Update on Spain Terrorist Bombings; California State Supreme Court Orders Immediate Halt to Gay Marriages in San Francisco
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Friday, March 12. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for joining us. Investigators in those deadly Spanish train bombings are following up on the discovery of a van. The vehicle contained detonators and an Arabic tape of Koranic teachings. On Capitol Hill, the Senate approves a leaner budget than what President Bush had wanted. The $2.36 trillion plan would allow smaller tax cuts and reduce the deficit more quickly. Massachusetts law makers moved closer to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, but legalizing civil unions. A final vote is scheduled for later this month. And a Utah woman faces a murder charge in the death of her unborn child. The woman had refused doctors' repeated requests to have a C- section. We update the top stories every 15 minutes. The next update comes your way at 6:15 Eastern. If you are heading to Amtrak or the subway this morning, expect to see more police and bomb sniffing dogs, increased patrols in light of what's happening in Spain. Nearly 200 dead now and no certainty as to who's to blame. Let's head live -- or, let's go to Madrid now and Al Goodman.</s>AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As day breaks here in Madrid on Friday, almost 24 hours after this series of explosions struck the commuter trains, some of them coming into this Atocha train station behind me, you can see the candles that have been laid out by people now at what is the commuter entrance to this sprawling train station. This is the first visible sign in this area of the pain and the grief and we expect to see many more of these scenes later this day. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar addressed his nation on Thursday hours after these attacks that have left nearly 200 dead and 1,400 injured, calling on Spaniards, among other things, to come out massively into the streets on Friday evening in Madrid and throughout Spain and the other cities, as well. They're hoping for millions of people to express their anger and outrage at these attacks. Now, the latest is that the government says they still consider the Basque separatist group ETA, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, to be the prime suspect in this attack. But late Thursday, they opened a second line of investigation into Arab elements or the Arab world, in the words of the interior minister. Why? Because the police late Thursday found a suspicious van that had been stolen recently in Madrid. They found it in a town just east of the capital. That town happened to be on the same commuter rail line that was attacked in these series of coordinated explosions during the Thursday morning commuter rush hour. In the van, they found detonators and they also found a tape in Arabic citing Koranic verses. Now, they said there were no threats on this tape and they said that this tape could be purchased commercially in a store. But they said it's a new element and will open a second live investigation. Investigators here and elsewhere are not giving full credence at this time to a claim by a group in the name of al Qaeda that has sent a claim of responsibility to the "Al-Quds" Arabic newspaper. That group has claimed other things in the past that could not be checked out. We do know from people who have been linked to ETA in the past, they have issued a denial that ETA was responsible for this. But at this point, Spain looks ahead this day to a major day of grief, a large number of caskets at Madrid's major convention center because the usual mortuary is not big enough to handle them all. And still, many, many people in serious conditions in the hospitals. Al Goodman, CNN, Madrid.</s>COSTELLO: And we want to take you live to Madrid right now. We don't have much control over this camera. It's being run by Reuters. But we thought it was an interesting image to show you. You're seeing the damaged trains in Madrid. Across the street from this, hundreds of people are just standing there, indulging in a moment of silence. Deep emotional pain in all of Spain this morning, and all of Europe, as people try to digest what happened yesterday, the worst terrorist attack there ever. Nearly 200 people dead right now. And you're seeing a shot of one of the damaged trains. There is writing on the walls in front of the train tracks there. And as you see the camera pan across the street, you see hundreds of people just looking silently, thinking, probably praying, a moment of silence in Madrid this morning. Thousands of people across Spain did quickly respond to calls for blood donations. So many came that hospitals had to turn some away. In the meantime, forensic experts have been working to identify the dead. The Spain royal family and government officials spent the time visiting the injured. King Juan Carlos called the perpetrators crowds and murderers. Here in the States, new developments to tell you about in the same-sex marriage issue. In Boston, Massachusetts law makers moved toward a constitutional amendment. Legislators gave preliminary approval to an amendment that would ban gay marriages but allow civil unions. But under Massachusetts law, it would have to come up for a statewide vote in November of 2006. So as things stand now, same-sex marriages in Massachusetts can begin on May 17th. In California, the state supreme court orders an immediate halt to gay marriages in San Francisco. The city says it will comply, for now.</s>MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO: No certificates, or, rather, no marriage certificates, no licenses have been invalidated. This is an interim stay pending a determination, pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. And let me say this. I'm pleased that the process is working as well as it's working. We had hoped to get to the Supreme Court. We're now going to be making oral arguments, making our case in front of the Supreme Court.</s>COSTELLO: California's high court says it will hear arguments in May or June on whether Mayor Newsom had the authority to allow gay marriages. Two U.S. soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The soldiers were in a convoy in Baghdad when the explosive went off. Another soldier was injured. And what was a Maryland woman doing in Baghdad before the war? Come Monday, she will be arraigned on charges of being an unregistered agent of Iraq. Details from our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena.</s>KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Susan Lindauer, a former journalist and congressional aide, was arrested in Tacoma Park, Maryland, for allegedly acting as an Iraqi agent.</s>SUSAN LINDAUER, DEFENDANT: I'm an anti-war activist and I'm innocent.</s>ARENA: An indictment says Lindauer had repeated contacts with Iraqi intelligence officers in New York and Baghdad between 1999 and 2002 and conspired with two sons of Iraq's former liaison with U.N. weapons inspectors. Lindauer says she was trying to get inspectors back into Iraq.