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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tyco Trial Troubles; Sharon Under Fire; Baseball Season; Gay Rites

Aired March 29, 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: Jurors in a high-profile corporate greed trial will return this morning for perhaps one final shot at deliberations.
As CNN's Chris Huntington reports, bizarre jury behavior may lead to a mistrial in the Tyco case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dennis Kozlowski and his wife, Karen, pushed their way out of New York State Court Friday into the chaos and uncertainty of a looming mistrial brought on by a jury which claims it can no longer deliberate in good faith.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move it. Move it.

HUNTINGTON: At the center of the controversy is juror No. 4, an elderly woman who went to law school in her late 50s, then briefly practiced law. On Thursday afternoon, she flashed what appeared to be an OK sign towards the defendant's tables when she entered and when she left the courtroom. The bizarre occurrence was brought to the attention of Judge Michael Obus who reminded the jury not to communicate in any way with anyone involved in the case.

STEPHEN KAUFMAN, DENNIS KOZLOWSKI'S ATTORNEY: The mood of my client is the mood you'd expect him to have, he's concerned and he believes in the jury system. And if he's not nervous there's something wrong with him and there's nothing wrong with him.

HUNTINGTON: Defense attorneys for Kozlowski and his co-defendant Mark Swartz, Tyco's former Chief Financial Officer, have repeatedly had their requests for a mistrial denied by Judge Obus who let the jury leave early for the weekend to cool off.

CHARLES STILLMAN, MARK SWARTZ' ATTORNEY: The jury has had a long time to work on this and, you know, and you know we think, you know, it's time for an end, but the judge...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judge felt otherwise?

HUNTINGTON: After deliberating for nearly a week, the jury stunned the court Thursday with the first of a series of notes to Judge Obus pointing to a single juror who had -- quote-- "stopped deliberating in good faith." There is no way to know which juror that is. And even after the judge instructed jurors to work out their differences, their final note Friday described deliberations as "irreparably compromised."

While the case is best known for evidence of lavish spending on parties, yachts, real estate and artwork, the charges that Kozlowski and Swartz looted Tyco of more than $600 million could mean a 30-year prison term if the jury can agree on a conviction.

Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And some other legal stories making news this Monday. Judge Charles Pickering denies Democrats' accusations that he is a racist. Pickering was appointed by President Bush to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals during January's congressional research or recess, rather. Pickering appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" last night. Said he has fought against racism since the 1950s.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE CHARLES PICKERING, 5TH U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS: To accuse a white southerner of being a racist is about the worse thing you can do. And this has been my life work. I have worked for more than three decades trying to provide better relations between the racists, trying to protect equal rights. That's my core being and they have attacked that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In Santa Barbara County, California, today grand jurors will take up the Michael Jackson's molestation case. Prosecutors want a grand jury indictment so they won't have to present evidence at a preliminary hearing.

The Jayson Williams manslaughter trial resumes in Summerville, New Jersey this morning. A defense expert who raised questions about the investigation returns to the stand. Williams, a former NBA player, is accused in the shooting death of a chauffeur.

The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is under fire today to resign. It comes after Israel's chief prosecutor recommended indicting Sharon on bribery charges.

CNN's Paula Hancocks live in Jerusalem this morning. She has more for us.

Hello -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well it looks as though Ariel Sharon's future political career could lay in the hands of the attorney general. The chief prosecutor has recommended to the attorney general that Ariel Sharon be indicted in that bribery case back in the late 1990s when he was foreign minister. We are expecting it to take about three, four weeks until the attorney general makes a decision.

But the basic story is that David Appel, an Israeli businessman, paid Ariel Sharon's son $690,000 in order -- he was a consultant working for him at the time, but the allegation is that Ariel Sharon was implicated in trying to push through a real estate deal. He was trying -- David Appel was trying to build a tourism venture on a Greek island. It wasn't going well. The allegations are that Ariel Sharon intervened and spoke to Greek government officials on behalf of David Appel.

Now Ariel Sharon has denied any wrongdoing in the past. He's keeping very quiet about these -- this media report, which was then -- was then confirmed by the Justice Ministry over the last couple of days. And also David Appel, himself, who was indicted back in January, has denied any wrongdoing.

Now some more developments coming out this morning, this Monday. Gilad, son, has had to pass over any tapes and documents that he has relating to this case and another corruption case, according to Israel's Supreme Court. They have ordered that Gilad must hand over these tapes and documents to help any investigations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Hancocks live at Jerusalem this morning.

Afghanistan is delaying its first national election since the ouster of the Taliban. The delay is something the U.N. suggested. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the delay will allow more time for disarming warlords, expanding peacekeeping operations and registering more than 10 million voters. Presidential and parliamentary elections are now set for September instead of June.

