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American Morning
Deadly Bus Crash in Arkansas; Tamiflu Warning: Reports of Dangerous Behavior; Mideast Peace Summit: Effort To Return to Roadmap; Oil Hits $99.11
Aired November 26, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: The new evidence against the man last seen with Natalee Holloway.
Plus, toys are oops. How a recalled toy ended up being advertised in a holiday circular on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. It's Monday, November 26th, 7:00, here on the east coast.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. I'm Rob Marciano in today for John Roberts. He's taking a couple of well-deserved days off.
CHETRY: That's right. And we start with some breaking news out of Arkansas. A charter bus crash. It happened late last night. Three people dead. Dozens more hurt. It happened in northeastern Arkansas near Forest City.
Right now, all eastbound lanes of I-40 are shut down for a 13- mile stretch as police conduct the investigation. They say the Dallas-based charter bus jumps the median and collided with an oncoming pickup truck then was hit by an 18-wheeler. As we said, three people were killed. The driver of the pickup truck died as well as two people on the bus.
We're going to be getting a live report for you in the next few minutes -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Kiran, good news on the fire front in Malibu. The wildfire could be contained as early as today. Thanks to lower temperatures and higher humidity. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reactivated the state of emergency he declared last month during those wildfires to get resources immediately to the new fires.
The governor said fifty-three homes in Malibu were destroyed. Most of the 50,000 people evacuated have returned. Some showed just how close they came to losing it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL MORA, CORRAL CANYON RESIDENT: It looks like my neighbors were all -- you know, my immediate neighbors are OK. But like I said, it's tragic for the rest of the people here in Corral Canyon.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARCIANO: Investigators think the wildfire was started by a campfire that got out of control, set by people partying in the woods -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Also new this morning. The price of oil rising as high as $99.11 a barrel, before settling back down and moving at $98.67 a barrel in Singapore. But that's up 50 cents over Friday's price.
President Bush meets with Israeli and Palestinian leaders today. This will be ahead of the summit taking place in Annapolis, Maryland Tuesday. Syria is now agreeing to send a delegation. Participants and observers say it is critical to the process, but they are cautious about seeing any breakthroughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAEB EREKAT, PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: I'm not saying that Annapolis in the 24 hours will produce the magic stick that will deliver, but I think the most important thing is that we start.
FRED THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm told, the Palestinians aside, that they want a two-state solution to live in peace, I don't think it's going to happen, but hopefully this brings a turn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The talks tomorrow are shadowed by a nation not there, and that's Iran. The president criticizing Saudi Arabia for taking part in the meeting. The goal of the summit is to get the Palestinians and Israelis to get back to the table talking about peace and to get the road map to peace back on track.
Pakistan's former president or former prime minister rather, Nawaz Sharif, registered this morning to run in January's elections, though, he says he will not lead a government under Pakistan's embattled military President Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif returned from exile yesterday, eight years after he was thrown out in a military coup that was staged by Musharraf.
A suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway heads to court in Aruba today. Joran Van Der Sloot arriving in the country from the Netherlands. This is exclusive CNN video of him waiting at the airport with his police escort. A judge will decide today if there is enough evidence to keep him in jail for several more days while investigators continue to work the case.
Meanwhile, prosecutors say there are discrepancies in the time line of e-mails and calls made by Van Der Sloot and the two others suspects in the case, and that those discrepancies may also prove that Holloway is indeed dead -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Kiran, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is proposing a flat tax. You can choose to pay a 10 percent flat rate if you're a couple earning up to $100,000 a year or an individual who earns up to $50,000. If you earn more than that, then you can pay 25 percent in taxes. Thompson also plans to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent.
Meanwhile, Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stepping up their sparring over differences in health care proposals. Yesterday during a campaign stop in Iowa, Clinton called Obama's proposal "crafted for politics," and the latest example of his shifting policy positions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's been kind of confusing following his description of his own plan. If you go back and look, he said it was universal. He said it was sort of universal. He said it wasn't universal. He said it covered everybody, said it didn't cover 15 million. He has a mandate for kids. Now, he's against mandates. I think you are going to have to ask him what his plan actually does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Obama says all this new health care criticism is coming from Clinton because his poll numbers in Iowa have improved.
And the curtains are still down, but negotiations have begun again between Broadway stagehands and theater producers. More than two dozen plays and musicals have been silenced since the walkout began three weeks ago. The sticking point? Figuring out how many stagehands are needed to keep a show running.
Meanwhile, writers and producers in Hollywood are also heading back to the negotiating tables today. Writers walked off the set November 5th. So far, about 50 TV shows and some movies have stopped production. If the strike lasts another two weeks, nearly all primetime shows shot in Los Angeles will do the same. Insiders say that could cost the area about $20 million a year -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Jacqui Jeras, our weather update desk tracking extreme weather way in the northeast causing some problems at the airports. Hi, Jackie.
JACQUI JERAS, AMERICAN MORNING METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Hey, Kiran. Yes, it's awfully early to be started this way at the airports right now, and it's all due to that rain that's been lingering around there this morning.
