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Police Arrest London Bombing Attempt Suspects; NASA: Shuttle Damage Minor; Frist Parts Ways with Bush on Stem Cell Research; Congress Considers Law Targeting Meth Makers; Ump Demands English Only on Little League Field
Aired July 29, 2005 - 14:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," dramatic pictures from London as police arrest two men suspected of planting bombs on the city's transit system July 21st. The bombs failed to go off. Another man wanted in connection with the plot was arrested by Italian police in Rome. A fourth suspect is already in custody.
NASA officials convene a special team to investigate once again foam problems on the shuttle's external fuel tank. Engineers say a small piece of foam may have hit the wing of Discovery during liftoff. Photographs show the shuttle's protective tiles has about 25 dings in it. Discovery is set to return to Earth next weekend.
The day after Labor Day. That's when Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts are set to begin. Republican senators hope he will get through the process and sworn in before the court begins its new term on October 3rd.
And more money for veterans. The Senate approves a $1.5 billion increase for veterans' healthcare. Programs have been strained by all the wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus, the fact the administration has repeatedly miscalculated the healthcare needs of veterans.
Their faces have haunted Londoners for eight days now. Four men police say were responsible for a failed terror attack on London this month. Now all the would-be suspected bombers are in custody. Three are under arrest in Britain. One was captured in Italy.
The developments come after a massive anti-terrorism operation in London today. But British police say their work is far from over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER CLARKE, METROPOLITAN POLICE: Despite the progress that has been made with the investigation, we must not be complacent. The threat remains and is very real. The public must be watchful and alert. I would like to reassure the public that we are doing all we can to keep you safe. We do, therefore, continue with our appeal for any information concerning the four men whose images we released earlier in the investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Cameras were rolling during the dramatic police action today in London. They captured some tense moments at an apartment building where two of the arrests were made.
ITN's James Mates has the pictures and story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES MATES, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment the police close in on the suspected Hackney bus bomber. The sound of shots is almost certainly tear gas rounds being fired into the flat from a top floor balcony. Shortly you'll see wafts of gas blowing back out of the now open door.
Eyewitnesses spoke of hearing voices at this time inside the flat, shouting at men to take their clothes off and come outside.
On a balcony two floors below police wearing gas mask are trying to get into another flat. It appears to be empty. But right in the middle of an operation to capture men who'd already tried to blow themselves up, a child appears. Apparently attracted by the police dog, he wants to talk to the officer.
But it gets worse. Another child comes out on the balcony. It's a policing nightmare. The very real possibility of an explosion at any time and children are around. Eventually an adult appears but still followed by the children the officer is force odd to give up his attempted entry.
Two floors above, two men, naked at least from the waist up, have been ordered at gunpoint out on to the balcony there at the top of the screen. The man on the left appears to be following orders to lower his trousers. Both men seem to be suffering from the effects of gas.
The sound of shouted orders from the police can be heard, though the words are hard to make out. The identity of the man on the right, the first to be turned around and taken away, is unknown. But police sources have told ITV News they believe him to be the man who tried to explode a device on a train near Oval tube station in south London.
The man on the left is believed to be and bears a striking resemblance to the photographs of Muktar Said Ibrahim. He's alleged to have attempted to blow up himself and the No. 26 bus in Hackney on July 21.
An armed policeman covering every move, he is then ordered to approach and turn around. Ibrahim was born in East Africa, coming to this country as a child. Despite having served more than two years in jail as a violent criminal he was given British citizenship less than a year ago.
As Ibrahim was led away, police are confident that eight days after these men tried but failed to put brutal carnage to London's transport system, they are and their accomplices are now safely in custody.
James Mates, ITV News.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Let's take another look at the dramatic events in London leading up to today's arrest. Reporter Paul Davis of ITN was in the neighborhood as police swooped in. Here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL DAVIS, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hunting down the bombers after the biggest investigation the Metropolitan Police has ever launched the net was tightening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move back, please.
DAVIS: Specialist units of police officers with guns, gas masks and body armor moved quickly into this district of West London, and the people who normally live here were moved out told their lives could be in danger if they stayed.
