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New Species Found in Mekong Delta; Re-Openings Nazi Cold Cases; Kansas City Secret Santa; More Cabinet Nominations

Aired December 17, 2008 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Lessons learned and critical tests still ahead. Barack Obama making a major announcement next hour. Why you and your kids should care. Your money and the nation's economy, new numbers, new measures and new action that could put cash back in your pocket. Good morning everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Today Tuesday December 16th. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Your money, their decision. It's taking shape this hour inside the Federal Reserve. A few hours from now, we're expected to learn of a new cut in a key interest rate. So how is that playing on Wall Street? A live look at the big board right now shows to the positive still double digits there, about 77 points or so. So we'll be keeping our eye on that as soon as this interest rate is actually announced. We're also talking about new measures of the economy as well this morning. The latest snapshots of the nation's financial crisis. Here to break it all down for us is CNN's Christine Romans in New York this morning. Hi there, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Heidi. Well there's no doubt that the Fed officials are talking about these new measures in the economy and all of the different things that we've been seeing. The consumer price index. This is inflation. The consumer price index fell sharply in November, largely driven by gasoline and energy price drops. But look at that, down 1.7 percent. This is the biggest drop in prices since record keeping began back in February 1947. This is a number that we usually measure in tenths of a percentage point. Down 1.7 percent. That's a record decline after a record decline, frankly, the month before. It's a sign of just how weak the economy is. That demand is evaporating for something and that's driving the prices lower.

Housing starts, demand for housing we know has plummeted. Housing construction, new home construction is following suit. Another huge decline there, down almost 19 percent in November. You know, we know there's a real problem in the housing market now. We know that there's a big supply of homes already for sale. It's natural that you would see home construction dry up like this. But there's jobs tied to that industry. And so this is pretty reflective of a lot of people out of work, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. Absolutely. What about this Fed meeting that we're going to see a little bit later on today? A lot of people pretty certain that we're going to see an interest rate cut.

ROMANS: You know, the closest thing to free money that there is, right? The Federal Reserve expected to lower interest rates dramatically again. Right now they say at one percent. They could cut them in half. It's what they say outside of that, too, that many people are interested in. You know they've been cutting rates for some time now. They've cut it more than 4.25 percentage points over the past year. And the economy is still very weak. The banking system is still very weak.

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: So it might be it's what they announce outside of that that could get a lot of people's attention. They've already done a whole lot of things. I mean, they've injected money into the system. They've been cutting interest rates. They bought short-term debt. They've backed the commercial paper market vis-a-vis debts the company have very short term loans that they take. I mean they've done just an extraordinary amount of easing, if you will, and so it will be very interesting to see what they decide to do beyond just lowering interest rates but this will be a historic afternoon most likely.

COLLINS: No question. We'll be watching it all happen right here on CNN as well. CNN's Christine Romans. Thank you.

The man tasked new hope for the nation's troubled automakers? The Bush administration assuring GM and Chrysler a bailout loan is being worked out but it's too early to reveal details. The clock is ticking though. Both automakers have said they're only weeks away from running out of cash. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the rescue package needs to be delivered imminently.

This morning, CNN's Candy Crowley is conducting an extended exit interview with President Bush. You can see it this afternoon in "The Situation Room" and that begins 4:00 Eastern, 1:00 Pacific.

His name alone opened doors on Wall Street, and his sterling reputation may have sealed the fate of those who trusted him. Former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff accused of a $50 billion scam. Today he is due in court. He is seeking bail. His alleged victims are seeking answers and help. Yesterday a federal judge said Madoff's customers may be entitled to at least partial reimbursement from an investor protection fund.

Education was a major part of President-elect Barack Obama's campaign and this is the man expected to be his choice to keep those promises. CNN's Brianna Keilar is joining us live this morning from Chicago. So tell us more about them.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Heidi, here in a couple of hours, President-elect Obama as you said expected to announce his pick for education secretary, Arne Duncan. This is going to take place at a school here in Chicago that has really turned around in the last few years. So a little bit about Duncan. He is in charge of Chicago public schools, which is the third largest school district in the country. He's also someone who is very palatable, not only to teachers unions but also to people who are focused on education reform. And he's got a bit of a personal connection to the president- elect as well. They're actually basketball buddies. In fact, Duncan played professional basketball in Australia. So you can tell he has a varied resume, I guess you could say.

