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Three Car Bombs Explode In Central Baghdad; Fidel Castro No- Show For Major Military Parade In Havana Honoring His Birthday; Thousands Of Hezbollah-Led Protesters Hit Streets In Beirut; Surgery Taking Place in Saudi Arabia On Two Iraqi Conjoined Twins; More Poisoning Incidents of Russian Agents Uncovered

Aired December 02, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: This coming in to CNN. The casualty count is rising from a triple car bombing just a short time ago in Baghdad. Police now say 40 people are dead, 86 others wounded. The bombs exploded one right after the other in a commercial area of the city.
We're going to take a live report from Baghdad in just two minutes.

In the meantime, a powerful Iraqi leader soundly rejects the idea of an international conference on the Iraq crisis. Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim called the suggestion by the U.N. secretary- general illegal and unrealistic. He meets with President Bush at the White House on Monday.

It sounds like a party to me. It's going on in Cuba, but without Fidel Castro. The ailing dictator has been absent from birthday celebrations all week long. And this morning he's also a no-show at the massive parade at the Plaza of the Revolution.

We'll get a live report from Havana in just about three minutes.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: In the Philippines now, lives and livelihood lost to yesterday devastating typhoon. The Red Cross says there are 265 confirmed deaths. But that's expected to rise. Red Cross officials say entire communities are isolated after mudslides knocked out bridges, power lines and phone service.

Snow, ice, and for many no electricity. Blame it on the powerful storm that plowed through the Midwest and into the Northeast. It dumped a foot of snow in some areas and left hundreds of thousands without power.

We'll update the weather forecast coming up in about 15 minutes.

And progress being made in the surgery to divide conjoined twins in Saudi Arabia. Surgeons have successfully separated the girls at the chest and are now working to divide the urinary system they share. We'll have a live update from Riyadh in about 20 minutes.

And as you know, we run down the top stories every 15 minutes here on CNN NEWSROOM, with in-depth coverage for you all morning long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step away, sir. Step away from her, sir.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I hesitate because the man has no weapon. Captain Sims says the weapon is his hands on the girl's throat. He would shoot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: A shootout that looks real, but it's meant to teach officers when to fire and when to hold back. Our Drew Griffin takes the class in about 45 minutes.

From the CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM. It's Saturday, December 2nd, 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 9:00 a.m. in Chicago, where residents are still digging out from this week's snowstorm.

NGUYEN: Yes.

HOLMES: Hello to you all, and especially good morning to you folks there in Chicago.

I'm T.J. Holmes.

NGUYEN: Yes, there's still a lot of folks without electricity this morning. And we'll tell you all about that.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

We want to thank you for starting your day with us.

HOLMES: And we're going to start here following developments right now in Iraq, where there have been three car bombs exploding just a short time ago in central Baghdad. Police say more than three dozen people are dead, scores more wounded.

We want to go now for the latest to CNN's Arwa Damon, live for us in Baghdad.

Hello again, Arwa.

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

And that attack happened at an open-air marketplace in the heart of the capital. At least 40 Iraqis are dead, 84 more wounded. We are expecting that death count to rise. These are numbers that the Iraqi police collected from five hospitals.

Now, just to give you an idea of the location of this marketplace, the car bombs exploded at two squares that are just on the outside of this main open-air marketplace. It happened at about 4:00 p.m. local, just under two hours ago.

This is an open-air market with stalls selling anything from electronic goods, to food, produce. Very densely packed. Now, at the time of the attack, we are told -- that's right around 1:00 -- the shopping starts to wind down. Shop owners pack up their goods. Everyone here wants to get home before dark. But still at a time when the area was very crowded, where increasingly we have been seeing for quite some time this trend of attacks, multiple car bomb attacks against marketplaces.

In fact, just yesterday morning, Friday morning, a mortar round landed inside a pet market, a location where normally poor Iraqi families will go to take their children just to give them something different to do so that they can have an opportunity to look at the animals. And in that attack at least three Iraqis were killed, two dozen more were wounded.

Really, T.J., life here just gets harder by the day.

