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American Morning
Response To North Korea; Japan On Alert; Out of Luck?; Cola War Espionage; Emmy Nominations; Anatomy Of Hatred
Aired July 06, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Response to this crisis. The U.S., Britain and Japan want a resolution that imposes sanctions and demands North Korea stop making and testing missiles. Russia and China are against sanctions and they each have a veto on the U.N. Security Council. The Bush administration does not want this to be a Washington-Pyongyang issue. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrives in Asia today. He will talk with other nations involved in the six-party disarmament talks.
Let's get right to the White House now. Suzanne Malveaux is there.
Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, clearly the White House is trying to downplay the significance of the North Korea missile test. It was just yesterday they said it doesn't rise to the presidential level. But President Bush himself is directly now involved in this high-level diplomacy, these talks. It was late yesterday President Bush picked up the phone to two critical allies, of course the leader of South Korea, No Mo-Jon (ph), and Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. Both of them very important here in these talks.
Senior administration officials say that he thanked them for condemning North Korea's acts. That he stressed the importance of a united statement coming out of the U.N. Security Council, as well as putting a diplomatic solution here at the forefront through those six- party talks. All of this at the same time while the White House is trying to lower the rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There are attempts to try to describe this almost in breathless World War III terms. This is not such a situation. This is a situation in which people are working with a regime in North Korea, trying to reason with a dictator to step back from provocative activities. That is the most important thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And, Miles, essentially what they're trying to do is buy some time here, get all of the allies together, unified statements, condemnation, perhaps sanctions for the U.N. Security Council to try to pressure North Korea to come back to the negotiating table. President Bush later today involved in more high-level discussions. Today we're going to see the prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, here. And, of course, North Korea and Iran are going to be at the top of the agenda.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you very much.
Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the White House is downplaying the North Korean missile test, but it's very important to Japan. In fact, Japan is on military alert right now watching for more missiles coming toward them from North Korea. CNN's Atika Shubert live in Tokyo to tell us more.
Hello, Atika.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Regardless of what North Korea says today, Japan clearly does not think that the missiles are a routine act of self defense. As you say, Japan is on heightened alert. Japan's top spokesperson saying that the government believes that North Korea may try and launch more missiles in the future.
All of this while Japanese lawmakers are looking into putting tougher financial restrictions on North Korea. Japan's defense agency also saying they're trying to speed up development of a joint defense -- missile defense shield with the United States. And all of that is happening while Japan is trying to ratchet up the diplomatic pressure on North Korea by trying to push through this U.N. Security Council resolution that would impose U.S. sanctions as punishment for these missile launches. So clearly Japan is maintaining its tough line on North Korea.
COSTELLO: Atika Shubert reporting live for us from Tokyo this morning. And we're going to get a direct White House response live at 7:30 Eastern. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns will join us then.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you can't gamble in New Jersey this morning. You can't renew your driver's license. You can't even go to the beach. State lawmakers still arguing over the budget. All non-essential services have been shut down. CNN's Mary Snow live now from Trenton, New Jersey.
A lot of people would tell you that gambling is essential, Mary, but nonetheless, the debate goes on and a lot of people angry there.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Miles. Good morning.
And here at the state capitol is really where poker games are turning political. This is where casino workers who are out of work plan to rally here this morning. This in an attempt to put pressure on lawmakers to come up with a compromised deal and end a budget stalemate that has forced a shutdown now in its sixth day.
And yesterday casinos were part of that shutdown, probably having the biggest impact yet. Twelve casinos putting out of work thousands of people. And also the state losing out money, $1.2 million an estimate every day in tax revenue the state is losing with those casinos shut down.
