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Iraq Curfew Continues after Increasing Violence; Cheney To Meet With King Abdullah In Saudi Arabia; Still Searching For Missing Children In Minnesota; Iraq Violence Threatens Bush's Visit To Middle East; Dealing With Holiday Stress

Aired November 25, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," a suspected bomb- making factory North of Baghdad hit today by coalition warplanes. The U.S. military says the facility in Taji was destroyed. More than 20 insurgents and a civilian were killed during the raid.
We'll bring you a live report from Baghdad in two minutes.

Vice President Dick Cheney is in Saudi Arabia this morning. He's meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. They're expected to discuss the state of affairs in the Middle East and, more importantly, Iraq. We'll go live to Riyadh for the latest in just about five minutes.

And preparing for the worst but praying for a positive outcome, that's what relatives of two missing Minnesota boys say they are doing. Searchers haven't found any trace of the brothers ages 2 and 4. The mother is urging anyone who may have seen the boys to come forward.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A man who sparked a standoff inside "The Miami Herald" is being held on bond. Police say Jose Varela was arrested on Friday after a two-hour standoff. He's charged with aggravated assault. Varela is a freelance cartoonist with "The Herald's" sister paper, "El Nuevo." Varela's attorney says he wanted to expose a conflict of interest at that paper.

Well, it worked. It looks like retailers' aggressive marketing tactics for Black Friday paid off, in many ways. Early reports showed expanded hours, increased discounts -- and remember those free money gift cards? Yes, they drove people to the stores by the millions. Here are just a few of them kicking off the holiday shopping season with a bang.

Now to Reynolds Wolf for a quick check of the weather outside, because you know, Reynolds, people are still shopping at this hour today. It's just begun.

(WEATHER REPORT)

We run down the top stories every 15 minutes right here on CNN NEWSROOM, with in-depth coverage all morning long. So your next check of the headlines, that is coming up at 10:15 Eastern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was taking a shower and I was just about to get out. So I turned sideways to open the curtain here, and as I opened it, it just came right past me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: What a lucky man, under threat and under fire, even in the most unusual places. Coming up, everyday heroes in Iraq and their stories of survival.

From the CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM. It is Saturday, November 25th. A big shopping day for a lot of folks out there -- 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 6:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you so much for starting your day here with us.

Divided and fragile, that's Iraq this morning, following days of sectarian violence and revenge attacks. It's being called the worst violence since the war began.

We're going to go to CNN correspondent Arwa Damon, who is live for us in Baghdad.

Hello, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, T.J.

And that violence is not just confined to the capital of Baghdad. In fact, just North of Baghdad, in the province of Diyala, also an ethically-mixed area, there, according to an official with the Diyala Joint Coordination Center, Sunni gunmen believed to be linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq stormed two Shia homes about 35 miles east of the provincial capital. They separated the men from the women and shot them dead.

In the capital of Baghdad, the government-imposed curfew does continue. This is meant to be an effort to curb retaliatory violence. However, despite that, the killing here does continue.

Since the curfew came into place at about 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, there have been a series of attacks across the capital. Mortar rounds have landed in Sunni neighborhood, wounding at least two dozen Iraqis, killing some as well. And mortar rounds have also landed in Shia neighborhoods. In fact, earlier today, two mortar rounds landed in a southeastern neighborhood, wounding four Iraqis.

We have also seen a number of Sunni mosques attacked in the last 24 hours. And just to give you an example, I'd like to talk about the neighborhood of Hurriya. It's sort of a microcosm of what is happening in the bigger picture.

It is in northwestern Baghdad. It was at one point an ethnically-mixed neighborhood, an area where Sunnis and Shia lived side by side.

Sectarian violence over the last few months drove out most of the Sunni population there. There are some Sunni enclaves. Those, in a 24-hour period on Friday, came under attack.

There were four Sunni mosques attacked there, according to Iraqi officials. Two of them sustained burn damage. The two others were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades.

There was also a horrific story that was reported by an official with the Sunni-Iraqi deputy prime minister's office. He said that seven worshippers were torched by Shia militiamen.

Now, the U.S. military put out a statement saying that an Iraqi army unit went to that area trying to confirm some of these reports. They were unable to confirm the report of the torching.

