Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Focus of Kerry Campaign Far Beyond Primaries; Abu Abbas and Circumstances Surrounding Death
Aired March 10, 2004 - 05:00 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: Good morning to you.
It is Wednesday, March 10.
From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Thank you for joining us.
A sign of hope in the Middle East. The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have agreed to meet. The summit is tentatively set for Tuesday of next week.
The White House says no one will be watching the clock when President Bush meets privately with the leaders of the 9/11 Commission. Previously, the president was only going to meet with them for an hour.
A 69-year-old businessman is Haiti's new prime minister. Gerard Latortue travels from his Florida home to Haiti today.
There will be no leeway for Lee Boyd Malvo's judge at today's sentencing. The judge must follow the jury's recommendation of life in prison for the convicted D.C. area sniper.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next news update comes your way at 5:15 Eastern.
Later today, we'll hear some fighting words from President Bush about jobs and trade. He's heading to Ohio to defend his economic policies. Ohio, as you may know, is a battleground state that hast lost 160,000 manufacturing jobs and has an unemployment rate well above the national average. On his trip, the president is targeting women. He'll tour a high tech female owned business and deliver a speech to a women's forum. In his speech, the president will promote what he calls his pro-growth and free and fair trade agenda. He'll lament job losses due to outsourcing and improved technology. But he will defend his trade policy as critical to creating new jobs and stress the need to help displaced workers with skills training.
And on the issue of taxes, the president will say taxing and spending are the enemy of job creation and a recipe for economic disaster.
You can watch President Bush's economic speech live right here on CNN. It's scheduled to begin at noon Eastern. President Bush, of course, now has enough delegates to win the Republican nomination. The results from Tuesday's four primaries put him over the top. The president has more than 1,300 delegates and that exceeds the 1,255 needed for the nomination.
John Kerry is still a handful of delegates short of the Democratic nomination. He'll clinch it no later than next week's Illinois primary. With John Edwards out of the race, Kerry easily won Tuesday's primaries in Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.
But as CNN's Candy Crowley reports, the focus of the Kerry campaign is far beyond the primaries now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another election night sweep for John Kerry.
KERRY: In Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas people voted and they voted for change in this great country of ours.
CROWLEY: So, what else is new? Not much. The primary season nobody saw coming has turned into the primary season everybody is seeing. Another day, another photo op or two, a shaken smile with, one presumes, actual voters in a Florida diner and a hold and swing at the Little Big World Daycare Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Mr. Kerry. He's running to be president of the United States.
CROWLEY: John Kerry has done due diligence for the past several days, traveling Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida at rallies and town halls asking Democrats to support him in the primaries but that's not what it's about anymore. This is what it's about.
KERRY: If the president wants to have a debate a month on just one subject and we go around the country, I think that would be a great idea. Let's go do it.
CROWLEY: It's about engaging George Bush early and often, one way or the other.
KERRY: His stubborn leadership has led America steadily in the wrong direction.
CROWLEY: With Kerry's nomination all but assured, the primary states are pretty much backdrops now, places to warm up for a General Election already boiling and, of course, places to look for cold cash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And the Kerry camp may get some election help from an anti-Bush ad set to begin airing today. But the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign is trying to halt the ads. They plan to file a complaint this morning with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint alleges that the $5 million advertisement violates new campaign finance reform laws by using so-called soft money contributions.
Super sized fries, steroids and satellite TV all happening on Capitol Hill today. The House will consider a bill to shield restaurants and fast food franchises from being sued for causing obesity. A Senate hearing will look at drug testing practices of professional and amateur sports organizations. Senators want to know if drug testing deters athletes from using performance enhancing substances. And a satellite TV dispute will play out on the House floor. Law makers will hear from Echostar Communications, owner of Dish Network, and Viacom, which owns channels like MTV, Nickelodeon and CBS affiliates. Their fight over programming fees left millions of viewers unplugged. Actually, not CBS affiliates, but CBS itself, that's what Viacom owns.
An autopsy will be performed on Abu Abbas to determine his exact cause of death. Abbas, one of the world's most infamous terrorists, died in U.S. custody in Iraq. Pentagon officials say he died of natural causes.
For more on Abbas and the circumstances surrounding his death, we turn to CNN's Chris Burns, live in Jerusalem this morning -- hello, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Carol.
Not a lot about the circumstances involving his death, though U.S. officials do say that they did try to revive Abu Abbas as he did have some kind of a crisis as he was under U.S. custody. He had been captured back in April of last year, after Saddam Hussein was toppled. And since then he has been in U.S. -- in coalition custody inside Iraq.
