The Web    CNN.com      Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SERVICES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SEARCH
Web CNN.com
powered by Yahoo!
TRANSCRIPTS


 

Return to Transcripts main page

CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Millions converge on Rome Hoping to Bid Farewell to Pope; Report Says Low-Cost Carriers Some of Best Performing Airlines in Industry

Aired April 7, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Millions converge on Rome hoping to bid farewell to Pope John Paul II.
Reports of a big slipup in security at Windsor Castle the day before the royal wedding.

And the greens are likely to be a bit soggy if the Masters golf tournament tees off this morning.

It is Thursday, April 7.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, the A.P., quoting U.S. military officials, says 13 of 16 people killed in the crash of a helicopter in Afghanistan are American troops. Three others are U.S. government contractors. The chopper went down in bad weather.

Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani will be sworn in as president of Iraq just about one hour from now. His two top deputies will also take the oath. A prime minister could be named later today.

An historic bus trip between Indian controlled Kashmir and the Pakistani controlled part of Kashmir. It's the first crossing of the disputed line separating the region in nearly 60 years. Earlier, Indian officials stopped a militant Muslim attack on one bus.

And a line of severe storms and tornadoes raked Mississippi. No deaths, but asset least seven people were hurt. As you can see, homes were damaged, power was knocked out.

Hopefully, it will be a better day for them today -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It will be, for them, Carol. But, you know, there's going to be other areas where severe weather develops. And Louisiana got in out it, too. A lot of the parishes were damaged there yesterday, especially south and east and south and west of New Orleans.

(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: It is a true testament to Pope John Paul II's influence on the world and the impact on his followers. Officials in Rome estimate that five million people will have visited the Vatican by the time the pope's funeral is over tomorrow. The city's mayor is urging citizens to open their homes to pilgrims arriving for the funeral. There are no hotel rooms left. And details of the pope's will are going to be released today. The Vatican says an Italian version and the original Polish version will both be published.

With so many dignitaries on hand and so many people flooding Rome, security has been, oh, shall we say, a challenge.

CNN Radio's Dick Uliano is live at the Colegio overlooking St. Peter's Square. I do wonder, Dick, if all of those who got close to the pope's body had to pass through metal detectors.

DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Carol, no. In fact, security was not really all that restrictive for the millions of people who filtered through St. Peter's Square and into the basilica. That, of course, all changes with the arrival of these some 200 world leaders. There will even be metal detectors in St. Peter's Square, as President Bush and other dignitaries attend the funeral tomorrow.

But really it's not been that type of restriction. People simply gathered. What it's been more like, really, is almost chaos. I mean there's been a sense of order, but with millions of people you can just imagine what it's been like with people waiting to get inside. But not that really omniscient type of security that we might see in the States.

COSTELLO: I'm sure it'll be much more strapped down tonight. I was just like looking at that picture of President Bush, his wife Laura, the first President Bush and President Clinton and Condoleezza Rice. What a picture that was.

I understand, too, Dick, that you walked through the line. Tell us what it was like.

ULIANO: Well, Carol, it was really an awe inspiring sight to see the number of faithful who came to pay their respects to Pope John Paul II. And when you talk to these individuals, whether they're from the North American continent, Europe or Asia, the reaction is almost universal. They would tell you that the pope went to such extremes, to the far corners of the world, to see them, to reach out to them, and that many of them were touched deeply, and it was the least they could do to come here.

So it really was mind boggling yesterday when you see these lines stretching out from St. Peter's Square. It's much calmer today, since they've cut off the lines and the last few people are getting inside the basilica to see the remains of the pope.

COSTELLO: Dick Uliano joining us live from Rome.

Thank you. In South Africa, Bishop Desmond Tutu heaps tribute on Pope John Paul II. Tutu met with the pope several times while the former Anglican archbishop was working to end apartheid. He praised John Paul for speaking out publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESMOND TUTU, ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS: He was a very warm, engaging person, charismatic. He had the capacity to have a rapport with people, put you at your ease. And we were very glad that he had met with us because we were seeking to highlight the inequity of apartheid. And he gave us his unstinting commitment and support. And that was great for us. And I remember that very, very, very, very warmly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Be sure to tune in to CNN for complete coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Our wall to wall coverage begins tomorrow morning at 3:00 a.m..

