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Ebbers Sentencing; Return of the Shuttle; London Terror; Young Drivers

Aired July 13, 2005 - 10:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As well as we look forward to the shuttle launch, weather permitting. Once again, 3:51 p.m. Eastern Time, join us for a special at 3:00 Eastern.
For now, let's send it over to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Hello, Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, you're not going far. You're going to be back with us in just a couple of minutes.

O'BRIEN: OK. I'll stay right here.

KAGAN: OK. Don't go very far. We'll see you in just a minute.

Meanwhile, let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

President Bush right now meeting at the White House with his cabinet and typically, at some point, reporters get a chance to ask a few questions. One sure to get asked, is about the probe into who leaked a CIA operative's identity and if Mr. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, is to blame. We'll have much more on this story later in the program.

A reporter connected to the CIA leak story, Matthew Cooper of "Time" magazine, is right now appearing before a federal grand jury. A recently disclosed internal "Time" magazine e-mail indicates that Mr. Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, was Cooper's source. But some Republicans say Rove is the victim of a partisan attack.

The crew of the space shuttle Discovery is ready for its mission. The Discovery is set to blast off from Kennedy Space Center later today. It's going to be the first mission for the shuttle program in more than two years since the Columbia disaster in 2003. We'll have live coverage from the site of the launch in just a few minutes with Miles O'Brien.

Bernie Ebbers not in the best mood this morning, shoving that photograph. He's given up almost all of his money and this morning he'll find out if he must give up the rest of his life as well. The former CEO appears before a judge in New York this hour for sentencing in the WorldCom collapse.

And should a communist government be allowed to run an American company? This hour a House panel is looking into the national security issues of such a deal. A Chinese state-owned oil firm has made an $18.5 billion bid for Unocal. The Chinese offer for the oil company exceeds one made by Chevron.

Good morning to you on this Wednesday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

It is the day of reckoning in the latest high profile white collar criminal case. We're talking about former WorldCom Chief Bernie Ebbers. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced this morning. Our Senior Correspondent Allan Chernoff is outside the federal courthouse where things already got a little bit bumpy and pushy this morning.

Good morning, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Daryn.

Bernie Ebbers got his aggression out this morning. He arrived at the federal courthouse right behind me at about 8:30 in the morning. A group of photographers ran over to take a picture of Mr. Ebbers walking into the courthouse and with both hands he shoved one of the photographers down very aggressively. This is certainly not the Bernie Ebbers that our producer, Winnie Dunbar, encountered Monday afternoon on a flight into New York during a flight in coach. Mr. Ebbers was very friendly, jovial, with an unlit cigar in his mouth during the entire flight.

Now Mr. Ebbers does face a theoretical maximum here of 85 years in prison. His attorneys plan to argue this morning for leniency, saying that Mr. Ebbers is a kind man, a charitable man, somebody who has a heart condition and should not have to serve so much time in prison. The story of Bernie Ebbers really is a rags to riches tale that will now end in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF, (voice over): Bernie Ebbers arriving in New York for his sentencing told CNN, it's bizarre facing prison. But on camera, he wouldn't talk.

BERNIE EBBERS, WORLDCOM: No, I really can't.

CHERNOFF: Back when Ebbers was running WorldCom, he had plenty to say.

EBBERS: I'm so proud to be standing here today with this group of esteemed entrepreneurs. Hell, I didn't write this (INAUDIBLE).

CHERNOFF: Ebbers, a former high school basketball coach, transformed a small telephone company in Mississippi into the second largest telecom provider in the world. In 1999, Ebbers was worth nearly $1.5 billion according to "Forbes" magazine, mostly in real estate and WorldCom stock. Still at WorldCom, Ebbers was a penny pincher, even eliminating free coffee to save money.

A jury convicted Ebbers of trying to prop up WorldCom's stock through an $11 billion accounting fraud. The big in corporate history. Tens of thousands of WorldCom investors saw their stock holdings collapse. Hardest hit were employees like Stephen Teel. He had nearly $1 million worth of company stock in his retirement fund. Virtually all of it lost.

STEPHEN TEEL, EX-WORLDCOM EMPLOYEE: I believed them, unfortunately for me. All of my retirement was in my 401(k). I felt let down, obviously. I felt lied to. Ebbers and his crew were telling the world things that were not true, misled the world. But personally, he misled the employees and the investors.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Instead of early retirement, Mr. Teel and his wife intend to work for many years as Bernie Ebbers sits in prison.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Allan Chernoff live in New York City. We will be back to you. Back to Allan and also when the sentencing is complete, we'll also talk with former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey (ph).

