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CNN Live At Daybreak

Abbas Victor in Palestinian Election

Aired January 10, 2005 - 06:00   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.


KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR, DAYBREAK: A frightening plunge and frantic rescue attempts straight ahead on DAYBREAK. We will show you how the stormy tale ends.
Also a wall of debris carried on a wave of terror. It has been two weeks since the tsunami disaster, but the images from that fateful day keep on coming.

And Palestinians dance in the streets as they usher in a new leader, but is there reason to celebrate? It is Monday, January 10th and you are watching DAYBREAK.

And good Monday morning to you from the Time Warner center in New York. I'm Kelly Wallace in for Carol Costello. Now in the news, more violence targeting Iraqi officials this morning. Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son were gunned down as they left their home early today. We head live to Baghdad for the latest just after the half hour.

A U.S. Navy helicopter carrying tsunami relief workers crashes in Indonesia. The chopper went down on approach to Banda Aceh airfield today, slightly injuring all 10 people aboard. A damaged U.S. nuclear submarine involved in a deadly accident three days ago docks in Guam. One crewman died of critical injuries; 23 others are seriously hurt. The Navy says there is no damage to the sub's nuclear reactor.

And a relentless storm batters southern California with torrential rains, flooding, mud slides, rock slides, heartache and frustration. At least eight deaths are blamed on the storm.

Time to say good morning to Chad Myers in Atlanta and Chad, things still not looking good for our friends out west are they?

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not yet, not today Kelly. Tomorrow much better, then after that it's completely gone. We still have a trough of low pressure out to the west, one more storm to affect California for today and tomorrow. Still raining in L.A. and San Diego right now.

Look at some of the numbers here from Beverly Hills and over eight inches. This 22.65 in the Los Angeles County mountains, that's not storm, 22 inches of rain in 72 hours. Downtown L.A. five inches. Obviously, all this stuff had to run off and it caused flooding and mud slides. This did not run off. This is snow. Mount Rose seven feet of snow from this. This is close to the Lake Tahoe in the Sierra on up into the higher elevations obviously. Pittsburgh 43 today, 39 in New York City right now, 50 in Birmingham and 44 in Atlanta. Most of the continental U.S. is dry. Now the west will not be dry. There's another storm still to come in there for today and tomorrow, could bring another three to four inches of rain in L.A. today. On top of that, very saturated ground they have already out there. Mild across the Midwest, a couple showers across Missouri. Even Cincinnati today warms up nicely to 50.

WALLACE: All right. Chad, busy weather morning for you, thanks so much.

Well, it becomes official one hour from now. The Palestinian people will have a new leader and have new hopes for peace. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has already declared victory. Exit polls giving him 66 percent of the vote. Former President Jimmy Carter was one of the most prominent election observers and he voiced optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This opens up an opportunity in my opinion for renewed peace negotiations and with ultimate judgment of both peace and security, as well as justice, long overdue for the Palestinian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And we go live now to Gaza to our own Ben Wedeman. Ben, how are Palestinians reacting to the election results?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Kelly, last night when Mahmoud Abbas made his acceptance speech, we did hear gunfire, celebratory gunfire, thankfully, in the streets in Gaza from his supporters. But we do know he has a serious job ahead of him here in Gaza. Gaza is a place where the militant organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the Al Oxa (ph) martyrs brigade are very strong. In fact, you can't really drive through the streets on an ordinary day here in Gaza without running into one procession or another going through the streets parading their guns, defying in a sense the Palestinian authority.

The other day in fact, I spoke with one militant who said that anybody who tries to stop their activities, to stop their attacks on Israel and Jewish settlements here in Gaza will receive a bullet in his head. Now Mahmoud Abbas has said that he does want to engage those militant groups, that he wants to work out a cease fire with them to convince them to stop attacking Israeli targets.

And we know that later this month or possibly in the beginning of February, there will be a meeting in Cairo under Egyptian sponsorship of the Palestinian factions with the Palestinian authority to try to work out this cease fire. But if and these touts - there have been many such talks in the past, if they do not succeed Mahmoud Abbas is going to have a hard decision. Does he want to crack down militarily on these groups and they are very powerful. Kelly.

