Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Clash of Koreas; Drug Tunnel Discovered; The Royal Refuge, For Now; Obama Hurt in Basketball Game

Aired November 26, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brianna Keilar.

And we're going to move fast to get this hour started. So, let's go.

A huge sigh of relief at FedEx. The search for that missing package containing radioactive material is over. The package was found at a FedEx shipping station in Knoxville, Tennessee, and it was unlabeled. The package contained radioactive rods used to calibrate CAT scans. A spokesperson for FedEx says no one was exposed to any radiation. FedEx now trying to figure out how the package went missing in the first place.

Next, a major anti-terrorism sweep announced in Saudi Arabia. Security forces say they have arrested nearly 150 people believed to be members of al Qaeda. Saudi state-run TV report say that most of those arrested were Saudi nationals. The arrest occurred during an eight-month period.

And next: a grim anniversary in India. It's been two years since terror attacks in Mumbai killed 164 people. Nine of 10 gunmen were killed. One was captured. Today, India held a peace march. Police and security officers paid homage to the victims. Others in the city gathered at the sites where the attacks occurred.

Next, battered by earthquakes and cholera, Haitians are getting ready to vote for a new president on Sunday.

And CNN's Ivan Watson is in Port-au-Prince.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Candidates have plastered Port-au- Prince with campaign posters. They have been spending millions of dollars hiring planes, hiring bands to advertise their campaigns, despite the fact that, 10 months after the earthquake, much of this city still lies in ruins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The election comes as the cholera outbreak worsens. According to Haiti's Ministry of Public Health and Population, cholera has already killed more than 1,600 people.

A new search will begin next year to try to find debris from Air France Flight 447. Past searches have turned up no large parts of the plane. Both flight recorders are still missing. The flight mysteriously crashed into the Southern Atlantic Ocean last year while flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. And all on board were killed.

The U.S. today is warning allies around the world that the impending WikiLeaks release could damage relationships. A former U.S. ambassador to Russia tells CNN the expected release of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks could contain highly sensitive information, one that reveals U.S. negotiating positions, sensitive intelligence, analysis instructions, as well as strategy.

And next, smokers and those who breathe the air near them, listen up. A World Health Organization study of 192 countries found secondhand smoke kills 600,000 people worldwide every year. And here's the clincher. Nearly two-thirds of those killed are children.

We have big news on the jobs front. The CEO of Macy's says his company is hiring 65,000 people to work during the holiday season. We're told if holiday sales are good, up to 3,000 of those seasonal jobs would become full-time positions after the holidays.

And, finally, hey there, all you Black Friday shoppers. Here's another indication that you're doing your part to boost the economy. Best Buy tells CNN that it will hire 20,000 seasonal workers and expects to keep about 5,000 of them after the holidays.

Let's check in with CNN's Martin Savidge, who is monitoring shopping trends this Black Friday, and he just happens to be at a Best Buy.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna, you have caught me right in the middle as I try to work off my Thanksgiving turkey, trying out one of the new sensations here at Best Buy. It's what known as the Xbox 360 Kinect. And you see it tracks your movements here. So I'm really -- well, I'm trying to fight somebody and not doing too well.

It just shows you that gaming is still very popular here. One of the reasons people were up at 5:00 in the morning was to get a crack at trying to buy that. This is another item that is very popular. You have probably seen them. They call them the e-readers. These are the electronic books.

And they have been doing very, very well. But the other interesting thing is tried and true. Computers seem to be what people want to buy these days, even though that's the way it's been many, many years. These were some of the first to sell out this morning. These were also some of the big deals.

And I believe this is Jason right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.

SAVIDGE: Hey, Jason. How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good. How are you?

SAVIDGE: What are you looking for? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laptop.

SAVIDGE: Yes? What kind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not sure. There's a lot on the market. And I did a little research online last night, thought there might be some deals today. So...

SAVIDGE: And are there deals today, I guess is the real question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too soon to tell. I haven't gotten far enough in the process to know. But...

SAVIDGE: You should have been here at 5:00 in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I was here about three hours ago. And now I'm back. So, I don't know what the heck I'm doing, but I'm trying.

SAVIDGE: Well, good luck to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:

SAVIDGE: I say 5:00 in the morning because that's when some of the best deals were. And in fact those deals have already gone.

Still, the people at Best Buy continue to crank out other deals, because the idea is to keep the customers coming in. It's not just big because of Black Friday. It's big for their employment as well. They estimate, for this season, Best Buy alone is going to hire about 29,000 people.

