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CNN Live At Daybreak

Republican Convention; Terror Markings?; Separation Anxiety; Getting the Gold

Aired August 27, 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: Now let's talk about the race for the White House. We are now less than 10 weeks away from the presidential election. To be exact, it is 67 days before the polls open on November 2. So where are the candidates this morning?
Senator John Kerry is campaigning in California. He has a town hall meeting this morning in Daly City and a fund raiser this afternoon in San Francisco. Tonight Kerry heads for Everett, Washington, and he'll campaign over the weekend in Seattle and in Tacoma.

President Bush is heading for Florida, one of eight states he's visiting before heading to New York and the Republican National Convention. President Bush will be accompanied in Miami today by Senator Zell Miller, who is a Georgia Democrat, who will be the keynote speaker at the Republican Convention.

The race for president is way too close to call. Listen to this, the latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup Poll of likely voters shows President Bush and Senator Kerry are virtually neck and neck. Fifty percent of those surveyed prefer Bush for president, 47 percent choose Kerry, but the differences within the 4 percentage point margin of error.

Protests are already taking place days before the Republican Convention begins. About a dozen AIDS activists got naked, yes, naked, and stopped traffic outside the convention site at Madison Square Garden. They demanded President Bush help developing countries fight the epidemic. And they certainly drew some attention.

CNN will of course provide nightly coverage of the Republican Convention. Wolf Blitzer will be reporting on the scene near the convention floor. I talked to him about what you can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): What should people look out for during the Republican National Convention?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I think they should see, try to get a sense of where this party, the Republican Party, led by the president of the United States, wants to move the nation over the next four years. What kind of vision will be expressed? Will it be a very conservative, sort of a right-wing vision or will it be more moderate, middle-of-the-road kind of position? One of the specific steps they're going to advance to try to get some sort of exit strategy in Iraq, to try to get the economy more on track, to increase the number of jobs out there, to do better in health care. The specific agenda for the next four years is what I'm going to be looking for to see what we learn about where the president wants to move the country.

COSTELLO: Well they're certainly trying to strike a moderate tone. The prime time speaker is John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor Pataki, Rudi Giuliani, all of these people are moderates.

BLITZER: Well they are clearly going after that swing vote, that moderate middle that could go to the Democrats, could go to the Republicans, could go to Independent Ralph Nader for all we know. But there is no doubt that the prime time lineup that the Republicans have put forward is trying to reach that undecided swing vote.

There's a problem though, they want to make sure they don't alienate in the process the conservative base of the Republican Party. Because they need that base to get out and vote and to get their friends to vote, to mobilize. And sometimes there's a built-in conflict reaching out to the moderate middle without alienating the conservative base and that's the tightrope they're going to have to walk.

COSTELLO: As for the convention itself, how will it differ from the Democratic National Convention in the way it's put together?

BLITZER: At the convention itself, it's basically put together the same way. They are very much focused on who the speakers are during the 10:00 p.m. Eastern hour, that's when all the broadcast networks are taking it live, at least Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Monday night the broadcast networks are not airing virtually anything from the Republican Convention.

Those of us who work in cable news will have extensive live coverage throughout the day and throughout the night as well. They are looking to get their message across in a way that presents this president and vice president in the most sympathetic terms. That's their job and that's what they are going to try to do.

COSTELLO: You are going to be covering this convention it seems wall to wall for days and days. How do you keep up the energy?

BLITZER: Well if you love the story you're covering and you love what you're doing, the energy comes naturally. And I'm a political news junkie going way back to my youth as a kid in Buffalo, New York. So I just love what I'm doing and thrilled to be part of it and just to be in the midst of the action.

One thing that we've been doing differently this time, you saw it at the Democratic Convention at the Fleet Center in Boston, you'll see it at the Republican Convention at Madison Square Garden, we're down there close to the floor. We were right on the floor during the Democratic Convention. We'll be near the floor at the Republican Convention. And when you're with the delegates, there's an energy level that helps you become a little bit more enthusiastic, as opposed to those hermetically sealed skyboxes where we used to do the conventions from. So I think the energy level will be there, it's just going to be automatic.

COSTELLO: OK, tell me a crazy story from the Democratic National Convention.

