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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tony Blair Reelected; Congress Releases Vioxx Documents

Aired May 06, 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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Tony Blair wins reelection but loses big time at the polls. We'll explain.
Surveillance videos now at the center of the search for who's behind that explosion in New York.

And has the media run amok over the runaway bride? We'll take a look at the fascination.

It is Friday, May 6.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, the bodies of 14 people who had been shot and killed were found in Baghdad this morning. An Iraqi soldier says some of the victims were blindfolded and then shot in the head execution style. The victims, believed to be Iraqis, were found buried in shallow graves.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide car bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iraqi police officers to work today. Seven officers were killed in the attack, three others wounded. It happened in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace.

President Bush leaves in about an hour on a trip to two Baltic states, the Netherlands and Russia. On the eve of his trip, the "Washington Post" reports Russia issued a testy rebuke of Bush. Moscow denied its troops forcibly occupied Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 1940. In a letter to the leader of Latvia, President Bush called it "tragic" when three tiny Baltic nations were absorbed into the Soviet Union against their will.

Florida police are looking for this man, Patrick Wayne Bell. He's described as a repeat sexual offender who preys on children. Police say Bell cut off his tracking device and fled from his mother's home in Riviera Beach.

And New York police still don't know who is behind that Manhattan explosion, but they do say surveillance videos seem to show at least one grenade being thrown toward the building housing the British consulate. Two grenades exploded there yesterday.

To the Forecast Center and Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

I always thought that there would be surveillance tapes around that area. You know, you, every time you walk around New York and you look up, you see cameras. Somebody has to have that on tape. They just have to go through it.

COSTELLO: You know, the images are very fuzzy, though.

MYERS: Well, of course.

COSTELLO: They're trying to enhance it so...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We're going to talk about it later, though.

MYERS: Fair enough.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has won a third term in office. The win, though, was a much smaller by a -- by a much smaller margin than Blair's Labor Party has enjoyed in past elections. Most people say the Iraq war cost the prime minister much of his support.

CNN's Walter Rodgers live in London with more for us -- hello, Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, after the victory, it's off for a short meeting with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. A few moments ago, Britain's prime minister, newly reelected, Tony Blair and his wife Cherie just left Number Ten Downing Street. They made no comments to reporters outside or to the television cameras. They got immediately into their Jaguar for the short drive, about one mile from Number Ten Downing Street over to Buckingham Palace.

Now, of course, the prime minister, any prime minister, upon election, has to report to the queen, report because she is the head of state here. A prime minister is the head of government. It thus is Mr. Blair's responsibility to tell Her Majesty that he can form a new government and he is expected to begin with that almost immediately.

It'll be not quite so easy a task as it has been in the past for Mr. Blair. The reason was he took quite a beating in the polls. He did get reelected to a historic third term, the first time a Labor prime minister has ever been elected to a third term. But he saw the majority he had in parliament and in the House of Commons, 160 seats, cut and reduced to 60 seats.

And you can see the British papers aren't celebrating a lot this morning. Look at this: "Blair Gets A Battering!." Here's another: "Blair: Kicked In the Ballots!" And here's one for you: "Yes, You Did Give Him A Bloody Nose."

Now, the bloody nose, as anybody in Britain knows, or anybody who watches British politics, is the fact that Prime Minister Tony Blair took quite a thrashing in the polls. He's still prime minister, but the British public was obviously more than a little fed up with one particular issue, and Blair was quick to identify it, even as he celebrated last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I know, too, that Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country. But I hope now that we can unite again and look to the future there and here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: Voters gave Tony Blair a very rough ride during the campaign over the Iraq war issue. In many rallies, they simply stood up and shouted "Liar! Liar!" to him. The British public more than a little disenchanted. They feel he was economical with the truth about those alleged weapons of mass destruction and the reasons for going to war. And if things were bad enough when he was taking that thrashing during the campaign and at the campaign rallies, listen to what one of his opponents, George Galloway, said also this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GALLOWAY, RESPECT PARTY CANDIDATE: Mr. Blair, this is for Iraq. This defeat that you have suffered and all the other defeats that new Labor has suffered this evening, is for Iraq. All the people you killed, all the lies you told have come back to haunt u. And the best thing the Labor Party could do is sack you tomorrow morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: So, a historic victory for Tony Blair. But at the same time, he's almost automatically a lame duck. His popular mandate in this election was only 36 percent. Already commentators and analysts are saying they do not expect him to serve the full four years as prime minister. Most people are figuring in this country that Blair will only serve two years. And one of the reasons he was so keen on getting a third term as prime minister, as a Labor prime minister, was he did not want to go out of office as a prime minister who was responsible for a very, very unpopular war among the British public.

