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Weather causes airport delays. Wolves surrounding joggers and attack one of their dogs. Creative last-minute gift ideas. There may be more to Da Vinci's the Last Supper than meets the eye. A choir of U.S. veterans share their gift.
Aired December 23, 2007 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: Hello again, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
First this hour: The pitch from Roger Clemens. Perhaps, the most accomplished pitcher of the past generation. Today, denying accusations of steroid use that threaten his reputation and his place among baseball greats. Ten days after the Mitchell Report, Clemens isn't yet answering questions. He says he'll do that later. Live now from New York with more on this, CNN's Jim Acosta. How are people responding to at least his response on the Web?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Fredricka, until these steroid allegations surfaced, Roger Clemens was considered a shoe-in for baseball's Hall of Fame. Now the age-defying 45-year- old, seven-time Cy Young Award winner is battling to clear his name.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice over): The rocket was firing on all cylinders in this brief message posted on Youtube.
ROGER CLEMENS: I'm angry about it, to be honest with you. It's hurtful to me and my family.
ACOSTA: One of the greatest pitchers in the history of the national pastime, Roger Clemens broke his silence and blatantly rejected allegations he used steroids.
CLEMENS: Let me be clear, the answer is no, I did not use steroids, human growth hormone and I've never done so.
ACOSTA: The denial comes less than two weeks after Senate majority leader, George Mitchell issued his devastating report on steroids in baseball.
GEORGE MITCHELL, MLB STEROIDS INVESTIGATOR: For more than a decade, there has been widespread, illegal use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players in Major League Baseball.
ACOSTA: The Mitchell Report is very specific, alleging back in 1998, that a trainer named Brian McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks over a several week period with needles that Clemens provided. That same trainer claims he also provided performance enhancing drugs to Yankees pitcher, Andy Pettitte who later admitted he briefly using human growth hormone to recover from an injury. Still, Clemens' attorney accused the Mitchell Report of relying on sources with "baggage."
RUSTY HARDIN, CLEMEN'S ATTORNEY: At the end of the day, what you're going to have to decide is whether the Mitchell Report was responsible in basing these allegations against Roger on the all sources they use and on all the investigation they do.
ACOSTA: Clemens predicts he will be vindicated, pointing to a correction that just appeared in the "Los Angeles Times." The paper have wrongly reported that Clemens was accused of steroid abuse by a former pitcher, Jason Grimsby (ph). But baseball fans we found at New York, (INAUDIBLE) sports bar were doubtful if there will be a rocket redemption.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know if I believe him or not. I kind of think the evidence shows he might have. And he should come clean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure that people use stuff all the time to enhance their performance. So who knows? Who really knows? Only he knows.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (on camera): And Clemens did not answer any questions during that appearance on Youtube. He says he will do that when he sits down with 60 MINUTES after Christmas. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Jim Acosta. Meantime, from shame and embarrassment to inspiration. It was indeed an inspirational day for the Buffalo Bills and their injured player Kevin Everett. Today, Everett attended the Bills' final home game and addressed his teammates before they hosted the New York Giants. Everett has been recovering from the spinal cord injury he suffered in the season's first game. Well, today, one of his teammates spoke out about the impact of Everett's injury.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT ROYAL, BUFFALO BILLS TIGHT END: When you see something like that happen, it becomes a reality and shows you any given play, (INAUDIBLE) the coach will tell you time and time again that you don't take it for granted it, because it could be your last one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Well, doctors feared that Kevin Everett would never walk again, but he's proven them wrong and continues in his rehabilitation.
Well, Chicago is not called the windy city for nothing. But today, brisk even by their standards. Winds up to 68 miles an hour forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights at O'Hare. It's all part of a massive storm system that's inundated the nation's midsection with snow and ice. And at least, eight deaths are being blamed on the storm. Bonnie Schneider is in the weather center and it is blustery out there.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, METEOROLOGIST: It is.
WHITFIELD: And that really is kind of an understatement, isn't it?
