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American Morning
Former Liberian Strongman Charles Taylor Back in Custody; Apple Versus Apple
Aired March 29, 2006 - 08:30 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I cannot wait to get outside today!
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It looks wonderful, doesn't it.
COSTELLO: Fifty-eight degrees for a high, baby.
O'BRIEN: Soledad has the day off. I hope she is enjoying it, wherever she is.
COSTELLO: I hope so, too.
O'BRIEN: Let's get on to some news. Former Liberian strongman and wanted warlord Charles Taylor back in custody. He was captured on the Nigerian/Cameroon border. An alert border guard got him after he had vanished into the night on Monday.
Our Africa correspondent, Jeff Koinange, has covered Taylor for years and covered that story. He joins us now from Johannesburg, South Africa.
Jeff, first of all, where is Taylor right now?
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: Very good question, Miles. And I can tell you the drama continues. We understand from wire reports out of Abuja, Nigeria that Mr. Taylor is airborne, in other words heading back to his country, Liberia.
I made a few phone calls to Monrovia. And my sources tell me United Nations troops already stationed in Monrovia heading in convoys towards the international airport there in anticipation of the arrival of the country's former president, now an accused war criminal. As you know, facing 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in neighboring Sierra Leone. So if he's his way to Liberia, he will be there maybe for a few short days while the leaders decide where indeed to take him. Will he end up in Freetown? We don't know yet. Right now, we know right now the Nigerians have washed their hands of Charles Taylor -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: OK. So if he goes to Liberia, boy, it sounds like you need to get on a plane, too, Jeff. But if he goes to Liberia, is it possible there will be a trial there?
KOINANGE: No. There can not be a trial there because the international criminal court -- this is part of the United Nations -- it's already set up in neighboring Freetown, Sierra Leone. That's why the Liberians have always said they don't want him in their country for obvious reasons. A, he's a destabilizing force. He still has support in Liberia. They would have to ship him to neighboring Freetown, Sierra Leone. But again, the Sierra Leonians are now saying, hey, this is too big for us. We don't want him in our country. Send him to the Hague. So a dilemma facing the leaders of the region there right now.
This comes at a time when President Olusegon Obasanjo of Nigeria is scheduled to meet U.S. president George W. Bush at the White House, a meeting, Miles, that would have been canceled had Taylor not been captured early Wednesday morning.
O'BRIEN: Wow. Interesting. Interesting. Jeff Koinange watching this as apparently now, Taylor headed back to Liberia. We'll see how that all unfolds.
Thank you very much.
(NEWSBREAK)
COSTELLO: Hang on to your iPods. Music fans are watching an important battle today. It's Apple versus Apple. On one side is the iPod, and Apple Computers billion-dollar foray into the music business. On the other side, Apple Records. You know, The Beatles, on a promise, you know.
Jim Boulden joins us live outside the London high court.
Jim, explain this to us.
JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we know what this is, don't we? This is Apple Records, owned by The Beatles. This is an iPod owned by apple computer. In 1991, the two made an agreement, an uneasy truth, they could both use the Apple name, but Apple Records would stick to music, Apple Computers would stick to hardware. Now we all know about iTunes. Apple Records says that iTunes a violation of that agreement. But of course when that agreement was reached, no one could have foreseen the huge success of iTunes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOULDEN (voice-over): Most people under 25 associate the word Apple with these tiny things, iPods. Everywhere you look, someone, somewhere is riding something or crossing the street wearing the telltale earbuds, but not on this road, at least not back when the Beatles were recording music on their Apple Record label in the late 1960s.
Enter Steve Jobs, Apple Computers, in 1976. And the battle of the Apples begins. After years of legal wrangling, the two Apples hashed out an agreement, limiting Apple Computers ventures into the music business. But times and technology's changed. The iPod was born. The little machine, which according to Apple, the music company, puts Apple, the computer company, in the music distribution business.
DAVID ROSE, S.J. BERWIN: What we now have, because of technological advance, is we have this clash that was not clearly contemplated in the early 1990s when the early settlement was done.
BOULDEN: iTunes has distributed a billion songs in the form of downloads, 75 percent of all legal downloads. Paul and Ringo and the estates of John and George still own Apple Core, and they aren't singing we can work it out. they want a judge to put a stop to it immediately.
ROSE: It is quite possible apple records could would be able to secure an injunction to stop them using the Apple name in relation to the music-related activities.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOULDEN: Now if The Beatles win this case, we could see apple computer forced to take the Apple and the Apple brand off of all the iTunes products that we see and off of the Web site, or they could actually be forced to spin iTunes off completely from Apple -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I'm just struggling to understand how it would really hurt Apple Records. Like where's the -- I mean, how would it hurt that company?
BOULDEN: The idea is that they came up with an agreement, an ironclad agreement they would stick to music and Apple Records, and that Apple Computer would not get into the music business. It's that Apple that's on there. It's the showing of the Apple. It's the word Apple. Because they were sued several times, Apple Computers, for using the term Apple. And each time they came up with an agreement, and they were fined the last time. They lost a fair amount of money. So the idea is they should be separate. And Apple Records says you're not allowed to go into the music business. It's that simple.
COSTELLO: All right. I'm sure you'll be following this for us. Thank you. Jim Boulden reporting live from London this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(MARKET REPORT)
COSTELLO: It is one of Britain's most anticipated coming-out parties, but this time the guest of honor wasn't exactly the life of the party.
CNN's Paula Newton has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who could resist the self-described party prince now immortalized at 21 in wax. Marat Tussauds has unveiled the latest royal to grace its museum after popular demand. Visitors, especially the ladies, couldn't stop asking for him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's very outgoing. He's very sociable. He's a real personality. And certainly the female guests that come here actually respond to that.
