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CNN Live Today

President Bush Outlines Foiled Attacks; Husband Arrested in Massachusetts Murders of Wife, Daughter; Katrina Hearings

Aired February 09, 2006 - 10:59   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."
A man whose wife and baby daughter were found shot to death in their Massachusetts home has now been charged with their murders. Authorities say Neil Entwistle was arrested in London today. Entwistle returned to his native England around the time his family was killed. Details of the arrest ahead in a live report.

President Bush says the global war on terror has disrupted plans to the attack the U.S. since September 11. In a speech last hour, he cited a foiled plot back in 2002 for an attack on the West Coast. Mr. Bush says the U.S. will stay on the hunt and win the war on terror.

We'll have more in a live report just ahead.

Warships under U.S. command have moved into international waters off the coast of Yemen. A senior U.S. official says it's an effort to block he possible escape route of 23 fugitives, including the reputed mastermind of the USS Cole bombing. The prisoners escaped from jail in Yemen last Friday.

A push towards ethics reform in Washington targets pork barrel politics. Live pictures from Capitol Hill right now, looking at Senator John McCain.

He and a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to control what's known as earmarks. Those are pet projects slipped into spending bills by individual lawmakers or special interest groups.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley says he believes all nine of the recent church fires in his state are connected. Investigators are trying to determine if four fires this week are linked to fire others last week. They're also looking into witness reports that a dark- colored SUV was spotted near some of the fires.

First Lady Laura Bush met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican today. Mrs. Bush is in Italy as the head of the U.S. delegation to the Olympics in Torino. The first lady, daughter Barbara, and the U.S. ambassador met privately with the pope. He wished them a peaceful time at the Olympics.

Good morning and welcome to the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY. Let's check some of the time around the world.

Just after 4:00 p.m. in London, just at 11:00 a.m. in Boston. From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.

We're going to start this hour with President Bush, who says disruptive plots to attack the U.S. are evidence that the war on terror is succeeding. Mr. Bush outlined the foiled attacks in a speech that wrapped up just a short time ago.

We get details now from our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

And perhaps an unprecedented level of detail, specifically about a West Coast terror plot that was interrupted early in 2002. The president trying to make the case on to points here that the international community, countries that once weren't cooperating on the United States, are in fact on board when it comes to the war on terror, and that secondly, information, things that are happening behind the scenes that Americans don't even know about, are actually taking place to protect the American people.

President Bush talking specifically about an attack that was targeting the tallest building in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We now know that in October, 2001, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, had already set in motion a plan to have terrorist operatives hijack an airplane using shoe bombs to breach the cockpit door and fly the plane into the tallest building on the West Coast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The president went on to say that that terrorist plot was actually disrupted because there was a Southeast Asia group related to al Qaeda, a man by the name of Hambali (ph), who was arrested before that ever happened. They got a tip from a Southeastern Asian country, and that is how this all unfolded, that there was international cooperation.

It is one of the reasons why the president is going forward with this level of detail. Really, Daryn, it is all about a strategy here to give more information to convince the American people that, yes, you may not even know what's happening behind the scenes, but there are things that are going on once we can declassify classified information to use that to make our case in the global war on terror -- Daryn.

KAGAN: But Suzanne, this seems like something the White House has really been resisting to do. MALVEAUX: Well, that's absolutely right. They have been resisting. This is something that maybe we've got two lines on just last year when he talked about disrupted terrorist attacks, about 10 of them or so last year.

The White House learned an important lesson on that. The story became, well, what are the details? There was a lot of suspicion about what they were talking about, and essentially we found out that a lot of that was public information already.

People want the information, they want to know what's going on. They realize that there is some information now they can declassify and give it to the American people to make their point.

KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux, live at the White House.

Thank you.

Well, the White House has changed course on this and agreed to give lawmakers as well more details on that controversial secret eavesdropping program. Members of the House Intelligence Committee were briefed yesterday. A similar briefing for members of the Senate committee is scheduled today. Initially, the Bush administration only provided details of the program to a select group of eight lawmakers.

CNN "Security Watch" keeps you up to date on safety. Stay tuned day and night for the most reliability news about your security.

And now to the story of a young mother and her baby daughter shot to death in their home outside of Boston. Today, Scotland Yard arrests the husband and father, charging him with their murders.

