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American Morning
U.S., Iran Trading Harsh Words; Stolen Baby Found; Shuttle Trouble?
Aired September 20, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Wednesday, September 20. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Here's a look at what is happening this morning.
More violence in Iraq today, at least 45 dead in a series of bombings and mortar attacks. Ten were killed when mortars slammed into a neighborhood in southern Baghdad.
Also in Iraq, more drama at the Saddam Hussein trial, the former Iraqi president tossed out of court after arguing with the judge. Defense lawyers had already walked out in protest after a judge accused of pro-Hussein bias was replaced.
S. O'BRIEN: In Missouri this morning, a suspect in the kidnapping of baby Abigale Lynn Woods is in custody. Police say Shannon Beck had recently miscarried, told relatives that Abigale was her own newborn. Doctors say the little baby is in good condition.
And that E. coli outbreak linked to bagged spinach, well it's growing bigger this morning. Health officials now say there is another confirmed case in Colorado. So far there have been more than 100 cases reported over 22 states.
M. O'BRIEN: Federal Reserve officials meet in Washington today. They're expected to leave interest rates right where they are. Analysts say a slowing economy and falling energy prices have kept inflation at bay.
Right now in space, the space shuttle Atlantis getting a thorough inspection. Astronauts want to see if the heat shield was damaged when a mystery object floated off the orbiter yesterday. The shuttle's landing has been postponed until at least tomorrow.
And back at the International Space Station, a historic arrival this morning, the first female space tourist floated across the threshold for a week-long stay. Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari was greeted -- grinning ear to ear, said the ride was smooth. She paid a cool $20 million for the trip.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm glad it's a smooth ride for that kind of cash.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you want a good ride, yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Chad Myers at the CNN Center. He's got the first look at the forecast for us.
Twenty million dollars, -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I can only imagine. I guess if you win the lottery and you have more money than you need, what's the point, why not?
Hey, the shuttle wouldn't have landed, wouldn't have come down this morning anyway. It would have been down here just a few minutes ago, but with all this rain across the cape, right on back to Tampa and Petersburg. They do not like to land the shuttle in the rain, because it is so hot as it comes out of space, they don't want it to start to crack up or do anything to those heat shields through a rain shower or through a storm. So, there you go, no problem anyway.
There is Bermuda. There is a really big storm, Helene. Boy, this thing has been around forever. I was out a couple of days working on the CNN hummer out in L.A. and these things are still around. These same hurricanes are still here.
Here comes Hurricane Gordon on up toward New York, back up into Paris and then almost into Portugal could see a few areas there of some wind moving through.
And then there goes Helene. No threat at all to land and going to miss Bermuda completely making a big right-hand turn.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Soledad, you're stringing some weekends in a row here.
S. O'BRIEN: I know. I know.
MYERS: So I need some credit here. I need some love.
S. O'BRIEN: OK, the weatherman does not make the weather, the weatherman reports the weather.
MYERS: There you go.
S. O'BRIEN: But, Chad, we do appreciate that.
MYERS: There you go, fine.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks.
MYERS: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right back to our top story this morning, a mother and her stolen newborn daughter back together again. Charges now are expected to be filed against Shannon Beck. She is the woman who is accused of kidnapping now 12-day-old Abigale Lynn Woods.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Union, Missouri for us this morning.
Hey, Ed, good morning. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well feelings of relief here in Union this morning as baby Abby will be waking up in the arms of her family this morning after being missing since last Friday. They got the word last night that she had been found, safe and sound here just a few miles away from where she lives with her mother. After family -- the family got the news, they rushed to the hospital to be reunited with her.
Authorities do have a suspect in this case, and that is the woman you have been talking about, Shannon Beck. She is here. We expect to hear at some point today what kind of charges would be expected to be filed against her.
But it's kind of interesting how this whole case developed in finding her. It was Beck's sister-in-law who had been contacted by the woman just on Sunday and told about this baby. When the sister- in-law visited Beck over the weekend, or yesterday, they had noticed that this birthmark on the baby's forehead that authorities had been talking about since last Friday, that apparently, according to authorities, Beck had covered up with makeup. The woman rubbed the makeup off and noticed the birthmark, and that's what got the whole ball rolling here. It was the sister-in-law that got in touch with the authorities and actually handed the baby over.
You might imagine the feelings of relief and joy that baby Abby's family is going through. And the great-grandmother expressing those feelings last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUTH BURLAGE, ABBY WOODS' GREAT-GRANDMOTHER: My heart just burst open. I'm just so happy and overwhelmed. It's fantastic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The sheriff here in Franklin County and Union says that he expects to talk about what kind of charges will be filed against Shannon Beck hopefully later today -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: So it was Shannon Beck's sister-in-law who eventually ratted her out to the police. What was the motive? I mean what do we know about Shannon Beck and why she, since it's still alleged that she was the kidnapper, why she would have done this?
