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CNN Live At Daybreak

Image Makeover; Arab Reaction; Murderous Mind; Music on the Mind

Aired March 15, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Back in court, Atlanta courtroom shooting suspect Brian Nichols will face a judge four-and-a-half hours from now. It's an initial court appearance. Authorities still haven't decided on all the charges they'll bring against him.

In the Philippines, police storm a Manila prison retaking it from a Muslim separatist group linked to al Qaeda. At least 21 inmates were killed. Police say four of them were the group's leaders.

Israel is set to hand over the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinian security forces tomorrow. That's to be followed by another town early next week. The deal was worked out during talks between both sides.

Hundreds of Pentagon workers have been tested for exposure to anthrax. This, after sensors detected signs of the potentially deadly bacteria at two Pentagon mail facilities. Initial tests have come back negative. More tests are under way.

In the U.S., read it and weep, gas prices are near record high levels. The government says the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is $2.05, almost 6 cents higher than last week. And it's going to go up to, what, $2.15 a gallon before it's all said and done?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know I was watching some other station about -- at 6:00 they do this what do you think kind of new show it's got going on. Jim Cramer (ph) has got the show. And he can see $65 a barrel oil before $45 a barrel oil, so.

COSTELLO: Wow!

MYERS: I don't know, that could be ugly. I certainly have been talking to some guys. Actually, I just bought a new car. And they're saying that the car sales are just absolutely at a standstill, especially the bigger cars, the bigger, heavier things with the big V8s, they're just sitting there, so.

(WEATHER REPORT)

But Atlanta only 52. Carol, on Sunday I was golfing, it was 76.

COSTELLO: Well...

MYERS: I know. I know.

COSTELLO: ... you deserve that 52 degrees then.

MYERS: I know, get out the big violin, but...

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Back to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

More details now on Brian Nichols who will be back in court in just a few hours. The alleged courthouse shooter is to make an initial appearance in Atlanta at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. It will happen at a court within the Fulton County Jail. The Fulton County district attorney says Nichols has given authorities a statement and that he is being cooperative.

In the meantime, Atlanta's Police Chief Richard Pennington says it's been a rough few days. He tells CNN the shooting rampage is one of the most devastating events in his 30-year career.

"Beyond the Soundbite" now and a heartfelt statement from Ashley Smith, the woman who police say was held hostage by Brian Nichols after he escaped from custody and killed four people. Smith says she talked to Nichols for hours, even cooked him breakfast. She says Nichols convinced her -- she convinced Nichols, rather, to let her go, and her 911 call led to his arrest.

In her statement, her newest statement, Smith tearfully mentions the victims of the shooting rampage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support over the last several days. I also want to extend my deepest sympathies to the families of Judge Barnes, Julie Ann Brandau, Deputy Teasley and Special Agent Wilhelm, as well as my prayers for Deputy Hall, who is fighting for her life right now in the hospital.

As I'm sure you can imagine, this event has been extremely difficult and exhausting for me and my extended family. I've experienced just about every emotion one could imagine in the span of just a few days. Throughout my time with Mr. Nichols, I continued to rely on my faith in God. God has helped me through tough times before, and He'll help me now.

I hope that you will respect my need to rest and to focus my immediate attention on helping legal authorities proceed with their various investigations. It's natural to focus on the conclusion of any story, but my role was really very small in the grand scheme of things. The real heroes are the judicial and law enforcement officials who gave their lives and those who risked their lives to bring this to an end.

Thank you for your prayers, and may God bless you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Smith also says she's talked enough and now she wants to be let alone.

President Bush is turning to a longtime and trusted friend to help change America's image in the Muslim world. It's an image tarnished by the Iraq war.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John King has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fiercely loyal defender of the president's image will now try to improve her country's image overseas, especially in an Arab world with no shortage of anti-American and anti-Bush sentiment.

KAREN HUGHES, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE DESIGNATE: This job will be difficult. Perceptions do not change quickly or easily. This is a struggle for ideas.

KING: Former top White House aide Karen Hughes will get the rank of ambassador. And as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy is charged with trying to reverse what the 9/11 Commission and her new boss call a major government failing.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Too few know of our deep respect for the history and traditions of others and our respect for the religions of all.

KING: Not that the administration hasn't tried.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is the possibility of meetings here on the White House grounds with Iraqi ex-pat.

