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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tamil Toll in Sri Lanka; Plane Terror?; Tsunami Relief; 2004's Top Stories

Aired December 31, 2004 - 06:28   ET

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

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the last half-hour of DAYBREAK. Happy New Year's Eve. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell will be in New York today to discuss tsunami disaster aid plans with U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan. On Sunday, Powell will lead a U.S. delegation to Southern Asia to assess the damage. Florida Governor Jeb Bush will also be part of that delegation.

A fire that raced through a crowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed at least 169 people. As many as 5,000 were inside the disco when the fire broke out.

The Justice Department is out with a new memo saying torture violates U.S. and international law. It comes days before the Senate considers White House counsel Alberto Gonzales' nomination as attorney general. Democrats plan to question Gonzales about memos he wrote on torture.

In Times Square, three Olympic athletes test the switch that will lift and drop that huge crystal ball at midnight. One athlete, Ian Thorpe, is using the occasion to tout New York as the site for the 2012 Olympic Games.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: You know, in Sydney, Australia, it's already 2005, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's correct. Happy New Year's to you guys over there.

COSTELLO: Yes. And before they set off their huge fireworks show, they asked for a moment of silence in honor of all of those who died in South Asia.

MYERS: Nice, nice, nice.

COSTELLO: That was really nice, yes. Let's talk about that now.

In Sri Lanka, a death toll over 40,000 is a combination of figures provided by the government and Tamil rebels. The rebels control areas in the north and east of the island nation. And CNN correspondent Stan Grant has a live report from one of those areas.

Hello -- Stan.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Carol.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (ph) is the full title. They're also commonly known as the Tamil Tigers. They have very much established what is called a de facto space in the northern part of Sri Lanka, the result of a two-decade-long civil war.

Now, the Tigers in the past have been accused of using child soldiers, of also using suicide bombings to try to win their battle. There's an uneasy truce at the moment. Peace talks have been put on ice, and an uneasy cease-fire is holding.

But now, not only are you dealing with a war zone, but you're also dealing with a destruction zone. The tsunami that swept through here has caused enormous damage. And much of it we haven't yet seen. This is a part of Sri Lanka that very much has been ignored. So much of the focus has been on the south.

And the Tamil Tigers are now opening it up, allowing people to come in. They're telling me that around 14,000 people have been killed in the north, in the northeast. Another 5,000 to 6,000 are missing. They're telling me that you cannot expect any of those people to survive. And half a million people have been displaced, putting an enormous strain on the people living here. And the Tamil Tiger infrastructure is trying to provide some sort of relief.

Relief agencies are trickling in. They're trying to work with the Tamil Tigers. The Tamils are saying that any relief must go through their official relief organization. So, the relief agencies are saying at the moment they're trying to establish harmonious relationships. In fact, there has been some hope, Carol, that this may bring about a new, a renewed effort for peace between Sri Lanka and also the Tamils now.

I just want to point out a couple of things. I'm in an area here. It was one of the hardest-hit. A dog, a stray dog, is coming up beside me here now just wandering around. This is what you see so commonly here.

But also amongst the ruins are little signs of life. There's a photo album here. Little children in the photo album, adults, parents with their children. That's one of the things that you can find just littered around here, signs that people lived here, not just victims.

Now, as I walk along further here, you can see behind me what used to be a child care center, Carol. Now, around 300 children used to come to this center. They were separated from their parents because their parents could not look after them. So, they used to be brought here. Now, on the weekend about 150 of them were here. And when the tsunami swept through, as a result of that 120 died. Over the past few hours that I've been on the ground here, I've seen the bodies being retrieved from out of the wreckage. I've seen bodies dragged out of the water. And we've been seeing funeral pyres, cremations, that have been taking place right across this region.

And one of them -- just a point to end on -- three little children, would have been no more than between the ages of 1 and 3, huddled together, their arms entwined where they died, where they met their deaths as a result of this tsunami. And the three of them lifted up as I stood there and placed on top of this funeral pyre and their bodies cremated.

It was a moment that you see all of the big pictures, you see all of the thousands and the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced and the thousands killed. But when you see three little children with the arms around each other and know that that's how they died and watch their bodies cremated, it really brings the story home and makes it so much more real -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Stan, you know, I just can't help but notice that dog who is probably looking for the family that cared for him. He's probably hungry.

GRANT: Yes, yes.

COSTELLO: And I think you've made a new friend.

GRANT: Hungry and lost. Hungry and lost. And so many of the people here are hungry and they're lost, and they don't know where the food is coming from, and they don't know where the shelter is coming from. And it's heartbreaking.

COSTELLO: It is. Stan Grant, thanks for that report.

Six instances in four days, that's how many times an unexplainable laser beam has been directed in the cockpit of a commercial flight. Just last month, federal officials warned terrorists might try and use this tactic. Sources tell CNN it's happening all over. And apparently, it's happened twice in Colorado Springs.

David Nancarrow from CNN affiliate KKTV in Colorado Springs has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID NANCARROW, CNN AFFILIATE KKTV REPORTER (voice over): Lights inside an airplane cockpit are really nothing unusual. They're essential for pilots to fly.

When it's coming from the outside in, especially at night, however, electric light can lose its usefulness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the critical moment if it's intense enough you might not be able to see down the runway. NANCARROW: To pilots like Mike Hogan (ph) it can present a distraction, to say the least; temporary blindness if it's intense enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great deal of concern, because you don't know what the light is.