Thus, he did get himself reelected, but it wasn't -- it was with, as a British papers said, a bloody nose -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers live in London this morning.

Thank you.

It is a career killer in the military -- busted over Iraq's prison abuse scandal. Janis Karpinski, the Army Reserve general in charge of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib Prison, has been demoted to colonel. A protect investigation cleared four other senior officers who were investigated in the prison abuse scandal.

In Congress, the House has approved another $82 billion in spending for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate is expected to do the same when it votes on the measure next week. That will boost the total amount spent on fighting in the two countries since September 11 to more than $300 billion.

In other "Stories Across America" this Friday, a grand jury in Atlanta has indicted courtroom shooting suspect Brian Nichols on murder charges. Prosecutors in the case say they'll seek the death penalty. Nichols is suspected in four killings, including a judge and a court reporter.

Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks of suburban Atlanta says she's sorry. Wilbanks issued a statement apologizing for the trouble she caused when she fled to New Mexico just days before her wedding. Wilbanks said her actions had nothing whatsoever to do with her not wanting to get married.

She didn't read the statement herself, by the way. It was read by her family's minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS SMILEY, PASTOR, LAKEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH: "Those who know me know how excited I have been and how excited I was about the spectacular wedding we planned and how I could not wait to be called Mrs. John Mason. In my mind, it was never about timing. However, unfortunately, I was simply running away from myself and from certain fears controlling my life."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wilbanks says she's now seeking professional treatment for her problems.

And get this, there is a missing groom. A missing California groom who vanished the day he was supposed to get married has shown up a month after his intended wedding. Police say Kenneth Souza just showed up back home wearing the same clothes he left in. No word on where he'd been. Maybe he was with Jennifer Wilbanks, I don't know. Just kidding.

A passenger on a private jet had to crash land the plane after the pilot suffered an apparent heart attack. The plane came down just short of the North Las Vegas Airport runway. The two passengers on board survived. The pilot did not.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Air Force One is wheels up in about an hour. President Bush heads overseas. Among his stops, Moscow, for a meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. And it may not be all that cordial. We'll have a live report for you in 22 minutes.

New York police are reviewing surveillance video, hoping for a glimpse of the Manhattan bomber.

And we'll take you to the movies with Tom O'Neil, who gives us his take on the epic adventure, "The Kingdom of Heaven."

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:13 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Tony Blair has won a third term as British prime minister. But his Labor Party has lost a significant number of parliamentary seats, and the prime minister's support for the Iraq war is being blamed.

In money news, ABC's "Fallen Idol" show has ranked as the most watched news magazine episode in over a year. The documentary exposed an alleged affair between "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul and a former contestant. That's him. It aired during the crucial sweeps month.

In culture, the group Audio Slave will perform in Havana tonight. It will become the first U.S. band to rock communist Cuba.

In sports, the Boston Celtics were able to force a game seven against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA playoffs. The Celtics forced it down to the wire, won in overtime. The two meet in Boston for game seven tomorrow -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

Looking at some of the pollen in the air this morning, the heaviest big red blob there right centered over Utah. But there is some high pollen all the way up the East Coast, all the way from Arkansas, through Oklahoma and Kansas, right on up even into Washington, D.C.

The cities with the worst pollen for spring allergies here, Lexington, Kentucky, all that grass you've got going there; Little Rock, Arkansas; Chattanooga; Louisville; and also Johnson City, Tennessee, the tri-cities there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.

