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American Morning
One Climber Dead, Two Missing; Serial Killings Arrest; Iraq Strategy; North Korea Nuclear Talks; Power Failure; Gates' Challenge
Aired December 18, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tragic turn. Rescuers return to Mount Hood today to bring down the body of a missing climber and continue their search for the other two.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news and a break in the case. Police make an arrest in a string of murders in England. Compared to the terror of Jack the Ripper.
O'BRIEN: And show of force. President Bush considers sending a surge of additional troops into Iraq, while his new secretary of defense is sworn in today.
ROBERTS: And you've got mail. Nine hundred million cards, letters and packages going out today. The busiest mailing day of the year on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: And good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Monday, December 18th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien. Got the 1- 900 voice going today. It's hazard of the season.
O'BRIEN: No germs. No germs on my side. And welcome in spite that.
ROBERTS: I thought you had your own set, actually?
O'BRIEN: I have my own germs on this side.
ROBERTS: Intermixing this morning.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: It will be interesting to see what we come out with at 9:00.
O'BRIEN: Oh, it might be ugly. But, whatever. We move on. We power through.
Let's begin this morning with that agonizing search for those climbers in Oregon. The body that was found on Sunday in Mount Hood is believed to be one of the three missing men. The search for the other climbers is going to begin at dawn today. And rescuers will retrieve that body off the mountain, take it off the mountain, so they can finally identify it. The weather is expected to remain clear. That will certainly help the crews who are searching from the air and on the ground as well. We begin in Hood River, Oregon, this morning, where AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has the very latest on the search and what they found overnight.
Good morning to you, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The search teams will be back up on the mountain in just a couple of hours from now. In addition to bringing down the body of the one climber that they found on Sunday, the search teams will also publicly identify that climber. They couldn't do it up on the mountain. They needed the family to first identify the body before going public with the information.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE, (voice over): An all out assault on Mount Hood continues this morning, but the mission to find three missing climbers is now a search for two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) base from 17, we have found one climber in a snow cave. One climber in a snow cave.
LAWRENCE: That missing climber has not been identified.
CAPT. MIKE BRAIBISH, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: Our hearts are going out to the families right now.
LAWRENCE: Still a mystery is what happened at the other snow cave where rescuers discovered a rope and sleeping bag, but no climbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to figure out how there could be two ice axes there without two people.
LAWRENCE: There were two sets of footprints and a y--shaped signal to mark their location.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a y of hope. It gives us something to go on. Something to keep us going on.
LAWRENCE: Nearly 60 rescue climbers trudged through swirling snow and freezing cold. The cost of the attempted rescue climbed as two Blackhawk, a chinook and a C-130 circled the summit.
DWIGHT HALL, FATHER OF BRIAN HALL: A lot of the debts could not be repaid, but everything's appreciated that can't be repaid.
LAWRENCE: As the bad weather broke for the first time in a week, the mothers of the three men made a plea to mother nature.
MARIA KIM, MOTHER OF JERRY COOKE: I want to -- mountain to release our sons and mountain has no right to keep our sons. LAWRENCE: Mount Hood has claimed at least one climber, but search teams aren't losing hope of saving the other two.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: There's been some talk that on such a clear day with so much activity going around, that if the two climbers were still alive, they would of come out. But one rescue climber that I spoke with said, that is true if they were physically able. He said he has been involved in rescues where the climbers were still alive, they just weren't physically able to signal to their rescuers.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's hope that's the case, that they're not physically able, but that they are still alive.
Chris Lawrence for us this morning.
Thanks, Chris.
John.
ROBERTS: Soledad, thanks.
Now to some breaking news overseas. An arrest this morning in the murder of five women in the English town of Ipswich. ITN's Juliet Bremner is live in Ipswich, joins us now with the latest.
Juliet, what can you tell us?
JULIET BREMNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've had a massive police inquiry here over the last couple of weeks, headed here at Suffolk police headquarters on the east coast of England. They've been inquiring into the murder of five women, all prostitutes, all drug users. Those five women were Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls.
