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CNN Live Today

Judge Roberts Makes Rounds on Capitol Hill; Public Weighs in on Supreme Court Nomination Process; Hurricane Emily Hits Mexico, Texas

Aired July 20, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, HOST: John Roberts has meetings lined up with top senators today. Confirmation hearings are still at least a few weeks away, but the arguments for and against Roberts' nomination have already begin. A live report is just ahead on that story.
In weather, wind, rain, and many worries as Hurricane Emily roars ashore. The storm made landfall near San Fernando, Mexico, with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour. Effects of the Category 3 storm are also being felt in southern Texas. The latest on Hurricane Emily is straight ahead.

To London. The wreckage of a train involved in the recent terror attacks has been moved for testing. The 20 -- the 20-ton train car was moved to an undisclosed location for forensic analysis. It was part of an explosion at London's Edgware Road Station. A report on that coming up in 30 minutes.

In business news, the Unocal Corporation says it's accepted an increased offer from oil giant Chevron. Chevron' new offer to take over Unocal now amounts to a $17 billion deal. Unocal's board of directors has endorsed the new merger agreement and is recommending its stockholders vote in favor of it at a stockholder meeting in early August.

And the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia is warning U.S. citizens there to keep a low profile. The U.S. warns that militants are planning new attacks in Saudi Arabia. A statement from the embassy says the U.S. does not have specific details about possible targets or timelines.

Welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY. Let's check the time around the world. Ten a.m. in Monterey, Mexico; 11 a.m. in the nation's capital; and 4 p.m. in London.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

We begin with President Bush's pick for Supreme Court. He starts making the rounds on Capitol Hill later today. Republicans and conservative groups for praising the selection of federal court Judge John Roberts. Democrats are taking the wait and see approach, but some liberal groups are already on the offensive. We have extensive coverage of the Roberts nomination.

But first, an update on Hurricane Emily. The pictures tell the story of wind and rain battering the area around South Padre Island. That's Texas. Emily making landfall just before dawn today, about 80 miles to the south in Mexico.

So there have been no reports of injuries or major damage in south Texas. The Red Cross set up 14 emergency shelters in the region.

Along the Mexican coast, people evacuated low lying towns and villages ahead of Emily's arrival. Northeastern Mexico was bracing for five to 10 inches of rain with up to 15 inches in the mountains.

The radar also helps tell the story. Chad Myers is watching that for us.

Hi, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Daryn.

Actually, tornado warnings on the radar, as well. Tornado warning for Southern Duval County in Texas.

Here is the storm itself. Still well south of South Padre Island into Mexico. That's where the heaviest weather is right now. But here is Duval County right here, near Concepcion here.

Also over to about Hebbronville over there in Jim Hogg County. You're going to see a tornado. One was reported on the ground by law enforcement officials. So we're going to have to watch that for you, because that's still obviously not indicated by Doppler, as a lot of them are. One actually being looked at by the law enforcement officials there.

Rain showers across the Rio Grande Valley. This is going to be one flood maker for this area here. Flatten it out, Monterey, Mexico, way out there in the background. But the rain is already there now. The rain is going to be heavy, making flooding even through Monterey. Monterey is in a big bowl.

The winds now are down. They're down to 105 miles per hour, coming on shore at 125. You'd expect the winds to slow down a little bit. But it's been on shore for awhile, and they've only slowed down 20 miles per hour. Going to be a lot of flooding out here.

And the problem there with Monterey, Mexico, four million people live there, for one thing, but it's in a bowl. Mountains all around it. So wherever it rains, that rain has to come down into the city and then gets washed out through the rivers. But 250 people or more died in Hurricane Gilbert, when Hurricane Gilbert hit in 1988. So this is kind of a tough place for hurricanes to hit. OK.

KAGAN: OK. We'll be watching it. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: Now on to Washington, where the battle lines are forming over President Bush's Supreme Court nominee. Whether it turns into a minor skirmish or a major combat remains to be seen.

