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American Morning
Deadly Tiger Attack; Deadly Mudslides in Indonesia; Fight for Iowa
Aired December 26, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Roberts.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Alina Cho in New York. Kiran has morning off.
ROBERTS: It's going to be a nonstop run to the caucuses and the New Hampshire primary coming up.
We begin in San Francisco. A shocking end to Christmas day at the zoo. The Siberian tiger broke loose and attacked, killing one man and critically wounding two other men. The tiger had already killed one man and was mauling another when the tiger lunged toward them, they shot it dead. It's not the first time this tiger has attacked.
CNN's Dan Simon is live in the San Francisco Zoo for us this morning. Dan, what's the latest from there?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, John.
Well, zoo personnel at a total loss to explain how this 350-pound Siberian tiger was able to escape its cage or enclosure. That enclosure is surrounded by a 15-foot wall moat and a 20-foot wall. In fact, one zoo official telling us there is no way it could have gotten through a door. It literally would of had to leap over its own exhibit.
This happened just after 5:00 p.m., about an hour before the zoo closes. The tiger first attacked a man right outside of the enclosure, killed him right on the spot. Then it went about 300 yards to the outdoor cafe at the zoo, attacked two more people. All three of the victims are men, believed to be in their 20s.
When officers got here at the scene, the tiger was still in attack mode. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. KEN SMITH, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT: The zoo was in lockdown and now it's turned over to the police department right now. Our guys have gone in and swept the location to make sure we don't have any victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Well, when officers got here to the scene, the tiger was about to continue attacking one of those two additional victims. The officers took out their handguns, there were four officers, the tiger then made a move on the officers. The officers then shot and killed the tiger. As for those two victims who survived the attack, we are told they are in serious, but stable condition -- John?
ROBERTS: Dan, what cuts about this tiger's history? We mentioned as we were coming to you it's not the first time this tiger attacked. What other incident was it involved with?
SIMON: Right, John. Almost a year ago to the day, the same tiger, the tiger's name is Tatiana, attacked a trainer during a public feeding demonstration. At the time, zoo officials made the decision not to euthanize the animal. They ended up fortifying that area somehow. Obviously, it wasn't good enough because you had this incident yesterday. Again, still so many questions surrounding how this animal was somehow able to escape.
ROBERTS: Dan Simon for us in the San Francisco Zoo, thanks very much.
We want to get more perspective on this attack and we're joined by Jack Hanna on the telephone. He is the host of Jack Hanna's End of the Wild, world renowned animal specialist.
Jack, you know, we saw this with Siegfried and Roy a few years back that the animals can be complacent one second and then they can go on the attack next. They are such unpredictable animals.
JACK HANNA, DIRECTOR EMERITUS, COLUMBUS ZOO: Right. You got to remember, 95 of the animals in the zoos come from other zoological parks. A wild animal is like a loaded gun and can go off at any time. This is just what mother nature gave these animals. A tiger is an incredible creature. I've seen them take down a water buffalo in less than 30 seconds.
I'm not sure how this animal got out. No one knows whether it came out of the back or someone left a door open. There are athletes that do everything every year that we can't believe. When the tiger makes a kill, it usually go ahead for the upper part of the body and that could be fatal to anyone. 145 million people went to zoos last year and, yes, accidents happened but when you look at the number of people we educate in the zoological world, it's really a safe place to go to.
ROBERTS: Are you familiar with the zoo and the tiger enclosure? As you said, Jack, without some sort of human component involved in this, could the tiger have gotten out?
HANNA: Well, you know, with these animals, you don't know. We do the best we can in the zoos. San Francisco is a great zoo. I would not say it couldn't. You know, I don't know because I don't know the entire details of this situation. But these animals are phenomenal creatures. They're magnificent. They are very powerful. They can leap a long ways. Again, I don't know how the animal got out.
ROBERTS: A lot of people will be looking to place blame here. Are these incidents ever the animal's fault?
HANNA: That's a very good question. No, because usually human error is involved. The animal is just being the animal, you know? These animals, you don't know what they're going to do and that is why we try to encourage people that don't know what they're doing not to have these creatures as pets or that kind of thing.
Most states have outlawed that now because you're dealing with a very dangerous thing and these folks who work in the zoo dedicate their lives to these animals but these accidents happen and we do everything we can to avoid them. Safety comes first in any zoological park.
ROBERTS: As Dan Simon mentioned, the tiger here, Tatiana, was involved in a similar, not exactly the same, but similar incident last year in which it ripped the arm off of its handler during a feeding demonstration and question whether the animal should have been put down and people are asking questions whether it was prudent to keep the animal alive. What do you think should have happened after that?