Now six days since the last two bodies were found when they were dumped in woodlands, there were major searches going on in that area and then this morning Detective Chief Superintendents Stewart Gull, who's been the public face of this inquiry, came to speak to reporters with a major breakthrough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART GULL, SUFFOLK POLICE CHIEF: The 37-year-old man was arrested at his home address in Trimley (ph), near Felixstowe, at approximately 7:20 a.m. this morning. He has been arrested on the suspicion of murdering all five women -- Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREMNER: We understand that police cars surrounded the house of this man about five miles from where I'm standing in the small village called Trimley near the Port of Felixstowe. It was in the early time this morning, about 7:20. He was arrested and he's been taken to a police station, although they're not telling us which police station that is. Presumably they want to keep that anonymous at the moment. We understand he will be questioned there this afternoon. We also understand he was spoken to previously by detectives.
Back to you, John.
ROBERTS: Juliet, I know that British law is very restrictive on what you can and cannot say about a suspect, but any idea how police got a lead on this fellow?
BREMNER: Yes. He was known to the police. And I can tell you that he's being reported in several newspapers as a being of interest to them, although that want confirmed until today. They have been looking particularly at clients of these five women who died and also known sex offenders in the area. He may possibly fall into that category. But other than that, the police are saying absolutely nothing at the moment.
ROBERTS: All right. Juliet Bremner from ITN in the town of Ipswich.
Juliet, thanks very much for that. Appreciate it.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It's an historic day at the Pentagon. Robert Gates is going to be sworn in as defense secretary this afternoon. Gates takes the oath of office as President Bush is reportedly considering sending a large number of new troops into Iraq. CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Much talk expected this week about the option of a U.S. troop surge into Iraq, 20,000 or 30,000 strong. The White House insists President Bush is still considering all of the options to bring security to the country. But a senior administration official confirms to CNN that the president is thinking about a temporary troop increase.
Iraq's Sunni vice president, himself, supports such a boost in order to bring stability to Baghdad. Help, in particular, quell the militia violence there. However, President Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell, warns that a large surge cannot be sustained because the current Army and Marine Corps aren't large enough to carry out the mission.
Now as President Bush considers whether or not to go forward with the troop surge, this afternoon he swears in the man who would be responsible for making that happen -- new Defense Secretary Robert Gates. President Bush said he delayed announcing his new strategy in Iraq in part to give Gates more time to evaluate the situation and provide the president with "serious and deliberative advice."
Kathleen Koch, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: What's the new defense secretary face in his new job? Ahead this hour, our Baghdad bureau chief, Cal Perry, is going to take a closer look at some of the big obstacles that lie ahead for the new Secretary Gates.
John.
ROBERTS: In Beijing this morning, six-party talk on North Korea's nuclear program are underway. The first time in more than a year. And already North Korea is showing defiance. CNN's John Vause is live from Beijing now with more.
Good morning, John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
In the wake of a successful nuclear test back in October, the North Korean diplomats here today made it perfectly clear that they consider themselves now a nuclear power, on an equal footing with the United States. And so at this opening session of six-party talks, they delivered what some have described as a department store like list of demands, including an end to America's so-called hostile policy towards North Korea, a lifting of all U.S. and U.N. sanctions, and also light water nuclear reactors to replace their aging nuclear facility. Then, and only then, when those conditions are met, will the North Koreans consider talking about ending their nuclear program.
The response from the United States today, well they're warning that they are now running out of patience and that the North Koreans are facing a choice. They can sit down for genuine negotiations or they can go through more sanctions, more isolations.
Now, despite weeks of preparations leading up to this meeting between diplomats from North Korea and the United States, it seems these two countries are as far apart as ever. In fact, some analysts have speculated that Kim Jong-il of North Korea is simply stalling for time, working under the assumption that the longer his nuclear program remains intact, the better his chances are of keeping it.
John.
ROBERTS: So, John, so far there's nothing to suggest that Kim Jong-il and North Korea, at large, are more serious about getting something out of these talks than they have been in the past?
VAUSE: Certainly nothing at the opening session of today's talks here in Beijing. In fact, every indication is that the North Koreans are simply stalling for time and that the United States are running out of patience with this tactic by the North Koreans. There is hope, though. The Chinese are saying that it was a fairly positive start to negotiations. We'll wait and see what happens tomorrow.
ROBERTS: Yes. And, unfortunately, John, even though North Korea behaves like this, it seems that there's not much anybody can do about it.