NANCARROW: Two pilots flying over the Springs recently say someone was shooting a green laser into their cockpits. That's also not unusual, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A final report published by the FAA three years ago outlines the dangers of laser light to vision and overall aviation safety. Case reports show consumers are getting their hands on lasers powerful enough to illuminate police helicopters flying as high as 1,200 feet. Springs police say their chopper has been lasered, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on around here is probably just someone being a jerk.

NANCARROW: Possibly someone who doesn't recognize how grave the situation can be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could actually cause an aircraft mishap, and in doing so that's a federal law and go to jail for a long time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Again, that was David Nancarrow of CNN affiliate KKTV in Colorado Springs.

In one instance, a laser was able to reach a plane flying at 8,500 feet. This is not the kind of laser used for a PowerPoint presentation.

For a better understanding, we go to CNN security analyst Ken Robinson.

Good morning -- Ken.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, you heard the pilot in that story. He just thinks it might be someone just being a jerk. What do you think?

ROBINSON: Well, you know, there are a lot of very sophisticated jerks out there, because, as you said, we're talking about a powerful piece of visible light that's tracking aircraft moving 300 miles per hour and in some cases at 10,000 feet. The airline security needs to look at this as a serious problem.

COSTELLO: That's not easy to do. That sounds like it would take some practice.

ROBINSON: Well, it would. But, you know, think about the war in Afghanistan, and it showed how the havoc that was wrecked by just one Special Forces soldier with a laser targeting device. These devices that are out there on the economy now, former military devices, could really do a lot of serious damage.

COSTELLO: Would it take something...

ROBINSON: On the...

COSTELLO: Would it take something like that, Ken, a former military device? Or could it be something more simple, as in devices used to stage those huge laser light shows that we see?

ROBINSON: Well, those laser light shows, that type of device could also do it. You know, the FAA regulates their use. And the FBI right now is looking at the sale of those devices. There are also devices on the military arms market. One is made in China called a ZM-87. And there's a high-energy device made in Russia that's floating around out there that if somebody got their hands on them it could be a real problem.

COSTELLO: Is there any way for pilots to protect themselves from laser light coming into the cockpit?

ROBINSON: There is. There are glasses they can wear that are similar to the types that you use when you are doing -- a laser tag type device. There is a special set of glasses that can be used for that purpose. I think that's one of the things that both the Airline Pilots Association is looking at.

You know, they commissioned a study on this recently, and they found that this does cause an encumbrance on the ability of a pilot to be able to recover in many instances. And so they're taking it very seriously.

COSTELLO: And we're glad they are. Ken Robinson, our security analyst, joining us live from Washington, D.C. this morning. Thank you, Ken.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Earlier this morning, we spoke with a father and son reunited in Thailand. Heidi Collins will have more on this joyful reunion on "AMERICAN MORNING" today.

I spoke with them earlier, and it's an unbelievable story.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Can you believe it? Boy, it sure is. And stories that we really need to be hearing at this point, I think, Carol. Like so many parents, Dr. Ed Allio (ph) was desperately trying to track down his son after the tsunami hit. He went on a mission to Thailand. So before he even found his son, Allio (ph) got a phone call with the best news imaginable, with a little help from CNN.

Now, he and his son have been reunited. They're going to join us live to share what's been going their minds over the past few days, which you can only imagine there's been quite a bit. Carol -- back to you. And we're going to talk about this some more.

COSTELLO: I'm laughing, Heidi, because, you know, once people find out what the son was doing and why he didn't call his parents, you know, you just want to...

COLLINS: Yes. Yes. This is true. But, you know, it's funny because there are some other people that we're going to talk with this morning who also said they really had no idea what was going on. And that is just what's so incredible about it, because they were there and still that's how the whole thing went. People just weren't aware.

COSTELLO: It's tough to get TV coverage of world events out there on those remote islands.

COLLINS: This is true.

COSTELLO: We'll see you in about 20 minutes. Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Very good. Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Want to give to charity but afraid your money won't make it to those in need? Ali Velshi will tell you how to make sure your donation really does reach those in need. DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The relief effort for the tsunami victims is massive. Everyone from your next-door neighbor to governments are being asked to dig deep and donate.

CNN contributor Ali Velshi is here to talk you through it, because a lot of people are afraid to donate...

ALI VELSHI, CNN DAYBREAK CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... because they don't know that their money is going to go to the right places.

VELSHI: Right. And it's a hard thing to do in a hurry, because, first of all, this is the last day you can get a tax deduction if you want to donate.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

VELSHI: So, it is on people's minds. And there is this new need for money, and Americans really are generous people. Deep down this is what it's all about. Americans are generous.

If you're looking for a place to donate, there are a couple of things you should do to just check out the places that you might give your money to. And I've got a list. This is by no means an exhaustive list. But the first thing you want to think about is whether you want to give to country-specific charities or you want to stick to large international charities.

Now, I've noted the ICRC and the Red Cross. They are different organizations. The ICRC is the International Committee of the Red Cross, based in Switzerland. They also will deal directly with the Red Crescent, which is the sister organization to the Red Cross in many Muslim countries.

Now, the Red Cross, if you give money to the Red Cross, the American Red Cross, you're going to give money most likely to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. It's a general fund, and a lot of people found this out after September 11.

COSTELLO: Oh, I remember that.

VELSHI: Do you remember that?

