Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Amanda Knox Met with Family; President Obama's Approval Rating Drops below 50 Percent; Marines and Afghans Start New Offensive Against the Taliban

Aired December 05, 2009 - 11:00   ET

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


T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM for this Saturday, December 5th. Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen. It's 11:00 a.m. in the East, 8:00 a.m. out on the West Coast, and we are following a tragic story in Southwest Ohio.

A fire has ripped through a stable at the Lebanon raceway. That's about 25 miles North of Cincinnati. And authorities say two people are dead as well as 65 horses. The fire was reported just before dawn. There's no idea of how this started. But of course we continue to follow it and bring you the latest.

HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to Italy now, where the family of Amanda Knox has just visited her in prison. The American exchange student and her Italian ex-boyfriend were found guilty last night of killing her roommate.

Our Paula Newton also went to that prison. This is near Perugia, Italy, today. What is the family saying this morning? How is Amanda Knox doing?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, considering that everything that they've gone through for the last few hours, they say that their daughter is strong, that they will fight on. But, you know, coming out of that prison, you could certainly see they were completely shattered. We know from defense lawyers that Amanda Knox had a very rough evening, really cried for much of it. Certainly her roommates and the prisoner, fellow inmates, did try to console her, but right now she's trying to figure out how to get through all of this. Her family huddled together in front of the prison did speak to us when they came out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDA MELLAS, AMANDA KNOX'S MOTHER: Amanda, like the rest of us, is extremely disappointed, upset about the decision. We're all in shock. We're all heartened by support not only from the people of Perugia, many Italians all over, people from all over the world have been sending us messages of support all through the night. And, you know, the media has been, you know, supportive. Amanda had great support when she came back to the prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: What was interesting is that in the middle of all that Curt Knox, Amanda Knox's father, just kept repeating she's innocent, she's innocent. When I asked Diana (ph) Knox, Amanda's sister, what kind of a night she has, she just said, quite honestly, look, she just had a rough night -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, no doubt of rough night. But what does she have to look forward to as far as an appeals process which we sort expects this coming?

NEWTON: Well, it is quite an appeals process that they're in for now -- keep in line, T.J. look, I know from her defense team they had really prepared the family, prepared Amanda Knox for this. Members of the family are moving here. They will be here in rotation to make sure they can follow all this. But it is in the appeals process that the lack of any kind of evidence that the Knox's say does not tie her to the crime, the sloppy police work, any confession, all those things will be brought up in the appeals process. You know what T.j., not lost in all this is Meredith Kercher. She was the victim. Her family decided they wanted really a reaction that they said had to show dignity and respect for the crime that was committed. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm told we're standing by there, told we don't have that sound, Paula, but you're right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: All right. I just want to let you know that I was at the press conference and it was very emotional, them saying that look, there is no time for celebration even though they felt, t.j., that they did get a measure of justice with this verdict.

HOLMES: Yes, with all going on here, its right to remember there was a victim, a young lady who is dead and her family is mourning her. Paula Newton for us this morning in Italy. Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: I want to take you now to Afghanistan, where u.s. troops are on the offensive. It is called "Operation Cobra's Anger." u.s. troops are working with the British troops and Afghan forces to battle the Taliban in the Northern part of Helmand province. And the volatile Helmand province is a stronghold of Taliban fighters, but military officials tell CNN that those u.s. troops have met very little resistance so far. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has put new deployments in motion. He signed the order approving of the first wave of the new troops ordered by President Obama. And that first wave is expected to be around thousand marines heading out by the end of the year.

HOLMES: Yes. During his prime time address this week, President Obama ordered 30,000 additional troops for Afghanistan.

CNN Senior Political Correspondent, Candy Crowley, looks at how the American people are reacting to the president's new strategy. Candy Crowley, CNN Senior Political Correspondent: Good morning, Betty and t.j. Some interesting numbers for the president, which shake out like this. His powers of persuasion are intact, but the wear and tear of the year long recession is more powerful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over) Trouble on the home front is eating into his political capital, but the president's hard sell on Afghanistan did the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by al Qaeda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: The latest CNN poll found that a majority of Americans still oppose the war in Afghanistan, but 62 percent favor the president's plan to send 30,000 more troops there. Thirty six percent are opposed. In the good news/bad news category for the president --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: These additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: Two-thirds of Americans favor the president's exit plan from Afghanistan, but 59 percent think it was a bad idea to announce it. Despite his success in gathering public reinforcement for more troops in Afghanistan, the president's overall approval rating has fallen below 50 percent for the first time in a CNN poll. The latest CNN opinion research corporation poll numbers show 48 percent of Americans approve of the way he's handling his job. That is a seven-point drop in less than three weeks.

