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American Morning
Hawaii Earthquake; North Korea Sanctions; U.S.-Japan Talks; Insurgent Video; America Votes 2006
Aired October 16, 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 is Monday, October 16. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
To the news wall we go.
The top story this morning, in Hawaii, more aftershocks from that earthquake expected today. The governor there has issued a disaster declaration. It was the strongest quake to hit the islands in more than 20 years.
S. O'BRIEN: Some other stories we're following for you this morning.
The House Ethics Committee meets today to interview more witnesses in the Mark Foley e-mail scandal.
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the U.N. Ambassador John Bolton is going to meet today about a U.N. resolution on North Korea's nuclear program as well.
M. O'BRIEN: In New York, a lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists to be sentenced today. Lynne Stewart helped her client, Sheik Abdel Rahman, communicate with the outside world, despite a court order not to do so.
Buffalo, New York still digging out. Three school districts closed all week after that massive storm on Friday, 400,000 homes and business still without power this morning. Just after 6:00 on the East Coast. We'll have more on the Buffalo storm in a minute.
Chad Myers is here to tell us what's going on today in the weather.
Hello, -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning guys.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right, sounds like a mess, thanks, Chad.
People in Hawaii may be feeling aftershocks for weeks after that powerful earthquake. This morning, they are assessing the damage from Sunday's quake. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The windows shook. The bed was shaking, so still in bed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it came, it just shook. I mean totally shook. And I just kind of like jumped out of bed and I said what is that? And he said it's an earthquake. And I said my god.
S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It was quite a wake-up call, a strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake jolting tourists and residents on Hawaii's big island on Sunday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You felt the tremor and stuff, and then it started swaying and we just grabbed what we could and ran down the stairs.
S. O'BRIEN: Dozens of tremors followed the initial quake, including a 5.8 aftershock. The power outages were widespread and there was significant structural damage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came out here and I could not believe this. And there was smoke everywhere, I guess from the concrete, and everything was filled with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there was a cloud of smoke and everything outside, you know. And you have like 9/11, when the buildings go down, all that concrete turns into dust. So a little mini 9/11, if you will, was outside there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been damage to the hospital building. Ceiling tiles have come down in our patient care areas and things have fallen off shelves and racks. We don't know about structural damage yet. We have evacuated patients off of our medical surgical unit and off of our -- out of our skilled nursing unit.
S. O'BRIEN: Hawaii's governor has declared the entire state a disaster area. The quake and its aftershocks set off fears of a Pacific-wide tsunami, but it didn't happen. And so far there have been no reports of deaths from the quake.
ERIK VON ANCKEN, VACATIONING IN HAWAII: Gorgeous, gorgeous place. I mean it was paradise right up until this happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: The 6.6 earthquake is the biggest to hit the Hawaiian Islands since 1983. And Hawaii has more aftershocks today.
Let's get right to the phone where AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is reporting for us. He's on the big island.
Hey, Chris, good morning.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Soledad. I'm in an area called Keauhou. It's in the northwest corner of the big island, a little bit north of Kona, on the northwest side of the state. I'm sitting right of a checkpoint where they've got an area blocked off. A bridge there on this part of the island has shown some structural damage. Some of the engineers came in, they could actually see pieces of the bridge falling underneath it, so they have shut this area completely down. The highway just stops and there's a checkpoint.
Before I came up here, I was about 30, 40 miles down the coast near the Kona area. And I was at the Kona Hospital, which had been evacuated for a short time earlier today. When I got there, I got a tour of some parts of it. There was no major structural damage, but you could see where some of the ceilings had just collapsed on some of the floors and there was debris in a lot of the hallways. The administrator there told me that they don't have a lot of people staying there. Most of the people had been relocated to the Hilo Medical Center on the other side of the island.
Did speak with one couple who was there waiting for their son and their daughter-in-law. Their daughter-in-law went into labor this morning because the earthquake really jolted her. They rushed her to the hospital and she's still in the hospital, she hasn't delivered yet.
But when I talked to the administrator, he says the mom is in the hospital right now, two babies and then the young lady who is pregnant and her husband is with her and they are waiting to deliver any minute now. A pretty scary time for that family right there and a lot of families here on the big island.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, absolutely.
All right, Chris Lawrence joining us by phone. Chris, on the ground now, going to be reporting for us throughout the morning and throughout the day here on CNN.
Thanks, Chris -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The U.S. is pressing China now for some action following that United Nations vote to punish North Korea. China is balking at enforcing some of the key sanctions the U.N. agreed to over the weekend. Specifically, the Chinese are reluctant to stop and search North Korean ships.