WALLACE: No understatement there Ben, major challenges ahead for Mahmoud Abbas. Ben Wedeman reporting live for us from Gaza.

In the next half hour of DAYBREAK, we will speak with one of the international observers who kept close watch over the Palestinian polls and at the checkpoints. That's at 6:30 Eastern here on DAYBREAK.

Two weeks after those devastating tsunamis swept across Sri Lanka's coast, children are returning to school. Our own John King tells us officials wanted to get the schools reopened more for psychological reasons than for educational ones. Let's look now at the relief efforts in Sri Lanka. Our Satinder Bindra is watching the U.S. Marines work in the southern coastal city of Gintoda (ph). He filed this report just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now entering phase two of the U.S. relief operation here in Sri Lanka. In phase one, U.S. helicopters were ferrying supplies to parts of the country that need it the most. Now U.S. Marines are on the ground here in southern Sri Lanka.

I'm in a small village called Gintoda and in this village itself, about 15 to 20 houses were completely damaged and destroyed. Those tons of rubble laying about here, but ever since the Marines have arrived, they've cleared up this rubble and the bad smell that existed here before has now gone.

Over the next five to 10 days, one U.S. amphibious ship, several landing craft and water purification equipment will also arrive in region. Clearly Sri Lankans here are pleased with the U.S. effort, but many to the north of here, many Indians are concerned. India is the regional power and many in India believe that if the U.S. continues to remain here for some time, then the geopolitical balance in this part of the world could be disturbed.

I did put these concerns to the general commanding the Marines here and he said and he did stress this was purely a humanitarian mission. He also stressed that the Marines would leave as soon as the Sri Lankans asked them to do so. Satinder Bindra, CNN, Gintoda, southern Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And it is not too late for you to help the victims of the tsunami. Visit cnn.com for our special report online complete with all the contact information you will need for the many relief organizations involved in the massive recovery operation.

Let's turn now to some stories making news across America this morning. Fears over toxic fumes are still keeping more than 5,000 residents of Graniteville, South Carolina from their homes. They may not return until mid week. Nine people were killed when chlorine gas was released after a train wreck last week. Crews were finally able to patch the leaking tanker car, but two other cars may also be damaged.

Emergency crews are going to try again to reach the tug boat excuse me, on the rain swollen Ohio River today. It sank yesterday about 25 miles outside of Pittsburgh pulling six barges of coal. Three crew members are dead and one person is still missing.

In Washington, the uncertain court, the Supreme Court reconvenes today but without Chief Justice William Rehnquist. We are watching too major cases concerned Federal sentencing guidelines and the juvenile death penalty, but there are a slew of other cases pending before the high court. Joining us live now is legal analyst Kendall Coffey. Kendall Coffey, thanks for being here.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning Kelly.

WALLACE: First I guess one of the big, big decisions expected concerns excuse me, Federal sentencing guidelines. Lots of judges across the nation watching this. What are we expecting from the court?

COFFEY: Well, it's a giant question mark over every Federal courthouse in America right now because as criminal defendants walk in this week to be sentenced throughout America, they literally don't know whether the Federal sentencing guidelines are constitutional. The June decision on the Blakely (ph) case would indicate that those Federal sentencing guidelines are unconstitutional if the court applies the decision in the Washington state case. But it was a 5 to 4 court, as closely divided as it can possibly get. So this one is too close to call.

WALLACE: And another decision we do expect possibly to come this week concerns capital punishment when it concerns juveniles convicted of murder. What is the sense of which way the court could go on this?

COFFEY: Well the key decision makers are going to be Justice O'Connor and Justice Kennedy, because four members of the Supreme Court have already said that it ought to be unconstitutional to sentence to death people who are under 18 at the time they commit a crime. U.S. is one of only six countries in the world that allows execution in that scenario. So this one looks like I think that a challenge could be successful. Two years ago Kelly, as you may know, 6 to 3 U.S. Supreme Court struck down the execution of the mentally retarded. This decision could go along similar lines.

