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Tour de France Winner Floyd Landis to Speak Regarding Doping Allegations; Hezbollah Says it Fires New Rockets, Strikes South of Haifa; Continued Pounding of Southern Lebanon

Aired July 28, 2006 - 10:58   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're just about a half-hour away from a news conference with Tour de France winner Floyd Landis.
With more on that, let's check in with Carol Lin -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Daryn, this is the man who miraculously, some might say, won the Tour de France with an arthritic hip, yet he was able to cycle through the strenuous event and win. Well, we're going to hear from the man at 11:30. He is defending himself against allegations that he was doping during the Tour de France.

This happens as the International Cycling Union, a French association, released a statement about a particular rider. It was later confirmed that they were talking about Floyd Landis, that there were some questions about certain levels after a blood test.

So we're going to go to Al Goodman in Madrid.

CNN's Al Goodman is actually going to go to this news conference at 11:30.

Al, would there be any ulterior motive by this French cycling union to release these kinds of test results and this sort of speculation?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, only that they're trying to keep the cycling -- professional cycling, which has been so sullied by doping allegations time and again during this Tour de France -- at the beginning of the Tour de France several riders were expelled on allegations that they had done illegal doping. And so, in getting this information out ahead of time -- remember, it is only the first test known as Test A, and until Test B comes back positive, Floyd Landis would not be stripped of his victory crown from the Tour de France.

So, maybe it's just to get -- get it out and have (INAUDIBLE). But certainly, Lance Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France, also complained that French lab had somehow leaked out information of alleged doping in his case, which has never been proven, in an interested way because they were against him, or perhaps against the United States for having such great riders -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Well, Landis has denied vehemently that he has ever taken testosterone during the tour or that he's used any performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career. But, Al, he also admits that he could understand if people didn't believe him. And even as he tries to defend his title, clearly now there is a cloud over his tremendous accomplishments here.

GOODMAN: Indeed, there is. And it's surprising that he's coming -- he's basically been in hiding since the news broke. And yesterday, he gave interviews on the telephone, but he didn't come out in public.

Now, there's speculation amongst Spanish sports journalists that perhaps he's making this announcement in Madrid apparently -- and we haven't checked this, but some of the technical people on his Swiss- based team are Spaniards. And so that may be one reason why he's coming to this hotel in central Madrid. Incidentally, a hotel where President Clinton stayed several years ago when he was at a NATO conference, and also a hotel that's just a few blocks from a location where Spanish police in recent months said they found evidence of doping allegations against another Spanish -- and those were the riders, some of whom were expelled form the earlier -- at the very beginning of the tour.

So, a very central location this Friday afternoon, where Floyd Landis deciding to come out and (INAUDIBLE) and try to clear his name -- Carol.

LIN: All right. Al Goodman, we'll be looking forward to your report, seeing what Floyd Landis has to say for himself at 11:30 Eastern, right here as we give you the news when we get it on CNN.

So, Daryn, you know, such a -- such a wonderful American story that Floyd Landis was able to compete in the Tour de France, even though he's scheduled for hip replacement surgery, trying to improve that the impossible can be done. And here he is having to defend himself and his title.

KAGAN: Yes. And that drug test coming on the day of the same stage where he, some people said, had more incredible ride than they've seen in the history of the Tour de France.

LIN: The guy can barely walk, and yet he can ride a bike.

KAGAN: We'll be listening in.

Thanks, Carol.

We're just past the top of the hour. Let's take a look at what we know what's happening in the Middle East right now.

A convoy of civilians and journalists was hit by a mortar round today. The convoy was helping civilians escape the fighting. A BBC cameraman says three people were hurt. This from The Associated Press.

Hezbollah says it has fired a new rocket that hit near the Israeli town of Afula. That's the deepest strike yet into northern Israel. British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived last hour for a meeting with President Bush. Sources say Mr. Blair's expected to push the U.S. to back a U.N. cease-fire resolution.

From Lebanon to Israel, Syria to Cyprus, CNN has reporters all across the region bringing you the latest on the fighting and diplomatic efforts to end it. Live reports are straight ahead.

Let's go to our Matthew Chance. He's in northern Israel and perhaps he can tell us about these claims by Hezbollah about this new type of rocket that has moved farther south into Israel than the other previous strikes.