COLLINS: He's probably tall, too. So Brianna, I understand there could be at least one other cabinet announcement made a little bit later this week?

KEILAR: Yes. And actually President-elect Obama said in his news conference yesterday he'd be announcing his interior secretary designate. We do understand from two transition sources that his pick will be Senator Ken Salazar from Colorado. This is a position that we heard the President-elect say yesterday is really integral to his energy, environment and natural resources team as they push for energy independence and what he described as an all-hands-on-deck approach. So we should be hearing that sometime later this week, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. We'll be watching certainly. Brianna Keilar for us in Chicago this morning. Thanks, Brianna. And you can see the Obama cabinet announcement right here on CNN. We're going to be bringing it to you live 11:45 Eastern time.

Rod Blagojevich isn't going anywhere yet. His attorney says the embattled Illinois governor is staying in office. But the state legislature may have the final say on that. They came up with a special commission to look at the scandal. Hearings begin today. They could recommend impeachment. Democrats in the state senate decided against a special election to fill Barack Obama's vacant U.S. senate seat, leaving the decision to Blagojevich for now.

Word of a possible bomb sent shoppers scurrying in the middle of the day in the middle of Paris. CNN's Jim Bitterman on the scene now with the very latest.

JIM BITTERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police evacuated the store at the height of the holiday shopping period just after 11:00 this morning. This is one of the oldest department stores in Paris. It was crowded with shoppers. Get everybody told they had to leave after the French news agency received a letter this morning that warned that there was an explosive device on the third floor of this store. When police searched they found five sticks of dynamite on a toilet on the third floor although there was no detonator. According to the interior ministry the device was not rigged to go off. However, in the letter that was sent to the news agency, there was a warning that if French troops, about 3,000 French troops, not out of Afghanistan by the end of February, the perpetrators of this morning's event would be back, and this time there would be no warning. Jim Bitterman, CNN, Paris.

COLLINS: A London jury finds an Iraqi doctor guilty for his role in a car bombing at the Glasgow International Airport last year. The jury found Bilal Abdulla guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiring to cause explosions. Abdulla and another man allegedly drove a jeep filled with propane gas into a terminal in Glasgow, Scotland. It exploded into a huge fireball. The other man setting himself on fire and died in the hospital.

Flooding puts parts of the west under water leaving behind a muddy mess and the worst may not be over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: People in the aloha state still mopping up after the worst flood in decades. After days of heavy rain in Hawaii, water flooded many roads there making it near impossible for people to get around.

In California, pretty much the same soggy stories. Check out these pictures from L.A.. Heavy rains forced a mandatory evacuation of hundreds of homes in southern California. Authorities are concerned the rains could trigger mudslides.

Rob Marciano is standing by now in the severe weather center as we look at these pictures. Wow, a whole lot of water to deal with there, huh, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We were showing it to you on the radar and even had choppers in the air yesterday around this time showing all that rain just piling up there in southern California. It has tapered off a little bit. But there's still a fair amount of energy that's pouring into the west coast. You see the curly cue right here. That's the center of the upper (low). A lot of cold air driving in. But the bulk of the moisture has moved into the inner mountain west although we will see some moisture from time to time, all the way from Seattle down to San Diego. The heaviest amounts that we've seen as of yet has ended.

A quick shot - did I mention cold air?

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: Cold enough for this in Vegas. I-report yesterday - there's a live shot.

COLLINS: It doesn't look too cold right now.

MARCIANO: Yes. What's the temperature there? 41. You're right. But that's what it looked like yesterday. Daniella Geraghty sent that in. And that's the west - what are you laughing at, Heidi?

COLLINS: Oh, nothing.

MARCIANO: That's the west side of Vegas. There's a palm tree and there's snow on it, OK. That's a big nuance.

COLLINS: Yes. That looks cool.

MARCIANO: You've never even stepped outside of a casino when you're in Vegas. You're like palm trees in Vegas. Goodness.

COLLINS: OK.