New York City police are enhancing security tapes, hoping to get clues into who was behind yesterday's explosion outside of a building housing the British consulate. Police say tapes seem to show one grenade being thrown toward the building. Two grenades exploded, causing minor damage, but no injuries. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The NYPD bomb squad, in conjunction with the FBI and our awesome explosion experts, believe that the devices were novelty grenades filled with black powder and then detonated, possibly by using a fuse that was ignited by hand. No timing device appears to have been employed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A bicyclist, a female jogger and a taxi cab driver are seen on those security tapes. Police are asking for their help.

It's out with the old, in for the new for a major drug company. But is a new front man enough to help Merck turn things around without Vioxx to help pay the bills?

And a Medieval blockbuster is jousting for your attention at theaters this weekend. We'll tell you if you should bother.

That's when DAYBREAK continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN," COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A kingdom of conscience and peace instead of war, love instead of hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

What was Merck telling its sales staff about its painkiller Vioxx?

Carrie Lee has that and a few other things Merck was saying -- good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Good morning to you.

Congress is releasing hundreds of documents related to Merck, hundreds of pages supplied by Merck, as part of the investigation of the painkiller Vioxx, which was pulled from the market last year due to worries about heart risks.

Now, several of these documents dealt with Merck's instructions to its sales staff of nearly 3,000 people. A couple of funny things there. For instance, salespeople were instructed to shake hands with a physician for three seconds and when eating with doctors, they were told to eat the bread one small bite-sized piece at a time. So some etiquette in these documents. But on a more serious note, Merck told salespeople not to initiate discussions on the heart risks of Vioxx. And if doctors asked, the salespeople were told to accentuate the positives about the drug.

Meanwhile, Congress is trying to determine if Merck did anything wrong by not plug Vioxx earlier, since it was aware of the risks for several years. So, a very interesting development.

By the way, Merck has a new CEO. As of yesterday, Richard Gilmartin has been replaced by Richard Clark. He's the former head of Merck's manufacturing unit, so a lot of experience in the industry.

COSTELLO: And an insider, as well.

LEE: Insider, as well. He worked at Medco, the pharmacy benefits company, for a long time. So we'll see if he can get the company on a better track.

COSTELLO: Or if he was connected at all to these memos.

LEE: Well, maybe. Maybe. But head of manufacturing, that's a different area than sales, certainly. But, yes, we'll see how he does going forward.

COSTELLO: A look at the futures?

LEE: The futures looking up a bit after some weakness yesterday.

General Motors and Ford saw their debt degraded from Standard & Poor's, so that caused some weakness.

The big jobs report coming out at 8:30 Eastern today. That's really going to determine the direction. Well, the estimates are expected to be pretty good. We're expected to be adding 175,000 jobs, much better than the prior reading. That's really going to determine today's direction.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll keep an eye on it.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Carrie Lee.

LEE: Sure.

COSTELLO: Coming up on DAYBREAK, just how far did Paula Abdul go to help out one of her favorite "Idol" contenders? I think we know the answer to that question. But what about the fallout? We'll have that when DAYBREAK continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: There is so much to see this weekend, including one of the best movies this year so far.

So says Tom O'Neil from "In Touch Weekly."

He'll also have the latest in the Paula Abdul scandal. But we're going to wait to get to that.

Let's talk about movies first, and quickly.

First, we're going to talk about "The Kingdom of Heaven."

TOM O'NEIL, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Orlando Bloom is a French blacksmith who goes on the Crusades when his wife kills herself. I think I know why she committed suicide. The guy is very boring. He's no Russell Crowe. This is the team that gave us "Gladiator."

But it's pretty good. It's not the big epic disappointment that so many of these epics have been lately. And it's historically accurate.

COSTELLO: Really?

O'NEIL: It doesn't just blame the Muslim bad guys.

COSTELLO: So, really, it's the Christians fighting the Muslims. It's the Crusades, in essence.

O'NEIL: It's the Crusades but it's historically accurate and interesting to watch.

COSTELLO: I'm sure it will be like watching the History Channel. I do enjoy that, by the way. I do.

