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American Morning

Nepal In Crisis; The Defense Rests; The Mayoral Race; Severe Weather; Distracted Drivers; Minding Your Business; Heckling's Greatest Hits

Aired April 21, 2006 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-two minute after the hour. Checking our top stories.
Five Riverton, Kansas, teens could be in court as early as today. They were accused of plotting a Columbine-like shooting spree at their high school.

Gasoline supply problems reported from Massachusetts to Virginia. Refineries have been switching to a new formulation of gasoline and that switch is taking time.

Chinese President Hu Jintao goes ivy league this morning. He's giving a speech at Yale University before ending his four-day trip to the United States.

And good morning. I'm John Roberts in Washington, in for Miles O'Brien who's a little under the weather today. Good morning.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, not feeling so good. Good morning there. I'll Betty Nguyen in for Soledad this week from New York.

Got a lot to tell you about this morning. The king of Nepal just announced he will address the nation in less than two hours from now. As many as 70,000 protesters are on the streets of Nepal's capital right now. Pro-democracy demonstrators wanted an end to the monarchy of the small mountain kingdom and they are defying a curfew to make their point.

Here's some new video coming in to CNN. You can see there are thousands on the streets. Satinder Bindra joins us via videophone from Kathmandu.

Satinder, what is the king expected to say?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, the king has two options. Either he may reconvene parliament he dissolved some time ago or he may try to establish a government of national unity. In either case, he will be making major concessions and that is the expectation here.

Just a short while ago, their king met with the Indian ambassador to Nepal. The king has been under a lot of international pressure to make concessions. The king also facing growing demonstrations here in Nepal. Right as we speak, some 70,000 people are on the streets. They're defying a curfew which is now in its second day.

Yesterday, by official count, some 115,000 people poured on to the streets. Police fired at them. Four people were killed. And this brings to 14 the total number of pro-democracy supporters who have been killed here. This pro-democracy movement is now in its second week, but people here are now sensing they may be very close to getting what they really want.

Betty.

NGUYEN: Satinder, you say the king is going to be making some major concessions. But will those actions be enough?

BINDRA: Well, for some, the actions may satisfy them, but there is a fringe, hard line group -- many of these people say the king must leave. They want an end to the monarchy. The want the king to go away from Nepal. Until that happens, they perhaps won't be happy. But some of these protesters will perhaps consider the king's concessions to be enough. And if that does happen, then these protesters will leave the streets.

But the operative word here has been defiance. There's been a lot of police around. There's been a lot of army around. But these protesters, once again, continuing to come out. And they say they'll continue to take to the streets till the king makes a big announcement.

NGUYEN: Yes, that defiance is evident as we see thousands on the street this morning. Satinder Bindra joining us from Kathmandu. Thank you, Satinder.

John.

ROBERTS: In our CNN "Security Watch" today, jurors in the penalty trial of the Zacarias Moussaoui trial are expected to get the case on Monday. The defense rested on Thursday, but not before trying to distance Moussaoui from shoe bomber Richard Reid. We have more on that now from CNN's Kelli Arena.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Before resting their case, defense lawyers told jurors there's no evidence Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a plane together on September 11th and the government agreed. That directly contradicts what Moussaoui said on the stand. His lawyers hope that convinces jurors Moussaoui lied about his role in the attacks.

STEPHEN SALTZBURG, GWU LAW SCHOOL: I mean it's very rare for a defense lawyer to argue to a jury, don't believe the defendant. I mean, that's something you just don't do. But in this case, they're trying to save his life.

ARENA: In a case where role reversals are common, jurors heard from relatives of 9/11 victims testifying on Moussaoui's behalf. Alice Hoagland lost her son, Mark Bingham, on Flight 93 which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

ALICE HOAGLAND, 911 FAMILY MEMBER: I believe that Zacarias Moussaoui should live for two reasons. Firstly, I do not want to see him achieve martyrdom, which he seems to want. Secondly, I think that we, as a compassionate people, have a responsibility, a duty, an opportunity now to demonstrate that we have more reverence for life than this man has for life.