Partially fuelling this dissent is this -- just 36 percent of whites who never attended college approve of the way the president is handling his job, an 18-point drop from Americans most likely to work in mining, construction, and manufacturing, the three hardest-hit areas of the recession. But his numbers so far into the positives on Afghanistan policy, it is abundantly clear what's dragging down the president -- jobs, jobs, jobs. It is not a wonder he was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Americans who have been desperately looking for work for months, some of them maybe for a year or longer, they can't wait, and we won't wait. We need to do everything we can right now to get our businesses hiring again. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: The president is promising to send new jobs initiatives to Congress next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on-camera) Beyond the obvious urgency of getting jobs to desperate people, there's political urgency, too. The president can afford to take a hit over unemployment right now, but congressional democrats can't. A third of u.s. senate seats and all of the house seats are up for re-election in 2010, and a 10 percent unemployment rate in the New Year is no place to start -- Betty and t.j.

HOLMES: Well, suspected militant attack in Pakistan turns out to be just an accident. Two people were killed this morning in Peshawar. Police say it was a chemical explosion. Nine others were injured in that blast. Peshawar has been hit by several militant attacks over the past few weeks.

NGUYEN: All right. So snow in early December? Not that big of a deal, unless you live in places like that, that being Houston, Texas. Yes, that area saw several inches yesterday. It is, in fact, is the earliest snowfall on record for Houston. In the past 15 years it only snowed there four times, including yesterday. That storm is now moving east in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia also getting an early taste of winter. When we say early, well, it may feel like winter outside, Reynolds Wolf, you can testify to this, winter doesn't really start until, what, December 21st?

REYNOLDS WOLF, METEOROLOGIST: Testify!

NGUYEN: Testify.

WOLF: Yes, exactly. It doesn't really get into way until December 21st, you're right, but I mean, who's watching the calendar? I mean, it's really weird how it started yesterday. We had some unusual snowfall there. Now all of it is moving off towards the east. Let me show you something. We'll be going to zoom in right here the nation's capital, right here in Washington, d.c., and half of the area getting some rainfall, some of the snow is now beginning to move in. You want to see proof? Let's get away from the radar. Let's show you some live images that we have from the nation's capital.

First and foremost, there's the white house, and low and behold, take a look at that. Snowflakes coming down, some straight down, from top to bottom, a few of them sideways across the screen. And there is the nation's capitol where it's a busy day there, and it looks like the snow will going to continue there. The reason why we're seeing it in these spots is because you have that frontal boundary that is coming right on through. Let's take a look here on the weather map. That frontal boundary is kind of eventually moved out to sea but then right then behind me you've got some colder air that will going to be funneling in. That over all moisture when it drop to this cool level of the atmosphere, when it does it will going to give you some snowfall. Snow mixed in places like New York, maybe an inch or so, same story for Philadelphia, but for places like the outer banks of North Carolina, as far as south of Florida, looks like some scattered showers. Now, in speaking of showers, we have something heavier that could be happening, some severe storms, especially in south Florida, where right now we have not tornadoes but a tornado watch, keep an eye on this line of storms that's coming through. There is the potential we could see some tornadoes develop at a minimum for -- I'll tell you at the very least we're going to see some heavy rainfall and there will be the potential of getting some flash flooding in spots that are poor drainage. If this heads is way to the south, the rains going to be intense at times, so surely be advised taking a drive on alligator alley or a1a raven (ph), 95 for that matter. Back to your desk.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Reynolds. What a beautiful shot, though, of the white house.

HOLMES: The white house. Yes.

NGUYEN: Snow coming down. Gets you in the spirit, the holidays around the corner.

HOLMES: Look at that. Well, a lot they're talking about, as we look at the show at the white house, they're talking about the jobless situation. And trying to turn the tie with joblessness. But the president says he's going to do to make that happen.

