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CNN Live At Daybreak

Florida's Cuban-American Voters; Mother Reunited With Birth Daughter; Charlize Theron Returns to South Africa

Aired March 09, 2004 - 05:30   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: Good morning to you. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. It is Tuesday, March 9. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us.
It is the Tuesday after Super Tuesday, expect easy wins for Senator John Kerry as four more states, including Florida and Texas, hold primaries today. A total of 465 delegates up for grabs.

CNN has learned that Osama bin Laden may be planning to move from his suspected location in Pakistan into Afghanistan. Sources say intelligence information has found evidence of al Qaeda operations along the Afghanistan side of the border.

Doctors will decide this morning if Attorney General John Ashcroft will need surgery later today. Ashcroft has been in intensive care since Thursday with gallstone pancreatitis.

Investigators haven't yet determined what killed writer/actor Spalding Gray. Gray's body was pulled from New York City's East River Sunday, but it took until Monday for medical examiners to positively identify the body.

The Associated Press is reporting actor Paul Winfield has died. Winfield's agent says the 62-year-old actor died of a heart attack. Winfield was a veteran of movies and television.

We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 5:45 Eastern.

John Kerry may have the Democratic nomination pretty much wrapped up. Still, primaries will go on in four states today. A total of 465 delegates are at stake in Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana.

In Florida, Cuban-American voters have been solidly Republican, but cracks are showing in that foundation. Will the Democrats be able to fill them?

CNN's John Zarrella takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Florida, political experts say, is a difficult state for any candidate. The message has to appeal to a diverse population: retired and active military, elderly voters, affluent young suburbanites and minorities. Among them, traditionally Republican Cuban-Americans. One party message, maintaining a tough stance against Fidel Castro, has for decades played well in south Florida.

PEPE LOPEZ, HISPANIC INDEPENDENTS: Whoever wants to win Florida, better come here and better say what we want to hear. I mean, I'm not even going to say do what we want them to do, because I know in 41 years they haven't done it. But at least I want to hear it.

ZARRELLA: Among a large majority of Cuban-American voters, President Bush is still their man. But recently, there have been uncharacteristic grumblings. The Cuban-American National Foundation, once a powerful Republican ally, has expressed frustration that the administration hasn't done enough to put pressure on Castro. But so far, political science professor Dario Mareno says Democrats haven't taken advantage of the opening.

DARIO MARENO, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: The Democrats' problem in Florida is that they haven't had a very powerful outreach program toward Hispanics.

ZARRELLA: Even if Democratic candidate John Kerry doesn't strike a chord with Cuban voters, the Republicans can't, political analyst Jim Kane says, rely on the old saying, who else are they going to vote for?

JIM KANE, POLITICAL ANALYST: It doesn't work with Cuban- Americans, because they'll stay home and sit on their hands and turnout will drop dramatically. And the Republican candidate can't win Florida without an energized Cuban-American vote.

ZARRELLA: That energized vote is one Republicans have counted on. And the president will, no doubt, do everything he can to make sure it stays that way.

(on camera): A just-released poll of 800 registered Florida voters by "The Miami Herald" and "The Saint Pete Times" shows that Senator Kerry has a 49-43 percent lead over President Bush. Political experts say they expect that number could flip-flop several times between now and November.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we'll talk live to John next hour about today's Florida primary and how the Kerry/Bush match-up may play into states in November.

Well the Iraq factor will certainly play big across the country in November.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us with the politics of Iraq. So now they have an interim constitution, but does anybody...

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. COSTELLO: ... understand it?

CLINCH: Well, some people do. The politicians seem to and they all have very strong opinions on it. And I mean I wanted to talk really it was very interesting listening to John there, the interesting dynamic between domestic and international politics. And we're obviously going to see that big time over the next few months. And Iraq, obviously, at the center of that.

Not clear though exactly what it means for either candidate. I mean obviously our political analysts will be looking at that and we'll be looking at it in Iraq itself. But as with all of these stories, it's a blend. One day you have what can be described as good news with the signing of a constitution, progress towards independence and a hand over. The next day there is violence. You know the cycle continues. But as usual in the long term, it's almost always a blend.

