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CNN Live At Daybreak

Yasser Arafat on Life Support; Back to Work for Jury in Murder Trial of Scott Peterson

Aired November 05, 2004 - 05:00   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: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is on life support as a controversy builds over what happens if he dies.
It is Friday, November 5.

This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is in a coma. He's being kept alive by machines. That's according to what two U.S. administration officials tell us. French, Israeli and Egyptian officials are negotiating with his family and aides over where he should be buried.

In Iraq, Margaret Hassan's captors are threatening to hand over the director of CARE International to militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi unless Britain withdraws its troops by today.

And in Redwood City, California, it is back to work later this morning for the jury in the murder trial of Scott Peterson. Deliberations began on Wednesday.

To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning and happy Friday.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is a happy Friday. It's a cold Friday in a lot of spots.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: A hero to the Palestinians, a murderer to many Israelis -- Yasser Arafat has been a controversial figure for so many years now.

Jim Bittermann is outside of the military hospital near Paris where Arafat remains in intensive care.

Just minutes ago, he filed this report for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hospital authorities are saying they're not going to release any further information about the condition of Yasser Arafat until there's a change in the condition or until the family suggests that they want some kind of announcement made. Basically, the most we know from them officially is that Arafat has not died, as some reports yesterday had it, and that he's still alive and being treated in that specialty area of the hospital.

Now, one thing we have heard this morning is a live interview with Leila Shahid, who is the Palestinian representative in France, and she told RTL, the French-Luxembourg wireless radio station that, in fact, Arafat has not gone brain dead, as some people had suggested, that he is, however, in a coma and what she called a reversible coma, that he could either come out of it or not come out of it, depending on how circumstances develop.

The other thing that was interesting about her remarks this morning is that she said this coma was induced by doctors on Wednesday afternoon and that Arafat suddenly took a turn for the worse. They wanted to perform a biopsy and they then went ahead and induced this coma, which Yasser Arafat has been in ever since and it's not clear how or whether he will come out of that coma.

She did say also that all of his vital organs are functioning. And she said, as well, that when President Jacques Chirac was here yesterday afternoon to visit the Palestinian president, that Arafat seemed to open his eyes and smile slightly, perhaps acknowledging the president's -- the French president.

So that's basically the situation here. Obviously, Yasser Arafat in critical condition. There's been an all night vigil here by some Palestinians who have wanted to show their support and best wishes for the president. But, in fact, it does not look very good at this point. He's in very critical condition.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Clamard, France.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: And as a result, Palestinian and Israeli security forces are on alert this morning. They're reviewing ways to keep the states safe in the event of Arafat's death.

CNN's John Vause joins us live from the West Bank city of Ramallah.

What's happening there -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a very quiet day here in Ramallah. But we are told that the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, will leave Ramallah in the next few hours and travel to Gaza to meet with the various Palestinian factions -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade -- to try and work out a way to maintain law and order within the Gaza Strip.

That's the big concern. There's been increasing lawlessness in Gaza (AUDIO GAP)

COSTELLO: Ooh, I think we've lost John Vause, John Vause from the city of Ramallah.

We'll try to get him back for you as soon as possible, but as you could tell, we were having troubles with his audio. And as you heard him say, they are getting ready for the event of Arafat's death.

We'll keep you updated throughout the morning here on DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the half hour, we'll talk to a journalist who has closely followed the events in the Middle East.

Two more American Marines have been killed, four others wounded, in fighting near Falluja. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has been attacking insurgent positions in the rebel held city ahead of a likely all out assault.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is embedded with the Marines near Falluja and reports the troops are stepping up their training in urban warfare tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Don, make sure you hang out behind me a little bit so I can give you some cover.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Getting ready to storm out of the desert and into an urban jungle. An assault on Falluja promises to be a close quarters street fight. Marine infantrymen and tanks will have to work in harmony against rebel fighters in buildings and hidden allies.

SGT. MICHAEL CHAMBERS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: That's what's kind of scary. You're rolling right by thinking it's secured and then they pop up off that rooftop behind you and then here comes the RPG.