In Spain, investigators have reportedly found detonators and traces of dynamite inside a house where police believe the bombs were made. One hundred ninety people were killed, more than 1,800 injured in the March 11 terrorist attacks on Madrid. Six more suspects are due in court this week, possibly today.

Handovers have begun in Iraq. One of the first ministries the U.S. returned to the Iraqi control is in the Health Department, but already, well, there are some problems.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us with that.

At face value, it just sounds like such a good thing.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right. Well, face value is exactly that, face value. And we're going to look behind it. These are allegations, at this point, but it's an interesting story that we're looking into. Yesterday there was an event in Baghdad where the Health Ministry was handed over to full Iraqi control. This is a process that we're going to see repeated with various ministries in Iraq over the next few months, leading up to the full hand over of sovereignty in a few months. Now the interesting thing is here what we're talking about is money. We have heard all about these billions and billions of tax, your money, my money, the U.S. tax dollars going into Iraq and now all of that has been controlled up until this point by that man right there, Bremer. Well now he is handing it over, in this case, to the Health Ministry. The money allocated to the Health Ministry will now be controlled by the Iraqis themselves.

Well then you get the interesting point, the money is handed over to them, where does it go? How do you keep account of how this money is being spent? And corruption is the key. Now we don't know exactly what's happening to this point, but we're hearing allegations in Baghdad, which we're looking into, that money that has already been handed over to this ministry has just disappeared. Now we don't know whether that's true or not, we're looking into it.

But this is the point that's going to be, again, repeated again month after month after month here as more and more power is handed over to Iraqis. As the money that's flowing into Iraq is controlled by the Iraqi officials themselves, how do you keep account on it?

COSTELLO: But you know an interesting thing is when Saddam was in power that probably was the way you ran things. Somebody...

CLINCH: Well,...

COSTELLO: I'm not saying it has disappeared, but you know what I mean?

CLINCH: Right. It may be very much an entrenched thing. That may be a factor here. It may be just simply that people don't have any money and when they see it, they take it. That's something that, obviously, the U.S. is very aware of and they want to build in structures to keep account of this money, not just now, but after the hand over as well.

COSTELLO: I'm sure the American people will appreciate that.

I wanted to talk more about this Irish smoking ban, since, of course, Ireland is your native country.

CLINCH: Right. Well we talked about it, actually, when I was back in Dublin a couple of months ago. And I'll be very brief here, but this is obviously a big story in Ireland and it is a health issue. It's a health issue and a financial issue. It's a big -- a new Ireland, a lot of young people who don't smoke, they want to stay healthy. And surprisingly to me, having grown up there where it's everybody smoked, it is actually being very widely supported there. A lot of people very strongly supporting this.

But I must say it will be interesting to see whether this will be enforceable. You look at the pub where Diana Muriel was doing the live shots in front of the pub in Senon Screen (ph) in Dublin there. People like Bono and Bob Geldof and people like that go into that pub on a regular basis. I'd like to see somebody go in and tell Bono he's got to put his cigarette out. So it will be interesting to see if a -- if a big health move, but it will be interesting to see whether they will be able to enforce it.

COSTELLO: I hope they try that with Bono and Bob Geldof. We'll talk to him later.

CLINCH: Yes, we'll let you know.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- David.

CLINCH: All right.

COSTELLO: Springtime definitely in the air. Time for the birds, the bees and baseball. The regular season kicks off in just 24 hours.

And to get us in the mood, CNN's Josie Burke takes a look at the team everyone is hoping to sabotage those, pardon the language, "Damn" Yankees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New York Yankees lineup resembles a modern day murderer's row.

DEREK JETER, SHORTSTOP, NEW YORK YANKEES: Some former teammates called, and even some teammates now called to say how excited we are, not just Alex, but Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Vasquez, Gordon. I'm probably leaving some people out, but that's a big list.

JOE TORRE, MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: You can't take for granted, because you have, say, the most talent, or more talent than a lot of other teams, that you're going to get there.

BURKE: There is the last game of the World Series, holding the trophy. Torre is exercising caution because New York hasn't won at all since 2000. The games best player has never been there, period. And changing that is the main reason Alex Rodriguez welcomed a trade to the Yankees. It's also why the all-star shortstop switched to third base. It allowed New York captain, Derek Jeter, a mainstay shortstop, to stay put.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, THIRD BASEMAN, NEW YORK YANKEES: To me, I'm excited to be playing with one of my favorite players and one of my greatest friends. So hopefully, some day to win a championship together will be magical.