It's very unlikely that we're going to see all violence. It's very unlikely that we're going to see a complete lack of progress. It will be a blend of those things. And interesting to see how that will play into domestic politics here in the U.S.

On the other hand, you have got things like, for instance, today Hans Blix, the former U.N. inspector, his book is coming out.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CLINCH: He's been talking about this for months. It's coming out in Britain and in the U.S. today. And interestingly titled "Disarming Iraq." His point from the beginning has been that his belief is that it was the U.N. inspections that disarmed Iraq. That it was the actual presence of inspectors that forced the Iraqis to disarm. Now, obviously others see it differently, but that's been his argument from the beginning.

And in this book as well, his opinion, and at this point he can express his opinion, is that he strongly believes that the U.S. and Britain were fully aware that they were sexing up, as it's been described, the intelligence they were using to justify the war.

COSTELLO: So I'm sure he is going on a book tour and...

CLINCH: Yes, we'll talk to him in a week or two. And you know the...

COSTELLO: That will make the candidates happy.

CLINCH: The other story, just briefly, just on Haiti today, we're going to be in Port-au-Prince. Looting just everywhere in the city today. Harris Whitbeck is there for us today. And it's just scenes of chaos in parts of town there.

And just very briefly again, another story in Africa. We saw this pop up yesterday in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean seized a plane yesterday, a U.S. registered plane, they say they think is carrying mercenaries. Now a little bit more information on that today. We are being told that this plane may in fact have been carrying mercenaries but was probably heading from South Africa off to somewhere else in West Africa.

COSTELLO: So who owned the plane in the United States?

CLINCH: Well, not clear. It's registered in the U.S.

COSTELLO: OK.

CLINCH: Not clear who owns it. But I think, at this point, it seems fairly clear that there isn't a direct American involvement in it. But the Zimbabweans making a big point of the fact that it is a U.S. registered plane. We're waiting to get more information on that later in the day.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Thank you, David, we appreciate it, as always.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: The British space probe Beagle 2 may be lost in space no more. The spacecraft was due to land on Mars on Christmas Day but disappeared on its decent. Well now scientists say photographic images show signs of what could be the remains of the probe on the Red Planet. We'll keep you posted.

Now to a little hubbub about Hubble, you know, the Hubble Space Telescope. We're expecting an image today of the very edge of the universe. Astronomers say the image is the deepest ever. It's a view of what the primordial cosmos looked like when the universe was just 5 percent of its current age. Try to wrap your mind around that one. A billion years here, a billion years there, it adds up. It's almost too hard to imagine, isn't it -- Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes,...

COSTELLO: A picture of the edge of the universe.

MYERS: Considering my hair has fallen out so much in the past four years, I can't imagine what it would look like in a billion years.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: It's hard to -- it's hard to imagine a billion years ago. It's hard to imagine what Mars might have looked like a billion years ago, you know? I mean think of...

COSTELLO: It's hard to imagine what I looked like 10 years ago. I'm sure it was better.

MYERS: Well, no, actually you're like a fine wine -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad. That's why I like you.

(WEATHER REPORT) MYERS: So although you think spring is right around the corner, guess what, Carol, it's still winter.

COSTELLO: Yes, but spring technically is right around the corner. It's 11 days away -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes, are you happy?

COSTELLO: I am so happy.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: I'm waiting for those little things to -- Tulips, that's what they would be. I'm waiting for those things to come up.

MYERS: Have you picked your flower yet for your wedding?

COSTELLO: No, I haven't.

MYERS: Sorry (ph).

COSTELLO: I haven't done anything, are you kidding?

MYERS: You need to get on it -- girl.

COSTELLO: I'll probably never get married.

MYERS: You will. I promise.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Coming home, pictures of the reunion between a little girl and the mother she has not seen since she was a newborn.

And another homecoming, this one for an Oscar winning actress.