PENHAUL: Remote-controlled explosives and suicide car bombs are likely to be major threats.

(on camera): The history books recall how some of the world's most powerful armies became bogged down in urban guerrilla warfare -- Hue City, Vietnam; Mogadishu, Somalia; Groznyy, Chechnya.

CPT. TOM TENNENT, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Urban warfare is a dirty business. The defender initially has the advantage because he knows the terrain much better than the attacker. If the defender is able to use his defense to his advantage, the attacker will be slowed and will have to reorient his offense.

PENHAUL: When the Marines roll in, insurgent gunmen could be lurking in any window or doorway. Armored vehicles and tanks will become magnets for attack.

SGT. JOSE DUCASSE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We're going to be looking for, you know, RPG-5 from the rooftops and intersections and stuff like that and make sure we don't hit any tank mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charge three. PENHAUL: Mortar crews run through drills. Inside the city they could, if needed, lob charges over buildings or onto rooftops to destroy concealed insurgent positions. This explosives team is measuring out detonation cord. Depending on how they tie the knots, they can blow out doors and race in to clear potential insurgent hideouts. Intelligence suggests Falluja's defenders may have rigged buildings with homemade bombs.

LANCE CPL. WILLIAM SABIN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Will it cause us to maybe slow down our attack a little bit because we have to take into account all these kind of obstacles for our booby traps? Yes. But will it cause us to not be able to complete the mission? Absolutely not.

PENHAUL: U.S. commanders say the keys to victory in Fallujah are moving fast and coordinating their weapons on the ground and in the air, a battlefield where Marine and machine works as one.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, near Falluja.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: No verdict yet in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. But the judge rules on what will and won't be seen when that verdict is delivered. Ted Rowlands has more for you in six minutes.

Seven minutes after that, we'll take you to a land of ice and fire.

And you may be one of 40,000 Americans who did this on Tuesday. So what do you think of electronic voting, huh? Daniel Sieberg has a report card at 37 minutes past.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Back to the situation in the West Bank and Ramallah. We lost John Vause's audio a few minutes ago. We got it back. As we've been telling you, Yasser Arafat is in a Paris hospital on life support. And various factions within Israel and on the West Bank are preparing for his possible death.

So, John -- bring us up to date.

VAUSE: Hello, Carol.

Well, the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, is due to travel to Gaza within the next few hours to meet with all the various Palestinian factions down there -- Hamas, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade and Islamic Jihad -- to try and work out a plan to maintain law and order over the coming days. The big concern is the Gaza Strip. There's been increasing infighting and lawlessness there for most of this year.

There is expected to be a show of unity over the coming days and weeks, but after that no one is certain what will happen. It's fair to say right now, coalition, that the Palestinian Authority is in a state of shock. One source described it to me as a bunch of orphans who are lost.

Still, plans have to be made. And the big one is where will Yasser Arafat be buried? In the past, the Palestinian leader has said that he wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. But the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said that simply is not going to happen. So all the talk now is in Gaza.

The Arafat family has a plot near the town of Khan Unis in the central Gaza Strip. But that in itself is a huge logistical problem. It's a small town. There's only one hotel, one road in and out, which is a traffic jam on a good day. So you can imagine the provisional ballots if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians want to travel to Gaza for this funeral, to say nothing of heads of state for the state funeral, as well as leaders of the Arab world, who have no formal ties with the Israelis -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And they're worried about countries like Libya coming in to pay respects, too, countries Israel doesn't necessarily get along with.

VAUSE: Well, countries which don't actually recognize Israel, like Saudi Arabia and Libya, just to name a couple. So there is a plan put in place that possibly -- and this is all speculation at this stage -- that the leaders from those countries which have no diplomatic ties with Israel, which refuse to recognize Israel, will go to Egypt and then they will be helicoptered into the Gaza Strip for the funeral.

But these plans are still at a very early stage. Negotiations are under way between the Egyptians and the Israelis and the Americans, as well as Arafat's family, to try and find out just where and how he can be buried.

