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American Morning

Bin Laden Tape; Iran's Nuclear Threat; Gas Gauge; Nepal in Crisis

Aired April 24, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Iran still fueling concern over its nuclear program, and that nation's president is getting ready for a rare session with international reporters. We are live in Tehran.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Nic Robertson in London. A new message from Osama bin Laden, this time he holds U.S. citizens responsible for the war in Iraq. More on that coming up.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sumi Das. Drivers from coast to coast are feeling the pain at the pump with average prices nearly $3 a gallon. I'll tell you what some Americans are doing to save.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Chad Myers. Severe weather headed just to the north of Philadelphia now, warnings on the storm here. Hail already being reported. More on that coming up.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And a pivotal day in the Enron trial, founder Ken Lay ready to tell his side of the story in the company's billion-dollar collapse.

Those stories all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Good to have you back.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

Let's get right to it.

We begin with the latest recorded missive from Osama bin Laden. The al Qaeda leader's voice played on the Arab network Al Jazeera. And here in the U.S., experts are convinced it is authentic. It is the usual bin Laden rhetoric molded to recent events. For instance, he criticizes the U.S. for cutting off funding to the Palestinians now that they are led by a political party linked to terror, Hamas.

Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joining us from London with more on all this.

Nic, first of all, what's the significance of this tape at this time?

ROBERTSON: Well, I think perhaps the significance is that bin Laden is trying to make himself relevant. But perhaps the most striking element in this is bin Laden ratcheting up his anger at U.S. citizens. Just three months ago, his audio message gave U.S. citizens the opportunity to get a truce with al Qaeda, he said, by ending the war in Iraq, by pulling troops out of Iraq. But now he lumps U.S. citizens in with the U.S. government and says they are responsible for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, AL QAEDA LEADER (through translator): Any way is the joint responsibility of the people and the government. While war continues, people renew their allegiance to their rulers and politicians and continue to send their sons to our countries to fight us. They continue their financial and moral support while our countries are burned, our homes are bombed and our people are killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: In al Qaeda speak, that effectively means not just U.S. troops, people who work for the U.S. government are targets for al Qaeda now. This clears the way for al Qaeda followers to attack U.S. citizens as well. That's how it appears to be -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: That's an ominous point to leave it on there, Nic. Let's talk about Hamas here for a moment, the fact that bin Laden singles out Hamas. Hamas is a group that has no love loss for bin Laden, doesn't want anything to do with him. Explain that.

ROBERTSON: I think bin Laden here is really just trying to make a broad appeal to Muslims around the world. This is a central al Qaeda theme that the west is against you. He says the crusaders are trying to essentially beat up, if you will, or essentially defeat Muslims around the world. And he says that the fact that the United States is proposing sanctions against Hamas, removing funding for Hamas, for Palestinians, is an indication of that. And I think that's what he's trying to do here -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Nic Robertson in London, thank you very much.

Be sure to stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Closing arguments start this morning in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trial. Later today, the jury should begin deciding whether he deserves the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors say Moussaoui's lies about the 9/11 plot make him directly responsible for thousands of deaths. Moussaoui's attorneys have argued that he is mentally ill.

We're about two hours away from a rare news conference from somebody who almost never speaks to international press, the president of Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to take questions about Iran's nuclear program.

CNN's Aneesh Raman is one of the few American journalists who are even inside that country. He joins us by phone this morning from Tehran.

Aneesh, good morning to you. Again, this is a guy who does not speak to international journalists, certainly doesn't allow them usually into a news conference. Why is he making a change this time around -- Aneesh?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, good morning.

You're right to mention that this is only the second time that international journalists have been allowed into a press conference. It's incredibly difficult for international journalists to, in effect, even get visas to enter the country.

But really, amid rising tensions between Iran and the West over the country's nuclear program, the Iranian president is clearly keen to make his message known to the world. A clear message that the government has said from the beginning which is that this country is pursuing a peaceful civilian nuclear program. That is what it's been doing from the start. That was reiterated after it announced it had enriched uranium on April 11 to that critical 3.5 percent level.

Now, the West has said, and the U.S. especially, that if Iran is allowed a nuclear program on its soil, it could lead to Iran one day having a nuclear weapon. The government has consistently said that is not the plan. And until evidence is provided that a weapons program is in the works, it wants to continue a nuclear civilian program.

Now a preview of what to expect from the president came yesterday. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry here in Tehran said the country would not stop its uranium enrichment ahead of a Friday deadline. Iran really must choose whether or not it will. So no indication that the president will suggest Iran will cease uranium enrichment -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about Iranians, Iranians who you've been speaking to about this nuclear standoff, what have they been telling you -- Aneesh?