Now we want to go to Kennedy Space Center where a historic return to space stands at about T minus six hours and counting. A live picture there from the launch pad. It's now parked at Launch Pad 39- B. NASA's space shuttle Discovery ready for blastoff just hours from now. Tell those clouds to go away.

It will be first mission for the shuttle program in more than two years since the Columbia disaster. Back to February 2003, all seven astronauts aboard the Columbia were killed during reentry from space. NASA blamed the disaster on a piece of foam from the external fuel tank hitting the shuttle's wings during liftoff.

Today's launch was cleared after NASA performed a repair job to replace some damaged thermal tiles. For more on that and today's launch, let's turn to our space correspondent and AMERICAN MORNING host, Miles O'Brien. He's live from the site of the launch.

Miles, good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning, Daryn.

Yes, the hope is that the weather holds. And, yes, there are pretty tight constraints on the weather for a shuttle launch, even more so this go round because there's a lot of tracking cameras, which I'll tell you about in a few moments, that are here to sort of check out the shuttle as it rides uphill, as they say, and looks for any debris strikes which caused, of course, Columbia to have its disaster 16 days after launch.

Joining me now is Jim Reilly. He is a two-time astronaut, three- time spacewalker. He's going to be flying in another year.

And, Jim, I just want to orient our viewers a little bit as to where we are in the world. Let's take a satellite image, if we could for just a moment, with our key hole satellite imagery and zoom down on the spot in the planet where we are. This is right down to the east coast of Florida, midway up, Cape Canaveral. The Kennedy Space Center is where we are. And as you zoom in and see the location, some people asked me the other day, what -- why they chose Florida for the launches? And part of the reason is, the launches go off to the east and it's safer that way to send those launches over water, right?

JAMES F. REILLY II, NASA ASTRONAUT: That's correct. And one of them is, the closer you are to the Equator, the more umph you get off the rotational speed of the earth, which makes it easier to get to orbit. So that's why we picked it so far south.

O'BRIEN: All right. So you get a little kick from the earth, which amounts to, what, about . . .

REILLY: Hopefully 1,000 miles an hour.

O'BRIEN: A thousand miles an hour. It doesn't feel like we're spinning at 1,000 miles an hour but we are, aren't we.

Let's take a look at some live pictures at the launch pad right now and I want to talk a little bit, if we could, about what's going on with the weather. Those clouds look a little bit ominous there. The concern is, of course, thunderstorms within 35 miles, depending on which direction you're talking about, 20 miles on the other side. But there's also some concern, because of the additional tracking cameras that have been installed here, that the cloud layer has to be not so thick so as to obscure their view.

REILLY: Right. And that's really a function of how much coverage can you have. And that's what they'll be evacuating today. We've got cameras that are as far south as 40 miles away. And, of course, we've got cameras all around the pad. The whole idea is to get an end to end record of the launch because this is really a test flight looking at the redesign of the tank and looking for shed debris. So they'll be evaluating that coverage.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the crew for a moment. They've had their breakfast. They're getting ready for their weather briefing. The suit up is all underway. It's a very -- very much a ritual. Up to including a card game that the commander has to lose before every flight. Do you know the tradition on that at all?

REILLY: That goes way back. And nobody's going to break that tradition. So the commander's got to lose before they leave to go to the pad and they'll try to make sure that they lose before noon when they have to man up the (INAUDIBLE).

O'BRIEN: Deal them an unstacked deck, if you will.

All right. And as far as nerves, do you think it's a nervous time or them or just a focused time?

REILLY: Pretty much focused. You know, at least my experience was. I was really focused on the first one, particularly, and the second one not quite as much. I was a little more relaxed. But not really nervous, and that was surprising. And I wasn't nervous at all. And I don't think they will be either.

O'BRIEN: We have some animation which shows what happens when a space shuttle goes into orbit. A so-called nominal launch sequence. Let's take a look at that. And if we can walk us through it. Acceleration is pretty quick. Of course, the orbiter with fueled up weigh more than 6 million pounds on the launch pad. Zero to 100 in about eight seconds, zero to about, I guess, more than 1,000 in about a minute, right. What's going on right now?

REILLY: Right about now at a minute were going supersonic. And we'll continue accelerating until we get two minutes on the solid rocket boosters. And then we'll shed the boosters. So at about 150,000 feet and doing about five times the speed of sound. And then we'll ride the three main engines for the next six-and-a-half minutes until we get orbital velocity of 17,500 miles an hour, which will take us to about 800 miles downrange and about 122 miles straight up, and that will be right offshore New York.

O'BRIEN: That's some right, isn't it? That's quite a kick.

