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CNN Live At Daybreak

Panic at a Crowded Mall; In Iraq, Votes Have Been Counted

Aired February 14, 2003 - 06:00   ET

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


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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, panic at a crowded mall. A gunman opens fire and keeps on shooting.
Also, the votes have been counted, but the real political work in Iraq is only beginning.

And Happy Valentine's Day to you. We'll tell you how to find and hold onto that someone special.

It is Monday, February 14.

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, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses North Korea's nuclear program today. She meets with South Korea's foreign minister. North Korea revealed publicly last week that it does, indeed, have nuclear weapons and would not return to six nation talks over the program.

In a little more than three hours, Alberto Gonzales will be sworn in as the nation's newest attorney general. The ceremony is set to begin at 9:25 Eastern at the Justice Department.

Prosecutors and attorneys for Michael Jackson begin questioning prospective jurors today in Jackson's child molestation trial. Nearly 250 people are in the jury pool.

A major telephone industry merger in the works. Published reports out this morning say Verizon has won the bidding to buy MCI. The price? $6.7 billion.

And get ready, here they come. America's finest, or at least their owners think they are. It's the 129th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at New York's Madison Square Garden. More than 2,500 dogs, something like 165 breeds, will be competing to be best in show -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's always the -- my wife just, she can't turn that off. When she sees those little guys running around, she can't turn it off.

COSTELLO: Well, here's from the couple who watched the Puppy Bowl.

MYERS: I know. I'm sorry. Well, you know, I had to. It was a boring half-time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Gunfire rings out at a crowded shopping mall. Now, a 20-year-old National Guard recruiter faces the possibility of losing his leg after being shot in the knee. The town of Ulster, New York is where it all went down. Police say a 24-year-old gunman began firing an assault type rifle as he walked through the Hudson Valley Mall. And he did not stop firing until he ran out of bullets.

Police say it doesn't appear the gunman chose his victims. A second man suffered superficial gunshot wounds.

Witnesses describe the scene for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were down there by Dick's. Somebody started shooting. And the Army recruiter got hit in the stomach and went down. And after that, everybody started running.

ALI AFSHAR, WITNESS: I suddenly looked up and I see about like 70 to 80 people just running in my direction. And I've never seen anything like it. I grabbed one of them and I was like what the hell is going on? And they said that some guy had a gun and he was shooting other people. And as soon as he said that, I let that guy go and that's the first time I heard the gunshots. There was about four gunshots, rat-tat-tat, like that. And at that time I moved from my car, which is near the center court, toward the food court, where my other cart is. I have a cell phone cart there. And I told the guy, my employee there, I said get out of the mall. There's some guy killing people in the mall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The shooter is expected to be arraigned this morning. He faces charges of reckless endangerment and assault.

In other news across America this morning, the man accused of being behind a supposed Valentine's Day suicide pact could also face charges of attempted manslaughter. Gerald Krien already faces charges of solicitation to commit murder. Police say he'd been using chat rooms to try and get people to commit suicide for five years now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TIM EVINGER, KLAMATH COUNTY, OREGON: I believe that he was preying on vulnerable people, that oftentimes these women were depressed and that he would find them online, he would target them and he would invite them either to his house to hang or some other method of suicide or was requesting that they just commit suicide and maybe he could watch over the Internet or do it with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Closing arguments scheduled today in the case of a teenager who is charged with murdering his grandparents. The defense claims Christopher Pittman was suffering a mood disorder induced by the anti-depressant Zoloft. Drug maker Pfizer says there is no evidence that Zoloft causes violent behavior. Pittman is being tried as an adult. He could face 30 years to life in prison.

And in another high profile case, jury selection gets underway again today in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial. Attorneys had been reviewing questionnaires from nearly 250 prospective jurors. They'll begin dismissing jurors based on those questionnaires before they start the questioning phase of jury selection.

Four people were killed when an Amtrak train hit a pickup truck in Roseland, Louisiana. Three of the people in the truck were children under the age of 12. There are no stop signs of traffic signals at that crossing.

The Army calls it a transfer of authority ceremony and there was one this morning in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Task Force 22 of the 1st Infantry Division, commanded by Major General John Batiste handed over authority to the 42nd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Joseph Taludo (ph). The 1st Division troops will head home after a year in Iraq. They saw action in Najaf, Falluja and Mosul. Thirty-six of them were killed.