LAVANDERA: Right, they're still looking into some of that, but the initial suspicion and perhaps what might have driven some of this is that authorities say they have reason to believe that this woman had been pregnant up until perhaps a week ago and had miscarried very late in her pregnancy. To what extent that had to do with this abduction is something authorities are still working to determine.
S. O'BRIEN: Well it's so great that there is a happy ending to this story.
Ed Lavandera for us this morning in Missouri. Thanks, Ed -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The pope is once again trying to make peace with Muslims infuriated by his remarks about Islam last week. Benedict says the quote he used in those remarks was misunderstood and did not reflect his personal convictions.
CNN's Alessio Vinci live from Rome with more, -- Alessio.
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Miles.
Well Pope Benedict this morning at the Vatican did not offer the clear apology that some Muslim leaders around the world have been waiting for. Again this morning, the pope repeated that his words were misunderstood and that what he said about Islam did not represent his conviction over that religion. If anything, the pope said that his message and his words should be used as an opportunity and encouragement to launch a dialog about the role of religion, any religion for that matter, in the modern world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE BENEDICT XVI, VATICAN CITY (through translator): This quote, unfortunately, was able to perhaps be misunderstood. For the attentive reader of my words, it would be clear that I did not in any way wish to make my own the negative words which were pronounced by the medieval emperor in this dialog and that his contained polemic did not express my personal convictions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VINCI: And, Miles, the Vatican has taken unusual steps in order to quell this controversy. This is the fourth time the Vatican has come back on this issue. Twice Vatican officials have commented on it last week. On Sunday, the pope came out with an apology and again this morning, during the general audience, the pope again saying that he was misunderstood.
Even his apology of Sunday was printed in Arabic in the front page of the Vatican official newspaper. And Vatican officials and instructed nusios (ph), or the ambassadors of the Vatican in Muslim countries, to explain the pope's words to both political and religious leaders. And that explanation has even been translated by the Vatican in Arabic and distributed to the press here, especially to the Arab or rather Arabic-speaking press.
The one question, however, that no Vatican official has yet answered is why if the pope did not believe what he said about Islam, why did he use that specific quote? I asked this specific question to the top Vatican official in charge of inter-religious dialog. He had no comment -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Alessio Vinci in Rome, thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning. Right now, Pittsburgh police are looking for a second suspect in the Duquesne University shootings. Eighteen-year-old William Holmes considered armed and dangerous. Brandon Baynes, also 18, was arraigned on five counts of attempted homicide yesterday. Two of the five wounded Duquesne basketball players are still hospitalized.
In Las Cruces in New Mexico, a $25,000 reward has been offered to anybody who can help police catch the person behind a sniper threat. Last week, the city received anonymous letters threatening random shootings if a ransom wasn't paid. Those letters were released to the public yesterday.
In South Carolina, another arrest in the case of that 14-year-old girl who text messaged her mother from her captor's cell phone after she spent days in an underground bunker. Vinson Filyaw's mother was arrested. Fifty-five-year-old Ginger Cobb (ph) is now accused of helping her son hide from police and providing him with supplies. He's charged with kidnap and rape.
In Colorado, police are trying to figure out the identity of a woman whose body was found outside of Denver. The woman was apparently tied to a vehicle and then dragged. Her face was unrecognizable. Police are hoping that fingerprints will lead to her identity.
Right outside of Salt Lake City, people are back home this morning after a scare from a 500-acre wildfire. The fire forced evacuations of about 50 homes. The fire was contained with help from crews on the ground and in the air, too.
In California, one-time JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect, John Mark Karr, offered a plea deal on child pornography charges. The deal would free him on three-year's probation. Defense lawyers say he's going to discuss the deal with Karr but says he still believes his client is innocent.
M. O'BRIEN: The president of Iran with a defiant speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad offering a laundry list of criticism of the U.S. and the U.N. and he insists his country is not building nuclear weapons.
CNN's Aneesh Raman was at the U.N. when Mr. Ahmadinejad spoke.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Iran's president giving a much anticipated speech to the General Assembly without any of the controversial comments that had defined him in the past. Instead, he spoke broadly on behalf of the oppressed of the world, signaling again that he sees himself as the voice of those on the Muslim streets in the third world who feel that the world is being run by the United States.