NGUYEN: Also happening now, the senate trying to unravel the sticking points to a health care reform bill. We'll check in from the latest from Capitol Hill as they are working on a Saturday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. So, a health care reform bill by Christmas? That's the goal of democrats in the senate as the chamber takes up the contentious issue today. There's a live look right now. You see Senator John McCain speaking. The session began about an hour ago. The $848 billion health care proposal has critics on two crucial points -- federal funding of abortion and the so-called public option, which is a proposed government-run health insurance program. Let's just take a listen right now as they're talking about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, ARIZONA: I know that, but I don't know the details of the bill, of the deal that was cut over where the white smoke comes out. I don't know what the deal was. I know what the deal was with Pharma. I know what the deal was with Pharma. They told them that they would oppose drug re-importation from Canada, and they told them, the Pharma, that they would not allow competition for Medicare patients. So I don't know what the deal was cut that bought them, but I know that deals have been going on and I know they're unsavory, and I know that people like the lady that was just referred to, Bertha Millard (ph), they're not too interested in seeing their --

SEN. MAX BAUCUS, MONTANA: The senator yields, the time being equally allocated to both sides on this colloquy. Will the senator --

MCCAIN: I don't know what the deal was.

BAUCUS: I'm going to tell you senator the deal. I'm going to tell you senator the deal. I'm going to tell you senator the deal.

OPERATOR: Senator from Arizona has the floor.

MCCAIN: I don't know what the deal was, but we'll find out what the deal was, just like the deals that were cut --

(CROSSTALK)

BAUCUS: I told you senator, I'll tell you what the deal was.

MCCAIN: Full of lobbyists. I can't walk through the hall without walking into one of their lobbyist.

BAUCUS: Does the senator want to hear the deal?

MCCAIN: If he keeps interrupting, he is violating the rules of the senate. I thought he would -- by now.

OPERATOR: The senator from Arizona has the floor.

(CROSSTALK)

MCCAIN: My answer to -- I'd like to finish my answer to you, if I may, and that is I don't know the deal that was cut with them but we'll find out what the deal was cut with them, and I know that Bertha Millard (ph) was not there when the deal was cut that generated that letter. That's my answer.

OPERATOR: Will the senator yield to another question?

MCCAIN: I'll yield for one more but we have other senators who are waiting.

OPERATOR: Senator from Montana.

BAUCUS: Does the senator know that the so-called deal was that the -- whereas met pack and administration and the house wanted to make great domestic cuts to home health care, rather we went to the home health care industry, worked with them, and took two of their major suggestions for fraud and abuse and also on outliers, so we modified so that the home health industry thought this was fair and reasonable. Does the senator know that was the agreement that was reached?

OPERATOR: Senator from Arizona.

MCCAIN: My quick answer is that I don't know what the deal was, but I know that the people who are in the home health care business that see $43 billion in cuts to their business, funding for their business were not there when the lobbyists showed up. And when -- we've already heard the stories of the meetings that you and the majority leader have had with these people saying get on board or when we go and shape the final parameters of this bill we're going to hurt you. We know they've been threatened. Go ahead.

SEN. Judd Gregg, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Well, I'm just wondering if that was the deal. And we do know there are a lot of deals around here. And I know the senator from Arizona pays a fair amount of attention to earmarks and the way things are done around here. And I hope that at some point we'll going to get an amendment from the senator from Arizona which lists all these various special deals like the deals that exempted a few states from the Medicare advantage cults, like the deals that got allegedly a few votes on their side of the aisle so we could get the closure on this bill in order to proceed. But independent of that, do you think it's part of this deal that they wouldn't have put in, if it had been a real deal, if it really was a deal,

Shouldn't we put in this money would go to benefit Medicare recipients, not to create a brand-new entitlement, not to benefit people that have nothing to do with Medicare? If you're going to take $42 billion out of the Medicare money which going to home health care, shouldn't it have gone to make this system a little more solvent and make sure our seniors have a Medicare system that's solvent, rather than create a brand-new entitlement with that money? Take the money from the seniors and give it to somebody else? Shouldn't that be part of the deal?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right. You are listening to a heated debate on the senate floor. Senator Judd Gregg, Max Baucus and right there, John McCain talking about home health care, the details of this health care reform bill, specifically John McCain was getting pretty heated there as he was talking about lobbyists. Of course they are working on a Saturday, a lot to be done and a lot of debate will continue, no doubt, as the senate continues to discuss health care reform.

HOLMES: Well, far from health care, of course, another big topic on Capitol Hill, jobs. And Thursday, the president held his job summit. Yesterday he spoke to unemployed folks in Pennsylvania. Today the topic of his weekly presidential address, not surprisingly, job creation. President Obama taking note of a dip in the national unemployment figures and concluding more needs to be done to get millions of Americans back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: In the coming days, I'll be unveiling additional ideas aimed at accelerating job growth and hiring as we emerge from this economic storm. And so that we don't face another crisis like this again, I am determined to meet our responsibility to do what we know will strengthen our economy in the long run. That's why I'm not going to let up in my efforts to reform our health care system, to give our children the best education in the world, to promote the jobs of tomorrow and energy independence by investing in a clean energy economy, and to deal with the mounting federal debt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, the nation's youngest workers though unemployment is nearly double the national average.