Diplomatic actions in China and Japan this morning, Atika Shubert is in Tokyo.
We begin with CNN's Jaime FlorCruz in Beijing, -- Jaime.
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Miles, the Chinese are reluctant to allow this military interdiction of Korean -- of North Korean cargo, in part because they're afraid that this could lead to armed conflicts or armed -- a firefight even, especially in the high seas. That's what exactly happened in the year 2000, for example, when Japanese Coast Guards had a gunfight with North Koreans in a ship that they suspected were spying for North Korea.
The Chinese also don't want to squeeze North Korea too hard because they are afraid it could destabilize the country and lead to its total collapse. A total collapse means millions of North Koreans flowing into China. That could destabilize the region. Also, that could stunt China's economic growth. They don't want to see that and that's why they are still pushing for more dialogue and more diplomacy through the six-party talks.
Secretary Rice is coming to China this week to put a squeeze on China and also to seek a united front against North Korea -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Jaime FlorCruz in Beijing.
The U.S. point person on North Korea, Under Secretary of State Christopher Hill, arrived in Japan today. He is there two days ahead of the secretary of state.
Atika Shubert joining us live from Tokyo with more on that, -- Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Miles. There's been a flurry of diplomatic activity here. Christopher Hill is in Tokyo. He just met with his Japanese counterpart and is expected to hold a press conference soon. The main topic on the agenda of course is enforcement of those U.N. sanctions passed over the weekend.
Then later on this week, of course Secretary of State Rice will be visiting. She will meet with Japan's Foreign Minister, and both of them are making plans to travel to Seoul, South Korea, where they will hold three-way talks on how to enforce those U.N. sanctions. So while China may be dragging its feet, South Korea, the United States and Japan seem to want to present a united front.
Now in the meantime, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, met with reporters today. And he said it would not be enough for North Korea to simply come back to the six-party talks, that North Korea would have to show that it was trying to stop its nuclear weapons program before there would be any consideration of lifting those sanctions -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Atika Shubert in Tokyo, thank you very much -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: One insurgent group in Iraq, excuse me, says it wants to negotiate with U.S. forces, a spokesman for the Islamic Army of Iraq. Let's take a look at the videotape here. As you can see, his face is obscured. This video, by the way, obtained on Sunday by CNN. Well on this tape he lays out the set of conditions that would end the group's participation in the insurgency.
Let's get right to CNN's Michael Ware. He's in Baghdad this morning.
Hey, Michael, good morning.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, what we have is this tight response from CNN's questions forwarded through known Islamic Army of Iraq channels. What we see on tape is purported to be Ibrahim al-Shimary, the official spokesman of this group.
Now this group comes from and indeed is one of the leading members of one of the most powerful blocks within the insurgency. And at a time with spiraling violence and an increasing death toll among U.S. soldiers and Iraqis, we have the Iraqi -- the Islamic Army of Iraq reiterating its offer to negotiate with U.S. forces. This, as we lead into the midterm elections.
The spokesman also talked about the nature of the insurgency with rare insight into the structure of his organization and the role of al Qaeda. But he also speaks about one of the great motivating factors behind the Sunni insurgency, saying that a byproduct of the U.S. occupation is an entrenching of Iranian influence in Iraq, a deep- seeded fear of the Sunnis, and now a driving force sustaining the insurgency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IBRAHIM AL-SHIMARY, ISLAMIC ARMY OF IRAQ (through translator): America and Iran have occupied Iraq. America is the disease that caused the infection which is the Iranian occupation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARE: He also brings a reality check with regards to the sectarian violence here in Iraq, saying that his faction of the insurgency is not directly opposed to the Shia, however, they will respond if attacked. It's a very, very savvy interview by this spokesman, displaying a keen awareness of domestic American politics -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: At the same time, Michael, this group, which is the Islamic Army of Iraq, how big are they, I mean? And to what degree would negotiating, realistically, with one insurgent group make a difference with all the insurgent groups that are operating in Iraq right now?
WARE: Well this is a very key organization. It comes from a broad alliance of Sunni insurgent groups which represents part of the main body of the Sunni insurgency.
Now, as we all know, al Qaeda is responsible for the spectacular suicide bombings and has led the way in inflaming the sectarian violence, yet the daily drip-feed of attacks against U.S. forces and against Iraqi security force allies is carried out by the Sunni insurgents, former Ba'athists, former members of Saddam's military and security apparatus. Now this group represents an alliance of that body of the insurgency. And to back it up, they have also provided us rather graphic and rare footage of their operations against U.S. forces -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Michael Ware for us this morning.
