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London on Edge and Under a Terror Alert

Aired June 29, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins today.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.

We are keeping you informed about a major story out of London. Potential terror attack foiled. Police diffuse an explosive device in a car.

NGUYEN: Yes, officials say it could have caused considerable loss of life. And we have correspondents covering this story, in London, and in the U.S.

It is Friday, June 29, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Unfolding this hour, terror alert in London; a car packed with malice and positioned to kill and maim hundreds. Here's what we know.

Bomb teams safely diffuse today's threat and found the car loaded with more than 50 gallons of fuel. It also contained nails that could have been launched with deadly force. The car was abandoned in the heart of London, specifically outside a nightclub, near Piccadilly Circus.

Britain's anti-terror chief says the car bomb is very similar to a major Al Qaeda plot foiled in 2004, but officials say it's simply too early to make a connection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACQUI SMITH, HOME SECRETARY, BRITAIN: As the police and the security services have frequently said, we face one of the seriously sustained threats to our security at the moment. What I think is very important is that the public remains vigilant at all times. Obviously the police are investigating, and I think we should allow them to get on with that without undue speculation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: We do begin our coverage in the British capital. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is on the scene.

And Nic, the area is back open, a lot of focus will be on that car that was found overnight, smoke inside of it, and more importantly the rest of what it was packed with. That is what investigators will be looking at. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: They will. They'll be looking at the nails that were found in the trunk. They will be looking at the fuel, the gasoline that was found inside the vehicle. They'll be looking at the gas canisters to find out exactly what they contain.

There was a report earlier on that perhaps some mobile phones were found in the vehicle. They will of course examine those to see who perhaps who they belong to. They'll be looking at the closed- circuit camera footage from around the area. There are thousands, quite literally thousands of those cameras in the center of London.

Somebody was seen spotted running away from the vehicle in the early hours of the morning. The police will be looking for the person, as well, to try to track him down as quickly as possible.

The police have been appealing -- and the Home secretary here, and the prime minister -- all appealing for anyone that has any information to come forward. The police say information not just about what was going on in this theater district, in the early hours of Friday morning, but perhaps what was going on here Thursday evening.

Anyone who was here, going to a movies, going to a nightclub, going to a theater, spots anything suspicious. That's the appeal the police are making, quick information they believe is what will help track these people down, who are behind the attack, track them down quickly.

One man on the scene at the time said he was very shocked and surprised when he learned what was going on in the middle of the night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINSTON BECK, WITNES TO CAR BOMB: Well, I'm here because my car is trapped right over there, right opposite where the bomb -- the device was found.

We came out for the evening, you know, last night. And when we returned to get into our car, the officers said, no, the place was cordoned. They didn't tell us really at that stage what was going on.

So my brother called me, and he said he saw on the news about what is really going on. And that was a scary moment for me, you know? When I learned that there was such a device right opposite where I'm parked, you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Well, right now the police have found another suspect vehicle, that on Park Lane, they're now -- a section of that road, about a quarter of a mile long has been cordoned off from Marble Arch to Hyde Park, corner on Park Lane. Again, a very busy area, six lanes of roadway there closed off by the police.

They cannot say at this time if the two suspect vehicles -- or suspect vehicle found there, and the bomb that was found here -- if those two incidents are linked. But the police looking, because they're aware that these terrorist-type modus operandi in the past has been to have multiple attacks at and around the same time.

The police very aware of that. They've gone onto a higher state of vigilance here in London, they have more patrols out on the streets. They'll be talking to owners of nightclub owners about what they need to look out for.

But, right now, a second vehicle, on a stretch of road, about a mile from here, now under investigation, a suspect vehicle under investigation by the police, Betty.

NGUYEN: Nic, there are still so many questions and we'll learn a lot more within the coming hours and days. But I want to ask you this, has there been any claim of responsibility -- or has there been any kind of intelligence that would say that an attack was on its way or imminent?

ROBERTSON: Currently Britain is on its second-highest level of threat warning. Severe, is how it's characterized here. That means that the security services here believe that terrorists are not only able -- and they have the means, the wherewithal to carry out an attack, but also the intention to carry it out.

We heard late last year from the head of Britain's intelligence services, MI-5, at that time saying at she believed there were 30 different plots that were being tracked by the police, up to 2,000 individuals being tracked by the police. The head of the investigation here, Peter Clarke, told me this very recently. That they are tracking up to 2,000 people who they believe could be involved in terror plots.

