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American Morning

Close Circuit TV Aids British Police; Heat Taking Toll on Farmers; Lance Armstrong Wins Seventh Tour De France; London Commuters Turning to Bicycles

Aired July 25, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: And welcome back, everybody. We're coming to you live this morning from London. We are on Abington Green, which is a center, not only for people who are commuting, but also for tourists as well, as we are right in front of the Parliament right behind me, as you can see.
Couple of things to tell you about this morning. We're going to talk about security, specifically those closed circuit TV cameras that are supposed to make people feel more secure. But are they actually working? We're going to talk to an expert about that this morning and see, one, how they work. Are they effective? And are they making people feel safer?

But first, let's go back to Miles in New York -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Thank you, Soledad. They seem to be good after the fact, anyhow. I'm interested to hear what the experts have to say.

Good morning to you. Good morning to you all. We're glad you're with us this morning.

A little later in the program, we're going to be talking to someone who came perilously close to those bombings at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. We'll ask him what he thinks about the terrorists who perpetrated that act. And lots more ahead, as well.

But before we do that, let's check the headlines with Carol Costello. Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, emergency crews rushing to help passengers of a Greyhound bus that overturned on I-95. This is in East Baltimore. At least two reportedly trapped people have now been pulled from this wreckage. Officials say one of them is apparently unconscious. At least 10 other being treated for more minor injuries. Much more on this developing story throughout the hour. Right now, thought, traffic is being diverted to Route 40. That's on I-95 northbound at 895.

Authorities near Reno, Nevada, looking for an 8-year-old girl. They suspect Lydia Bethany-Rose Rupp was taken by a convicted sex offender. She was discovered missing Friday night. Authorities have identified the suspect as Fernando Aguerro. He was last seen driving a silver or blue Kia Rio with no license plates, possibly heading to Las Vegas or San Diego.

In Iraq, at least 14 people are dead and dozens wounded after two suicide attacks in Baghdad. One of the car bombs went off at an Iraqi police checkpoint in the Green Zone, the other near a Baghdad hotel.

In the meantime, Iraqi officials are back to work on a new constitution. Writing was suspended last week. Members of the Sunni minority staged a boycott after one of their committee members was assassinated.

In Beijing, China, U.S. and North Korean delegates holding rare one-on-one talks today. The informal meeting comes on the eve of six- party nuclear talks. It's been more than a year since North Korea withdrew from the discussions. Japan, China, Russia and South Korea join North Korea and the United States for more formal talks tomorrow. And hopefully, something will come of that rare one-on-one with North Korean and U.S. officials.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, every time I think there's progress on that front there, something comes up.

COSTELLO: Something happens.

M. O'BRIEN: So we'll watch it, of course, for you. Thank you very much, Carol.

Let's get back to Soledad in London -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Miles, thanks.

Closed caption TV, it's making it possible now for authorities, as they do their investigation, to get a clearer picture of the suspects of the bombings, both those in the first round of bombings on July 7, and also in the more recent bombing attempts. The four men, of course in the attempt still have not been caught.

Graham Jones is the director of Digital Imaging Research Center, which is at Kingston University, and he's our guest this morning to talk a little bit more about this.

Good morning.

GRAHAM JONES, DIRECTOR, DIGITAL IMAGING RESEARCH CENTER: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: On the one hand, it's pretty remarkable how quickly we saw images of the bombers after the first bombing.

Second time around, though, what you have is sort of four poor quality grainy pictures. And if people are, as we're told, getting their picture taken 300 times a day here in London, why only four bad pictures of the men that they're desperately searching for?

JONES: Well, we have a lot of commerce in and around the U.K., perhaps half a million in London alone. But the vast bulk of those are analog CCTV, which no one is really watching all the time. They're primarily recording imagery. And because of the vast data rates, we're really only recording at low resolution and at low frame rate, perhaps one frame a second.

S. O'BRIEN: So does that mean that there are more pictures and better quality pictures of the four bombers that they're now searching for somewhere in a database?

JONES: It's unlikely that they're going to get any better quality than that. Usually, these images are used as part of the investigation rather than definitive proof of anything in itself.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about the limitations of the cameras, and as you mentioned sort of the poor quality. And the resolution is one. And they can't be enhanced, can they?

JONES: There's a certain amount you can do to improve it, but if you actually want to actually use it in a court of law, you really shouldn't play with it at all.

So really, it has two roles. One is in terms of actually use it in a court of law, where you don't touch at all.

The second is in the investigations where perhaps you're using it on television to try to cue people's minds, to give you names, et cetera. And then there are a little bit of enhancement. But basically, they're as good as you're going to get.