RAMAN: Well, we spent -- you know we got in yesterday really early in the morning. We went to a market yesterday. And this morning we've been traveling around to various areas. And most of the Iranians do show support for the president's nuclear program. It's been hard to find anyone who is critical of them for any number of reasons. The biggest thing, of course, is we have a camera with us and we're international press, but the support does seem genuine.

Iranians feel that the nuclear program, the civilian program will better the economy here. And it's hard to overstate the economic situation Iran is in. Unemployment is conservatively at about 12 percent, 70 percent of this country is under 25 desperately looking for jobs. And they believe the government when they are told that this civilian nuclear program will help economic development.

Now they also have fierce nationalist pride and they feel that it is Iran's right, as it is any country's right, to have a civilian nuclear program within that treaty, and so they do support the president. Even if they do have disagreements over how the country is run, many of whom the people we have spoken to do support this specific issue -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman for us this morning.

Aneesh, thank you for the update.

Aneesh, again, one of the few American journalists who are in Iran today -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It's the gravity-defying principle of gas prices, what goes up must go higher. The latest spike has retail gas prices at a national average of $2.91 a gallon.

Let's go to the town of Hammond, Indiana. Some of the lowest gas prices in the state in that part of the world and they're getting an influx of out-of-state drivers looking for a deal.

CNN's Sumi Das is there.

Good morning, -- Sumi.

DAS: Good morning to you, Miles.

Well drivers here in Hammond, Indiana, get a bit of a break at the filling station. And that's reason enough for folks from Chicago, which is about 20, 25 miles away, to make the trek out here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is ridiculous. This is not normal.

DAS (voice-over): New week, more pain at the pump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gas prices are outrageous because it's costing us too much money to travel.

DAS: According to the Lundberg Survey, gas prices jumped nearly 25 cents a gallon in the past two weeks to a national average of $2.91 a gallon for self-serve regular. Nearly all of the increase, the result of crude oil prices. The Lundberg Survey says average gas prices hit $3 or more a gallon in Washington, D.C., California, Nevada, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Illinois.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a student, so you know the money that I have is somewhat limited and it just makes it really difficult something that I used to not think twice about doing.

DAS: And the high cost of fuel has some people crossing state lines for a bargain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a little insane that the prices are high in Chicago and you drive across the border and they're about six cents (ph) different.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not happy about it, but I guess I don't feel like we have much choice in the matter.

DAS: If self-serve prices weren't high enough, full service may be a luxury many drivers can't afford with some stations charging 50 cents to a $1 more per gallon for the privilege of filling you up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do it once a week, so it's not like I do it every day.

DAS: The peak summer driving season is just ahead and analysts expect things will get better after they get worse. So what's a driver to do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're going to cut back. We're not driving this summer. Normally we take a nice long vacation, a driving vacation, and we're just not going to do it this year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAS: Drivers will have to cross a few more state lines to get the cheapest gas in the nation. The Lundberg Survey reports that the lowest average price is in Boise, Idaho, $2.54 for self-serve regular. Sounds pretty good, -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: That sounds like a bargain now.

Sumi Das in Hammond, Indiana, thank you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's brutal. It's brutal.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, big numbers.

S. O'BRIEN: Crazy.

Happening in America this morning, a northern California home might soon be entirely swallowed by a giant sinkhole. Take a look at this. One man was killed in his home. There's the home right there. The foundation gave way. His home was in Lake Alta. The sheriff's department says the home might have been sitting on top of an underground mine and recent rains could have made things worse, softening the ground underneath. The hole expanded. It's now about 30 feet across, and it's kept recovery crews from reaching the man's body.

Match up is set in New Orleans for the race for mayor. Incumbent Ray Nagin faces off against Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu in the May 20 runoff. Based on early results, Nagin topped all the candidates with 38 percent of the vote. Landrieu had 29 percent. President Bush visited former President Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage in California on Sunday. The 92-year-old Ford has limited his public appearances ever since he was hospitalized with pneumonia back in January.

A bond hearing is being held today for five teenagers suspected of planning a Columbine-style attack at their high school in Riverton, Kansas. Police say they found guns and knives and coded messages in one suspect's bedroom. Other evidence was found in two of the suspects' school lockers.

And students at that high school, Riverton High School, doing their best to put that alleged plot behind them. The school held its prom, as planned, on Saturday night. One parent said she was a little concerned about her son's safety, but she said she was going to let him go because -- quote -- "you can't be scared to live, you have to go on" -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And we have to go on now to weather. Chad Myers in the Weather Center.