HOLMES: Arwa Damon for us, again, live in Baghdad.

Arwa, thank you for the update.

NGUYEN: We want to get you now to Cuba, where Fidel Castro is nowhere to be found. So far, the ailing dictator has missed a week's worth of birthday celebrations. And this morning he is missing a massive military parade at the Plaza of the Revolution. His brother, Raul, you see there, is front and center instead.

CNN's Morgan Neill is live in Havana this morning.

Morgan, any chance that we will see Castro at all during these celebrations? And if not, has he sent any kind of word?

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's now -- the military parade is now over. It's drawn to a close. So we can now say that ailing president Fidel Castro was unable to attend any of the events in this five-day series of events to celebrate the birthday. And that, if you'll remember, on a date that he himself set for that celebration when he was forced to transfer power to his brother at the end of July.

So, what are we to make of this at this point? Because he is unable to attend, what can we now say about the leadership of Cuba?

Well, many analysts are going to say what they had said before, and that is that we've already seen the succession, essentially for the last four months. We've been under a government led by Raul Castro, but also working with other Cuban officials and with party officials as -- as the government here is careful to stress at every opportunity, that the party supports this.

What we did see today was a show of force from the military, perhaps giving a sign to anyone who might take advantage, might try to take advantage during this time of some uncertainty in Cuba. We saw tanks, we saw armored vehicles, we saw fighter jets going through the air. And acting president Raul delivering speeches, where we're used to seeing Fidel Castro give those speeches. Among other things, Raul Castro stressed the unity of what he called the people, the party and the army. He said that unity was Cuba's strategic weapon.

Now, what does all this mean for Cubans, the fact that President Fidel Castro is unable to appear? It essentially means more uncertainty.

They've been told over and over that his recovery is going well, but they haven't been given details of his condition. So while they're hearing these messages that his recovery is going well, that they expect to see him soon, at the same time they are going to see his absence from these festivities as a further update on his condition and lack of any other information -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Let's talk a little bit more about what Raul Castro said today. I know that he mentioned negotiating with the U.S.

What did he say about that?

NEILL: Well, what he said is -- this is a position we've heard before. He says Cuba is open to negotiations with the United States if they're on the basis of equality, non-interference, and several other conditions pointed. And it's worth pointing out that he also mentioned at the end this is a position that Cuba has had before. And if the United States isn't willing to negotiate at this point, then Cuba is willing to wait until common sense reigns where decisions are taken in Washington -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right. CNN's Morgan Neill joining us live in Havana today.

Thank you, Morgan.

HOLMES: Power play in Lebanon. Thousands of Hezbollah-led protesters hit the streets again today in Beirut. They're demanding the anti-Syrian government step down.

We want to get now the latest from CNN's Beirut bureau chief, Brent Sadler.

Hello, Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: T.J., for the second day running, the center of the Lebanese capital is paralyzed by many thousands of anti-government protesters aiming to force the western- backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to step down.

I want to take you now live, T.J., into this crowd behind me in one of the squares in downtown Beirut. Also around this square there are many, many armored vehicles, combat troops with automatic weapons in case these demonstrations turn violent. But I have to say, from these pictures that you're seeing now live from downtown Beirut, there is very much a carnival type atmosphere in there.

There are at least two dozen tents that have been erected in the past 24 hours. People are now camping out.

Essentially, many of them support Hezbollah, the armed militant group that fought the war with Israel recently. Many of those support Hezbollah. Also, some Christians who support the alliance with Hezbollah against the U.S.-backed government of Fouad Siniora. And they say they plan to stay out there for as long as it takes to basically force the government to resign.

The government is showing no signs, it says, of caving in. It's going to hold firm. But this really is a political struggle for power in this country with U.S. interests because Lebanon is seen by the U.S. administration as a key to try to rein in Syria and Iranian influence in the Middle East.

So I think we're set here, T.J., to see a marathon-style showdown between pro and anti-government demonstrators here -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. We'll see if anybody caves.

Brent Sadler for us in Beirut.

Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: We do have some new video to show you of the September 11th attack on the Pentagon. Now, it was made by a security camera at the Doubletree hotel just a short distance away.

