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American Morning

Crisis in Gaza; Iraq's Most Wanted; Identity Theft Protection; Tree Technology

Aired July 03, 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 to you, July 3. That's a Monday. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

Here's a look at what's happening this morning.

O'BRIEN: Mexico's presidential election is too close to call. The two leading candidates both claiming victory. Outgoing President Vincente Fox appealing for calm until the votes are counted and that begins on Wednesday.

COSTELLO: Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier hostage issued an ultimatum to Israel, release Palestinian prisoners by tomorrow morning or pay the consequences. Now the statement did not specify what would happen to the Israeli soldier if demands were not met.

New directions for al Qaeda. The latest audio message from Osama bin Laden calls for Sunnis to fight Shiites in Iraq. It also aims at the struggle in Somalia, threatening U.S. intervention and encouraging an Islamic movement.

O'BRIEN: A shutdown and a showdown in New Jersey. Most state offices will be closed there today. The legislature and the governor still miles apart on a budget. The governor shutting down all but essential services. Forty-five thousand state employees facing furloughs.

Today is independence day for rapper Lil' Kim. She's set to be released from a federal prison in Philadelphia right about now. Fans there are waiting for her. She's been there since September for lying under oath about a shooting she witnessed. She now faces house arrest for 30 days.

Let's get a check of the weather now. Chad Myers not taking the day off.

Chad, good to see you.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: My next day off is November 30.

O'BRIEN: That's right, hurricane man.

MYERS: Yes. I take them all at the beginning and I take a couple around Christmas. And the rest, no, you've got to be here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Good advice, thank you, Chad.

Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier have now set a deadline for Israel. That deadline comes just as Israel keeps pounding away in Gaza with more rocket attacks launched this morning.

CNN's Paula Hancocks watching things for us in Gaza City, -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well it's a fact sent by those three militant groups, which are holding the kidnapped Israeli soldier, saying if their demands are not met by Israel by 6:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning, that's 3:00 a.m. GMT, then they would consider the case closed.

They also said that that would mean that Israel is to blame for future consequences. Now they have not specified what those future consequences would be.

Now the Israeli reaction has been as it has been in the last seven days, saying they would not negotiate with terrorists, there would be no prisoner swap and they want the unconditional release of Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped a week ago yesterday.

Now also the airstrikes have been continuing on Gaza. Early Monday morning an Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigade office was hit, just a couple of doors away here in Gaza City. And also there have been further clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. Two have been killed in northern Gaza and three militants killed in southern Gaza. Two of those were found to be wearing suicide belts.

Now also on the humanitarian front, for six hours on Sunday, a crossing, a main crossing from Gaza into Israel was opened to allow emergency food in. Now the U.N., the Red Cross have been calling on Israel to let emergency supplies in. And also fuel was allowed in so that generators that are helping hospitals would not cut off as there is not an awful lot of electricity here since that power plant was hit by Israeli airstrikes early Wednesday morning -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Paula, can the Israelis be certain that that soldier who was kidnapped is alive?

HANCOCKS: Nobody can be certain of that except the militants who are holding him. We have heard from one Pan-Arab newspaper, Al-Hyack (ph), that there is a reporting Egyptian negotiation team had actually visited Shalit. Now there's no way of independently confirming this.

And we'd also had a deputy minister of Hamas military ring who had said that he thought he was alive. But there is no way of independently confirming it. They haven't given an official proof of life. But I think the Israeli military operation at the moment is based on the assumption that he is still alive --Miles. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks, Gaza City, thank you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Saddam Hussein's wife and eldest daughter are now among the most wanted people in Iraq. They were added to the list of 41 this weekend.

CNN's Arwa Damon is in Baghdad. She joins us live to explain.

Arwa, we suspect we know the answer, but who's the number one guy on the list?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well that would be Izzat Ibrahim Al-Duri. Now he is the former deputy commander of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council which essentially ran the government. And he is the senior most former Baath Party member who is still at large. He is, in fact, number 6 on America's list of 55 most wanted.