Matthew, hello.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, as well, Daryn.

The Israeli media, in fact, are reporting that this Iranian rocket, the Zilzal (ph), as it's called in Iran., at least, may have been fired by Hezbollah to hit the Israeli town of Afula. Hezbollah says the Kybar (ph) rocket -- it's calling it a different name, it seems -- has been fired. They're saying it's a new kind of rocket.

What we haven't had at this point is any confirmation from the Israeli military on -- as to whether casualties were caused or even whether this was a new kind of rocket. They're looking into it now. I hope to bring you more confirmation on that. But obviously, if it is one of these longer-range rockets, possibly with a range of some 200 kilometers, 160 miles or, so then it will be a major escalation in this conflict.

In the meantime, Israeli forces are still battling with Hezbollah guerrillas. Just behind me, into southern Lebanon, across this border, the Israelis are using airstrikes and artillery barrages to really hit those Hezbollah strongholds as much as possible. But as I say, there have been lots of rockets coming in the other direction, more than 80 throughout the course of this day alone.

So, it does seem that Hezbollah's ability to launch these strikes on to towns and cities across northern Israel has been more or less undiminished by this massive show of force that we've been witnessing here in the Middle East from Israel over the course of the past two weeks.

Now, one of the reasons for that is, according to the Israeli Defense Forces, is that their ground troops have not yet gotten to all of the places that are sometimes deep in southern Lebanon to prevent the Hezbollah from firing those rockets in. We haven't seen any major ground incursions over the course of the past few weeks. We've just seen these focused operations in various places. But that could change, because over the past 24 hours, the Israeli government has called tens of thousands of reserve forces into service, and that could possibly be a preparation for some further ground operations inside Lebanon, or it could just be Israel preparing for a long and protracted war -- Daryn. KAGAN: And we will be watching it. Thank you.

Matthew Chance from northern Israel.

Let's go north of the border and check on Karl Penhaul. He is in Tyre, Lebanon -- Karl.

Perhaps Karl can't hear us.

Karl Penhaul, can you hear us?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over the last few moments we've been having -- we've been seeing a fairly intense bombardment from the air by Israeli warplanes to the south, to the south and over to the eastern edges of the outlying districts of Tyre. Unclear from here what they're targeting, but certainly during the course of the day, for the first time in three days, in fact, we have seen fresh barrages of Hezbollah rockets being fired off towards Israel. And so, it would appear that these warplanes are now trying to hunt down those firing positions and trying to destroy them. We certainly know that in the last 24 hours, Israel says that it's flown about 130 sorties against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, in the course of those 24 hours.

Now, in addition to what's going on around here, just to the south and east of Tyre, in the course of today, also, a convoy was hit, a convoy that was trying to bring civilians from the hard-hit bordertown of Ramash (ph). Civilians there running out of food and water, we're told, and they're desperate to get out.

And so, a convoy of around seven cars went down to pick them up. More journalists' cars went down to accompany them. But in the course of their return, around near the town of Nakora (ph), we understand from journalists who were on that convoy that one of the cars in the convoy was hit by some kind of ordnance, or certainly some kind of shell exploded near that vehicle.

Now, a little difficult so far, because part of that convoy has not yet returned, to get a full idea of the casualties figures. But we do understand that at least two people have been wounded. It's not clear whether any of those are journalists, but we do understand that none of them were in any serious danger -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Karl Penhaul, across the Lebanese border in Tyre, Lebanon.

Thank you.

We've been hearing about this new type of rocket that Hezbollah claims that it has fired into Israel.

Carol Lin has more on that rocket -- Carol.

LIN: Daryn, the Israeli defense forces have confirmed that the Israeli city south of Haifa, Afula, has been hit. Now, what confirmation we have about this type of rocket system is coming from Al Manar television, which is Hezbollah's television network. And what it is saying right now is that it has fired a new kind of rocket called the Kybar I (ph), with a range "that will go beyond Haifa."

So, Daryn, Hezbollah trying to at least, you know, promote the idea that it can strike anywhere inside of Israel, trying to strike fear into the hearts of Israelis as the IDF continues to fire back into Lebanon. This fight continues.