Now, you might remember back in 1985, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro. That was a cruise ship that was in the Mediterranean that, where one of the U.S. passengers, Leon Klinghoffer, on in a wheelchair was shot and killed and pushed off the boat into the Mediterranean. This group, this militant group, called the Palestine Liberation Front, was headed by Abu Abbas. And Mr. Abbas actually was captured shortly after that 1985 hijacking. In fact, U.S. war jets forced his plane down in Sicily. But the Italians released him before he could be tried because the U.S. officials had failed to file a warrant for his arrest. So he remained on the run, really, until he went to Iraq and stayed there until he was captured back in April of last year.
So a very terrifying experience for a lot of Americans who were on that cruise ship and they would like to see justice done. At this point, the mastermind is now dead. The Israeli government saying that it comes full circle now, the man who had been supported by the Iraqi government when Saddam Hussein was in power has now died in the same country.
The Palestinians sending their condolences to the family of Abu Abbas and saying that they hope that his body will be returned -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris Burns live in Jerusalem this morning.
Haiti has a new prime minister. Sixty-year-old international businessman Gerard Latortue lives in Boca Raton, Florida. He plans to return to his homeland later today. He will arrive as U.S. Marines in Haiti begin helping Haitian police disarm the population. The new prime minister was selected by a commission backed by Washington.
Before his selection, Mr. Latortue spoke with CNN affiliate WP- TV.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERARD LATORTUE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: In the country today, the problem is institution building. We no institutions working in the country. The police, the court system, the judicial system, the customs, no institution functions today. So it is time. I think we're going to start from zero and to build up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The United Nations has appealed for $35 million in emergency aid for Haiti.
An update on the weekend water taxi accident tops our Headlines Across America this morning. A second person has died from injuries suffered in Saturday's accident in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. The pontoon boat they were on flipped over in high winds. Crews are still searching for the bodies of three other victims.
In San Jose, California, the city council passed a measure to recognize same-sex marriages of city employees who are married elsewhere. It allows partners to get health and retirement benefits. Seattle passed a similar measure and Monday.
John Ramsey, the father of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, is considering a run for the Michigan statehouse. The Ramseys own a vacation home in Michigan. Ramsey, a Republican, must file his candidacy papers by May 11.
To the forecast center now -- good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: How are you?
MYERS: You're looking pretty snazzy down there this morning.
COSTELLO: I decided to dress up today.
MYERS: It looks like you're going someplace more important.
COSTELLO: I only wish I were. I'm just kidding.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: OK, thank you, Chad. It looks real. So what's wrong with this picture? Take a look. We'll tell you why the folks at Wal-Mart knew something was up.
Plus, dog show doping. Dog show doping. Was sabotage at play at the British dog show?
Also, about to get your java on? We'll tell you what that cup of Joe may do more than just give you a jolt of energy.
And pictures not worth a thousand words, but light years. Out of this world images from the Hubble.
It is Wednesday, March 10.
You're watching DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: 5:12 Eastern time.
Time to take a quick look at the top stories now.
President Bush takes his economic plan to Ohio today. It is a key battleground state where unemployment is nearly one percent higher than the national average.
A clean sweep for John Kerry. He won all four Southern primaries Tuesday and is now just a few delegates shy of clinching the Democratic nomination.
And top baseball and players' union officials are expected to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee today. They will hear a plea from Congress for more rigorous drug testing.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 5:30 Eastern.
A congressman from Delaware wants to create a new presidential dollar coin. The legislation calls for four coins per year depicting presidents in the order they served. The coins would replace the Sacagawea dollar coins. I know you have plenty of those in your pocket right now. The president who's in office at the time will not be depicted.
U.S. trade figures for January -- my goodness. OK, we had a little technical gaffe there, so let me switch subjects for just a second and talk about carb counters. This one is for you. Pepsi is coming out with a new soda that's lower in calories and carbohydrates. It's billed as a mid-calorie cola. The new Pepsi Edge hits markets this summer. No word yet if Coke will produce a rival brand.
If you had a million dollars to spend, would you take it to Wal- Mart? Police say, well, the woman you're going to see did, or she tried to, at least.
And we'll tell you about another woman who won't be going shopping at all for her prom dress. There she is. You won't believe what she's making that prom dress out of.
This is DAYBREAK for Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: How are stocks overseas doing?
Well, let's head live to London and check it out with Todd Benjamin -- good morning, Todd.
TODD BENJAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Of course, Wall Street had another down day on Tuesday. Both the Dow and the NASDAQ were off better than a half of one percent. We're also lower in Europe again today. The FTSE here in London is off a quarter of one percent. The CAC in Paris off about a third of one percent. And the DAX, the hardest hit, off one percent.