HANNA: I would not have put the animal down after that. The animal, itself, I don't know what the feeding situation was, got a hold of something. It's not the -- you got to remember, this isn't an animal out in the wild looking for food. Some tigers in the wild die from their stomachs exploding because they eat that much at one time. This animal grabbed this and did that.
I had a terrible accident in 1972 with a young boy in Tennessee who lost his arm to a lion that had to go acre -- to go in and pick up. These are things you never forget. Yet I pursued my career 40 years now trying to educate people and hopefully we've done more good than bad.
ROBERTS: We will keep watching the story and see how the investigation proceeds. Jack Hanna joining us on the phone. Good to talk to you and thanks for joining us.
Now let's go back up to New York and here's Alina.
CHO: As many as 67 people feared dead from landslides in Indonesia. Java the hardest hit of 1 hours of nonstop rain there and heavy flooding is making it tough to get to the victims in the disaster zone. This disaster comes on the three-year anniversary of the tsunami. An estimated 230,000 people were killed in 12 countries across two continents and they were remembered in ceremonies today. The world pledged close to $14 billion in aid and that money has been used to build roads and schools and more than 100,000 homes along the coast of Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh province.
Take a look at the dramatic progress made there. Two photos, they were released by the Aceh reconstruction and rehabilitation agency. One on the left taken in August 2005, a year and a half after the tsunami. The one on the right taken about a week and a half ago. You can see the progress. The roads and the houses rebuilt and even the vegetation has grown back. A white Christmas for people across the Rockies and the planes. A record seven inches of snow led to some flight delays and cancellations in Denver. United Airlines said it canceled 50 flights and there are still some delays this morning.
Reynolds Wolf is in for Rob Marciano at our weather update desk. A lot of snow in places like Denver on Christmas. What is the outlook for today?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Today is going to be a little bit easier for parts of, I would say, the Rockies. Moving into parts of the Midwest, we could see snow develop in places like the twin cities, certainly an area we have to watch out for.
In spite of that weather in the Midwest, we do have one ground stoppage to talk about that. That ground stoppage is going to be in Detroit this morning. Ground delay until 9:00 eastern time. So please, please take it easy at the airport and be kind to your neighbor and be sure to be patient. It could be a long morning for you.
Meanwhile, some other things we are seeing around the rest of the nation. Check out all of the air travel we have. This is our Google Earth flight tracker. It shows you how congested the air is. On the screen we've got little planes that are either taking off, landing or in mid flight so no question it's a very busy day and busy on the eastern seaboard and mid-morning hours, it's going to stack up across the nation.
In terms of rough weather today, we have extreme weather to deal with. It's this area of low pressure that is going to be dragging through eastern Texas through the piney wood section into parts of Louisiana in it could get heavy rain and damaging winds and maybe a spinning of a tornado but it looks like a chance of some snowfall. We will update you on the weather throughout the nation coming up across the morning.
CHO: Reynolds really incredible to see all of the planes crowded up on the east coast. Reynolds, thank you.
Back to you, John, in Washington.
ROBERTS: Thanks Alina. A lot of people going back home after the holiday.
New numbers out this morning say holiday spending is up 3.6 percent but retailers aren't thrilled about that because it's on the low end of what was expected. Target, the second largest retailer in the country, says its sales have fallen but if the numbers do go up it will only go up 1 percent or so. One expert says stores will get a boost in the weeks ahead when holiday gift cards are cashed in. Apparently, the holiday shopping season does not end with Christmas.
News of $4.5 billion deal this morning. Investor Warren Buffet is buying into Marman Holdings. It's an industrial manufacturer. It builds everything from railroad cars to electrical wiring. Marmam is a core business of one of America's richest families. Buffett says this is the biggest deal his company has ever made outside of the insurance business.
Get this. A new study says workers in India's outsourcing industry may be too stressed. Close to 2 million Indians work for U.S. businesses like IBM and answer questions about things like computers. They typically make a lot more money compared to other workers there but experts say they are also facing sleep disorders, heart disease and depression. They say it's a brewing crisis that could undermine India's entire outsourcing industry. Just dealing with America is bad for your health.
CHO: All right. There you have it. Thanks, John.
Boston's big dig finally over. The most expensive highway project area ever will officially be finished by the end of the year. The system of underground highways and tunnels cost nearly $15 billion and took 16 years to complete. Four construction workers died on the big dig and on Monday, the family of a driver killed by a tunnel ceiling collapse was awarded $6 million.
A Pennsylvania man sued an eight-year-old boy. Now he says he is feeling the heat of a backlash. We're going to tell you about the harassment he is facing and let you sound off yourself on the controversy. That is coming up next.
