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American Morning
Missing Cruise Ship; Gay Bar Attack
Aired February 03, 2006 - 06:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. We've got breaking news to tell you about, a really disturbing report.
A cruise ship that was traveling from Saudi Arabia to Egypt apparently disappeared overnight in the Red Sea. We're being told about 1,400 passengers are on board. There are some reports, some wire reports, that say some people have been spotted in lifeboats. Some bodies spotted by helicopters floating in the water.
In a few moments we're going to get to Egypt's minister of transport to update us on the situation there.
But, of course, it's a very complicated and confusing story. What we know is that the ship disappeared just after sailing from the western Saudi port of Dubah at 7:00 p.m. local time there. And it is unclear exactly what time the ship was supposed to arrive, sometime around 3:00 in the morning local time as well, never showed up. They lost contact with the ship just after it left the Saudi port.
Let's get right to Ben Wedeman. He's joining us by phone. He's in Cairo this morning with an update.
Ben, any official word yet on what we know about this ship?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CAIRO BUREAU CHIEF: Well, we know it was what's called roll-on/roll-off ship, which is a ship (INAUDIBLE) equipped to handle vehicles as well as passengers.
Now, apparently, according to the manager of the Port of Safaga, there were about 1,300 passengers on board this ship, which is called the Salam Boccaccio 98. And in addition to the 1,300 passengers, there were around 96 crew members.
Now, we've got more information about who these people may have been. Many of them may have been families of Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia, coming back to Egypt following the mid-year school break. This, according to the manager of the Port of Safaga -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: And what exactly is thought to have happened? The ship, we know, disappeared off radar not long after leaving the port. Any indication of a storm in the area? Any last-minute mayday call that we know about? WEDEMAN: Well, basically there are sort of two versions (INAUDIBLE). One report is that the weather was caused by a storm at this time of year in the Red Sea that tends to be fairly windy. Another version of events is that there was some sort of collision with another boat.
But at this point it's very difficult to really ascertain exactly what happened. Hopefully we can get more details in the coming hours.
S. O'BRIEN: How long is that distance between where the ship was leaving from and where it was hoping to arrive? How many miles is that?
WEDEMAN: Well, I don't have that precise information, Soledad. I mean, the Red Sea is not too wide, but it's several hundred kilometers at least.
S. O'BRIEN: So it's a fairly long distance across. All right, Ben Wedeman joining us by phone. Ben, thanks. I know it's early on this story. We appreciate what you can bring to us on this story -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Massachusetts are still searching for a very violent teenager. They say 18-year-old Jacob Robida carried out that attack at a gay bar we told you about yesterday. He is armed with a hatchet and a handgun.
AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian is now joining us live New Bedford, about 60 miles south of Boston.
Dan, what do we know?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, what we do know is that police are still searching for that 18-year-old suspect more than 24 hours after the attack. We know that they have been to his house, and they have also recovered some evidence.
Now, this is how the story began unfolding Wednesday night. According to police and witnesses, the 18-year-old came to this bar behind me. It is Puzzles Bar. It is a well-known popular gay bar in the city of New Bedford.
According to witnesses inside the bar, he walked in wearing all black, flashed what appeared to be a fake I.D., asked if it was a gay bar, was told that it was, and a short time later allegedly attacked one of the customers with a hatchet and shot two others. One of the customers, one of the victims, remains in critical condition. All three are hospitalized this morning.
Police say that the 18-year-old is armed and dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is 18 years old. Some of these individuals, they go 50 miles away they think they're probably on the other side of the country. The way we are looking now we feel he might still be in the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Now, a quick description of Jacob Rabida, 18 years old. He's white, a white male, 5'6, 210 pounds, has brown hair and hazel eyes. And he was last seen driving a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am.
He faces attempted murder charges, assault, and also civil rights violations -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Dan, what do we know about him? Does he have a rap sheet at all?
LOTHIAN: You know, it's interesting. Police have not released any information about a possible criminal history. What we do know, though, is that he was part of a police -- a junior police academy, which works sometimes with troubled youth. He was part of that some five years ago. So police did know about this young man.
And also some troubling information coming from a Web site that he had, where he had a lot of hate language and anti-Semitic symbols on that Web site. So certainly someone who police knew about, but in terms of his criminal history no information on that yet.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. Dan Lothian in New Bedford, thank you.
More updates on the day's top stories and, of course, exclusives to CNN. Be sure to tune in to "ANDERSON COOPER 360" weeknights 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Let's get some headlines, and we've got lots to keep track of this morning. Kelly Wallace in the newsroom.
Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles. We sure do.
And we're beginning in the Middle East. Outrage escalating, really, all around the world over some cartoons that many Muslims say are insulting. In Indonesia, one of the places where there were demonstrations today, protesters attacking the Danish embassies, throwing everything from eggs to chairs. One of the cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper shows the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban. That has sparked condemnation from several governments, including Pakistan, today.