Thanks, Michael.
He's reporting from Baghdad.
Ahead this morning, another Republican in Congress is under investigation. Senator Curt Weldon says it's purely politics to blame. We'll take a look at where the battle for Congress stands three weeks from Election Day.
And those three lacrosse players charged in the Duke rape case, they're speaking out. We'll tell you why they say their lives have been ruined.
Plus baseball announcer Steve Lyons, there he is, he's the guy on the right, he's fired and accused of making racist comments on air. We'll tell you what he said straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. About a quarter past the hour, welcome to your new week.
Chad Myers is at the Weather Center with a look at what's ahead.
Hello, -- Chad.
MYERS: And good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow, that's a huge area.
MYERS: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That's going to be a real mess.
MYERS: It sure will.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you for the warning there.
MYERS: Welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: With just over three weeks before Election Day, Democrats are trying to capitalize on several Republican scandals.
AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken in Washington, D.C. for us.
Good morning, -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And I think we may have come up with a new Republican slogan, now what? (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): The most intense focus recently has been on Mark Foley. But this week's guilty plea by GOP Congressman Bob Ney on bribery charges demonstrates that the Republican's real problem in this election is the cumulative impression of corruption, at least that's how the Democrats see it.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: And you have a series of corruption scandals, Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Mark Foley, all Republican-led abuses that I think the American people are fed up with. It's time for a change, it's that simple.
FRANKEN: Add to that new word that the Justice Department is investigating allegations that Republican Congressman Curt Weldon steered consulting contracts to a company co-owned by his daughter. Consequently, GOP leaders are having a tough time staying on message.
KEN MEHLMAN, GOP CHAIRMAN: What the American people are going to vote on, they want the economy, wonder where the economy is.
FRANKEN: Democratic leaders say the economy is just one of the issues out there.
HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN: What I'm interested in is ethical reform and honesty in government. I'm interested in balancing the budget, which we haven't, which Republicans have made a mess of. I'm interested in restoring moral values to the Congress of the United States. Those are the things that I think you're going to see high on the Democrat's agenda should we win three weeks from now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm confident, Wolf, we're going to maintain our majorities in the House and the Senate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: The major polls, "Washington Post," CNN, "The New York Times," all suggest that the elections, particularly the House election, Soledad, are the Democrats to lose. But the question is, as it always is, can the Democrats avoid losing?
S. O'BRIEN: That is the $64,000 question yet again. Three weeks and we'll find out, won't we?
FRANKEN: Yes, we will.
S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning.
Thanks, Bob.
For more on this story or any of our political stories, go right to our Web site at CNN.com/ticker -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, tempers flare, things turn nasty on the football field. We'll take a look at the fallout from this bench-clearing brawl. Plus, who should pay for all those laptops recalled because of those batteries that catch fire or could? Andy has that. "Minding Your Business" ahead.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning, those three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape thought DNA tests would put an end to the charges that they raped a woman at a team party. The DNA tests failed to positively link the players to the rape. They appeared on CBS "60 Minutes" last night.
In Iowa, 22-year-old Shawn Bentler charged with murdering his parents and his three teenage sisters. So far, no motive in those killings. Bentler is being held on $2.5 million in bond.
In Louisiana, the first cruise ship to leave New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina making headway this morning. More than 2,000 people boarded the "Norwegian Sun" for a Caribbean cruise. Hosting cruise ships was a growing business in New Orleans before Katrina struck.
In Pennsylvania, hundreds of bikers cruised to raise funds for the families of the Amish schoolhouse victims. The bikers paid $20 each to take part in the 33-mile ride called "Because We Care."
In Florida, 31 college football players facing suspensions after some unsportsmanlike conduct. Saturday's game between Miami and Florida International turned into a brawl right before halftime. The suspended players have to sit out the next game and school officials say more punishment may be coming. By the way, Miami won 35 to nothing.
And in New York, rocker Patty Smith sang the final note at CBGB's, the place many call the birthplace of punk rock and a picture of the New York's music scene for 30 years is closing. The building's owner not renewing the lease. CBGB's owner says he'll move the club to Las Vegas -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: You can't move CBGB's to Las Vegas.
M. O'BRIEN: No, you can't do that.
S. O'BRIEN: That's ridiculous.
All right, Miles, thank you.
Fallout from the laptop battery recall to talk about, again.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad. Toshiba, Fujitsu and Hitachi all very, very concerned about this battery recall. Obviously there's hundreds and thousands of laptops -- hundreds of thousands of laptops they're going to be having to replace the batteries in those. And of course Sony is going to pick up the tab there.