BLITZER: A crazy story. Well, of course everybody remembers the balloons or the lack of balloons coming down at the end of the Democratic Convention. They had planned that for days and days, weeks and weeks, probably months and months, tens of thousands of balloons.

I was there before they formally opened the Fleet Center and they were still stuffing those balloons up on the ceiling. And then they were all supposed to come down very rapidly. And unfortunately, it didn't happen the way they had planned. And we were in the midst of covering that story live as it happened. That's a crazy story, something people will talk about, Carol, I think for a long time to come.

COSTELLO: I think people are still talking about that.

BLITZER: I know the Republicans watched that and they are training to make sure they don't have a similar balloon malfunction at their convention.

COSTELLO: Well the funny part is, as I'm reading, they are going to have 100,000 balloons at the Republican National Convention. But instead of having adults with mechanical air inflators (ph) blow them up, they are having 200 youths from area schools and churches blow them up. And it's expected to take six hours.

BLITZER: Wow, I feel sorry for those kids.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

BLITZER: Is this what we want the nation's young people doing?

COSTELLO: I know, they could pass out.

Did you see this birthday card, Wolf, with your picture on it?

BLITZER: Yes, I did see it.

COSTELLO: This is being sold in...

BLITZER: I did see that birthday card. I have not given my authorization for that card, I have to tell you.

COSTELLO: So you're not making any money off this?

BLITZER: I'm not making any money, I don't care. I hope they are, though. I hope somebody is making some money out of it.

COSTELLO: What's it like when you walk into a store and see your face on a birthday card?

BLITZER: It's a very weird feeling, but you know I've gotten used to it over the years.

COSTELLO: Wolf Blitzer, many thanks to you.

BLITZER: Thank you. One of these days, Carol, you're going to have, as I have had, your name being a clue in the "New York Times" crossword puzzle. That's pretty cool, too.

COSTELLO: And also a clue on "Jeopardy." That would be cool.

BLITZER: Yes, I've been there, done that.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: He has a good sense of humor, doesn't he?

MYERS: He's a great guy.

COSTELLO: He really is funny.

All next week during the Republican National Convention, if you are away from your television set, tune in to CNN Radio. Eighteen hundred affiliates from across the land carry CNN Radio. CNN "LIVE FROM..." anchor Kyra Phillips and I will be broadcasting live every night starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and we're going to broadcast all the way until 11:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll have complete coverage on everything going on in the Big Apple. That's all week long on CNN Radio from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern. And of course I'll be on DAYBREAK the next morning.

MYERS: With coffee.

COSTELLO: With a lot of coffee.

In news "Across America" this Friday, a Navy fighter jet pilot is in good condition this morning after being pulled from the San Diego Bay. His jet overshot its landing at the North Island Naval Air Station runway and rolled into the bay late last night. The pilot was able to eject safely.

A second federal judge has rejected as unconstitutional ban on the late-term abortion procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion. A judge in New York, like one in San Francisco earlier, faults the ban for not containing an exception to protect the women's health.

There is evidence police in Houston are in a heck of a mess. Investigators say information from 8,000 criminal cases has been mislabeled and badly stored in the department's property room. Houston's police chief says much of the evidence is from murder cases. The district attorney has ordered new DNA tests in nearly 400 cases. Investigators now think they know why at least one Russian passenger jet crashed. They also say they think they know who is responsible. We'll have a live report for you in three minutes.

Then, at 47 past the hour, we'll switch gears and talk about you, your child and separation anxiety, including how to deal with it and at what point it becomes a serious problem.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Developments are happening very fast in Russia. You know we're talking about those two planes that crashed within minutes of each other. And there is now some evidence that, at least in one of the plane crashes, it was a terrorist attack.

Eli Flournoy joins us now to tell us more.

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: That's right, we're getting in information rapidly now from Russian officials who say that there were traces of explosive found on one of the plane crashes. This is the plane that crashed on its way to the Black Sea port city of Sochi, which coincidentally or not coincidentally was where Russian President Vladimir Putin was vacationing there. So there's a possible connection.

COSTELLO: So they find traces of some sort of explosives in the wreckage of the plane. Can you tell us more about what type of explosives they were?

FLOURNOY: Yes, this was an explosive called hexogen. And this is the same explosive that was used in, as you remember, the theater takeover, which was you know Chechen, the Chechen rebels took over, that the Russian forces went in and took them out, gassed them and many people were killed.