TORRE: You come here for one reason, and that's because you want to get to the World Series. We've been able to deliver, six of the eight years, to get to the World Series.

BURKE: With a roster that lists four players with $100 million contracts, and a total payroll approaching $190 million, winning is also expected.

PAUL QUANTRUL, RELIEF PITCHER, NEW YORK YANKEES: It isn't about competing, it's not about getting to the playoffs, or winning a wild card, with many teams, that is what are you looking to do. Here, it's very clear, very precise. It's to win the World Series, and I love it.

BURKE: What could derail the Yankees? New York returns only one regular starting pitcher from last year's rotation. And with so many big names and egos now in the same clubhouse, team chemistry could be an issue.

JETER: We have to make sure that we stay -- chemistry-wise, we play together. We play with, like they say, the names on the front of our jerseys, not on the back of our jerseys.

JASON GIAMBI, FIRST BASEMAN, NEW YORK YANKEES: You look around and see Derek Jeter's got four World Series. And what we're all looking for, a lot of us, for our first. Everybody comes here to win. So it really doesn't matter where you hit or where you play, it's all about winning around here.

BURKE: Josie Burke, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The Yankees begin their season in, of all places, Japan. The Yankees play the Devil Rays at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time Tuesday morning.

Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we will have a live report for you on baseball's opener from Atika Shubert. She is in Tokyo with the Yankees this morning.

Just ahead on DAYBREAK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't do anything remarkable, but there is definitely a double standard in the way I am being treated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Should a teacher be penalized for being honest with his students? A classroom controversy in California.

And now it's good for you again. The latest on what Vitamin E can do to keep you healthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flying high above the competition in the Fortune 500 airlines category is AMR Corporation, the parent company of the world's largest air carrier, American Airlines. Following an industry slowdown after the September 11 attacks, American Airlines introduced a rigid cost-cutting structure to save itself from bankruptcy. And so far, it's working.

AMR's stock has quadrupled in the past year. And Wall Street is predicting the company will turn a profit for the first time in four years. However, questions still remain on how the high price of fuel and fewer business travelers will impact AMR's bottom line. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports now. It is 5:46 Eastern Time. Here are the latest 'Headlines' for you.

In an interview last night, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says she would like to testify before the 9/11 Commission but that protocol makes it impossible.

Three separate federal abortion rights lawsuits are expected to be heard today. The suits seek to overturn the government's ban on so-called partial birth abortions. The cases will be heard in San Francisco, New York and Lincoln, Nebraska.

In Money prices at the pumps continue to climb. The average price per gallon jumped another three cents a gallon to a record average of $1.77 a gallon for self-serve.

In sports, Duke became the only top seed to advance to the final four in the NCAA men's basketball tournament with a win over Xavier. And Georgia Tech joins Duke in the final four, following their over -- their thrilling overtime win against Kansas.

In Culture, moviegoers made "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" No. 1 at the box office this weekend. The cartoon-based sequel pulled in just over $30 million. Tom Hanks' "Lady Killers" finished second.

MYERS: And in weather, hot on the West Coast, cool on the East Coast and rain in the middle. Forecast coming up.

Those are 'The Headlines.'

COSTELLO: The political hot potato of gay marriage is being tossed around again at the Massachusetts State House. The legislator reconvenes the constitutional convention on same-sex marriages today. Lawmakers are expected to decide whether to give final approval to an amendment banning same-sex marriage but allowing gay couples to enter into civil unions. If approved, the measure is one step away from going before voters on the 2006 ballot.

Out in California, a teacher who married his male partner in San Francisco thought he would live happily ever after. But then his personal life, which had been kept out of the classroom, suddenly became a hot topic of discussion. His conduct is now under review.

CNN's Miguel Marquez has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During the rush to gay marriage in San Francisco, two Southern Californians, Ron Fanelle and Randy Serek made the drive and the commitment.

: I think it was one of the biggest events of our relationship. I mean, after 15 years, we are finally being recognized.

MARQUEZ: They returned to their Ventura home expecting life to return to normal, but there was a hitch in getting married. Fanelle teaches history to 7th and 8th graders. One day the students had questions.

RON FANELLE, MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER: And the question that was asked was we had heard that you gotten married. And I said, "yes, that's true." And then the follow-up questions, "we heard it was to a man." And I said, "yes, that's true."

Fanelle says he spent a few minutes talking about gay marriage. Then he says his students gave him a student ovation.

: They wanted to know the same things about me that they knew about every other teacher on that campus.

MARQUEZ: But a parent didn't see it that way. He pulled his child out of the class and took his complaint to the school board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very upset and disappointed that his -- that this teacher brought his homosexual platform to our school district.

