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American Morning
Church Fires; Cartoon Outrage, Cargo Fire; Grammy Awards
Aired February 08, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Miles O'Brien.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee in for Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Four more Alabama churches burn to the ground. Nine burned so far. And investigators fear more may be in danger. We are live on that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To know that there are not yet equal opportunities for all Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: The funeral for Coretta Scott King turns political, and was it really appropriate? A closer look at that this morning.
O'BRIEN: A story breaking overnight, Philadelphia's airport closes down after a cargo plane catches fire overnight. What that means for today's scheduled flights is ahead.
VERJEE: A former hockey legend linked to a gambling ring. The players and celebrities may also be involved. A live report on operation slap shot is just ahead.
And millions of us can't get a good night's sleep and a record number of the restless are popping pills. Is this a sign of a much bigger problem?
O'BRIEN: Four more Baptist churches in rural Alabama up in flames. Federal, state and local investigators all looking for leads this morning, but so far authorities have no suspect, no motive. Arson is suspected in all fires reported yesterday, as well as five other churches that burned last week.
David Mattingly with the latest from Alabama.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Four more Alabama churches set on fire in the early morning hours of Tuesday morning, bringing the total number of churches burned in the state since Friday to nine.
Investigators say they have no clear indication of a suspect or, at this point, of any particular motive as why somebody would be singling out Baptist churches in rural areas of western Alabama. But investigators say they are acquiring a lot of evidence in this case. Specially trained dogs have been brought in to sniff through the rubble to help determine what type of chemicals might have been used to start these fires.
We saw investigators looking at tire tracks at one location, taking plaster casts of those tire tracks. They say that indicates there might have been a quick getaway from that particular scene. Also, there are signs of forced entry at several of the churches as the intruders broke in to set the fires.
But at each of these locations all along this spree of what looks like arson cases, investigators say everyone is still asking why.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That was David Mattingly reporting from Boligee, Alabama.
Coming up a little later in the program, we'll find out what investigators are learning about the fires. We will be talking to a member of the agency overseeing that investigation.
Coretta Scott King has been laid to rest, but her funeral did not go quietly. With President Bush in attendance yesterday, along with three member -- other former presidents, the King funeral took a decidedly political turn.
Former President Jimmy Carter leading the charge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: The struggle for equal rights is not over. We only have to recall the color of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
(APPLAUSE)
Those who were most devastated by Katrina to know that there are not yet equal opportunities for all Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JOSEPH LOWERY, CO-FOUNDER, SCLC: She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there.
(APPLAUSE)
But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance, poverty abound. For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.
(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: And that was the Reverend Joseph Lowery who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr.
In our next hour, we'll talk with the bishop who officiated at the funeral for Coretta Scott King. We'll get his reaction to the political tone of the service -- Zain.
VERJEE: Miles, across the Islamic world calls for calm after days of often violent protests over those cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. In the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, today, several hundred people marched in protest. They chanted death to the Danish, death to Americans. And there are reports of more deaths.
Journalist Tom Coughlan joins us now on the phone from Kabul.
Tom, Afghanistan's top Islamic organization is calling for an end to the riots. Are they going to be listened to?
TOM COUGHLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the question. It is an important thing, actually, that the Grand Layma Council (ph) of Afghanistan has come forward and told Afghans that they must stop these riots. This council is a very important and respected body within Afghan society. So it may well have a positive effect.
Now today there has been rioting though in southern Afghanistan in Zabul Province. The capital of Zabul collapsed. It's currently closed to all traffic.
Now the violence there has claimed five lives, according to eyewitnesses, possibly including a policeman. This was when rioters, some 600 rioters, tried, first of all, to storm a police station and then to get into a nearby U.S. base.
VERJEE: How much of what we're seeing is fueled by remnants of the Taliban or al Qaeda?
COUGHLAN: Well that's, again, hard to say, but certainly there is evidence of involvement on the parts of various extremist Islamic groups here in Afghanistan. Now Zabul, where today's rioting took place, is in the very heartland of the Taliban insurgency. And you can certainly imagine that in that area there would be a high level of Taliban support and that the Taliban could easily ferment that violence.
