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CNN Live At Daybreak

Pre-War Intelligence; Serial Shootings; AIDS Vaccine; Life With E-Mail

Aired July 13, 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.


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A report on the intelligence used to send British troops to Iraq. Today, Prime Minister Tony Blair gets a preview. Live to London in just two minutes.
It is Tuesday, July 13, and this is DAYBREAK.

Well good morning to you, and welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From CNN's Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello.

Now in the news, Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun tells his briefing team in Germany that he was abducted from his highly secure base near Fallujah last month. Military sources tell CNN he has not given an explanation yet about how he traveled from Iraq to Lebanon where he was found earlier this month.

Just moments after a government official said the Philippines would withdraw its 50 troops from Iraq -- quoting here -- "as soon as possible," abductors holding a Filipino truck driver hostage said they would set him free today.

In the U.S. Senate, debate on banning same-sex marriages resumes in just a few hours. A backer of the proposed constitutional amendment says his side is still well short of the votes needed for approval.

And just about four-and-a-half hours from now, a group of senators opens a hearing into the abuse of steroids by athletes. A college football player from a division one school is expected to testify. He'll wear a hood to disguise his identity.

But there is no disguising what Mother Nature is cooking up today. Here is Chad Myers with a look at the forecast.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Betty.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: Well British Prime Minister Tony Blair gets a report today on the pre-war intelligence on Iraq and he may not like what he reads. Tomorrow it is being publicly released.

Robin Oakley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another week, another Iraq inquiry. Tony Blair has already faced three probes into events surrounding the Iraq war, two by parliamentary investigators, one by the Judge Lord Hutton into the death of weapons scientist Dr. David Kelly. Blair and his government have so far been cleared of sexing up intelligence.

But how good was the intelligence? Come Wednesday, former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler is due to pronounce. And Britain's spy chief, say experts, can expect an uncomfortable week.

GARY SAMORE, INTL. INST. STRATEGIC STUDIES: In the case of Iraq, the quality of the intelligence and the analysis of that intelligence was abysmally bad.

OAKLEY: More sensitive still, did intelligence chiefs, like John Scarlet, chairman of Downing Street's Joint Intelligence Committee, let politicians push them too far in stripping out the caveats?

SAMORE: The most difficult thing for leaders of the intelligence community is to tell the political leadership that they are really not sure, that they really don't have good information and therefore they're in the realm of guess work.

OAKLEY: In Britain that matters because of the way Tony Blair made the case for war.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons which could be activated within 45 minutes.

OAKLEY: Just last week, Mr. Blair admitted...

BLAIR: I have to accept that we haven't found them, that we may not find them.

OAKLEY: Someone blundered. In the U.S., CIA Chief George Tenet departed. But in the U.K., Scarlet, who insisted he controlled the dossier on Saddam's weapons, which was the source of Mr. Blair's claim, was controversially promoted by Blair to be the next head of MI6 before the outcome of the Butler report.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, Betty, the earlier Hutton inquiry report was widely condemned as a whitewash of the British government. Lord Butler, when he introduces his report tomorrow, isn't going to want to face the same accusations. Nobody knows quite how much he will criticize the politicians, as well as the intelligence chiefs, but it has to be bad news for Tony Blair that the whole event will put the focus back on those weapons of mass destruction on which he pinned his whole case for war. So there is certainly trouble ahead for Tony Blair -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Robin, the timing of this Butler report is very interesting, because it comes on the heels of this U.S. Senate intelligence report that came out last week dealing with some of the same issues. Is there a connection?

OAKLEY: Well there's a connection that in a sense that intelligence report in the U.S. has done less harm to George Bush than the Butler inquiry is likely to do to Tony Blair, because in the U.S., the Senate report was effectively purely into the quality of the intelligence.

Now what seems likely in Britain is that Lord Butler will be very much going into not just the quality of the intelligence, but the use made by Downing Street of that intelligence, the whole interface between the politicians and the intelligence community. So I think there is more political danger in the British report than there was in the U.S. report -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Very interesting how it all shakes out. Robin Oakley in London, thank you very much.

Well there has been an attack on an American convoy in the Iraqi capital. These pictures are just in to CNN from that scene. An American soldier was injured in the attack that took place within the last couple of hours.

Iraq's Foreign Minister is at NATO headquarters in Belgium. He is meeting with the Secretary-General to discuss how NATO can help Iraq's armed forces.