MARQUEZ: Maddox claim Fanelle was advocating homosexuality and influencing kids. Fanelle filed a grievance because he felt other teachers outed him to students. So the district started an investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to investigate the whole entire situation. And of course, because it's a personal investigation, it's all confidential.

MARQUEZ: The district says being gay and a teacher is a non issue. But Fanelle is concerned that the investigation appeared more focused on the parents' issues than his.

FANELLE: We didn't do anything remarkable, but there's definitely a double standard in the way I'm being treated for being married, you know, versus the way other people are treated.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Fanelle says he has the support of the vast majority of parents and kids. The school district says it'll wrap up its investigation by the end of this week. And there's a board meeting scheduled for Thursday. Attendance is expected to be heavy.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Just ahead on DAYBREAK, who knew the way to better health could be as sweet as honey. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. Here are the latest 'Health Headlines' for you this morning.

Grab that Vitamin E and have at it. A new study finds Vitamin E may lower our risk of getting bladder cancer. The study finds people who get lots of Vitamin E have only about half as much bladder cancer as those who take relatively little. And it doesn't matter much whether it comes from food alone or in combination with vitamin pills.

Stretching may not be all it's cracked up to be. It may help limber up muscles before a workout, but a new study indicated there is no evidence stretching prevents injuries such as pulled muscles. Interesting.

Honey is a sweet treat, but it's also been known to have many health benefits. The American Chemical Society found people who ate about four tablespoons of Buckwheat Honey, in addition to their regular diets, increased the amount of antioxidants in their blood. Doctors say a diet rich in antioxidants can help prevent cancer.

For more information on these or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address is CNN.com/Health.

And now it's time for our DAYBREAK segment of -- we're taking a look at...

MYERS: 'Front Pages.'

COSTELLO: ... 'Front Pages.' Shall we?

MYERS: You've got a couple good ones.

COSTELLO: I do have a couple good ones. This is from the "Pittsburgh Post Gazette." Three Mile Island, can you believe it happened 24 years -- 25 years ago?

MYERS: Yes, I could probably believe that.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: It seems like it.

COSTELLO: It does seem like it. They still don't know what the health effects were of the fallout from that accident.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: And that's really what the article was about. One person is quoted as saying "it was an historical crime and we're in a battle now over memory," because people can't seem to figure out whether the radiation harmed people's health or not.

MYERS: I know. It's actually -- it's always eerie for me to drive by one of those towers. Even though I know that technically there's nothing wrong with it, when you just see it, you just kind of want to keep going real fast. I don't want to be by this too long.

COSTELLO: Well it's interesting you say that, because the article points that out, too. It's created such a distrust of nuclear power, even though it happened so many years ago.

MYERS: I know, of course.

COSTELLO: This out of the "Houston Chronicle" retailing the Alamo. There is a new Hollywood movie coming out. Yes.

MYERS: Have you been to the Alamo?

COSTELLO: No. Have you?

MYERS: Yes, I love -- I love the live Oak trees that are surrounding the Alamo, too. It's just a great place.

COSTELLO: It's beautiful. Does it tell any of the history there, you know, with plaques and stuff?

MYERS: Yes, sure, absolutely.

COSTELLO: OK, well teachers are hoping the movie gets kids interested in the history of the Alamo. So who knows, maybe it will, maybe it won't.

MYERS: And you picked this one up on your way back from D.C. yesterday?

COSTELLO: It's "The Washington Post."

MYERS: You picked up "The Post." Obviously, man, the Cherry blossoms are in bloom. It was a really busy weekend. Although it's hard to see, I like the little story on the left. The D.C. area, it's the day of cicada. Seventeen years ago today the Brood X swarmed -- cicadas swarmed D.C., remember that? And then they say every 17 years they come out, right?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: So we'll see if they actually start to hatch here.

COSTELLO: And there's a huge swarm of them. I mean it'll be nasty, won't it?

MYERS: It could be.

COSTELLO: Because they come out of the ground...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... where they have been for the past what 13, 17 years.

MYERS: And you hear this whrrr, whrrr (ph) and it's all you hear. It just never goes away in your head, so.

COSTELLO: Oddly enough, they don't sting or bite.

MYERS: No. COSTELLO: They're not dangerous.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: They're just annoying.

MYERS: They just eat stuff.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: Take me out to the ballgame in Tokyo. Why the Yankees and the Devil Rays are cracking their bats in the Japanese capital. We're going to take you there live.

