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Christmas Bomber Appears Before Judge; Video Released of Suicide Bomber Responsible for Killing Seven CIA Agents; Cold Snap Hits Much of the Country; Personal Financial Experts Give Advice for the Coming Year

Aired January 09, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Next in the CNN NEWSROOM, newly released video that takes us inside the mind of the man believed to be the suicide bomber who murdered seven CIA employees.

Plus, it's just plain old frigid outside, icy roads and power outages across much of the nation.

So what is this all about? Creativity in the classroom -- teachers find a clever way to use music to reach their students.

Here in the CNN NEWSROOM where the news unfolds live this Saturday, the 9th day of January, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

A deadly arctic blast is pushing dangerous cold weather across the nation today, and it is blamed for nine deaths. Places like Aberdeen, South Dakota and Valentine, Nebraska are in the negative numbers, as in minus 31 degrees. One reporter in Oregon was knocked down while trying to show the power of the winds.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The wind chill, it is just painful.

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WHITFIELD: Well, you can see the person actually trying to hold her up until she was knocked down. Pretty nasty weather there. Hopefull nobody got hurt. KGW reporter Caylee Chalmers there. No reports of damages or lasting injuries from that kind of wind.

Some motorists in Hot-lanta, not these days, were no match for sleet and ice. Slick roads are blamed for a massive 29-car pileup. The arctic cold is pummeling Georgia with some of the coldest temperatures it has seen in years. With the wind chill factor this week it was colder in Atlanta than in Fairbanks, Alaska.

So the wind chill in many areas of the country today well below freezing. Shelters are urging the homeless to stay inside if they can. And the Salvation Army in San Antonio, Texas, has been delivering coffee and hot cocoa to street resident who simply won't go inside the shelters. But the bone-chilling temperatures are too much for some.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We decided not to end up like this on purpose. Because of that, we are having greater success getting them indoors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have enough blankets or whatever. It is just hard being out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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WHITFIELD: All right, he boarded a plane allegedly hoping to arrive at a martyr. But the 23-year-old "underwear bomb suspect" he is being called, faces potentially life behind bars if convicted of a failed bid to blow up a Northwest airlines flight on Christmas day.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has more on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's first court appearance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Arriving at federal court, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab walked into the courtroom slowly and with apparent difficulty. The alleged Christmas day suicide bomber having suffered second and third-degree lap bombs after detonating explosives hidden in his underwear.

Standing before the judge, his feet were shackled, his white t- shirt and khaki pants too big for his thin frame. The public defender for the 23-year-old Nigerian entered a plea of not guilty. Abdulmutallab told the judge he is on pain killers apparently for his injuries.

He lawyers saying despite that Abdulmutallab understands the charges against him. They include attempting to blow up a U.S. jetliner and kill some 290 people on board.

Heabba Aref was Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam sitting six rows in front of Abdulmutallab. She said it was important for her to see the proceedings firsthand.

HEABBE AREF, NORTHWEST FLIGHT 253 PASSENGER: He looked the same, but he had a little bit more actions. When I saw him on the plane, he was very blank. He didn't move or struggle.

FEYERICK: Several dozen people came to protest against the alleged bomber, holding signs that read, "Islam is not terrorism." Abdulmutallab is being represented Detroit's chief federal defender Miriam Sipher. She did not fight his detention.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The seven page indictment charges him with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder within an aircraft, willful attempt to destroy and wreck an aircraft, and placing a destructive device in an aircraft, and two counts of possession of a destructive device.

A terror suspect vows revenge. A tape has emerged of the suspected suicide bomber who killed CIA workers in Afghanistan. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson has been talking about Humam al-Balawi's family, and he joins us now from Amman, Jordan. Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, hi. His family really shocked now to see this video. They have had a lot of questions the past few days, not sure of what the truth was about their son. They knew he was dead, but now they have heard in his own words why he killed himself.

His father said he was very, very sad. He also said, though, that he was angry with the people that had done this to his son and implied it was the fault of the intelligence agencies, the CIA and Jordanian intelligence that led to his son bombing the CIA base in Afghanistan.