NGUYEN: Yes. And some want action from the white house. Our Josh Levs has been looking into this. What have you found out so far, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CORRESPONDENT: It's so interesting. We've had a lot of response to this. We listen this once very early this morning. We've been hearing from so many people. Let me first tell you the latest statistics. This is from an organization that specifically follows this. We'll go straight to them. Over all, we're looking at 19 percent of workers. It's 16-24 unemployed and as we know, it has nearly doubled the national average. And you can see here, this comes from the student association for voter empowerment. They're looking out for younger workers. Young African-American is huge and that 29 percent. Young Latino unemployment is that 21 percent. And keep in mind, all this young people were graduating from college with massive amounts of debt.

You have the average undergraduate debt, $27,000 for each student, and plus, so many young people saddled with credit card debt, as we've talked about in the past, a lot of credit card companies have at times targeted young people, average $2,000 credit card debt by the age of 24. And one more thing as a part of this picture, 30 percent of young people are uninsured, according to a statement of Kaiser Foundation which tracks this. Now, what we are seeing is a couple organizations that are pushing really hard for change. I'm going to show you these websites right behind me. One of them here is the student association for voter empowerment. As you can see, that's up, we've actually talked to them before. Another one is this 80millionstrong.org. They are focusing on jobs for young Americans, and the head of them, Matthew Segal was actually one of the young men who took part at the Summit with President Obama. I had a chance to speak with him recently, and I asked him what he thinks the white house can do to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW SEGAL, 80MILLIONSTRONG.ORG: A freeing the flow of credit for young entrepreneurs providing tax breaks and lower interest rates on the loans they take out to start young companies. I mean, ultimately, if we're going to pull ourselves out of this recession, we need to invest in young companies and young ideas, and we need to have a legislative environment that's receptive to freeing crediting and giving young people some incentive to innovate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Now, when there are jobs, check out cnn.com/jobs, which gives you lots of information, including this map which talks to you about which kinds of jobs and which kind of industries are popping up in different states around the country, all of that, cnn.com/jobs. And we want to hear from you. Send us your stories. We've got conversation going in the blog, cnn.com/josh. Also, Facebook or twitter, joshlevs/cnn. It's really interesting Betty and T.J. to see the kinds of responses we're getting. We know the whole nation is under a lot of challenges but we also know if there's a point to the idea of supporting entrepreneurship among young people, young people who could create the next Google, the next Facebook, the next whatever it is. It can be a huge business that benefits the whole nation.

NGUYEN: Yes, very true. OK, thank you, Josh.

HOLMES: And stay with us here. We're just getting the latest word on a developing story out of Ohio. Two people and at least 65 horses dead in a barn fire.Stay with us, details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Some of our top stories this morning. One hundred and nine people dead in a fire at a club in Perm, Russia. This is some new amateur video of people trying to get out of that burning building. You saw there, top the roof is where -- or the ceiling of that club, I should say is where that fire started. Dozens of people in critical condition this morning. This was all started by a performer who was using fireworks indoors, apparently was actually juggling fireworks when this all started. Russia's president demanding the harshest punishment possible.

NGUYEN: Well, an early morning fire has killed two people and also killed 65 horses. It happened at a horse barn in Lebanon, Ohio. That's about 25 miles from Cincinnati. And fire officials say that fire collapsed the barn's roof. The fire's cause, though, is still under investigation.

HOLMES: Well, Tom Brokaw escapes injury during a fatal car crash in New York City. This happened when an SUV swerved into a large postal truck. The Former nbc Anchor then rear ended that same truck. The driver of the suv died when she was thrown from her vehicle. We'll be checking, another check of our top stories coming your way in about 20 minutes.

NGUYEN: Well, u.s. Marines behind enemy lines. We're going to take you live to Afghanistan for the first offensive against the Taliban since President Obama revealed his new war strategy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. Check it out. Something you don't usually see this early in the south, that is, and we are talking about snow, folks. It is falling across the Deep South all the way to the nation's capital. So, could you get some of it? Well, some folks may get up to five inches of snow.