So right now, the security services are stretched, they are aware of the threats, that the threat level is second at its second highest level. And they have been saying, Peter Clarke and other intelligence officials here, have been saying that another attack here in London of the similar scale and destruction of to the 7/7 attack two years ago, that killed 56 people, they've been saying, repeatedly, that another such type attack is very much on the cards, if you will, quite possibly to happen.

This one appears through quite a bit of luck, as it would appear to have been thwarted. There was an ambulance crew called to the nightclub in the early hours of the morning. Who saw a suspicious vehicle outside the nightclub. Thought they saw smoke or something similar inside, and called police.

It raises the question, what happened if that ambulance crew hadn't come? Would somebody have spotted the vehicle? Would it perhaps gone off? Would the bomb perhaps had gone off.

So that's the sequence of events, and very much intelligence services here, a high threat level, they do expect and have been expecting an attack or potential attack of this nature, Betty. NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson on the scene there where that car was found early this morning.

Nic, we thank you.

HARRIS: Right now let's get to T.J. Holmes in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And, T.J., big news out of the Supreme Court yesterday, and a still a couple of decisions this morning.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Yeah, well, a couple of surprises, actually, there, Tony.

We saw so many decisions from the court, to come down big news, but this is a kind of surprise move. Not a decision necessarily on a case just yet, but one that could have huge ramifications here.

The court has decided that they will hear the appeals of two -- hear two petitions from Guantanamo Bay detainees. Two different petitions of detainees who are challenging their confinement at that prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

This has been a long debate here, Guantanamo Bay, should these detainees be able to challenge their confinement? Should they be able to challenge it in U.S. courts?

Well, the court now, has agreed to hear the challenge of at least two at Guantanamo Bay, two detainees who are challenging whether or not they should be held -- and can be held there -- at that prison in confinement without being charged.

Now, the oral arguments for this will be held coming up in the fall. The court is about to head for a summer recess, so we have three months here that people will be milling over what's going to happen in court, when the arguments are heard. But this is a major decision by the court to go ahead and hear these cases.

This is something that the court has rejected in the past. In April the court actually refused to take on another case and decline to review whether detainees could go to federal court to challenge their confinement. But now the court has in a way here reversed, changed its mind and decided that it will in fact hear these cases from these detainees.

HARRIS: That is true.

HOLMES: This was a -- we didn't really expect this. Kind of a surprise move. We saw all those decision, like you said, Tone, in the past couple days. Several major ones but this is kind of a surprise, the last bit of business here, that people will be talking about for the next three months, until those -- those --

HARRIS: And T.J., it also opens the question if ultimately we get to the place where detainees will get an opportunity to challenge the very evidence that's being used against them to hold them at Guantanamo Bay.

HOLMES: And if they can do that.

HARRIS: The whole habeas claim.

HOLMES: And if they can do that in U.S. courts. That's been the big challenge and of course the president has been talking, I heard word, hey that we'd like to close Guantanamo Bay. We'd like to do that.

HARRIS: Yes.

HOLMES: There is a lot of debate about that, so here we go. This has been -- this is a big deal, big decision by the court. And it certainly came as a surprise today, Tone.

HARRIS: OK, T.J., appreciate it. Thank you.

And we are following another development in London. A section of road closed due to a suspicious vehicle. CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh is on the scene with more.

Alphonso, what can you tell us about the Park Lane area of London?

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can tell you if you know somebody that's trying to get into this vicinity, trying to get near Hyde Park, trying to get to the American Embassy, the Brazilian Embassy, they certainly need to make alternative plans. It is blocked off, there are officers out here, people are asking them the officers are telling them that there is a suspicious vehicle in the area.

These are unconfirmed reports at this time. Journalists in this neighborhood are waiting for a liaison officer to actually give us some solid, concrete information, but that's not doing much for the hundreds of construction workers, business people, tourists, all trying to get where they need to go, trying to finish their jobs.

You can probably hear the action around me, people just trying to get where they need to go at the end of the business day. It's packed down here; and there's not a lot of information. People want to know what's going on, Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Alfonso, give us a sense of how far Park Lane is from the say the Haymarket area, Piccadilly Circus?

MARSH: Sure. This is all Central London, very compact, very active area, especially coming into the weekend. It's only about two, three -- I'd say about a mile and a half, two miles to the locations you just mentioned. But if you're in a cab, plan on taking a couple of hours just trying to get from point A to point B.