Check it out right there. It's a little hard to make out, but the moving objects are vehicles on the northbound lane of Interstate 395 between the hotel and the Pentagon.

The explosion is visible right there, visible in the background. You see that? The upper portion of the middle of your screen.

What you cannot see, though, is American Airlines Flight 77 as it crashes into that building. And that is because the impact site was on the other side of the Pentagon from the hotel, essentially on the backside. Officials have known about this video for years, but it was finally made public as a result of a lawsuit.

So how do you teach AIDS awareness to young black teenagers? Well, try speaking the language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): We're just going to the dance together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): That's what I told my mother when your granddaddy came to pick me up from my prom. And if he's anything like my Herbert, bless his soul, you'll be needing these.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: All right then. HOLMES: I don't know if you saw that one coming, grandma pulling that out of the purse. The educational cartoon deals out a dose of reality, but will this work?

NGUYEN: And Saudi doctors perform a delicate surgery on conjoined twins. We will take you inside the operating room. That's in 10 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: "Now in the News," a triple car bombing in Baghdad has killed at least 40 people. This is new video coming in to CNN. The bombs exploded one after the other in a commercial area of the city today.

HOLMES: Fidel Castro conspicuous in his absence. The ailing Cuban leader skipped the massive parade this morning in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution. Instead, his brother Raul addressed the crowd and presided over the celebration.

Anti-government protesters are back on the streets in Beirut. They're led by the pro-Syrian militant group, Hezbollah. And they're demanding the prime minister and his government step down. Anti- Syrian politicians who dominate the cabinet say the opposition is attempting a coup.

A good friend of poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko now hospitalized. Mario Scaramella says he met with Litvinenko the day his friend supposedly got radiation poisoning to let him know they were both on a Russian mob hit list.

We'll go live to London for the latest on this case coming up in about 15 minutes.

NGUYEN: Burial for Sean Bell is set to begin in about 15 minutes. Bell, who was unarmed, was gunned down by New York police while leaving a bachelor party just hours before his wedding. This happened last weekend. Bell's funeral service was last night at the same church where he was to have been married.

Your next check of the headlines, that's coming up at 10:30 Eastern.

HOLMES: The Northeast is shivering today, and the Midwest is digging out from a powerful and dangerous storm. More than a foot of snow fell in some areas. As many as 10 deaths are blamed on the storm.

Hundreds of thousands are without electricity. And officials say it will take days before the lights are all back on. The storm forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights, creating a backlog of stranded travelers.

NGUYEN: Well, let's see if they can start digging out any time soon.

Reynolds Wolf joins us with a look at this weather.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, this is the toughest decision any cop will face, and that is when to fire their weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Sheriff's deputy Kevin Casal (ph) has only a few seconds to decide. Crouched behind a barrel, his gun aimed at a man with a knife at a hostage's throat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Coming up, CNN's Drew Griffin takes a closer look at a new tool that virtually puts their finger on the trigger in life-and- death situations.

HOLMES: And next, an extraordinary operation going on right now for conjoined twins. We've got an update on their progress right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Let's get you an update now on that surgery to separate Iraqi sisters conjoined at the chest and abdomen. Word now from Riyadh is that this operation is going very well. But there is a warning for you, especially if you're squeamish. We will be showing some pictures from inside the operating room.

So let's get the latest now from journalist Mohammed Jamjoom, who is in Riyadh.

I'm so excited to hear that this operation is going really well, and perhaps even faster than originally planned?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, JOURNALIST: Absolutely, Betty. And it's going remarkably well.

This operation began about 7:30 a.m. local time. We're now into about the 11th hour here. They're well ahead of schedule, about five hours ahead of schedule. There have been no complications so far.

Fatimah and Zahra are doing great. They have lost a minimal amount of blood. They've had no transfusion. Everything is going great. They're currently in phase 7 of a 10-phase operation, which means that they're going to be separating the pelvis from the back.

I spoke with Dr. Ayman al-Jawadi (ph), who's part of the orthopedic surgery team, just before he went in for his phase of the surgery, and he said that everything was going just marvelously.