U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun says he was abducted from his highly secure base near Fallujah just last month. Sources tell CNN that Hassoun has not yet revealed details of how he got to Lebanon.

The family of a Filipino truck driver being held hostage in Iraq is eagerly awaiting word on his fate. A source in the Philippine Embassy tells CNN that Manila would withdraw its troops following the kidnappers' demands.

And for more on what's happening around the world, especially in the Philippines, our senior international editor David Clinch joins us with an update.

It's very confusing about the information coming out of there.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It is. It's quite a challenge for us journalistically today, this Filipino hostage story. We have, in some senses, conflicting information from the Philippines' government, but it's conflicting only in one sense. It's conflicting in the sense that the impression given by Philippines' officials in the statement that they made last night that they are prepared to withdraw their troops -- quote -- "as soon as possible."

NGUYEN: Right.

CLINCH: And again, the impression given, not what they said, but the impression is that they are negotiating with these hostage takers and that they are prepared to bring forward the withdrawal of their troops from Iraq.

NGUYEN: Before August 20.

CLINCH: Which of course would be a huge political statement by them that they are actually negotiating with these hostage takers and changing their policy because of what the hostage takers are demanding.

But on the other hand, they haven't actually said that they are bringing forward the date of the withdrawal of their troops and they are being very careful in Manila and in Baghdad not to say that at this point.

They are telling us, they are telling CNN in Baghdad that they expect and hope that their hostage will be released today. But of course the hostage takers have demanded that in order for the hostage to be freed, that Philippines has to not only say but actually withdraw their troops earlier than they had promised to do.

So it's a very awkward and difficult situation for the Philippines' government and also for us. An impression has been given that they are negotiating, that they are prepared to make a change, but all they are actually saying is that they are prepared to remove their troops -- quote -- "as soon as possible." Well the troops were meant to come out in August, so what does "as soon as possible" mean?

NGUYEN: Exactly.

CLINCH: We don't know. And it may very well be that until the fate of the hostage is sorted in one way or the other that we won't know what they mean. So we're just going to have to wait and see.

NGUYEN: Meanwhile, violence is being stepped up in Baghdad. We saw this attack this morning.

CLINCH: Right.

NGUYEN: This new government was supposed to be taking a zero tolerance policy and really cracking down.

CLINCH: Right. Well there were two incidents in Iraq over the last 24 hours that illustrate both sides of that. The continuing violence against the U.S., that's illustrated by what we're just reporting in an attack on a convoy in Baghdad. But in some ways more interestingly overnight in Baghdad, following the comments by the president, the Iraqi President Yawar, yesterday, that the Iraqi's -- quote -- "had a sharp sword...

NGUYEN: Right.

CLINCH: ... for the insurgents and anybody else fighting the government," was a very serious crack down on gangs in Baghdad last night.

Now some versions say that those gangs are insurgents. Some versions of what we're hearing from the Iraqis are that the people they are looking for in Baghdad are really criminal armed gangs.

Well what appears to be the case is that there is a gray area there, that there are people in Baghdad, armed gangs, heavily armed gangs, who are on a line in between criminal activity and insurgency. But the Iraqi government doesn't seem to be really too concerned about that, they are cracking down on them hard, regardless of who they are. And we saw an instance of that last night, hundreds of people picked up overnight in Baghdad.

NGUYEN: Progress is being made. David Clinch, senior international editor, thank you very much.

CLINCH: All right.

NGUYEN: The FBI has joined the hunt for what's believed to be a serial shooter in New Haven, Connecticut. None of the victims was killed.

But for the latest on this search, we head live now to New Haven and reporter Eric Parker of CNN affiliate WFSB.

What can you tell us this morning?

ERIC PARKER, WFSB-TV REPORTER: At this point we have had five shootings over the past 48 hours, two of them happened early Sunday morning, three more yesterday morning. Police say all of them are from a weapon that has been linked. They also say all the shootings appear to be random.

We have some video from the crime scene yesterday that we can show you.

Police were out early yesterday morning. They say there were three shootings in just about 11 minutes. In those three shootings, they say three men were shot yesterday. All of them were either waiting for rides to work or for a bus. None of the men appear to have known each other. Many people in this community, as you can imagine, are very worried by what seems to be a random shooting spree.