This comes on the heels of preliminary election results in Iraq. There were some surprises. But does the final tally mean American troops can soon come home, all of them?

Let's head live to Baghdad now and Nic Robertson -- hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Carol.

Well, it doesn't appear that it's going to speed the departure at the moment, the debate between the Shias, who have really won this election, and the Sunnis, who haven't, who have done very poorly. The Sunnis said they'll get involved in the electoral process if U.S. troops set a time line for leaving the country. And the Shias have said we don't need a time line, what we need are the conditions in Iraq that will enable the troop, the U.S. troops to leave. And those conditions are Iraqis being able to perform adequately the security duties to make the country safe for the people.

What we have heard, though, from Sunnis today is from one of their main political parties, is that they actually regret not being involved in the political -- in the election. They blame it on some of their Islamic scholars and they say they look forward to getting involved in the constitution drafting that's coming up and getting involved in the elections later in the year.

So it doesn't appear as if it's, at the moment, going to speed the departure of troops -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about how the elections went down and who might get the key jobs when the election results are declared official and the next phase begins.

ROBERTSON: Well, the Kurds who formed an alliance think that they should have the president's job. And they've put forward one of their top politicians. And they really think that that's a test for the Arabs in the rest of the country. If they don't accept him, they're not really accepting the Kurds on an equal basis. So that's really a test for them.

And a couple of other candidates for prime minister come from within that big religious Shia grouping, both of them relative moderates, both of them talking about being inclusive and including the Sunnis, who have been marginalized up to now, including them in the political process.

So they seem to be the real candidates. But what we're hearing is because of the divisions within the electoral process, that no one's emerged with a clear majority.

It could take a long time to hammer out who's going to get these jobs exactly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson live from Baghdad this morning.

Thank you.

Much more to come on DAYBREAK this hour.

Sex as a weapon? Some startling new allegations of abuse at the U.S. prison camp for terror suspects.

Also, a giant in the telephone industry is poised for a growth spurt. Some big merger news on the way.

And are you looking for love in all the wrong places? We'll give you some Valentine's Day tips that might put you on the right path.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, Valentine's Day, February 14.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Coming your way on DAYBREAK, when is a quarter worth more than $1,000? We'll give you a hint. It has to do with a corn stalk.

Plus, his album is titled "Genius Loves Company" and the Grammys shine on the late Ray Charles last night. A full rendition of the other winners when DAYBREAK comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:12 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning. Iraqis are celebrating and the world is waiting to see how the new Iraqi government will shape up. Final but uncertified election results show the Shiites and Kurds won the most seats in the national assembly, but neither party has enough votes to push through its agenda.

A leading AIDS expert says there is absolutely no evidence of a super AIDS virus. New York City's help commissioner had warned about a new HIV strain that's difficult or impossible to treat.

In money news, Fiat Auto and General Motors are ending their five year partnership. G.M. will pay $2 billion in order to avoid having to purchase the troubled Italian auto maker. G.M. wanted to get out from under Fiat's $10 billion in debt.

In culture, Will Smith brought out the audience over the weekend for his new movie "Hitch." The romantic comedy was tops at the box office, with nearly $46 million in ticket sales. That total more than quadruples the take from last week's number one movie.

And in sports, the mailman has delivered his last package. Karl Malone announced his retirement in Utah, where he spent 18 years as a member of The Jazz. He retires as the second leading scorer in NBA history, with nearly 37,000 points.

Wow!

MYERS: Yes. At least he knew when to retire, though, Carol. He didn't let it go too long, like some players do.

Congratulations.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, it's really in vogue for players to un-retire. So hopefully he won't do that.

MYERS: Well, you know, no. Yes.

Congratulations to him anyway. Let's see if he gets himself another job, because my dad retired for about six weeks and was bored.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: OK, Chad. We're going to talk about these quarters, because I know you're fascinated by this because, you know, it's an easy buck.

MYERS: Well, yes, sure. That and also a lot of people buy these rolls of quarters, these Wisconsin quarters. They want to keep them uncirculated. Should we be breaking them open to see if we have any of these rare coins?

COSTELLO: Well, we're going to ask all of those questions...

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Mutated corn, that's what we're talking about, and it could be worth a mint. Maybe you've heard about this. Someone at the U.S. Mint minted a bad Wisconsin quarter. Take a look. I know it's hard to see, but it's a corn stalk.