When you look at the video and listen to what al-Balawi has to say, he is very clear that although he went to Pakistan as an agent for the Jordanian government and for the CIA, that he changed sides. He said in the message that he couldn't be bought off for millions of dollars. No idea if that figure is accurate.

But he went on to say that his faith in his god was so strong he wasn't going to be bought off, and that this attack was designed as in part revenge for the killing of a Taliban leader, but also to show his anger about what is going on in the region. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Nic, I wonder how this might impact the intelligence sharing and gathering between the U.S. and Jordan?

ROBERTSON: Well, Jordanian officials say that they have a very strong intelligence relationship with the United States and that this incident isn't going to impact that relationship.

But according to one analyst we talked to here who is very familiar with the way these intelligence agencies work and cooperate, what this is going to mean is because this double agent double-crossed the CIA and bombed against them rather than informing on Al Qaeda.

This is going to need a reevaluation of all those types of agents who are in Afghanistan working on Al Qaeda, which essentially means that for the CIA and for Jordanian intelligence and all those other agencies, it is going to slow down the hunt for Usama bin Laden because it is going to take time to go back and check on these spies, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Nic Robertson in Amman, Jordan, thank you.

The senior Republican on the House homeland security committee is blasting the Obama administration's handling of terror suspects. From the planned closing of Guantanamo Bay to the decision to try 9/11 suspects in New York City, New York Congressman Peter King says the U.S. is sending the wrong signal. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING, (R) NEW YORK: One of the first things we need to do is pass the Keep Terrorists out of America Act, a common sense bill Republicans have proposed to prevent terrorists from being brought on to our soil.

This bill would help stop the misguided plan to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorists on trial in downtown Manhattan. There is an enormous, unnecessary risk, as is housing terrorist in the proposed Gitmo north facility near Chicago.

There's a good reason why the government has had such a hard time transferring these terrorists detainees to other countries. They are the worst of the worst. No one should want them. That's why we put in place a process by which these terrorists should be held and tried as enemy combatants by military commissions.

The Keep Terrorists out of America Act will also help to ensure that we're treating terrorism as what it is, a war crime, not a law enforcement issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: King made the remarks in the Republicans weekly address.

And two men now under arrest in connection with a New York terror plot, one of them is a New York city cab driver. He was arraigned yesterday. The other is a Bosnian immigrant who is in court this morning. CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti is live from New York with the latest. Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. In fact, this was an arraignment on a two-count indictment for the suspect. And this arraignment just wrapped up a short time ago.

The name of the suspect is Adis Medunjanin. He is a Bosnian immigrant that is now a naturalized citizen. The two counts he faces are charges, the first one is conspiracy to commit murder outside the U.S. in a foreign country, and the second charge is a charge that he received military training from what is called "a foreign terrorist organization," namely Al Qaeda.

Both of these counts, if found guilty, could mean that he could be facing the rest of his life in prison.

Now, this man and the cab driver from yesterday are both alleged to be associates of a terror suspect by the name of Najibullah Zazi, who you will recall is allegedly involved with putting together explosives for some kind of an attack believed to be in the New York Metropolitan area perhaps according to the government which was supposed to take place on or about the 9/11 anniversary that we just passed last September, 2009.

Now today in court, this suspect, Mr. Medunjanin, pleaded not guilty before a judge to these two charges. And he is represented by an attorney who said and also announced in court that he will be held without bond until a permanent detention hearing. The government will ask for no bond at that hearing next Thursday.

What's perhaps interesting to also note about this case is that this man only yesterday, the other night, was presented with a search warrant at his home. This is what led up to it.

And authorities at that time asked him to turn over his passport, which he did voluntarily, according to his lawyer.

But tight after that, he left his home without telling his family where he was going, and wound up in a minor car wreck at which time he crashed into another car.

But according to authorities, according to law enforcement sources, he was going at least 90 miles an hour at one point. FBI agents who have had him under surveillance were following him but were not said to be chasing him.

Now, during that drive right before the crash, according to sources, he called 911. And during that time, according to law enforcement sources, he said, quote, "We love death more than you love life."