Now, the best movie of the year, you were saying, and this is "Crash."

O'NEIL: "Crash."

COSTELLO: It sounds so interesting.

O'NEIL: It's fantastic. This is a movie filled with stars -- Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Don Cheadle. Everybody gets in a crash in the first scene and you go back in time to see how they get there. It's a movie about race relations. It's not preachy, though. And by the time this movie ends, it really is a head-on collision. Everybody walks out of the theater going wow, this is what movies are all about. It's fantastic.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's so good to hear.

OK, let's get to the dirt.

Paula Abdul. You know what I've been wondering?

O'NEIL: What? What? What? What?

COSTELLO: Why isn't the FCC looking into this "American Idol" scandal? They looked into Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. O'NEIL: That is the single most brilliant comment I have heard. Thank you, Carol. You have absolutely nailed it, because there's talk now of a Fox investigation and Corey is saying he's not cooperating with it. I think he's right. I think these people have demonstrated so much corruption through voting and everything else.

It's time for an FCC investigation here. It's been tried in the past of this game show, but because it's a British-based company, that presents a problem. But it's time. As you were saying, if they can go after the Janet Jackson, you know, thing...

COSTELLO: Where is the FCC in all of this? And, you know, some might say that the ABC expose didn't really expose very much. Like so what, she had sex with him? She didn't really sway the vote either way. There's no...

O'NEIL: Oh, yes she did.

COSTELLO: How do you -- yes, but she says good things about everyone and really the viewers vote.

So how did she exactly do that?

O'NEIL: The key moment is when she tells him to sing the song "Foolish Heart" by Journey, because that was the band that Randy Jackson is in. And the key moment when Corey advances on "American Idol" is when Randy is going, "Hey, that was a brilliant song." And they show the clips. So come on, this -- this did affect his placement in the show.

COSTELLO: So what do you think should happen?

O'NEIL: The FCC should come in, because their role is to judge the honesty and accuracy and fairness of TV shows. And according to their regulations, if that's violated, the contest must be removed.

You can't solve the problem, according to FCC code. You remove the whole contest.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, if Paula Abdul had exposed any part of her breast on television...

O'NEIL: Yes, right, right, right.

COSTELLO: ... they would be right there.

O'NEIL: I've said a naughty word. Right.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Will Paula Abdul be kicked off the show?

O'NEIL: I think -- here's my prediction.

COSTELLO: OK.

O'NEIL: Monday morning we're going to see an announcement from the show that Paula Abdul is going into rehab.

COSTELLO: Really? Well, she came out in "People" magazine and said she had this health condition and that's the reason she's been acting a little wacky.

O'NEIL: Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes.

COSTELLO: But you're saying it's like a little more than a health condition.

O'NEIL: I think everybody in the industry knows there is a bigger problem here.

COSTELLO: All right, well, we'll see what happens on Monday.

O'NEIL: Yes.

COSTELLO: Tom O'Neil, enjoyable as ever.

O'NEIL: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Let's talk politics now. President Bush leaves shortly for a trip overseas. One stop -- Moscow, and a meeting with the Russian leader. It could be a rather anxious meeting at that.

And do not run away. Jeanne Moos says all eyes were on the runaway bride, and all camera lenses, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, the bodies of 14 people who had been shot and killed were found in Baghdad this morning. An Iraqi soldier says some of the victims were blindfolded and then shot in the head execution style. The victims, believed to be all Iraqis, were found buried in shallow graves.

Iraqi police are again the target of insurgents. This morning a suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iraqi police. Seven of them were killed, three were injured. It happened in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Tony Blair is at Buckingham Palace to be confirmed for a third time as Britain's prime minister, something his Labor Party has never done before. But the party has lost a lot of seats in parliament because of Blair's support for the Iraq war.

President Bush is moving to open up 58 1/2 million acres of remote national forest land to road building, logging and other commercial ventures. The majority of the land involved is in about a dozen Western states. Environmentalists say the plan threatens the protection of the nation's most pristine lands. To the Forecast Center now and Chad -- good morning.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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Aired May 6, 2005 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Tony Blair wins reelection but loses big time at the polls. We'll explain.
Surveillance videos now at the center of the search for who's behind that explosion in New York.

