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CNN Live At Daybreak

Dying for a Story; Duplicate Doggy

Aired August 04, 2005 - 05:28   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" right now.
A mummy mystery has been unraveled in San Jose, California. Using imaging technology, scientists have discovered that a mummy from a local museum was a 4-and-a-half-year-old girl. They say they could even tell what 2,000-year-old perfume she had on. Wow!

Imagine finding this four-foot python under you dishwasher. That's exactly what happened to one Missouri woman. Needless to say, she was a little freaked out. Her husband pulled the snake out. That's a brave man. He plans to sell it. Turns out the snake was lost by the guy who used to live in the house, but he decided he did not want it anymore.

This may not look like mulch, but it's actually -- look like much, I should say. This is the birth of a baby panda. It's an X- rated show on DAYBREAK this morning. The little cub is already making lots of noise, although mama bear has been keeping it out of sight. This is from the San Diego Zoo. And yes, if you want to peak in on mother and child, just like the zookeepers are doing, just go to the San Diego Zoo's Web site for their panda cam. That Web address is SanDiegoZoo, all one word, dot-org.

Can you see much there -- Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not really.

COSTELLO: Looks like a big mama panda, but...

MYERS: I think it's, at most, PG-13 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well they were supposed to be seeing the little baby panda on panda cam, but apparently we're not seeing much now.

MYERS: No, sleeping.

COSTELLO: But anyway, look for like hours and hours on your computer and I'm sure baby panda will appear.

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

A Major League hitter is in some major league trouble with baseball and with Congress. We'll bring you up to date on the Rafael Palmeiro saga.

Plus, we'll introduce you to Snuppy and tell you why this super puppy is so special.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning to you.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, we'll show you the first picture of little Susan Torres. Boy, is she a fighter. That's her mom and dad.

And Congress wants answers from Rafael Palmeiro, did he or did he not lie before Congress?

But first, "Now in the News."

With President Bush on vacation, it'll be homespun diplomacy as his Texas ranch plays host to Colombia's president and his wife this morning. Colombia is working to build better trade relations with Washington. The two leaders are to hold a joint news conference around noon Eastern Time.

Discovery Commander Eileen Collins says she's confident the space shuttle is shipshape for the return trip. Space walk completed repairs to the shuttle's heat shield. There's a chance another space walk may be needed to fix a torn thermal blanket below a cockpit window.

Tropical Storm Harvey bangs on Bermuda's door today. Winds of 60 miles per hour will push a lot of rain and rattle windows. But, Chad, what are forecasters, like you, saying about this?

MYERS: Just slid just past Bermuda in the overnight hours, south of Bermuda. Now if it would have moved just to the north and west of Bermuda, that actually would have been worse for the area. But as it slid to the south, we actually had some back wind, rather than the forward speed wind.

And so the center, right there, there's the dot of Bermuda, literally it's about 20 miles from the center of Bermuda right now, moving on up toward the northeast at about 20 to 30 miles per hour. Not a hurricane, just a tropical storm, but another name in that long list that we are going to have this year. Up to 18 to 21 tropical storms or named storms this year is the forecast from NOAA.

And the next one is down here. There it is just coming off the coast of Africa. Still way out there. Here are the islands. I mean here are the Windward Islands, there is Saint Croix, Saint Thomas and Puerto Rico. So far, far away that we don't have to worry about it for a while. But it's out there, it's generating, it's getting stronger.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: OK, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You bet. COSTELLO: To Iraq now, three U.S. soldiers killed in a bombing in Baghdad. The troops were members of Task Force Baghdad, part of the 3rd Infantry Division. The latest deaths bring to 24 the number of U.S. forces killed in Iraq this week alone. Since the start of the war, 1,824 U.S. forces have died in Iraq.

Soldiers are not the only people in peril, of course, in Iraq. An American journalist was kidnapped and killed this week in the city of Basra. Steven Vincent was a freelancer who had been writing for "The New York Times" and the "Christian Science Monitor." Vincent's death brings to 64 the number of media professionals killed since the start of the Iraq War.

Joining us now is Vincent's colleague, Dan Murphy. He's in Baghdad this morning.

Good morning -- Dan.

DAN MURPHY, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": Good morning.