But T.J., this is now an environment, especially in Baghdad, where rumors tend to have legs of their own. Oftentimes, the rumors here are more credible than any statement that the Iraqi government or the U.S. military would put out. And just the thought that activities and violence like that is happening is enough to keep even more people at home and fearing for their lives -- T.J.

HOLMES: Wow. That's interesting. Rumors sometimes some of the best information you can get out of that.

Arwa, thank you so much.

NGUYEN: Well, the escalating violence between Sunni and Shiites calls for a quick review of these two schools of Islam and how this tension came to be.

Here's a "Fact Check" on Islam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): About one in every five people on the planet consider themselves Muslim; that's about 1.2 billion. But there are many divisions in the Muslim community -- the largest being between Shiites and Sunnis.

The majority of the world's Muslim population follows the Sunni branch--only about 15 percent follow the Shiite branch. But in some countries, the concentration of Shiites is larger. These nations are Bahrain, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Iran and Iraq.

Shiites historically believe that religious authority has been handed down from the Prophet Muhammad through bloodlines. When you hear the terms "Imam" and "Ayatollah," these refer to Shiite religious leaders. Sunnis attach much less importance to their leaders, and much more importance on Muslim traditions. There can be extremists in both branches of Islam. But Sunni extremists, like Osama bin Laden, have focused predominantly on the corruption of the religion, and specifically the negative influence of western culture.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: An attempt at diplomacy in the Middle East. Vice President Dick Cheney in Saudi Arabia right now, just a few days before President Bush heads to the region. Cheney there for critical meetings with Saudi King Abdullah.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson joins us now live from Riyadh.

And Nic, what are they hoping to get done at this meeting there with the vice president?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Saudis have some very serious concerns. They say -- an adviser told me -- a Saudi adviser told me that they have been working for two to three months now to come up with a proposal that the United States and that the Saudis can both see eye to eye on, both agree on, and that can tackle the issues in the Middle East at the moment. And one of the most important issues for the Saudis is what they see as growing Iranian influence.

They see that influence growing in Iraq by the day, and they see Iranian influence growing in Lebanon. They say what they see happening is that both Iran and Syria are helping arm Hezbollah in Lebanon. They want to support the western-leaning government of Fouad Siniora in Lebanon, so -- and that is also a goal of the United States.

So Saudi Arabia and the United States do have some common goals, not least of which, of course, bringing the end of fighting in Iraq. Although it doesn't seem that this meeting is going to bring about that in any way in the short term.

But for Saudi Arabia, they would like to see some way of limiting what they see growing Iranian influence. And to the United States, Saudi Arabia is a big player in this region. It has a lot of money and a lot of influence, particularly with the Sunni population, and perhaps with the Sunni insurgents in Iraq, that they can perhaps do something and use their influence to help slow down and bring an end over a period of time the war in Iraq.

Will they accomplish that out of this meeting? Dick Cheney's office has been very, very quiet on what they hope to achieve during this -- during this meeting -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson for us in Riyadh.

Thank you so much.

And coming up at the bottom of the hour, we'll go live to the White House for more on President Bush's planned trip to the Middle East. So stay with us for that. NGUYEN: And from the search for answers in the Middle East, let's get you to the search for two missing boys right here in the U.S.

The brothers, ages 2 and 4, vanished from the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota on Wednesday. And the family, well, obviously just desperate for information.

Jeff Goldberg of affiliate KMSP has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALICIA WHITE, MISSING BOYS' MOTHER: If anybody knows anything, seen anything...

JEFF GOLDBERG, REPORTER, KMSP (voice-over): A desperate plea from a mother missing so much, including an understanding of exactly how she feels.

WHITE: Lost. My babies are gone, out there in the cold by themselves.

GOLDBERG: Four-year-old Tristan and two-year-old Avery...

WHITE: ... sweetest little boy, just lovey-dovey.

GOLDBERG: ... were playing outside the house Wednesday morning, as they often do. But when Alicia went to check on the boys just before 10:00, they were gone.

WHITE: We searched the grounds.