It was real. According to the "Washington Post," that mysterious infamous memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the Schiavo case was, indeed, written by a Republican, an aide to Senator Mel Martinez. Martinez had publicly denied knowing anything about the memo and condemned its contents. Senator Martinez says he accepted the resignation of his staffer, identified by the "Post" as legal counsel Brian Darling. Martinez says he never knew his aide wrote the memo and didn't even know he had a copy of it until he inadvertently passed it along to Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, and then it made its way to the media, and that's how it came to light for you.

Still talking about politics this morning, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is defending himself and getting some help from his GOP colleagues after new questions about his record surfaced on Wednesday. The "Washington Post" reports DeLay's six day trip to Moscow in 1997 was paid for by business interests. And the "New York Times" says DeLay's wife and daughter have been paid more than $500,000 since 2001 by the congressman's political action and campaign committees.

The House majority whip is among those standing up for DeLay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), MAJORITY WHIP: His applause-o-meter must have been off. The support for the leader is strong. I think there's a strong sense in our conference that this is where you go if you don't have any ideas on the part of the other side. And I don't see any, any lack, any waning of the support for the leader. In fact, I think more and more members are feeling like that he's taking a lot of, a lot of arrows for all of us.

And so, if anything, I suspect it's increasing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Now here's what the Democratic House leader had to say about one part of this controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: It's not about a trip, it's about a pattern of behavior that the leader has been involved in that is really more his problem than the specifics of any one trip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Pelosi also says Republicans have effectively shut down the Ethics Committee in an effort to stop further investigations into DeLay's activities.

Security at Windsor Castle may not quite be ready for Saturday's royal wedding. Scotland Yard is investigating a serious security breach. You see a "Sun" newspaper reporter had a photographer with him when he says he talked police into letting him drive his van onto the castle grounds. You see the van there. The reporter said the van was carrying a brown box marked "bomb" and he drove right up to Queen Elizabeth's apartments. And that's a problem.

Be sure to join CNN for live coverage of the royal wedding between Prince Charles and his long time love, Camilla Parker Bowles. We start at 6:00 a.m. Eastern on Saturday morning.

Popular televangelist Benny Hinn joins us shortly. You may not know that Hinn has fond recollections of Pope John Paul. Benny Hinn live from Rome in six minutes.

Plus, our Maria Hinojosa. This is a church where the flock is anything but traditional Catholic worshipers. That's in about a half hour.

And when it comes to air travel, the best might cost less. Ben Mutzabaugh has the details for us and the deals in 14 minutes.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Still to come, televangelist Benny Hinn, the Pentecostal preacher, joins us live from Rome straight ahead. Hear his stories about meeting the pope when DAYBREAK continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:12 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning. World leaders and foreign dignitaries continue to arrive in Rome ahead of tomorrow's funeral for Pope John Paul II. Officials estimate that around five million pilgrims will have come to the city since the pope's death.

A judge may decide today whether to release a report on the fatal shooting of a judge in an Atlanta courtroom. The report looks at security lapses in the case of Brian Nichols, who is accused of shooting and killing the judge and three others last month.

In money news, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is asking Congress to keep mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in check. He told the Senate Banking Committee that any failure in their billion dollar portfolios could have a profound effect on the economy.

In culture, British actor Daniel Craig has been tabbed as the next James Bond. Who's he, you ask? Well, you may have seen the 37- year-old Craig in such movies as "Sylvia" with Gwyneth Paltrow and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie, two movies I'm sure you flocked to see and now you do know who he is. But that's a picture of him.

In sports, the first round of the Masters championship is set to tee off in less than two hours. Defending champ Phil Mickelson is hoping to become the fourth player ever to win back to back Masters titles, but there might be huge delays in the game -- right, Chad?

MYERS: Oh, again, Carol. Yes. It just seems that every time the guys go out to play some golf, Mother Nature has to say hey, wait a minute, let's soften the greens up a little bit.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: The summer travel season is around the corner and so is some potential bad news about how much it might cost you. Details of what you can expect to pay at the pump, when DAYBREAK continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Discount airlines are sky high over the results of a recent report. It says low cost carriers are some of the best performing airlines in the industry.