Now, besides casinos, states yesterday, parks, beaches, race tracks were also ordered closed. And this is in addition to state offices like DMV and 45,000 workers so far have been furloughed. Yesterday the state's governor, Jon Corzine, told lawmakers that he had no other choice but to order the shutdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN CORZINE, NEW JERSEY: Shutdown is not a discretionary action. This is not something concocted out of my mind because we wanted it to occur. It is a legal requirement imposed on the office of the governor by the constitution of this state. It is deplorable that the people in this state are left in such a painful position, but I don't have the authority to simply ignore and keep certain things open just because it makes life easier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: And negotiations continued yesterday. Will there be any kind of compromise? We do expect to hear from the governor later this morning around 9:00 a.m. when he again will address the state legislature. That's inside the capital. Outside the capital, workers are expected to rally here around 10:00.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Mary Snow in Trenton, thank you very much.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Espionage wars in the cola industry. Three people have been charged with allegedly trying to sell sensitive trade secrets from Coca-Cola to Pepsi. Those including a sample that includes a sample of a brand-new drink. All three are scheduled to be in court this morning. Let's head live to Atlanta to check in with CNN's Rusty Dornin.
This is such a strange story.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, you know, there's not a person really alive today that has not been witness to the fierce competition between Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But when it came down to this cloak and dagger affair, Pepsi was the one that wore the white hat.
They apparently got a letter soliciting to sell information about Coca-Cola. They sent the letter immediately to Coke. Coke notified the FBI. And at that point the real cat and mouse game began. FBI put an undercover agent on it and says that a man identifying himself only as "Dirk" began sending e-mails and letters claiming that he had access to all sorts of high-level, confidential memos and information, and even access to a very new Coca-Cola product that only a few people knew about. There was an exchange of money, wire exchanges, $5,000, $10,000. But then in June apparently an executive assistant by the name of Joya Williams, one of those three suspects, according to the affidavit, there is video surveillance of her stuffing memos into her purse, documents from several files, and also a very small vial of something with a white label on it that Coca-Cola later identified as their brand-new product.
About four or five days later, the man identifying himself as Dirk, who later was identified as Ibrahim Dimson of New York, meets with the FBI agent at the Atlanta Airport and they make this exchange. He gives him the documents in an Armani bag along with that little vial of Coca-Cola and the FBI agent gives him $30,000 in small bills in a Girl Scout cookie box.
But it doesn't end there. Later Dirk says he can get access to even more information which he says is worth $1.5 million. The three of them were arrested in Atlanta yesterday. Coca-Cola sent out a worldwide memo to all its employees saying not to worry there was no employee information and also expressed their appreciation to Pepsi for alerting them to the situation. The U.S. attorneys office did the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID E. NAHMIAS, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY: To their great credit as a corporate citizen, immediately alerted their main competitor that something was going on. And I think they did that because trade secrets are important to everybody in the business community. They all realize that if their trade secrets aren't protected, they all suffer and the markets suffer and the population suffers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: Pepsi did release a statement about the whole affair. They only said, "we only did what any responsible company would do. Competition can sometimes be fierce, but it also must be fair and legal."
The three suspects are scheduled to appear here in the federal courthouse in Atlanta some time today. The maximum they could get could be between 10 and 30 years.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Wow! Wow! The Girl Scout cookie box was the -- it's just so bizarre. A question for you because I guess what everybody thinks Pepsi really wants is the secret Coca-Cola recipe. How close did these people come to stealing that and giving it to Pepsi?
DORNIN: Well, apparently the Coke representative says that wasn't involved, but you have to wonder when it was $10,000 and $20,000 and $30,000, $75,000 exchanges and then all of a sudden it's $1.5 million. It sounds like they're getting pretty close. But it is one of the more closely guarded secrets in the U.S. corporate history, really, and it always has been. They've always said. Apparently they used to call the ingredient 7x. Nobody ever knew what the x stood for. And it was always said that the employees didn't know what one ingredient was. That it was done by number. But, of course, now the formula can just be analyzed in a laboratory and they can pretty much figure out what's in it anyway.
COSTELLO: That blows the intrigue, doesn't it? Rusty Dornin reporting live for us from Atlanta. Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: So what she's saying, it isn't a secret formula after all?
