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CNN Live At Daybreak

World Politics and God; Historic Decision in Middle East; Watching Saturn's Titan

Aired October 27, 2004 - 05:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News."

British troops are on the move, redeploying closer to Baghdad. Until now, the troops have been assigned to a relatively calm base around Basra. Britain's defense minister says the shift will allow U.S. troops to concentrate on battling insurgents in Fallujah and other hot spots.

Amnesty International is reviewing -- is renewing its call for a full-scale investigation into prisoner abuse allegations. In a new report, the group accuses the U.S. of tolerating abuse at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and in Afghanistan.

A former U.S. attorney will lead an independent commission into the death last week of a baseball fan shot by a pepper spray pellet fired by police. The police commissioner says she wants someone outside of the department to oversee the probe.

The question this morning: Is the curse of the Bambino about to be broken? The Boston Red Sox head into tonight's game four of the World Series up three games to none over the St. Louis Cardinals.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Have you made your choice for president? You have less than a week to decide. Now six days and counting until the election. And John Kerry keeps hammering George Bush on Iraq. Kerry says the U.S. is in a bigger mess by the day. He's using the missing explosives in Iraq as an example. Kerry begins his day in Sioux City, Iowa, then heads up to Minnesota, and wraps up the day back in Iowa.

George Bush is hitting some key Rust Belt states as he fires back at John Kerry. But has stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan today. The president is calling Kerry a Monday morning quarterback when it comes to Iraq. He says Kerry isn't offering any kind of plan, just a long list of complaints.

Religion is a playing a prominent role in this presidential election, but that's certainly not the case in European politics.

Our senior international correspondent, Walter Rodgers, joins us live from London with a look at the God factor. Good morning.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Except for Iraq, religion is perhaps the most troublesome issue in the U.S. presidential election, at least in the eyes of much of the rest of the world. And it is George Bush's evangelical Christianity which has become the lightning rod.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS (voice over): It is said in Kitty Kelly's book, "The Family," that his mother calls him the chosen one. George W. Bush has reportedly told people he was called to the presidency.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that God wants everybody to be free. That's what I believe. And that's part of my foreign policy.

RODGERS: But in an increasingly irreligious Europe, Mr. Bush's sense of diving calling is troubling to some.

MICHAEL WEINRICH, THEOLOGY PROF., UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN: He is the president of the United States and the most powerful man in the world, and the decisions of the president can't be made by emotions. And if he refers to God, he is not giving reasons for his decisions. He's just saying that is my -- it comes out of my prayers.

RODGERS: European churchgoers are graying. Now the only way to catch many European politicians in church is when they're wed or when they're dead.

SIR BERNARD INGHAM, THATCHER'S FORMER PRESS SECRETARY: A politician portrays himself as pious. He's thought to be, not to put too fine a point on it, lying.

RODGERS: As governor of Texas, Mr. Bush's evangelical Christianity, his openly avowed position that only Christians go to heaven, got him in trouble with Jews. He wrote a letter apologizing for that to the Anti-Defamation League. As president, he's further trimmed his sails.

BUSH: If you're a Christian, Jew or Muslim, you're equally an American.

RODGERS: Ironically, Europeans accommodate Muslim leaders' open Islamic religiosity, even while sneering at an American president's professions of faith.

Gary Streeter is an evangelical Christian member of the British Parliament.

GARY STREETER, BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: We don't have a level playing field for faith at all at the moment. If you are a Muslim, you are given sort of all kinds of scope and room to speak and act in the cause of your faith. Trying that as a Christian, it really doesn't work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS: Perhaps this divide is much bigger than an American presidents' religiosity. Europeans have long thought and expected Americans to think and behave just like they do, without ever fully understanding how really different Americans are -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers live in London this morning, thank you.

In the Middle East, a historic decision by the Israeli Knesset and a huge victory for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Israeli Parliament is backing the prime minister's plan to pull troops and settlements out of Gaza and a tiny portion of the West Bank.

Let's head live to Jerusalem now and John Vause.

John -- tell us what this means, and what lies ahead.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this really is, as you say, an historic decision, which was taken by Israel and the Knesset last night. It means for the first time Israel has agreed to give up settlements which are being built on occupied land, which the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Israel has done a similar thing in the past. It gave up the Umik (ph) settlement in the Sinai about 20 years ago, but that was part of a peace deal with Egypt.