"USA Today" travel correspondent Ben Mutzabaugh joins us live from Washington with more.

This really isn't a great shock to me, Ben. BEN MUTZABAUGH, "USA TODAY" TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not. You know, for a couple of years now, we've been hearing about how well these kind of airlines have been doing and about how poorly, or at least dissatisfied, people are with major carriers. And this latest news confirms that. The airline -- it's called The Airline Quality Ratings and it's done by a combination of Wichita State and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. And it just looks to see how the airlines are doing.

And the top three airlines were JetBlue, AirTran and Southwest.

COSTELLO: Wow!

Well, what's with the big airlines? Why don't they get it together?

MUTZABAUGH: You know, that's an excellent question. And, in fact, even last week I got two -- or two weeks ago, I got to talk with the CEO of JetBlue. And, of course, they were the winner of this award and have won several other rankings recently. And he says it's not so much what the other guys are doing wrong, it's what the discounters are doing right. And that is, they know how to treat the customers. Like customers, they don't -- they know how not to alienate their customers.

You know, the major airlines have so many items, such as a $100 fee to change your ticket, rebooking can be a nightmare, whereas the discount airlines, it may not be 100 percent seamless, but it tends to be smaller fees, it tends to be easier to do. And the way you can book online, whether it's at Southwest or AirTran or JetBlue, you see all of the fares. If they're sold out, you can tell and you know that's why you're getting a higher fare. On the major carriers, you just sort of plug in your destination and your dates and it returns fares that, to the average person, it's hard to make rhyme or reason out of. And that probably has a lot to do with it.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, these -- some of these big airlines have been in business for years and years and years. Sometimes it's hard to modernize yourself. I think they're having trouble doing that.

MUTZABAUGH: I think that's definitely part of what's going on here. You know, they've had their way of doing things for how -- you know, 10, 20, 30 years since deregulation, even, at this point. So -- and what's worked for them in the '80s and even, you know, for the better part of the '90s, isn't working right now. And whether it's corporate culture or employees who have been trained to do things a certain way for 10, 20, 30 years, it might be hard for them to shift.

And, of course, the discount carriers, the low cost carriers, you tend to have younger workforces where they're watching their stocks grow. They're watching all of these positive media reviews come in and all these positive airline quality reports. And the bottom line is they're probably pretty excited to come to work.

And I would think as a customer on one of those airlines, you probably notice their enthusiasm and their excitement and it probably runs off on the customers, as well.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes, especially at Southwest.

Hey, Chad has a question for you, Ben.

MUTZABAUGH: Sure.

MYERS: Hey, Ben, I'm wondering whether it's just maybe a lack of expectations. When you buy a ticket on AirTran, it's kind of like getting on a bus and going and you just don't expect -- and when you buy the expensive ticket on a major airline, you expect to be, oh, treated better. You expect food. You expect, I don't know.

MUTZABAUGH: That is definitely correct. The discount carriers or the low cost carriers, whatever you want to call them, they have done a great job of managing the expectations games. They never promised food. You know you might get a snack and a meal, or a snack and a drink, but you're not even always expecting that. You know you want to go from Point A to Point B and you want to pay $150 to do it.

MYERS: Exactly.

MUTZABAUGH: And that's all they've ever promised. So it's hard to be disappointed in that.

MYERS: That's right, lower your expectations.

COSTELLO: Yes, and if you're paying double for a ticket, then you want more than peanuts. You're right about that.

MUTZABAUGH: Exactly. Exactly.

COSTELLO: Ben Mutzabaugh, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

You can check out Ben's travel column on the "USA Today" Web site, and that is at usatoday.com/travel.

Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Let's talk about soaring gas -- actually, we're going to talk about soaring gas prices once again after a break here on DAYBREAK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": When it comes to bonds, the key up side is stability. You get these twice a year interest payments. Another plus for bonds is that by combining them with stocks, you can sort of reduce the overall volatility of your portfolio.

The two key down sides to bonds are first, credit risk, and that is the chance that the issuer might default on the bond, not make the payments. And the second risk is interest rate risk, which basically means that if interest rates go up, the value of your bond will go down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Soaring gas prices on everyone's minds heading into the summer driving season. Well, we want to know more. We want to know why these gas prices are so high.

