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CNN Live At Daybreak

Border Battle; Kicking the Habit; Microchips on Food

Aired March 16, 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 16. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Let me bring you up to date. The search is on for a suspect in a series of highway shootings near Columbus, Ohio. An arrest warrant has been issued for this man, 28-year-old Charles McCoy. He lives in Columbus.

Four American missionaries have been killed in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A fifth missionary was wounded. All five went to Iraq for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is in India this morning. He is discussing security and trade issues. Tomorrow he goes to Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan.

CNN has obtained an al Qaeda document spelling out the group's plan to get Spain to pull its troops out of Iraq. It was posted last December on a computer message board used by the terrorist group.

The publicist for Grammy Award winner Whitney Houston says she has entered a drug rehab center. The publicist is revealing no other information about the singer.

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

Pakistani paramilitary forces have been battling it out with unknown fighters this morning. The clashes have been taking place along a rugged, lawless region in northwestern Pakistan.

Our Ash-Har Quraishi joins us live from Islamabad to tell us more.

Hello -- Ash-Har.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well this operation was launched early in the morning after paramilitary troops received a tip-off indicating the presence of what military officials called miscreants in the area. Now the tribal elders were called in to try and negotiate a surrender. Instead, gunfire was exchanged and at least four paramilitary troops have been killed. Another three of these suspects have been killed in these exchanges of fire. And we're told by officials that they believe one of them might be a foreign terrorist.

Now this is part of an ongoing operation that the Pakistani military has been conducting in areas like South Waziristan in the Tribal Belt of Pakistan where hundreds of suspected al Qaeda fighters are believed to be hiding out amongst the tribesmen. And just recently the military has been enlisted the help of the local tribal elders to negotiate surrenders, as well as creating these militias of the local tribesmen to try to help them out in this area -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ash-Har Quraishi live from Islamabad this morning.

And while that search for Osama bin Laden and his henchmen moves forward, political efforts in the war on terror are also intensifying.

For more on that angle, we turn to our senior international editor David Clinch.

And we're specifically talking Europe here.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. I'm going to try and tie the war on terror together with St. Patrick's Day here, so follow me.

Following the Madrid attacks in Spain, huge terror attack in the heart of Europe, a fairly obvious influence on the result of the Spanish elections. Europe is involved in an enormous surge of uncertainty at the moment. Uncertainty about terror attacks, uncertainty about alliances that have existed over the last year or two, Spain had been allied closely with the United States sending troops to Iraq. Other countries like Britain also with them.

Far more countries, though, in Europe not interested in sending troops to Iraq. And now, for instance, you have Spain making it pretty clear with the new government that they are going to move back to an alliance with France and Germany and maintain what they describe as cordial relationships with the United States and Britain. But obviously their first move to take troops out of Iraq. So all sorts of changes there.

COSTELLO: And France and Germany, their leaders are meeting today at some point.

CLINCH: Right, we're going to hear from them in the next hour or two. They are obviously going to warmly welcome the new leadership in Spain. They didn't have great relationships with Aznar, the previous prime minister, so new alliances forming in Europe.

And meanwhile here in the United States where relations with foreign leaders and relations with allies over Iraq is a -- is a hot topic here between Bush and Kerry in the domestic political scene here, President Bush has a couple of very pertinent meetings today and tomorrow. Today he is meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister. Very similar situation for the previous Spanish Prime Minister, they have troops in Iraq. Now they most likely will stay there, but there is a growing pressure in the Netherlands for him to pull troops out of Iraq. The question there whether he will allow them to stay for beyond their I think it's June or July end of their rotation.

COSTELLO: And tomorrow on St. Patrick's Day.

CLINCH: Tomorrow, and here we go with St. Patrick's Day, he meets with the Irish Prime Minister. Now there are no Irish troops in Iraq, and that is a -- is a factor that the Irish Prime Minister, who happens to be the president of the EU at the moment on the rotating presidency,...

COSTELLO: The European Union.

