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CNN Live At Daybreak
Baghdad Blasts; Gaza Offensive; Arrests in Spain; America Votes; Side Crash Tests
Aired October 04, 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: Deadly explosions shake Baghdad near the highly secure Green Zone.
It's Monday, October 4, and this is DAYBREAK.
Well good Monday morning, 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."
Two heavy explosions, both car bombs, rocked central Baghdad this morning, but there are conflicting reports on the number killed. Some reports list the death toll at 8, while others say it could be as high as 15.
This is a live picture from Stockholm, Sweden we're going to give to you right now where the winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine will be announced momentarily. All the Nobel Prizes will be awarded in the next week. The Peace Prize is scheduled for Friday.
President Bush campaigns today in Iowa where he is expected to sign into law bills extending some tax cuts and business tax incentives. The tax breaks would have expired at the end of this year.
And it's back to school today for children in six Florida counties ravaged by hurricanes. Some of the damaged schools have held no classes for a month now. Schools in two counties, Escambia and Santa Rosa, will remain closed for another week.
Chad now has your latest on the forecast. Some areas feeling a little chill this morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly. A lot of those buildings that they were using for shelters, Betty, in Florida, were the schools.
NGUYEN: Right.
MYERS: So you couldn't put the kids in the school because people were sleeping there. And you couldn't kick them out during the day and then have them come back at night, so that's why a lot of those schools were closed. Not so much because they were damaged, but because they were being used to house some of the people whose houses actually were damaged. (WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Chad.
Well Baghdad, the Gaza Strip and Spain, all three are hot spots as we go global this morning. Deaths in Baghdad after twin car bombings rocked the central part of the town just hours ago.
In Gaza, Israel troops or Israeli troops are pushing ahead with a deadly offensive against suspected militants.
And in Spain, the suspected leader of a Basque separatist group is in custody this morning after a string of police raids.
First, though, we want to go to Baghdad and CNN's Brent Sadler.
Brent, what is the latest there following these bombings?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Betty.
The first of two explosions took place at the southern entrance to The Green Zone. That's the heavily fortified complex in the center of Baghdad, home to the U.S. and British embassies.
What we know from that blast site is that there were around 15 people killed, about 75 others injured, according to Iraq's Health Ministry. We could see from early pictures a burning white sports utility vehicle. This bomb blast targeting, apparently, an army recruitment center in much the same way as we've seen scores of other attacks against Iraq's emerging security forces over many months, aiming at dissuading Iraqis from joining the police and the army. And also aimed at zapping morale among those who are already serving in those two wings of the security forces.
Now in the second blast, we heard that very close to our hotel, about 500 meters away, in Saadoun Street. Another vehicle-borne explosive device, a car bomb, aimed, it seems, according to Iraqi police on the scene I spoke to, at two black GMC's, armored vehicles of the type normally used by Western security personnel and Western contractors. Again, casualties there, latest figure, 1 killed, 13 wounded.
Now at the same time as we could see black smoke rising from that blast site from the top of our hotel, we also heard an exchange of gunfire reportedly between the police and suspected insurgents. The gunshots echoing across the city at the same time as Iraqi security forces, backed up by U.S. armored humvees and overhead monitored by U.S. helicopters, trying to secure the area where the second blast took place -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Brent, we are getting a lot of numbers in, 8 dead, some say 15, at least 80 injured. Set the scene for us when these bombs went off, were a lot of Iraqis out and about in the immediate area?
SADLER: Certainly the second blast in Saadoun Street, that's a busy, busy commercial district. And I just took a walk down there outside our hotel, and it was obviously a very well-planned attack in the sense that one vehicle had been able, apparently, to single out the moment when these vehicles were passing by.
The two GMCs, and we don't know who was in them at this stage, were damaged, but they were armored. So it would seem that most of the casualties were Iraqis around the blast site rather than the suspected target itself. Certainly seems that panic and bloodshed immediately after the blasts, and I can tell you the blast was very loud from our position. Some of the shrapnel landing close to our workspace here -- Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN's Brent Sadler in Baghdad, thank you for that report.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, more conflict. Let's go now to Jerusalem. CNN's Guy Raz has the latest on Israel's continuing military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Good morning to you -- Guy.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty.