Another possible connection with that incident is that there were a number of Chechen rebels who were women who were involved in that. And on both of the two Russian air crashes, there was one Chechen woman. And in both of those cases, the remains of the Chechen women have not been found. And also interestingly, no families have come to claim them. And one of the flights, it's the only remains that have not been claimed by some family member. All of the other bodies have been claimed.

COSTELLO: Do they have any idea right now how those explosives may have been smuggled onto the plane?

FLOURNOY: No, not yet. They haven't gone that far or at least they have not disclosed yet how far along they are in their understanding of how this may have been -- you know how this attack may have come about. And so far they are only saying terrorism in the case of one of the planes, although you know they both happened simultaneously, there's a lot of suspicious coincidences involved. COSTELLO: And there's an unclaimed Chechen passenger on each plane,...

FLOURNOY: Right.

COSTELLO: ... which would give you another clue. I was going to ask you something else and it flew out of my mind. The Chechens, they have not claimed responsibility for this at all?

FLOURNOY: No, they have not. And mentioned earlier about a Web site claiming, Islamic Web site claimed. That actually is not being taken seriously. So we should be careful to say of that because that's out there now in some reporting of an Islamic Web site. That currently is not being taken seriously as a claim.

But on the other hand, the Chechens have not made a sort of official claim or any Chechen group as of yet, but we're still waiting to hear about that and to hear what type of response might come. We've been expecting to hear from President Putin himself, and we may hear from him likely later today now that some of the details are coming out.

COSTELLO: Eli Flournoy, thank you very much.

FLOURNOY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:45 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.

Muqtada al-Sadr is ordering his men to put down their weapons and leave Najaf and Kufa. The Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most powerful cleric, was able to broker a peace deal with al-Sadr apparently ending a three-week standoff.

Ten thousand dollars, that's how much a foundation is willing to pay for information about the murders of two Christian camp counselors. Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen were shot in their sleeping bags on a California beach.

In money news, American Airlines is sounding the alarm. It says it expects to spend an additional $1 billion this year on jet fuel, simply because oil prices keep fluctuating.

In culture, there were more Americans last year without health insurance than ever before. New census figures also show the number of people living in poverty substantially on the rise.

And in sports, Atlanta remains the team to beat in the National League East. The Braves swept the Rockies, extending their division lead to a season high nine-and-a-half games. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season -- Chad?

MYERS: I was at that game last night. That's kind of why I have toothpicks holding up my eyelids.

Good morning, everybody. (WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Here's something many parents have experienced, you drop your child off at daycare or school. She or he cries, pleads for you not to leave and then clings to you for dear life. Sound familiar? It's called separation anxiety.

CNN's Holly Firfer tells us how you can handle it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anna (ph) is like any other 5-year-old, a happy child starting kindergarten. And just like some other kids being left by their parents for the first time, Anna is having bouts of separation anxiety from her parents.

LORIE, MOTHER: When I leave her every day and she's in tears, it just it eats at me all day, so I can't really think about anything else and I'm wondering what she's doing and my stomach's been in knots.

FIRFER: According to child psychologist Ann Hazzard, about 4 percent of kids going to school or going back to school experience distress. And she adds, although a little anxiety is natural, parents must be aware of when it can become a serious problem.

ANN HAZZARD, EMORY CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST: When it gets to the point that the child doesn't want to go to school or the child has difficulty settling down and enjoying school and learning once the parent is gone that it would become a significant concern.

FIRFER: But for most, small reassurances are all that are needed to help a child adjust to time away from home.

HAZZARD: Keep the good-bye fairly brief. Often parents hope that if they provide continued reassurance that will be helpful, but sometimes that just prolongs the agony, really.

FIRFER: If a child is strongly attached to one parent, it might help to have someone else handle the transition to school, the other parent or a babysitter. Giving a transitional object, like a locket or a photo or something of the parent's to the child to hold on to while he or she is away, can be helpful.

As can developing a reward system. For every morning the child makes it school without crying, he or she earns points, and they add up to a special activity with the parent on the weekend.

Most importantly, the parent needs to remain calm and in control. But many moms and dads know it can be extremely tough.

