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CNN Live Sunday
Hundreds Of Canadian Airport Security Uniforms Missing; Egyptian, Israeli Governments Swap Prisoners; Forbes Magazine Looks At Cool New Gadgets For Holiday Presents
Aired December 05, 2004 - 16:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: They are "Fortune" magazine's best products of the year. Check this out, a stow-away bicycle. and how about a tv that doubles as a mirror, even tupperware, perfect for small spaces. You'll get some great holiday gift ideas here.
Also, have scientists come up with new stem cell options? Will they help solve moral dilemmas?
And their appeal is waning in America, but overseas, Beanie Babies are winning over hearts in the midst of battle.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more after a check of the headlines.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is predicting Congress will have an intelligence reform bill by midweek, but the chairman of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee still want changes in the current version of the bill. We'll have a live report coming up in 3 minutes.
At least 21 Iraqis are dead after 3 separate insurgent attacks today. In the worst gunman killed 17 civilians as they were stepping off buses to go to work near Tikrit. The victims worked for a civilian firm that destroys weapons found on insurgents. Full details coming up.
In a prisoner exchange, Israel swaps 6 Egyptian students accused of infiltrating the country for an Israeli businessmen accused of espionage. Middle East Experts see it as a sign of a thaw in troubled Israeli/Egyptian relations. John Vause has a report later on this hour.
We begin with concern that security at Canadian airports has been jeopardized. Hundreds of uniforms worn by airport security screeners are reported missing. Our Denise Belgrave is here to sorting out some of the details -- Denise.
DENISE BELGRAVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well fortunately, Fredricka, many airports require multiple levels of screening, so I think that we don't have to be terribly concerned with what's gone on there. We have a story out of Canada, and I think you'll be interested in what it says.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BELGRAVE (voice-over): For airline passengers, uniforms are an important signal that security officers are present and doing their job. So it's no surprise that a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report on missing security uniforms jangled a few nerves. A spokesman for the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority, that's known as CATSA, confirms that more than 1,000 uniform security items are unaccounted for, either lost or stolen.
The items include clothing and more than 91 metical security badges that attach to an officer's uniform. The spokesman says the loss of the badges represents no danger to the traveling public.
KEVIN MCGAR, CATSA SPOKESMAN: A uniform is in no way a document of entitlement, if you will, or an article that allows a forn access the restricted area of an airport.
BELGRAVE: But not everyone agrees.
SEN. COLIN KENNY, CANADIAN SENATE: What worries me is it makes it easier to impersonate an official and if someone isn't looking carefully at their badge or their pass, that they're carrying, there's a problem.
BELGRAVE: Canadian Transportation Minister Jean Lapier learned of the scandal while watching television. His office demanded an immediate inquiry, the results of which are expected to be published on Monday.
Lapier tried to calm fears by issuing a statements saying, "at the 89 airports across the country, we're double checking the identification cards not only when the employees enter the premises, but also during the work shift."
The transportation minister is expected to answer questions about the controversy in the House of Commons tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELGRAVE: CATSA has just completed the final phase of the screening program for workers at all Canadian airports. Under that pogram, workers like airline employees and caterers et cetera, are screened just like regular passengers for items not allowed in the airport: knives, combustible materials, things like that.
WHITFIELD: And so, so far, how is the program doing?
BELGRAVE: Well, so far, they say the program is doing extremely well and they're really pleased with the results.
WHITFIELD: All right, Denise Belgrave thanks so much.
BELGRAVE: Thanks, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now to Washington and the mounting pressure for intelligence reform. President Bush is pressing Congress to pass legislation this week. And families of the 9/11 victims are hoping to nudge lawmakers into action with a vigil at ground zero. Our Kathleen Koch is at the White House with more on that -- Kathleen.
KOCH: Fredricka, the pressure may be building but it's unclear whether or not it will have any effect. President Bush did make a passage of the intelligence reform bill the focus of his weekend radio address. And he has even gone to the extent of calling and lobbying individual lawmakers to vote for it.
Of course, then as you mentioned there are the families of the 9/11 victims who believe that the measure is being blocked by congressional committee chairmen who are trying to hold onto power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMERON MCCREAE, DAUGHTER KILLED ON 9/11: They're not protecting America. They're protecting their turf. What we're asking today, the families of the 9/11 victims, we're asking on your behalf that America wakes up, that on Monday this legislation, which is an important first step, is passed. Congress must stop acting like a bunch of high school student council members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Besides the House Republicans who have been stalling the measure, a top GOP senator has raised concerns about the intel bill. Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement Friday worried that the proposed reforms may hurt military access to intelligence on the battlefield. Congressional leaders say concerns are growing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL FRIST, (R-TN) MAJORITY LEADER: There are a lot of people who have questions, because we're talking about safety and security, we're talking about that soldier on the battlefield, we want to make sure he or she has good intelligence. And immigration say huge issue that we're going to keep addressing over this Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: President Bush has penned a letter to send to Congress, making his case if need be. But that letter has not yet been sent. And at this point Congress is scheduled to go into recess for the holidays sometime this week. It could extend its session if it chose.
But basically, Fredricka, what this means is that there is very little time left to resolve the differences over the intelligence bill.
WHITFIELD: And Kathleen, while General Myers has already said there's been some compromise on the chain of command issues of this intelligence reform bill, what about one of the other big issues that those House Republicans have had hangups about, immigration?
KOCH: There has been no resolution of that. And you mentioned General Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He did say when it these military matters have been resolved to his satisfaction but hasn't gone into a great deal of detail. There are still these dual issues that are out there. And again, not much time for the president to resolve them. And he's been lobbying pretty hard but he might lose on this one.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch, thanks so much from Washington.
1,000 U.S. troops have been killed in hostile action in Iraq since the war began. There were more attacks across Iraq today, killing civilians and coalition and Iraqi forces. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports on the violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): By far, the bloodiest attack Sunday, Iraqi civilians shot by gunmen, waiting to ambush them as they arrived for work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): A group of terrorists shot dead a number of employees working in the U.S. al Dubai arms depot.
ROBERTSON: 17 killed and 13 wounded in the attack outside Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad. Most revealing about fears of attack by insurgents, the U.S. backed Iraqi National Guard officer covered his face for the interview.
The first killing of the day came 2 hours earlier, 50 miles to the south near Samarra, when an Iraqi army convoy was attacked by insurgents, killing one and wounding four.
A car bomb was used in another attack, targeting Iraqi national guardsmen on checkpoint duty near Biji (ph) north of Tikrit. Three were killed and 18 wounded.
The mourning of those killed Saturday, an even bloodier day during which 31 Iraqis died progressed Sunday. Friends and relatives buried a policeman, one of 16 Iraqis to die when a massive car bomb detonated outside the supersecure international administrative enclave, known as the Green Zone.
In Mosul, insurgents posed for the camera in front of a mosque they claim was damaged by U.S. forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I swear by almighty god, our retaliation will be severe against the coalition dogs. I'm talking on behalf of the Mujahideen.
ROBERTSON: The mosque had been, according to coalition officials, had been searched following for base of an attack against troops that killed two soldiers Saturday.
(on camera): Their deaths, bringing the total number of U.S. forces killed in hostile acts to 1,000 since the war began. Iraqi deaths cannot be so readily quantified, but this Sunday, at least 21 were killed. At least 52 over the weekend. Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Here stateside, pop star Michael Jackson has given investigators a DNA sample in connection with the child molestation case against him. Miguel Marquez is live in our Los Angeles bureau with more details -- Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Santa Barbara County sheriff's investigators were at Neverland Ranch for over eight hours Friday. And then they returned Neverland yesterday to swab Jackson's mouth for DNA. CNN has confirmed.
Now, one legal expert tells CNN, a DNA sample at this point in a case is not the way things are normally handled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE LEVENSON, LEGAL ANALYST: Why are they just getting the DNA samples now? This is a child molestation case. You would have expected that right off the bat. The prosecutors and police would have gone in for the DNA samples.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, a source also tells CNN that investigators were armed with two search warrants signed by Rodney Melville, the Santa Barbara superior judge who is hearing the case against Jackson. The source also tells CNN Jackson, who was home at the time of the raid, was so surprised by the raid, and his children so traumatized, that the pop star did not submit to the DNA sample until yesterday.
Now with Jackson's trial supposed to start January 31, legal experts seem to agree on one thing, that the upshot of this latest search increases the chance that the trial date will be pushed back -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so what is the question as to why they waited to late to get the DNA samples? Because doesn't it apply to this case as in any case that discovery has to be submitted to the court by a certain date, and in this case, it's as early as this week?