How many stay after the holidays will be the big question -- Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: Martin Savidge for us.

And here's what ahead. It's being called one of the biggest pot busts in the U.S. history. And the feds say smugglers used a secret tunnel in the U.S. to move everything. Agents are speaking right now about it. We're going to tell you exactly what they found.

Plus, the clash of the Koreas. The North blaming the U.S. and South Korea for provoking war. So, if the North strikes again, what does President Obama do? We will have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: North Korea and South Korea are closer to the brink of war -- that is the warning from North Korea in this region that's been on edge since Tuesday. That's when the North rained down an artillery attack on a South Korean island, an attack that killed four and wounded 15.

And now we are just two days away from the joint U.S./South Korea military exercises. And those upcoming drills have already provoked a reaction from North Korea. It seems as if they have started their own artillery tests, artillery tests near the island that was shelled just a few days ago.

So, joining me now is Jason. He's an expert on this region.

And, John, this seems to be a chronic danger for the Korean Peninsula, a low-level skirmish quickly escalating to a larger conflict.

JOHN PARK, CENTER FOR CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION: That's correct.

Brianna, this area is place that's seen a lot of conflict between the two Koreas, the disputed maritime boundary on the Western side. Well, the problem is, there are two different interpretations of the line. You have the northern limit line drawn that was by the U.N. after the Korean War in 1953. That's recognized by South Korea and the international community.

North Korea has a line that is below that to the southern part and they call it the military demarcation line. The two countries have been clashing over this area ever since.

KEILAR: And we can't just look at this as sort of an isolated area that has to deal with this. So tell me why Americans should be concerned about North Korea and what is happening right now.

PARK: Sure.

This is all tied in to a North Korea that frankly is acting very differently. I think a lot of the security analysts here in Washington are concerned that North Korea views itself as a nuclear weapons state. And as such having conducted two nuclear tests, the first in October of 2006 and the second May of 2009, North Korea feels that it can carry out provocations without massive retaliation by the South Koreans and the United States.

So right now we're in a situation right now we're watching very, very carefully and see how these U.S. -- the South Korean naval exercises take place this upcoming weekend.

KEILAR: One of the things that the U.S. does in a situation like this and that we're seeing them do here is talking to China, trying to get China involved, one of North Korea's allies. How important is it to work with China on this? And can China really kind of run interference very well here?

PARK: Sure. Working with China is absolutely crucial in this area, but I think we have to manage our expectations, unfortunately.

Within China, there are different groups that are dealing with North Korea. And I would say the military within China is very concerned, not necessarily about North Korea and the threat posed by North Korea, but more the danger that they perceive from U.S./South Korean exercises that are close to Chinese coastal areas.

So we see a third-party entanglement in U.S./China relations over the North Korea issue. And, again, the Chinese military very, very sensitive about these U.S./South Korean exercises. KEILAR: John, let's talk about Kim Jong Il's youngest son. What do we know about North Korea's potential new leader. How does he factor into this situation?

PARK: He's a 27-year-old young man who has been put in the limelight.

September 28, we saw the Korea Workers' Party hold their party conference, and he was unveiled as a vice chairman of the party's central military commission. And he was also promoted as a four-star general.

So these promotions are important, but we have to keep in mind that he's in a grooming process. His father, Kim Jong Il, is still calling the shots. But right now in a situation where there is all this leadership change, North Korea, that has always been a difficult place to analyze and read, has become even more so.

So things like the artillery attack, and in March, the sinking of the South Korea warship, all of these are taking place in the parallel fashion with this leadership succession process.

KEILAR: And the shelling of this island by North Korea, is it seen that this attack has anything to do with trying to get the U.S. back to talks with North Korea?

PARK: That is a very popular interpretation right now, and there may be shades of that. But I would say that there is more to do with the recent revelation by the North Koreans that they have a uranium enrichment program.

That was something that was announced to Stanford University Professor Sig Hecker, who went over and was actually shown the facility. So, that, I think, fits in more neatly with the North Korea narrative of using nuclear programs and so forth for negotiating purposes. As I mentioned before, with this disputed boundary area, this is a separate set of issues, but again it's happening in a parallel fashion with a lot of other changes going on inside North Korea.

KEILAR: And one of the things that we're hearing coming out of North Korea, this idea that really this could be on the brink of war, how real is that?