WALLACE: And also talk a little bit Kendall Coffey about the role of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He is participated from home, participating in court somewhat. What's the sense if he's not going to be there to hear any arguments this week?

COFFEY: Well, he's indicated that he will continue to work on cases. There are a number of cases in November where he said that if it's, unless it's a tie breaker, he's not going to participate. But I think he's going to continue to participate as long as he can. Friday he celebrated his 33rd year on the Supreme Court, 18 years as a chief justice. Whatever people, whether they disagree or agree with his political philosophies and legal analysis, he's clearly someone who has been a strong and I think effective leader for the court and hopefully he'll be able to continue.

WALLACE: Any sentiment about getting in any retirement any time soon on the U.S. Supreme Court?

COFFEY: None of the members have announced any retirement dinners Kelly. It's been over 10 years since any changes were made on the U.S. Supreme Court so it would be very difficult to speculate.

WALLACE: All right. CNN legal analyst Kendall Coffey joining us by phone from Miami. Thanks so much.

Much more to come here on DAYBREAK. Is there big trouble ahead for American troops in Iraq? Military sources say there is and that has defense officials rethinking the way they do business.

Also, hanging on for dear life. This California man lost his grip but rescuers don't give up. And would you like latte with that? That's what you might be hearing at McDonald's one day. Now here is a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, January 10th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back. Your news, money, weather and sports. It's just about 6:15 a.m. Here is what is all new this morning. In about an hour, the official announcement of a winner will be made in the Palestinian presidential elections. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has already declared victory.

Opening statements are scheduled for today in the court martial of Army Specialist Charles Graner (ph). Graner is accused of being the ringleader behind the abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The trial in Fort Hood, Texas is expected to last for a week.

In money, gas prices drop 3 cents a gallon over the past three weeks. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is down to $1.79, but that's still about 24 cents higher than at this time last year.

In culture, "Meet the Fockers" was tops at the box office for the third straight week. Those Fockers brought in $28.5 million. The horror "White Noise" was second with $24 million.

And in sports, playoffs (INAUDIBLE) the Minnesota Vikings scored a major upset over the Green Bay Packers, 31 to 17. The Packers lost a home playoff game for just the second time in 40 years and in the AFC, Peyton Manning threw four touchdown passes to lead his Indianapolis Colts over the Denver Broncos 49 to 24. The Colts will face the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Chad now with a look at your weather. Good morning again Chad.

MYERS: And you know where I'll be for that game. I'll tell you what, that may be the game of the year coming up this Sunday.

Snow fall totals out west Kelly really moving up now. Mt. Rose, seven feet, Kirkwood ski area five feet, same at Sierra and Tahoe and it snowed overnight and they haven't measured that yet so there's going to be higher numbers coming up this morning. Burbank, this is inches of rain now snow. Even Los Angeles downtown, over five inches of rain yesterday and more rain coming today and tomorrow. It gets better after that, much better after that. 50 in New York, 58 in D.C. today, pleasant weather across the upper Midwest, a couple of showers around St. Louis today, across the Ozarks, not too much to worry about though.

Cold Rapid City to Fargo, temperatures there only in the 20s and some spots not getting out of the single digits. Flooding rainfall in L.A., San Francisco, all the way down to San Diego again today and then the storm moves out for tomorrow and it gets much better, dry for the next 10 days after that storm. Kelly.

WALLACE: All right. Chad, you are one busy man this morning, thanks so much.

Time now for a little business buzz. You soon may be able to get a super sized latte to go with your Big Mac and fries. That's right. Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site and she explains. Carrie, McDonald's and a latte?

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: McDonald's is going high end, at least when it comes to coffee Kelly. This is what "USA Today" is reporting, that the fast food giant expects to test and then roll out and high end premium coffees at its 13,000 U.S. stores later this year or in 2006. Coffee has become very popular as a breakfast beverage and beyond.