CLINCH: ... the European Union, is very much against the war in Iraq. Traditionally, obviously relations between Bertie Ahern here but between Irish prime ministers and American president, particularly on St. Patrick's Day, are all happy and there is no friction. There may very well be friction tomorrow on two fronts, one, the EU making its changes here in alliances and Ahern very much against the war in Iraq. So that will be interesting.

And also, President Bush is meant to go to Ireland in June. Some people in Ireland, not Ahern, but some other politicians saying they'd rather he didn't come, too much of a security risk, too much of a risk of a terrorist attack. So that's interesting.

COSTELLO: And the important nugget in all of this is President Bush is trying to maintain some relationship with European leaders. In the meantime, Europe right now sort of wants to get away from America...

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: ... and come up with its own way...

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: ... to combat terrorism.

CLINCH: Could be -- some of our analysts saying it could -- Europe best -- could best be described as sort of a moving target at the moment. Exactly who is with who and how the alliances are forming remains to be seen. And again, it's an issue here in the domestic presidential race as well.

COSTELLO: All right, David, many thanks to you.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: As you may know, kicking the smoking habit is not easy, but there are a lot of nicotine replacement products that can help relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms. Well now a new study is suggesting what works for one smoker may not work for another.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kicking nicotine has been compared to kicking a cocaine habit. Even heroin.

TOM GLYNN, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: Nicotine is a very addicting drug. It's a real challenge for people to quit.

GUPTA: So what does it take to quit? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania compared smokers using a nicotine patch to those using nicotine nasal spray. And they found the spray works better for African-Americans. Why?

GLYNN: African-Americans may be metabolizing nicotine a little differently than white Americans. And so, basically, need some more nicotine. And the nasal spray can provide that very quickly.

GUPTA: The study also found the nasal spray is more effective for obese people. That's because eating and smoking may be linked to a similar reward pathway in the brain and a chemical called dopamine. And so the researchers believe the nasal spray may immediately simulate the same feeling of satisfaction that food and smoking provide.

And if you are highly addicted, whatever your race and weight, the nasal spray, also according to this study, seems to work better. It allows you to pump whenever a craving calls.

GLYNN: Before this, we were kind of reduced to licking our finger and saying, OK, let's say which way the wind is blowing and make a prediction. Now, we can say, OK, for you, here, this may be the best medication.

GUPTA: So, is the patch useful? Well, these researchers say yes. That is, if you stick with it. The patch will help you become smoke-free, especially if you add in another key ingredient, counseling.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Spring is almost here, four days away. That means many of us will be sneezing and wheezing because it's allergy season. Isn't that a happy thought? The Asthma and Allergy Foundation is out with its ranking of the worst cities in America for allergy sufferers. Louisville, Kentucky tops the list, Louisville. Followed by Austin, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina. That rounds out the top five. No surprises there.

I thought Atlanta would be at the top, actually. And I thought Washington, D.C. or somewhere in Virginia would be in there, but no.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's an awful lot of mold and stuff in there, too, you know, because that is only the pollen forecast. So you have to add all those other allergens in as well.

I'm so glad you didn't say Louisville.

COSTELLO: No, it's Louisville.

MYERS: My wife is from northern Kentucky and she slaps me on the hand if I ever get close to Louisville.

COSTELLO: I think she's slapped my hand once or twice, too.

MYERS: Fair enough.

Hey, good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: You know we've been asking people for pictures of their hometown in our 5:00 hour.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And we want you to e-mail us your photo of your hometown at DAYBREAK. So look through those pictures, look through those photo albums, find that great shot that you've always wanted, you know, to be on television and e-mail us your photo, DAYBREAK@CNN.com and we'll slap it up there and so everyone can enjoy it.

MYERS: I'm looking for -- actually, some people didn't know where to send them,...

COSTELLO: I know.

MYERS: ... so they were e-mailing me about where to send them. So you can e-mail them to me, too.

COSTELLO: That's right, Chad will then give them to us.