Good morning, -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Miles.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.

M. O'BRIEN: Odd time for a snow event for sure.

S. O'BRIEN: That's weird. Please, I'm so beyond, so I'm not even listening to snow.

M. O'BRIEN: We're just tuning it out. No, no, don't do that. Don't do that.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, -- Chad.

MYERS: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, if you are watching, if you've been following the Enron trial, this is the day. This is the day so many people have been waiting for, founder Ken Lay taking the witness stand. Carrie Lee is going to join us in just a little bit with an update on that.

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Rivers in Nepal where there are new orders for all U.S. embassy staff and their families to leave amid fresh violent protests against the king.

M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, he's won it all on the golf course, but maybe that isn't enough. Tiger shows his wild side. We'll tell you about it. But first, here's a look at what else is making news on this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Top stories at this moment.

Not backing off, Iran is rejecting the U.N. Security Council's demand to suspend enrichment of uranium. Just about two hours from now, Iran's president will hold a rare news conference with international reporters on the matter. We're there.

Oil prices after shooting up to $75 a barrel dropped just a little bit. Concerns over Iran's nuclear program and a growing global demand are helping keep prices at those record levels.

Al Jazeera airing an audio tape believed to be from Osama bin Laden. U.S. intelligence officials think the terror leader may be hiding somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border. A Pakistani official says he can't speculate on bin Laden's whereabouts.

S. O'BRIEN: The U.S. State Department today showing concern over demonstrations against the king of Nepal. It's ordered all non- emergency staff and family members at its embassy in Katmandu to leave the country. Pro-democracy demonstrators clashing today with police. Tomorrow, more massive pro-democracy demonstrations are planned in the nation's capital.

Let's get right to correspondent Dan Rivers. He's in Katmandu this morning.

Dan, good morning.

RIVERS: Morning.

S. O'BRIEN: What's the latest?

RIVERS: Yes, there's been a bit of a lull today, not so much of the violent protests that we've seen over the weekend. Yesterday we were right in the thick of it. There was a lot of rubber bullets being fired into the crowd, there was tear gas. The crowd were responding by throwing stones, burning furniture, looting government buildings. It was pretty violent.

Today, things have calmed down a little bit, and that's because tomorrow a massive rally is planned again around the periphery, around the edge of the capital, Katmandu. They are trying to get two million people on the streets of Katmandu tomorrow, to encircle the city, to keep putting pressure on the king, to keep putting pressure on the king to hand back more power and restore democracy.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question, Dan, there are some who say that these protests are actually more of a referendum on the king himself than actually a cry for democracy. Do you think that's true, or do you think those are one in the same thing? RIVERS: I think it's getting a bit more personal, absolutely. I mean the chants certainly that the crowd have been chanting since we've been here have got a lot more personal against the king. It's moved away from the politics about democracy and it's just down with the king now. I mean they really -- there really is a lot of hatred, a lot of vitriol against King Gyanendra.

So far, the king hasn't made any more moves. Yesterday they were urging him to make another televised address to the nation, to come forward with some more compromises. He didn't do that. And so tomorrow the leaders of all the main political parties here, they're going to be out on the marches as well, and they're going to be on the front line of some of those marches where yesterday we saw the police firing into the crowd. So that could really ratchet up the tension here tomorrow.

And also we've been told that U.S. embassy staff are being ordered out. They're being told to go just because the security situation here has deteriorated so badly.

S. O'BRIEN: Correspondent Dan Rivers is watching it all for us this morning.

Dan, thank you.

Well, cost me 88 bucks to fill up my car this weekend.

M. O'BRIEN: I just did an $85.

S. O'BRIEN: Eighty dollars, $88.

M. O'BRIEN: I did 85.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eighty-five.

M. O'BRIEN: You've got the same vehicle, right, with the big...

S. O'BRIEN: I literally -- yes.

LEE: I rented a car over the weekend and they tried to charge $70 for gas. I filled it up myself though, so...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, don't do that prepaid deal.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, never do the prepay.

M. O'BRIEN: That's a scam.

LEE: No, no, no, but they tried. They tried.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a rip-off in the context of gas prices so high, a rip-off on top of another rip-off.

LEE: They tried and failed. S. O'BRIEN: My gosh.

LEE: Oil hitting another record, closing above 75 bucks a barrel on Friday. Now early this morning, we're seeing prices come down a little bit. Clearly some profit taking here. But the same thing, political tensions in Iran, Nigeria. OPEC's president, though, says once these political tensions ease, oil should be trading in the high 50s, low 60s. So we'll see if that happens going down the road.