As you mentioned, these are very, very compact, very close- together areas, all very popular. Hyde Park, especially on the weekends is a favorite place for people to go out and get some sun, frankly. It's a very compact city and not a lot of places have open spaces to kind of relax.

A lot of the construction workers, like the ones around me now, relaxing as it were, simply because they can't work. They can't get past these police lines to get into the buildings where they're doing their work. And there's been an absolute lack of information. People want to know what's going on.

HARRIS: So how close are you really, in proximity, how close are you to where the activity is taking place? And what physically, if anything, can you really see of that activity?

MARSH: That's not 100 percent clear at this point. Starting from Hyde Park and Park Lane, going all the way down -- we understand officers being told to block off streets all the way down to Piccadilly, that's a good section of street.

People here are coming up to the officers saying, what's happening? Why can't we go back into our offices? Why can't we go down the street? Why can't we go back to our hotel? Why can't we go to our construction site? And officers really don't have much to say.

HARRIS: OK. Alphonso Van Marsh for us on this second location of this investigation, now, the Park Lane area of London, central London.

Alphonso, thank you. Appreciate it.

NGUYEN: We want to get a little more perspective on the Supreme Court ruling today, dealing with those suspected of war crimes being held off U.S. soil, and how long can they be detained without charges. We want to bring in CNN's Jeffrey Toobin, our legal analyst, to talk about this. A lot of people when they look at this ruling, Jeffrey, say this is surprising.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANAYLST: It's surprising because just a few months ago the court decline to hear this precise case, but you have to remember the history here. Since 9/11, the Supreme Court has twice rejected the Bush administration's plans for dealing with the inmates at Guantanamo. Said they were not sufficiently protective of individual rights.

What makes this case somewhat interesting is, first of all, the court is different now. With Justice Alito (ph) and Chief Justice Roberts, it's a more conservative court, perhaps more sympathetic to the Bush administration.

But also the Bush administration is talking about closing Guantanamo, so this case may be a moving target. They -- the plans being evaluated may not be in existence anymore, when the case actually comes up for review, so it's hard to know which way this will go.

NGUYEN: And when we look at the legal ramifications of this, and the court battles that will ensue, we're talking about length of time, aren't we? TOOBIN: As always, the legal system works pretty slowly. So a lot of the plans for Guantanamo, a lot of what's happening on the ground at Guantanamo may change by the time this case is heard. This case will not be heard until October at the earliest. The Supreme Court is now done for the summer.

So there is no way the court will issue a decision probably much before the end of the year. By the end of the year, Guantanamo may be closed, so this case may become moot before it's decided.

HARRIS: So, Jeffrey, if you break this down -- really, I mean, do that for us, break this decision by this court down. What does it mean if you're sitting as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay right now, what does this mean for you? How has the landscape changed?

TOOBIN: Well, it is a somewhat more hopeful sign if you are sitting in Guantanamo. Just to look back to 2003, in 2003 the Bush administration said the people in Guantanamo are outside the legal system, they have no right to sue. The Supreme Court says, wrong, they do have the right to sue.

In 2005, they go back to the court and the Bush administration said these are the plans we have for their trials. The Supreme Court says, nope, not good enough, not accurate enough, Congress has to approve these plans anyway.

HARRIS: Right.

TOOBIN: Now Congress has approved the plans and those are the plans before the court now. The inmates say these plans are not good enough, not fair enough, don't give us enough rights to confront the evidence, to cross-examine. Now we'll see whether the Supreme Court thinks, for a third time, the Bush administration has failed.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin bringing some perspective to this new court ruling, dealing with Guantanamo Bay and the detainees there and their indefinite confinement. We'll see how long that will last.

HARRIS: Still to come this morning, in the NEWSROOM, London plot foiled, continuing coverage. Terrorist analyst Peter Bergen rejoins us in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Once again, let's give you a bit of a reset on our story this morning. London police and MI-5 are busy now investigating what appears to be, to everyone's consensus, it seems, a car bomb, uncovered intact, at Lester Square, Piccadilly Circus, in the overnight hours of Thursday night, Friday morning, in central London.

A second front has been opened on the investigation now. This is the Park Lane -- that's the original location there, of Piccadilly Circus. This is the second front, you're looking now at I believe -- is that the place? Maybe not. That's certainly the Park Lane -- oh, it's in the distance, OK. It's the Park Lane area of London right now. A second front on this investigation has opened up. London police are investigating a suspicious vehicle.