Now these three companies, though, apparently are considering suing Sony for additional damages. It's sort of the...
S. O'BRIEN: On what grounds?
SERWER: Well it would sort of be the corporate equivalent of pain and suffering. And the reason why is because if you're a consumer and you look at a Fujitsu laptop and say those are the ones with the bad batteries, I'm not going to buy one of those. So you can sort of understand where this is coming from. And, as you suggest, Soledad, this is more bad news for Sony. Already the batteries themselves are going to cost them hundreds of millions of dollars and this would be in addition to that.
Some oil news to talk about this morning. OPEC is meeting this week in Qatar and the big debate here is how much to cut production. This is just so amazing. What a turn of events here and a turnabout just over the past couple of weeks. Now the world, apparently, is awash in oil and OPEC says it wants to avoid a catastrophic price decline. That would be catastrophic for them, not for us.
S. O'BRIEN: For them. Yes, I got that.
SERWER: With the price of oil...
S. O'BRIEN: I'm not the business guy, even I got that one.
SERWER: Yes, yes, it's pretty amazing. And you know there's a lot of squabbling. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Algeria overproducing, countries like Venezuela and Iran not producing enough, so they're going to have to be pointing a lot of fingers there.
And finally, want to talk about the markets, obviously last week a good one for investors. Look at that, the Dow was up 110 points. And we are only 40 points away from you know what. We're not even going to say it.
S. O'BRIEN: Thirty-nine and a half, actually, technically.
SERWER: That's to be precise. We're not even going to say, but...
S. O'BRIEN: No, we're not.
SERWER: ... the market keeps on keeping on this fall.
S. O'BRIEN: So we're close.
SERWER: We really are.
S. O'BRIEN: I forget what I get when it gets to Dow 12,000.
SERWER: Something really good.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I hope so.
All right, what do you have coming up?
SERWER: We're going to talk about Jack Welch and Bob Iger, a couple of corporate honchos, and colleges and the reaction at those colleges when they propose coming there and talking.
S. O'BRIEN: That's interesting, all right.
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.
SERWER: You're welcome, -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Our top stories are straight ahead this morning. We're going to talk to a woman who's going to tell us what it was like to live through, wake up and live through a 6.6 earthquake, the one that hit Hawaii causing that serious damage there. That's straight ahead this morning.
Also, we told you about the baseball announcer Steve Lyons. He's the guy on the right, if you don't know him. Fired now for on-air comments that some people say were racist. We'll tell you what he said just straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the technologies out today, there's no reason why every vote shouldn't be counted.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The most frustration I faced in voting today is long lines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it would be easier to have the on- line voting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There needs to be a physical printout of each person that's voted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is going to be done through your cell phone. I would definitely vote through my cell phone. I think it would be perfect.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not sure if the way you vote makes that big of a difference as long as the results, you know, are correct.
M. O'BRIEN (on camera): What if we could simply log on to the Web or flip open our cell phones to cast our votes? Some insist it's just around the corner. Others say, though, there are larger problems within our voting system that need to be addressed first.
(voice-over): MIT's Ted Selker wants to change the way America casts its votes.
TED SELKER, MIT: Registration problems account for the biggest number of lost votes. After that, polling place operations and ballot design problem are the next biggest ones.
M. O'BRIEN: Selker and his team are testing some new technologies designed to make voting easier, more efficient and yet tamperproof.
SELKER: Technology has the possibility of making the voting process better by making sure that records can't be destroyed as easily. We have computers in every step of the game.
M. O'BRIEN: And while Selker does see a future that includes on- line voting, he says accuracy and security must come first.
SELKER: Voting by computer, voting by phone will be much cheaper to administer. It becomes exciting when it means that we can check our work and can be sure of our ballots. And until we have that under control, we have to be very careful about how we deploy this equipment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, it's Monday, October 16. I'm Miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.
Let's take a look at some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
In Hawaii, they could still feel some aftershocks today as they clean up after the weekend earthquake. The governor there has issued a disaster declaration for the entire state.
The Ethics Committee meets today to interview more witnesses in the Mark Foley e-mail scandal.
M. O'BRIEN: President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton all huddling today, a strategy session focused on North Korea.
In Buffalo, how about a snow week? Three school districts closed all week after the massive snowstorm Friday the 13th. Four hundred thousand homes and businesses still without power this morning. And as the snow melts, concerns about flooding -- as if they needed that, Chad Myers.
