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Luxury Cruise Gone Wrong; G-20: What it is & Wants to Do; British Students Protest Tuition; The Best Time to Find Cheap Deals; Broward County Florida Schools on Lockdown after Threatening E-Mail;

Aired November 10, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Live from Studio 7 at CNN headquarters, the news and information you need for Wednesday, November 10th.

Voyage to nowhere. Tugs tow a crippled cruise ship towards San Diego. The Navy ferries Spam and Pop-Tarts to thousands of unhappy vacationers.

Help wanted. Brand name corporations are hiring. One, Google, is even handing out fat raises to every single employee.

Home for the holidays. It is going to cost you more this year. The CNN Money team checks on soaring airfares.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

Those stories and your comments right here, right now, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

They were supposed to be cruising along the Mexican Riviera in luxury. Instead, their ship is being towed to San Diego by tugboats.

The Coast Guard says a second tugboat is now assisting the crippled cruise ship Carnival Splendor, and a third is joining the effort. The ship, with almost 4,500 people on board, lost power following an engine room fire. It is expected to arrive in San Diego late tomorrow. The Navy carrier the USS Ronald Reagan helped resupply the ship.

On the phone with us right now is U.S. Navy Commander Greg Hicks.

Commander Hicks, we appreciate your time.

If you would, let's start -- we're seeing some of the photos right now of the resupply mission. Describe that mission. How did it work, and what kinds of items were taken to the ship?

COMMANDER GREG HICKS, U.S. NAVY: Good morning, Tony.

It was a pretty complex mission. Carnival Cruise Lines requested some supplies and food be lifted over to the Splendor. We were happy to assist with that.

They loaded it up into semi-trailers, drove it up to Naval Air Station North Island. We then put it onto our carrier, on board delivery aircraft C-2s, VRC-30, flew it out to the Ronald Reagan. The working party out there offloaded it, staged it, and then repackaged it onto pallets, and then it was helicoptered over to the Splendor.

So, a lot of people involved, a lot of complex movements, a lot of time movements.

HARRIS: So, Commander, what kind of supplies are we talking about? We mentioned Pop-Tarts earlier, but what else?

HICKS: You had lunchmeat, you had canned crab. You had croissants, you had bread. There was lots of water, cups, utensils, stuff that was disposable, stuff that could be served cold and didn't have to be refrigerated, and could actually be eaten right away.

HARRIS: Right. OK. Very good.

Now, some sailors, I understand, have been in contact with passengers and crew members. What kind of conditions are they describing on the ship?

HICKS: Well, I haven't gotten a direct report from any sailors from the Reagan, but from the Coast Guard, they said that people on the ship -- obviously, it's not a deluxe cruise liner now, but they do have potable water, the toilet systems are up and running.

HARRIS: Oh, good.

HICKS: They do have the food, they are under tow. They're coming back to San Diego. So, it is kind of austere, but it's tolerable. And we wish them the best on their voyage home.

HARRIS: OK. Commander Hicks, we appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

We should add that Carnival is making hotel and flight arrangements for the passengers once they get back to port. Guests will also receive a complimentary future cruise.

In a statement, Carnival says, "We sincerely apologize to our guests for this unfortunate situation and offer our thanks for their patience and cooperation during this challenging time. The safety and comfort of our guests is our top priority, and we are doing everything we can to allow them to return home as quickly as possible."

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. So you want to trash your boss on Facebook, huh? Listen up.

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled comments posted on the social networking site to be protected activity. It says the firing of a Connecticut woman for posting negative comments about her supervisor was illegal. President Obama renewing his promise to improve U.S. relations with Muslims around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just as individuals are not defined solely by their faith, Indonesia is defined by more than its Muslim population. But we also know that relations between the United States and Muslim communities have frayed over many years. As president, I've made it a priority to begin to repair these relations.

(APPLAUSE)

As part of that effort, I went to Cairo last June, and I called for a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one that creates a path for us to move beyond our differences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That was earlier when the president was in Indonesia. He is now in South Korea, the third stop of his 10-day Asian tour.