PARK: I think we have to treat this very seriously. This is the first direct attack on South Korean territory since the Korean War in 1953. So we're in a situation right now where the South Koreans now are going to bolster their presence on these islands near North Korean territory.

The North Koreans, as we saw yesterday, when General Sharp, the commander of U.S. forces Korea, when he was touring the island, the North Koreans actually carried out another artillery drill. So, this is something where both sides definitely are not backing down.

And with the introduction of these U.S.-South Korean naval exercises, we will see how close they come to North Korean territory. And they need to send this message to North Korea, but now we have this complicating factor of the Chinese military reaction to something that is going to happen close to their coastal waters.

So, already a difficult problem, we're adding many more layers to it.

KEILAR: John Park, great information. Thanks for being with us.

PARK: My pleasure.

KEILAR: And I want to give you a heads-up now . We are awaiting a live news conference on what the feds are calling one of the biggest drug busts in U.S. history, and at the center of all of this, a secret smuggling tunnel stretching from Mexico to California. We're told that they will be showing video of it, pretty amazing pictures. And they're also going to be showing us what they found inside. We have got a live report from San Diego ahead.

But, first, they call it the royal love island. It's where Prince William and his bride to be are expected to live after the big wedding. Just wait until you see this place. It's pretty amazing. We have got that ahead.

And, yes, it is Black Friday. Today kicks off the holiday shopping season. But in this economy, when many Americans are out of work and in debt, how should you control your spending? This is a discussion that you will want to stick around for. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: OK. No question most of us are facing a tight holiday budget this year. So, what do we do about all of those people, the teachers, bus drivers, the people who deliver our mail, they pick up our garbage? Money is tight. So, what are you going to do here?

Well, we have brought in personal finance expert Carmen Ulrich to help us with our holiday etiquette in cash-strapped time.

So -- I mean, Carmen, not to sound cheap or anything here, but when you start looking at the list of people that you are supposed to give gifts to, you kind of start to feel like you're being bled dry a little bit and the money is just flying out of your pockets. So, do you really have to give gifts to all of these people if you really can't afford to?

CARMEN ULRICH, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Oh, not necessarily, and absolutely not, Brianna. I mean, actually, if you look at all of our Christmas gift list or holiday gift list, almost half of it maybe taken up just by tips alone or gifts like you mentioned -- to teachers, to garbage collectors, to your hairdresser. So, don't feel guilty about not being able to give these gifts if you're on a really tight budget this year, especially if there's somebody that you patronize during the year. They don't want you to go into debt or fall under and not be able to actually go patronize them for the rest of the year.

So, if you can't give them a gift this year, I really recommend not just pretending it's not going to happen. Give them a nice heart-felt note -- send a note saying, "Thank you so much. I want to thank you so much for your service. I'm not able to give you a gift this year, but know how much I appreciate you throughout the year and I hope to see you again soon."

So, giving that acknowledges the situation you're in and not for an awkward confrontation in the next time you see them.

KEILAR: So, just be honest about it I guess is kind of the bottom line there.

ULRICH: Yes.

KEILAR: And, Carmen, are any tips for getting through this year if you're just not able to do it the way you have in year's past? Maybe you've set up some expectations with your friends and family. Maybe you get together with your girlfriends and you all exchange gifts. You just can't do it this year. What do you do then?

ULRICH: Well, you're certainly -- you're far, far from alone. I mean, this is the third holiday season that we've seen hard, tough times, especially with unemployment numbers. So, people are not going to be surprised if you say, let's send to your family an e-mail to everyone saying, you know what, this year, how about we just do secret Santa with the adults and just gifts for the kids?

And your girlfriends -- send an email around saying not able to give gifts this year. Let's all get together and gather at someone's house, bring your favorite bottle of bubbly. Just really take control of it. Don't be feel pressured to be the one giving the gifts if you can't afford it, because if you have real friends and family that care about you, they don't want you to go into debt to just give them a gift this year.

KEILAR: And one of the -- we've got a graphic up now about some of the things you can do. Don't give gifts out of guilt. Be creative.

How -- don't give gifts out of guilt. Tell me about that.

ULRICH: Yes. Well, that's -- guilt gifting is the worst. First of all, if you're giving a gift out of guilt, it's the worst reason to give a gift. It's not really fun or good or feel-good at all. So, don't do that.

A lot of that is, let's say, your boss, you feel obligated. Co- workers, especially. I hear this a lot this time of year -- oh, I feel like I need to give co-workers gifts. Don't do that.