Good morning to you.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, Miles. Most of those schools are closed because either the people don't have power or the schools don't have power. Not because there's still snow. Most of that did melt. But now the melting snow getting into the rivers and Emacott Creek (ph) even coming up a little bit, but not going above flood stage.
There will be an awful lot of flooding here in the middle part of the country, though, from the next storm that rolls through. Already some tornado warnings this morning for Galveston County, Texas. The storm now is in the bay and moving to the northeast, but it is just to the east of League City. So tornadoes kind of bumping up this morning up here.
Soledad, back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you.
MYERS: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Back to Hawaii now, where they're assessing the damage from that strong earthquake that hit on Sunday morning. A series of aftershocks keeping everybody on alert.
Giuliana DePandi is the co-anchor of E! News, and she was on vacation in Maui when the quake struck. She joins us this morning.
Nice to talk to you, Giuliana.
First of all, describe for me -- I assume you were fast asleep when you felt the quake, right?
GIULIANA DEPANDI, CO-ANCHOR, E! NEWS: I was. I had gotten in the night before, and it was about 7:00 in the morning. And suddenly -- you know, I was actually in bed, and out of nowhere just the shaking started. And it was getting progressively worse.
And it was out of control, and so I jumped out of bed and got under a doorway. And it was very scary. And I live in Los Angeles...
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to ask you. So did you know immediately? I mean, you know, most folks in L.A. -- anywhere, really, in California understand that, you know, that quakes can happen. Did you immediately know this an earthquake?
DEPANDI: Yes, but I was so surprised. And I thought it can't be, because it's so strange, but just the night before I was watching a special on TV an earthquakes and tsunamis, of all things.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh my gosh.
DEPANDI: And I was talking to my boyfriend about it and I said, "God, does Hawaii ever get earthquakes?" And we basically determined, no, they don't.
So when I felt it in the morning -- and they actually don't. It's so rare for Hawaii to get hit with an earthquake. And so, when we felt it in the morning, I thought, this can't be, this can't be an earthquake.
And I was scared it was a tsunami. And then shortly after there were people in the hallway screaming, "Oh, there's going to be a tsunami! There's going to be a tsunami!"
And so we went out to the balcony and we were looking at the water. And that was the biggest fear, that a tsunami was going to follow.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I would imagine that.
Were people just terrified around you? I mean, were people panicking? Did they seem calm? What was the atmosphere like?
DEPANDI: No, people were panicking. I mean, here I am in Maui, it's a vacation destination. You know, these people are not used to this sort of thing. Especially the locals.
You know, they never felt anything like this. I believe the last earthquake, the only one really they can recall in recent history, was in the '80s in Maui, and it was nothing compared to this one. I mean, this was a large -- it was large.
I mean, like I said, I felt a couple and this was the biggest I've ever felt. And it was getting worse and worse.
S. O'BRIEN: You said -- I'm sorry for interrupting you there. You said you ran to the doorway.
What did it feel -- I mean, for lots of people who haven't lived through earthquakes -- and thank god I've only been in really, really minor ones -- you know, what exactly did it feel like? How would you describe it?
DEPANDI: It is so -- it's so difficult to describe until you feel it. But what it -- what's -- you're powerless. You -- you seriously are so powerless.
And it really makes you realize how Mother Nature just has a mind of its own. And that when Mother Nature comes calling there's nothing you can do.
It's just everything around you is shaking. And there's nowhere you can go. Nothing you can hold on to.
I mean, nothing makes it stop. You just have to let it happen. And so it was really scary. And it just -- but like I said, you know, I felt them before.
Usually they start out hard and they get slower. But this one for some odd reason was getting just harder and harder and harder, and the earth was just shaking around us out of control.
S. O'BRIEN: It sounds absolutely terrifying.
Giuliana DePandi on vacation in Maui. The co-anchor of E! News. Thanks for joining us by phone. We certainly appreciate it. Good luck to you for the rest of your vacation, what's left of it.
Thanks, Giuliana -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The U.S. is pressing China today to put its actions where its vote is. Over the weekend, China signed on to the United Nations sanctions vote aimed at punishing North Korea for its nuclear brinksmanship. But here's the rub: the Chinese say they won't stop and board North Korea's ships to enforce an embargo.
So what next? They're meeting at the White House today to try and answer that question.
Ed Henry is covering that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A late add to the president's schedule. This morning he will meet here at the White House with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton to discuss a sudden problem with sanctions against North Korea passed this weekend at the United Nations.