NGUYEN: That is wonderful. These are 11th-month-old twins. And just so that folks at home really understand the extent of this operation, talk to us about the organs that they shared. JAMJOOM: Well, actually, they shared a liver, they shared a bowel, they shared a kidney. They've already split through -- they've split through the lower bowel. And it's been a very complicated situation.

They have a very large multi-disciplinary surgical team working on them, about 28 surgeons in all. This was originally expected to take about -- about 21 hours, but it's been going so well, it's just well ahead of schedule right now.

NGUYEN: That is so wonderful to hear. And, you know, when you hear about surgeries like this, you often hear about the risk and the fact that it's a very difficult surgery. But I understand that this Saudi team has a 100 -- is this true, a 100 percent success rate when it comes to this type of surgery?

JAMJOOM: Absolutely. They have successfully operated on 11 pairs of conjoined twins. This is the 12th pair that they're operating upon.

Everything is going great today. This surgical team is headed by Dr. Abdullah Rabira, who is world renowned in this field.

I was speaking to the parents earlier, I was speaking to the father, Haidar Rabab (ph), and he was telling me that they've been very, very comfortable being in the hands of Dr. Abdullah Rabira. He's been great with them. He consults with them all the time.

And once they made the plea to help the girls after they had been born, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah then offered to have them medevaced here to be assessed by the team to see if they were candidates for surgery, for the separation. They were.

There were some complications at first. They were very malnourished. There were a lot of infections they were dealing with.

It took them many more months than initially expected to gain the necessary amount of weight for them to get into the operation. But it's been a -- it's been a hard nine months, a really hard struggle for these two brave little girls.

But they're finally here. And the family is really experiencing a lot of relief today to finally be at this day, and they're getting a lot of well wishes from fellow countrymen and women back in Iraq.

NGUYEN: Well, no doubt.

Mohammed, let me ask you this. Very quickly, though, it's a wonderful thing what these Saudi doctors are doing and that King Abdullah has offered to provide this for this family. But is this also a P.R. opportunity for Saudi Arabia, especially with the volatility in the region and Iraq in particular?

JAMJOOM: Well, I think right here this is seen as a real gesture, a humanitarian gesture. This case garnered a lot of media attention from day one. The mother was appealing directly to the media. They got a lot of offers from many different hospitals and many different surgical teams from around the world.

They considered it. They decided they would come to Saudi Arabia because this team was considered the best in this field. And they seem to be very happy with the situation.

In fact, the Saudi government also flew out the Iraqi pediatrician who first treated Fatimah and Zahra after they had been born, and he was initially somewhat skeptical about where they should go. But he said that once he consulted with other colleagues of his, this was the right place for them to be, and this -- the surgical team was the best one that they could have been brought to.

NGUYEN: Well, so far it looks like the babies are in good hands. And we can't wait until this is done and we get the all clear.

Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you for joining us live from Riyadh with an update.

HOLMES: Well, AIDS awareness for a new generation. Hip-hop, contemporary language and life experiences, three ways to teach minority teens about the risk of HIV. That is coming up in the NEWSROOM.

NGUYEN: And a little bit later in the "WaterCooler," one hot little Sony, so says the box, right? Well, it's hot, all right, but it's not a Sony. Yes, that's a jar of spaghetti.

We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: "Now in the News," we do continue to update the situation in Iraq, where three car bombs exploded just a short time ago in Baghdad. Here's some new video. You see the smoke right there.

Authorities now say 40 people were killed, 86 others wounded. The bombs exploded one right after the other near a busy market.

We'll stay on top of this story.

A powerful Iraqi leader is blasting calls by the U.N. for an international conference on Iraq. Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al- Hakim calls the suggestion illegal and unrealistic. Al-Hakim meets with President Bush at the White House on Monday and they will discuss the political crisis and the ongoing violence in Iraq.

HOLMES: An Amber Alert has been issued for a missing baby from Fort Myers, Florida. Authorities say the 1-month-old was last seen in Estero, Florida. Anyone with information is urged to call the Fort Myers Police Department. The number is there for you: 239-338-2120.