MARQUEZ: Yes, that's why experts say such a late search, on Monday, this Monday the 6th. All of the discovery from the prosecution is ordered to be turned over to the defense, and both sides are supposed to supply their witness lists to each other, the judge has ordered. What the effect this will be if the judge trash that order and sets the trial back and set another date for turning over discovery, we're yet to see -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So Miguel, Jackson's attorneys have already alleged in the past, and because of previous raids, that their client is being harassed. This seems to be yet more ammunition for that fight that they're trying to ensue. What kind of legal recourse might they have with the courts, even though this was a request granted by the judge? MARQUEZ: Yes. Well, there has been over 100 search warrants in this case. Several of them, the previous search of Neverland Ranch, the search of a private investigator's office.
Jackson's defense has gone after the prosecutor on the evidence taken from those searches. It is very likely, and this is why the trial may be pushed back, it is very likely that they will once again file motions seeking to have some of that evidence kept back or kept from trial or claimed that this is harassment against -- certainly Jackson's family has already claimed that this is harassment, and we should see that probably before the end of the year. The judge has set aside the week of December 20th for hearings such as this.
WHITFIELD: And again, Miguel, the trial is set for the end of January?
MARQUEZ: January 31st the trial, that's when jury selection is supposed to start. The judge has been very, very intent on getting it started by then.
At one point, he admonished the prosecutors saying, look, we got to get this thing started by the 31st. You've got to wrap up your case. You've got to stop requesting search warrants. But at the same time, it's that same judge who signed the current search warrants that allowed them to go in on Friday and Saturday and do the search that they did -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Miguel Marquez in Los Angeles thanks so much.
MARQUEZ: Sure.
WHITFIELD: Enjoying freedom for the first time in eight years, ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY -- SUNDAY rather, an Israeli is let out of an Egyptian jail. What brought about his release?
Also, birds of peace, the artful efforts of one nation to stop a rash of violence.
And from a pretty cool golf club, that one right there, to some sunglasses that do more than just protect your eyes. Those are just two of Fortune magazine's best products of 2004.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Inventors and innovators have apparently been putting quite a bit of overtime in 2004. Fortune magazine is showing off 1,000 of the best new products of the year in its new issue. Oliver Ryan is a reporter with Fortune magazine in New York. And he helped put together a list of the gadgets and gizmos. Good to see you, Oliver.
OLIVER RYAN, FORTUNE: Great to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right. Folks need to get our their pen and paper, because they want to take notes. These are some great holiday gift ideas. Some, you know, at the low end of the budget scale and some very high.
Let's begin with the Mira Vision mirror television. And obviously, Oliver, the price is not going to come down before the holiday season. But why is this $4,200 worth spending?
RYAN: Well, it seems like these flat screen TVs are never getting quite affordable enough. But the brilliant idea here is actually kind of simple. It's take a flat screen TV, and when you turn it off, it becomes a mirror. So you can hang it on the wall and it's framed in a kind of a brushed steel or wooden frame, you have a choice. And it just disappears into the decor of your house, which we thought was just -- in all of these products, we were looking for just a kind of clever insight, looking kind of outside the box, seeing other things people hadn't seen. And instead of trying to make a beautiful TV, they made a beautiful mirror that is a TV.
WHITFIELD: Dual function. Not bad at all. All right the Nokia phone, $550.
RYAN: Right.
WHITFIELD: Why do I want this phone? You look at it and it certainly doesn't look like a phone. The features, I don't get it.
RYAN: That's what's so cool about it. When this phone came into the office, it was the thing -- maybe that captured the most attention. Everyone was crowding around the desk to check it out.
WHITFIELD: Trying to figure out what it was.
RYAN: Partly. It looks like kind of a slightly oversized lipstick. But we like this because in all cases, design is sort of about a choice. And you have to choose whatnot to include or include, and that's what makes it. In this case, they decided to get rived the keypad.
And you'd think how do you dial? But in fact it works with voice recognition, or there's a little rotary circle dial over there, kind of like an eye pod that allows you to scroll through the names that are in the memory of the cell phone. So, it works perfectly as a cell phone. It extends just a little bit.
WHITFIELD: You're not telling me it is the size of a tube of lipstick, are you?
RYAN: It is.
WHITFIELD: Get out!
RYAN: It's just a little bit bigger. I mean frankly, the way we envision this, it's not for your power business users who are constantly IM'ing with their phone or text messaging, but for, particularly we sort of though, women who are going out at night with, like, their going out purse, you drop this thing in there.
WHITFIELD: Clutchback, OK. Well, something that you don't want to tote along with you, but it's very cool, especially for all of the folks who have iPods out there. But this attachment for your iPod, you have huge stereo sound, Bose making this. I can't imagine who doesn't have -- anyone who has an iPod who wouldn't want something like this.
RYAN: No, it's great.
You know, there's a lot of different to go. If you have your iPod, you can connect it to your stereo which actually works really well these days. But for the place where you have in the past, you had kind of a small sound system in your kitchen, or maybe in your office, you put the iPod in there and it has got the sound that Bose has been known for a long time, which is great bass, really full sound.
WHITFIELD: Good sound.
All right. And maybe you want to listen to your music while you're wearing your sunshades, but you don't want anyone to know that you're listening to the tunes. What's this about the sunglasses?
RYAN: That's what Oakley would want to you do. Again, great insight here. You're wearing your wraparound shades. You have got an MP3 player built into the, I guess the arms of the sunglasses with these fold-down earbuds that pop right into your ear. Really kind of nicely done actually. They extend back and forth so they fit different people's heads nicely.
WHITFIELD: And 395 bones, not cheap.
RYAN: $395. But you can hold up to 60 songs in there.
WHITFIELD: Oh, OK.
All right, so for the athletic person out there, who you think they have anything. They don't have this this kind of golf club, do they?
RYAN: No, the R7 Quad from Taylor Made has four cartridging that you can kind of dial in or out to change the distribution of weight in the club head. And apparently, this can compensate for if you have a slice or a hook, you readjust the cartridges and suddenly you're hitting the ball straight down the middle of the fairway.
WHITFIELD: Wow. And something for the traveler, perhaps, who gets a little bored with the hotel gymnasiums and health clubs.
RYAN: They need a Bambi.
WHITFIELD: You got to have a Bambi.
RYAN: The Bambi is -- I think it's 16 or 19-foot trailer from Airstream. These are the people that make the silver aluminum bullet- shaped trailers.
What's cool about this one is the classic exterior design but on the inside it's been totally redone by a modern design architect named Christopher Deem. And it's now just as cool on the inside as it was on the outside.
WHITFIELD: OK. That is very neat. And that's $35,000. Maybe something that a little more affordable, $2,000, the foldup bicycle, which is very neat, kind of like a suitcase. And lo and behold, you can hit the road.
RYAN: It's the first sort of professional-quality ready to race down the mountain, mountain bike that actually packs up into a suitcase that can be checked on an airplane. So you know, instead of having to have a special hard plastic box that you lug and make special requirements over at a different part of the airport, this thing, check it right on.
WHITFIELD: OK. And maybe for the naturalist who loves feeding the birds but hates the doggone squirrels stealing everything. What's up with this one?
RYAN: The egg bird feeder. You know, this was controversial. Basically it's beautiful, so we wanted to include it, and what's innovative about it, is it's -- because of the spherical shape, apparently if you're into bird feeders, you know that these critters can kind of get on it and steal the seeds. But this one is ovular and consequently the squirrels don't go there.
WHITFIELD: All right. Oliver Ryan with some great ideas for folks who love the electronics and the gadgets, on all ends of the spectrum, the budget spectrum with Fortune magazine. Thanks so much, happy holidays.
RYAN: Thank you and happy holidays.
WHITFIELD: Well, two classics of the American road have undergone quite the makeover for 2005, the retro Mustang and the sleek Corvette. Which one is your favorite? CNN's Ali Velshi gets behind the wheel of both for test drives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, TONIGHT SHOW: And President Bush has nominated Bernard Kerik to be the next secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik is a former prison warden. Do you know that? A former prison warden. See, Bush wanted him around so he made sure nobody else in the cabinet tried to escape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And get ready to giggle, it's this week's version of "Late Night Laughs."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Israel and Egypt are exchanging prisoners. And Middle East observers believe the gesture signals a change in the troubled relationship between those nations. CNN's john Vause reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The phone call a wife had been waiting 8 long years to hear: Her husband, Azzam Azzam, was free, and coming home.
Thank God, he said, and thank Israeli Prime Minister Aerial Sharon as well.