COSTELLO: A lot of people were angry.

VELSHI: They collected all sorts of money. They thought it was going specifically to September 11, and it wasn't.

Now, one of the things you need to keep in mind with charities is accountability and efficiency. The Red Cross is a remarkably efficient organization. And now that's sort of all come out in the wash, and it's deemed to be a good place to give your money. But remember that you can only specify one of six destinations for your money with the Red Cross, one of which is their Disaster Relief Fund.

Now, you can donate to the Red Cross through Amazon, which is really easy, because I think while Americans want to give money, sometimes you just don't think about it or you've got to pay your bills and you don't get there, whereas if it's one of those things on Amazon are just really easy to do.

COSTELLO: Right.

VELSHI: In fact, the ability to make donations online has caused this to be a good thing for Americans and for the people getting...

COSTELLO: Like, couldn't it be a bad thing, too?

VELSHI: Well, again...

COSTELLO: It's so easy to donate online.

VELSHI: You have to be careful. You have to be careful. These organizations that I'm talking about all are reputable organizations. But there are a couple of Web sites, CharityNavigator.org and GuideStar.org, both of which rate charities and their efficiency. So, you can go to those and just check it out. Just make sure this organization you're giving to is legitimate.

If you want to direct your donations a little more carefully, Oxfam United States, you can specify the tsunami relief and rehabilitation fund. The U.N. food program, the World Food Programme, to the tsunami disaster appeal. And if you want to give it to UNICEF, you can go through -- you can direct it as well, and you can make that donation through PayPal.

Another quick few funds. MSF, Doctors Without Borders, that's a general fund. The International Rescue Committee directs its money to Indonesia. And CARE has operations in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. There is also Save the Children, Focus Humanitarian Assistance, and the Asia Foundation, all of which you can focus on.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this, too, because a lot of people have been e-mailing us this question. That, you know, you donate your money but you don't know what percentage of that is actually going to go...

VELSHI: Right.

COSTELLO: ... to those in need...

VELSHI: Right.

COSTELLO: ... and what is going to go to administrative costs.

VELSHI: And that's the information you can get on sites like Charity Navigator. It's very specific. They give a star rating system to the charities based on their ability to raise money, their effectiveness, their accounting, the transparency of their accounting, and how much money they actually spend on administration versus how much gets to the people.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's excellent.

VELSHI: So it really is key.

COSTELLO: So, what is that Web site again?

VELSHI: CharityNavigator.org.

COSTELLO: CharityNavigator.org.

VELSHI: Yes. And the other thing is some of these sites say give money, not goods in kind, because they don't want to have to ship it over. Some are looking for clothes and stuff, but that's something to keep in mind.

COSTELLO: All right.

VELSHI: Print a copy if you make a donation online.

COSTELLO: Ali Velshi, thank you.

VELSHI: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: You've helped a great deal.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The help is coming to South Asia, but it's not getting to the people who need it fast enough. In rural Indonesia, there are virtually no roads and not enough fuel to power vehicles.

A fire that raced through a crowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed at least 169 people. As many as 5,000 people were in the disco when that blaze broke out.

In money news, the medical rehab giant, HealthSouth, has agreed to pay the government $325 million to settle charges it defrauded Medicare. Seventeen people were charged in the investigation of HealthSouth.

In culture, the band, Lincoln Park, has donated $100,000 to help tsunami victims in South Asia. And the band has teamed up with the Red Cross to establish a charity to collect even more donations.

In sports, Cleveland Cavaliers' star LeBron James is feeling a bit battered. He took an elbow to the face on Wednesday night. It broke his cheekbone. Once the swelling goes down, he'll be fitted with a protective mask to wear until his face heals. So, I wonder if he's going to go ahead and play with that mask on.

MYERS: Oh, sure. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Oh, sure.

MYERS: Yes, well, you remember? Well, I don't know if it was Akrim Abdul Jabar (ph), one of those guys had that mask on for quite a long time back in -- it must have been in the '80s. It's a clear mask, and it's like Jason the hockey guy. But it's actually clear, and he will play with it, yes, to make sure that it doesn't re-injure that bone, because it takes a while for that bone to re-heal, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: It is New Year's Eve, if you haven't noticed. And, of course, we have to talk about security on New Year's Eve. You know, are the streets secure? Rick Sanchez will be following that story on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning -- Rick.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: By the way, for you and Chad, it was Richard Rip Hamilton (ph). He was a Detroit Pistons forward, as a matter of fact. He had a broken nose and wore a mask and got a lot of attention for it.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's a brave man going out onto the ice and -- oh, it just sounds painful to me.

SANCHEZ: Yes, there you go. Those basketball players and those masks.

Anyway, you're absolutely right. Huge...

COSTELLO: You said basketball, you did not say hockey.

SANCHEZ: I was wondering whether it was a new sport you had just come up with or something.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry. I'm ready to celebrate...

SANCHEZ: Ice basketball?

COSTELLO: the New Year, Rick.

SANCHEZ: We are. In fact, it's going to be the biggest celebration, of course, New York's Time Square every year where everyone watches the ball drop from all over the world. About 750,000 people are expected to join the party. How do you make sure it isn't an easy target for terrorists? That's obviously a question that officials in New York City and in the country are talking about.