This is day six in a relentless Israeli military assault on northern Gaza. Betty, this is the largest Israeli military incursion into Gaza in more than four years. Now, according to Palestinian sources, some 70 Palestinians have been killed in clashes over the past six days, many of them fighters, Betty, but among them, civilians and children. A 13-year-old boy caught in the crossfire just some days ago.
Now earlier this morning, Betty, four Palestinian men were killed in an Israeli missile attack. According to Palestinian sources, those men were all members of the hard line Palestinian faction Hamas. Now the Israeli government is saying this is an open-ended protractive military operation. They say it's designed to put an end to rocket attacks on Israeli settlements inside of Gaza and on Israeli villages that lie outside of the occupied Gaza Strip.
Now Palestinian fighters have used parts of northern Gaza as a staging ground to launch these rocket attacks. Some of them have been deadly, including one last week, Betty, that killed two young boys in the Israeli town of Sderot (ph). That town, again, lies just outside of the occupied Gaza Strip.
Now Israel is saying it will continue to carry out this military operation until it puts an end to these rocket attacks. Hamas, the group that has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, has said it will stop, it will cease these rocket attacks if Israel withdrawals its troops. But at the same time, Betty, Israel is saying that it will continue to carry out this incursion until it puts an end to these attacks.
NGUYEN: And we'll be watching CNN's Guy Raz in Jerusalem for us today. Thank you.
Now to Spain, and police believe they have a major militant figure in custody.
Joining us now is Madrid bureau chief Al Goodman with the latest there.
Good morning -- Al.
AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Betty.
Well the largest newspaper in Spain says that the police took off the head of the Basque separatist group after the second largest newspaper calls this a mortal blow. Now authorities are not going that far, but they say it is a very important round up by police against the Basque separatist group ETA, which of course is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
On Sunday, a total of 21 people arrested, 20 of them in France, 1 in Spain. The most important suspects, Mikel Albisu Iriarte, alias "Mikel al-Antza." He is the suspected leader of ETA for the past 11 years.
Also arrested, his companion, Soledad Iparraguirre, who was suspected of running the extortion unit of ETA, which demanded protection money from businesses and individuals. Money that was later used to carry out further ETA attacks. ETA is blamed for more than 800 killings in more than three decades in its fight for an independent Basque homeland.
Now here is what the police have turned up so far in the search. There are seven locations, four were searched on Sunday, three are being searched at this hour by daylight. They have sent in the bomb squads first because of suspected booby-traps. They have already found hundreds of pounds of explosives, assault rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, cash and computers. So a very big blow against the Basque group ETA -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Definitely. CNN's Al Goodman, the Madrid bureau chief, thanks for that report this morning.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, a new poll shows the race for the White House is a dead heat. In 10 minutes, can the candidates sway those swing voters?
Which brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Day," have you changed your choice for president? We'll read some of that e-mail.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QURN TRAN, PH.D. STUDENT, GEORGIA TECH: I like to cook, but I get interrupted and I forgot what I last did.
ANNOUNCER: Does this sound familiar? Qurn Tran from Georgia Tech's Aware Home is doing research about a memory aid that helps people remember where they left off in a task. The preliminary work is set in the kitchen. It's called the Cook's Collage.
TRAN: So we're using cameras that look at their activity area in which you are performing a task. It will focus on your hands to track what you are doing. And the cameras are fed in to a computer and images show on the display.
ANNOUNCER: Her future work involves extending the study to elderly cooks.
TRAN: The elderly have taken an interest in it as well, because preparing a meal holds value as they age.
ANNOUNCER: Fran is also looking to discover where else interruptions are problematic in the home and examining how deja vu displays can compensate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We have your news, money, weather and sports. The time right now is 5:45 Eastern. And here is what's all new this morning.
A little more than three hours ago, two car bombs ripped through central Baghdad, at least 16 people are dead and 85 others injured. The first blast occurred outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. The second near a hotel.
Martha Stewart has been partying, I should say, during her last few days of freedom. The "New York Post" reports that Stewart went to the Bahamas for the weekend to attend a friend's wedding. She is scheduled to begin her five-month stay in a West Virginia prison. That starts on Friday.
And in money, "Shark Tale" makes a big splash at the box office. The animated fish story devours an estimated $49.1 million as the weekend's top film.
In culture, just moments ago, two Americans were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine. Richard Axel and Linda Buck were honored for their work with odor receptors and the human sense of smell.