He addressed the plight of the Iraqis, the Palestinians and the Lebanese before he even got to the views of the Iranian people. When he did, he spoke on the nuclear issue, no surprise in his comments, again reiterating Iran is pursuing a peaceful, civilian nuclear program, reiterating that Iran has no intension of stopping it.
Within the Assembly, a lot of empty seats, in part because of the late hour, other countries deliberately choosing so. A low-level staffer was in the U.S. delegation seat. Other delegations left their chairs completely empty. But the sign from Iran's president, there is no end to the dispute that continues to brew between his country and the West, and more specifically, the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That was Aneesh Raman at the United Nations.
No reaction from the White House yet. President Bush spoke to the assembly earlier in the day, addressing the Iranian people directly, telling them their leaders were misleading them about the United States' intensions. Mr. Bush once again demanded that Iran cease making nuclear fuel while saying he has no objection to a peaceful Iranian nuclear program.
Now look for the president's reaction to the Iranian leader's speech this afternoon on "THE SITUATION ROOM." CNN's Wolf Blitzer is sitting down with the president today for an interview. It will air this afternoon, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, right here on CNN -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well he's being remembered as a fearless adventurer and a friend to the animal kingdom. In Australia, thousands of people turned out to pay a final tribute to "The Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin. A memorial service was held at Irwin's zoo and animal preserve in the town of Beerwah. Among those to share their memories of Steve are his father, Bob, and his daughter, Bindi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB IRWIN, STEVE IRWIN'S FATHER: Please don't grieve for Steve, he's at peace now. But I'd like you to grieve for the animals. The animals have lost the best friend they ever had, and so have I.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BINDI IRWIN, STEVE IRWIN'S DAUGHTER: My daddy was my hero. He was always there for me when I needed him. He listened to me and taught me so many things. But most of all he was fun. I know that daddy had an important job, he was working to change the world so everyone would love wildlife like he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Also paying tribute to Irwin was Russell Crowe, an Australian, and Hugh Jackman as well and Cameron Diaz. They all recorded videotape messages to Irwin's friends and family members. Steve Irwin died on September 4 during a diving expedition when a stingray barb pierced his chest.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, a look at the violent clashes overnight in Hungary between riot police and protesters still angry over a secret audio tape from the country's prime minister.
No conclusion yet in the mysterious death of Anna Nicole Smith's son, but are police ready to rule out foul play?
And the safest cities, a new list is out now. Where do you think New York ranks? We'll tell you, -- Carrie.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.
Federal Reserve officials meeting today. Later on, we will get the latest on interest rates. Will they, will they not raise rates again? Many people thinking not. We'll have that story and a preview coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.
In Missouri, baby Abby is home safe and a kidnapping suspect behind bars. Police say Shannon Beck had recently miscarried and told relatives Abigale was her own newborn. Doctors say the little girl is in good condition.
At the International Space Station, a historic arrival this morning, the first female space tourist floated across the threshold for a week-long stay. Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari paid $20 million for the trip.
And more violence in Iraq today, at least 45 dead in a series of bombings and mortar attacks. Ten were killed when mortars slammed into a neighborhood in southern Baghdad.
Chaos at the Saddam Hussein trial today, Hussein was kicked out of court for arguing about the appointment of a new chief judge. The government got rid of the other judge when he claimed Hussein was not a dictator.
CNN's Arwa Damon live from Baghdad with more, -- Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
That's right, it was another day of more courtroom drama, the sort of thing that we have gotten very accustomed to seeing here. This time sparked by the Iraqi government's decision to replace the chief judge with his deputy. This, in turn, prompted Saddam Hussein's defense team to issue a statement condemning the court, questioning its legality and then walking out. And this prompted Saddam Hussein to display some more of his usual courtroom antics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD MAJEED AL-KHALEFA, NEW CHIEF JUDGE (through translator): Sit down. The court has decided to send the defendant, Saddam Hussein, to expel the defendant Salha Adeed (ph). Your father was an officer in the security. He was the one who had -- I challenge you, take him out. (END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: The judge was quick to assert himself after that exchange, evicting Saddam Hussein from court and resuming the proceedings, this time with a court-appointed defense team. We have heard so far from two witnesses -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon in Baghdad, thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Another night of violent revolt in Hungary as angry crowds continue to call for the resignation of that country's president. Riot police met the protesters with tear gas and water cannons. The crowds threatening to move in on a Socialist Party headquarters in Budapest. This all comes after Hungary's Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, admitted to lying about the state of his country's economy. It happened on tape. Despite the admission, Gyurcsany refuses to step down.
And Thailand is now under martial law today. Tanks and soldiers are on the streets, elected leaders under arrest, a general running the country after a bloodless coup on Tuesday night.