Let's show you on the radar and the good news is, is that some of this is starting to pull out a little bit into the megalopolis. But the bad news is, even though the rain is going to kind of diminish by mid morning, we'll see more late today and the low clouds and fog are going to be sticking around. So that means, yes, those travel headaches are going to be with us throughout the rest of the day.
La Guardia ground arrival delays, pushing two hours already. Just over an hour in Philadelphia and only about 10 minutes in Atlanta. But you know, that's going to be changing. Look at this heavy rain coming in from the southwest, around the Columbus area, could be as heavy as an inch an hour so that is all heading up toward the Atlanta metro area. Of course, some much needed rain. So this is certainly some welcome news.
You can see the heavier showers and thunderstorms along the I-10 corridor if you're traveling along the interstates for today. On the northern tier of this, we're looking at some of the snow. Now Chicago, it looks like it's snowing here for you but nothing hitting the ground. There is some fog and mist in the area. Your temperature is 31 degrees, so it may be a little slick on the bridges and overpasses.
And that's the same story right now in Kansas City, nothing hitting the ground there. But you head a little off to the east, along I-70 and could you run into a little bit of ice and then changing over to some rain so it's going to be rough going today. A big travel day, hey guys, a lot of those left over holiday travelers and, of course, the business travelers are trying to hit up on that.
We're going to talk a little bit more about what's been going on across parts of the west coming up a little bit later on.
CHETRY: All right. Jacqui, thanks -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Kiran, back now to our top story.
A charter bus accident in northeast Arkansas. Three people are dead, dozens more hurt. Brooke Sanders from our Memphis affiliate WMC is at the scene of the crash in Hughes, Arkansas. Brooke, investigators there are hoping to move the tractor trailer itself in just a few minutes. What kind of equipment are they bringing in, and what's the state of the road right now?
BROOKE SANDERS, CNN MEMPHIS AFFILIATE REPORTER, WMC: Well, they brought in a lot of heavy equipment to upright the tractor trailer and to try to actually tow it away from here. If you take a look behind me, you can see that they've gotten the tractor trailer pretty much unloaded and put its load onto another tractor trailer.
We're told they should open this stretch of the interstate in probably the next 10 to 15 minutes. At least, one lane of traffic can start getting by and not be re-routed to a nearby highway over here. Here's what we know so far, though.
There was a charter bus coming from Chicago, going to Dallas, and it was westbound on I-40, just outside Widener and Hughes, Arkansas, two small towns near Forest City, when that bus crossed the median and came into the oncoming traffic. As we speak, Arkansas state troopers are trying to talk to the driver of that bus to figure out why he left the roadway and crossed into the oncoming traffic.
Three people were killed, one was the driver of a pickup truck that was driving eastbound and was hit by the bus and the tractor trailer. The two others that were killed were inside the bus, and now we're told that at least 55 people on the bus were injured and taken to nearby hospitals. Of course, we're going to follow all of this information and bring you up-to-date as new information is released to us throughout the morning. Back to you, Rob, in the studio.
MARCIANO: Brooke Sanders live for us at the scene of that deadly crash in Hughes, Arkansas. Thanks, Brooke.
CHETRY: Well, Aqua Dots, a popular kids toy, recalled nearly three weeks ago but it's still being advertised in some of those holiday circulars like this one at Toys "R" Us. It was in a flyer in some Sunday paper. Aqua Dots yanked from store shelves because they're coated in the chemical, in the body turns into the so-called date rape drug, GHB. Kids getting sickened from that. A target flyer also with the ad was distributed as some states as well.
Both companies say the circulars were printed and distributed before the recall and that no Aqua Dots are actually available for sale in the stores.
And concerns this morning over the flu medication, Tamiflu. The FDA is now looking into reports of abnormal and sometimes dangerous behavior in more than 1,800 children who took Tamiflu since it was approved in 1999. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is looking into this this morning. What is the concern here, Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Kiran, the concern is that this drug which you take when you get the flu could be causing a whole host of psychiatric issues, certainly something you don't expect from a flu drug. Now, most of these reports have come out of Japan, where they use these drugs more heavily than we do in this country.
And let's take a look at some of the problems that reportedly are coming from this flu drug. Self-injury, that people who take this drug and this is children we're talking about. The children have become suicidal when taking this drug. That this drug has led to confusion and that it also led to hallucinations.
So certainly, one question that this FDA committee might be thinking about is, do they need to change the labeling on this drug so that doctors and parents can be more aware to look out for these problems.
Now Roche, which makes Tamiflu, they say that they've extensively studied this drug and that it does not cause these problems -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Tell us what ages this drug is approved for in kids and also what they normally prescribe it for here in the U.S.?
COHEN: It's normally prescribed when you get the flu. In Japan, sometimes they use it to prevent the flu. In this country, they use it after somebody gets the flu. Right after you get the flu, this drug can be very useful and it's approved for children and the problems have been seen in children and also in young people in their late teens and early 20s.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks a lot, Elizabeth. So just be aware of that if you're a parent for sure. Thanks. MARCIANO: All right. Listen to this. Things got ugly at a beauty pageant in Puerto Rico. Investigators are trying to figure out who doused the contestant's evening gowns and makeup with pepper spray. Ingrid Marie Rivera was composed in front of the cameras and the judges. But backstage, she was breaking out in hives. She stripped off her clothes and applied ice bags to her face and her body.