Still undecided, what kind of premium coffee to sell, what to call it, what to charge for it and when exactly to roll it out. But one analyst says that premium coffee could bump up McDonald's sales by 2 percent. Coffee, premium coffee is an $8.9 billion market today. Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, have all jumped on the trends. They've been successful so now McDonald's reportedly wanting to do this as well. Kelly.

WALLACE: Very interesting to watch. Carrie, also how are the futures looking today?

LEE: Futures are looking pretty flat right now. Of course Alcoa, the Dow component, the aluminum giant, will kick off the queue for a profit reporting week later today. Wall Street expecting 41 cents a share on the bottom line. Last week though, we did see some selling, the Dow down 1.7, the Nasdaq down 4 percent for the first trading week of 2005. Back to you.

WALLACE: All right. Carrie, we'll be watching, Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site.

Well just in time this week, how many troops are really needed in Iraq? "Time" magazine asked the question and you may be surprised by the results.

Plus, today we'll bring a new president for the Palestinian people. Can he help get the mid east peace process back on track? We will take a look later this hour on DAYBREAK. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. More military officials are voicing concern that the war in Iraq is putting a strain on U.S. forces. Army officers are even beginning to worry that they will soon run out of reserve troops to fight in Iraq. Live to Washington and "Time" magazine correspondent Viveca Novak. Good to see you.

VIVECA NOVAK, TIME MAGAZINE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Kelly.

WALLACE: Thanks for being here. First, what's your pick up in your story about how concerned are American military officials about the strain on U.S. forces overseas right now?

NOVAK: Well, the head of the Army reserve thinks his force is rapidly generating into a broken force. Recruitment is down 10 percent in the reserves for October and November, about 30 percent in the National Guard for those months. And when you consider that a quarter, I'm sorry, 40 percent of the troops serving in Iraq are National Guard or reserves, that's pretty significant.

WALLACE: You also found something else that's really interesting. The cost, how it's gone up when it comes to the cost for recruiting a soldier. You report that in 1996 it cost $7,600 to recruit a soldier. That has gone up to $14,000 in 2004 and that includes $2,000 in advertising. Viveca, what does this say? Just much more difficult to recruit men and women to join the military?

NOVAK: It is much more difficult and the Army has been adding recruiters. They've been advertising more. They've gotten very slick about their advertising actually and they're offering more bonus, bigger bonuses, to the point where actually the head of the Army Reserve, the same man you were talking about earlier, worries that we are confusing volunteering for the U.S. Army with being a mercenary.

WALLACE: Also, you probably have seen the "New York Times" story today talking about possible quote disengagement plans in terms of bringing American men and women home from Iraq. How much is this sort of factoring in to what's going on on the ground in Iraq, bringing men and women home to efforts to recruit more men and women to join the military?

NOVAK: Well, if we're seeing that we are suffering in terms of troop strength, that might indeed hasten disengagement plans. You've got to have enough people to fight on the ground and more and more, military experts, retired military and even current military, who sometimes are speaking out by name and sometimes anonymously are saying we just don't have the troop strength to keep doing this and keep all our other commitments all over the rest of the world.

WALLACE: You report, we had talked about before, about increasing incentive bonuses to get men and women to join. Any sense if any of those incentives are working?

NOVAK: Well, some of them certainly are. Money is always an incentive I think. But you're weighing a little more money against the fact that for instance, if you join the National Guard now, you can be virtually assured that you're going to be rapidly trained and deployed and that's very different from what it used to be when you joined the National Guard, which was something you did for a little extra money, maybe some camaraderie on the weekend and because you believe in the cause. But you didn't expect it to completely disrupt your civilian life for long periods of time.

WALLACE: Big challenges ahead definitely for the Pentagon and U.S. military officials. Viveca Novak, "Time" magazine correspondent with just in time. Thanks so much, great to see you.

NOVAK: Thank you.

WALLACE: Still to come here on DAYBREAK, how will the animals native to southeast Asia cope with a destroyed habitat? Jack Hanna of the Columbus zoo joins us in the next half hour.