S. O'BRIEN: There's nobody monitoring many of these cameras. There's not -- you sort of picture, as far as security goes someone, is sitting there looking for suspicious people. But that's the not the case.

JONES: These cameras are used in two ways. Online real time, some operator is following people around who they believe is suspicious. But by definition, these people that we saw today don't act suspicious. They are wandering around looking like normal commuters, et cetera. So they're not being watched. There is no connectivity between the cameras that tell a story.

So in the second mode, what we do is try to go through that imagery, putting together that story. But someone has got to go away and do that. It's a painstaking job. You can spend up to about four hours per hour of video just to record what's going on.

S. O'BRIEN: So technically, or theoretically, you're kind of drowning in extra...

JONES: Extremely. Poor quality imagery.

S. O'BRIEN: Poor quality videotape. Then you have the other problem, which is, I guess, tracking the movements of these potential bombers, not just in the car or in that one subway station. They come from other places and they hook up with other people, and that's a critical element in an investigation. The cameras can't do that? JONES: The cameras can't do that. That's where you see the importance in understanding the role of the footage. Really, it's about trying to understand where these people could have come from.

In the 7/7 incident, the -- all the bombs went off roughly about the same time after the vehicles they were in had moved through King's Cross. So we were able to narrow down the actual location, or the police were able to narrow down the location and look at particular cameras, et cetera. So they probably went through King's Cross, and then we're able to look up the -- the railway lines, figure out where they may have come from.

So it's about narrowing down, looking through the CCTV intelligently. But it's all about the scenarios that you're thinking about, as well. CCTV is only part of the story.

S. O'BRIEN: What improvements have you made before these cameras do, sort of, fulfill their promise, I guess?

JONES: It is true that lots and lots of people think that these cameras are capable of a great deal of sophistication. The report that said that you could go through London through -- be seen through 300 cameras is true. It's an enormous visual footprint.

But to actually connect them together is years and years of research. This is the sort of thing I do and many other universities do. The idea of being able to identify individuals in cameras and be able to track them through and understand what is going on is a tremendous research topic.

S. O'BRIEN: And really doing it before they become bombers and not after when you're...

JONES: Where CCTV probably doesn't have a role is trying to address the problems that cause this in the first place.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Graham Jones is at Kingston University. Very nice to have you.

JONES: Thank you. No problem.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much for talking with us. We appreciate it -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Soledad. Appreciate that.

We return to one of our top stories this morning, that deadly heat wave that is burning up a major portion of the country. Chad Myers is at the CNN center with the latest on all of that, as well as what's going on mid-Atlantic.

Good morning, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: We sure hope people are taking this all very seriously and staying inside.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, stay inside. Make sure the pets have some shade and some water, too, because you knot, they can't help themselves.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right. Thank you, Chad. Appreciate it.

The scorching temperatures also exacting a heavy toll on farms from Illinois to Texas. It's been so dry in northern Illinois, farmers are wondering if they can survive the season without some help.

Jonathan Freed reports from Blake County, Illinois.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tom Doolittle is normally welled up with farmer's pride when he walks his cornfields. The trouble is this year the well is dry.

TOM DOOLITTLE, FARMER: I've never experienced a crop this poor in my lifetime.

FREED: And how long have you been farming?

DOOLITTLE: I've farmed 36 years full-time, and part time before that, ever since I was 5 years old.

FREED: Northern Illinois is baking in the grip of extreme drought. It's hardly rained since early June.

(on camera) What's that old saying? Your corn is supposed to be knee high by the Fourth of July.

DOOLITTLE: That's what the old saying was years ago, and this corn would have been probably, even though being planted the end of May, it would have been -- probably been way above my knee by the Fourth of July with adequate rains.

FREED: According to the local farm association, Illinois produced two billion bushels of corn in 2004, and we'll be lucky to see half that this season.

DOOLITTLE: It's just loose as can be. It's bone dry.

FREED: It's just dust. You pick it up and...

DOOLITTLE: That just goes.

FREED (voice-over): Soybeans and other crops are also doing poorly in the state. The drought could drain about $2 billion from Illinois' economy.

(on camera) On a scale of one to 10, where is your stress level this year?

DOOLITTLE: It's right up there at nine or 10 almost, I would say.

FRIED (voice-over): Most farms in this part of the country don't have irrigation systems. They haven't been needed, because the rain has always been there.

DOOLITTLE: As the days went by, slowly, our spirit has sunk down lower and lower because we know, come fall, that we just aren't going to have much of a crop there to harvest.