We begin our coverage this hour with national correspondent Bob Franken. He is at the White House this morning.

Good morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the White House is now waiting to see particularly what the adversaries can come up with the battle. The first reviews have been, from the White House point of view, pretty good, in fact, quite good.

So the President Bush was there bright and early, chipper, with John Roberts, his prospective Supreme Court justice. They made it a point to be seen by the cameras after they'd had their coffee, walking across the Rose Garden.

The president is going to be involved, says his press secretary, heavily involved in this momentous decision that is going to be made by the Senate.

Then they went their separate ways. The president went to Baltimore for a homeland security event. But his new chief justice -- rather, his new Supreme Court justice selection was not far from his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody the Americans will be proud to have seated on that bench. He has the qualities that our country expects in a judge: experience, wisdom, fairness, and civility. He has profound respect for the rule of law. He has respect for the liberties guaranteed to every single citizen. He will strictly apply the Constitution and laws. He will not legislate from the bench.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And now John Roberts takes on a new title, Daryn. He's going to be, probably, the star of the summer.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Nominee. Single world. Thank you. Thank you, Bob.

Well, Democrats are saying the Roberts nomination won't get a rubber stamp from them. They promise he is going to get plenty of scrutiny. Roberts will make -- be making the rounds on Capitol Hill this afternoon.

Our congressional correspondent, Joe Johns, already making the rounds. That's his job. Joins us live from Capitol Hill.

Good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Of course, this is a period that they call define the nominee. And that is the opportunity for both sides to try to really say, what's this guy about? And that's what's going on right now.

A number of Republicans and conservatives earlier today taking to the floor of the United States Senate, praising John Roberts, talking about his credentials, the fact that he's a Harvard lawyer, worked at one of the highest profile law firms in town, on two stints (ph), in fact, a variety of other things he's done. A lot of people, of course, say he's a very brilliant lawyer. Also a good jurist.

Let's listen now to the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, talking today about John Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: I believe that Judge Roberts is exactly the kind of justice America expects on the Supreme Court. He's among the best of the best legal minds in America. He is a mainstream conservative, someone who understands that the role of the judge is to interpret the law and the Constitution, and not to legislate from the bench.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now, the Democrats have been, for the most part, holding their fire, but they have essentially been talking about a couple common themes. One of those, of course, that there are not a lot of rulings from John Roberts during his brief stint on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Of course, he's only been there over the last couple of years over so. They're also pointing out, of course, he was confirmed only two or three years ago.

And there is, they say, a different standard for people going to the circuit court as opposed to the Supreme Court. Senator Reid today, the Democratic leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: The standard for confirmation to Supreme Court is very high. A nominee must demonstrate a commitment to the core American values of freedom, equality and fairness. Senators must be convinced that the nominee, John G. Roberts, will respect constitutional principles and protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.

So the expectations for Judge Roberts are especially high, because he has such large shoes to fill, and I don't mean that literally. Large judicial shoes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The shoes, of course, of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who is leaving the court as soon as her replacement is named.

Judge Roberts is expected to be up here on Capitol Hill around 1:30 or so Eastern Time, making the rounds to talk to a number of people, including Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the judiciary committee. Of course, the judiciary committee gets the first crack at this nomination -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Joe Johns on Capitol Hill, thank you.

Americans are divided over the future direction of the Supreme Court, but there is a clear consensus on one key issue. Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, examines the court and public opinion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Do Americans want a new justice who would make the Supreme Court more conservative or more liberal? The CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll asked that last month.

More conservative beats more liberal, 41 to 30 percent. But if you take into account the 25 percent who want to keep the court as it is now, you get a total of 66 percent opposed to a more liberal court. And 55 percent who oppose a more conservative court. There's no consensus behind any shift in the court left or right.

But there is strong consensus on one issue: Should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion? The answer, by better than two to one, is no.

We can expect John Roberts' records on that issue to be closely examined.

Suppose most Democratic senators disagree with Roberts on the issues? What should they do? A majority say they should work to defeat them. Forty percent say Democrats should vote to confirm the president's choice. Sounds like people think Democrats should show some fight, but only if they have legitimate disagreements with Roberts.