ARENA: The judges' rules kept Hoagland from saying that in court. Instead, she talked about her son and how she's honoring his memory. Hoagland's testimony and that of a dozen other relatives was meant to counteract the heart-wrenching testimony from other family members called by the prosecutors.

In one of its final moves, the government presented its rebuttal witness, Doctor Raymond Patterson, one of only psychiatrists Moussaoui has cooperated with. Patterson disputed days of testimony contending Moussaoui is a schizophrenic, instead insisting he's mentally competent.

The jury will have to sort it all out when it decides whether to sentence Moussaoui to death or life in prison. It will start deliberating on Monday.

Kelli Arena, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And, of course, we'll have full coverage of those deliberations and the rest of the trial.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, voting is already underway in the hotly contested New Orleans mayor's race. Absentee ballots are flowing in. Some people even busing in from other cities to make their choice. CNN's Sean Callebs is live in New Orleans this morning with the latest on all of this.

Good morning to you, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty.

You're exactly right, about 20,000 people have so far cast their ballots. And I talked to one political strategist and I thought he put this election in good perspective. He said the federal government is controlling how much money comes into this area and, of course, that will have a big say in how this city is rebuilt. And the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of taking care of the levees to keep water from pouring back into this area. But one thing the voters, the citizens here do control, who becomes the next mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CALLEBS, (voice over): Rebuilding from one of the worst natural disasters in American history. A colossal job that will dominate the mayor's life every day for the next four years.

CLANCY DUBOS, EDITOR, "GAMBIT WEEKLY": The person who wins, I think, is going to be the candidate who really offers us hope.

CALLEBS: Clancy Dubos is closely following the election as editor of the weekly New Orleans newspaper. Despite the scope of the task awaiting the next mayor, there is no shortage of candidates willing to take it on, twenty three in all, enough to field more than two football teams. Three seem to be leading the pack. Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, businessman Ron Forman and the city's current mayor, Ray Nagin.

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I'm expecting a high voter turnout and people will make good decisions.

CALLEBS: Pollster Silas Lee says expect voters to send a message.

SILAS LEE, POLLSTER: There's a strong sense of immediacy. A strong urgency to get things done as quickly as possible. And the next mayor must articulate a vision for recovery.

CALLEBS: Before the storm, the city was about 67 percent black, 33 percent white. Now estimates are the population is more evenly split.

MITCH LANDRIEU, MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Race is always a difficult issue.

CALLEBS: Pollster's say Landrieu's support is divided equally between white and black. His father was the city's last white mayor in the late '70s. Forman and Landrieu are expected to split the vote in the business community.

RON FORMAN, MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Government needs to provide our citizens with the answer.

CALLEBS: This, pollsters say, marks a big change from the last election. Last time around, Mayor Ray Nagin got about 85 percent of the white vote and about 40 percent of the black vote. But that was before Katrina. As Dubos points out, the landscape is different now.

DUBOS: Four years ago he ran as Clarence Thomas. Now he's running as Al Sharpton. That's quite a change. And it's not as if he's fooling anybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLEBS: Let's talk about the 20,000 votes that have been cast. We don't know who they voted for, but we know who did vote. So fart the ballots cast, about 65 percent of those who voted are African- American and that's significant because it pretty much backs up the racial makeup of this city before the hurricane. And the reason that is important, Jesse Jackson and others have challenged the legality of this election, saying they believe the poor, African-Americans will be disenfranchised from this election.

Betty.

NGUYEN: Sean Callebs joining us this morning from New Orleans. Thank you, Sean.

Well, storms tearing through parts of Texas created big problems for some people. Take a look at the size of this hail. Look at that. Now you see it in perspective. And take a look at what hail can do. CNN Server Weather Expert Chad Myers says some of that hail was the size of grapefruit. In addition to the hail, high winds, some gusting at 77 miles an hour knocked down trees and power lines. Chad's been saying this morning that this bad weather in Texas, well it's not over yet. And he is our severe weather expert. So we're going to join him right now with the latest on this.

Grapefruit sized hail. That can be deadly.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. And it can actually go right through some poorer structure roofs. I've seen it actually go through if you don't have good -- or a very thin MDF roof or something like that. I've actually seen grapefruit size hail go through and into the attics. So that was amazing.