But as you just mentioned, two very interesting names on that list at 16 and 17, Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter and his wife. Now his eldest daughter, Raghad, resides in Jordan where she is under the control of the Jordanian government who have provided her with asylum there. Now she has been nicknamed by the Amman community "Little Saddam," because apparently her personality resembles that of her father's.

Now the mother is believed to be in Qatar. We don't have confirmation of her whereabouts just yet. But the two are accused by Iraq's government of providing finances and logistics to the insurgency here in Iraq.

Now Iraq's national security adviser said that capturing these individuals on the list of 41 would ultimately provide security in the country, calling them the murderers of Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This list shows those who are trying to destroy our country and to create and trigger a sectarian violence. We are not going to rest until we capture them. So I'm asking all Iraqis, all my fellow countries, to look at this list closely. You may know where some of these people are. Let us know their whereabouts so we can capture them and increase the stability and safety in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Now CNN went out this morning and spoke to some Iraqis in the streets of Baghdad where the violence does continue and their response to this list was positive. They said that the Iraqi people needed to know who was committing these crimes against them.

Also saying that the government offering up rewards for their capture for information leading to their whereabouts might provide help to some Iraqis who are keeping that information might further inspire and allow the Iraqi people to come forward with what they know -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's safe to assume that Jordan and Qatar aren't going to turn over Saddam Hussein's wife and daughter anytime soon?

DAMON: Well we spoke with the national security adviser this morning, Dr.Mowaffak al-Rubaie whom we just heard from right there. And he said that the Iraqi government had notified the Jordanian government of their request to hand over Raghad into custody. He says that they want to try her and the others that are located outside of Iraq in an Iraqi court.

However, what we have heard so far from news agency reports coming out of Jordan is that the Jordanian authorities are claiming that they have not heard of this request just yet. And they are also saying that they kept a close eye on both of Saddam Hussein's daughters, Raghad and Rana who are residing in Jordan.

However, the Iraqi government is claiming that Raghad in interviews to the Arabic media has supported the what she is calling the resistence in Iraq. We're still looking into this matter right now, Carol. We're waiting for a statement from the Jordanian government.

COSTELLO: All right. And I'm sure when you get it you'll pass it along.

Arwa Damon live in Baghdad this morning.

The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has put out another audio message. The CIA now saying that the voice on this latest message is really his. The al Qaeda leader talks about two key Muslim battlegrounds, Iraq and Somalia. And for the first time, he warns Shiites in Iraq against collaborating with the United States against Sunni insurgents. Bin Laden also mentions the new successor of al Qaeda in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): Our brothers, the Mujahedeen and al Qaeda organization have chose the dear brother of Abu Hamza al-Muhajer as their leader to succeed the emir of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. I advise him to focus his fighting on the Americans and everyone who supports them and allies himself with them in their war on the people of Islam and Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The message was bin Laden's fifth this year and his second in just two days.

O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.

Movie critic Roger Ebert in serious but stable condition this morning after emergency surgery to repair a ruptured blood vessel, a complication following early cancer surgery. Doctors giving Ebert a thumbs-up for a full recovery. In Madison, Indiana, four people in the hospital this morning after a car careens through a crowd at a hydroplane race. Police say the 18-year-old driver of the car also seriously hurt. Appeared to be unconscious when his car plowed through those spectators. The race stopped after the crash. Charges could be filed, however. We're expecting to hear from the police there this morning.

Fast-moving storms in southeastern Pennsylvania. Strong winds being blamed for knocking over more than a hundred trees throughout the area. One man seriously injured when lightning hit an oil refinery in southwest Philadelphia.

Fireworks the cause of a fast-moving wildfire southeast of Portland, Oregon. Luckily, no homes near this particular fire 60 acres in size. Firefighters found a stash of fireworks near where it started.