MYERS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: Tracking food safety. We'll show you a hi-tech way to figure out if the food you eat is fresh. We'll have a live report out of Tokyo when we come back.

This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 5:45 Eastern Time, time to take a quick look now at our top stories.

Fighting erupts along Pakistan's rugged, lawless border with Afghanistan. It's not known if Pakistani paramilitary troops are battling local tribesmen or foreign fighters. Ohio authorities name a suspect in a series of highway shootings near Columbus. An arrest warrant is now out for 28-year-old Charles McCoy Jr.

And today is the Illinois primary. Most of the 156 delegates at stake will go to John Kerry who has already won enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 6:00 Eastern.

This is Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first morning back in the Caribbean since fleeing Haiti two weeks ago. The former president and his wife now in Jamaica for temporary asylum. That prompted Haiti's interim prime minister to pull his ambassador from Jamaica and suspend relations with the 15-member Caribbean Economic Block.

All this week in the 6:00 a.m. Eastern hour of DAYBREAK we will be focusing in depth on the crisis in Haiti, the U.S. troops, the families there and the fight for food and what life is really like for Haitians.

Father Paul Carrier from Fairfield University in Connecticut will be calling in every day from Haiti. He will give us an inside look at the poorest country in the hemisphere. What's life like for the children? What's a typical night like in the capital city? Look for his special reports every day this week, same time, same place right here on DAYBREAK.

With fears of Bird Flu and Mad Cow Disease on the rise, people want to get as much information about their food as possible. New technology is coming to the rescue. Tiny microchips are providing consumers with more information than ever before. It's being developed in Japan.

And our Atika Shubert has details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan's favorite raw delicacy is undergoing a technological makeover to insure fresh ingredients. Under each plate of sushi is a tiny microchip keeping track of what's out and for how long. If it doesn't pass muster, it gets tossed. Fish and chips customer approved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My concern about food safety, I feel more comfortable and safe with these microchips. If I had to choose, I would frequently use an item with a chip.

SHUBERT: It's called Ubiquitous Computing, literally computers everywhere. And in Japan, it's being tested to track food safety from sushi to cabbages.

These vegetables have microchips embedded in the packaging so customers can access endless amounts of information about the products they buy, from pesticides to recipes. It starts here, farmers input data as they tend to their crop. Harvest dates, fertilizers, even genetic modifications, anything the customer may want to know. Then it goes for packaging. Every item gets a microchip, a tiny computer that wirelessly projects a unique ID code.

Professor Ken Sakamura is the architect behind Ubiquitous Computing. He shows us how it works. A scanner reads the unique ID and accesses the Internet for information on this specific item and wallah (ph).

He envisions customers using hand-held communicators to scan items before they buy, even receiving personalized messages from farmers.

KEN SAKAMURA, ARCHITECT OF UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING: Any object where have a computer in world of Ubiquitous Computing, every computer communicate with each other (ph).

SHUBERT: It's all done with tiny microchips, some only slightly bigger than a speck of dust. The applications are endless. And Professor Sakamura loves to show off his latest gadgets, books that become movies or wines that talk you into buying them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, Carol, it will still be a few years before Ubiquitous Computing hits supermarkets, but businesses here in Japan are laying the foundations. And microchips in sushi are just one of the examples of that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sounds fascinating.

Atika Shubert reporting live from Tokyo this morning.

The Sharpton Shuffle, he stays in the race but endorses John Kerry. Huh? We'll talk politics in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Hoffa in the headlines, again. Find out why this time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 'Front Page' time.

MYERS: Ready.

COSTELLO: Jimmy Hoffa. I have them across the desk. But this is from the Philadelphia "Daily News." The mystery may be solved -- Chad.

MYERS: Really?

COSTELLO: Did Frank Sheeran, a former Teamsters official in Philadelphia and Wilmington, dispose of the body of Jimmy Hoffa in a Detroit area incinerator? Supposedly he signed a deathbed confession, Chad. The confession states that in the middle of a 12-hour trip to Detroit with upstate Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino and their wives, Sheeran flew to Pontiac, Michigan, picked up a car and drove Hoffa's body to Pete Vitale's waste treatment plant, where all evidence was incinerated.