Holly Firfer, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Coming up in the next hour, you have seen those high energy drinks on the grocery store shelves. They are even sold in a lot of gyms, but does stuff like Red Bull really work? Is it good for you? Holly will answer all of those questions for you in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

In other "Health Headlines" for you this morning, losing weight can help some women struggling with infertility get pregnant. A large number of obese women also have a kind of ovarian syndrome, which can cause irregular ovulation. But a new study shows losing weight improves egg release which can improve fertility.

Men spending a lot of hours on a bicycle may want to make some adjustments to avoid an increased risk of sexual dysfunction. A new study finds pressure from certain seats can cause impotence. Adjusting your bike can help, but special cutout seats may actually make the problem worse.

Your loud cell phone volume isn't just annoying to everyone around you, it could put your hearing at risk. Cell phone giant Siemens is warning that tones on some of their cell phones are loud enough to cause hearing damage.

For more on this or any other health story, check our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.

A controversial film is coming your way in the next hour of DAYBREAK. From the big screen to your screen we'll tell you about some feature films you can view from the comfort of your couch.

And is the quest for Olympic gold still a possibility for the dream team? We'll tell you how they fared with their first competitor on the court.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A golden day for the U.S. women's soccer team at the Olympics, how sweet it is.

Let's take you live to Athens for the good news. Here's Larry Smith.

Good morning.

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

How sweet it is is right. What a dramatic finish last night in the gold medal match as the U.S. defeating Brazil two to one on Abby Wambach's header and the 20-second minute went on to get this victory. Unbelievable finish.

And especially sweet because there's a group of five veterans who are about to step down. And they have defined U.S. women's soccer and really soccer all over the world as far as that goes. Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly and Joy Fawcett, totaled for them two Olympic gold medals now, an Olympic silver medal and two World Cup titles. For this group of veterans, that's among the most decorated in soccer history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE FOUDY, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM: I thought it was going to be a time of sadness, but it was -- I mean it was just joy. It was just everyone was crying and laughing and celebrating. So it was awesome. I mean I can't -- I just -- I can't think of a better way to go out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: And they celebrated long into the night.

Meanwhile, men's 200 meter has a new gold medalist. Shawn Crawford ran a personal best, 19.79 seconds to take gold. Bernard Williams silver and Justin Gatlin a bronze, to go with the 100-meter gold he won earlier this week, as U.S. goes one, two, three in the men's 200.

Men's basketball putting together the best performance of these Games in a 102-94 victory over Spain in Thursday's quarterfinals. Stephon Marbury 31 points. That's a U.S. Olympic record. So the dream team now in the semifinals. They take on Argentina and San Antonio's first star wingman Manu Ginobili. That's later tonight 8:00 p.m. Athens time.

Women's basketball team is also in action, the U.S. versus Russia in the semifinals. The Americans have won 23 games in a row in Olympic play. Two more wins, Carol, and they become the first women's basketball team to win three consecutive gold medals.

Let's go back to you.

COSTELLO: That's awesome. Go back to the men's basketball team for just a second, I heard there were some heated exchanges between Larry Brown and the Spanish coach.

SMITH: Yes, there was. There was an incident very quickly involving a timeout. International rules, coaches must request a timeout, then it's granted. Brown requested a timeout late in the game. Before it was granted, the U.S. hit a three-pointer. The Spain coach thought that he was trying to run the score up. It was just a misunderstanding in the end. But a lot of fire by both just showed how important this game was to both teams.

COSTELLO: Yes, at least that shows the men's basketball team is into it and they're showing some passion. How good of a team is Argentina?

SMITH: Yes. Argentina is a very good team. They finished second last year in the world championships. Again, Manny Ginobili is an outstanding player. Had a game winning shot for them in their opening preliminary game here. The U.S., this is not a team that's going to blow teams out by 20 points, but this is a game the U.S. can win if they play the kind of game like they did yesterday. If they don't, it could be a long evening for them.

COSTELLO: Larry Smith, live in Athens this morning, thank you.

CNN is the network to watch for up-to-the-minute coverage of all the top stories.