This is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is now 5:43 Eastern Time, time to take a quick look at our top stories now.

Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad will be sentenced today. A jury chose the death penalty for Muhammad, but the judge can change the sentence to life without parole.

CIA director George Tenet will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee today. He will discuss future national security threats.

And more fallout for Martha Stewart, CNN has learned that she will leave the board of directors of her own company, as well as the board of Revlon Cosmetics. We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 6:00 Eastern.

A 6-year-old girl, who police say was kidnapped as an infant, is back with her birthmother this morning.

Reporter Amy Buckman of CNN affiliate WPVI joins us live from Philadelphia with a very touching story.

AMY BUCKMAN, WPVI-TV REPORTER: Well good morning, Carol.

This is an amazing story here in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia. A reunion party occurred on this street last night that was unlike any other.

It's a story that really begins about six years ago when there was a house fire in a neighborhood called Feltonville. After that fire, fire officials ruled that a 10-day old little girl had been killed in the blaze. But the mother says she never believed that. And for six years, she hoped that she would see her daughter again.

Amazingly, that happened in January when the mother recognized a little girl at a birthday party and actually pulled some strands of her hair for DNA testing. The tests proved that that little girl, who was being raised by a cousin of her ex-husband's, was really her daughter.

And last night, Luz Cuevas, the mother, brought her little girl home to the house here in Oxford Circle. The family enjoyed a pizza and soda party. And the little girl who was called Aaliyah by her mother, the one that raised her, is now back with her birthmother and they are beginning a whole new life together.

The woman who allegedly took the little girl from the home before the house fire, this Carolyn Correa, has been charged with kidnapping and arson and she is in prison. So you could say today is the first day of the rest of this little girl's life.

COSTELLO: Well, Amy, let me ask you this, what was the reunion like between the little girl, did she -- was she accepting of her birthmother, because she probably didn't know her at all, did she?

BUCKMAN: Well they had had one brief meeting last Thursday. Child Welfare officials introduced the two of them together and psychologists have been working with the little girl to explain what is happening to her. And although there are probably going to be some bumps down the road as this mother and daughter develop their relationship, last night she seemed really happy. She was hugging her birthmother. She was having a good time. She got to meet three brothers that she didn't even know she had. And as we said this morning, she is really waking up to a whole new life.

COSTELLO: Amazing story. Amy Porter (ph), live from Philadelphia, many thanks to you this morning.

You can hear more about this incredible reunion later on "AMERICAN MORNING." The kidnapped girl's father, Pedro Vera, will be a guest on the show. Of course that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Are you taking cholesterol medicine? Those pills may be doing all kinds of good things for you. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And it's our new feature.

MYERS: "Front Page."

COSTELLO: It's feature time again. Our "Front Page" feature. It's a new thing we're starting on DAYBREAK to kind of touch on what's happening throughout the country.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: So we take a look at some smaller newspapers, like this one, the Mississippi "Clarion-Ledger." And John Kerry was campaigning in Mississippi over the last couple of days. Nine hundred people showed up in the gymnasium, many of whom were African-American. And they were telling John Kerry they were tired of gay rights being equated to civil rights. And at times, John Kerry was booed because he didn't really agree with that sentiment, so it became pretty darn heated.

"The Detroit News," this will be interesting, Chad, because cars made in Detroit...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... for the first time ever may be better structurally, mechanically than European cars. That is good news.

MYERS: Just had that story on about 20 minutes ago, yes.

COSTELLO: Just so very interesting. But the good new, you know, we're hearing about job losses, but Ford is contracting out to a company called Bridgewater Interiors in Michigan, 600 new jobs.

MYERS: Wonder what that means for Lear, because they used to make a lot of them there, too,...

COSTELLO: I don't know, but this is a minority firm, so they are quite happy with this.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: And look at this one, this is from the "Chicago Tribune," something called the "Red Eye," regime change. Who will take over as the master of good taste for Martha Stewart now that she is going to go to prison probably? Will it be Christopher Lowell?