New Haven's police chief spoke out yesterday. He said he will bring in more officers on overtime. He says he is committed to finding the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF FRANCISCO ORTIZ, NEW HAVEN POLICE: You will see a significant increase in uniform presence throughout this city over the next several days as we continue to canvass the neighborhoods in an attempt to locate witnesses or evidence associated with these four particular incidents.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PARKER: Now with the five victims, we have two victims who are in the hospital in critical condition, three more victims are in the hospital in stable condition. Police say they are searching, but at this point, they have few leads and no suspects. As you can imagine, any city this size has its fair share of gang or drug violence. But with random shootings like this, people are very nervous and they are eager for some answers from police.

We're live in New Haven, Connecticut. Now back to you.

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Eric Parker of WFSB.

Well e-mail and the Internet are not all fun and games, believe it or not. Ahead in our next hour, how terror threats are becoming more and more common on the Web.

And a vaccine for AIDS is in the works, but just how close could it be for millions of those living with the disease that has no cure?

This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday, July 13.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well good morning to you. Your news, money, weather and sports. The time right now is 5:45 Eastern, and here is a look at what's all new this morning.

They are expected to vote on it some time this week, but right now senators still have plenty to say about a controversial proposal to ban same-sex marriages. The debate starts again in just a few hours.

The power is slowly being restored across southern Greece after the country's worst blackout in a decade. The Olympic Games start in Athens in exactly one month. But officials say the capital city was only in the dark for about 40 minutes.

In money, looking for a way to get rid of that old computer? Well Home Depot and Hewlett-Packard are ready to take it off your hands. They are expected to announce a free, yes free, computer- recycling program starting today.

In culture, the controversial German National Holocaust Memorial is one step closer to completion. Backers marked the halfway point of construction. The memorial is scheduled to open in May of next year.

And in sports, at the Olympic trials, Marion Jones advances in the long jump, but just barely. She finished seventh qualifying for Thursday's final. Jones won bronze in the event back in the 2000 Olympics.

And a man who always deserves a gold medal in the Weather Department, of course that is Chad Myers...

MYERS: Yes, but I can't jump that far. I can't get -- I can't get shot out of a slingshot that far. Good morning -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you.

NGUYEN: Now that's hot. OK, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: The prognosis for an AIDS vaccine is not good. Even under the most optimistic scenario, a vaccine against the deadly virus is still years away.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details now from the AIDS Conference in Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 1981, we've been talking about AIDS. For almost as long, we've also been talking about a vaccine. Twenty-three years later the number of AIDS patients still grows, but the enthusiasm for a vaccine wanes.

SETH BERKELLY, MYI: Obviously at the end of the day we'd like a vaccine that is oral, used once in a lifetime and would protect against all strains of the virus. We may not get there.

GUPTA: Right now, we're not even close. Currently around the world there are 30 small-scale vaccine trials in 19 countries on six continents. Despite the truly effort, these trials are all strikingly similar to one another. If one doesn't work, there's a good chance none of them will. And we won't know for sure until at least 2007.

Still, researchers hope for the best.

DR. ROBERT SCHOOLEY, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: That the point, I don't think we know. I think we all have to be hopeful. We all have to continue to engage in and support AIDS vaccine research, because it's a very important goal.

But we have to understand that, just like the cure of cancer in 1969 that Richard Nixon announced, it sometimes takes longer than we'd like it to take.

GUPTA: And researchers say it will need a change of mind-set to come up with the right formula.

HELEN GAYLE, AIDS RESEARCHER: Given that we are now 20 years into HIV vaccine research, there's a great sense from the researchers themselves that, if we keep doing things the way we're doing them, we could be 20 years from now saying the same thing.

GUPTA (on camera): In the meantime, the focus has to remain on getting treatment to those who need it the most. There are six million people around the world who have full-blown AIDS, and they don't have time to wait.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And for more on this, in the next hour of DAYBREAK, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us live from the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. He will be focusing on the orphans AIDS leaves behind. And be sure to stay with us for that.

'Health Headlines' for you this morning.

If you have had a recent heart attack or at high risk for one, you want to listen up. The American Heart Association now recommends lowering your bad cholesterol levels even more. Patients with a low- density lipoprotein rate of 70 are now considered at a very high risk. The old rate was 100.

The discovery of a gene mutation could help identify children at risk for diabetes. Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia discovered the mutation called SUMO-4. Early detection can help diabetics ward off problems down the road.

Also, researchers say people who have gastric bypass surgery may lose weight faster. That's because the levels of a hormone that stimulates your desire for food drop off after the surgery.