Coming up on DAYBREAK, after weeks of fighting, the standoff in Najaf comes to a peaceful ending, at least for now. Much more for you ahead on DAYBREAK in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired August 27, 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: Now let's talk about the race for the White House. We are now less than 10 weeks away from the presidential election. To be exact, it is 67 days before the polls open on November 2. So where are the candidates this morning?
Senator John Kerry is campaigning in California. He has a town hall meeting this morning in Daly City and a fund raiser this afternoon in San Francisco. Tonight Kerry heads for Everett, Washington, and he'll campaign over the weekend in Seattle and in Tacoma.

President Bush is heading for Florida, one of eight states he's visiting before heading to New York and the Republican National Convention. President Bush will be accompanied in Miami today by Senator Zell Miller, who is a Georgia Democrat, who will be the keynote speaker at the Republican Convention.

The race for president is way too close to call. Listen to this, the latest CNN-"USA Today" Gallup Poll of likely voters shows President Bush and Senator Kerry are virtually neck and neck. Fifty percent of those surveyed prefer Bush for president, 47 percent choose Kerry, but the differences within the 4 percentage point margin of error.

Protests are already taking place days before the Republican Convention begins. About a dozen AIDS activists got naked, yes, naked, and stopped traffic outside the convention site at Madison Square Garden. They demanded President Bush help developing countries fight the epidemic. And they certainly drew some attention.

CNN will of course provide nightly coverage of the Republican Convention. Wolf Blitzer will be reporting on the scene near the convention floor. I talked to him about what you can expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): What should people look out for during the Republican National Convention?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I think they should see, try to get a sense of where this party, the Republican Party, led by the president of the United States, wants to move the nation over the next four years. What kind of vision will be expressed? Will it be a very conservative, sort of a right-wing vision or will it be more moderate, middle-of-the-road kind of position? One of the specific steps they're going to advance to try to get some sort of exit strategy in Iraq, to try to get the economy more on track, to increase the number of jobs out there, to do better in health care. The specific agenda for the next four years is what I'm going to be looking for to see what we learn about where the president wants to move the country.

COSTELLO: Well they're certainly trying to strike a moderate tone. The prime time speaker is John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor Pataki, Rudi Giuliani, all of these people are moderates.

BLITZER: Well they are clearly going after that swing vote, that moderate middle that could go to the Democrats, could go to the Republicans, could go to Independent Ralph Nader for all we know. But there is no doubt that the prime time lineup that the Republicans have put forward is trying to reach that undecided swing vote.

There's a problem though, they want to make sure they don't alienate in the process the conservative base of the Republican Party. Because they need that base to get out and vote and to get their friends to vote, to mobilize. And sometimes there's a built-in conflict reaching out to the moderate middle without alienating the conservative base and that's the tightrope they're going to have to walk.

COSTELLO: As for the convention itself, how will it differ from the Democratic National Convention in the way it's put together?

BLITZER: At the convention itself, it's basically put together the same way. They are very much focused on who the speakers are during the 10:00 p.m. Eastern hour, that's when all the broadcast networks are taking it live, at least Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Monday night the broadcast networks are not airing virtually anything from the Republican Convention.

Those of us who work in cable news will have extensive live coverage throughout the day and throughout the night as well. They are looking to get their message across in a way that presents this president and vice president in the most sympathetic terms. That's their job and that's what they are going to try to do.

COSTELLO: You are going to be covering this convention it seems wall to wall for days and days. How do you keep up the energy?

BLITZER: Well if you love the story you're covering and you love what you're doing, the energy comes naturally. And I'm a political news junkie going way back to my youth as a kid in Buffalo, New York. So I just love what I'm doing and thrilled to be part of it and just to be in the midst of the action.

One thing that we've been doing differently this time, you saw it at the Democratic Convention at the Fleet Center in Boston, you'll see it at the Republican Convention at Madison Square Garden, we're down there close to the floor. We were right on the floor during the Democratic Convention. We'll be near the floor at the Republican Convention. And when you're with the delegates, there's an energy level that helps you become a little bit more enthusiastic, as opposed to those hermetically sealed skyboxes where we used to do the conventions from. So I think the energy level will be there, it's just going to be automatic.

COSTELLO: OK, tell me a crazy story from the Democratic National Convention.

BLITZER: A crazy story. Well, of course everybody remembers the balloons or the lack of balloons coming down at the end of the Democratic Convention. They had planned that for days and days, weeks and weeks, probably months and months, tens of thousands of balloons.