Do you know who that is -- Chad?

MYERS: I certainly do.

COSTELLO: I knew you would know this.

MYERS: He -- actually he has less hair than I do. He is my hero.

COSTELLO: He does, so he may become the new Martha Stewart. You just don't know.

MYERS: But now we don't know Martha is going to jail, do we?

COSTELLO: Well pretty sure that she's going to go to jail...

MYERS: OK. All right.

COSTELLO: ... unless some miracle happens.

MYERS: I know they have all these formulas and all that stuff, so.

COSTELLO: Well, you know she's appealing, so she could win the appeal, but it's probably likely she is going to go to jail.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: OK. How's the weather?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Lowering the risk for heart attacks tops our "Health Headlines" this morning. An important new study shows that some heart problems can be prevented with Statin drugs. The cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor are usually given to recent heart patients. But the new study recommends even higher doses of those drugs.

What is the price of being overweight? A new study says the cost of obesity-related health issues will more than triple over the next 15 years and will account for 50 percent of all health care costs by the year 2020. In an effort to curb the weight gain, the government plans to announce a new initiative today. It will include public service announcements and a new research strategy.

A Pentagon survey shows a growing problem with alcohol and stress in the military, especially among younger soldiers. The survey says alcohol use is on the rise. And a sizeable group of soldiers are dealing with mental health problems. But drug use remains below the level of the general public. It's important to note that the survey was conducted in 2002 before any troops were deployed to Iraq.

Just ahead in the next hour of DAYBREAK, not exactly Alcatraz, but it won't be easy either. What would prison be like for Martha Stewart? We'll look at the possibilities.

But first, Charlize Theron's return to South Africa. We'll take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK.

Academy Award winning actress Charlize Theron picked up an eight- and-a-half pound statuette when she won the Oscar for best actress. Well now the native South African has been presented with pure gold from her country's president.

CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault joins us live from Johannesburg with more on this.

Looked like a pretty exciting ceremony.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN JOHANNESBURG BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Carol, it's been really exciting. I mean last night the president and a couple of the bosses of the mining industry did indeed present her with gold. It was embedded in a rock. It hasn't been taken out yet. But Charlize Theron is being treated like gold, like royalty in this country. There hasn't been anything like it in recent weeks or months.

They are rolling out the red carpets everywhere from the presidential guesthouse, where she met with the president last night, she, along with her mother and some of her traveling companions. The president also invited some people he had met on a political walkabout from the neighborhood. So that was great. They were very excited.

And she is being interviewed by journalists all day. All this morning, she was being interviewed in different interview segments. Some 50 journalists standing around, photographers waiting to take photos of the woman the president called our South African star. She has brought together South Africans like nothing I can remember in recent days.

When she met with the president last night, she was looking stunning. She was wearing a white pantsuit and very, very high heels, which made her tower over the president quite a bit. But -- and when she received the -- when she received the gold, she said that she was -- she thought it was just lovely, that it was just beautiful, but she didn't have a lot to say there. She -- Carol.

COSTELLO: No, I wasn't saying anything. I'm just interested in if people in South Africa, or the whole of Africa, I should say, did they see her movie, "Monster?"

HUNTER-GAULT: Well, you know it was released a lot later here than it was in the United States, and -- but it has been released. It was released before she arrived. In fact, before she won the Academy Award, although South Africans were betting that she was going to win it even though they hadn't seen the movie.

And they have also shown it in the small town of Benoni where she comes from. We were there recently. People were so excited. She went to elementary school there. And initially, New Metro, which released the movie, hadn't planned to release it in Benoni, but there was pressure put and so it has been released there and people are very excited.

One of the things that South Africans are talking about is how much she has changed her accent. You know she was and she's an Afrikaner from here, as you know, and she -- yet she has changed into an American accent as you see in "Monster" and some of the other films she's done. So everybody is pretty intrigued by that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And certainly proud.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, live from Johannesburg in South Africa this morning, many thanks to you.