MYERS: I never thought they moved him out of Detroit. I never thought they crossed state lines with him.

COSTELLO: Really?

MYERS: No, I mean all those stories about the Meadowlands and stuff, I just...

COSTELLO: Well, I hate to tell you this, but the controversy lives on, because there is...

MYERS: I bet it does.

COSTELLO: ... there is some question about the signature on that confession and if it's real or not. So there you go, the Hoffa mystery lives on.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This is from "The News & Observer" out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Have you ever heard an F-15 Tomcat fly overhead -- Chad?

MYERS: No, I flew in one.

COSTELLO: Did you?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Well you know how loud they are?

MYERS: They are.

COSTELLO: They literally shake your house. Well anyway, they do practice runs in Virginia, but people there are complaining about the noise. So they are thinking about moving a practice airfield into North Carolina. And guess what,...

MYERS: They are not happy either.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Just an FYI.

MYERS: Not in my backyard.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And this out of the "Lexington Herald-Leader," March Madness. I hadn't even realized that March Madness was upon us.

MYERS: Well it's only four days until spring -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's right.

MYERS: You were paying attention to that and not to the final 65.

COSTELLO: What was I thinking? I don't know.

But the University of Kentucky is heading to the first round of the NCAA tourney in Columbus as the No. 1 seed.

MYERS: Yes, they are.

COSTELLO: So congrats.

MYERS: Yes. Playing against the play-in. It's hard to say 65, because you think 64, but in fact this year there are 65 teams. And you have got one game play-in where two teams play to get one spot.

COSTELLO: Are you in an office pool?

MYERS: I am not.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

MYERS: No, because I just waste my money in those things. I'm picking Gonzaga. You know what, but you...

COSTELLO: I'm picking Gonzaga.

MYERS: But I saw -- I saw Duke play Georgia Tech the other day and they were strong. So we'll see.

COSTELLO: We'll see.

MYERS: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Next up on DAYBREAK, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" on track to become the biggest "R" rated film ever. Will its phenomenal success start a new religious trend in films?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK. This week "The Passion of the Christ" is expected to become the biggest "R" rated hit ever. And Hollywood is certainly taking note.

Our Sibila Vargas reports the movie's success is sparking an interest in faith-based films.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Make no mistake, Hollywood is feeling "The Passion." Mel Gibson's movie has spent three weeks at No. 1, heading for a domestic gross well over $300 million. Those are numbers that might inspire the sin of envy among studio executives.

PETER GUBER, HOST, "SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT": I'm sure that everybody's dusting off their Gospels and their Bibles and their Testaments and their Korans and their Torahs and every kind of biblical instrument to see if they can find another nugget there.

VARGAS: Long-time movie producer Peter Guber, who hosts AMC's "Sunday Morning Shootout," says audiences may soon be inundated by a slew of religious entertainment. NBC Television has already ordered a pilot called "Revelations," partly based on the Bible's Book of Revelation.

GAVIN POLONE, PRODUCER, "REVELATIONS": It's a great thing that "The Passion" came out to possibly sort of shake them up a little bit and let them know that there's this large unserved audience out there.

VARGAS: In recent decades, network television has embraced some faith-based shows. CBS, which aired "Touch By An Angel," found success this season with "Joan of Arcadia," a drama about a teenager who talks to God. "Seventh Heaven" has been a longtime staple of the WB. And Disney is planning a big budget movie of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by Christian writer C.S. Lewis. But whatever the product, it still has to succeed as entertainment.

GUBER: Nobody says, hey, I want to go see this movie. It made me think. No, it made you feel, cry, cheer, and this audience, that's what they still want.

VARGAS: And audiences are making clear, that's what Mel Gibson delivered.

Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It's Tuesday, March 16. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Let me bring you up to

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Aired March 16, 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 16. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Let me bring you up to date. The search is on for a suspect in a series of highway shootings near Columbus, Ohio. An arrest warrant has been issued for this man, 28-year-old Charles McCoy. He lives in Columbus.