Our Jason Carroll is covering the developing story. He is with us today from Boston.

Good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Daryn.

Just a short while ago, the Middlesex district attorney wrapped up her press conference where she really filled in some of the details surrounding this murder mystery. She said that Neil Entwistle, they suspect that he killed his wife and his baby girl Lillian because of financial reasons. She said that that was the motive behind the murders.

Basically, that this is a man who had financial problems in England, had financial problems here. She believes he became overwhelmed, and because of that he decided to kill his wife and baby girl.

She believes also that this was a failed murder-suicide. She also laid out some of the basic details in terms of the timeline of how they believed the murders happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA COAKLEY, MIDDLESEX DISTRICT ATTORNEY: On sometime Friday morning, Neil Entwistle, with a firearm we believe he had secured at some time before that from his father-in-law, Joseph Matarazo (ph), shot Rachel Entwistle in the head and then proceeded to shoot baby Lilian, who was lying on the bed next to her mother. We believe possibly that this was intended to be a murder-suicide, but we cannot confirm that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: The district attorney also explained that it was just two days ago that they got the test results back on the .22 caliber weapon that they believe was used in the murders. After they got the test results back, they were then able to ask for the arrest warrant.

That arrest happened this morning, 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in London. That's when Scotland Yard officials caught up with Entwistle, who was apparently in London visiting friends. They caught up with him on the tube, made the arrest without incident.

Now, what happens next is, tomorrow, Entwistle is scheduled to appear before a magistrate. Perhaps at that time, Daryn, we'll get more of a sense of whether or not he plans to fight extradition on whether or not he will waive extradition back here to Massachusetts -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's talk about more about the alleged murder weapon. We also learned from prosecutors today that this gun actually belongs to Rachel Entwistle's father.

CARROLL: That is correct, to her -- to her stepfather, in fact. And apparently, what we're learning is that Neil Entwistle was very familiar with the gun case. In fact, he knew where the key to the gun case was hidden in the Matarazos' (ph) home. And apparently, in the past, Neil Entwistle and Rachel's stepfather would have gun practice together, things of that nature.

So the district attorney says Entwistle was very familiar with the gun, the gun case, how to get it, how to get it back into the house without being detected -- Daryn.

KAGAN: What a chilling day for that family today.

Jason Carroll, live from Boston.

Thank you.

It is about eight minutes after the hour right now. The commander of the military response to Hurricane Katrina goes before a Senate committee. The panel is looking into the Defense Department's role in the aftermath of the storm. Lieutenant General Russel Honore is one of the key witnesses.

Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, was there when Honore and his troops rolled into New Orleans. She joins us from her post this morning at the Pentagon.

Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, months later, still looking at what happened on those streets in New Orleans. The Senate Homeland Security Committee having one of is many hearings, but today calling in front of the committee the senior active duty military officers that helped construct the military Pentagon response to Katrina.

Now, General Russel Honore, of course, is going to be the one that everyone is watching. He hasn't actually appeared before the committee yet. So far, it has been Admiral Timothy Keating, the four- star admiral one level above him. But when General Honore takes the witness chair, we can expect him to be very candid in his remarks, as always.

I think what we can look forward to hearing General Honore talk about is, all these months later, looking back, trying to determine what might have been done better, how could the military have moved in faster, how could the military have coordinated better with the National Guard, with state and local officials.

It is still going to be the case, I believe, that we will hear the major lesson out of all of this was that communications were absolutely destroyed on the ground. When you looked at the picture -- the pictures of General Honore there on the streets of New Orleans, what you see is him with a cell phone next to his ear. That was all he had to really work with in those initials days, and one of the major recommendations is going to be to put survivable communications into these areas that may be the most hard hit.

That's Mother Nature. What they do about being better prepared for a terrorist attack will be another question that he will be expected to answer.

But we can also tell you that General Honore will remind the committee for all of their work, for all of their interests, the United States is just 111 days from the beginning of the next hurricane season -- Daryn.

KAGAN: I know. Can you believe is? Here we go again. Hopefully not, but hurricane season.

Barbara, thank you.

This note as well. Former FEMA director Michael Brown is expected to testify tomorrow at those hearings on Hurricane Katrina. And there's a report that Brown may testify about his communications with the White House during the storm. The Associated Press cites a letter from Brown's attorney to White House counsel Harriet Miers.