Right now the futures market is pointing to a flat open on Wall Street -- Carol, four years ago...
COSTELLO: Yes? BENJAMIN: Today was the day, March 10, 2000, the NASDAQ hit its high, 5,048. Remember all the euphoria back then? Unbelievable.
COSTELLO: You know, the reason I didn't remember... BENJAMIN: Let me show you...
COSTELLO: ... is because I was so euphoric and it was such a good feeling that I don't want to remember back now. BENJAMIN: You and millions of others, you know.
I want to show you, though, since we hit our low back in 2002, right, I mean the NASDAQ is up 75 percent. But we're still 60 percent off that peak of 5,048 that we hit in March of 2000.
And just to put this in perspective for you, last year, of course, the NASDAQ had a terrific year, up some 50 percent.
Now, right now it's actually down slightly on the year. So a lot will have to happen for it to go up 50 percent again. But it would have to go up 50 percent each year for the next three years before it got back to those levels we saw in March of 2000. And even if it were to go up 20 percent a year, all right, it would take to 2009 to get back to that level we were at in March of 2000. So a lot of painful memories and we're not likely to head that way any time soon -- back to you.
COSTELLO: All right, Todd Benjamin, many thanks to you, live from London this morning.
A million dollar bill, it qualifies as our first DAYBREAK Eye- Opener. Get this. Here in Georgia, a woman was arrested after trying to pay for her Wal-Mart goods with a one million dollar bill. A million dollar bill, of course, is not real. There were even two more of those bills in her wallet, though. She's now being held on $2,500 bail. And she can't use that million dollar bill for that, either.
We're not sure what's more bizarre, that the woman thought her one million dollar bill idea would work or that she thought the cashier would have $998,000 in change.
In Colorado, a bunch of daffodils may make one charity come out smelling like a rose. The American Cancer Society ordered 3,600 of the flowers for a fundraiser, but instead got 3,600 bunches or 36,000 flowers. But people have come to the rescue, buying up almost all of them. And it's meant an extra $10,000 in the flower pot.
Prom season is fast approaching and one Texas teenager has taken her new hobby and turned it into an affair to remember. She's decided to adorn her prom dress with more than 2,000 gum wrappers that she has collected over the past year. Let's hope it doesn't become a sticky situation.
That's beautiful, isn't it, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's beautiful unless it rains. Oh, my.
COSTELLO: True. What would happen?
MYERS: Well, then it's headlines the next day. Right.
COSTELLO: And she'll probably be expelled from school.
MYERS: Right, exactly.
COSTELLO: It'd be ugly.
MYERS: That'll be the top story the next day.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Ten days till spring.
MYERS: I'm ready.
COSTELLO: I just like to say it.
Hugs and kisses for troops coming home from Iraq.
Plus, athletic doping scandals spreading overseas and to another species.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Billions and billions, that's how many people McDonald's claims to have served. Even so, it's still not the biggest restaurant chain in the country. That title goes to Subway. The chain has over 20,000 franchises pushing low fat and low carb sandwiches and it recently topped "Entrepreneur" magazine's list of best franchises to own.
Yet, despite the honors, Subway still trails McD's in one important category -- profits.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you.
Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.
It is Wednesday, March 10.
From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Thanks for waking up with us.
A sign of progress in the Middle East. The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have agreed to meet, probably next week. The two have never held an official meeting.
Teenage D.C. area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is expected to be sentenced to life in prison later today. His older accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, received a death sentence yesterday.
Attorney General John Ashcroft is expected to make a full recovery from surgery. He had his gallbladder removed.
Robert Pastorelli, the actor best known as Eldon the house painter on "Murphy Brown," has been found dead in his Hollywood Hills home. Heroin drug paraphernalia was found near his body.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next news update comes your way at 5:45 Eastern.
Finally, Haiti has a new leader. He's expected to arrive today, some 16 years after being forced out of the political office in one of Haiti's many military coups. Some former rebel leaders are already calling his choice a mistake.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports from Port-au-Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Council of Sages charged with finding a new interim prime minister for Haiti appears to have completed that task, according to members of that Council of Sages who were on the Haitian radio waves.
(voice-over): Gerard Latortue has been designated as Haiti's new prime -- interim prime minister. Latortue is a former member, official, of the United Nations. He has been living outside of Haiti for some years. He's an international business consultant.