And even a larger majority, 58 percent, believe it is very likely that Democrats will try to block a nominee for inappropriate political reasons. That's a warning to Democrats. If you chose to fight the Roberts nomination, the public needs to understand why.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So here's a look at what comes up next. The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet to debate the nomination. Joe Johns was just mentioning that. Republicans say they want to start hearings in late August or early September.

The full Senate gets its chance if the nomination clears the committee. The next Supreme Court term begins October 3. We'll have more on what this nomination could mean to the court a little later this hour.

From a potential political storm now to a major force of nature. Hurricane Emily making landfall with high winds and driving rain. We're live in Texas and Mexico.

Also, another miserable day of sweltering heat across much of the U.S. Hot enough to kill in some places. We're watching the forecast.

And chilling words of support for the London attacks from the father of a 9/11 terrorist, Mohamed Atta. Details on that story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Focus on Texas right now. It's stirring up storms of anxiety and unease. Hurricane Emily, the Category 3 storm, roared ashore earlier today. But Emily is also turning close to southern Texas, causing heavy rains, high winds and hurricane warnings.

For the latest, our Chris Lawrence is on South Padre Island.

Hopefully, we dried out your microphone and can hear you a little bit better this hour. Hey, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

Yes, it feels like we're in the middle of one of those gusts again, you know, using my face as kind of a wind gauge. The rain, the sideways rain hurts more now than it did about a half an hour ago.

All right, but we did get a little bit of good news. Our power came back on after being out for a few hours. Still about 24,000 people across the Rio Grande Valley without power. The crews have been out trying to restore, trying to get the lights back in. But when they have gusts like this, and the wind really whips up, they've got to stop for awhile and wait until it calms down.

Let me take you out here. You can see kind of how much the ocean is really just churning up. At one point, the waves were literally splashing here against us right here on the deck. And there's a buoy out there that I'm told was about four miles away, two miles south and two miles out to sea. The ships use it to navigate in and out. And just to show you how strong the storm is, it literally dragged that buoy all the way here close to shore.

Now, again, a lot of folks here rode out the storm. They're continuing to do so. A lot of people here figure if they can just get through the next few hours, they feel they'll be OK.

This area has been under a drought. So if we get three or four inches of rain here, a lot of people will say some good came out of this hurricane. Of course, if the storm just stalls over us, if we get five, six, seven, eight inches, that's going to be a problem. We're going to be looking at flooding in some areas -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Yes, right now, I was going to say the ocean or the sea might be churned up there, but it looks pretty far out. Very far from any kind of storm surge.

LAWRENCE: Yes, it's come in and out. And at one point, at the height of it, probably three or four hours ago, it was literally crashing up here every few minutes. Now it's starting to recede. But definitely still churning a lot of -- you know, a lot of water out there.

KAGAN: All right, Chris. And you protect that sweet face of yours. All right? Just don't donate it to the cause as a wind gauge. Thank you. Chris Lawrence, South Padre Island, Texas.

Meanwhile, in Monterey, Mexico, which lies in Emily's path, one worried resident said, "We know it's out there. We know it's coming." Now many are hoping for the best, but they are bracing for the worst. And our Ed Lavandera is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last major storm to steamroll through northeast Mexico was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, a Category 3 storm with winds of 120 miles an hour.

Two hundred sixty people were killed as the storm plowed through the Caribbean islands, into the Yucatan Peninsula, and back into the Mexican mainland. Hurricane Emily has followed a similar path.

Ruttilo Macisa has lived on the banks of the river that cuts through the heart of Monterey, Mexico, for 25 years. It's a city of about 1.3 million people, 125 miles south of the Texas border, 250 miles from the Gulf.

He's trying to fix what he can on the roof of his home before Hurricane Emily strikes.

(on camera) (speaking Spanish) Do you think people here are aware of what's happening?