Rivera's clothing and makeup tested positive for pepper spray. Despite all the drama, she snagged the crown. Rivera will represent Puerto Rico next year in the Miss Universe competition. What do you think about that?
CHETRY: Well, in the end, it's probably good for her because she got a little bit of the sympathy vote.
MARCIANO: Oh, big time.
CHETRY: You know, when she goes to the actually Miss Universe pageant.
MARCIANO: Yes. Beautiful and tough.
CHETRY: That's right. It also tells you just how miraculous makeup can be since you can't tell if she was broken out in hives and had ice packs on her face backstage.
MARCIANO: No.
CHETRY: She looked gorgeous.
MARCIANO: Yes. She looked fabulous. Congratulations and shame on you, for those people who put the pepper spray.
CHETRY: Right.
MARCIANO: All right. Not speaking of -- bad transition but anyway, we're moving on to something interesting as well. It's your "Quick Hits."
They say politics makes for strange bedfellows. Well, a Nevada brothel is throwing its support behind presidential candidate Ron Paul, the owner of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch near Carson City wants to collect money for the Republican hopeful. He's put up donation boxes outside his door. A spokesman for Congressman Paul says he doesn't condone prostitution, but says it's not the role of the federal government to regulate it.
And Former Vice President Al Gore is heading back to the White House today. President Bush will welcome Gore and other recipients of the 2007 Nobel Awards. Gore won the Peace Prize for being attention to global warming. He hasn't been to the White House since January of 2001.
And dark, wet, freezing cold. Amazing video the passengers forced to abandon a sinking ship in the Antarctic in the middle of the night. We'll show you the rescue. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
And Israelis and Palestinians head into --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well, all survivors of a cruise ship that sank in the Antarctic are waking up on dry land this morning. The last passengers from the MS Explorer arrived in Chile yesterday, just two days after their ship hit ice.
The Coast Guard says the collision punched a hole about the size of a fist in the ship and immediately caused it to take on water. But investigators say the whole thing could have been prevented if the ship was equipped with sonar. The "Explorer" had five deficiencies at its last inspection, including problems with a water-tight door. All 154 people on board spent hours in life rafts in below zero waters before being plucked to safety by a Norwegian cruise liner --Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, the Bush administration is hosting a Mideast Peace Summit tomorrow in Annapolis, Maryland. Unlike Camp David seven years ago, key Arab countries will be at this conference.
Richard Haass as President of the Council on Foreign Relations. He joins me this morning. Ambassador, thanks for being with us. First of all, what is the significance of Syria agreeing to send a delegation of Saudi Arabia sending a delegation on how these talks go?
RICHARD HAASS, PRES. COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: What it says essentially is the Palestinians are not isolated. That the rest of the Arab world is interested and potentially, I underline the word, potentially prepared to support some sort of Israeli/Palestinian agreement, if one should ever emerge down the road.
CHETRY: So when you say down the road, it's because these are really premature steps. I mean, these are the beginning steps. What would be considered a success to come out of this conference?
HAASS: Right, this is the beginning of the process. No way are you going to see a major agreement emerge from what happens in Annapolis. I think the most important thing, maybe what President Bush says Tuesday morning, he needs to set the stage. The United States, while it's called for a Palestinian state, has never expressed in any detail what it believes the final status or peace should look like.
And it's very important that the president lays this out because then it gives the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, it gives him an argument to take to his people and say, look, this is why you should give up violence. This is why you should reject Hamas, and this is why you should support negotiation. That might be the most important thing.
CHETRY: You know, when you talk about eventually getting down the road to some sort of agreement, there are sticking points that have been the sticking points for years and they continue to exist. And that is, what do you do with the border alliance drawn with the West Bank? What do you do with the demand for our right of return for people that left Israel back in 1949? And how do you split up east Jerusalem because both want to lay claim to it?
HAASS: You're right. These are the basic issues. There's no way they're going to be solved at Annapolis over the next couple of days. Again, what's important is that it decides to leave Annapolis with the process, with the timetable for tackling those issues. Again, it's the beginning of the process, not the culmination.
CHETRY: President Bush has been reluctant actually to take a lead role in this. I mean, we've seen a lot of the shuttle diplomacy taking place with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. What impact will it have with his presence there?
HAASS: It's important because no one believes the Secretary of State speaks with the full authority of the United States unless the president is involved. This president has not been involved for seven years. So again, it's very important that he's there. But we should keep in mind the fact that right now he's working with a weak Israeli leader and a weak Palestinian leader, and we need to keep our expectations quite modest about what can be accomplished even if the president lays out the American view of what a peace should look like.
CHETRY: All right. Richard Haass, President on the Council on Foreign Relations, thanks for being with us.