Plus, rushing to take on concern of talk radio. But will "Air America" actually catch on? We go behind the scenes of the new liberal radio network. It's new at 6:00 when CNN DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired March 29, 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: Jurors in a high-profile corporate greed trial will return this morning for perhaps one final shot at deliberations.
As CNN's Chris Huntington reports, bizarre jury behavior may lead to a mistrial in the Tyco case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dennis Kozlowski and his wife, Karen, pushed their way out of New York State Court Friday into the chaos and uncertainty of a looming mistrial brought on by a jury which claims it can no longer deliberate in good faith.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move it. Move it.

HUNTINGTON: At the center of the controversy is juror No. 4, an elderly woman who went to law school in her late 50s, then briefly practiced law. On Thursday afternoon, she flashed what appeared to be an OK sign towards the defendant's tables when she entered and when she left the courtroom. The bizarre occurrence was brought to the attention of Judge Michael Obus who reminded the jury not to communicate in any way with anyone involved in the case.

STEPHEN KAUFMAN, DENNIS KOZLOWSKI'S ATTORNEY: The mood of my client is the mood you'd expect him to have, he's concerned and he believes in the jury system. And if he's not nervous there's something wrong with him and there's nothing wrong with him.

HUNTINGTON: Defense attorneys for Kozlowski and his co-defendant Mark Swartz, Tyco's former Chief Financial Officer, have repeatedly had their requests for a mistrial denied by Judge Obus who let the jury leave early for the weekend to cool off.

CHARLES STILLMAN, MARK SWARTZ' ATTORNEY: The jury has had a long time to work on this and, you know, and you know we think, you know, it's time for an end, but the judge...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judge felt otherwise?

HUNTINGTON: After deliberating for nearly a week, the jury stunned the court Thursday with the first of a series of notes to Judge Obus pointing to a single juror who had -- quote-- "stopped deliberating in good faith." There is no way to know which juror that is. And even after the judge instructed jurors to work out their differences, their final note Friday described deliberations as "irreparably compromised."

While the case is best known for evidence of lavish spending on parties, yachts, real estate and artwork, the charges that Kozlowski and Swartz looted Tyco of more than $600 million could mean a 30-year prison term if the jury can agree on a conviction.

Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And some other legal stories making news this Monday. Judge Charles Pickering denies Democrats' accusations that he is a racist. Pickering was appointed by President Bush to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals during January's congressional research or recess, rather. Pickering appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" last night. Said he has fought against racism since the 1950s.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE CHARLES PICKERING, 5TH U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS: To accuse a white southerner of being a racist is about the worse thing you can do. And this has been my life work. I have worked for more than three decades trying to provide better relations between the racists, trying to protect equal rights. That's my core being and they have attacked that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: In Santa Barbara County, California, today grand jurors will take up the Michael Jackson's molestation case. Prosecutors want a grand jury indictment so they won't have to present evidence at a preliminary hearing.

The Jayson Williams manslaughter trial resumes in Summerville, New Jersey this morning. A defense expert who raised questions about the investigation returns to the stand. Williams, a former NBA player, is accused in the shooting death of a chauffeur.

The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is under fire today to resign. It comes after Israel's chief prosecutor recommended indicting Sharon on bribery charges.

CNN's Paula Hancocks live in Jerusalem this morning. She has more for us.

Hello -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well it looks as though Ariel Sharon's future political career could lay in the hands of the attorney general. The chief prosecutor has recommended to the attorney general that Ariel Sharon be indicted in that bribery case back in the late 1990s when he was foreign minister. We are expecting it to take about three, four weeks until the attorney general makes a decision.

But the basic story is that David Appel, an Israeli businessman, paid Ariel Sharon's son $690,000 in order -- he was a consultant working for him at the time, but the allegation is that Ariel Sharon was implicated in trying to push through a real estate deal. He was trying -- David Appel was trying to build a tourism venture on a Greek island. It wasn't going well. The allegations are that Ariel Sharon intervened and spoke to Greek government officials on behalf of David Appel.

Now Ariel Sharon has denied any wrongdoing in the past. He's keeping very quiet about these -- this media report, which was then -- was then confirmed by the Justice Ministry over the last couple of days. And also David Appel, himself, who was indicted back in January, has denied any wrongdoing.

Now some more developments coming out this morning, this Monday. Gilad, son, has had to pass over any tapes and documents that he has relating to this case and another corruption case, according to Israel's Supreme Court. They have ordered that Gilad must hand over these tapes and documents to help any investigations -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Hancocks live at Jerusalem this morning.

Afghanistan is delaying its first national election since the ouster of the Taliban. The delay is something the U.N. suggested. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the delay will allow more time for disarming warlords, expanding peacekeeping operations and registering more than 10 million voters. Presidential and parliamentary elections are now set for September instead of June.