I was there before they formally opened the Fleet Center and they were still stuffing those balloons up on the ceiling. And then they were all supposed to come down very rapidly. And unfortunately, it didn't happen the way they had planned. And we were in the midst of covering that story live as it happened. That's a crazy story, something people will talk about, Carol, I think for a long time to come.

COSTELLO: I think people are still talking about that.

BLITZER: I know the Republicans watched that and they are training to make sure they don't have a similar balloon malfunction at their convention.

COSTELLO: Well the funny part is, as I'm reading, they are going to have 100,000 balloons at the Republican National Convention. But instead of having adults with mechanical air inflators (ph) blow them up, they are having 200 youths from area schools and churches blow them up. And it's expected to take six hours.

BLITZER: Wow, I feel sorry for those kids.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

BLITZER: Is this what we want the nation's young people doing?

COSTELLO: I know, they could pass out.

Did you see this birthday card, Wolf, with your picture on it?

BLITZER: Yes, I did see it.

COSTELLO: This is being sold in...

BLITZER: I did see that birthday card. I have not given my authorization for that card, I have to tell you.

COSTELLO: So you're not making any money off this?

BLITZER: I'm not making any money, I don't care. I hope they are, though. I hope somebody is making some money out of it.

COSTELLO: What's it like when you walk into a store and see your face on a birthday card?

BLITZER: It's a very weird feeling, but you know I've gotten used to it over the years.

COSTELLO: Wolf Blitzer, many thanks to you.

BLITZER: Thank you. One of these days, Carol, you're going to have, as I have had, your name being a clue in the "New York Times" crossword puzzle. That's pretty cool, too.

COSTELLO: And also a clue on "Jeopardy." That would be cool.

BLITZER: Yes, I've been there, done that.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: He has a good sense of humor, doesn't he?

MYERS: He's a great guy.

COSTELLO: He really is funny.

All next week during the Republican National Convention, if you are away from your television set, tune in to CNN Radio. Eighteen hundred affiliates from across the land carry CNN Radio. CNN "LIVE FROM..." anchor Kyra Phillips and I will be broadcasting live every night starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and we're going to broadcast all the way until 11:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll have complete coverage on everything going on in the Big Apple. That's all week long on CNN Radio from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern. And of course I'll be on DAYBREAK the next morning.

MYERS: With coffee.

COSTELLO: With a lot of coffee.

In news "Across America" this Friday, a Navy fighter jet pilot is in good condition this morning after being pulled from the San Diego Bay. His jet overshot its landing at the North Island Naval Air Station runway and rolled into the bay late last night. The pilot was able to eject safely.

A second federal judge has rejected as unconstitutional ban on the late-term abortion procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion. A judge in New York, like one in San Francisco earlier, faults the ban for not containing an exception to protect the women's health.

There is evidence police in Houston are in a heck of a mess. Investigators say information from 8,000 criminal cases has been mislabeled and badly stored in the department's property room. Houston's police chief says much of the evidence is from murder cases. The district attorney has ordered new DNA tests in nearly 400 cases. Investigators now think they know why at least one Russian passenger jet crashed. They also say they think they know who is responsible. We'll have a live report for you in three minutes.

Then, at 47 past the hour, we'll switch gears and talk about you, your child and separation anxiety, including how to deal with it and at what point it becomes a serious problem.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Developments are happening very fast in Russia. You know we're talking about those two planes that crashed within minutes of each other. And there is now some evidence that, at least in one of the plane crashes, it was a terrorist attack.

Eli Flournoy joins us now to tell us more.

ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: That's right, we're getting in information rapidly now from Russian officials who say that there were traces of explosive found on one of the plane crashes. This is the plane that crashed on its way to the Black Sea port city of Sochi, which coincidentally or not coincidentally was where Russian President Vladimir Putin was vacationing there. So there's a possible connection.

COSTELLO: So they find traces of some sort of explosives in the wreckage of the plane. Can you tell us more about what type of explosives they were?

FLOURNOY: Yes, this was an explosive called hexogen. And this is the same explosive that was used in, as you remember, the theater takeover, which was you know Chechen, the Chechen rebels took over, that the Russian forces went in and took them out, gassed them and many people were killed.