COSTELLO: Dan, can you tell us any more about how Steven Vincent came to be kidnapped?

MURPHY: We have the details on how he was kidnapped. He had been living and operating in Basra, which is in the far south, for a couple of months and writing about the rampant police corruption and the rise of sheik (ph) militias who control the city. While there is not really much insurgency there, in terms of the attacks, like the one you mentioned that killed the Marines the other day, now the increasing culture of political violence down there.

At any rate, at about 6:30 in the evening, he was snatched off the street by men in what looked to be a police car. Four gunmen bundled him and his translator into it and took them away. And then repeatedly shot the bodies and dumped them and left them for dead about five hours later.

It could have been connected to his reporting on what's going on in the power structure there. It could simply be because he's a foreigner. We don't know exactly what motivated it yet. But we do know, Carol, there are lots of people that potentially would have wanted to do this down there.

COSTELLO: You said five hours later they were shot. Apparently the kidnappers questioned the two for these five hours. Do we know what they asked them?

MURPHY: I know a little bit. I spoke to a policeman in Basra who had spoken to Nuriya, who was shot repeatedly but survived, the translator. And she said that there was sort of a tone of accusation about her working with what they had termed an infidel American. They thought it might be unseemly for an Iraqi woman to be going around with this Christian foreigner, as they termed it. That's what I was told by the police, at any rate.

Clearly they know more now, because I think she has been talking to investigators. And I haven't spoken directly to her, herself, but that is, you know, a possible motive.

COSTELLO: And you were talking about how Steven Vincent was looking into extremists infiltrating the police and the government in Basra. He had been getting strange phone calls, hadn't he, before this happened?

MURPHY: He had been getting a lot of strange phone calls. And as we go on, it turns out that people who were down there said that the contact he was getting was even more threatening than that. He was at the point, according to family members and people that knew him down there, he was going to leave and pull out because he was very concerned.

But I think he was looking for a way to get his translator out as well. We work with them very closely and that was one of the main reasons why he delayed, you know, he thought he'd be out of there within the next few weeks.

COSTELLO: Steven Vincent was a great journalist. Just briefly, tell us why he decided to go to Basra and kind of go it alone in finding out information as he did.

MURPHY: You know I didn't know him well. He's a fascinating fellow, though. He had worked as an art critic and a freelancer in New York for a long time, and he watched the World Trade Center towers tumble on September 11. And this was a profoundly disturbing experience, of course, for almost anybody that saw it. But for him it really steered him to try and go out in the world and see what was going on. He thought he could play a role in what he saw as a war on terror by shedding light.

And while he was here, while he came very supportive of the U.S. invasion and trying to change Iraq, he also developed, you know, a fine sense of nuance and detail for Shiite with his politics (ph), in particular, which fascinated him. He was both critical of what he termed Islama (ph) fascists, but also fascinated by Shiite iconography and Basra is sort of Iraq's preeminent Shiite city. And he wanted to go there and write a history of it, both political and cultural, because I think he felt a deep affinity for many of the people here.

COSTELLO: Dan Murphy, from the "Christian Science Monitor," joining us from Baghdad this morning, thank you.

Almost as many reporters have been killed in the Iraq War as in Egypt, the previous major wars involving the United States. The death toll for journalists in Iraq now stands at 64. During the 10 years of the Vietnam War, 66 journalists were killed. And in World War II, 68 journalists died trying to tell the story.

Some top lawmakers say they're going to investigate whether baseball star Rafael Palmeiro lied under oath to Congress about steroid use. This is what Palmeiro said back in March.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL PALMEIRO, MLB PLAYER: I'll be brief in my remarks today. Let me start by telling you this, I have never used steroids, period. I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that, never.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You know two days ago Palmeiro was suspended for using steroids. Now legislators want Major League Baseball to turn over all documents related to Palmeiro's positive drug test.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES MORAN (D), VIRGINIA: But baseball is kind of an American institution. And now it's heroes, not only do they use steroids to enhance their ability, so it's an artificial skill they're really being paid to show us on the field. But more importantly, they lie under oath to a congressional committee. And Mr. Palmeiro, particularly, pointing his finger and so on. And this guy is making millions and millions of dollars, and it's phony, it's not real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Palmeiro says he will fully cooperate with the investigation and says what happened to him was an accident not an intentional act.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Howard Stern finds a demanding new home for his TV version of his radio show.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Following up on a story we told you about earlier, doctors are hopeful that a baby born to a comatose mother will be OK. Susan Torres was named after her mother who died a day after the baby girl was born. Torres suffered a stroke in May after melanoma spread to her brain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TORRES, TORRES FAMILY SPOKESMAN: After a brief good-bye with her parents, husband and other family members, and after receiving the last sacraments of the Catholic Church, Susan Michelle Rollin Torres passed away, and after the machines which sustained her life for the past 12 weeks were turned off at my brother's request. She was 26 years old.

