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Passengers Rescued Off Cruise Ship Near Antarctica; Shoppers Descend on U.S. Malls
Aired November 23, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the technical language they use here -- that could result in the death of Natalee Holloway, who has been missing, of course, since May of 2005.
Now, what the judge was ruling this day was whether the police, the new what they describe as incriminating evidence that they have against both the Kalpoe brothers and Joran van der Sloot, whether that was enough to continue to hold the men behind bars while the investigation continues.
Because the hearing was not open to the public and because of court rules, authorities say they cannot reveal what this new-so called incriminating evidence is. Joran van der Sloot has yet to appear before this judge. He was also re-arrested last Wednesday, but he was extradited from the Netherlands, where he is attending university.
He will appear before the very same judge on Monday of next week. The judge will have to make the same ruling on him -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Susan Candiotti from Aruba, thanks for bringing us up to date.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. urges calm in Lebanon. President Emile Lahoud leaves office in less than two hours, and there's nobody to take his place. So, Lahoud has called on the army to maintain order. This leaves in place for the time being the Western-backed government of the prime minister. Members of parliament remain at odds over who should be the next president. They put off another vote until next Friday.
PHILLIPS: Oceangoing vessel vs. iceberg, the iceberg wins. think you have heard the story before? The Explorer is a cruise ship that had an accident of Titanic proportion near Antarctica last night. The good news? Everything is off the ship. The bad news? The Explorer will probably sink to the ocean floor. A Navy captain from Chile told CNN the people on board were lucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPTAIN JUAN CARLOS MUNITA, NAVY CAPTAIN: Well, at this time of the year, it's a little common that passenger ship sails on (INAUDIBLE) so that was the good thing. We had in the vicinity passenger vessels from Norway who attended that emergency.
We called the captain of that ship, and, at 6:00, that ship was on scene, get the survivors of -- the people, I mean, on board that ship. There were 54 crew members and 100 passengers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A tour company spokesperson says that all 100 passengers rescued from Explorer are safe and unharmed. They're headed for the south Shetland Islands and then home to tell the tale of their adventure.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
PHILLIPS: The shopping may be tough, but the tough are going shopping. Americans are mobbing shopping malls and stores, some of which opened before dawn, as retailers offer special bargains to jump- start the holiday season.
Our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff, right there in the trenches at that mall outside New York City, meeting all kinds of interesting people, as we have seen throughout the afternoon.
Hi, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Certainly. And over here on Long Island, shopping, as I have had said, is a very, very competitive report. You have talked some of the stores opening before dawn. I have got one shopper here who said -- you woke up what time, Mike, did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I woke up at 2:00 in the morning.
CHERNOFF: Two o'clock in the morning to get online where?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got on line at Circuit City in Whitestone.
CHERNOFF: And how long were you waiting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was waiting for about three hours before they finally opened up the doors.
CHERNOFF: Then the big event. What did you buy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bought my parents a $219 Panasonic DVD camcorder.
CHERNOFF: Was it worth it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saved $130, so it well worth it.
CHERNOFF: Not bad.
Your girlfriend is here shopping with you as well.
Andrea (ph), what do you think of his early to rise get out there and shop? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I better be getting more Christmas presents.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CHERNOFF: OK, well, a nice present for the parents. We will see what the girlfriend gets. That's a surprise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's a surprise.
CHERNOFF: Very well.
OK, Kyra, as you can see, the mall here is packed. And as we have been reporting, a lot of folks have been here since very, very early in the morning -- back to you.
PHILLIPS: I don't know how they do it.
We're looking actually at your other camera. And it's just packed out all the people there. So, are they there for the holiday shopping or just looking for a good bargain, Allan?
CHERNOFF: Well, some people here have come for the bargains, but, frankly, a lot of folks have been telling me this is simply the place to be the day after Thanksgiving. A lot of people just coming for the sport, coming to hang out, but certainly there have been some pretty good deals here.
PHILLIPS: All right. I know that. You will be looking for your girls, I am sure. Allan Chernoff, thanks so much.
Well, if you need some help with your shopping, besides Allan there, you can get some gift ideas, some toy safety tips also for parents, at CNN.com. That's your best bet before you hit the stores. Check out our special holiday shopping page, CNN.com/shopping.
LEMON: And many shoppers took advantage of today's special early morning store hours, but police are accusing a Pennsylvania couple of making a very serious mistake.