CNN reached him in Miami and he said that he is planning on returning to the Haitian capital early on Wednesday. We are expecting an official press conference, an initial -- official announcement by the Haitian government some time Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, there was more violence on the streets of Port-au- Prince. U.S. Marines who were at a checkpoint near Haiti's international airport fired upon a vehicle as it approached at a high speed. When they fired upon that, the driver of this car, a taxi, was killed, and the other occupant in the car was slightly injured.
U.S. Marines will have a new mission in Haiti officially as of Wednesday. They will start helping the Haitian police in disarming civilians who might be carrying weapons deemed to be illegal. The commander of the U.S. military contingent in Haiti said that he hopes that Haitian radio stations will help in spreading the word about the banning of weapons in Haiti.
(on camera): And he said again that his Marines will be working with the Haitian police.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: All right, on to al Qaeda right now. Hundreds of armed tribesmen have agreed to help Pakistan's military hunt down al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us with some interesting developments this morning.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, hey, we have been looking at this story every day, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, is there or is there not progress? You know, we were talking months ago about the U.S. saying we're going to get him within a year. And we questioned that at the time.
They pulled back from that subsequently, or just stopped talking in those time frame zones. But we are seeing action on the ground, in some form at least. On the Pakistani side of the border, groups of tribal elders met over the last weekend and agreed, according to the Pakistani military, to take part in the search for Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda on the Pakistani side of the border.
Now it remains to be seen whether they really will do this or not. But if the key element in the idea that the U.S. military has been putting out of this pincher movement pushing al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden out of Pakistan and into Afghanistan where they can get him, where the U.S. has freedom of movement, they have a large military base, they don't want to hunt him in Pakistan, they probably wouldn't get permission, if these tribals do what they say they are going to do, if they push him into Afghanistan, the U.S. military is there and waiting. And we are there and waiting, too. We have decided that the story has moved up another notch. We have moved a reporter into Kabul. We'll be watching. Not necessarily going out to the front line, at this point, it's very dangerous out there, but watching from Kabul to see if there is any progress on that.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. Some -- a bit of good news coming out of that region of the world between Pakistan and India, actually.
CLINCH: Right, a story we're going to be covering this morning, a little bit of an oddity, of course, for most people outside of the region, but the Cricket War, as it's been called, between Pakistan and India, slightly friendlier than the nuclear...
COSTELLO: We're not talking insects here.
CLINCH: No, this is cricket the sport, the precursor to baseball and others. A sport I played. Well I was telling you earlier, I used to play a position called Silly Mid On. We won't get into that right now. But it's a very interesting sport. But on the political side, Pakistan and India hoping to improve relations through sport rather than war. So we'll be watching them.
COSTELLO: Well, and the interesting thing is is we're going to have a live reporter in India, live reporter in Pakistan talking about this, because, of course, you know...
CLINCH: Right. It's huge over there. More than a billion people cannot be wrong. This is a huge event. They are -- it's fascinating to them, the biggest thing in the subcontinent for years.
COSTELLO: Well, and politically it's nice to hear, because India and Pakistan always seem to be at odds. Of course they are in...
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: ... a nuclear arms race between the two countries, so.
CLINCH: Right, and this is not directly related, but attempts at playing these cricket tests, as they have called, over the last 10 years have been cancelled because of the politics and because of the nuclear rivalry. Now the improvement in relations has allowed this to happen. So it's not just sports.
COSTELLO: Maybe cricket is the answer to the world's problems.
CLINCH: Yes, sport is always the answer. Now...
COSTELLO: Hey, I want to talk about something shocking...
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... before you go back to the desk.
CLINCH: It is shocking. We were teasing this story earlier. Crufts, the big dog show, you know the best in show idea. Well Crufts is the big dog show in Britain. Well you know you have heard about drugs in sports. Now, apparently allegations from one of the dog owners in Britain that their dog -- this is Kerry (ph), the Doberman, I believe -- they are -- Kerry's owner accusing a rival dog owner, not saying exactly who it was, whether it was the winner or not, but accusing a rival dog owner of drugging their Doberman before the competition. Saying that their dog, when it went out onto -- to perform, basically for the judges, was not acting like a Doberman normally acts, looked tired.
COSTELLO: So was he stumbling around?
CLINCH: Well apparently stumbling around and then very quickly recovered afterwards. So they are -- the owner is saying that their suspicion is that the food was drugged before the Doberman, little Kerry, got to perform.
COSTELLO: That is an ugly allegation -- David.
CLINCH: So this is a big scandal in the dog world. We're going to be following that up in London today.
COSTELLO: Can't wait. Thank you, David, we appreciate it.
CLINCH: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
and Circumstances Surrounding Death>
Aired March 10, 2004 - 05:00 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.