And for more on these or any other health stories, we head to our Web site, and we invite you to do so as well. The address, CNN.com/health.

DAYBREAK will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well if you work on a computer, chances are you have gotten e-mail from friends or family.

So you know those little messages, those jokes, reminders of lunch and that sort of thing, well our Bruce Burkhardt tells us how e- mail is fast becoming such a significant part of our lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another morning, another four zillion e-mail messages.

When e-mail came on the scene, its promise, like so many other technological innovations, was that it was would save time. I think it's a broken promise.

Sure, some of them are spam, but most of them are another form of spam. Little messages from colleagues who, at one time, would have simply poked their head into your office or cubicle and said what they needed to say.

How much time does it take to, if not respond, at least look at all of the messages, just to make sure you're not missing something important? You usually aren't.

It was bad enough when we were just dealing with a computer. But, now, now, there's another weapon of mass mailings, the Blackberry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (screaming)

BURKHARDT (on camera): How many times have you been in conversation with somebody and they started doing this?

Huh? Yes, right. Hold on.

(voice-over) It seems we're communicating more and maybe enjoying it less. But what kind of communicating is it? Writing? Or talking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Research has shown that actual analyses of the language of e-mail do document that it does have many speech-like features that we, in fact, in the past tended to associate with -- with conversation.

BURKHARDT: So even though we seem to be writing, typing letters on a keyboard, it's more like talking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The use of slang and lots of run-on sentences with dot, dot, dot in between them, almost like a stream of consciousness, instead of carefully formed, syntactically beautiful sentences with periods at the end of them.

BURKHARDT: If e-mail has given rise to a new form of communication, it may also be the final blow for another form: letter writing. The letter was a favorite subject of the Dutch painter, Jan Vermeer. Good thing he's not painting today. If he were, he probably be LOL, e-mail-ese for laughing out loud.

(on camera) So in this instant messaging age, that old adage about thinking before you speak, who has time to think when you're communicating? I mean, if you -- excuse me.

What was I saying? Never mind.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Don't you just hate when that happens?

There is much more to come right here on DAYBREAK, so don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Could this hostage be freed today? Conflicting reports about negotiations between his country and the abductors.

It's Tuesday, July 13, and this is DAYBREAK.

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


Aired July 13, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A report on the intelligence used to send British troops to Iraq. Today, Prime Minister Tony Blair gets a preview. Live to London in just two minutes.
It is Tuesday, July 13, and this is DAYBREAK.

Well good morning to you, and welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From CNN's Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Carol Costello.

Now in the news, Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun tells his briefing team in Germany that he was abducted from his highly secure base near Fallujah last month. Military sources tell CNN he has not given an explanation yet about how he traveled from Iraq to Lebanon where he was found earlier this month.

Just moments after a government official said the Philippines would withdraw its 50 troops from Iraq -- quoting here -- "as soon as possible," abductors holding a Filipino truck driver hostage said they would set him free today.

In the U.S. Senate, debate on banning same-sex marriages resumes in just a few hours. A backer of the proposed constitutional amendment says his side is still well short of the votes needed for approval.

And just about four-and-a-half hours from now, a group of senators opens a hearing into the abuse of steroids by athletes. A college football player from a division one school is expected to testify. He'll wear a hood to disguise his identity.

But there is no disguising what Mother Nature is cooking up today. Here is Chad Myers with a look at the forecast.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Betty.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: Well British Prime Minister Tony Blair gets a report today on the pre-war intelligence on Iraq and he may not like what he reads. Tomorrow it is being publicly released.

Robin Oakley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another week, another Iraq inquiry. Tony Blair has already faced three probes into events surrounding the Iraq war, two by parliamentary investigators, one by the Judge Lord Hutton into the death of weapons scientist Dr. David Kelly. Blair and his government have so far been cleared of sexing up intelligence.

But how good was the intelligence? Come Wednesday, former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler is due to pronounce. And Britain's spy chief, say experts, can expect an uncomfortable week.

GARY SAMORE, INTL. INST. STRATEGIC STUDIES: In the case of Iraq, the quality of the intelligence and the analysis of that intelligence was abysmally bad.

OAKLEY: More sensitive still, did intelligence chiefs, like John Scarlet, chairman of Downing Street's Joint Intelligence Committee, let politicians push them too far in stripping out the caveats?

SAMORE: The most difficult thing for leaders of the intelligence community is to tell the political leadership that they are really not sure, that they really don't have good information and therefore they're in the realm of guess work.