And wildfires also a threat near Idaho. Most of them sparked by Mother Nature's fireworks, lightning. Firefighters are trying to keep about a half dozen wildfires there from getting any closer to homes. So far the largest of those wildfires has destroyed about 50 acres.

And an alien invasion.

COSTELLO: No.

O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. Where else but Roswell, New Mexico. It's the UFO Festival annual event. The highlight of the parade called the Lights in the Nights Parade. Just remember all in good fun here, although some people do take this a little more seriously than others. There's also live music and a simulated UFO landing.

COSTELLO: I know.

O'BRIEN: Yes, act like myself.

COSTELLO: That looks like a great time, doesn't it?

O'BRIEN: Yes. I missed it.

COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, Republicans have been targeting "The New York Times" for the past week, but now "The Times" is firing back. We'll tell you what the paper's editor is saying.

O'BRIEN: Also that stolen laptop with the private data of millions of veterans is recovered. That's the good news. But Congress is not satisfied. We'll tell you about some big security changes that are on the way.

COSTELLO: Plus, spinach powered Popeye and pretty soon it could power your computer, too. Some surprising fuel alternatives.

That's just ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Happening this morning.

Palestinian militants holding an Israeli soldier give Israel until tomorrow to release prisoners or pay the consequences. Israel is keeping up its military pressure on Gaza today.

Mexico's presidential election too close to call. The two leading candidates are declaring victory. Official ballot counting begins on Wednesday.

And the state of New Jersey is not open for business today. Only essential services like police will be on the job. Governor Jon Corzine ordered the shutdown after lawmakers failed to agree on a state budget. Negotiations are expected to pick up again today.

O'BRIEN: The space shuttle Discovery still on the ground right now. The crew of seven have a little bit of rest and relaxation today. The launch now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Two launch attempts over the weekend led to naught as Mother Nature weighed in with a no go. This will be the second shuttle flight since the loss of Columbia three-and-a-half years ago.

There was a close call in space early this morning. As you look at animation of an asteroid passing nearby. Not the real thing. We don't have cameras out there to get this. This morning an asteroid passed by only 269,000 miles from Earth.

COSTELLO: Where is Bruce Willis?

O'BRIEN: He's available if we need him.

That's not much farther than the distance between us and the moon. The asteroid, of course you know this by now, is 2004 XB14 (ph). We might want to get him an agent and a name change. It's about a half-mile wide, moving at nearly 38,000 miles an hour. Astronomers say it will pass the Earth 10 more times in the next 100 years, but, and they can figure this out, no danger of a collision. We're glad to tell you that.

Let's get a check of the forecast -- Chad Myers.

MYERS: Looks good.

O'BRIEN: We've got enough to worry about.

MYERS: That would be a heck of a 4th of July, wouldn't it?

O'BRIEN: Let's not -- you know that would be. Yes, that would be a fireworks display.

MYERS: Good morning, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys in New York.

COSTELLO: Thank you, -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: A stolen laptop containing personal data on millions of veterans and military personnel has been found in Maryland, apparently untouched this time. But the theft is another wake-up call, causing some lawmakers to rethink the way the federal government protects private information.

Gary Nurenberg has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Veterans Affairs secretary walked into a congressional hearing about a missing laptop that contains the personal information of more than 26 million vets and active duty personnel, Jim Nicholson couldn't wait to give reporters some good news.

JIM NICHOLSON, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: The subject hard drive and laptop computer that were stolen from a V.A. employee's home has been recovered.

NURENBERG: Nicholson didn't get the reaction he wanted.

REP. BOB FILNER (D), CALIFORNIA: You start off with a little stunt. You never told us what -- that the data had been recovered. Typical for this last two months, you've been spinning, spinning, spinning.

NURENBERG (on camera): Veterans Affairs isn't the only federal agency with laptop security trouble. The Internal Revenue Service says it lost a laptop with confidential information when an employee gave it to an airline as checked luggage.