HAASS: Thank you.
MARCIANO: Kiran, the first U.S. diplomat stationed in North Korea tops your "Quick Hits" right now. The state department said today, it has an official in Pyongyang to help the U.S. team that's disabling North Korea's main nuclear power plant. The U.S. and North Korea have never had diplomatic relations.
Senator Charles Schumer blasting the Pentagon over veterans' benefits. He says wounded veterans are being told to repay part of their $10,000 signing bonuses because they didn't complete their full service. Schumer says it's not fair to troops wounded in combat, and he'll propose a law to stop it.
Well, you made it to dinner. You had the turkey. You watched the football, but that was only half the battle? Was the flight back home just as smooth? We'll tell you what travelers face after Thanksgiving?
And the prime suspect. New evidence and new questions for the last man seen with Natalee Holloway. It's all coming up on AMERICAN Morning. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, getting in that turkey dinner with the family last week apparently didn't turn out too bad if you were flying. Hopefully, you made it back home before today because rains are now delaying flights into New York's La Guardia airport. They have delays of an hour and 45 minutes right now. Philadelphia seeing an hour-long delay. But for people heading back over the weekend, they were reporting few delays at the airports. Some flyers saw a weather slowdown in Atlanta, but most said they realized it could have been much worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE FLYER: The flight was on time. The arrival was on time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE FLYER: We came from Athens, Georgia, which is an hour and a half away, and we left an extra half hour thinking there would be traffic and there was none.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE FLYER: We got on the laptop and checked to see the amount of people that we're going through here, 350,000 so we decided to come here about two hours ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Triple A says that more than 38 million Americans were likely to have traveled 50 miles or more this Thanksgiving.
Well, the world's largest plane maker wins a multibillion-dollar contract from China. Airbus says China's buying 160 passenger planes. That deal worth about $15 billion. The order stands to push airbus past rival Boeing in total orders for commercial aircraft.
Analysts say the planes are well-suited for expanding Chinese domestic routes. Both Airbus and Boeing predict that China will become the second largest aircraft maker behind the U.S. market, rather behind the U.S.
MARCIANO: Yes. And those big aircrafts use a lot of oil to get you where you need to go. Ali Velshi here to talk about that.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is going to cost you a lot of money. By the way, the one thing about these airline deals is that there are so many of them being announced this last few months that it's Airbus and Boeing just keep on sort of leapfrogging each other, but there's big business in there.
They're obviously not worried about gas prices, but we are. This is a bit of a watched pot never boils kind of situation. Oil getting up above $99 again this morning. $99.11 just a few hours ago. Back down to about $98.40. How does that affect your price of gas?
Take a look. We're trading at about $3.09. That's a national average for a gallon of unleaded self-serve gasoline, which actually has been stable. It stayed the same as it was before Thanksgiving. It leads me to believe maybe not as many people were on the roads because between the airports not being as busy and the roads not being as clogged, I think people just sort of kind of stayed home.
Gasoline prices are still up 25 cents in a month and there are still, I mean the way oil is going, there's no reason why we shouldn't see gasoline prices go higher. That's not me pushing them up or hoping they go up, it's just the reality that gas prices go up when oil prices go up. So we're now seeing about $3.09 in most places. Still the expectation that gas price will get higher and oil prices will probably hit $100 a barrel.
MARCIANO: Yes. I mean, the only time you try to drive oil up or strike if you've gotten somebody is when you get that big black oil.
VELSHI: When I got the oil barrel because I've got a barrel of oil.
MARCIANO: What is that going to take now? $100? $110? What is going to take to get that oil down?
VELSHI: Well, the oil -- when we get too close to $100, actually go down during the trading day to Nynex where oil trades to -- so you get a sense of sort of how it's going and why it's happening. The oil barrel is a sort of a resident in the building thing, but it's there and it's ready. And if oil hits $100 a barrel in the next hour and a half while I'm still here, you will definitely see a lot of barrels.
CHETRY: So I'm hoping I don't see it.
MARCIANO: That's right.
VELSHI: You know you're right. You don't want to see the oil barrel.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: All right.
MARCIANO: Thanks, Ali.
All right. Couple of things that you just can't miss. San Francisco is now the first major U.S. city to outright ban plastic bags.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE HEYLEN, CALIFORNIA GROCERS ASSOCIATION: Bags are a part of doing business, and so what can't be absorbed will have to be passed along to consumers.
GAVIN NEWSOM, MAYOR, SAN FRANCISCO: Nonsense. With all due respect, the Grocer's Association they have no one to blame but themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Oh, will this healthy new habit catch on in other new cities?
CHETRY: Well, it brings us to our "Quick Vote" question in the morning. Should plastic bags be banned at grocery stores? Cast your vote, CNN.com/AM. We have that story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back. And good morning, Miami. WSVN is our affiliate down there. It's 77 right now. Partly cloudy, looking good. I'm just going to get up into the 80s. I mean, compared to the miserable rain up there in the northeast.
CHETRY: That looks beautiful.