In sports, a big win for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on one of NASCAR's fastest tracks. Jr. won the race at Talladega in Alabama to take the points to lead with seven races to go. It is his fifth career win at the track. Only his father has won more races there. So a good day for the Earnhardt family -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, father Dale actually has won 10 races there. So little Jr. said, yes, I got a long way to go. I have a lot more races to win. He was really good in the interview right there. He was really, actually, a very gracious winner yesterday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: That doesn't happen too often. All right, thank you, Chad.
In weather, and actually, we want to get now to the presidential race. It is back to a dead heat. John Kerry appears to have gained on George Bush. The latest CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup Poll taken after Thursday night's debate shows 49 percent of likely voters pick both Bush and Kerry and 1 percent pick Ralph Nader. Bush has a small edge among registered voters, 49 percent to Kerry's 47 percent. But with the poll's sampling error, that too is a tie.
Now today Bush is campaigning in the battleground state of Iowa. He leaves Washington in a few hours from now. Kerry will end his day in Iowa as well. Before that, he got campaign's -- he has campaign stops in Pennsylvania. And then he kicks off his morning in New Hampshire.
That is where we head right now. Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, the WOKQ Morning Waking Crew is in Portsmouth and Manchester, joining us live.
Good morning to you both.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning, Betty.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning.
NGUYEN: Well let's talk about these polls. Boy, a big difference, each has 49 percent, a dead heat so far. Are you guys surprised?
ERICSON: Well you know it's going to be an interesting real 31 days until Election Day. And I don't know that anyone is surprised by that at this point. And everyone is actually a little concerned about whether or not we're going to have a repeat of 2000 where it takes us several weeks to determine who is going to be the president.
Last night, John Kerry landed at Pease International Trade Port, getting ready for an appearance this morning. Hundreds of supporters were on hand. And John Kerry told them last night that this is the most important 30 days in the most important election ever.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
CARRIER: I hear Kerry.
NGUYEN: Danielle, I want to read some of the e-mail responses that we've been getting today. In light of the debate, we've been asking have you changed your mind on who you are going to vote for?
And Henry (ph) writes in saying Kerry really defined himself to me at the debate the other night. But then we also get another person, Jerome (ph), who writes in when Senator Kerry stated his policy for a military response would include a global test in a post 9/11 world, I firmed up my vote for President Bush.
A lot of people taking that particular response to task.
CARRIER: You know I've actually myself am a little not sure who I am going to vote for. And every -- it seems every person I talk to, they are uncertain. They don't know. And even after the first debate, they are still uncertain. And it's amazing the surrogates and the candidates themselves how much you know miles that they are traveling to get those swing voters.
ERICSON: The president was here last Friday right after the debate, and it was one of the largest crowds ever. It was about 8,000 people at a ski area in Manchester. And he was trying to downplay the media saying that John Kerry had won the first debate.
NGUYEN: Speaking of the media, here's another response from Peter (ph). He writes I am losing my faith in a president that can only repeat rhetoric and give excuses for failures. I'm also disappointed in President Bush's focus on deflecting his record and trying to control the issues in the media, as you just mentioned. My vote is leaning toward Kerry, if for no other reason than foreign policy.
And then one other one I want to give to you guys. Virginia (ph) writes, no, the debates have not changed my mind about the presidential election. I still would not vote for an admitted war criminal. I will vote again for President Bush.
Your thoughts on that, I'll give this one to you -- Mark.
ERICSON: Oh my!
CARRIER: Oh good!
ERICSON: Well,...
NGUYEN: No pressure.
ERICSON: Gee, thanks. Well, Senator Kerry's Vietnam record certainly has been called into question. But again, I think we've got two more debates to go. The second of the three presidential debates, not counting the vice presidential one tomorrow night, the second of the three presidential debates, that should be interesting because that's going to be more of a freewheeling forum where the candidates, I think, are going to be able to really strut their stuff, as it were.
NGUYEN: Definitely. And I know we all will be watching that body language that we saw in the first debate to see if it's going to be there in this one on Friday.
All right, Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier with WOKQ, thanks so much for being with us today.
