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CNN Live Today
Wall Street Buzzing About AT&T's Mega-Purchase of BellSouth; Academy Awards Review
Aired March 06, 2006 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This just into CNN. News out of Gaza City. Israeli military confirming to CNN it has targeted an Islamic jihad militant -- the car of Islamic jihad militants in an air strike. Two Palestinians killed in that attack. And that being confirmed from Israeli military.
More on that out of Gaza City as it becomes available. Right now, let's take a look at what else is happening "Now in the News."
A ruling from the Supreme Court this morning will affect military recruitment on college campuses. By a 9-0 vote, the justices said universities must allow the recruiters or forgo federal funds. Law school professors had claimed they shouldn't be forced to promote the campus appearances.
Final jury selection is underway in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. The only man charged in the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 attacks has pleaded guilty. Jurors will decide whether he'll be put to death or spend life in prison. Opening statements are set for this afternoon.
A British inquiry into the death of Princess Diana reportedly finds no evidence of foul play. "The Daily Mail" newspaper obtained the findings of an interim report. The investigation dismisses conspiracy theories linked to Diana's car crash death in 1997.
And a new ear infection vaccine appears to be on the horizon. The vaccine guards against 11 different strains of bacteria. The current vaccine on the market fights seven types of bacteria. The new vaccine is now in clinical trials in Europe. The drug maker plans to apply for approval there next year. No word yet when the drug maker might seek U.S. approval.
Is Ma Bell coming back? All of Wall Street buzzing today about AT&T's mega-purchase of BellSouth. Get this price tag: $67 billion in stock. The company also gains control of Cingular Wireless in that deal. But what does that mean to Main Street? How will this mega- merger affect you?
Joining us from New York is Paul La Monica, a senior writer for CNNmoney.com.
Paul, good morning.
PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY.COM: Hi, thanks for having me. KAGAN: Good to not have you on the phone, but have you in person to talk about this phone deal. OK, well I have a checklist here of different segments of people I want to talk about. First, 600,000 shareholders of BellSouth. This is a good deal for them?
LA MONICA: It would appear to be the case. It's a nice premium. The deal will reward BellSouth shareholders. I believe it's about an 18 percent price that's higher than what BellSouth was trading at on Friday. So BellSouth investors probably don't have much to complain about this morning.
KAGAN: There's that big BellSouth building we're looking at there just a few blocks up the way here from where we are CNN at downtown Atlanta. As a BellSouth customer, the first thing I heard -- thought of when I heard this news this morning, how is it going to affect my ringy-dingy at home?
LA MONICA: Exactly. I think it's going to be interesting. On -- from the local standpoint, you could see some higher rates. I think that is...
KAGAN: Oh, you're kidding me.
LA MONICA: ... something that is always a bit of a concern with mergers of this scale. However, it's not so cut and dry, because there's so much competition in telecom right now and it's not just from the traditional phone companies anymore.
KAGAN: Also, we should say, this has to get the thumbs up from the U.S. government.
LA MONICA: Exactly. This is probably going to be pretty prolonged approval process. This is a very, very large merger and I think you will have a lot of consumer groups that will be lining up against it. So it might take probably at least a year to get this approved.
KAGAN: Also when we hear jobs -- when we hear merger, we also think a loss of jobs. This can't be great news for the Atlanta economy that is seeing Delta Airlines declare bankruptcy over the last year, also GM and Ford have closed plants in the area. It's not been the best economic time for this part of the country.
LA MONICA: Yes, and unfortunately, given the fact that the new AT&T is headquartered in San Antonio after the SBC, AT&T merger of last year was approved, it seems likely that there may be some positions that would be cut in the Southeast, where BellSouth obviously has its biggest presence.
KAGAN: Well, somebody with a really tall ladder is going to have a job, because they're going to have to climb to tall BellSouth building and change the name here in midtown Atlanta.
Paul La Monica from cnnmoney.com. Thank you, Paul.