We're going to talk to New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He's going to sit down with Heidi, and he's going to talk about some of the extraordinary security measures in place tonight. Also about what he's heard from some of the folks over at the Homeland Security Department. And as I'm sure Chad has already mentioned, the weather is going to be quite nice, which means there will probably be even more people than expected. So quite a party -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, it will be quite the party. Thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right.

COSTELLO: We'll catch you in about 10 minutes.

The top stories of 2004 we'll review after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All morning you've been e-mailing us about what you think the most important news story is of 2004. But just because a story is important doesn't mean it always get a lot of air time.

Let's see if you agree with broadcasters. Andrew Tyndall tracks these things. He's here with us now.

So, most important doesn't really necessarily translate into the most frequently seen on the television news.

ANDREW TINDALL, TINDALLREPORT.COM: Right, right.

COSTELLO: Why?

TYNDALL: Well, the big example this year, I suppose, would be the Laci Peterson story. That would be the classic example of a story which had very little importance at all and got an enormous amount of coverage.

What we do is we look at the broadcast networks, the morning shows and the nightly newscasts, and, of course, the No. 1 most heavily-covered story on both was the election. That's as it should be. It's no surprise. I'm just reporting, you know.

COSTELLO: Well, why is that the most important, though?

TYNDALL: Well, the election is the most important, because, you know, deciding who is going to be the president, but also it starts in January with the primaries. It goes through the summer with the conventions, then the debates, and then the elections. So, it's a good long-running story that you can cover day in and day out, and it's not just a one-time event.

COSTELLO: And it wasn't your standard election either. It was an interesting election. It was fascinating. A lot of things happened that have never happened before.

TYNDALL: Exactly. I compared this -- the coverage of this election with four years ago in 2000 and eight years ago in 1996. This was the most heavily-covered election since 1992.

COSTELLO: And that's a good thing, you must say.

TYNDALL: It's a good thing to cover elections, right.

COSTELLO: It is a good thing, absolutely. OK. The second most important story.

TYNDALL: The ongoing coverage of Iraq is the second most. It got slightly less on the morning programs, because the morning programs are more interested in celebrity coverage and scandal and those types of stories. But the war in Iraq and the election got about equal billing on the nightly newscasts, which are more serious in their story coverage. And added together, those two stories accounted for more than one-third of all of the journalism that was on the nightly newscasts.

COSTELLO: That's...

TYNDALL: So basically it's those two and nothing else.

COSTELLO: Is that an improvement from years past? Because, you know, broadcasters are always criticized for not covering important stories enough.

TYNDALL: Yes, sure.

COSTELLO: In fact, they'll give like a minute or two and then move on.

TYNDALL: Yes. It's entirely appropriate that those two stories should get so much. But what happened was because Iraq especially got so much coverage, other international stories really got eased out. And it wasn't until this week with the tsunami that you had another international story that came even close to getting the attention that Iraq got.

COSTELLO: Right. I guess a good example would be Sudan.

TYNDALL: Sudan didn't get as much.

COSTELLO: Not much coverage on Sudan.

TYNDALL: You know, and they changed -- they had a coup in Haiti. Do you remember that? That happened this year. Remember that?

COSTELLO: That's right. That's right.

TYNDALL: It was next door to us and...

COSTELLO: And we touched on it and we moved on.

TYNDALL: There you go.

COSTELLO: OK. The third most important story of the year was? And it's different if you look at the morning news versus the evening network news shows.

TYNDALL: Well, here, you've really got to criticize NBC and their morning shows, because they made such rigmarole over the Olympics, taking all of their people over there to Athens. And they gave it so much time. They dragged the Olympics up to being the third most important story on the morning shows, which is ridiculous.

COSTELLO: Well, it's money.

TYNDALL: It's ridiculous.

COSTELLO: Andrew, it's money!

TYNDALL: Well, it's not journalism, I'll tell you that. It's just promotion. It's taking journalists and turning them into PR people.

COSTELLO: Well, since I don't work at NBC, it's easy to slam them.

TYNDALL: There you go.

COSTELLO: Andrew Tyndall, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning. We appreciate it.

TYNDALL: Thank you very much for having me. Happy New Year.

COSTELLO: Happy New Year to you, too. I hear we're celebrating sort of the same way.

TYNDALL: A little bit of champagne maybe.

COSTELLO: Maybe. This is DAYBREAK for a Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Chad, happy New Year to you.

MYERS: Happy New Year to you, too.

COSTELLO: People are kind of confused about the names scrolling by on the crawl down there. So, we wanted to explain that.

MYERS: Well, I recognize some of them.

COSTELLO: Yes, I do, too.

MYERS: Well, that's why.

COSTELLO: That's because they're employees of CNN, and they're all wishing you a happy New Year. Somebody just e-mailed, though, saying my name is misspelled. Why is it always DAYBREAK?

MYERS: I heard one saying how come you didn't take your husband's last name?

COSTELLO: Oh!

MYERS: Come on, Carol. You get married once.

COSTELLO: Isn't that an antiquated question?

MYERS: Or more.

COSTELLO: Well, I've been Carol Costello for all my life. I just can't imagine suddenly changing my name at this late date.

MYERS: Well, all right then.

COSTELLO: Perhaps if I had gotten married when I was 20 I would have, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It took me that long to find someone who would take me.

MYERS: You worked on it a long time.

COSTELLO: Happy New Year, Chad.

MYERS: Happy New Year to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: To the best co-host that anyone could have, happy New Year.

MYERS: Ditto to you.

