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CNN Saturday Morning News

New York COmmunters React to New Policy; Bombers Strike Egypt; Rice Meets with Palestinian Leaders

Aired July 23, 2005 - 9:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: CNN has learned that the death toll in Egypt from a string of bombing attacks is now at 83.
Two suicide car bombs and another explosion struck the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. More than 200 people are reported injured. One Egyptian official says the attacks may be linked to bombings last October in the Red Sea resort town of Taba. Now we do have a live report from Egypt coming up in just a few minutes.

In the meantime, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has wrapped up meetings with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank town of Ramallah. She praised them for their efforts to rein in recent violence but said Palestinians must do more ahead of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza next month.

Much of the nation is gripped in a summer heat wave with record high temperatures soaring to triple digits. In Phoenix, as many as 21 deaths have been blamed on the heat. Two hundred cities and towns in the west set daily record highs this week.

You know it's not exactly cool here in Atlanta either.

TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: Oh, no. Yes.

NGUYEN: We're feeling that heat, Hotlanta as they call it. Well, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Let's get you started this morning. Thank you for starting your day with us.

Our top story at this hour, deadly explosions erupt in Egypt. Eighty-three people are dead, and the death toll appears to be rising. Some 200 people are hurt.

Officials say two suicide car bombs and a third explosive device tore through Sharm El-Sheikh, a resort city on the Red Sea.

President Hosni Mubarak visited the site this morning. Egypt's interior minister says the blast may be linked to a series of bombings that happened last October in the Red Sea resort of Taba.

As for world reactions, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Vice Prime Sinister Shimon Perez have issued statements condemning the attacks. A live report from Egypt is just minutes away.

NGUYEN: We've also been following new developments out of London this morning.

Police have arrested a second man in connection with Thursday's failed bombing attacks on the transit system. The two men in custody are being questioned today.

Now, police arrested both of them in a south London neighborhood, but we don't know much more than just that. Police have not said if the two are among the four bombing suspects that they're looking for. Photos that you see right here of the four suspects have been released. They were taped on surveillance cameras at or near the sites of those bombing attempts.

Now earlier in the week, CNN aired a photograph of a man Pakistani intelligence and immigration officials confirmed was one of the suspected London bombers, Hasib Hussain. But we obtained that photograph, which had been broadcast on Pakistani television, from our CNN affiliate and from the Reuters news agency.

Well, now we have information that passport photo may be of another man, also named Hasib Hussain, who is not a suspect and is not in any way connected to the bombings. CNN truly regrets this error.

HARRIS: And now to American sentiments over the war in Iraq. A new poll taken by the Pew Research Institute says 47 percent of Americans feel Iraq has hurt the fight against terrorism. The poll was taken soon after the first London subway bombings.

Also, 45 of those questioned said the Iraq war could cause more terror attacks here in the U.S. That's up nine points from a poll taken last fall. Even with those worries, nearly half of those polled still support the war.

NGUYEN: In our CNN "Security Watch" this morning, police and transit cops in New York City are conducting random searches of bags belonging to people who ride the public transit system. The decision was made after the transit bombings in London on Thursday.

Now for reaction from subway riders, CNN's Susan Lisovicz is in New York. What are they saying? Are they being cooperative?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, New York City commuters, Betty, are a feisty bunch. They don't like it, but it's a reality of the times.

The "New York Times," in fact, calls it an anxious new era in the life of New York City subways. Day two of the random searches of bags at New York City subway stops.

And beginning Monday, New Jersey's acting governor, Richard Codey, says the New Jersey Transit System will also begin random searches among the tens of thousands of commuters who come into New York every day. The governor calling it a necessary step for a new level of vigilance to take place.

Here at the Atlantic Avenue stop, typically one of the busiest stops in the entire New York transit system, we saw heavily armed National Guardsmen, one of them saying that their presence was to help commuters feel safe.

So how do commuters feel right now? Let's talk to one of them, Robert Pollak, who has been living in New York most of his life. Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

How do you feel about this stepped up security at the New York City subway system?

ROBERT POLLAK, COMMUTER: It's a necessary thing right now. It's uncomfortable for people commuting, because we're used to, like, racing in and out of the trains, and you see the military presence with, you know, rifles and guns, and you see the police around. So it's a little unnerving, but it's something that's necessary right now.

LISOVICZ: How do you compare it in the days, Robert, following September 11?

POLLAK: Actually, it's a bit similar. Because after September 11, there was a lot of military in the subways and on mass transit and out on the streets. And now, when you go down into the terminals, you see the armed guards there, and it's kind of, you know, it's uncomfortable but it's necessary.