MARCIANO: 63 in Atlanta right now or for a high today. So obviously this little sliver southeast of the country is where you're going to get your most bearable weather there. Everyone else is pretty miserable, 88 degrees in Minneapolis, seven if you live in billings. 39 degrees in New York. A little bit of snow heading across the i-95 corridor here but this won't amount to a whole lot. It's just not very organized. And temperatures at least in the bigger cities are a little bit above freezing. So it shouldn't be too big of an issue. Sticking a little more south of Cincinnati and then a pretty good swath of moisture from Kansas City to Omaha. And then this moisture band which is all snow is heading to Chicago. And this will start to pile up by this afternoon and tonight and by tomorrow it will have ended but there could be two to three maybe four inches of snow around Chicago before the next round of precipitation rolls in during the day on Thursday.

And it's coming from the mountains, give me a little red. Thank you. Snow 12-24 inches potentially across parts of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. And you know, we had that avalanche issues over the weekend. An avalanche danger will remain high as the snow continues to pile up. Good for the ski resorts. But you see too much of a good thing can be rather dangerous. We'll keep you posted on that front.

COLLINS: Sure, no question. Hey, you know I have a labradoodle for you a little bit in case you missed it. Some people -- this is a labradoodle, it's a deliberately bred, a cross between a labrador retriever and then a standard or a miniature poodle. Very cute. Just so you know, this is one of the suggestions people are writing in about for President-elect Barack Obama to have as the White House dog for his kids.

MARCIANO: Can't we just stop messing with the dogs, you know, all the breeding with the different things you know. Just get them from the pound and give them some love.

COLLINS: Do you even have a dog?

MARCIANO: No.

COLLINS: All right. Rob.

MARCIANO: When they go in a box, I'll get a dog.

COLLINS: Wow. That's kind. OK.

MARCIANO: I need some help. I need a house with some help. If you walk the dog, I'll get one.

COLLINS: All right. Actually, it's a deal. Rob, will check back later on.

MARCIANO: OK.

COLLINS: Barricades are put up for a reason and posted signs reading "stay out" mean just that. Yet every time there's a downpour, emergency crews are called to rescue drivers who think they can cross a swollen creek or river. You hear it all the time here on CNN. We tell you don't drive through it if you can't see the road. From Southern California, one rescuer's advice to anyone caught in floodwaters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SGT. TROY KEACH, SAN DIEGO LIFEGUARD SERVICE: Don't get out of your car. Don't try to get in the water. Please don't get in the water. It might be deep. It's very, very dangerous. We'll come and get you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: These drivers said they knew how lucky they were when the rescuers came early and helped them out. Thank goodness for that.

Rescue crews are searching for a plane carrying 11 people that went missing 35 minutes after take off. Officials in the Dominican Republic say it took off from Santa Domingo yesterday. It was headed to New York. The plane sent out an emergency signal before disappearing off the radar. The U.S. Coast Guard helping now with that search.

The Canadian government says two of their diplomats have gone missing in Niger. Both men are reportedly specialists and experts in United Nations field work. The Canadian government is not saying if they believe the men were kidnapped. But they say kidnappings are not typical in Niger. There is no Canadian embassy in Niger but the embassy in Ivory Coast services three African nations including Niger.

Doctors putting away that old prescription pad, getting a little bonus for using the web instead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Next year when your doctor prescribes you a drug, you might not get the little slip of paper. It might all be done by a computer instead. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more on this now. Well, I say good because I can't even read it anyway and I don't know how the pharmacist does.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right. If you can't read it, the pharmacist probably can't read it. I mean I don't know how they figure that out. I guess they call the doctor's office for clarification. But President-elect Barack Obama has said that it is time for medical offices to get into this century. If you ever notice they still have all the paper charts and they use all that paper? Well, what's going to happen now starting next year is that Medicare is going to give doctors a two percent bonus if they use electronic prescriptions. The hope is that this will reduce medical errors because, as we discussed, it is sometimes hard to read that handwriting.

COLLINS: Yes. This is sort of a whole another level of medical mistakes or potential ones anyway. Because I imagine if a pharmacist isn't reading it properly, you can get the wrong drug or the wrong amounts or something.