</s>LINDAUER: I am very proud and I will very proudly stand by my achievements.</s>ARENA: In January 2003, two months before the U.S. invaded Iraq, prosecutors say she took a letter to the home of a U.S. official saying she had access to Saddam Hussein's regime. Sources tell CNN that official was White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Lindauer's second cousin. The White House says Card never met with Lindauer and called the incident very sad.</s>LINDAUER: I'm an anti-war activist.</s>ARENA: Sources say Card alerted authorities. Then the FBI set up a sting operation. In June, prosecutors say, Lindauer met an undercover FBI agent posing as an agent for Libyan intelligence looking to support resistance groups in postwar Iraq. And near her home in Tacoma Park, they say she followed instructions to leave unspecified documents at dead-drop locations. Neighbors were surprised.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was a Tacoma Park-type person. They're pretty unique around here. We're a nuclear-free zone, as you know, so a very laid-back, liberal sort of person.</s>ARENA: Prosecutors say Iraq paid Lindauer $10,000 for expenses and services. She faces up to 25 years in prison if she's convicted on all charges.</s>LINDAUER: This is what democracy is all about.</s>ARENA: Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.</s>COSTELLO: And time for a look at the legal stories of the day on DAYBREAK. Kobe Bryant's lawyers will get to question his accuser about her sexual history. The Colorado Supreme Court has refused the prosecutor's request to overrule the trial judge. Bryant's lawyers will question the 19-year-old woman in a closed hearing later this month. And there is an arraignment this morning for the man accused of killing 11-year-old Carly Bruscia after her abduction was captured on videotape. Joseph Smith will not be in the Sarasota, Florida, courtroom, however. He has waived his right to appear. A jury is now seated for the state's murder trial of Terry Nichols. Opening statements are set for a week from Monday. Nichols is already serving a life sentence on federal charges for the Oklahoma City bombing. To the forecast center on this day late Stump the Weatherman day and Chad.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little snowy. Actually, I'm making a new graphic here that I'm going to use on the next weather hit. Somebody e-mailed me and asked me, what are the names of all of the retired hurricane names?</s>COSTELLO: Ooh.</s>MYERS: There are 37 of them.</s>COSTELLO: And you're going to name all of them?</s>MYERS: And one is Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Really?</s>MYERS: There'll never be another hurricane Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Oh, that means it was a bad one, though, doesn't it?</s>MYERS: That's because there'll never be another Carol.</s>COSTELLO: We'd like to think that.</s>MYERS: Break the mold and throw it away. Good morning.</s>COSTELLO: Oh goodness.</s>COSTELLO: And it is only eight days until spring.</s>MYERS: Righty.</s>COSTELLO: Daybreak@cnn.com if you have weather questions for Chad today.</s>MYERS: Right.</s>COSTELLO: Pandemonium in parliament, the scene in Seoul, where law makers voted today to impeach the president. This is a look at partisan politics at its roughest, most physical. We want to talk more about this, so let's head live to Seoul right now. Sohn Jie-Ae has more on this story and this is just a crazy scene.</s>SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Carol. What you are seeing is scuffling on the national assembly floor as law makers that were for and against an impeachment bill, a bill to strip South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun of his power, was trying to be passed on the national assembly. Now, the scuffle began because the lawmakers that were against the bill were far smaller in number than those for the bill. And so the lawmakers felt the only way they could stop the bill from passing parliament was specifically to stop the bill from happening. This is what they were trying to do. And it got to a point where there was so much scuffling that security guards were called in. They had to physically remove all the lawmakers that were dominating the speaker's podium from the national assembly's floor before the vote could commence. Even after the vote was held and the result was known, there were lots of national assemblymen that were against the bill that had left that were on the floor. There was a lot of dramatic emotion on South Korea's national assembly floor today -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Jie-Ae, we've seen this kind of thing happen before in South Korean politics. Is this, this is definitely a part of the culture. Can you explain that more for us?</s>SOHN: Well, the bill to impeach a president has really never happened in South Korea before, although politics is a very emotional issue for many South Koreans. This was especially so because there was, it sent to the very top of power, to the president. It was as power struggle between lawmakers that could topple a president. We are also a month away from national assembly elections, so that the political maneuvering here in South Korea is especially high and emotions that ran, that are running high in all aspects of South Korean society really culminated at the national assembly floor today. And that's what you are seeing today as the physical aspects of all the national assemblymen really came to the fore.</s>COSTELLO: All right, Sohn Jie-Ae live from Seoul, South Korea this morning. Thanks for explaining those pictures to us. We have breaking news to tell people about out of Madrid, Spain. Apparently a train station has been evacuated, the San Atocha train station, the San Atocha train station has been evacuate. We don't know exactly why. We're just showing you this picture and we just got word. Of course, as you know, there were terrorist attacks there yesterday, a series of explosions. Nearly 200 people killed in those series of terrorist attacks, coordinated terrorist attacks. Right now they don't know who to blame for those attacks. People are just waiting around to see what happens next, as you might imagine. Nerves are frayed in that country and they're taking every precaution, so any threat that would come in, of course they would take the safest route and evacuate the train station. We don't know if this is a credible threat, but, again, a train station here in Madrid evacuated this morning. We'll keep you posted. Still to come on DAYBREAK, want to beef up the benefits from your minutes on the treadmill? I will show you how. You don't have to spend 30 minutes on the treadmill, oh, no. It's our new DAYBREAK series, Eight Weeks To A Better Body. Plus, a pledge at the pumps, a new plan to save some of your gas money. Also, an unusual murder case. A mother is charged. The alleged victim? Her unborn son. And traveling by train in Europe and here in the States, after the deadly attacks in Madrid, we'll see how Spain's neighbors are reacting. This is DAYBREAK for March 12.