If you can do, you can, you know, make something like chocolate biscotti, something you could give to everybody in your office. Or have an event, have something at your home, and ask everybody to bring their favorite bottle of bubbly or win. Make it more about the experience and being together and get really creative about it.

You can say for the family, you pick one name out of the hat, you have a budget of 10 bucks, and you got to have something or buy something that reminds them of their childhood. Make it a fun experience, not about spending the money. KEILAR: And above -- some people aren't creative. So maybe it's just time to get out those cards and write a heartfelt message, like you said. I think a lot of people might be doing that.

ULRICH: Absolutely.

KEILAR: Carmen Ulrich --

ULRICH: I think these days, you know, being very real about it is really important.

KEILAR: Yes, I agree. And I think people appreciate that. Carmen Ulrich from "Glamour" magazine -- thanks for that.

ULRICH: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: So, what happens when royalty moves into your neighborhood? Well, for starters, your town is nicknamed the "royal love island." But there's a whole lot more. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: With a royal wedding looming, the great picking apart of the William and Kate story has only just begun.

And the prince's relatively private life is about to become -- well, not so private. For example, do you even know where Prince William lives? We didn't.

It turns out it's not in the palace. He and his fiancee Kate live in a cottage on a small island off the coast of Welsh where he's stationed with the Royal Air Force. Word is they'll remain there after the wedding, but things will certainly be different.

CNN's Dan Rivers is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This green luminous island framed by white mountains is about as far as Prince William can get from the glare of publicity that surrounded some of his life. Until now, Anglesey has been a very quiet corner of the U.K., a small off the north coast of Welsh where solitude is in great supply.

Two months ago, Prince William qualified to fly a search and rescue helicopter here at Royal Air Force Base Valley. For his colleagues and, in fact, most people we spoke to, he's treated simply as an ordinary guy doing an extraordinary job. And the local press seems happy to give him and Kate space.

FFION WILLIAMS, JOURNALIST: They are very much protected. I don't know of any agreement, you know, which stands, you know, telling us that we're not allowed to publish, you know, his whereabouts. But I do think that people do respect his privacy as well. RIVERS: It's a far cry from the fish bowl of London. Prince William may be used to this, but Kate Middleton must have found this level of scrutiny uncomfortable. Rather than the opulent of a palace, the couple has actually spent a lot of time in much more modest accommodation on Anglesey, in a cottage near here.

(on camera): If Prince William wanted to buy here, what would be the options?

DAFFYD HARDY, REAL ESTATE AGENT: Well, it would be something like this I would think, sort of a traditional-type cottage with stone elevations, hardwood windows double-glazed.

RIVERS (voice-over): Local estate agent Daffyd Hardy shows me the kind of place that the couple could buy if they want to put down more permanent roots. He thinks the new royal connection could only boost the flagging housing market.

HARDY: I think it's going to have a positive effect on property prices. I was talking to someone the other day and we were discussing it and we were saying it could have sort of 10 percent maybe on the top end of the market.

RIVERS: Most locals have stories of William and Kate doing their shopping, going to local restaurants and pubs with little fuss and zero intrusion.

And the anonymity extends to William's job. He's regularly involved in rescues, helping the local life boat crew. They are never sure if the pilot above is the second in line to the thrown.

RON PACE, ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTE: We could operating with him quite regularly and not even know that he's actually up driving the helicopter.

RIVERS (on camera): Most people here think that for the next few years, Prince William and Kate Middleton will have the chance to live a relatively normal life on this beautiful but isolated island. It's an opportunity that they may never have again and everyone here is hoping that they make the most of it.

Dan Rivers, CNN, on Anglesey, North Wales.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Another secret drug tunnel right here in the U.S. The feds just discovered it, and they're calling it one of the biggest drug busts in history. A live report from California ahead.

And look who is standing by. Ed Henry with breaking news from the world of politics, including an update on President Obama's injury. Ed has your CNN Political Ticker next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: CNN has all of your latest political news with "The Best Political Team on Television." And that, of course, includes Ed Henry -- joining us now from the White House.

And, Ed, this was a pretty eventful work out today that the president had.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, it really was. And we have new information, actually, on the president's injury. I never thought I would say that. But basically, White House aides now are saying the president was playing defense at the time. This still an unidentified player was trying to take a shot and pushed the elbow into the presidential mouth.