COHEN: Sure. Absolutely. And so what they're hoping is that this will clarify things. Let's take a look at some of the things that are confusing that doctors write on those little pieces of paper. Goodness. Talk about hard to read. Well anyhow, HS in all capitals like that that a doctor writes on a prescription means half strength. But lower case it means at bedtime. OK.

COLLINS: I didn't know that.

COHEN: It's amazing, isn't? So half strength means it should be half the strength of the regular strength of the medicine. At bedtime, those are two different things. Q1d means take this medicine daily. Q.i.d. means take it four times daily. It's easy to see how those would get confused. But of course, if it's on a computer, there is simply less room for confusion. So as you can imagine, a lot of people have been calling for this to happen. Now again, this is going to happen, the doctors will get a bonus if they use e-prescriptions for Medicare patients. But also what happens with Medicare patients happens for all of us eventually.

COLLINS: OK. So they get a two percent bonus. Does the consumer or the patient actually potentially save any money with this?

COHEN: Potentially, they absolutely do. And here's the reason why. If your doctor says Heidi Collins you need this prescription and they just hand it to you. They don't know what it's going to cost you, right? They don't know when you go to your drugstore what it's going to cost you. So here is what should happen. If you go into a computer and say I'm going to give this to Heidi Collins. It will pop up, well this will cost her $50 a month. But if you give her this equivalent medication that will do the same thing, it will just cost her $10 a month. So right there in the doctor's office, you can do some price shopping that will hopefully bring prices down.

COLLINS: Quickly, when did you say this could potentially be happening?

COHEN: January, so next month for Medicare patients. But often things that happen for Medicare patients happen for the rest of us later.

COLLINS: All right. Cool. All right. We'll be watching that one. Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen.

Colonoscopies are known to be an effective tool when it comes to cancer detection. Just how well do they work though? A new study by Canadian researches found colonoscopies are only good at detecting cancers on the left side of the colon, not necessarily on the right. Researchers say colonoscopies are still very effective and highly recommended. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer killer in the United States. But it is highly preventable.

Is this the next Senator Kennedy? JFK's daughter, Caroline. Many consider it a romantic notion but is she really ready for the job?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A heart breaker for one Utah couple. They've been forced to give up their adopted baby boy. Susan Wood of affiliate KTVX has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUSAN WOOD, REPORTER, KTVX: A crowd of supporters gathered to show their love.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We needed to give them support because this would be too hard to do alone.

WOOD: But really nothing can soften the pain when the life of a child is placed in jeopardy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just not fair that they took him.

WOOD: Tonight their baby named Talon is taken away. And their hearts are broken. After a legal adoption was finalized, the birth mother changed her mind. She's less than one quarter Native American, but that gives the tribe the right to intercede. Now the Larsons are forced to give the child back. Yet in this case, Talon's mother has been declared unfit to raise her other children. And Talon will likely go into foster care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like it's worth than death. Because at least if when they die you know they're going to be OK and they're in a safe place. This way you don't know where they're going.

WOOD: A friend and supporter says her adopted child was also taken away based on the Indian Welfare Child Act. It's designed to keep Native American children with Native American families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a baby that you've loved and taken care of and raised since they were born.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The child is being put in foster care with two siblings. And the Larsons say they plan to appeal to either a tribal or federal court. This case falls under the Indian Child Welfare Act as passed by Congress in 1978. Its goal was to, "protect the stability and security of Indian tribes and families." It also gives recognized tribes broad rights to decide who qualifies as a member of their tribe.

If not a king of Wall Street, he was al least among the royal court. That's for sure. Bernard Madoff served as the chairman of Nasdaq. And now he's accused of a $50 billion scam that targeted the rich and even the famous. CNN's Joe Johns has the latest details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The roll call of investors who may have lost millions in the Bernie Madoff scandal reads like an American society "A list." Movie director Steven Spielberg's charity, billionaire publisher Mort Zuckerman, Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg's family foundation, Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellie Wiesel's Foundation for Humanity. And it's not like all the charities and foundations affected were throwing money at Madoff to get quick returns. The Jet Foundation of New York technically had nothing to do with him at all. The problem was that the Levy Church family that gave up to $30 million a year to the foundation used Madoff for their investments. After Madoff crashed, the foundation which supports justice issues and election reform, decided over the weekend to shut down by the end of next month.