This is a big debate week, as we've been mentioning, vice presidential candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards go at it tomorrow in Cleveland, Ohio. And Bush and Kerry go for round two on Friday in St. Louis, Missouri. You can count on CNN for live coverage of both of those debates, so stay with us. Side impact airbags are supposed to protect drivers and passengers in side impact crashes, right? Well up next, why eight mid-sized vehicles put to the test may have crashed and burned. That story ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: When it comes to vehicle safety, more expensive isn't necessarily better. Eight mid-sized vehicles, all with standard side impact airbags, were tested for protecting drivers and passengers in both front and back seats. So how did they do?
Our Julie Vallese has the results.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight popular mid-sized vehicles, ranging in price from inexpensive to luxury, all were rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on a scale of poor, marginal, acceptable and good. The best performer, a moderately priced vehicle, the Saab 93. It is the first passenger car to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's rating Best Pick in both the front and side impact crash tests.
ADRIAN LUND, INS. INST. FOR HWY. SAFETY: The double best pick category is a rare thing in our crash testing so far.
VALLESE: Also rare, for now anyway, inexpensive cars coming with standard side impact airbags. Mitsubishi put them in its Gallant as standard equipment and it went from poor to good. The Acura TL and Lexus ES330 were also rated good. The Volvo S40 earned an acceptable rating, as did the luxury models of the Mercedes C class and Saab 95.
LUND: What we're seeing in these tests is that you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money to get good side impact protection, and spending a lot of money doesn't guarantee that it will be the best side impact protection.
VALLESE: Take the Jaguar X type, it received a marginal rating.
LUND: We saw on the driver that there was too high a risk of rib fractures and possibly internal organ injuries.
VALLESE: In a statement, Jaguar pointed out that in the test both occupants were protected by the deployment of side airbags. And in government side crash tests, the X type has achieved a four star rating.
The Insurance Institute says it's unlikely any cars would pass this test without side impact airbags. But even with standard side impact airbags, many vehicles have room for improvement.
Julie Vallese, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Very interesting.
Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, central Baghdad shaken by at least two explosions overnight. We will have a live report from Baghdad at the top of the hour.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 4, 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: Deadly explosions shake Baghdad near the highly secure Green Zone.
It's Monday, October 4, and this is DAYBREAK.
Well good Monday morning, 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."
Two heavy explosions, both car bombs, rocked central Baghdad this morning, but there are conflicting reports on the number killed. Some reports list the death toll at 8, while others say it could be as high as 15.
This is a live picture from Stockholm, Sweden we're going to give to you right now where the winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine will be announced momentarily. All the Nobel Prizes will be awarded in the next week. The Peace Prize is scheduled for Friday.
President Bush campaigns today in Iowa where he is expected to sign into law bills extending some tax cuts and business tax incentives. The tax breaks would have expired at the end of this year.
And it's back to school today for children in six Florida counties ravaged by hurricanes. Some of the damaged schools have held no classes for a month now. Schools in two counties, Escambia and Santa Rosa, will remain closed for another week.
Chad now has your latest on the forecast. Some areas feeling a little chill this morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly. A lot of those buildings that they were using for shelters, Betty, in Florida, were the schools.
NGUYEN: Right.
MYERS: So you couldn't put the kids in the school because people were sleeping there. And you couldn't kick them out during the day and then have them come back at night, so that's why a lot of those schools were closed. Not so much because they were damaged, but because they were being used to house some of the people whose houses actually were damaged. (WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right, thank you, Chad.
Well Baghdad, the Gaza Strip and Spain, all three are hot spots as we go global this morning. Deaths in Baghdad after twin car bombings rocked the central part of the town just hours ago.
In Gaza, Israel troops or Israeli troops are pushing ahead with a deadly offensive against suspected militants.
And in Spain, the suspected leader of a Basque separatist group is in custody this morning after a string of police raids.
First, though, we want to go to Baghdad and CNN's Brent Sadler.
Brent, what is the latest there following these bombings?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Betty.
The first of two explosions took place at the southern entrance to The Green Zone. That's the heavily fortified complex in the center of Baghdad, home to the U.S. and British embassies.
What we know from that blast site is that there were around 15 people killed, about 75 others injured, according to Iraq's Health Ministry. We could see from early pictures a burning white sports utility vehicle. This bomb blast targeting, apparently, an army recruitment center in much the same way as we've seen scores of other attacks against Iraq's emerging security forces over many months, aiming at dissuading Iraqis from joining the police and the army. And also aimed at zapping morale among those who are already serving in those two wings of the security forces.