Turning to news overseas now, a suicide bomber has struck Pakistan's Shiite Muslims on their holiest day. Authorities say 22 people were killed, several more were wounded in today's blast.

It happened in the northern town of Hangu during the Ashura holiday procession. That's when Shiite mourn the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. The crowd responded to the attack by burning shops and cars.

Iraq today stepped up security for the holy today of Ashura. An estimated two million pilgrims all in black walked across Karbala today. The holy city is where Imam Hussein died a martyr.

Some Shia there flagellate themselves with chains or blades to depict Imam Hussein's suffering. Officials put 8,000 security officers on the streets to protect pilgrims.

Three hundred thousand people marched in Beirut's southern suburbs today. Some carried signs defending Muslim protests of satirical cartoons of Mohammed. The Ashura march was organized by Hezbollah, labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel. Hezbollah's leader called for more protests against the cartoon, but said those protests should be peaceful.

Anger over the satirical cartoons of Mohammed exploded across the Muslim world this month, but that has been simmering for months.

Here now is our CNN International Correspondent Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Though the protests and violence ignited and then spread from Gaza 10 days ago, the truth is the story really begins early last fall in Denmark.

(on camera): Incredibly, all this violence was sparked when a Danish author writing a children's book about the Muslim faith discovered he couldn't find an artist to draw a picture of the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's founder. He realized they were afraid of offending Muslims who consider such depiction sacrilegious.

FLEMMING ROSE, "JYLLANDS-POSTEN" CULTURE EDITOR: We had five, six cases in Denmark in the course of two weeks, all speaking to the problem of self censorship and freedom of speech in terms of dealing and covering Islam.

ROBERTSON: So in a competition, Rose's paper asked artists to draw Prophet Mohammed. On September 30, they printed 12. Two weeks lapsed before Muslim demonstrators took to Denmark streets.

It was another week before ambassadors from Muslim nations complained to Denmark's prime minister. He ignored them.

Next, a delegation of Muslim leaders from Denmark carried a file full of the offensive cartoons to Cairo to plead for support from Muslim clerics there. But it wasn't until after mid-January, in fact after the Hajj, the Muslim world's holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, that word really began to spread. AHMED ABU LABAN, DANISH MUSLIM LEADER: Once the season was over, the scholars there started to give attention to this issue.

ROBERTSON: Then, two weeks ago, on January 26, the Saudis recalled their ambassador to Denmark, and Internet sites did the rest.

ALI AL-AHMED, GULF INSTITUTE: There is actually a Web site dedicated to this issue, to the boycott issue listing companies' products, and even fatwas.

ROBERTSON: And that's when demonstrations ignited. First, a flag burning in the West Bank, a takeover of a European Union office followed in Gaza. Then, a week ago, the Danish government expressed concern to Muslims. But several European newspapers reprinted the cartoons.

That proved incendiary and led to critical mass. From Iran to Syria to Beirut, across the Arab and Muslim world, fiery violence brought deaths.

President Bush, in a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, called for an end to the violence. There's no indication that's about to happen.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Some significant business news ahead. We're going to hear one of the largest insurance companies in the world has agreed to a billion-dollar settlement. Our Susan Lisovicz will be along to tell you what AIG is accused of doing wrong.

In health news, the battle against cancer. They're making some headway. Today, the death rate -- news of the death rate has dropped. I'll speak with an oncologist about how significant that is and how much work is left to be done.

Also ahead, how a happy, smiling baby? It might sometimes, though, signal a rare disease. We'll look at Angelman Syndrome and doctors' efforts to beat that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: These pictures just in to CNN. This is the courthouse in London where Neil Entwistle will be scheduled to appear tomorrow.

He was arrested today and charged with the murders of his wife and baby daughter back in the Boston area. Those happened last month. Extradition hearings will have to take place to get him to go from England back here to the U.S. And that should start in that courthouse tomorrow.

Let's get back to this breaking news story out of the world of business. One of the world's largest insurance companies agrees to a settlement, more than $1.5 billion. With more on that, let's go to our Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Daryn.

This news came out just in the last 15 minutes or so. We were expecting some news on it. It's been part of a long, ongoing investigation. But here it is.