As family and friends celebrated, there were fears this moment would never come. Israel had exchanged prisoners before, but Azzam was never included.
Not this time. The deal was done. The Israeli/Arab businessman in exchange for 6 Egyptian students, arrested in August for illegally crossing into Israel and accused of plotting to kill Israeli soldiers.
Azzam was arrested in 1996. He worked at a Cairo textile factory and was accused of spying for Israel. Part of the case, passing secrets to the Isralis by soaking women's underwear in invisible ink. He's always denied the charges.
The deal was finalized last week in Jerusalem during a visit by the Egyptian foreign minister and head of Egyptian intelligence, and widely seen as much more than just a prisoner exchange.
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR SHARON ADVISER: There's no doubt that this personal gesture, I think, is a hallmark of a change in the relationship between Israel and Egypt.
VAUSE: A relationship which has reached breaking point at times during 4 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Egyptian public opinion sympathizes with the Palestinians, while condemning Israel. But on an official level at least, it appears to be changing.
(on camera): Last week, the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak made the extraordinariary public statement that only Aerial Sharon can bring peace to the Middle East. And Israel is expecting the return of the Egyptian ambassador. He was recalled not long after the start of the Palestinian uprising.
So how did this happen?
(voice-over): The shared tragedy of terrorist attacks in the Egyptian resort town of Taba. 32 dead, including Isralis and Egyptians. Both countries agreed to cooperate closely on security. Aerial Sharon and Hosni Mubarak now speak at least once a month. And Israel is hoping Egypt will play a significant role in Gaza, once Israeli troops are withdrawn next year.
The cold peace between these countries may now be starting to warm, but for Azzam Azzam, his family and friends, once the party is over, they will always remain the unshakeable belief that one man was wrongly jailed, an innocent victim of international politics. John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And here are our top stories right now.
In Canada, officials are investigating the disappearance of hundreds of uniforms and badges worn by Canadian airport workers. Canada's transportation minister says he expects a report on the disappearances tomorrow.
In Washington, Senate Majority Leaer Bill Frist is prediciting a breakthrough on the stalled intelligence reform bill. Frist says there should be a compromise leading to the bills passage by midweek. Frist's predictions come despite opposition from the chairman of the House and Senate Armed Services committees.
And a roadside bomb exploded in Kashmir, killing 11 people. Nine of the dead are Indian soldiers who were traveling in a civilian truck. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and has been a flashpoint for violence between the two countries. But claim the Himalanial (ph) territory.
Beanie babies were the toys a few years ago in America. Their appeal has waned a bit here but the stuffed animals are winning over hearts in more ways than one in war-torn Iraq.
Also, a nation littered with symbols of peace. It's a simple effort by a prime minister to stop violence in his homeland.
And a group that advises the president hears about new ways to produce stem cells. You'll hear about them as well ahead on "CNN Live Sunday."
ORELON SIDNEY, METEOROLOGIST: I'm Orelon Sidney. Here's a look at your cold and flu report through the end of November. We're still not seeing much activity across the nation. That is certainly some excellent news. Least activity across the northwest and parts of the upper plains. You'll see sporadic activity continuing across the central portion of the nation. The regional activity in the northeast, that's been where it's been the most widespread.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The Pentagon is preparing to send an unusual shipment to Iraq with the help of a 14-year-old girl. The middle school student has collected 27,000 items that were once hot commodities in the United States. Now they'll be delivered to Iraqi children. Karen Winter has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREN WINTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Boxes of beanie babies pack the home of this Phoenix teenager, destination Iraq. 14- year-old Alison Goulder launched a drive to give beanie babies to Iraqi children, starting with her own collection.
ALISON GOULDER, COLLECTED BEANIE BABIES: I got flyers put up around school, sent more e-mails out to people at different corporations around the valley, because other people are interested in starting a collection.
WINTER: Alison has inspired after reading an article about the law firm Greenberg Toray and its volunteer operation that sends care packages to troops in Iraq. Soldiers will use the 25,000 beanie babies Alison collected to put smiles on the faces of children there. This drive is similar to other projects in which soldiers hand out toys to Iraqi youngsters.
GOULDER: I just know that the children will be happy when they receive these thousands of beanie babies.
WINTER: In a show of appreciation, the law firm recently welcomed Alison and her family to Washington. Top ranking officials at the Pentagon, including Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers also acknowledged the teen's work.
GENERAL RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIIRMAN: Are you the person responsible for all of this?
GOULDER: Yes.
WINTER: During Alison's whirlwind visit which included a stop at the air space museum, her siblings said they were proud of her.
GREG GOULDER, ALISON'S BROTHER: I see all of the stuff that she can do. It makes me want to do that also.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really great to have her as a leader.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's quite something, right?
WINTER: This eighth grader whose charity has landed her in the national spotlight says she'll continue helping children overseas.
GOULDER: My school has placed a strong emphasis on community service. We have multiple community service events every month so this is something that just came naturally, I guess.
WINTER: Kareen (ph) Winter, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Other news around the world now, a strong tropical storm is heading toward Japan after drenching most of Taiwan with heavy rains and leaving scattered damage. The island is cleaning up from flooding, mudslides and fallen trees.
Turkey is hosting its first ever visit by a Russian head of state President Vladimir Putin has arrived for a two day trip focusing on trade, investment and energy deals. The visit underscores improved relations between the former cold war foes.
Japan's defense minister has become that country's first high- ranking official to visit its forces in Iraq. Today's brief trip precedes a final decision by Japan next week on whether to extend the presence of its 550 troops in Iraq beyond December 14th. And let them eat cake. The historic eastern German town of Dresden held its annual stolen fest parade this weekend highlighted by a 1.2 metric ton Christmas cake in a horse-drawn carriage. Some pretty strong horses there.
Marching bands played before the chef cut the cake into pieces for some of the thousands attending that event.
And people in Thailand are reacting with mixed emotions to possibly the biggest single air drop of paper in history. Millions of Oragami birds were dropped from Thai Air Force planes into the country's southern province, it was meant as a gesture of peace for the troubled region but some say it didn't fly. Anesh (ph) Raman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE
ANESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the skies of Thailand, birds of peace, over 100 million Oragami creations dropped over the country's volatile southern region, a message of empathy, championed by the prime minister.
THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, THAI PRIME MINISTER: You know, they have to respect the support from the rest of the Thai people that want to impress them.
RAMAN: The eccentric effort suggests the sheer depths of the problem here. Nearly 500 people have died so far this year from violence in these three provinces and the government is blamed for fueling separatist anger. To critics, the gesture is no more than a gimmick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To make birds of peace, we ought to deliver them to the prime minister.
RAMAN: At issue, potential violations of human rights under the prime minister's watch. Some 80 Muslims died in October while in government custody. And overall he's seen as bearing a heavy hand in dealing with the majority Muslim population.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think in the long run the government's policies even in its own terms are being counter productive, led to an increase in violence. If there wasn't a separatist movement in the south, there surely will be now.
RAMAN: There is hope that this could be a fresh start. Among the millions of birds being dropped, one is bearing the prime minister's signature. Whoever finds it gets a guaranteed job or free education. Big deals in this impoverished region. So it is with cautious appreciation that the people of the south welcome the effort.
Let's see what the message is inside the bird," laughs 63-year- old Kodeya. "We have been living together for a long time. Why can't we coexist?" But after the last bird falls, realism will return. This was one day and one attempt at peace. A cleanup will be anticipation of concrete reform. Anesh Raman, CNN, Hudie (ph) southern Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAOE)
WHITFIELD: More morally acceptable stem cell options? We'll talk to a professor about possible break-through after the break.
And putting religion before sports. A pint-sized football team refuses to play a championship game scheduled on a Sunday. So why will they still get a chance at a title? Answers when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The medical panel that advises President Bush on bioethical issues is holding a series of meetings on stem cell research. According to the "The Washington Post," the panel heard descriptions of two new lab techniques that offer the possibility of large numbers of stem cells without the destruction of living human embryos. Larry Goldstein is a stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Diego. He attended the meetings and joins us live from Washington. Good to see you Doctor.
LARRY GOLDSTEN, STEM CELL RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: Hello. How are you?
WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good. Well was there widespread acceptance at this meeting of these two new techniques?
GOLDSTEIN: I think I need to correct something. I'm at a meeting of the American Society for cell biology here in Washington. I wasn't at the president's council meeting.
WHITFIELD: Some of the members of the council were attending that meeting, that should be the correction.
GOLDSTEIN: Yes, that's right.
WHITFIELD: OK, and was there widespread acceptance at this meeting of these two techniques?