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





Birth Daughter; Charlize Theron Returns to South Africa>


Aired March 9, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. It is Tuesday, March 9. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us.
It is the Tuesday after Super Tuesday, expect easy wins for Senator John Kerry as four more states, including Florida and Texas, hold primaries today. A total of 465 delegates up for grabs.

CNN has learned that Osama bin Laden may be planning to move from his suspected location in Pakistan into Afghanistan. Sources say intelligence information has found evidence of al Qaeda operations along the Afghanistan side of the border.

Doctors will decide this morning if Attorney General John Ashcroft will need surgery later today. Ashcroft has been in intensive care since Thursday with gallstone pancreatitis.

Investigators haven't yet determined what killed writer/actor Spalding Gray. Gray's body was pulled from New York City's East River Sunday, but it took until Monday for medical examiners to positively identify the body.

The Associated Press is reporting actor Paul Winfield has died. Winfield's agent says the 62-year-old actor died of a heart attack. Winfield was a veteran of movies and television.

We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 5:45 Eastern.

John Kerry may have the Democratic nomination pretty much wrapped up. Still, primaries will go on in four states today. A total of 465 delegates are at stake in Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana.

In Florida, Cuban-American voters have been solidly Republican, but cracks are showing in that foundation. Will the Democrats be able to fill them?

CNN's John Zarrella takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Florida, political experts say, is a difficult state for any candidate. The message has to appeal to a diverse population: retired and active military, elderly voters, affluent young suburbanites and minorities. Among them, traditionally Republican Cuban-Americans. One party message, maintaining a tough stance against Fidel Castro, has for decades played well in south Florida.

PEPE LOPEZ, HISPANIC INDEPENDENTS: Whoever wants to win Florida, better come here and better say what we want to hear. I mean, I'm not even going to say do what we want them to do, because I know in 41 years they haven't done it. But at least I want to hear it.

ZARRELLA: Among a large majority of Cuban-American voters, President Bush is still their man. But recently, there have been uncharacteristic grumblings. The Cuban-American National Foundation, once a powerful Republican ally, has expressed frustration that the administration hasn't done enough to put pressure on Castro. But so far, political science professor Dario Mareno says Democrats haven't taken advantage of the opening.

DARIO MARENO, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY: The Democrats' problem in Florida is that they haven't had a very powerful outreach program toward Hispanics.

ZARRELLA: Even if Democratic candidate John Kerry doesn't strike a chord with Cuban voters, the Republicans can't, political analyst Jim Kane says, rely on the old saying, who else are they going to vote for?

JIM KANE, POLITICAL ANALYST: It doesn't work with Cuban- Americans, because they'll stay home and sit on their hands and turnout will drop dramatically. And the Republican candidate can't win Florida without an energized Cuban-American vote.

ZARRELLA: That energized vote is one Republicans have counted on. And the president will, no doubt, do everything he can to make sure it stays that way.

(on camera): A just-released poll of 800 registered Florida voters by "The Miami Herald" and "The Saint Pete Times" shows that Senator Kerry has a 49-43 percent lead over President Bush. Political experts say they expect that number could flip-flop several times between now and November.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we'll talk live to John next hour about today's Florida primary and how the Kerry/Bush match-up may play into states in November.

Well the Iraq factor will certainly play big across the country in November.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us with the politics of Iraq. So now they have an interim constitution, but does anybody...

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. COSTELLO: ... understand it?

CLINCH: Well, some people do. The politicians seem to and they all have very strong opinions on it. And I mean I wanted to talk really it was very interesting listening to John there, the interesting dynamic between domestic and international politics. And we're obviously going to see that big time over the next few months. And Iraq, obviously, at the center of that.

Not clear though exactly what it means for either candidate. I mean obviously our political analysts will be looking at that and we'll be looking at it in Iraq itself. But as with all of these stories, it's a blend. One day you have what can be described as good news with the signing of a constitution, progress towards independence and a hand over. The next day there is violence. You know the cycle continues. But as usual in the long term, it's almost always a blend.

