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American Morning
Egyptian Passenger Ship Sinks; Palestinians Protest European Depictions of the Prophet Mohammed
Aired February 03, 2006 - 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 HOST: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.
The Red Sea swallows up a big passenger ship: 1400 people aboard. Rescue crews on the way. We are live with the latest.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Many in the Muslim world just up in arms this morning over cartoons: they say they're blasphemy. We'll take you live to Jerusalem this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: And she's back: La Nina, at our doorstep. Will she whip up a meaner hurricane season? We'll ask an expert, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning.
Welcome back, everybody.
Lots to get to this morning, starting overseas.
M. O'BRIEN: We've got some breaking news. What in the world happened to the Salam 98? That's the name of the passenger ship. More than 1,400 people aboard. It was headed across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia to an Egyptian port. We have a picture of the actual ship, obviously taken before the incident.
CNN's Ben Wedeman on the phone from Cairo this morning bringing us the latest -- Ben, what do we know?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this morning we're hearing from Egyptian officials that they have rescued around 12 people and that 50 (ph) bodies have been recovered from the sea.
Now, our understanding, some officials -- Egyptian officials -- is that there were 1,310 passengers on board, as well as 96 crew members. The ship was the ship which is called the Al-Salam Bocaccio 98. It has a capacity for around 1,400 people, passengers. It was scheduled to arrive at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Safaga at 3:00 a.m. local time after an eight hour journey across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia.
The ship never showed up. We understand that on Thursday evening -- and when the ship was scheduled to sail, at least, that weather was not ideal, that there were sandstorms as well as high winds on the Saudi Arabian side of the Red Sea.
M. O'BRIEN: Ben, we heard some reports earlier of the possibility of lifeboats being spotted in the area.
What do we know about possible survivors at this point aside from that dozen? Or is there no further update?
WEDEMAN: Well, we know that the Egyptian Coast Guard deployed four frigates in the area, sent up helicopters and other aircraft in the area, which is about 40 miles off the Egyptian coast. And they, of course, in addition to this report that they've actually found bodies and survivors, apparently those Egyptian officials were saying that they were able to spot lifeboats with people on board. That was several hours ago.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. So bad weather and these, one of these passenger ships? It's a drive aboard, sort of a glorified ferry. They are known to be very unstable, so I assume they'll be looking at that as a possibility, the possibility of it capsizing, which would cause it to sink very quickly.
But are they ruling out other things, such as terrorism, in this case?
WEDEMAN: Well, there certainly haven't been any indications that terrorism was involved. The officials here are looking at basically two possible scenarios. One, of course, is that high winds and high waves may have caused this ship to either sink or capsize. The second is the possibility that it hit another vessel, because, of course, those are very busy waters out there, not just because of traffic, sea traffic between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but also because it's on the main sea lines leading to and from the Suez Canal.
So there could have been the possibility of a collision with another vehicle but -- vessel, I mean. But at this point there has been no suggestion that there was any terror angle so far.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, but just to be very clear for our viewers, there are no reports of any other vessel either sunk or damaged, correct?
WEDEMAN: That is correct. That is correct. But you have to keep in mind that there are lots of vessels out there, some of them not necessarily registered with all the local authorities, maybe not necessarily reporting any sort of incident. So that officially there's been no notification of any sort of collision. And officials here seem to think that the most likely cause is bad weather.
But at this point, as I said, it's still very early in the game. The Egyptian transport minister is on a plane right now heading to Safaga. So we're hoping to get more details as the day progresses.
M. O'BRIEN: Ben Wedeman on the line from Cairo.
Thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Muslim anger is spilling out around the world today. Huge protests over a series of cartoons that mocked the Prophet Muhammad. Marchers in Libya pouring into the streets. The cartoons show things like the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
In Indonesia, hardliners attacked the building where the Danish embassy is located.
The problem started when a newspaper in Denmark printed the offensive cartoons.