CNN's Stan Grant is live for us in Bangkok.
Stan, good morning.
STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Soledad, these crowds you can see behind me here are outside the military headquarters. This is where the soldiers have been holed up after launching that military coup that you talked about there.
The general, General Sonthi, is the man now in charge of this country. He has ousted the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He says that he will stay in charge. The army will remain in control for the next two weeks and then appoint an interim prime minister to hold full democratic elections in a year's time.
Now as for the Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, he was in New York at the time this all went down. He's now en route to London we are told. The army is saying he is welcome to come back to Thailand, just not as prime minister -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Stan Grant for us in Bangkok this morning with the latest happenings in Thailand.
Thank you, Stan -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, a horrific crime in Denver, a woman is tied to a car and dragged through the streets. And add another state to the list of those affected by E. coli tainted spinach. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the stories people are reading about at CNN.com this morning.
Police around Denver questioning several people as they look for clues in the brutal dragging death of a woman there. The woman's body was found in a normally quiet, suburban neighborhood at the end of a mile-long blood trail.
Authorities in the Bahamas have ruled out suicide and murder in the death of Anna Nicole Smith's son. The 20-year-old Daniel Smith was found dead in his mother's hospital room on September 10. Police are still waiting for the results of additional toxicology tests.
And in a story we first told you about yesterday, Toshiba is recalling more than 300,000 laptop batteries. The faulty batteries made by Sony are not a fire danger. They could, though, cause computers to lose power.
M. O'BRIEN: Those laptops look like they're about 1987 vintage. Somebody get some fresh footage.
S. O'BRIEN: Laptops, nothing like those in the picture.
M. O'BRIEN: Laptops, my god, imagine.
LEE: Not those, just giving you an idea.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. I didn't know they made laptops in the mid '50s, but there they were.
Carrie Lee is here with some word on the Fed.
The Fed will do nothing today and that is good news, right?
LEE: Well that is the consensus on Wall Street.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: You know we've seen 17 interest rate hikes since June of 2004. When Ben Bernanke and team last met early August, they paused on their rate hike campaign, and Wall Street pretty much thinking they are going to do the same. In fact, they could even take credit for the economic soft landing.
We've seen the economy slow down a bit. The housing market has fallen a bit. Energy prices, oil prices have come down and so also we've seen some signs of inflation that have been pretty tame lately. So that is the consensus. We will get the official decision at about 2:15 Eastern Time.
Going forward, will this be the trend? Well one thing that people are keeping an eye on, wage increases, which, of course, are good for workers of America, but not so good when it comes to corporate America, they're having to spend more money. So that's what's happening on the Federal Reserve front.
Meanwhile, shares of Yahoo! plummeted more than 11 percent yesterday on a reported advertising slowdown. Company saying that auto customers, the financial services customers aren't spending money the way they did earlier in the year and last year. We're not sure if this is going to spread to other industries, but Google shares took a hit yesterday as well. Yahoo! shares down one-third this year, down 34 percent. And take a look at that chart, not exactly encouraging.
M. O'BRIEN: And Google's been pretty flat, too, so.
LEE: Google hasn't been doing,...
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
LEE: ... you know, it's certainly not the high flier that it was...
M. O'BRIEN: Sure.
LEE: ... some time ago.
M. O'BRIEN: Hard to top that.
LEE: Yes.
Now the Yahoo! news did help pull down major market indices a little bit yesterday. Dow, Nasdaq all losing a little bit of ground. Of course the coup in Thailand didn't help things. The Dow was lower by over 100 points at one point. Did come back a little bit and things are looking up a little bit for this morning's market open. But of course it's all going to depend on the Fed, probably a lot of people waiting for that decision.
M. O'BRIEN: And the coup in Thailand, were there specific stocks that were hit or was that just a general feeling of unease?
LEE: Just kind of a general feeling of unease, but at least when it comes to the U.S. markets, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: OK.
Carrie Lee, thanks.
LEE: OK.
S. O'BRIEN: Going to take a look at the top stories straight ahead this morning, including Ed Lavandera for us.
LAVANDERA: I'm Ed Lavandera in Union, Missouri. The search for baby Abby is over. We'll tell you about the woman accused of abducting the newborn.
S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Ed.
And NASA has a big safety decision to make, is the shuttle's heat shield damaged is the question.
And a killer whale the proud mother of a seven-foot baby. Got the new pictures. That's just ahead. Stay with us, you're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, that E. coli outbreak linked to bagged spinach is growing bigger. Health officials now say there is a confirmed case in Colorado. More than 100 cases have been reported across 22 states.