OAKLEY: In Britain that matters because of the way Tony Blair made the case for war.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons which could be activated within 45 minutes.

OAKLEY: Just last week, Mr. Blair admitted...

BLAIR: I have to accept that we haven't found them, that we may not find them.

OAKLEY: Someone blundered. In the U.S., CIA Chief George Tenet departed. But in the U.K., Scarlet, who insisted he controlled the dossier on Saddam's weapons, which was the source of Mr. Blair's claim, was controversially promoted by Blair to be the next head of MI6 before the outcome of the Butler report.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Well, Betty, the earlier Hutton inquiry report was widely condemned as a whitewash of the British government. Lord Butler, when he introduces his report tomorrow, isn't going to want to face the same accusations. Nobody knows quite how much he will criticize the politicians, as well as the intelligence chiefs, but it has to be bad news for Tony Blair that the whole event will put the focus back on those weapons of mass destruction on which he pinned his whole case for war. So there is certainly trouble ahead for Tony Blair -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Robin, the timing of this Butler report is very interesting, because it comes on the heels of this U.S. Senate intelligence report that came out last week dealing with some of the same issues. Is there a connection?

OAKLEY: Well there's a connection that in a sense that intelligence report in the U.S. has done less harm to George Bush than the Butler inquiry is likely to do to Tony Blair, because in the U.S., the Senate report was effectively purely into the quality of the intelligence.

Now what seems likely in Britain is that Lord Butler will be very much going into not just the quality of the intelligence, but the use made by Downing Street of that intelligence, the whole interface between the politicians and the intelligence community. So I think there is more political danger in the British report than there was in the U.S. report -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Very interesting how it all shakes out. Robin Oakley in London, thank you very much.

Well there has been an attack on an American convoy in the Iraqi capital. These pictures are just in to CNN from that scene. An American soldier was injured in the attack that took place within the last couple of hours.

Iraq's Foreign Minister is at NATO headquarters in Belgium. He is meeting with the Secretary-General to discuss how NATO can help Iraq's armed forces.

U.S. Marine Corporal Wassef Hassoun says he was abducted from his highly secure base near Fallujah just last month. Sources tell CNN that Hassoun has not yet revealed details of how he got to Lebanon.

The family of a Filipino truck driver being held hostage in Iraq is eagerly awaiting word on his fate. A source in the Philippine Embassy tells CNN that Manila would withdraw its troops following the kidnappers' demands.

And for more on what's happening around the world, especially in the Philippines, our senior international editor David Clinch joins us with an update.

It's very confusing about the information coming out of there.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: It is. It's quite a challenge for us journalistically today, this Filipino hostage story. We have, in some senses, conflicting information from the Philippines' government, but it's conflicting only in one sense. It's conflicting in the sense that the impression given by Philippines' officials in the statement that they made last night that they are prepared to withdraw their troops -- quote -- "as soon as possible."

NGUYEN: Right.

CLINCH: And again, the impression given, not what they said, but the impression is that they are negotiating with these hostage takers and that they are prepared to bring forward the withdrawal of their troops from Iraq.

NGUYEN: Before August 20.

CLINCH: Which of course would be a huge political statement by them that they are actually negotiating with these hostage takers and changing their policy because of what the hostage takers are demanding.

But on the other hand, they haven't actually said that they are bringing forward the date of the withdrawal of their troops and they are being very careful in Manila and in Baghdad not to say that at this point.

They are telling us, they are telling CNN in Baghdad that they expect and hope that their hostage will be released today. But of course the hostage takers have demanded that in order for the hostage to be freed, that Philippines has to not only say but actually withdraw their troops earlier than they had promised to do.

So it's a very awkward and difficult situation for the Philippines' government and also for us. An impression has been given that they are negotiating, that they are prepared to make a change, but all they are actually saying is that they are prepared to remove their troops -- quote -- "as soon as possible." Well the troops were meant to come out in August, so what does "as soon as possible" mean?

NGUYEN: Exactly.

CLINCH: We don't know. And it may very well be that until the fate of the hostage is sorted in one way or the other that we won't know what they mean. So we're just going to have to wait and see.

NGUYEN: Meanwhile, violence is being stepped up in Baghdad. We saw this attack this morning.

CLINCH: Right.

NGUYEN: This new government was supposed to be taking a zero tolerance policy and really cracking down.