The police had surrounded a block of flats, K block on the Peabody Estates. The men they were looking for were on the top floor. Soon after armed officers had entered the building the first of a series of controlled explosions was heard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!
My son is in there.
DAVIS: "My son is in there." A distraught woman tries to contact family and friends believed to be inside the cordon. Some residents then emerge from the flats, children still in pajamas, evacuated during the shooting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was one explosion. Four rounds of shooting, our count, any way of like machine gun. So it was shots -- but in the space of time (ph).
DAVIS: And the shooting hadn't stopped, as we discovered as we tried to approach the back of the building.
(on camera) It's not -- it's not exactly clear what it is but we now heard four shots coming from the direction of the flats over there. The police are moving everybody out in a hurry. They don't want people here. They're worried about being in line of sight of whatever is happening but just around the corner.
(voice-over) We now know from these exclusive pictures what was happening around the corner. Two men, would be bombers we're told, were being persuaded to give themselves up. A resident who heard the exchange from the police says the officers addressed one man by the name Mohammed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He needs to come out of the flat with your underwear on and your arms up in the air. He was then saying to them, "How do I know you're not going to shoot me? I'm scared. How am I going to know that you're not going to shoot me?" And he kept repeating that.
They were saying if he actually followed, you know, followed their guidelines, followed their rules, he'll be all right.
Then he said to them, "Why do you want me to come out with just my underwear on? Why?"
"You need to come out into the street with your underwear on so that we know that you haven't got any explosives."
DAVIS: A few hundred yards away now evacuated residents waited in the street. But it was clear the immediate danger was over. The armed police and the men they'd been hunting had left. But the end of a truly dramatic operation.
Paul Davis, ITV News, West London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Staying the course in space. NASA officials say they're not even considering the possibility of needing a rescue mission to fetch the Space Shuttle Discovery team at this time. They say there is no indication that Discovery sustained any damage of concern during launch despite, images that may show a piece of foam striking the orbiter's right wing.
CNN's John Zarrella joins us now live from the Johnson Space Center in Texas with the latest.
Hi, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.
That's exactly right. The Shuttle Discovery looks like it's in really good shape. So for the first time in a couple of days NASA has something to smile about here at the Johnson Space Flight Center.
In fact, that good news came in increments this morning during a three-hour look at the belly of the Space Shuttle Discovery. What they did was use -- two of the astronauts took the shuttle's robot arm, and on that robot arm they grabbed what is a series of sensors, of lasers and cameras. Lifted that up and then maneuvered the whole thing underneath the belly of the shuttle.
And they began to take images, close-up images of those sensitive tiles, so sensitive and critical for a safe re-entry into the earth's atmosphere at the end of the mission.
And after three hours of looking at six different areas, they found that, for the most part, everything was tremendously clean. The mission managers, during a press briefing this afternoon, were saying that, unfortunately, all of this talk about the debris being shed from the external tank, the issues resolving around that, have taken away from what so far has been a great flight for the Discovery team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL ENGELAUF, MISSION OPERATIONS: This mission is going extremely well in terms of the crew operations, the flight control team, and the execution of the planned activities. It's unfortunate with the external tank, that I think it's overshadowing, maybe, some of the bright spots that are going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: Now, given the possibility that, because of the external tank's issues, that the shuttle could be grounded for an extended period of time, there is some talk that, perhaps, they may stay on orbit an extra day, that extra day giving them time to stay docked to the International Space Station, get some house cleaning things done, and anything that they can do better while the space shuttle and those extra astronauts are there. That is still a possibility.
And now tomorrow morning, 4:44 a.m., two of the shuttle astronauts will begin the first of three spacewalks. And at the very beginning of that spacewalk, they are going to take a quick test of different procedures, perhaps being able to repair in space broken tiles in the future -- Tony.
HARRIS: CNN's John Zarrella. John, thank you.
An unexpected split on Capitol Hill today as Senate majority leader Bill Frist bucks the White House and says he will support a bill to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
CNN's Dana Bash on Frist's change of heart and how the Bush administration is responding.
Hi, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.
Well, unexpected indeed. In fact, the president, his aides didn't know anything about this until late yesterday when the president was on the phone with Senator Frist and Senator Frist essentially gave him a heads up that he was going to be taking to the Senate floor this morning to part ways with him on this incredibly controversial issue. And that is federal funding for stem cell research.