RUTTILO MACISA, RESIDENT: (speaking Spanish)

LAVANDERA: We know what's out there, and we know what's coming. So we'll see what happens.

(voice-over) Macisa lives in a poorly constructed home in one of the most downtrodden neighborhoods in the city. Emergency officials like Hernando Garcia have been walking the neighborhoods here, urging people to evacuate by Tuesday night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (speaking Spanish)

LAVANDERA (on camera): This is one of the most critical spots here in the city because the river is going to rush through here. (voice-over) Maria Ortega sits on her porch, surrounded by kids. She's lived here 33 years and remembers when she used to walk seven miles to bring home buckets of water. Now, any time is rains, the water comes rushing through. She's nervous, scared, and ready to evacuate.

(on camera) (speaking Spanish)

MARIA ORTEGA, RESIDENT: (speaking Spanish)

LAVANDERA: She's ready to go. All she has to do is lock the house and leave.

(speaking Spanish)

ORTEGA: (speaking Spanish)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Hurricane preparations here don't have the same intensity you normally see before a looming storm. We didn't see people racing out to the markets and hardware stores. Instead street crews manicuring lawns along the major streets. Children were laughing and hollering on the playgrounds. Everyone here says they're ready for what's coming, whatever that might be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that was our Ed Lavandera reporting from Monterey, Mexico.

Different types of weather problems. So far, July is a sizzler in many parts of the U.S. Is there any heat relief in sight?

And the president's new choice for Supreme Court. We'll look at what it might mean for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Some sizzlers there. Phoenix is rising, and high temperatures have Boston baking. Waves of heat rolling through many parts of the U.S. Forecasters say it is sizzling coast to coast, and it's not over yet.

With more on the heat wave, here's CNN's Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of Boston, the heat index might just be measured by how many scoops Peter Barkette (ph) serves up from his Italian ice cart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try a free sample. It will cool you down.

LOTHIAN: With temperatures topping 90 degrees, public fountains, wading pools and beaches help the overheated cool down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it's this hot out, we have to be at the beach all day.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Heat advisories are in effect all over the place.

LOTHIAN: It's sizzling from coast to coast.

JERAS: The heat is reaching dangerous levels across much of the northeast and the southeast, as well.

LOTHIAN: In Phoenix, Arizona, the heat wave was blamed for 11 deaths since Saturday, where the mercury has hit 110 for nine straight days.

Air-conditioners have been a necessity. And when they break down, conditions are unbearable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like a sauna. Right inside your house. It was pretty incredible.

LOTHIAN: In Las Vegas, Nevada, triple digits since last week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been 115, 116.

LOTHIAN: All this heat is putting pressure on power grids across the west. In this California control room, managers work to shift electricity to where it's needed most.

North of the border, where it's also steaming, officials in Ontario have had to import power from other regions to keep up with demand. Everyone is being asked to conserve energy.

What's behind this extreme weather?

MICHAEL SCHLACTER, METEOROLOGIST, WEATHER 2000: What we're seeing right now is an upswing in certain ocean currents that are linked to the atmosphere.

LOTHIAN: Back at the ice cart in Boston, the whining index is rising.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's too cold, they complain. And if it's too hot, they still complain.

LOTHIAN: Coping with the weather's mood swings, while trying to stay cool.

(on camera) Power officials have placed crews across the region to be able to quickly respond to emergencies. They're also using infrared devices to test their equipment in the field. They want to make sure that everything is in top shape to be able to handle the high demand.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN: Coming up on CNN LIVE TODAY, a look at one of the faces linked with the 9/11 attacks. We'll tell you what Mohamed Atta's father is saying about his son's deadly attack on the U.S. The story coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're getting close to the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. He's a look at what's happening now in the news.

Waves, wind and rain lash south Texas as Hurricane Emily made landfall early this morning. The storm came ashore near San Fernando, Mexico. Emily was a Category 3 storm with 125 mile per hour winds when it crashed into the Mexican coast.