LISOVICZ: You're carrying a backpack. You're going to take the Long Island railroad in a few minutes. Has it changed your pattern at all? You walked instead of taking the subway this morning. Was that deliberate?

POLLAK: Actually, I felt like it's a nice day. It's a 15-minute walk, and I didn't really want to be bothered with the subway, because I thought I'd get on the subway. It might be uncomfortable for the Long Island Railroad. Again, so I thought let me do the walk and get to Long Island Railroad and see what it's like. I did avoid the subway, because it was a short walk for me.

LISOVICZ: Robert Pollak, we of course, wish you safe travels out on Long Island and a great weekend. Thanks for joining us.

And New York metro transit officials, Betty, saying that this type of random searches will continue indefinitely, given the heightened state of alert in the days following the attempted bombings in the London Underground.

Back to you, Betty.

NGUYEN: It's just a new world in which we live. Thank you, Susan.

It may be a case of too much information. Congressional investigators say the Transportation Security Administration violated privacy protections of about 250,000 airline passengers by secretly gathering personal information on those passengers. The TSA was testing a program to conduct computerized checks of airline passengers against terror watch lists.

CNN is committed to bringing you the most reliable news about your security day and night.

HARRIS: A amid Washington's summer heat, this lingering burning question: did Karl Rove leak the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the media? She's the wife of diplomat Joe Wilson. He publicly criticized the Bush administration's rationale for war with Iraq.

Much of the speculation has focused on Rove, a senior White House advisor. Rove admits discussing Plame with "TIME" magazine reporter Matt Cooper, but "The Washington Post" reports possible discrepancies between what Rove and Cooper told a grand jury.

Now, according to The "Post," Rove says they talked mostly about welfare reform, while Cooper says he can't recall that welfare reform ever came up.

Also called to testify, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who is Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Now, the "Post" reports that Libby told the grand jury he learned of Plame from journalist Tim Russert. Well, Russert testified he had never heard of her.

Plame's name appears in a 2003 State Department memo in a paragraph marked "secret." The grand jury is now trying to figure out which White House officials might have seen the memo.

Supreme Court nominee John Roberts is well known in Washington, not so outside the beltway. A recent CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup poll finds three out of four adults surveyed, 76 percent, say they need more information before forming an opinion about Roberts.

Of those who do have an opinion, 14 percent said they think Roberts' views are mainstream. Seven percent say they think his positions are extreme.

Roberts was named to the federal appeals court in 2003. He spent much of the past week meeting informally with senators in a run-up to his confirmation hearings.

And don't forget our e-mail question this morning: if you could be at those hearings, what would you ask John Roberts? E-mail us your thoughts at Weekends@CNN.com. And we'll read some of your responses in just a few minutes.

NGUYEN: Unbearable, unavoidable and at times unbelievable. Three words to describe the uncommon heat that is roasting much of the U.S.

These are live pictures now from St. Louis. Temperatures there have been in the 90s in the past few days. While the beautiful picture looks a little hazy, you can bet it is hot, and they're expected to say pretty hot for at least a few more days.

Meanwhile, in Phoenix, it is rising, those temperatures as high. Temperatures in Arizona just will not let up. Some 21 deaths are blamed on the heat there.

And in Las Vegas officials are investigating if excessive heat is to blame for the deaths of 10 people there. Tuesday the temperature hit a whopping 117 degrees in Las Vegas, tying the record set back in 1942.

HARRIS: Oh, relief! Relief!

NGUYEN: I know. I'm hot just thinking about it.

HARRIS: Well, that's the man with the answer right there.

NGUYEN: Right there.

HARRIS: You see him there on your screen or off to the side. Rob Marciano.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, first of all, Tony, if you bought a car that had some air conditioning, that would be your first step.

NGUYEN: Right.

HARRIS: Yes.

MARCIANO: Buzzing around town with your head hanging out the window.

NGUYEN: Not a good idea.

HARRIS: From the house, which we hope is air conditioned, to the car, which is air conditioned, to your next location which better be air conditioned.

NGUYEN: OK. But you had the blackouts, the rolling blackouts in California. Then what do you do?

HARRIS: What do you do?

NGUYEN: Go in the car and sit in the car with the air conditioning? That could be dangerous.

MARCIANO: Grab some shakes. Grab some shakes.

HARRIS: Grab (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: Done.

NGUYEN: Thank you.

HARRIS: Absolutely done.

NGUYEN: I guess.

HARRIS: Lovely.

MARCIANO: See you guys. HARRIS: And straight ahead this morning, we are live in Egypt where a resort town is the target of a massive terrorist attack.

Also will a strand of hair bring new leads? We could be just days way from DNA test results in the Aruba missing girl case. Plus authorities there have a change of heart and are now welcoming more help. Details ahead.