Plus it may take some time but it will be worth it. Tips on filling out those pesky financial aid forms for college. That's all still ahead, right here on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 10, 2005 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR, DAYBREAK: A frightening plunge and frantic rescue attempts straight ahead on DAYBREAK. We will show you how the stormy tale ends.
Also a wall of debris carried on a wave of terror. It has been two weeks since the tsunami disaster, but the images from that fateful day keep on coming.

And Palestinians dance in the streets as they usher in a new leader, but is there reason to celebrate? It is Monday, January 10th and you are watching DAYBREAK.

And good Monday morning to you from the Time Warner center in New York. I'm Kelly Wallace in for Carol Costello. Now in the news, more violence targeting Iraqi officials this morning. Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son were gunned down as they left their home early today. We head live to Baghdad for the latest just after the half hour.

A U.S. Navy helicopter carrying tsunami relief workers crashes in Indonesia. The chopper went down on approach to Banda Aceh airfield today, slightly injuring all 10 people aboard. A damaged U.S. nuclear submarine involved in a deadly accident three days ago docks in Guam. One crewman died of critical injuries; 23 others are seriously hurt. The Navy says there is no damage to the sub's nuclear reactor.

And a relentless storm batters southern California with torrential rains, flooding, mud slides, rock slides, heartache and frustration. At least eight deaths are blamed on the storm.

Time to say good morning to Chad Myers in Atlanta and Chad, things still not looking good for our friends out west are they?

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not yet, not today Kelly. Tomorrow much better, then after that it's completely gone. We still have a trough of low pressure out to the west, one more storm to affect California for today and tomorrow. Still raining in L.A. and San Diego right now.

Look at some of the numbers here from Beverly Hills and over eight inches. This 22.65 in the Los Angeles County mountains, that's not storm, 22 inches of rain in 72 hours. Downtown L.A. five inches. Obviously, all this stuff had to run off and it caused flooding and mud slides. This did not run off. This is snow. Mount Rose seven feet of snow from this. This is close to the Lake Tahoe in the Sierra on up into the higher elevations obviously. Pittsburgh 43 today, 39 in New York City right now, 50 in Birmingham and 44 in Atlanta. Most of the continental U.S. is dry. Now the west will not be dry. There's another storm still to come in there for today and tomorrow, could bring another three to four inches of rain in L.A. today. On top of that, very saturated ground they have already out there. Mild across the Midwest, a couple showers across Missouri. Even Cincinnati today warms up nicely to 50.

WALLACE: All right. Chad, busy weather morning for you, thanks so much.

Well, it becomes official one hour from now. The Palestinian people will have a new leader and have new hopes for peace. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has already declared victory. Exit polls giving him 66 percent of the vote. Former President Jimmy Carter was one of the most prominent election observers and he voiced optimism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This opens up an opportunity in my opinion for renewed peace negotiations and with ultimate judgment of both peace and security, as well as justice, long overdue for the Palestinian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And we go live now to Gaza to our own Ben Wedeman. Ben, how are Palestinians reacting to the election results?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Kelly, last night when Mahmoud Abbas made his acceptance speech, we did hear gunfire, celebratory gunfire, thankfully, in the streets in Gaza from his supporters. But we do know he has a serious job ahead of him here in Gaza. Gaza is a place where the militant organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the Al Oxa (ph) martyrs brigade are very strong. In fact, you can't really drive through the streets on an ordinary day here in Gaza without running into one procession or another going through the streets parading their guns, defying in a sense the Palestinian authority.

The other day in fact, I spoke with one militant who said that anybody who tries to stop their activities, to stop their attacks on Israel and Jewish settlements here in Gaza will receive a bullet in his head. Now Mahmoud Abbas has said that he does want to engage those militant groups, that he wants to work out a cease fire with them to convince them to stop attacking Israeli targets.

And we know that later this month or possibly in the beginning of February, there will be a meeting in Cairo under Egyptian sponsorship of the Palestinian factions with the Palestinian authority to try to work out this cease fire. But if and these touts - there have been many such talks in the past, if they do not succeed Mahmoud Abbas is going to have a hard decision. Does he want to crack down militarily on these groups and they are very powerful. Kelly.