SCHNEIDER: You're right. In fact, the winds got so fierce that at times, in parts of Indiana, they were almost up to hurricane for strength, in south bed; we have winds of 72 miles per hour, very close to hurricane strength winds. We also had some fierce winds in an around Indianapolis. So strong that even the most large trees, the oldest trees came tumbling down. You can see this flag kind of blowing in the wind. That's the shot of 11th Street and some of the Colts fans were kind of like hovering over there. You can see them in just a minute. You know, bracing for the wind. But the wind did not improve. There's the large tree I was talking about and you can see it went right through a fence, just kind of missed the house although it did kind of get the exterior of it. So, dangerous because you never know which way those trees are going to fall and when they're going to fall and we're not out of the woods yet because we still have very fierce winds in Indiana right now. Take a look at the current conditions. We have a current temperature of 27 degrees, the winds are coming out of the southwest, as you see below is pulling away from the region, but you'll find snow in an around Wisconsin system, heavy snow there. We have a very, very strong area of low pressure, a deep low pressure center and that's why we're getting such fierce wind with that storm because we do have a strong pressure and this high pressure is further to the east, so unfortunately, as long as we still have this low, we're still going to have the wind and it's going to be a while before it completely dissipates. So, the advisories will continue through the night for tonight, not only for wind but for blowing snow as low as that snow is falling and we get the fierce winds, it's going to create visibility problems all the way east toward Michigan and even in around the great lakes further off to the east. You can see that snow-rain line changing right as you head from Cleveland to Aerie. But look at this heavy, heavy rain coming up much of New York. It's been just a dreary day there and a windy day one as well. And Fred, if you're wondering, are flights affected? Oh, yeah, the delays are the longest they've been all weekend long. And coming up, I'll show you how long they are.
WHITFIELD: And you know what? Overall this year, it's just been a tough traveling year. And this takes the cake now as we head into the New Year. All right. Thanks a lot, bonnie.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
WHITFIELD: Well, it's miserable but the pictures are pretty too. Pretty enough for a postcard in fact. I-reporter, Gary Jordan sent us these images from just outside, Bida, Oregon, isn't just gorgeous? And the foothills east of Eugene. He says, they got about a foot of snow yesterday. Jordan is a night watchman at a helicopter logging company and he shot this photo of a snow-covered chopper awaiting its next flight.
Well, it is indeed a race against time and it has nothing to do with buying gifts. Presidential hopefuls are trying to woo voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and both are in early January. That we know, you know by now. We have the best political team on television covering all the events in the granite state and the Hawkeye state. CNN's John King is in New Hampshire and Jessica Yellin now in Iowa. Let's speaking with Jessica, Jessica among the Democrats, three candidates are really in a tight race there.
JESSICA YELLIN, DES MOINES, IOWA: They truly are, Fredricka. It is so close here that none of the three front-runners clearly feels that they have any kind of a cushion and they're all trying to appeal to one another's supporters. This weekend, directly taking on one another by name on the issues. Barack Obama went after John Edwards, essentially charging him with hypocrisy. John Edwards, as you know, has made special interests, fighting special interests as central part of his campaign and Obama this weekend is accusing Edwards of allowing special interests group to run ads for him in the state of Iowa. Edwards says he has no control over the group but Obama clearly trying to call into question how committed John Edwards is to fighting the powers that have run Washington for so long as they frame, those are the terms in which Obama painting this side -- on the other side, Obama also taking on Senator Hillary Clinton on the issue of her foreign policy experience. Obama saying that he actually has more support from Clinton's -- the Clinton administration foreign policy advisors than Senator Hillary Clinton has herself. Well, she pointed out that's simply not true if you add up the numbers. But it still led to this friction and a fight over the foreign policy issue and now, Senator Clinton this evening coming out with a slew of foreign policy endorsements, including one from President Bill Clinton's former Defense Secretary William Perry, so, a lot of back and forth on substantive matters. Which person has a new vision for foreign policy? Who is going to fight special interests, clearly vying for every vote in the state? And I can tell you they now have to go into quite a down period. Tomorrow, only Chris Dodd is going to be campaigning in this state on the Democratic side as most of the other campaigns tying to ramp it down and not inundate Iowa's voters during the Christmas holiday. But, expect to see it pick up quickly on the 26th. I guess they figure.
WHITFIELD: Too much can backfire, huh? They want a wear up -
YELLIN: Absolutely. You got it.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jessica Yellin, thanks so much in the Hawkeye state. Well, of course, all is not won or lost in Iowa. There's another critical test just days after the Iowa caucuses. The nation's first primary and that's in New Hampshire. CNN's chief national correspondent, John King is live in Manchester. So, how is the race shaping up there?
JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, it's a fascinating race, much like the race in Iowa. The issues portfolio a little bit different here, and it's also different this year, because usually there's a week or ten days between Iowa and New Hampshire, five days this time. So, we're 11 days from Iowa, 16 days from New Hampshire. You might think the former Massachusetts governor, the guy from next door, would be the overwhelming favorite on the Republican side, but he woke up to the morning paper this morning, and Mitt Romney saw this, John McCain closing the gap in New Hampshire. A new "Boston Globe" poll essentially showing a dead heat. So, the former Massachusetts governor's ahead, the man who won New Hampshire in 2000 on the Republican side, John McCain is in second. Rudy Giuliani a distant third. He was in New Hampshire today as well. On the Democratic race, you can just rewind the tape and play Jessica Yellin again. You've got a three-way dead heat between Obama, Clinton and Edwards. The new Globe Poll shows Obama slightly ahead but essentially a dead heat among the Democrats, a very close race among the Republicans. It's wide open, Fredricka, and yes, I work in Washington most of the time. The three words is less spoken, I don't know if you ask me who is going to win, that's your answer.
WHITFIELD: All right. Will dead heat simply means that they're not going to take any time off for the holidays, either are they?
J. KING: Well, they take a day or so off. I was just chatting with Governor Romney inside. He was actually asking me if I'm going to go home to see any family in Boston because he knows I'm from there. And I asked him what about him; you're taking two days off now. This was his last event before the Christmas holiday and he said, no, he says he's going to go to the office all day tomorrow on Christmas eve. He will take Christmas day off to be with his family and then back on the morning of the 26th, Fredricka, all of the candidates back out campaigning and also look for him on the morning of the 26th, the more political ads to come back up. The candidates have taken their negative ads any point of contrast as off TV for the Christmas holiday. But, I would bet when the morning news comes on the 26th, the ads come back up, too.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. Well, they and you must be exhausted.
J. KING: I get a little tired but you know, I do this because it's fun, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: I know it is fun. All right. Well, thanks so much, John King and hopefully you can get a little time to, you know, take a breather. Relax a little. Enjoy the holidays. All right. For all the day's political stories, logon to our special political news Web site, it's at CNNPolitics.com.
The search for a very bold suspect is now over. Take a look at this. Police say you can see the guy try but thankfully failed to actually kidnap a child. Can you believe that? Also ahead, cheers and tears in a racially charged case involving a black man who shot and killed a white teenager.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Defense attorneys say they plan to appeal the guilty verdict in a racially charged case in New York. Last night, a Long Island jury convicted John White of killing an unarmed white teen during a confrontation outside the man's home. The dispute began with an Internet threat that was falsely attributed to White's son. White ended up shooting and killing the teen he said because he feared for his family's safety. The jury did not agree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN CICCIARO SR. VICTIM'S FATHER: I just thank God and everybody saw through their lies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CICCIARO: The jury saw through it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The truth prevailed.
FRED BREWINGTON, WHITE'S ATTORNEY: John White and his family were scared to death. And the fact that that was not taken in and considered as an important aspect of the justification to go out and protect your home and protect your family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: White was convicted of second degree manslaughter. He could face up to 15 years in prison.
Police in Los Angeles believe they now have a possible sexual predator in custody. The arrest came just days after a camera caught the suspect trying to walk away with a four-year-old girl. CNN's Kara Finnstrom has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Police point out a man brazenly trying to kidnap a crying four-year-old from an apartment complex while security guard was out of sight.
CAPT. JORGE VILLEGAS, LOS ANGELES POLICE: He grabbed her, trying to escape with her. Another child is calling out for her. Where he eventually puts down the child.
FINNSTROM: That boy's screams and thugs may have saved the little girl's life. The drama ends when attacker, depicted in this police sketch, calmly walks away.
VILLEGAS: He's probably not a rookie. If it was the first, he didn't appear to be afraid of what was his surroundings, of what was happening. He looked like he was especially targeting that group of kids.
FINNSTROM (on camera): And police believe that about an hour earlier just down the street, the same man grabbed and fondled a teenage girl. He's now been arrested in connection with both those attacks as well as two earlier attacks in the same area.
VILLEGAS: This person is a danger to the community. He certainly a danger to kids and quite possibly a sexual predator.
ANGELA CARDENAS, NEIGHBOR: No, it don't matter if you have security cameras, you're not safe anywhere anymore. FINNSTROM: The National Center for Missing and Exploited children says high profile abductions by strangers are rare. But that statistic suggests the victims are most often girls who are abducted outdoors. Police say the response of that little boy who screamed until the attacker let the girl go is a textbook example of how children can fight back.
VILLEGAS: Somebody had a conversation about complete stranger being with them, call enough of him, he recognized that what was going on was not correct, it wasn't the right thing to do. So, essentially he put a stop to it. It's quite possible he could have saved her life.