NGUYEN: Plus, a quake caught on camera. Look at this, the earth shakes, rattles and rolls this morning in Japan. We go global to take you with us. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: If you're just joining us this morning, there's been a deadly wave of explosions in northern Egypt, and the death toll is rising. The blast happened in Sharm El-Sheikh, a resort city on the Red Sea.

CNN's John Vause is there and he joins us now live with more. Hello, John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

A short time ago here outside the Ghazala Garden hotels, one of the scenes of the worst explosion, around 1:15 a.m. local time, bringing in heavy earth-moving equipment to try and clear some of the debris. It's fairly safe to say now that this is no longer a search for survivors but rather a search for bodies and also a search for answers, as to who may be behind this attack here in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Three simultaneous bomb attacks. One here at the Ghazala Garden Hotel. According to eyewitnesses and also police, a suicide car bomber sped past an Egyptian security checkpoint and then into the main reception of the hotel. You can see by the damage done to the roof of this building it's brought down much of the roof.

And behind this crane, which you see behind me, is the reception area. That is where the car drove. It brought down much of the front of the hotel.

Now, as this was happening, at exactly the same time, another suicide car bomber was detonating in a parking lot at the Old Market. Now 17 Egyptian workers were killed in a coffee shop.

And also around the same time a third blast. Authorities say explosives were left in a sack beside a boardwalk near the beach. That left at least six foreign tourists dead.

Authorities here say that this is linked in some way to a similar attack which was carried out in Taba, which is about 160 miles away from here. That attack was in October last year. That left more than 30 people dead.

At the time of that blast, authorities said that if it wasn't al Qaeda which was responsible for it, it was certainly al Qaeda inspired.

And Tony, just to give you an idea of where we are, this is a very, very popular resort town. Among the casualties, we're hearing from authorities, Britons, Dutch, Italians, Egyptians, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Qataris, people from all over, some Israelis as well.

And not far from here, a few miles down the road that way at another hotel in February, earlier this year, the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas were actually shaking hands to a formal ceasefire.

Now we have this, and now just months after that agreement was reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. John Vause in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for us. John, thank you.

NGUYEN: Back here in the U.S., the man who killed 5-year-old Samantha Runnion gets the death penalty. A California judge upheld the jury's decision to send Alejandro Avila to Death Row on Friday. The judge said Avila destroyed an entire family's future and has forfeited his right to life.

Speaking to her daughter's killer, Erin Runnion told Avila that he was stupid, that he had no concept of how heinous his acts were.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN RUNNION, SAMANTHA RUNNION'S MOTHER: Since Samantha's death, I have felt more conflict, more hate and rage than I ever thought possible. But I loved that little girl so much that it would be a horrible insult to her to let my hate for you take more, any space in my heart and in my head from my memory of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Avila had been acquitted in a child molestation case the year before Samantha's kidnapping and murder.

Aruba's prime minister is urging investigators to give the FBI full access to documents related to the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway.

Meanwhile, investigators are testing strands of blonde hair attached to duct tape found along Aruba's northeastern coast. Results could take up to two weeks.

Seventeen-year-old Joran van der Sloot is the only suspect still being held in this case. Holloway, as you recall, disappeared hours before she was to return home to Alabama.

HARRIS: And it is that time of the morning to check out some of the other stories making news around the world.

NGUYEN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on a major diplomatic push in the Middle East. Anand Naidoo is at the scene, at the international desk, with more on just what is at stake here.

Hi, Anand.

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning and thanks.

First up the United States diplomatic effort in the Middle East. As you mentioned, Betty, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the West Bank today holding talks with Palestinian leaders. For more on those talks now, let's go to our State Department correspondent, Andrea Koppel. She's traveling with Dr. Rice -- Andrea.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anand, Secretary Rice's visit takes place against the backdrop of, really, what's been the worst violence in five months between Israel and the Palestinians. Rice hoped that her visit would diffuse the situation, and certainly things are calmer now and have been in recent days.

But speaking of days, you've only got 24 of them left before Israel has said it will end its 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip and would begin to withdraw between 8,000 and 9,000 Jewish settlers.

But as one Palestinian official told reporters in Ramallah a short time ago, this is the 11th hour, and the fate of Gaza's 1.3 million Palestinians who live there is unclear.

They want an agreement in principle on fundamental issues, answers to questions like will Israel relinquish control over the border crossings into the Gaza Strip? Will they allow the Gaza port and the airport to be reopened?

Palestinians say they haven't had a high level meeting with Israeli officials since lost month, June 21 and they were hoping to get some of these answers from Secretary Rice.

We certainly asked her about that during this press conference, and she laid out three fundamental principles. This is what she had to say.