MYERS: A couple of them, Carol. There are two different types of errors here. There's one with an up corn stalk and one with a down corn stalk. And the one that should be there, it has no corn stalk at all.

COSTELLO: Interesting, isn't it?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This design flaw means a lot more than $0.25. Some of these quarters are going for more than $1,000. Ooh, there's a close- up shot.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: You like that?

MYERS: I do. You can see the difference.

COSTELLO: That's without the extra stalk, I think.

MYERS: Right. That's -- actually the one on the right is the proof. You can actually see it very well. It's double struck, probably a silver proof, and you can really see how clear it is. But the one on the left, it was an uncirculated coin, or a rarely circulated, almost uncirculated, and you can see the little line there just above the cheese between the left corn stalk and the cheese. There's that line. They're calling that the extra stalk. That's the down stalk.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Well, let's head live to Ayala, Wisconsin now.

Rollie Finner is a coin collector and exhibitor -- good morning, Rollie.

ROLLIE FINNER, COIN COLLECTOR/EXHIBITOR: Good morning, Carol.

It's nice to talk with you.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's nice talking with you, too.

Like how many of these mutated quarters are out there?

FINNER: That's a good question. No -- at this point in time, nobody knows. Some of the folks out in Arizona, where most of the coins have surfaced, are predicting or guessing, it's really just guesstimates, that now there are two different varieties. Of the one that you're showing on the screen right now, I think they are estimating that there may be like 2,700, 2,800, something like that. There is a second version that you're not showing on the screen yet.

COSTELLO: That's OK, but tell us. How many of those are out there?

FINNER: OK. The other one is...

MYERS: There it is.

FINNER: ... probably around 2,000. OK, the one at the bottom...

COSTELLO: So there are a lot of them out there...

FINNER: The one at the bottom is the scarcer of the two and that one, right in the center of your screen now, is supposedly the scarcer of the two, and they're estimating maybe 2,000 pieces. On that one...

COSTELLO: So Chad...

FINNER: ... the commoner, 2,700, 2,800.

COSTELLO: Chad has a question for you about rolls of quarters.

FINNER: Yes?

COSTELLO: Go ahead, Chad.

MYERS: Yes, you know, I mean my dad always buys a roll from every state.

FINNER: Sure.

MYERS: Now, if you don't see the stalk up or down on the very end of the coin, should you be tearing apart your rolls looking to see if there's one stuck in between all those or if you didn't get the whole roll you're not getting any of it?

FINNER: I think you're going to wind up having to open the roll.

MYERS: Wow!

FINNER: Because these are showing up so scattered that there's no way of knowing. If you see one on the end, you know you've got it, obviously. But there's no way of knowing what's inside unless you break it open and examine each piece carefully.

MYERS: Now, the PCGS is already coming out with statements on these. They do believe that these are real coins. There are real values. The mint marks are there and all that. Do you -- I mean do you think this is going to be the new 1909 SVDB?

FINNER: Possibly. I'm not sure. It's hard -- it's too early to tell. This just surfaced a matter of weeks ago. But I think you're going to find out -- and this is probably just speculation on my part -- I think you're going to find out that there are a few more out there than what are being predicted now. I think temporarily you're going to see the prices raising, rising a little bit more. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a situation doesn't happen as happened back in the 1960s, when the Treasury Department decided to clean out its vaults of silver dollars. And they released to the public and to the collectors thousands upon thousands of dollars that had been minted back in the late 1880s and the early 1900s. And in these, they found coins that heretofore had been considered very scarce, very rare.

There's one that I'm thinking of that had been like a $1,500 coin to collectors after the Treasury dumped their supply on the market. That coin was a $15 coin.

COSTELLO: OK, just a final question before you have to go, Rollie.

FINNER: Yes? OK.

COSTELLO: If you find one of these quarters, how much might it be worth and where should you take it?

FINNER: How much would it be worth?

COSTELLO: Um-hmm.

FINNER: Well, worth is going to be whatever a collector is willing to pay you for it. Prices...

COSTELLO: But right now they're going for more than $1,000.

FINNER: Well, some of -- OK, these...

COSTELLO: Where should you take it if you find it?

FINNER: The average prices that I'm hearing quoted these days are somewhere between $500 per coin or like $1,000, $1,100 for a set or for a pair of the coins. If you have one of these and you're not sure if it's the real thing, I strongly suggest, first of all, you visit your neighborhood coin shop. Most towns and cities have got a coin collector -- or not a coin collector, but a coin dealer who makes his living buying and selling coins. He's generally on top of the market.