It's very unlikely that we're going to see all violence. It's very unlikely that we're going to see a complete lack of progress. It will be a blend of those things. And interesting to see how that will play into domestic politics here in the U.S.

On the other hand, you have got things like, for instance, today Hans Blix, the former U.N. inspector, his book is coming out.

COSTELLO: Yes.

CLINCH: He's been talking about this for months. It's coming out in Britain and in the U.S. today. And interestingly titled "Disarming Iraq." His point from the beginning has been that his belief is that it was the U.N. inspections that disarmed Iraq. That it was the actual presence of inspectors that forced the Iraqis to disarm. Now, obviously others see it differently, but that's been his argument from the beginning.

And in this book as well, his opinion, and at this point he can express his opinion, is that he strongly believes that the U.S. and Britain were fully aware that they were sexing up, as it's been described, the intelligence they were using to justify the war.

COSTELLO: So I'm sure he is going on a book tour and...

CLINCH: Yes, we'll talk to him in a week or two. And you know the...

COSTELLO: That will make the candidates happy.

CLINCH: The other story, just briefly, just on Haiti today, we're going to be in Port-au-Prince. Looting just everywhere in the city today. Harris Whitbeck is there for us today. And it's just scenes of chaos in parts of town there.

And just very briefly again, another story in Africa. We saw this pop up yesterday in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean seized a plane yesterday, a U.S. registered plane, they say they think is carrying mercenaries. Now a little bit more information on that today. We are being told that this plane may in fact have been carrying mercenaries but was probably heading from South Africa off to somewhere else in West Africa.

COSTELLO: So who owned the plane in the United States?

CLINCH: Well, not clear. It's registered in the U.S.

COSTELLO: OK.

CLINCH: Not clear who owns it. But I think, at this point, it seems fairly clear that there isn't a direct American involvement in it. But the Zimbabweans making a big point of the fact that it is a U.S. registered plane. We're waiting to get more information on that later in the day.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Thank you, David, we appreciate it, as always.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: The British space probe Beagle 2 may be lost in space no more. The spacecraft was due to land on Mars on Christmas Day but disappeared on its decent. Well now scientists say photographic images show signs of what could be the remains of the probe on the Red Planet. We'll keep you posted.

Now to a little hubbub about Hubble, you know, the Hubble Space Telescope. We're expecting an image today of the very edge of the universe. Astronomers say the image is the deepest ever. It's a view of what the primordial cosmos looked like when the universe was just 5 percent of its current age. Try to wrap your mind around that one. A billion years here, a billion years there, it adds up. It's almost too hard to imagine, isn't it -- Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes,...

COSTELLO: A picture of the edge of the universe.

MYERS: Considering my hair has fallen out so much in the past four years, I can't imagine what it would look like in a billion years.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: It's hard to -- it's hard to imagine a billion years ago. It's hard to imagine what Mars might have looked like a billion years ago, you know? I mean think of...

COSTELLO: It's hard to imagine what I looked like 10 years ago. I'm sure it was better.

MYERS: Well, no, actually you're like a fine wine -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad. That's why I like you.

(WEATHER REPORT) MYERS: So although you think spring is right around the corner, guess what, Carol, it's still winter.

COSTELLO: Yes, but spring technically is right around the corner. It's 11 days away -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes, are you happy?

COSTELLO: I am so happy.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: I'm waiting for those little things to -- Tulips, that's what they would be. I'm waiting for those things to come up.

MYERS: Have you picked your flower yet for your wedding?

COSTELLO: No, I haven't.

MYERS: Sorry (ph).

COSTELLO: I haven't done anything, are you kidding?

MYERS: You need to get on it -- girl.

COSTELLO: I'll probably never get married.

MYERS: You will. I promise.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: Coming home, pictures of the reunion between a little girl and the mother she has not seen since she was a newborn.

And another homecoming, this one for an Oscar winning actress.

This is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is now 5:43 Eastern Time, time to take a quick look at our top stories now.

Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad will be sentenced today. A jury chose the death penalty for Muhammad, but the judge can change the sentence to life without parole.

CIA director George Tenet will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee today. He will discuss future national security threats.

And more fallout for Martha Stewart, CNN has learned that she will leave the board of directors of her own company, as well as the board of Revlon Cosmetics. We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 6:00 Eastern.

A 6-year-old girl, who police say was kidnapped as an infant, is back with her birthmother this morning.

Reporter Amy Buckman of CNN affiliate WPVI joins us live from Philadelphia with a very touching story.

AMY BUCKMAN, WPVI-TV REPORTER: Well good morning, Carol.

This is an amazing story here in the Oxford Circle section of Philadelphia. A reunion party occurred on this street last night that was unlike any other.

It's a story that really begins about six years ago when there was a house fire in a neighborhood called Feltonville. After that fire, fire officials ruled that a 10-day old little girl had been killed in the blaze. But the mother says she never believed that. And for six years, she hoped that she would see her daughter again.

Amazingly, that happened in January when the mother recognized a little girl at a birthday party and actually pulled some strands of her hair for DNA testing. The tests proved that that little girl, who was being raised by a cousin of her ex-husband's, was really her daughter.

And last night, Luz Cuevas, the mother, brought her little girl home to the house here in Oxford Circle. The family enjoyed a pizza and soda party. And the little girl who was called Aaliyah by her mother, the one that raised her, is now back with her birthmother and they are beginning a whole new life together.

The woman who allegedly took the little girl from the home before the house fire, this Carolyn Correa, has been charged with kidnapping and arson and she is in prison. So you could say today is the first day of the rest of this little girl's life.

COSTELLO: Well, Amy, let me ask you this, what was the reunion like between the little girl, did she -- was she accepting of her birthmother, because she probably didn't know her at all, did she?

BUCKMAN: Well they had had one brief meeting last Thursday. Child Welfare officials introduced the two of them together and psychologists have been working with the little girl to explain what is happening to her. And although there are probably going to be some bumps down the road as this mother and daughter develop their relationship, last night she seemed really happy. She was hugging her birthmother. She was having a good time. She got to meet three brothers that she didn't even know she had. And as we said this morning, she is really waking up to a whole new life.

COSTELLO: Amazing story. Amy Porter (ph), live from Philadelphia, many thanks to you this morning.

You can hear more about this incredible reunion later on "AMERICAN MORNING." The kidnapped girl's father, Pedro Vera, will be a guest on the show. Of course that comes your way at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Are you taking cholesterol medicine? Those pills may be doing all kinds of good things for you. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And it's our new feature.

MYERS: "Front Page."

COSTELLO: It's feature time again. Our "Front Page" feature. It's a new thing we're starting on DAYBREAK to kind of touch on what's happening throughout the country.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: So we take a look at some smaller newspapers, like this one, the Mississippi "Clarion-Ledger." And John Kerry was campaigning in Mississippi over the last couple of days. Nine hundred people showed up in the gymnasium, many of whom were African-American. And they were telling John Kerry they were tired of gay rights being equated to civil rights. And at times, John Kerry was booed because he didn't really agree with that sentiment, so it became pretty darn heated.

"The Detroit News," this will be interesting, Chad, because cars made in Detroit...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... for the first time ever may be better structurally, mechanically than European cars. That is good news.

MYERS: Just had that story on about 20 minutes ago, yes.

COSTELLO: Just so very interesting. But the good new, you know, we're hearing about job losses, but Ford is contracting out to a company called Bridgewater Interiors in Michigan, 600 new jobs.

MYERS: Wonder what that means for Lear, because they used to make a lot of them there, too,...

COSTELLO: I don't know, but this is a minority firm, so they are quite happy with this.

MYERS: All right.

COSTELLO: And look at this one, this is from the "Chicago Tribune," something called the "Red Eye," regime change. Who will take over as the master of good taste for Martha Stewart now that she is going to go to prison probably? Will it be Christopher Lowell?

Do you know who that is -- Chad?