And Carrie Lee has come up with this report to tell us -- well, to solve some of the mystery.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's all of those SUVs, Carol. Well, that's part of the reason, anyway. But we are seeing crude oil supplies gain some ground, now rising for the eighth straight week. So that's the good news. But the supplies of motor gasoline actually fell by 2.1 million barrels. That's the bad news. Still, that's above average for this time of year.

Gasoline production has increased, to keep up with demand. And despite the high prices, $2.23 per gallon of regular, according to AAA, demand has actually increased by 2 percent compared to last year, even though prices are up $0.44 a gallon over last year.

COSTELLO: So it's our own fault?

LEE: Well, the demand is just not subsiding, not only in the U.S., but around the world, for crude oil, at least. And I'll tell you, oil is the thing that's really been affecting stocks more than anything. We got that weekly inventory report yesterday. It caused oil prices to come down a little bit. That helped stocks gain ground for three days in a row. And this morning futures are looking pretty good, too.

COSTELLO: So really the secret in forcing those gas prices to come down is don't drive.

LEE: Well, that's part of it. That's part of it. And they're also switching to summer blends, so that has something to do with it, too. That takes up some time and energy and effort, and that puts a crimp in supply, as well.

One stock to watch today, by the way, Dell. The computer giant says over the next couple of years, they expect annual sales of $80 billion. So we'll see what that stock does today.

COSTELLO: They've done such a good job.

LEE: They really have. They're a consistent gainer over the years. They continue to innovate and become more efficient.

COSTELLO: And they're very customer friendly.

LEE: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Well, that's the secret of success. We've been talking a lot about that this morning.

LEE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Carrie Lee, thank you.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Entombed for eternity -- your look inside the burial site of Pope John Paul II.

And later, how a chance meeting with the pope gave one family the inspiration to keep going in spite of all their personal problems.

This is DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, the last of the pilgrims are in line to see the body of Pope John Paul II ahead of tomorrow's funeral. Hundreds of thousands of people are still waiting their turn, but police cut off the line about 12 hours ago to give officials time to prepare for the funeral.

The A.P., quoting U.S. military officials, says 13 of 16 people killed in the crash of a helicopter in Afghanistan are American troops. Three others are U.S. government contractors. The chopper went down in bad weather.

Iraq's new president used his first public speech to pay tribute to those who died fighting Saddam Hussein's regime. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was elected president by Iraq's national assembly on Wednesday.

And a line of severe storms and tornadoes has raked Mississippi. No deaths, but at least seven people were hurt. As you can see, homes were damaged and power was knocked out in several areas around Mississippi. But hopefully the worst is over now -- Chad.

MYERS: For them, and even northern Mississippi and northern Alabama could get it again. There is enough twist in the atmosphere again today, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: The preparations have been made for the pope's funeral. But where will he finally be laid to rest? Let's take a look. The pope will be placed in a cypress coffin that will sit on the steps of St. Peter's during the funeral mass. He will then be moved inside and placed in a sealed zinc coffin and then into an oak coffin. The pope will be entombed in the crypt underneath the floor of St. Peter's Basilica. His marble crypt was once used by Pope John XXIII, who was moved to another tomb in St. Peter's in 2000.

I wanted the graphic to catch up with me here. It's an amazing place, the Vatican.

As you know, there are a lot of disappointed people in Rome today. Tens of thousands came to see the pope's body only to be turned away because it's become too much to handle. But the fact so many came to pay respects to this religious man is fascinating. Let's head live to Vatican City and televangelist Benny Hinn.

Good morning, Benny. BENNY HINN, TELEVANGELIST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: When you see so many...

HINN: Hello, Carol.

COSTELLO: Hello.

Thank you for joining us.

When you see so many standing in line for seven, eight hours, what are these people searching for?

HINN: Well, they are searching for answers. People are very hungry for god. And this is a very moving moment for me. I just attended a special service, a memorial service here in the Vatican. I was moved to tears as I saw people hungry for god. And this is a very, very special day in the history of Christianity where you see the hunger for god so intense worldwide, Carol.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


International Edition
CNN TV CNN International Headline News Transcripts Advertise With Us About Us
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.
Add RSS headlines.