Four American missionaries have been killed in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A fifth missionary was wounded. All five went to Iraq for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is in India this morning. He is discussing security and trade issues. Tomorrow he goes to Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan.

CNN has obtained an al Qaeda document spelling out the group's plan to get Spain to pull its troops out of Iraq. It was posted last December on a computer message board used by the terrorist group.

The publicist for Grammy Award winner Whitney Houston says she has entered a drug rehab center. The publicist is revealing no other information about the singer.

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

Pakistani paramilitary forces have been battling it out with unknown fighters this morning. The clashes have been taking place along a rugged, lawless region in northwestern Pakistan.

Our Ash-Har Quraishi joins us live from Islamabad to tell us more.

Hello -- Ash-Har.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well this operation was launched early in the morning after paramilitary troops received a tip-off indicating the presence of what military officials called miscreants in the area. Now the tribal elders were called in to try and negotiate a surrender. Instead, gunfire was exchanged and at least four paramilitary troops have been killed. Another three of these suspects have been killed in these exchanges of fire. And we're told by officials that they believe one of them might be a foreign terrorist.

Now this is part of an ongoing operation that the Pakistani military has been conducting in areas like South Waziristan in the Tribal Belt of Pakistan where hundreds of suspected al Qaeda fighters are believed to be hiding out amongst the tribesmen. And just recently the military has been enlisted the help of the local tribal elders to negotiate surrenders, as well as creating these militias of the local tribesmen to try to help them out in this area -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ash-Har Quraishi live from Islamabad this morning.

And while that search for Osama bin Laden and his henchmen moves forward, political efforts in the war on terror are also intensifying.

For more on that angle, we turn to our senior international editor David Clinch.

And we're specifically talking Europe here.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Yes. I'm going to try and tie the war on terror together with St. Patrick's Day here, so follow me.

Following the Madrid attacks in Spain, huge terror attack in the heart of Europe, a fairly obvious influence on the result of the Spanish elections. Europe is involved in an enormous surge of uncertainty at the moment. Uncertainty about terror attacks, uncertainty about alliances that have existed over the last year or two, Spain had been allied closely with the United States sending troops to Iraq. Other countries like Britain also with them.

Far more countries, though, in Europe not interested in sending troops to Iraq. And now, for instance, you have Spain making it pretty clear with the new government that they are going to move back to an alliance with France and Germany and maintain what they describe as cordial relationships with the United States and Britain. But obviously their first move to take troops out of Iraq. So all sorts of changes there.

COSTELLO: And France and Germany, their leaders are meeting today at some point.

CLINCH: Right, we're going to hear from them in the next hour or two. They are obviously going to warmly welcome the new leadership in Spain. They didn't have great relationships with Aznar, the previous prime minister, so new alliances forming in Europe.

And meanwhile here in the United States where relations with foreign leaders and relations with allies over Iraq is a -- is a hot topic here between Bush and Kerry in the domestic political scene here, President Bush has a couple of very pertinent meetings today and tomorrow. Today he is meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister. Very similar situation for the previous Spanish Prime Minister, they have troops in Iraq. Now they most likely will stay there, but there is a growing pressure in the Netherlands for him to pull troops out of Iraq. The question there whether he will allow them to stay for beyond their I think it's June or July end of their rotation.

COSTELLO: And tomorrow on St. Patrick's Day.

CLINCH: Tomorrow, and here we go with St. Patrick's Day, he meets with the Irish Prime Minister. Now there are no Irish troops in Iraq, and that is a -- is a factor that the Irish Prime Minister, who happens to be the president of the EU at the moment on the rotating presidency,...

COSTELLO: The European Union.

CLINCH: ... the European Union, is very much against the war in Iraq. Traditionally, obviously relations between Bertie Ahern here but between Irish prime ministers and American president, particularly on St. Patrick's Day, are all happy and there is no friction. There may very well be friction tomorrow on two fronts, one, the EU making its changes here in alliances and Ahern very much against the war in Iraq. So that will be interesting.