GOLDBERG: Almost immediately an intense search effort was in motion. By Friday, the number of law enforcement and volunteers had reached 175. They have used all types of vehicles and animals to scour a massive area of difficult and sometimes dangerous terrain.

Some, like Stewart Dajella (ph), who did not have time to walk the woods, gave whatever they could.

I thought about it during the night, you know. And I was wondering, well, what if my grandkid was out in the woods like that. You know?

GOLDBERG: Margaret Porter (ph), lacking strength to search, stood strong for her family in pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're all related as one, the Shinabe (ph) people.

PAUL MCCABE, FBI: Time is always a concern, and any time you have missing children.

GOLDBERG: FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe said investigators still don't know whether the boys wandered off or whether they were taken away. MCCABE: Right now there's no new information that would lead us one way or another.

GOLDBERG: Alicia White doesn't quite know what to think, but staying positive becomes harder every hour.

WHITE: You just kind of keep the thoughts out of your mind because they've been gone for two days now and it's been so cold out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, anyone with information about the missing boys is asked to call the FBI at this number -- take it down if you know any information. It is 612-376-3200. It's on your screen. Also, the Red Lake Tribal Police Department, that number, 218-679-3313.

HOLMES: Up next, lethal and hard to detect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Polonium in an incredibly potent poison. It is 100,000 million times more toxic than cyanide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That sounds like tough stuff. So what's the risk of contamination? We'll have the details as we continue to follow the mysterious death of an ex-Russian spy.

NGUYEN: And later, family gatherings, expensive gifts, long lines. Are you stressed out yet? In 30 minutes, tips on how to survive the holiday season.

HOLMES: And that now leads us to our e-mail "Question of the Day." What stresses you out during the holidays?

E-mails us at WEEKENDS@CNN.com and we will read your responses coming up in just a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: "Now in the News," let's take you to Baghdad. A curfew extends into the weekend. No vehicles are being allowed in the city following massive attacks and suspected revenge killings Thursday and Friday.

And overnight in Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, a coalition airstrike destroys a factory suspected of making bombs. More than 20 insurgents were killed.

Vice President Dick Cheney is in Saudi Arabia for critical talks with King Abdullah. They're meeting to discuss the latest violence in Iraq, as well as Iran's growing influence in the Middle East.

We'll stay on top of that for you. Now to Beirut. The Lebanese cabinet today is expected to approve the formation of an international court to try the suspects in last year's assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri. It is the cabinet's first meeting since its interior minister was gunned down on Tuesday.

HOLMES: Reaching out to Islam. Pope Benedict is likely to visit a mosque during his trip to Turkey next week. That's the word from the Vatican today.

The pope came under fire from Muslims, you may remember, over comments he made during a speech in September. The visit to a mosque would be the first for the pope.

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, not a first for them, being in the headlines. The celebrity super couple made a surprise trip to Vietnam. A state-run newspaper says they visited an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday. Front-page photos showed them cruising around the city on that right there, a scooter.

We run down the top stories every 15 minutes here on CNN NEWSROOM, with in-depth coverage for you all morning long. Your next check of the headlines is coming up at the bottom of the hour.

NGUYEN: OK. So the Cold War may be over, but the intrigue remains. A spy story playing out in London right now. British investigators are trying to figure out how a former Russian agent ended up dying from a rare radioactive poisoning.

We get the latest now from ITV's Lawrence McGinty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE MCGINTY, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): Suddenly, the familiar streets of London are not quite so ordinary. A sushi bar where Mr. Litvinenko had lunch now closed after scientists found traces of the radioactive toxin discovered in his body.

A hotel where he had a meeting, they discovered similar contamination there. And in his home they found the same radioactive Polonium 210.

All this is uncharted territory. A poisoning like this has simply never happened before.

Polonium 210 is a highly radioactive isotope. It's very toxic. Even the tiniest amount, a trillionth of a gram, can harm you. But only if you eat, drink or inhale it. It spreads rampantly through your body and within hours will interfere with the major organs: the liver, bone marrow and heart.

Although radiation from Polonium 210 is very destructive, it only travels a short distance. It won't penetrate even a piece of paper.