He and other leaders at the G-20 Summit will discuss how to stabilize the world's financial markets. The summit is expected to be tense. Some economic powers -- China, Germany, to name just a couple -- are upset over the Federal Reserve's decision to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy.

Josh Levs is here to explain what the elite group of 20 is, what it's all about, and the challenges ahead for the summit.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Yes.

And the thing is, we're talking about a critical group of 20 nations here. In fact, they're all in red behind me on this map.

Now, I'm not going to name them all for you, but the idea is here that the G-20 takes the world's most powerful economies, the biggest, largest economies in the world, and combines it with a lot of the developing economies as well. So, you've got a lot of the usual suspects, the big players, U.S., China, Russia, France.

You have also got Brazil in there. You've got Indonesia, you've got Mexico. And all combined, when you put all these nations together, they comprise 85 percent of the world's economy. So what they decide there is going to have a massive impact on the entire world.

Now, as we head into this, interesting dynamic this time around, Tony. One thing that we're seeing at the very beginning is being dubbed "Currency Wars." And that is something that plays out of what you were just talking about here. The U.S. just announced pumping $600 billion into the economy. A lot of nations very unhappy about that decision and, that's setting up a whole new dynamic for this meeting here.

HARRIS: Well, Josh, what does this really mean? I mean, if you can explain the Currency Wars to us simply, what would you say here?

LEVS: Yes. OK. Let me try to break this down for you.

I've been thinking about how do we make this really simple? Here's the idea.

The U.S. has been pressuring China for a long time because China, they complain that China was trying to undervalue, lower the value of its own currency. Now, you might think about that and say, why would a nation want to lower the value of its own currency? Well, that helps exporters. Right?

The idea is that the U.S. has been complaining China is lowering the value of its currency, which helps Chinese exporters. Now, what does the U.S. do? The U.S. announces it's pumping $600 million into the economy, and that can, in turn, lower the value of the U.S. dollar.

So now you have more and more countries saying, wait a second, are were heading into this field of currency wars? And are we going to see more and more countries manipulating their currency in this way to help their own exporters, ultimately creating more problems?

So, Tony, that's one problem that we see here.

Check out this. Germany's finance minister just the other day called U.S. economic policy "clueless." Actually used the word "clueless." Now, U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said injecting the money into the economy is needed to drive down interest rates and get demand going.

But this battle is a sign of the challenge that they're facing, Tony. And let me just get through quickly two more points that we're facing as we go into this, because one thing that is interesting about this dynamic is that now there is actually less unity in the G-20 because the economies are getting better. So, in a way, that's a sign of a good thing.

One thing we're seeing in this upcoming meeting and previous meetings, they had some real fears about a depression. Now a lot of countries don't have that fear anymore. So we're seeing a better economy, less unity.

At the same time, you're seeing what could be potentially a big problem for some of these countries. Some of these nations are genuinely afraid that the G-20 will cease to exist, especially some of the smaller economies.

They're saying if not much happens now, it might not be around. The future of the G-20 is in question. Some of the economies that are involved in it, that are really hoping to get a lot out of their involvement, are concerned it will disappear.

So, Tony, all those dynamics play in as the president of the United States arrives and faces these concerns have over other world economies.

HARRIS: It sounds like a lot of the countries are starting to go in their own direction, trying to figure out best policies for their individual nations, and not quite as interested, at least right now, in this moment, in doing what might be best for all of the nations as we try to dig out of this global recession.

LEVS: Well, we'll see how it goes.

HARRIS: Yes. Josh, appreciate it. Thank you.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Time now for today's "Big Plays."

Co-host of the "2 Live Stews," the number one sports talk radio show in the country right now --

Stew, are you kidding me?

RYAN STEWART, CO-HOST, "2 LIVE STEWS": I'm not.

HARRIS: You know, you've got ESPN, that has this whole radio thing, right? And you guys are beating them?

STEWART: Well, we do pretty good, Tony.

HARRIS: I'm sorry, I should have said the four-letter network. Shouldn't I?

STEWART: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Oh, yes. Listen, I love the show.