Now in the second blast, we heard that very close to our hotel, about 500 meters away, in Saadoun Street. Another vehicle-borne explosive device, a car bomb, aimed, it seems, according to Iraqi police on the scene I spoke to, at two black GMC's, armored vehicles of the type normally used by Western security personnel and Western contractors. Again, casualties there, latest figure, 1 killed, 13 wounded.
Now at the same time as we could see black smoke rising from that blast site from the top of our hotel, we also heard an exchange of gunfire reportedly between the police and suspected insurgents. The gunshots echoing across the city at the same time as Iraqi security forces, backed up by U.S. armored humvees and overhead monitored by U.S. helicopters, trying to secure the area where the second blast took place -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Brent, we are getting a lot of numbers in, 8 dead, some say 15, at least 80 injured. Set the scene for us when these bombs went off, were a lot of Iraqis out and about in the immediate area?
SADLER: Certainly the second blast in Saadoun Street, that's a busy, busy commercial district. And I just took a walk down there outside our hotel, and it was obviously a very well-planned attack in the sense that one vehicle had been able, apparently, to single out the moment when these vehicles were passing by.
The two GMCs, and we don't know who was in them at this stage, were damaged, but they were armored. So it would seem that most of the casualties were Iraqis around the blast site rather than the suspected target itself. Certainly seems that panic and bloodshed immediately after the blasts, and I can tell you the blast was very loud from our position. Some of the shrapnel landing close to our workspace here -- Betty.
NGUYEN: CNN's Brent Sadler in Baghdad, thank you for that report.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, more conflict. Let's go now to Jerusalem. CNN's Guy Raz has the latest on Israel's continuing military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Good morning to you -- Guy.
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty.
This is day six in a relentless Israeli military assault on northern Gaza. Betty, this is the largest Israeli military incursion into Gaza in more than four years. Now, according to Palestinian sources, some 70 Palestinians have been killed in clashes over the past six days, many of them fighters, Betty, but among them, civilians and children. A 13-year-old boy caught in the crossfire just some days ago.
Now earlier this morning, Betty, four Palestinian men were killed in an Israeli missile attack. According to Palestinian sources, those men were all members of the hard line Palestinian faction Hamas. Now the Israeli government is saying this is an open-ended protractive military operation. They say it's designed to put an end to rocket attacks on Israeli settlements inside of Gaza and on Israeli villages that lie outside of the occupied Gaza Strip.
Now Palestinian fighters have used parts of northern Gaza as a staging ground to launch these rocket attacks. Some of them have been deadly, including one last week, Betty, that killed two young boys in the Israeli town of Sderot (ph). That town, again, lies just outside of the occupied Gaza Strip.
Now Israel is saying it will continue to carry out this military operation until it puts an end to these rocket attacks. Hamas, the group that has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, has said it will stop, it will cease these rocket attacks if Israel withdrawals its troops. But at the same time, Betty, Israel is saying that it will continue to carry out this incursion until it puts an end to these attacks.
NGUYEN: And we'll be watching CNN's Guy Raz in Jerusalem for us today. Thank you.
Now to Spain, and police believe they have a major militant figure in custody.
Joining us now is Madrid bureau chief Al Goodman with the latest there.
Good morning -- Al.
AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Betty.
Well the largest newspaper in Spain says that the police took off the head of the Basque separatist group after the second largest newspaper calls this a mortal blow. Now authorities are not going that far, but they say it is a very important round up by police against the Basque separatist group ETA, which of course is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
On Sunday, a total of 21 people arrested, 20 of them in France, 1 in Spain. The most important suspects, Mikel Albisu Iriarte, alias "Mikel al-Antza." He is the suspected leader of ETA for the past 11 years.
Also arrested, his companion, Soledad Iparraguirre, who was suspected of running the extortion unit of ETA, which demanded protection money from businesses and individuals. Money that was later used to carry out further ETA attacks. ETA is blamed for more than 800 killings in more than three decades in its fight for an independent Basque homeland.
Now here is what the police have turned up so far in the search. There are seven locations, four were searched on Sunday, three are being searched at this hour by daylight. They have sent in the bomb squads first because of suspected booby-traps. They have already found hundreds of pounds of explosives, assault rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, cash and computers. So a very big blow against the Basque group ETA -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Definitely. CNN's Al Goodman, the Madrid bureau chief, thanks for that report this morning.