GOLDSTEIN: I think both ideas, and remember, they're ideas now, they are not demonstrated techniques are very interesting. And I think most scientists greet them with interest and enthusiasm. What you have to remember is that most scientists and majority of the American public find this type of research using human blastocsts (ph) and human embryos ethical and appropriate. In fact in California we voted on this and know this to be true. What's being offered here are two alternative ways of doing this research that might make more Americans comfortable with it and that's a good thing.
WHITFIELD: Let's break down what these techniques are.
GOLDSTEIN: Sure.
WHITFIELD: One technique involves embryos that are so-called functionally dead. How does that work? GOLDSTEIN: So the proposal is that it may be possible to identify embryos after they come out of a freezer, that is they've been frozen for some time and used by a chemical or other markers to indicate that they are not capable of any further development and are therefore, for all practical purposes, dead they could not initiate a pregnancy if they were put into a woman's womb. That's a interesting idea if such markers could be identified and it were practical to isolate stem cells from those embryos.
WHITFIELD: And we must precede these are both in experimental stages. Now the second technique apparently involves what's called a nuclear transfer. What does that mean?
GOLDSTEIN: That is right, so it's a very interesting idea. Remember, the way nuclear transfer works, and this is a little more complex than you may have bargained for, but the idea is you take a woman's egg cell or oacyte (ph) and you completely remove its genetic material. What you sometimes end up is a cytoplast. It's not a true cell but has molecules that can activate genes. You can take a necelous (ph) for example from a skin cell, your genetic material, put it in that cytoplast, activate it, get it to what is called the blastocyst (ph) stage and get it genetic to you.
The notion here that has been proposed by Professor Bill Hurlford (ph) of Stanford, is that perhaps it would be possible to alter the DNA of your skin cell before putting it into that cytoplast, that egg cell, that oacyte (ph) without genetic material. It would still retain the ability to make stem cells but will not adopt the form or property of a human embryo. And the idea is that might give us a way to make stem cells genetically like you with out making an embryo or something like an embryo that would be morally offensive to some Americans.
WHITFIELD: So unadvantaged, so that perhaps it wouldn't be morally offensive to a lot of people, unadvantaged is that these embryos do not have the potential to grow, but if they are considered incomplete, does that mean that the research is limited as well, the use of these types of embryos?
GOLDSTEIN: Well, I that's a very important question, and it's a question we don't know the answer to until somebody does the experiment. Remember that experimental science, and especially experimental biomedical research is driven by document able experiments and data. And so an interesting idea is absolutely something we should try, and see if it works, and if it does, then we should see how far we can go with it.
If it can replace conventional techniques, then great. But it's very important to realize that, having a good idea is not a good reason to stop valuable and important research while we see if it works. And so it's very important that we proceed with this research that a majority of our citizens and a majority of Californians think is ethical and appropriate while we search for other solutions but certainly, we should search for other solutions while we're at it.
WHITFIELD: All right and the stages of this research are still fairly early, still in its experimental stages. Dr. Larry Goldstein, thanks so much for joining us.
GOLDSTEIN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Just over an hour from now is "CNN Live Sunday," and with that, Carol Lin giving us a preview of what's ahead.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. We were talking about the new chief of Homeland Security, who for all intensive and purposes is a police officer who has worked the beat, and done investigations. What we want to find out is how does that back ground play that, black and white attitude about an investigation, innocent or guilty, got the evidence or not. How does that play into the complicated world of fighting the war on terror.
So I am going to be talking with two top cops, one a former police chief Bernie Parks from Los Angeles and John Timiny, who is now the chief of Miami, formerly working in New York City especially around 9/11, to find out what their opinion is and how investigative attitudes might change when it comes to Homeland Security.
WHITFIELD: And I guess exploring the complications of going from a post in a municipality to now a national high profile post.
LIN: Juggling all of those politics, and have you ever wondered how a top model lives the fabulous life? Believe it or not --
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LIN: Hmmm. All right, well --
WHITFIELD: All the time.
LIN: Heidi Klum.
WHITFIELD: I had a feeling you were going to say Heidi Klum.
LIN: Has written a book. Believe it or not.
WHITFIELD: She's doing everything.
LIN: This is not fair, you cannot be beautiful and smart. So take your pick.
WHITFIELD: It's not fair.
LIN: Her interview at 10:00 tonight in our prime time show.
WHITFIELD: Oh great look forward to that .And she's so vivacious. She really does have a great personality and that's got to be one of her great business attributes as well.
LIN: And she's a single mom, so she has her plate full.
WHITFIELD: Although she doesn't like to be referred to as a single mom. I heard that.
LIN: She has lots of support, I get that. But nevertheless.
WHITFIELD: All right thanks a lot Carol. Look forward to that.
Well what, do you do when football's championship game happens to fall on a Sunday? Five Fontana, California youngsters were faced with a dilemma, play on Sunday against their principles or miss the championship. But their teammates stood behind them and decided against playing the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like a bad idea to play on Sunday, because I'm a Mormon, so I don't really want to play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of these boys have great values out here. We don't want to compromise their values. What makes them them is part of everything they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And turns out their values are bringing them great results. It looks like the team's opponent in the final agreed to play the game on this Tuesday.
Well two classics on the American roadway. The Corvette and the Mustang. A tough choice if you can only have one. Well CNN's Ali Velshi, takes these redesigned muscle cars for a test drive, he gets to drive both, right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Time for Velshi's adventures. The Chevy Corvette and Ford Mustang both rank as America's classics. Both pack quite a punch and are hitting the road in 2005 with major makeovers. Somebody has got to do it so CNN Financial reporter Ali Velshi and friends took them out for a test drive, or two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a crisp autumn day I took to the Palisades Parkway outside of New York City with auto writer Peter Valdez-Depena (ph)from "CNN MONEY." Michael Quincy is the left he the car guy from "Consumer Reports." Peter has a family so we gave him the more practical Mustang.
PETER VALDEZ-DEPINA (ph), CNN MONEY: I love this Mustang. The great thing about it, it's a car I can completely imagine myself living with every day, take the kid to school, go grocery shopping.
VELSHI: My set of wheels is normally a motorcycle. So even the cozier Corvette interior was a step up. At least in this thing I can take some bread and some milk and bring it home. It's not as practical as that but I got some looks when I came up here.
MICHAEL QUINCEY, "CONSUMER REPORTS:" All of this talks about driving, let's take it for a ride. VELSHI: Michael tell me what I need to know about this.
QUINCEY: Chevrolet Corvette, this is American icon, great car, big power. This has a six liter v8, about 400 horsepower.
VELSHI: Handles nicely.
QUINCEY: Yes you get a good steering feedback, a lot of communication with the road.
VELSHI: Is this appealing to a buyer who may not have bought a Corvette in the past?
QUINCEY: I think so. This car is so easy to drive. You could drive this thing every day. Possibly goes between $44 and about $51,000. So here we've got the Ford Mustang GT. Peter what, do you think so far?
VALDEZ-OPENA (ph): I love this car. It is so much fun. Even in just ordinary driving, it's thrilling.
QUINCEY: Comes with a 4.6 liter v8. Does 300 horsepower. For a price $19,000 to $25,000, this is a performance bargain.
VELSHI: This is not a fair test drive. The Corvette is a faster, more expensive car. But the Mustang is the more affordable practical car. If you can call either of them practical.
Ali Velshi, CNN on the road.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Yes and that fun to call both of them practical cars.
Well the reshuffling of the Bush administration cabinet is providing plenty of fodder for late night talk shows. That and the upcoming holiday season here's a sampling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "THE TOMNIGHT SHOW:" And president Bush has nominated Bernard Kerik to be the next secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik is a former prison warden. Bush wanted him around to make sure nobody else in the cabinet tries to escape. Basically.
JOHN STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JOHN STEWART:" One day on the NBC nightly news, you're going to lose it and say what you really think, and it's going to be the greatest day of my life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think it's a thrill only Tucker Carlson knows.
LENO: What happened? What do you think happened? What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Bush got more votes. CONAN OBRIEN, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN OBRIEN:" This year, the White house Christmas decorations include a ginger bread replica of the White House that's authentic down to the smallest detail. The White House replica is so authentic, that today eight of the gingerbread men resigned.
LENO: Let me ask you something a little something about Christmas. Enough with politics!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
LENO: When did your daughters learn there was no Santa Claus?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, that's going to do it for us. "Next@CNN" is straight ahead. Here's Daniel Seiberg with a preview.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ahead on "Next@CNN" more hot times ahead for Europe.