Now yesterday's rioting was up in the northwest of the country, an area where the Taliban doesn't really have much control. But there are other militant groups at play in Afghanistan that do have an influence in really all parts of the country and might have an interest in creating this sort of instability.
VERJEE: Tom, have most or all of the protesters that we're seeing here seen the cartoons?
COUGHLAN: I imagine that none of them have seen the cartoons. The cartoons have not, to the best of my knowledge, been published in Afghanistan, well, presumably, because they're extremely offensive to Afghan. But the majority of Afghans are illiterate and they -- the -- most Afghans receive such news and information as they get from either radio or from word of mouth. So I think that here what had happened is in large part has been the rumor mill within Afghanistan that has fueled this -- these protests, its unrest.
It's quite clear often that the protesters aren't really aware of these cartoons and actually their rage is simply directed at the Western world and often at America. Often these crowds are chanting death to America. Now America has clearly condemned the publication of these cartoons. So it's either a confusion in the minds of these protesters or simply the willful disregard for what is actually going on here and what this debate is really all about.
VERJEE: Putting the situation in perspective there on the ground from Kabul, Afghanistan, journalist Tom Coughlan, thank you.
In Washington then, quick reaction to an Iranian counterattack, a newspaper in Iran is inviting cartoonists to draw caricatures of the Holocaust. The State Department says that it sees the fingerprints of Iran's hard line president on this invitation and calls it another sign of why Iran should not have nuclear weapons.
Robin Oakley joins us now live from London.
Robin, is Iran just upping the ante here?
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Certainly it is, Zain, yes. The newspaper, the Iranian newspaper Hamshari, staging this competition for cartoons about the Holocaust. The anger over the Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed has been bubbling on the streets of Tehran for days. And this is a deliberate provocation, a deliberate use by Iran to hit back at the traditional enemy in Israel.
And of course it follows the call by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not long ago for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map and indeed his assertion that the Holocaust was a myth. And of course Muslims who have been offended by the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed have been saying that theirs is a peaceful religion and they couldn't dream of defiling other people's religions -- Zain.
VERJEE: Is the cartoon controversy basically boiling down to a clash of cultures -- Robin?
OAKLEY: To some extent it is the clash between the traditional Western belief in the freedom of the media, freedom of expression and deeply held religious convictions in the Muslim community.
But of course there's a political element creeping into this as well, as far as Iran is concerned, because the European Union countries have joined with the U.S. now in getting Iran referred to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program. People are seeing this as a deliberate attempt by Iran to stir the pot.
And it's also seen as no coincidence by E.U. diplomats that the trouble over the cartoons has come most in political hot spots, like Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iran, whereas it isn't happening in more moderate Muslim countries, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- Zain.
VERJEE: CNN's European political editor Robin Oakley in London.
Thanks, Robin.
Coming up in the next hour, we're going to talk to the editor of the Danish paper that first published these cartoons. We're going to ask him would you do it again -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Back in their own beds. That is the story for people in a couple of southern California neighborhoods that were threatened by wildfires. You can see firefighters are cutting breaks around the 6,000-acre fire, clearly shown there.
We're also hearing that the fire was probably caused by the Forest Service. The Forest Service starting a controlled burn last week that officials say probably got stirred up again by the Santa Anna winds.
Let's check the forecast now, Bonnie Schneider at the Weather Center this morning. Chad is out today.
Good morning -- Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Bonnie Schneider.
Coming up, again bling scandal rocks a professional sports league, the NHL, and the wife of the game's greatest player ever may be linked.
VERJEE: Also, more people than ever turning to sleeping pills to get a good night's rest. Miles, I just prefer counting sheep still. But is it the best cure in the long run? We're going to bring you some answers from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
O'BRIEN: Might want to try the pills.
VERJEE: Sheep.
