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American Morning

Saudi Arabian King Fahd Dies at 84; London Terror Suspect Faces Extradition from Italy

Aired August 01, 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, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The passing of a king -- the end of an era in Saudi Arabia. The country's ruling monarch, King Fahd, is dead. Will his death change U.S. relations with this key ally in the Persian Gulf?
A space walk this morning for two members of the shuttle Discovery crew. While they work, NASA considering a risky repair mission near the shuttle's nose. We'll look at the dangers.

And interrogations in two countries after another wave of arrests in the London terror probe. How deep have the roots of terror spread? A search for answers on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Welcome, everybody.

Also ahead this morning, a report that anyone who's buying or selling a home -- that would be you -- needs to pay attention to. We're going to tell you about the massive new industry for scam artists.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, great, they never told me about that.

S. O'BRIEN: The good news is welcome to New York. We're excited to have u.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: The bad news is it's actually fertile ground for scam artists. We're going to tell you exactly where they are operating.

M. O'BRIEN: If your real estate agent does that three card monte trick, that's bad. That would be a definite bad thing, right?

Have you heard about this tenth planet?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. You're excited about it, right?

S. O'BRIEN: It has a terrible name, doesn't it? M. O'BRIEN: UB-313.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I was trying to remember it on top...

M. O'BRIEN: It definitely needs a name change.

S. O'BRIEN: They're going to need to change that.

M. O'BRIEN: It needs a little press improvement there.

The question is, though, what does this mean for Pluto, you know?

S. O'BRIEN: Nothing good.

M. O'BRIEN: Is this, is it the tenth planet? Do we have to go back to eight? Should we stick with nine? So many questions this morning.

All right, but on a much more serious note, we begin elsewhere this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

In fact, the death of the Saudi King Fahd. Oil earned him, of course, great wealth, also lifted the nation, his nation, to prominence on the world stage. But it was his close ties with the U.S. that earned him the fury of Islamist militants.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has covered Saudi Arabia.

He met King Fahd, reported extensively on the Saudi royal family and its role in the war on terror.

Let's get right to Nic with the very latest on the reaction from the Middle East today -- Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

I think one of the interesting things that's happening here is that the Saudis are being very open about what's happening. Just in the last hour or so, we heard the Saudi ambassador to London, Prince Faisal al-Turki speaking in English to the journalists here in London, explaining what was happening in Saudi Arabia. This is something we certainly didn't see when King Fahd took the throne in 1982.

And what he explained was that there will be stability in Saudi Arabia. This is what we had expected to hear. He said that there would be no policy changes in the country. Again, this is what we had expected to hear. The Saudis are very, very keen at this time to stress that there is stability during this period of transition.

There will be, we understand, heightened security in Saudi Arabia. We're told the funeral will begin tomorrow. Official mourning will begin on Wednesday. And the official dignitaries will be received in Saudi Arabia as soon as they arrive. But the message at this time from the Saudis is stability. And that's something that the other countries in the Middle East will certainly expect, will certainly appreciate hearing, and very likely they will be sending their heads of state to Saudi Arabia to offer their condolences and to meet with the new king, King Abdullah -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson for us this morning.

Nic, thanks.

Well, before a stroke forced King Fahd to turn over power to his half brother, the crown prince, Abdullah, the late king had forged close ties between his kingdom and Washington, D.C.

Andrea Koppel is live at the State Department for us this morning -- Andrea, good morning to you.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Soledad.

Very little, if any, impact. And that's for one big reason. King Fahd has not been running his country for the last almost 10 years, since he was incapacitated by a stroke back in 1995.

Who has been running the country? Crown Prince Abdullah. Now, King Abdullah, he has been Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler ever since that stroke and that is why Abdullah was the Saudi leader who was invited to President Bush's ranch in Crawford at 9/11 and most recently, as you see right there, in April.

Although we haven't had an official reaction as yet from the White House or here at the State Department, you can bet that they've got their statement of condolences written and ready to go, and that's because a couple of months ago there was a scare. King Fahd was admitted to the hospital for having pneumonia. And he was believed -- there were all kinds of rumors that he had passed away at that time. Obviously, he did not.

Now, at this stage, most experts I've spoken to say that you can expect, as Nic was pointing out there, policies to continue as they did. And primarily because you had Crown Prince Abdullah who was running the show.