LA MONICA: Thank you. KAGAN: In other news today, the Bush administration reportedly stepping up efforts to stop the leaks of classified information. "The Washington Post" broke this story. The FBI has investigated dozens of intelligence agency workers in recent weeks. Investigators are searching for the source of possible leaks about the domestic spying program. "The Post" reports that the Justice Department has sent letters to federal agency workers. The letters ban the workers from discussing the NSA program.
Check of other business news is up after the break. Also, another bump in the road for an American car company. Ford's newest ride gets a s failing grade in one safety test. How that and other mid-size sedans scored, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We're just getting these pictures into us at CNN out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the suspect in a situation from over the weekend. The man, Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, being charged with nine counts of attempted first-degree murder, also charged with nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury with intent to kill. He allegedly drove his SUV through a popular gathering spot on the UNC Chapel Hill campus. This apparently after an inflammatory cartoon ran in the local -- in the campus newspaper.
Coming up, we expect there to be a protest by some people upset that this man has not been charged with enough. Also we will be able to talk with the editor of the campus paper. That's all coming up in a few minutes.
(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: The latest crash safety ratings are in from the Insurance Industry for Highway Safety, and the results not good for the 2006 Ford Fusion. The midsized sedan earned the lowest overall grade among eight new or redesigned vehicles that were tested, scoring a poor rating in side-impact tests. The fusion did fare better in front and rear crash-test results. The 2006 BMW three series took top safety pick honors for its front and side crash test results, as did the Lexus IS, also considered a top performance in crash safety tests.
Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," Jean Jennings from "Automobile" magazine explains the differences between government vehicle tests and those of the Insurance Institute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN JENNINGS, "AUTOMOBILE" MAGAZINE: The government requires a full-frontal crash worthiness at 35 miles an hour, and it's across the entire front, so it's a flat frontal test.
The insurance industry test are an offset tests, meaning more of the force, -- it's on an angle -- attacks the structure more. The government tests really do the seatbelts; they really are judging how good the seat belts are. When you do an offset test, it's more of a test of the structure. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: A Ford spokesman says he expects the Fusion safety ratings will improve with side airbags becoming standard equipment on the 2007 model.
(NEWSBREAK)
KAGAN: Well, there's a lot of cheering in Hollywood this morning for the Oscar winners. You might think you know the deal on what happened last night, but you really don't, because you haven't heard from Tom O'Neill, from theenvelope.com. He's going to really explain to you what you saw and what that means as Hollywood moves over. We are back in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR: And the Oscar goes to -- "Crash."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: That woman in the orange dress almost lost her dress, if you were watching the Oscars last night; she was so excited.
It is the morning after Hollywood's big night. There were some Oscar surprises, and A few working actors even had their careers launched into the bigtime.
Tom O'Neill joining us from Los Angeles this morning. He is the author of the book, the movie awards, also running theenvelope.com on latimes.com.
Tom...
TOM O'NEILL, THEENVELOPE.COM: Hey, Daryn.
KAGAN: Good morning.
You're looking entirely too chipper for someone who was probably up all night.
O'NEILL: Actually I got a little bit of rest, even though it was pretty dramatic at the end last night, wasn't it?
KAGAN: It was. And I have to say, as I step back, I have to bow to you because you made the call. You predicted. You were one of the few who said "Crash" might come through.
O'NEILL: Yes, that it might come through. And I was saying it months ago and took a lot of abuse. But I have to beat myself up here. I actually stuck with "Brokeback Mountain" near the end, because it just didn't seem like it really could. My God, we've never seen an ensemble movie like this win best picture before. But let me tell you what happened. KAGAN: What happened, Tom?
O'NEILL: This is the movie by the guy who gave us "Million Dollar Baby" last year, Paul Haggis. Everybody won an Oscar except him for his baby. He finally got a chance to direct his first feature. He recruited all these A-list stars, who worked for scale. He had a heart attack in the middle of filming it. He kept on going. Everybody paid for their own airline tickets to the set. He shot it in his own house. It went on to become one of the highest-grossing dramas of the year. A wonderful cinema Cinderella story. And that's why Hollywood got behind it last year.