A move from Tivo that might anger some subscribers. And compelling images of American consumerism.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 December 5, 2004 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: They are "Fortune" magazine's best products of the year. Check this out, a stow-away bicycle. and how about a tv that doubles as a mirror, even tupperware, perfect for small spaces. You'll get some great holiday gift ideas here.
Also, have scientists come up with new stem cell options? Will they help solve moral dilemmas?
And their appeal is waning in America, but overseas, Beanie Babies are winning over hearts in the midst of battle.
Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more after a check of the headlines.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is predicting Congress will have an intelligence reform bill by midweek, but the chairman of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee still want changes in the current version of the bill. We'll have a live report coming up in 3 minutes.
At least 21 Iraqis are dead after 3 separate insurgent attacks today. In the worst gunman killed 17 civilians as they were stepping off buses to go to work near Tikrit. The victims worked for a civilian firm that destroys weapons found on insurgents. Full details coming up.
In a prisoner exchange, Israel swaps 6 Egyptian students accused of infiltrating the country for an Israeli businessmen accused of espionage. Middle East Experts see it as a sign of a thaw in troubled Israeli/Egyptian relations. John Vause has a report later on this hour.
We begin with concern that security at Canadian airports has been jeopardized. Hundreds of uniforms worn by airport security screeners are reported missing. Our Denise Belgrave is here to sorting out some of the details -- Denise.
DENISE BELGRAVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well fortunately, Fredricka, many airports require multiple levels of screening, so I think that we don't have to be terribly concerned with what's gone on there. We have a story out of Canada, and I think you'll be interested in what it says.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BELGRAVE (voice-over): For airline passengers, uniforms are an important signal that security officers are present and doing their job. So it's no surprise that a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report on missing security uniforms jangled a few nerves. A spokesman for the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority, that's known as CATSA, confirms that more than 1,000 uniform security items are unaccounted for, either lost or stolen.
The items include clothing and more than 91 metical security badges that attach to an officer's uniform. The spokesman says the loss of the badges represents no danger to the traveling public.
KEVIN MCGAR, CATSA SPOKESMAN: A uniform is in no way a document of entitlement, if you will, or an article that allows a forn access the restricted area of an airport.
BELGRAVE: But not everyone agrees.
SEN. COLIN KENNY, CANADIAN SENATE: What worries me is it makes it easier to impersonate an official and if someone isn't looking carefully at their badge or their pass, that they're carrying, there's a problem.
BELGRAVE: Canadian Transportation Minister Jean Lapier learned of the scandal while watching television. His office demanded an immediate inquiry, the results of which are expected to be published on Monday.
Lapier tried to calm fears by issuing a statements saying, "at the 89 airports across the country, we're double checking the identification cards not only when the employees enter the premises, but also during the work shift."
The transportation minister is expected to answer questions about the controversy in the House of Commons tomorrow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELGRAVE: CATSA has just completed the final phase of the screening program for workers at all Canadian airports. Under that pogram, workers like airline employees and caterers et cetera, are screened just like regular passengers for items not allowed in the airport: knives, combustible materials, things like that.
WHITFIELD: And so, so far, how is the program doing?
BELGRAVE: Well, so far, they say the program is doing extremely well and they're really pleased with the results.
WHITFIELD: All right, Denise Belgrave thanks so much.
BELGRAVE: Thanks, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Now to Washington and the mounting pressure for intelligence reform. President Bush is pressing Congress to pass legislation this week. And families of the 9/11 victims are hoping to nudge lawmakers into action with a vigil at ground zero. Our Kathleen Koch is at the White House with more on that -- Kathleen.
KOCH: Fredricka, the pressure may be building but it's unclear whether or not it will have any effect. President Bush did make a passage of the intelligence reform bill the focus of his weekend radio address. And he has even gone to the extent of calling and lobbying individual lawmakers to vote for it.
Of course, then as you mentioned there are the families of the 9/11 victims who believe that the measure is being blocked by congressional committee chairmen who are trying to hold onto power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMERON MCCREAE, DAUGHTER KILLED ON 9/11: They're not protecting America. They're protecting their turf. What we're asking today, the families of the 9/11 victims, we're asking on your behalf that America wakes up, that on Monday this legislation, which is an important first step, is passed. Congress must stop acting like a bunch of high school student council members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Besides the House Republicans who have been stalling the measure, a top GOP senator has raised concerns about the intel bill. Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement Friday worried that the proposed reforms may hurt military access to intelligence on the battlefield. Congressional leaders say concerns are growing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL FRIST, (R-TN) MAJORITY LEADER: There are a lot of people who have questions, because we're talking about safety and security, we're talking about that soldier on the battlefield, we want to make sure he or she has good intelligence. And immigration say huge issue that we're going to keep addressing over this Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: President Bush has penned a letter to send to Congress, making his case if need be. But that letter has not yet been sent. And at this point Congress is scheduled to go into recess for the holidays sometime this week. It could extend its session if it chose.
But basically, Fredricka, what this means is that there is very little time left to resolve the differences over the intelligence bill.
WHITFIELD: And Kathleen, while General Myers has already said there's been some compromise on the chain of command issues of this intelligence reform bill, what about one of the other big issues that those House Republicans have had hangups about, immigration?
KOCH: There has been no resolution of that. And you mentioned General Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He did say when it these military matters have been resolved to his satisfaction but hasn't gone into a great deal of detail. There are still these dual issues that are out there. And again, not much time for the president to resolve them. And he's been lobbying pretty hard but he might lose on this one.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch, thanks so much from Washington.
1,000 U.S. troops have been killed in hostile action in Iraq since the war began. There were more attacks across Iraq today, killing civilians and coalition and Iraqi forces. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson reports on the violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): By far, the bloodiest attack Sunday, Iraqi civilians shot by gunmen, waiting to ambush them as they arrived for work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): A group of terrorists shot dead a number of employees working in the U.S. al Dubai arms depot.
ROBERTSON: 17 killed and 13 wounded in the attack outside Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad. Most revealing about fears of attack by insurgents, the U.S. backed Iraqi National Guard officer covered his face for the interview.
The first killing of the day came 2 hours earlier, 50 miles to the south near Samarra, when an Iraqi army convoy was attacked by insurgents, killing one and wounding four.
A car bomb was used in another attack, targeting Iraqi national guardsmen on checkpoint duty near Biji (ph) north of Tikrit. Three were killed and 18 wounded.
The mourning of those killed Saturday, an even bloodier day during which 31 Iraqis died progressed Sunday. Friends and relatives buried a policeman, one of 16 Iraqis to die when a massive car bomb detonated outside the supersecure international administrative enclave, known as the Green Zone.
In Mosul, insurgents posed for the camera in front of a mosque they claim was damaged by U.S. forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I swear by almighty god, our retaliation will be severe against the coalition dogs. I'm talking on behalf of the Mujahideen.
ROBERTSON: The mosque had been, according to coalition officials, had been searched following for base of an attack against troops that killed two soldiers Saturday.
(on camera): Their deaths, bringing the total number of U.S. forces killed in hostile acts to 1,000 since the war began. Iraqi deaths cannot be so readily quantified, but this Sunday, at least 21 were killed. At least 52 over the weekend. Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Here stateside, pop star Michael Jackson has given investigators a DNA sample in connection with the child molestation case against him. Miguel Marquez is live in our Los Angeles bureau with more details -- Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Santa Barbara County sheriff's investigators were at Neverland Ranch for over eight hours Friday. And then they returned Neverland yesterday to swab Jackson's mouth for DNA. CNN has confirmed.
Now, one legal expert tells CNN, a DNA sample at this point in a case is not the way things are normally handled.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE LEVENSON, LEGAL ANALYST: Why are they just getting the DNA samples now? This is a child molestation case. You would have expected that right off the bat. The prosecutors and police would have gone in for the DNA samples.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: Now, a source also tells CNN that investigators were armed with two search warrants signed by Rodney Melville, the Santa Barbara superior judge who is hearing the case against Jackson. The source also tells CNN Jackson, who was home at the time of the raid, was so surprised by the raid, and his children so traumatized, that the pop star did not submit to the DNA sample until yesterday.
Now with Jackson's trial supposed to start January 31, legal experts seem to agree on one thing, that the upshot of this latest search increases the chance that the trial date will be pushed back -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so what is the question as to why they waited to late to get the DNA samples? Because doesn't it apply to this case as in any case that discovery has to be submitted to the court by a certain date, and in this case, it's as early as this week?