The big question, however, is whether or not now, as King Abdullah, he'll be able to move forward with further economic and political reforms.

Now, there is one other change that we should point out, Soledad, and that is that in the last couple of weeks, we've heard that the long serving ambassador here in Washington, Prince Bandar, has tendered his resignation. We don't know if that is in any way connected to the failing health of King Fahd.

In his place, the current ambassador, Saudi ambassador to Great Britain, Turki al-Faisal -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Andrea Koppel for us this morning.

Andrea, thank you -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In Italy, authorities say they expect to extradite a man suspected in the July 21st attempted bombings in London. Osman Hussain -- some reports calling him Hamdi Issac -- is being held in Rome. He was arrested on Friday.

Jennifer Eccleston live in Rome with more on that -- Jennifer, what are the authorities saying about all this?

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rome's chief anti- terrorism officer, Miles, Carlo De Stefano, provided some further details today about the Friday arrest of Hussain Osman, that suspected London bomber, whom Italian police, as you mentioned, call Issac Adus Hamdi, because that's the name that appears on his birth certificate. So in order to keep things clear, we're going to go with Hamdi right now.

Well, that police chief also praised the cooperation with Scotland Yard over this high profile capture. He said that 2,000 non- E.U. citizens have been questioned in Italy in relation to the investigation and that some of them were subsequently arrested.

Now, he talked about that cell phone that tracked Hamdi's movements here and proved that he had made contact with members of the East African immigrant community across Italy, including two of his brothers, both of whom have been arrested. And he also confirmed that family and friends had helped the suspect make his way from London to Rome.

And they are looking at the possibility that Hamdi and his family could be a part of a wider network of an East African criminal activity cell in Italy. But it doesn't appear at this stage that he or his family are directly related to a wider terrorist network here in Italy.

But meantime, Hamdi continues to be questioned at a Rome prison. We are still awaiting a judge's decision about whether there is enough evidence for extradition to the United Kingdom. But we know yesterday that Hamdi's lawyer confirmed that her client will fight the extradition. Antonietta Sonnessa also confirmed that Hamdi told investigators he was involved in the July 21st failed attacks, but he said the strike was meant to grab attention and it was not intended to kill anyone -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jennifer Eccleston in Rome, thank you very much.

Let's check the headlines now.

Carol Costello with that -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you. Now in the news, another round of repairs in space. Right now, astronauts are fixing a gyroscope which helps steer the International Space Station. It's the second space walk of the mission. Well, NASA officials are also deciding whether a third space walk on Wednesday should focus on the shuttle's underbelly. Some damage there could potentially lead to overheating during the shuttle's reentry.

Senior White House officials say President Bush could appoint John Bolton as U.N. ambassador as early as this week without Senate confirmation. But that idea is not sitting too well with some key Democrats. One Democratic senator is calling Bolton "damaged goods." We'll hear from both sides of the Bolton debate in the next half hour.

In India, another day of downpours as Mumbai tries to clean up from record-breaking rain. Authorities say 1,000 people have died from last week's flooding and mud slides. Government officials are asking residents to stay indoors. Thousands have been without power since Tuesday, when 37 inches of rain fell in the city in 24 hours.

And a new study has found a link between global warming and more powerful hurricanes. Researchers at MIT have found the intensity and duration of major storms has increased since the 1970s. They say the surge corresponds with the effects of global warming. The researchers also predict that storms could worsen in the years to come. The study can be found in the online version of the journal "Nature."

Well, let's check in with our own weather expert -- Chad.

Do you agree?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No.

COSTELLO: I knew you wouldn't. MYERS: You know what? We have these 30-year cycles and now we're into one of these 30-year cycles. So, you go back to 1970, sure, that was the low end of the cycle. You go back to 1950, 1960, there were more hurricanes then. So they just didn't -- decided not to go back that far.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, Senator Bill Frist broke with the White House over stem cell research on Friday. So how could this move affect his presidential ambitions?

We'll take a look at that.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, don't get ripped off in a hot real estate market. We've got some advice on spotting housing scams.

S. O'BRIEN: And some astronomers say they have found the solar system's tenth planet. Others say, though, no we haven't. We're going to turn our eyes to the skies.