Still to come on DAYBREAK, a new poll shows the race for the White House is a dead heat. In 10 minutes, can the candidates sway those swing voters?
Which brings us to our e-mail "Question of the Day," have you changed your choice for president? We'll read some of that e-mail.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QURN TRAN, PH.D. STUDENT, GEORGIA TECH: I like to cook, but I get interrupted and I forgot what I last did.
ANNOUNCER: Does this sound familiar? Qurn Tran from Georgia Tech's Aware Home is doing research about a memory aid that helps people remember where they left off in a task. The preliminary work is set in the kitchen. It's called the Cook's Collage.
TRAN: So we're using cameras that look at their activity area in which you are performing a task. It will focus on your hands to track what you are doing. And the cameras are fed in to a computer and images show on the display.
ANNOUNCER: Her future work involves extending the study to elderly cooks.
TRAN: The elderly have taken an interest in it as well, because preparing a meal holds value as they age.
ANNOUNCER: Fran is also looking to discover where else interruptions are problematic in the home and examining how deja vu displays can compensate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We have your news, money, weather and sports. The time right now is 5:45 Eastern. And here is what's all new this morning.
A little more than three hours ago, two car bombs ripped through central Baghdad, at least 16 people are dead and 85 others injured. The first blast occurred outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. The second near a hotel.
Martha Stewart has been partying, I should say, during her last few days of freedom. The "New York Post" reports that Stewart went to the Bahamas for the weekend to attend a friend's wedding. She is scheduled to begin her five-month stay in a West Virginia prison. That starts on Friday.
And in money, "Shark Tale" makes a big splash at the box office. The animated fish story devours an estimated $49.1 million as the weekend's top film.
In culture, just moments ago, two Americans were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine. Richard Axel and Linda Buck were honored for their work with odor receptors and the human sense of smell.
In sports, a big win for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on one of NASCAR's fastest tracks. Jr. won the race at Talladega in Alabama to take the points to lead with seven races to go. It is his fifth career win at the track. Only his father has won more races there. So a good day for the Earnhardt family -- Chad.
MYERS: Yes, father Dale actually has won 10 races there. So little Jr. said, yes, I got a long way to go. I have a lot more races to win. He was really good in the interview right there. He was really, actually, a very gracious winner yesterday.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: That doesn't happen too often. All right, thank you, Chad.
In weather, and actually, we want to get now to the presidential race. It is back to a dead heat. John Kerry appears to have gained on George Bush. The latest CNN-"USA Today"-Gallup Poll taken after Thursday night's debate shows 49 percent of likely voters pick both Bush and Kerry and 1 percent pick Ralph Nader. Bush has a small edge among registered voters, 49 percent to Kerry's 47 percent. But with the poll's sampling error, that too is a tie.
Now today Bush is campaigning in the battleground state of Iowa. He leaves Washington in a few hours from now. Kerry will end his day in Iowa as well. Before that, he got campaign's -- he has campaign stops in Pennsylvania. And then he kicks off his morning in New Hampshire.
That is where we head right now. Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier, the WOKQ Morning Waking Crew is in Portsmouth and Manchester, joining us live.
Good morning to you both.
MARK ERICSON, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning, Betty.
DANIELLE CARRIER, WOKQ MORNING WAKING CREW, PORTSMOUTH & MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning.
NGUYEN: Well let's talk about these polls. Boy, a big difference, each has 49 percent, a dead heat so far. Are you guys surprised?
ERICSON: Well you know it's going to be an interesting real 31 days until Election Day. And I don't know that anyone is surprised by that at this point. And everyone is actually a little concerned about whether or not we're going to have a repeat of 2000 where it takes us several weeks to determine who is going to be the president.
Last night, John Kerry landed at Pease International Trade Port, getting ready for an appearance this morning. Hundreds of supporters were on hand. And John Kerry told them last night that this is the most important 30 days in the most important election ever.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
CARRIER: I hear Kerry.
NGUYEN: Danielle, I want to read some of the e-mail responses that we've been getting today. In light of the debate, we've been asking have you changed your mind on who you are going to vote for?