COSTELLO: OK.

Rollie, I'm sorry to interrupt you.

We have breaking news happening over in Beirut.

We understand there's been a car bombing over there.

So we're going to have to let you go.

Rollie Finner, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

We're going to collect our thoughts and hopefully we'll go live to Beirut and Brent Sadler in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, Brent Sadler is still collecting some information for us from Beirut, Lebanon, where there has been a car bomb explosion. We understand, according to Reuters right now, that one person was killed, 12 others wounded. It happened along the seafront. And we don't have any more specifics for you other than that.

As I said, we're efforting Brent Sadler right now.

When we get him up live, of course, we'll bring more information to you.

Let's now go to Carrie Lee for some "Business Buzz" -- good morning, Carrie.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

A very big merger to tell you about. Verizon Communications has agreed to buy MCI for about $6.7 billion. And this is the third largest big telephone industry merger in the past two months. Of course, this comes after rival SBC acquired AT&T. And the third was Sprint-Nextel. That merger was announced late last year.

Reports say both boards of Verizon and MCI did approve this deal. And the MCI acquisition is basically going to help Verizon serve large companies. This has been an area that phone companies have been looking to expand into. MCI, like AT&T, also has a pretty big base of residential customers. And Verizon and SBC would like to offer those customers things like high speed Internet access, as well as possibly cable television.

Now, of course, all of this is happening as the trial of former MCI CEO -- we're talking about WorldCom here -- CEO Bernard Ebbers. He's on trial for a role in fraud that led to the bankruptcy of WorldCom.

So a lot happening in this space, Carol.

We'll certainly be keeping an eye on these stocks, including shares of Qwest Communications. Qwest had also made a bid for MCI. It was actually more money. MCI, though, has decided to go with Verizon.

That said, futures across-the-board looking flat.

And that is the latest business news.

DAYBREAK will continue in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And as I've been telling you, there's been a car bomb explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

Brent Sadler has made his way to the scene -- Brent, what can you tell us?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, I can confirm there's been a devastating explosion in the heart of the Lebanese capital. It happened within the past 20 minutes or so. I've just been down to the heart of the explosion. I cannot confirm at this stage, from my location, whether or not this is a terror attack. But certainly from what I can see on the ground, it has all the hallmarks of some sort of vehicle laden with explosives, because the vehicle at the heart of the explosion site is on fire.

It was a very massive explosion. I've had many of those in my reporting career. And this was loud enough to tell me and reverberated enough through the city center to tell me that this was a major blast.

Now, we're seeing emergency services race to the scene here, the fire brigade and the ambulance. I can't tell you what the casualty situation is. I'm certainly seeing stretchers. I'm seeing people with blood on their face. I'm seeing people who are running in panic and terror, the fear of secondary explosions. I'm talking to -- from an adjacent five star hotel which has been evacuated. The inside has been badly damaged, windows smashed, masonry fallen. This is a very large explosion and I have not seen anything on this scale since the dark days of Lebanon's civil war.

We're getting no official word on the ground from the authorities what's behind this, but I can tell you there has been intense political conflicts between supporters of Syria and the pro-Syria Lebanese government and the opposition parties pushing for greater democracy in Beirut, pressing for Syria to loosen its grip over political developments in Beirut. And it's against this background of a fear in some quarters that this political conflict might turn violent that we're seeing the aftermath now of a very large explosion in the center of Beirut.

No confirmation that this is a terror attack, but certainly it's huge. It's on the center -- it's in the center of the city, overlooking the famed part of the Mediterranean along Beirut's Corniche in the heart of one of the most prestigious parts of the newly rebuilt Lebanese capital -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Brent Sadler with breaking news out of Beirut, Lebanon.

When you get more information, Brent, we'll head back to Beirut to get more from you.

We're going to take a short break.

We'll be back with much more on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, torment with a sexual edge? Disturbing new reports out of Guantanamo Bay. We have all the details for you.

Plus, how about a date? If it's been a while since you've heard that question, we've got some Valentine's Day tips for you. And good morning to you.

Welcome to the last half hour of DAYBREAK.

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

Now in the news, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets today in Washington with South Korea's foreign minister. The topic? North Korea's nuclear weapons. The South Koreans and Chinese both want more six power negotiations. But the North Koreans are holding out for one-on-one talks with the United States.