MYERS: I certainly do.

COSTELLO: I knew you would know this.

MYERS: He -- actually he has less hair than I do. He is my hero.

COSTELLO: He does, so he may become the new Martha Stewart. You just don't know.

MYERS: But now we don't know Martha is going to jail, do we?

COSTELLO: Well pretty sure that she's going to go to jail...

MYERS: OK. All right.

COSTELLO: ... unless some miracle happens.

MYERS: I know they have all these formulas and all that stuff, so.

COSTELLO: Well, you know she's appealing, so she could win the appeal, but it's probably likely she is going to go to jail.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: OK. How's the weather?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Lowering the risk for heart attacks tops our "Health Headlines" this morning. An important new study shows that some heart problems can be prevented with Statin drugs. The cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor are usually given to recent heart patients. But the new study recommends even higher doses of those drugs.

What is the price of being overweight? A new study says the cost of obesity-related health issues will more than triple over the next 15 years and will account for 50 percent of all health care costs by the year 2020. In an effort to curb the weight gain, the government plans to announce a new initiative today. It will include public service announcements and a new research strategy.

A Pentagon survey shows a growing problem with alcohol and stress in the military, especially among younger soldiers. The survey says alcohol use is on the rise. And a sizeable group of soldiers are dealing with mental health problems. But drug use remains below the level of the general public. It's important to note that the survey was conducted in 2002 before any troops were deployed to Iraq.

Just ahead in the next hour of DAYBREAK, not exactly Alcatraz, but it won't be easy either. What would prison be like for Martha Stewart? We'll look at the possibilities.

But first, Charlize Theron's return to South Africa. We'll take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK.

Academy Award winning actress Charlize Theron picked up an eight- and-a-half pound statuette when she won the Oscar for best actress. Well now the native South African has been presented with pure gold from her country's president.

CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault joins us live from Johannesburg with more on this.

Looked like a pretty exciting ceremony.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN JOHANNESBURG BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Carol, it's been really exciting. I mean last night the president and a couple of the bosses of the mining industry did indeed present her with gold. It was embedded in a rock. It hasn't been taken out yet. But Charlize Theron is being treated like gold, like royalty in this country. There hasn't been anything like it in recent weeks or months.

They are rolling out the red carpets everywhere from the presidential guesthouse, where she met with the president last night, she, along with her mother and some of her traveling companions. The president also invited some people he had met on a political walkabout from the neighborhood. So that was great. They were very excited.

And she is being interviewed by journalists all day. All this morning, she was being interviewed in different interview segments. Some 50 journalists standing around, photographers waiting to take photos of the woman the president called our South African star. She has brought together South Africans like nothing I can remember in recent days.

When she met with the president last night, she was looking stunning. She was wearing a white pantsuit and very, very high heels, which made her tower over the president quite a bit. But -- and when she received the -- when she received the gold, she said that she was -- she thought it was just lovely, that it was just beautiful, but she didn't have a lot to say there. She -- Carol.

COSTELLO: No, I wasn't saying anything. I'm just interested in if people in South Africa, or the whole of Africa, I should say, did they see her movie, "Monster?"

HUNTER-GAULT: Well, you know it was released a lot later here than it was in the United States, and -- but it has been released. It was released before she arrived. In fact, before she won the Academy Award, although South Africans were betting that she was going to win it even though they hadn't seen the movie.

And they have also shown it in the small town of Benoni where she comes from. We were there recently. People were so excited. She went to elementary school there. And initially, New Metro, which released the movie, hadn't planned to release it in Benoni, but there was pressure put and so it has been released there and people are very excited.

One of the things that South Africans are talking about is how much she has changed her accent. You know she was and she's an Afrikaner from here, as you know, and she -- yet she has changed into an American accent as you see in "Monster" and some of the other films she's done. So everybody is pretty intrigued by that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And certainly proud.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, live from Johannesburg in South Africa this morning, many thanks to you.

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Birth Daughter; Charlize Theron Returns to South Africa>