FINNSTROM: Experts say teach your children that anyone invading their personal space is dangerous. Tell them to run away from dangers and make a scene, kicking, screaming and how loudly yelling, this person is not my parent. In this apartment complex with locked gates, security cameras and even a patrolling security guard, what stopped the attacker ended up being a child. Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And coming up: This woman is a real source of inspiration. She lost her home and everything in it but you would never know it, not even hurricane Katrina can take her spirits. We're keeping the holidays in focus next in NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, congratulations to them. Well, sometimes the hustle and bustle of the holidays can simply knock us off track about the spirit of the season. But a New Orleans woman who lost everything during hurricane Katrina is reminding us all of the important things. CNN photo journalist, Kevin Myers introduces us to bell ringer Janice Johnson
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANICE JOHNSON, SALVATION ARMY BELL RINGER: Hi, hi are y'all doing. Jesus loves you. I'm a Salvation Army bell ringer. Hi, how are you today? You are so beautiful. Now, you can ring a bell so that angel can get they wings. Oh, they got their wings. God bless you. Merry Christmas. I am in the Salvation Army and the army of the Lord. So, I'm just a soldier right now, fighting for souls. Hallelujah. I lost everything in Katrina. I lost everything. I lost all my furniture, I didn't have a house to go to. I could have gave up, but no, I found peace in Jesus and that motivated me and made me go do it. OK, are you ready? Set, wooah. Very good. You have a blessed day. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody. Because Jesus is the reason for the season. Hallelujah. Merry Christmas from the Salvation Army.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And CNN is helping you keep the holidays in focus. Some very talented CNN photo journalists from around the country teamed up to put together a series of holiday stories for you. And you can see more by logging on to CNN.com and check out the living section.
Travel season is getting into full swing. Our Bonnie Schneider is keeping a close eye on the skies for us and it's crowded and nasty and all that yucky stuff.
SCHNEIDER: Fredricka, this is the worst day of all three days we've been getting ready for the Christmas holiday and folks wanted to get where they're going. Take a look at all the planes in the sky, there's over 5,200 of them right now and many of them are still in the sky waiting to land because of the delays that are so lengthy. Coming up, I will show you the super long delays and when they're expected to improve.
WHITFIELD: Hopefully soon. All right. Thanks, Bonnie. Also straight ahead: The women who were able to escape harm, but their pets were not. A pack of wolves apparently pretty hungry and afraid of nothing. An amazing story straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hello again, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the NEWSROOM. Here's what's happening right now. Presidential hopefuls work harder this Christmas weekend. They're campaigning at two politically crucial states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Democrat Barack Obama is taking a bus tour of several Iowa towns today. The caucuses there are just 11 days a way, and New Hampshire primary, well, it's just five days after that. Republican Rudy Giuliani, back on the trail this weekend after a trip to the hospital earlier in the week with a bad headache and flu-like symptoms.
And Major League pitcher, Roger Clemens has posted a video on the Web adamantly denied that he's ever used steroids or human growth hormone. His name is included in the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball. Clemens says he'll talk more about the allegations in a 60 MINUTES interview next month.
Well, some major roads have reopened after being shut down by blinding snow and chain reaction crashes. The winter storm triggered pile-ups in at least three states yesterday. In Kansas, one person was killed in a 30-vehicle accident on Interstate 70 near Topeka. And officials had to close a 40-mile stretch. In Texas, another person was killed in a 50-vehicle accident on I-40 near Amarillo. Sixteen people were injured there. Blowing snow also triggered a 40-car pile- up on Interstate 29 near St. Joseph, Missouri. Whiteout conditions and accidents forced a 100-mile shutdown there. It was a real mess yesterday. And really it's still a mess in a lot of places today. Bonnie Schneider knows that well.
SCHNEIDER: You know, it's worse today in the air than it is on the road. Yesterday we had as you mentioned all the pile-ups and just the heavy, heavy snow. Topeka, Kansas yesterday got eight inches of snow which shuttered a record and actually had thunder snow, which is very rare and usual, almost like a thunderstorm during a snowstorm where you get those big, big drops of heavy snow. But what we're facing today is the extreme weather in terms of wind. It's been rough in Indiana, I mean, really rough. We've had numerous power outages and trees down. Take a look at this video just coming into us now and you can see the fierce wind knock down that huge tree right on top of a fence. Not directly into a home but it did clipped kind of the front porch area. You can see the bricks on the bottom part of that structure holding up the porch. Good thing that porch didn't come down but you'll never know which way these trees are going to hit and luckily this one didn't go landed into someone's home. But we're looking at cold conditions and strong winds for the persisting straight through this busy travel time Sunday afternoon. This low pressure is so strong, such a deep pressure system that it's merely forcing the cold air down and creating this huge, huge vacuum where we're getting the wind coming in. And ahead of this storm as it advances to the northeast, we have moisture coming up from the south bringing heavy rain in and around New York, New Jersey, and of course the wind.