I actually talked to a top White House aide and said, "Will there be a presidential pardon for this unidentified player like we saw for the turkey a few days ago?" And this White House aide just laughed. I mean, bottom line is, a serious matter. Any time the president has to get stitches. He got 12 stitches ever playing basketball today at Fort McNair. This is here in Washington, D.C.

The president -- he's just doing a little work out, working off some of those Thanksgiving calories. He typically does a lot of workouts. And he got the stitches here at the White House from the White House doctor. Again, serious any time the president has an injury, but White House aides are saying that he's going to be fine. It's going to take a couple of days to work this out before the stitches come out.

Interesting that this also happened on the day that the presidential White House official Christmas tree arrived. We saw the First Lady Michelle Obama accept that tree with her two daughters, Sasha and Malia were outside, with the music was playing. And now, they're starting to get into the holiday season.

But interesting, while that was playing out, one of our photojournalist Tony Umrani noticed that from a second floor window in the Residence, the president himself was looking down on the ceremony and still had some sort of an icepack or gauze on his lower lip. That's where he got the stitches.

And so, you can see obviously he's still dealing with that. You can see that he was up there dealing with that and he's got to get ready. He's got a big week next week obviously. There is going to be that long awaited Slurpee Summit that I know, Brianna, you've been waiting for it. You've been reporting on this.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Coca-Cola favorite. It's my favorite.

HENRY: Coca-Cola is your favorite.

KEILAR: Exactly.

HENRY: And, you know, I -- last week, I had the Crystal Light Slurpee because I thought I'd save the calories. And, you know, I had the worst headache because if you drink like 48 ounces of Crystal Light with that, you know, artificial sweetener, no offense to Crystal Light, but it just went straight to my head. Bottom line is, the president on Tuesday, in all seriousness, is going to have Republican and Democratic leaders over here at the White House. They're going to be talking taxes among other issues. You know, the lame duck session of Congress have gotten very little done so far, but those Bush tax cuts expiring at the end of the year. They've got to get some sort of a deal on that. Both sides want to see that. So, they're going to start talking on Tuesday right here at the White House, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. That's going to be the big topic.

But let's get back to the president's injury here, though. I mean, who could it possibly be? OK. Let's just talk about the field of people that were playing with him. Possibilities.

HENRY: This is dangerous territory because this is -- this is the thing everyone wants to know.

KEILAR: Some friends, though, right? He was with some friends?

HENRY: Yes. Let me rule out some folks. So, Reggie Love was there. A lot of people were pointing a finger at him.

In fairness to Reggie, former Duke University player, White House officials have ruled him out as a suspect. They say that Reggie was playing basketball with the president, former Duke University player. But he did not hurt the president.

We're also told Education Secretary Arne Duncan was playing, a rather tall individual. He's played basketball from Chicago, like the president. He is not the suspect.

We're also told that there was a relative, a nephew, presidential nephew who was playing and he did not cause the injury.

So, we're sort of narrowing it down. Sooner or later, we're going to figure out who it is. But, yes, there were family, there were friends playing. But not Reggie Love. So, it was not him. He was playing but he did cause the injury.

KEILAR: All right. The process of elimination continues.

HENRY: Yes, we're going to work this out one way or another.

KEILAR: Oh, we will. Ed, thank you very much.

And you also can get the latest political news at CNNPolitics.com. And, of course, on Twitter @PoliticalTicker.

Well, there's a man I want you to meet, who literally gave up his blood for football season tickets to Green Bay Packers' games. Believe it or not, that may have actually saved his life. We'll have his story ahead.

And giving new meaning to the term "crowned jewel." You are looking at what has to be the most expensive skull in history. You've got to see this -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It is not often that you see football players dancing to Beyonce. So when it happens -- yes, it is video you've got to see.

(VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All done here in the name of school spirit. A high school football team in Indiana showing off their moves. They made a video for a competition and they ended up winning 300 bucks for their school. And in case this looks familiar -- yes, they got the idea from an episode of "Glee."

Well, take a look at this. Kind of weird, right? An 18th century human skull covered in diamonds. A millionaire artist in London made it and its valued at a whopping $80 million. It's said to be the most expensive work of art by any living artist. You can actually see it starting today in Florence, Italy.

I guess it's now official that Christmas is here, especially at this house in the Philippines. An iReporter sent this to us. You are looking at 100,000 lights. The homeowner put up the decorations all the way back in October. And last year, the house won money for being the most beautiful and the homeowner donated all of those winnings to charity.