So you could stand next to someone who had been poisoned with no risk. You could only be contaminated by touching their feces, urine or sweat, and not washing your hands before eating.

HENRY: Polonium is an incredibly potent poison. It is 100,000 million times more toxic than cyanide, for example.

You know, the amount you need to be lethal, if it's swallowed, would be -- we're not talking about something you can put on the head of a pin. We're talking about something you can put on the point of a pin and lose there.

MCGINTY: Polonium is one of the nastier poisons found in nuclear waste, one indication that it can't be brewed up in a back bedroom. You need a lot of technology to make it, state-sophisticated technology. That's what agents like Mr. Litvinenko would have called it.

Lawrence McGinty, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Coming up, surviving in a war-torn country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've always got to look for places to hide. You know, if mortar attacks were to happen right now, we would -- we would try to run into this bunker. Here's a concrete bunker right here. And if we can't making it there, we'll just lay down where we're at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Everyday heroes in an increasingly violent region. Their stories of bravery in 15 minutes.

Plus, this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing I saw of the deer was when he came through the window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Just imagine that. An uninvited visitors crashes into this family's home. So how did they get the deer out? Well, that's next as we go "Across America."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Let's take a look at a few of the stories making news "Across America" this morning.

Family, friends gathered to say goodbye to one of the four victims of Monday's school bus crash in Alabama. Nicole Ford was remembered as a fighter who had dreams of working in health care. Three students and the bus driver are still recovering in the hospital.

HOLMES: Now take a peek at this house. This Virginia home boarded up, up front. Why? Well, a deer came crashing into the living room and it barely missed a 7-month-old.

NGUYEN: Wow.

HOLMES: You can see a little melee, a little fight ensued. The homeowners were actually baby-sitting their grandchildren when this all happened. The deer charged everybody. Several cuts and bruises later, the family tackled the deer, tied him up and finally got him out of the house.

NGUYEN: My goodness.

Well, look at this. Snow across the Cascade Mountain Range is great for skiing, right? Well, it's just a headache for road warriors this holiday weekend. And this is the Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 in Washington State.

The highway was briefly shut down yesterday because of avalanche concerns. Two people reportedly were killed along the interstate when a tree fell on their pickup truck.

HOLMES: That's not good.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: And speaking of stress, the holiday season, stress, they seem to go hand in hand. But never fear. We have some great tips to help you stay calm, cool and collected. In 20 minutes, how to welcome and even enjoy your extended family -- uh-oh -- when they come to visit.

And later...

HOLMES: Hey, what about that if you're a little stressed out? That looks pretty peaceful. Try some ballroom dancing. It can bring down that blood pressure of yours. But you might want to bring some cash. The high price of the cha-cha, that's in our "WaterCooler."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

"Now in the News," Vice President Dick Cheney is in Saudi Arabia right now. He's meeting with Saudi King Abdullah to discuss the violence in Iraq and Iran's growing influence in the region.

Members of Britain's anti-terrorism team now taking part in the investigation into the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko died Thursday in London. He as poisoned by highly-radioactive Polonium. The Russian government denies any involvement in that.

Well, the mother of two missing Minnesota boys is asking anyone with information to come forward. The brothers, ages 2 and 4 -- you see them there -- disappeared from a northern Minnesota Indian reservation on Wednesday. The search continues today, but so far there's been no sign of the boys.

HOLMES: The man who sparked a standoff inside "The Miami Herald" is being held on bond. Police say Jose Varela was arrested Friday after a two-hour standoff. He's charged with aggravated assault. Varela is a freelance cartoonist with "The Herald's" sister paper, "El Nuevo." Varela's attorney says he wanted to expose a conflict of interest at the paper.

A holiday food recall to tell you about now. HoneyBaked Foods, the Ohio Company that sells sliced hams and turkeys, recalling about 46,000 pounds of meat. Fears over listeria poisoning prompting the voluntary recall. The meat was sold at stores around Toledo, Ohio and may have been shipped also in Internet orders from the company's catalog.

We do run down the top stories for you every 15 minutes here on CNN newsroom with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check coming up at 10:45 Eastern time.

NGUYEN: Here's a quick update on what is happening in Iraq this morning. A tight curfew extends into the weekend. No vehicles are being allowed on Baghdad streets following massive attacks and suspected revenge killings Thursday and Friday.