COSTELLO: No, not if you can analyze it in a lab.
M. O'BRIEN: Man. A little bit of marketing, you might say, just possibly.
Let's check the forecast now. Chad Myers has a secret formula for prognosticating weather, which he will not share. He'd have to kill us if he shared it.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I got it from Johnny Carson. He gave me the secret to do . . .
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, right. Just do that thing.
MYERS: Do the Carmac thing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Emmy nominations are coming out soon, Chad.
MYERS: Yes, I don't think I applied.
COSTELLO: You're never very excited about these things, are you?
MYERS: No. You know, Grammy's, Tony's and all these other -- I don't even know what they're all for.
COSTELLO: OK, Mr. No Fun, thanks.
MYERS: There you go.
COSTELLO: They are TV's best in show, however. And just over an hour from now, we will hear the nominees for this year's prime time Emmy Awards. Hollywood is buzzing about a new nominating procedure that could show some Emmy love to stars in shows that in years past might have been overlooked. We got more now from CNN's Brooke Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The Emmy's have long been considered predictable, with voters inevitably honoring old favorites year after year. But this year's nominations could make room for fresh faces and long-ignored actors due to a revamped process that involves multiple rounds of voting.
MARY MURPHY, SENIOR WRITER, TV GUIDE: There's a mass voting and then there are select committees. Now I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of changes.
ELLEN POMPEO, "GREY'S ANATOMY": Nothing you could say could top that.
SANDRA OH, "GREY'S ANATOMY": I'm pregnant. I win.
ANDERSON: Take the steamy medial drama "Grey's Anatomy." Last year it was eligible, but wasn't nominated for best drama. A brush- off Emmy prognosticators say won't be repeated.
RAY RICHMOND, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: I think "Gray's Anatomy" is probably the show to beat this year for drama.
ANDERSON: The new HBO polygamy show, "Big Love," hopes to crack that category, which in the past has been dominated by familiar contenders, including "The Sopranos" and "The West Wing."
HUGH LAURIE, "HOUSE": Stay in character. I'm so scared, hold me.
ANDERSON: Critically-acclaimed "House" star Hugh Laurie is a heavy favorite to clinch an acting nod, but Laurie's competition is stiff and stout.
RICHMOND: Usually it's overweight white guys. Michael Chiklis has won. James Gandolfini has won. If we follow that idea, you know, fat, white, balding guys, it's pretty much a given that Gandolfini will win again.
JASON LEE, "MY NAME IS EARL": Sometimes karma gives me a sign.
ANDERSON: The battle for laughs is shaping up to be intense with two new series fighting to break into the pack.
MURPHY: We've had two great new comedies this year. "My Name is Earl" and also "The Office."
LESLIE DAVID BAKER, "THE OFFICE": That's what she said, ha ha!
RICHMOND: I would love to see "The Office" get nominations and win. I think it's the smartest show on television.
LAUREN GRAHAM, "GILMORE GIRLS": Friday night dinners, cocktails, Mozart, mind games. Good times.
ANDERSON: After starring on the popular show "Gilmore Girls" for six seasons, Lauren Graham is still searching for that elusive Emmy nomination, an honor that could finally be hers.
RICHMOND: I think there's a chance she may crack the lineup this time.
ANDERSON: So are the Emmy's on the verge of a breakthrough?
RICHMOND: It may not be as predictable. On the other hand, it might be as predictable. They're predictable unless they're not, or unless they are.
ANDERSON: Only time will tell.
LESLIE DAVID BAKER, "THE OFFICE": Lady fortune is your boss!
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And we will carry the prime time Emmy nominations live this morning. They come your way at 8:39 Eastern.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, what to do about North Korea. The U.S. is trying to get allies together, but Pyongyang wants separate talks with Washington. Why won't the Bush administration do that? We'll ask a senior official.
And we'll talk to the parents. An exclusive interview Soledad had with the parents of a horrible beating victim in Houston. And we'll also tell you a little bit why prosecutors believe these two men are responsible for a hate crime associated with that.