MARCIANO: I wouldn't mind being there right now. It is Monday, November 26th, and John Roberts is off. I'm Rob Marciano filling in.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We're still on top of a breaking news story and that's a tragic crash that took place between a chartered bus and an 18-wheeler that left three people dead and dozens more hurt in Arkansas. It happened along Interstate 40 in the northeastern part of the state, just about 35 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee.
Police say the charter bus was bound for Dallas. It was heading coming from Chicago, traveling west, when it jumped the median and hit a pickup truck head-on, killing the truck's driver. Then an 18- wheeler slammed into the bus. Two people on the bus were killed. At least 15 others were hurt.
These are now live pictures of the scene. All eastbound lanes of I-40 are closed for a 13-mile stretch. As police try to clean up this scene, we're going to be getting a live report at the top of the hour on the latest in the investigation.
Also new this morning. A Miami wild -- the Malibu wildfires could be under control as early as today. A fire captain says the weather is cooperating with lower temperatures and higher moisture levels in the air. 53 homes have been destroyed so far. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger resuming a state of emergency that he first declared during last month's wildfires. About 15,000 people have been allowed back home. Some were lucky, others lost everything.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALYSSA PESCUCCI, LATIGO CANYON RESIDENT: All of the stuff that you don't care about, whether it goes or not will stay and then everything that you do care about is gone.
PAUL MORA, CORRAL CANYON RESIDENT: Just to see my house here is absolutely amazing. I feel very blessed, it's a true miracle because we just moved here a month ago. It's a brand new house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the fire has been raging since Saturday although a turn in the weather giving the firefighters a bit of a break today.
A toddler whose body washed ashore in Texas last month has been tentatively identified as a two-year-old girl who was missing. Her mother has now been arrested. Police had identified the girl as baby Grace and put out this composite sketch but pending DNA test, they now believe it is 2-year-old Riley Anne Sawyers. Her mother and the mother's boyfriend have been arrested on charges of injuring a child and tampering with evidence. The Galveston County Sheriff's Department and the FBI planning to release more information at a news conference that's set for later today.
Chess legend Gary Kasparov waking up behind bars this morning, thrown in prison for five days in prison after he was arrested at a pro-democracy rally in Moscow. Kasparov has been fighting to ensure Russia's elections on Saturday remain fair. President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to step down because of term limits but is expected to try to keep some form of power.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Supposed new evidence, a suspect under arrest, and a court appearance this morning. Two and a half years after Natalee Holloway seemed to vanish without a trace, while vacationing in Aruba, the case is heating up. AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sunny Hostin joins us live now to talk more about the case. It's been quiet for awhile. CNN talked to the senior prosecutor, chief prosecutor over the weekend. Let's listen to what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS MOS, CHIEF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, ARUBA: What we have and what we've presented is new and of course we re-evaluated the old trial, too and that came out with new leads, too. But that can't count into the decision of the judge. He does need new evidence and that's exactly what we produced to the judge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Well, Susan Candiotti has been kind of speaking to that. It's really reanalyzed evidence in many cases. But regardless, there's three suspects now in jail.
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING, LEGAL ANALYST: Same suspects from before.
MARCIANO: Exactly. And one of them, I guess the main suspect, Van Der Sloot, is going to be having a hearing today. What's going to happen?
HOSTIN: Well, the Aruban system is very different from the United States system, because it's based on French law. It's based on the Napoleonic code. Here in the United States, it's based on the English code or the common law of England. So, in Aruba the judge is very, very important. There are no jury trials. And I think a lot of people don't realize that. There are no jury trials. He's going to appear before this judge. I think the same thing that happened to the brothers, the Kalpoe brothers. The same thing that's going to happen to him. There's new evidence. He's going to be held for eight more days so that the prosecution can gather more evidence and present it to the judge. MARCIANO: That's a scary thought to me, at least, having one person decide your fate. As a prosecutor, what's you're feeling on their system?
HOSTIN: You know, it's interesting, because when you have a jury of your peers, the tendency is to have a more fair result. However, in this system, in the United States, sometimes we do have civil trials where we try cases to a judge. Misdemeanors are sometimes tried through a judge and judges know the law and so I can't say that it makes me that, that nervous, but the one interesting thing here is that Van der Sloot's father is a judge, and so he's very familiar with this system, growing up with the father in the legal system. So I think that's an interesting twist for this.
MARCIANO: Also an interesting twitch, twist is we don't have a body yet. I mean, can you have a murder trial without a body?
HOSTIN: You can. You definitely can. It's a circumstantial case. When I tried cases and I spoke to my colleagues that tried murder cases at the Justice Department, they would say you never have the victim testify in a murder case, right? Because the victim is dead. And so typically, what do you is you put the case together with forensics. We don't have a body but we have everything else. We know that she is not here. And we also know that they were the last people to see her.
Now we're hearing about text messages, e-mails, cellular phone records. So I think you could easily put together a circumstantial case. When I taught law and I taught evidence, I would always say you don't have to see it raining to know it's raining if you're at the train station and you see people coming in and they're completely wet and they have wet umbrellas, you can infer that it rained. I think that's what this type of case is going to be about.
