Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
New Concerns About Tehran's Nuclear Ambitions; Oil Prices Continue to Increase; Two Sealed Indictments Issued in Duke Rape Scandal
Aired April 17, 2006 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that. See that? Oil prices are in a territory not seen since Hurricane Katrina. Look at this, crude oil futures jumped to $70 a barrel today. And that may have a lot of drivers over a barrel soon, if not already.
CNN's Ali Velshi is following things from New York for us. And you know what? The folks here who put together LIVE FROM, the prediction is that gas prices at the pump have gone up, what three cent a gallon since we've been on the air today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's crazy. It's April. We're not even into the full summer operation yet and I paid $2.77 yesterday for a gallon of gas filling up. Yesterday morning's number, according to AAA was $2.78 for a gallon of unleaded gasoline. That's a national average.
In some cases, people are paying a lot more than that if you're filling up with premium, as you can see, you're paying a lot more than that. If you live in California, you're paying a lot more than that.
Now Tony, I should tell you, the obvious connection here is oil. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange trading just finished a little while ago and we have the highest closing number on record for a barrel of oil, $70.40.
That is higher than the morning that Hurricane Katrina hit. That was the highest we had seen, $70.40. We know that oil gets more expensive. We know that gasoline gets more expensive in the summer as we continue to drive. People have been talking about $3 a gallon for gas, Tony. We're in April and we're getting up close to that.
HARRIS: What's the -- I don't know, we ask this all the time, it's like a broken record here. But what's the cause? What's the reason for the run-up this time? Is it geo-politics?
VELSHI: Right now it's Iran, right now it's definitely Iran. I mean the escalation in the war of words continues and oil traders get very concerned. Iran is a very big supplier of oil to the rest of the world and not only that. As there are increased tensions in the Middle East, so much of the world's supply comes from that part of the world that that's the problem.
So right now, that's what it is. But remember, even though gas prices are tied to oil prices, Tony, gas prices also increase because of our demand and the fact that we don't have any more refining capacity in the United States. So they are going to go up in summer anyway.
HARRIS: And are we using -- have we transitioned from what is -- winter blend to the...
VELSHI: ... The winter -- the different additives that are used in gasolines, right? Between winter and summer. We have made that transition. You usually see a little bit of a spike right around there.
But fundamentally this is a supply and demand problem on the gasoline front. It's a geo-political problem on the oil front and as we've discussed before, Tony, we just don't make enough oil in the world to keep up with our demand, generally. So it's a bunch of things all coming together so that when you go fill up the SUV...
HARRIS: ... Yes, right.
VELSHI: Time to start taking to bus.
HARRIS: Can I drive to work in a shoe box? Can I power that? All right Ali, we'll see you at the top of the hour.
Well day five on the stand facing off with prosecutors. Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling under cross-examination tells the court, quote, "I have nothing to hide." He and Enron founder Ken Lay were charged with fraud and conspiracy after the mega-corporation crumbled into bankruptcy. Both have pleaded not guilty. Skilling accuses the government of misrepresenting the facts. The government alleges the executives lied to investors and employees about Enron's financial health.
What's going on at those plants in Iran? New photos paint a grim picture as far as the country's nuclear ambitions. We'll take a look. The news keeps coming, we'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Iran's nuclear fuel plants are fueling new concerns about Tehran's ambitions. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor is on the story.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: More indications that Iran is advancing as quickly as it can with nuclear technology, claims from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Iran is presently conducting research on more sophisticated types of centrifuges for enriching uranium,. and satellite photos from a watchdog group showing Iran hard at work in nuclear sites.
The group, the Institute for Science and International Security made public new commercial satellite photos. This one for example of the nuclear facilities near Isvahan (ph) shows that Iran has built another tunnel entrance, one of several leading to underground facilities and suggesting that they are being expanded.
Clearly much of Iran's nuclear program is designed to withstand conventional aerial bombardment and be conducted away from the prying eyes of American and European spy satellites. The ISIS also released a series of photos from 2002 to 2006 of the facility near Natanz and they show two massive subterranean hauls being built and then buried with earth and concrete.
Experts believe the two hauls will be filled one day with thousands of centrifuges for enriching uranium. They estimate that the halls are now 26 feet or eight meters underground.
President Ahmadinejad has jangled nerves at the International Atomic Energy Agency with his statement that his nation is researching what is called P-2 technology. The P-2's can enrich uranium much more quickly than the P-1's. U.S. officials say P-2 blueprints were given to Iran by the Pakistani black market ring headed by A.Q. Khan many years ago.
What is not clear though is how far along Iran is on this technology. Do they have a sample from which to make copies? Are they capable of building one from just a blueprint? Much discussion about all of that among scientists and intelligence officers.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
HARRIS: Suicide bombing shatters a period of relative calm in Israel and splits the Palestinian leadership. The bomber struck at a restaurant near the central bus station in Tel Aviv, killing nine other people. Almost 50 are hurt. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility. And Israel says it will respond appropriately.
This is the first attack inside Israel since Hamas took power and the Palestinian government two and a half weeks ago. That group says the attack is a response to Israeli aggressions, but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemns it.