And, also, one important point in all of this, Carol. Under Islamic law, a person must be buried within 24 hours of being declared dead -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The other question I had, it's just difficult to believe that they weren't prepared because Yasser Arafat is 75-years- old.

VAUSE: Yes, that's -- I guess on the face of it, that is an amazing thing to think that they weren't ready for this, knowing that the man was old and ill. But there's also this feeling here that no one actually even wanted to talk about Yasser Arafat passing away, for fear of being seen as disloyal. He ruled this way and many people here just didn't want to even confront the possibility that one day Yasser Arafat would not be head of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, he would not be the father of a future Palestinian state.

So no one even wanted to talk about, let alone make plans, for a funeral -- Carol.

COSTELLO: John Vause reporting live from Ramallah this morning.

Thank you.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 5:14 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

The wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards has breast cancer. Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed on Wednesday. She has the most common form of breast cancer, but more tests are being done to determine the best course of treatment.

In money news, more Americans have jobs, but the rate of growth is still disappointing. That's the expected news from today's October jobs report. An estimated 169,000 jobs were created last month. Unemployment is also expected to stay stable at 5.4 percent.

In culture, you're just going to have to wait a while to visit the Monk Museum in Oslo, Norway. The museum will be closed until security upgrades are completed next June. Remember back in August, armed robbers stole two of Edward Monk's most important pieces, which would be this one, "The Scream," and "Madonna."

In sports, Willie Randolph is moving across town. The Yankees coach was named the new manager of the New York Mets. The former all star second baseman becomes the fourth African-American manager in the major leagues -- Chad.

MYERS: Oh, good for him. I always liked him when he played for the Yankees. So, great news.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

There will be no camera in the courtroom for the Scott Peterson verdict. The judge in the case ruled against the live picture. In the meantime, the jury is set to get back to work today for a third day of deliberations.

CNN's Ted Rowlands looks at the evidence and instructions in the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The jury of six men and six women deliberating now for a day and a half is deciding the fate of Scott Peterson in sequestration, away from their homes and families, until they can reach a verdict.

In closing arguments, lead prosecutor Rick Distaso told the jury that the case is like a puzzle and when all the circumstantial evidence is pieced together, the picture is very clear that Scott Peterson planned and carried out the murder of his pregnant wife. Distaso told the jury that the fact that the remains of both Laci Peterson and her unborn son were found in the same place that Scott Peterson was fishing was evidence enough to convicted him of first degree murder.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, in his close, told the jury that prosecutors didn't prove anything, except that Scott Peterson is a liar.

Despite defense objections, Judge Al Delucchi instructed the jury to also consider second degree murder which, because there are two victims, would most likely carry a sentence of 30 years to life.

JUDGE ALFRED DELUCCHI: Murder in the second degree is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought, when the perpetrator intended unlawfully to kill a human being, but the evidence is insufficient to prove premeditation and deliberation.

ROWLANDS: Judge Delucchi denied a media request for a camera in the courtroom for the verdict, saying emotions are running very high and he did not want to be a part of broadcasting any sort of "family meltdown."

(on camera): While there is no indication how long jurors will take, the judge in the case has indicated he believes they'll be out at least a week. Late in the day, we learned that the jury did request to see some evidence, specifically photographs. We also know that the foreman in this case is juror number five, who has a law degree and a degree in medicine.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: In other news across America now, rescue crews finally reached two climbers who had fallen down a crevasse while hiking on Mount Hood in Oregon. One of the climbers did not survive the fall. The surviving climber called 911 to report their location. He was airlifted to the hospital and is in stable condition this morning, with broken bones.

In California, a small plane flipped over after hitting a house. The plane was running low on fuel as it prepared to land at the Torrance Airport. The pilot was pulled from the wreckage by people in the neighborhood. He is in critical condition but the woman living in the house was uninjured. The cause of this crash still under investigation.

A new type of anthrax vaccine is on the way. The government agreed to pay $877 million for about 25 million doses. It'll be kept in the strategic national stockpile for use in case of a bioterrorism attack. The new vaccine is used to treat inhalation anthrax, which is the most dangerous kind.