KING: The White House Office of Global Communications was established at Hughes' direction. The annual State Department budget for public diplomacy is nearly $700 million. And the government also launched a taxpayer-financed Arab language network.

But Al-Jazeera and other Pan Arab networks have a far greater reach, were highly critical of the Iraq war, and usually accused Mr. Bush of taking Israel's side in disputes with the Palestinians. The president, earlier this year, called them part of the problem.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The propagandists have done a better job of depicting America as a hateful place, a place wanting to impose our form of government on people and our religion on people. KING: Madison Avenue executive Charlotte Beers and veteran State Department hand Margaret Tutwiler held the post in the first Bush term. Administration critics say a new ad campaign alone won't turn around public opinion in the Muslim world.

SUSAN RICE, FMR. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: There were no weapons of mass destruction, no links to al Qaeda and they doubt our motives. Our motives and our credibility have been called into question, and you can't fix that simply by marketing.

KING: This morning White House meeting was part of an effort to make clear Mr. Bush's personal investment in a woman he calls both trusted adviser and friend.

(on camera): Given the depth of her loyalty to the president, the immediate challenge for Hughes in her new role may be coming to terms with how much of this anti-American sentiment is personal against a man she calls wonderful and compassionate but is often portrayed across the Arab world as a bully and a warmonger.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So will Karen Hughes get a warm reception or a cold shoulder from the Muslim world? For some answers, let's go to a current hot spot in the Arab world, Beirut, Lebanon.

Our senior editor for Arab Affairs Octavia Nasr is there.

Good morning -- Octavia.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: Good morning, Carol, from Lebanon.

Lebanon has awakened today to a new era in its history. People on the street, ordinary Lebanese, experts, analysts, journalists, even politicians, everybody seems to think that a new era is on its way. They're very hopeful.

They're saying that if the number game is correct, then the entire Syrian demonstration brought in about a million people. Of course CNN cannot confirm these numbers. But this is far more than what the pro-Syrian demonstration brought in. So people here are telling us that Lebanon has spoken. The people of Lebanon from different factions, different religions came together.

This square where I'm standing here, yesterday you couldn't even walk in here. It was packed with people. It was so packed in fact that people were fainting right and left.

Right behind me you can see these tents. People are still in a sit-in situation. They did not go home. You have hundreds of them sleeping here, staying here, saying that they are not going to leave the square until the truth is revealed. They want an investigation into the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. You may remember this is what sparked this new movement here. And they're saying they want the truth. They want to know what happened, who killed him and they want these people to be brought to justice -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Octavia Nasr live from Lebanon this morning.

Will Karen Hughes get a warm reception in the Arab world? We'll get to that question later on DAYBREAK in our 6:00 hour.

Anderson Cooper also covering the events in Lebanon all this week. Join him for "ANDERSON COOPER 360" weeknights at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 p.m. on the West Coast.

More food for thought ahead on DAYBREAK. At 12 before the hour, what's inside the mind of a killer? Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the inner workings.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:43. Here's what's all new this morning.

Brian Nichols goes back to court about four hours from now. The alleged courthouse shooter makes an initial appearance at 10:00 a.m. Eastern in Atlanta. It will take place at a court in the jail where he's being held.

Bill Clinton is back home. The former president has left a New York hospital after four days of surgery, actually, four days after surgery I should say. Doctors had to clear up some complications from the quadruple bypass Clinton had in September.

In money news, U.S. Airways tries to get off the ground. The bankrupt airline says it has a deal on a financing package to help it restructure. It's secured $125 million from a regional partner.

In culture, U2 has reached some hallowed halls. The band has been inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. Other inductees include The Pretenders, the O'Jays, Percy Sledge and Buddy Guy.

In sports, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat over the Milwaukee Bucks 110 to 71 last night. It was the ninth straight win for the Heat -- Chad.

MYERS: Hey, good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

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

An "American Idol" has been reaching out to young tsunami survivors. There he is. That's Clay Aiken singing a popular Indonesian song with kids in Indonesia's tsunami devastated Aceh Province. The runner-up of the 2003 "American Idol" is visiting the region as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. He toured refugee camps in the province where nearly a quarter of a million people were killed or missing in the tsunami. And, as you can see, he brought a lot of smiles to a lot of young faces there.