Back here in the United States, the Patriot Act has been extended at least for a while. Senators voted in a late-night session to extend the measure until March. It now heads to President Bush, who is expected to sign it. Lawmakers say the extension gives them more time to work out a compromise over police powers and civil liberties.
The Bush administration wants to add to its war chest. Officials say the White House plans to ask Congress for $120 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would bring war spending to nearly $450 billion since the September 11 attacks. The newly- requested money would be used for training local security forces and supplies for U.S. troops.
It could take many people more than -- could make many people, I should say, more than hot and bothered today. We're talking about a new computer virus that goes by several names, including Kama Sutra. It's set to strike worldwide, destroying everything from financial statements to family pictures. It gains access by the oldest trick in the book, pornographic e-mail attachments that promise things like a kiss or a hot movie. Later on we'll check in with our cyber expert to see just how much damage this worm could do and what steps you can take to be safe on your own computer.
And here's a new version of getting caught right in the act. Police in Orlando say a robber tried to worm his way into a convenience store overnight through the exhaust duct. It turns out he wasn't skinny enough. When the shop owner opened for business, he heard someone screaming for help. Firefighters had to come to the rescue, and then the police took over.
Soledad, this goes in the category, criminals aren't always the smartest guys or gals on the block, are they?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that is definitely a category, and it's a category with absolutely a long list of people's names underneath it.
WALLACE: It sure is.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Kelly, thank you.
Let's get to a "CNN Security Watch" now. Super Bowl Sunday is practically upon us. The game attracts, of course, thousands of fans, millions of viewers, and these days a whole lot of security could make an inviting terror targeting. This year, though, the location is a cause for both concern and relief.
CNN's Brian Todd has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When's the last time you saw a helicopter try to steer away a plane in mid-flight? Or one speed boat nearly collide with another on the border of the U.S. and Canada? This is what awaits terrorists should they attempt to target Super Bowl XXXX in Detroit.
(on camera): This will give you an idea of the huge security concerns at the Super Bowl. Look how close Ford Field is to the Detroit River. The U.S. border with Canada runs right up the middle of that river hundreds of miles north to adjoining rivers and lakes.
(voice over): We flew in joint airspace, along with Commander Bob McCowski (ph) of the U.S. Coast Guard, who explained his challenge heading off pilots who violate airspace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An unfamiliar pilot, and we don't know what they're going to do. They don't really know what we're going to do. TODD: This year, U.S. security officials have partners, coordinating like never before with their Canadian counterparts. Both countries are under the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, that will have fighter jets and helicopters enforcing a 30-mile flight restriction on Super Sunday.
On the water, just for this event, heavily-armed American boats can cross into Canadian waters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What channel are you guys on now?
TODD: American officers can board Canadian vessels to chase suspects. The Canadians can do the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look for anything out of the usual such as small vessels traveling at a high rate of speed that don't appear to be, you know, acknowledging that you have a zone in place.
TODD: With the sheer mileage of open border space on the water, we asked Coast Guard Admiral Robert Papp (ph), coordinator of all of U.S. Homeland Security Agencies for the Super Bowl, where the vulnerabilities are.
REAR ADM. ROBERT PAPP, U.S. COAST GUARD: These are the places, though, that we have the biggest challenge, where you have virtually just a couple of hundred yards. A boat can get across in five minutes.
TODD: That potential threat is why Homeland Security officials have set up a tight security zone along the Detroit waterfront. That doesn't cover the hundreds of miles of open border over the adjacent rivers and lakes. But right now, officials tell CNN they have no specific credible threats to the Super Bowl.
Brian Todd, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: You want to stay with CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: We're tracking a mystery in the Red Sea right now. A missing cruise liner, 1,300 people aboard. No apparent mayday signals. Was there bad weather? Why is it missing? Why has it presumably sunk?
Joining us on the line right now is Egypt's minister of transport, Mohamed Loutfy Mansour.
Mr. Mansour, good to have you with us. What can you tell us?
MOHAMED LOUTFY MANSOUR, EGYPTIAN MINISTER OF TRANSPORT: Well, so far what we know is that the vessel was coming in from the Port of Dubah in Saudi Arabia and carrying passengers. We don't have a list, really, a detailed list of the passengers, but we know the number, about 1,400, heading from the Port of Dubah to Safaga, which is on the Red Sea on the Egyptian side.
The latest information is that this vessel has sunk, and that currently the Egyptian Navy and Egyptian Coast Guard and Army have sent four frigates to assist with the rescue operation.
I'm on my way now, going there to Safaga to oversee the operation and make sure that our hope for as many rescued individuals as possible.