John Vause for us in Beijing this morning.
John, thanks.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.
News about Cuban leader Fidel Castro. A congressional team from the U.S. visited Cuba over the weekend and they were assured by Cuban officials that Castro's not dying and that Castro does not have cancer. The group met with Cuban government officials but not with Castro himself. He was last seen publicly back in July when he had intestinal surgery and turned political power over to his brother Raul Castro.
In the West Bank this morning, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. He's been praising Abbas' controversial call for new elections.
Meanwhile, gunfire this morning outside Abbas' home in Gaza City. Take a listen. Abbas' Fatah forces have been clashing with Hamas forces ever since Abbas called for those elections over the weekend.
Eighteen former detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including some of the ones that you can see a little bit of in this videotape here, are heading home or going to be home this morning. Some will be freed outright. Others face detention in their home countries. The men, most of whom were captured back in 2001 in Afghanistan during the U.S.-led invasion there, were considered enemy combatants by the Bush administration. About 380 detainees have been released from Guantanamo, 395 are still held there.
A couple of earthquakes early this morning off the coast of Indonesia to tell you about. The biggest registered 5.8. At least four people were killed, a hundred other injures hurt on Sumatra Island. There was no tsunami warning issued in the wake of those quakes.
Another space walk for the Discovery shuttle crew today. This is the fourth of this trip. This walk was added over the weekend. They're trying to fix the solar panel on the International Space Station. I's going to mean that Discovery will spend an additional day in space and now return on Friday.
Oh, and some happy news for Will Smith and his young son Jaden. Both of them are starring in that new movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness." It topped the box office this weekend. It's debut weekend earned $27 million. I believe it. That looks like it's a great, great movie.
John.
ROBERTS: A split in the episcopal church in Virginia fueled by disagreement over the church's views on gays. At least seven of 111 episcopal parishes are breaking away, including two in Virginia. Truro Church in Fairfax and the Falls Church. Members voted to join a rival denomination led by Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who has called acceptance of gay relationships a "satanic attack on the church." About 20 parishes could join that splinted (ph) group in the U.S. episcopal church.
O'BRIEN: Your Monday morning forecast is straight ahead.
Plus, a power struggle of sorts. Hundreds of thousands of people are still in the dark and the cold following that devastating windstorm in the northwest. We're going to see just how long folks might have to wait to get their power back.
And Robert Gates sworn in as defense secretary this afternoon. We'll take a closer look at some of the biggest problems he's going to have to confront in Iraq.
Those stories and much more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Hundreds of thousands of people are waking up this morning in the dark and the cold after the fourth straight night without power in the Pacific Northwest. And in the struggle to stay warm, some people are taking pretty drastic measures. CNN's Peter Viles has our report this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, ABC CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): The towering trees of the Pacific Northwest are usually a source of pride. This weekend they're the cause of a major problem. Trees came down by a thousands when a wind storm raked Oregon and Washington state Thursday night. Those trees crushed cars and houses, blocked roads and knocked down power lines all across the region.
MARK MUSSBERGER, WASHINGTON RESIDENT: Plain and simple, it's just insane. Trees on houses. It's going to be many days before we get power back. It's crazy.
RAY KASTELITZ, WASHINGTON RESIDENT: It looks like a bomb went off in here. It just blew it -- blew these trees. They're all over the place.
VILES: By mid day Sunday, 300,000 homes in the region were still without power. Those outages had a ripple effect. Residents needed gasoline to run emergency generators, but many gas stations couldn't open. The result, long lines at the pumps. This man felt lucky to find any gas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what, I feel good about myself, you know, because I was running on E, the light was on.
VILES: This man couldn't find gas in the Seattle suburbs, so he took a risk and took his family downtown. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, all of the station have been closed over there. We're in the Redmond area and we saw one that open but it had about 50 to 60 cars in line for it and so we came downtown to see if we could spend some time down here, but now we need some gas to make it home.
VILES: One man died and a hundred more were treated at hospitals in the Seattle area because of carbon monoxide poisoning. They had apparently brought barbecue grills inside for cooking or to provide heat after temperatures dipped below freezing.