It's happened to everyone, you hear a song like that one and it gets stuck in your head. The reasons why and your most irritating songs next on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, a message for people with lung cancer, try the drug Avastin, along with standard chemotherapy. The National Cancer Institute says patients who do that live a medium of 12.5 months, about 2 months longer than those undergoing just chemotherapy.

If you want to live longer and have a lower risk of heart disease, head for the hills, actually, the mountains. Research in Greece shows people living at higher altitudes have lower odds of dying from heart ailments than those living closer to the sea level.

And a warning for anyone thinking about getting a tattoo, be careful. Dirty needles already are a hazard, but preliminary research suggests there's another potential problem, heavy metal, and we're not talking music either. An analysis of 17 tattoo inks from five manufacturers found evidence of metals such as nickel and copper.

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

Medical experts have long tried to get inside the minds of killers. The recent shootings in Atlanta raised the question yet again, what makes a killer kill?

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody off the sidewalk!

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What happened at 9:00 a.m. at a Georgia courthouse last Friday, unconscionable, unfathomable to most of us -- even, according to the woman he held hostage, to the alleged killer.

SMITH: He talked about his family. He was wondering what they were thinking. He said they probably don't know what to think. We watched the news. He looked at the TV and he just said, "I cannot believe that's me on there."

GUPTA: Ashley Smith, who says she was held hostage by Nichols for seven hours before he surrendered, paints the picture of a murderous mind turned solemn.

DR. JONATHAN PINCUS, NEUROLOGIST, GEORGETOWN UNIV.: In between periods of mania and depression, people are normal. That's a concept that's kind of hard to get across, how a person could be really almost psychotically affected by mental illness at one time and a few days later be normal.

GUPTA: Jonathan Pincus is a neurologist at Georgetown University and author of the book "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill." He has interviewed convicted murderers like Kip Kinkel and Ted Bundy.

PINCUS: I think they're all very similar. I think they're all, or most of them have been mentally ill, neurologically impaired and abused in childhood, terribly, badly tortured.

GUPTA: But of those three ingredient, Pincus believes the most interesting is in the brain.

PINCUS: The frontal lobe provides judgment, insight, self- criticism, the ability to say "don't do that." And when it's damaged you get some very bizarre changes in behavior.

GUPTA: Without a doubt the mind of a killer is complex territory. What we do know from some convicted killers' own accounts, the crime itself often causes an adrenaline surge, a hollowing or muting of sound, what some scientists call a narrowing of the senses.

PINCUS: Most murderers feel a sense of elation when they kill somebody.

GUPTA: Were the courthouse murders simply elation, a spur of the moment decision or was it something deeper? Pincus says murders like these are all about power.

PINCUS: The perpetrator is a person who has felt like a victim. He's felt victimized for years and years, sometimes as the result of his own paranoid misperception of what's going on. And he hates that feeling of being a victim, and he wants to be a perpetrator. And in that moment that he kills somebody else, he's just one.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Made me wonder what song that was. It just suddenly stopped.

But we're talking about songs this morning that stick in your head and you just can't get them out, just like "Domo arigoto, Mr. Roboto." Remember that song? Samantha (ph) says that's her most irritating song, a song she cannot get out of her head no matter what.

Well there's a study going on right now and there's a chance later today you'll find out why those songs stick in your head. Dartmouth University has done a study about this. William Kelley is an assistant professor there, and he joins us live now.

Good morning.

WILLIAM M. KELLEY, ASST. PROFESSOR, DARTMOUTH UNIV.: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So why do songs stick in our heads? Let's just get right to the point.

KELLEY: Well, it turns out that the brain region that you use to actually hear the song, which is the auditory cortex, will continue to remain active when you're actually imagining the song playing in your head or if you happen to have it kind of lodged in your head there.

COSTELLO: Does your brain do that with anything else?

KELLEY: It's unclear whether it does it with other things. You can certainly have very vivid memories kind of springing to mind. You can have an image of a family member or something kind of pop up in your head. And in those situations you would be using portions of the visual system. But this is one of the more -- the ones that kind of plague everybody from time to time and the kind of memory that seems to happen at least to every person once in a while.

COSTELLO: So let me try to make this clear and understand, your brain hears a song, you know your ears hear a song, and even if the song stops playing your brain finishes it for you even if you're not hearing the song through your ear?

KELLEY: Yes, so basically you could kind of come to the conclusion that you know we were interested in what happens when the brain is hearing and the ears aren't. And it turns out that the brain just continues to remain active when you're hearing the song play in your head.