They say Laura Havens and Casey Shields (ph), both in their early 20s, left their 2-year-old child alone as they went shopping. Someone spotted the child crying locked inside a car in a parking lot in Washington County -- it was in Maryland -- about 2:45 a.m. The parents were charged with reckless endangerment and confining an unattended child.
PHILLIPS: The always is supposed to keep sex offenders away from children, but a court says it is unfair. We will have reaction from both sides.
LEMON: It could end the political debate over stem cell research, but patients will have to wait before they see any benefit. We will hear from a lead researcher behind this week's major medical breakthrough.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It was a major scientific breakthrough. Researchers this week said they have been able to modify adult stem cells to behave like embryonic stem cells. It's given new hope to patients worried about the political and moral obstacles to expanding stem cell research.
But one scientist leading the research says there's still a long way to go.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports from Japan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The e-mails keep coming.
DR. SHINYA YAMANAKA, JAPANESE RESEARCHER: E-mail from a patient abroad.
LAH: Patients from around the world, each with a different tragic story.
YAMANAKA: Spinal cord injuries, so he can't move.
LAH (on camera): His child.
YAMANAKA: Yes. No, grandchild.
LAH (voice-over): All asking the same question to Professor Shinya Yamanaka. Is the stem cell breakthrough their cure?
YAMANAKA: It's very hard to say that, I'm sorry, I can't treat you.
LAH (on camera): Not yet.
YAMANAKA: No, not yet.
LAH: Is that hard to tell all these patients?
YAMANAKA: Yes, yes, because we did give them an expectation.
LAH (voice-over): That expectation came earlier this week, when (r)MDNM¯Yamanaka and another team in Wisconsin announced they could make stem cells without destroying an embryo.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To say that you're in favor of finding cures...
LAH: It appeared ethical concerns and political barriers in Washington might be over, giving renewed hope to patients.
(on camera): You're looking at an incredible amount of possibilities.
YAMANAKA: Yes, a lot of possibilities, but also a lot of dangers as well.
LAH (voice-over): Inside Yamanaka's lab, that is not much bigger than a small college dorm room, the reprogrammed adult cells did become heart tissue and nerves. But some of them also become cancerous. Yamanaka is in this room around the clock trying to solve that problem, a process that could take years. As this young professor is learning, the hardest part of being a medical pioneer, telling the sick they must hold on.
YAMANAKA: I have to say that, don't expect too much. Please wait.
LAH (on camera): It's hard to wait for some patients.
YAMANAKA: Yes, I know. I understand. But all I can say is just, we will do our best.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Kyoto, Japan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Simultaneous explosions ripped through courthouse crowds in three cities in India today. At least 13 people killed, dozens wounded. The blast happened within 15 minutes at crowded court complexes which are often set up in makeshift offices outdoors. Police suspect Islamic militants of trying to cause unrest between minority Muslims and India's Hindu majority. Another possible factor, the blast happened in a state where lawyers have decided not to defend terror suspects.
LEMON: Two powerful typhoons on the move. The main Philippine island of Luzon is bracing for a direct hit from one. It should happen some time tomorrow.
Disaster officials are urging thousands to move inland, where temporary shelters have been set up. Evacuations are also under way in Vietnam. The typhoon that hit the Philippines earlier this week is expected to slam ashore there tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: Help is at hands for hundreds of thousands of storm survivors in Bangladesh. U.S. aid is being delivered as we speak. We are going to hear from the man overseeing the operation, Admiral Timothy Keating.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Three Seventeen Eastern time. Here's three of the stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A judge in Aruba says two suspects in the Natalee Holloway case will remain in jail for at least eight more days. Brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were re-arrested Wednesday in connection to the Alabama teenager's 2005 disappearance. Passengers and crew members have been rescued from a sinking cruise ship. The ship, named the Explorer, was on a 19-day tour of the Falkland Islands and Antarctica when it hit some ice and began taking on water. Everyone is safe and no injuries are reported.
French rail and bus services are getting back to normal. French transport workers have ended a nine-day walkout and resumed the negotiations with the government.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Well, remember when families sat down and ate dinner together? With our 24/7 lifestyles, fewer are actually dining at the table now. It's kind of sad.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains why families who eat together set better examples for their kids.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember the classic American family dinner? Everyone sitting down at the same time every night. Today, it's not so common. But the Lee family makes sure it's a priority.