Here's the latest in Bellport on the south shore of Long Island. The winds coming up from the southeast 21 miles per hour with gusts stronger than that. Lebanon, Pennsylvania has winds about 18 miles an hour. And up towards Oneonta, Upstate New York, we have the strong winds. So the winds are fierce.
Combined winds with flights trying to get to where you're going -- talk about slowdowns. These are some of the longest delays we've seen in weeks at the airports. Some of them are up to three hours or more. Chicago has delays 3:25. Minneapolis, ground delays due to snow. And Montreal's reporting long delays as well. Check out the delays at JFK, 3:25, so almost 3.5 hours time.
And more delays, two pages. This just came in now. Atlanta is reporting delays because of wind. And the departure delays are increasing. Ground delays around LaGuardia, 1:45. Expect this to continue tonight and possibly early tomorrow. We're still going to have the snowy conditions and the strong wind and cool and wet weather and overcast skies in the southeast and overcast clouds with the low ceiling. That also causes a slowdown.
So, Fredricka, unfortunately, we're looking at all these planes, over 5,200 of them, slowed down.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Oh, my God. Yes. It really is. Wow, it's going to be a real damp Christmas, almost all the way across the map there.
SCHNEIDER: I think so.
WHITFIELD: That is once you get there, right?
SCHNEIDER: You'll get there, it just takes a while.
WHITFIELD: Bonnie, thank you.
This is something you do not hear about every day. A pack of hungry wolves surrounding three female joggers and then attacking one of their dogs. This incident happened near Anchorage, Alaska. One wolf pack has lost its fear of people and sees pets as prey.
Andrea Gusty of affiliate KTVA has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALYCIA BELERGROHSLEIN, SURROUNDED BY WOLVES: They were not afraid of us. They were really close.
ANDREA GUSTY, REPORTER, KTVA (voice-over): It was quick. So quick, the three friends didn't know what was happening until it was too late.
BELERGROHSLEIN: And they were so quiet. They just came right up on us. They just came right up on us. They were quick.
GUSTY: A back of at least seven wolves surrounded the three women and their dogs as they jogged on Artillery Road. The lead wolves came within feet, circling the women as they tried to get away.
CAMAS BERKEMEYER, SURROUNDED BY WOLVES: I was rainbowing my pepper spray and they fell back a little bit. But as soon as we would turn our backs to try to go, they would run up on us. And then we would turn around and start screaming again and I would spray my pepper spray.
BELERGOHSLEIN: They just kept coming. They're so big and so many and they started howling. And we thought they were circling us. And they got us really panicked but we just kept screaming.
GUSTY: Alycia, Camas and their friend were a mile and a half from their cars. All of their dogs were leashed because they'd read about the warnings of other attacks. They were careful not to run and instead the women walked backwards, screaming to keep the animals away and trying to keep everyone safe.
BELERGOHSLEIN: I love my dog with all my heart, but I can't jeopardize my friends. And if that's what they wanted, I didn't know whether -- to leave him.
GUSTY: The women held tight to the leashes and were able to keep the wolves at bay. But not before the pack attacked her Camas' American bull dog, Buddy.
BERKEMEYER: My dog did get attacked by the wolf, three wolves. He fought his way out as I was pulling.
GUSTY: The women weren't physically hurt and buddy had to have surgery to fix his gashes and bites left behind by the wolves.
Camas worries the pack could attack again, this time only worse.
BERKEMEYER: They were not afraid of us. I'm afraid, if I was out here by myself, they would attack me. They were not afraid.
GUSTY: Wildlife experts say wolves are smart animals and learn quickly, which means the pack will get worse before it gets better. RICK SINNOT, ALASKA FISH AND GAME DEPARTMENT: They figure out a dog is easy to kill and it's food for them. And they can just come to the conclusion that there's more dogs than moose and let's just start eating the dogs for now. I'm not sure they've reached that point but they're working on that concept right now.
GUSTY: In the meantime, the only way to stop the wolf attacks is to stay away and not give the wolves an opportunity to take their attacks to the next level.
Andrea Gusty, CBS 11 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: News across America, a Florida couple is accused of trying to sell their 2-month-old baby for $30 at a car wash. The pair allegedly made a sales pitch in a bank parking lot. Authorities have taken custody of the baby.