ROBERT CRANE, JEHT FOUNDATION, CEO: I do view it as a tragedy, a tragedy obviously for the people that we support, the issues we care about and for the personal lives of everyone who is going to lose a job.

JOHNS: But it wasn't all about the high rollers. On "Good Morning, America" Joan and Arnold Sinkin who had saved close to a million dollars from his job as a carpet salesman gave it to Madoff and may have lost everything.

JOAN SINKIN: If you can get in with Bernie Madoff, wow, you're lucky. And it's just gone in one telephone call.

ARNOLD SINKIN: This is what they referred to as the golden years, where you retire and try to enjoy life and then you get wiped out in 48 hours.

JOHNS: Another sign of the impact. Over the weekend, four multi- million dollar condos owned by Madoff investors in this Florida complex went up for sale when Madoff went down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Late Monday, a federal judge issued an order that may help investors get some of their money back through a fund that replaces missing stocks and securities. The total cost of the alleged fraud, in the billions of dollars.

Joe Johns, CNN Washington.

COLLINS: Another former presidential candidate headed for a cabinet post. Now Barack Obama is expected to name former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as his choice for Agriculture Secretary. Also expected to tell us about his choice for Interior Secretary. Colorado Senator Ken Salazar's name has been mentioned as the likely nominee. And you can see these announcements coming up right here on CNN. It'll all be next hour. So, make sure you stay tuned for that.

Inauguration day. Now just over a month away. January 20th, as you know. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to crowd the Capitol for a look at the new president. And security, not the only concern. CNN Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve, joining us live now, from Washington, this morning.

You have an awful lot to think about here, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There is. You know, just about everybody has a cell phone now that's equipped with a camera. And if you think you're going to be able to snap a picture of the festivities here and then send it instantaneously to your grandmother or your friend, you may be in for some disappointment.

Well, there's a problem, apparently, with that videotape. So, let me tell you about what the situation is. They're expecting millions of people here in the national capitol region to come in for this inaugural celebration. And the wireless industry is saying we should expect to have some delays. They say there's just going to be too much volume for the system to handle. They describe it this way: If you were coming back from the beach and you saw a very crowded, crowded road, that's the sort of what the cell phone system will look like.

I think now may have that videotape. Let's try and roll it now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): At the stroke of midnight last December 31st, revelers texting holiday greetings via cell phone overwhelmed the system. Messages weren't received until hours into the new year.

But, just wait until the inauguration, which could millions of cell phone users to downtown D.C. Calling, texting, surfing the web, sending photos and sharing video.

JOE FARREN, CTIA SPOKESMAN: Imagine a brilliant 85 degree beautiful blue sky, July 4th weekend. Now, imagine at the end of that weekend everyone leaving the beach at the same time. Picture what the roadways would look like in that scenario. That could be what our wireless network looks like.

MESERVE: The bottom line -- expect delays and disruptions. Even though the wireless industry is spending millions to boost capacity in Washington. More lines are being installed, so existing towers can accommodate for traffic and portable cell phone towers will also be brought in to enable more calls to get through.

Emergency personnel communicate by radio. But as a backup, thousands are being outfitted with point-to-point cell phones which don't need towers to work. And some first responders will be given priority access so their cell phone calls will go through first.

But a cell phone can have a different role in a security incident. In Iraq, cell phones have been used as detonators. A former Homeland Security official says in certain circumstances that means cell service could be intentionally disrupted.

GEORGE FORESMAN, FORMER DHS OFFICIAL: You could find yourself in a situation where if there is a credible threat, the federal authorities have no other choice but to disable all but the essential first responders' communications equipment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: Now, we're all hoping, of course, for an inauguration that goes off without any security hitch. But there are things attendees can do to ease the strain on the wireless system. One thing, text, don't call. Texting takes less bandwidth and your message is more likely to go through. And if you do shoot pictures or video, save it, don't send it. Share it later.

Back to you, heidi.

COLLINS: OK. Got it.

And Jeanne, thanks for rolling with the punches, there. Apprecaite that.

MESERVE: You bet.