Now, we put that to his lawyer today, and his lawyer said, had this response -- quote, "That particular comment had nothing to do with terrorism." And then the lawyer added this -- "People say things consistent with their upbringing, their background, their beliefs, that if you want to misinterpret, you can do so for your own purposes."

The lawyer would not discuss the phone call to 911 any longer or in any more detail after that.

So at this point again we have one suspect, an additional suspect who has pleaded not guilty to two charges today. And he will have a detention hearing next week.

But what's perhaps finally, Fred, to make the point, this is part of a very broad investigation that began late last year, which is considered by law enforcement officials to say is the biggest terror investigation since 9/11 in which they believe they thwarted a possible attack against the United States. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: OK, Susan Candiotti in New York. Thank you.

So it is one of the more important electronic shows of the year, and one of the most popular topics is the development of Skype technology. We're headed live to Las Vegas to learn a little bit more about that.

Plus, the financial wizards simply known as the Dolans, there they are -- it is so cold in West Palm Beach. They have some great financial advice for us coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Perhaps you're looking for ways to save money -- everyone is. So just ask the Dolans. They have all the answers to your personal finance questions. Ken and Daria Dolan joining us now as they do every weekend. Happy New Year. How is it feeling in west palm?

DARIA DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: Chillier than we have ever seen it. I have one quick financial tip for those viewing right now.

KEN DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: Get a shovel?

DARIA DOLAN: No, no, no. Stock up on frozen OJ now, because there is going to be a price like you can't believe.

WHITFIELD: I guess freeze whatever strawberries you can get your hands on too.

KEN DOLAN: Strawberries and orange -- it could be 29 degrees in the middle part of Florida.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about some other predictions that you are willing to make for 2010 as it relates to the economic picture. Want to take a stab on that, Ken?

KEN DOLAN: I want to say one thing, Fredricka. Some of our predictions people may not agree with and they may not even like. Let us suffice to say, America is going to come out of this mess stronger than ever. Please agree with me for a second -- eventually. 2010 we think is going to be a challenging year.

DARIA DOLAN: It is going to be very challenging. And the fact of the matter is a lot of people out there talking have vested interests in a lot of the areas they are talking about. We have no ax to grind. So we tell it as we see it. And we are not going to make a nickel on the advice.

WHITFIELD: When you talk about mess, we are talking really macro, a lot of things under the big mess that you are talking about?

KEN DOLAN: There really is. We'll come out of it, Fredricka, but we see the stock market as being less than 10,000, around where it is now. We see unemployment could go as high as 11 percent during the course of the year but still end the year-round 10 percent.

And 17.3 million people are out of work, many of whom have given up. It's not going to get much better.

WHITFIELD: If you are looking for work, you don't have a job, you don't care what the market is saying. You don't care how the banking industry is doing.

DARIA DOLAN: The fact of the matter is ...

WHITFIELD: If the banking industry gets more support and does better, if the stock market does better, do we also associate that the parallel is maybe employment will get better too? Why should I care if I'm unemployed?

DARIA DOLAN: Here is the problem. When things start turning around and people start feeling like, hey, maybe I will be able to get a job, we are going to see an increase in the unemployment rate, because all of those people that don't get counted in that 10 percent right now are going to start flooding back looking for work, which is going to inflate the number of jobless for quite some time. It is not going to look pretty for the elections in November.

KEN DOLAN: And we're seeing and we're predicting, and people can disregard it if they want, in excess of 2 million foreclosures and we think as many as 2.4 million foreclosures because people simply are not going to get back to work because the government is not doing anything to help small business and the banks are sitting on their butts and they're still not lending money.

And until that happens, consumer confidence, down, commercial real estate, down, housing prices, not great.

WHITFIELD: And confidence among people who do have jobs, that's plunging too, because apparently 45 percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their jobs?

KEN DOLAN: Over 50 percent hate their jobs.

WHITFIELD: Over 50 percent hate, why?

DARIA DOLAN: First off, they are not keeping pace with inflation. Their wages were up in the last count .02 of a percent. But their health costs and everything else, their taxes, the prices of food, the prices of gasoline...