Let's bring in our CNN Terrorism Analyst Peter Bergen; he joins us from our Washington bureau. Peter, this second location, this Park Lane area, of central London, makes you think of a couple things, doesn't it?

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, it's just not far from where the fist bomb was found, maybe a mile. Suddenly British police are concerned about multiple targeting, the July 7th, 2005, involved four different targets in central London.

The 7/21 plot two weeks later, the unsuccessful plot, also involved four different targets. So if, indeed, there is either an Al Qaeda-directed operation or Al Qaeda-inspired operation, one of the signatures, of course, is more than one target.

HARRIS: Peter, talk to us about the issue, the problem in London of home-grown terrorism. How radicalized would you suggest, and we don't want to over-generalize, is the significant Muslim community in London?

BERGEN: Well, it's a very different picture than in the United States, Tony.

In the United States, American Muslims are just higher educated, better educated than most Americans. They tend to have higher income, higher this is not a radical group, they don't live in sort of effectively ghettos, as is the case in some parts of London where you have low incomes, not particularly well educated. I'm not talking about all British Muslims, obviously.

HARRIS: Sure.

BERGEN: But if you poll the question, astonishingly a year after the 7/7 attacks in London, a poll was conducted, and quite a significant number of British Muslims said the attack in London were justifiable. Well, you can't do that kind of polls here in the United States. American Muslims don't hold these kinds of views.

So, you have a more militant population, and also, the other thing, of course is you have 400,000 British citizens go to Pakistan every year, Tony. Of 0.01 percent of those go to a training camp, you have 40 people in training. Unfortunately a number of young British men have gone from not only London to other cities around Britain for training in Pakistan with Kashmiri troops or Al Qaeda, and it is that training allows them to create the bombs that either blow up, as was the case on 7/7, or not, in this case.

HARRIS: How effective has the outreach effort been to this disaffected community, to the extent that it is, in building a sense of one Britain?

BERGEN: Well, that's an excellent question. The British police have something called the Muslim Contact Unit. They're very, very involved with the community. There are important Muslim community leaders who are working with the government, working with the police, trying to identify militants. And so certainly, there's that operation under way, but the largest question is, unlike in the United States, where there's an American dream that people can really subscribe to, there really isn't a British dream, as yet. There is certainly European Union dream that I'm aware of.

So you don't have this idea that you have in the United States, of really integrating when you arrive. In Britain, you can really live a sort every parallel life, in a sort of Muslim communities where, you know, the mosque, the school, the Hallal (ph) butcher, and you almost don't participate in mainstream British society.

Not that -- you know, everybody recognizes that has to change, including, of course, many people in the Muslim community, who are integrated. But it's this idea of creating a -- what you call a one Britain that is very important.

Of course, the problem is not just in Britain, this is also true in France, Germany, Spain, European countries with major Muslim populations who aren't being integrated. You may recall those riots in France, the disaffected Muslim youth.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

BERGEN: You may recall the attack on the Theo Van Gogh, The Dutch filmmaker who was assassinated by a second-generation Dutch Muslim. You, of course, recall the attack in March of 2004 in Madrid that killed 191 people, by mostly second-generation Spanish Muslims, who did that attack.

So, yeah, this is a European-wide problem. We're lucky in the United States we don't have the same problems to the same degree. Of course, there are home-grown militants. We have seen some cases, there is the in Miami, you may recall, and other places, but it's just a very different kind of situation than it is in Britain.

HARRIS: Our CNN Terrorism Analyst Peter Bergen, with us from Washington. Peter, great to talk with you. Thanks for your insight on this.

BERGEN: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Let's give you some more information now, because today's discoveries in London comes just a week before a tragic anniversary. July 11th marks the second anniversary of the London transport bombings. Now, in that series of attacks, four suicide bombers killed 52 bus and subway passengers. All four bombers were British and Muslim.

Now, two weeks later, British police say they foiled a second wave of attacks in London. They say four men, again, were targeting a bus and three underground stations.

This weekend on CNN's "Special Investigations Unit," on the heels of a potential terror attack in the heart of London, CNN's Christiane Amanpour uncovers terror's surprising new breeding ground, where young British Muslims are being transformed to extremism. Don't want to miss it. It's Saturday and Sunday night at 8 Eastern.

HARRIS: And in London, police are reviewing just hours and hours of city surveillance tape right now from the city surveillance system, the CCTV, closed-circuit television system there, trying to identify a suspect. Who parked that car so very near the Tiger Tiger nightclub on Thursday night, Friday morning, with so many people on the streets? A car that we now know was loaded with gas and some kind of a detonation system, also nails.