And has the media run amok over the runaway bride? We'll take a look at the fascination.

It is Friday, May 6.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, the bodies of 14 people who had been shot and killed were found in Baghdad this morning. An Iraqi soldier says some of the victims were blindfolded and then shot in the head execution style. The victims, believed to be Iraqis, were found buried in shallow graves.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide car bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iraqi police officers to work today. Seven officers were killed in the attack, three others wounded. It happened in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace.

President Bush leaves in about an hour on a trip to two Baltic states, the Netherlands and Russia. On the eve of his trip, the "Washington Post" reports Russia issued a testy rebuke of Bush. Moscow denied its troops forcibly occupied Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia in 1940. In a letter to the leader of Latvia, President Bush called it "tragic" when three tiny Baltic nations were absorbed into the Soviet Union against their will.

Florida police are looking for this man, Patrick Wayne Bell. He's described as a repeat sexual offender who preys on children. Police say Bell cut off his tracking device and fled from his mother's home in Riviera Beach.

And New York police still don't know who is behind that Manhattan explosion, but they do say surveillance videos seem to show at least one grenade being thrown toward the building housing the British consulate. Two grenades exploded there yesterday.

To the Forecast Center and Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

I always thought that there would be surveillance tapes around that area. You know, you, every time you walk around New York and you look up, you see cameras. Somebody has to have that on tape. They just have to go through it.

COSTELLO: You know, the images are very fuzzy, though.

MYERS: Well, of course.

COSTELLO: They're trying to enhance it so...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We're going to talk about it later, though.

MYERS: Fair enough.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: British Prime Minister Tony Blair has won a third term in office. The win, though, was a much smaller by a -- by a much smaller margin than Blair's Labor Party has enjoyed in past elections. Most people say the Iraq war cost the prime minister much of his support.

CNN's Walter Rodgers live in London with more for us -- hello, Walter.

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, after the victory, it's off for a short meeting with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. A few moments ago, Britain's prime minister, newly reelected, Tony Blair and his wife Cherie just left Number Ten Downing Street. They made no comments to reporters outside or to the television cameras. They got immediately into their Jaguar for the short drive, about one mile from Number Ten Downing Street over to Buckingham Palace.

Now, of course, the prime minister, any prime minister, upon election, has to report to the queen, report because she is the head of state here. A prime minister is the head of government. It thus is Mr. Blair's responsibility to tell Her Majesty that he can form a new government and he is expected to begin with that almost immediately.

It'll be not quite so easy a task as it has been in the past for Mr. Blair. The reason was he took quite a beating in the polls. He did get reelected to a historic third term, the first time a Labor prime minister has ever been elected to a third term. But he saw the majority he had in parliament and in the House of Commons, 160 seats, cut and reduced to 60 seats.

And you can see the British papers aren't celebrating a lot this morning. Look at this: "Blair Gets A Battering!." Here's another: "Blair: Kicked In the Ballots!" And here's one for you: "Yes, You Did Give Him A Bloody Nose."

Now, the bloody nose, as anybody in Britain knows, or anybody who watches British politics, is the fact that Prime Minister Tony Blair took quite a thrashing in the polls. He's still prime minister, but the British public was obviously more than a little fed up with one particular issue, and Blair was quick to identify it, even as he celebrated last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I know, too, that Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country. But I hope now that we can unite again and look to the future there and here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: Voters gave Tony Blair a very rough ride during the campaign over the Iraq war issue. In many rallies, they simply stood up and shouted "Liar! Liar!" to him. The British public more than a little disenchanted. They feel he was economical with the truth about those alleged weapons of mass destruction and the reasons for going to war. And if things were bad enough when he was taking that thrashing during the campaign and at the campaign rallies, listen to what one of his opponents, George Galloway, said also this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GALLOWAY, RESPECT PARTY CANDIDATE: Mr. Blair, this is for Iraq. This defeat that you have suffered and all the other defeats that new Labor has suffered this evening, is for Iraq. All the people you killed, all the lies you told have come back to haunt u. And the best thing the Labor Party could do is sack you tomorrow morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: So, a historic victory for Tony Blair. But at the same time, he's almost automatically a lame duck. His popular mandate in this election was only 36 percent. Already commentators and analysts are saying they do not expect him to serve the full four years as prime minister. Most people are figuring in this country that Blair will only serve two years. And one of the reasons he was so keen on getting a third term as prime minister, as a Labor prime minister, was he did not want to go out of office as a prime minister who was responsible for a very, very unpopular war among the British public.