After the storm, parts of the Midwest digging out this morning. The storm dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas. Hundreds of thousands were left without electricity. Some could be without power for days. And of course we bring you the top stories every 15 minutes right here with in-depth coverage all morning long.

NGUYEN: The circle of contamination is just growing, especially in the wake of Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning death. Now a friend of the former Russian agent is showing signs that he, too, was exposed to polonium-210.

CNN's Mallika Kapur is live in London with the latest on this. Any new clues Mallika?

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, first of all, as you mentioned, that friend of Mr. Litvinenko has been found with traces of polonium-210 in his body. That acquaintance is Mario Scaramella. He is being treated in this hospital right behind me which is a university college hospital in central London.

We did get an update from authorities at the hospital at 11:00 a.m. local time here in London this morning. That's about five hours ago and they did say that this morning, he appears to be stable and in good condition and that as of this morning, he was showing no symptoms of radiation toxicity.

And this was the second update we've got from the hospital about his health. We got an update last night in which they did confirm that this friend, his acquaintance has, indeed, been found with certain traces, a small trace of polonium-210 in his body.

But of course the levels of polonium-210 in his body are much lower than the levels that Alexander Litvinenko had. Now the friend is not the only person known to Mr. Litvinenko who has been found with polonium-210 in his body. Last night, authorities said that another female adult relative of Mr. Litvinenko was also found with polonium- 210.

And CNN has been able to confirm that that lady is indeed Mr. Litvinenko's widow Marina. But again, doctors have said that the levels of polonium in her body are very low, that they posed to immediate danger to her health and that also she is not a danger to people around her. And at the moment, she hasn't even been hospitalized -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well what does this say about the areas, if indeed they're contaminated, the areas where these people may have traveled?

KAPUR: Well, those areas definitely are under investigation. Authorities are continuing to comb through about 12 sites in London. They've been very good here about really not creating a panic or an alarm situation amongst the public here in London.

The HPA, the Health Protection Authority has done a very good job of telling people, look, the only way you can really be affected by polonium is if you have come in direct contact with someone who's suffering from it and that too only if you ingest or inhale polonium directly. So they've done a good job in sort of reassuring the public.

At the same time, they were urging the public, members of the public, anyone who was at the same restaurant for example where Mr. Litvinenko and his acquaintance had lunch on November the 1st, which is a Japanese sushi bar, they're saying if you were there, please call us if you happen to be at the hotel or a bar or a restaurant, where these gentlemen were, please do call us. But at the moment they are continuing to search through various locations but telling the public not to panic -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Indeed it is a mystery and we'll keep a watch. Thank you. Mallika Kapur joining us live from London.

And you do want to be sure to tune in Monday night for a special "AC 360" which is live in London. Anderson Cooper delves into the poison plot and takes a closer look at the possible players in this mystery. That comes your way Monday night at 10:00 Eastern.

HOLMES: Awareness and action, two goals of yesterday's world AIDS day, countries around the globe all working together to bring help to the nearly 40 million people living with HIV worldwide. One group at risk in the U.S., African-Americans. Almost 50 percent of all new infections are among African-Americans. Many schools are trying to curb the spread of HIV among minorities at a young age and one new computer-based program is dealing out a healthy dose of reality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is Melinda?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm serious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, it's a pretty common name. What are we playing, 20 questions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll boil it down to one. Do you have herpes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maggie right, trash talking again? Man, don't you trust me Shawna (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just answer my question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. I have herpes, but I was going to tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well all right. Does that program really work? Patricia Bransford, founder of the National Urban Technology Center and Kadeem Coleman, a student at Fredrick Douglas Academy II, join us to talk about those reality-based AIDS course. Welcome to you both. Thank you for being here. And Patricia, I will start with you. Does that kind of in your face, being as blunt as you can be type of program you think is what's necessary and needed to get through to the youth?

PATRICIA BRANSFORD, FOUNDER, URBAN TECH. CTR: Well, we think so. It engages youth. And then it communicates information about sensitive topics that put them in harm's way. So we think communication and group workshops is really very important.