When we come back, we'll talk to Sandra Bell, director of Homeland Security for the Royal United Services Institute. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. It has been a very, very busy day here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Thanks for being with us.

NGUYEN: Let's get you to the news right now, because unfolding this hour, a terror alert in London. A potentially deadly car bomb has been found. Just a short time ago, look at these pictures, another development, police say a stretch of road near Buckingham Palace has been closed due to a suspicious vehicle. There's no word on whether it's related to the car bomb discovery.

Let's take you to that car, though, packed with fuel and nails. It was abandoned outside a busy nightclub. And ambulance crew responding to a call noticed smoke coming from the car. It's the Mercedes there, you see by the terror alert sign.

Now, explosives experts were called in to disable it. And police say if it had exploded, the outcome could have been disastrous, and that has Londoners and visitors on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came in today to visit some friends for the Canada Day at Trafalgar Square, woke up this morning, and my flat mate said, oh, there's a big bomb scare in central London right across from where 12,000 people are going to be today. It was kind of eye opening. London, you expect to be safe, and all of a sudden a bomb scare kind of puts things on edge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: London on edge and under a terror alert. Developments still unfolding following the discovery of a car packed with fuel and nails outside of a busy nightclub.

Sandra Bell is director of homeland security for the Royal United Services Institute. It's a thinktank. She joins us from London with some perspective. Sandra, great to talk with you. Talk to us about what you think worked in today's case. It sounds like the vigilance message is being heeded.

SANDRA BELL, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INST.: Absolutely. What we see this morning was actually a good news message. What seems to have happened was that a very vigilant paramedic actually spotted something suspicious, knew there was a system in place whereby he could phone in, or she could phone it in, and they knew also that would actually be responded to, and we have within London explosive ordinance, disposal officers who can get to such events very quickly and make safe such devices.

I think really the message that we should learn from this morning is that we all need to be as vigilant as that paramedic, we all need to look out, see any suspicious activity and trust and have the confidence in the system that we have to defuse these things.

HARRIS: To what extend do Londoners feel like they are under assault?

BELL: Listening to your report earlier, my office is just a couple hundred yards away from the Haymarket itself, and I have to say, we're business as usual. I think most Londoners are very much business as usual. This is something that we're used to. We know there's a system in place. We have the confidence, you know, in our police forces, in our explosive ordinance disposal. Yes, it is a threat, but again it's a threat if we live in an open society, it's a threat that we have to live with.

HARRIS: Well, how secure do you feel in your security systems and apparatus. If you look back to the 7/7 attack just about two years ago, people were killed. That is an attack that, to some extent, was successful.

BELL: Indeed that was a successful attack. But I think all countries now, we live in an environment now where there's a whole host of people that wish to cause harm to our society and people for a whole host of different reasons, and there are means available, such as vehicle-borne explosive ordinance devices, that can be used, you know, to those ends. That's simply what we live with. We're not going to be able to get rid of it. You can't eradicate it anywhere, again, because you can't close down society completely, and so therefore everyone has to play their part in being vigilant in order to be able to stop these things. Again, it was a fantastic good news story this morning.

HARRIS: Yes. All right, well, let's leave it there. Sandra Bell, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

BELL: Thank you.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Robin Oakley reporting from Downing Street, London. I'll have the latest on the car bomb and the political reactions, coming up live on CNN NEWSROOM. GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Gerri Willis. The FDA is putting new restrictions on seafood. What does it mean for you? We'll tell you, up next in top tips in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We are continuing following the investigation as a car bomb was found very early this morning in the heart of the Theater District, the Haymarket area of London. It was not detonated, though smoke was coming out of that vehicle, and many are calling it a very lucky find.

Nonetheless, the bomb scare poses a major security challenge for Britain's brand-new prime minister.

CNN's Robin Oakley joins us live from Downing Street.

And, Robin, What a way for Prime Minister Gordon to start his new job.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And it's not only the London traffic really that has been thrown into chaos by this security alert, it has snagged up the political process, too, a stark reminder for Gordon Brown of the harsh realities of modern politics. His very first day in office, while he's putting his cabinet together, three more British troops killed in Iraq. The first day that his ministers start doing their jobs, including the new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, then we get this major security alert.