NEWTON: He joins his brother, William, who is looking much more serious than the laid-back, even cheeky, little brother. Prince William, after all, may make history, but it is Prince Harry that makes news. So much of his appeal as a wax figure is because he's really more of an action figure.
As he nears the end of his military training, the soldiering prince could soon be leaving for some of the most dangerous battlefields in the world. And he says, bring it on. Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, it's all on the table. He says he never would of trained as a fighter if he didn't expect to see some action.
Prince Harry has had his share of controversy -- the partying, the smoking, the drinking, even an unfortunate impersonation of a Nazi. But it seems to make him more endearing to some. He is a flesh and blood royal, and arguably, Prince Henry of Wales has more in common than your average joe than the rest of the family. A sure sign that the royal brand here in Britain will be branching out.
Paula Newton, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: President Bush's approval ratings are hovering at all- time lows, but maybe the first lady can help dig him out of this hole. We'll talk to one reporter who wrote an open letter to Mrs. Bush, see what kind of advice she offered.
Plus, some kids are applying to -- get this -- 15 to 20 colleges just to make sure they get in somewhere. It seems like a really crazy thing in my opinion, but we will check in and see why this is happening.
Stay with us.
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COSTELLO: Oh, this is a big week for college-bound high school seniors. Tomorrow -- tomorrow they can go online to see where they have been accepted. Some will have a lot of checking to do, as more and more seniors are applying to as many as 20 schools.
Joining us now, Peter Burkard, a high school guidance counselor, and high school senior Larry Crane Moscowitz.
You've applied, Larry, to 14 schools, 14. How did you even find 14 you wanted to go to?
LARRY CRANE MOSCOWITZ, H.S. SENIOR: I went online and did a lot of research, starting from about junior year. And I researched a lot of colleges and I talked to a lot of college admission representatives and I basically determined that there were 14 schools that met all of the criteria and that I wanted to...
COSTELLO: Yes, you're a smart kid. You're the top ten in your class.
MOSCOWITZ: Right.
COSTELLO: Very high SAT scores. Why did you think that you would need to apply to so many?
MOSCOWITZ: Well, I like the ability to have choices with, I guess, my college decision. It's a really -- it affects my entire future, so I wanted to make sure the school I was going to was the right one for me.
COSTELLO: So how stressful was that process for you?
MOSCOWITZ: You know, it was probably more stressful determining them all, determining where I wanted to go, than actually writing the essays and sitting down to do it. It was a lot of introspection and a lot of self-discovery and reflection on what I've done.
COSTELLO: And it was also a lot of money for your parents. And I want to talk to Peter about this. Because Larry is really bright kid. You would think he would have an easy time getting into a college of his choice. Is it really necessary for your kid to apply to 14 to 20 different universities?
PETER BURKARD, H.S. GUIDANCE COUNSELOR: I think you need to do your research. If you do your research and you visit the colleges and you can come up with a very workable list. We recommend our kids at Ridgewood High School apply to six to eight.
And I'm Larry's guidance counselor, obviously, at Ridgewood High School. And I think what happened was he got deferred initially to his first choice, and I think that set off a little bit of a panic within him and his family, and just saying, you know, maybe that top tier is not a given.
COSTELLO: Well, but is it a given? I mean, I know parents who are so stressed out about where their child will go to school that they can't sleep at night.
BURKARD: Right.
COSTELLO: And you apply to all of these universities and you spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars even to apply to six to eight universities.
BURKARD: Right.
COSTELLO: So is it really that difficult?
BURKARD: I think it's about the fit, Carol. You really have to find the fit for you. And I think what happens is parents are feeling the pressure that they need to get that first school, that top tier school. And I think you and I both know by the time you're 25 years old and you've had that first job, it's more about who you are as a person. And I think we've kind of started to lose a little bit of sight of that.
COSTELLO: Well, exactly. Because how much does it really matter, the university? I mean, does it really matter what college you go to for you to be a success later in life?
BURKARD: I think it helps in that initial job upon graduation from a top tier school. I think there's a difference there. I think after that, I agree wholeheartedly, that it really comes down to can you do the job or not.
COSTELLO: OK, so you gave Larry some great advice. He applied to 14 schools! But give parents out there some tips about how they can better go about the application process.
BURKARD: I think they have to really let their child be a part of the process. You know, many times, the parents are taking over the process. They're filling out applications, they're visiting the colleges as if they are the person that is going to be attending the college. It's the student who's attending the college, and they have to look for the things in that college that fit for them, from a lot of different areas, from an academic area, from an intramural club area. And just the kids on campus. You know, how do they fit and relate to those?
COSTELLO: I wish we had more time to talk, because it's such a fascinating topic. And I know tomorrow is big day. So have you heard?
MOSCOWITZ: I've heard from a couple, so, yes.
COSTELLO: No decision yet?
MOSCOWITZ: Not yet. Waiting to hear from all 14.
COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness! Thank you very much. Thank you to both of you. Peter Burkard and Larry Crane Moscowitz, thanks for coming in this morning.
Miles, back to you.
O'BRIEN: We wish you thick envelopes, Larry, thick envelopes. In a moment, top stories, including the Senate taking up immigration reform.
Closing arguments set to begin in the Zacarias Moussaoui penalty trial.
Duke University's men's lacrosse program suspended for a rape investigation.
A good Samaritan returns a purse with a million bucks worth of jewelry inside!
And amazing pictures of a boy and his dog, how they got out of this rather precarious situation, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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