So let's start with the Cam Newton story. He is a Heisman frontrunner at this point, right?

STEWART: Polarizing player. Polarizing player.

HARRIS: Now, tell me why he is so polarizing.

STEWART: He's a big kid, first of all.

HARRIS: He's an awesome specimen, right?

STEWART: 6'5", 6'6", 240 pounds.

HARRIS: Right.

STEWART: Running somewhere around a 4.4 (ph). He's got a strong arm.

HARRIS: That's freakish.

STEWART: He's a freak.

HARRIS: Right. Right. OK.

So here's the story here. Let me read it so I've got it right here. There are serious allegations, right, that people were working on his behalf to put together a play for pay arrangement, right, for Cam Newton to play somewhere, right?

STEWART: Correct.

HARRIS: And no one is accusing Auburn of doing anything wrong here.

Any fire or all smoke at this point, Ryan?

STEWART: Well, I have to start off by saying it's all alleged at this point in time. OK?

HARRIS: Yes.

STEWART: Now that that's out of the way, I typically believe where there's smoke, there is fire, Tony. And I do believe there was someone talking on his behalf, and I do believe that there may have been some cash exchanged. But if it wasn't exchanged, or given to Cam, or if it wasn't given to Cam's father, this could just end up being a big pile of smoke.

HARRIS: Well, wait a minute. All we're getting now are allegations from unnamed sources.

STEWART: Always unnamed.

HARRIS: I mean, come on. And where are these sources? They're in Mississippi State? What is this?

STEWART: Well, a quarterback from Mississippi State kind of broke some wind on cam. Why he would do that, I have no idea.

HARRIS: What were you saying, he broke some wind?

STEWART: Broke some wind. And we'll leave that at that.

And, of course, Urban Meyer, in Florida, saying that we would not do this, we respect the young man. Now that he's no longer here, we're not going to talk about him. All the information that is being brought forth is information that's supposed to be private information, so the fact that it's public now is just --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: It's supposed to be private information. This is stuff that's supposed to be in his student file, right?

STEWART: Right. Just my two cents, Tony.

HARRIS: Two cents. Give it to me.

STEWART: You are losing bad now if you're Urban Meyer. You lost a couple of games. You hadn't lost three games in one year in forever. And the guy that used to be on your roster is now someplace else --

HARRIS: Killing you.

STEWART: -- with an undefeated team going for a Heisman.

HARRIS: Killing you.

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: Let's see if we can push a little dirt out there to just make little things unsettled.

HARRIS: OK. All right.

So do you think this will hurt his eligibility moving forward through this year?

STEWART: No.

HARRIS: What about next year?

STEWART: He's done. He's going to be going into the National Football League after this season.

HARRIS: Really?

STEWART: And it can't hurt him, because investigations take a long time. So by the time this investigation is complete, he will be making millions playing football for someone in the National Football League.

HARRIS: All right. Let's roll the clip of the game last night, the Miami Heat. This is a super team, right?

STEWART: They are incredible.

HARRIS: This is supposed to be the world-beating team, maybe to challenge the Bull's regular season record of, what, 72 wins?

STEWART: That's what we thought.

HARRIS: It's not go to happen, is it, Ryan?

STEWART: I don't think so because now they're 79-3. That's the best they can do.

HARRIS: That's the best they can do.

STEWART: And honestly, I think this is an incredible team. They missed a lot of time during the pre-season with Dwyane Wade's injury, so they hadn't gelled, they hadn't meshed yet.

And once they get it all together, Tony, they're going to be phenomenal.

HARRIS: You think so? STEWART: They're going to win the East, in my opinion.

HARRIS: Ryan Stewart, "2 Live Stews."

Good to see you, baby.

Still to come in the CNN NEWSROOM, America's best companies hiring right now. We're not talking holiday jobs. These are full-time with benefits.

Some of those hiring, Nordstrom's, Whole Foods, Publix. Go online with us right now. Come on, let's do it now, together, CNNMoney.com, as Stephanie Elam talks about other companies right now ready and willing to hire new employees.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Look, we've got some breaking news to get to out of London right now. A mostly peaceful student protest against higher tuition fees has turned violent.