HOLMES: And Kadeem, does that work? What's it like around your peers? Young folks these days, touchy subjects or sensitive subjects or just so intimate and personal a subject like that and maybe embarrassing to talk about. Does something like this do you think get through to kids? Or will kids see this or students you know and just kind of laugh at it?

KADEEM COLEMAN, STUDENT, FREDRICK DOUGLAS ACADEMY II: Well, I think they will get to know it because it's something new. But at the same time it's something that we can all kind of relate to.

HOLMES: And is it more so the message really, Patricia or how the message gets to the kids? I mean the lesson is the same. You can sit them down and you can look in their eyes and tell them. So is the message really not getting through or is it just important how the message is conveyed to them?

BRANSFORD: Well, we think it's the way we communicate the message through prom night. We use cartoons. We use group workshops. We use interactive exercises to get kids involved so that they now can begin to build healthier, more productive lives for themselves.

HOLMES: Kadeem, how much do you and your peers talk about things like this, sexually transmitted disease, AIDS, the seriousness of it? How often does that topic really come up?

COLEMAN: Well, I can say, if you're chilling with your friends, the topic most likely will not come up. But if you're in school doing a lesson, then yes, the topic comes up quite frequently.

HOLMES: Is the pressure there, always there to have sex? Is it always there among young people? Go ahead.

COLEMAN: Yes. I think it is. It's like no matter what time it is, where it is, it's always that pressure is right there in your face all the time, every time.

HOLMES: Where are you getting, you and some of your friends, getting, I guess, your education and where are you learning your lessons from about sex and sexually transmitted diseases these days? With so many images you all are being bombarded with, from music videos and whatnot and images on television and movies, where are you getting a lot of information these days, young folks?

COLEMAN: I say young folks these days we get information from two sources. The first source is like you can say fantasy, like you see the rap videos, music videos and everything. Then there's a real source. We get it from school. You can get it from your phys ed education and health classes and the urban sect (ph) program, too.

HOLMES: Patricia, which one as you just said there, two different ways you get that information. Which one are the kids listening to and how tough is it for you trying to do the work you're doing and you're trying to combat and going up against those constant images? Like we say, you see them on TV, on the big screen, magazines, everywhere, just images of sex.

BRANSFORD: Right. We think that the increase in cases, quite frankly, comes from myths and fears that young people have and do not face the reality of it. We think they need a heads up. We think they need a program like prom night that engages them, that includes them in the group discussion and the interactive exercises.

HOLMES: All right. And so far -- just real quickly, how many are being exposed to your program, the prom night program now?

BRANSFORD: Well, we have built over 500 centers across the country in the last 11 years. And our youth leadership academy is being implemented in approximately 150 of those. We've also just been invited to offer these courses in the New York City public schools.

HOLMES: Well, Patricia Bransford with the National Urban Technology Center, congratulations on the work you're doing. And hopefully it will get through, if it only gets through to one, that's enough.

BRANSFORD: That's enough.

HOLMES: Hopefully many, many more. And Kadeem Coleman, keep your head on straight young fellow. Good luck to you and appreciate you for spending some time with us as well.

BRANSFORD: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well of course, young lives filled with tragedy. AIDS took their parents away. What now for the orphans of Nairobi? Christiane Amanpour reports from Africa where the epidemic has created more than a million orphans. "CNN PRESENTS: WHERE HAVE ALL THE PARENTS GONE?" tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

NGUYEN: Have you been dealing with all the wintry weather? Are you still digging out this morning? Well, Veronica de la Cruz joins us. And I guess what you're doing is showing us, misery loves company, right? There are plenty of people out there dealing with it.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people Betty. Earlier this morning we showed you the niceties of winter, the picture perfect, all the postcard looking pictures. Now I'm going to show you the headaches.

NGUYEN: Oh, gosh.