That's coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: It's a good day to work in space for the Discovery astronauts. Steve Robinson, Soichi Noguchi now midway through their space walk. This is an important one. They're replacing an important gyroscope, seen here, as a matter of fact. Actually, this, I believe, is the bulky one now attached to the shuttle payload bay. Or it could be the new one they're about to put on. It doesn't matter, they're identical.

But in either case, there was one that had failed on the space station, making it more difficult for the space station to sort of fly straight and true without using a lot of its onboard propellants. So these spinning gyros kind of do the job. But they weren't doing the job, and that is what the space walkers are all about today.

Meanwhile, in Houston, in mission control, the engineers are focusing on the possibility these space walkers will do an unrehearsed repair run to tamp down a couple of bumps on the nose section of the shuttle Discovery before it reenters the Earth's atmosphere. They're concerned those little bumps will create turbulent air, which is sort of like a blowtorch, and increase the temperatures. And that is likely to happen the day after tomorrow, in their third space walk.

Now, meanwhile, if you're looking out in the skies, you might see something new out there, a shock to the solar system, so to speak. Astronomers at Cal Tech have discovered a possible tenth planet. Now, the object -- we should have it.

Do we have the object?

There it is circled in the center of your screen there. You might be under whelmed, but nevertheless, this is big news, folks. It was first photographed in 2003, but scientists didn't really take a closer look until this past January.

Jack Horkheimer is an expert on all things planetary, of course. And he joins us from the Miami -- he is director of the Miami Planetarium.

Great to see you, Jack.

How are things going?

JACK HORKHEIMER, DIRECTOR, MIAMI PLANETARIUM: Good morning, Miles.

And this is going to be a real tempest in a teapot, I think. It's going to open up the whole is Pluto a planet, is this a planet conversation. Because...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes. Maybe it should be eight planets or 10, right? Nine is probably not right, right?

HORKHEIMER: Right. Nine is probably not right. It's got to be eight or 10, or even more, because we're going to discover more of these large sized objects. When I say large sized, this new planet, UB-313 -- which may be called planet Xena, we don't know yet, is about the size of our moon or a little bit smaller, around 2,000 miles wider. So whereas Pluto is 1,500 miles wide.

But there's the big argument about Pluto for some time is that it shouldn't be classified as a planet because it's an icy object and unlike the rocky planets that are close to the sun, like our Earth, or the gas planets that go out to Neptune, Uranus and Neptune.

So this is really, we think, a Kuiper object. It belongs to a large belt of icy planets, icy planetoids, small things. And there are at least, we've discovered, about 700 so far, and they think there are about 75,000 of these things out there, most of them six to 10 miles across, but some pretty big chunks.

We found Sedna...

M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute...

HORKHEIMER: ... a couple of years ago.

M. O'BRIEN: Wait a minute. Seventy-five thousand of these?

HORKHEIMER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Imagine third graders trying to memorize that solar system.

HORKHEIMER: Well...

M. O'BRIEN: So, I mean what we're talking about basically are overgrown comets here, as opposed to tiny planets, right?

HORKHEIMER: I agree with you. I agree with you. See, what we forget about is that when Pluto was discovered in 1930, for at least 45 years, we thought Pluto was Earth sized, 8,000 miles wide. That's why it was classified as a planet. Really, its size had a lot do with it.

Now we know that Pluto is only 1,500 miles wide and it is nothing like the other planets. It has a very eccentric orbit. It isn't on the same plane of the orbit as the other planets, just like the new planet is -- has a hugely eccentric orbit, it does not follow the orbits, the plane of the orbits of the other planets.

So this is going to be a real debate, I think, and I think within the next couple of years we'll settle this once and for all. We may go back to eight good old planets and a lot of new planetoids, Kuiper objects.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it's kind of weird to, you know, sort of devalue the solar system, isn't it?

All right, the name, this UB-313. Xena is the name that's coming up.

HORKHEIMER: Right. M. O'BRIEN: Let's go back to the mnemonic that I know you learned and I learned.

HORKHEIMER: Mine was very different than yours.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, let's...

HORKHEIMER: You go ahead and tell me yours.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, there's a bunch of them. Let's put the graphic up and we'll go with it now. It's My Very Eager Mother...

HORKHEIMER: Mother.