And also, President Bush is meant to go to Ireland in June. Some people in Ireland, not Ahern, but some other politicians saying they'd rather he didn't come, too much of a security risk, too much of a risk of a terrorist attack. So that's interesting.

COSTELLO: And the important nugget in all of this is President Bush is trying to maintain some relationship with European leaders. In the meantime, Europe right now sort of wants to get away from America...

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: ... and come up with its own way...

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: ... to combat terrorism.

CLINCH: Could be -- some of our analysts saying it could -- Europe best -- could best be described as sort of a moving target at the moment. Exactly who is with who and how the alliances are forming remains to be seen. And again, it's an issue here in the domestic presidential race as well.

COSTELLO: All right, David, many thanks to you.

CLINCH: OK.

COSTELLO: As you may know, kicking the smoking habit is not easy, but there are a lot of nicotine replacement products that can help relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms. Well now a new study is suggesting what works for one smoker may not work for another.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kicking nicotine has been compared to kicking a cocaine habit. Even heroin.

TOM GLYNN, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: Nicotine is a very addicting drug. It's a real challenge for people to quit.

GUPTA: So what does it take to quit? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania compared smokers using a nicotine patch to those using nicotine nasal spray. And they found the spray works better for African-Americans. Why?

GLYNN: African-Americans may be metabolizing nicotine a little differently than white Americans. And so, basically, need some more nicotine. And the nasal spray can provide that very quickly.

GUPTA: The study also found the nasal spray is more effective for obese people. That's because eating and smoking may be linked to a similar reward pathway in the brain and a chemical called dopamine. And so the researchers believe the nasal spray may immediately simulate the same feeling of satisfaction that food and smoking provide.

And if you are highly addicted, whatever your race and weight, the nasal spray, also according to this study, seems to work better. It allows you to pump whenever a craving calls.

GLYNN: Before this, we were kind of reduced to licking our finger and saying, OK, let's say which way the wind is blowing and make a prediction. Now, we can say, OK, for you, here, this may be the best medication.

GUPTA: So, is the patch useful? Well, these researchers say yes. That is, if you stick with it. The patch will help you become smoke-free, especially if you add in another key ingredient, counseling.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Spring is almost here, four days away. That means many of us will be sneezing and wheezing because it's allergy season. Isn't that a happy thought? The Asthma and Allergy Foundation is out with its ranking of the worst cities in America for allergy sufferers. Louisville, Kentucky tops the list, Louisville. Followed by Austin, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina. That rounds out the top five. No surprises there.

I thought Atlanta would be at the top, actually. And I thought Washington, D.C. or somewhere in Virginia would be in there, but no.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's an awful lot of mold and stuff in there, too, you know, because that is only the pollen forecast. So you have to add all those other allergens in as well.

I'm so glad you didn't say Louisville.

COSTELLO: No, it's Louisville.

MYERS: My wife is from northern Kentucky and she slaps me on the hand if I ever get close to Louisville.

COSTELLO: I think she's slapped my hand once or twice, too.

MYERS: Fair enough.

Hey, good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: You know we've been asking people for pictures of their hometown in our 5:00 hour.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And we want you to e-mail us your photo of your hometown at DAYBREAK. So look through those pictures, look through those photo albums, find that great shot that you've always wanted, you know, to be on television and e-mail us your photo, DAYBREAK@CNN.com and we'll slap it up there and so everyone can enjoy it.

MYERS: I'm looking for -- actually, some people didn't know where to send them,...

COSTELLO: I know.

MYERS: ... so they were e-mailing me about where to send them. So you can e-mail them to me, too.

COSTELLO: That's right, Chad will then give them to us.

MYERS: Exactly.

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

MYERS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: Tracking food safety. We'll show you a hi-tech way to figure out if the food you eat is fresh. We'll have a live report out of Tokyo when we come back.