Let's get to our Atika Shubert. She's on the phone with us from London.

And Atika, if you would, describe the scene and what has happened there in London.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, I'm outside of the Conservative Party headquarters, where hundreds of students have taken over the plaza in front of it and smashed through the windows of the lobby. Basically, at one point, breaking into the building that houses the Conservative Party headquarters.

And what they're doing now is they're just simply taking over that plaza, just sitting there, throwing items at riot police that have finally been called in. They have completely trashed the place, are vandalizing it, but it's now basically become something of a full-on rage.

There's dance music out here. They're lighting bonfires in the plaza. And riot police are simply standing by.

Again, this all came out of this largely peaceful protest earlier with 40,000 student demonstrators, but a particularly violent group basically tried to smash their way into the building and now have taken over this area. And police are basically biding their time, trying to figure out a way to get them out of here.

HARRIS: OK. So, Atika, explain to all of us why this is happening. We were talking about this as being a peaceful demonstration that is protesting, demonstrating against higher tuition fees. Is that what this started out as?

SHUBERT: Yes. This started out as a very peaceful demonstration by about 40,000 students, basically because university fees here are due to be tripled. Right now they are paying about $5,000 for tuition, and the government has lifted the cap on that, saying that universities can now charge up to $15,000, so that's a huge hike for a lot of students.

And people here don't save for college funds the way they do in the U.S. So, a lot of the students and the families here were completely unprepared.

And add to that the fact that the government has also said they're going to slash university budgets by as much as 40 percent. So there's a lot of anger here. People feel like they're really getting hit twice with these cuts.

What nobody perhaps expected is that it would turn violent. And one of the questions being asked is why there wasn't more of a police presence to prevent this from happening.

HARRIS: Well, you mentioned the government cuts to education. Is that all a part of new austerity measures to try to bring the U.K. budget deficit into some kind of alignment?

SHUBERT: That's exactly what this is. This is all about the austerity budget that the conservative government has put in place. They said, we simply cannot afford this anymore, we can't subsidize the universities the way we used to. And that's why you're seeing these budget cuts.

But what the students are saying is, we understand that, but it's just happening too soon, to have this almost immediate effect of tripling the tuition fees. They say the families simply can't afford it.

HARRIS: So, this what austerity looks like in the U.K.

Here's the other question. We mentioned again that these were peaceful demonstrators at the beginning of this event. Are we just talking about some knuckleheads? It seems that in every big protest, we get opportunists who take this moment to turn something that is basically peaceful into something that looks like this.

Is that what we have here?

SHUBERT: You know, it's really a bit of both. It started off very peaceful. And most of the students I talked to here say this was wrong, it gives the wrong impression of what the students are angry about.

But what happened was a group of anarchists initially tried to break into this building, smash in through the windows. That attracted the attention of a lot of students who were already angry, so they flooded into this area and took it over. And so now what's happened is most of the thousands of students have gone home, but there is still a hard-core group of several hundred that continue to take over the plaza here.

HARRIS: And that's usually the case. All right. Atika Shubert for us in London.

Atika, appreciate it. Thank you.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, a new study says teens who spend excessive time texting are more likely to drink, smoke, use drugs and have sex. The study suggests that so-called hyper-texting and overuse of social media can have dangerous health impacts on teens.

So here's the question for you: How many texts do you have to send a day to be considered a hyper-texter? The answer in 75 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. So you know you're a hyper-texter when your thumbs ache all the time. I think that was supposed to be funny.

The question we asked before the break -- how was it? Was it funny? Was it all right?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A little improvement on delivery, but usually it's fine.

HARRIS: It was delivery?

MARCIANO: No, no. It's fantastic.

HARRIS: OK. Thank you.

How many texts do you have to send a day to be considered a hyper- texter?

And what's your guess, 20, 50? Wow. Do you know what the answer is here, Rob?

MARCIANO: Don't.

HARRIS: One hundred twenty.

MARCIANO: Wow.

HARRIS: I wonder where my kids are with this. My daughter's ridiculous on this thing.