In Tehran, more street protests. The cartoons have even been reprinted in several other European countries. The papers say they are expressing freedom of speech. Muslim leaders are saying freedom of speech doesn't "justify indignity toward religion."
In Basra, Iraq, they're stomping on the French and Danish flags. We won't show you the cartoons. Any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemous in Islam -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the most violent protests are in the Palestinian Territories, especially Gaza.
John Vause live now in Jerusalem -- John, tell us what's going on there.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now in Gaza City, Miles, thousands of demonstrators back on the streets after Friday prayers, just another of the many demonstrations across the Islamic world, all of them angry, some of them violent. Angry because for Muslims any image of Muhammad is considered blasphemy, even if it's in a positive light. And it seems most people agree that these cartoons have not been in the best of taste.
Over the last few days, Gaza has seen some of the more vehement protests. Gunmen have ordered all foreigners to leave or else they will be considered targets, a warning which is being taken seriously. Journalists, aid workers and diplomats have packed their bags and have left.
Also in Gaza, there have been threats against the small Christian community there. And in the West Bank city of Nablus, masked gunmen have been looking for Danes, Norwegians and French citizens to kidnap. At one point, they took a German schoolteacher hostage. When they realized their mistake, he was released after about an hour unharmed. Also, the Danish and Norwegian governments have closed their offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, John, at this point, what would they like the newspapers to do? What do they want the countries to do? Is there any redress?
VAUSE: Well, right now the protesters are looking for more than just an apology. They want the publishers of these magazines to be published. So, so far, all they've gotten from the governments and the magazines is an apology for any offense which many have been caused, and that's about as far as they're willing to go at this stage -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: They want them punished how? VAUSE: Well, they haven't said, but they just want some kind of action taken. We know that one magazine editor has already been fired. That doesn't seem to be enough. But they want punishment, they want some kind of retribution for this insult in Muhammad.
M. O'BRIEN: OK, John Vause, thank you very much.
The next hour on AMERICAN MORNING, we will speak with a historian about what made these pictures into such an explosive situation in the Muslim world.
Let's get some other headlines in.
We've got a lot to keep track of today.
We're glad we have Kelly here in the newsroom -- Kelly, what's going on?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be with you, Miles.
A lot to keep track of, indeed.
We begin with President Bush, who is heading back on the road, still selling his message from his State of the Union address. The president driving home his message that U.S. workers need to be more competitive on the global scale. And that means more education in advanced math and sciences.
The president's first stop today is at an Intel plant in New Mexico. He then heads to a magnet school for math and science in Texas.
The Patriot Act has been extended, at least for a little while. Senators voted in a late night session to extend the measure until March. The president said he would sign it. Lawmakers say the extension gives them more time to work out disagreements on civil liberty protections.
News about Lewis "Scooter" Libby. He's set to be in court today. You'll recall he's the former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney. He is facing perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from an investigation into who leaked the name or the I identity of CIA operative Valeria Plame. And the judge could set a trial date at this hearing today.
An incredible car chase in Texas, and all caught on tape. You see the car right there speeding on I-45. It slams into the back of that white pickup truck and slides off the freeway. Police approach and the suspect opens fire. It turns out the driver is believed to have kidnapped a mother and her 4-year-old daughter. They are both hurt, but glad to tell you they're OK.
The driver is dead. We still don't know if he was shot by police or if he shot himself.
And here's a new version of getting caught in the act. Police in Orlando say a robber tried to worm his way into a convenience store overnight, all through the exhaust duct. It turns out, though, he wasn't skinny enough. So 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 -- Miles, I don't really know what to say about that, except maybe you need to check your waistline before trying to...
S. O'BRIEN: That's not the only story that I've heard of like that. You know...
M. O'BRIEN: No, there's been quite a few of those. And, you know, I think of the Darwin Awards. And to get a Darwin Award, you have to die. So I guess he's a semi-finalist for the Darwin Award.
S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you.