A few hours ago, Pope Benedict says he has a deep respect for Islam. He said it during his weekly audience at the Vatican. Last week, of course, the pope made a speech referring to Islamic teachings as evil. He was quoting a Byzantine emperor. Well he still since apologized.
And in New York City this morning, Sudan President Umar al-Bashir meeting with other African leaders for a summit on the crisis in Darfur. Yesterday, al-Bashir said human rights groups have exaggerated the crisis because they want help in their fund-raising.
Morning. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
It was high diplomatic theater at the United Nations, the U.S. and Iran trading harsh words in speeches hours apart, President Bush accusing Iran of building nuclear weapons and Iran accusing the U.S. of an abuse of power.
CNN's Sumi Das live in Washington with more, -- Sumi.
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks very much, Miles.
Well they didn't go head to head, but President Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad both took turns at the U.N. podium on Tuesday, each one snubbing the other and condemning the other's policies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAS (voice-over): World leaders rubbed shoulders at the United Nations Tuesday, but it was the misconnection of President Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that drew the most attention. As he addressed the U.N., the Iranian leader never mentioned President Bush by name, but the target of his criticism was clear.
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): Some seek to rule the world relying on weapons and threats, while others live in perpetual insecurity and danger.
DAS: Ahmadinejad defended Iran's nuclear activities, calling them transparent and peaceful, and called on the U.N. General Assembly to bring balance to the Security Council.
AHMADINEJAD (through translator): If the governments of the United States or the United Kingdom, or permanent members of the Security Council commit aggressions, occupations and violations of international law, which of the organs of the U.N. can take them to account?
DAS: Earlier in his U.N. speech, President Bush spoke directly to Iranians, saying Americans respect their country.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program. We're working toward a diplomatic solution to this crisis. And as we do, we look to the day when you can live in freedom and America and Iran can be good friends and close partners.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAS: A Bush administration official has said the U.S. is willing to allow more time to reach an agreement on ending Iran's nuclear activities. But, Miles, that concession won't be open-ended.
M. O'BRIEN: Sumi Das in Washington.
Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, Baby Abby is finally back with her mother this morning, five days after a knife-wielding woman allegedly kidnapped her from a family home. The suspect, whose name is Shannon Beck, is expected to make her first court appearance this morning. Now, the sheriff's office isn't quite revealing what charges she's going to face.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is with us from Union, Missouri, with more details.
Good morning to you, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, indeed, that is the good news. Baby Abby waking up with her family this morning, safe and sound. But now the focus does turn on to this woman, Shannon Beck, who authorities say they have reason to believe just a few -- perhaps a few days ago was pregnant and had miscarried very late into her pregnancy.
What role exactly that had to play into this abduction isn't exactly clear yet. But it is definitely one of the things authorities will be looking at here as they begin to consider what kind of charges will be filed against her.
The case unfolding kind of rapidly over the last couple of days. Sunday, according to authorities, Beck contacted her sister-in-law and told her that she had had this baby, which turned out not to be the case. Then yesterday, the sister-in-law went to see the baby, and had noticed that on the baby's forehead, the birthmark that authorities had been talking about, and warning people to be on the lookout for had been covered up with makeup.
At that point, she confirmed her sister-in-law, Shannon Beck, and that is when everything started to unravel. And it was the sister-in- law who got in touch with authorities and handed the baby back over to her family safe and sound yesterday afternoon.
Doctors say that after taking a closer look at her, that she appears to be healthy and had been hydrated while she had been missing for four days -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. And the family must be so incredibly relieved, especially the mother, whose throat was slashed and who was stabbed by -- by, police say, the suspect?
LAVANDERA: An unreal ordeal for her. A woman who is a young woman, 21 years old, the mother, who already has a 1-year-old son. All of this transpiring in front of that 1-year-old son, and she had to grab him and go to a neighbor's house and ask for help last Friday.
S. O'BRIEN: What a terrible story with a really happy, happy ending.
Ed Lavandera for us this morning in Missouri.
Thanks, Ed -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: An extra day in space for the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis to be extra certain they have a craft that is safe and sound for a return to Earth.
Take a look at some pictures which came down on -- via NASA television yesterday. Actually, I'd like to show, if you could, not that shot first. If we could show the picture of the space debris first, and then I'll try and explain what this is.
Can we roll the tape first, please? All right. All right.
Take a look at -- no, that's not it either. All right.
OK. There's a picture of some debris that came down in the wee hours last night, debris -- there you go. There's the debris I wanted to tell you about.
This is a little piece of something. No one knows how big it is. They know it's black and they know it was in the vicinity of the space shuttle orbiter.