In Spain, investigators have reportedly found detonators and traces of dynamite inside a house where police believe the bombs were made. One hundred ninety people were killed, more than 1,800 injured in the March 11 terrorist attacks on Madrid. Six more suspects are due in court this week, possibly today.

Handovers have begun in Iraq. One of the first ministries the U.S. returned to the Iraqi control is in the Health Department, but already, well, there are some problems.

Our senior international editor David Clinch joins us with that.

At face value, it just sounds like such a good thing.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Right. Well, face value is exactly that, face value. And we're going to look behind it. These are allegations, at this point, but it's an interesting story that we're looking into. Yesterday there was an event in Baghdad where the Health Ministry was handed over to full Iraqi control. This is a process that we're going to see repeated with various ministries in Iraq over the next few months, leading up to the full hand over of sovereignty in a few months. Now the interesting thing is here what we're talking about is money. We have heard all about these billions and billions of tax, your money, my money, the U.S. tax dollars going into Iraq and now all of that has been controlled up until this point by that man right there, Bremer. Well now he is handing it over, in this case, to the Health Ministry. The money allocated to the Health Ministry will now be controlled by the Iraqis themselves.

Well then you get the interesting point, the money is handed over to them, where does it go? How do you keep account of how this money is being spent? And corruption is the key. Now we don't know exactly what's happening to this point, but we're hearing allegations in Baghdad, which we're looking into, that money that has already been handed over to this ministry has just disappeared. Now we don't know whether that's true or not, we're looking into it.

But this is the point that's going to be, again, repeated again month after month after month here as more and more power is handed over to Iraqis. As the money that's flowing into Iraq is controlled by the Iraqi officials themselves, how do you keep account on it?

COSTELLO: But you know an interesting thing is when Saddam was in power that probably was the way you ran things. Somebody...

CLINCH: Well,...

COSTELLO: I'm not saying it has disappeared, but you know what I mean?

CLINCH: Right. It may be very much an entrenched thing. That may be a factor here. It may be just simply that people don't have any money and when they see it, they take it. That's something that, obviously, the U.S. is very aware of and they want to build in structures to keep account of this money, not just now, but after the hand over as well.

COSTELLO: I'm sure the American people will appreciate that.

I wanted to talk more about this Irish smoking ban, since, of course, Ireland is your native country.

CLINCH: Right. Well we talked about it, actually, when I was back in Dublin a couple of months ago. And I'll be very brief here, but this is obviously a big story in Ireland and it is a health issue. It's a health issue and a financial issue. It's a big -- a new Ireland, a lot of young people who don't smoke, they want to stay healthy. And surprisingly to me, having grown up there where it's everybody smoked, it is actually being very widely supported there. A lot of people very strongly supporting this.

But I must say it will be interesting to see whether this will be enforceable. You look at the pub where Diana Muriel was doing the live shots in front of the pub in Senon Screen (ph) in Dublin there. People like Bono and Bob Geldof and people like that go into that pub on a regular basis. I'd like to see somebody go in and tell Bono he's got to put his cigarette out. So it will be interesting to see if a -- if a big health move, but it will be interesting to see whether they will be able to enforce it.

COSTELLO: I hope they try that with Bono and Bob Geldof. We'll talk to him later.

CLINCH: Yes, we'll let you know.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- David.

CLINCH: All right.

COSTELLO: Springtime definitely in the air. Time for the birds, the bees and baseball. The regular season kicks off in just 24 hours.

And to get us in the mood, CNN's Josie Burke takes a look at the team everyone is hoping to sabotage those, pardon the language, "Damn" Yankees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The New York Yankees lineup resembles a modern day murderer's row.

DEREK JETER, SHORTSTOP, NEW YORK YANKEES: Some former teammates called, and even some teammates now called to say how excited we are, not just Alex, but Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Vasquez, Gordon. I'm probably leaving some people out, but that's a big list.

JOE TORRE, MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: You can't take for granted, because you have, say, the most talent, or more talent than a lot of other teams, that you're going to get there.

BURKE: There is the last game of the World Series, holding the trophy. Torre is exercising caution because New York hasn't won at all since 2000. The games best player has never been there, period. And changing that is the main reason Alex Rodriguez welcomed a trade to the Yankees. It's also why the all-star shortstop switched to third base. It allowed New York captain, Derek Jeter, a mainstay shortstop, to stay put.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, THIRD BASEMAN, NEW YORK YANKEES: To me, I'm excited to be playing with one of my favorite players and one of my greatest friends. So hopefully, some day to win a championship together will be magical.