American International Group agreeing to a more than $1.6 billion settlement with federal and New York State regulators. Just to put this in context for you, AIG in its last quarter reported net profits of $1.7 billion. And the settlement is $1.6 billion.

This to settle charges of bid rigging and improper accounting practices at the company. These kind of practices involved phony deals which concealed losses or made its loss reserves, which is a measure of health for an insurance company, look a lot better.

AIG is the world's biggest insurer by market value. As part of the settlement, the company has agreed to certain corporate reforms designed to prevent similar misconduct in the future, but it does not admit or deny the allegations.

The pact, the largest finance industry settlement by a single company in U.S. history. AIG is one of the Dow 30 stocks. It shares ups nearly one percent right now.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LISOVICZ: And that's the latest from Wall Street.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: All right, Susan. Thank you.

Have you been checking out any of the Fashion Week?

LISOVICZ: I certainly have.

KAGAN: I bet you have, you fabulous fashion woman, you.

Well, we've been looking at a lot of the clothes, but the question is, is there anything you would actually wear? Up next, we'll take you to the runways of New York's Fall Fashion Week for a peek.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The catwalks are sizzling, and we're not talking about summer's hot new fashions, but what you probably will be wearing, or something like what you'll be wearing in the fall.

Our Entertainment Correspondent Sibila Vargas has been keeping us in the know. And she joins us once again from New York City.

Hello.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Well, you know, it used to be about Milan and Paris, the runways of those places where everyone would talk about fashion. But now it's New York City. For 15 years, it burst on to the scene.

I've got the woman, the grand dame of the fashion world.

You put this all together. How are you feeling?

FERN MALLIS, VICE PRESIDENT, IMG: Proud and happy and delighted that it's been going so well.

VARGAS: How much money does this show generate for the city?

MALLIS: There's a number that's been tossed around, about $260 million each season that comes in because of the business, the hotels, the restaurants, all the work that's done to put together a fashion week, all of the vendors, all of the sourcing. It's a huge revenue source for New York, but it's also a very proud moment for New York because the fashion industry is one of the stellar industries in this city.

VARGAS: Yes. And I know you have some -- what's different from last year than from this year? There's some new things evolving.

MALLIS: Well, there's always news things because it's fashion. There's always new designers. But this year we've added technology to the -- to the fray, and we have now given everybody outside these tents a front-row seat to see whatever we're seeing inside.

So on www.imgfashionworld.com, you can live-stream the shows. Live, live, live, exactly what we see inside.

And then a little later, if you're lucky, if you have a Sprint multimedia phone, we have every day shows, and there's little highlight packages. As well on MSN Video you can see.

VARGAS: Wow.

MALLIS:. So we're bringing this to the world. In China, Japan, all over, you can see what's happening right here in the heartbeat in New York in fashion.

VARGAS: That is just tremendous. Thank you so much for joining us.

MALLIS: Thank you. A pleasure.

VARGAS: A pleasure.

MALLIS: Thank you.

VARGAS: The woman behind it all.

Back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: A great woman.

Thank you, Sibila.

Thank you.

Turning now to some hopeful news in the medical world. For the first time in more than 70 years, death rates from cancer are down. I'll talk with an expert about what this drop could mean.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We are right about at the half-hour. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Here's what's happening right "Now in the News."

Poland's new president is at the White House for official meetings. NATO, Iraq and U.S. trade with Poland are on the agenda.

In a speech last hour, Mr. Bush elaborated on a foiled terrorist attack in 2002. Following 9/11, he said plotters planned to use a hijacked commercial airplane to strike Los Angeles. The president first referred to the plot in a speech in October.

Capitol Hill lawmakers are taking a look at the airline security situation today. A Senate subcommittee is conducting a hearing on screening programs used by the Transportation Security Administration. TSA chief Kip Hawley testified that a plan to check every passenger's name against a government watch list is now on hold.

A British man is arrested in London and charged with two counts of murder. Neil Entwistle's American wife Rachel and his 9-month-old baby were found shot to death last month in Massachusetts. Authorities say Entwistle killed them on January 20 and then left the country.

Crews battling wildfires in California are making some headway. They've managed to contain a blaze burning in the hills above Malibu. Officials say an 8,800-acre fire in Orange County is more than two- thirds contained. They say homes there are no longer in immediate danger.

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