Thus, he did get himself reelected, but it wasn't -- it was with, as a British papers said, a bloody nose -- back to you.

COSTELLO: Walter Rodgers live in London this morning.

Thank you.

It is a career killer in the military -- busted over Iraq's prison abuse scandal. Janis Karpinski, the Army Reserve general in charge of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib Prison, has been demoted to colonel. A protect investigation cleared four other senior officers who were investigated in the prison abuse scandal.

In Congress, the House has approved another $82 billion in spending for Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate is expected to do the same when it votes on the measure next week. That will boost the total amount spent on fighting in the two countries since September 11 to more than $300 billion.

In other "Stories Across America" this Friday, a grand jury in Atlanta has indicted courtroom shooting suspect Brian Nichols on murder charges. Prosecutors in the case say they'll seek the death penalty. Nichols is suspected in four killings, including a judge and a court reporter.

Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks of suburban Atlanta says she's sorry. Wilbanks issued a statement apologizing for the trouble she caused when she fled to New Mexico just days before her wedding. Wilbanks said her actions had nothing whatsoever to do with her not wanting to get married.

She didn't read the statement herself, by the way. It was read by her family's minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS SMILEY, PASTOR, LAKEWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH: "Those who know me know how excited I have been and how excited I was about the spectacular wedding we planned and how I could not wait to be called Mrs. John Mason. In my mind, it was never about timing. However, unfortunately, I was simply running away from myself and from certain fears controlling my life."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wilbanks says she's now seeking professional treatment for her problems.

And get this, there is a missing groom. A missing California groom who vanished the day he was supposed to get married has shown up a month after his intended wedding. Police say Kenneth Souza just showed up back home wearing the same clothes he left in. No word on where he'd been. Maybe he was with Jennifer Wilbanks, I don't know. Just kidding.

A passenger on a private jet had to crash land the plane after the pilot suffered an apparent heart attack. The plane came down just short of the North Las Vegas Airport runway. The two passengers on board survived. The pilot did not.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Air Force One is wheels up in about an hour. President Bush heads overseas. Among his stops, Moscow, for a meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. And it may not be all that cordial. We'll have a live report for you in 22 minutes.

New York police are reviewing surveillance video, hoping for a glimpse of the Manhattan bomber.

And we'll take you to the movies with Tom O'Neil, who gives us his take on the epic adventure, "The Kingdom of Heaven."

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:13 Eastern.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Tony Blair has won a third term as British prime minister. But his Labor Party has lost a significant number of parliamentary seats, and the prime minister's support for the Iraq war is being blamed.

In money news, ABC's "Fallen Idol" show has ranked as the most watched news magazine episode in over a year. The documentary exposed an alleged affair between "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul and a former contestant. That's him. It aired during the crucial sweeps month.

In culture, the group Audio Slave will perform in Havana tonight. It will become the first U.S. band to rock communist Cuba.

In sports, the Boston Celtics were able to force a game seven against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA playoffs. The Celtics forced it down to the wire, won in overtime. The two meet in Boston for game seven tomorrow -- Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

Looking at some of the pollen in the air this morning, the heaviest big red blob there right centered over Utah. But there is some high pollen all the way up the East Coast, all the way from Arkansas, through Oklahoma and Kansas, right on up even into Washington, D.C.

The cities with the worst pollen for spring allergies here, Lexington, Kentucky, all that grass you've got going there; Little Rock, Arkansas; Chattanooga; Louisville; and also Johnson City, Tennessee, the tri-cities there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.