KAGAN: Right, and the Academy loves to play catch-up and give you an award a year or two after when you really deserved it, as well.
O'NEILL: Right, but this movie really does deserve it, too. It's an outstanding film, and if any movie could beat "Brokeback," this is the worthy one.
KAGAN: OK, I want to look ahead, because people by now have seen the results and know who won what. Reese Witherspoon for best actress and Philip Seymour Hoffman. You say he's one of the breakout stars, that is really going to make a difference in his career?
O'NEILL: Right. Don't you think we kind of need our new Olivier on the cultural scene? And this is the guy that now he has gone from these little movies like "Happiness" and "Boogie Nights," he's become a superstar as a high-brow actor. So he's the kind of guy who could be the next Anthony Hopkins in a big movie like "Silence of the Lambs."
KAGAN: And I'll you this, on a personal note. I was out in L.A. on Saturday night with some girlfriends, and we saw him. And we stopped and said hello and wished him well, and he stopped and talked to us. So we knew him when. That was my brush with fame!
O'NEILL: Still a regular guy.
KAGAN: For Saturday night. Who else is going to the breakout here? You're picking a category that I think usually is the kiss of death for a woman's career. Best supporting actress, Rachel Weisz.
O'NEILL: Yes, it really can be the kiss of death. You know, where is Brenda Fricker, who won this award in the past, right? But Rachel Weisz has that sexiness, that British accent. And if she plays her cards right now, she could not be one of the forgotten stars, but you know, one of the headliners.
KAGAN: And what else are you taking away from Oscars '06?
O'NEILL: Excuse me?
KAGAN: What else are you taking away from Oscars '06?
O'NEILL: Well, let's talk about Jon Stewart for a minute here.
KAGAN: Yes. Now what did you think?
O'NEILL: I was the biggest naysayer, saying he was so inappropriate for this. And he sure looked awkward up there. They weren't laughing at his jokes and the jokes weren't that great. He had some nice moments. But in general, it was looking like that he would be -- if you're a host of a very dull show, you kind of get blamed for it. The "Crash" upset in the end may have helped him long- term.
This time last year, everybody said, oh, Chris Rock was pretty good, and now would he remember him as a bomb. It will be interesting to think how we regard Stewart in a few months. He did he OK, but he didn't have any great moments.
KAGAN: Do think he'll be asked back?
O'NEILL: No.
KAGAN: You know, the beginning of that show kind of said, oh, pretty much, if you're not Billy Crystal, there's just no way you can do that show.
O'NEILL: Really, and Billy Crystal is the best example, Daryn, because he has heart, and these are his people. And he makes you feel as if you're at something wonderful.
KAGAN: And that's Oscar's big night. That's what they want to feel. Tom, thank you. Is this going be a big rest for you, finally? All these award shows?
O'NEILL: No, we have daytime Emmys coming up, Tonies, primetime Emmys.
KAGAN: Well, we hope you stop by and talk about those, as they do.
O'NEILL: Thanks.
KAGAN: Tom O'Neill, thank you. Always great to have you before and after the show.
Well, let's check the time. It is 7:53 in Los Angeles. That's where plenty of celebs are probably still in bed, or maybe just getting to bed after their late night.
Don't go away. Jacqui Jeras lets us in on where the rain and snow is falling today. And there might even be a threat of flooding. I'm back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Plenty of sand bags around the greater San Francisco Bay area today. Residents in Napa continue to watch the Napa and Russian rivers today. The National Weather Service canceled flood warnings along those rivers, but some minor flood something reported on a few Sonoma County roads. (WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: A son is waiting for his father's kidney and the father is nowhere to be found. Ahead a live report on the search for this fugitive dad.
And on a lighter note, we have more to talk about on this day after the Oscars, including the fashion. Who was shining the brightest on the red carpet? The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.
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