Reynolds Wolf has been watching this for us this morning, and some of these pictures are just gorgeous, Reynolds, especially the one of the nation's capital. We saw the white house not too long ago where it was just snowing big, huge flakes. Look at that.

HOLMES: It is amazing.

NGUYEN: It's just so perfect. Gets you in the mood for the holidays.

WOLF: It really does, I mean, it's a beautiful shot, beautiful images that we're seeing around the eastern third of the country and of course the South East.

(WEATHER REPORT)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Let's talk about "Operation Cobra's Anger" right now, a joint offensive by U.S. Marines and Afghan troops meant to strike a stinging blow against the Taliban. It is the first move against the militants since President Obama unveiled his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan. Our Frederik Pleitgen has the latest now from Kabul. Joining us live, hey there, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty. Yeah. Well, the Marines and the Afghan national army are sweeping the area around that Now Zad valley, as you said. This is in the northern part of the Helmand province. That, of course, is a hotbed of the insurgency and a place where for a very long time we were not seeing any Americans or Afghan forces in that area to try and disrupt Taliban activities. So far what we're hearing from the battlefield, from the Marines is they say they're not meeting very much resistance at least today. They had a few gun battles in that area yesterday. They said several insurgents were killed. The U.S. has not taken any casualties in that area.

The main problem that they have right now they say on the ground is because they haven't been there in such a long time is that the whole area is infested with mines laid by the Taliban and also with improvised explosive devices. What the Marines are actually doing is they're sending engineer battalions ahead of them with mine rollers to roll through that area to clear it of mines. They say so far they've encountered some 300 mines and improvised explosive devices. That is a lot, and they say that area is a very, very important place for them because it's also a transit route for the Taliban so, they're certainly looking to disrupt that activity, Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, Fred, you were just embedded with a group in Zabul (ph) province. Based on your experience there, what are some of the obstacles that they are facing? What are they up against?

PLEITGEN: Well, there's a lot of major obstacles. You know, a lot of the troops down there where I was in Kandahar and Zabul province are actually very happy that there's more U.S. soldiers, some 30,000 more U.S. soldiers coming into Afghanistan, especially into the south. The main problem they say is right now what they're trying to do is bring the Afghan security forces, especially the Afghan national army, up to speed. So they're doing joint patrols with the Afghans, but I saw a lot of frustration among American soldiers. They say they feel the progress is not going fast enough and they also say they sense something like a lack of urgency among the Afghan forces and they always feel like they have to drive the Afghan forces to conduct a lot of these operations.

Now the other major problem that they have down there is winning the confidence of the local villagers there. I was in a village together with an American captain and what the village elder there told me, he said, listen, the Taliban will come to my village for 10 minutes. They can kill one person every second. How fast can the Americans get here? So the big problem they have right there is not enough boots on the ground and certainly with this new strategy that the president has now pushed forward, the Americans want to put more soldiers on the ground here to increase the security for those villagers until the armed forces can get up to speed. We'll wait and see if that works. It certainly is going to be a daunting task from what I saw in that area when I was there, Betty.

NGUYEN: Yeah, seems so very challenging. Frederik Pleitgen joining us live. Thank you, Fred. And our Christiane Amanpour will have an exclusive interview with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. That is tomorrow. The two will sit down for an in-depth chat about the future of Afghanistan. That's at 2:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

TJ HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Can you imagine being told to get out of the country you were born in?

NGUYEN: Yeah, well it is happening in one of the holiest cities in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

They gave me a letter saying you have to leave within 30 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Why many are now questioning the motive behind thousands of people's residency status being revoked.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Get you some top stories right now. The mother of Amanda Knox says that while her family is in shock at the verdict, she is confident that her daughter will be eventually free. She visited Knox at an Italian prison today. Now yesterday Knox and her ex- boyfriend were convicted in the fatal stabbing death of her roommate, a British exchange student. Knox was sentenced to 26 years, her former boyfriend to 25.

HOLMES: Senators are busy in a rare weekend session today. They're trying to hammer out their differences, debating the president's health care overhaul bill. Finding common ground could be a little tricky here. The legislation would provide insurance coverage for more than 30 million Americans.

NGUYEN: Iran is sounding an even more defiant note about its nuclear ambitions today. Iran's vice president says his country needs at least 20 industrial-sized uranium-enrichment facilities. That according to Iran's state news agency. Last week Tehran announced it intends to build 10 new sites, all of this coming as the UN. and the international community have been ramping up pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program.