The White House has been celebrating a diplomatic victory and vowing to turn up the heat even more if North Korea fails to end its nuclear program. But the celebration may be short-lived because already there are cracks in the coalition.
China immediately declaring it will not enforce a critical part of these sanctions, inspections of cargo along the 880-mile border it shares with North Korea. Ambassador Bolton says it's up to China to actually live up to the commitment that it made by voting for this U.N. resolution that passed unanimously.
Meanwhile, some Republicans have joined Democrats in saying the only way to really solve this nuclear crisis is for the White House to do what the Clinton administration did, and that's to have one-on-one talks with North Korea. The White House believes that's a mistake, that approach by the Clinton administration failed. And that's why this week we're going to see Secretary of State Rice head to Asia for several days. She will visit three of the nations in the so-called six-party talks, China, South Korea, and Japan, to try to figure out how to make these sanctions stick.
Ed Henry, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: As Ed just mentioned, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to South Korea for meetings on Thursday. Her point person on North Korea is in Japan now. He'll be in South Korea tomorrow.
In the meantime, tensions are rising there, with so many people so close to the Demilitarized Zone. So many people in artillery range from North Korea.
Sohn Jie-ae joining us live from Seoul with more -- Jie-ae.
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Miles. While we talk about the rising tensions because of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, we tend to often forget that South Koreans have been living under North Korean threat for more than half a -- half a century. And therefore, I mean, you get -- and you get a good sense of what it is like to be under constant tensions here on the Korean Peninsula.
Today was a regular civil defense drill. What that means is that twice a year in South Korea, sirens go off all across the nation, and police and government officials are out on the street.
They guide cars to the side of the road. The cars are asked to stop and park. The passersby are also asked to get inside buildings, go down underpasses, into subways. And it is -- and they wait for about 15 minutes while the sirens go off, and they wait, and after 15 minutes the sirens go off again and everything goes back to normal.
This is a civil defense drill that -- that was very common in South Korea for many years. Recently, though, because of easing tensions between South and North Korea, they're held less frequently. And today we were told that this is one of the regular scheduled drills that they were planning.
It was not because of the nuclear tensions, but we heard from people on the street they were thinking about it, they were thinking as the siren's going off, what if this was for real? They were thinking about scenarios, and one woman was saying she wanted to go home, she wanted to be with her family suddenly, thinking of what could happen if the sirens really went off for real.
And it is a scary thought for many South Koreans here because we are so close to the border. A quarter of South Korea's population is massed in the capital, with only about two hours from the border. So, it is something worth preparing for here in South Korea -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sohn Jie-ae in Seoul.
Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In America this morning, in New York, attorney Lynne Stewart will learn just how much time she's going to have to spend in prison. The civil rights lawyer was convicted of providing material support to terrorists by releasing a statement from her jailed client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was forbidden any outside contact. The 67-year-old Stewart faces up to 30 years in prison.
A follow-up on a story we told you out of Idaho. It's a story that horrified people coast to coast. Remember this one?
Well, jury selection is going to begin today in the trial of accused killer Joseph Edward Duncan. He's the guy who's a registered sex offender. He's charged with killing three people so he could kidnap 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother Dylan for sex. Well, police say Duncan molested the kids for seven weeks, and the little boy, Duncan, was killed during the ordeal. He faces the death penalty now.
In New Mexico a terrible ending for some folks who were taking part in an international balloon festival. Take a look at that.
One pilot suffered minor burns when this hot air balloon hit a power line. Then the second balloon clipped another power line. A third balloon ran into a building. There was some good news, though. More than 200 other balloonists had a safe final day of the festival.
FOX broadcaster -- baseball broadcaster Steve Lyons is out, fired for making racially insensitive remarks during game three of the American League Championship series. FOX network says Lyons made inappropriate comments about colleague Lou Piniella's Hispanic heritage.
Lyons apparently was mocking Piniella's Spanish, said, "I don't understand him. I don't want to sit too close to him now," et cetera, et cetera. Lyons is now saying he's sorry if he offended anybody -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, another twist in the Madonna Malawi adoption saga. Her plans to adopt a motherless boy prompting legal action now.
And another potential scandal for the Republican Party. This time it involves Congressman Curt Weldon. And another day, another scandal for the GOP, perhaps.
And as America's population nears the 300 million mark, we meet the man who put America over the 200 million threshold. Look at how his life has turned out ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at what CNN correspondents all around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Michael Ware in Baghdad.