Plus, the Grammy Awards themselves need a big win. Is Kanye West just the ticket they need to get people to tune in? We have a preview ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Smoky fire aboard a U.S. -- excuse me -- UPS cargo plane shut down Philadelphia's airport overnight. The airport just reopening now, but dozens of flights, as you might suspect, delayed or canceled. So you might want to phone your airline if you're headed to/from Philadelphia today. Officials still don't know what caused the fire in the first place.
Amy Buckman is with our affiliate WPVI. She is there.
Good morning -- Amy.
AMY BUCKMAN, WPVI-TV REPORTER: Well good morning, Miles.
It's going to be a mess here at Philadelphia International all due to a UPS cargo jet that landed with visible flames shooting out of it about midnight last night here at Philadelphia International Airport. It was a DC-8 coming from Atlanta. It made an emergency landing on one of the two main runways here at Philadelphia International. It was a two-alarm fire. And firefighters didn't get it under control until about 4:00 this morning.
And now that the fire has been put out, the wreckage of the plane remains on the runway here at Philly International. So we will be running on three runways instead of four this morning. That will cause delays throughout the day.
The good news out of all this, the three crew members who were onboard that plane were OK. They were taken to a local hospital for observation, but then released. But again, delays all day today here at Philadelphia International due to a UPS DC-8 cargo plane that landed here in flames -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, always phone ahead.
Amy Buckman with our Philadelphia affiliate WPVI, thank you very much.
Kelly Wallace in the newsroom this morning, Carol Costello is off.
Good morning -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles, and hello, everyone.
We're beginning in Baghdad where there have been three explosions within a half-hour stretch today. In the first attack, a bomb hidden inside a parked car blew up near a convoy carrying Iraq's Minister of Higher Education. And these are some new pictures from the scene there coming in to us here at CNN. The Iraqi official was not hurt, but one other person was killed. Within minutes of that, two roadside bombs went off, killing at least one person and wounding four others.
Early election results in Haiti could come later today as ballot counting is now under way. And turnout was heavy. There were reports of some pushing and shoving as voters headed to the polls on Tuesday, but there was no major violence. Two years ago, a bloody revolt ousted then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and plunged Haiti into political chaos. These are the first elections for Haiti in six years.
The wife of legendary hockey star Wayne Gretzky has been linked to illegal sports gambling. Officials say Janet Jones and several NHL players betted on sports but not on hockey. Gretzky is the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. Authorities say his assistant coach, Rick Tocchet, helped finance the gambling ring. He is set to meet today with the NHL commissioner. He could also face criminal charges. We will have much more on this story just ahead.
And a bizarre, a bizarre story out of New York, listen to this, a teenager falling out of a window of a moving bus. He was apparently using the restroom. The bus swerved to change lanes and then the teen lost his balance. He landed on the New York State throughway. He has some injuries, but thankfully he is expected to recover. We don't know how fast the bus was going. That is a bizarre one.
Bonnie Schneider at the CNN Center with the latest on the forecast.
Good morning -- Bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Kelly.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VERJEE: Bonnie, thank you.
Poor guy, falling out of a bus that way.
O'BRIEN: Yes, in a rather embarrassing...
VERJEE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: ... position you might say.
VERJEE: Very humiliating but...
O'BRIEN: So hopefully everything was...
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not going to live that one down with his peers.
VERJEE: (INAUDIBLE) on.
O'BRIEN: ... straightened out by the time they got to him, if you know what I mean.
VERJEE: All right, well there have been some proposed changes for our ownership.
O'BRIEN: Yes, there are. Yes, there are. Could be big changes for the likes of us. Who knows?
LEE: This is a story close to our hearts...
O'BRIEN: You might say.
VERJEE: We care.
LEE: ... and to our wallets as well.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: And to a lot of shareholders for Time Warner, which is, of course, CNN's parent company. The gloves are really coming off here. Billionaire Carl Icahn is taking the gloves off in his effort to break up the company. He basically says that management's strategic blunders have cost shareholders $40 billion. He says something has to be done, so he's put together a 300-plus-page report charging management with these things.
Now here's his basic idea, to break the company up into four separate companies, Time Inc. Publishing; Warner Brothers, which is networks and film; Time Warner Cable and America Online. He says that the blunders have cost shareholders over $40 billion. He also wants management, the company, to buyback $20 billion worth of stock.