COSTELLO: OK, so Phyllis (ph) writes from Florida. She says "Achy Breaky Heart" drives her absolutely crazy. She wants to forget that song. So why does your brain remember songs that you don't like?

KELLEY: Now that's something that we didn't actually test with our research. But would be the next is you know are there differences between songs that you actually want to be hearing in your head and those, the more annoying ones that kind of plague us from time to time that just kind of creep up and sneak in there. We haven't looked at that yet, but that's a great question.

COSTELLO: It is a great question, because many people in our audience want to know why. In fact, I heard this morning from Jackie (ph), our wonderful makeup artist here, that if you have an annoying song in your head, you just sing the "Flintstones" song and it will disappear.

KELLEY: Yes, and that one is likely to get stuck, perhaps.

COSTELLO: But there's no evidence that that would work, right?

KELLEY: Yes, we don't know why certain -- I guess we don't know what makes a particular song more likely to be stuck in your head than others. What we showed with our work is kind of the neuro basis for why you have that percept of the song playing in your head.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. William Kelley joining us from New Hampshire this morning. Thank you very much.

That Dartmouth study is online if you want to know more, Chad, but it's amazing how many e-mails we're getting from people who have an annoying song to tell us about.

MYERS: It must be that it's the 5:00 a.m. hour in the East and it's 4:00 a.m. Central Time and it's 2:00 a.m. Eastern or Pacific here. "Hey, Mickey" you're so fine" by Chris (ph) in Salinas, California. And "I am a walrus." "The weather is here. Wish you were beautiful." Finally a Jimmy Buffett fan pops in. And "you put the lime in the coconut" and that's from Matt (ph) in North Carolina.

COSTELLO: I got one about "lime in the coconut," too. I had forgotten about that song, but it's in my head now.

Let's see.

MYERS: I got a "My Sharona" from Frank (ph).

COSTELLO: I agree with you, "My Sharona," that song just drives me crazy.

MYERS: And -- go ahead.

COSTELLO: This is from Tom (ph). He says that's in my -- there's no song that bothers me in my head, it's the voices that bother me.

Got a lot of those, actually.

The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.

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 March 15, 2005 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Back in court, Atlanta courtroom shooting suspect Brian Nichols will face a judge four-and-a-half hours from now. It's an initial court appearance. Authorities still haven't decided on all the charges they'll bring against him.

In the Philippines, police storm a Manila prison retaking it from a Muslim separatist group linked to al Qaeda. At least 21 inmates were killed. Police say four of them were the group's leaders.

Israel is set to hand over the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinian security forces tomorrow. That's to be followed by another town early next week. The deal was worked out during talks between both sides.

Hundreds of Pentagon workers have been tested for exposure to anthrax. This, after sensors detected signs of the potentially deadly bacteria at two Pentagon mail facilities. Initial tests have come back negative. More tests are under way.

In the U.S., read it and weep, gas prices are near record high levels. The government says the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular is $2.05, almost 6 cents higher than last week. And it's going to go up to, what, $2.15 a gallon before it's all said and done?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know I was watching some other station about -- at 6:00 they do this what do you think kind of new show it's got going on. Jim Cramer (ph) has got the show. And he can see $65 a barrel oil before $45 a barrel oil, so.

COSTELLO: Wow!

MYERS: I don't know, that could be ugly. I certainly have been talking to some guys. Actually, I just bought a new car. And they're saying that the car sales are just absolutely at a standstill, especially the bigger cars, the bigger, heavier things with the big V8s, they're just sitting there, so.

(WEATHER REPORT)

But Atlanta only 52. Carol, on Sunday I was golfing, it was 76.

COSTELLO: Well...

MYERS: I know. I know.

COSTELLO: ... you deserve that 52 degrees then.

MYERS: I know, get out the big violin, but...

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MYERS: Back to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

More details now on Brian Nichols who will be back in court in just a few hours. The alleged courthouse shooter is to make an initial appearance in Atlanta at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. It will happen at a court within the Fulton County Jail. The Fulton County district attorney says Nichols has given authorities a statement and that he is being cooperative.

In the meantime, Atlanta's Police Chief Richard Pennington says it's been a rough few days. He tells CNN the shooting rampage is one of the most devastating events in his 30-year career.