REILLY: It's quite a ride.

O'BRIEN: All right, Jim Reilly, stay with us all day and stay with us at home, if you will, as we continue our coverage of Discovery. The launch anticipated, weather permitting, in less than six hours now.

Daryn.

KAGAN: And, Miles, we're getting somewhat close to the end of an era. The shuttle only supposed to be around, what, like five more years?

O'BRIEN: Yes, 2010 is the date they're going to retire the fleet. This is an outgrowth of Columbia, of course. A lot of questioning about what's next for NASA. And the president has told NASA to come up with a new plan and a new vehicle and a new destination. And the hope is right around the same time, if they're lucky, they'll have a new vehicle which might start taking people like Jim Reilly, if he stays in shape, to the moon and then possibly his kids or my kids to Mars some day.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Or maybe you could even bum a ride, Miles, if you have enough (INAUDIBLE).

O'BRIEN: I've got to stay healthy, don't I? All right. I'm going to avoid the fatty foods.

KAGAN: Good idea for many reason.

Thank you.

Well, NASA hopes the weather is going to hold for today's planned launch. Forecasters say there's a 40 percent chance of bad weather. Let's check in with CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano. He's watching conditions from the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Of course, we're going to provide coverage of Discovery's return to flight. Our space correspondent and AMERICAN MORNING host, Miles O'Brien, anchors our one-hour special beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Still to come in CNN LIVE TODAY, more raids on homes in Northern London. A look at the arrests and the investigation into last week's terrorist attacks in England.

Plus, play time near a curbside garbage can turns scary for a little boy. His narrow escape is coming up.

And later, check the label and be careful what is in the bottle. A look at what went wrong when a toddler gets the wrong prescription.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We are monitoring the space shuttle Discovery today as it gets ready to launch in about five or so hours. That's a live picture from the launch pad. Hoping that those clouds stay at bay. And here is a picture of the crew. That's Commander Eileen Collins and we -- strumming the guitar there is Steve Robinson. Of course, an astronaut, but in his other life, believe it or not, is a guitarist in a rock and roll band that's called Max Q. Also plays banjo, mandolin, base guitar and pedal steel guitar. He says when he grows up he wants to be in a rock and roll band and be a musician.

And so we're monitoring that. Our Miles O'Brien there at Kennedy Space Center. We'll be back to Miles and talk with a number of astronauts throughout the day.

London terror bombing investigators have new evidence suggesting the attacks were carried out by four men. Police have confirmed to CNN the identify of one of those men. He is Shehzad Tanweer, 22 years old, from Leeds. Leeds is a city about 200 miles north of London. Police are back today searching the homes of Tanweer and two other suspects. Our Matthew Chance is in London with more on the investigation there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): They've screened 2,500 security tapes like these to get here. Now police say they've connected four men to the London bombings, caught on surveillance cameras arriving in London just minutes before the bombings took place.

Well this is King's Cross Station where the four suspects are known to have traveled by train from Leeds in the north of England down here to London. They were caught on the security cameras here and police have identified them as being here on this very concourse at just before 8:30 in the morning on Thursday, the 7th of July. They then went their separate ways to the tube station over there, to the busses over there. And just 20 minutes later, the bombs exploded at 8:50.

It's at the Aldgate Station bombing, a few stops from King's Cross, where the puzzle begins to fit together. Police say forensic evidence suggests one of the four men died on the train. And a look at the locations of the other attacks indicates the bombers purposely spread out for maximum chaos.

Let me show you this tube map which shows us just how close all these attacks were. You can see we're at King's Cross (INAUDIBLE) station here. Aldgate, where one of the attacks took place, just a short train ride away. Seven people were killed there. To the west, we see Edgware Road. Again, a single line from King's Cross. Another seven killed there. An then to the south of King's Cross, just a short distance here towards Russell Square on the Piccadilly Line, now 25 people, according to the police, confirmed dead.

The three bombs exploded within 50 seconds of each other. The fourth exploding 57 minutes later on a bus not far away at Tavistock Square, now a crime scene.

Well, police say their forensic teams have found personal documents here from one of the bombers. And at the other two locations that were bombed to the west, Edgware Road, and to the south between King's Cross and Russell Square, personal documents there of these suspects indicating that all four were killed in the blast.

Now, the initial reaction may be that we're dealing with multiple suicide bombings now, despite what the police said, but terrorism analysts say there are other possibilities being considered as well.