It is Wednesday, March 10.
From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Thank you for joining us.
A sign of hope in the Middle East. The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have agreed to meet. The summit is tentatively set for Tuesday of next week.
The White House says no one will be watching the clock when President Bush meets privately with the leaders of the 9/11 Commission. Previously, the president was only going to meet with them for an hour.
A 69-year-old businessman is Haiti's new prime minister. Gerard Latortue travels from his Florida home to Haiti today.
There will be no leeway for Lee Boyd Malvo's judge at today's sentencing. The judge must follow the jury's recommendation of life in prison for the convicted D.C. area sniper.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next news update comes your way at 5:15 Eastern.
Later today, we'll hear some fighting words from President Bush about jobs and trade. He's heading to Ohio to defend his economic policies. Ohio, as you may know, is a battleground state that hast lost 160,000 manufacturing jobs and has an unemployment rate well above the national average. On his trip, the president is targeting women. He'll tour a high tech female owned business and deliver a speech to a women's forum. In his speech, the president will promote what he calls his pro-growth and free and fair trade agenda. He'll lament job losses due to outsourcing and improved technology. But he will defend his trade policy as critical to creating new jobs and stress the need to help displaced workers with skills training.
And on the issue of taxes, the president will say taxing and spending are the enemy of job creation and a recipe for economic disaster.
You can watch President Bush's economic speech live right here on CNN. It's scheduled to begin at noon Eastern. President Bush, of course, now has enough delegates to win the Republican nomination. The results from Tuesday's four primaries put him over the top. The president has more than 1,300 delegates and that exceeds the 1,255 needed for the nomination.
John Kerry is still a handful of delegates short of the Democratic nomination. He'll clinch it no later than next week's Illinois primary. With John Edwards out of the race, Kerry easily won Tuesday's primaries in Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.
But as CNN's Candy Crowley reports, the focus of the Kerry campaign is far beyond the primaries now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another election night sweep for John Kerry.
KERRY: In Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas people voted and they voted for change in this great country of ours.
CROWLEY: So, what else is new? Not much. The primary season nobody saw coming has turned into the primary season everybody is seeing. Another day, another photo op or two, a shaken smile with, one presumes, actual voters in a Florida diner and a hold and swing at the Little Big World Daycare Center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Mr. Kerry. He's running to be president of the United States.
CROWLEY: John Kerry has done due diligence for the past several days, traveling Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida at rallies and town halls asking Democrats to support him in the primaries but that's not what it's about anymore. This is what it's about.
KERRY: If the president wants to have a debate a month on just one subject and we go around the country, I think that would be a great idea. Let's go do it.
CROWLEY: It's about engaging George Bush early and often, one way or the other.
KERRY: His stubborn leadership has led America steadily in the wrong direction.
CROWLEY: With Kerry's nomination all but assured, the primary states are pretty much backdrops now, places to warm up for a General Election already boiling and, of course, places to look for cold cash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And the Kerry camp may get some election help from an anti-Bush ad set to begin airing today. But the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign is trying to halt the ads. They plan to file a complaint this morning with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint alleges that the $5 million advertisement violates new campaign finance reform laws by using so-called soft money contributions.
Super sized fries, steroids and satellite TV all happening on Capitol Hill today. The House will consider a bill to shield restaurants and fast food franchises from being sued for causing obesity. A Senate hearing will look at drug testing practices of professional and amateur sports organizations. Senators want to know if drug testing deters athletes from using performance enhancing substances. And a satellite TV dispute will play out on the House floor. Law makers will hear from Echostar Communications, owner of Dish Network, and Viacom, which owns channels like MTV, Nickelodeon and CBS affiliates. Their fight over programming fees left millions of viewers unplugged. Actually, not CBS affiliates, but CBS itself, that's what Viacom owns.
An autopsy will be performed on Abu Abbas to determine his exact cause of death. Abbas, one of the world's most infamous terrorists, died in U.S. custody in Iraq. Pentagon officials say he died of natural causes.
For more on Abbas and the circumstances surrounding his death, we turn to CNN's Chris Burns, live in Jerusalem this morning -- hello, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Carol.
Not a lot about the circumstances involving his death, though U.S. officials do say that they did try to revive Abu Abbas as he did have some kind of a crisis as he was under U.S. custody. He had been captured back in April of last year, after Saddam Hussein was toppled. And since then he has been in U.S. -- in coalition custody inside Iraq.