And a recent report from the Department of Transportation says fatal accidents involving teenage girls are up 42 percent over the past 10 years. But at the same time, accidents involving young men have declined. Experts say part of the problem is that more teenaged women are driving drunk.

I wanted to bring Chad in on this, because this surprised me so much. Because remember, remember you could get cheaper insurance for young men over young women?

MYERS: Sure. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: I wonder if that's still true.

MYERS: Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. Men were always more expensive.

COSTELLO: Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say it backwards?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I'm trying to find the printer here. And I found it, so I can get more information on this story. Because our e-mail Question of the Day, who are the better drivers these days, men or women?

MYERS: Any age group here do we need to worry about? Are we talking young women or just all men and all women?

COSTELLO: I think that we should keep it all men and all women because I think that would provide for a lot more fun answers.

What do you think, Chad?

MYERS: The better drivers are the ones that don't have a cell phone to their ear.

COSTELLO: Whether they're men or women.

MYERS: Regardless. Exactly.

COSTELLO: OK, I'm going to get...

MYERS: It's dangerous out there with people talking on a cell phone.

COSTELLO: I'm going to get more information for you in a second while I read through this story.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: So e-mail us, daybreak@cnn.com, daybreak@cnn.com. Who are better drivers, men or women?

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: The election already behind us. But there's no let up on "Late Nite Laffs."

President Bush and all the rest getting made fun of here. David Letterman already looking ahead to the 2008 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, COURTESY CBS/WORLDWIDE PANTS)

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Remember, the rumor is that Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2008. Yup. And here's why people think that. Today she was in Ohio duck hunting. Yes. She even bought a camouflage pants suit. A lovely item. Did you see President Bush's address yesterday afternoon? Very excited, wasn't he? Very excited. I mean he was thrilled. It was like he never won a presidential election before and -- oh, I see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MYERS: I did see that.

COSTELLO: You were up that late to see it?

MYERS: Not "Letterman," but I watched the president do that little speech yesterday.

COSTELLO: Oh, you did?

MYERS: When that reporter threw that bomb at him with about -- about Mr. Arafat, he was like going, I didn't hear that.

COSTELLO: Well, he didn't -- he can't...

MYERS: Because it wasn't true.

COSTELLO: No, it wasn't true. But there are so many conflicting reports coming out of there that you don't know what's true and what's not true.

MYERS: I understand.

COSTELLO: And we're going to get into that later on in the show.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: And I'm sure you'll be listening intently.

MYERS: Yes, it got me yesterday. I was like oh, what's he doing, you know?

COSTELLO: Well, there were a lot of like leaders of countries coming out and saying that Yasser Arafat had died. So nobody knew what was true and what wasn't. So -- but we're going to sort it out today. David Clinch is going to be on later.

MYERS: Well, the French know, because that's where he is.

COSTELLO: They're not really saying very much, though. MYERS: No, they're not, are they?

"Eye Openers."

COSTELLO: Yes. Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" now.

The best free ride mountain bikers gathered to show their stuff. But just watch these wipeouts.

MYERS: This is not good. Don't try that at home.

COSTELLO: No. It was all part of the Fourth Annual Red Bull Rampage in Burgeon, Utah. But enjoy it while you can. Red Bull announced that this would be the last competition. I think they're worried about, you know, lawsuits.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: In Portland, Oregon, an alleged burglar is in custody after getting stuck in the chimney. This seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?

MYERS: Around Christmas, usually.

COSTELLO: Usually. The homeowner noticed something was wrong, called police. When they arrived, the suspect called out to say he was trying to get away from people who were chasing him. He was hiding in the chimney. Firefighters took the chimney apart brick by brick so the suspect could be carted off to jail. That's so embarrassing.

MYERS: He forgot to put his finger up to his nose and go right back up the chimney like Santa Claus.

COSTELLO: All right, you should have called him and gave him that advice.

MYERS: I didn't have a cell phone.

COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.

We're going straight to Paris for the latest update on Yasser Arafat as he faces the battle of a lifetime. Then we'll get some insight on what changes are ahead for the Middle East peace process.

You are watching DAYBREAK for Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired November 5, 2004 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is on life support as a controversy builds over what happens if he dies.
It is Friday, November 5.