But the information that we received that we have so far is sporadic (INAUDIBLE) I will be able probably to have more complete information as to the situation.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. If you could just bear with me, I realize this is very early on, but we just want to step through a few things here. First of all, any lifeboats sighted?
MANSOUR: Sorry?
M. O'BRIEN: Were there any lifeboats spotted by any other vessels in the area?
MANSOUR: Yes. Yes, there are. This is information we have received that there are lifeboats, and that the -- like I said, the Egyptian Navy is also going there to oversee the situation. But anything I would answer you now, you know, I'm...
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
MANSOUR: ... about, you know, far away. I'm in Cairo.
M. O'BRIEN: How was...
MANSOUR: (INAUDIBLE).
M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Mansour, how was the weather at the time of the incident? How is the weather now?
MANSOUR: The information we have is the weather was not good.
M. O'BRIEN: Not good.
MANSOUR: The weather -- the seas were very high, and the weather was not good at the time.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. Is there any information about another vessel either missing or damaged? Could there have been a collision?
MANSOUR: No, I have no such information.
M. O'BRIEN: And was there a mayday call from that ship before it went down?
MANSOUR: I am not sure as of yet now. But, like I say, within -- you know, as I get there I'll be able to provide you with more information. M. O'BRIEN: All right. Going back to the weather there, when you say there were high seas, do you know high the seas were?
MANSOUR: No, I really don't know how high the seas were. But, you know, we will be getting as much information as we go along.
M. O'BRIEN: Is it...
MANSOUR: I'm sorry, I have to go.
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: OK, all right, understand. Mohamed Loutfy Mansour, obviously very busy, on his way to the port where that ship disembarked.
As he said, 1,400 people aboard. There are now four Egyptian frigates on the way to the scene, trying to aid and assist. Perhaps the most hopeful thing we've heard this morning is that there are sightings of lifeboats in the water there. The weather not good. No indication right now that there was a mayday call prior to that sinking. We're tracking that for you. Back with more in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Remember the story we told you about on Thursday, people making their 30-second movies on their cell phones? There was a contest that was held by Ithaca College in New York. Here's a look at the guy who won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rosemary, Rosemary, Bruschi's not going to play on Sunday. And if she correctly guesses the headline, I give her a kiss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: He's got good quality. I tell you, we tried to do this yesterday. Miles and I had a little contest. And we were going to take our cell phones. Look, I use this one, this Trio, which now I hate, because I was on the phone with Miles when I kind of figured out how to do it. It was hard to do.
M. O'BRIEN: You might say you had technical difficulties.
S. O'BRIEN: I had technical failures, although a good idea for a movie.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, right.
M. O'BRIEN: Ask yourself, what would Spielberg have done? What would he have done?
S. O'BRIEN: He would have had a crew.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
SERWER: Yes, he would have had a big budget is what he would have had.
S. O'BRIEN: Exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: So...
S. O'BRIEN: Anyway, so I have no movie to share, but I'm going to try to submit one.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, here's the thing. At my house, I'm not so much known as daddy as I am the IT desk, the IT support help. So, I can make these things work. We did...
S. O'BRIEN: You did not help me. I was on the phone with Miles all night trying to get my Trio to work.
M. O'BRIEN: I did the technical things, but like any good dad, I assigned my kids to the project.
SERWER: Oh, that's no fair.
S. O'BRIEN: Wait, wait, wait.
M. O'BRIEN: I'll give you just a little glimpse of what -- are we going to do the whole movie?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, let's do it, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's just do the movie. Here we go. To set it up, it's a hurricane.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Soledad, let's go to Miles with that hurricane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soledad, it's really blowing out here. I think it might be a category 6 hurricane. Oh, I've got the cameraman holding my neck and I still fell down! I'm worried about falling debris. Oh, there comes a limb. Oh, there's a Mini Cooper. Oh, gosh!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Miles, that looks awful. I hope you're OK. But, really, there were probably (INAUDIBLE) this show already. Got to go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERWER: That was Mr. Bill, right?
M. O'BRIEN: It's a little Mr. Bill.
S. O'BRIEN: How did they know I was thinking that?
M. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) with Mr. Bill there.
S. O'BRIEN: That's very cute. And your kids did it.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, the kids did it, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Was it hard? How long did it take?
M. O'BRIEN: All night.
S. O'BRIEN: Really?
M. O'BRIEN: All night, several takes.
SERWER: Was it worth it?
S. O'BRIEN: Well, I had someone offer to run a new phone over to my house, and I was, like, my actors go to bed at 8:00 p.m.
M. O'BRIEN: That's a problem, yes.
SERWER: Yes, he had an advantage there, too, the age of kids.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, actually in this case the technical director goes to bed at 8:00 p.m., so we had to make it...
SERWER: Oh.