An Ohio corrections officer was at the right place at the right time. Look at that video there. Police say that he stopped the robbery suspect in a Dairy Queen in Columbus. He and his family were later treated to a free meal.
And in Trumbell, Connecticut, police are looking for an arsonist who torched a string of medical transport vans. An arsonist hit the same company last year and destroyed 14 vans.
Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, always making headlines. This time he's left Cuba after a four-day visit. Chavez met with Cuba's acting president, Raoul Castro, on Saturday. They signed agreements to build a new power plant and to expand Cuba's oil sector. Chavez signed 14 agreements that deepen his country's investment in the island. Chavez also reportedly met with Fidel Castro.
Italy's prime minister tells the Afghan president you can count on us. Prime Minister Romano Prodi met with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, pledging his country's long-term commitment. Italy has about 2,400 troops in the NATO force there. The leaders of France and Australia have also vowed to stand by Afghanistan.
In Thailand, an ousted prime minister is poised for a comeback. Early election results from Bangkok show that his allies have won nearly half the seats in Thailand's parliamentary elections today. Thaksin Shinawatra has been living in exile. He was booted from office in a military coup last year, but he remains popular among the rural majority. His People Power Party campaigned on a platform of bringing him back to the country.
Perhaps you still haven't wrapped up your holiday shopping. Well, don't give up. We've got some pretty whacky and crazy, but some might say practical gift ideas that could save you time and money.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) Hi, I'm Sergeant Brenna (ph) Larson in LSA Anaconda. I just want to say hi to my mom and dad and family and friends back home in Brookham Park, Minnesota. I miss you and love you and happy holidays.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: It's getting down to the wire with only a day and change to wrap up your Christmas shopping. But if you're looking for ideas, we've got you covered. Creative consultant and fashion stylist Daphne Shirley joins us from New York.
Good to see you, Daphne.
DAPHNE SHIRLEY, CREATIVE CONSULTANT & FASHION STYLIST: Good to see you. Happy holidays.
WHITFIELD: Thank you very much. Happy holidays. So I've got a little bit more than a day which to shop. I've got at least one more gift to get but I'm stumped. What do I do?
SHIRLEY: Don't worry. First of all, I went to the drugstore, the grocery store and even the gas station and found some great gift baskets. I thought maybe we would start with a few tips for, you know, when you're putting the gift basket together. It sounds crazy, but go into the drugstore or grocery store and you'll be overwhelmed with choices. So pick a theme...
WHITFIELD: You'll be overwhelmed with choices?
SHIRLEY: There's a lot of products in those stores.
WHITFIELD: There is a lot, but stuff I want to give?
SHIRLEY: I'm going to help you guide you through this. Pick a theme, stay with the theme. Another way that you can make a gift basket is choose a color and pick all the products or goods that are pink and blue and put them together.
Another thing to keep in mind is your gift recipient's interests. If you're into wine or they drive all around and always in their car, think of what they do and what they're about. So that can help you.
And then packaging. So you can find some sort of interesting vessel to put your gift -- you don't need a basket. You can make an apron for a hostess gift or a bowl or Styrofoam cooler or a shoebox wrapped in wrapping paper.
Add some natural touches is my last tip. So a pipe cone or a sprig of greenery.
WHITFIELD: To make it look like you planned hard and was not a desperate measure to pull it all together.
SHIRLEY: Yes. You waited to the last minute, you've got to add a little panache. WHITFIELD: We got to start with the gas station. I'm intrigues. I think gas station, the little marks there, I'm thinking fast food and thinking supplies for your car.
SHIRLEY: Supplies for your car. This is something I pulled together, a car emergency kit. Now, I pulled flares for the road. I've got a blanket and I wrapped the blanket in jumper cables, Fix-a- Flat, starter fluid, gloves. So it's everything that you might need. If your car breaks down, that gift recipient is going to be happy to have that.
WHITFIELD: Zany, but practical. And, say, you're in I guess regular kind of drugstore and you're thinking of interests and you know, you know what, friend really loves to watch TV.
SHIRLEY: OK. Next I have the Styrofoam cooler. This is the junk-food junkie couch potato kit. I've got great snacks, nuts and chips and pretzels, salsa. You can add a DVD, a copy of the "TV Guide" and a fire log if they have a fireplace. Everything they need for a nice day hunkered in on the couch.
WHITFIELD: Then I've got the connoisseur friend who loves to wine and dine.
SHIRLEY: This is a great gift. $25, I got three bottles of wine. I chose a Gallo Twin Valley. I labeled them one, two, and three. Put them in paper bags and add in some cheese and apples and you have a great wine tasting kit. You can also choose some Riojas (ph) from Spain. I know those are really hot right now.