A key faction of the Sunni insurgency has reiterated its call to negotiate or open dialogue with U.S. forces. In a videotaped question and answer with CNN, the spokesman for the Islamic Army of Iraq says the group is prepared to talk with U.S. commanders. The spokesman, Ibrahim al-Shimri (ph), also discusses the role of al Qaeda in the country, the sectarian violence in Iraq, and the nature of the Sunni insurgency.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Vause in Jerusalem, where pressure is growing on President Moshe Katsav to step down following police recommendations that he be charged with rape, indecent assault, and sexual harassment of several women who once worked for him. Investigators say there is also evidence that he gave illegal pardons, conducted illegal wiretaps. Katsav denies the allegations.
The attorney general will now decide if the president will be indicted. But while he remains in office, Katsav is immune from prosecution, but he could be impeached by parliament.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in London.
Madonna's plans to adopt a child from Malawi could end up in court. Human rights organizations are starting legal proceedings against the pop singer, saying that her attempts to adopt 1-year-old David Banda are illegal. Now, the boy's father says he'd never heard of Madonna before, but he does hope that his son will have a better life with her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: For more on these or any of our top stories, log on to our Web site, CNN.com.
S. O'BRIEN: It is 45 minutes past the hour, and if you're just about to head out the door, first let's listen to Chad Myers with an update on how it looks for travelers today.
Hey, Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Soledad.
Nine counties right now under tornado warnings. The entire box here, one there, one there, means tornadoes are possible in that area. The ones that are red, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, those are counties that actually are occurring now, rotation on Doppler.
We have had some reports of damage there across parts from east and southeast of Houston, all the way through Lake Charles. And we're going to have to watch. If you hear a big storm coming in from the south down there, that could be a strong storm for you coming up out of the Gulf of Mexico and hitting land there.
There will be heavy rain across the Gulf Coast, across the Ohio Valley, right up into Chicago later on today -- 66 for you today, 57 for rain showers in New York City tomorrow, and 66 on Wednesday.
Heard a lot about those tsunamis? Everyone was worried about them. Believe it or not, there's only been 90 tsunamis in Hawaii in the past 150 years. Only 15 have caused damage. Only four of those were generated from earthquakes caused in Hawaii. The rest were from the ring around -- form either Oregon, Alaska, or back from the Pacific -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you.
Ahead this morning, is another potential scandal looming for the Republican Party? What could it mean as we head into the midterm elections? We'll take a look straight ahead.
Plus, in the category of telling you what you already know, your daily commute. Does it feel a lot longer than it used to be? It probably is.
Stay with us. That's ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's over 2,000 years old, and some will tell you it's one the healthiest diets in the world. Inspired by the traditional cuisine of countries like Italy, Spain and Greece, some health experts believe the Mediterranean Diet can have dramatic benefits.
DR. DREW WARNER, VALLEY VIEW HOSPITAL: The diet is very high in olive oil, which is unsaturated fat, which is really much better for us. It's better for our hearts and other thing.
COSTELLO: Dr. Warner believes the Mediterranean Diet helps lower the risk of cancer and obesity. This Sicilian woman says she savors her food and eats less red meat than an average American does.
ANTONELLA CALGERONE, MEDITERRANEAN DIETER: I like American meat, but I prefer Sicilian fish.
COSTELLO: And fresh fish is a key part of the Mediterranean Diet. Also lots of fresh produce, olive oil, whole grains and wines, but only in moderation, of course. Although the diet is higher in fat, people in the Mediterranean region eat smaller portions, so they consume fewer calories.
Carol Costello, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: A little more than three weeks until Election Day and the election is shaping up as a referendum on GOP leadership. Democrats seeing blood in the water. Republicans insisting they have the votes to prevail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN MEHLMAN, CHAIRMAN OF REPUBLICAN PARTY: I'm confident, Wolf, we're going to make our majority in the House and the Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I think the American people are fed up with it. It's time for change. It's that simple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: John Mercurio, senior editor at "The National Journal's Hotline," joining us, as he does every Monday at this time.
John, good to have you back with us this morning.
JOHN MERCURIO, SR. EDITOR, "HOTLINE": Good to be here.
M. O'BRIEN: Yet another scandal in the news, a potential scandal. This one involving Congressman Curt Weldon. At what point does it -- what's critical mass here?
MERCURIO: Yes, that's a very good question. I mea, for a long time during this election year the conventional wisdom was that Democrats weren't going to be able to win back the House or the Senate unless they were able to sort of come up with their own contract with America, tell Americans what they were going to do.
They haven't really done that yet, and yet I still believe that the environment is so bad for Republicans at this point, they might not even have to before Election Day. I mean, you might see a Democratic majority come into Congress next year with very little idea of what they're going to do because of these Republican scandals.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, given -- when you see this pile of issues on that side, if the Democrats couldn't win this we're, can they win any year?