COSTELLO: "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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Aired December 31, 2004 - 06:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the last half-hour of DAYBREAK. Happy New Year's Eve. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell will be in New York today to discuss tsunami disaster aid plans with U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan. On Sunday, Powell will lead a U.S. delegation to Southern Asia to assess the damage. Florida Governor Jeb Bush will also be part of that delegation.

A fire that raced through a crowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed at least 169 people. As many as 5,000 were inside the disco when the fire broke out.

The Justice Department is out with a new memo saying torture violates U.S. and international law. It comes days before the Senate considers White House counsel Alberto Gonzales' nomination as attorney general. Democrats plan to question Gonzales about memos he wrote on torture.

In Times Square, three Olympic athletes test the switch that will lift and drop that huge crystal ball at midnight. One athlete, Ian Thorpe, is using the occasion to tout New York as the site for the 2012 Olympic Games.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: You know, in Sydney, Australia, it's already 2005, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's correct. Happy New Year's to you guys over there.

COSTELLO: Yes. And before they set off their huge fireworks show, they asked for a moment of silence in honor of all of those who died in South Asia.

MYERS: Nice, nice, nice.

COSTELLO: That was really nice, yes. Let's talk about that now.

In Sri Lanka, a death toll over 40,000 is a combination of figures provided by the government and Tamil rebels. The rebels control areas in the north and east of the island nation. And CNN correspondent Stan Grant has a live report from one of those areas.

Hello -- Stan.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Carol.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (ph) is the full title. They're also commonly known as the Tamil Tigers. They have very much established what is called a de facto space in the northern part of Sri Lanka, the result of a two-decade-long civil war.

Now, the Tigers in the past have been accused of using child soldiers, of also using suicide bombings to try to win their battle. There's an uneasy truce at the moment. Peace talks have been put on ice, and an uneasy cease-fire is holding.

But now, not only are you dealing with a war zone, but you're also dealing with a destruction zone. The tsunami that swept through here has caused enormous damage. And much of it we haven't yet seen. This is a part of Sri Lanka that very much has been ignored. So much of the focus has been on the south.

And the Tamil Tigers are now opening it up, allowing people to come in. They're telling me that around 14,000 people have been killed in the north, in the northeast. Another 5,000 to 6,000 are missing. They're telling me that you cannot expect any of those people to survive. And half a million people have been displaced, putting an enormous strain on the people living here. And the Tamil Tiger infrastructure is trying to provide some sort of relief.

Relief agencies are trickling in. They're trying to work with the Tamil Tigers. The Tamils are saying that any relief must go through their official relief organization. So, the relief agencies are saying at the moment they're trying to establish harmonious relationships. In fact, there has been some hope, Carol, that this may bring about a new, a renewed effort for peace between Sri Lanka and also the Tamils now.

I just want to point out a couple of things. I'm in an area here. It was one of the hardest-hit. A dog, a stray dog, is coming up beside me here now just wandering around. This is what you see so commonly here.

But also amongst the ruins are little signs of life. There's a photo album here. Little children in the photo album, adults, parents with their children. That's one of the things that you can find just littered around here, signs that people lived here, not just victims.

Now, as I walk along further here, you can see behind me what used to be a child care center, Carol. Now, around 300 children used to come to this center. They were separated from their parents because their parents could not look after them. So, they used to be brought here. Now, on the weekend about 150 of them were here. And when the tsunami swept through, as a result of that 120 died. Over the past few hours that I've been on the ground here, I've seen the bodies being retrieved from out of the wreckage. I've seen bodies dragged out of the water. And we've been seeing funeral pyres, cremations, that have been taking place right across this region.

And one of them -- just a point to end on -- three little children, would have been no more than between the ages of 1 and 3, huddled together, their arms entwined where they died, where they met their deaths as a result of this tsunami. And the three of them lifted up as I stood there and placed on top of this funeral pyre and their bodies cremated.

It was a moment that you see all of the big pictures, you see all of the thousands and the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced and the thousands killed. But when you see three little children with the arms around each other and know that that's how they died and watch their bodies cremated, it really brings the story home and makes it so much more real -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Stan, you know, I just can't help but notice that dog who is probably looking for the family that cared for him. He's probably hungry.

GRANT: Yes, yes.

COSTELLO: And I think you've made a new friend.

GRANT: Hungry and lost. Hungry and lost. And so many of the people here are hungry and they're lost, and they don't know where the food is coming from, and they don't know where the shelter is coming from. And it's heartbreaking.

COSTELLO: It is. Stan Grant, thanks for that report.

Six instances in four days, that's how many times an unexplainable laser beam has been directed in the cockpit of a commercial flight. Just last month, federal officials warned terrorists might try and use this tactic. Sources tell CNN it's happening all over. And apparently, it's happened twice in Colorado Springs.

David Nancarrow from CNN affiliate KKTV in Colorado Springs has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID NANCARROW, CNN AFFILIATE KKTV REPORTER (voice over): Lights inside an airplane cockpit are really nothing unusual. They're essential for pilots to fly.

When it's coming from the outside in, especially at night, however, electric light can lose its usefulness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the critical moment if it's intense enough you might not be able to see down the runway. NANCARROW: To pilots like Mike Hogan (ph) it can present a distraction, to say the least; temporary blindness if it's intense enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great deal of concern, because you don't know what the light is.