MARCIANO: Let's say we have enough evidence to actually go forward with the case. Is it a shorter process, a longer process compared to the United States down there?
HOSTIN: You know, I think it's about the same. They're going to over try this case, just like we over try cases here. They're going to have to put in all this evidence and it really is circumstantial. And even though the judge is a jurist and is familiar with the law, the judge is now the trier of fact and they have to put those facts in front of that judge, and so we're going to see a long, long trial, I think, and I can't wait to watch. I think it's fascinating, and everyone is really hoping for justice here.
MARCIANO: We're going to put you to work if it is long-term.
HOSTIN: I'd love it. I love it.
MARCIANO: Sunny Hostin, thanks very much.
HOSTIN: My pleasure.
CHETRY: Well, a Disney fairytale topping the box office and your "Quick Hits". "Enchanted" took in $50 million over the weekend. "This Christmas" came in second followed by "Beowulf," "Hitman," and "B Movie."
Well, the New England Patriots are still perfect but it really did come down to the wire. It was a late touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles that saved the day and the Pats' undefeated season. The Pats now 11-0. They clenched their division and a spot in the playoffs.
Well, they say everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes the snow. Check out this i-report. We're going to see where this storm hit just ahead.
Also the paper or plastic question about to be obsolete in San Francisco because they are banning plastic bags from grocery stores around the city. Why are they doing it and can it work? That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: And welcome back to the most news in the morning. Some "Quick Hits" now. Typhoon Mitag, now headed for Taiwan, after slamming the Philippines, killing eight people. Could have been worse. That typhoon weakened as it made landfall and did not hit where 300,000 people had been evacuated. Rob.
MARCIANO: Kiran, meanwhile, the White House will be getting its official Christmas tree later on this morning. There it is, Laura Bush will receive the 20-foot Frazier Fir, which is being trucked in from Ash County, North Carolina.
Also, it's naming day for the San Diego Zoo's panda cub. He turns 100 days old today and that's the tradition when Chinese, they dictates when they get their name so today is the time for it to happen. Fans voted online to pick the name. Here are the choices, Lei Wah, which means beautiful China, mih zhu, which means bright treasure and Shao Lee, little beauty, and zen zen or precious. Beautiful names, no doubt, for a cute little panda. Jacqui Jeras at the severe weather center tracking some thunderstorms down across south. If you had to choose any of those four names, which would you choose?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: I like the shu-shu, how do you say that one? That last one?
MARCIANO: I don't know. I totally guessed that? Zen zen? I like that.
JERAS: There you go. That's the one. Yes, it's easier to say, compared to some of the other ones. Hey, this is a real potent storm we've been watching here today, Rob, really affecting the southeast with some torrential downpours right now. Wintry weather on the northern tier and this is the same system that helped amplify the Santa Ana winds on Saturday, and running that heavy snow to Texas yesterday. Our i-reporters have been out in full force getting incredible pictures for us. And I want to show you some of the snow video from Mandy Castinetta from Big Springs, Texas. These are her children outside having fun in the snow. Doesn't it look like that great, big, heavy, wet, good snowball-making kind of snow. They got about 8.4 inches there, kind of rare for this part of Texas. Those kids just loved it!
Let's take a look at some of the other hefty snowfall total that we've seen across the region from yesterday. Check this out. Roswell, New Mexico, more than nine inches. El Paso, Texas, had eight and Boise City, Oklahoma, coming in with three inches of snow. Some more snow today in this time across the Midwest, and the northern parts of Illinois. Not touching down just here yet in Chicago. We might see light rain and snow mixing in over the next couple of hours. We're also seeing a little bit of that wintry mix across northern and central parts of Missouri, Kansas City, just reporting overcast conditions right now. This system continues to move eastwards throughout the day, severe weather expected to break out, even isolated tornadoes along the Gulf Coast states and into the Carolinas and Virginia later on tonight. Rob.
MARCIANO: Thank you very much, Jacqui Jeras with the severe weather center. Kiran, back over to you.
CHETRY: And right now, this just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. We're getting word that Senator Trent Lott is set to resign. We're hearing this from sources that he intends to resign his senatorial seat. The time frame we're double still checking on now. He's the republican whip out of Mississippi. Senator Trent Lott has been serving in some form there in the House of Representatives or the Senate for more than three decades now. This is 18 years in the senate and again the republican whip out of Mississippi announcing his intent to resign. We're going to find out more details and bring them to you as soon as we get them here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Brings us to a question that we've been asking you all morning about paper or plastic. It soon to be not an option in one city. In San Francisco, they're banning plastic bags from grocery stores. Will it really save the earth or kick up costs for everyone. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence checks it out.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paper or plastic?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Now imagine being asked, paper or biodegradable compostable bag? It doesn't have the same ring and it's more expensive but it's the price San Francisco residents have to pay to get rid of hundreds of millions of plastic bags littering the city.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plastic, I can grip it better and hold the bag better than I can with the paper.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think it's good if it's going to cost the grocers more and the consumer more.