This is DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is in a coma. He's being kept alive by machines. That's according to what two U.S. administration officials tell us. French, Israeli and Egyptian officials are negotiating with his family and aides over where he should be buried.

In Iraq, Margaret Hassan's captors are threatening to hand over the director of CARE International to militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi unless Britain withdraws its troops by today.

And in Redwood City, California, it is back to work later this morning for the jury in the murder trial of Scott Peterson. Deliberations began on Wednesday.

To the forecast center now and Chad -- good morning and happy Friday.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is a happy Friday. It's a cold Friday in a lot of spots.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: A hero to the Palestinians, a murderer to many Israelis -- Yasser Arafat has been a controversial figure for so many years now.

Jim Bittermann is outside of the military hospital near Paris where Arafat remains in intensive care.

Just minutes ago, he filed this report for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hospital authorities are saying they're not going to release any further information about the condition of Yasser Arafat until there's a change in the condition or until the family suggests that they want some kind of announcement made. Basically, the most we know from them officially is that Arafat has not died, as some reports yesterday had it, and that he's still alive and being treated in that specialty area of the hospital.

Now, one thing we have heard this morning is a live interview with Leila Shahid, who is the Palestinian representative in France, and she told RTL, the French-Luxembourg wireless radio station that, in fact, Arafat has not gone brain dead, as some people had suggested, that he is, however, in a coma and what she called a reversible coma, that he could either come out of it or not come out of it, depending on how circumstances develop.

The other thing that was interesting about her remarks this morning is that she said this coma was induced by doctors on Wednesday afternoon and that Arafat suddenly took a turn for the worse. They wanted to perform a biopsy and they then went ahead and induced this coma, which Yasser Arafat has been in ever since and it's not clear how or whether he will come out of that coma.

She did say also that all of his vital organs are functioning. And she said, as well, that when President Jacques Chirac was here yesterday afternoon to visit the Palestinian president, that Arafat seemed to open his eyes and smile slightly, perhaps acknowledging the president's -- the French president.

So that's basically the situation here. Obviously, Yasser Arafat in critical condition. There's been an all night vigil here by some Palestinians who have wanted to show their support and best wishes for the president. But, in fact, it does not look very good at this point. He's in very critical condition.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Clamard, France.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: And as a result, Palestinian and Israeli security forces are on alert this morning. They're reviewing ways to keep the states safe in the event of Arafat's death.

CNN's John Vause joins us live from the West Bank city of Ramallah.

What's happening there -- John.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a very quiet day here in Ramallah. But we are told that the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, will leave Ramallah in the next few hours and travel to Gaza to meet with the various Palestinian factions -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade -- to try and work out a way to maintain law and order within the Gaza Strip.

That's the big concern. There's been increasing lawlessness in Gaza (AUDIO GAP)

COSTELLO: Ooh, I think we've lost John Vause, John Vause from the city of Ramallah.

We'll try to get him back for you as soon as possible, but as you could tell, we were having troubles with his audio. And as you heard him say, they are getting ready for the event of Arafat's death.

We'll keep you updated throughout the morning here on DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the half hour, we'll talk to a journalist who has closely followed the events in the Middle East.

Two more American Marines have been killed, four others wounded, in fighting near Falluja. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has been attacking insurgent positions in the rebel held city ahead of a likely all out assault.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is embedded with the Marines near Falluja and reports the troops are stepping up their training in urban warfare tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Don, make sure you hang out behind me a little bit so I can give you some cover.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Getting ready to storm out of the desert and into an urban jungle. An assault on Falluja promises to be a close quarters street fight. Marine infantrymen and tanks will have to work in harmony against rebel fighters in buildings and hidden allies.

SGT. MICHAEL CHAMBERS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: That's what's kind of scary. You're rolling right by thinking it's secured and then they pop up off that rooftop behind you and then here comes the RPG.

PENHAUL: Remote-controlled explosives and suicide car bombs are likely to be major threats.