Crystal and Wayne both work but manage to have dinner with their daughter Erin. Their strategy, prepare meals ahead of time, freeze them, and reheat during the week.
CRYSTAL LEE, MOTHER: If I had to prepare a meal, we probably would not eat until 6:30. And then Erin has homework.
GUPTA: Erin's glad for the home cooking.
ERIN LEE, STUDENT: Sometimes the stuff that you eat every single day at restaurants is greasy, first of all. And they're salty.
GUPTA: And they're eating better foods.
WAYNE LEE, FATHER: We try to select foods that are lower in fat and high in fiber.
GUPTA: University of Minnesota researchers questioned 1,700 high school students on their eating habits and found those who ate with their families had more fruits and vegetables, fewer sodas, and most sat down for breakfast. More importantly, they discovered that the same teens continued those healthy lifestyles into adulthood.
NICOLE LARSEN, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Those teenagers who were eating with their families, seven or more times per week when they were in high school, had almost a full serving more of fruits and vegetables when they were young adults.
GUPTA: And for families who can't always eat together, nutritionists say a couple family meals, even on weekends, can help young people develop better eating habits. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: A weak dollar makes for great deals for foreign shoppers in the U.S. We will tell you about a retail invasion.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: You might be surprised to learn where some Europeans are doing their holiday shopping this year: America. The weak dollar has international bargain hunters flying to the USA to look for gifts in the land of financial opportunities.
CNN's Richard Roth live from Columbus Circle in New York City, no doubt having quite a grand time today.
Hey, Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
There are Europeans all over the place. It's an invasion here of a different type, all lured in part by the low U.S. dollar, record low hit again today by the U.S. dollar against the euro on various currency markets.
We have here gathered some Europeans, including two people here from London town, you might say.
Alex Cooper (ph), are they saying in Europe that, you have got to go to America right now because of the low dollar?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that's one of the main reasons why I'm here.
ROTH: And you have just arrived, I know. It's a little early to buy. What are you looking to buy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clothes, digital camera, probably an iPod as well.
ROTH: Now, they say Europeans are bringing an empty suitcase or two to take their haul back. Have you prepared?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Haven't done that yet, but I may buy one.
ROTH: OK.
Gary Howlings (ph) to your left, our right, are you ready to buy? And don't you think you're taking advantage of America? I know we won the war in 1776, but ease up now.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great time to buy things. And electronic stuff particularly cheap over here. So, it really helps, the pound being really strong and the dollar being not so strong. So...
ROTH: Do you detect fewer Americans traveling in Europe and in London, making it easier to walk on those clogged London streets, or you don't really care?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's certainly easier down Oxford Street, a little bit less people.
ROTH: Let me ask to your left. Marina (ph) is from Croatia. They don't use the dollar there. Congratulations for beating England in the European championships yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ROTH: So, you're happy about that. But the Croatian currency has also gone up in value appreciation. What's happening? Are you shopping here now for more goods?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we came to shop. But we are students, so we are spending our parents' money.
(LAUGHTER)
ROTH: Oh. And they're watching now. You're going to get cut off faster than -- well, you know, Europeans are buying apartments in this Time Warner complex, the parent company of CNN, here in the Columbus shops.
But above us, there are million-dollar apartments. Very soon, I'm sure people from Croatia and London, you can afford this. Would you be interested in buying an apartment with a view of Central Park?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not just yet, thanks.
ROTH: All right. well, thank you very much.
(LAUGHTER)
ROTH: That's some of the view here at the shops at Columbus Circle -- the euro raging all over Uncle Sam and the U.S. dollar.
PHILLIPS: Richard, leave it to you bring up the war in 1776 and then bash England once again for losing to Croatia. These poor folks, you just tore them up.
ROTH: I know. Well, I still they will recover enough to open their wallets, I think, in the stores. They're everywhere.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: It doesn't matter. They're still going to spend the money. All right.
Richard Roth, always entertaining to see and talk to you.
Well, it's called Black Friday, but retailers hope to see green, a little background on the critical year-end sales period. Black Friday represents the day that merchants expect to move into the black, representing profit. Well, it has evolved into the symbolic kickoff to the holiday shopping season leading up to Christmas.