WHITFIELD: Wow. So stuff you can really pull together, because often you go or get a last-minute invitation to go to a friend's house or someone's hosting a dinner and you think, you know what, I didn't think to get them anything. So some of these stores are open, even on the holidays.
SHIRLEY: Right. And do we have the hostess -- I made a little kit for the hostess. In case you don't want to buy a bottle of wine, this is everything that your host or hostess might need. I've got carpet cleaner in case someone spills on their carpet, a Tide-To-Go pen. I've got Advil, a disposable camera and last, but not least, for the host up all night washing the dishes, I've got the concentrate cream. So everything your host might need instead of a bottle of wine.
WHITFIELD: That is so great. One time I was hosting a party and someone brought the hand towels, kind of holiday festive hand towels. I thought that was the cutest hostess gift. It stood out even more so than the wine.
SHIRLEY: You thought of your host, the person taking care of you during the holidays. So you can put some great things together with a little ingenuity.
WHITFIELD: That was very ingenious and a lot of fun.
Daphne Shirley, thanks so much and Merry Christmas.
SHIRLEY: Merry Christmas to you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Appreciate.
Well, how about music found in Da Vinci's famous mural. Does the last supper have a soundtrack?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Leonardo Da Vinci's the last supper, you know the image. Well, it's one of history's most treasured paintings. But there might be more to the masterpiece than meets the eye. There might be something for the ear.
Our Jennifer Eccleston reports on a musician's amazing find.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This could be the first painting with its very own soundtrack. It is, of course, Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. Italian musician Giovanni Marie Pala says he discovered music in the mural, a real-life Da Vinci code.
GIOVANNI MARIE PALA, ITALIAN MUSICIAN: The music is dramatic.
ECCLESTON: The 15th century masterpiece depicts the moment Jesus tells the Apostles one of them will betray him.
PALA (through translation): The music emphasizes that precise moment. That is what the melody is for, a soundtrack to enhance this wonderful art by Leonardo.
ECCLESTON: Leonardo's enigmatic paintings, the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, has fascinated people for centuries and have inspired almost limitless theories of veiled meanings and codes.
ACTOR: We've witnessed the biggest cover-up in human history.
ECCLESTON: Dan Brown's runaway best seller "The Da Vinci Code" and its movie adaptation.
(on camera): Many Renaissance artists incorporated cryptic elements into their paintings. It was considered fashionable at the time. Leonardo Da Vinci often wrote in code. When jotting down ideas, he did so from right to left, a form of mirror writing.
(voice-over): When Giovanni Marie Pala started to think like the great master.
PALA: Right left.
(Through translation): It was the key that allowed me to shed light on the hidden melody in the Last Supper. ECCLESTON: By overlying a five-line musical staff, again, from right to left, Pala says he found notes in the placement of the loaves of bread and the disciple's hands. The sequence, a 40-second solemn hymn, he says, to be played on an organ, as was the custom for religious music during Leonardo's time.
PALA (through translation): There is an "F" in the point where there is Thomas with his finger pointed, the finger that will touch Jesus' wounds after the resurrection. It is a dramatic note.
ECCLESTON: And a dramatic theory. Renaissance experts long believed Leonardo left music in his masterpieces but Pala, an art lover, but not an expert, is the first to locate and publish it.
PALA (through translation): Leonardo used to say in every the work all the knowledge has to present. So what is the Last Supper, not only the depiction but the work's perspective and technique? All these elements generate messages that he chose to leave for us.
ECCLESTON: As in Leonardo's time, discovery and invention invites criticism. There will be scrutiny and intrigue over the findings, but that, Pala says, is exactly what the great artist and his art intended.
Jennifer Eccleston, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Mysterious and kind of eerie.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Fredricka, good to see you.
WHITFIELD: Hi, Rob, How are you?
MARCIANO: I love the red with the Poinsettias.
WHITFIELD: You know, trying to blend in here with the foliage.
MARCIANO: You're going a great job.
WHITFIELD: How are you doing?
MARCIANO: Tony Harris, I think he's just out shopping, so he's a little under the weather.
WHITFIELD: We could tell yesterday.
MARCIANO: I'm going to be here at 7:00, filling his rather large shoes.
WHITFIELD: We're glad you're here.
MARCIANO: We've got a couple things we want to go over. There's a trial, a verdict came out of Long Island. You heard about this. A manslaughter trial verdict of a Long Island man. He's black. There were a group of white teenagers that came to his place, a confrontation and one of the teenagers ended up dead. So racial tensions abound with this case.