(on camera): The history books recall how some of the world's most powerful armies became bogged down in urban guerrilla warfare -- Hue City, Vietnam; Mogadishu, Somalia; Groznyy, Chechnya.

CPT. TOM TENNENT, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Urban warfare is a dirty business. The defender initially has the advantage because he knows the terrain much better than the attacker. If the defender is able to use his defense to his advantage, the attacker will be slowed and will have to reorient his offense.

PENHAUL: When the Marines roll in, insurgent gunmen could be lurking in any window or doorway. Armored vehicles and tanks will become magnets for attack.

SGT. JOSE DUCASSE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: We're going to be looking for, you know, RPG-5 from the rooftops and intersections and stuff like that and make sure we don't hit any tank mine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charge three. PENHAUL: Mortar crews run through drills. Inside the city they could, if needed, lob charges over buildings or onto rooftops to destroy concealed insurgent positions. This explosives team is measuring out detonation cord. Depending on how they tie the knots, they can blow out doors and race in to clear potential insurgent hideouts. Intelligence suggests Falluja's defenders may have rigged buildings with homemade bombs.

LANCE CPL. WILLIAM SABIN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Will it cause us to maybe slow down our attack a little bit because we have to take into account all these kind of obstacles for our booby traps? Yes. But will it cause us to not be able to complete the mission? Absolutely not.

PENHAUL: U.S. commanders say the keys to victory in Fallujah are moving fast and coordinating their weapons on the ground and in the air, a battlefield where Marine and machine works as one.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, near Falluja.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: No verdict yet in the Scott Peterson double murder trial. But the judge rules on what will and won't be seen when that verdict is delivered. Ted Rowlands has more for you in six minutes.

Seven minutes after that, we'll take you to a land of ice and fire.

And you may be one of 40,000 Americans who did this on Tuesday. So what do you think of electronic voting, huh? Daniel Sieberg has a report card at 37 minutes past.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Back to the situation in the West Bank and Ramallah. We lost John Vause's audio a few minutes ago. We got it back. As we've been telling you, Yasser Arafat is in a Paris hospital on life support. And various factions within Israel and on the West Bank are preparing for his possible death.

So, John -- bring us up to date.

VAUSE: Hello, Carol.

Well, the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, is due to travel to Gaza within the next few hours to meet with all the various Palestinian factions down there -- Hamas, the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade and Islamic Jihad -- to try and work out a plan to maintain law and order over the coming days. The big concern is the Gaza Strip. There's been increasing infighting and lawlessness there for most of this year.

There is expected to be a show of unity over the coming days and weeks, but after that no one is certain what will happen. It's fair to say right now, coalition, that the Palestinian Authority is in a state of shock. One source described it to me as a bunch of orphans who are lost.

Still, plans have to be made. And the big one is where will Yasser Arafat be buried? In the past, the Palestinian leader has said that he wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. But the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said that simply is not going to happen. So all the talk now is in Gaza.

The Arafat family has a plot near the town of Khan Unis in the central Gaza Strip. But that in itself is a huge logistical problem. It's a small town. There's only one hotel, one road in and out, which is a traffic jam on a good day. So you can imagine the provisional ballots if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians want to travel to Gaza for this funeral, to say nothing of heads of state for the state funeral, as well as leaders of the Arab world, who have no formal ties with the Israelis -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And they're worried about countries like Libya coming in to pay respects, too, countries Israel doesn't necessarily get along with.

VAUSE: Well, countries which don't actually recognize Israel, like Saudi Arabia and Libya, just to name a couple. So there is a plan put in place that possibly -- and this is all speculation at this stage -- that the leaders from those countries which have no diplomatic ties with Israel, which refuse to recognize Israel, will go to Egypt and then they will be helicoptered into the Gaza Strip for the funeral.

But these plans are still at a very early stage. Negotiations are under way between the Egyptians and the Israelis and the Americans, as well as Arafat's family, to try and find out just where and how he can be buried.

And, also, one important point in all of this, Carol. Under Islamic law, a person must be buried within 24 hours of being declared dead -- Carol.

COSTELLO: The other question I had, it's just difficult to believe that they weren't prepared because Yasser Arafat is 75-years- old.