CLINCH: Right. Well there were two incidents in Iraq over the last 24 hours that illustrate both sides of that. The continuing violence against the U.S., that's illustrated by what we're just reporting in an attack on a convoy in Baghdad. But in some ways more interestingly overnight in Baghdad, following the comments by the president, the Iraqi President Yawar, yesterday, that the Iraqi's -- quote -- "had a sharp sword...

NGUYEN: Right.

CLINCH: ... for the insurgents and anybody else fighting the government," was a very serious crack down on gangs in Baghdad last night.

Now some versions say that those gangs are insurgents. Some versions of what we're hearing from the Iraqis are that the people they are looking for in Baghdad are really criminal armed gangs.

Well what appears to be the case is that there is a gray area there, that there are people in Baghdad, armed gangs, heavily armed gangs, who are on a line in between criminal activity and insurgency. But the Iraqi government doesn't seem to be really too concerned about that, they are cracking down on them hard, regardless of who they are. And we saw an instance of that last night, hundreds of people picked up overnight in Baghdad.

NGUYEN: Progress is being made. David Clinch, senior international editor, thank you very much.

CLINCH: All right.

NGUYEN: The FBI has joined the hunt for what's believed to be a serial shooter in New Haven, Connecticut. None of the victims was killed.

But for the latest on this search, we head live now to New Haven and reporter Eric Parker of CNN affiliate WFSB.

What can you tell us this morning?

ERIC PARKER, WFSB-TV REPORTER: At this point we have had five shootings over the past 48 hours, two of them happened early Sunday morning, three more yesterday morning. Police say all of them are from a weapon that has been linked. They also say all the shootings appear to be random.

We have some video from the crime scene yesterday that we can show you.

Police were out early yesterday morning. They say there were three shootings in just about 11 minutes. In those three shootings, they say three men were shot yesterday. All of them were either waiting for rides to work or for a bus. None of the men appear to have known each other. Many people in this community, as you can imagine, are very worried by what seems to be a random shooting spree.

New Haven's police chief spoke out yesterday. He said he will bring in more officers on overtime. He says he is committed to finding the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF FRANCISCO ORTIZ, NEW HAVEN POLICE: You will see a significant increase in uniform presence throughout this city over the next several days as we continue to canvass the neighborhoods in an attempt to locate witnesses or evidence associated with these four particular incidents.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PARKER: Now with the five victims, we have two victims who are in the hospital in critical condition, three more victims are in the hospital in stable condition. Police say they are searching, but at this point, they have few leads and no suspects. As you can imagine, any city this size has its fair share of gang or drug violence. But with random shootings like this, people are very nervous and they are eager for some answers from police.

We're live in New Haven, Connecticut. Now back to you.

NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Eric Parker of WFSB.

Well e-mail and the Internet are not all fun and games, believe it or not. Ahead in our next hour, how terror threats are becoming more and more common on the Web.

And a vaccine for AIDS is in the works, but just how close could it be for millions of those living with the disease that has no cure?

This is DAYBREAK for Tuesday, July 13.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well good morning to you. Your news, money, weather and sports. The time right now is 5:45 Eastern, and here is a look at what's all new this morning.

They are expected to vote on it some time this week, but right now senators still have plenty to say about a controversial proposal to ban same-sex marriages. The debate starts again in just a few hours.

The power is slowly being restored across southern Greece after the country's worst blackout in a decade. The Olympic Games start in Athens in exactly one month. But officials say the capital city was only in the dark for about 40 minutes.

In money, looking for a way to get rid of that old computer? Well Home Depot and Hewlett-Packard are ready to take it off your hands. They are expected to announce a free, yes free, computer- recycling program starting today.

In culture, the controversial German National Holocaust Memorial is one step closer to completion. Backers marked the halfway point of construction. The memorial is scheduled to open in May of next year.

And in sports, at the Olympic trials, Marion Jones advances in the long jump, but just barely. She finished seventh qualifying for Thursday's final. Jones won bronze in the event back in the 2000 Olympics.

And a man who always deserves a gold medal in the Weather Department, of course that is Chad Myers...

MYERS: Yes, but I can't jump that far. I can't get -- I can't get shot out of a slingshot that far. Good morning -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you.

NGUYEN: Now that's hot. OK, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: The prognosis for an AIDS vaccine is not good. Even under the most optimistic scenario, a vaccine against the deadly virus is still years away.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details now from the AIDS Conference in Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since 1981, we've been talking about AIDS. For almost as long, we've also been talking about a vaccine. Twenty-three years later the number of AIDS patients still grows, but the enthusiasm for a vaccine wanes.