America abolished segregation in public schools decades ago, but some say it is coming back to one Midwestern city. The controversy coming up on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: When it comes to keeping students in school buildings there are lockdowns and then there are lockdowns. A lockdown last month at Worthington Elementary School in Inglewood, California, was so restricted kids couldn't go to the restroom. Instead they had to go in buckets in corners or behind the teacher's desk.
The principal, Angie Marquez, was trying to keep kids from joining thousands of students who walked out of classes during immigration protests. The district says Marquez misread the handbook and imposed the most severe type of lockdown, which is meant for nuclear attacks.
Well, you walk into most American classrooms today and you're likely to see faces of different colors, but that may not be the case much longer in Omaha, Nebraska, it's a move some are applauding and others are calling a step back in time. CNN's Miles O'Brien has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Anger over a new law dividing Omaha's public schools into three districts along racial lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what they are saying is it's OK for there to be an African-American school district, a Latino district and a Caucasian district. In Brown Versus the Board of Education years ago said that is not right and separate is not equal.
O'BRIEN: Critics say the new law amounts to state-sponsored segregation. Supporters say it's the best way to provide quality education for all students attending Omaha schools. They say the plan gives minority community more say in how their schools are run because school board members will be from those neighborhoods and that money and resources would be parceled out more fairly.
Some 45,000 students attend Omaha schools, 46 percent are white, 31 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic. Nebraska's governor lobbied hard for the bill and signed it into law last week. It goes into effect in 2008.
GOV. DAVE HEINEMAN (R), NEBRASKA: I am hopeful and I'm going to remain optimistic that this will provide for a new beginning.
O'BRIEN: But some students and parents say splitting Omaha's public schools along racial lines puts them squarely in the past.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perhaps I should sit down with my boys and explain to them that the diversity we value so highly is now insignificant. Maybe my daughter should hear how a number of senators made the decision to intentionally resegregate our city out of, quote, "frustration with OPS."
O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And start your morning on the right foot, the good foot, grab yourself a cup of joe and join Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien on "AMERICAN MORNING" at 6 a.m. Eastern.
Are the Carolinas getting a taste of some April showers at this hour?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: So what happens when you drop cold hard cash from the sky on a group of young baseball fans? That story when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRIS: Hey, you know how folks say it's all fun until somebody gets hurt? Well, that's what happened at a West Michigan White Caps game over the weekend. Someone in the Minor League baseball team thought it would be a good idea to drop cash from a helicopter while kids ran from the outfield fence to grab it. One 7-year-old boy wound up in the hospital after he was trampled. A 7-year-old girl ended up with a bloody lip. A 12-year-old told a local paper he saw a lot of bodies on the ground.
Tears and purrs all around as Molly is rescued from a predicament kind of worthy of Poe. The house mouser at a British food store in New York's Greenwich Village had gotten lost in a rapid (INAUDIBLE) of old brick walls, trapped for two weeks despite the lure of treatments and the best intentions of a pet psychic. In the end it took some drilling, the efforts of a local tuttle (ph) worker, and hello kitty! Little Molly is free at last, and happily lapping up sardines and all the attention. And we understand all nine lives intact.
Time now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who is standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour. Hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Tony, thanks very much.
Can it get any worse for Republicans? We're going to find out in just a moment. There's a new poll out on Congress and the president's approval ratings. We're going to give you the numbers, take a closer look at whether Americans are looking for wholesale change come November.
Plus, changes at the White House. The new chief of staff hints at things to come, but will it be enough to turn things around for the president?
And Rudy Giuliani. Find out why Jerry Falwell says he won't back Giuliani if the former New York mayor runs for president.
And finally, inside Opus Dei. The secret sect takes on "The Da Vinci Code" and releases a video of its own.
Tony, all that coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
HARRIS: OK, Wolf, thank you.
On the closing bell and the results are in from the Boston Marathon. We will tell what's so special about this year's winner when LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: And let's quickly get to Jason Carroll. He has new information on possible indictments in the Duke lacrosse team rape allegation case. Jason, what can you tell us?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, a source close to the case tells me that it is his belief that two indictments, two sealed indictments, were, in fact, submitted today. This is according, again, to a source close to the case. That really explains why earlier today when we were coming out and you saw all that -- those breaking developments -- why we did not see the names of any of the lacrosse players matching to the names of those 81 people who were indicted today.
Well, according to this one source, the source says that's because the indictments against the two were sealed, and that's why we didn't see their names there. He also said that at this point, it is his belief just about only the judge and this district attorney, possibly two other attorneys who represent these two players, are the only ones who know who those two players are.
I asked him, I said, well what would be the next legal course of action? He said the next point of action will be an order of arrest will be issued. He believes that might be happening right now as we speak. If it is, in fact, happening, Tony, then he says the next big development will be an arrest, which he says we should see in the next 24 to 36 hours -- Tony.
HARRIS: OK, Jason, we appreciate it. We know you'll have more in "THE SITUATION ROOM" at the top of the hour.
A record time for two-time winner at the 110th running of the Boston Marathon. The world's oldest marathon ended last hour, with 2003 winner Robert Cheruviot of Kenya at the head of the pack. His time was a fastest ever two hours, seven minutes, 14 seconds, and he takes home $100,000.
We have the closing bell coming up in just moments. We expect that to -- there it is, the closing bell. We join Wolf Blitzer now in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