But just got an e-mail from one of our military analysts, Don Shepperd. And he is also trying to research the nature of this missile system to see how powerful it is. It is now being pronounced as Hybar (ph), so we're trying to nail that down as well.

But clearly, what we're most interest in is, how far can Hezbollah fire inside of Israel? How much damage can this militant terrorist organization inflict on the state of Israel?

KAGAN: Carol, thank you.

That's moving south into Israel. Let's move north and talk about what the United Nations has decided to do and move some of its U.N. observer posts.

With more on that and why that's happening, let's go to our senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the U.N. says it's moving dozens of unarmed observers who are at these forward outposts along the Israel-Lebanon border. They're moving them back to the larger peacekeeping contingent which is still virtually a kind of toothless observer humanitarian mission, helpless in this type of conflict.

The United Nations says that the observers are relocated temporarily. They're not going to say on the record, it's because one of the outposts got clobbered by Israel, killing four military observers earlier in the week.

There is still a lot of arguments on a lot of sides whether those soldiers were killed deliberately by Israel. Israel denies this. The U.N. says on that day they tried to tell Israel constantly that those soldiers were going to be coming under attack.

The U.N. says those outposts were crucial windows on to what could be happening, but now they've had to be pulled back. Israel objects to the effectiveness of the larger mission of the U.N. there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMB. TO U.N.: I, frankly, don't think that during that time UNIFIL has been very effective. It has not managed to prevent many attacks, it has not managed to prevent any shelling or terrorist attacks, or kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. And, in fact, the cohabitation of UNIFIL and its proximity to Hezbollah positions is actually part of the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The U.N. says on that day of the attack on that U.N. outpost, there were no Hezbollah positions nearby. Today, every day, there's a U.N. statement, Daryn, from the UNIFIL mission. It says that today Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of five U.N. positions, there were also two direct impacts on U.N. positions from the Israeli side in the last 24 hours -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Richard Roth at the United Nations.

Thank you.

We want to go to Washington, D.C., now, Mideast crisis talks. British Prime Minister Tony Blair meeting with President Bush this hour. There's talk the U.S. could be willing now to back a cease-fire resolution.

Our Elaine Quijano is at the White House with more on that -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well, White House officials saying it depends what kind of conditions exist for that to happen. But Tony Blair is President Bush's staunchest ally, certainly, in the war on terror. He arrived in the Washington, D.C., area earlier this morning, arrived here at the White House just a short time ago. And this hour, is he sitting down in the Oval Office with President Bush. At the top of the agenda, of course, the Middle East crisis.

Now, 11 days after their last meeting at the G-8, against the backdrop of continued fighting in the Middle East, as well as rising civilian casualties, both the president and the prime minister are facing intense pressure from European allies to support an immediate cease-fire. But President Bush, so far, has not budged, saying, effectively, that a lasting peace and a cease-fire are not necessarily the same thing.

Now, on those reports of Tony Blair seeking support for a U.N. resolution here, White House spokesman Tony Snow, just a short time ago, would not characterize what a possible U.N. resolution might include, but he did say that both the president and the prime minister would like to see something happen at the United Nations, emphasizing, though, that the right conditions must exist for that to happen.

Snow also would not discuss an expected return trip by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Middle East region. Earlier today, though, Daryn, a senior administration official did say that when the president and prime minister appear before reporters at the White House, in the East Room here, about an hour from now, to expect that the president will make an announcement about Secretary Rice's expected return to the Mideast -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano at the White House.

Thank you.

He is fast on two wheels, but Floyd Landis says, hey, hold on, slow down here a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLOYD LANDIS, TOUR DE FRANCE WINNER: All I'm asking for from -- just from me is that I be given a chance to prove that I'm innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The Tour de France and doping allegations. What now? Landis has a news conference scheduled for the bottom of the hour.

CNN is there in Madrid, Spain. We'll bring you the latest.

And water on the rise. Life is no merry-go-round in Ohio this morning because of flooding.

That's coming up on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're at the quarter-hour. Let's take a look at what we know right now.

Hezbollah says it fired a new type of missile into Israel today. The IDF says it hit near Afula. That's the deepest strike into northern Israel so far. Israeli television says the missile carried 100 kilos of explosives.