That's according to a new study by the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. That's in Cleveland, Ohio.

MARCIANO: Do you know what they say about the kids who hyper-text?

HARRIS: What do they say?

MARCIANO: Do you want to hear it?

HARRIS: Sex, drugs -- MARCIANO: They are more apt to do sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Yes.

HARRIS: Yes. It's playing in my head now.

MARCIANO: You need to have a talk with your daughter soon. Let's get this texting under control.

HARRIS: We've got to get this under control, yes.

MARCIANO: Yes. If I text five in a day, I feel like I'm aching already.

HARRIS: You've got to reach out. You've got to communicate more. Come on. Reach out.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: So we've got another story that's trending right now that we're following.

MARCIANO: Yes.

HARRIS: And it's a mystery that happened what, 35 years ago today? Right?

MARCIANO: And it's a big deal on CNN.com. I mean, we always play up the anniversary in the weather department because this is a big story, weather-wise. Thirty-five years ago this monster ship, cargo ship, over 700 feet long, at the time it was the pride of the American fleet, Kind of a titanic of sorts.

HARRIS: The Edmund Fitzgerald.

MARCIANO: And it sank in Lake Superior in a storm up there that rivals, but doesn't exceed, the storm we had this past October. It's a big deal CNN.com. Take a look at it. Got any other questions about it?

HARRIS: There's a song, right? A famous -- Gordon Lightfoot song --

MARCIANO: Gordon Lightfoot.

(SINGING)

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Thank you, man. That was good.

MARCIANO: There are all sorts of things to show you on the magic wall. But we'll do weather in about 10 minutes and maybe I'll show you a couple of those diagrams.

HARRIS: Rob Marciano.

Tip your waitresses. A beer for a buck? It's not what you think really. A deer crashes through a bar window, injuring a few tables, chairs along the way. Look at this. See it again in just a couple of minutes.

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Want to take you back to London right now. And what am I looking at here? What is that? I can't really make it out.

We have been following pictures for most of the morning, and let's sort of bring you up to speed on what's going on right now in London, at least in this section of London. Let me not overgeneralize here. We had a peaceful demonstration, right, of about 40,000 students protesting plans for higher university tuition fees. And at some point our understanding is a group of anarchists sort of took over things and turned what was peaceful into something that was decidedly not peaceful.

The anarchists, we understand, broke into the governing parties' headquarters. So there is a lot of consternation right now because there doesn't seem to have been enough of a police presence to take care of this situation. A lot of police on the scene now, as you would imagine, but things seemingly certainly at certain points, seemed to be getting a bit out of hand here. Fires set outside of that particular building.

Is this a live picture here? We understand that a lot of the students actually have dispersed and have left the scene. And any chaos and any problems being caused right now are being caused by the group of anarchists. We'll keep an eye on the situation.

OK, so this is an aerial view outside the scene of the governing party's headquarters right now. We'll keep an eye on the situation and bring you updates as we get them here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Jurors hear more testimony today from Elizabeth Smart about what she calls quote, "my nine months in hell." She returns the witness stand for a third day in the trial of her accused kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell. Smart was snatched from her bedroom in 2002, and held captive for nine months. She testified yesterday about an attempt to escape. She said, quote, "I didn't make it very far. They noticed quite quickly and they told me that if I ever tried that again, that I would be killed."

TruTV's "In Sessions" Jean Casarez is in Salt Lake for the trial. She joins us next hour with today's testimony right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So we tell you all of the time on this program that anything can happen and it usually does. We've got have breaking news, a story we're following out of Florida. Seventeen Florida schools -- we're talking about south Florida here -- on lockdown after what's being described as a credible threat. CNN producer Rich Phillips is on the line with us.

Rich, what are you learning about this story.

RICH PHILLIPS, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Hey, Tony, how are you doing today?

HARRIS: Very well.

PHILLIPS: That lockdown of the schools in Pembroke Pines, Florida, has now been extended to the entire county of Broward County. Just for our viewers out there who aren't familiar with the area, we're talking about the Ft. Lauderdale area and parts west. It's literally the fifth largest school district in the United States. We're talking about 231 schools, plus 69 charter schools and administrative offices.