Overnight in Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, a coalition air strike destroys a facility suspected of making bombs. This week's violence in two Baghdad neighborhoods is being called the worst of the war. So bad, in fact, President Jalal Talabani was forced to postpone his trip to Iran. Baghdad airport is closed for security precautions.

So what does all this mean to President Bush's planned meeting in just a few days with Iraq's prime minister in Jordan? Let's go live now to CNN's Elaine Quijano. She joins us from the White House.

What's expected to come of this meeting, Elaine?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you Betty. In the wake of that sectarian strike in Iraq, we can expect curbing the violence in Baghdad and securing that city to be at the top of the agenda next week.

That of course is when President Bush will sit down for talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Those will be taking place in Amman, Jordan. Now in just a matter of days as you noted, more than 200 Iraqis have been killed in those recent attacks around Baghdad that have pitted Shiites against Sunnis.

The violence has also sparked threats from a powerful Shiite militia that its political representatives will pull out of the Iraqi government if Prime Minister Maliki sits down and meets with President Bush. The White House for its part is showing no signs of backing out of the talks.

And regarding those attacks, in a statement, a White House spokesman said, quote, these ruthless attacks of violence are deplorable. It's an outrage that these terrorists are targeting innocents in a brazen effort to topple a democratically-elected government and it is not going to work, end quote.

Now this wave of violence comes at a time when President Bush is trying to strike a delicate balance himself. On the one hand, he remains under increasing pressure to change course in Iraq. Some Democrats are increasingly calling for a time frame for U.S. troop withdrawal.

At the same time, the president is mindful of not putting too much pressure on Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The president does not want to under cut whatever power and credibility the prime minister may have. Now al-Maliki himself is in a delicate position as well.

He is in power in part because of the backing of that powerful Shiite militia led by Muqtada al-Sadr. There's only so much that al- Maliki can do to rein in that militia. Clearly now this meeting in Jordan on Thursday is taking on a heightened sense of urgency, Betty, as the cycle of violence and reprisals in Iraq continues. Betty.

NGUYEN: Let's get a little bit more, if you would, on something that you spoke about, the White House response. We can find out if there is indeed any more to this, to threats by, as you mentioned, radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, that if this meeting does happen next week, that there will be political repercussions in Iraq.

QUIJANO: Well, it is a delicate situation because clearly there is a complicated set of relationships. Nouri al-Maliki for all intents and purposes is the person that the White House is looking to to help lead Iraqis out of the current situation. There aren't really any elections set for a new leader until 2009. So for now this is the person the White House will have to deal with.

At the same time, Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of that Shiite militia making very clear that of course he has power. He has authority. And, in fact, his faction has threatened to pull its dozens of representatives out of the Iraqi government. It is a fragile government at best. At this point we'll have to wait and see how things play out, but certainly a delicate balance, a very fragile situation. We'll watch to see what comes out of the meetings on Thursday.

NGUYEN: Yes we will, CNN's Elaine Quijano joining us live from the White House. Thank you, Elaine.

HOLMES: Since the war on terror began, we've heard amazing stories from the front lines, stories of bravery, survival. This one is from the men who dodge rocket attacks almost daily. CNN's Alex Quade reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sirens mean incoming mortars or rockets. It's become routine at this forward operating base in the insurgent strong hold of Ramadi. When it's over, I find out U.S. soldiers like PFC Corey Brett face this every day. PFC COREY BRETT, U.S. ARMY: I was taking a shower and I was just about to get out. So I turned sideways to open the curtain here. And as I opened it, it just came right past me. There was a loud crash, a loud bang like something punching through metal real hard as it came through and a hissing sound as it passed because the rocket was still burning and it was hitting the water. Got a little singed, like, took some hair off my arm, but that's about it.

QUADE: Brett says it was a dud. But like others here, does not become complacent.

SGT. JAMES COOMBS, U.S. ARMY: You always got to look for places to hide. If a mortar attacks would happen right now, we would try to run into this concrete bunker right here. And if we can't make it there, we'll just lay down where we at.