Now, you might remember back in 1985, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro. That was a cruise ship that was in the Mediterranean that, where one of the U.S. passengers, Leon Klinghoffer, on in a wheelchair was shot and killed and pushed off the boat into the Mediterranean. This group, this militant group, called the Palestine Liberation Front, was headed by Abu Abbas. And Mr. Abbas actually was captured shortly after that 1985 hijacking. In fact, U.S. war jets forced his plane down in Sicily. But the Italians released him before he could be tried because the U.S. officials had failed to file a warrant for his arrest. So he remained on the run, really, until he went to Iraq and stayed there until he was captured back in April of last year.
So a very terrifying experience for a lot of Americans who were on that cruise ship and they would like to see justice done. At this point, the mastermind is now dead. The Israeli government saying that it comes full circle now, the man who had been supported by the Iraqi government when Saddam Hussein was in power has now died in the same country.
The Palestinians sending their condolences to the family of Abu Abbas and saying that they hope that his body will be returned -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Chris Burns live in Jerusalem this morning.
Haiti has a new prime minister. Sixty-year-old international businessman Gerard Latortue lives in Boca Raton, Florida. He plans to return to his homeland later today. He will arrive as U.S. Marines in Haiti begin helping Haitian police disarm the population. The new prime minister was selected by a commission backed by Washington.
Before his selection, Mr. Latortue spoke with CNN affiliate WP- TV.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERARD LATORTUE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: In the country today, the problem is institution building. We no institutions working in the country. The police, the court system, the judicial system, the customs, no institution functions today. So it is time. I think we're going to start from zero and to build up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The United Nations has appealed for $35 million in emergency aid for Haiti.
An update on the weekend water taxi accident tops our Headlines Across America this morning. A second person has died from injuries suffered in Saturday's accident in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. The pontoon boat they were on flipped over in high winds. Crews are still searching for the bodies of three other victims.
In San Jose, California, the city council passed a measure to recognize same-sex marriages of city employees who are married elsewhere. It allows partners to get health and retirement benefits. Seattle passed a similar measure and Monday.
John Ramsey, the father of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, is considering a run for the Michigan statehouse. The Ramseys own a vacation home in Michigan. Ramsey, a Republican, must file his candidacy papers by May 11.
To the forecast center now -- good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: How are you?
MYERS: You're looking pretty snazzy down there this morning.
COSTELLO: I decided to dress up today.
MYERS: It looks like you're going someplace more important.
COSTELLO: I only wish I were. I'm just kidding.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: OK, thank you, Chad. It looks real. So what's wrong with this picture? Take a look. We'll tell you why the folks at Wal-Mart knew something was up.
Plus, dog show doping. Dog show doping. Was sabotage at play at the British dog show?
Also, about to get your java on? We'll tell you what that cup of Joe may do more than just give you a jolt of energy.
And pictures not worth a thousand words, but light years. Out of this world images from the Hubble.
It is Wednesday, March 10.
You're watching DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: 5:12 Eastern time.
Time to take a quick look at the top stories now.
President Bush takes his economic plan to Ohio today. It is a key battleground state where unemployment is nearly one percent higher than the national average.
A clean sweep for John Kerry. He won all four Southern primaries Tuesday and is now just a few delegates shy of clinching the Democratic nomination.
And top baseball and players' union officials are expected to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee today. They will hear a plea from Congress for more rigorous drug testing.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 5:30 Eastern.
A congressman from Delaware wants to create a new presidential dollar coin. The legislation calls for four coins per year depicting presidents in the order they served. The coins would replace the Sacagawea dollar coins. I know you have plenty of those in your pocket right now. The president who's in office at the time will not be depicted.
U.S. trade figures for January -- my goodness. OK, we had a little technical gaffe there, so let me switch subjects for just a second and talk about carb counters. This one is for you. Pepsi is coming out with a new soda that's lower in calories and carbohydrates. It's billed as a mid-calorie cola. The new Pepsi Edge hits markets this summer. No word yet if Coke will produce a rival brand.
If you had a million dollars to spend, would you take it to Wal- Mart? Police say, well, the woman you're going to see did, or she tried to, at least.
And we'll tell you about another woman who won't be going shopping at all for her prom dress. There she is. You won't believe what she's making that prom dress out of.
This is DAYBREAK for Wednesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: How are stocks overseas doing?
Well, let's head live to London and check it out with Todd Benjamin -- good morning, Todd.
TODD BENJAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Of course, Wall Street had another down day on Tuesday. Both the Dow and the NASDAQ were off better than a half of one percent. We're also lower in Europe again today. The FTSE here in London is off a quarter of one percent. The CAC in Paris off about a third of one percent. And the DAX, the hardest hit, off one percent.