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


Aired February 14, 2003 - 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: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, panic at a crowded mall. A gunman opens fire and keeps on shooting.
Also, the votes have been counted, but the real political work in Iraq is only beginning.

And Happy Valentine's Day to you. We'll tell you how to find and hold onto that someone special.

It is Monday, February 14.

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, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses North Korea's nuclear program today. She meets with South Korea's foreign minister. North Korea revealed publicly last week that it does, indeed, have nuclear weapons and would not return to six nation talks over the program.

In a little more than three hours, Alberto Gonzales will be sworn in as the nation's newest attorney general. The ceremony is set to begin at 9:25 Eastern at the Justice Department.

Prosecutors and attorneys for Michael Jackson begin questioning prospective jurors today in Jackson's child molestation trial. Nearly 250 people are in the jury pool.

A major telephone industry merger in the works. Published reports out this morning say Verizon has won the bidding to buy MCI. The price? $6.7 billion.

And get ready, here they come. America's finest, or at least their owners think they are. It's the 129th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at New York's Madison Square Garden. More than 2,500 dogs, something like 165 breeds, will be competing to be best in show -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's always the -- my wife just, she can't turn that off. When she sees those little guys running around, she can't turn it off.

COSTELLO: Well, here's from the couple who watched the Puppy Bowl.

MYERS: I know. I'm sorry. Well, you know, I had to. It was a boring half-time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Gunfire rings out at a crowded shopping mall. Now, a 20-year-old National Guard recruiter faces the possibility of losing his leg after being shot in the knee. The town of Ulster, New York is where it all went down. Police say a 24-year-old gunman began firing an assault type rifle as he walked through the Hudson Valley Mall. And he did not stop firing until he ran out of bullets.

Police say it doesn't appear the gunman chose his victims. A second man suffered superficial gunshot wounds.

Witnesses describe the scene for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were down there by Dick's. Somebody started shooting. And the Army recruiter got hit in the stomach and went down. And after that, everybody started running.

ALI AFSHAR, WITNESS: I suddenly looked up and I see about like 70 to 80 people just running in my direction. And I've never seen anything like it. I grabbed one of them and I was like what the hell is going on? And they said that some guy had a gun and he was shooting other people. And as soon as he said that, I let that guy go and that's the first time I heard the gunshots. There was about four gunshots, rat-tat-tat, like that. And at that time I moved from my car, which is near the center court, toward the food court, where my other cart is. I have a cell phone cart there. And I told the guy, my employee there, I said get out of the mall. There's some guy killing people in the mall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The shooter is expected to be arraigned this morning. He faces charges of reckless endangerment and assault.

In other news across America this morning, the man accused of being behind a supposed Valentine's Day suicide pact could also face charges of attempted manslaughter. Gerald Krien already faces charges of solicitation to commit murder. Police say he'd been using chat rooms to try and get people to commit suicide for five years now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF TIM EVINGER, KLAMATH COUNTY, OREGON: I believe that he was preying on vulnerable people, that oftentimes these women were depressed and that he would find them online, he would target them and he would invite them either to his house to hang or some other method of suicide or was requesting that they just commit suicide and maybe he could watch over the Internet or do it with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Closing arguments scheduled today in the case of a teenager who is charged with murdering his grandparents. The defense claims Christopher Pittman was suffering a mood disorder induced by the anti-depressant Zoloft. Drug maker Pfizer says there is no evidence that Zoloft causes violent behavior. Pittman is being tried as an adult. He could face 30 years to life in prison.

And in another high profile case, jury selection gets underway again today in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial. Attorneys had been reviewing questionnaires from nearly 250 prospective jurors. They'll begin dismissing jurors based on those questionnaires before they start the questioning phase of jury selection.

Four people were killed when an Amtrak train hit a pickup truck in Roseland, Louisiana. Three of the people in the truck were children under the age of 12. There are no stop signs of traffic signals at that crossing.

The Army calls it a transfer of authority ceremony and there was one this morning in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Task Force 22 of the 1st Infantry Division, commanded by Major General John Batiste handed over authority to the 42nd Infantry Division commanded by Major General Joseph Taludo (ph). The 1st Division troops will head home after a year in Iraq. They saw action in Najaf, Falluja and Mosul. Thirty-six of them were killed.

This comes on the heels of preliminary election results in Iraq. There were some surprises. But does the final tally mean American troops can soon come home, all of them?