A convoy of civilians and journalists was hit by a mortar round today. The convoy was helping civilians escape the fighting.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeting this hour with President Bush to discuss the crisis. Sources say he's expected to push the U.S. to support a cease-fire resolution.

It's a good day to have our severe weather center.

Chad Myers, you have floods, you have heat, you have a lot to talk about, don't you?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know what? It has been -- it's been a very ugly morning in a lot of spots here

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: All right, Chad. Thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: We're going to head north to Oregon. That's where a bustling tourist town is starting to look like a ghost town, all because of the smoke and flames from a dangerous wildfire near the town of Sisters. About 500 residents have been evacuated. Another 1,000 have been warned they might have to leave at a moment's notice.

Two hundred homes are registered. They are threatened there in Sisters, Oregon.

I want to talk about Floyd Landis, the American Tour de France winner. In about 10 minutes he's scheduled to have a news conference in Madrid, Spain, to talk about these allegations that he's failed his doping test during the Tour de France. He says, hold on, don't make judgments too quickly.

CNN is at that news conference in Madrid. And we will bring you the latest as it develops.

Right now, a quick break here on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ever wish you could do a key word search through all of your memories to find that name, number or other piece of essential information? Well, Sunil Vemuri is busy turning that dream into a reality.

SUNIL VEMURI, CO-FOUNDER, QTECH INC.: What I have is a portable device which I carry around with me at all times, and which allows me to record anything that happens in my life.

SIEBERG: The audio is then converted into text by using a sophisticated computer program. And the resulting files are then searchable, similar to what you do when searching the Internet.

VEMURI: The eventual goal of all of this is to help people with every day memory problems.

SIEBERG: But don't expect to see this device on the market anytime soon. Still to be worked out, issues with privacy laws and how to protect these memory recordings from being subpoenaed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Tour de France champ Floyd Landis plans a news conference this hour in Madrid, Spain. He'll face questions about a blood test, one that showed he had too much testosterone in his system.

Today, Landis is asking that a second sample that was taken at the same time be tested. He is confident it will come out clean. So there are a lot of folks in his hometown of Farmersville, Pennsylvania, that would like to know about this.

Meredith Jorgensen with our affiliate WGAL has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MEREDITH JORGENSEN, REPORTER, WGAL (voice over): It's a small community with big old trees, tall corn, and a slower pace of life. It's Farmersville, Pennsylvania, and it's recently become a little famous as Tour de France winner Floyd Landis' hometown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it's quite an accomplishment, and someone in our area. It's big news.

JORGENSEN: Floyd's parents have signs and cards from well- wishers displayed on the front lawn. But now Landis' success might take a back seat to doping allegations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would just be devastating. I just hope and pray it isn't so.

JORGENSEN: The media spotlight is once again shining on this family, but it's not all good news this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been an emotional high with Floyd's victory, obviously, and now this was definitely a tailspin today.

JORGENSEN: Landis' mother says she stands behind her son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Floyd talked to me in a lot of discouragement because of the media press that he's getting. But, you know, the fact is that there's nothing proven that anything is wrong with his test. He said, "This test is so irregular." And there's no reason why it wouldn't have shown up other days he was riding if that was a fact.

JORGENSEN: Floyd's family members say they and Floyd have the strength to get through anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm proud of our brother, that I can honestly say that he won fair and that he is a man of integrity.

JORGENSEN: At the cycle shop where Landis bought his first bike, fans have shown their support on the front windows. Owner and friend Mike Farrington (ph) says he thinks the allegations are false.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just not Floyd's style to cheat. He never has before, I don't see why he would ever start now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: One more note here. Landis says that he believes medications that he takes to treat his injured hip and a thyroid condition could have spiked those test results.

A news conference set to begin very soon in Madrid, Spain. Once again, CNN is there, and we will bring you the latest.

Also, the latest straight ahead on the Middle East. Crossing the border, Israeli troops brace for battle with Hezbollah.

That's ahead. And the trip home will have to wait for thousands of American troops digging in for extended duty in Iraq.

Details on CNN, most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're watching news out of Washington, D.C. Tony Blair, the British prime minister, is there. He is at the White House to meet with President Bush. It's expected that the prime minister will be pushing the president to have the U.S. accept a cease-fire deal that's being brokered and put together by the U.N. Security Council.

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