Now, the reaction from the Palestinians has been lukewarm. We've heard from the Palestinian Authority calling on Israel if it was truly genuine about peace they'd return to the negotiating table. There are fears amongst the Palestinians that they'll simply give up Gaza only to dig in to a large part of the West Bank.

Now, the vote last night only passed with the support of the Labor opposition. Ariel Sharon's own conservative Likud Party has been left deeply divided by this. Almost half of his elected members voted against the plan. And there are questions now of not if, but rather when, the government may, in fact, collapse.

So, there are plenty of icebergs ahead for Ariel Sharon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about Benjamin Netanyahu and his role in all of this. He's calling for a referendum. He's threatening to resign. How is Sharon expected to handle this?

VAUSE: Well, Ariel Sharon has handled this very bluntly. In fact, about an hour after Mr. Netanyahu voted for the disengagement plan, he came out and issued an ultimatum to the prime minister, who is leading a rebellion of three other senior government ministers, demanding that Ariel Sharon call a national referendum on this issue within the next two weeks, or Mr. Netanyahu and these three other ministers would quit the government. And they could well take a minor coalition party with them, the National Religious Party. Ariel Sharon already has a minority government. He has 59 votes in the 120-seat Knesset. So that will certainly put his government in a great deal of peril, possibly forcing early elections.

Now, Mr. Netanyahu was the prime minister. He would like his old job back. So many see him as simply playing a political game here.

But if Ariel Sharon somehow manages to buy the next couple of weeks, he then must take this disengagement plan back to his cabinet for a vote on the dismantling of each of those settlements. So, this is still perilous times for Ariel Sharon.

COSTELLO: John Vause live in Jerusalem this morning, thank you.

Still ahead on DAYBREAK, Scott Peterson's attorney promised to mount a devastating defense, but did he really do it? At 45 minutes after, the latest on the Peterson double-murder trial.

And at 48 minutes past, we're heading to space to check out Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The Cassini spacecraft caught these pictures, and we've got more to show you straight ahead.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

The Scott Peterson case is heading for the finish line. The defense has rested. And, no, Scott Peterson did not take the stand. Today the prosecution will begin calling rebuttal witnesses.

Our Rusty Dornin reports the defense strategy is being strongly criticized.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What promised to finish with a bang ended with a whimper. Defense attorney Mark Geragos rested the defense case following the testimony of a Modesto police officer about a burglary in Scott and Laci Peterson's neighborhood two days after she was last seen. The defense implying that burglars may have had something to do with her disappearance.

Six days of testimony, 14 witnesses. The problem, say legal analysts, is Geragos promised to stand and deliver. He didn't.

DEAN JOHNSON, LEGAL ANALYST: He said that he was going to prove that the baby was born alive. Not one whit of evidence about that. He said he was going to turn this into an eyewitness case. We have not heard testimony from one single eyewitness.

DORNIN: Expectations were high for the often-flamboyant Geragos, who seemed to score more points for his client during the state's case. Even the defendant's family agreed.

JOHN PETERSON, SCOTT'S BROTHER: The truth stands on its own. You know, we got enough of our case when the prosecution's case was on.

DORNIN: Many of the big issues of this trial have been decided behind closed doors. That's where legal analysts say Geragos may have lost his bid to present evidence he considered important to the case. He put Peterson's parents on the stand to provide an alibi for some of Peterson's odd behavior. Analysts questioned whether the defense strategy to humanize Peterson worked.

JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: By putting on the parents, it raises the question even larger, why didn't Scott testify? And again, the jury's instructed not to consider that. But it's human nature to look at this man 10 feet away who has the answers to all these questions and ask, Why didn't he tell us what happened?

DORNIN (on camera): Prosecutors plan to bring in eight rebuttal witnesses tomorrow afternoon. Friday, there's expected to be a battle over whether the jury should consider a second-degree murder charge. Closing arguments are expected to run through Election Day. Deliberations are scheduled to begin November 3.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We'll have more analysis of the Peterson case when our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, joins us for some legal talk. That will be in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

British troops on the move, redeploying closer to Baghdad. The soldiers will relieve U.S. forces, who will head to the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

A man already serving time in a California prison for rape has been charged with murdering 10 women. The murders go all the way back to the 1980s. Thirty-seven-year-old Chester D. Turner could be arraigned today or tomorrow.