WALLACE: No understatement there Ben, major challenges ahead for Mahmoud Abbas. Ben Wedeman reporting live for us from Gaza.

In the next half hour of DAYBREAK, we will speak with one of the international observers who kept close watch over the Palestinian polls and at the checkpoints. That's at 6:30 Eastern here on DAYBREAK.

Two weeks after those devastating tsunamis swept across Sri Lanka's coast, children are returning to school. Our own John King tells us officials wanted to get the schools reopened more for psychological reasons than for educational ones. Let's look now at the relief efforts in Sri Lanka. Our Satinder Bindra is watching the U.S. Marines work in the southern coastal city of Gintoda (ph). He filed this report just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now entering phase two of the U.S. relief operation here in Sri Lanka. In phase one, U.S. helicopters were ferrying supplies to parts of the country that need it the most. Now U.S. Marines are on the ground here in southern Sri Lanka.

I'm in a small village called Gintoda and in this village itself, about 15 to 20 houses were completely damaged and destroyed. Those tons of rubble laying about here, but ever since the Marines have arrived, they've cleared up this rubble and the bad smell that existed here before has now gone.

Over the next five to 10 days, one U.S. amphibious ship, several landing craft and water purification equipment will also arrive in region. Clearly Sri Lankans here are pleased with the U.S. effort, but many to the north of here, many Indians are concerned. India is the regional power and many in India believe that if the U.S. continues to remain here for some time, then the geopolitical balance in this part of the world could be disturbed.

I did put these concerns to the general commanding the Marines here and he said and he did stress this was purely a humanitarian mission. He also stressed that the Marines would leave as soon as the Sri Lankans asked them to do so. Satinder Bindra, CNN, Gintoda, southern Sri Lanka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And it is not too late for you to help the victims of the tsunami. Visit cnn.com for our special report online complete with all the contact information you will need for the many relief organizations involved in the massive recovery operation.

Let's turn now to some stories making news across America this morning. Fears over toxic fumes are still keeping more than 5,000 residents of Graniteville, South Carolina from their homes. They may not return until mid week. Nine people were killed when chlorine gas was released after a train wreck last week. Crews were finally able to patch the leaking tanker car, but two other cars may also be damaged.

Emergency crews are going to try again to reach the tug boat excuse me, on the rain swollen Ohio River today. It sank yesterday about 25 miles outside of Pittsburgh pulling six barges of coal. Three crew members are dead and one person is still missing.

In Washington, the uncertain court, the Supreme Court reconvenes today but without Chief Justice William Rehnquist. We are watching too major cases concerned Federal sentencing guidelines and the juvenile death penalty, but there are a slew of other cases pending before the high court. Joining us live now is legal analyst Kendall Coffey. Kendall Coffey, thanks for being here.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning Kelly.

WALLACE: First I guess one of the big, big decisions expected concerns excuse me, Federal sentencing guidelines. Lots of judges across the nation watching this. What are we expecting from the court?

COFFEY: Well, it's a giant question mark over every Federal courthouse in America right now because as criminal defendants walk in this week to be sentenced throughout America, they literally don't know whether the Federal sentencing guidelines are constitutional. The June decision on the Blakely (ph) case would indicate that those Federal sentencing guidelines are unconstitutional if the court applies the decision in the Washington state case. But it was a 5 to 4 court, as closely divided as it can possibly get. So this one is too close to call.

WALLACE: And another decision we do expect possibly to come this week concerns capital punishment when it concerns juveniles convicted of murder. What is the sense of which way the court could go on this?

COFFEY: Well the key decision makers are going to be Justice O'Connor and Justice Kennedy, because four members of the Supreme Court have already said that it ought to be unconstitutional to sentence to death people who are under 18 at the time they commit a crime. U.S. is one of only six countries in the world that allows execution in that scenario. So this one looks like I think that a challenge could be successful. Two years ago Kelly, as you may know, 6 to 3 U.S. Supreme Court struck down the execution of the mentally retarded. This decision could go along similar lines.