If that were a piece of heat shield, that would be a big problem, because hearkening back to space shuttle Columbia, a breach in the heat shield could be fatal for the crew and catastrophic for the vehicle itself.
Now, one of the possibilities -- let's go back to that shim shot now that we showed you at the top there. One of the possible things it could be is a piece of a shim which is used to space out between those heat-protective tiles in the hangar.
They're supposed to remove those, but one of them was not removed, and they spotted it in previous orbital inspections. It's possible in the course of firing some rockets that thing came loose, but we're not sure.
In the meantime, as they were trying to figure out what that was, another piece of debris was spotted near the space shuttle. And that's that other picture we showed you just a moment ago, a piece that looks like a plastic bag.
Let's go to that shot. Let's go to the shot of the little plastic bag there.
OK. So that was that. That came down about noontime yesterday.
So it's two debris events giving NASA some pause for concern. And listen to what the radio call came down like from Commander Bret Jett when he saw this piece nearby.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET JETT, ASTRONAUT: OK. We're not joking about this, but Dan was at window one, he looked out, he saw an object floating nearby. We took several pictures of it. It's fairly small.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: All right. It might be -- it might be fairly small, but that can still cause some concern. Take a look at -- well, live pictures right now don't show you much on NASA television, but they're in the midst right now of a fairly comprehensive inspection. Yet another inspection using an extra-long boom.
That's where the shuttle is, over Australia right now -- about 100-foot-long boom when they put the two robotic arms together, making sure that the heat shield is, in fact, intact. If all goes well -- and they assume that these were minor things, but they have to be sure -- we should see a landing -- there you go, as they do that survey -- we should see a landing sometime tomorrow morning.
We'll keep you posted -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" this morning, a follow-up on a story we told you about yesterday. That couple from Maine who police say kidnapped their own daughter to take her for an abortion? Well, they're out on bail this morning.
The two have been ordered to stay away from their 19-year-old daughter. They had to surrender their passports. They face kidnapping charges.
About half the population of Crawford, Texas, evacuated after a train derailed on Tuesday. Twenty-three cars went off the tracks. They spilled a hazardous chemical and forced people in about 100 homes to evacuate for several hours.
In Chicago, a member of the Flying Wallendas is back on the high wire after he was left a paraplegic by a fall that happened more than 40 years ago. That's Mario Wallenda riding in a specially-constructed sky cycle across the Chicago River. It happened on Tuesday. Dozens lined the river and nearby bridges to watch the 66-year-old cross safely. More than dozens. It looks like lots of folks out there.
Well, the next time you're on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, take a look for singer Amy Grant's star. Yes. Amy Grant joined her husband Vince Gill yesterday as she was honored with a star for her work. She recorded her first album back in 1977.
Sea World in Orlando, Florida, celebrating a very big birth. And we mean big. A 7-foot-long, 350-pound killer whale calf was born yesterday afternoon in the park's Shamu Stadium. The calf isn't named yesterday. The mother's name is Katrina, and both are said to be doing very well this morning.
Start spreading the news. A little good news for New Yorkers. The FBI says The Big Apple is the safest of the nation's 10 largest cities.
How about that? According to a federal report last year there was only about one crime reported for every 37 residents.
A large city with the highest crime rate? Take a guess. Dallas.
M. O'BRIEN: Dallas?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, Dallas.
M. O'BRIEN: I wouldn't have guessed that.
S. O'BRIEN: It's kind of a surprise.
M. O'BRIEN: Time for a check of the forecast. Chad Myers at the CNN Center.
Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: Sure.
M. O'BRIEN: Sill to come on the program, the star-studded farewell to Steve Irwin. Millions watched as the torch is passed from "The Crocodile Hunter" to his little crocodile princess.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Atika Shubert in Tokyo, and I'll tell you why Shinzo Abe is set to become Japan's next prime minister when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
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S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look now at stories that CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Arwa Damon in Baghdad.
Dramatic new developments in the trial of Saddam Hussein as a new judge is appointed to preside over the courtroom, Mohammed al-Khalifa (ph). This prompting the defense team to issue a statement and walk out, which in turn prompted Saddam Hussein to display some of his usual courtroom antics, standing up, pointing his finger aggressively at the judge. This new judge was not going to be standing for any of Saddam Hussein's usual behavior, and ejecting him from court.
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ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alessio Vinci in Rome.
The pope this morning at the Vatican did not offer the clear apology some Muslim leaders around the world have been waiting for, saying again that he was a misunderstood. The pope said what he said about Islam did not represent his own conviction about that religion. The pope also said that he hoped his lesson in Germany last week will represent an opportunity to launch a dialogue about the role of religion, any religion in the modern world.