The Christmas break is over. Now it's crunch time in Iowa. Find out what the presidential candidates are planning over the next eight days to get voters on their side. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes now after the hour.
Eight days out from the Iowa caucuses things are too close to call. Now the Christmas break is over, the presidential candidates from both parties have got to hit the ground running today and go nonstop all the way through until the 3rd.
Doyle McManus is the bureau chief of the "Los Angeles Times," political expert, knows about this stuff. He joins me now. The one question I get when I take you to people who is going to win? And I say to them, you know a month ago I probably could of given awe reasonable answer.
You're the expert. Let me ask you. Who is going to win these primaries?
DOYLE MCMANUS, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Who is going to win? The amazing thing this is not just one tight race at this point. It's two tight races. We've got a three-way tie in the democratic race between Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama and really a two-way top at the top of that republican race between Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. Mike Huckabee is ahead in the polls. We don't know whether that will hold. One thing, big thing to remember about Iowa, in the last week of that campaign, 40 percent, 40 percent of those voters haven't yet made their final decision. That doesn't mean they're all undecided. Maybe 10, 15 percent are undecided. That's a big enough margin to swing this either way.
ROBERTS: As we saw in the democratic side in 2004 in just the last week of the campaign, suddenly John Edward and John Kerry rose up in the polls. There is a new poll out we were talking about yesterday, American Research Group, that showed Hillary has climbed back into a double digit lead and Barack Obama actually slipped behind John Edwards. Should we put much stock in that poll? It was so different than all of the other numbers.
MCMANUS: Individual polls in Iowa, because of the caucus system -- the caucus is so funny. This isn't a system people go and vote. They have to spend the whole evening and meet with each other. Is there a lot of controversy about every individual poll because you're trying to figure out who is going to go out? What is the going to be like? If the weather is bad a week from now, John Edwards gets a big boost because his people are more dedicated and come out and Barack Obama is in trouble with the weather is bad but the latest weather forecast it's going to be a lovely night a week from now so that is good news for Barack Obama. So go figure.
ROBERTS: The poll was taken in the days leading up to the holiday so perhaps the numbers are skewed a little bit. No question that Mike Huckabee is coming back to earth a little bit. His numbers are changing. That is reflecting his appeal is deep among a certain group of people but not wide across a large group of people?
MCMANUS: Huckabee had a tremendous surge in the last three or four weeks. He was terrible term here, the flavor of the month. Voters were discovering him. He is an interesting guy. He is funny. But now they are taking their second look. The second factor here is that every other candidate on that republican side beginning with Mitt Romney, is now trying to take a bite out of Mike Huckabee's appeal because they know it's vulnerable at the edges. My moral the week after Christmas I'm afraid the season of goodwill is over. No more Mr. Nice Guy on both sides.
ROBERTS: What about Rudy Giuliani? A poll out more than a week ago that was disastrous for him. He is just missing all of the buzz here.
MCMANUS: It probably was. Rudy Giuliani started this as the republican front-runner all over the country because of name recognition, because of memories of 9/11 and what has happened is every other candidate has gradual eroded that. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, who had also said out of -- stayed out of Iowa, are going to Iowa this week.
ROBERTS: In the article in "The New York Times" today talking about Hillary Clinton's experience how much did she get in the white house during her eight years. MCMANUS: They can't like that article. It picks up one of Barack Obama's main negative campaign themes. He has been saying experience? You call that experience? And that is what we're going to see in both campaigns, an attempt to go negative without sounding too nasty.
ROBERTS: Doyle, always good to see you.
MCMANUS: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Now back up to New York and here is Alina.
CHO: Thanks, John.
New this morning, backlash against a man who sued an 8-year-old boy and his father for a skiing accident. David Pfahler sued him after he and the boy crashed while skiing in Colorado. He said he had to have surgery on his collar bone. Pfahler says he and his wife have since been subjected to an electronic tar and feathering, as they call it. People apparently have been calling his house day and night. They've even e-mailed his boss to demand that he be fired. We're going to be talking with our legal analyst about this in our next half hour.
We've been asking what you think about this. Our Quick Vote question for this morning. Should children be held legally responsible for accidentally hurting someone? Take a look at our results so far. 35 percent of you say yes and 65 percent say no. These numbers have been changing all morning long. If you want to cast your vote, go to CNN.com/am. We will bring you more results later on in the show.
The president and the supermodel, new photos on a holiday. What they did for Christmas coming up. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up on 23 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning on CNN. "Quick Hits" now. What is the deadliest state in the nation for criminals? For the first time in modern history of the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all U.S. executions took place in Texas. According to "The New York Times," 26 of 42 executions were carried out in Texas. No other state executed more than three death row inmates.