QUADE: Sergeant James Coombs provides security for the commanders, boxes to stay alert.

COOMBS: When you box, your sense is that much more aware of what's going on around you. You never know when something can happen where you need to go.

QUADE: When it happens again.

COOMBS: When that horn goes off, I got to make sure that the command group is accounted for.

QUADE: On this evening, four rockets and one mortar make it in.

COOMBS: See the smoke right there?

QUADE: Sgt. James Coombs and Private Corey Brett.

BRETT: Got real lucky.

QUADE: Just two everyday heroes serving under threat in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you relax here, it could cost you your life.

QUADE: Alex Quade, CNN, Ramadi, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And just a note now, CNN correspondents discuss the escalating violence in Iraq for civilians and the U.S. military on "This Week at War" with John Roberts. Also on the table, the new flurry of diplomatic activity and expectations for a Bush al-Maliki meeting next week in Jordan. "This Week at War" tonight at 7:00 Eastern.

NGUYEN: Peace and joy, unfamiliar words this time of the year unfortunately. Yet, there are those family fights.

HOLMES: Expensive gifts -- don't despair. We have some valuable advice to help lower your stress level and not act like these people this holiday season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, hitting the road again after a weekend of shopping and turkey dinner. So what can you expect as you make your way back home? We'll have up to the minute details on flight delays and weather conditions just like you see here on your screen. That's all day tomorrow right here at your holiday travel headquarters.

NGUYEN: Well, some of you are planning to head straight from the airport and into the chaos of those shopping malls. But before you go, CNN.com's Veronica de la Cruz has a few things that you may want to consider.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM: Well, the day after Thanksgiving is the traditional kickoff to holiday shopping. If you're searching for gift ideas, CNNMoney.com has a few suggestions, plus some holiday tipping etiquette. "Money" magazine takes 25 great gifts at the best prices from several major stores like Best Buy's Nikon cool pix digital camera with a built in Wi-Fi, so you can e-mail pictures right from the camera or the Williams-Sonoma champagne opener. Pair it with a bottle of good bubbly. That's a festive gift.

For the gamer in the family, CNN Money highlights the 10 best gifts for gamers from role playing to brain teasers. And if you've ever wondered how much you can tip your mail carrier, doorman or dog walker, we have a tipping guide for you as well as stories from the many service professionals. Many say it's not the gift but the thought that counts. You'll find much more at CNNMoney.com/holiday. From the dotcom desk, I'm Veronica de la Cruz.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now in the news in Baghdad, a tight curfew is in effect and it extends into the weekend. No vehicles are being allowed in the city following massive attacks and suspected revenge killings Thursday and Friday. And overnight in Taji, which is 12 miles north of Baghdad, a coalition air strike destroys a factory suspected of making bombs.

Vice President Dick Cheney is in Saudi Arabia this morning. Cheney is meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. They're expected to discuss the state of affairs in the Middle East and more importantly, in Iraq.

Let's take you to Beirut. The Lebanese cabinet today is expected to approve the formation of an international court to try the suspects in last year's assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It is the cabinet's first meeting since its interior minister was gunned down on Tuesday.

HOLMES: Here are scenes around London. British health officials on alert, watching for further signs of a rare radioactive substance that killed former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. They are cordoning off areas where he went before his hospitalization and his death. Preparing for the worst but praying for the best. That's what relatives of two missing Minnesota boys say they are doing. Searchers haven't found any trace of the brothers, ages two and four. The mother is urging anyone who may have seen the boys to come forward.

We do run down the top stories every 15 minutes here for you on CNN newsroom with in-depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines at the top of the hour.

NGUYEN: Who kicks Santa and his reindeer? That's just wrong, but you can go ahead and laugh because it's funny and just know this. The holidays, they are here. And like a scene out of the National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation," there are many things that can really stress you out, the relatives, the lists, the schedules, the places that you have to be.

Take a minute right now because we do have help. Dr. Kathleen Hall, author of "A Life in the Balance, Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness." She joins us and she has tips on how to keep stress in check this holiday season. Boy, I am looking to you for some really good tips today, let me tell you. To really get a handle on stress, though, you have to understand the root causes. And honestly, finances are one of the big ones. So let's talk about that. First up, how much do we overspend? It has to be a lot.