COLLINS: Another honor for Barack Obama, this morning. He was named "Time" magazine's person of the year. Here is the cover. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was second in the running. French president Nicolas Sarcozy was third. And Alaska Governor Sarah Palin finished fourth. Lots of politics there, obviously in the election year.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: A dramatic change of seasons captured by CNN iReporter Judy Hudspeth. You see her brother -- excuse me -- sister and brother-in- law. They own this house in Gilchrist, Texas. After this picture was taken, Hurricane Ike plowed through and this house became the last one standing on the Gulf side of town.

Well, here is that ravaged home celebrating the arrival of the holiday season. Making it even more remarkable, the area is still without electricity. So, a generator is poweruing those Christmas lights. The homeowner say the devastated town needed a dose of Christmas spirit. Good for them.

We want to hear and see your stories. Just log-on to iReport.com.

And picture this. You're sitting at a restaurant when a bright green viper comes slithering in. That is just one of a thousand new species that scientists have discovered. Our Josh Levs is joining us with some of these stunning pictures.

What are we talking -- Galapagos Islands, here?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Check it out. Check it out. This is from the Mekong Delta. This is one of the many pictures that came to us this week, from the World Wildlife Fund. And that's exactly what happened, Heidi.

Some scientists were at a restaurant in Thailand, in a national park and they saw this and they didn't know anything about it. This is a green pit viper, she's called -- it's a female -- it's one of more than a thousand species they're announcing that they have just found.

COLLINS: Wow.

LEVS: I want to show you this. Yes, we have this story on CNN.com right now. They're saying that over the last 10 years, they have found these and they're putting out the announcement out right now.

You've got to see this one over here. Look at this. This thing produces cyanide. This is a hot pink millipede, called a Dragon Millipede. You know, over time mammals come up with ways to survive. This thing produces cyanide. I know.

All right. Now, give me your opinion on this one. I want to show you this rabbit. Cute or scary? Look at this. This is one of only 15 mammals that are among the more than 1,000 species that they found out there.

COLLINS: Awww.

LEVS: Kind of freaky.

COLLINS: Eh, I don't know. Kind of cute and a little scary.

LEVS: Yes. That's what I think.

That's an animite striped rabbit. Again, one of only 15 mammals. Speaking of kind of cute and a little bit scary, one more I want to show you, here. Take a look -- where'd it go?

Take a look at this one, right here. We're going to take you for a ride through some of these. And I'm just going to quickly push through them. You can see that there are all sorts of things. You've got tons of snakes, rats, mice, frogs, pretty much the whole works. I mean, pretty much anything you've ever thought of is over here.

And then there's this. A I've got a little video that also came to us from the World Wildlife Fund.

COLLINS: Bigfoot.

LEVS: Check it out. They thought this thing, Heidi, was extinct for 11 million years. 11 million years.

COLLINS: Well, what is it?

LEVS: It's a Laotian rock rat.

COLLINS: Oh, gosh I missed that. I've been wondering where the Laotian -- what, rock rat, has been.

LEVS: I know. Me, too. I'm always reading my kids stories about the Laotion rock rat. I'm like, where can we find them?

So, we're going to move this away. I want to show everybody where these were found. The Mekong Delta. Let's make this a little bit bigger right here. We're going to take you on a Google Earth ride through it. It's basically through there. You've got Thailand, Cambodia, Laos. We were just talking about Laotian rock rat. There's Laos, Vietna, right here.

So you know, we've done reporting about what's been going along here, with the Mekong River. Well, the Mekong Delta is apparently a treasure trove of life and nobody knew it.

COLLINS: Is it just that researchers, scientists hadn't been there very often? Or, what's behind all this?

LEVS: Apparently, there are large areas in there that were untouched. And a lot of areas they just hadn't entered into yet. But, also from what we understand, these national parks have grown a little bit. And more and more people going in spotting some stuff that they thought looked strange, checking them out, boom, you've got a thousand new species.

COLLINS: All right. Very cool. Thanks for the photos there.

LEVS: Yes, you got it.

COLLINS: Josh Levs, appreciate that.

Let's wrap up our visit to the animal kingdom now with a little musical salute.

(ELEPHANT PLAYING HARMONICA)

COLLINS: OK. He's no (INAUDIBLE). But, he's off key. You can be the one to tell him. This harmonica-playing elephant, one of the stars at a resort in Thailand. No word on whether this mammoth talent can also tickle the ivory. Get it?