"Beyond the Soundbite" now and a heartfelt statement from Ashley Smith, the woman who police say was held hostage by Brian Nichols after he escaped from custody and killed four people. Smith says she talked to Nichols for hours, even cooked him breakfast. She says Nichols convinced her -- she convinced Nichols, rather, to let her go, and her 911 call led to his arrest.

In her statement, her newest statement, Smith tearfully mentions the victims of the shooting rampage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support over the last several days. I also want to extend my deepest sympathies to the families of Judge Barnes, Julie Ann Brandau, Deputy Teasley and Special Agent Wilhelm, as well as my prayers for Deputy Hall, who is fighting for her life right now in the hospital.

As I'm sure you can imagine, this event has been extremely difficult and exhausting for me and my extended family. I've experienced just about every emotion one could imagine in the span of just a few days. Throughout my time with Mr. Nichols, I continued to rely on my faith in God. God has helped me through tough times before, and He'll help me now.

I hope that you will respect my need to rest and to focus my immediate attention on helping legal authorities proceed with their various investigations. It's natural to focus on the conclusion of any story, but my role was really very small in the grand scheme of things. The real heroes are the judicial and law enforcement officials who gave their lives and those who risked their lives to bring this to an end.

Thank you for your prayers, and may God bless you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Smith also says she's talked enough and now she wants to be let alone.

President Bush is turning to a longtime and trusted friend to help change America's image in the Muslim world. It's an image tarnished by the Iraq war.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John King has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fiercely loyal defender of the president's image will now try to improve her country's image overseas, especially in an Arab world with no shortage of anti-American and anti-Bush sentiment.

KAREN HUGHES, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE DESIGNATE: This job will be difficult. Perceptions do not change quickly or easily. This is a struggle for ideas.

KING: Former top White House aide Karen Hughes will get the rank of ambassador. And as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy is charged with trying to reverse what the 9/11 Commission and her new boss call a major government failing.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Too few know of our deep respect for the history and traditions of others and our respect for the religions of all.

KING: Not that the administration hasn't tried.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is the possibility of meetings here on the White House grounds with Iraqi ex-pat.

KING: The White House Office of Global Communications was established at Hughes' direction. The annual State Department budget for public diplomacy is nearly $700 million. And the government also launched a taxpayer-financed Arab language network.

But Al-Jazeera and other Pan Arab networks have a far greater reach, were highly critical of the Iraq war, and usually accused Mr. Bush of taking Israel's side in disputes with the Palestinians. The president, earlier this year, called them part of the problem.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The propagandists have done a better job of depicting America as a hateful place, a place wanting to impose our form of government on people and our religion on people. KING: Madison Avenue executive Charlotte Beers and veteran State Department hand Margaret Tutwiler held the post in the first Bush term. Administration critics say a new ad campaign alone won't turn around public opinion in the Muslim world.

SUSAN RICE, FMR. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: There were no weapons of mass destruction, no links to al Qaeda and they doubt our motives. Our motives and our credibility have been called into question, and you can't fix that simply by marketing.

KING: This morning White House meeting was part of an effort to make clear Mr. Bush's personal investment in a woman he calls both trusted adviser and friend.

(on camera): Given the depth of her loyalty to the president, the immediate challenge for Hughes in her new role may be coming to terms with how much of this anti-American sentiment is personal against a man she calls wonderful and compassionate but is often portrayed across the Arab world as a bully and a warmonger.

John King, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So will Karen Hughes get a warm reception or a cold shoulder from the Muslim world? For some answers, let's go to a current hot spot in the Arab world, Beirut, Lebanon.

Our senior editor for Arab Affairs Octavia Nasr is there.

Good morning -- Octavia.

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN SENIOR EDITOR FOR ARAB AFFAIRS: Good morning, Carol, from Lebanon.

Lebanon has awakened today to a new era in its history. People on the street, ordinary Lebanese, experts, analysts, journalists, even politicians, everybody seems to think that a new era is on its way. They're very hopeful.

They're saying that if the number game is correct, then the entire Syrian demonstration brought in about a million people. Of course CNN cannot confirm these numbers. But this is far more than what the pro-Syrian demonstration brought in. So people here are telling us that Lebanon has spoken. The people of Lebanon from different factions, different religions came together.

This square where I'm standing here, yesterday you couldn't even walk in here. It was packed with people. It was so packed in fact that people were fainting right and left.