Let's head live to Baghdad now and Nic Robertson -- hello, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Carol.

Well, it doesn't appear that it's going to speed the departure at the moment, the debate between the Shias, who have really won this election, and the Sunnis, who haven't, who have done very poorly. The Sunnis said they'll get involved in the electoral process if U.S. troops set a time line for leaving the country. And the Shias have said we don't need a time line, what we need are the conditions in Iraq that will enable the troop, the U.S. troops to leave. And those conditions are Iraqis being able to perform adequately the security duties to make the country safe for the people.

What we have heard, though, from Sunnis today is from one of their main political parties, is that they actually regret not being involved in the political -- in the election. They blame it on some of their Islamic scholars and they say they look forward to getting involved in the constitution drafting that's coming up and getting involved in the elections later in the year.

So it doesn't appear as if it's, at the moment, going to speed the departure of troops -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about how the elections went down and who might get the key jobs when the election results are declared official and the next phase begins.

ROBERTSON: Well, the Kurds who formed an alliance think that they should have the president's job. And they've put forward one of their top politicians. And they really think that that's a test for the Arabs in the rest of the country. If they don't accept him, they're not really accepting the Kurds on an equal basis. So that's really a test for them.

And a couple of other candidates for prime minister come from within that big religious Shia grouping, both of them relative moderates, both of them talking about being inclusive and including the Sunnis, who have been marginalized up to now, including them in the political process.

So they seem to be the real candidates. But what we're hearing is because of the divisions within the electoral process, that no one's emerged with a clear majority.

It could take a long time to hammer out who's going to get these jobs exactly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson live from Baghdad this morning.

Thank you.

Much more to come on DAYBREAK this hour.

Sex as a weapon? Some startling new allegations of abuse at the U.S. prison camp for terror suspects.

Also, a giant in the telephone industry is poised for a growth spurt. Some big merger news on the way.

And are you looking for love in all the wrong places? We'll give you some Valentine's Day tips that might put you on the right path.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, Valentine's Day, February 14.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Coming your way on DAYBREAK, when is a quarter worth more than $1,000? We'll give you a hint. It has to do with a corn stalk.

Plus, his album is titled "Genius Loves Company" and the Grammys shine on the late Ray Charles last night. A full rendition of the other winners when DAYBREAK comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:12 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning. Iraqis are celebrating and the world is waiting to see how the new Iraqi government will shape up. Final but uncertified election results show the Shiites and Kurds won the most seats in the national assembly, but neither party has enough votes to push through its agenda.

A leading AIDS expert says there is absolutely no evidence of a super AIDS virus. New York City's help commissioner had warned about a new HIV strain that's difficult or impossible to treat.

In money news, Fiat Auto and General Motors are ending their five year partnership. G.M. will pay $2 billion in order to avoid having to purchase the troubled Italian auto maker. G.M. wanted to get out from under Fiat's $10 billion in debt.

In culture, Will Smith brought out the audience over the weekend for his new movie "Hitch." The romantic comedy was tops at the box office, with nearly $46 million in ticket sales. That total more than quadruples the take from last week's number one movie.

And in sports, the mailman has delivered his last package. Karl Malone announced his retirement in Utah, where he spent 18 years as a member of The Jazz. He retires as the second leading scorer in NBA history, with nearly 37,000 points.

Wow!

MYERS: Yes. At least he knew when to retire, though, Carol. He didn't let it go too long, like some players do.

Congratulations.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, it's really in vogue for players to un-retire. So hopefully he won't do that.

MYERS: Well, you know, no. Yes.

Congratulations to him anyway. Let's see if he gets himself another job, because my dad retired for about six weeks and was bored.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: OK, Chad. We're going to talk about these quarters, because I know you're fascinated by this because, you know, it's an easy buck.

MYERS: Well, yes, sure. That and also a lot of people buy these rolls of quarters, these Wisconsin quarters. They want to keep them uncirculated. Should we be breaking them open to see if we have any of these rare coins?

COSTELLO: Well, we're going to ask all of those questions...

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Mutated corn, that's what we're talking about, and it could be worth a mint. Maybe you've heard about this. Someone at the U.S. Mint minted a bad Wisconsin quarter. Take a look. I know it's hard to see, but it's a corn stalk.

MYERS: A couple of them, Carol. There are two different types of errors here. There's one with an up corn stalk and one with a down corn stalk. And the one that should be there, it has no corn stalk at all.