This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 5:45 Eastern Time, time to take a quick look now at our top stories.

Fighting erupts along Pakistan's rugged, lawless border with Afghanistan. It's not known if Pakistani paramilitary troops are battling local tribesmen or foreign fighters. Ohio authorities name a suspect in a series of highway shootings near Columbus. An arrest warrant is now out for 28-year-old Charles McCoy Jr.

And today is the Illinois primary. Most of the 156 delegates at stake will go to John Kerry who has already won enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

We update our top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 6:00 Eastern.

This is Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first morning back in the Caribbean since fleeing Haiti two weeks ago. The former president and his wife now in Jamaica for temporary asylum. That prompted Haiti's interim prime minister to pull his ambassador from Jamaica and suspend relations with the 15-member Caribbean Economic Block.

All this week in the 6:00 a.m. Eastern hour of DAYBREAK we will be focusing in depth on the crisis in Haiti, the U.S. troops, the families there and the fight for food and what life is really like for Haitians.

Father Paul Carrier from Fairfield University in Connecticut will be calling in every day from Haiti. He will give us an inside look at the poorest country in the hemisphere. What's life like for the children? What's a typical night like in the capital city? Look for his special reports every day this week, same time, same place right here on DAYBREAK.

With fears of Bird Flu and Mad Cow Disease on the rise, people want to get as much information about their food as possible. New technology is coming to the rescue. Tiny microchips are providing consumers with more information than ever before. It's being developed in Japan.

And our Atika Shubert has details for you.

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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan's favorite raw delicacy is undergoing a technological makeover to insure fresh ingredients. Under each plate of sushi is a tiny microchip keeping track of what's out and for how long. If it doesn't pass muster, it gets tossed. Fish and chips customer approved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My concern about food safety, I feel more comfortable and safe with these microchips. If I had to choose, I would frequently use an item with a chip.

SHUBERT: It's called Ubiquitous Computing, literally computers everywhere. And in Japan, it's being tested to track food safety from sushi to cabbages.

These vegetables have microchips embedded in the packaging so customers can access endless amounts of information about the products they buy, from pesticides to recipes. It starts here, farmers input data as they tend to their crop. Harvest dates, fertilizers, even genetic modifications, anything the customer may want to know. Then it goes for packaging. Every item gets a microchip, a tiny computer that wirelessly projects a unique ID code.

Professor Ken Sakamura is the architect behind Ubiquitous Computing. He shows us how it works. A scanner reads the unique ID and accesses the Internet for information on this specific item and wallah (ph).

He envisions customers using hand-held communicators to scan items before they buy, even receiving personalized messages from farmers.

KEN SAKAMURA, ARCHITECT OF UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING: Any object where have a computer in world of Ubiquitous Computing, every computer communicate with each other (ph).

SHUBERT: It's all done with tiny microchips, some only slightly bigger than a speck of dust. The applications are endless. And Professor Sakamura loves to show off his latest gadgets, books that become movies or wines that talk you into buying them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Now, Carol, it will still be a few years before Ubiquitous Computing hits supermarkets, but businesses here in Japan are laying the foundations. And microchips in sushi are just one of the examples of that -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Sounds fascinating.

Atika Shubert reporting live from Tokyo this morning.

The Sharpton Shuffle, he stays in the race but endorses John Kerry. Huh? We'll talk politics in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Hoffa in the headlines, again. Find out why this time.

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COSTELLO: It's 'Front Page' time.

MYERS: Ready.

COSTELLO: Jimmy Hoffa. I have them across the desk. But this is from the Philadelphia "Daily News." The mystery may be solved -- Chad.

MYERS: Really?

COSTELLO: Did Frank Sheeran, a former Teamsters official in Philadelphia and Wilmington, dispose of the body of Jimmy Hoffa in a Detroit area incinerator? Supposedly he signed a deathbed confession, Chad. The confession states that in the middle of a 12-hour trip to Detroit with upstate Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino and their wives, Sheeran flew to Pontiac, Michigan, picked up a car and drove Hoffa's body to Pete Vitale's waste treatment plant, where all evidence was incinerated.