Now, there's a fascinating story that I just have to share with you. A Green Bay Packers' fan spent decades giving blood so that he could afford his season tickets. Well, little did he know all of those years of giving blood, it saved his life. This is a story with an amazing twist and he'll be joining me live next.

But first, cheering on your sports team, it takes a lot of energy. But can it actually create energy? In Japan, they are beginning to put fan hour to use. Kyung Lah takes a look at a solution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typical soccer game is full of actions. In Japan, the action isn't just on the field -- fans on their feet pounding, jumping, never stopping, generating energy for the players. But, Mie Kiyota, who works for the Vissel Kobe team, thinks they could be powering much more.

"There's got to be some way to harness our energy in some sort of eco- friendly way," she though. It turns out, there is. Multiple Japanese companies are working on capturing human kinetic energy as clean energy. The JR Train began testing as commuters walked through the turnstiles.

And at Kokwio Station's main Tokyo headquarters, the company is developing its own floor panels, which captures the energy of human foot traffic. The soccer team bought 24 kinetic energy panels which landed under the feet of the fan section, allowing the studio to catch the fan spirit literally. The power cord, says Kiyota, carries the fans' energy to a power box to batteries. Only a small amount of energy is created now, but it is just the beginning, she says.

(on camera): Do you envision a day when this entire stadium will have this type of energy flooring?

"I think so. I hope one day, the system will be in every seat, producing more clean energy."

A movement that the team hopes stadiums around the world will catch on to.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Kobe, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We have a story to tell you about, a story about a die-hard fan of the Green Bay Packers. That's him right there, number 66, curled up in front of the tube. That is Jim Becker of Racine, Wisconsin, and it's probably a Packers' game that he's got on.

You probably know about Packers fans, right? They are fairly devoted and that's quite the understatement. But there's only 13 Packer fans that can rightfully claim membership in the team's Hall of Fame.

And Jim Becker, now 80 years old, is one of those 13 fans. But that's really just the start of his story.

Jim Becker is joining us now on the phone.

Are you there, sir?

JIM BECKER, LIFELONG PACKERS FAN (via telephone): Yes, I am.

KEILAR: So, how long have you had your Packers season tickets and tell me how did you get the money to buy them? They're not cheap.

BECKER: Well, I've had my season tickets since about -- in the early 1950s, '52, '53. When I got back from service from Korea, my wife and I got married immediately and we started raising a family, and we ended up with 11 children, by the way.

KEILAR: Wow.

BECKER: So, I had to save the money and we didn't want to take money of the grocery bills. So, I went to the local hospital, and you could donate blood for about pretty close to $10 a pint at that time. So, I would do this about four times a year, and I put the money away. And when it came time to buy the tickets, and I went buy the tickets.

KEILAR: OK. So, you sold your blood to pay for your season tickets. But the interesting twist here is that it turns out, selling your blood turned out to have a bigger benefit that just getting the tickets. What was that?

BECKER: Well, they say it saved my life, actually. My father died of an iron disease called Hemochromatosis. And it's hereditary.

KEILAR: And rare. And pretty rare.

BECKER: Yes, it's quite rare. It's excessive iron that deposits in the organs.

Shortly -- not shortly, but when I was in my early 40s, which was -- my dad died at the age of 43. When I was in my early 40s, I had a company physical and it came up that I had high deposits of iron and the doctor looked at my medical history, my family history. When he saw what had happened to my father, he immediately ordered some biopsies, and it was confirmed that I also had the same disease, Hemochromatosis.

And there is no cure for this disease. There's only a treatment. And the only treatment is giving blood three, four, five times a year.

KEILAR: So, do you think, Jim, that if you were not a Packers fan, then that you would be dead right now? Is that what the doctor told you?

BECKER: Well, he's -- whether I was a Packer fan or not, but the idea is, if I had not -- if I had not donated blood, he said, you would not be here having this conversation with me.

KEILAR: All right, we're going to go with the Packers fan, though, because that obviously is the reason why you were donating blood, I'm sure, as well, because you have a big heart, as well. But tell us why you wear the number 66. This is kind of an old school explanation.

BECKER: The 66 is the jersey from Ray Nitchke (ph), who is in the Football Hall of Fame, and he was my favorite player, so -- and so I had the privilege of meeting him about 20 years ago at a golf outing. And we sat down and chatted like you and I are now and we had a great time. So I've always been a great fan of his, so I just keep wearing that jersey.