(voice-over): The Federal Trade Commission had two laptops with citizen information stolen from a vehicle. A hacker recently penetrated employee files at the Agricultural Department. Another hacker gained access to employee files at the Energy Department.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: What we ought to do is make sure that every one of these agencies has real rules.

NURENBERG: The Office of Management and Budget wants federal agencies to adopt by August new security provisions for laptop use, including requirements to encrypt all sensitive data, have a password and a lock, monitor all downloads. All designed to deal with this simple reality.

MARC ROTENBERG, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFO CENTER: Once you remove data from a site, your ability to secure it drops significantly.

WILLIAM CHASE, FBI: We have to really be cognizant all the time where laptops are and where hard drives are so that we don't have recurrence of this type of an event.

NURENBERG: But rules vary from agency to agency and there is no single standard that applies to all of government.

Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And add this to the list. The Department of Veterans Affairs is already scrambling to fix two other security breaches in Minnesota and Indiana. The documents contain data on more than 16,000 veterans in the midwest. And I say an investigation is under way.

O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, paycheck, I don't need no stinking paycheck, so says Steve Jobs to Disney. We'll tell you why.

And the alternative to high energy prices might be right there in your front yard. Just tap into your tree. We'll explain how that works ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: New picture alert. Yes, we just got these into CNN. Rapper Lil' Kim just got out of jail a few minutes ago. She's been in a federal prison in Philadelphia for nearly 10 months on a perjury conviction.

O'BRIEN: Do you see her?

COSTELLO: Not yet.

O'BRIEN: I have not seen -- there she is.

COSTELLO: Trust me.

O'BRIEN: That's Lil' Kim, because she's little.

COSTELLO: Trust me.

O'BRIEN: She's little.

COSTELLO: She's little.

O'BRIEN: Little.

COSTELLO: Exactly. And she's covered up, actually. Usually she is not. Of course for her court appearances she was covered up.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: But she looked very lady like now with the roses. Anyway, she's going to enjoy her independence a day early. She got out a day early. She was sprung. A big celebration planned in New Jersey in her big old mansion.

O'BRIEN: All right, wait a minute, let's see that shot one more time, get out of the way, there she is. There's Lil' Kim.

COSTELLO: And her reality TV show... O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... is on I think one of MTV or VH1, one of the two, and it details her time in prison.

O'BRIEN: I am sure that's delightful.

COSTELLO: Something to be proud of. Yes.

O'BRIEN: Delightful.

All right, Andy Serwer has the day off. Ellen McGirt is here. Ellen of "Fortune" magazine as well.

Ellen, let's talk about Steve Jobs.

ELLEN MCGIRT, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: He could get a $65,000 paycheck. He doesn't need it, right, doesn't want it?

MCGIRT: The opposite of CEO greed, isn't that nice?

O'BRIEN: Yes, it's nice to see that.

MCGIRT: Mitigating factor, though, he's got a lot of stock in Disney, so he's still getting paid. And of course it's -- but it's consistent with him, he only takes a dollar at Apple.

O'BRIEN: Right.

MCGIRT: I think it's a very nice thing.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MCGIRT: That's a nice message to send.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it's a good message, I think.

COSTELLO: Is he giving it to a needy employee the $65,000?

MCGIRT: Are there any needy employees at Apple? They're all doing so well these days. All those free iPods walking around. I don't know.

COSTELLO: OK, just...

O'BRIEN: He's not giving it to those Enron guys, you know that.

MCGIRT: No, for sure they're not giving it to them. We should probably talk. Want to talk about the markets a little bit.

O'BRIEN: Yes, let's do that first.

MCGIRT: We can do that.

O'BRIEN: I got ahead of things for you.

MCGIRT: That's OK.

It looks like stocks getting ready to rally. It was a crazy week last week in light of that Fed announcement. Looks like there may be some softening on inflation fears. Everyone went wild, wild, wild, which was really nice.