Peter Viles for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: President Bush's new man at the Pentagon takes over today. Robert Gates will be sworn in as secretary of defense this afternoon. And he'll have to hit the ground running if he's going to come up with a new strategy for Iraq. CNN Baghdad bureau chief Cal Perry is taking a closer look at what Gates is facing and he joins us now live from Baghdad.
Good day to you, Cal.
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning to you, John.
Well, five U.S. troops killed across the country so far this weekend. We also had 30 people kidnapped in the capital in broad daylight. Not a shot fired. And today, four explosions so far. Obviously, all of this symptomatic, the problems Robert Gates is going to face as he takes over secretary of defense.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PERRY, (voice over): As Robert Gates takes over as the 22nd secretary of defense, he faces monumental challenges. Overseeing a military that has more than a hundred thousand soldiers in Iraq, battling an insurgency and growing sectarian violence. Nearly 3,000 U.S. troops have been killed so far in Iraq, more than 22,000 others wounded. For American forces, the most dangerous places are Baghdad and the Sunni dominated al Anbar province.
One initiative after another to bring peace to Baghdad has failed. The last was followed by an increase in attacks. The Iraq Study Group concluded that despite three years of U.S. training, the Iraqi army lacked equipment, leadership, and discipline. So tough is the mission here that U.S. commanders expect some of their troops to leave the military.
GEN JAMES CONWAY, MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT: I think we may lose some of those folks. I think that the families, the young Marines and the Sailors will say that's just more than I think, you know, I'm willing to bear and it could have some negative consequences for us in that regard.
PERRY: But it's the Iraqi people that have paid the heaviest price over the past three years. By most estimates, some 2,000 civilians are being killed every month. Most are victims of growing sectarian war between Sunni and Shia. Neighborhood militias are springing up across the capital. Many Iraqis unwilling to trust their own army or police to protect them. Even those who initially greeted U.S. forces as liberators say they're now fed up with the lack of progress.
SALIM MAHDI, STOREOWNER, (through translator): When the Americans came I was happy. But as time passed, we haven't seen anything positive come out. Just killing and destruction. For that reason, I no longer trust them.
PERRY: And the government the U.S. is relying on to unite Iraqis and put down the violence is considered weak and largely ineffective.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PERRY: Now when Gates moves into his offices at the Pentagon late today, there's going to be, of course, no shortage of people telling him how to stop the violence. The question here John, is, with more and more Iraqi politicians and the American public calling for the U.S. to leave, will instead he be seeing an exit strategy?
John.
ROBERTS: Yes, with so many Iraqis calling for Americans to leave, Cal, one of the ideas being floated at the White House is a temporary surge in the number of troops, perhaps another 20,000 to 30,000 there as they cross over in rotations. Any kind of sense on the ground there that a surge of that number of troops could have any effect on security on the ground in Baghdad?
PERRY: Here in Baghdad, John, things are completely wide open as you know. I mean all the operations that the U.S. military has put forth, especially with Iraqi troops, specifically Operation Together Forward three months ago which put 80,000 boots on the ground, was largely ineffective. Almost everything they've tried has been effect of sectarian violence. Obviously a huge concern here. Over a hundred bodies found just this weekend. So the question is, what are the Americans really going to be able to do to stop sectarian violence or will they concentrate on places like the al Anbar province and try to quell the insurgency there?
ROBERTS: Yes, that's the unfortunate part about it, there's no good option.
Cal Perry in Baghdad, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: We're monitoring the days top stories, including a break in that case in Ipswich, England, of a suspected serial killer.
And today is the busiest mailing day of the year. A critical test, if it absolutely, positively has to be there by Christmas. Those stories and much more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The top stories.
The search goes on for two climbers on Mount Hood after the body of one of the original three was found inside a snow cave.
And breaking news out of England this morning. Police arrest on 37-year-old man suspected of murdering five women in Ipswich.
O'BRIEN: If it absolutely, positively has to be there by Christmas Day, well then today is the day to ship it. The crunch is on as 900 million pieces of mail head out.
It's 25 past the hour. Ali Velshi is live from FedEx's largest hub in Memphis, Tennessee. He's "Minding Your Business" but are you in a FedEx truck?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The business value of this discussion, Soledad, is dubious. This is just my excuse to be in a truck like every guy wants to grow up to be and to hold one of these hand-held scanners.