Coming up at 7:00, we'll talk with legal analysis Ken O'Cauffee (ph) to ask him just how far you should go to protect your family. Because this man was allegedly protecting his son from this group of white teenagers.
Also, there's a MySpace angle in there. Which, what kind of a legal basis do MySpace threats have?
WHITFIELD: That MySpace thing is kind of getting out of control.
MARCIANO: I'm staying away from it. It seems to cause nothing but trouble, so that will be one of our legal questions.
Also, you know Youssef? The holiday season.
WHITFIELD: What an incredible little boy. It's an incredible story.
MARCIANO: And our viewers are opening up their hearts and purse strings for sure. So we're continuing to following up on this story. The 5-year-old boy, an Iraqi, disfigured when he was doused with gasoline and set on fire. But your donations and the miracle of medical technology, Youssef is getting the reconstructive surgery he needs. That poignant story is coming up at 7:00 and 10:00.
WHITFIELD: Can't get enough of that, because just to watch the transformation. It's so inspiring on so many levels.
MARCIANO: So there's no real reason to turn the channel, you know?
WHITFIELD: Yeah, just keep it right there. In fact, toss out the remote all together.
MARCIANO: Listen, the Patriots are going to win. They're killing the Dolphins right now, so there's really no big game to watch.
WHITFIELD: That's right. There would be some surprises in your hour, right? That's why you want to tune in.
MARCIANO: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: Good to see you too, Rob and happy holidays.
WHITFIELD: Well, how about this? Once homeless, they've come in from the cold now, these veterans now members of a unique choir. Their inspiration sound and story next. You don't want to miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: This holiday season, a choir made up of U.S. veterans is sharing their gift. But behind the music, there's a story you wouldn't expect.
Kara Finnstrom reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're a choir veterans warmly applauded everywhere.
(SINGING)
FINNSTROM: But not long ago, they say they were in the ranks of the shoddy.
GEORGE HILL, CHOIR DIRECTOR: Living in cardboard boxes, abandoned buildings, vacant cars. I was a hopeless addict, alcoholic.
FINNSTROM: Everyone in this choir was once homeless.
HILL: This is my favorite tree. This is kind of one of my little sanctuaries, because this is where I would sleep.
FINNSTROM: George Hill leads the New Directions choir. He returned from confidence in Korea with a healthy body, but a badly wounded soul.
HILL: I felt like I was getting ready to die.
FINNSTROM: Hill lived on L.A. streets for 12 years.
HILL: The loneliness, the heartache, the lack of family members, the lack of a job, the lack of self-esteem.
FINNSTROM: In the midst of his drug and alcohol addicted darkness this ex-Marine says he found light singing in this tunnel in MacArthur Park.
HILL: When you sing, a lot of things happen. I can sing my despair away. When I would sing a few hours, I would come out of this tunnel refreshed and renewed. When I came in here, sometimes on the verge of suicide.
FINNSTROM (on camera): It would ultimately be here at New Directions, the veterans administration program, that George Hill got the help need to get off drugs and off the streets. It would be here that he started the choir, not performing at venues like the Democratic National Convention and in movie stars' homes. And it is now here that his music is helping heal others, marred by lives of pain.
CARLTON GRIFFIN, CHOIR MEMBER: My rap sheet is probably longer than this table.
FINNSTROM (voice-over): Before Carlton Griffin's life started to unravel, he was a Navy recruit chief petty officer.
GRIFFIN: I basically ripped my vocal cords. I didn't know it, though.
FINNSTROM: Carlton, who always loved singing, lost his voice while screaming military chants. With work, he's retrained his vocal chords and the once high tenor is now the ground rumbling baritone he dreamed of being since childhood.
Carlton and the choir say their biggest joy is performing for fellow soldiers still struggling with homelessness.
GRIFFIN: We've got this miracle that -- these miracles that were thrown upon us.
FINNSTROM: Their hope? To help save more men and women they would not leave on the battlefield, and now refuse to forget on the streets.
Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And then this. Guess who's getting a GPS for Christmas? Baby Jesus, or at least a production of. That's what it's come down to in Bal Harbour, Florida, after a nativity scene's baby Jesus was stolen despite being bolted down. The replacement will be monitored by satellite just in case, as will Mary and Jesus. Yes, believe it.
All right, "Lou Dobbs this Week" starts right now.
UNIDENTIFIED HOST: Tonight, a new warning to Christmas shoppers: Beware of toys from Communist China.
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