MYERS: I never thought they moved him out of Detroit. I never thought they crossed state lines with him.

COSTELLO: Really?

MYERS: No, I mean all those stories about the Meadowlands and stuff, I just...

COSTELLO: Well, I hate to tell you this, but the controversy lives on, because there is...

MYERS: I bet it does.

COSTELLO: ... there is some question about the signature on that confession and if it's real or not. So there you go, the Hoffa mystery lives on.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: This is from "The News & Observer" out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Have you ever heard an F-15 Tomcat fly overhead -- Chad?

MYERS: No, I flew in one.

COSTELLO: Did you?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Well you know how loud they are?

MYERS: They are.

COSTELLO: They literally shake your house. Well anyway, they do practice runs in Virginia, but people there are complaining about the noise. So they are thinking about moving a practice airfield into North Carolina. And guess what,...

MYERS: They are not happy either.

COSTELLO: Exactly. Just an FYI.

MYERS: Not in my backyard.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And this out of the "Lexington Herald-Leader," March Madness. I hadn't even realized that March Madness was upon us.

MYERS: Well it's only four days until spring -- Carol.

COSTELLO: That's right.

MYERS: You were paying attention to that and not to the final 65.

COSTELLO: What was I thinking? I don't know.

But the University of Kentucky is heading to the first round of the NCAA tourney in Columbus as the No. 1 seed.

MYERS: Yes, they are.

COSTELLO: So congrats.

MYERS: Yes. Playing against the play-in. It's hard to say 65, because you think 64, but in fact this year there are 65 teams. And you have got one game play-in where two teams play to get one spot.

COSTELLO: Are you in an office pool?

MYERS: I am not.

COSTELLO: You're kidding?

MYERS: No, because I just waste my money in those things. I'm picking Gonzaga. You know what, but you...

COSTELLO: I'm picking Gonzaga.

MYERS: But I saw -- I saw Duke play Georgia Tech the other day and they were strong. So we'll see.

COSTELLO: We'll see.

MYERS: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Next up on DAYBREAK, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" on track to become the biggest "R" rated film ever. Will its phenomenal success start a new religious trend in films?

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COSTELLO: Welcome back to DAYBREAK. This week "The Passion of the Christ" is expected to become the biggest "R" rated hit ever. And Hollywood is certainly taking note.

Our Sibila Vargas reports the movie's success is sparking an interest in faith-based films.

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SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Make no mistake, Hollywood is feeling "The Passion." Mel Gibson's movie has spent three weeks at No. 1, heading for a domestic gross well over $300 million. Those are numbers that might inspire the sin of envy among studio executives.

PETER GUBER, HOST, "SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT": I'm sure that everybody's dusting off their Gospels and their Bibles and their Testaments and their Korans and their Torahs and every kind of biblical instrument to see if they can find another nugget there.

VARGAS: Long-time movie producer Peter Guber, who hosts AMC's "Sunday Morning Shootout," says audiences may soon be inundated by a slew of religious entertainment. NBC Television has already ordered a pilot called "Revelations," partly based on the Bible's Book of Revelation.

GAVIN POLONE, PRODUCER, "REVELATIONS": It's a great thing that "The Passion" came out to possibly sort of shake them up a little bit and let them know that there's this large unserved audience out there.

VARGAS: In recent decades, network television has embraced some faith-based shows. CBS, which aired "Touch By An Angel," found success this season with "Joan of Arcadia," a drama about a teenager who talks to God. "Seventh Heaven" has been a longtime staple of the WB. And Disney is planning a big budget movie of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by Christian writer C.S. Lewis. But whatever the product, it still has to succeed as entertainment.

GUBER: Nobody says, hey, I want to go see this movie. It made me think. No, it made you feel, cry, cheer, and this audience, that's what they still want.

VARGAS: And audiences are making clear, that's what Mel Gibson delivered.

Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It's Tuesday, March 16. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Let me bring you up to

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