HOLMES: Want to turn to Jerusalem now where critics say Israel is accelerating efforts to shrink the Palestinian population by using loopholes in residency rules. That's left thousands of Jerusalem- born Palestinians without the right to live there. Our Ivan Watson spoke with two men who are fighting for the chance to once again call the holy city home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mahmoud Hujaij was born in 1954 in this small east Jerusalem house. Half a century later, he is fighting for the right to live here.

MAHMOUD HUJAIJ, JERUSALEM NATIVE: They gave me a letter saying you have to leave within 30 days. You have to give up your ID and you have to leave within 30 days.

WATSON: While Hujaij was visiting his sister and ailing mother, Israeli authorities informed Hujaij his residency permit had expired. Hujaij spent 16 years living in the U.S. state of Maryland where he had a wife and an American green card. Israeli law strips Palestinians of their Jerusalem residency if they acquire residency or citizenship in another country. You have a choice, one or the other.

HUJAIJ: One or the other, either here or there. I chose my home. It's my home, where I born, where I live, where I grew up.

WATSON: What does that mean for your life in America?

HUJAIJ: It's destroyed.

WATSON: Israel's ministry of interior says that in 2008, it revoked the residency permits of 4,577 Palestinians originally from east Jerusalem. This marks a dramatic increase. Between 1967, the year Israel captured east Jerusalem and 2007, only around 8,500 Palestinians lost their permits to live in Jerusalem. Former Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit launched the crackdown.

MEIR SHEETRIT, FORMER ISRAELI MINISTER OF INTERIOR: A lot of people are living outside of Israel in different places are still enjoying all the benefits of the country, of the state without being residents. No country in the world would accept that.

WATSON: In Israel, it's common practice for Israelis to hold citizenship in more than one country. But Palestinians like Moheydin Abu Madi don't have that right. They don't carry Israeli passports. You were born here but you don't have the right to live here.

MOHEYDIN ABU MADI, JERUSALEM NATIVE: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. This is what's killing me.

WATSON: (INAUDIBLE) lost his residency permit while living in Finland and has spent the last three years in court trying to get it back.

ABU MADI: I born here, I have a right to be here. I'm fighting to stay here in Jerusalem and I will fight I should stay here. This is my country. Nobody can tear me away from my country.

WATSON: Israeli officials insist Palestinians are always welcome to visit Jerusalem.

SHEETRIT: But not residents, no problem. Each and every one of them can come to Israel as tourists.

HUJAIJ: I will never come back to my home as a tourist. I'm coming home -- I want to come home when I want to come home.

WATSON: The decision to strip people of their permission to live in east Jerusalem adds another layer of tension to a city that's no stranger to conflict. But this move affects thousands of people, preventing them from living in the city that they were born in. Ivan Watson, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, from that story to this one, doing the pink glove dance. Check it out.

Yeah, well, they got a choreographer. They got the moves, some even freestyling on you. And in fact millions of fans are dancing along in a cause that is close to their hearts. Love that guy. He's the best. The video that is causing a sensation next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: You remember that panel that issued those controversial new guidelines for routine mammograms? Well, that group is back in the news because they're back pedaling a bit. During a congressional hearing this week, experts admitted the advice was, quote, poorly worded. Law makers, however, didn't back off. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Law makers began with their personal stories about breast cancer, a congressman who lost his aunt, another whose wife had breast cancer. Congresswoman Sue Myrick says she can't understand how a Federal task force could suggest that women in their 40s don't need regular mammograms.

REP. SUE MYRICK, (R) NORTH CAROLINA: Because to me it's sending the wrong message to women. It's saying you don't have to be vigilant. You don't have to take care of yourself. You don't have to do preventive care. And the reason that concerns me is I'm a 10-year breast cancer survivor. I'm one of those who had persevered literally to find, you know, my own cancer because I knew something was wrong with my body.

COHEN: According to the recent report from the U.S. preventive services task force, mammograms are highly inaccurate. For every 1,000 women in their 40s who get mammograms, two cancers are found and 98 false positives are found. The report says women then need to have invasive procedures to check out a positive mammogram and they worry unnecessarily when the mammogram turns out to be wrong. The vice chair of the task force defended the group's guidelines.

DR. DIANA B. PETITTI, U.S. PREVENTIVE SERVICES TASK FORCE: Cancer's terrifying prospect, it carries special emotional weight because of the consequences of the diagnosis have in the past involved not only death but the prospect of mutilating surgery.

COHEN: And one congressman did defend the task force.