KEILAR: It's a great experience, as well as being brought into the team's Hall of Fame. And you know, I want to ask you, though, before we let you go Jim, Brett Favre, yea or nay? What do you think?

BECKER: Great football player, not much of a human being anymore.

KEILAR: Well put.

BECKER: He's gotten too big for himself.

KEILAR: Very succinct, very well put. Jim Becker, thank you for being with us and telling us your story.

BECKER: I appreciate it. Thank you.

KEILAR: Authorities now sharing details of a huge drug tunnel that they discovered. It stretches from Mexico to California. And we'll have a live report for you next.

And also, don't forget to catch "CNN Heroes" tomorrow night, Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern. This is a really inspiring show. We've got a preview of one of the performances that you just have to see.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Federal authorities have plugged another hole in the U.S. southern border. They found a tunnel dug beneath the border that connected Tijuana, Mexico, and the inside of a warehouse in a San Diego suburb. This is a tunnel that ran about half a mile underground, and it's not far from another tunnel that was found earlier this month, where authorities also seized 30 tons of marijuana. Now, in San Diego, the feds just wrapped up a presser, and they called this one of the most sophisticated tunnels that they had ever seen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH PARTRIDGE, DEA SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE SAN DIEGO: Having been in several of these tunnels, this is probably one of the most sophisticated tunnels that I've seen in terms of the lighting systems and in rail systems and construction. And take it seriously. This was a tunnel where a lot of drugs were being pushed through, and coupled with the fact that this tunnel location was one of the first times ever seen where there was the construction of the electrical units and everything, where you would be able to access from both sides of the border to several locations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN producer Michael Carey joining us now by phone from San Diego. And Michael, did they talk about how exactly they came to discover this, how they found this tunnel?

MICHAEL CAREY, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, they say that they were actually -- received a tip about a tractor-trailer that they followed yesterday that came to this warehouse. When it left, sheriff's deputies followed the vehicle. They pulled it over at a checkpoint in nearby Temecula, where they discovered 27,600 pounds of marijuana on board. That led them back to this warehouse, where they discovered the elaborate tunnel and ultimately found more than 20 tons of marijuana. Or as the DEA says, it's the equivalent of taking 16 to 17 million joints off the street. Two U.S. citizens were arrested. They were both drivers of vehicles leaving the warehouse. There have also been seven arrests in Mexico.

And more details about that tunnel. It actually started in a home in Tijuana. And it was inside a kitchen. There was a hole in the floor. It dropped about 80 feet deep, with cinderblock on each side, that ended on a long wooden floor that ran this approximately half mile across the border, with an elaborate rail system and a cart that would pull the marijuana back and forth.

And another difference in this case is that there was actually a fork in the tunnel, so that there's the one exit at the warehouse where they held the press conference today, and there's also an exit about 800 feet away at a nearby warehouse. Both areas are still being treated as crime scenes because they're doing fingerprinting and collecting DNA evidence.

KEILAR: I mean, when you say, Michael, that they're saying this is like taking 16 or 17 million joints off the street -- you can see how that would make a tremendous difference in this drug bust -- but does it make a difference -- did they talk about this, shutting down this tunnel, if drug smugglers can just build another one, or do they feel like they've really made a setback here?

CAREY: They think they've definitely made a setback, this in combination with the other drug busts at the beginning of the month that netted some 30 tons. They say that they've got this very elaborate San Diego tunnel investigative team that basically has been cracking down on these and that this is particularly the result of an eight-month investigation. They think if they can keep clamping down on these, you only have so many warehouses where people can did these tunnels using their jackhammers, so that they think they actually are making a difference.

KEILAR: Yes, hoping to get ahead of the curve. CNN producer Michael Carey, thanks for that. Appreciate it.

And you know what we have coming your way? Some nasty weather. It's going to be going across large parts of the country. This is just in time, of course, for people to get back on the road and in the air. And Chad Myers is standing by to break all of this down for you. We'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now, we talk a lot about travel on the day before Thanksgiving, but Sunday is actually an even busier travel day, so weather is a very big deal this weekend. Let's go ahead and bring in meteorologist Chad Myers. So where are the rough spots we're talking about here?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Brianna, I think the West is going to be a big time problem because it's so cold and the snow comes down. The snow is coming down in these passes like we have not seen for a long time. Now, for air travel, you don't need snow to have a problem. You need low ceilings, low visibility, and that's what we have from New York down through D.C. and in to Atlanta. So flying in and out of Atlanta, a little bit slow today, although the airports have been doing OK.