WALLACE: And also talk a little bit Kendall Coffey about the role of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He is participated from home, participating in court somewhat. What's the sense if he's not going to be there to hear any arguments this week?

COFFEY: Well, he's indicated that he will continue to work on cases. There are a number of cases in November where he said that if it's, unless it's a tie breaker, he's not going to participate. But I think he's going to continue to participate as long as he can. Friday he celebrated his 33rd year on the Supreme Court, 18 years as a chief justice. Whatever people, whether they disagree or agree with his political philosophies and legal analysis, he's clearly someone who has been a strong and I think effective leader for the court and hopefully he'll be able to continue.

WALLACE: Any sentiment about getting in any retirement any time soon on the U.S. Supreme Court?

COFFEY: None of the members have announced any retirement dinners Kelly. It's been over 10 years since any changes were made on the U.S. Supreme Court so it would be very difficult to speculate.

WALLACE: All right. CNN legal analyst Kendall Coffey joining us by phone from Miami. Thanks so much.

Much more to come here on DAYBREAK. Is there big trouble ahead for American troops in Iraq? Military sources say there is and that has defense officials rethinking the way they do business.

Also, hanging on for dear life. This California man lost his grip but rescuers don't give up. And would you like latte with that? That's what you might be hearing at McDonald's one day. Now here is a look at what else is making news this Monday morning, January 10th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back. Your news, money, weather and sports. It's just about 6:15 a.m. Here is what is all new this morning. In about an hour, the official announcement of a winner will be made in the Palestinian presidential elections. Former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has already declared victory.

Opening statements are scheduled for today in the court martial of Army Specialist Charles Graner (ph). Graner is accused of being the ringleader behind the abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The trial in Fort Hood, Texas is expected to last for a week.

In money, gas prices drop 3 cents a gallon over the past three weeks. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is down to $1.79, but that's still about 24 cents higher than at this time last year.

In culture, "Meet the Fockers" was tops at the box office for the third straight week. Those Fockers brought in $28.5 million. The horror "White Noise" was second with $24 million.

And in sports, playoffs (INAUDIBLE) the Minnesota Vikings scored a major upset over the Green Bay Packers, 31 to 17. The Packers lost a home playoff game for just the second time in 40 years and in the AFC, Peyton Manning threw four touchdown passes to lead his Indianapolis Colts over the Denver Broncos 49 to 24. The Colts will face the New England Patriots on Sunday.

Chad now with a look at your weather. Good morning again Chad.

MYERS: And you know where I'll be for that game. I'll tell you what, that may be the game of the year coming up this Sunday.

Snow fall totals out west Kelly really moving up now. Mt. Rose, seven feet, Kirkwood ski area five feet, same at Sierra and Tahoe and it snowed overnight and they haven't measured that yet so there's going to be higher numbers coming up this morning. Burbank, this is inches of rain now snow. Even Los Angeles downtown, over five inches of rain yesterday and more rain coming today and tomorrow. It gets better after that, much better after that. 50 in New York, 58 in D.C. today, pleasant weather across the upper Midwest, a couple of showers around St. Louis today, across the Ozarks, not too much to worry about though.

Cold Rapid City to Fargo, temperatures there only in the 20s and some spots not getting out of the single digits. Flooding rainfall in L.A., San Francisco, all the way down to San Diego again today and then the storm moves out for tomorrow and it gets much better, dry for the next 10 days after that storm. Kelly.

WALLACE: All right. Chad, you are one busy man this morning, thanks so much.

Time now for a little business buzz. You soon may be able to get a super sized latte to go with your Big Mac and fries. That's right. Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site and she explains. Carrie, McDonald's and a latte?

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: McDonald's is going high end, at least when it comes to coffee Kelly. This is what "USA Today" is reporting, that the fast food giant expects to test and then roll out and high end premium coffees at its 13,000 U.S. stores later this year or in 2006. Coffee has become very popular as a breakfast beverage and beyond.

Still undecided, what kind of premium coffee to sell, what to call it, what to charge for it and when exactly to roll it out. But one analyst says that premium coffee could bump up McDonald's sales by 2 percent. Coffee, premium coffee is an $8.9 billion market today. Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, have all jumped on the trends. They've been successful so now McDonald's reportedly wanting to do this as well. Kelly.