VAUSE: Yes, that's -- I guess on the face of it, that is an amazing thing to think that they weren't ready for this, knowing that the man was old and ill. But there's also this feeling here that no one actually even wanted to talk about Yasser Arafat passing away, for fear of being seen as disloyal. He ruled this way and many people here just didn't want to even confront the possibility that one day Yasser Arafat would not be head of the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, he would not be the father of a future Palestinian state.

So no one even wanted to talk about, let alone make plans, for a funeral -- Carol.

COSTELLO: John Vause reporting live from Ramallah this morning.

Thank you.

Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 5:14 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

The wife of vice presidential candidate John Edwards has breast cancer. Elizabeth Edwards was diagnosed on Wednesday. She has the most common form of breast cancer, but more tests are being done to determine the best course of treatment.

In money news, more Americans have jobs, but the rate of growth is still disappointing. That's the expected news from today's October jobs report. An estimated 169,000 jobs were created last month. Unemployment is also expected to stay stable at 5.4 percent.

In culture, you're just going to have to wait a while to visit the Monk Museum in Oslo, Norway. The museum will be closed until security upgrades are completed next June. Remember back in August, armed robbers stole two of Edward Monk's most important pieces, which would be this one, "The Scream," and "Madonna."

In sports, Willie Randolph is moving across town. The Yankees coach was named the new manager of the New York Mets. The former all star second baseman becomes the fourth African-American manager in the major leagues -- Chad.

MYERS: Oh, good for him. I always liked him when he played for the Yankees. So, great news.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

There will be no camera in the courtroom for the Scott Peterson verdict. The judge in the case ruled against the live picture. In the meantime, the jury is set to get back to work today for a third day of deliberations.

CNN's Ted Rowlands looks at the evidence and instructions in the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The jury of six men and six women deliberating now for a day and a half is deciding the fate of Scott Peterson in sequestration, away from their homes and families, until they can reach a verdict.

In closing arguments, lead prosecutor Rick Distaso told the jury that the case is like a puzzle and when all the circumstantial evidence is pieced together, the picture is very clear that Scott Peterson planned and carried out the murder of his pregnant wife. Distaso told the jury that the fact that the remains of both Laci Peterson and her unborn son were found in the same place that Scott Peterson was fishing was evidence enough to convicted him of first degree murder.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, in his close, told the jury that prosecutors didn't prove anything, except that Scott Peterson is a liar.

Despite defense objections, Judge Al Delucchi instructed the jury to also consider second degree murder which, because there are two victims, would most likely carry a sentence of 30 years to life.

JUDGE ALFRED DELUCCHI: Murder in the second degree is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought, when the perpetrator intended unlawfully to kill a human being, but the evidence is insufficient to prove premeditation and deliberation.

ROWLANDS: Judge Delucchi denied a media request for a camera in the courtroom for the verdict, saying emotions are running very high and he did not want to be a part of broadcasting any sort of "family meltdown."

(on camera): While there is no indication how long jurors will take, the judge in the case has indicated he believes they'll be out at least a week. Late in the day, we learned that the jury did request to see some evidence, specifically photographs. We also know that the foreman in this case is juror number five, who has a law degree and a degree in medicine.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: In other news across America now, rescue crews finally reached two climbers who had fallen down a crevasse while hiking on Mount Hood in Oregon. One of the climbers did not survive the fall. The surviving climber called 911 to report their location. He was airlifted to the hospital and is in stable condition this morning, with broken bones.

In California, a small plane flipped over after hitting a house. The plane was running low on fuel as it prepared to land at the Torrance Airport. The pilot was pulled from the wreckage by people in the neighborhood. He is in critical condition but the woman living in the house was uninjured. The cause of this crash still under investigation.

A new type of anthrax vaccine is on the way. The government agreed to pay $877 million for about 25 million doses. It'll be kept in the strategic national stockpile for use in case of a bioterrorism attack. The new vaccine is used to treat inhalation anthrax, which is the most dangerous kind.