This is, obviously, a bittersweet time for our family. We are overjoyed at the birth of baby Susan and deeply grieved at the loss of her mother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And of course doctors were concerned that the cancer in the mother's body would spread to the baby. The baby weighs less than two pounds, but doctors say it appears little Susan is cancer free. We'll keep you posted. Tragic case of road rage. A father was gunned down while lifting his infant out of his car in Brockton, Massachusetts. The 10-month- old baby girl was covered in her father's blood when police found her. She wasn't hurt. A former soldier being treated for depression has been arrested for the shooting. He allegedly shot the victim four times at close range following a traffic altercation. He has pleaded not guilty.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:45 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

More U.S. troop deaths in Iraq. The military says three soldiers were killed in a bombing in Baghdad. That brings to 24 the number of U.S. forces killed in Iraq this week alone.

Investigators now have the voice and data recorders from the Air France plane that burst into flames after crash-landing in Toronto Tuesday. They'll use it to help determine what caused the crash. All 309 people onboard survived.

In money news, X-M Radio and "The New York Times" have a new deal. The Satellite Radio company will carry a classical music channel from the radio unit recently created by "The New York Times."

In culture, Mariah Carey has been added to the star-studded list of performers at the MTV Video Music Awards. The show will be hosted by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and aired live from Miami on August 28.

In sports, legendary jockey Pat Day is climbing out of the saddle for good. The Hall of Famer is retiring with almost 9,000 victories, 9,000 victories.

MYERS: Wow!

COSTELLO: That seems impossible to me. Nine of those wins came in the Triple Crown races, including the 1992 Kentucky Derby.

MYERS: Wow, good for him.

COSTELLO: Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Carol. Was it hot enough for you yesterday?

COSTELLO: It was unbearable.

MYERS: Look at some of these numbers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.

As you know, though, it's e-mail time, so you can't leave me quite yet. Come on back there.

MYERS: I'm back. COSTELLO: Come on back.

We're talking about playground violence, what's the right solution? And of course we're asking this question after this 11- year-old girl in California. She was bombarded by water balloons by another kid. So she picks up this two-pound rock, throws it at him, hits him in the head. He's bleeding all over the place. She runs to get his mom for help, but the police are called. A police helicopter came in, Chad. This is the girl we're talking about.

MYERS: Right.

COSTELLO: That's the rock we're talking about. So this girl was up on charges. It was all settled out of court later, but this girl has gone through something else. So we were asking what do you think, was it the right thing to do?

MYERS: Well, R. (ph) from Savannah, Georgia says with our young men and women dying in such a great number in Iraq, I think that we should keep our eye on the other balls and the other sticks. Sticks and stones may break my bones but bombs are another thing. This was just a small playground deal. Let go.

And James (ph), police are now arresting children for fighting on a playground. How much farther do we have to go before we become a police state?

So no one too happy about that.

But then we go to Jim (ph) in Santa Rosa. Dear Carol and Chad, tell them that the reason the playgrounds are getting meaner is that just plain old evolution. I mean the mean and dangerous kids always get all the girls and of course over the years they beat up more tough kids on the playground. It's just Darwinism pure and simple. It's, in fact, the reason the whole world is getting meaner.

COSTELLO: Wow! That's not a great outlook on the world.

MYERS: Wow! I know.

COSTELLO: Thank you for your comments this morning.

Let's talk about something happy and kind of strange at the same time. It took over 1,000 tries -- Chad.

MYERS: What?

COSTELLO: The miracle of science has finally created a Snuppy.

MYERS: That's right.

COSTELLO: A Snuppy you ask.