Now, a threat came into the Pembroke Pines Police, we understand at about 8:40 this morning. Although they're saying that the threat has not been confirmed, as a precaution they went ahead and they locked down these schools. They're saying an e-mail was also sent to them stating that quote "Something big was going to happen around government buildings in Broward County."

So now, out of an abundance of caution, these schools are locked down, as well as governor offices. And we're outside the Pembroke Pines Police Department right now, waiting for a news conference that's supposed to start in about 10 minutes -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, let's leave it there for now, Rich. Let us know when we get a heads up on that news conference when it might take place. We are in position to bring that -- I believe we're in a position to bring that to you live when that happens.

Rich Phillips for us, our CNN producer in Miami.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Counting ballots more than a week after the midterm elections. Mark Preston, part of the Best Political Team on Television joining us live from the political desk in Washington, D.C.

Mark, good to see you. What's crossing right now, sir?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Tony. You would think the midterm elections were over, but, in fact, they're not.

Up in Alaska, as you said, they are counting ballots right now in that very contested Senate race between Lisa Murkowski, who was the write- in candidate, the incumbent senator, and of course, the Republican nominee Joe Miller. They are counting ballots today.

Joe Miller, however, has filed a complaint with the courts saying that, in fact, when they count these ballots, they should have the intent, the voter intent has to be very clear, including that the name has to be written correctly and not misspelled. Election officials, however, are going to be looking at these ballots, and if they see that the voters' intent it is to support Lisa Murkowski, then, in fact, those votes will be counted.

Of course, we'll be following this throughout the day. Of course, Alaska is several hours behind us. We'll find out what happens with that court case.

With Republicans coming here to Washington, D.C., Tony, we're going to see two African-Americans Republicans come to D.C. The question is, will they join the Congressional Black Caucus, which has been predominantly Democrat? Well, one of the members, Tim Scott from South Carolina, says he doesn't think so. He thinks that he's probably just going to steer away from that, which in the past we've seen, with the likes of J.C. Watts, an Oklahoma Republican from many Congresses ago, he didn't join it.

However, down in Florida, Allen West, who is the other African- American candidate said, in fact, he would join it. On Sunday night on Don Lemon's show, he said, I think I'm more than qualified, I am a member of Congress, I am black. So I have a right to be a member of the CBC unless all of a sudden they decided to change the name. So it'll be really interesting because that is a predominantly Democratic organization.

In staying on South Carolina, some very big 2012 news. The South Carolina Republican Party chairman Karen Floyd is going to step down. She's had a very successful election season, however, she is not going to run for another term. There will be a lot of people running for that and expect that these potential presidential candidates will be doing a lot of courting in South Carolina -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Mark, good to see you. Thank you, sir.

Your next political update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go. It's CNNPolitics.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Got to tell you, a couple of stories we're following right now. Let's first update the situation in Florida. Seventeen Florida schools on lockdown. It's actually bigger than that at this point. We're understanding from the Broward County school web site that Pembroke Pines police are scheduling a news conference shortly. That this this lockdown, that started with 17 schools, has now been expanded. That schools in the entire county, all of Broward County now on lockdown.

So essentially, you have 257,000 students, right? Two hundred thirty- one traditional schools and centers and 69 charter schools. All on lockdown right now because of what's described as a credible threat. So we will continue to follow developments in that story. And as soon as we get the timing on that news conference, we are set to bring that to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And let's take you to London now. We can show you the situation now. This an overhead shot. Just outside of the offices, the headquarters of the governing party where earlier there was a demonstration, a mostly peaceful demonstration, you'd have to say, that at some point turned violent when anarchists stormed the gathering.

Forty thousand students were protesting higher university tuition fees. The anarchists joined the fray. Violence broke out. And we had kicking and things being thrown and an attempt to take over and break into the governing party's headquarters. But as you can see now from this picture, it looks like order has been restored. Again, we will keep an eye on this situation, as well.