Gordon Brown was out himself early today, urging the British public to take real care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We face a serious and continued security threat to our country. We should allow the police to investigate this incident and then report to us, but this incident does recall the need for us to be vigilant at all times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OAKLEY: It has really diverted the business of today's cabinet, because Gordon Brown wanted to launch his big new program to rebuild trust in the government and in the political process in Britain. Constitutional changes he's got planned and will announce on Monday. Instead, ministers have spent most of their time being briefed by the new home secretary, following her meeting with all the security chiefs in the Cobra (ph) security committee. So it's been a diversion of the political process, and it will preoccupy parliamentarians for some time ahead, Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, you know, it's not just one incident, because we're looking at another one as well. Don't know if there's any connection right now. There has not been any official connection, but there's another vehicle, a suspicious vehicle, that investigators are looking at. Talk to us about where that is, what kind of vehicle are we talking about, and how close that is to the car bomb that was found early this morning.

OAKLEY: Well, I'm not seeing pictures here in Downing Street of what's going on in Park Lane, but we do know that there's another suspect vehicle being reported there. Park Lane is a very smart, swanky road with some very posh hotels, and it's stretching along from the corner of Hyde Park to Big Green Park in the center of London, to Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace, quite near the Hyde Park Corner, and where the queen lives. And there is another suspect vehicle there. We have no confirmation yet at to whether it actually represents a danger or not, because the politicians, Gordon Brown and the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, have been urging the public to be vigilant, to report anything they're suspicious about. Obviously, the police and the security authorities have to investigate anything that is reported to them that could be a risk now, so we're likely to get quite a few incidents of roads being closed down, vehicles being examined. It doesn't necessarily mean that every one of those is going to turn out to be some kind of terrorist atrocity or security incident, Betty.

NGUYEN: Well Robin, we have been looking at live pictures and now we're looking at a Google map of the area. And when we talk about Park Lane, again, we don't know what is in this vehicle, why it is so suspicious, but if this was to be something that folks were using to target maybe landmarks or soft targets, tell us what surrounds this Park Lane area.

OAKLEY: Well, around the Park Lane area, you've got some very big hotels where a lot of tourists coming to London would stay, some very smart restaurants where they'd be eating out and bars where they'd be drinking.

If you were to detonate a bomb in that kind of area, firstly, people would recognize that it was near to Buckingham Palace, it would have a symbolic value in that way, near to Hyde Park, which is the lungs of London where everybody goes out to enjoy themselves. So it, of course would be significant in terms of public morale if there were to be a bomb detonated in an area like that, but it is very early days for us to be considering that.

The interesting thing was though that Gordon Brown, when he spoke out this morning, urged the public to be vigilant for some days ahead. That argues that the briefings that the Cobra Security Committee had been conducting could have been suggesting that this was not just an isolated incident, the first car bomb that was found outside the Tiger Tiger Nightclub.

But it could be a possibility as we found in the other coups (ph) attempted plots that have been discovered, that there have been multi- faceted targets, that people have been going after more than one target at a time, as indeed nearly two years ago with the London Underground subway bombs where there were four separate incidents that led to the loss of 52 lives, Betty.

NGUYEN: Good information, but at this time, as you say Robin, we are still waiting to learn exactly why this vehicle is suspicious in nature, and as soon as we get that, of course we'll bring it to the viewers. Robin, thank you.

HARRIS: And there's another big story as we continue to keep an eye obviously, on the situation, with the latest developments out of London. But another important story that we want to bring you the latest information on. First, it was toxic toothpaste and toys. Now, seafood from China added to a growing list of tainted or defective goods from China.

The FDA has announced it is blocking five types of seafood imported from China. They may be contaminated. The FDA issued an import alert against Chinese catfish, eel, shrimp, basa and dace. This after repeated testing show the foreign seafood may be contaminated with drugs and unsafe food additives. Officials say the seafood does not pose an immediate health risk, but eating them over a long period of time could cause serious health problems.

So, how can you protect yourself? Here with tips, CNN Personal Finance Expert Gerri Willis.

Gerri, good to see you. You're in Scarsdale, New York.

GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hey, Tony. I am indeed, I'm ...

HARRIS: Gerri -- no, go ahead.

WILLIS: I'm at the Eastchester fish gourmet store.

HARRIS: OK.

WILLIS: And as you can see, there's a ton of fish right here -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Gerri -- great, that we can actually see the display case there, but here's the real question, what is it that people need to do right now about this seafood scare?

WILLIS: Well, let's start with some of the facts, Tony.