In money news, oil prices are up, way up. The cost passed $55 a barrel in futures trading today. And later today, the U.S. government releases its petroleum inventories level.

In culture, pop culture that is, Paris Hilton begins another "Simple Life" today. Hilton and her pal, Nicole Richie, will board a Greyhound bus to begin filming on the third installment of their "Simple Life" series. This time, they'll spend a month traveling down the East Coast by bus.

In sports, Barry Bonds was named baseball player of the year by the "Sporting News." In voting by other players, Bonds finished ahead of the Dodgers Adrian Beltre. It's the third time Bonds has won this award.

(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Imagine what Earth was like before we had animals, plants or even oxygen. That's what scientists believe they'll find on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The first part of Titan's exploration began with a closer encounter.

For more on this amazing mission we're joined by planetarium scientist Kevin Baines at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

Thank you for joining us. I know it's early out there in California.

KEVIN BAINES, NASA PLANETARY SCIENTIST: Yes, it is. We has a wonderful evening and night looking at the immense amount of data this evening, and it's great to have a chance to talk to you all about what we...

COSTELLO: Oh, we're excited to have you here, because amazing pictures have come to us. We're going to put up some of those pictures, and I want you to explain what we're seeing and why Titan is so darned important.

BAINES: Well, Titan is really important because it's a very complex world full of -- it has a sky, an immense sky. It has an incredibly wonderful and diverse surface full of exotic features that we're trying unravel right now. And it's also a very cold place that's just intriguing. It's an intriguing place. It's an alien world all of its own, and it's unlike anything we've seen in the solar system so far.

COSTELLO: Well, so I'm looking at these pictures, and they don't mean much to me, frankly. But what would we see if we were standing on Titan? I mean, what are we seeing?

BAINES: Well, we're trying to unravel that right now. You know, this is so alien that we're trying to figure out what we're looking at. We believe that the surface is full of ices, very cold ices, water ice in particular like we have on the Earth. But also it has a drizzle of hydrocarbon snow basically coming from the high atmosphere of Titan.

So, we may be looking at slushes and snows and all sorts of exotic materials falling down on the surface, something that's really different that what we've seen anywhere else.

COSTELLO: Interesting. And that could tell us a lot of how Earth was formed. How so?

BAINES: Well, it turns out that Titan can be viewed as Earth in deep freeze; that is, the atmosphere is composed of nitrogen, which is a dead giveaway that it's something similar to the Earth. However, there is lots of chemistry going on in the atmosphere.

So, it's as if we were looking at Earth in the very first few million years, 100 million years of the Earth's history when the sun was beating down on the atmosphere, changing the composition of the atmosphere itself, the nitrogens and the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere. And therefore giving the precursors to life. The organic molecules are falling down onto the surface, and this is what we think is the primordial suit that started life on Earth.

So, we think it's a very intriguing way to look back at what the Earth was like before oxygen was here (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: It's just so fascinating. So, what more will we see as this mission continues?

BAINES: Well, within a few hours, hopefully you'll see a radar track across the surface, which is very high resolution imagery basically of the surface, but on a much higher resolution than we've ever seen before. And that's going to be very intriguing. And we'll get an idea of the topography, how high the hills are that we see there.

And we'll get a feeling, again, for whether or not we're looking at liquids on the surface. One thing we're looking for are little lakes and ponds and other types of liquid fluid surfaces comprised basically of clene (ph) fluid, not of water, but of clene (ph) fluid. So, we have not quite seen that evidence yet, and we're hoping that the radar will show us that evidence.

COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so. Kevin Baines, thank you for joining us this morning on DAYBREAK.

BAINES: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: All right, it's that time of year again. It's scary. How you can blow your diet with all of that Halloween candy. There are some low-carb alternatives, but are they the real deal? We've got that sweet story ahead in the 6:00 hour.

And up next, finding a flu shot is tough these days. But are there alternatives to the flu vaccine? Stay with us. We'll have that story for you straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: With long lines for flu shots still forming all across the country, many people who aren't in the high-risk category are looking for alternatives. Reporter Tonya Papanikolas of CNN affiliate KLS in Salt Lake City has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONYA PAPANIKOLAS, CNN AFFILIATE KLS REPORTER (voice over): You may have heard of vitamin C or Echinacea for a cold, but did you know you can also buy all-natural flu products?