WHITFIELD: So how do you maximize, because if you have a job, you are considered a lucky one. And for those who don't have a job, to hear from somebody who says, I have a job but I don't like it, are we to feel sorry for them? How do you make it work for you if you don't like your job?

DARIA DOLAN: Since 67 percent of 25-year-olds and younger are the ones most dissatisfied with their lives.

KEN DOLAN: Where do you get all these figures? That's tremendous.

DARIA DOLAN: I just want to say this to all of you 25 somethings...

KEN DOLAN: The 25-year-olds.

DARIA DOLAN: ... and younger -- get over yourselves. Mom and dad did a very poor job of letting you always be right, always win. You always got blue ribbons for any sort of competition no matter whether you won or lost.

KEN DOLAN: Welcome to reality. DARIA DOLAN: Now, you are in the real world and this is reality. You better start liking what you do because you may not have anything to do if you don't start liking it.

KEN DOLAN: Here is the problem we have if people stay dissatisfied and with a large percentage. You are going to have dissatisfaction, lower productivity. It is going to stop the economy, less teamwork, trouble with management.

Come on, get over yourselves. You are working. Get going, learn new skills. Why am I yelling?

DARIA DOLAN: That goes for the older workers, too, of which 55 percent overall are unhappy. Find something that you like about your job and focus on that instead of going, oh, poor me.

WHITFIELD: OK.

There are some new tax rules for 2010 folks need to take note of. Mileage allowances of using a personal car for work, business, your own business, you might see some changes as well as for IRAs, contributions, or maybe your 410(k).

KEN DOLAN: The contributions are going to be at $16,500 plus a $5,500 catch up if you are over 50. The mileage going for charitable work and medical and for business and moving are going down slightly, Fred, because the government says gas is cheaper.

DARIA DOLAN: Not by much.

But here is the great IRA news, though. For people that have had the traditional IRAs where they put in the tax deferred and pay it when it comes out as opposed to the Roth IRAs where you pay the taxes and you can get the money when you retire tax free, there will be no income limits to anybody wanting to re-characterize...

KEN DOLAN: Or convert.

DARIA DOLAN: ... or convert that traditional IRA to the tax free Roth.

KEN DOLAN: We love the idea.

WHITFIELD: But why would people not want to take advantage of the Roth.

KEN DOLAN: Some people don't have the taxes. Once you convert, Fredricka, you have to pay the taxes on the old IRA, although there is some benefit to spreading it.

DARIA DOLAN: They are going to allow you to spread that out over the next couple of years.

However, what you have to bear in mind is, if this health care passes, we are all probably going to be looking at higher tax rates. So don't convert more than you will really be able to afford to pay taxes on and preferably pay those taxes in 2010.

But do sit down and talk to an accountant about it. It makes sense to have some tax free income.

WHITFIELD: If there is health care reform, if indeed, it passes, you might see higher tax rates and other ways families might be impacted if there is passage?

KEN DOLAN: Not if it passes, because something is going to pass, god help us. Number one, you are going to pay more for health care to begin with on balance, because employers, among other reasons, Fred, are going to ask workers to pay more of the cost of health care, out- of-pocket expenses like deductibles, premiums, co-pays.

DARIA DOLAN: If the Senate bill passes and you are not one of the fat cats but just a regular union worker with a good health insurance plan through your union, if the Senate plan passes, expect to get hit with that, clobbered with that tax that they want to do on the so-called Cadillac plans, because it is not the wealthy necessarily who have them, but it's more the rank and file who have them.

KEN DOLAN: Fred, take a look at the FSAs. Maybe you didn't do it in '09, the flexible spending accounts, which allows you to use tax free dollars to take care of the stuff you are going to have to pay more for.

WHITFIELD: We will see and hear more from you in a moment. We are also going to be talking about, or at least we hope to talk about these five ways that you have that people can make some extra money in 2010.

KEN DOLAN: Easy ways.

WHITFIELD: Easy money. And we also have a lot of questions coming your way from folks in our audience or our viewership. Much more with the Dolans right after this.