OPEC hoping to stop plunging oil prices, may be ready for a big-time production cut.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The pain at the pump is coming back. Those decling gas prices that you've been enjoying for weeks are on their way back up. According to AAA the national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is up six tenths of a cent. The price now, almost $1.67 a gallon. AAA says this is the second straight day of increases this week.

Oil prices have tumbled 70 percent since this summer. Now OPEC is scrambling to contain the downward spiral, set to make its biggest production cut in decades. So will it work? And then, how will it affect consumers. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our Energy Fix now.

Yes. Good questions. How is it going to affect us?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes. We're going to bring in a trader live from the oil trading floor, here in New York, for you to talk to us. But, OPEC, that cartel controls about 40 percent of the oil production in the world. It loses right now about $3 billion a day with oil prices about $45 a barrel. We're waiting on its official announcement expected in just about 15 minutes. But, it's expected that the cartel will cut two million barrels of oil production per day.

Let's bring in Ray Carbone from the (INAUDIBLE). He makes his living trading oil every day.

Ray, thank you for being here. RAY CARBONE, PRESIDENT, PARAMOUNT OPERATIONS: My pleasure.

HARLOW: Talk about this cut. If the cut comes as expected, what effect, if at all, will it have on oil prices. Because when they cut 1.5 million barrels a day in October, it did absolutely nothing.

CARBONE: Yes. That is true. And the key to any cut is compliance and adherence to those cuts. And that's where the September cut went awry. Not enough people, not enough countries complied with that production cut. And therefore, shipping rates can tell the story. We realize they were not really cutting enough, and the markets tumbled after that.

And so we had another meeting just a few weeks ago, disappointment there. So, anything below two million barrels for me would mean a further drop in prices. And I think we would take out that 40/53 low that we saw earlier this month.

HARLOW: All right. Well, you know, falling oil prices, a lot of Americans say, hey, that's a good thing. It costs less to heat my home and fill my gas tank.

What about the broader economic impact? Something we're missing here, Ray?

CARDONE: Well, of course, this has been a great tax -- a positive tax for the consumer because of dropping prices. But, in the long run, this is very disturbing for the oil industry because we had alternative fuels on the calendar. They're going to be put off. Many of the alternative investments, the biodiesel investments, all those things are going to be put on the back burner during these price drops.

HARLOW: All right. Finally Ray, quickly here, where's the bottom for oil prices? Where is there some stabilization?

CARDONE: When we see the equity markets stable, when they stabilize across the globe, I think that is when you are going to see prices stabilize in the energy markets and that's when you're going to see some demand come back. To me, it is equity market stabilization first, demand second and then a recovery of prices. Production cuts alone may not be enough.

HARLOW: All right. Ray, sounds like we're a ways away from that. The Dow was up 350 points yesterday. It's down 95 points now. No stabilization in site for the stock market.

CARDONE: No, not at all.

HARLOW: Ray, thank you for your time. Heidi, I'll throw it back to you.

CARDONE: My pleasure.

COLLINS: All right. Great. And thanks to both of you guys, our Energy Fix today, there. Evil born in the heart of Nazi atrocities. Crimes decades old and growing more dissance. We'll tell you why the search for justice has not faded over the years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quickly, this information just into the CNN NEWSROOM now. Want to get it out to you directly. Former NASDAQ Chairman Bernie Madoff, we've been talking a lot about him. He had a bail hearing today that was scheduled to take place -- $10 million bail actually, was what was going to be discussed.

That hearing has actually been canceled due to some sort of resolution on some of these specific bail conditions that the prosecution was looking for. We understand that Madoff's wife, who is a co-signer on this bond, has actually agreed to surrender her passport. Now again, something that the prosecution was looking for here. All of this in regard to that $50 billion alleged Ponzi scheme that the former NASDAQ chairman was again allegedly involved in.

So, that bail hearing that was going to take place today, has now been canceled. We'll stay on top of that story for you, of course.

They're called the ultimate cold cases. Crimes that are decades old and investigators typically working without modern technology or even DNA. The reason? These crimes are tied to Nazi atrocities. And federal investigators vow they must never be forgotten.