REP. JOHN SARBARE (D) MARYLAND: To put our head in the sand and not look at the science it seems to me would be a serious mistake.

COHEN: But most who testified on Capitol Hill today were critical, saying the recommendations could put women in danger.

JENNIFER LURAY, PRES., SUSAN G. KOMAN ADVOCACY ALLIANCE: We know that mammography is an imperfect tool, but instead of stepping away from it, we must close the technology gap and come up with better methods.

COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, you tell hospital workers something has gone viral and they'll probably tell you that's not a good thing. But in this case, it is. A Portland, Oregon, hospital decided to promote breast cancer awareness by dancing to (INAUDIBLE) hit "Down," and so far the video has gotten more than three million hits on youtube and some touching responses from cancer survivors all across the country. Nursing manager Marty Moore took a phone call that started the whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIE MOORE, PINK GLOVES VIDEO: Our corporate office up in Providence, the Providence corporate office up in Renton, took a phone call from Medline saying we have a great idea to promote breast cancer awareness. And they said, do you have a hospital that would be interested in doing that? And Providence St. Vincent was called, and we said absolutely. We'd love to do it but we're not professional dancers. You need to know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, it took you two days, 200 employee, and a choreographer. And everyone's got these pink gloves on. Tell us the purpose of that and what message you're trying to send.

MOORE: I think the pink gloves represent a couple things. The first is the hands that care for those with breast cancer, but the second is get the dialogue going about breast cancer. It's still the number two killer of women. It's a disease of men, as well. And while we understand treatment, we still don't understand why do people get breast cancer? And I think it's just so important that we just keep this dialogue going.

NGUYEN: And people are loving this. The dancing is great, especially we're loving watching the sweet janitor there with the broom or the mop or whatever that is just dancing away. And, you know, this is -- breast cancer is something that has affected his family, correct?

MOORE: Correct. And the dance that you see there was actually not choreography -- it wasn't done by choreography.

NGUYEN: This is freestyle?

MOORE: It was freestyle. It came from his heart.

NGUYEN: You're talking about the janitor, OK, because we're looking at some different video right now.

MOORE: Yeah, yeah, the janitor. And when I asked him about it, he shared with me that he has worked at the hospital all his life but breast cancer had touched his mother and it had touched the rest of his family. And as he spoke, he had tears in his eyes and he said, you know, this is just a disease that just keeps touching lives.

NGUYEN: Goodness. And, you know, you've gotten a lot of emotional responses from cancer survivors, from family members. Just share some of those with us.

MOORE: We have been so touched. And I would tell you that we've been very blessed, as well. We have received calls from all over the nation and the world sharing stories with us about how breast cancer has touched their lives. So I received an e-mail from a woman who had surgery actually yesterday and she was feeling very depressed and sad about the fact that she was having surgery and she had breast cancer and a friend sent her our video and she said you made me laugh and I hadn't laughed yet.

HOLMES: Well coming up, we'll tell you about a lady who ended up exceeding the number of carry-ons she could take onto a plane. There was a surprise delivery up there on a Southwest Airlines plane. You can figure out what happened. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. You know, you're on a flight. You're headed to your destination, and then a surprise arrival.

HOLMES: Yes.

NGUYEN: At 30,000 feet!

HOLMES: What's the announcement? Congratulations, it's a boy. You hear the pilot say that. You know something's up. But a pregnant woman aboard a Southwest Airlines flight. It's out of Chicago. She went into labor on Friday, luckily, and often is often the case, you got some medical professionals flying and there was a doctor and a couple of nurses who helped deliver the baby boy.

NGUYEN: Lucky lady.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pulled the shoestrings out of my shoes, so that baby is walking around with one of my shoestrings on its umbilical cord.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Oh, my goodness.

HOLMES: That was a bit detailed.

NGUYEN: You can envision it and all, right?

HOLMES: Yes.

NGUYEN: The plane was diverted to Denver international airport before heading to its original destination, which was Boise, Idaho. A hospital spokesman says the mother and baby are doing just fine. No word on the shoestring though.

HOLMES: I didn't know he was going to say all that.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you really want to go there?

NGUYEN: But we want to go to where you are.

HOLMES: Hello.