WALLACE: Honorable mention or something.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, honorable mention at least, yes. Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: I have covered, personally, at least three of those, where the person got stuck in a chimney or a vent trying to break in or break out of a house.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
Exactly. Well...
S. O'BRIEN: Not the smartest thing to do.
Weather now, 10 minutes past the hour.
Chad's got a look at that -- good morning to you, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I just think he's glad they didn't turn the fryer on.
S. O'BRIEN: You know?
MYERS: I mean, you know, and he's stuck up there in the vent.
S. O'BRIEN: It's all relative, as we always say.
MYERS: It is.
We're going to talk about la nina in about 30 minutes. But I want to kind of explain what la nina is, a much colder than normal water pattern out here in the Pacific, the equatorial Pacific, not really up here in California. But that will change. It has in the past changed the outlook for the Atlantic hurricane season because it deflects the jet stream just a little bit.
And some of the answers that we're getting here from the past 75 years from Mark Bowe (ph) from Florida State University. In an el nino year, only about a 23 percent chance of a major hurricane hitting the U.S. But in a la nina year, 63 percent. Last year we were neutral, so that was 58. So, oh boy, do we need another big storm, another big year like we did last year? Obviously not.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, as Chad just mentioned, la nina. We're going to talk about that in just a moment. Back with a vengeance. How is it going to affect the weather where you live? We'll take a look at that coming up.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, that Kama Sutra worm. It's supposed to do its dirty work today, wiping out critical files on computers all around the world. We hope it's not yours. How bad could it be?
S. O'BRIEN: And doctors work to save the lives of two tiny patients. Their only hope a rare kind of transplant that hasn't been done in the U.S. in 10 years. This morning, we talk to the parents -- there they are -- and the doctor of these little miracle babies. That's up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Two tiny babies, two life threatening conditions, one life-saving solution.
Jason Wolfe needed a lung transplant. Kayla Richardson needed a new heart. So doctors at Columbus Children's Hospital performed a rare Domino transplant, where surgeons took the heart and lungs from an anonymous donor, put them both into Jason and took out Jason's healthy heart and gave it to baby Kayla.
Both babies are doing well this morning.
And joining us to talk about this, from Columbus, Ohio, in the back row, Kayla's parents. On the left is Rebecca Lovins and her fiance, Robert Richardson. And in the front row this morning, on the left we've got Dr. Mark Galantowicz from Columbus Children's Hospital. In the middle, Maria Wolfe. That's Jason's mom. And Mike Wolfe, Jason's dad.
Nice to see you guys.
Thanks for talking with us this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Boy, what terrific news.
Mike and Maria, why don't we start with you first.
Baby Jason, I guess all of it really began when he needed and got a heart and a lung transplant from an anonymous donor, a baby that had died.
How is he doing right now, Jason?
MIKE WOLFE, SON DONATED HEART: He's doing great. They're hoping to take him out of ICU today, so...
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, wonderful. I know you knew, Maria, that -- at three months -- that he was going to need a lung transplant. He's got something called primary pulmonary hypertension.
What exactly is that?
MARIA WOLFE, SON DONATED HEART: Dr. Galantowicz could probably explain it better than I can. But for my explanation is that it's the vessels in the lungs constrict and restrict the flow of blood and he loses oxygen and he doesn't give enough oxygen. And, you know, he was turning blue and all that, a lot.
S. O'BRIEN: Did you know that there was a big problem the minute he was born?
MARIA WOLFE: No, we didn't. We didn't really know until about the middle of December. He wasn't eating well and he spit up a little bit and then about Christmas Day and the day after Christmas, he spit up and turned yellow and kind of bluish around the mouth.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh my god.
MARIA WOLFE: And so that's when we took him in.
S. O'BRIEN: How distressing for you.
Dr. Galantowicz, let's ask you a couple of questions.
DR. MARK GALANTOWICZ, PERFORMED HEART-LUNG TRANSPLANT: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: First, why are you transplanting in this case, or did you transplant, in this case, the heart, too, when what Jason really needed was a set of healthy lungs?