Let me get this out of the way here for you and I'll show you that -- prove that to you. There are 5,000 airplanes there. The good news is, they're not that big.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Huge!

MYERS: Otherwise, you would never see the sun. We would never have a mostly sunny day. We would just have a mostly plane day and you would see these planes everywhere. But obviously, they are much smaller and they don't bump into each other. At 5,000, though -- the number -- on a normal Friday, there's about 6,000. That could be because the airlines just didn't book as many flights today because they didn't expect as many travelers, or we didn't see -- we don't see them on the map, but sometimes the cancellations can start to pile up. They're not included in the delays because a canceled flight isn't delayed, it's just gone. It doesn't count.

KEILAR: It's not there.

MYERS: It doesn't count as a canceled flight, and they don't tell us how many flights get canceled unless there's some big announcement here. Showers and thunderstorms down across from Tampa, looks like running almost over to about New Smyrna Beach, and then down to about Cape Canaveral. That's where the rain is right now.

There's snow, though, here. South towns of Buffalo -- there's Watertown. There's -- up north here in Michigan and also way up into the U.P. of Michigan, picking up the first real big batch that I've seen so far of lake effect snow. Lake effect snow happens because cold air comes across the lake. It picks up the moisture from the lake, almost like the steam you might see in the morning hours. On a calm morning and the clear skies, you kind of get that mist on top of the lake. Well, that mist it gets picked up into the clouds, and the clouds eventually turn into snow, and the snow can come down at two to three inches per hour for Buffalo, really more -- the Cataraugas (ph) and Chatauqua counties, the south towns of Buffalo for this particular event.

Here's Seattle and here's Portland, and this is what I was talking about with the snow. The snow from Spokane (INAUDIBLE) it's just been so bitterly cold out west. Spokane, morning low temperatures, 10 below zero. I have friends up in northern Idaho, 19 below zero up there in Sand Point. And then -- not today but yesterday. And then all the way back down here across I-5, we are still seeing the rain kind of mixing on with the snow.

The whole story for today, rain and snow in the West, the cold, windy conditions here, and then the rainfall across parts of the Southeast. And that's typical for today. That's going to be a lot for tomorrow and even into Sunday, things aren't going to change all that much.

Where are you going in the next few days?

KEILAR: Well, I'm going to join the masses on Sunday, head to the airport and go back to D.C., so -- I'm getting there early, I'm telling you that.

MYERS: It appears, at least for a while, that Sunday will be a much better day to fly than it was on Tuesday and Wednesday, where the clouds were in, the rain was in. At least when the clouds come in and the airplanes slow down, the airports slow down, you get the backups. With this thing, the cold's going to blow on by. The cold air's going to push all the clouds away. And although it's cold, it still will be flawless flight conditions for you. KEILAR: Oh, perfect.

MYERS: How many times have I ever said that for the Northeast?

KEILAR: Thanks, Chad!

MYERS: There you go.

KEILAR: Wow, I'm going to take that to the bank. Thank you so much for that.

MYERS: You're welcome. All right.

KEILAR: And just in, we're getting some brand-new numbers that may prove this could be a very big holiday shopping season, Paypal now reporting a 25 percent jump in on-line payments on Thanksgiving Day from the same day last year. That is a very good indicator that a lot more people are shopping on line.

And get this. The company also saw a nearly 300 percent increase in payments from mobile phones. Now, remember, next week is big for Wall Street. Investors will be looking to see how the retail industry did this weekend.

And an update now on a story that we've been reporting over the past 24 hours, a huge sigh of relief at FedEx. The search for a missing package containing radioactive material is over. The package found at a FedEx shipping station in Knoxville, Tennessee. Turns out it was unlabeled. This was a package that contained radioactive rods used to calibrate CAT scans. A woman for FedEx says no one was exposed to any radiation, and FedEx is now trying to figure out just how the package went missing in the first place.

Also A major anti-terrorism sweep announced in Saudi Arabia. Security forces there say they have arrested nearly 150 people believed to be members of al Qaeda. Saudi-run state -- Saudi state-run television reports say most of those arrested were Saudi nationals, the arrests occurring during an eight-month period.

And let's get you now to "THE SITUATION ROOM" in Washington, D.C., and Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.