DE LA CRUZ: We're going to start with this one. It's a video sent into us by Joan Cotner in Bowie, Texas. Here she is trying to get through all the snow and drive in complete white-out conditions, as you know, pretty tough. We'd like to thank Joan, for that. The next one from Chad Garrett in Greenville, Illinois. Chad woke up in the morning, turned the lights on and guess what, no power. That's because this tree here took out the power line in his neighborhood. It looks like it almost took out that car as well. Yes.

This one has got to be the worst. Matt Odigie woke up in the morning and took the time to shovel all the snow off his driveway and then his car and said this is what it looked like 15 minutes later. Yes. After all that, he still couldn't get to work. Now at CNN.com/exchange, we would like to know hey, pretty stressful time of year. How are you dealing with the stress of the holiday season? Do you have any travel tips out there? You can log onto CNN.com/exchange. Send us your i-report. I can tell you I'm starting to feel it.

NGUYEN: Are you?

DE LA CRUZ: The stress of it all. There are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. T.J. over there is feeling the stress.

NGUYEN: ... I can tell you that, that's for sure. Just as long as you have me on your gift list, we're good.

DE LA CRUZ: Betty, my entire gift list is Betty, Betty, Betty, Betty, iPod, plasma.

NGUYEN: Electronics, I love those.

DE LA CRUZ: Did you hear that, T.J.?

HOLMES: Are you all done?

NGUYEN: These are the important things. Thank you Veronica.

DE LA CRUZ: T.J., you better pay attention, important stuff here, take notes.

HOLMES: We're going to talk about some tough decisions for any police officer -- to shoot or not to shoot?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a hard decision to make here, but it's even harder on the street and you've got to live with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: This is a dramatic look at how officers train to make split second decisions. We're going to show it to you. That's next right here on the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Here's an update. The death toll rises from a triple car bombing in Iraq, new video coming into CNN. You can see the devastation there. Authorities say 43 people were killed, 91 others wounded. The three bombs exploded near a busy market in central Baghdad. Police say one of the bombs appeared to target an Iraqi army patrol.

A powerful politician says no to an international conference on the Iraq crisis. Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim blasted the suggestion by the U.N. Secretary General calling it, quote, illegal and unrealistic. Al-Hakim meets with President Bush at the White House on Monday.

HOLMES: In the Philippines, more bodies, more despair after yesterday's devastating typhoon. The Red Cross says there are 265 confirmed deaths but that number is expected to rise. Red Cross officials say entire communities are isolated after mud slides knocked out bridges, power lines and phone service.

Just where is Fidel Castro? The Cuban leader again missing a major event in Cuba today. He had missed all of the birthday celebrations in his honor. Now a parade commemorating the revolution and no sign of el presidente. Castro's absence again leading to speculation about his failing health. Another check of the morning's latest developments coming up for you in 15 minutes.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As the mother of a 29-year-old son, I felt anger. I felt grief. And I could only imagine what this young man's mom and family are feeling. So indeed it was important for me to be here in the rain to lend support.

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NGUYEN: The burial of Sean Bell is taking place right now in Port Washington, New York. Hundreds paid their respects last night at the same church where he was supposed to be married. Bell, who was unarmed, was killed by police last Saturday after a bachelor party. Now Monday night on CNN, Bell's fiancee and the Reverend Al Sharpton will speak live with CNN's Larry King. That exclusive interview again, Monday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

HOLMES: Life and death decisions made under tremendous pressure. With so much attention on this police shooting and another one recently in Atlanta, we wanted to know how officers learn to make that all-important decision to shoot or not. CNN's Drew Griffin went to training camp to find out.

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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Casal has only a few seconds to decide. Crouched behind a barrel, his gun aimed at a man with a knife at a hostage's throat. All three of their lives will be forever changed if Deputy Casal squeezes that trigger or not. Fortunately for him, this is just training in an air conditioned studio. But the nervous sweat shows just how real it can feel.

Captain Carl Sims has brought five members of the Gwinnett County, Georgia, SWAT team to FATS, a virtual training facility where police officers practice making split second life and death decisions. Here, they learn not only when to shoot or not shoot, but if they actually could shoot and kill another human being.