Right behind me you can see these tents. People are still in a sit-in situation. They did not go home. You have hundreds of them sleeping here, staying here, saying that they are not going to leave the square until the truth is revealed. They want an investigation into the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. You may remember this is what sparked this new movement here. And they're saying they want the truth. They want to know what happened, who killed him and they want these people to be brought to justice -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Octavia Nasr live from Lebanon this morning.

Will Karen Hughes get a warm reception in the Arab world? We'll get to that question later on DAYBREAK in our 6:00 hour.

Anderson Cooper also covering the events in Lebanon all this week. Join him for "ANDERSON COOPER 360" weeknights at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 p.m. on the West Coast.

More food for thought ahead on DAYBREAK. At 12 before the hour, what's inside the mind of a killer? Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the inner workings.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 5:43. Here's what's all new this morning.

Brian Nichols goes back to court about four hours from now. The alleged courthouse shooter makes an initial appearance at 10:00 a.m. Eastern in Atlanta. It will take place at a court in the jail where he's being held.

Bill Clinton is back home. The former president has left a New York hospital after four days of surgery, actually, four days after surgery I should say. Doctors had to clear up some complications from the quadruple bypass Clinton had in September.

In money news, U.S. Airways tries to get off the ground. The bankrupt airline says it has a deal on a financing package to help it restructure. It's secured $125 million from a regional partner.

In culture, U2 has reached some hallowed halls. The band has been inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. Other inductees include The Pretenders, the O'Jays, Percy Sledge and Buddy Guy.

In sports, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat over the Milwaukee Bucks 110 to 71 last night. It was the ninth straight win for the Heat -- Chad.

MYERS: Hey, good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

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

An "American Idol" has been reaching out to young tsunami survivors. There he is. That's Clay Aiken singing a popular Indonesian song with kids in Indonesia's tsunami devastated Aceh Province. The runner-up of the 2003 "American Idol" is visiting the region as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. He toured refugee camps in the province where nearly a quarter of a million people were killed or missing in the tsunami. And, as you can see, he brought a lot of smiles to a lot of young faces there.

It's happened to everyone, you hear a song like that one and it gets stuck in your head. The reasons why and your most irritating songs next on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, a message for people with lung cancer, try the drug Avastin, along with standard chemotherapy. The National Cancer Institute says patients who do that live a medium of 12.5 months, about 2 months longer than those undergoing just chemotherapy.

If you want to live longer and have a lower risk of heart disease, head for the hills, actually, the mountains. Research in Greece shows people living at higher altitudes have lower odds of dying from heart ailments than those living closer to the sea level.

And a warning for anyone thinking about getting a tattoo, be careful. Dirty needles already are a hazard, but preliminary research suggests there's another potential problem, heavy metal, and we're not talking music either. An analysis of 17 tattoo inks from five manufacturers found evidence of metals such as nickel and copper.

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

Medical experts have long tried to get inside the minds of killers. The recent shootings in Atlanta raised the question yet again, what makes a killer kill?

Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody off the sidewalk!

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What happened at 9:00 a.m. at a Georgia courthouse last Friday, unconscionable, unfathomable to most of us -- even, according to the woman he held hostage, to the alleged killer.

SMITH: He talked about his family. He was wondering what they were thinking. He said they probably don't know what to think. We watched the news. He looked at the TV and he just said, "I cannot believe that's me on there."

GUPTA: Ashley Smith, who says she was held hostage by Nichols for seven hours before he surrendered, paints the picture of a murderous mind turned solemn.

DR. JONATHAN PINCUS, NEUROLOGIST, GEORGETOWN UNIV.: In between periods of mania and depression, people are normal. That's a concept that's kind of hard to get across, how a person could be really almost psychotically affected by mental illness at one time and a few days later be normal.

GUPTA: Jonathan Pincus is a neurologist at Georgetown University and author of the book "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill." He has interviewed convicted murderers like Kip Kinkel and Ted Bundy.

PINCUS: I think they're all very similar. I think they're all, or most of them have been mentally ill, neurologically impaired and abused in childhood, terribly, badly tortured.

GUPTA: But of those three ingredient, Pincus believes the most interesting is in the brain.

PINCUS: The frontal lobe provides judgment, insight, self- criticism, the ability to say "don't do that." And when it's damaged you get some very bizarre changes in behavior.