Carol.
COSTELLO: And later, this might look like a hip-hop or a rock concert to outsiders, but it's actually one of the most influential churches in America. Why this church is making such a difference, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Happening this morning.
Israeli tanks are rolling into northern Gaza. The move apparently meant to keep Palestinian militants from launching rockets into Israel. The army says militants fired two rockets yesterday.
A winner now emerging in Mexico's presidential election. Conservative Felipe Calderon leads by just 100th of a percentage point. Nearly 98 percent of the votes tallied so far.
New documents linked to the Columbine shootings being released this morning, including diaries kept by the shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher back in 1999.
New York could become the only state, other than Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriage. The New York State Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling today. And Discovery preparing to dock at the International Space Station. Before it does, the shuttle will do a somersault. That will expose the shuttle's belly, allowing the crew to inspect the shuttle's under side for any damage during the launch.
M. O'BRIEN: In Houston, prosecutors say they're now certain the horrific beating of a teenager at a party in April we told you about was a hate crime. The community's still trying to cope with the terrible details and the parents of the teen are still in shock. Soledad takes a closer look at the case from Spring, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MR. GALVAN, FATHER OF VICTIM: The first night it happened, you could not even recognize him.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Mr. and Mrs. Galvan, trying to comprehend the savage beating of their son, a popular high school football player. Police say 18-year-old David Tuck and 17-year-old Keith Turner beat the boy, kicking him with steel-toe boots, dousing him with bleach, burning him with cigarettes and sodomizing him with the end of a plastic umbrella stand. The boy was left close to death in this backyard.
Who are the suspects and why would they do it? Richard Rogers lives next door. He's known suspect David Tuck since he was eight years old. It's no secret, he says, in the neighborhood that Tuck was a racist.
RICHARD ROGERS, NEIGHBOR: Well, they would fly the swastika flag next door, stand out in the street and scream "zig hail" and "hail to Hitler."
S. O'BRIEN: Rogers was so concerned, he bought a Doberman and a gun for his teenage daughters.
Some of David Tuck's neighbors didn't want to talk to us on camera. They're worried about retaliation, about consequences. But it's a quiet, racially diverse neighborhood with Hispanic families and white families, a neighborhood with lots of kids.
A classmate says Tuck would brag about his violent acts.
DAVID COOK, ACQUAINTANCE OF ACCUSED: One time a couple Mexicans stole his bike and he went and he almost -- he just beat the crap out of them where he almost killed them and then just left them there, but he never got caught for it.
S. O'BRIEN: And what about Keith Turner, the younger suspect? People who knew him describe him as a follower, not a leader.
CAROLYN COOK, ACQUAINTANCE OF ACCUSED: We understand that he's probably hung around with some of these kids that have been a bad influence on him and I'm sorry to see that happen. I can't believe that he would be the instigator in any of this.
S. O'BRIEN: Prosecutors concede race was a factor.
MIKE TRENT, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well I think the severity and the nature of the attack may have been worse because of racial prejudices.
S. O'BRIEN: Do you think this was a hate crime?
MRS. GALVAN, MOTHER OF VICTIM: Oh, I know it's a hate crime.
S. O'BRIEN: How do you know?
MRS. GALVAN: How do you put a swastika on somebody or burn them? You'd have to hate someone to hurt someone like that. It was a hate crime.
S. O'BRIEN: So why aren't these young men being charged with a hate crime? Carlos Leon is the Galvans' lawyer.
How is it possible that the prosecutors wouldn't immediately say, let's charge him with a hate crime?
CARLOS LEON, FAMILY ATTORNEY: Because they can't. It's real simple, they can't. It doesn't fit. What happened to this young man doesn't fit the federal statute and it doesn't benefit the prosecutor.
S. O'BRIEN: In other words, harder to prove and it doesn't add to the penalty. Prosecutors are charging Tuck and Turner with aggravated sexual assault. The police report remains sealed. The first trial begins in November. But almost 10 weeks after the terrible beating, people here wonder what caused such savage behavior and whether it could happen again.
