What we do know is that North Korea has nuclear weapons. It has the capacity to make more. And the parties here involved in the six party talks cannot afford to be as charitable as that South Korean grandmother. They want North Korea to give up the weapons. To that end, the United States has been involved in one-on-one talks for three hours today, trying to convince North Korea to walk away from its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea saying they will not do that until the United States and the others reward them with aid and energy supplies; also demanding that the United States get its nuclear weapons out of South Korea. The United States says that simply there are no U.S. weapons there and this is not about the U.S., this is ultimately, Carol, about North Korea.
COSTELLO: Stan Grant reporting live from Seoul, South Korea this morning with a fascinating story.
We're going to take a break.
We'll come back with much more on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're having a lot of fun this morning, aren't we?
Time now for a little "Business Buzz." Health care giant Johnson & Johnson wants to boost its profile in sales in China and Eastern Europe. So the company is turning to the Olympics. Johnson & Johnson is becoming a major sponsor of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Italy and Summer Games in China.
Bean counters at Starbucks are smiling this morning. Profits have jumped a whopping 30 percent and the gourmet coffee chain has announced plans to open 1,800 new stores worldwide next year. You've got to be kidding! The company is reporting earnings of more than $125 million, up from more than $97 million in the same period last year.
Soon there will be a Starbucks on the corner of every block in America.
J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isn't there already a Starbucks on the corner of every block in America?
COSTELLO: I don't know. As you can see, J.J. Ramberg is here. And you're here to explain something that might be a bit confusing to people, CAFTA. The House passed it by two votes last night.
RAMBERG: It was so close.
COSTELLO: And the Democrats are not so happy.
RAMBERG: Not so happy, no, not right now.
But let's go back a little bit for a second and just explain what CAFTA is. Probably everyone's heard of NAFTA, right? NAFTA passed in 1993. Well, CAFTA stands for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. It's a deal with six Central American countries and it eliminates tariffs and other trade barriers for trade between these countries.
Now, as I said, a similar agreement to this started in 1993. That was on NAFTA. But this is on a much smaller scale. U.S. exports to these countries is less than 1 percent of total output. But this is seen as a big, big win for President Bush, even though it passed at the narrowest of margins. There no doubt was a lot of hand-wringing last night. It just passed by two votes.
It passed in the Senate last June. But yesterday in the House. Twenty-five Republicans voted no. Fifteen Democrats voted yes. And the president made a very unusual move yesterday. He went to Capitol Hill to kind of wrangle some votes at the very last minute.
Now, supporters of this deal say that the products grown in America, like fruit and corn, as well as pharmaceuticals and construction equipment, will now have access to a market of more than 44 million people. They also say that job creation in those countries will help stabilize the region.
Those who voted against the deal say they're concerned about the loss of U.S. jobs. Now, the biggest worries, of course, come from the textile and sugar producing states. Those are states like Florida and North Carolina. The National Textile Association said nearly 900,000 jobs have been lost since NAFTA. And North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones called CAFTA "NAFTA'S ugly cousin."
COSTELLO: Ooh.
RAMBERG: Yes.
COSTELLO: I'm channeling Lou Dobbs right now. Do you think this will be a topic on his show?
RAMBERG: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
COSTELLO: Lou Dobbs, Lou Dobbs. I'm sure he's going to be talking much more about this.
RAMBERG: Of course.
COSTELLO: A quick look at the futures this morning?
RAMBERG: Well, you know, stocks closed up a little bit yesterday, after the Fed came out with a pretty good report on the economy. This morning, futures are pointing to a mixed open.
The stock to watch today is Exxon Mobil. That oil giant is supposed to report their earnings this morning.
COSTELLO: And we'll be listening.
Thank you very much, J.J. Ramberg.
RAMBERG: Sure.
COSTELLO: There's finally a shuttle in flight, but the program has been grounded. We'll get a NASA update on the shuttle program just ahead.
And later, if you're taking public transportation, you might have your bags searched, especially in major cities. But, gosh, will it really keep us safer? We'll explore that issue further when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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