HARRIS: Great (ph).

WILLIS: You know, you mentioned the fish that are at question here, but what you need to understand is what additives there are in these fish that are such concern. They're antimicrobials, they're essentially additives, drugs that are put in to allow the fish to grow illness-free, disease-free, and they grow faster and obviously they make more money for the fishmongers, but the FDA is saying hey, we're going to stop those at the border unless you can prove they're safe. And I got to tell you, Tony, they've been investigating this at the FDA for six years.

HARRIS: Whoah.

WILLIS: They've issued two alerts. And finally, today, they're saying, no more. HARRIS: All right, so how do you know -- I'm trying to figure this out -- how do you know if you might already have this fish in your freezer? Is it labeled such?

WILLIS: Well, you know, look, you know, we're in this store here, obviously, if you're picking out fish today, you probably be asking some pretty serious questions ...

HARRIS: Yes.

WILLIS: ...but I got to tell you, there are no reports of illness to date, no recalls. The FDA is saying you should go ahead and eat any of these fish you have in your freezer right now.

HARRIS: Great.

WILLIS: Remember, the problem with these fish is that they're not going to make you sick in the next two hours and send you to the hospital. The problem is, in laboratory animals -- and this is why the FDA has banned their use here in the U.S. ...

HARRIS: Sure.

WILLIS: ...is that over time, they've killed lab animals because of cancer, and that is the concern.

HARRIS: Got you, so right now, if you have it in your freezer, you're OK with it in your freezer, and you can go ahead and eat it, just to sort of recap where we are with this.

WILLIS: Right, you absolutely can, Tony. You can go ahead and eat it. I wouldn't blame you if you tossed it, I can understand that ...

HARRIS: Got you.

WILLIS: ...but what you should do, take that box, take that fish that's wrapped in cellophane or if you've got whole fish like we see here, ask questions. Look on the label, the label should tell you the country of origin for that fish, and your fishmonger, too, they can also tell you where the fish is from, because it comes in boxes, they're always marked with where they're from.

So, ask some serious questions today and make sure you're not buying these Chinese fish, because they're not recalling it. It's still for sale in grocery stores across the country -- Tony.

WILLIS: Great information for us. Gerri, appreciate it as always. Good to see you.

WILLIS: Good to see you.

NGUYEN: And in the meantime, are you desperately seeking an iPhone?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the next generation, it's the future, I need it in my pocket. I'm crazy like that. I need it, I have to have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Do you really need it?

HARRIS: Oh man.

NGUYEN: Come on, do you need it or do you want it? The moment of truth just hours away.

JACKI SCHECHNER, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Jackie Schechner in Washington. We are keeping an eye online. We'll show you the latest images and information streaming in when NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And once again, London police, as we give you an update on this breaking, developing story here in the CNN NEWSROOM: London police and the MI-5, the MI-5 being roughly the equivalent of the FBI here in the United States, are busy now investigating what appears to be, virtually by consensus now, a car bomb uncovered intact at Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, that was Thursday night.

Friday morning, the investigation has moved to a second front now where investigators are looking into a suspicious car at the Park Lane area of central London. But if you go back to the Leicester Square/Piccadilly Circus location, that is a location that is often compared to Manhattan and New York City and Times Square.

A short time ago, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked for his comments about this terror scare in London.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

NYC MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: We will have our police officer give us a full report, because you want to know what happened, what techniques, if there were techniques that somebody was using and make sure that we are prepared.

And we'll take a little bit of extra precaution, although, you know, we have a lot of police officers on the road anyways, trying to make sure people don't drink and drive. We have extra police officers on duty this week to keep fireworks out of the hands of kids that can blow off a finger or take out an eye, or even worse, so we're going to ramp up a little bit, not -- nothing dramatic. Yes, some you will notice, some you won't, but we're cognizant of all this.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HARRIS: So a bit of a stepped-up security effort over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg there reacting to the news of the terror scare in London on WABC Radio in New York.

NGUYEN: Well, the Internet, Tony, is just abuzz over this latest terror scare, and we are watching that activity unfold.

So joining us now from Washington, CNN Internet Correspondent Jacki Schechner with a look at how this is affecting traffic.

SCHECHNER: Well, Betty, what I wanted to show you is we were taking a look at TrafficLand cameras to just get an idea of what area we were talking about. And here, you can see the Park Lane area. There happens to be a TrafficLand camera at the marble arch intersection, also at Hyde Park Corner.