NANCARROW: Two pilots flying over the Springs recently say someone was shooting a green laser into their cockpits. That's also not unusual, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A final report published by the FAA three years ago outlines the dangers of laser light to vision and overall aviation safety. Case reports show consumers are getting their hands on lasers powerful enough to illuminate police helicopters flying as high as 1,200 feet. Springs police say their chopper has been lasered, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on around here is probably just someone being a jerk.

NANCARROW: Possibly someone who doesn't recognize how grave the situation can be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could actually cause an aircraft mishap, and in doing so that's a federal law and go to jail for a long time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Again, that was David Nancarrow of CNN affiliate KKTV in Colorado Springs.

In one instance, a laser was able to reach a plane flying at 8,500 feet. This is not the kind of laser used for a PowerPoint presentation.

For a better understanding, we go to CNN security analyst Ken Robinson.

Good morning -- Ken.

KEN ROBINSON, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, you heard the pilot in that story. He just thinks it might be someone just being a jerk. What do you think?

ROBINSON: Well, you know, there are a lot of very sophisticated jerks out there, because, as you said, we're talking about a powerful piece of visible light that's tracking aircraft moving 300 miles per hour and in some cases at 10,000 feet. The airline security needs to look at this as a serious problem.

COSTELLO: That's not easy to do. That sounds like it would take some practice.

ROBINSON: Well, it would. But, you know, think about the war in Afghanistan, and it showed how the havoc that was wrecked by just one Special Forces soldier with a laser targeting device. These devices that are out there on the economy now, former military devices, could really do a lot of serious damage.

COSTELLO: Would it take something...

ROBINSON: On the...

COSTELLO: Would it take something like that, Ken, a former military device? Or could it be something more simple, as in devices used to stage those huge laser light shows that we see?

ROBINSON: Well, those laser light shows, that type of device could also do it. You know, the FAA regulates their use. And the FBI right now is looking at the sale of those devices. There are also devices on the military arms market. One is made in China called a ZM-87. And there's a high-energy device made in Russia that's floating around out there that if somebody got their hands on them it could be a real problem.

COSTELLO: Is there any way for pilots to protect themselves from laser light coming into the cockpit?

ROBINSON: There is. There are glasses they can wear that are similar to the types that you use when you are doing -- a laser tag type device. There is a special set of glasses that can be used for that purpose. I think that's one of the things that both the Airline Pilots Association is looking at.

You know, they commissioned a study on this recently, and they found that this does cause an encumbrance on the ability of a pilot to be able to recover in many instances. And so they're taking it very seriously.

COSTELLO: And we're glad they are. Ken Robinson, our security analyst, joining us live from Washington, D.C. this morning. Thank you, Ken.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Earlier this morning, we spoke with a father and son reunited in Thailand. Heidi Collins will have more on this joyful reunion on "AMERICAN MORNING" today.

I spoke with them earlier, and it's an unbelievable story.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Can you believe it? Boy, it sure is. And stories that we really need to be hearing at this point, I think, Carol. Like so many parents, Dr. Ed Allio (ph) was desperately trying to track down his son after the tsunami hit. He went on a mission to Thailand. So before he even found his son, Allio (ph) got a phone call with the best news imaginable, with a little help from CNN.

Now, he and his son have been reunited. They're going to join us live to share what's been going their minds over the past few days, which you can only imagine there's been quite a bit. Carol -- back to you. And we're going to talk about this some more.

COSTELLO: I'm laughing, Heidi, because, you know, once people find out what the son was doing and why he didn't call his parents, you know, you just want to...

COLLINS: Yes. Yes. This is true. But, you know, it's funny because there are some other people that we're going to talk with this morning who also said they really had no idea what was going on. And that is just what's so incredible about it, because they were there and still that's how the whole thing went. People just weren't aware.

COSTELLO: It's tough to get TV coverage of world events out there on those remote islands.

COLLINS: This is true.

COSTELLO: We'll see you in about 20 minutes. Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Very good. Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Want to give to charity but afraid your money won't make it to those in need? Ali Velshi will tell you how to make sure your donation really does reach those in need. DAYBREAK will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The relief effort for the tsunami victims is massive. Everyone from your next-door neighbor to governments are being asked to dig deep and donate.

CNN contributor Ali Velshi is here to talk you through it, because a lot of people are afraid to donate...

ALI VELSHI, CNN DAYBREAK CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... because they don't know that their money is going to go to the right places.

VELSHI: Right. And it's a hard thing to do in a hurry, because, first of all, this is the last day you can get a tax deduction if you want to donate.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes.

VELSHI: So, it is on people's minds. And there is this new need for money, and Americans really are generous people. Deep down this is what it's all about. Americans are generous.

If you're looking for a place to donate, there are a couple of things you should do to just check out the places that you might give your money to. And I've got a list. This is by no means an exhaustive list. But the first thing you want to think about is whether you want to give to country-specific charities or you want to stick to large international charities.

Now, I've noted the ICRC and the Red Cross. They are different organizations. The ICRC is the International Committee of the Red Cross, based in Switzerland. They also will deal directly with the Red Crescent, which is the sister organization to the Red Cross in many Muslim countries.

Now, the Red Cross, if you give money to the Red Cross, the American Red Cross, you're going to give money most likely to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. It's a general fund, and a lot of people found this out after September 11.

COSTELLO: Oh, I remember that.

VELSHI: Do you remember that?

COSTELLO: A lot of people were angry.