Right now the futures market is pointing to a flat open on Wall Street -- Carol, four years ago...
COSTELLO: Yes? BENJAMIN: Today was the day, March 10, 2000, the NASDAQ hit its high, 5,048. Remember all the euphoria back then? Unbelievable.
COSTELLO: You know, the reason I didn't remember... BENJAMIN: Let me show you...
COSTELLO: ... is because I was so euphoric and it was such a good feeling that I don't want to remember back now. BENJAMIN: You and millions of others, you know.
I want to show you, though, since we hit our low back in 2002, right, I mean the NASDAQ is up 75 percent. But we're still 60 percent off that peak of 5,048 that we hit in March of 2000.
And just to put this in perspective for you, last year, of course, the NASDAQ had a terrific year, up some 50 percent.
Now, right now it's actually down slightly on the year. So a lot will have to happen for it to go up 50 percent again. But it would have to go up 50 percent each year for the next three years before it got back to those levels we saw in March of 2000. And even if it were to go up 20 percent a year, all right, it would take to 2009 to get back to that level we were at in March of 2000. So a lot of painful memories and we're not likely to head that way any time soon -- back to you.
COSTELLO: All right, Todd Benjamin, many thanks to you, live from London this morning.
A million dollar bill, it qualifies as our first DAYBREAK Eye- Opener. Get this. Here in Georgia, a woman was arrested after trying to pay for her Wal-Mart goods with a one million dollar bill. A million dollar bill, of course, is not real. There were even two more of those bills in her wallet, though. She's now being held on $2,500 bail. And she can't use that million dollar bill for that, either.
We're not sure what's more bizarre, that the woman thought her one million dollar bill idea would work or that she thought the cashier would have $998,000 in change.
In Colorado, a bunch of daffodils may make one charity come out smelling like a rose. The American Cancer Society ordered 3,600 of the flowers for a fundraiser, but instead got 3,600 bunches or 36,000 flowers. But people have come to the rescue, buying up almost all of them. And it's meant an extra $10,000 in the flower pot.
Prom season is fast approaching and one Texas teenager has taken her new hobby and turned it into an affair to remember. She's decided to adorn her prom dress with more than 2,000 gum wrappers that she has collected over the past year. Let's hope it doesn't become a sticky situation.
That's beautiful, isn't it, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's beautiful unless it rains. Oh, my.
COSTELLO: True. What would happen?
MYERS: Well, then it's headlines the next day. Right.
COSTELLO: And she'll probably be expelled from school.
MYERS: Right, exactly.
COSTELLO: It'd be ugly.
MYERS: That'll be the top story the next day.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Ten days till spring.
MYERS: I'm ready.
COSTELLO: I just like to say it.
Hugs and kisses for troops coming home from Iraq.
Plus, athletic doping scandals spreading overseas and to another species.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Billions and billions, that's how many people McDonald's claims to have served. Even so, it's still not the biggest restaurant chain in the country. That title goes to Subway. The chain has over 20,000 franchises pushing low fat and low carb sandwiches and it recently topped "Entrepreneur" magazine's list of best franchises to own.
Yet, despite the honors, Subway still trails McD's in one important category -- profits.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you.
Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.
It is Wednesday, March 10.
From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Thanks for waking up with us.
A sign of progress in the Middle East. The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have agreed to meet, probably next week. The two have never held an official meeting.
Teenage D.C. area sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is expected to be sentenced to life in prison later today. His older accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, received a death sentence yesterday.
Attorney General John Ashcroft is expected to make a full recovery from surgery. He had his gallbladder removed.
Robert Pastorelli, the actor best known as Eldon the house painter on "Murphy Brown," has been found dead in his Hollywood Hills home. Heroin drug paraphernalia was found near his body.
We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next news update comes your way at 5:45 Eastern.
Finally, Haiti has a new leader. He's expected to arrive today, some 16 years after being forced out of the political office in one of Haiti's many military coups. Some former rebel leaders are already calling his choice a mistake.
CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports from Port-au-Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Council of Sages charged with finding a new interim prime minister for Haiti appears to have completed that task, according to members of that Council of Sages who were on the Haitian radio waves.
(voice-over): Gerard Latortue has been designated as Haiti's new prime -- interim prime minister. Latortue is a former member, official, of the United Nations. He has been living outside of Haiti for some years. He's an international business consultant.
CNN reached him in Miami and he said that he is planning on returning to the Haitian capital early on Wednesday. We are expecting an official press conference, an initial -- official announcement by the Haitian government some time Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, there was more violence on the streets of Port-au- Prince. U.S. Marines who were at a checkpoint near Haiti's international airport fired upon a vehicle as it approached at a high speed. When they fired upon that, the driver of this car, a taxi, was killed, and the other occupant in the car was slightly injured.