COOK: How do you muster up that much hatred? We don't know.
S. O'BRIEN: Soledad O'Brien, CNN, in Spring, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: Now because he is an under-aged victim, CNN is not naming the Galvans' son. As you can imagine, the care has been very expensive. The family has set up a trust fund to help offset the cost of their son's recovery. If you'd like to contribute, visit any Bank of America and the account -- we'll have to give this to you later, too, because I'm sure you're not ready to write this down. There's the number on the screen. The Galvans have repeatedly said how grateful and amazed they are by all the support.
Tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, more of Soledad's exclusive interview with the family, updating us on their son's struggle to recover.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Coming up, Andy's "Minding Your Business." He's got word of a surprising business strategy from AOL. He'll tell us why they might start giving away service for free. And later, the enticing and sometimes dangerous world of online gambling. A pair of recovering addicts talk about the desperate measures they took to get a fix, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Happy birthday, Mr. President! It's George W. Bush's 60th birthday and he'll be spending part of it with CNN's Larry King. Who else?
M. O'BRIEN: Who else?
COSTELLO: The president and the first lady, Laura Bush, will be Larry's special guests tonight. That will come your way at 9:00 Eastern. And you have a chance to ask the president a question. Just go to cnn.com/larryking and then tune in tonight to see if the president answers your question. Pretty darn cool.
This is cool, too, AOL for free. It is a possibility but, of course, it's a huge gamble too. Andy's here to sort it out.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I was hoping you were going to sing happy birthday, Mr. President, a la Marilyn Monroe, but maybe saving that for later.
COSTELLO: I'm saving that till later, yes.
SERWER: OK.
Let's talk about AOL, Carol. As you were saying, this could be a huge shift in strategy. "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning that AOL is considering offering its entire menu of services, including e-mail and IMing, for free. The paper's reporting that John Miller, the head of AOL, made a presentation to the Time Warner board last week.
And here's how it would work. All of AOL customers who have high-speed connections, Internet connections, or dial-up through another service, would immediately have free access to AOL. Now, those who have dial-up through AOL would continue to pay. But the reason that is, is because, number one, that costs the company money because of the phone lines and, number two, those people are leaving that service in droves. For instance, in 2002, AOL had a total of 26.5 million subscribers. Today only 18.6 million subscribers.
COSTELLO: But wasn't that because it was too expensive? They were charging more than the others?
SERWER: Well, I think the cost was higher and then also people were going to high-speed as well. Going to . . .
COSTELLO: So the answer now is to offer high-speed for free?
SERWER: Yes. But people are going to be leaving dial-up. So if you're going to leave . . .
M. O'BRIEN: This is just the software component we're talking about.
SERWER: Right. Exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: So the question is, though, is it all advertiser- supported then? Is that the idea?
SERWER: That's what would happen, Miles. A good point. And the company estimates, or according to the paper, the company is saying that it would lose $2 billion in revenue, but it would hope to make that up through additional advertising. And this is the big Internet conundrum. Do you make your money on subscribers or do you make it through advertising? And AOL sees the writing on the wall here, I think, and the days of people paying for the walled-in garden model, as they say, are probably over.
M. O'BRIEN: The question is, did they see the writing soon enough?
SERWER: Well, that's right. And the decision won't come for weeks, according to the paper, on this.
M. O'BRIEN: All right.
COSTELLO: You know there was another article in the paper not long ago that phone service would eventually be for free over the Internet and people would no longer have to pay, you know, for . . .
SERWER: Well, we're starting to see that with services like Skype and eBay, so.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: It's amazing.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, an airline for smokers who feel like they've been turned into second-class citizens. We'll explain that one.
And later, a new breed of pastor, hip and young and going to church is kind of fun. We'll introduce you to this man and he has a congregation now that is one of the most influential in America. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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