A new report says job market will stay about the same in 2008. Six in ten employers said they would make no changes, 29 percent said they'd be adding workers and 7 percent say they would cut jobs. The results are from a survey for Careerbuilder.com.
A maker of the popular sponge contraceptive is filing for bankruptcy. Sonoma Healthcare Group filed voluntary papers to reorganize. It made news earlier this year when it brought back the sponge. Now let's go back up to New York and here is Alina.
CHO: It was one of the most disturbing medical stories of this year, an expose of substandard care and soldier neglect. This week we're asking our correspondents for updates on the top stories of 2007 in their field.
Joining us this morning from our CNN Center in Atlanta, chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. What are you talking about, Sanjay?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're talking about Walter Reed Hospital. I know you know about this Alina. Back in February, there was that report you just referenced expose about the shoddy, if you will, medical conditions for so many wounded veterans who come back and get their care and get their rehab at this particular institution.
They talked about dilapidated living conditions, lack of access to care and some of the descriptions are frank lay pretty disgusting. Roaches sort of around, mouse droppings. It was very difficult. A lot of people were getting their care before they access the Veterans Administrations Hospital system. It was a big wake-up call what was happening to a lot of the wounded soldiers.
CHO: That is right. There were Congressional hearings, one top official resigned. What were the changes that were made?
GUPTA: One of them you just mentioned. There were some changes at the very top. People who left their positions as a result of all this. But it was sort of open to Pandora's Box.
More case managers and people helping people navigate what can be a difficult system. Reorganization of the entire hospital. Building 18, that may have been the building that a lot of people saw pictures of. Now closed. More money. In the hundreds of millions of dollars. Then again, some of the top personnel leaving the hospital, leaving the system altogether.
CHO: Sad to say, Sanjay, that we've been talking about veterans' care for a very long time. Why is it so tough for veterans to get good care?
GUPTA: You know, it's a great question and I think that you can extend it to a lot of different health care institutions. And the Veterans Administration System, to be fair, for the most part, works very well. But I've had a chance to work on this documentary called "Waging War on the V.A.," and looking at the medical care the military receives.
I followed one patient that I actually operated on myself in Iraq. I followed him along and I saw his care when he got here back to the states. He got shot in the head. He had to take medications for that. The medications caused high blood pressure. He is a young man but he has high blood pressure now and it wasn't covered as part of his original diagnosis so all of a sudden he had to pay out of pocket for those medications. That is an example of how confusing and incredible it can be.
CHO: Sanjay, we look forward to watching it. Thank you. GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: A new girlfriend at his side. He is holding hands with a super model/singer turned girlfriend on the banks of the Nile. Sarkozy is scheduled to begin an official visit to Egypt on Monday when he meets with President Hosni Mubarak.
A surprising new study about the links between breast cancer and hereditary. That story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: You're looking live at a picture of the George Washington Bridge in the distance. One of the several bridges that connects New York and New Jersey. Right now cloudy and 33 and a high of 44 and showers this afternoon. Good morning. It's Wednesday, December 26th, the day after Christmas.
I'm Alina Cho.
ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts in Washington, D.C. this morning.
And new today, horror at the San Francisco Zoo. A tiger breaks loose from its compound and kills a patron on Christmas day. Police say the animal somehow broke out of its cage just after closing time. They got there as the tiger got its claws on two other park visitors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ERIC ISAACS, SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HOSPITAL: Two young men were brought to us this evening. Both of them had received multiple lacerations. They're in serious but stable condition. Their wounds are being repaired this evening. They'll stay with us overnight and we expect them to do fine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's still not clear how the tiger escaped. It's the same animal responsible for attacking its trainer one year ago during a feeding demonstration and ripped the arm off of that trainer. The state blamed the zoo for that attack and reportedly fined it $18,000.
Who is targeting clinics in Albuquerque? Investigators are looking into a fire at a planned parenthood clinic early on Christmas morning. The roof was on fire and it was quickly put out. It happened a few hours after the windows were shattered at another office. Those incidents follow a fire just weeks ago. Federal investigators say two suspects were seen outside that clinic just before the fire was reported, but no arrests have been made -- Alina.
CHO: John, a diplomatic crisis is brewing in Afghanistan. Two diplomats, including a high-ranking U.N. employee are being ordered to leave Afghanistan within 48 hours. The Afghan government says they're a threat to national security claiming they tried to meet with Taliban militants. Diplomats from other countries are now in urgent talks with the Afghanese in trying to resolve the crisis.