The Dow got a gain of 161 points, but of course it was a crazy second quarter, up and down. There was a big rally in May and then dropped by 1,000 points. So we're up by about 3.8 percent for the year, so we'll see how it goes. Nasdaq not doing quite so well this year, but we'll see.

We've got a couple of major reports coming out. Manufacturing coming out today. But Friday is the big employment report. And all the traders on Wall Street will be phoning in their orders from the beach, want to be sure, but we'll all be looking for the jobs numbers and see how we're going as opposed to the Steve Jobs' numbers which is $1 a year.

O'BRIEN: One dollar a year for him, no $65,000. And those Enron guys, they have to repay a bunch of money?

MCGIRT: They're in trouble again. And the hits just keep on coming. Prosecutors want them to pay back $139 million for Skilling and $43 million for Lay for things that you know all that money and loans and bonuses and stock manipulation that they shouldn't have...

O'BRIEN: Do they have it?

COSTELLO: I know poor Lay is broke, isn't he?

O'BRIEN: So he says.

MCGIRT: No, I think they have got some real estate and, I don't know, that's about it. But we'll see what they're going to do. We will find out in October.

O'BRIEN: Be interesting, that's some real money.

MCGIRT: Yes, it really is. It adds up.

O'BRIEN: All right, Ellen McGirt, we'll see you in just a little bit. Thanks for coming in on this holiday week.

MCGIRT: Happy to mind Andy's business.

O'BRIEN: All right.

With the rising price of oil, alternative energy sources becoming increasingly important. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there's a brand new energy research center that may be very cutting edge in the future.

AMERICAN MORNING's Dan Lothian explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sounds like a tall tale, tapping a tree, not for sap, but for power.

Chris Lagadinos had his doubts when an inventor first pitched the idea to his family-run engineering company.

CHRIS LAGADINOS, MAGCAP ENGINEERING: I didn't believe it. It took a lot of convincing to get me to finally sit down and listen.

LOTHIAN: But after Lagadinos hammered nails into several different trees, attached some wires, a battery and a bulb, he became a believer.

LAGADINOS: We have no doubt that it's there, it's just why is it there and how is it there at this point?

LOTHIAN: Now researchers at MIT are trying to answer the why and how.

ANDREAS MERSHIN, MIT CENTER FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING: We're not quite sure. We think it has to do with the fact that there is sap streaming up and down in the tree.

LOTHIAN: The idea is the flow creates electricity, not much, but enough to briefly charge this battery which then lights a low watt bulb.

CHRIS LOVE, GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCHER: After we determine why, then we can go on from there and figure out you know what applications can we use for this.

LOTHIAN (on camera): With a spike in oil and gas prices, more attention is being paid these days to alternative sources of energy. Some are futuristic and untested, but promising.

(voice-over): Spinach may have powered Popeye, but scientists say it may also one day run a laptop. The vegetable is the main ingredient in an experimental solar cell.

There is also an effort under way to find a simple, natural and less-conventional way to produce hydrogen, a gas alternative already being used in some cars. And viruses are being grown to build high- energy batteries. Experts say exploring all options is more critical now than ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people feel that a lot of the easily-reached, cheaper fossil fuels are beginning to run out. So that even if fossil fuels don't run out completely, they're going to get more and more expensive.

LOTHIAN: Back among the trees which mysteriously produce electricity, the future looks bright.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're optimistic that we're going to figure out where it's coming from and eventually try and get the maximum out of it.

LOTHIAN: A source of power rooted in a suburban backyard and confirmed by the glow of one small bulb.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Kenton, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Fascinating.

Morning's top stories straight ahead. Feeling the heat from the White House, "The New York Times" fires back. We'll tell you what the paper's editor has to say about the Bush administration.

And later, "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B." We will meet the real-life soldier who inspired a legendary song. That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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