WHITFIELD: But first, here is a look at the top stories.

At least two people have died after the machine gun attack of a bus belonging to Togo's national soccer team. The West African team was headed to Angola for the African cup of the nation's tournament when they were attacked near the Congo border on Friday. The team has decided to pull out of that contest.

And consumer activist Ralph Nader has filed another lawsuit claiming a conspiracy in the presidential election more than five years ago. It contends that John Kerry and other Democratic leaders conspired to try to keep him off the ballot in more than a dozen states.

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(SINGING)

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WHITFIELD: It sounds like him but does it look like Elvis? Dozens of Elvis Presley impersonators converged at a hotel in the English seaside town of Blackpool on Friday. They took part in the European Elvis championships on what would have been the king of rock 'n roll's 75th birthday.

So now, let's hear the real thing.

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(SINGING)

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Five ways to make extra money in 2010. The Dolans have the secret, and they are back with us now with some of those tips on how in the world we can do this. Ken and Daria Dolan joining us again from a frigid West Palm.

DARIA DOLAN: It is.

KEN DOLAN: Fred, we decided we are not telling you.

WHITFIELD: You are not telling us.

KEN DOLAN: No.

WHITFIELD: Why not? Do we have to guess? How do you do this?

KEN DOLAN: Here is four quick ways.

WHITFIELD: Four ways, not five.

KEN DOLAN: Four. We have a lot more. We will do it another time.

Number one, I called the U.S. census bureau myself here in the Florida area because they and all over America, the census is 2010. They need enumerators, which is door to door census takers, and they will pay some pretty good dough.

Here in Florida, it's around $14. But you can go to 2010census.gov, Fred, and see all the facts, questions and answers, what they pay in your area, the office numbers. If you needed some money during the course of this year, this might be pretty good.

WHITFIELD: That's good.

DARIA DOLAN: And then for those that are educationally ahead of the curve, if you have skills like in math, in science, in music, in whatever, look into tutoring or helping out in the local school districts. There are a number of jobs that are available at the website higheredjobs.com. And you may just find that there are teachers in your local area who need some help with, say, geometry students who don't get it.

KEN DOLAN: Not even fancy stuff for school, chemistry and math and stuff -- can you play an instrument, do you do needle point? Are you good at cooking, almost anything that people will pay money for? Put a little ad in the paper. You would be surprised. I would like to learn to play the banjo.

DARIA DOLAN: He tried it once before. It was ugly.

WHITFIELD: I feel sorry for you there, Daria.

DARIA DOLAN: If you are as well-versed in computers as many, many young people are, there are a lot of people that really, even if they have rudimentary skills for the computer, can't get beyond those rudimentary skills and would probably be willing to pay to get to the next level of using their computers. Or, better yet, website design.

KEN DOLAN: For small businesses, Daria.

DARIA DOLAN: And if you are good at stuff like that, just go through your local yellow pages. See your local businesses and check their websites. If they have them, how you could improve them. Go in with the new improved versus what they've got, or go in with an idea already built out.

KEN DOLAN: If they don't have one. Small business people, as we know, Fred, are hurting. They are trying to get to the next paycheck for themselves and their employees, and they don't have time. There's a very good book called the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Building a Website" by Paul Mcfredries.

WHITFIELD: I love those "Complete Idiot Guides."

Josh Levs is with us, too. He has been fielding a lot of questions from people who are been watching you.

KEN DOLAN: Who is Josh Levs?

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: People have lots of questions, don't they, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It must be really cold down there that you all are forgetting about me now.

(LAUGHTER)

DARIA DOLAN: It's freezing below 35.

LEVS: Your thoughts are freezing too.

KEN DOLAN: What do you got? LEVS: The first one from Keith, who sent this over Facebook. And Keith is saying "If an average middle class family has a few extra bucks, is it better to pay down a mortgage or throw it into the retirement fund?"

WHITFIELD: That's good.

KEN DOLAN: Great question. Let me give you my five sense. I like building up a little bit in the retirement fund and an emergency fund, because if you put money into the house, and there is nothing against paying it off early, if you need it, you have to borrow it from yourself, from your house.