VELSHI: They collected all sorts of money. They thought it was going specifically to September 11, and it wasn't.

Now, one of the things you need to keep in mind with charities is accountability and efficiency. The Red Cross is a remarkably efficient organization. And now that's sort of all come out in the wash, and it's deemed to be a good place to give your money. But remember that you can only specify one of six destinations for your money with the Red Cross, one of which is their Disaster Relief Fund.

Now, you can donate to the Red Cross through Amazon, which is really easy, because I think while Americans want to give money, sometimes you just don't think about it or you've got to pay your bills and you don't get there, whereas if it's one of those things on Amazon are just really easy to do.

COSTELLO: Right.

VELSHI: In fact, the ability to make donations online has caused this to be a good thing for Americans and for the people getting...

COSTELLO: Like, couldn't it be a bad thing, too?

VELSHI: Well, again...

COSTELLO: It's so easy to donate online.

VELSHI: You have to be careful. You have to be careful. These organizations that I'm talking about all are reputable organizations. But there are a couple of Web sites, CharityNavigator.org and GuideStar.org, both of which rate charities and their efficiency. So, you can go to those and just check it out. Just make sure this organization you're giving to is legitimate.

If you want to direct your donations a little more carefully, Oxfam United States, you can specify the tsunami relief and rehabilitation fund. The U.N. food program, the World Food Programme, to the tsunami disaster appeal. And if you want to give it to UNICEF, you can go through -- you can direct it as well, and you can make that donation through PayPal.

Another quick few funds. MSF, Doctors Without Borders, that's a general fund. The International Rescue Committee directs its money to Indonesia. And CARE has operations in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. There is also Save the Children, Focus Humanitarian Assistance, and the Asia Foundation, all of which you can focus on.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this, too, because a lot of people have been e-mailing us this question. That, you know, you donate your money but you don't know what percentage of that is actually going to go...

VELSHI: Right.

COSTELLO: ... to those in need...

VELSHI: Right.

COSTELLO: ... and what is going to go to administrative costs.

VELSHI: And that's the information you can get on sites like Charity Navigator. It's very specific. They give a star rating system to the charities based on their ability to raise money, their effectiveness, their accounting, the transparency of their accounting, and how much money they actually spend on administration versus how much gets to the people.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's excellent.

VELSHI: So it really is key.

COSTELLO: So, what is that Web site again?

VELSHI: CharityNavigator.org.

COSTELLO: CharityNavigator.org.

VELSHI: Yes. And the other thing is some of these sites say give money, not goods in kind, because they don't want to have to ship it over. Some are looking for clothes and stuff, but that's something to keep in mind.

COSTELLO: All right.

VELSHI: Print a copy if you make a donation online.

COSTELLO: Ali Velshi, thank you.

VELSHI: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: You've helped a great deal.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:46 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The help is coming to South Asia, but it's not getting to the people who need it fast enough. In rural Indonesia, there are virtually no roads and not enough fuel to power vehicles.

A fire that raced through a crowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed at least 169 people. As many as 5,000 people were in the disco when that blaze broke out.

In money news, the medical rehab giant, HealthSouth, has agreed to pay the government $325 million to settle charges it defrauded Medicare. Seventeen people were charged in the investigation of HealthSouth.

In culture, the band, Lincoln Park, has donated $100,000 to help tsunami victims in South Asia. And the band has teamed up with the Red Cross to establish a charity to collect even more donations.

In sports, Cleveland Cavaliers' star LeBron James is feeling a bit battered. He took an elbow to the face on Wednesday night. It broke his cheekbone. Once the swelling goes down, he'll be fitted with a protective mask to wear until his face heals. So, I wonder if he's going to go ahead and play with that mask on.

MYERS: Oh, sure. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Oh, sure.

MYERS: Yes, well, you remember? Well, I don't know if it was Akrim Abdul Jabar (ph), one of those guys had that mask on for quite a long time back in -- it must have been in the '80s. It's a clear mask, and it's like Jason the hockey guy. But it's actually clear, and he will play with it, yes, to make sure that it doesn't re-injure that bone, because it takes a while for that bone to re-heal, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: It is New Year's Eve, if you haven't noticed. And, of course, we have to talk about security on New Year's Eve. You know, are the streets secure? Rick Sanchez will be following that story on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning -- Rick.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: By the way, for you and Chad, it was Richard Rip Hamilton (ph). He was a Detroit Pistons forward, as a matter of fact. He had a broken nose and wore a mask and got a lot of attention for it.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's a brave man going out onto the ice and -- oh, it just sounds painful to me.

SANCHEZ: Yes, there you go. Those basketball players and those masks.

Anyway, you're absolutely right. Huge...

COSTELLO: You said basketball, you did not say hockey.

SANCHEZ: I was wondering whether it was a new sport you had just come up with or something.

COSTELLO: I'm sorry. I'm ready to celebrate...

SANCHEZ: Ice basketball?

COSTELLO: the New Year, Rick.

SANCHEZ: We are. In fact, it's going to be the biggest celebration, of course, New York's Time Square every year where everyone watches the ball drop from all over the world. About 750,000 people are expected to join the party. How do you make sure it isn't an easy target for terrorists? That's obviously a question that officials in New York City and in the country are talking about.

We're going to talk to New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He's going to sit down with Heidi, and he's going to talk about some of the extraordinary security measures in place tonight. Also about what he's heard from some of the folks over at the Homeland Security Department. And as I'm sure Chad has already mentioned, the weather is going to be quite nice, which means there will probably be even more people than expected. So quite a party -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, it will be quite the party. Thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right.