MYERS: A puppy.

COSTELLO: A puppy named Snuppy. But there's something special about this puppy named Snuppy. We'll tell you, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The legend of Dolly the sheep continues to grow. Of course she was the first cloned animal. Since then we've had monkeys and kittens and now a Snuppy. And what is a Snuppy you ask?

Well CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen introduces you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's probably safe to say that a dog has never been born with this much fanfare, until Snuppy, the puppy. Snuppy is the world's first cloned dog, a genetic replica of this one.

DR. GERALD SCHATTEN, UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: Snuppy is exactly 100 days old today. To the outside world, he seems perfectly fine.

COHEN: Dr. Gerald Schatten advises the team that cloned the dog.

SCHATTEN: No one had ever made a test-tube dog before, and Professor Hwang basically set up a fertility clinic for dogs.

COHEN: It took 123 ovulating dogs producing more than 1,000 embryos before Snuppy the Afghan Hound was born. With cloned sheep, pigs, rabbits and cats, does the world really need a cloned dog?

DR. HWANG WOO SUK, STEM CELL SCIENTIST: If we develop and apply to these cloned dogs, we can find some very important data using some drugs or stem cells in the future.

COHEN: Dogs, it turns out, are very close to humans. Check out the hair. And more importantly, they get diseases that also afflict humans, like diabetes and cancer.

SCHATTEN: Dogs get about 65 of the same type of infections as we humans do. The possibility of helping to treat our dogs in a veterinary clinic may be the right thing to do for dogs.

COHEN: And studying as slew of identical dogs, or at least identical dog embryos, could lead to discoveries faster than studying random dogs. So, what if you want to clone your special pup or perhaps make an army of little champions?

SCHATTEN: Reproductive cloning is unsafe and it's inefficient. Look, it took 1,095 embryos to make this one puppy. There is no reason to try to clone any member of our family, our pets included.

COHEN: There are worries that some rogue scientists might take the dog information and clone people. Such human concerns are no matter for Snuppy, named for the university that bore him: S for Seoul, N for National, Uppy for, well, puppy.

HWANG WOO SUK: The first cloned dog at Seoul National University. COHEN: For now, the newest star of the cloning world is basking in the spotlight.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Are you a helicopter parent? Do you even know what a helicopter parent is? Well, here's a clue, it involves excessive hovering. We'll explain. All new in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Also, your human resources department is there to help you navigate your company's policies, right? You remember that "Why I Hate HR" story we did a few days ago. Well, we made human resource employees everywhere very, very angry. We'll get their side of the story in the next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Entertainment Headlines" for you this morning, singer John Mayer needs your help to finish a song, not that one. But he is asking fans to create a song out of some lyrics he's already written. The best ones will be featured on "Esquire" magazine's Web site. Mayer writes a monthly column for "Esquire."

"Chappelle's Show" is history. That's the word from the comedian Charlie Murphy, one of the show's stars. The future of the program has been in question since May when star Dave Chappelle took off on a so-called spiritual retreat to South Africa. Comedy Central says Chappelle is welcome back anytime.

If you want more of Howard Stern, just ask. The televised version of Stern's radio show is heading to Video-on-Demand. The In- Demand Network will start airing the show, which has been on E!, the entertainment network. You have to subscribe to see it, and there will be nothing bleeped out. It'll be full on Howard Stern.

If there's one thing Hugh Hefner knows, it's women. The eternal playboy is throwing open the doors of his famous Beverly Hills mansion to reality TV. "The Girls Next Door" debuts Sunday. These are the girls next door, aren't they? They look just like my next door neighbor. Says Hef, we shouldn't judge people next door because they live a little differently.

You can get more entertainment news every night on "ShowBiz Tonight." That's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern on Headline News.

And the next hour of DAYBREAK begins in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is Thursday, August 4.

Loved ones in Ohio struggle to grasp their loss after a second attack in Iraq hits too close to home again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He thought that they were the most respected and he belonged there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's his mom talking.

Nineteen Marines from one Ohio battalion killed this week in the deserts of western Iraq. We'll take a look at the lives lost.

Also new this morning, travel warnings for U.S. citizens visiting Britain.

And Honda minivan owners listen up, there's news of a recall affecting thousands of you.

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