BALDWIN: Hey, guys, We'll move past that. Congratulations to that happy mom, by the way. A lot coming up this afternoon. Four big hours to go through here on CNN NEWSROOM. First up, we're continuing our conversation, of course, about Amanda Knox in that guilty on all counts verdict that came down last night. We're going to be talking with both of our legal eagles talking about, you know, the fact that a lot of people are saying this ending might not have happened had she been tried here in the U.S. The circus style, this non-sequestered jury, a lot of these jurors exposed to the rumor mill. The tabloids, though, we'll compare and contrast kind of what went on there with what might have happened here. And of course we'll delve a little bit into the appeals process.

All this week we've been talking a lot about Afghanistan, but coming up I'm going to introduce you to a woman who I interviewed earlier this week. She's been gracious enough to sit down with me today, putting a face really on the story of Afghanistan and her life here, after she was born in Kabul and raised in Afghanistan, lived under three different regimes, most recently the Taliban. She will talk to me very honestly about what it was like with the Taliban and what it was risking her life and that of her daughter here Sunya (ph) to come to the United States.

Also we'll be talking money with five women. They call themselves the smart cookies and we'll be putting them to the test and test their smarts and see what they have to say about, any kind of, I guess, financial knowledge you may have, financial questions, we'll be answering some of your questions. And, you know, perhaps talking about spending tips this holiday season, if you have even begun shopping. I haven't really started.

NGUYEN: I haven't done a single thing.

HOLMES: Five women? BALDWIN: I have five women.

HOLMES: It's going to be "The View" here on Saturday or something?

BALDWIN: He's like, I kind of like that, five ladies.

HOLMES: I'm just saying that's a lot of women.

BALDWIN: You can come back.

NGUYEN: Must-see TV, yeah, definitely.

BALDWIN: We'll have them on a little later.

HOLMES: Good to see you. We'll see you shortly.

NGUYEN: Speaking of the holidays and shopping and all that good stuff, they say Santa's checking his list, well, so is Jeanne Moos and she's trying to find out where Tiger falls on Santa's list. Of course we're talking Tiger Woods.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right. Well, the rumor mill buzzing with allegations of infidelity by golfer Tiger Woods and he's been apologizing about his transgressions, as he calls them. Woods is keeping a low profile, hoping that the scandal will just blow over.

HOLMES: Good luck with that. The big guy, the one who keeps tabs on the naughty and nice list this time of year, he has some advice for Tiger Woods. And here now, our Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): ' Tis the season to be anything but jolly if you're Tiger Woods. What is your message to Tiger Woods?

SANTAS: Ho, ho, ho.

MOOS: He's probably not laughing. Not only has his voice mail to a woman claiming to be his mistress gone public --

TIGER WOODS: Hey, it's Tiger.

MOOS: Now the voice mail's been turned into a slow jam remix on youtube.

WOODS: Hey, it's -- it's Tiger. Can you take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and she may be calling you

MOOS: Not since he Alec Baldwin left a message for his pre-teen daughter --

ALEC BALDWIN: You are a rude, thoughtful little pig.

MOOS: ...has a voice mail gotten this much exposure.

WOODS: You got to do this for me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm embarrassed for him that his whole life is displayed in front of everyone.

MOOS: And you can bet Tiger doesn't feel too jolly about the press for displaying it. To drive home the point --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he believes is a private matter and the Florida highway patrol concedes that he does not legally have to talk to them.

MOOS: Along with reporters outside Tiger's mansion with this scantily clad radio host carrying a sign saying "Tiger, they offered me $500,000, I'm keeping my mouth shut!" As for the women who really are involved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, Jamie (ph), give me something.

MOOS: She already gave everything to "Us Weekly." Did you hear his voice mail?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know everything about Tiger, but I can't comment.

MOOS: You're not one of his women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

SANTA: It's none of our business. Please, it's a personal domestic dispute.

MOOS: OK.

SANTA: Tiger's a good boy.

SANTA: No, he's on the naughty list this year.

SANTA: No, no, no, not getting the set of the golf clubs that he asked for.

MOOS: This parody of a holiday card from Mr. and Mrs. Tiger Woods is making the rounds.

SANTA: Tiger, we have a message for you, one, two, three -- you better watch out, you better watch out, you better watch out

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --

SANTA: You better watch out, you better watch out.

MOOS: ... New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: That was all the song, just you better watch out.

HOLMES: That's all they had for him. That's tough. He's not going to be able to get away from it for a while. All the jokes, you got to remember there a family and a couple kids involved in this thing. It's a tough spot to be in, but, oh, my goodness, for the whole family really going through it.

NGUYEN: It's what everybody is really talking about.

HOLMES: It will continue.

NGUYEN: I'm sure Brooke will have something in the newscast coming up, about it too.