COSTELLO: Interesting, isn't it?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This design flaw means a lot more than $0.25. Some of these quarters are going for more than $1,000. Ooh, there's a close- up shot.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: You like that?

MYERS: I do. You can see the difference.

COSTELLO: That's without the extra stalk, I think.

MYERS: Right. That's -- actually the one on the right is the proof. You can actually see it very well. It's double struck, probably a silver proof, and you can really see how clear it is. But the one on the left, it was an uncirculated coin, or a rarely circulated, almost uncirculated, and you can see the little line there just above the cheese between the left corn stalk and the cheese. There's that line. They're calling that the extra stalk. That's the down stalk.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Well, let's head live to Ayala, Wisconsin now.

Rollie Finner is a coin collector and exhibitor -- good morning, Rollie.

ROLLIE FINNER, COIN COLLECTOR/EXHIBITOR: Good morning, Carol.

It's nice to talk with you.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's nice talking with you, too.

Like how many of these mutated quarters are out there?

FINNER: That's a good question. No -- at this point in time, nobody knows. Some of the folks out in Arizona, where most of the coins have surfaced, are predicting or guessing, it's really just guesstimates, that now there are two different varieties. Of the one that you're showing on the screen right now, I think they are estimating that there may be like 2,700, 2,800, something like that. There is a second version that you're not showing on the screen yet.

COSTELLO: That's OK, but tell us. How many of those are out there?

FINNER: OK. The other one is...

MYERS: There it is.

FINNER: ... probably around 2,000. OK, the one at the bottom...

COSTELLO: So there are a lot of them out there...

FINNER: The one at the bottom is the scarcer of the two and that one, right in the center of your screen now, is supposedly the scarcer of the two, and they're estimating maybe 2,000 pieces. On that one...

COSTELLO: So Chad...

FINNER: ... the commoner, 2,700, 2,800.

COSTELLO: Chad has a question for you about rolls of quarters.

FINNER: Yes?

COSTELLO: Go ahead, Chad.

MYERS: Yes, you know, I mean my dad always buys a roll from every state.

FINNER: Sure.

MYERS: Now, if you don't see the stalk up or down on the very end of the coin, should you be tearing apart your rolls looking to see if there's one stuck in between all those or if you didn't get the whole roll you're not getting any of it?

FINNER: I think you're going to wind up having to open the roll.

MYERS: Wow!

FINNER: Because these are showing up so scattered that there's no way of knowing. If you see one on the end, you know you've got it, obviously. But there's no way of knowing what's inside unless you break it open and examine each piece carefully.

MYERS: Now, the PCGS is already coming out with statements on these. They do believe that these are real coins. There are real values. The mint marks are there and all that. Do you -- I mean do you think this is going to be the new 1909 SVDB?

FINNER: Possibly. I'm not sure. It's hard -- it's too early to tell. This just surfaced a matter of weeks ago. But I think you're going to find out -- and this is probably just speculation on my part -- I think you're going to find out that there are a few more out there than what are being predicted now. I think temporarily you're going to see the prices raising, rising a little bit more. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a situation doesn't happen as happened back in the 1960s, when the Treasury Department decided to clean out its vaults of silver dollars. And they released to the public and to the collectors thousands upon thousands of dollars that had been minted back in the late 1880s and the early 1900s. And in these, they found coins that heretofore had been considered very scarce, very rare.

There's one that I'm thinking of that had been like a $1,500 coin to collectors after the Treasury dumped their supply on the market. That coin was a $15 coin.

COSTELLO: OK, just a final question before you have to go, Rollie.

FINNER: Yes? OK.

COSTELLO: If you find one of these quarters, how much might it be worth and where should you take it?

FINNER: How much would it be worth?

COSTELLO: Um-hmm.

FINNER: Well, worth is going to be whatever a collector is willing to pay you for it. Prices...

COSTELLO: But right now they're going for more than $1,000.

FINNER: Well, some of -- OK, these...

COSTELLO: Where should you take it if you find it?

FINNER: The average prices that I'm hearing quoted these days are somewhere between $500 per coin or like $1,000, $1,100 for a set or for a pair of the coins. If you have one of these and you're not sure if it's the real thing, I strongly suggest, first of all, you visit your neighborhood coin shop. Most towns and cities have got a coin collector -- or not a coin collector, but a coin dealer who makes his living buying and selling coins. He's generally on top of the market.