S. O'BRIEN: My kids were into it. I actually -- I have to say I thought this would be a great project for families.
M. O'BRIEN: It was fun.
S. O'BRIEN: It was a lot of fun to do.
M. O'BRIEN: I think my kids are budding filmmakers.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Anyway, you can watch my entire movie again if you'd like. CNN.com/am.
S. O'BRIEN: Once was not enough.
M. O'BRIEN: It's not my movie. It's my kids'. OK? Just to keep the record straight here. I was the producer.
Andy...
S. O'BRIEN: I failed.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you never know.
S. O'BRIEN: What do you got?
SERWER: Are you ready for my movie?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: OK. Here's my movie. Americans are selling out. That is American companies are selling out to foreign businesses at nearly a record clip.
S. O'BRIEN: really?
SERWER: What does that mean for you? Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Andy is "Minding Your Business." We're going to get to you in just a moment. First, though, let's get right back out to Kelly Wallace. She's doing headlines for us in the newsroom.
Hey, Kelly.
WALLACE: Hello, Soledad.
And we're continuing to all follow this breaking news story coming out of the Middle East. A passenger ship carrying more than 1,400 people is missing in the Red Sea. And what we're showing you right now is a picture of that ship we're talking about. An Egyptian official says he has received reports that the ship sank. We hear hearing that some passengers have been spotted in lifeboats. There are also reports of bodies in the water. We are definitely following this story for you throughout the morning and bringing you the latest information as we get it.
Outrage is escalating around the world over cartoons that many Muslims say are insulting. Indonesia, one of the places where there were demonstrations today, protesters attacked the Danish embassy, throwing everything from eggs to chairs. One of the cartoons, originally published in a Danish newspaper, shows the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban, and it has sparked condemnation from several governments, including Pakistan, today.
President Bush is planning to ask Congress for another $120 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This would bring the total cost to nearly $450 billion for the war on terror since the September 11 attacks. And the package will also include $18 billion more for Gulf Coast reconstruction.
And staying in the Gulf Coast, severe damage to tell you about in New Orleans. Just take a look at some of these pictures. A series of tornadoes ripped through the area. One of the tornadoes had winds of up to 157 miles per hour, the strongest to hit the city in nearly a quarter of a century. The winds damaged a concourse at Armstrong International Airport and tore apart dozens of homes and businesses. Some minor injuries are reported.
Miles, hearing about that, you think what more could go wrong for New Orleans, right? M. O'BRIEN: You know, insult to injury is a cliche, but in this case it applies.
WALLACE: It sure does.
M. O'BRIEN: Kelly, thank you. Back with you in just a little bit.
Is America for sale?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes would be the short answer.
M. O'BRIEN: And if so, are we going to get a piece of the action?
SERWER: No.
M. O'BRIEN: No, we don't?
SERWER: Yes. No. America is for sale, you guys. Foreign companies are buying U.S. businesses at nearly a record clip, billions and billions of dollars. You know, this was an issue back in the 1980s with the Japanese, remember, buying Rock Center and Pebble Beach.
Now, it's other companies. A lot of furor about China. But it turns out that they're not the biggest buyers of U.S. companies at all. We'll get to that in a second.
First of all, $92 billion, up 27 percent in '05 versus '04.
The record year goes back to 2000 when a lot of foreign companies were buying technology companies. Still, this is one of the biggest record years ever.
And we can take a look at some of the companies that were bought, and you can see there's nary a Chinese acquirer on the list. You've got an Israeli company, a Swiss company, which I'm not going to try to pronounce, and then a Dutch company and a Swiss company in Houston.
M. O'BRIEN: Is that Venerschwitzel (ph)?
SERWER: No. Now you're in trouble. The U.K.
The Chinese, one 1 percent of the total. But, you know, they tried to buy Unical, a company. They tried to buy Maytag. They did buy IBM's PC business. And actually it turns out that Canada is the number one buyer of U.S. companies.
So, maybe not anything to get all up in arms about.
M. O'BRIEN: Doesn't it feel like the '70s again in a way, you know?
SERWER: It does with high oil prices...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: ... and concerns about...
M. O'BRIEN: Detroit on the ropes.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Foreign investment, you know.
S. O'BRIEN: Concerns about hostages and kidnappings and projects overseas.
M. O'BRIEN: It's very interesting how history repeats it.
SERWER: Are you getting out your polyester and bellbottoms? That's the question.
S. O'BRIEN: That's what he's wearing today.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, I never took them off.
SERWER: There you go.
M. O'BRIEN: Why stop?
SERWER: I'm so glad.
S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: Thanks.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the Kama Sutra, remember we were talking about this yesterday? It's supposed to hit computers around the world today, wiping out critical files along the way. How bad is it going to be? We'll take a look.
Plus, former NBA star Charles Barkley talks with us. The new edition of his best selling book, remember this one? It's called "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?" We've got some controversial takes, really, on race, class in America. We'll talk about that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad. Good morning, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
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