KIRK ELLIS, MGR., WILD OATS HOLISTIC HEALTH: One of the remedies is the Oscillocoxinum. Everybody has to say that before we'll sell it to them. PAPANIKOLAS: Other products include a black elderberry extract that comes in a liquid syrup, joint cold and flu remedies that stimulate the immune system, and a nasal spray called Flu Relief.

ELLIS: It reduces body aches, congestion, fever, headaches.

PAPANIKOLAS: Whatever their choice, customers seem to love them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't gotten a flu shot in 11 years. I've only had the flu once, and I've used them all as prevention.

PAPANIKOLAS: Jan Rogerson (ph) takes zinc, calcium and magnesium to build up his system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since I've been taking them on a regular basis and doubling it up when I'm sick, my colds and flues are much shorter. I swear by it, and I don't swear much.

PAPANIKOLAS: These products have always been popular. But since the flu vaccine shortage, national numbers suggest people are buying these alternative treatments even more. Wild Oats says their flu- related products have gone up about 35 percent since this time last year. And October sales have jumped 30 percent compared with last month.

Kirk Ellis (ph) says he sold up to 10 packets a day of Oscillocoxinum.

ELLIS: I'm going to stock up on them. Generally some of our customers will buy three or four of them at a time.

PAPANIKOLAS (on camera): This homeopathic remedy comes in a vial. Now, they're basically sugar crystals impregnated with the homeopathic medicine, and they just dissolve under your tongue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stay right on top of it, and I try to take something like every three to four hours, and within 24 hours I feel OK.

ELLIS: They do work. I think we can give a money-back guarantee. I don't think we'd be in business if they weren't working.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from Tonya Papanikolas of CNN affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City.

Federal workers most at risk from the flu don't have to worry about finding alternative treatments. The government says next week it will begin giving free flu shots to its at-risk employees.

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

Missing explosives, the story is political ammunition on the campaign trial. Up next on DAYBREAK, we'll discuss that and more political hot topics as we count down the days until Election Day.

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 October 27, 2004 - 05:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
"Now in the News."

British troops are on the move, redeploying closer to Baghdad. Until now, the troops have been assigned to a relatively calm base around Basra. Britain's defense minister says the shift will allow U.S. troops to concentrate on battling insurgents in Fallujah and other hot spots.

Amnesty International is reviewing -- is renewing its call for a full-scale investigation into prisoner abuse allegations. In a new report, the group accuses the U.S. of tolerating abuse at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and in Afghanistan.

A former U.S. attorney will lead an independent commission into the death last week of a baseball fan shot by a pepper spray pellet fired by police. The police commissioner says she wants someone outside of the department to oversee the probe.

The question this morning: Is the curse of the Bambino about to be broken? The Boston Red Sox head into tonight's game four of the World Series up three games to none over the St. Louis Cardinals.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Have you made your choice for president? You have less than a week to decide. Now six days and counting until the election. And John Kerry keeps hammering George Bush on Iraq. Kerry says the U.S. is in a bigger mess by the day. He's using the missing explosives in Iraq as an example. Kerry begins his day in Sioux City, Iowa, then heads up to Minnesota, and wraps up the day back in Iowa.

George Bush is hitting some key Rust Belt states as he fires back at John Kerry. But has stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan today. The president is calling Kerry a Monday morning quarterback when it comes to Iraq. He says Kerry isn't offering any kind of plan, just a long list of complaints.

Religion is a playing a prominent role in this presidential election, but that's certainly not the case in European politics.

Our senior international correspondent, Walter Rodgers, joins us live from London with a look at the God factor. Good morning.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Except for Iraq, religion is perhaps the most troublesome issue in the U.S. presidential election, at least in the eyes of much of the rest of the world. And it is George Bush's evangelical Christianity which has become the lightning rod.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS (voice over): It is said in Kitty Kelly's book, "The Family," that his mother calls him the chosen one. George W. Bush has reportedly told people he was called to the presidency.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that God wants everybody to be free. That's what I believe. And that's part of my foreign policy.

RODGERS: But in an increasingly irreligious Europe, Mr. Bush's sense of diving calling is troubling to some.