And Henry (ph) writes in saying Kerry really defined himself to me at the debate the other night. But then we also get another person, Jerome (ph), who writes in when Senator Kerry stated his policy for a military response would include a global test in a post 9/11 world, I firmed up my vote for President Bush.
A lot of people taking that particular response to task.
CARRIER: You know I've actually myself am a little not sure who I am going to vote for. And every -- it seems every person I talk to, they are uncertain. They don't know. And even after the first debate, they are still uncertain. And it's amazing the surrogates and the candidates themselves how much you know miles that they are traveling to get those swing voters.
ERICSON: The president was here last Friday right after the debate, and it was one of the largest crowds ever. It was about 8,000 people at a ski area in Manchester. And he was trying to downplay the media saying that John Kerry had won the first debate.
NGUYEN: Speaking of the media, here's another response from Peter (ph). He writes I am losing my faith in a president that can only repeat rhetoric and give excuses for failures. I'm also disappointed in President Bush's focus on deflecting his record and trying to control the issues in the media, as you just mentioned. My vote is leaning toward Kerry, if for no other reason than foreign policy.
And then one other one I want to give to you guys. Virginia (ph) writes, no, the debates have not changed my mind about the presidential election. I still would not vote for an admitted war criminal. I will vote again for President Bush.
Your thoughts on that, I'll give this one to you -- Mark.
ERICSON: Oh my!
CARRIER: Oh good!
ERICSON: Well,...
NGUYEN: No pressure.
ERICSON: Gee, thanks. Well, Senator Kerry's Vietnam record certainly has been called into question. But again, I think we've got two more debates to go. The second of the three presidential debates, not counting the vice presidential one tomorrow night, the second of the three presidential debates, that should be interesting because that's going to be more of a freewheeling forum where the candidates, I think, are going to be able to really strut their stuff, as it were.
NGUYEN: Definitely. And I know we all will be watching that body language that we saw in the first debate to see if it's going to be there in this one on Friday.
All right, Mark Ericson and Danielle Carrier with WOKQ, thanks so much for being with us today.
This is a big debate week, as we've been mentioning, vice presidential candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards go at it tomorrow in Cleveland, Ohio. And Bush and Kerry go for round two on Friday in St. Louis, Missouri. You can count on CNN for live coverage of both of those debates, so stay with us. Side impact airbags are supposed to protect drivers and passengers in side impact crashes, right? Well up next, why eight mid-sized vehicles put to the test may have crashed and burned. That story ahead.
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NGUYEN: When it comes to vehicle safety, more expensive isn't necessarily better. Eight mid-sized vehicles, all with standard side impact airbags, were tested for protecting drivers and passengers in both front and back seats. So how did they do?
Our Julie Vallese has the results.
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JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight popular mid-sized vehicles, ranging in price from inexpensive to luxury, all were rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on a scale of poor, marginal, acceptable and good. The best performer, a moderately priced vehicle, the Saab 93. It is the first passenger car to earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's rating Best Pick in both the front and side impact crash tests.
ADRIAN LUND, INS. INST. FOR HWY. SAFETY: The double best pick category is a rare thing in our crash testing so far.
VALLESE: Also rare, for now anyway, inexpensive cars coming with standard side impact airbags. Mitsubishi put them in its Gallant as standard equipment and it went from poor to good. The Acura TL and Lexus ES330 were also rated good. The Volvo S40 earned an acceptable rating, as did the luxury models of the Mercedes C class and Saab 95.
LUND: What we're seeing in these tests is that you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money to get good side impact protection, and spending a lot of money doesn't guarantee that it will be the best side impact protection.
VALLESE: Take the Jaguar X type, it received a marginal rating.
LUND: We saw on the driver that there was too high a risk of rib fractures and possibly internal organ injuries.
VALLESE: In a statement, Jaguar pointed out that in the test both occupants were protected by the deployment of side airbags. And in government side crash tests, the X type has achieved a four star rating.
The Insurance Institute says it's unlikely any cars would pass this test without side impact airbags. But even with standard side impact airbags, many vehicles have room for improvement.
Julie Vallese, CNN, Washington.
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NGUYEN: Very interesting.
Coming up in the next hour of DAYBREAK, central Baghdad shaken by at least two explosions overnight. We will have a live report from Baghdad at the top of the hour.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Monday.
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