Now a lot of the shippers -- if you're shopping for Christmas, a lot of the shippers will tell you you've got until Friday to ship and get it delivered to wherever you want it to go. But FedEx says that today they're going to move about 10 million packages. The U.S. Postal Service says today is the busiest mailing day of the year. Wednesday will be the biggest delivery day of the year. UPS says Wednesday will be its biggest day. They're expecting about 25 million packages to move.
So this is the busiest week for shipping. And we're here in Memphis, which is FedEx's hub, where you can see now containers from planes have been unloaded. They're being unloaded onto a conveyor belt. That conveyor belt is coming down here and they're getting sorted into different areas.
The documents are being sorted into this area and it is all highly tracked, as you know. The delivery, the courier trucks are ready to go out. There are freight trucks coming in here. This is a massive operation. FedEx flies 670 aircraft, second only to American Airlines, in the world.
And as you know, most of these delivery services have a guarantee of when your package is going to get to its destination. And in cases of overnight delivery, it's 10:30 the next morning.
Well, we tried a little test of that. We used two delivery services to send a package from New York to Houston. And a little later on we're going to show you how that worked out and exactly what routes they went through and the complication involved in getting your packages all over the place.
But this is the just in time society that we live in. Nine million, almost 10 million packages going to go through FedEx's system today. I'll be bringing you more on this through the morning.
Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Do the FedEx men and women behind you know that you've stolen their little scanner, Ali?
VELSHI: Yes, I've got to give this -- this actually belongs to one of them. I'm going to be giving it back.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you might want to do that.
All right, Ali Velshi for us this morning. He'll be back at 55 past the hour straight ahead.
Thanks, Ali.
John.
ROBERTS: Wait till he tries to make off with one of those airplanes.
Coming up, a couple of sports scandaling. What happens when one of the most successful female athletes in India isn't really a woman?
Plus, the NBA is to deliver its punishment today for an all-out brawl in the floor of Madison Square Garden. It's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The search for those three climbers on Mount Hood turns tragic with the discovery of a body.
ROBERTS: Breaking news and a break in the case. An arrest this morning in a string of murders compared to the terror of Jack the Ripper in England.
O'BRIEN: Show of force. President Bush considers sending many more U.S. troops into Iraq, while a fresh face comes into the Pentagon.
Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Monday, December 18th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien today.
O'BRIEN: Nice to have you helping us out. We appreciate it.
ROBERTS: Good to be here.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.
ROBERTS: Always good to be here. O'BRIEN: Thank you.
Let's begin this morning with what's new in the agonizing search for the climbers in Oregon. A body was found on Sunday on Mt. Hood. It's believed to be one of the three missing men. The search for the other climbers will begin at dawn today. And rescuers will retrieve the body off the mountain so it can be identified.
The weather is expected to remain clear that will help the crews, of course, search from the air and on the ground, as well. Let's take you to Hood River, Oregon, that's where AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence has the very latest for us.
Good morning, again, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Soledad.
The rescue teams will be back out on that mountain in the next couple of hours. They are expecting another clear day with low winds. The kind of day that's been all too rare here on the mountain. They will publicly identify the body of one climber they found and bring it down from the mountain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. MARK ROSS, NAT'L. GUARD RESCUE SQUADRON: We want to make a positive identification before we put that out. And we weren't able to do that, ourselves, on the mountain. We need to have the family involved in that. So once they have confirmed who we found, then that information will go public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Some of the rescue climbers have called this one of the most frustrating searches they have ever been involved in. They say they knew almost a week ago that they had at least one climber, Kelly James, hunkered down near the summit on the north side of the mountain. From his ping from his cell phone they also had a general location pinpointed, but the bad weather kept them, day after day, from ascending the mountain to look for him.
But they do have hope in what they found yesterday, when the weather did clear. They found the one snow cave, and the body of the one climber, but they also found a second cave. That cave contained ice axes, rope. It contained a sleeping bag and it also contained a signal in the shape of a Y which is what climbers will often use to signal to rescuers their location and, yes, we need help.