MICHAEL WEINRICH, THEOLOGY PROF., UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN: He is the president of the United States and the most powerful man in the world, and the decisions of the president can't be made by emotions. And if he refers to God, he is not giving reasons for his decisions. He's just saying that is my -- it comes out of my prayers.

RODGERS: European churchgoers are graying. Now the only way to catch many European politicians in church is when they're wed or when they're dead.

SIR BERNARD INGHAM, THATCHER'S FORMER PRESS SECRETARY: A politician portrays himself as pious. He's thought to be, not to put too fine a point on it, lying.

RODGERS: As governor of Texas, Mr. Bush's evangelical Christianity, his openly avowed position that only Christians go to heaven, got him in trouble with Jews. He wrote a letter apologizing for that to the Anti-Defamation League. As president, he's further trimmed his sails.

BUSH: If you're a Christian, Jew or Muslim, you're equally an American.

RODGERS: Ironically, Europeans accommodate Muslim leaders' open Islamic religiosity, even while sneering at an American president's professions of faith.

Gary Streeter is an evangelical Christian member of the British Parliament.

GARY STREETER, BRITISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: We don't have a level playing field for faith at all at the moment. If you are a Muslim, you are given sort of all kinds of scope and room to speak and act in the cause of your faith. Trying that as a Christian, it really doesn't work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RODGERS: Perhaps this divide is much bigger than an American presidents' religiosity. Europeans have long thought and expected Americans to think and behave just like they do, without ever fully understanding how really different Americans are -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers live in London this morning, thank you.

In the Middle East, a historic decision by the Israeli Knesset and a huge victory for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Israeli Parliament is backing the prime minister's plan to pull troops and settlements out of Gaza and a tiny portion of the West Bank.

Let's head live to Jerusalem now and John Vause.

John -- tell us what this means, and what lies ahead.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this really is, as you say, an historic decision, which was taken by Israel and the Knesset last night. It means for the first time Israel has agreed to give up settlements which are being built on occupied land, which the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Israel has done a similar thing in the past. It gave up the Umik (ph) settlement in the Sinai about 20 years ago, but that was part of a peace deal with Egypt.

Now, the reaction from the Palestinians has been lukewarm. We've heard from the Palestinian Authority calling on Israel if it was truly genuine about peace they'd return to the negotiating table. There are fears amongst the Palestinians that they'll simply give up Gaza only to dig in to a large part of the West Bank.

Now, the vote last night only passed with the support of the Labor opposition. Ariel Sharon's own conservative Likud Party has been left deeply divided by this. Almost half of his elected members voted against the plan. And there are questions now of not if, but rather when, the government may, in fact, collapse.

So, there are plenty of icebergs ahead for Ariel Sharon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about Benjamin Netanyahu and his role in all of this. He's calling for a referendum. He's threatening to resign. How is Sharon expected to handle this?

VAUSE: Well, Ariel Sharon has handled this very bluntly. In fact, about an hour after Mr. Netanyahu voted for the disengagement plan, he came out and issued an ultimatum to the prime minister, who is leading a rebellion of three other senior government ministers, demanding that Ariel Sharon call a national referendum on this issue within the next two weeks, or Mr. Netanyahu and these three other ministers would quit the government. And they could well take a minor coalition party with them, the National Religious Party. Ariel Sharon already has a minority government. He has 59 votes in the 120-seat Knesset. So that will certainly put his government in a great deal of peril, possibly forcing early elections.

Now, Mr. Netanyahu was the prime minister. He would like his old job back. So many see him as simply playing a political game here.

But if Ariel Sharon somehow manages to buy the next couple of weeks, he then must take this disengagement plan back to his cabinet for a vote on the dismantling of each of those settlements. So, this is still perilous times for Ariel Sharon.

COSTELLO: John Vause live in Jerusalem this morning, thank you.

Still ahead on DAYBREAK, Scott Peterson's attorney promised to mount a devastating defense, but did he really do it? At 45 minutes after, the latest on the Peterson double-murder trial.

And at 48 minutes past, we're heading to space to check out Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The Cassini spacecraft caught these pictures, and we've got more to show you straight ahead.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

The Scott Peterson case is heading for the finish line. The defense has rested. And, no, Scott Peterson did not take the stand. Today the prosecution will begin calling rebuttal witnesses.