In the meantime, though, drivers certainly footing the bill. We were just talking about that. Self-serve regular per gallon $2.91. That is an increase of 24 cents over the past two weeks alone. So people really feeling this. We've been talking about it a lot.

Now despite the rise in oil and gas prices, stocks posted a very strong week last week. The Dow Jones industrials up nearly 2 percent, S&P not too bad as well, Nasdaq up seven-tenths of 1 percent. The concern on Wall Street these days is that the economy is actually too strong.

You know everyone is watching the Federal Reserve waiting for this interest rate hike campaign to finish. They want that to happen. Well, we're getting a reading on first quarter gross domestic product, a very important economic reading, also a look at the cost for labor. And if these reports are too strong, that could actually be a negative for stocks because that means the Fed will keep increasing rates.

Finally, Ken Lay speaking on his own behalf in the Enron saga starting today. And he's expected to say the same thing Jeff Skilling said, basically that there was nothing wrong at the company, that this is all a matter of bad publicity that zapped consumer confidence. Lay has six counts of fraud and conspiracy against him. Skilling racked up 28 counts. He was only CEO for about six months. Anyway, so Lay starting to talk today.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a lot of counts per month.

LEE: It's a tough argument. Yes. It's a tough argument.

S. O'BRIEN: I'll give you a whole PR was the reason my bigger the billion-dollar failure.

LEE: I ran the company, but I didn't know. It wasn't my fault.

One thing Lay may have going for him, he was focused more on international issues at the company, more government issues. And Skilling...

S. O'BRIEN: Apparently.

LEE: Yes. Skilling was the one who was more focused on domestic and internal concerns. So we'll see.

S. O'BRIEN: I can't wait to watch that on this morning...

LEE: Yes, it's going to be a good one starting today. M. O'BRIEN: It's the defense's felonious ineptitude then, essentially, right, you know?

LEE: I think one key thing is they're going to have to really make sure their stories match. If there's any discrepancy,...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

LEE: ... that's going to be a real red flag for the jury.

M. O'BRIEN: I should say.

LEE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Carrie Lee, thank you.

LEE: OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Forecast coming up in just a moment, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Some of the top stories on CNN.com this morning.

There he is, Dennis Rader, the BTK killer. He's earned some privileges, apparently, in prison. He's now going to be allowed to watch TV and listen to the radio and read and draw in his cell. He's serving 10 life sentences in Kansas. As you can imagine, some family members of the victims are furious about these new privileges.

In rain-soaked northern California, an enormous hole opened up under a man's house. The man fell into the hole and died. They believe the house might have been belt -- built, rather, on top of an abandoned mine.

And Tiger Woods chasing an adventure in New Zealand. He's playing golf in these shots here, but he has taken the country's highest bungie jump, more than 400 feet off a cable car suspended over the Nevis River. That's sounds horrible. Not done, he's also doing this. Take a look at these pictures. Today he's going to go stock car racing. Why, one would ask, why...

M. O'BRIEN: How old is Tiger now?

S. O'BRIEN: What is he, 30-something?

M. O'BRIEN: Is he 30?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Kind of young for a midlife crisis, don't you think?

S. O'BRIEN: My goodness.

M. O'BRIEN: But he's done so much at such a young age. S. O'BRIEN: Why would you jump? The whole bungie jumping thing, I just don't get it. He's obviously at his caddie's wedding in New Zealand and that's why he's there.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It's an 8.5 second free fall. Some time count out 8.5 seconds and think about what that would be like.

S. O'BRIEN: Could be the longest 8.5 seconds of your life, if you know what I mean?

M. O'BRIEN: That's a long time to be dropping.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Chad Myers is at the CNN Center.

Chad, you planning any bungie jumping anytime soon?

MYERS: No.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

MYERS: You only do that when you know you've made enough money for the rest of your life, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Well...

S. O'BRIEN: For years (ph).

MYERS: I mean because there is a risk at some point.

M. O'BRIEN: Conceivably you wouldn't need much, if you know what I mean.

MYERS: Well, OK. Well I'm not thinking about the rope snapping, I'm thinking about it like jerking out his shoulder or something, you know?

M. O'BRIEN: I see. OK.

MYERS: You went way past where I was going with that, but OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Chad Myers.

The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including closing arguments today in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial.

Kyung Lah is live at the courthouse this morning -- Kyung.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Death or life in prison, that's a question facing jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial. I'm at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. That story coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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