And a recent report from the Department of Transportation says fatal accidents involving teenage girls are up 42 percent over the past 10 years. But at the same time, accidents involving young men have declined. Experts say part of the problem is that more teenaged women are driving drunk.

I wanted to bring Chad in on this, because this surprised me so much. Because remember, remember you could get cheaper insurance for young men over young women?

MYERS: Sure. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: I wonder if that's still true.

MYERS: Wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. Men were always more expensive.

COSTELLO: Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say it backwards?

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: I'm trying to find the printer here. And I found it, so I can get more information on this story. Because our e-mail Question of the Day, who are the better drivers these days, men or women?

MYERS: Any age group here do we need to worry about? Are we talking young women or just all men and all women?

COSTELLO: I think that we should keep it all men and all women because I think that would provide for a lot more fun answers.

What do you think, Chad?

MYERS: The better drivers are the ones that don't have a cell phone to their ear.

COSTELLO: Whether they're men or women.

MYERS: Regardless. Exactly.

COSTELLO: OK, I'm going to get...

MYERS: It's dangerous out there with people talking on a cell phone.

COSTELLO: I'm going to get more information for you in a second while I read through this story.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: So e-mail us, daybreak@cnn.com, daybreak@cnn.com. Who are better drivers, men or women?

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: The election already behind us. But there's no let up on "Late Nite Laffs."

President Bush and all the rest getting made fun of here. David Letterman already looking ahead to the 2008 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, COURTESY CBS/WORLDWIDE PANTS)

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST: Remember, the rumor is that Hillary Clinton is running for president in 2008. Yup. And here's why people think that. Today she was in Ohio duck hunting. Yes. She even bought a camouflage pants suit. A lovely item. Did you see President Bush's address yesterday afternoon? Very excited, wasn't he? Very excited. I mean he was thrilled. It was like he never won a presidential election before and -- oh, I see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MYERS: I did see that.

COSTELLO: You were up that late to see it?

MYERS: Not "Letterman," but I watched the president do that little speech yesterday.

COSTELLO: Oh, you did?

MYERS: When that reporter threw that bomb at him with about -- about Mr. Arafat, he was like going, I didn't hear that.

COSTELLO: Well, he didn't -- he can't...

MYERS: Because it wasn't true.

COSTELLO: No, it wasn't true. But there are so many conflicting reports coming out of there that you don't know what's true and what's not true.

MYERS: I understand.

COSTELLO: And we're going to get into that later on in the show.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: And I'm sure you'll be listening intently.

MYERS: Yes, it got me yesterday. I was like oh, what's he doing, you know?

COSTELLO: Well, there were a lot of like leaders of countries coming out and saying that Yasser Arafat had died. So nobody knew what was true and what wasn't. So -- but we're going to sort it out today. David Clinch is going to be on later.

MYERS: Well, the French know, because that's where he is.

COSTELLO: They're not really saying very much, though. MYERS: No, they're not, are they?

"Eye Openers."

COSTELLO: Yes. Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" now.

The best free ride mountain bikers gathered to show their stuff. But just watch these wipeouts.

MYERS: This is not good. Don't try that at home.

COSTELLO: No. It was all part of the Fourth Annual Red Bull Rampage in Burgeon, Utah. But enjoy it while you can. Red Bull announced that this would be the last competition. I think they're worried about, you know, lawsuits.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: In Portland, Oregon, an alleged burglar is in custody after getting stuck in the chimney. This seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?

MYERS: Around Christmas, usually.

COSTELLO: Usually. The homeowner noticed something was wrong, called police. When they arrived, the suspect called out to say he was trying to get away from people who were chasing him. He was hiding in the chimney. Firefighters took the chimney apart brick by brick so the suspect could be carted off to jail. That's so embarrassing.

MYERS: He forgot to put his finger up to his nose and go right back up the chimney like Santa Claus.

COSTELLO: All right, you should have called him and gave him that advice.

MYERS: I didn't have a cell phone.

COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next half hour of DAYBREAK.

We're going straight to Paris for the latest update on Yasser Arafat as he faces the battle of a lifetime. Then we'll get some insight on what changes are ahead for the Middle East peace process.

You are watching DAYBREAK for Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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