TORRE: You come here for one reason, and that's because you want to get to the World Series. We've been able to deliver, six of the eight years, to get to the World Series.

BURKE: With a roster that lists four players with $100 million contracts, and a total payroll approaching $190 million, winning is also expected.

PAUL QUANTRUL, RELIEF PITCHER, NEW YORK YANKEES: It isn't about competing, it's not about getting to the playoffs, or winning a wild card, with many teams, that is what are you looking to do. Here, it's very clear, very precise. It's to win the World Series, and I love it.

BURKE: What could derail the Yankees? New York returns only one regular starting pitcher from last year's rotation. And with so many big names and egos now in the same clubhouse, team chemistry could be an issue.

JETER: We have to make sure that we stay -- chemistry-wise, we play together. We play with, like they say, the names on the front of our jerseys, not on the back of our jerseys.

JASON GIAMBI, FIRST BASEMAN, NEW YORK YANKEES: You look around and see Derek Jeter's got four World Series. And what we're all looking for, a lot of us, for our first. Everybody comes here to win. So it really doesn't matter where you hit or where you play, it's all about winning around here.

BURKE: Josie Burke, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The Yankees begin their season in, of all places, Japan. The Yankees play the Devil Rays at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time Tuesday morning.

Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, we will have a live report for you on baseball's opener from Atika Shubert. She is in Tokyo with the Yankees this morning.

Just ahead on DAYBREAK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't do anything remarkable, but there is definitely a double standard in the way I am being treated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Should a teacher be penalized for being honest with his students? A classroom controversy in California.

And now it's good for you again. The latest on what Vitamin E can do to keep you healthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flying high above the competition in the Fortune 500 airlines category is AMR Corporation, the parent company of the world's largest air carrier, American Airlines. Following an industry slowdown after the September 11 attacks, American Airlines introduced a rigid cost-cutting structure to save itself from bankruptcy. And so far, it's working.

AMR's stock has quadrupled in the past year. And Wall Street is predicting the company will turn a profit for the first time in four years. However, questions still remain on how the high price of fuel and fewer business travelers will impact AMR's bottom line. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports now. It is 5:46 Eastern Time. Here are the latest 'Headlines' for you.

In an interview last night, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says she would like to testify before the 9/11 Commission but that protocol makes it impossible.

Three separate federal abortion rights lawsuits are expected to be heard today. The suits seek to overturn the government's ban on so-called partial birth abortions. The cases will be heard in San Francisco, New York and Lincoln, Nebraska.

In Money prices at the pumps continue to climb. The average price per gallon jumped another three cents a gallon to a record average of $1.77 a gallon for self-serve.

In sports, Duke became the only top seed to advance to the final four in the NCAA men's basketball tournament with a win over Xavier. And Georgia Tech joins Duke in the final four, following their over -- their thrilling overtime win against Kansas.

In Culture, moviegoers made "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" No. 1 at the box office this weekend. The cartoon-based sequel pulled in just over $30 million. Tom Hanks' "Lady Killers" finished second.

MYERS: And in weather, hot on the West Coast, cool on the East Coast and rain in the middle. Forecast coming up.

Those are 'The Headlines.'

COSTELLO: The political hot potato of gay marriage is being tossed around again at the Massachusetts State House. The legislator reconvenes the constitutional convention on same-sex marriages today. Lawmakers are expected to decide whether to give final approval to an amendment banning same-sex marriage but allowing gay couples to enter into civil unions. If approved, the measure is one step away from going before voters on the 2006 ballot.

Out in California, a teacher who married his male partner in San Francisco thought he would live happily ever after. But then his personal life, which had been kept out of the classroom, suddenly became a hot topic of discussion. His conduct is now under review.

CNN's Miguel Marquez has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During the rush to gay marriage in San Francisco, two Southern Californians, Ron Fanelle and Randy Serek made the drive and the commitment.

: I think it was one of the biggest events of our relationship. I mean, after 15 years, we are finally being recognized.

MARQUEZ: They returned to their Ventura home expecting life to return to normal, but there was a hitch in getting married. Fanelle teaches history to 7th and 8th graders. One day the students had questions.

RON FANELLE, MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER: And the question that was asked was we had heard that you gotten married. And I said, "yes, that's true." And then the follow-up questions, "we heard it was to a man." And I said, "yes, that's true."

Fanelle says he spent a few minutes talking about gay marriage. Then he says his students gave him a student ovation.

: They wanted to know the same things about me that they knew about every other teacher on that campus.

MARQUEZ: But a parent didn't see it that way. He pulled his child out of the class and took his complaint to the school board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very upset and disappointed that his -- that this teacher brought his homosexual platform to our school district.