But a big severe weather event going on right now in Houston. A long line of severe weather. A little bit of a curve right here. That's where the tornado warning was for a while in Fort Bend County. It's no longer a tornado warning but a severe thunderstorm warning for Houston.

Seven thousand lightning strikes in the Houston area and westward as the storms move in, in the last pour. Here's where that kink was near Alvin and that's where the area here -- even toward League City, you really need to be careful with this. There isn't a tornado warning on it, but there sure could be sometime later on.

Look at all of the lightning strikes. Every one of those white dots, that's a lightening strike. There's some off and on. And, Houston, you're really getting it now. The eastside about to get it as well.

Back to you guys.

NGUYEN: All right. Stay on top of it, Chad. Folks need to know. Thank you.

NGUYEN: Well, Andy is "Minding Your Business" this morning. He's coming up.

You got a preview for us?

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do, Betty. Apple Computer trying to get a hold of journalists' e-mails, acting like a special prosecutors it sounds like. We'll tell you about that coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Risky behavior behind the wheel may be more dangerous than previously thought. We're not talking about road rage here or even aggressive driving. It's something much more common. CNN's Kathleen Koch has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's become such a part of daily driving and Americans don't even try to hide their bad habits behind the wheel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I use my cell phone, I'll read, I'll do crossword puzzles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hand on the wheel, one hand looking down, dialing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they start screaming, you know, if you're driving down the highway, you've got to do something for them.

KOCH: But new research has found nearly 80 percent of crashes involve just such types of distracted driving within three second before the incident.

: Most of the studies that have been done in the past, nearly all of them, deal with just looking at how driving behavior or how different types of distractions actually degrade driving performance. This is the first study that actually links those types of behaviors to crashes and near crashes.

KOCH: It was a mammoth study, 100 cars packed with cameras and sensors, were driven by 241 people in the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. area for more than a year. Researchers caught one driver on a cell phone nearly striking a child on a tricycle. Another driver putting in a CD almost loses control of his car. Later, this same man very drowsy runs off the road.

In another case, the driver looks down at something in the car, swerves to miss the vehicle in front of her that stops and then hits a telephone pole. All together, the cameras captured 82 crashes, 761 near crashes and more than 8,000 close calls.

Researchers for the first time were able to quantify which bad habits were the riskiest. They found reaching for a moving object increases the risk of a crash by a factor of nine, drowsiness by four, reading or applying makeup by three times and dialing a hand-held device, like a cell phone, by nearly three times.

The most common distraction, not surprisingly, was the cell phone. Researchers found the identical number of crashes were caused whether dialing, talking or listening.

Most easily distracted, younger drivers. The study found those age 18 to 20 were four times more likely to have an inattention related crash than those over 35. Researchers hope proving a direct link between bad behavior behind the wheel and crashes might persuade drivers to change their ways. Others believe only laws can force drivers to behave like those in three states and being considered by five that ban driving with a handheld cell phone.

Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Another reminder it can be dangerous, so put down that phone.

All right, moving on. Apple in a hunt for a snitch.

What's this all about, Andy Serwer?

SERWER: Well you may remember, Betty, a couple of years ago there were some blogs of websites that were reviewing and releasing confidential products that Apple was set to release. Apple got mad, sued these blogs, sued these journalists and tried to get access to their e-mails to find out who inside the company was providing these journos (ph) with information. And the company faced some pretty tough questions from an appeals court. One judge saying, all you want is the name of a snitch so you have the right to invade the privacy of an e-mail and trump the first amendment? Apple attorney came back and said, the first amendment's not supposed to be a shield for journalists doing criminal activity. So a whole lot of back and forth going on there.

NGUYEN: Yes. Well, let's talk about Duke for a little bit, because you knew this was going to happen. These shirts, jerseys, whatnot, is going to find a way to eBay.

SERWER: Duke lacrosse shirts selling like crazy at the Duke store. Three or four times normal levels. Some students probably supporting the players. Some maybe being sarcastic in defacing said shirts. On eBay, Duke lacrosse shirts selling for $58. Then there's one about Mike Nifong, the district attorney . . .