GREGORY KOEPPEN, LAKE COUNTY FARM BUREAU: This ranks right up there with the 1934 dust bowl, talking to a couple of the farmers.

FREED: The head of the Lake County Farm Bureau says weather like this is particularly devastating for smaller operations like Doolittle's.

KOEPPEN: They have no leverage. They have nowhere else to go. They're relying on that small piece of land, where other farmers can hopefully leverage that over larger pieces of land.

DOOLITTLE: It's just going to be a large financial loss, and that happens. Everybody experiences it in life sometime, I guess, and we're going to go through it this year.

FREED (on camera): How are you going to deal with it?

DOOLITTLE: I don't know. One step at a time.

FREED (voice-over): Doolittle is determined to find a way to keep the family farm going.

Jonathan Freed, CNN, Lake County, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Illinois' governor is expecting to ask the federal government to declare his state a disaster area, and the USDA farm service agency will hold an emergency board meeting in Illinois later today. Hopefully, we'll get some help for those farmers.

Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, two huge labor unions are leaving the AFL-CIO. Two others are boycotting an upcoming convention. We're Minding Your Business" about that.

And forget the bike. How about the beach? Seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong heads for vacation, well deserved, we might add. A look at his amazing seventh victory of the tour next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Lance Armstrong getting much need and deserved R&R this morning. The 33-year-old won his seventh and last Tour De France on Sunday. Long trip, and he finished in strong form, and he really has changed the whole view, especially here in this country, of the sport of cycling. Jim Bittermann reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every summer for the past seven years, the American anthem has echoed down the Champs D'Elysees in Paris. Seven times, Lance Armstrong has taken top spot on the podium in a race many say is the most grueling sporting event on earth.

This time his kids were with him. They weren't even born the first time he won.

But this time will be his last time. He wanted to end his career as he so often lived it, in control and at the top.

As hard as it's been along the way, in the end, he told tens of thousands of fans on the avenue Parisians like to think is the most beautiful street in the world that he had come to love the bicycle race that's been the focus of his life for more than a decade.

LANCE ARMSTRONG, WINNER, TOUR DE FRANCE: This is one hell of a race. This is a great sporting event, and you should stand around and believe. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. And I'm a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live, and there are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event, and hard work wins it. So vive le tour forever. Thank you.

BITTERMANN: Such is the reflected glory from a star like Armstrong that dozens of well-known personalities were in the stands to witness his victory. Who wouldn't want to be on the side of someone with such a storybook life, who struggled to beat cancer and went on to win at everything he tried?

His mother thinks he can do just about anything now.

LINDA ARMSTRONG-KELLY, LANCE ARMSTRONG'S MOTHER: Maybe TV material. He's cute, too.

BITTERMANN: A politician thinks he's so attractive he might even become a Democrat.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Anyone would love to see him in their party. But you know, that's not what this is about right now. And I think he wants to have a different kind of life for awhile.

BITTERMANN: A prince in the stands thinks Armstrong is the perfect role model.

PRINCE ALBERT, MONACO: He's that dedicated athlete and that dedicated kind of human being that we all have to look up to.

BITTERMANN (on camera): From here, Armstrong, girlfriend Sheryl Crow, and his three kids are headed for a beach in the south. August is not a bad month to relax in France. And from there, well, the champ says there's nothing specific. But whatever it is, you can be sure it will include winning.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: So princes, politicians, rock stars -- everybody loves Lance. Let's see, Lance for president, Soledad? What do you think?

S. O'BRIEN: You know how many people would vote for him and those little yellow bracelets? Absolutely. Why not?

M. O'BRIEN: If he will, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Good for him. Pretty remarkable, isn't it?

M. O'BRIEN: It is. It's amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, just the physical feat of it all is pretty amazing.

M. O'BRIEN: You know what I can't help but think, though, when he rides on the Champs D'Elysees and he's riding no handed? It would be terrible if he fell, you know? I guess he's a pretty good bike rider and all, but still he's doing that seven thing, and I'm thinking, get your hands on the handlebars, will you?

S. O'BRIEN: He's not going to fall, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: He's not going to.

S. O'BRIEN: I can almost positively guarantee you that. Never.

You know, ahead this morning, as you were speaking of biking and courage, talking about Lance Armstrong, but in many ways it applies to Londoners, as well, because the numbers are really telling the story here. People who are afraid to go underground are now getting on their bikes to go into work. We'll take a closer look at that a little bit later on AMERICAN MORNING, Miles, when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Warring factions are threatening to split the mighty AFL-CIO. That story and more in our "Minding Your Business" segment with Andy Serwer.