So they're using that as a guide to get back up on the mountain and narrow their search for the other two climbers, who they say they still have a chance of finding alive, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, we sure hope so. Chris Lawrence for us. Thank you, Chris. In just about 45 minutes Oregon's National Guard, which is helping in the rescue, we're going to talk to one of their leaders as they get ready to prepare to launch today's search and rescue mission -- John.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Soledad.
Now to some breaking news overseas. An arrest this morning in the murders of five women in the English town of Ipswich. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live now from London with the very latest.
Good morning to you, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, John.
Police, and the residents of that town in eastern England, are certainly praying this is the major breakthrough that they've been waiting for, for three weeks now. Just over three weeks when the first body was found in that particular area. Five prostitutes were murdered, and the chief superintendent in charge of the investigation believes they have a suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART GULL, SUFFOLK POLICE CHIEF: The 37-year-old man was arrested at his home address in Trimly (ph), near Felixstowe (ph) at approximately 7:20 a.m. this morning.
He has been arrested on the suspicion of murdering all five women, Jemma Adams (ph), Tania Nickol (ph), Anna Lee Alderson (ph), Paula Clenell (ph), and Annette Nicholls (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: That place, Trimly, is a matter of miles away from where some of these bodies were found. All five bodies found within almost a 20-mile radius of each other and of the red light district where they actually worked.
Now, this man can be held for the next 24 hours, if police want to question him for even longer, they will have to apply for permission. But they can hold him basically up until four days time. And after that, they will either have to charge him with murder, they will have to release him, or free him on bail.
So, at this point, it does appear as there has been a major breakthrough. After a weekend where police had been calling for -- making public appeals for anybody who had seen anything to come forward; 10,000 calls had been made to the police stations in the area, members of the public giving information. It's one of the biggest murder inquiries we've had in recent history in Britain -- John.
ROBERTS: A tremendous amount of worry there over the last week in Ipswich. Perhaps that is a little calmer now. Paula, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, America's new Defense secretary takes over today. Robert Gates will be sworn in this afternoon and a senior official is confirming that President Bush is considering a temporary troop increase; 20,000 to 30,000 more troops, a number that's really been discussed in D.C.
Some news about the Cuban leader Fidel Castro to tell you about this morning. A congressional team from the U.S. visited Cuba over the weekend. They were assured by Cuban officials that Castro is not dying, that he doesn't have cancer. The group did not get to meet with Castro himself. Fidel Castro was last seen in public back in July when he had intestinal surgery and turned political power over to his brother Raul Castro.
Nuclear talks in China this morning. North Korea is demanding that sanctions are lifted before its officials attend more meetings about scrapping that nation's nuclear program. Six-party talks on the matter opened today in Beijing, for the first time in more than a year. North Korea, you'll remember, pulled out of the talks in November of last year and stunned the world with the first-ever nuclear test in October of this year.
And 18 former detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- including some of these guys in this videotape here -- they are home this morning. Some will be freed outright at home and others face detention in their home countries. They men, mostly captured in Afghanistan during the U.S. led invasion back in 2001, and were considered enemy combatants by the Bush administration. About 380 detainees have now been released from GITMO, 395 are still there.
Couple of earthquakes, early this morning, off the coast of Indonesia to tell you about. The biggest one registered 5.8. At least four people were killed, 100 people were hurt on Sumatra Island. No tsunami warning has been issued.
And another spacewalk for the Discovery Shuttle crew today, their fourth, of this trip. The walk was added over the weekend to fix a solar panel on the International Space Station. It will mean that Discovery will spend an additional day in space and now return on Friday -- John.
ROBERTS: The NBA is expected to deliver its punishments today after that basketball brawl over the weekend. It happened Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets; it started with the Knicks, Marty Collins committed a flagrant foul on the Nuggets J.R. Smith. Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony retaliated by punching Collins. And that is when everything sort of deteriorated.
In all, 10 players were ejected. And now the NBA is investigating whether New York Knicks Coach Isaiah Thomas may have ordered that hard foul. That would be trouble if it's found that he did.
S. O'BRIEN: Sure will be.
Much more to come on the stories we're following for you this morning. Chad will have your "Travelers Forecast" straight ahead as well.
And kind of a gender bender to tell you about. Have you heard this story? Silver medalist, at the Asian games, could be stripped of her -- or maybe, it's his -- title medal, after tests reveal she is a he. We're on this story, straight ahead. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Top stories we're following this morning. The body of one of the three missing climbers found in a cave on Mt. Hood in Oregon. The search continues today for the two climbers still remaining.