CNN's Brian Todd has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Worcester, Massachusetts, November 23rd, 1955. Alexander (ph) Lilkikis has a rye smile as he celebrates his first Thanksgiving in America. He'd arrived the day before and now thinks he can put his sinister past behind him.

For decades he does, working for a Lithuanian encyclopedia company. Not until the early '80s Lilkikis is he confronted at home by a young American prosecutor who believes Lilkikis had been chief of a Nazi allied security force in occupied Lithuania, during World War II in charge of rounding up Jews for extermination.

The prosecutor has a document. He thinks it's evidence enough to tie Lelakis to the war crimes.

ELI ROSENBAUM, DIR, OFFICE OF SPECIAL INTEREST: He very cooley looked at me and said, I've never seen that. Show me something that I signed.

TODD: Eli Rosembaum doesn't give up and a decade later goes back with documents signed by Lilkikis, that sent innocents to die.

ROSENBAUM: The one that those of us who worked on the case really can't even forget is -- was a death warrant for a 6-year-old girl and her mother. It still sends a chill up my spine whenever I look at it. TODD: One of tens of thousands of pages just handed over to the Holocaust museum from the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations, set up in the late '70s to track and prosecute alleged Nazi war criminals who'd made their way to America.

The unit's goal is to convict them for lying about their identities when they entered the U.S. and send them back to their home countries for war crimes trials. Officials say they want one message to come from this release.

PETE BLACK, U.S. HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HISTORIAN: For those who murder even when they use national security or reasons of state as the justification for that murder. That some day, and whenever possible, they will be called to account.

TODD: Even Ivan Kaliman (ph), a former officer in the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian police. U.S. prosecutors nailed him on this handwritten report. Quote, "I, Ivan Keliman, fired four shots while on duty in the Jewish operation at 7:00 p.m. on 14 August, 1942 injuring one person and killing one person.:"

(on camera): By the time Kaliman was found living in Troy, Michigan, and prosecuted, officials say it was the oldest murder ever proven in the court of law anywhere in the world.

(voice-over): The span between the killing and the court victory, 64 years, seven months.

ROSEMBAUM: These are, without doubt, the ultimate cold cases. By comparison the ones you see on TV are boiling hot.

TODD: But it doesn't always work out in the end. Ivan Keliman's still living in Michigan. He lost the appeal of his conviction. But, that's being reviewed. He may or may not be extridicted to Ukraine.

Alexander Lilkikis eventually lost his U.S. citizenship and fled to Lithuania. He was prosecuted but if trial hung up in red tape. He died a free man in 2000.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: President-elect Obama ready to name a couple more cabinet choices. Those announcements coming up next hour. CNN will bring you live coverage of the news conference.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: This week before Christmas, a bunch of people are celebrating because they've just been handed money for free by somebody they've never met.

Reporter Eric English, with our affiliate KNXV has more on Secret Santa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC ENGLISH, KNXV REPORTER (voice-over): On the streets

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so happy --

ENGLISH: And at the bus stop --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very big surprise.

ENGLISH: In fact, all over town, this year's Secret Santa crisscrossed the valley handing out holiday joy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secret Santa just gave me a couple hundred dollars to spend on Christmas for my kids.

ENGLISH: An entourage of holida elves joined this year's Secret Santa, as he continued a tradition that started in Kansas City.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're carrying on the tradition of Larry Stewart, who was affectionately known as Secret Santa and for over 25 years gave away $100 bills at Christmas time.

ENGLISH: This year the Secret Santa gave away more than $20,000 in random acts of kindness. But, it's part of a larger, national network. '

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is better to give than to receive. Again, this is going on in Kansas City, and Charlotte and Detroit and St. Louis and other cities.

ENGLISH: So if you were lucky enough to encounter the Secret Santa, be thankful. But he says, if you didn't, you may be in a position to pass on a little holiday happiness to someone else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't expecting this. So, thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It made me cry because I cry with joy and happiness.

COLLINS: Nice, right? And you never know. A Secret Santa may be might be right around your corner.

I'm Heidi Collins. Join us again tomorrow morning, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. For now, CNN NEWSROOM continues with my own personal Secret Santa, Don Lemon.