Another possible connection with that incident is that there were a number of Chechen rebels who were women who were involved in that. And on both of the two Russian air crashes, there was one Chechen woman. And in both of those cases, the remains of the Chechen women have not been found. And also interestingly, no families have come to claim them. And one of the flights, it's the only remains that have not been claimed by some family member. All of the other bodies have been claimed.

COSTELLO: Do they have any idea right now how those explosives may have been smuggled onto the plane?

FLOURNOY: No, not yet. They haven't gone that far or at least they have not disclosed yet how far along they are in their understanding of how this may have been -- you know how this attack may have come about. And so far they are only saying terrorism in the case of one of the planes, although you know they both happened simultaneously, there's a lot of suspicious coincidences involved. COSTELLO: And there's an unclaimed Chechen passenger on each plane,...

FLOURNOY: Right.

COSTELLO: ... which would give you another clue. I was going to ask you something else and it flew out of my mind. The Chechens, they have not claimed responsibility for this at all?

FLOURNOY: No, they have not. And mentioned earlier about a Web site claiming, Islamic Web site claimed. That actually is not being taken seriously. So we should be careful to say of that because that's out there now in some reporting of an Islamic Web site. That currently is not being taken seriously as a claim.

But on the other hand, the Chechens have not made a sort of official claim or any Chechen group as of yet, but we're still waiting to hear about that and to hear what type of response might come. We've been expecting to hear from President Putin himself, and we may hear from him likely later today now that some of the details are coming out.

COSTELLO: Eli Flournoy, thank you very much.

FLOURNOY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:45 Eastern. Here is what's all new this morning.

Muqtada al-Sadr is ordering his men to put down their weapons and leave Najaf and Kufa. The Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most powerful cleric, was able to broker a peace deal with al-Sadr apparently ending a three-week standoff.

Ten thousand dollars, that's how much a foundation is willing to pay for information about the murders of two Christian camp counselors. Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen were shot in their sleeping bags on a California beach.

In money news, American Airlines is sounding the alarm. It says it expects to spend an additional $1 billion this year on jet fuel, simply because oil prices keep fluctuating.

In culture, there were more Americans last year without health insurance than ever before. New census figures also show the number of people living in poverty substantially on the rise.

And in sports, Atlanta remains the team to beat in the National League East. The Braves swept the Rockies, extending their division lead to a season high nine-and-a-half games. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season -- Chad?

MYERS: I was at that game last night. That's kind of why I have toothpicks holding up my eyelids.

Good morning, everybody. (WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Here's something many parents have experienced, you drop your child off at daycare or school. She or he cries, pleads for you not to leave and then clings to you for dear life. Sound familiar? It's called separation anxiety.

CNN's Holly Firfer tells us how you can handle it.

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HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anna (ph) is like any other 5-year-old, a happy child starting kindergarten. And just like some other kids being left by their parents for the first time, Anna is having bouts of separation anxiety from her parents.

LORIE, MOTHER: When I leave her every day and she's in tears, it just it eats at me all day, so I can't really think about anything else and I'm wondering what she's doing and my stomach's been in knots.

FIRFER: According to child psychologist Ann Hazzard, about 4 percent of kids going to school or going back to school experience distress. And she adds, although a little anxiety is natural, parents must be aware of when it can become a serious problem.

ANN HAZZARD, EMORY CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST: When it gets to the point that the child doesn't want to go to school or the child has difficulty settling down and enjoying school and learning once the parent is gone that it would become a significant concern.

FIRFER: But for most, small reassurances are all that are needed to help a child adjust to time away from home.

HAZZARD: Keep the good-bye fairly brief. Often parents hope that if they provide continued reassurance that will be helpful, but sometimes that just prolongs the agony, really.

FIRFER: If a child is strongly attached to one parent, it might help to have someone else handle the transition to school, the other parent or a babysitter. Giving a transitional object, like a locket or a photo or something of the parent's to the child to hold on to while he or she is away, can be helpful.

As can developing a reward system. For every morning the child makes it school without crying, he or she earns points, and they add up to a special activity with the parent on the weekend.

Most importantly, the parent needs to remain calm and in control. But many moms and dads know it can be extremely tough.