Democratic Senator Tim Johnson is doing, quote, "very well". That's what incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying. Johnson underwent surgery last Wednesday for a brain hemorrhage -- Soledad.
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S. O'BRIEN: Here is a look now at stories that CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: I'm Ben Wedeman in Jerusalem.
The proverbial ink was barely dry on their ceasefire agreement and Fattah and Hamas started going at one another, again. Gun battles raged in various parts of Gaza, overnight. Fattah claims that Hamas abducted and killed one of its senior security officers, just the latest in a series of high profile assassinations and attempted assassinations. But the violence isn't just impacting the rival factions, innocent bystanders are also falling victim. Sunday, a 19- year-old woman was killed in one gun battle, a French journalist wound in another.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Hello, I'm Satinder Bindra in New Delhi.
An Indian runner, Shanti Sonderaja (ph), who placed second in the Woman's 800 meters race, at the recently concluded Asian Games, in Doha, is going to be stripped of her medal. The runner failed a gender test, which includes a detailed physical and other medical procedures. The test were conducted by the Olympic Council of Asia, which told CNN, quote, Shanti was not a woman". The news has shocked many Indians, but it didn't stop Shanti's home state from giving the runner a $33,000 cash reward.
I'm Aneesh Raman, in Tehran. Results are starting to come in after Iranians went to the polls on Friday. Not on the ballot was the president, Mahmoud Amadinejad. These elections were for city councils and for the expert councils that picks the country's supreme leader. But the elections were emerging as a referendum of sorts, on President Ahmadinejad's confrontational policies over the past year and a half.
So far, results show a mixed bag, no single party can claim victory. And given that Ahmadinejad supporters have not won a landslide, he has seen a drop of popularity of sorts, domestically at home.
Still don't expect any major change in confrontational policies from Iran on both the nuclear issue and towards the West. Instead, these elections set the stage for a more contentious political battle between the hard-line conservatives and more traditional conservatives to come in parliamentary and presidential elections in the years ahead.
S. O'BRIEN (voice over): For more on these, or any of our top stories, logon to our website at cnn.com.
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ROBERTS: It's 44 minutes half the after the hour now, time for a check on the weather forecast.
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S. O'BRIEN: Congratulations, you were named "Time" Person of the Year. Seriously, the "Time" editors picked "You". See? Little Mylar thing there. Of course the "You" they're talking about is all of us who control the digital age, when we upload our videotapes on YouTube, or post anything online. Here is a little sneak peek behind the scenes at just how "Time" chose "You".
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the stories that has come up, that we've discussed, is this year as the rise of user-generated content and rise of YouTube and FaceBook.
RICHARD STENGEL, MANAGING EDITOR, TIME MAGAZINE: What about this notion of maybe doing, you know, a young girl, in Omaha, who is on FaceBook, who is using media in a new way. And it kind of represents a change of the way we actually consume? Which is a pretty radical thing. You could argue this year was sort of a tipping point.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is that person the newsmaker? I mean, unless that person is generating content?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, you have to pick somebody who is actually posting things on YouTube, changing Wikipedia copy, in other words, that person -- you wouldn't want that person to merely be a consumer of these products.
This year, we have a unique opportunity to pick either a person or group of people who really are right-on this year. And we couldn't do them last year and we probably couldn't do them next year, that's why I hope this year, we pick a person or a group of people who are involved in user-generated content. People who have created web sites, where you can go and create your own reality.
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S. O'BRIEN: So, congratulations.
ROBERTS: Thank you. I've always wanted to be person of the year. Let me see that again.
S. O'BRIEN: The editor said to me, trust me, this will be the last time "You" are on the cover.
ROBERTS: The guy on the cover of this. I don't know, why would they put him on the cover?
S. O'BRIEN: He's so handsome.
ROBERTS: I don't get that.
S. O'BRIEN: He's so handsome. That's pretty funny. I thought it was good choice this year.
ROBERTS: Yes, you know, usually they do one or two people.
S. O'BRIEN: I never like when they do the multiple covers. I hate when they do three or four.
ROBERTS: Well, now we've done billions, so it's a multiple cover.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.