And we were just talking about the fact that the AFL-CIO is having huge troubles. It's not really the lead story.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, you know, there's been a decline in union membership over the past couple of decades, and that's probably the problem here that speaks to the heart of this matter.

Fiftieth anniversary of the AFL-CIO today in Chicago and not good news for this giant organized labor union. It's -- there's a rancorous and growing rift going on here, Miles. And four major unions are threatening to boycott -- in fact, are going to boycott this meeting. And even worse for the union, they're looking to drop out of the AFL-CIO.

This is the SEIU, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union -- that's the union that's been battling Wal-Mart -- the Teamsters and UNITE HERE. These are the four most aggressive labor unions in the country right now, and they're looking to drop out of the AFL-CIO.

That's because they say that the AFL-CIO leadership has done nothing to stem the decline in union membership over the past couple decades. And they also say that the AFL-CIO is more interested in endorsing political candidates and collecting dues than doing anything for the average union members.

So we're going to be watching this story. We don't know whether these unions are actually going to withdraw from the AFL-CIO, but we'll probably know later today. As far as...

M. O'BRIEN: If they do, where does that leave the AFL-CIO? Those are some of their real fire brand unions.

SERWER: Well, some say this will make organized unions -- organized labor stronger, because this will allow the aggressive unions to do their own thing, essentially. Others say it will make it much weaker, because it's going to splinter this big group.

As far as the markets, Miles, let's talk about that quickly. Last week, we were up a little bit. You can see here the Dow is up 10 to 10,651. NASDAQ up 22 points, 1.1 percent. This morning futures are mixed. We are in the midst of earnings season coming up. So this week, we'll likely be talking a lot about profits at some of the nation's biggest companies.

M. O'BRIEN: Or perhaps lack thereof. Maybe.

SERWER: Losses occasionally.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Andy. Appreciate that. Back to Soledad in London -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles, thanks.

You know, we are a little bit past the high point of the commute this morning, even though on the East Coast where you are you're kind of in the thick of things. It passed hours ago here.

But this morning we saw many more Britons on their bikes, and there are many reasons for that, we're told. But one of them, apparently, is fear. Fear is motivating them, and they say that the recent bombings have people reconsidering the ways that they're getting to work.

We spent a day at a bike shop where they can hardly keep their bikes on the shelves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRAIG OUTHWAITE, CYCLE SHOP MANAGER: Hundreds of people just walking past the door all the time. And a lot of those people were coming in and buying bikes to get home on.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Craig Outhwaite, the 25-year-old manager of an Evans cycle shop in central London, says after the July 7 bombings sales jumped 400 percent. They're up again after the second round of attacks.

OUTHWAITE: We've had to employ two more people on the shop floor and an extra mechanic to really cover the amount of bikes that have been sold.

S. O'BRIEN: The bikes aren't cheap much: the average one goes for around $1,100. The dramatic increase in sales clearly a sign some Londoners are fearful of more attacks on public transit.

JULES WILSON, LONDON COMMUTER: I guess recent events, I think quite a lot of people are going out and buying bikes. Seems quite popular at the moment.

S. O'BRIEN: Jules Wilson says fear isn't the only motivating factor. She's a new mother, wants to lose some weight. But for her, the tipping point: last week's bombings. And she's not alone.

CHRIS GREENFIELD, LONDON COMMUTER: This is to commute into work.

S. O'BRIEN: Chris Greenfield, in the store with his 6-year-old son, Barnaby, says Londoners' history with the IRA has taught them how to be resilient in the face of terror attacks.

GREENFIELD: I don't think it will change people long term. You know, we'll still use the tube.

S. O'BRIEN: Jules, though, is both worried about her safety and the safety of her baby and resigned.

WILSON: I'm a bit fatalistic. I just think at the end of the day, you know, I don't know. Maybe it's as dangerous riding a bike as it is to, you know, go on the tube to work on public transport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Many of the folks that we spoke to say they might change their plans and get off those bikes and, in fact, breathe a little bit easier once the four attempted bombers of the last couple of days are caught.

Still the investigation on that front is ongoing. We're going to update you on that just ahead, as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Tracking developments in the London terror investigation. A new arrest and a potential link to a network of al Qaeda operatives. We are live in London with the latest.

In a popular resort town in Egypt, police looking for a group of Pakistani men they think could be responsible for the deadly attack this weekend. Do they have ties to al Qaeda, too?

And triple digit temperatures across the Midwest, some of the hottest weather ever. Heat warnings in effect.

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