Now Dick Parsons, who is the Chairman and CEO of Time Warner currently, has a response to this. He says, "We are on the right track. The company is delivering."
None of this is really a surprise. Mr. Icahn has been coming after the company for quite a while demanding changes. He is a big shareholder, controls about 3.3 percent of the stock. He has a slate of candidates to challenge the current board of directors at Time Warner. And those names are going to be revealed on February 19. So things are really heating up.
Not really heating up for Time Warner's stock price. If you take a look at a chart over the past year, we've been in that $18 range, a little higher, a little lower, depending on the week. But still a lot of people frustrated.
O'BRIEN: Kind of an $18 groove.
LEE: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: And with that frustration, this whole thing could get some traction.
LEE: Exactly. Exactly. Get enough people interested, hey, his ideas are pretty good, and you know we'll see what happens.
O'BRIEN: Should be pointed out, though, Viacom split off, did sort of a similar splitting and nothing really happened for the stock, right?
LEE: Exactly. The idea here, unlock shareholder value, the sum of four different companies may be worth more than the whole.
Miles, interesting you mentioned Viacom, because Frank Biondi, who is Viacom and Universal Studios' CEO, he is one of the people sort of in the works with this with Icahn.
O'BRIEN: In the mix.
LEE: One of the people maybe in the mix. Exactly.
O'BRIEN: All right, they're at the gate.
LEE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Carrie Lee.
VERJEE: Thanks.
O'BRIEN: Always a pleasure.
Coming up, we told you Tuesday how the business in sleeping pills is booming. Listening up, Zain. If you have trouble sleeping, forget the sheep.
VERJEE: No, sheep, sheep.
O'BRIEN: Forget the sheep. They...
VERJEE: One elephants. I do elephants too, one elephant.
O'BRIEN: Elephants? You like elephants?
VERJEE: I do.
O'BRIEN: That could get messy in the room there.
Anyway, it's -- the question is are sleeping pills really a long- term answer? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will help us understand all of that.
Plus, U2 gunning for Grammy gold. They have a lot of stiff competition. We will preview the Grammy Awards next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VERJEE: U2, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, music's biggest stars will be out tonight for the 48th Annual Grammy Awards.
CNN's Brooke Anderson now with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Confident rapper and producer Kanye West, soulful singer/songwriter John Legend and musical diva Mariah Carey are each nominated for eight Grammy Awards.
Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi" has sold more than five million copies, a surprising success for the singer whose career was recently considered all but over.
MARIAH CAREY, GRAMMY NOMINEE: It's been such an amazing year. And this album really means so much to me that I -- you know -- I'm just full of gratitude.
ANDERSON: Carey received nominations for record and song of the year, as well as in the coveted album of the year category. But her disc faces some tough competition, including U2's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," Gwen Stefani's solo debut "Love Angel Music Baby," the highly regarded "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" by Paul McCartney and Kanye West's sophomore standout work "Late Registration."
KANYE WEST, GRAMMY NOMINEE: The Grammy's were one of my muses for this album. We wouldn't make it and say I hope to win album of the year. We're making it to win album of the year.
ANDERSON: Music industry experts say the album of the year will be a close call, but West has a good shot.
GEOFF MAYFIELD, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: He is one of those guys who not only sells well but does speak to critics, does speak to fellow musicians.
ANDERSON: West's seven other nominations include record of the year for "Gold Digger."
His protege, newcomer John Legend, who has signed to West's label, is up for awards, including best new artist and best R&B album for "Get Lifted."
JOHN LEGEND, GRAMMY NOMINEE: This is a big reward for what we've been working on for the past five, six years.
ANDERSON: Legend will be playing at tonight's awards. Also slated to perform, Kanye and Miss Mariah Carey.
Brooke Anderson, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: And coming up in our 8:00 Eastern hour, Brooke is going to tell us why the Grammy's still even matter despite so many of the changes in the music industry during the past couple of years -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including surprising new information on the link between cancer and the amount of fat in your diet. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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