The year-end holiday season can account for as much as half as retailer sales and profits for the entire year. The forecast for this year, lukewarm. The National Retail Federation expects total holiday sales to grow 4 percent to $475 billion.
LEMON: My goodness.
This I-Report video shows what it looked like at a Wal-Mart store in Maryland when they opened the doors at 5:00 a.m.. It was made by someone who works there, about 200 people waiting outside got a high- speed start on their holiday shopping. Most reportedly headed straight for the electronics section, no surprise there.
And need help with your shopping? From gift items to toy safety tips for parents, cnn.com is your best bet before you hit the stores. Check out our special holiday shopping page, cnn.com/shopping.
PHILLIPS: An important religious symbol sold in American churches now at the center of a sweatshop investigation.
LEMON: And a traffic ticket gets a man Tasered, now he's talking to CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JARED MASSEY, TASERED BY UTAH STATE TROOPER: ... on me, over a trivial traffic violation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We'll hear more from the shocked driver.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Sad and shocking day for Major League Baseball. Toronto Blue Jays Joe Kennedy has died in Tampa, Florida. He was young, just 28 years old. Hillsboro County Sheriff's spokesman says that Kennedy passed out at home, and was taken to the hospital earlier today. The cause of death unknown. Joe Kennedy signed with the Blue Jays just last summer. He played seven seasons in the big leagues with five teams.
LEMON: Well, a Georgia Supreme Court ruling is sparking controversy. The court threw out a law that barred sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate. The justices say the law effectively made it impossible for sex offenders to live anywhere in Georgia without facing a contentious risk of being ejected.
Earlier on NEWSROOM, we got reaction from a lawyer for the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the father of a girl who was abducted in 2002 and held by her captors for nine months. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH GERAGHTY, SOUTHERN CTR. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Georgia already had one of the most restrictive laws in the nation about where sex offenders could live, barred them from living within 1,000 feet of schools, daycare centers, neighborhood centers, churches and other locations.
Last year the legislature went several steps further and really tried to banish everyone on the sex offender registry. And that's 14,500 people from the state of Georgia. I don't think that the court was at all exaggerating when it made that statement.
ED SMART, ELIZABETH SMART'S FATHER: I think that there's a huge responsibility on society. We try to legislate everything, and that is no sure cure, there is no guarantee there. I think that we have to hit it from all sides. You know, teaching our children -- teaching our parents.
The parents need to check the sex offender registries and know where the sex offenders are living. Unfortunately there's no way that we are going to basically put them on an island and never have any contact with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Some Georgia legislators say they may pass a new sex offender law next.
In a strange turn of events, in a small town in south Texas, the mayor of Poteet is a registered sex offender, and he could be arrested if he shows up at city hall as part of a deal, he pleaded guilty last month to indecency charges involving two girls, but received deferred adjudication and not a conviction.
The law requires him to stay more than 1,000 feet from places children congregate. The trouble is, there a youth center next to city hall. Because he wasn't actually convicted, the mayor can't be forced from office.
PHILLIPS: Watch carefully here. You're about to see a man get Tasered by a state trooper. Jared Massey put his dash cam video on YouTube this week. It's to support his dispute with the state of Utah over its police procedures. Massey spoke to CNN this morning and we gave the state police a chance to weigh in also.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MASSEY: When I got out of the car, I was under the impression -- I was under no impression that he was going to arrest me, that it was going to escalate to anything like that. I honestly thought he was asking me to get out of the car so that we could look at the sign. So when I saw him pull a gun on me, and you've got to realize at the time I thought it was a gun. I was scared to death, I was scared for my life. I had my 6 1/2-month pregnant wife in the car, 15-month-old baby. And you know, those -- panicked thoughts start going through my mind at what's going to happened to me, what's going to happen to them. I really felt that this cop would shoot to harm me.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: You didn't know it was a Taser at that point.
MASSEY: I had no idea.
CHETRY: You did file for a Freedom of Information request. And that's why you posted it on YouTube. What do you -- you wanted people to see this clearly. What do you want to see happen in this situation, Jared?
MASSEY: You know, this is probably one of the one of the wonderful things about America. Here we are in a country where we can take something like this and begin a public dialogue on it and say, is this right? If it's not right, how can we correct the problem? What do we need to do to correct it? Do we need to better train, regulate better when Tasers are used? Do we need to educate the public better?