Ahead this morning, a house divided Episcopal Church and Evangelical Church struggling with what to do about their gay members.
And back stage on the busiest mailing day of the year. We're gong to find out if they're going to get your Christmas present there in time. A live report from Ali, straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
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S. O'BRIEN: There are just six shopping days left till Christmas and, of course, that means there are six shipping days left till Christmas. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business". He's in Memphis.
Good morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Soledad.
I talked to you about a half an hour ago, things were still getting going. We're an hour earlier here in Memphis. I'm at FeEx's biggest sorting facility. Memphis is it's main hub; its headquarters for FedEx. Today, FedEx will move about 10 million packages through its system. It's FedEx Express' busiest day. Wednesday is UPS' busiest day.
These packages that you're seeing being sorted here, these have come off of planes that have flown into Memphis airport. FedEx runs about 670 planes, so they're the second biggest air fleet in the world, after American Airlines.
These have come off of planes, they get onto freight trucks, and the freight trucks bring them out here, to a sorting station in Memphis, Tennessee. And they're all in these containers along here. And then these FedEx workers are taking them off the containers, onto the conveyor belt. They are getting scanned again, because when you track your parcel you can always see where it goes.
It's getting scanned and then it goes around this conveyor belt, on to -- what I seem to think are about 60 courier trucks. And these will be moving in and out through the course of the day, these courier trucks. So then they get delivered.
And a lot of these are packages are packages that are guaranteed for 10:30 a.m. delivery today. A lot of them, as you can see -- I'll be showing them to you later -- a lot are these documents that we're familiar with, but a lot of them, I can see computers, gifts, they're clearly the kinds of things that people are buying.
Both UPS and FedEx say Friday, December 22nd is your last day to order something. A lot of web sites that you're ordering things on, will tell you, you have until Friday for Christmas delivery, which is Monday, but that is for those of you who like to take your chances. Both of these companies say they can make it happen, and I don't doubt they can, but for those people who want to get it done a little early. That's why you're seeing this is the busiest day.
Any way you cut it, whether it's the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx or DHL, this is the busiest week for shipping.
Later on, I'm going to show you some specifics about how packages get from one point to the other. And I'm going to tell you about one company, for whom today is the most important day of the year -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Ali Velshi for us this morning. Thank you, Ali.
Top stories of the morning from CNN.com. Did you hear about this? Seven people dead in a home? They've been found dead in a home in northeast Missouri. Police are calling it unattended deaths, which is kind of a weird way to put it. But so far they have been saying they're not ruling anything in, or anything out, in these deaths.
ROBERTS: From "The San Francisco Chronicle" today it looks like Google is going to be lifting off with NASA in a new partnership deal -- and why not? I mean, Google stock is in orbit. More details this morning from press conference at 11:00, this morning, on how they plan to work together.
Apparently this is all going to be targeted toward the Google Earth technology, perhaps incorporating some of NASA's climate data in their, too. I mean, Google Earth is one of the best things to ever happen to the Internet. And now it looks like they are just going to try to make it better.
S. O'BRIEN: NASA is going to take advantage of that.
"USAToday" is reporting about shifting fears of terror. Really terror fears, now shifting north. So much we've been reporting on is happening down south. Nine out of 10 Border Patrol agents work south of the border, but they point to the 4,000-mile northern border of the U.S. with Canada, of course. That is dangerously weak and open, ever since 9/11.
ROBERTS: "South Park" said it, blame Canada.
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S. O'BRIEN: Or, maybe, focus on Canada. Now, is a better way to put that. Coming up at the top of the hour, Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center for us.
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S. O'BRIEN: A tragic turn, rescuers return to Mt. Hood today. They're going to bring down the body of one missing climber. They're going to continue to search for the other two missing men.
ROBERTS: Breaking news out of England this morning. Police announce an arrest today in a string of murders compared to Jack the Ripper's reign of terror.
S. O'BRIEN: And show of force, President Bush considers sending a surge of additional troops into Iraq, and his new Defense secretary is sworn in today. Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back everybody. It's Monday, December 18. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: Good morning, to you. I'm John Roberts in for Miles O'Brien. You like the sound this morning.
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