DARIA DOLAN: And this is all assuming that they have outside savings that, god forbid, if a job loss, they have six months at a minimum to keep them going after unemployment runs out.

LEVS: So is that where you guys stand, have six months of your basics and after that, and after that you can start paying down the mortgage?

KEN DOLAN: Absolutely

DARIA DOLAN: Paying down the mortgage or contributing to retirement plans. If your mortgage is under water and you think you may be wanting to pack up and chase a job somewhere else in the not too distant future and real estate prices have really fallen, you may want to put it into that mortgage so that if you do find that you want to sell and move on, you will have yourself back in parity with the prevailing rates.

KEN DOLAN: It is only a six-minute segment.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: Question number two comes to us from Julian. Julian says "In light of everything that's happened over the past year, what should young people look for in getting their first credit card??!?!"

KEN DOLAN: The answer is, Josh, of course, it makes sense for every young person to get their first credit card and use it responsibly.

You can go to bankrate.com to get a secured credit card. You can put $250 or $500 on deposit. That would be your credit limit. You prove you can do it and you get upgraded to a regular card. And the secured credit card looks exactly the same.

DARIA DOLAN: And charge only what you can pay in full every month.

LEVS: But just quickly, if you are a young person and getting offers from 12 different companies, what do you look for? How do you know which one to go with?

DARIA DOLAN: Number one, you want to make sure there is no annual fee. There are still some cards out there that have it. Look for the one with the lowest interest rate, god forbid you need to carry a balance, and the longest grace period.

And make sure they report. Not all these cards that are out there being offered to people necessarily report your credit habits, and then you have taken out credit to no avail.

KEN DOLAN: Warning, warning, warning, Josh Levs, new credit rules next months. Check all of your mail. Some of the cards are sneaking things in the bills and flyers.

LEVS: This one comes to us from Teresa. She is saying, this year she is going to go debt free, love that. She has a six-figure income so she's doing well. She would like to know how to scrimp and save to accumulate some savings towards retirement.

She is already 53 and has never saved for retirement. In about 20 seconds, what are the best things she should do.

KEN DOLAN: I can do it in less. Listen to me. Pay yourself first. Put a small bill at the top of you pile every month. Make it you and put it in the bank.

DARIA DOLAN: Or put it into a Roth IRA.

WHITFIELD: I was going to say she should take advantage of the Roth.

DARIA DOLAN: Absolutely.

LEVS: Let me show where to send in your questions. The blog is always up, CNN.com/josh. Also, Facebook and Twitter. We have the dynamic Dolan duo, the first family of finance every Saturday.

WHITFIELD: You have made us smarter and richer with your knowledge.

KEN DOLAN: Thanks, guys.

DARIA DOLAN: Take care, guys.

WHITFIELD: And don't forget, if you want to ask the Dolans a question, just head to their Web site as well, dolans.com. This week they walk you through ten steps to be debt free, debt free living in 2010.

They also break down new credit card rules, as you heard Ken talking about there, going into effect in February and explain exactly what that means to you.

An apology now from Senator Harry Reid for what many consider a racist remark about the president when he was campaigning.

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WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. Togo's national soccer team has pulled out of the Africa cup of Nations Tournament after a deadly attack on the team bus. Reports indicate the bus driver and assistant coach and a team spokesman were killed and eight players hurt. The bus had just crossed into Angola when gunmen opened fire.

And the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner Christmas jetliner pleads not guilty. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab went before a judge in Detroit yesterday. The 23-year-old faces six federal charges included attempted murder.

And 289 other people were on board his flight and some of them are credited with stopping him.

And new video of the man believed to be the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA workers in Afghanistan. It shows Lhalil Abu Malal al Balawi and next to him the leader of a Taliban group in Pakistan. In the video al Balawi vows revenge for the killing of another Taliban leader last August.

And in U.S. politics now, an apology today from the Senate majority leader for disparaging remarks he made about Barack Obama in the presidential campaign.