President Bush's Supreme Court nominee heads to Capitol Hill today for meetings with Senate leaders. He met with the president at the White House earlier this morning. Mr. Bush says he's confident Judge John Roberts will get a fair and timely hearing.

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside an army recruiting center in Baghdad today. At least eight people were killed in the attack. Twenty-eight others were wounded. The location at a former air base has been the scene of several other suicide attacks.

Many Iraqis observed a moment of silence today for the victims of recent suicide car bombings. In some areas traffic came to a half and people paused, some with their heads bowed. The tribute for the 27 victims of a July 13 attack and nearly 115 people killed by a suicide bomber last Saturday.

And now to President Bush's pick for the Supreme Court. Abortion rights activists are preparing to do battle over John Roberts' nomination. NARAL Pro-Choice America, has put out a statement saying, quote, "John Roberts is a divisive nominee with a record of seeking to impose a political agenda on the courts, rather than a unifier Americans could trust to preserve our personal freedoms like the right to privacy and a woman's right to choose."

One member of the Senate Judiciary Committee says that's an overreaction. Arizona Republican Jon Kyl talked to CNN's Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON KYL (R), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I would suggest that what's going to happen if John Roberts would rule as it's predicted, I hear he would rule, is you will see Roe V. Wade nibbled away at, at the edges, but overruled as a core decision. Parental notification and the partial-birth abortion are certainly marginal issues with respect to abortion. And it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see them to see congressional acts those outlawed and declared unconstitutional by a court in the future, but that doesn't eliminate the rationale of Roe V. Wade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Senate Republicans hope to start confirmation hearings for Roberts in September.

President Bush says he is confident that Roberts will get a timely and fair hearing. As we were mentioning, he wants him on the Supreme Court by the start of the new term in October.

Joining us now from Watertown, Massachusetts with more on the nomination, Heather Gerken of Harvard Law School.

Good morning.

HEATHER GERKEN, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, this will be another feather in the cap for Harvard Law School, since he is an alum.

GERKEN: Yes, it is. In fact, he's both an alum of the college and the law school, so I guess we're supposed to be rooting for him no matter what our politics.

KAGAN: But meanwhile, previous to this, you were betting, (INAUDIBLE), but you were guessing it was going to be a judge out of Louisiana, Edith Brown Clement. Where did you go wrong on that one, do you think?

GERGKEN: I listened to too many reporters.

KAGAN: It's the media's fault.

GERKEN: That's what everyone was telling me yesterday.

KAGAN: It's the media's fault. I've never heard that line before. No, it's terrible. Actually, I mea, Clement was actually a more sensible nomination, because everyone thought he was going to nominate a woman, and a woman he knew. So Roberts is a surprise for everybody.

GERKEN: Well, it does bring up a question of diversity. This -- these numbers kind of not shocked me, but they got my attention this morning, 108; this would be 109 people ever to serve on the Supreme Court. All but two have been men in the history of the country. All but two have been white. This continues to a lack of diversity on the high court.

KAGAN: Well, that's absolutely right, and there's a lack of diversity in a lot of ways. These folks look a lot alike, not only in terms of race and gender, but in terms of their background experience, and John Roberts is no exception to that rule.

KAGAN: Let's pick your brain as a former Supreme Court clerk. You clerked for Justice Souter. This is a body that has not changed in 11 years. It's been cohesive. They know how to work. They know how each other works. How do you think just having a new person on the court is going to change the high court?

GERKEN: It's going to be an incredibly interesting time. I mean, this is a court that has really been holding its breath for the last two years. It's been stuck with this 5-4 dynamic, with Justice O'Connor as the swing vote, and now everything is up for grabs, and I suspect we're going to start to see new kinds of coalitions coming out of this court that we haven't seen in a long time, and that's actually very good for the court as an institution.

KAGAN: So have some change and new blood.

GERKEN: It's nice for them to actually start thinking about these things a little bit differently and not always be on the same side. So if we see a coalition of moderates, that'd be not such a bad thing coming out of the court.

KAGAN: A lot has been made about the 5-4 split with Justice O'Connor on the court. But on abortion issues, hasn't it pretty much gone 6-3.