GALANTOWICZ: In anybody who needs a lung transplant, you really have three options. You can transplant a single lung, two lungs or a heart/lung. And in this particular case, especially given Jason's size, we felt that the best option, balancing the risk and benefit for him, was a heart/double lung transplantation.
S. O'BRIEN: And that's why the heart, Jason's healthy heart, then became available to baby Kayla.
So let's move over to Rebecca and Robert.
How is baby Kayla doing? I know she's just about three months old now, right?
REBECCA LOVINS, DAUGHTER RECEIVED HEART: Yes.
ROBERT RICHARDSON, DAUGHTER RECEIVED HEART: Yes.
She's doing great. I mean she's smiling now. She looks real great. We're -- we get to hold her. And I mean she just looks great. She's came a long way.
S. O'BRIEN: I see. I like the little bow in her hair. It's very cute.
She's got something called pulmonary atresia. And I'm sorry if I'm mangling that name.
What exactly, you know, give me the mom and dad definition of what's wrong with Kayla.
RICHARDSON: The pulmonary arteries was -- the pulmonary artery was actually small and it caused the right side of her heart not to develop right, and it was actually smaller than the left side of her heart. And it -- I'm not sure if I'm right, but it caused -- I believe it caused -- it was causing trouble getting blood flow to the lungs, as well. And Kayla actually turned blue, as well, and we rushed her here.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, so Rebecca, now that she's had the transplant, how is she looking?
LOVINS: She looks good. She looks like a normal baby and she feels like a normal baby, because for so long we didn't get to hold her. So, it's good relief now.
S. O'BRIEN: Wonderful.
Let's go back to Dr. Galantowicz.
How -- we've said, coming into this story, that the last time this Domino transplant has been done was 10 years ago.
How successful was that one? How confident are you in what you've been able to do for these two families?
GALANTOWICZ: Our -- we've built a really, an extraordinary team here. And it does take a big team effort to do two simultaneous operations of this delicate nature. But we have the right people and we were ready for this.
We do take care of little babies every day, including little babies with complex heart problems. And we have a transplant program for hearts, lungs and heart/lungs. So we were ready. And we had had some experience in the past with this type of transplant.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, that's such great news, of course.
So Jason's got heart -- a new heart and lung. Kayla's got Jason's heart now in her body.
I know that the two of you have been, as families, sort of just a couple of doors down from each other whiled you've been waiting for your babies, you know, dealing with their health problems. And then it turns out now you share this bond that is just, I mean, you know, something you can't really even explain isn't it? Are you -- have you become close as families?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
RICHARDSON: Yes, that's definite.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes?
Do you think that the kids -- I mean now they're only four months and three months -- but do you think one day that they'll know each other?
MARIA WOLFE: Oh, yes.
RICHARDSON: Oh, yes. We plan to remain close, so.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, what a great story.
Doctor, good work.
Congratulations to your team.
GALANTOWICZ: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: And, of course, to our families.
Thanks for talking with us.
We wish you the very best.
GALANTOWICZ: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm so glad the prognosis is good for those babies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
MARIA WOLFE: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations.
Thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Amazing what modern medicine can do.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: What hope it can provide.
S. O'BRIEN: Isn't that amazing?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
A great job to all. What a great thing.
S. O'BRIEN: And baby Kayla with a little bow in her hair.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. So cute.
S. O'BRIEN: I like you, little baby.
M. O'BRIEN: So cute. We're glad they're doing well.
We'll be back with more in a moment.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Do you ever think about early retirement?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I do, every morning about 3:16, that's one minute after the alarm sounds. But, you know, the truth is, Soledad...
S. O'BRIEN: Uh-huh?
M. O'BRIEN: It may not be all that it's cracked up to be. I'd like to try it just to see, but it may not be all that it's cracked up to be.
As it turns out, some people retire early and find themselves wanting to be more busy.