U.S. officials in Iraq this morning said the most significant accomplishment of 2007 has been getting Sunni fighters to turn against Al Qaeda. In the last hour, John asked a spokesman for Multinational Forces in Iraq to assess the so-called surge or troop buildup.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. KEVIN BERGNER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE SPOKESMAN: First, I would start off by saying there is no question but that the surge has been very successful, in its purpose, which was to reduce the levels of violence, the casualties and to set better conditions for the important political steps that the government of Iraq very much needs to take, and as you pointed out, they are very much in the process of wrestling with those issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Major General Kevin Bergner tells us that he hears frustration from Iraqi officials at the pace of progress.
We have this just in to CNN. Turkey again attacking Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. In a statement posted on its web site, the Turkish military says its war planes hit eight rebel hideouts today on Tuesday. The Turkish military claim more than 200 Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq have been hit since December 16th -- John.
ROBERTS: Thank, Alina.
The latest this hour on an amazing survival story. A 13-year-old girl survives a plane crash that killed her friend, her friend's father and the pilot. The plane went down in Panama as it flew over a volcano on Sunday. Rescuers just spotted the wreckage last night. 37-year-old Michael Klein and his 13-year-old daughter, Talia, were both killed but rescuers say that Talia's friend, Francesca Lewis, survived the crash.
Our Kara Finnstrom is live in Santa Barbara, California in front of the girls' school. What's the latest on Francesca's condition? Do we know how she is doing this morning?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we do know that Panamanian officials will be holding a press conference in an hour and a half. We haven't gotten any word on her condition yet but we think we may get news out of that press conference.
As you mentioned, just behind me is the school where Francesca went to school with her classmate Talia. We know Talia has died in this plane crash but somehow, and we don't know how yet, Francesca managed to survive this plane crash, which killed three others.
On Sunday, this plane went down in some very rugged terrain. Rescue crews had been looking three days for this airplane. They finally found it yesterday on Christmas day. Authorities say Francesca suffered multiple trauma. She also is suffering from hypothermia.
And to complicate matters further when they first found the wreckage it was in such a remote area on the slope of a volcano, very steep and really bad weather conditions out there -- cold, wet. They weren't able to lift her out and to take her to a nearby hospital for quite a while. They actually had to shelter her in place and try and warm her up and treat her as best as they could. We don't again have any word on her condition at this point. But we do know that she has now been transported to an area hospital.
Now, the Kleins in this community are a very well-known family. This community will be mourning them today as well as waiting, John, for word on the fate of this little girl who is 13-years-old and again the only survivor of this crash.
ROBERTS: A terrible tragedy but a miracle that at least there was one survivor. Kara Finnstrom, for us this morning, in Santa Barbara. Kara, thanks -- Alina.
CHO: Thanks, John.
A new study could mean more women are at risk of breast cancer due to a genetic mutation. Dr. Larry Norton, a leading breast cancer researcher at Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He joins us here in the studio.
Good morning. So, we're talking about the BRCA-1 gene. You say everybody has it.
DR. LARRY NORTON, MEMORIAL SLOANE-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: It's a normal green gene. It's just that you can have an abnormal version of that gene you can inherit from your mother or father.
CHO: All right. What did the study show exactly?
NORTON: Well, this is a study of people with breast cancer and it looked to see how many of these people with breast cancer had an abnormality in this gene, an abnormality of this otherwise normal gene. And it found that it was not just Ashkenazi Jewish women which apparently some people thought it could be.
CHO: We're talking about women, Jewish women from Eastern European countries.
NORTON: Exactly. But also they found that a lot of people from Hispanic origins had this gene, African-Americans had this gene, particularly the young people.
CHO: You know, if you're a Hispanic woman out there and you're watching this right now, what should you do? Should I head right to the doctor?
NORTON: Well, I think no. The point is that we're one world. Our genes don't vary that much anywhere in the world. That is the important part of this story. It's really a Christmas week message is that we're all one people and that you can have an abnormal gene that could predisposed to breast cancer and other diseases.
First, know your family history and if you know your family history and you have a high incidence of any disease, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other things, see an expert who can counsel you and tell you whether you should be tested.
CHO: Well, and you said this study is done out of southern California and it was a really a small sample. Is this an important study or does there need to be a wider study?
NORTON: Well, it's a very important study and essentially a very large study of its type but we need more studies of this type. But we need more studies of this type. We need larger numbers and different parts of the country. Research is critically important in this area as all areas of cancer medicine and we would hope this study would initiate other research projects to look at other parts of the country to see what the incidents of BRCA are.
Well, it helps us because it tells us that we can find BRCA-1 problems really in all groups and that we shouldn't be looking just to a specific one group rather than another. Family history of your individual families are the most important thing in getting expert counseling.
CHO: So really that is the take-away. It doesn't matter what the study says in the end really look at your family tree and whether you have a history of breast cancer in your family.