GERKEN: That's right. People have a right to say that even if Roberts ends up wanting to overrule Roe V. Wade, it's not going be the decisive vote. They need one more vote in order to overrule Roe V. Wade. So it's really the next confirmation battle that will be crucial for this person.

KAGAN: Also interesting about Judge Roberts, he used to be -- you see him in practice as a Supreme Court lawyer. That was basically his speciality, to argue before this court. How do you think that would effect him as a justice?

GERKEN: Well, he certainly understands the inner workings of the court and has a great deal of respect for it. I had the good fortune to watch him argue when I was clerking. He was one of the best advocates I've ever seen, and he's the kind of advocate that justices trust, a straight shooter, someone's who's smart, someone who doesn't oversell his case, and that will actually put him in a very good position when he starts to work with the justices as colleagues, rather than as a lawyer trying to appeal to them.

KAGAN: He has a long relationship with Justice Rehnquist.

GERKEN: Yes, he's a former law clerk of Justice Rehnquist, one of the, I think, five people who've actually clerked on the court and then gone ahead to serve on it as well.

KAGAN: Heather Gerken of Harvard Law School, thank you for your insight on the nominee this morning.

GERKEN: Thank you so much.

KAGAN: Good to have you along with us.

GERKEN: Take care.

KAGAN: And now to our CNN Security Watch. As President Bush lobbied for his Supreme Court nominee, today he's also lobbying for a renewal of the Patriot Act. He gave a speech in Baltimore last hour. You saw it live if you were with us here at CNN. Mr. Bush called the Patriot act a vital tool in fighting terrorism, and he urged Congress to renew 16 provisions of the act set to expire this year. Some critics are charging the Patriot Act has diminished civil liberties.

To Egypt now and the father of 9/11 mastermind Mohamed Atta. He says he supported the attacks on London, and he predicts there are more to come.

CNN's Chris Burns reports from Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was in a Cairo neighborhood not far from the great pyramids that September 11 ringleader and pilot Mohammed Atta grew up. Today we've come here to the building where Atta lived with his family, not in poverty but in a relatively middle-class surrounding. His father, an attorney.

When we spoke to his father, however, the reaction to the attacks in London was as extreme as it gets. He praised the London attacks and said he hoped for more.

(on camera): Atta's father told CNN that the 9/11 and London attacks were only the beginning. He refused an on-camera interview unless we paid him $5,000. That, he said, would be enough to pay for another bombing in London.

(voice-over): It's hard to know how many people here share Atta's father's views. A couple of students we spoke to near their Cairo campus did not express hostility.

MOHAMMED IMAM, STUDENT: Because it gives us a bad figure. Plus, we don't need to have another negative stereotype about the Arabs.

BURNS: Some here see extremism as an outgrowth of anger over hard-line, one-party rule here, and high unemployment, estimated at 25 percent.

IBRAHIM MINA, STUDENT: I think it's social problems reflects on the society. Some people don't have work, don't have jobs. They have -- their minds are empty and nothing to do. They begin to go for to religion. They think of religion wrong.

BURNS (on camera): How do you stop this from continuing?

MINA: Education. First, first, education.

BURNS (voice-over): Mohammed Atta's father told us, there will be many more Mohammed Attas. It may take a lot of education to fight the breakdown of civil society here in one of the cradles of civilization.

Chris Burns, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: CNN's Security Watch keeps you up to date on your safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security. And now for this next story, you don't just need to watch, you need to listen. A unique sound from a devastating force of nature. Within hours of December's horrific tsunami, the world saw the pictures. Today we have the audio of the underwater earthquake that unleashed the wall of water that would kill more than 118,000 people. Let's listen.

That low and building rumble, the audio was captured by the global network that actually monitors for the compliance of the nuclear test band treaty. Underwater sound, as you were just listening, just one of the elements that they monitor.

For more we're joined my Maya Tolstoy. She is an oceanographer who studies underseas earthquakes. She is live in New York.