CHRISTOPHER RUANE, SECURITY ANALYST: Another possibility, which would be consistent with evidence from Sunni extremists in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and elsewhere, is that these were people who, in fact, did not know that what they were carrying was a bomb. They thought they had been carrying something that was innocuous and it was remotely detonated or detonated on a timer. Over the course of the investigation, of course, hopefully there will be sufficient evidence, some of it psychological, to suggest which of these is the most likely answer.

CHANCE: Searching for those answers, police now appear to have made this major break breakthrough, identifying suspects and making at least one arrest. But who armed the bombers and sent them to their targets still a major question here.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, a garbage collector picks up more than just trash during a routine stop. How his quick thinking helped saved one boy's life.

Plus, if you have teenage drivers, well, good luck to you. But other than that, Gerri Willis has some information you might want to know. GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Daryn.

Listen up, mom and dad. Your insurance rates can go up 50 to 100 percent if junior is getting his drivers license this summer. We'll tell you more when CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: If you have a young driver in the family, you want to keep him or her safe while saving money on your insurance. Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis has some great ideas for you in today's "Top Five."

Good morning, Ger.

WILLIS: Hey, good morning, Daryn.

Well, listen up. First thing's first. You have to keep a clean driving record. Look, if junior has just one DUI, driving under the influence charge, it's a disaster. It will cost you $24,000, yes, $24,000, in insurance premium increases, legal fees, and other fines that you'll face. It's very expensive. You have to do everything you can, mom and dad, to make sure that junior is driving the way he should be.

KAGAN: And not just mom and dad, but the kids here. This is what -- what's good.

WILLIS: You bet.

KAGAN: Let's talk about grade point average.

WILLIS: Well, you know what, you can actually earn brownie points with the insurance company if you have a good academic record. A record of B and better will get you a discount. Also taking a driver's safety class. Check out the Web site of the National Safety Council. They can show you where you can take an accredited course in your neighborhood. And if you live in Colorado or California, there's a company called Master Drive that has enclosed courses for learning ways to drive that will keep you safe. It sounds like a lot of fun. It's not inexpensive though. You'll pay for the privilege as much as $730.

KAGAN: Also if you do some volunteer work that could actually help. I didn't realize this.

WILLIS: Yes. There are other benefits to being a candy striper than just feeling better and helping the community. You can also get an insurance discount, believe it or not. Keep that in mind. Any kind of volunteerism counts. And be sure to report it to your insurer.

KAGAN: The kind of car you drive, it might not be cool at school, but it's good help with insurance.

WILLIS: Well, you know, we were hearing that if you drove a red car, you paid more for your insurance. We couldn't find out if that was absolutely true, although the people we talked to wouldn't absolutely rule it out. But look, if you drive a safe car, you can save as much as 50 percent on your insurance. And you just saw a Volvo there. Volvo's one of the names. Honda Civic's another name that's regarded as very safe. Consumer reports recommendations for young drivers for safety, Toyota Camry LE, the Mazda 3. Stay away from the sports car, young man. SUVs, too, are more risky.

KAGAN: All right. And if you add safety features on top of that.

WILLIS: Yes, definitely. You want the automatic seat belts. That's going to earn you some brownie points and a lower insurance premium. Anti-lock brakes and probably pretty soon the side air bag will also become very important in keeping your costs low.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All good tips.

Thank you, Gerri.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: The controversy surrounding President Bush's top political adviser and the unmasking of a CIA operative. Still to come, "Time" magazine reporter who named the operative appears before a grand jury this morning. How might Matt Cooper's testimony effect the investigation.

And later, just moments before this little boy got gobbled up in a garbage truck, he was pulled back to safety and he lived to tell the story. That is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Welcome back. I'm Daryn Kagan. A lot coming up in our next half hour. Right now, let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

A sentencing hearing is underway right now for former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers. Witnesses are testifying on his behalf, talking about his character and his medical condition. Still, Ebbers is expected to serve jail time. Prosecutors want to send him away for life for his role in the massive accounting fraud.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair says last week's terrorist attack on London was not an isolated criminal act. And his government will introduce new anti-terrorism legislation to combat it. At the House of Commons today, Mr. Blair also said his government will meet with Muslim leaders in Britain and urge tolerance toward Muslim populations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is not an isolated criminal act we are dealing with. It is an extreme and evil ideology whose roots lie in a perverted and poisonous misinterpretation of the religion of Islam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: After a top to bottom review, major changes are expected for the Department of Homeland Security. Department Secretary, Michael Chertoff, is set to announce changes about two hours from now. Chertoff ordered a review of the agency back in March. He is expected to highlight transportation and border security as some of his top priorities.

And right now on Capitol Hill, a hearing on alleged detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay. The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear about the investigation into FBI allegations of abuse at the U.S. facility in Cuba.

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