KATHLEEN HALL, FOUNDER, THE STRESS INSTITUTE: Good morning, Betty. And believe it or not, 75 percent of us overspend during the holidays.

NGUYEN: Goodness.

HALL: Yes. It's really tremendous. And the thing that we really don't understand is every year we continue to overspend knowing that we do it every year.

NGUYEN: So why do we keep doing it?

HALL: Well Betty, what I call it, I call it emotional spending, meaning I like Betty and I really like Betty so I think I'm going to buy her a sweater. But then I go out and I see a purple hat or a nice green wallet and before I know it, I have five things instead of one.

And you know Betty, what I call it, I call this time when we're emotionally spending an earthquake. Remember after big earthquakes there's a tsunami. So I call the credit card debt that trails later in January, February, March and April the tsunami that's going to hit you.

NGUYEN: Another thing that I kind of fall into the trap of, everyone wants to try to get those lists done early so you spend early on and then when the holiday season comes, you want to buy just a little bit more. So you're festive, you're in the holiday mood. There you go. You're overspending just like everybody else. What's the solution then? What do you do?

HALL: Think of it as cost centers. OK, so the three basic cost centers are going to be the gifts you give to people, the holiday meals which are a real big expense and your travel expenses. Think of them as cost centers and keep a folder. Sit down as a family. Talk about what your plans are. Please remember stress is caused by no planning. Stress is caused by the unknown. The minute that you sit down with your family or your friends and you sit there and have a strategy, have a plan, you reduce your stress almost immediately.

NGUYEN: All right. What's the strategy for this, though, dealing with your family during the holiday season because that can make you want to pull your hair out.

HALL: That's it. You're right. Bite your fingernails, pull your hair out because you're going to see Aunt Sue is going to keep telling you if you just lose some weight you could find a boyfriend. You know how it works. OK here's the deal. We know there are certain stress centers in a home, so when you know people are coming over and family's going to be there, number one is the refrigerator. Make sure you mark food.

Make sure you mark things that are going to be used for a meal so there's no fighting over that. Also make sure -- another big argument center is the bathroom. I know it may seem silly. Make sure that people limit it to 10-minute showers, have 10-minute breaks between showers so people can get in and out of the bathroom.

NGUYEN: Do you really tell your family that? If they're coming over, they're staying with you. You put a little note, 10 minutes only and you're out of there?

HALL: Honey, you post notes through the whole house. You got that.

NGUYEN: You're serious about that this.

HALL: I'm serious. I'm telling you. It's wonderful. Have a quiet room where people can read and talk and have quiet places and have a room where people can sit there with their DVDs and scream or stand on their heads. Because really, a lot of arguments happen from this irritation of knowing that you're going to spend a week, 10 days with these people and people don't have boundaries.

NGUYEN: That's true. OK, speaking of boundaries, traveling, going from one place to another, that can be so stressful, not only if you're driving. You're dealing with the traffic, but the traffic at the airports alone and those security lines, I'm stressed out just thinking about it.

HALL: I know Betty, 32 million of your best friends, right?

NGUYEN: Exactly.

HALL: Again, here we have the plan. Number one, please take things that comfort you and your children, be it a shawl, a blanket, a toy for your kids, also food. You don't know what the lines are going to be like at the food places. If they don't serve food on airlines much anymore. Please make sure that you take nourishing food that you love that will nourish you.

Another thing, please remember it's a plan. See if you can register online before you get there. Another thing is please remember the wonderful spiritual practice of surrender. When you get to that airport and a manager moves you over in a line where there's 20 people to get through security, smile, take a deep breath and realize that there are millions of people traveling and so everybody is one human family for this moment and just surrender to the situation.

NGUYEN: Just pack your patience.

HALL: That's right.

NGUYEN: We appreciate it so much. Thank you so much for your time today.

HALL: Thanks a lot, Betty and have a stress-free holiday.

NGUYEN: Yes. Happy holidays, Dr. Kathleen Hall.