MARQUEZ: Yes, that's why experts say such a late search, on Monday, this Monday the 6th. All of the discovery from the prosecution is ordered to be turned over to the defense, and both sides are supposed to supply their witness lists to each other, the judge has ordered. What the effect this will be if the judge trash that order and sets the trial back and set another date for turning over discovery, we're yet to see -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So Miguel, Jackson's attorneys have already alleged in the past, and because of previous raids, that their client is being harassed. This seems to be yet more ammunition for that fight that they're trying to ensue. What kind of legal recourse might they have with the courts, even though this was a request granted by the judge? MARQUEZ: Yes. Well, there has been over 100 search warrants in this case. Several of them, the previous search of Neverland Ranch, the search of a private investigator's office.
Jackson's defense has gone after the prosecutor on the evidence taken from those searches. It is very likely, and this is why the trial may be pushed back, it is very likely that they will once again file motions seeking to have some of that evidence kept back or kept from trial or claimed that this is harassment against -- certainly Jackson's family has already claimed that this is harassment, and we should see that probably before the end of the year. The judge has set aside the week of December 20th for hearings such as this.
WHITFIELD: And again, Miguel, the trial is set for the end of January?
MARQUEZ: January 31st the trial, that's when jury selection is supposed to start. The judge has been very, very intent on getting it started by then.
At one point, he admonished the prosecutors saying, look, we got to get this thing started by the 31st. You've got to wrap up your case. You've got to stop requesting search warrants. But at the same time, it's that same judge who signed the current search warrants that allowed them to go in on Friday and Saturday and do the search that they did -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Miguel Marquez in Los Angeles thanks so much.
MARQUEZ: Sure.
WHITFIELD: Enjoying freedom for the first time in eight years, ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY -- SUNDAY rather, an Israeli is let out of an Egyptian jail. What brought about his release?
Also, birds of peace, the artful efforts of one nation to stop a rash of violence.
And from a pretty cool golf club, that one right there, to some sunglasses that do more than just protect your eyes. Those are just two of Fortune magazine's best products of 2004.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Inventors and innovators have apparently been putting quite a bit of overtime in 2004. Fortune magazine is showing off 1,000 of the best new products of the year in its new issue. Oliver Ryan is a reporter with Fortune magazine in New York. And he helped put together a list of the gadgets and gizmos. Good to see you, Oliver.
OLIVER RYAN, FORTUNE: Great to be here.
WHITFIELD: All right. Folks need to get our their pen and paper, because they want to take notes. These are some great holiday gift ideas. Some, you know, at the low end of the budget scale and some very high.
Let's begin with the Mira Vision mirror television. And obviously, Oliver, the price is not going to come down before the holiday season. But why is this $4,200 worth spending?
RYAN: Well, it seems like these flat screen TVs are never getting quite affordable enough. But the brilliant idea here is actually kind of simple. It's take a flat screen TV, and when you turn it off, it becomes a mirror. So you can hang it on the wall and it's framed in a kind of a brushed steel or wooden frame, you have a choice. And it just disappears into the decor of your house, which we thought was just -- in all of these products, we were looking for just a kind of clever insight, looking kind of outside the box, seeing other things people hadn't seen. And instead of trying to make a beautiful TV, they made a beautiful mirror that is a TV.
WHITFIELD: Dual function. Not bad at all. All right the Nokia phone, $550.
RYAN: Right.
WHITFIELD: Why do I want this phone? You look at it and it certainly doesn't look like a phone. The features, I don't get it.
RYAN: That's what's so cool about it. When this phone came into the office, it was the thing -- maybe that captured the most attention. Everyone was crowding around the desk to check it out.
WHITFIELD: Trying to figure out what it was.
RYAN: Partly. It looks like kind of a slightly oversized lipstick. But we like this because in all cases, design is sort of about a choice. And you have to choose whatnot to include or include, and that's what makes it. In this case, they decided to get rived the keypad.
And you'd think how do you dial? But in fact it works with voice recognition, or there's a little rotary circle dial over there, kind of like an eye pod that allows you to scroll through the names that are in the memory of the cell phone. So, it works perfectly as a cell phone. It extends just a little bit.
WHITFIELD: You're not telling me it is the size of a tube of lipstick, are you?
RYAN: It is.
WHITFIELD: Get out!
RYAN: It's just a little bit bigger. I mean frankly, the way we envision this, it's not for your power business users who are constantly IM'ing with their phone or text messaging, but for, particularly we sort of though, women who are going out at night with, like, their going out purse, you drop this thing in there.
WHITFIELD: Clutchback, OK. Well, something that you don't want to tote along with you, but it's very cool, especially for all of the folks who have iPods out there. But this attachment for your iPod, you have huge stereo sound, Bose making this. I can't imagine who doesn't have -- anyone who has an iPod who wouldn't want something like this.
RYAN: No, it's great.
You know, there's a lot of different to go. If you have your iPod, you can connect it to your stereo which actually works really well these days. But for the place where you have in the past, you had kind of a small sound system in your kitchen, or maybe in your office, you put the iPod in there and it has got the sound that Bose has been known for a long time, which is great bass, really full sound.
WHITFIELD: Good sound.
All right. And maybe you want to listen to your music while you're wearing your sunshades, but you don't want anyone to know that you're listening to the tunes. What's this about the sunglasses?
RYAN: That's what Oakley would want to you do. Again, great insight here. You're wearing your wraparound shades. You have got an MP3 player built into the, I guess the arms of the sunglasses with these fold-down earbuds that pop right into your ear. Really kind of nicely done actually. They extend back and forth so they fit different people's heads nicely.
WHITFIELD: And 395 bones, not cheap.
RYAN: $395. But you can hold up to 60 songs in there.
WHITFIELD: Oh, OK.
All right, so for the athletic person out there, who you think they have anything. They don't have this this kind of golf club, do they?
RYAN: No, the R7 Quad from Taylor Made has four cartridging that you can kind of dial in or out to change the distribution of weight in the club head. And apparently, this can compensate for if you have a slice or a hook, you readjust the cartridges and suddenly you're hitting the ball straight down the middle of the fairway.
WHITFIELD: Wow. And something for the traveler, perhaps, who gets a little bored with the hotel gymnasiums and health clubs.
RYAN: They need a Bambi.
WHITFIELD: You got to have a Bambi.
RYAN: The Bambi is -- I think it's 16 or 19-foot trailer from Airstream. These are the people that make the silver aluminum bullet- shaped trailers.
What's cool about this one is the classic exterior design but on the inside it's been totally redone by a modern design architect named Christopher Deem. And it's now just as cool on the inside as it was on the outside.
WHITFIELD: OK. That is very neat. And that's $35,000. Maybe something that a little more affordable, $2,000, the foldup bicycle, which is very neat, kind of like a suitcase. And lo and behold, you can hit the road.
RYAN: It's the first sort of professional-quality ready to race down the mountain, mountain bike that actually packs up into a suitcase that can be checked on an airplane. So you know, instead of having to have a special hard plastic box that you lug and make special requirements over at a different part of the airport, this thing, check it right on.
WHITFIELD: OK. And maybe for the naturalist who loves feeding the birds but hates the doggone squirrels stealing everything. What's up with this one?
RYAN: The egg bird feeder. You know, this was controversial. Basically it's beautiful, so we wanted to include it, and what's innovative about it, is it's -- because of the spherical shape, apparently if you're into bird feeders, you know that these critters can kind of get on it and steal the seeds. But this one is ovular and consequently the squirrels don't go there.
WHITFIELD: All right. Oliver Ryan with some great ideas for folks who love the electronics and the gadgets, on all ends of the spectrum, the budget spectrum with Fortune magazine. Thanks so much, happy holidays.
RYAN: Thank you and happy holidays.
WHITFIELD: Well, two classics of the American road have undergone quite the makeover for 2005, the retro Mustang and the sleek Corvette. Which one is your favorite? CNN's Ali Velshi gets behind the wheel of both for test drives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, TONIGHT SHOW: And President Bush has nominated Bernard Kerik to be the next secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik is a former prison warden. Do you know that? A former prison warden. See, Bush wanted him around so he made sure nobody else in the cabinet tried to escape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And get ready to giggle, it's this week's version of "Late Night Laughs."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Israel and Egypt are exchanging prisoners. And Middle East observers believe the gesture signals a change in the troubled relationship between those nations. CNN's john Vause reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The phone call a wife had been waiting 8 long years to hear: Her husband, Azzam Azzam, was free, and coming home.
Thank God, he said, and thank Israeli Prime Minister Aerial Sharon as well.
As family and friends celebrated, there were fears this moment would never come. Israel had exchanged prisoners before, but Azzam was never included.
Not this time. The deal was done. The Israeli/Arab businessman in exchange for 6 Egyptian students, arrested in August for illegally crossing into Israel and accused of plotting to kill Israeli soldiers.