MERCURIO: That's a very good question. That's one I've been asking for a long time.
Yes, I mean, I think a lot of people thought that in 2004. Democrat -- Democratic partisans did, as well. There were so many sort of issues stacked up against President Bush at the time -- remember the economy wasn't very good, the war in Iraq wasn't going extremely well -- and yet, of course, John Kerry still lost.
Republicans still have some advantages we need to remember. They're very important.
Their fund-raising advantage is strong. And their "get out the vote" effort in 2002 and 2004, and during some of these Republican primaries tended to be extremely impressive. So there are still some institutional advantages I think that Republicans enjoy.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, if the right side of the party, the evangelical side that might be upset, particularly with the Foley controversy, stays home, is that enough for Democrats to prevail, or do they need to have their own efforts to turn out the vote on their side?
MERCURIO: Well, that's a very good question, and it's one we're not really going to know the answer to until Election Day. But what we have seen, as you just mentioned, is an extreme amount of disenchantment on the part of Christian conservatives, white evangelical voters, in reaction to this Foley scandal.
And as you mentioned Congressman Curt Weldon, a 10-term, 20-year incumbent in the House, now possibly under federal investigation. He denies it.
Also, reports over the weekend about the Republican chairman, Ken Mehlman, and his connections to Jack Abramoff. Also something he denies.
But still, so much, so many different layers of scandal going into this election year. It's very difficult at this point to see how Republicans prevail.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. What's the story of the week you'll be watching?
MERCURIO: Sort of interesting. We're talking a lot about 2006. There's a 2008 race just two years away, the White House campaign.
Last year, Democrats, some Democrats were upset when former Virginia governor Mark Warner decided not to run. A lot of Democrats think Hillary Clinton not able to win against John McCain. They need a red state governor. Mark Warner got out of the race, dashing some of their hopes.
On Friday, late Friday, in to Washington came another red state governor, Brian Schweitzer from Montana, who met with a couple people in Washington and really created some buzz that he might step into that -- that sort of Mark Warner void. He runs for re-election in two years, so it's unclear exactly what he's going to do, but there's an important Senate race in Montana. John Tester running against Conrad Burns. If John Tester, the Democrat, ends up winning, I think you're going to see a lot of people start talking about Brian Schweitzer in 2008.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. You heard it here first, Brian Schweitzer, Democratic governor of Montana, might be putting his cowboy hat in the ring. Who knows.
MERCURIO: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much.
MERCURIO: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: John Mercurio, senior editor for "The National Journal's Hotline".
For more on this or any other political story, log on to our Web site at cnn.com/ticker. AMERICAN MORNING back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Professor Welch, can I please get an A, huh? Jack Welch is going to college now, teaching class, and Andy Serwer is here to tell us about it.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Thank you, Miles.
He is teaching at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. That's the business school there. And, you know, kind of fun to have Jack Welch as your professor, I guess.
M. O'BRIEN: A great lecturer, don't you think?
SERWER: He would be. He's a very -- he's a great speaker, very engaging. However, if you're in the bottom tenth of the class, you're out. Well, that's what he's famous for.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, right.
SERWER: So he's teaching this class, eight sessions weekly, and 30 students in the class. The only book on the syllabus is "Winning," the book that he wrote with his wife.
And he talks a lot about turkeys. Management turkeys. "As long as the turkeys aren't being told they're turkeys they don't mind being there, but you have to tell them about it The earlier you let them in in their careers the better."
A lot of, you know, Jack Welchisms...
M. O'BRIEN: Welchisms.
SERWER: ... in terms of management.
M. O'BRIEN: Hard to get in that class, I bet.
SERWER: I bet it is.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: Another corporate honcho to tell you about and going on campuses. And this is Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney.
And, you know, he's low-key, he's conciliatory. So why would the students at Ithaca College want to protest him speaking there, particularly since he's an alumnus?
Well, last week he came there and spoke, and apparently there were some students there who were concerned about Walt Disney, their labor practices, their movie about 9/11. There was some protesting, but they let him come.
M. O'BRIEN: I guess you could call them Iger sanctions, maybe. SERWER: Yes, perhaps you could.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Andy Serwer. Back with more in a little bit.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: To you, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look at some of the stories on CNN.com.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav could be facing rape charges. One of Katsav's former employees says she was threatened of losing her job if she didn't have sex with him. Katsav denies it and says he's a victim of blackmail.
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