You know, because this is a potentially lethal weapon that was used on me over a trivial traffic violation.
JEFF NIGBUR, UTAH HIGHWAY PATROL SPOKESMAN: I think there was a lot of -- I would even go as far as saying a little bit of ego involved on both sides. We want to look at this. Every Taser deployment, at least from our troopers of the highway patrol, is a serious matter. And we look into each and every one of those.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Jared Massey was Tasered back in September and posted the video on YouTube just this week. It has been viewed nearly 400,000 times. The Utah Highway Patrol says the wide exposure is prompting them to speed up the investigation.
LEMON: It once was a murder capital of America, now New York City appears to be on track to have its lowest murder rate in more than 40 years. The New York Times says 428 murders have been recorded in the city as of Sunday, and if the trend continues, New York will have fewer than 500 homicides this year. In 1990, New York reached an all-time high with 2,245 murders.
An American suspect in Italy writes about the night her roommate was murdered. We'll show you her words.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer, Aqua Dots, children had them on their holiday wish lists, parents wish the recalled toys and others like them had never been sold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I personally feel like I have power to stop it as a consumer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Trouble in toyland. What's safe, what's not, and what you can do about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMILLE CHATTERJEE, TOY EDITOR, PARENTING MAGAZINE: You really have to do the research before you go shopping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN's Fredricka Whitfield presents an hour-long special report, "Trouble in Toyland." She examines the recalls, fears and solutions at this Saturday and at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
LEMON: Thanksgiving emergencies happen to the best of us. And we'll bet some of you ran into a potential disaster or two yesterday, so who do you call for help? That's the question. A former newspaper writer who can help solve your turkey crisis, Ali Velshi has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the holidays and you forgot to defrost the turkey in advance. Who can you turn to for help? Meet retired food writer Dorothy Jones.
DOROTHY JONES, SUPERVISER, BUTTERBALL TURKEY TALKLINE: Butterball Turkey Talkline, how can I help?
VELSHI: One of 55 turkey gurus working at Butterball's hotline in a Chicago suburb.
JONES: I'm a home economist, and therefore I'm a turkey expert, having gone through training all of these many years. I love being on the Butterball Turkey Talkline, helping people. It is a very gratifying job.
VELSHI: It all started back in 1985 with a help wanted ad she spotted.
JONES: I did see this little paragraph about the need for people to work on the Butterball Turkey Talkline. Having been a food editor, it was -- seemed like a natural thing to transition to.
VELSHI: Dorothy spent 10 years writing features for Chicago area newspapers before taking time off to raise a family. Once her children were older, she decided to take on a part-time job, and she has been solving the nation's turkey crisis ever since.
JONES: We switch on the lights on November 1st and we go now all the way through the end of the week after Christmas. You are trying to help as many people as you can in the country. And people do call back the day after and for a couple of days to tell, you know, this is the best advice I ever got. I don't know, in this period of time, November, December, if there's any other place you can get that gratification.
VELSHI: Ali Velshi, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Talk about road rage, drivers dodge a Lion in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Pike County 911.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm on 23 and there's a lion in the road.
911 OPERATOR: A lion?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lion, like, it almost hit my car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Frightened drivers frankly call 911 to report the king of the jungle in the middle of the highway. How did it end?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Disgraced track star Marion Jones continues her fall from worldwide fame. The worldwide governing body for track and field today annulled all of Jones' race results going back to 2000, including her five medals in the Sydney Olympics. Jones also has to return her estimated $700,000 in prize money for that same period.
Last month, despite years of denial, Jones confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs. She has already returned the five Olympic medals.
LEMON: We have an update now on the mystery surrounding the death of a British college student in Italy. A German court ruled today that suspect Rudy Hermann Guede until he is extradited to Italy. Italian police have issued an arrest warrant for Guede in connection with the sexual assault and stabbing death of Meredith Kercher. Police say DNA tests confirm that Guede had sex with Kercher the night she was killed.
A German prosecutor says Guede has "denied taking part in the crime." Kercher's American roommate, Amanda Knox, has also been jailed along with Knox's Italian boyfriend. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
Well, Amanda Knox gave Italian police a statement recalling the night her roommate was killed. And CNN's Jennifer Eccleston has that for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hours after her arrest on November 6th, Amanda Knox asked Italian police for a pen and paper. And she began to write a rambling four-page statement now obtained by CNN.