MARQUEZ: Maddox claim Fanelle was advocating homosexuality and influencing kids. Fanelle filed a grievance because he felt other teachers outed him to students. So the district started an investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to investigate the whole entire situation. And of course, because it's a personal investigation, it's all confidential.

MARQUEZ: The district says being gay and a teacher is a non issue. But Fanelle is concerned that the investigation appeared more focused on the parents' issues than his.

FANELLE: We didn't do anything remarkable, but there's definitely a double standard in the way I'm being treated for being married, you know, versus the way other people are treated.

MARQUEZ (on camera): Fanelle says he has the support of the vast majority of parents and kids. The school district says it'll wrap up its investigation by the end of this week. And there's a board meeting scheduled for Thursday. Attendance is expected to be heavy.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Just ahead on DAYBREAK, who knew the way to better health could be as sweet as honey. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. Here are the latest 'Health Headlines' for you this morning.

Grab that Vitamin E and have at it. A new study finds Vitamin E may lower our risk of getting bladder cancer. The study finds people who get lots of Vitamin E have only about half as much bladder cancer as those who take relatively little. And it doesn't matter much whether it comes from food alone or in combination with vitamin pills.

Stretching may not be all it's cracked up to be. It may help limber up muscles before a workout, but a new study indicated there is no evidence stretching prevents injuries such as pulled muscles. Interesting.

Honey is a sweet treat, but it's also been known to have many health benefits. The American Chemical Society found people who ate about four tablespoons of Buckwheat Honey, in addition to their regular diets, increased the amount of antioxidants in their blood. Doctors say a diet rich in antioxidants can help prevent cancer.

For more information on these or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address is CNN.com/Health.

And now it's time for our DAYBREAK segment of -- we're taking a look at...

MYERS: 'Front Pages.'

COSTELLO: ... 'Front Pages.' Shall we?

MYERS: You've got a couple good ones.

COSTELLO: I do have a couple good ones. This is from the "Pittsburgh Post Gazette." Three Mile Island, can you believe it happened 24 years -- 25 years ago?

MYERS: Yes, I could probably believe that.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: It seems like it.

COSTELLO: It does seem like it. They still don't know what the health effects were of the fallout from that accident.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: And that's really what the article was about. One person is quoted as saying "it was an historical crime and we're in a battle now over memory," because people can't seem to figure out whether the radiation harmed people's health or not.

MYERS: I know. It's actually -- it's always eerie for me to drive by one of those towers. Even though I know that technically there's nothing wrong with it, when you just see it, you just kind of want to keep going real fast. I don't want to be by this too long.

COSTELLO: Well it's interesting you say that, because the article points that out, too. It's created such a distrust of nuclear power, even though it happened so many years ago.

MYERS: I know, of course.

COSTELLO: This out of the "Houston Chronicle" retailing the Alamo. There is a new Hollywood movie coming out. Yes.

MYERS: Have you been to the Alamo?

COSTELLO: No. Have you?

MYERS: Yes, I love -- I love the live Oak trees that are surrounding the Alamo, too. It's just a great place.

COSTELLO: It's beautiful. Does it tell any of the history there, you know, with plaques and stuff?

MYERS: Yes, sure, absolutely.

COSTELLO: OK, well teachers are hoping the movie gets kids interested in the history of the Alamo. So who knows, maybe it will, maybe it won't.

MYERS: And you picked this one up on your way back from D.C. yesterday?

COSTELLO: It's "The Washington Post."

MYERS: You picked up "The Post." Obviously, man, the Cherry blossoms are in bloom. It was a really busy weekend. Although it's hard to see, I like the little story on the left. The D.C. area, it's the day of cicada. Seventeen years ago today the Brood X swarmed -- cicadas swarmed D.C., remember that? And then they say every 17 years they come out, right?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: So we'll see if they actually start to hatch here.

COSTELLO: And there's a huge swarm of them. I mean it'll be nasty, won't it?

MYERS: It could be.

COSTELLO: Because they come out of the ground...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... where they have been for the past what 13, 17 years.

MYERS: And you hear this whrrr, whrrr (ph) and it's all you hear. It just never goes away in your head, so.

COSTELLO: Oddly enough, they don't sting or bite.

MYERS: No. COSTELLO: They're not dangerous.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: They're just annoying.

MYERS: They just eat stuff.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: Take me out to the ballgame in Tokyo. Why the Yankees and the Devil Rays are cracking their bats in the Japanese capital. We're going to take you there live.

Plus, rushing to take on concern of talk radio. But will "Air America" actually catch on? We go behind the scenes of the new liberal radio network. It's new at 6:00 when CNN DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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