CAPT. CARL SIMS, GWINNETT CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT: That's what I love about this scenario because you can sit there and when you go home tonight, you think about it and you sit down and you have a talk with yourself, your God, whoever your inner soul is and decide what you are made of and what you can do. Is this really what I want to do for a living?

GRIFFIN: I'm about to learn some of that myself.

SIMS: When you can use deadly force and when you cannot use deadly force as a police officer.

GRIFFIN: The rules sound simple.

SIMS: Not a slap on the wrist, not a punch in the nose.

GRIFFIN: If someone is threatening me or someone else with a serious threat that could lead to death, then shooting is justified. In practice, it becomes much more complicated. It's a domestic abuse call. A frantic family says someone in a back bedroom is being attacked. My partner opens the door. A man choking a woman, no weapons visible.

(on camera): Step away, sir. Step away from her, sir.

GRIFFIN: I hesitate because the man has no weapon. Captain Sims says the weapon is his hands on the girl's throat. He would shoot.

SIMS: If that's your child on that bed, are you going to wait?

GRIFFIN: No.

SIMS: That's somebody else's child and you've got to make that choice, yes or no. It's a hard decision. It's not an easy decision.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): A second later, my decision becomes easy. The man attacks my partner, grabs her gun. I open fire. Back to Deputy Casal, focused on the man with a knife, like me, he hesitates. It's a mistake. The criminal kills his hostage before Casal can kill him.

SIMS: What happened?

DEPUTY KEVIN CASAL: Stabbed her.

SIMS: She's dead.

CASAL: It's a hard decision to make, especially like Captain Sims said, it's a hard decision to make here, but it's even harder out on the street when you got to live with it.

GRIFFIN: Casal hopes he never has to make the decision. It is always there for any police officer, shoot or don't shoot.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

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NGUYEN: Always there. Well, we don't want you to go away because the water cooler is next with the most unusual contest, shall we say.

HOLMES: We're going to show you these smooth operators on the world ironing championships. Yes.

NGUYEN: Don't we have something better to do than that?

HOLMES: This is fine competition here. They trained for years with that stuff (ph), Betty, come on now.

NGUYEN: The whole workout routine and everything.

HOLMES: This is coming up for you right after the break.

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NGUYEN: By now you should know the sound. So join us around the water cooler for a sip of the unusual.

HOLMES: These are those stories, a bit unusual you won't find in a normal news cast.

NGUYEN: We're not normal.

HOLMES: We couldn't let them go. We're not normal either.

NGUYEN: Check this out, video out of Paris, France. Talk about hot and steamy. No, not him, what he's doing. Obviously, these folks haven't heard of permanent press.

HOLMES: They also have a lot of time on their hands because not only are they really good at ironing, they think it's actually a good time.

NGUYEN: They can come to my house and iron all they want. The winner in the world ironing championship was the guy in the gray suit. He knocked out a shirt and slacks in five minutes flat.

HOLMES: I do it every morning in about three.

NGUYEN: Oh, right.

HOLMES: Would you pay 1600 bucks for a jar of spaghetti?

NGUYEN: No.

HOLMES: Is anybody going to say yes to this? That actually happened to a couple in St. Louis.

NGUYEN: When they tried to return it to the store, customer service basically said tough noodles. We ain't taking that back.

HOLMES: They were hoping to get - what else - they were hoping to get something from Sony.

NGUYEN: A digital camera.

HOLMES: That's what it was, yes. Sony was a little sympathetic sending the couple a new camera. Incident now under investigation.

NGUYEN: OK. Set your TiVo. It is almost time again for the unusual Yule log. I shouldn't say unusual. It's become usual. It's been running every Christmas for years now.

HOLMES: WBIX in New York began airing the roaring fireplace 40 years ago. And to mark the anniversary, station on December 23rd, will show a one-hour documentary about the fire log.

NGUYEN: Who knew? Well, here's one bit of trivia for you that you will learn that the video actually shot in California in the summer. It's all smoke and mirrors, folks.

Naughty or nice? With Christmas just around the corner, what should the Democrats and Republicans get underneath that tree? We've got the wish list. That is ahead in the NEWSROOM.

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