MAYA TOLSTOY, OCEANOGRAPHER: Good morning. How are you?

KAGAN: So our untrained ears hear this low, continuing rumble. What do you hear?

TOLSTOY: Well, I look at it mathematically, and I study the change in direction of the earthquake toward the station that we were recording it on. And by doing that, we were able to track the rupture as it happened over about 750 miles, It arrived at the station about 45 miles after the earthquake, and then we could see it tracking the full length of the rupture, and then we're able to tell how long it ruptured for, how fast it went, and those are important things to know for disaster navigation, and potentially for telling whether or not the earthquake is tsunamigenic.

KAGAN: And of everything you've heard and studies, have you ever heard anything like this?

TOLSTOY: No, I haven't honestly. It's really quite an eerie sound, to hear the earth ripping apart like that. We hear it on smaller earthquakes quite frequently, but something of this scale that goes on for eight minutes is very much unprecedented.

KAGAN: Now you talk about in the present tense like you were hearing it, but really there was a lapse in time, wasn't there, before you were able to get access?

TOLSTOY: Yes. We actually didn't get access until March. So the data is not openly available at the moment. They have just made it available to tsunami warning centers, but for scientists to get access to it is extremely difficult. They made just one day available in March because of the significance of the event. But the data generally is not available within the U.S. unless you have a contract with the Air Force.

KAGAN: And it's so fascinating. This is the other fascinating part of the story, about where it comes from, that they are monitoring for underground, underwater nuclear tests, and part of the agreement with all thee countries is that it is not -- this information is not released. So there's this kind of catch-22, that there's this great system, but if you can't get access to the information? TOLSTOY: Exactly. It's a very sensitive issue obviously, because you're monitoring the globe, and you can hear relatively small sounds across the globe, and so countries are very sensitive about having that information openly released.

KAGAN: And so long term, what you're looking to get out of this is prevention and to learn more about how this works, and I guess as a warning system, right?

TOLSTOY: Well, we obviously can't prevent earthquakes. They're going to happen regardless, but we'd like to be able to help prevent as much as the damage as possible from a tsunamigenic event by providing warning where it's possible. And so in the long-term, we want to better understand how these events happen so that we can better mitigate against them.

KAGAN: Well, it's a fascinating science lesson, and so interesting to listen to, and even better when we have your trained ear to explain to us exactly what we're looking for.

TOLSTOY: Maya Tolstoy, oceanographer with Columbia University, thank you.

KAGAN: Almost time for lunch. Love that time. Crunch time for more and more office workers. You're going to find out why skipping that mid-day meal might not be such a good idea. That's ahead in our "Daily Dose" segment.

And Hurricane Emily drenches South Texas and Northeastern Mexico. We'll have the latest on that storm, coming up.

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VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: Now that President Bush has announced his pick for U.S. Supreme Court justice, the confirmation process begins. For a closer look at what comes next, you can log on to CNN.com. The process starts with a formal nomination being sent to the Senate for consideration. The Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings where the nominee can be asked questions on everything, from personal and legal views to hot button issues like abortion and affirmative action.

Five of the last six Supreme Court nominees spent less than a week being quizzed by the panel, the exception being Clarence Thomas, whose nomination was nearly derailed by allegations of sexual harassment. The highest court in the land hasn't seen a new justice since Stephen Breyer was appointed 11 years ago.

Here's a look at Supreme Court justices nominated by the president since 1971. And you can also read profiles of current Supreme Court justices by clicking through this gallery. Find it all online at CNN.com/supremecourt.

From the dot-com news desk, I'm Veronica De La Cruz. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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KAGAN: There's more to come this hour. But first, here's a preview of what's coming up in the noon hour on YOUR WORLD TODAY."

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Michael Holmes.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee.

Coming up at the top of the hour...

HOLMES: In London, a bombed out train is lifted away to a police lab and investigators ask Pakistan to pick up suspects for questioning.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the guidance and all the strategy and tactics already on the Internet.