LAWRENCE: The California Grocers Association says regular plastic bags cost a penny or two. Paper is five to eight cents. Special biodegradable bags are 10 to 16 cents.
DAVE HEYLEN, CALIFORNIA GROCERS ASSOCIATION: Bags are a part of doing business. And so what can't be absorbed will have to be passed along to consumers.
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO: Nonsense. With all due respect, the Grocer's Association they have no one to blame but themselves.
LAWRENCE: Mayor Gavin Newsom says San Francisco considered charging grocers a fee on each plastic bag. The mayor says grocers use their political muscle at the state level and got the legislature to prohibit cities from imposing such a charge. With no power to slow the spread of plastic bags, the city banned them.
NEWSOM: When they double bag with plastic and they bring 10 or 15 of these things home, they have to realize where these things go and they end up in landfills and don't biodegrade.
LAWRENCE: Despite the encouraging notice which most people never read, the city officials say only 1% or 2% of these plastic bags ever got recycled. They're hoping for better luck, convincing shoppers to bring their own. This is just the latest effort to go green. Last month, San Francisco asked everyone in the city to turn off all nonessential lights for one hour. Earlier this year, the mayor stopped the city from buying bottled water. This time, bay area shoppers won't be alone. Oakland and Paris have passed similar bans on plastic bags and it's up for a vote in London. Chris Lawrence, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: That brings us to our "Quick Vote" question of the morning. Should plastic bags be banned at grocery stores? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. Right now, 80% of you saying yes, they should be banned. 20% saying no. We will update those votes throughout the morning.
MARCIANO: Paper or plastic for you?
CHETRY: Well, I have a dog.
MARCIANO: Oh, right. That's right. We went through this. I understand this.
CHETRY: Unfortunately I need plastic.
MARCIANO: You know you can return those plastic bags to the grocer. I'm not sure they want them after you've helped your dog with them.
CHETRY: I don't think they do either.
MARCIANO: Anyway, we'll come one a solution for that at some point I hope. All right, on to other stories. A grinch on the loose is going to top your "Quick Hits". Police in Frederick, Maryland are looking for a man who made off with a Salvation Army collection can and two bells last week at a grocery store. Police say the grinch didn't stop there. They say he actually rang the bell and collected donations for himself at a nearby McDonald's and department store. That is cold for sure.
They thought they'd get a kick out of meeting David Beckham, instead they were left in tears. What happened and what Beckham is saying, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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MARCIANO: Welcome back. If you're just joining us, here's a look at what's making headlines this is morning. Details on a high-level resignation in the U.S. senate, just coming in to us this morning. Sources tell CNN that Senator Trent Lott intends to resign by the end of the year. Lott ran for re-election in 2006. More on this at the top of the hour.
And a devastating crash in northeastern Arkansas. A charter bus and a pickup truck and an 18-wheeler. Right now, all eastbound lanes of i-40 are shut down while police investigate.
And cooler more humid weather is helping firefighters get control of the latest wildfire in Malibu. 53 houses have been destroyed. 34 others damaged since the fire broke out on Saturday.
And a series of earthquakes rocked Indonesia overnight. At least three people are confirmed dead, including a 5-year-old boy. More than 40 people have been hurt and are being treated for broken bones and head injuries after their homes collapsed. The most powerful earthquake measured 6.4 and triggered a brief tsunami warning.
CHETRY: David Beckham, international soccer sensation accused of snubbing a group of young cancer survivors. The kids were waiting for Beckham, they were dressed in his jersey and holding stuffed kangaroos that they wanted to give him as gifts, when he arrived at his hotel in Australia. Beckham though walked right past them, much to the dismay of 14-year-old Emma Bayers. Bayers suffered from leukemia. Thanks to two bone marrow transplants, she is OK. Beckham says he didn't mean to walk past the kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BECKHAM, L.A. GALAXY: I didn't see children when I arrived at the hotel this morning. I went in the back way. I don't know whether they were in the front or I don't know, I didn't see but that's one thing that I would never have done, and never have done and never will do. So I'm more than willing to meet them wherever they want, whatever time they want. So, that's not what I do and not what I'm about. So I apologize to the children, but like I said, I never saw them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, the kids are expected to get another chance to meet Beckham before he leaves Australia. He's there with the L.A. Galaxy to play an exhibition against a team from Sydney.
So what is the must have toy this season? According to Toys "r" Us, the Nintendo Wii is still hot, even though it came out more than a year ago. And if you have the Wii or another game system you need to get "Guitar Hero III." That's apparently the hot game that you actually play the guitar. Anything Hannah Montana is considered hot, including the singing doll, the mat, the dancing mat and the tour bus. Also anything "High School Musical" considered hot for the kids from the DVD to the board game to the sing-along microphone.
MARCIANO: I have to try one of those Nintendo.
CHETRY: Anything Hannah Montana for you this year?
MARCIANO: Of course, I'm getting the whole setup.
CHETRY: All right. Great.
MARCIANO: A little Wii. That would be cool.
CHETRY: Right.