WALLACE: Very interesting to watch. Carrie, also how are the futures looking today?

LEE: Futures are looking pretty flat right now. Of course Alcoa, the Dow component, the aluminum giant, will kick off the queue for a profit reporting week later today. Wall Street expecting 41 cents a share on the bottom line. Last week though, we did see some selling, the Dow down 1.7, the Nasdaq down 4 percent for the first trading week of 2005. Back to you.

WALLACE: All right. Carrie, we'll be watching, Carrie Lee at the Nasdaq market site.

Well just in time this week, how many troops are really needed in Iraq? "Time" magazine asked the question and you may be surprised by the results.

Plus, today we'll bring a new president for the Palestinian people. Can he help get the mid east peace process back on track? We will take a look later this hour on DAYBREAK. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. More military officials are voicing concern that the war in Iraq is putting a strain on U.S. forces. Army officers are even beginning to worry that they will soon run out of reserve troops to fight in Iraq. Live to Washington and "Time" magazine correspondent Viveca Novak. Good to see you.

VIVECA NOVAK, TIME MAGAZINE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Kelly.

WALLACE: Thanks for being here. First, what's your pick up in your story about how concerned are American military officials about the strain on U.S. forces overseas right now?

NOVAK: Well, the head of the Army reserve thinks his force is rapidly generating into a broken force. Recruitment is down 10 percent in the reserves for October and November, about 30 percent in the National Guard for those months. And when you consider that a quarter, I'm sorry, 40 percent of the troops serving in Iraq are National Guard or reserves, that's pretty significant.

WALLACE: You also found something else that's really interesting. The cost, how it's gone up when it comes to the cost for recruiting a soldier. You report that in 1996 it cost $7,600 to recruit a soldier. That has gone up to $14,000 in 2004 and that includes $2,000 in advertising. Viveca, what does this say? Just much more difficult to recruit men and women to join the military?

NOVAK: It is much more difficult and the Army has been adding recruiters. They've been advertising more. They've gotten very slick about their advertising actually and they're offering more bonus, bigger bonuses, to the point where actually the head of the Army Reserve, the same man you were talking about earlier, worries that we are confusing volunteering for the U.S. Army with being a mercenary.

WALLACE: Also, you probably have seen the "New York Times" story today talking about possible quote disengagement plans in terms of bringing American men and women home from Iraq. How much is this sort of factoring in to what's going on on the ground in Iraq, bringing men and women home to efforts to recruit more men and women to join the military?

NOVAK: Well, if we're seeing that we are suffering in terms of troop strength, that might indeed hasten disengagement plans. You've got to have enough people to fight on the ground and more and more, military experts, retired military and even current military, who sometimes are speaking out by name and sometimes anonymously are saying we just don't have the troop strength to keep doing this and keep all our other commitments all over the rest of the world.

WALLACE: You report, we had talked about before, about increasing incentive bonuses to get men and women to join. Any sense if any of those incentives are working?

NOVAK: Well, some of them certainly are. Money is always an incentive I think. But you're weighing a little more money against the fact that for instance, if you join the National Guard now, you can be virtually assured that you're going to be rapidly trained and deployed and that's very different from what it used to be when you joined the National Guard, which was something you did for a little extra money, maybe some camaraderie on the weekend and because you believe in the cause. But you didn't expect it to completely disrupt your civilian life for long periods of time.

WALLACE: Big challenges ahead definitely for the Pentagon and U.S. military officials. Viveca Novak, "Time" magazine correspondent with just in time. Thanks so much, great to see you.

NOVAK: Thank you.

WALLACE: Still to come here on DAYBREAK, how will the animals native to southeast Asia cope with a destroyed habitat? Jack Hanna of the Columbus zoo joins us in the next half hour.

Plus it may take some time but it will be worth it. Tips on filling out those pesky financial aid forms for college. That's all still ahead, right here on DAYBREAK.

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