The president told Senator Frist in the conversation, quote, "You have to vote your conscience."
There you see Senator Frist actually here with the president this morning. Senator Frist is a staunch ally of President Bush, a physician, of course, who was instrumental in helping President Bush craft this policy four years ago, this policy for limiting federal funding or limited funding for stem cell research. That was done for the very first time.
There has been an effort on Capitol Hill to expand that. The president has said very clearly he would veto that. What Senator Frist did this morning is explain he disagrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, human embryonic stem cell research is still at a very, very early stage. The limitations that were put in place in 2001 will, over time, slow our ability to bring potential new treatments for certain diseases. Therefore, I believe the president's policy should be modified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now what Senator Frist says is the problem is that, when this policy was devised four years ago, the thought was that there were 78 so called stem cell lines to do this kind of research with federal funding, but it turns out there are fewer, only 22. And as Senator Frist said, many of those lines are believed to be contaminated.
Now, that is an argument that the president has heard before. At the White House today, they say, still, the president is not changing his position.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The decision the president made was addressing taxpayer dollars. The president does not believe we should be using taxpayer dollars for or to support the further destruction of human life. That's where he set the line. Now, there's no prohibition on the private sector research goes on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, the White House is trying to put the best face on this, trying to emphasize where the White House and Senator Frist have common ground on this issue, like wanting more ethical and moral implications here, really focusing on the moral and ethical implications here.
But I can tell you, Tony, what the White House wanted to be talking today was something that Senator Frist helped them with which, which is a series of legislative accomplishments this week like trade -- like a highway bill and other things. But instead the White House is talking about why they are now at odds with Senator Frist on a very, very key issue.
HARRIS: Try though you might, sometimes you just can't control the message. Dana Bash at the White House. Dana, thank you.
A federal bill to prevent legal drugs being used to make illegal ones would change the way you buy cold medicine. We've got details on that, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
And Little League language barriers. Some are crying foul after an umpire calls for English only on the field.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: On Capitol Hill, it's all over but the signing. Congress gave final approval today to the $14.5 billion energy bill. It's next stop, the Oval Office and very likely, the president's signature. The measure cruised through the house yesterday and through the Senate this morning by an equally wide margin.
Not everyone is on board, though. Critics of the bill say it's an early Christmas gift to the oil industry.
And the full Senate is debating a bill that could impact your next visit to the drugstore. The so called Combat Meth Bill, if passed, would limit your access to certain over the counter cold medicines.
CNN's Ed Lavandera explains why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RANDY MCQUAY, FORMER METH ADDICT: You bet.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The drive we're taking around Oklahoma City is a familiar journey for Randy McQuay (ph).
MCQUAY: You just hit these little out of the way ones. It didn't matter.
LAVANDERA: He used to cook his own methamphetamines. Getting what he needed to make the lethal drug was as easy as making a run to the convenience store.
(on camera) Two little stops you could hit up here real quick.
MCQUAY: Oh, yes. You know, you could get a half dozen over here and go over here and get a half dozen more. And just, I mean, all in this one little area.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): At the top of the shopping list, over the counter medicines containing pseudoephredrine, found in many cold and allergy medicines, such as Sudafed, NyQuil and Tylenol Cold. It's also the main ingredient in making meth.
But last year Oklahoma cracked down, requiring that people buy pseudoephredrine only at pharmacies, show identification, and enter their name in a registry. And the law also limits how much you can buy.
Now Congress is considering legislation that would apply most of these restrictions nationwide.
Recovering meth addict Randy McQuay says the law will make a difference.
MCQUAY: Anything that we can do to make it tougher, that's what we need to do. Because there's too much kids dying from this stuff. I mean, I've seen too many of them die.
LAVANDERA: McQuay has seen it in his own life. His 16-year-old son Josh was killed in a car crash on a night that he was using meth. McQuay says at the time he was too busy getting himself high to notice his son was using the drug, too.
MCQUAY: He wanted to be just like me, and he was. Turned out an addict just like I was.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Oklahoma is one of 20 states with strict controls on pseudoephredrine sales. The law is credited with forcing thousands of meth labs out of business.