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STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm Stan Grant in Bangkok, Thailand, outside the military headquarters where the army here has launched a coup, ousting the prime minister. The general in charge saying that he'll appoint his own interim prime minister in two weeks and hold democratic elections in a year.
They say that the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has been corrupt and has divided the country. And certainly the reaction of the people here outside seems to be behind the army.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm Hugh Riminton in Beerwah, Australia. Australia experiencing a day unofficially of national mourning for Steve Irwin, the croc hunter. A memorial service here the final farewell to the man that the Australian prime minister described as a "wonderful Australian son."
Celebrities from across the world, including Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake and others sending video tributes to the man who captured their imagination. But thousands more packed here into Steve Irwin's Crocoseum to see him off with songs, with laughter, and with clips of some of his television performances.
The star of the show, though, was his 8-year-old daughter Bindi, who came out before the crowd reading from a note she'd written herself saying her father was her hero. From now on every time she saw a crocodile, she said she would think of him.
A big farewell to the croc hunter, Steve Irwin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: For more information on any of these stories or any of our top stories, go right to our Web site at CNN.com.
M. O'BRIEN: After a landslide victory as president of Japan's ruling party, the nationalist Shinzo Abe has all but guaranteed his election as the country's next prime minister.
CNN's Atika Shubert live in Tokyo with more -- Atika.
SHUBERT: Well, Miles, it was certainly no surprise he was the runaway favorite. Shinzo Abe won by a landslide. And that victory practically guarantees that he will become the next prime minister, because his party, the Liberal Democrats, control an overwhelming majority of Japan's parliament.
Now, this is all according to plan. Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, had actually named Shinzo Abe as his successor to replace him when he steps down. And that will be happening Tuesday next week.
That's when Japan's parliament will officially elect the next prime minister, likely to be Abe. But, filling the shoes of the charismatic Koizumi will be a very tough job for Mr. Abe -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Atika Shubert in Tokyo.
Thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, critical light being shined on the produce industry now in the wake of the current E. coli outbreak. Are there enough safeguards in place to make everybody safe? We're going to take a look ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Back in just a moment.
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S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, a horrific story to tell you about in Colorado as police are now trying to figure out the identity of a woman whose body was found in the suburbs of Denver. The woman was apparently tied to a vehicle and dragged for more than a mile. Her face was unrecognizable, a tow rope was found around her neck. Police hope that her fingerprints are going to help identify her.
Right now in Pittsburgh, police are searching for a second suspect in the Duquesne University shootings. Eighteen-year-old William Holmes is considered armed and dangerous, 19-year-old Brandon Baynes was arrested yesterday.
And Federal Reserve officials are meeting today in Washington. They're expected to leave interest rates right where they are. Analysts say a slower economy and falling energy prices is what's keeping inflation at bay -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Another skirmish in the Republican versus Republican battle over how to treat terror detainees. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist joining the fray, offering support to a White House proposal to give the green light to aggressive interrogation tactics.
Frist is now threatening a filibuster to kill that new detainee bill from Republican dissidents who oppose the White House plan. First's spokesman saying the bill in its current form is dead.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is saying the U.S. did nothing wrong when it deported a Canadian citizen to Syria. Gonzales reacting to the case of Maher Arar, who was detained in 2002 based on information provided by Canadian authorities. Later it was determined that Canadian police acted improperly when they listed Arar as a threat.
Coming up later on AMERICAN MORNING we'll talk with Maher Arar and get a sense of what his ordeal was like, reaction to the attorney general's statement. That's coming up at 9:30 Eastern Time.
Up next, Andy "Minding Your Business" -- Andy.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Good morning, Miles.
Amazing new developments in the Hewlett-Packard saga. Allegations of covert operations and placing spies in newsrooms.
It's crazy and it's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: A good story. All right, Andy, following that. Thanks.
Also ahead this morning, the very latest on that very good news out of Missouri. Little Baby Abby's been found. She's back with her mother. We'll tell you what happened.
Plus this...
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The crowd pulls back, torches a police car. Those protesters are mostly men, mostly young, mostly very angry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Anger is boiling over on the streets of Budapest. Nic Robertson is right in the middle of it all. He's going to join us live.
All ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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M. O'BRIEN: The Hewlett-Packard scandal. Another day, another raft of allegations.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business."
Hello, Andy.
SERWER: Hello, Miles.
This surprisingly keeps getting better. You know, a lot of times these stories sort of peter out. Not this one.