COSTELLO: We'll catch you in about 10 minutes.

The top stories of 2004 we'll review after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All morning you've been e-mailing us about what you think the most important news story is of 2004. But just because a story is important doesn't mean it always get a lot of air time.

Let's see if you agree with broadcasters. Andrew Tyndall tracks these things. He's here with us now.

So, most important doesn't really necessarily translate into the most frequently seen on the television news.

ANDREW TINDALL, TINDALLREPORT.COM: Right, right.

COSTELLO: Why?

TYNDALL: Well, the big example this year, I suppose, would be the Laci Peterson story. That would be the classic example of a story which had very little importance at all and got an enormous amount of coverage.

What we do is we look at the broadcast networks, the morning shows and the nightly newscasts, and, of course, the No. 1 most heavily-covered story on both was the election. That's as it should be. It's no surprise. I'm just reporting, you know.

COSTELLO: Well, why is that the most important, though?

TYNDALL: Well, the election is the most important, because, you know, deciding who is going to be the president, but also it starts in January with the primaries. It goes through the summer with the conventions, then the debates, and then the elections. So, it's a good long-running story that you can cover day in and day out, and it's not just a one-time event.

COSTELLO: And it wasn't your standard election either. It was an interesting election. It was fascinating. A lot of things happened that have never happened before.

TYNDALL: Exactly. I compared this -- the coverage of this election with four years ago in 2000 and eight years ago in 1996. This was the most heavily-covered election since 1992.

COSTELLO: And that's a good thing, you must say.

TYNDALL: It's a good thing to cover elections, right.

COSTELLO: It is a good thing, absolutely. OK. The second most important story.

TYNDALL: The ongoing coverage of Iraq is the second most. It got slightly less on the morning programs, because the morning programs are more interested in celebrity coverage and scandal and those types of stories. But the war in Iraq and the election got about equal billing on the nightly newscasts, which are more serious in their story coverage. And added together, those two stories accounted for more than one-third of all of the journalism that was on the nightly newscasts.

COSTELLO: That's...

TYNDALL: So basically it's those two and nothing else.

COSTELLO: Is that an improvement from years past? Because, you know, broadcasters are always criticized for not covering important stories enough.

TYNDALL: Yes, sure.

COSTELLO: In fact, they'll give like a minute or two and then move on.

TYNDALL: Yes. It's entirely appropriate that those two stories should get so much. But what happened was because Iraq especially got so much coverage, other international stories really got eased out. And it wasn't until this week with the tsunami that you had another international story that came even close to getting the attention that Iraq got.

COSTELLO: Right. I guess a good example would be Sudan.

TYNDALL: Sudan didn't get as much.

COSTELLO: Not much coverage on Sudan.

TYNDALL: You know, and they changed -- they had a coup in Haiti. Do you remember that? That happened this year. Remember that?

COSTELLO: That's right. That's right.

TYNDALL: It was next door to us and...

COSTELLO: And we touched on it and we moved on.

TYNDALL: There you go.

COSTELLO: OK. The third most important story of the year was? And it's different if you look at the morning news versus the evening network news shows.

TYNDALL: Well, here, you've really got to criticize NBC and their morning shows, because they made such rigmarole over the Olympics, taking all of their people over there to Athens. And they gave it so much time. They dragged the Olympics up to being the third most important story on the morning shows, which is ridiculous.

COSTELLO: Well, it's money.

TYNDALL: It's ridiculous.

COSTELLO: Andrew, it's money!

TYNDALL: Well, it's not journalism, I'll tell you that. It's just promotion. It's taking journalists and turning them into PR people.

COSTELLO: Well, since I don't work at NBC, it's easy to slam them.

TYNDALL: There you go.

COSTELLO: Andrew Tyndall, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning. We appreciate it.

TYNDALL: Thank you very much for having me. Happy New Year.

COSTELLO: Happy New Year to you, too. I hear we're celebrating sort of the same way.

TYNDALL: A little bit of champagne maybe.

COSTELLO: Maybe. This is DAYBREAK for a Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Chad, happy New Year to you.

MYERS: Happy New Year to you, too.

COSTELLO: People are kind of confused about the names scrolling by on the crawl down there. So, we wanted to explain that.

MYERS: Well, I recognize some of them.

COSTELLO: Yes, I do, too.

MYERS: Well, that's why.

COSTELLO: That's because they're employees of CNN, and they're all wishing you a happy New Year. Somebody just e-mailed, though, saying my name is misspelled. Why is it always DAYBREAK?

MYERS: I heard one saying how come you didn't take your husband's last name?

COSTELLO: Oh!

MYERS: Come on, Carol. You get married once.

COSTELLO: Isn't that an antiquated question?

MYERS: Or more.

COSTELLO: Well, I've been Carol Costello for all my life. I just can't imagine suddenly changing my name at this late date.

MYERS: Well, all right then.

COSTELLO: Perhaps if I had gotten married when I was 20 I would have, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It took me that long to find someone who would take me.

MYERS: You worked on it a long time.

COSTELLO: Happy New Year, Chad.

MYERS: Happy New Year to you, Carol.

COSTELLO: To the best co-host that anyone could have, happy New Year.

MYERS: Ditto to you.

COSTELLO: "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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