In the new book, journalists Mark Halprin and John Healeman quote Harry Reid as saying privately that Obama could be successful thanks in part to his "light-skinned appearance and speaking pattern with no negro dialect," end quote.

In a statement, Reid says he deeply regrets using such a poor choice of words -- those are his words you're looking at right now. He goes on to say "I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans, for my improper comment." That's the direct quote from his statement. We will have more on this in the next hour.

So there is a reason most southerners hate icy roads. What an uncomfortable feeling behind the wheel skidding to every place except your destination. They are not used to this kind of weather.

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WHITFIELD: It seems like these days everybody is doing it, making a phone call with their computer. But changes are coming to what's usually a blurry image. Can we see that image? Is it blurry? That's a pretty crisp little view right there.

We are going to talk to that man right there in Las Vegas at a cool convention where they are talking about all the new high-tech stuff, including what's coming your way in the form of your PC and your video images.

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WHITFIELD: Skype is going high-def. It's just one of the companies showing off it's changing vision for video calls at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and CNN.com's technology writer John Sutter is at the show and joins us via Skype. And that's a pretty nice picture. It's amazing how we have seen in a year some pretty huge improvements. What's next?

JOHN SUTTER, TECHNOLOGY WRITER, CNN.COM: The next thing, like you mentioned, is Skype is coming to the living room on to home TVs. You would be able to make a conference call with family members in other parts of the country, sitting on your coach. They could sit on theirs. The idea is it a little more comfortable.

The image is also a lot bigger, obviously, on a TV than a laptop if you are doing a web call like this one. So, you know, it gives you sort of a more lifelike feel. They are not just this little postage stamp on your screen.

Yes, go ahead.

WHITFIELD: You go ahead.

SUTTER: The other thing they were saying to me, I just demoed this product form Panasonic, and they were saying it would be good at a party so your friend in another city could see your gathering. I don't know how fun that would be in reality, but it's a thought.

WHITFIELD: It's almost like you were here but you are not.

SUTTER: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: So when you talk about hooking this up to your television, are we talking about just a new connection that's being made available so you can hook up your PC to your television, or is it just picture is clearer? What do we mean?

SUTTER: There's no PC involved. That's the cool part. A big trend here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas is called Connected TV. It is basically TVs that access the Internet on their own, like over a wireless connection if you have that in your home, or through a cable.

So your TV would do the connecting for you. What you would need to purchase is a camera, a little black box that would sit on top of your TV, and that has a camera in it that spots you. It also has microphones in it that pick up your voice.

When I first heard about this, I wondered if you had to walk up to your television really close and sort of yell into it to make sure you were heard. But they have very, very strong and pointed microphones that point straight out in front of the TV.

WHITFIELD: That is incredible. What's the other big, hot thing that people are talking about at that convention that everyone is all excited about?

SUTTER: Well, there are a bunch of trends. In TV, 3-D TV is coming out this year from a number of TV manufacturers. There have been big crowds gathered around these demonstrations wearing these goofy 3-D glasses which you would have to buy and take into your home.

The connected TV, like I mentioned. E-readers are a big thing, so reading books on devices that are specifically designed for reading. They replicate paper. Some are coming out in color, some have flexible displays. There is just sort of a range in these products.

In computers, the big buzz is tablet computers. A lot of them have touch screens. You can write on them. They come in all shapes and sizes.

WHITFIELD: Isn't that amazing?

SUTTER: Yes, there's just lots of cool new stuff here.

WHITFIELD: And you have a ticket. So front row seat in all of it as well. That's fantastic.

SUTTER: Lucky me.

WHITFIELD: Luck you, indeed. Technology writer for CNN.com, John Sutter, thanks so much from Vegas. In this case, what happens in Vegas does not staying in Vegas as we have Skype and all other ways to transmit the information. Have fun.

SUTTER: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: We have all heard Beyonce's single lady's song. We have some students who have done a scholarly take on this song. And it's an educational tool as well. Check it out. Here's a sneak peek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Scholar Ladies -- isn't that cool and they sound good too?

Coming up next hour, I will talk to some of the students and a teacher who actually helped make this video, crack the song. You don't want to miss it.

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