Azzam was arrested in 1996. He worked at a Cairo textile factory and was accused of spying for Israel. Part of the case, passing secrets to the Isralis by soaking women's underwear in invisible ink. He's always denied the charges.
The deal was finalized last week in Jerusalem during a visit by the Egyptian foreign minister and head of Egyptian intelligence, and widely seen as much more than just a prisoner exchange.
RA'ANAN GISSIN, SENIOR SHARON ADVISER: There's no doubt that this personal gesture, I think, is a hallmark of a change in the relationship between Israel and Egypt.
VAUSE: A relationship which has reached breaking point at times during 4 years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Egyptian public opinion sympathizes with the Palestinians, while condemning Israel. But on an official level at least, it appears to be changing.
(on camera): Last week, the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak made the extraordinariary public statement that only Aerial Sharon can bring peace to the Middle East. And Israel is expecting the return of the Egyptian ambassador. He was recalled not long after the start of the Palestinian uprising.
So how did this happen?
(voice-over): The shared tragedy of terrorist attacks in the Egyptian resort town of Taba. 32 dead, including Isralis and Egyptians. Both countries agreed to cooperate closely on security. Aerial Sharon and Hosni Mubarak now speak at least once a month. And Israel is hoping Egypt will play a significant role in Gaza, once Israeli troops are withdrawn next year.
The cold peace between these countries may now be starting to warm, but for Azzam Azzam, his family and friends, once the party is over, they will always remain the unshakeable belief that one man was wrongly jailed, an innocent victim of international politics. John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.
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WHITFIELD: And here are our top stories right now.
In Canada, officials are investigating the disappearance of hundreds of uniforms and badges worn by Canadian airport workers. Canada's transportation minister says he expects a report on the disappearances tomorrow.
In Washington, Senate Majority Leaer Bill Frist is prediciting a breakthrough on the stalled intelligence reform bill. Frist says there should be a compromise leading to the bills passage by midweek. Frist's predictions come despite opposition from the chairman of the House and Senate Armed Services committees.
And a roadside bomb exploded in Kashmir, killing 11 people. Nine of the dead are Indian soldiers who were traveling in a civilian truck. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and has been a flashpoint for violence between the two countries. But claim the Himalanial (ph) territory.
Beanie babies were the toys a few years ago in America. Their appeal has waned a bit here but the stuffed animals are winning over hearts in more ways than one in war-torn Iraq.
Also, a nation littered with symbols of peace. It's a simple effort by a prime minister to stop violence in his homeland.
And a group that advises the president hears about new ways to produce stem cells. You'll hear about them as well ahead on "CNN Live Sunday."
ORELON SIDNEY, METEOROLOGIST: I'm Orelon Sidney. Here's a look at your cold and flu report through the end of November. We're still not seeing much activity across the nation. That is certainly some excellent news. Least activity across the northwest and parts of the upper plains. You'll see sporadic activity continuing across the central portion of the nation. The regional activity in the northeast, that's been where it's been the most widespread.
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WHITFIELD: The Pentagon is preparing to send an unusual shipment to Iraq with the help of a 14-year-old girl. The middle school student has collected 27,000 items that were once hot commodities in the United States. Now they'll be delivered to Iraqi children. Karen Winter has the story.
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KAREN WINTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Boxes of beanie babies pack the home of this Phoenix teenager, destination Iraq. 14- year-old Alison Goulder launched a drive to give beanie babies to Iraqi children, starting with her own collection.
ALISON GOULDER, COLLECTED BEANIE BABIES: I got flyers put up around school, sent more e-mails out to people at different corporations around the valley, because other people are interested in starting a collection.
WINTER: Alison has inspired after reading an article about the law firm Greenberg Toray and its volunteer operation that sends care packages to troops in Iraq. Soldiers will use the 25,000 beanie babies Alison collected to put smiles on the faces of children there. This drive is similar to other projects in which soldiers hand out toys to Iraqi youngsters.
GOULDER: I just know that the children will be happy when they receive these thousands of beanie babies.
WINTER: In a show of appreciation, the law firm recently welcomed Alison and her family to Washington. Top ranking officials at the Pentagon, including Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers also acknowledged the teen's work.
GENERAL RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIIRMAN: Are you the person responsible for all of this?
GOULDER: Yes.
WINTER: During Alison's whirlwind visit which included a stop at the air space museum, her siblings said they were proud of her.
GREG GOULDER, ALISON'S BROTHER: I see all of the stuff that she can do. It makes me want to do that also.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really great to have her as a leader.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's quite something, right?
WINTER: This eighth grader whose charity has landed her in the national spotlight says she'll continue helping children overseas.
GOULDER: My school has placed a strong emphasis on community service. We have multiple community service events every month so this is something that just came naturally, I guess.
WINTER: Kareen (ph) Winter, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Other news around the world now, a strong tropical storm is heading toward Japan after drenching most of Taiwan with heavy rains and leaving scattered damage. The island is cleaning up from flooding, mudslides and fallen trees.
Turkey is hosting its first ever visit by a Russian head of state President Vladimir Putin has arrived for a two day trip focusing on trade, investment and energy deals. The visit underscores improved relations between the former cold war foes.
Japan's defense minister has become that country's first high- ranking official to visit its forces in Iraq. Today's brief trip precedes a final decision by Japan next week on whether to extend the presence of its 550 troops in Iraq beyond December 14th. And let them eat cake. The historic eastern German town of Dresden held its annual stolen fest parade this weekend highlighted by a 1.2 metric ton Christmas cake in a horse-drawn carriage. Some pretty strong horses there.
Marching bands played before the chef cut the cake into pieces for some of the thousands attending that event.
And people in Thailand are reacting with mixed emotions to possibly the biggest single air drop of paper in history. Millions of Oragami birds were dropped from Thai Air Force planes into the country's southern province, it was meant as a gesture of peace for the troubled region but some say it didn't fly. Anesh (ph) Raman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE
ANESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the skies of Thailand, birds of peace, over 100 million Oragami creations dropped over the country's volatile southern region, a message of empathy, championed by the prime minister.
THAKSIN SHINAWATRA, THAI PRIME MINISTER: You know, they have to respect the support from the rest of the Thai people that want to impress them.
RAMAN: The eccentric effort suggests the sheer depths of the problem here. Nearly 500 people have died so far this year from violence in these three provinces and the government is blamed for fueling separatist anger. To critics, the gesture is no more than a gimmick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To make birds of peace, we ought to deliver them to the prime minister.
RAMAN: At issue, potential violations of human rights under the prime minister's watch. Some 80 Muslims died in October while in government custody. And overall he's seen as bearing a heavy hand in dealing with the majority Muslim population.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think in the long run the government's policies even in its own terms are being counter productive, led to an increase in violence. If there wasn't a separatist movement in the south, there surely will be now.
RAMAN: There is hope that this could be a fresh start. Among the millions of birds being dropped, one is bearing the prime minister's signature. Whoever finds it gets a guaranteed job or free education. Big deals in this impoverished region. So it is with cautious appreciation that the people of the south welcome the effort.
Let's see what the message is inside the bird," laughs 63-year- old Kodeya. "We have been living together for a long time. Why can't we coexist?" But after the last bird falls, realism will return. This was one day and one attempt at peace. A cleanup will be anticipation of concrete reform. Anesh Raman, CNN, Hudie (ph) southern Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAOE)
WHITFIELD: More morally acceptable stem cell options? We'll talk to a professor about possible break-through after the break.
And putting religion before sports. A pint-sized football team refuses to play a championship game scheduled on a Sunday. So why will they still get a chance at a title? Answers when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The medical panel that advises President Bush on bioethical issues is holding a series of meetings on stem cell research. According to the "The Washington Post," the panel heard descriptions of two new lab techniques that offer the possibility of large numbers of stem cells without the destruction of living human embryos. Larry Goldstein is a stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Diego. He attended the meetings and joins us live from Washington. Good to see you Doctor.
LARRY GOLDSTEN, STEM CELL RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: Hello. How are you?
WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good. Well was there widespread acceptance at this meeting of these two new techniques?
GOLDSTEIN: I think I need to correct something. I'm at a meeting of the American Society for cell biology here in Washington. I wasn't at the president's council meeting.
WHITFIELD: Some of the members of the council were attending that meeting, that should be the correction.
GOLDSTEIN: Yes, that's right.
WHITFIELD: OK, and was there widespread acceptance at this meeting of these two techniques?