It carries the stamp of the Perugia police, a source in the prosecutor's office says it is authentic. In a neat hand, Know writes: "I know I didn't kill Meredith, that's all I know for sure."
Her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered on November 1st. The investigating judge says her throat was cut after an attempted sexual assault. Knox writes: "These things seem unreal to me, like a dream." She also talks about her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. Knox maintains she was at his home that night and says: "After dinner, I noticed there was blood on Raffaele's hands, but I was the impression it was blood from the fish."
She says she doesn't think he killed Meredith Kercher, "but now he's trying to find a way out by disassociating himself with me." Sollecito was arrested the same day as Knox. He has told police he was home alone at the time of the murder, surfing the Web.
They both deny involvement in her death, but prosecutors say they have sufficient evidence to make them prime suspects. Bar owner Patrick Lumumba is also a suspect, but has been released from prison for lack of evidence. He says he wasn't at the scene of the crime.
In her statement, Knox writes: "In these flashbacks that I'm having, I see Patrick as the murder, but the way the truth feels in my mind, there's no way for me to have known," a sign of her confused thoughts that night.
Attempts to reach Knox's attorney were unsuccessful. But towards the end of her statement, she asks, "who is the real murderer?" It's a question everyone here is still asking.
Jennifer Eccleston, CNN, Perugia, Italy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: An update on the search for Stacy Peterson. According to her husband's attorney, Drew Peterson has given police an unsigned letter he received that describes a recent sighting of his missing wife at a grocery store. Peterson has been named as a suspect in his wife's disappearance. A friend of Stacy Peterson tells the AP that a lot of sightings have been reported, but she doubts that the letter is legitimate.
LEMON: The FBI has joined the search for a missing woman in Mississippi. Jackson State University student Latasha Norman hasn't been seen since she attended a class on campus 10 days ago. In recent weeks Norman had reported that her tires were slashed and her license plates stolen. And just last week an ex-boyfriend was charged with hitting her during an incident last month. Police have questioned both her current and former boyfriends, as of now, they have no suspects.
PHILLIPS: Medicine, fresh water, shelter, all are in great need and now being delivered by the U.S. military to storm survivors in Bangladesh. U.S. Marines are on the ground, ships are anchored offshore, and as Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet told us last hour, two more ships are on the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. TIMOTHY KEATING, CMDR. U.S. PACIFIC FLEET: We've got a general and an admiral overseeing this effort, and there is a significant capability set resident on Kearsage. We also have a replenishment ship, the United States ship Concord getting into the area soon. And of course, Concord bristles with food and water and replacement parts.
PHILLIPS: Admiral, is security a concern at all? We know how criminal activity festers in areas like this, they look for those that are not able to care for themselves. Is this an opportunity for any of those concerns right now with terrorism throughout the country?
KEATING: That's a great question, Kyra. Bangladesh is a predominately Muslim country, and it's a moderate Muslim country. They have no more stomach for violent extremism than the rest of us. And so our team on the ground -- our assessment team has been there for about four or five days, did a careful evaluation, found no need for concern for violent extremists. There is a criminal element, those folks tend to come out, as you say, when times are tough, but the Marines will be fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Last week's cyclone killed at least 3,200 people, wiped out crops and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
LEMON: An important symbol sullied. Jesus now at the center of a sweatshop investigation. CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is an image symbolizing Christianity, the crucifix. Versions like this one sold nationwide and in gift shops at prominent churches like New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity Church. Now allegations the crosses were made in a sweatshop in China.
CHARLES KERNAGHAN, NATIONAL LABOR COMMITTEE: How can you take the central image and turn it into another cheap sweatshop commodity made in China?
CARROLL: Charles Kernaghan is director of the National Labor Committee, a human rights advocacy group. He showed me pictures taken by workers at the Chinese factory who say they're made to work 15 hours a day, seven days a week, some as young as 15 are hired, everyone, they say, housed in dirty living quarters.
KERNAGHAN: In the women's dormitory, they said it was so filthy that there was actually no tiles on the ground, it was dirt.
CARROLL: The company that owns the factory is called Full Start. A manager in China told us if something is wrong, he is more than willing to improve. The company distributing the crucifixes here in the United States, the Singer Company, says: "We were in contact with the owner of the factory, and he challenges every allegation."