And nearly 40 percent of Americans are expected to travel this season. That's according to a survey by American Express Travel. Most of us -- 74 percent -- will drive to our destination. The rest will fly, take trains, or hop on a bus. Holiday travel is ramping up. The season is here. The CNN Money Team gets you to your destination with cash still in your wallet.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. If you are heading home for the holidays, pretty good song, right, from Kenny Loggins, bring a fat wallet along for the ride. Air fares are climbing higher.

Let's get to Stephanie Elam, part of the CNN Money Team. She has top tips for us today.

Stephanie, good to see you again. Are we talking a small increase here or something you will really feel?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I think you're going to feel this one, Tony. I'm talking about fares going up about 17 percent this holiday season.

HARRIS: Yes.

ELAM: FareCompare.com says that's about 10 to 20 bucks higher for domestic travel compared to last year. So that means shopping around is going to be key here. So if you're looking to book for travel for Thanksgiving, I really do hope you stashed away some extra cash since pricing jumped about 14 days before. So we're getting close to that window. And if you're looking for Christmas travel, start shopping now to avoid the sticker shock, Tony.

HARRIS: Well, help me here. When are the best and worst days to fly around the holidays?

ELAM: Well, definitely not the busiest travel day of the year, which is the Sunday right after Thanksgiving, in case you were wondering. That's a day you want to stay away from the airport. Rick Seaney from FareCompare says fly on the Tuesday versus the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. And on the Sunday and Monday after New Year's Day.

And if you don't mind delaying the celebration, and I realize this is not going to work for most people, Seaney says try to travel on the holiday itself. It will be pretty empty in the airport, Tony. And you'll save a few bucks in the long run, as well.

HARRIS: Got you. So what's the best time to shop for tickets online, or is that a myth, that there is an optimum time?

ELAM: You know what? I actually tried this one out yesterday. And Seaney says in general the best time to look for the max number of cheap seats is Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, noon if you're out there on the West Coast. Now, these deals disappear by Thursday. So you don't want to wait till the weekend to shop. I did try this and I actually found a pretty cheap flight to Los Angeles in just a few weeks. So that was actually encouraging for me.

Now, also, look for Wednesday flights since that's the cheapest day of the week to fly. But not in the case, of course, of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, obviously. On top of that the folks at Travel & Leisure say if your round-trip flight doesn't include a Saturday, you may pay more, Tony, but look into two one-way tickets from airlines like Southwest and JetBlue, which don't require round-trip purchases for you to get their lowest prices.

HARRIS: Well, thanks, Stephanie. Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. used to be the best time to shop online. Not anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Now everyone's going to be looking. I know.

HARRIS: All right, Stephanie, appreciate it. Thank you.

ELAM: 3:00 and 20 seconds.

HARRIS: Exactly. Thanks, Stephanie.

Some of the stories we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. We will check in with Josh Levs. Josh is going to tell us if he's been able to make any sense of the contrail. You know the mystery around that streak in Southern California?

We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. We are talking holiday travel costs with Stephanie Elam at the CNN Money desk. You thought you were done, Stephanie. You're not done. You better put that microphone on right now.

ELAM: You were missing me, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. OK. Are you with me?

ELAM: I'm with you. HARRIS: OK, here we go. If I want a better room, let's say at a hotel or resort, right, the holiday season. If I want to upgrade is basically I guess what I'm asking, you got any advice that will help me get that upgrade?

ELAM: I do, indeed. I'm glad I'm back to tell you about it, Tony. Because sometimes if you're late to check in guess what? That actually can make all the difference. The folks at Travel & Leisure say the later you check in after noon, the less rooms are sold or cancellations then tend to happen. So you could actually have a chance to score an upgrade, especially if you're only staying a night or two. Also check your connections with your credit cards and other membership programs like AAA or the AARP which may offer upgrades --

HARRIS: Hey, Stephanie?

ELAM: Yes?

HARRIS: Hey, Stephanie, I'm sorry I hustled you back to your seat and we've got to end this because I've got to get everyone to Pembroke Pines, Florida, where we're getting an update on the lockdown of the schools in Broward County.