Oklahoma authorities say they busted 120 labs in the month before the law went into effect here and only nine in the last month. They say fewer labs are now operating.
(voice-over) Retail and drug companies had pushed for uniform rules across the country, but the federal legislation allows states to make more restrictive laws if they choose to. For example, the federal plan would not require people to go to pharmacies for pseudoephredrine, as is the case in places like Oklahoma and Iowa.
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: I'm in favor of a national standard, but it ought to be a bottom line standard. If any state wants to be more restrictive, we ought to allow the states to be more restrictive.
LAVANDERA: Randy McQuay sent eight years hooked on meth. He says controlling access to meth ingredients is only part of the solution.
MCQUAY: If we get rid of the addict and treat them, the dealers aren't going to have anybody to sell their stuff to.
LAVANDERA: McQuay's meth days ended the moment an Oklahoma sheriff busted him cooking the drug up in his barn. Instead of prison McQuay successfully completed a state treatment program. Still working on his problem, he says the meth control legislation is a good start but not enough to stop other addicts dying the way his son did.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Oklahoma City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Listen to this. An umpire orders a Little League coach to stop shouting instructions to a player. The reason: the coach was speaking Spanish. The story of the controversial call, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Fierce opposition from members of Congress may have driven a Chinese energy company away from a big takeover target. Kathleen Hays has the story live from the New York Stock Exchange.
Hi, Kathleen.
(STOCK REPORT)
HARRIS: Kathleen, thank you. From big business now to Little League baseball, which for some is big business.
A team in Massachusetts is extremely upset about losing a game this week. the game players and coaches insist they could have won if an umpire hadn't barred them from speaking Spanish.
With more on the story here's Phil Lipof from our affiliate, WHDH.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL LIPOF, WHDH CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little League ball continues in Methuen, even though one of the coaches says his team was robbed Tuesday night.
CHRIS MOSHER, LITTLE LEAGUE COACH: It's sickening.
LIPOF: Chris Mosher coaches the 13- and 14-year-olds. His pitcher and catcher are both from the Dominican Republic. Both get instruction on the field in Spanish. That is until third inning of Tuesday night's game in Lakeville, when the umpire called a time out.
MOSHER: He just says, "We can't allow this."
And so I went over and asked him, "What is it that we can't allow?"
And he says, "English only."
I looked at him and I said, "What?"
LIPOF: The ump made the call. No more Spanish, only English on his field.
MOSHER: My assistant coach was told that if he spoke another word of Spanish, he'd be ejected from the game and not be allowed to come back until the next game.
LIPOF: That move is obviously the talk of the town, and reaction is mixed.
MATT DUGAN, LITTLE LEAGUE PLAYER: I know the kid, who the catcher was. I know that he can't speak very much English. During in-town games they usually shout out to him, you know, what to do in a certain situation.
NICK BURDEAU, LITTLE LEAGUE PLAYER: That's just the same thing as saying that you can't do the sign like steals and stuff like that. I don't think it's really fair.
LIPOF: But Jamie Kemp, whose son pitches for Andover, says she doesn't see anything wrong with the ump's call.
JAMIE KEMP, PLAYER'S MOTHER: I actually think that if you're here and playing in the U.S., and these children are in school in the U.S., we're not in a primarily Hispanic area, you should be speaking English.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now you've got to cut down on the swing a little bit, put it in play.
LIPOF: English was the only language we heard at this game in Methuen, but some say the game should be about the kids, not about the language they speak or don't speak.
JIM TOMACCHIO, PLAYER'S FATHER: It's not because they're trying to deceive. It's because it's the only language they know. Come on, let them play ball.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Let them play ball.
That wraps up this Friday edition of LIVE FROM. Here is Joe Johns with a preview of what's ahead on "INSIDE POLITICS."
Hi, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Tony.
Trains, planes and automobiles. Congress gets set to pass a long awaited transportation bill. We'll tell you about the pork in the plan and what it means for you.
Plus, Bill Frist's big split with the White House over stem cell research. How today's announcement affects his possible run for the presidency.
All of this and much more when I go "INSIDE POLITICS" in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
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