So we were checking on these cameras throughout the morning, and as it turns out, the cameras have now been taken off-line. We are talking to TrafficLand to find out if they were intentionally taken off-line. But it was around the time that this information was reported. The same thing happened this morning with the Piccadilly Circus area, so we're taking a look to see if they are taking a closer look at that area and trying to do it off-line, out of the public eye a little bit.

As for the images that we're seeing online come in throughout the morning, obviously this incident in Piccadilly Circus happened overnight, so the images were late to come in, but we see these on- line from a man who calls himself "Snapper Jack." I corresponded with him this morning, he says that he is an artist, a photographer for "I- Spy" magazine. And you can see here, this is the tent where the car with the device in it was kept as they were investigating.

Then as the morning went on, it got a little brighter, you can see the hubbub and the activity. These photographs come from a man named Olivier Laurant (ph). He posted them online also at flicker.com, the group photo blog. He says he works about 50 meters from where the scene was, and that he tried to get to work this morning about 9:30 London time, and he couldn't because of all the activity.

You can see the blue tent in the background. What you'll also notice is the truck. This happens to be the truck that they loaded that car onto eventually, and Olivier got a really nice picture of that truck as it was driving away. You can see the amount of activity that was circulating online. They put that car on the truck, and then coming up here is that photograph of the truck as it left the scene.

I spoke to Olivier about what the mood was surrounding all of this activity, and he said basically that his friends were mostly relieved at this point, that many of his co-workers had gone home, knowing that they couldn't get into work, and they were watching the news, but it was a general sense of relief, he said, in the London area.

Now, of course, we have the second incident we're looking into, so it'll be interesting to see how the day progresses, Betty.

NGUYEN: We of course will be watching it all. Jacki Schechner joining us. Thank you, Jacki, for that.

SCHECHNER: Of course (ph).

NGUYEN: And this weekend on CNN's "Special Investigations Unit," on the heels of a potential terror attack in the heart of London, CNN's Christiane Amanpour uncovers terror's surprising new breeding ground where young British Muslims are being transformed to extremism. You don't want to miss it. It's Saturday and Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern. You will get a preview of Christiane's special.

That is ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Time now to show you some new video, as we are watching London deal with a couple of investigations today. One, a car bombing that was found in the -- a car bomb I should say, it did not detonate, which is the good news -- found in the Haymarket Theatre district as smoke coming out the passenger side of that vehicle.

And inside the vehicle, here is what is so very interesting: there was propane, also nails, and apparently some kind of detonation device for there to be smoke inside the vehicle. Well, that car has been loaded up and under investigation to determine exactly why it was placed there and who placed it there.

Also, we're looking at this scene as well, this is a live scene, a stretch of road near Buckingham Palace has been closed due to a suspicious vehicle. This is Park Lane, and it was closed from Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch, if you're familiar with the area. Don't know if there's any connection between these two vehicles, don't know exactly why this vehicle is considered suspicious.

But of course, all of this is very new and we're learning much more as the hours go by, and we'll stay on top of the investigations going on in Britain today. So you want to keep it right here on CNN.

HARRIS: How about this? The ticktock, count down to the iPhone, Apple's got-to-have-it tech toy goes on sale tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time. Well, I guess 6:00 p.m. everywhere, depending on your time zone.

NGUYEN: True.

HARRIS: Eager techies have been camped out all week for "I got it" bragging rights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has so many features, and it's going to blow past every other cell phone in the market.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you conceive of it, if you think of it as a combination Motorola Razr, Apple iPod and Blackberry, I think you're getting a pretty good deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been dreaming about this phone, I want -- I need this phone, I need it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's so cool about this phone (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's -- it's the next generation, it's the future. I need it in my pocket. I'm crazy like that. I need it, I have to have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Dreaming about it?

NGUYEN: Need it. That -- the operative word is need. I don't think so.

HARRIS: Baby, you need to get a life here, if you're dreaming about a phone. The wireless wonder, Betty, it's not cheap. It'll cost between $500 and $600 a pop ..

NGUYEN: Woo-hoo!

HARRIS: ...and come on camera here, come on camera here. Customers will be limited to just two, you can get (ph).

NGUYEN: And don't look for us to show you one, because we don't have them.

HARRIS: We can't afford them.

NGUYEN: This is true.

All right, well, speaking of money, stocks appear to have shrugged off the news out of London today. Stephanie Elam is at the New York Stock Exchange with details on that.

Hi there, Stephanie.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

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