New York City police are enhancing security tapes, hoping to get clues into who was behind yesterday's explosion outside of a building housing the British consulate. Police say tapes seem to show one grenade being thrown toward the building. Two grenades exploded, causing minor damage, but no injuries. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAYMOND KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: The NYPD bomb squad, in conjunction with the FBI and our awesome explosion experts, believe that the devices were novelty grenades filled with black powder and then detonated, possibly by using a fuse that was ignited by hand. No timing device appears to have been employed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A bicyclist, a female jogger and a taxi cab driver are seen on those security tapes. Police are asking for their help.

It's out with the old, in for the new for a major drug company. But is a new front man enough to help Merck turn things around without Vioxx to help pay the bills?

And a Medieval blockbuster is jousting for your attention at theaters this weekend. We'll tell you if you should bother.

That's when DAYBREAK continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN," COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A kingdom of conscience and peace instead of war, love instead of hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

What was Merck telling its sales staff about its painkiller Vioxx?

Carrie Lee has that and a few other things Merck was saying -- good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Good morning to you.

Congress is releasing hundreds of documents related to Merck, hundreds of pages supplied by Merck, as part of the investigation of the painkiller Vioxx, which was pulled from the market last year due to worries about heart risks.

Now, several of these documents dealt with Merck's instructions to its sales staff of nearly 3,000 people. A couple of funny things there. For instance, salespeople were instructed to shake hands with a physician for three seconds and when eating with doctors, they were told to eat the bread one small bite-sized piece at a time. So some etiquette in these documents. But on a more serious note, Merck told salespeople not to initiate discussions on the heart risks of Vioxx. And if doctors asked, the salespeople were told to accentuate the positives about the drug.

Meanwhile, Congress is trying to determine if Merck did anything wrong by not plug Vioxx earlier, since it was aware of the risks for several years. So, a very interesting development.

By the way, Merck has a new CEO. As of yesterday, Richard Gilmartin has been replaced by Richard Clark. He's the former head of Merck's manufacturing unit, so a lot of experience in the industry.

COSTELLO: And an insider, as well.

LEE: Insider, as well. He worked at Medco, the pharmacy benefits company, for a long time. So we'll see if he can get the company on a better track.

COSTELLO: Or if he was connected at all to these memos.

LEE: Well, maybe. Maybe. But head of manufacturing, that's a different area than sales, certainly. But, yes, we'll see how he does going forward.

COSTELLO: A look at the futures?

LEE: The futures looking up a bit after some weakness yesterday.

General Motors and Ford saw their debt degraded from Standard & Poor's, so that caused some weakness.

The big jobs report coming out at 8:30 Eastern today. That's really going to determine the direction. Well, the estimates are expected to be pretty good. We're expected to be adding 175,000 jobs, much better than the prior reading. That's really going to determine today's direction.

COSTELLO: All right, we'll keep an eye on it.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Carrie Lee.

LEE: Sure.

COSTELLO: Coming up on DAYBREAK, just how far did Paula Abdul go to help out one of her favorite "Idol" contenders? I think we know the answer to that question. But what about the fallout? We'll have that when DAYBREAK continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: There is so much to see this weekend, including one of the best movies this year so far.

So says Tom O'Neil from "In Touch Weekly."

He'll also have the latest in the Paula Abdul scandal. But we're going to wait to get to that.

Let's talk about movies first, and quickly.

First, we're going to talk about "The Kingdom of Heaven."

TOM O'NEIL, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Orlando Bloom is a French blacksmith who goes on the Crusades when his wife kills herself. I think I know why she committed suicide. The guy is very boring. He's no Russell Crowe. This is the team that gave us "Gladiator."

But it's pretty good. It's not the big epic disappointment that so many of these epics have been lately. And it's historically accurate.

COSTELLO: Really?

O'NEIL: It doesn't just blame the Muslim bad guys.

COSTELLO: So, really, it's the Christians fighting the Muslims. It's the Crusades, in essence.

O'NEIL: It's the Crusades but it's historically accurate and interesting to watch.

COSTELLO: I'm sure it will be like watching the History Channel. I do enjoy that, by the way. I do.