And if you would like more tips on coping this holiday season, because truly it is coping for a lot of folks, log onto mayoclinic.com. They have 12 preemptive strategies for holiday stress. You may even end up enjoying the holidays more than you thought that you would

HOLMES: How are you going to kick the family out of the bathroom?

NGUYEN: I know, 10 minutes only. My family would say, forget about it.

HOLMES: We've been asking your thoughts in our e-mail question, what stresses you out during the holiday season? We got a few e-mails here we do want to share with you. The ones that we got, we got one here that says, "Every year since September 11, 2001, I have experienced the same stress as the wife of a veteran, I have stress out about all the men and women who will not make it home to their families because of this war. I pray all those left have a safe return." That's out of Washington.

NGUYEN: This from Nicole from Farmington Hills, who says "The most stressful thing about the holiday season is having to visit with relatives who are snobby, pretentious, racist, intolerant and well- educated yet ignorant.' Sounds like Nicole wants out of the family.

HOLMES: Hope they're not serving liquor at that family function. Finally here, "Nothing stresses me out. All gifts are bought online. I don't go near a mall. So I just sit back, relax and watch you guys." Great stuff. That comes to us from Tod in Fredricksburg, Virginia. Thank you, Tod.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Tod.

HOLMES: And we swear, nobody around here sent that in. That was a real one.

NGUYEN: Are you sure one of our producers didn't type that one up?

HOLMES: OK. I have a cousin that lives -- no, I'm kidding.

NGUYEN: By the name of Tod, apparently.

HOLMES: All right. You got to remember this. I've been trying to make sure I get this right. We have to do this quickly, say it quickly with me now. Red rider, carbine action, 200 shot, range model air rifle with a compass and stock and a thing that tells time.

NGUYEN: OK, all together now.

HOLMES: Repeat that.

NGUYEN: You're going to shoot your eye out, kid. Remember that line?

HOLMES: ... we talk about. We're going to tell you why Ralphie's house is in our sights this morning. That's in the "WaterCooler."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: I wanted the "WaterCooler" sound. No love on the "WaterCooler" sound.

NGUYEN: Not right now.

HOLMES: You can tell how excited I am at least for this segment, the "WaterCooler."

NGUYEN: That's what we call it and you've heard of the day's big news but here's some unusual stories that you may not have heard of.

HOLMES: Up first, do wild turkeys know when it's Thanksgiving. We got one that seems to know exactly.

NGUYEN: Yes. Check this out. CNN producer Sonya Houston photographed him loitering in her Atlanta neighborhood just the other day perhaps sensing impending doom of the over variety. Turkey Lurkey took refuge next to a garden statue of can you guess, St. Francis, the patron saint of animals, of course, not making this up folks.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: ... make this stuff up. I didn't know turkeys loitered but that's cool. The hottest trend now, hottest social trend to tell you about is Hong Kong, what is it? It's ballroom dancing. It's become a national obsession for the Chinese. People are paying enormous sums of cash for lessons and professional dance partners.

NGUYEN: Get this. One bank executive was so driven to be the best that she reportedly paid $8 million to line up an entire stable of partners who would be available around the clock.

HOLMES: She better be the best now.

NGUYEN: Maybe we'll see her on "Dancing with the Stars," who knows.

HOLMES: Finally we got this house to tell you about. Cleveland Ohio, it was a setting for Christmas story. It opens this hour as a tourist attraction. It was a bit run down though when Brian Jones -- you just saw him there -- he bought it on eBay.

NGUYEN: Is this guy a fan or what? It cost him $500,000 to renovate it to look just like it did in the movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looks like a deranged Easter bunny. He looks like a pink nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You can learn more about today's grand opening achristmasstoryhouse.com. It has a ton of trivia fun facts about the movie and that house.

NGUYEN: He looks like a pink nightmare, love it. Reynolds Wolf joins us now for a look at the weather outside. No pink nightmare there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. We'll get back to you on that bunny outfit a little bit later. You're not off the hook with that one.

We want to talk now about life in the fast lane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I hadn't been able to go through as a registered traveler, I would not have made it. I was very frantic, hair on fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Hair on fire. A traveler's dream come true now, no more hair on fire. No more of those long security lines or endless waiting, but would you pay for this special program? Those details ahead in the newsroom.

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