M. O'BRIEN: Not this one.
SERWER: Next week chairman -- HP chairman Patty Dunn and the general counsel of Hewlett-Packard, Ann Baskins, have agreed to testify before a congressional committee. Also, Larry Sensede (ph), a powerful Silicon Valley lawyer, and the private investigator into this whole business. The question is, will they take the Fifth?
And, you know, you're sort of darned if you do, darned if you don't here, because if Patty Dunn et al testify it's going to hurt them potentially. There's a criminal investigation ongoing by the California state attorney general. If they take the Fifth, well, that's front page of the newspaper stuff.
S. O'BRIEN: PR-wise. That is a big hit for the company.
SERWER: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: PR and law tend to be at odds in these situations.
SERWER: They really do. And it's going to be very interesting, needless to say.
Now, other development, ex-CEO Carly Fiorina apparently was the target of some of the spying, which is ironic because she was concerned about leaks when she was the CEO of HP. Then it turns out when she -- after she left they were looking to her to see if she was talking to reporters. And on and on.
And here is the best...
S. O'BRIEN: They eavesdropped on their former boss?
SERWER: They may have. It's unclear.
M. O'BRIEN: And she started the ball rolling. I love this.
SERWER: They discussed -- right. They discussed eavesdropping on her, or looking into her phone records.
This is the best part of the whole story, I think, in all the weeks since this first broke, and this is a "New York Times" that you have to read this morning, explosive, outrageous. It details how Hewlett-Packard -- internal people at Hewlett-Packard -- actually, a gentleman who has a title of manager of global investigations. Now why Hewlett-Packard needs a manager of global investigations...
M. O'BRIEN: Wow.
SERWER: ... this is like "Get Smart," this is like shoe phone stuff.
What they wanted to do was put spies into the offices of "The Wall Street Journal" and CNET, which is the online news service that was breaking the story, acting as clerical workers or cleaners. They were going to have private investigators act like the cleaning man to snoop around the offices of "The Wall Street Journal." This is discussed in internal memorandums that ""The New York Times" has discovered.
S. O'BRIEN: Is there evidence that the HP people knew that the security or the investigation team that they had hired were even thinking about that? That the cleaning person in your company could be rifling through your desk at night trying to figure out, you know...
SERWER: Well, I think it's worse than that, Soledad, because apparently this was actual HP personnel discussing this, not outside investigators discussing it. And there's one e-mail where one gentleman at HP asked about it, and he said -- the other person said, "Well, we do this in all undercover operations."
This is a computer...
(CROSSTALK)
M. O'BRIEN: This is -- oh, my gosh.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh. Oh. Oh.
SERWER: And then the other guy goes -- this is one of the best e-mails ever -- "I shouldn't have asked."
Right. No, you shouldn't have asked, because it's right here.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you shouldn't have.
SERWER: It's right here.
M. O'BRIEN: Shouldn't have written that.
SERWER: Oh, my goodness. I just find this crazy.
S. O'BRIEN: So they -- the policy is to go ahead and get people to sneak in as either cleaning people or, like, the temporary staff, in all the investigations of this type.
SERWER: Well, right. Now, to be fair, they discussed this. But, I mean, just discussing it is just crazy.
S. O'BRIEN: (INAUDIBLE) all the investigations assumes that there's been others.
SERWER: Well, they discussed it.
S. O'BRIEN: It's a plan that's...
SERWER: You know.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow.
SERWER: Beware the cleaning lady. I mean...
S. O'BRIEN: Wow. Wow.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe they...
SERWER: You know? I mean, it's just crazy.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow. That's a bombshell.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe they should have been talking about making good printers, you know?
SERWER: Yes, right. How about that? Isn't that what they make?
M. O'BRIEN: That's just a thought.
SERWER: Where's my shoe phone?
S. O'BRIEN: Wow.
SERWER: I mean, unbelievable.
S. O'BRIEN: Aren't they regretting that right now?
SERWER: Yes. Right.
S. O'BRIEN: That was a bad decision.
All right. Let's get right to the forecast. Chad's got that.
Wow -- Chad, I'm shocked.
M. O'BRIEN: He's on his shoe phone. He's got the shoe phone going on.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: "Get Smart," Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
LAVANDERA: I'm Ed Lavandera in Union, Missouri. Baby Abby is safe and sound, but what drove a woman to abduct the newborn?
S. O'BRIEN: And an angry Saddam Hussein kicked out of court after the government swaps out the judge.
M. O'BRIEN: And a UFO causes NASA to rethink the shuttle landing pattern.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
You're glad you're with us.
A happy homecoming for Baby Abby. Now the 12-day-old daughter back with her mother after five days in the arms of strangers. The alleged kidnapper's lie uncovered by a messy makeup job.
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