U.S. Marines will have a new mission in Haiti officially as of Wednesday. They will start helping the Haitian police in disarming civilians who might be carrying weapons deemed to be illegal. The commander of the U.S. military contingent in Haiti said that he hopes that Haitian radio stations will help in spreading the word about the banning of weapons in Haiti.
(on camera): And he said again that his Marines will be working with the Haitian police.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: All right, on to al Qaeda right now. Hundreds of armed tribesmen have agreed to help Pakistan's military hunt down al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Our senior international editor, David Clinch, joins us with some interesting developments this morning.
DAVID CLINCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes, hey, we have been looking at this story every day, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, is there or is there not progress? You know, we were talking months ago about the U.S. saying we're going to get him within a year. And we questioned that at the time.
They pulled back from that subsequently, or just stopped talking in those time frame zones. But we are seeing action on the ground, in some form at least. On the Pakistani side of the border, groups of tribal elders met over the last weekend and agreed, according to the Pakistani military, to take part in the search for Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda on the Pakistani side of the border.
Now it remains to be seen whether they really will do this or not. But if the key element in the idea that the U.S. military has been putting out of this pincher movement pushing al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden out of Pakistan and into Afghanistan where they can get him, where the U.S. has freedom of movement, they have a large military base, they don't want to hunt him in Pakistan, they probably wouldn't get permission, if these tribals do what they say they are going to do, if they push him into Afghanistan, the U.S. military is there and waiting. And we are there and waiting, too. We have decided that the story has moved up another notch. We have moved a reporter into Kabul. We'll be watching. Not necessarily going out to the front line, at this point, it's very dangerous out there, but watching from Kabul to see if there is any progress on that.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. Some -- a bit of good news coming out of that region of the world between Pakistan and India, actually.
CLINCH: Right, a story we're going to be covering this morning, a little bit of an oddity, of course, for most people outside of the region, but the Cricket War, as it's been called, between Pakistan and India, slightly friendlier than the nuclear...
COSTELLO: We're not talking insects here.
CLINCH: No, this is cricket the sport, the precursor to baseball and others. A sport I played. Well I was telling you earlier, I used to play a position called Silly Mid On. We won't get into that right now. But it's a very interesting sport. But on the political side, Pakistan and India hoping to improve relations through sport rather than war. So we'll be watching them.
COSTELLO: Well, and the interesting thing is is we're going to have a live reporter in India, live reporter in Pakistan talking about this, because, of course, you know...
CLINCH: Right. It's huge over there. More than a billion people cannot be wrong. This is a huge event. They are -- it's fascinating to them, the biggest thing in the subcontinent for years.
COSTELLO: Well, and politically it's nice to hear, because India and Pakistan always seem to be at odds. Of course they are in...
CLINCH: Right.
COSTELLO: ... a nuclear arms race between the two countries, so.
CLINCH: Right, and this is not directly related, but attempts at playing these cricket tests, as they have called, over the last 10 years have been cancelled because of the politics and because of the nuclear rivalry. Now the improvement in relations has allowed this to happen. So it's not just sports.
COSTELLO: Maybe cricket is the answer to the world's problems.
CLINCH: Yes, sport is always the answer. Now...
COSTELLO: Hey, I want to talk about something shocking...
CLINCH: Yes.
COSTELLO: ... before you go back to the desk.
CLINCH: It is shocking. We were teasing this story earlier. Crufts, the big dog show, you know the best in show idea. Well Crufts is the big dog show in Britain. Well you know you have heard about drugs in sports. Now, apparently allegations from one of the dog owners in Britain that their dog -- this is Kerry (ph), the Doberman, I believe -- they are -- Kerry's owner accusing a rival dog owner, not saying exactly who it was, whether it was the winner or not, but accusing a rival dog owner of drugging their Doberman before the competition. Saying that their dog, when it went out onto -- to perform, basically for the judges, was not acting like a Doberman normally acts, looked tired.
COSTELLO: So was he stumbling around?
CLINCH: Well apparently stumbling around and then very quickly recovered afterwards. So they are -- the owner is saying that their suspicion is that the food was drugged before the Doberman, little Kerry, got to perform.
COSTELLO: That is an ugly allegation -- David.
CLINCH: So this is a big scandal in the dog world. We're going to be following that up in London today.
COSTELLO: Can't wait. Thank you, David, we appreciate it.
CLINCH: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
and Circumstances Surrounding Death>