M. O'BRIEN: ... Just Served Us Nine -- stay with us now -- Nine Pizzas. OK, so that's how you remember the solar system.

By the way, what was yours? What was your mnemonic?

HORKHEIMER: I can't mention it on the air, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You can't?

All right, now, so we've decided we got to work here this morning, Melissa Metzger and I, and we're trying to figure out the new mnemonic to include Xena.

Do you have one in mind? That said...

HORKHEIMER: Pizza Zapped.

M. O'BRIEN: Pizza Zapped? Or Pizzas Extra Large?

HORKHEIMER: Like in the microwave.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, here's what we came up with, and we'll put it up here now. It's My -- can we get that new graphic?

There we go. My Very Expensive Medical Joint Specialist Uses Numerous Photographic X-rays.

What do you think?

HORKHEIMER: You're right, because Xena is spelled with an X and not with a Z.

M. O'BRIEN: And I get a -- and that X really gets you in trouble, because it's xylophone or x-rays and that's about it.

HORKHEIMER: Well, I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this in the future because, you know, if this new object becomes classified as a planet, then why shouldn't we classify Sedna, which is just a little bit smaller than Pluto and was discovered in 2004, by the same people, incidentally, why shouldn't that be classified as a planet?

So I think this thing is going to be a lot of fun for astronomy types and for people who really don't have a lot better things to do.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes. And there we have Sedna there. And I guess your point is well taken here. And what you say is basically if you allow Pluto and UB-313, Xena, or Sedna in, it opens the floodgates for about 70,000 other objects, and we just can't do that, can we, Jack, because we'll never...

HORKHEIMER: No, we can't.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll never remember that solar system.

HORKHEIMER: Well, the majority of the 70,000 objects are only six to 10 miles wide. But we think we should find two or three more, you know, 1,500 mile wide objects someplace out there if we keep looking. It's just that, you know, we aren't concentrating on looking for planets within our solar system because it's so much more exciting to look for planets around other stars.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

HORKHEIMER: And we've already found 150 other planets circling other stars...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's the news.

HORKHEIMER: ... only in the past 10 years.

M. O'BRIEN: All right...

HORKHEIMER: That's wonderful.

M. O'BRIEN: ... time for the Jack Horkheimer good-bye.

HORKHEIMER: Keep looking up.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, appreciate it.

Jack Horkheimer is the director of the Miami Planetarium.

Always a pleasure having him drop by, no matter how many planets are out there -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: That -- you know, 70,000, that's a little cruel if you're a sixth grader trying to memorize the planets, don't you think?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. You've got to kind of start in second grade, you'll finish it by college, if you're lucky.

S. O'BRIEN: Start at birth.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

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

Still to come this morning, the housing market -- it's hotter than ever. But before you buy, you'd better be in the lookout for scams. We've got some advice on how you can avoid being ripped off. That coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The current housing market is on fire. It's making some folks rich. Unfortunately, though, there are also many people who are getting scammed.

So what can you do to make sure that your dream of home ownership comes true?

Lauren Young is "Business Week" magazine's personal finance editor.

Nice to see you.

LAUREN YOUNG, "BUSINESS WEEK" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: I was really shocked at these numbers -- 17,000 people getting scammed every year. That's according to the FBI.

Give me a sense of in what way?

YOUNG: Well, it's huge. It's costing companies about $50 billion in the past five years and it's really every trick in the book -- refinancing schemes, mortgage fraud, you know, making people sign over their titles. So...

S. O'BRIEN: Just out and out lying, I guess, is kind of where it begins.

Let's go -- walk through some of the specifics. For example, you say refinancing and mortgage scams are one of the main ways that people are getting taken.

What exactly is a refinancing or mortgage scam?

YOUNG: Well, they are because interest rates have been so low. So a lot of people are being lured by the fact that they can refinance, lock in a lower deal. But what they're not often told is that there's going to be huge closing costs. And it actually will make the deal completely unreasonable.

S. O'BRIEN: So unless you're making -- unless you're saving a lot of money, it's not worth doing?

YOUNG: Absolutely not. But people don't know that because they see a lower interest rate and they think great, I can save a lot of money on my mortgage payment.