NORTON: And so many people don't know their family history. It's very important to find that out before you go to the doctor.
CHO: All right. Dr. Larry Norton from Memorial Sloane-Kettering.
NORTON: My pleasure.
CHO: Thank you for joining us in the studio this morning. All right, John. Back over to you.
ROBERTS: It's now 37 minutes after the hour. "Quick Hits" now. Israelis and Palestinians have found some common ground apparently. The majority of both think recent talks hosted by the United States in Annapolis, Maryland were a failure. A new poll also showed that more than half of Israelis believe that violence will continue. About a third of Palestinians share that opinion. The poll was conducted by the Truman Center in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for policy and survey research.
About 40 Iranian-Jews are in Israel this morning after making a secret exodus from Iran. It is the largest such immigration in nearly 30 years. It was paid for by the Israeli government and evangelical Christians here in the United States. The Jewish community is protected in Iran but many have complained of increasing discrimination.
Caught on tape. A van slams into a convenience store and four different cameras capture it all on tape. We've got the video for you and all of the angles, coming up.
And a kid and a grown-up collide on a ski slope. Should the child be held legally responsible? We've been asking you to vote. Now our legal contributor Sunny Hostin weighs in, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nineteen minutes now to the top of the hour. This morning, police in Florida are looking for the driver who plowed into a convenience store. The violent crash all caught on tape from multiple angles. Four surveillance cameras captured the van crashing into the side of the Express Food Store in Fort Lauderdale. It happened early Christmas morning and sent shelves of merchandise flying costing about $25,000 in damage.
The store owner had to spend his Christmas cleaning up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM ALQADI, STORE OWNER: I'm lucky. I know I want to find who did it. The camera, I think maybe he's a drunk or something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We don't know if that is the case, but the driver did appear to be going the wrong way down the road. The crash happened just a mile and a half from the county's sheriff's office so as you can imagine the police were quickly on the scene.
A lot of people will be traveling today. What can they expect? Our Reynolds Wolf in the weather center in Atlanta today, in for Rob Marciano. Tracking extremes in the forecast, both weather and travel. Good morning, Reynolds.
WOLF: No question, John. I would say people can expect a busy time at the airport. That is kind of like same song, second or third verse. Another busy travel day for us. If you look behind me, this is Google Earth and on Google Earth we got a whole bunch of airplanes. In fact, nearly 3,500 planes to start what would be an extremely busy travel day. Right now though, believe it or not with the aircraft, all these people that flying out and about. We have only one big delay to speak of and that delay would actually be in the Detroit area.
As we zoom in, we'll put this into motion and show you that right now, a DTW, Detroit county ground stop until 9:00 a.m. this morning and then things should begin to smooth out. However, as always later on today we could expect a few more delays, possibly along parts of the gulf coast.
Here is the reason why. This area of low pressure, this frontal bound rain, this warm front all coming together moving from parts in east Texas into Louisiana. It's going to tap into that moisture and possibly bring some strong showers, thunderstorms and maybe even some tornadoes in an area that we really have to watch. From the back side of this system, we got a lot of cold air convection coming in from the central northern plains and with the moisture.
Ladies and gentlemen that means possibly snow once again for Oklahoma City. The last thing they want to deal with but still it's in the forecast for them. Other place to see snow falling, parts of the midwest. The twin cities getting a light dusting for the time being. But as we cruise through the mid day hours. Expect that really to pick up a bit in some parts of Wisconsin, in the northern peninsula of Michigan. We've got a watch and advisory for parts of green bay southward into Milwaukee as we get closer to the weekend.
That is a look at your forecast across the nation. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
Anybody? Back to the news desk.
ROBERTS: Oh, I'm sorry. All right. I thought you were going up to New York. Reynolds, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
WOLF: Whatever it takes, man, you bet.
ROBERTS: Alina.
CHO: All right. Thank you, John, very much.
The guy on who is suing an eight-year-old for something that happened on the ski slopes is feeling the heat from a lot of angry people now. AMERICAN MORNING'S legal contributor Sunny Hostin is back with us to talk a little bit more about this.
Really, an incredible story. A lot of people sounding off about this. So, basically Scott Swim who was 7 at the time and this other man David Follor collided on the ski slopes. It happened on January 12th in Colorado. Again, he was just seven-years-old.
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: The other guy was 60.
CHO: At the time, using the boy and his father for $75,000 in expenses, lost vacation time and the usual laundry list. Can an eight-year-old kid really be held responsible for something this?
HOSTIN: Well, you know, it's interesting. And Colorado has the Ski Act. I've learned a lot about ski law the past couple of days. The Ski Act lists duties of certain skiers. And whey have to be responsible to ski within his or her ability, the and duty to maintain control of his skis and a duty to maintain a proper lookout so not to crash into other people. And it's a negligence standard.