GUPTA: Without a doubt the mind of a killer is complex territory. What we do know from some convicted killers' own accounts, the crime itself often causes an adrenaline surge, a hollowing or muting of sound, what some scientists call a narrowing of the senses.

PINCUS: Most murderers feel a sense of elation when they kill somebody.

GUPTA: Were the courthouse murders simply elation, a spur of the moment decision or was it something deeper? Pincus says murders like these are all about power.

PINCUS: The perpetrator is a person who has felt like a victim. He's felt victimized for years and years, sometimes as the result of his own paranoid misperception of what's going on. And he hates that feeling of being a victim, and he wants to be a perpetrator. And in that moment that he kills somebody else, he's just one.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Made me wonder what song that was. It just suddenly stopped.

But we're talking about songs this morning that stick in your head and you just can't get them out, just like "Domo arigoto, Mr. Roboto." Remember that song? Samantha (ph) says that's her most irritating song, a song she cannot get out of her head no matter what.

Well there's a study going on right now and there's a chance later today you'll find out why those songs stick in your head. Dartmouth University has done a study about this. William Kelley is an assistant professor there, and he joins us live now.

Good morning.

WILLIAM M. KELLEY, ASST. PROFESSOR, DARTMOUTH UNIV.: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So why do songs stick in our heads? Let's just get right to the point.

KELLEY: Well, it turns out that the brain region that you use to actually hear the song, which is the auditory cortex, will continue to remain active when you're actually imagining the song playing in your head or if you happen to have it kind of lodged in your head there.

COSTELLO: Does your brain do that with anything else?

KELLEY: It's unclear whether it does it with other things. You can certainly have very vivid memories kind of springing to mind. You can have an image of a family member or something kind of pop up in your head. And in those situations you would be using portions of the visual system. But this is one of the more -- the ones that kind of plague everybody from time to time and the kind of memory that seems to happen at least to every person once in a while.

COSTELLO: So let me try to make this clear and understand, your brain hears a song, you know your ears hear a song, and even if the song stops playing your brain finishes it for you even if you're not hearing the song through your ear?

KELLEY: Yes, so basically you could kind of come to the conclusion that you know we were interested in what happens when the brain is hearing and the ears aren't. And it turns out that the brain just continues to remain active when you're hearing the song play in your head.

COSTELLO: OK, so Phyllis (ph) writes from Florida. She says "Achy Breaky Heart" drives her absolutely crazy. She wants to forget that song. So why does your brain remember songs that you don't like?

KELLEY: Now that's something that we didn't actually test with our research. But would be the next is you know are there differences between songs that you actually want to be hearing in your head and those, the more annoying ones that kind of plague us from time to time that just kind of creep up and sneak in there. We haven't looked at that yet, but that's a great question.

COSTELLO: It is a great question, because many people in our audience want to know why. In fact, I heard this morning from Jackie (ph), our wonderful makeup artist here, that if you have an annoying song in your head, you just sing the "Flintstones" song and it will disappear.

KELLEY: Yes, and that one is likely to get stuck, perhaps.

COSTELLO: But there's no evidence that that would work, right?

KELLEY: Yes, we don't know why certain -- I guess we don't know what makes a particular song more likely to be stuck in your head than others. What we showed with our work is kind of the neuro basis for why you have that percept of the song playing in your head.

COSTELLO: Fascinating. William Kelley joining us from New Hampshire this morning. Thank you very much.

That Dartmouth study is online if you want to know more, Chad, but it's amazing how many e-mails we're getting from people who have an annoying song to tell us about.

MYERS: It must be that it's the 5:00 a.m. hour in the East and it's 4:00 a.m. Central Time and it's 2:00 a.m. Eastern or Pacific here. "Hey, Mickey" you're so fine" by Chris (ph) in Salinas, California. And "I am a walrus." "The weather is here. Wish you were beautiful." Finally a Jimmy Buffett fan pops in. And "you put the lime in the coconut" and that's from Matt (ph) in North Carolina.

COSTELLO: I got one about "lime in the coconut," too. I had forgotten about that song, but it's in my head now.

Let's see.

MYERS: I got a "My Sharona" from Frank (ph).

COSTELLO: I agree with you, "My Sharona," that song just drives me crazy.

MYERS: And -- go ahead.

COSTELLO: This is from Tom (ph). He says that's in my -- there's no song that bothers me in my head, it's the voices that bother me.

Got a lot of those, actually.

The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.

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