NGUYEN: The district attorney.

SERWER: In Durham that says some kind of unsavory things about him.

NGUYEN: Yes, can you put that on TV?

SERWER: Well, I think we could. We've got it up there. But, you know, it's a whole sort of . . .

NGUYEN: There it is.

SERWER: There it is -- Cartman (ph) from "South Park." And you can fill in the blank there, Betty, if you wanted to.

NGUYEN: Uh-huh, bleep. SERWER: Yes, bleep. But, you know, a whole lot of stuff going on. Takes on a whole national character there a little bit.

NGUYEN: Yes, as expected.

SERWER: Yes.

NGUYEN: OK. Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: Got much more to come right here on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: The picture perfect welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House was interrupted by a single heckler. It's something that China's President Hu Jintao is certainly not accustomed to. And that has given our Jeanne Moos some ideas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It was all pomp until circumstance intervened. China's President had just launched into his speech.

HU JINTAO, CHINA'S PRESIDENT, (through translator): I have come to enhance dialogues.

MOOS: When the dialogue got really enhanced by a heckler upset about what she calls the persecution of a Chinese religious sect. Chinese presidents aren't used to being interrupted, so President Bush offered an encouraging, you're OK.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're OK.

MOOS: After all, W is used to being heckled. Is nothing sacred? Even the pope gets heckled. So we thought maybe China's president could use some tips on how to handle heckles. The first thing you do is smile. But beware of hecklers who sneak up behind you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we could ask the staff to see to it that our guests are escorted.

MOOS: And even if hecklers are stripped of their banners, they might opt to just strip. Al Gore's technique was to roll his eyes and say, later.

AL GORE: I'll be glad to talk with you afterwards if you like.

MOOS: Or you can hope one of your supporter puts the heckler in a headlock. Or you can do as Hillary did and appeal to the majority.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: And I do not believe that they want to hear from you at this moment. MOOS: The master at handling hecklers was Bill Clinton, confronted by AIDS protesters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do about AIDS.

MOOS: First he accommodated.

BILL CLINTON: I don't mind listening. You can talk.

MOOS: Then he cajoled.

CLINTON: Now would you just calm down?

MOOS: Then he got annoyed.

CLINTON: If I were dying of ambition, I wouldn't have stood up here and put up with all this crap I've put up with in the last six months.

MOOS: Then he got really mad.

CLINTON: Make snotty nose remarks about how I haven't done anything in my life and it's all driven by ambition. That's bull.

MOOS: Maybe China's president should consider Bob Kerry's technique.

BOB KERRY: Well, I'm a member of the public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So am I [bleep].

MOOS: Wonder how you say that in Chinese.

Another master of the heckler putdown was Ronald Reagan.

RONALD REAGAN: Oh, shut up.

The young man stands back there with a sign, hail Hitler, hail Reagan. If it wasn't for my generation, you'd probably be saying hail to someone for sure.

MOOS: There is one good, all purpose line.

CLINTON: I feel your pain!

MOOS: And if all else fails . . .

CLINTON: Good-bye.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Oh, that was terrific.

Our top stories ahead. A search warrant reveals what police found in the dorm room of one of the Duke rape suspects.

Kansas authorities say they stop a plot by five teenagers to shoot up their high school. More on that coming up.

Nepal's king is set to speak to his country this morning amid massive protests calling for him to step down.

And New Orleans prepares for tomorrow's mayoral election. It's the first since Katrina.

And Britain helps Queen Elizabeth celebrate her 80th birthday with a lot of pomp and pageantry. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Meteorologist Chad Myers.

Severe weather now moving through Houston. Significant wind and hail around the area. Now really the worst of it moving into League City. We'll have details on the rest of the country coming up.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alina Cho in Durham, North Carolina, where we have new information in the Duke rape investigation. We now know what police were looking for and what they found in the dorm room of one of the suspects.

TARA BROWN (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Tara Brown in Riverton, Kansas, where students were caught planning a Columbine-style attack. Details coming up.

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