S. O'BRIEN: Really?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
Let's listen to Jennifer Westhoven and see what she has to say about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER BORGHESI, TEACHER: My thought was that I would probably work with Verizon until around age 55. It still sounds kind of young for a retiree, but that was my plan. But then my plans changed.
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Life after work caught Peter Borghesi by surprise when Verizon offered him early retirement at age 51. He took the buyout, but...
BORGHESI: I wasn't ready for the hammock in the backyard or anything, or the golf course yet. And I knew I had to do something.
WESTHOVEN: Borghesi had considered a teaching career when he was in college. Now, about 30 years later, he's finally where he wanted to be -- in the classroom.
BORGHESI: A couple of my teacher friends said don't do it. You don't know what you're getting into. Summers off sound great to somebody who is in another industry. But it's not that easy.
WESTHOVEN: Borghesi felt he'd found his calling and entered an accelerated program to get certified. Now, he teaches full-time at an inner city school.
BORGHESI: I ended up here in Jersey City, P.S. 39, Charles Defuccio School. I teach science and math in sixth grade. And if a kid, for example, comes into class and can't write very well and that's in September, and by the end of the school year, that same kid is now writing coherent paragraphs, sentences, then you know you got to the kid. You know you had an effect on that kid's life. And that, I think, is the reward. It's not a monetary reward. It's not a reward where I get something that I can hang on my wall and say gee, look what I did. It's just something that comes from the heart that you just feel good about it.
WESTHOVEN: Jennifer Westhoven, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: You know, he's got something there.
Would you, would you ever do teaching?
S. O'BRIEN: I actually...
M. O'BRIEN: I think it would be fun.
S. O'BRIEN: ... you know, my mom is a teacher and my dad is a teacher and my mother-in-law is a teacher...
M. O'BRIEN: So you've got it in your genes.
S. O'BRIEN: ... my father-in-law is a teacher.
M. O'BRIEN: It's there.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: You know, I definitely would do that.
M. O'BRIEN: I think it would be fun, some day. Some day. Maybe tomorrow, who knows?
All right, let's...
S. O'BRIEN: You know, teachers have Saturdays off. See, that's the great part.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, Saturdays, we -- summers, all that good stuff. And -- well, anyway, let's press on.
Let's talk about cell phone movies, shall we?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's see, who did a good cell phone movie last night?
S. O'BRIEN: You did. Rub it in. M. O'BRIEN: Actually, my kids did.
S. O'BRIEN: I tried. You know, this Trio thing, ugh!
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, well, you just -- it's just new to you.
MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) really snowing out here. I think this might be a category six hurricane. Oh, I've got to (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
All I really did was the voice-over. The kids did all the claymation on -- then you can watch it on the Web and there's the punch line, of course, when the mini-Cooper (ph) comes down and swatches me.
S. O'BRIEN: That's good. That's good Steven Spielberg.
M. O'BRIEN: The kids...
S. O'BRIEN: I'll give you your props.
M. O'BRIEN: The kids kind of enjoyed squashing daddy, even if in clay.
Anyway, we'll share with you a little bit of that. And go to cnn.com/am if you want to check it out in the meantime.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: You can get the latest news every morning in your e- mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at cnn.com/am, where you can also see this morning the premier of the O'Brien kids' movie, where I get squashed.
S. O'BRIEN: Done on a cell phone.
M. O'BRIEN: On a cell phone, yes.
We are going to talk about la nina, coming up. La nina esta aqui. How about that? Not so good.
S. O'BRIEN: That's all right. Esta aqui.
M. O'BRIEN: Anyway, in any case, it -- this is the, you know, the mirror image of el nino.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: They kind of go in pairs. It's an oscillation. The bottom line is what does it mean for the hurricane season is among the issues.
S. O'BRIEN: So if la nina is terrible, does that mean hurricane season is terrible?
M. O'BRIEN: Eel -- yes. La nina does actually equate to a worse hurricane season. So, we'll talk about that in a minute.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, we're back in a moment.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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