KERNAGHAN: They have said they asked Full Start, do you use child labor, and do you employ them under sweatshop conditions? And the factory said, no, we do not. That's like asking Jack the Ripper, do you honor, love and respect young women?
CARROLL: The National Labor Committee has exposed sweatshop conditions in high-profile cases before. Former talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford and hip-hop mogul P. Diddy had to fix conditions at factories where their clothing lines were made. Trinity Church has pulled the crosses. St. Patrick's waits for more information about how they were made.
Churchgoers say so much is made overseas it's not surprising there are allegations even crosses are made in adverse conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sounds pretty real, like it could happen. Like a lot of things are made at sweatshops these days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's true they're made in China, I would say, let's find some made in America.
CARROLL (on camera): The organizers from the National Labor Committee say they do not want the factory in China shut down, because that would obviously hurt the workers there. Instead they said the factory to remain open and for the factory owner to improve the conditions for the workers.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And there's no stopping the green menace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What show did you see today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Theater-goers on Broadway have something to cheer about, even as the strike drags on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Take a look at these new pictures now from that ship that was stuck in the Antarctic. It's call the Explorer. We saw new pictures about two hours of passengers getting off this boat. The last pictures we saw, 45-degree angle, 40-degree angle, now it's almost a 90-degree angle. And it looks like for certain, just judging from these pictures, that it may go under. But again, about 100 passengers on board and crew, everybody off the ship.
At last check it was the captain and first mate were on trying to use pumps to get it righted, but apparently they have gotten off the ship as well. And all the passengers off the ship. But these are just incredible pictures we are looking at.
PHILLIPS: It's that time of year when we're not surprised to see turkeys and Santas or even eight tiny reindeer, but nobody in Pike County, Ohio, this week, expected to see what was chasing their cars. 911 operators got some pretty bizarre ones.
Ana Jackson from our affiliate WCMH reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANA JACKSON, WCMH REPORTER (voice-over): Lambert (ph) isn't your typical housecat. At 550 pounds, this lion towers over his owner. So you can imagine the shock of drivers as he chased their cars on U.S. 23 yesterday.
911 OPERATOR: Pike County 911.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm on 23 and there's a lion in the road.
911 OPERATOR: A lion?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lion, like, it almost hit my car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'd just run after them, like a dog chasing a car. You know, you'd run about 10, 15-foot, come back.
JACKSON: Lambert's owner Terry Brumfield (ph) says his pet broke out through the top of his pen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It stands and, like, attacks someone's car
911 OPERATOR: It's trying to attack the cars?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It like came at my car. It's going back across the street now.
JACKSON: The state highway patrol and Pike County sheriff responded, but it was Brumfield that coaxed the cat back into his stage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hollered at him, I was like, oh, lord, Lambert, you're dead, buddy. Somebody will hit you.
JACKSON: Brumfield raises lions as an escape from depression. He owns two, Lambert and Lacy (ph). But even though he loves his pet, he says he was prepared to shoot Lambert yesterday, if necessary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're wild animals, they know me, but they don't know them.
JACKSON: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulates wildlife native to Ohio, but not exotic animals, so anyone can own them. Brumfield says raising a lion takes a lot of work. He doesn't recommend them as pets. In Pike County, Ana Jackson, NBC 4.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, a bad time for Broadway won't steal Christmas for one musical. The doors are open and the curtain is up again for the Grinch. The show resumed this morning after a judge ordered it to reopen. More than two dozen other Broadway plays and musicals are still shuttered by a stagehand strike. The Grinch shutdown was actually the result of a management lockout, not the strike. Theater owners had refused to the Grinch go on, even though the stagehand union said it would work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What show are you seeing today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The Grinch who Stole Christmas."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you excited to see the show finally?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long have you been waiting to see it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A long time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are you excited to see it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I want to see it again.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they showed it on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, you saw it on TV. Why are you excited to see it on Broadway, on stage?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because there might -- the thing is I might have missed a little bit of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We planned this for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What were your thoughts when you heard about this strike?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we were just sick. We thought we weren't going to get to see anything. So this is just a real high point for us today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A real high point. And the Grinch is scheduled to end its run January 6th. PHILLIPS: That wraps it up for us. We go to the "SIT. ROOM" now and Suzanne Malveaux.
LEMON: Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Guys.
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