Our Rusty Dornin reports the defense strategy is being strongly criticized.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What promised to finish with a bang ended with a whimper. Defense attorney Mark Geragos rested the defense case following the testimony of a Modesto police officer about a burglary in Scott and Laci Peterson's neighborhood two days after she was last seen. The defense implying that burglars may have had something to do with her disappearance.

Six days of testimony, 14 witnesses. The problem, say legal analysts, is Geragos promised to stand and deliver. He didn't.

DEAN JOHNSON, LEGAL ANALYST: He said that he was going to prove that the baby was born alive. Not one whit of evidence about that. He said he was going to turn this into an eyewitness case. We have not heard testimony from one single eyewitness.

DORNIN: Expectations were high for the often-flamboyant Geragos, who seemed to score more points for his client during the state's case. Even the defendant's family agreed.

JOHN PETERSON, SCOTT'S BROTHER: The truth stands on its own. You know, we got enough of our case when the prosecution's case was on.

DORNIN: Many of the big issues of this trial have been decided behind closed doors. That's where legal analysts say Geragos may have lost his bid to present evidence he considered important to the case. He put Peterson's parents on the stand to provide an alibi for some of Peterson's odd behavior. Analysts questioned whether the defense strategy to humanize Peterson worked.

JIM HAMMER, LEGAL ANALYST: By putting on the parents, it raises the question even larger, why didn't Scott testify? And again, the jury's instructed not to consider that. But it's human nature to look at this man 10 feet away who has the answers to all these questions and ask, Why didn't he tell us what happened?

DORNIN (on camera): Prosecutors plan to bring in eight rebuttal witnesses tomorrow afternoon. Friday, there's expected to be a battle over whether the jury should consider a second-degree murder charge. Closing arguments are expected to run through Election Day. Deliberations are scheduled to begin November 3.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We'll have more analysis of the Peterson case when our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, joins us for some legal talk. That will be in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

British troops on the move, redeploying closer to Baghdad. The soldiers will relieve U.S. forces, who will head to the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

A man already serving time in a California prison for rape has been charged with murdering 10 women. The murders go all the way back to the 1980s. Thirty-seven-year-old Chester D. Turner could be arraigned today or tomorrow.

In money news, oil prices are up, way up. The cost passed $55 a barrel in futures trading today. And later today, the U.S. government releases its petroleum inventories level.

In culture, pop culture that is, Paris Hilton begins another "Simple Life" today. Hilton and her pal, Nicole Richie, will board a Greyhound bus to begin filming on the third installment of their "Simple Life" series. This time, they'll spend a month traveling down the East Coast by bus.

In sports, Barry Bonds was named baseball player of the year by the "Sporting News." In voting by other players, Bonds finished ahead of the Dodgers Adrian Beltre. It's the third time Bonds has won this award.

(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Imagine what Earth was like before we had animals, plants or even oxygen. That's what scientists believe they'll find on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The first part of Titan's exploration began with a closer encounter.

For more on this amazing mission we're joined by planetarium scientist Kevin Baines at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

Thank you for joining us. I know it's early out there in California.

KEVIN BAINES, NASA PLANETARY SCIENTIST: Yes, it is. We has a wonderful evening and night looking at the immense amount of data this evening, and it's great to have a chance to talk to you all about what we...

COSTELLO: Oh, we're excited to have you here, because amazing pictures have come to us. We're going to put up some of those pictures, and I want you to explain what we're seeing and why Titan is so darned important.

BAINES: Well, Titan is really important because it's a very complex world full of -- it has a sky, an immense sky. It has an incredibly wonderful and diverse surface full of exotic features that we're trying unravel right now. And it's also a very cold place that's just intriguing. It's an intriguing place. It's an alien world all of its own, and it's unlike anything we've seen in the solar system so far.

COSTELLO: Well, so I'm looking at these pictures, and they don't mean much to me, frankly. But what would we see if we were standing on Titan? I mean, what are we seeing?

BAINES: Well, we're trying to unravel that right now. You know, this is so alien that we're trying to figure out what we're looking at. We believe that the surface is full of ices, very cold ices, water ice in particular like we have on the Earth. But also it has a drizzle of hydrocarbon snow basically coming from the high atmosphere of Titan.

So, we may be looking at slushes and snows and all sorts of exotic materials falling down on the surface, something that's really different that what we've seen anywhere else.