MARCIANO: A little Hannah, a little golf and bowling.
CHETRY: So, you actually, that's your physical, you're making the actual movements during the video game?
MARCIANO: And I think it's cheaper than the other one. You don't hold me to that.
CHETRY: I think it's a little bit cheaper but I heard it was impossible to get, very difficult to get in the stores.
MARCIANO: Well, maybe could you use some of your (pull), that wouldn't hurt.
All right. A Kennedy hospitalized tops your "Quick Hits". Eunice Kennedy Shriver has been admitted for a week at Massachusetts General. The hospital they won't say why. Shriver is the sister of Senator Edward Kennedy and the late John F. Kennedy. She is also the founder of Special Olympics.
Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan's wife apparently pulled one finishing move on her husband. That's a wrestling indication there. Linda Hogan has filed for divorce from the wrestler, whose real name is Terry Bollea. The Hulk says he didn't know about it. He responded to a reporter's question about the filing by saying "thanks for the great information." Linda Hogan has spent the past few weeks away from the couple's Florida home.
And if you're looking for discounts on some popular holiday toys, you better give those store flyers the second glance, after a recalled toy made it in some circulars, this weekend. The fallout ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: All right, well the results are in and even though there were big crowds heading out starting black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, it looks like not much spending took place over the weekend. The National Retail Federation said spending was down 3.5% over last year's black Friday weekend. In real dollars, it means, very funny, I only spend an average of $347.44. But we did bump, I think this is Ali. This is all Ali, right? The National Retail Federation says more than $147 million shoppers hit the malls. An increase of nearly 5 %. I know, you were out at the mall. Where you one of the pack? You didn't spend?
ALI VELSHI, CNN, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm totally one of the people who was out there but not spending money. Two things happened. One is that a lot of stores were open early, J.C. Penny and Kohl's opened at 4:00. The mall I was at said there was more traffic there. I definitely noticed more traffic because people had come out early. The other thing is these "doorbuster" sales were really big.
Now, let's talk about how this breaks down. Men spent more than women on "doorbusters." I think that's because a lot of these "doorbusters" tend to be electronics. Men spent an average of $393 over the weekend. Women $304. What were they buying? According to various sources, these were the hot items, digital photo frames which are actually kind of cool. Laptops, cashmere sweaters, according to the National Resale Federation because I would not have guessed that one. GPS we did see, those "doorbuster" GPS were all gone really fast, big, big discounts on them.
VELSHI: T.J. Holmes did buy one, by the way.
VELSHI: I couldn't. It was sold out at the mall I was at. It was $450, reduced to $250. I don't know who is buying the cashmere sweaters but congratulations. You all got a deal on it.
MARCIANO: Nice at this time of the year to shop. A little bit pricey, though but nice time to shop. You didn't buy anything but were out there cruising the malls with high school kids.
VELSHI: A lot of high school kids actually, Rob. That's interesting because when I was there about 5:00 in the morning Friday, a lot of young kids out there. And they were sort of saying I don't know why I'm here. The deals are good. So that's, we have another month to see how this all pans out.
CHETRY: Well, because at that age they don't mind crowds. They like to pack into concert halls. They don't mind crowds.
VELSHI: When I was that age I liked sleeping. At my age, I still like sleeping. I don't understand who these people are, who were out at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. They were chipper and fun, let me tell you.
MARCIANO: Are you a big Aqua Dots guy? VELSHI: Unfortunately not been a big Aqua Dots guy.
MARCIANO: You heard about the story.
VELSHI: They're still peddling it.
MARCIANO: Apparently, flipping around the circulars over the weekend. We'll talk more about the story coming up. Toys "R" Us is advertising Aqua Dots which has been recalled.
CHETRY: Yes, recalled because of concerns that when ingested, and some the kids ingested it, it actually turns into the same compound as the date rape drug GHB. They've been pulled off the shelves but why are they showing up in circulars still? And they say the deals are good until 12/01/07. They're current in Target and Toys "R" Us. We're going to talk more about why the companies say it was a big mistake. The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
Final stretch, tight polls and tough talks, pulling out all stops in a battle for Iowa.
High sea rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was cold, it was wet.
CHETRY: Cruise passengers on abandoning ship in the freezing Antarctic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Plus coughing, suffering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
CHETRY: Now that cold medicines for kids are off the shelves, how can parents find relief and comfort for their sick, little ones on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome, it's Monday, November 26th. We're doing a lot of running around this morning. A busy news day on this Monday.
MARCIANO: I'm filling in for John Roberts. Every time I'm up here, I get my work out running around this studio. It's crazy. It's like calisthenics or actually a lot like...
CHETRY: Like cardio, how about that?
MARCIANO: Like (inaudible) as my mom would say.
CHETRY: Well, we'll start this morning with breaking news out of Washington. CNN learning that Senator Trent Lott will resign by the end of this year. Lott ran for re-election in 2006, saying he wanted to make sure that Mississippi was well represented after Hurricane Katrina. If he goes, he will be the 6th Republican senator to resign this session. His term is set to expire in 2012.
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