Now, the best movie of the year, you were saying, and this is "Crash."

O'NEIL: "Crash."

COSTELLO: It sounds so interesting.

O'NEIL: It's fantastic. This is a movie filled with stars -- Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Don Cheadle. Everybody gets in a crash in the first scene and you go back in time to see how they get there. It's a movie about race relations. It's not preachy, though. And by the time this movie ends, it really is a head-on collision. Everybody walks out of the theater going wow, this is what movies are all about. It's fantastic.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's so good to hear.

OK, let's get to the dirt.

Paula Abdul. You know what I've been wondering?

O'NEIL: What? What? What? What?

COSTELLO: Why isn't the FCC looking into this "American Idol" scandal? They looked into Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. O'NEIL: That is the single most brilliant comment I have heard. Thank you, Carol. You have absolutely nailed it, because there's talk now of a Fox investigation and Corey is saying he's not cooperating with it. I think he's right. I think these people have demonstrated so much corruption through voting and everything else.

It's time for an FCC investigation here. It's been tried in the past of this game show, but because it's a British-based company, that presents a problem. But it's time. As you were saying, if they can go after the Janet Jackson, you know, thing...

COSTELLO: Where is the FCC in all of this? And, you know, some might say that the ABC expose didn't really expose very much. Like so what, she had sex with him? She didn't really sway the vote either way. There's no...

O'NEIL: Oh, yes she did.

COSTELLO: How do you -- yes, but she says good things about everyone and really the viewers vote.

So how did she exactly do that?

O'NEIL: The key moment is when she tells him to sing the song "Foolish Heart" by Journey, because that was the band that Randy Jackson is in. And the key moment when Corey advances on "American Idol" is when Randy is going, "Hey, that was a brilliant song." And they show the clips. So come on, this -- this did affect his placement in the show.

COSTELLO: So what do you think should happen?

O'NEIL: The FCC should come in, because their role is to judge the honesty and accuracy and fairness of TV shows. And according to their regulations, if that's violated, the contest must be removed.

You can't solve the problem, according to FCC code. You remove the whole contest.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, if Paula Abdul had exposed any part of her breast on television...

O'NEIL: Yes, right, right, right.

COSTELLO: ... they would be right there.

O'NEIL: I've said a naughty word. Right.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Will Paula Abdul be kicked off the show?

O'NEIL: I think -- here's my prediction.

COSTELLO: OK.

O'NEIL: Monday morning we're going to see an announcement from the show that Paula Abdul is going into rehab.

COSTELLO: Really? Well, she came out in "People" magazine and said she had this health condition and that's the reason she's been acting a little wacky.

O'NEIL: Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes.

COSTELLO: But you're saying it's like a little more than a health condition.

O'NEIL: I think everybody in the industry knows there is a bigger problem here.

COSTELLO: All right, well, we'll see what happens on Monday.

O'NEIL: Yes.

COSTELLO: Tom O'Neil, enjoyable as ever.

O'NEIL: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Let's talk politics now. President Bush leaves shortly for a trip overseas. One stop -- Moscow, and a meeting with the Russian leader. It could be a rather anxious meeting at that.

And do not run away. Jeanne Moos says all eyes were on the runaway bride, and all camera lenses, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, the bodies of 14 people who had been shot and killed were found in Baghdad this morning. An Iraqi soldier says some of the victims were blindfolded and then shot in the head execution style. The victims, believed to be all Iraqis, were found buried in shallow graves.

Iraqi police are again the target of insurgents. This morning a suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying Iraqi police. Seven of them were killed, three were injured. It happened in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Tony Blair is at Buckingham Palace to be confirmed for a third time as Britain's prime minister, something his Labor Party has never done before. But the party has lost a lot of seats in parliament because of Blair's support for the Iraq war.

President Bush is moving to open up 58 1/2 million acres of remote national forest land to road building, logging and other commercial ventures. The majority of the land involved is in about a dozen Western states. Environmentalists say the plan threatens the protection of the nation's most pristine lands. To the Forecast Center now and Chad -- good morning.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol.

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