SETH BERKELLY, MYI: Obviously at the end of the day we'd like a vaccine that is oral, used once in a lifetime and would protect against all strains of the virus. We may not get there.

GUPTA: Right now, we're not even close. Currently around the world there are 30 small-scale vaccine trials in 19 countries on six continents. Despite the truly effort, these trials are all strikingly similar to one another. If one doesn't work, there's a good chance none of them will. And we won't know for sure until at least 2007.

Still, researchers hope for the best.

DR. ROBERT SCHOOLEY, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO: That the point, I don't think we know. I think we all have to be hopeful. We all have to continue to engage in and support AIDS vaccine research, because it's a very important goal.

But we have to understand that, just like the cure of cancer in 1969 that Richard Nixon announced, it sometimes takes longer than we'd like it to take.

GUPTA: And researchers say it will need a change of mind-set to come up with the right formula.

HELEN GAYLE, AIDS RESEARCHER: Given that we are now 20 years into HIV vaccine research, there's a great sense from the researchers themselves that, if we keep doing things the way we're doing them, we could be 20 years from now saying the same thing.

GUPTA (on camera): In the meantime, the focus has to remain on getting treatment to those who need it the most. There are six million people around the world who have full-blown AIDS, and they don't have time to wait.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And for more on this, in the next hour of DAYBREAK, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us live from the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. He will be focusing on the orphans AIDS leaves behind. And be sure to stay with us for that.

'Health Headlines' for you this morning.

If you have had a recent heart attack or at high risk for one, you want to listen up. The American Heart Association now recommends lowering your bad cholesterol levels even more. Patients with a low- density lipoprotein rate of 70 are now considered at a very high risk. The old rate was 100.

The discovery of a gene mutation could help identify children at risk for diabetes. Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia discovered the mutation called SUMO-4. Early detection can help diabetics ward off problems down the road.

Also, researchers say people who have gastric bypass surgery may lose weight faster. That's because the levels of a hormone that stimulates your desire for food drop off after the surgery.

And for more on these or any other health stories, we head to our Web site, and we invite you to do so as well. The address, CNN.com/health.

DAYBREAK will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well if you work on a computer, chances are you have gotten e-mail from friends or family.

So you know those little messages, those jokes, reminders of lunch and that sort of thing, well our Bruce Burkhardt tells us how e- mail is fast becoming such a significant part of our lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another morning, another four zillion e-mail messages.

When e-mail came on the scene, its promise, like so many other technological innovations, was that it was would save time. I think it's a broken promise.

Sure, some of them are spam, but most of them are another form of spam. Little messages from colleagues who, at one time, would have simply poked their head into your office or cubicle and said what they needed to say.

How much time does it take to, if not respond, at least look at all of the messages, just to make sure you're not missing something important? You usually aren't.

It was bad enough when we were just dealing with a computer. But, now, now, there's another weapon of mass mailings, the Blackberry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (screaming)

BURKHARDT (on camera): How many times have you been in conversation with somebody and they started doing this?

Huh? Yes, right. Hold on.

(voice-over) It seems we're communicating more and maybe enjoying it less. But what kind of communicating is it? Writing? Or talking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Research has shown that actual analyses of the language of e-mail do document that it does have many speech-like features that we, in fact, in the past tended to associate with -- with conversation.

BURKHARDT: So even though we seem to be writing, typing letters on a keyboard, it's more like talking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The use of slang and lots of run-on sentences with dot, dot, dot in between them, almost like a stream of consciousness, instead of carefully formed, syntactically beautiful sentences with periods at the end of them.

BURKHARDT: If e-mail has given rise to a new form of communication, it may also be the final blow for another form: letter writing. The letter was a favorite subject of the Dutch painter, Jan Vermeer. Good thing he's not painting today. If he were, he probably be LOL, e-mail-ese for laughing out loud.

(on camera) So in this instant messaging age, that old adage about thinking before you speak, who has time to think when you're communicating? I mean, if you -- excuse me.

What was I saying? Never mind.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Don't you just hate when that happens?

There is much more to come right here on DAYBREAK, so don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Could this hostage be freed today? Conflicting reports about negotiations between his country and the abductors.

It's Tuesday, July 13, and this is DAYBREAK.

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