Typically, minors are held accountable for their own negligence but Colorado has a law that says that you cant sue minors. So, this falls under sort of the Sunny Hostin "shame on you list." You can't as a 60-year-old in Colorado sue a seven-year-old.
CHO: Now, let's talk about the fallout. Because it has been incredible. Really. He is getting harassing phone calls, he and his wife. Day and night, people are even calling his boss to have him fired. So, if that is actually happening to the degree that we've been reporting on this, are there any legal repercussions for the people who are doing the harassment?
HOSTIN: Well, you know, I guess he can sue them, too. And we've seen those cases where people are being harassed by the Internet, over the telephone and he may have a lawsuit against those people. What he doesn't I think have a lawsuit is against this 7-year-old.
I've got to tell you. My husband is a surgeon and he snowboards. And it drives me crazy. I feel like when he falls he is messing around with his body but he can't sue, you know, a seven-year-old for doing that kind of thing.
CHO: You believe if you go on the ski slopes?
HOSTIN: I think when you go on the ski slopes and you hurt yourself it's sort of inherent. It's part of the sport. People get hurt skiing all the time. But that is not the law in Colorado. That is just the Sunny Hostin law.
CHO: Right, right but we take that into account as well.
HOSTIN: Thank you, thank you.
CHO: Sunny, thanks again for weighing in. You know, again this is a story that a lot of us are talking about. This is a story that a lot of us are talking about and it brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Should children be held legally responsible for accidentally hurting someone. We're going to ask you to cast your vote at cnn.com/am. Take a look at this Sunny. I know you're watching this very closely. Take a look. 33 percent say yes. 67 percent say no.
HOSTIN: Come on!
CHO: Two out of three support the eight-year-old. I'm going to send it back over to you, John, in Washington.
ROBERTS: Alina, thanks very much.
CNN NEWSROOM is just minutes away now. Tony Harris at the CNN Center this morning with a look at what's ahead. Good morning to you, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good morning to you. We have got this stories in the NEWSROOM rundown for you this morning.
Looking for clues, how did a tiger escape its zoo and killed one person and injured two others.
Free ride to Yale? Are you kidding me? Georgia student becomes the first in his family to go to college.
And greetings from the grave. Friends get Christmas cards from an Oregon man two months after he died. Brianna Keilar is with me in the NEWSROOM. We get started at the top of the hour, right here on CNN.
And John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Tony, we will see you then. Thanks very much.
Santa brought some goodies to the crew of the International Space Station. Santa in this care being the mission manager on the ground. A Russian re-supply module docked with the station earlier this morning and brought the usual supplies: oxygen, food and fuels plus some gifts including music and videos from the family.
How much holiday shopping did you do this year? Not enough according to some retailers. We'll tell you why, despite an increase, they're still unhappy about the whole thing. That is coming up.
And it was one of the most talked about medical stories of 2007. A man flies around the world with tuberculosis sparking an international incident. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has got an update on him and in the worldwide fight against these deadly diseases. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHO: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Your "quick hits" now. A potential blow to theme parks from Tokyo to the Vegas strip. Egypt has officially copyrighted the Sphinx and the ancient pyramid. An official told the BBC that the money was needed to maintain thousands of ancient sites and bans exact duplicates of the structures and will be enforced worldwide. Exactly how it will be enforced, we're not so sure.
And a tough crossing for George Washington. A re-enactment of Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in New Jersey ended with the crew having to be rescued. They were done in by strong currents. Thousands gathered on shore for the Christmas tradition. It's now in its 55th year.
And an uplifting story of love this morning. A Pennsylvania couple, there they are, Roy and Anna Skrout, are celebrating their 71st wedding anniversary. How about that? Congratulations to them. They were married at 1:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, 1936. The love birds said they tied the knot at such an odd hour because the priest was busy celebrating midnight mass. Their secret, a forgiving spirit.
And a new number this morning, holiday spending is up 3.6 percent. Now, retailers say that is on the low end of what was expected and the smallest bump in five years. Target, the country's second largest retailer, is sounding the alarm saying its sales may have fallen where at best it went up by just one percent.
ROBERTS: It was one of the top medical stories of 2007. Atlanta Attorney Andrew Speaker flies around the globe with a deadly form of tuberculosis. He told CNN it was a lot easier to get his health back than to get his reputation back.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with more in the TB scare and where Speaker is now and how he is doing. Good morning, Sanjay.
GUPTA: I should add as well he said it's one of the top medical stories. He also made another list. "Time" magazine, the number four on "Time" Magazine's their top ten scandals of 2007 as well which speaks to what you were just saying. Very interesting, John. You know, he is doing well.