COSTELLO: Interesting. And that could tell us a lot of how Earth was formed. How so?

BAINES: Well, it turns out that Titan can be viewed as Earth in deep freeze; that is, the atmosphere is composed of nitrogen, which is a dead giveaway that it's something similar to the Earth. However, there is lots of chemistry going on in the atmosphere.

So, it's as if we were looking at Earth in the very first few million years, 100 million years of the Earth's history when the sun was beating down on the atmosphere, changing the composition of the atmosphere itself, the nitrogens and the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere. And therefore giving the precursors to life. The organic molecules are falling down onto the surface, and this is what we think is the primordial suit that started life on Earth.

So, we think it's a very intriguing way to look back at what the Earth was like before oxygen was here (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: It's just so fascinating. So, what more will we see as this mission continues?

BAINES: Well, within a few hours, hopefully you'll see a radar track across the surface, which is very high resolution imagery basically of the surface, but on a much higher resolution than we've ever seen before. And that's going to be very intriguing. And we'll get an idea of the topography, how high the hills are that we see there.

And we'll get a feeling, again, for whether or not we're looking at liquids on the surface. One thing we're looking for are little lakes and ponds and other types of liquid fluid surfaces comprised basically of clene (ph) fluid, not of water, but of clene (ph) fluid. So, we have not quite seen that evidence yet, and we're hoping that the radar will show us that evidence.

COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so. Kevin Baines, thank you for joining us this morning on DAYBREAK.

BAINES: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: All right, it's that time of year again. It's scary. How you can blow your diet with all of that Halloween candy. There are some low-carb alternatives, but are they the real deal? We've got that sweet story ahead in the 6:00 hour.

And up next, finding a flu shot is tough these days. But are there alternatives to the flu vaccine? Stay with us. We'll have that story for you straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: With long lines for flu shots still forming all across the country, many people who aren't in the high-risk category are looking for alternatives. Reporter Tonya Papanikolas of CNN affiliate KLS in Salt Lake City has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONYA PAPANIKOLAS, CNN AFFILIATE KLS REPORTER (voice over): You may have heard of vitamin C or Echinacea for a cold, but did you know you can also buy all-natural flu products?

KIRK ELLIS, MGR., WILD OATS HOLISTIC HEALTH: One of the remedies is the Oscillocoxinum. Everybody has to say that before we'll sell it to them. PAPANIKOLAS: Other products include a black elderberry extract that comes in a liquid syrup, joint cold and flu remedies that stimulate the immune system, and a nasal spray called Flu Relief.

ELLIS: It reduces body aches, congestion, fever, headaches.

PAPANIKOLAS: Whatever their choice, customers seem to love them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't gotten a flu shot in 11 years. I've only had the flu once, and I've used them all as prevention.

PAPANIKOLAS: Jan Rogerson (ph) takes zinc, calcium and magnesium to build up his system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since I've been taking them on a regular basis and doubling it up when I'm sick, my colds and flues are much shorter. I swear by it, and I don't swear much.

PAPANIKOLAS: These products have always been popular. But since the flu vaccine shortage, national numbers suggest people are buying these alternative treatments even more. Wild Oats says their flu- related products have gone up about 35 percent since this time last year. And October sales have jumped 30 percent compared with last month.

Kirk Ellis (ph) says he sold up to 10 packets a day of Oscillocoxinum.

ELLIS: I'm going to stock up on them. Generally some of our customers will buy three or four of them at a time.

PAPANIKOLAS (on camera): This homeopathic remedy comes in a vial. Now, they're basically sugar crystals impregnated with the homeopathic medicine, and they just dissolve under your tongue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stay right on top of it, and I try to take something like every three to four hours, and within 24 hours I feel OK.

ELLIS: They do work. I think we can give a money-back guarantee. I don't think we'd be in business if they weren't working.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from Tonya Papanikolas of CNN affiliate KSL in Salt Lake City.

Federal workers most at risk from the flu don't have to worry about finding alternative treatments. The government says next week it will begin giving free flu shots to its at-risk employees.

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

Missing explosives, the story is political ammunition on the campaign trial. Up next on DAYBREAK, we'll discuss that and more political hot topics as we count down the days until Election Day.

This is DAYBREAK.

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