GOLDSTEIN: I think both ideas, and remember, they're ideas now, they are not demonstrated techniques are very interesting. And I think most scientists greet them with interest and enthusiasm. What you have to remember is that most scientists and majority of the American public find this type of research using human blastocsts (ph) and human embryos ethical and appropriate. In fact in California we voted on this and know this to be true. What's being offered here are two alternative ways of doing this research that might make more Americans comfortable with it and that's a good thing.
WHITFIELD: Let's break down what these techniques are.
GOLDSTEIN: Sure.
WHITFIELD: One technique involves embryos that are so-called functionally dead. How does that work? GOLDSTEIN: So the proposal is that it may be possible to identify embryos after they come out of a freezer, that is they've been frozen for some time and used by a chemical or other markers to indicate that they are not capable of any further development and are therefore, for all practical purposes, dead they could not initiate a pregnancy if they were put into a woman's womb. That's a interesting idea if such markers could be identified and it were practical to isolate stem cells from those embryos.
WHITFIELD: And we must precede these are both in experimental stages. Now the second technique apparently involves what's called a nuclear transfer. What does that mean?
GOLDSTEIN: That is right, so it's a very interesting idea. Remember, the way nuclear transfer works, and this is a little more complex than you may have bargained for, but the idea is you take a woman's egg cell or oacyte (ph) and you completely remove its genetic material. What you sometimes end up is a cytoplast. It's not a true cell but has molecules that can activate genes. You can take a necelous (ph) for example from a skin cell, your genetic material, put it in that cytoplast, activate it, get it to what is called the blastocyst (ph) stage and get it genetic to you.
The notion here that has been proposed by Professor Bill Hurlford (ph) of Stanford, is that perhaps it would be possible to alter the DNA of your skin cell before putting it into that cytoplast, that egg cell, that oacyte (ph) without genetic material. It would still retain the ability to make stem cells but will not adopt the form or property of a human embryo. And the idea is that might give us a way to make stem cells genetically like you with out making an embryo or something like an embryo that would be morally offensive to some Americans.
WHITFIELD: So unadvantaged, so that perhaps it wouldn't be morally offensive to a lot of people, unadvantaged is that these embryos do not have the potential to grow, but if they are considered incomplete, does that mean that the research is limited as well, the use of these types of embryos?
GOLDSTEIN: Well, I that's a very important question, and it's a question we don't know the answer to until somebody does the experiment. Remember that experimental science, and especially experimental biomedical research is driven by document able experiments and data. And so an interesting idea is absolutely something we should try, and see if it works, and if it does, then we should see how far we can go with it.
If it can replace conventional techniques, then great. But it's very important to realize that, having a good idea is not a good reason to stop valuable and important research while we see if it works. And so it's very important that we proceed with this research that a majority of our citizens and a majority of Californians think is ethical and appropriate while we search for other solutions but certainly, we should search for other solutions while we're at it.
WHITFIELD: All right and the stages of this research are still fairly early, still in its experimental stages. Dr. Larry Goldstein, thanks so much for joining us.
GOLDSTEIN: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Just over an hour from now is "CNN Live Sunday," and with that, Carol Lin giving us a preview of what's ahead.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. We were talking about the new chief of Homeland Security, who for all intensive and purposes is a police officer who has worked the beat, and done investigations. What we want to find out is how does that back ground play that, black and white attitude about an investigation, innocent or guilty, got the evidence or not. How does that play into the complicated world of fighting the war on terror.
So I am going to be talking with two top cops, one a former police chief Bernie Parks from Los Angeles and John Timiny, who is now the chief of Miami, formerly working in New York City especially around 9/11, to find out what their opinion is and how investigative attitudes might change when it comes to Homeland Security.
WHITFIELD: And I guess exploring the complications of going from a post in a municipality to now a national high profile post.
LIN: Juggling all of those politics, and have you ever wondered how a top model lives the fabulous life? Believe it or not --
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LIN: Hmmm. All right, well --
WHITFIELD: All the time.
LIN: Heidi Klum.
WHITFIELD: I had a feeling you were going to say Heidi Klum.
LIN: Has written a book. Believe it or not.
WHITFIELD: She's doing everything.
LIN: This is not fair, you cannot be beautiful and smart. So take your pick.
WHITFIELD: It's not fair.
LIN: Her interview at 10:00 tonight in our prime time show.
WHITFIELD: Oh great look forward to that .And she's so vivacious. She really does have a great personality and that's got to be one of her great business attributes as well.
LIN: And she's a single mom, so she has her plate full.
WHITFIELD: Although she doesn't like to be referred to as a single mom. I heard that.
LIN: She has lots of support, I get that. But nevertheless.
WHITFIELD: All right thanks a lot Carol. Look forward to that.
Well what, do you do when football's championship game happens to fall on a Sunday? Five Fontana, California youngsters were faced with a dilemma, play on Sunday against their principles or miss the championship. But their teammates stood behind them and decided against playing the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like a bad idea to play on Sunday, because I'm a Mormon, so I don't really want to play.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of these boys have great values out here. We don't want to compromise their values. What makes them them is part of everything they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And turns out their values are bringing them great results. It looks like the team's opponent in the final agreed to play the game on this Tuesday.
Well two classics on the American roadway. The Corvette and the Mustang. A tough choice if you can only have one. Well CNN's Ali Velshi, takes these redesigned muscle cars for a test drive, he gets to drive both, right after the break.
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WHITFIELD: Time for Velshi's adventures. The Chevy Corvette and Ford Mustang both rank as America's classics. Both pack quite a punch and are hitting the road in 2005 with major makeovers. Somebody has got to do it so CNN Financial reporter Ali Velshi and friends took them out for a test drive, or two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On a crisp autumn day I took to the Palisades Parkway outside of New York City with auto writer Peter Valdez-Depena (ph)from "CNN MONEY." Michael Quincy is the left he the car guy from "Consumer Reports." Peter has a family so we gave him the more practical Mustang.
PETER VALDEZ-DEPINA (ph), CNN MONEY: I love this Mustang. The great thing about it, it's a car I can completely imagine myself living with every day, take the kid to school, go grocery shopping.
VELSHI: My set of wheels is normally a motorcycle. So even the cozier Corvette interior was a step up. At least in this thing I can take some bread and some milk and bring it home. It's not as practical as that but I got some looks when I came up here.
MICHAEL QUINCEY, "CONSUMER REPORTS:" All of this talks about driving, let's take it for a ride. VELSHI: Michael tell me what I need to know about this.
QUINCEY: Chevrolet Corvette, this is American icon, great car, big power. This has a six liter v8, about 400 horsepower.
VELSHI: Handles nicely.
QUINCEY: Yes you get a good steering feedback, a lot of communication with the road.
VELSHI: Is this appealing to a buyer who may not have bought a Corvette in the past?
QUINCEY: I think so. This car is so easy to drive. You could drive this thing every day. Possibly goes between $44 and about $51,000. So here we've got the Ford Mustang GT. Peter what, do you think so far?
VALDEZ-OPENA (ph): I love this car. It is so much fun. Even in just ordinary driving, it's thrilling.
QUINCEY: Comes with a 4.6 liter v8. Does 300 horsepower. For a price $19,000 to $25,000, this is a performance bargain.
VELSHI: This is not a fair test drive. The Corvette is a faster, more expensive car. But the Mustang is the more affordable practical car. If you can call either of them practical.
Ali Velshi, CNN on the road.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Yes and that fun to call both of them practical cars.
Well the reshuffling of the Bush administration cabinet is providing plenty of fodder for late night talk shows. That and the upcoming holiday season here's a sampling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, "THE TOMNIGHT SHOW:" And president Bush has nominated Bernard Kerik to be the next secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik is a former prison warden. Bush wanted him around to make sure nobody else in the cabinet tries to escape. Basically.
JOHN STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JOHN STEWART:" One day on the NBC nightly news, you're going to lose it and say what you really think, and it's going to be the greatest day of my life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think it's a thrill only Tucker Carlson knows.
LENO: What happened? What do you think happened? What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Bush got more votes. CONAN OBRIEN, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN OBRIEN:" This year, the White house Christmas decorations include a ginger bread replica of the White House that's authentic down to the smallest detail. The White House replica is so authentic, that today eight of the gingerbread men resigned.
LENO: Let me ask you something a little something about Christmas. Enough with politics!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
LENO: When did your daughters learn there was no Santa Claus?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, that's going to do it for us. "Next@CNN" is straight ahead. Here's Daniel Seiberg with a preview.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ahead on "Next@CNN" more hot times ahead for Europe.
A move from Tivo that might anger some subscribers. And compelling images of American consumerism.
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