S. O'BRIEN: The next fraud you talk about is property flipping. And I thought flipping was perfectly legal.

YOUNG: Flipping is legal. But what happens is sometimes it happens kind of under the radar of the federal and state regulators. Companies will go in, they'll buy a home in foreclosure and then they'll just turn around and jack up the price. And they kind of fall through the radar so they can do this. And they're selling homes at completely unreasonable and inflated prices.

S. O'BRIEN: So then your appraisal is not matching what they're asking -- what you end up paying for it, and then you're in big trouble later?

YOUNG: Not only are you in big trouble, but the people in your neighborhood turn up in big trouble, too, because their property taxes go up.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, interesting.

Then there's deed theft. And this is one I just think is so brazen. I mean people just sell stuff that doesn't belong to them.

YOUNG: You know, this is the one that really, if anything would break my heart, it's this. People are basically told to sign a document. It doesn't matter for what, maybe they're being told that they can get their credit back in shape or get a loan. But they're signing documents not realizing what they're signing and literally signing their home away. And it happens a lot and it is absolutely heartbreaking.

S. O'BRIEN: It really often happens to the elderly, to the poor and to people who sort of are going through it for the first time and they don't really understand what they're doing.

YOUNG: That's right. I mean it's not necessarily the most savvy consumers out there, people who haven't done a lot of research. So it is very upsetting.

S. O'BRIEN: Research, actually, is one of your tips.

Let's walk through all the tips.

You say first and foremost, if it's too good to be true, it is.

YOUNG: It is. I mean any great deal that's going to save you thousands, millions of dollars, come on. Check it out. Chances are it's not the real thing.

S. O'BRIEN: Get solid referrals.

Who do you turn to, to get your best referrals?

YOUNG: You know, you have to be careful about who you turn to, because sometimes people are going to family members who end up really hurting them in the end. I would say go to a bank in your neighborhood, go to a mortgage broker, you know, really talk to a lot of different people and comparison shop. I think that's really important. Make sure that you're getting a good deal by asking people who are really in the know.

S. O'BRIEN: You say do your research.

Where do you do your research? And what exactly are you looking for? YOUNG: Comparison shop would be one thing to do. But another thing to do is go online. There are some really good Web sites out there. One of my favorites -- I feel like I tell you guys this all the time -- is bankrate.com. It is an excellent source for mortgage rates. You know, at least you can see what comparable rates are in the country.

And than Fannie Mae also has a homebuyingguide.org where they have some really good tips on how to buy a home.

S. O'BRIEN: And that way you can see if you -- if what you're being offered is a little bit out of the realm of what everybody else is being offered, which means it's probably not the real deal.

Lauren Young, nice to see you.

Thanks for the advice.

We certainly appreciate it.

YOUNG: It's nice to see you, Soledad.

Just be careful out there.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

It's actually good advice for Miles because, you know, I'm in, but he's new to this city now...

YOUNG: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: And he's buying a home, the poor guy.

YOUNG: This is a hot market.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Poor guy.

Thanks, Lauren.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm kind of a babe in the woods, you know? I feel like I have a little sprig of weed in my teeth coming through here in the overalls, you know? Hi, boy. Big prices here.

All right, well, still to come on the program, we're "Paging Dr. Gupta." The secrets of successful aging on our agenda this morning. He has three tips on what it takes to live a longer and better life.

What better reason to stay tuned for more AMERICAN MORNING?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING "Quick News" at cnn.com/am.

Still to come, Senator Bill Frist broke with President Clinton -- Clinton. How about Bush? On the controversial issue of stem cell research. How will it affect Frist's presidential ambitions in 2008?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, look at that live picture. The commute well underway this morning in New York City.

It is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Ahead, more on the death of one of the world's most powerful leaders. That the Saudi King Fahd.

M. O'BRIEN: He has been ailing for years. His half brother is now officially the king, although he's been running the country for some time. Ahead, what that means to Saudi Arabia's role in the war on terror. We'll have a live report just ahead.

But first let's check the headlines with Carol Costello -- good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, NASA is considering whether there's danger for the shuttle Discovery's return flight while astronauts take part in their second space walk. It's happening right now. Two crew members repairing a faulty gyroscope, and that helps steer the International Space Station. A third space walk is set for Wednesday, and that should focus on problems on the shuttle's underbelly. Of course, we will keep you posted.

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