Holly Firfer, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Coming up in the next hour, you have seen those high energy drinks on the grocery store shelves. They are even sold in a lot of gyms, but does stuff like Red Bull really work? Is it good for you? Holly will answer all of those questions for you in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

In other "Health Headlines" for you this morning, losing weight can help some women struggling with infertility get pregnant. A large number of obese women also have a kind of ovarian syndrome, which can cause irregular ovulation. But a new study shows losing weight improves egg release which can improve fertility.

Men spending a lot of hours on a bicycle may want to make some adjustments to avoid an increased risk of sexual dysfunction. A new study finds pressure from certain seats can cause impotence. Adjusting your bike can help, but special cutout seats may actually make the problem worse.

Your loud cell phone volume isn't just annoying to everyone around you, it could put your hearing at risk. Cell phone giant Siemens is warning that tones on some of their cell phones are loud enough to cause hearing damage.

For more on this or any other health story, check our Web site. The address, CNN.com/health.

A controversial film is coming your way in the next hour of DAYBREAK. From the big screen to your screen we'll tell you about some feature films you can view from the comfort of your couch.

And is the quest for Olympic gold still a possibility for the dream team? We'll tell you how they fared with their first competitor on the court.

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COSTELLO: A golden day for the U.S. women's soccer team at the Olympics, how sweet it is.

Let's take you live to Athens for the good news. Here's Larry Smith.

Good morning.

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

How sweet it is is right. What a dramatic finish last night in the gold medal match as the U.S. defeating Brazil two to one on Abby Wambach's header and the 20-second minute went on to get this victory. Unbelievable finish.

And especially sweet because there's a group of five veterans who are about to step down. And they have defined U.S. women's soccer and really soccer all over the world as far as that goes. Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly and Joy Fawcett, totaled for them two Olympic gold medals now, an Olympic silver medal and two World Cup titles. For this group of veterans, that's among the most decorated in soccer history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE FOUDY, U.S. WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM: I thought it was going to be a time of sadness, but it was -- I mean it was just joy. It was just everyone was crying and laughing and celebrating. So it was awesome. I mean I can't -- I just -- I can't think of a better way to go out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: And they celebrated long into the night.

Meanwhile, men's 200 meter has a new gold medalist. Shawn Crawford ran a personal best, 19.79 seconds to take gold. Bernard Williams silver and Justin Gatlin a bronze, to go with the 100-meter gold he won earlier this week, as U.S. goes one, two, three in the men's 200.

Men's basketball putting together the best performance of these Games in a 102-94 victory over Spain in Thursday's quarterfinals. Stephon Marbury 31 points. That's a U.S. Olympic record. So the dream team now in the semifinals. They take on Argentina and San Antonio's first star wingman Manu Ginobili. That's later tonight 8:00 p.m. Athens time.

Women's basketball team is also in action, the U.S. versus Russia in the semifinals. The Americans have won 23 games in a row in Olympic play. Two more wins, Carol, and they become the first women's basketball team to win three consecutive gold medals.

Let's go back to you.

COSTELLO: That's awesome. Go back to the men's basketball team for just a second, I heard there were some heated exchanges between Larry Brown and the Spanish coach.

SMITH: Yes, there was. There was an incident very quickly involving a timeout. International rules, coaches must request a timeout, then it's granted. Brown requested a timeout late in the game. Before it was granted, the U.S. hit a three-pointer. The Spain coach thought that he was trying to run the score up. It was just a misunderstanding in the end. But a lot of fire by both just showed how important this game was to both teams.

COSTELLO: Yes, at least that shows the men's basketball team is into it and they're showing some passion. How good of a team is Argentina?

SMITH: Yes. Argentina is a very good team. They finished second last year in the world championships. Again, Manny Ginobili is an outstanding player. Had a game winning shot for them in their opening preliminary game here. The U.S., this is not a team that's going to blow teams out by 20 points, but this is a game the U.S. can win if they play the kind of game like they did yesterday. If they don't, it could be a long evening for them.

COSTELLO: Larry Smith, live in Athens this morning, thank you.

CNN is the network to watch for up-to-the-minute coverage of all the top stories.

Coming up on DAYBREAK, after weeks of fighting, the standoff in Najaf comes to a peaceful ending, at least for now. Much more for you ahead on DAYBREAK in two minutes.

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