All right, those three principles include the fundamental answers that Palestinians say they have yet to get, that they would have freedom of movement within the Gaza Strip, that they would also be able to travel from Gaza into the West Bank, and that you would also be able to have travel between Gaza and other -- other areas so that they can have commerce, because their economy, they say, has been decimated over the last five years. There's 70 percent unemployment in Gaza.

And the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, says he wants to be able to show the Palestinian people that they will have a bright future if they keep the calm.

And the concern on the Israeli side is that if they pull their troops out of Gaza and there is a security vacuum and that you don't have a strong presence by Palestinian security forces, that militant Palestinian groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad will fill the vacuum. Palestinians respond, Anand, by saying that their security forces have been really undercut over the last five years, and so they don't have the fire power that they would need to keep the peace -- Anand.

NAIDOO: All right, thanks, Andrea. Andrea Koppel there, talking to us from the West Bank. And I should just mention that Dr. Rice had talks with the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, yesterday.

Tony, Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Anand.

HARRIS: Thank you.

In the midst of this massive heat wave, some of you might want to catch some rays, but if you want the best protection from the sun you might have to do something, well, a bit illegal?

NGUYEN: Illegal?

HARRIS: What am I saying? We'll explain after the break.

NGUYEN: You can get in trouble for that, Tony.

First, though, here is a "CNN Extra" for you. The new national sex offender public registry is up and running. So far, the web site, www.nsopr.gov -- it's on your screen -- has data from sex offender registries in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Users can search for a specific name or search for anyone in a geographic area.

The registries of every state should be linked to that site by the end of the year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A very popular sunscreen isn't sold in the U.S. But it is keeping smugglers busy. It's one of the stories getting a whole lot of attention on the Internet this morning.

CNN.com's Veronica De La Cruz is here to explain what the fascination is with this.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM: Yes. People are breaking the law. Breaking the law.

HARRIS: They're breaking the law.

DE LA CRUZ: They're breaking the law. But I'm going to tell you all about it.

And you know, Tony, if you do miss it on CNN TV, you can always check it out online, right?

HARRIS: Yes, sure. Sure.

DE LA CRUZ: CNN.com is now offering free video which you can browse and search by 14 different categories including "most popular," which shows you the video clips receiving the most clicks.

Now to find it, you can log onto CNN.com and look for the green "watch" box. Click on "browse and search," then select the tab that says most popular.

A video clip receiving a lot of clicks right now, our Carol Costello talked with American sisters Katie and Emily Benton about their story of survival. Did you see this one, Tony?

HARRIS: Yes. Good story. Good story.

DE LA CRUZ: The two Knoxville, Tennessee, sisters were wounded in London attacks that happened more than two weeks ago.

Another piece of video, hot on the web right now, a new sunscreen not yet approved by the FDA, is only available on the black market. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores why this product, which contains Mexoryl, has consumers wanting to smuggle it into the United States.

You're going to want to check that one out, right?

HARRIS: OK.

DE LA CRUZ: Do you know why, by any chance?

HARRIS: No, no.

DE LA CRUZ: Mexoryl apparently contains -- contains something that will protect you from the UVA rays, which you can't find here in the United States.

HARRIS: OK.

DE LA CRUZ: And that's why people are clamoring to get it.

HARRIS: Head right there for more information?

DE LA CRUZ: But it is illegal, so you're breaking the law.

HARRIS: At CNN.com.

DE LA CRUZ: CNN.com.

HARRIS: Veronica, thanks.

DE LA CRUZ: Of course.

HARRIS: If given the chance, what would you ask this man? He's the president's choice for the Supreme Court. His name is John Roberts. Your responses to this morning's e-mail question when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Getting to our e-mail question today, here it is on the screen: What would you ask Supreme Court nominee John Roberts?

We've had so many responses.

This person, Cindy from Virginia, says, "If being a devout Catholic would have an influence on any Roe versus Wade decisions, this is very important." She wants to know that from Roberts.

HARRIS: And this from Hope. She writes, "I hope I would ask Roberts if he believes in the separation of church and state."

Now, we've received a lot of questions that have to do with faith and religion. So what we're going to do is, we're going to gather a bunch of these, and we'll take up those questions with our guest tomorrow for "Faces of Faith," Marcie Hamilton, she is the author of the book "God versus the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law."

So that's tomorrow, don't miss that, "Faces of Faith" (INAUDIBLE).

NGUYEN: Eight a.m. Eastern tomorrow.

HARRIS (INAUDIBLE).

NGUYEN: We want to thank you for being with us this morning, though.

HARRIS: And we will see you again tomorrow morning.

"OPEN HOUSE" starts right now.

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