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VERJEE: Jihad in the information age. How mouse clicks and social cliques combine to create an extremist.

HOLMES: And a familiar sight in the Iraqi capitol, an ambulance speeding to the scene of a suicide attack at a place repeatedly targeted.

VERJEE: All that, and more, just ahead here on CNN International.

HOLMES: Do join us.

KAGAN: So remember the days of doing lunch? Well, apparently these days more and more people are skipping on the run -- actually, eating on the run or skipping lunch all together to save time or calories or both. Let's look at one study. 55 percent of American office workers take 30 minutes or less for lunch.

Donna Fennessy is a senior nutrition editor for "Self" magazine. She joins us in New York with our "Daily Dose" of health news. Good morning.

DONNA FENNESSY, SR. NUTRITION EDITOR, "SELF": Hi, thanks for having me.

KAGAN: We'll get to lunch in a few minutes. But first of all, let's look at these two specific reasons that people say no to lunch, saving calories and saving time. It might save time, but maybe it's going to really help you keep the weight off?

FENNESSY: No, definitely not. What happens is -- most nutrition experts tell you to eat every three to five hours. And they do that because it helps to keep your blood sugar level steady and provides the body with a constant sense -- a source of energy. If you push it beyond that five-hour mark, your energy levels plummet and you are -- you're tired, you feel headachey. Not to mention, you're also more likely to gain weight. What happens also is, if you wait too long to eat, you get so hungry that by the time you do eat, you're ravenous and you'll eat anything.

KAGAN: So is that how it works, that by -- because someone's going to go, OK, if I don't eat lunch, how is that going to make me gain weight?

FENNESSY: Right. So what happens is, by the time you do eat, you're so hungry that you're not making smart choices like you would if you were eating very regularly.

KAGAN: Let's help with some of these smart choices of what people should do if they're thinking about or if they have been skipping lunch. You're saying, as you mention, eat something every three to five hours. Some people are going to think, if I'm eating all the time, then I'm really going to gain weight.

FENNESSY: Right, these are really small meals. I mean, we're talking 200, 250 calories. A half a sandwich. A couple of crackers with string cheese. A piece of fruit, even.

KAGAN: And you don't have to go out and do the restaurant thing. You can eat at your desk.

FENNESSY: Right. I mean, 15 minutes is really all we're talking about. Ideally, it would be 15 minutes that you're just sitting and eating. But if you're in a meeting or you're in front of your computer, that's OK, too. It's important just to eat regularly.

KAGAN: What are smart lunch choices?

FENNESSY: As I mentioned before, peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread. A turkey sandwich, also on whole wheat bread is great. Crackers with some string cheese. A piece of a fruit. Even whole grain cereal with low-fat milk is a good pick.

KAGAN: All good choices. I like those. OK, I'm going to put you on the spot here. What are you having for lunch today?

FENNESSY: I'm actually a big peanut butter and jelly fan.

KAGAN: Very good. I knew I liked you. I knew I liked you, now I really do. Donna, thanks for the tips. And you have a nice lunch today.

FENNESSY: Thank you, you too.

KAGAN: Donna Fennessy from "Self" magazine, talking about why you shouldn't be skipping lunch.

To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address is CNN.com/health.

A check of business news coming up. Plus, Hurricane Emily lashes out at the Mexican and Texan coast. A live report on the path of the storm is up next on CNN LIVE TODAY.

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KAGAN: This news just in to CNN. The world of Star Trek will be paying attention to this. The actor who played the beloved character of Scotty, James Doohan, has passed away at the age of 85. Looking at video from just last year where he received his walk on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This is James Doohan at that celebration. He was already very ill at that point, suffering from both Parkinson's, and his family says signs of Alzheimer's as well. But well-beloved by "Star Trek" fans, James Doohan, at the age of 85, has passed away. More on that just ahead.

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KAGAN: That's going to wrap it up for me. I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is up next. Stay tuned for "YOUR WORLD TODAY" with Jim Clancy and Zain Verjee. They'll be with you after a break. I'll see you tomorrow.

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