He is here in Atlanta and out of the hospital, obviously. Sort of got his life back to some extent. One of the things that was really never fully resolved, you remember this John, was that we were talking about tuberculosis, extensively drug-resistant versus multiple drug-resistant. XDR versus MDR. He was first told that he had XDR and that touched off this international health scare as he was sort of evading quarantine in Europe in getting back to the United States.
When he got to National Jewish in Colorado they said this is fact just MDR tuberculosis, not that that isn't serious but less problematic than XDR. We talked to the CDC again about this recently and they say still their first test showed extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. They standby their decisions to actually quarantine him, making him one of the first Americans quarantined in over 40 years. You know, he is doing well. He had to have an operation.
Remember, I got an exclusive look at that, John. I actually flew to Colorado and got an exclusive access to the operating room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surgery is already under way. The goal is to try and remove a tennis ball infection from his right upper lobe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: He's got about a 90 percent chance of recovery now. Much better than 30 percent he was initially quoted so that obviously is good news. He is considered non-infectious right now. He is not cured but he is not infectious which is why he is out of the hospital and home in Atlanta.
ROBERTS: So, Sanjay is his life pretty much back to normal there?
GUPTA: You know, I think it's interesting. I think it's very hard to recover for something like this, in terms of your life. He's still taking medications. In fact, he has to have a health department official come to his home everyday and watch and take the medications. It's still very hard for him to actually conduct his business. He says he's a lawyer. He said his business sort of tapered off. And keep in mind that nobody actually got infected from Andrew Speaker.
I looked about the passengers on those airplanes that we're of such concern. No one got infected but they still have hard time rebounding from all these.
I mean, he's still -- people still sort of look at him and wondered if he is sort of a typhoid, mary type person. And this is just going to take a while for him to recover from that.
ROBERTS: And how long, Sanjay, does he have to be observed taking his medication?
GUPTA: I think two years total that he's going to need to take the medications. I don't know if he gets sort of say a grace period after a while. They say, all right, we believe you will take your medications now and they don't have to actually come to his house every day. But this is a long process.
John, we use this as teaching moments. People don't know about tuberculosis. Obviously, it's a big killer around the world and also just how are public health system responded to Andrew Speaker was a really valuable lesson for 2007.
ROBERTS: Obviously. Let's hope they learn from it. Dr. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Sanjay, thanks.
GUPTA: Thanks, John.
CHO: And here's a quick look at what the CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
HARRIS: See these stories in the "CNN NEWSROOM."
Zoo attack. Escaped tiger kills one person, injures another.
Tuition relief. Top schools giving a break to middle income families.
Many happy returns. Shoppers head back to the malls with unwanted holiday gifts.
Plus 71 years and still going strong. A couple's secret to a successful marriage. NEWSROOM, just minutes away. At the top of the hour, on CNN.
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ROBERTS: Time for a final check of our quick vote question this morning. We asked should children be legally held responsible for accidentally hurting someone. This relates back to the ski injury back in Beaver Creek that ski injury back in Beaver Creek involving this young eight-year-old boy whose sued by an older man for pain, suffering and hospital expenses. 37 percent of you say, yes, children should be held accountable and 63 percent said no. Thanks to everybody who participated. Will do it again tomorrow -- Alina.
CHO: All right. Thanks, John.
In case you're wondering, here is how the first family scored this Christmas. The White House is releasing some details. President Bush apparently gave his wife, Laura, a new purse and a silver tray. Mrs. Bush got her husband a new coat for mountain biking. He does a lot of that biking out there. And daughters, Jenna and Barbara, well they got some items for their apartments. The Bush family spent Christmas at Camp David. They're going to be heading to the ranch in Crawford this morning.
Well, the year's biggest party is less than a week away. And we want to hear from you. The biggest i-partiers. Go to CNN.com/iparty. Send us your photos and e-mails of your New Year's eve and maybe you'll see it on TV and watch CNN's new year's eve special "Bring in the new year," with Anderson Cooper. Kiran Chetry will be in Times Square. That is Monday night, 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, right here on CNN. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
John, I know you're taking a couple of days off so enjoy your mini break. I got to ask you though, was your daughter surprised by her Christmas gift?
ROBERTS: She was very surprised with the Christmas gifts and very appreciative as well. And we are appreciative of you for sitting in during the holidays for Kiran. Kiran will be back again tomorrow. I'll see you on Monday.
CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Brianna Keilar begins right now.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. You are in the "CNN NEWSROOM." I'm Tony Harris. Heidi Collins is off today. Brianna Keilar joins me next hour.
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