COSTELLO: OK.

Rollie, I'm sorry to interrupt you.

We have breaking news happening over in Beirut.

We understand there's been a car bombing over there.

So we're going to have to let you go.

Rollie Finner, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

We're going to collect our thoughts and hopefully we'll go live to Beirut and Brent Sadler in just a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, Brent Sadler is still collecting some information for us from Beirut, Lebanon, where there has been a car bomb explosion. We understand, according to Reuters right now, that one person was killed, 12 others wounded. It happened along the seafront. And we don't have any more specifics for you other than that.

As I said, we're efforting Brent Sadler right now.

When we get him up live, of course, we'll bring more information to you.

Let's now go to Carrie Lee for some "Business Buzz" -- good morning, Carrie.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

A very big merger to tell you about. Verizon Communications has agreed to buy MCI for about $6.7 billion. And this is the third largest big telephone industry merger in the past two months. Of course, this comes after rival SBC acquired AT&T. And the third was Sprint-Nextel. That merger was announced late last year.

Reports say both boards of Verizon and MCI did approve this deal. And the MCI acquisition is basically going to help Verizon serve large companies. This has been an area that phone companies have been looking to expand into. MCI, like AT&T, also has a pretty big base of residential customers. And Verizon and SBC would like to offer those customers things like high speed Internet access, as well as possibly cable television.

Now, of course, all of this is happening as the trial of former MCI CEO -- we're talking about WorldCom here -- CEO Bernard Ebbers. He's on trial for a role in fraud that led to the bankruptcy of WorldCom.

So a lot happening in this space, Carol.

We'll certainly be keeping an eye on these stocks, including shares of Qwest Communications. Qwest had also made a bid for MCI. It was actually more money. MCI, though, has decided to go with Verizon.

That said, futures across-the-board looking flat.

And that is the latest business news.

DAYBREAK will continue in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And as I've been telling you, there's been a car bomb explosion in Beirut, Lebanon.

Brent Sadler has made his way to the scene -- Brent, what can you tell us?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, I can confirm there's been a devastating explosion in the heart of the Lebanese capital. It happened within the past 20 minutes or so. I've just been down to the heart of the explosion. I cannot confirm at this stage, from my location, whether or not this is a terror attack. But certainly from what I can see on the ground, it has all the hallmarks of some sort of vehicle laden with explosives, because the vehicle at the heart of the explosion site is on fire.

It was a very massive explosion. I've had many of those in my reporting career. And this was loud enough to tell me and reverberated enough through the city center to tell me that this was a major blast.

Now, we're seeing emergency services race to the scene here, the fire brigade and the ambulance. I can't tell you what the casualty situation is. I'm certainly seeing stretchers. I'm seeing people with blood on their face. I'm seeing people who are running in panic and terror, the fear of secondary explosions. I'm talking to -- from an adjacent five star hotel which has been evacuated. The inside has been badly damaged, windows smashed, masonry fallen. This is a very large explosion and I have not seen anything on this scale since the dark days of Lebanon's civil war.

We're getting no official word on the ground from the authorities what's behind this, but I can tell you there has been intense political conflicts between supporters of Syria and the pro-Syria Lebanese government and the opposition parties pushing for greater democracy in Beirut, pressing for Syria to loosen its grip over political developments in Beirut. And it's against this background of a fear in some quarters that this political conflict might turn violent that we're seeing the aftermath now of a very large explosion in the center of Beirut.

No confirmation that this is a terror attack, but certainly it's huge. It's on the center -- it's in the center of the city, overlooking the famed part of the Mediterranean along Beirut's Corniche in the heart of one of the most prestigious parts of the newly rebuilt Lebanese capital -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Brent Sadler with breaking news out of Beirut, Lebanon.

When you get more information, Brent, we'll head back to Beirut to get more from you.

We're going to take a short break.

We'll be back with much more on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, torment with a sexual edge? Disturbing new reports out of Guantanamo Bay. We have all the details for you.

Plus, how about a date? If it's been a while since you've heard that question, we've got some Valentine's Day tips for you. And good morning to you.

Welcome to the last half hour of DAYBREAK.

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

Now in the news, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets today in Washington with South Korea's foreign minister. The topic? North Korea's nuclear weapons. The South Koreans and Chinese both want more six power negotiations. But the North Koreans are holding out for one-on-one talks with the United States.

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