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Bomb Plot Stopped in Oregon; Black Friday by the Numbers; Concern over WikiLeaks Threat; South Korea's Pressure Cooker; Sophisticated Drug Tunnel Uncovered; Gabe Watson Extradited to U.S.; Tension High in Haiti on Even of National Elections; The Meal That Keeps on Giving; World's Best Coffee

Aired November 27, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for T.J. Holmes.

A teenager accused of plotting a terrorist attack at a big holiday ceremony in Oregon. Authorities say he wanted everyone either dead or injured. A live report just moments away.

And an out of control otter? Yes an otter, strikes again in Florida. A third person bitten by this animal, this time the attack is caught on tape.

And coffee made from animal dung? Sounds disgusting, but not only are people drinking it, they're willing to pay up to $50 a cup for it. We'll tell you why just ahead.

And upfront this hour breaking news from Portland, Oregon, where the FBI wraps up a long-term terror investigation with the arrest of a teenaged Somali national. Authorities say he wanted to detonate a van full of explosives at the city's tree lighting ceremony last night. The suspect is identified as 19-year-old Mohamud Osman Mohamud, and the FBI says that he's a naturalized U.S. citizen and a student at Oregon State University.

He's been arrested on suspicion of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and authorities say Mohamud wanted to blow up a vehicle loaded down with explosives right near Portland's Christmas tree lighting celebration. But the bomb was actually a ruse that was created by FBI counter-terror agents who were monitoring him.

Earlier this morning I spoke with former FBI Assistant Director, Thomas Fuentes, about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Everybody right now expects the attack to occur either in New York City or Washington, D.C., or at least a major city of the United States, and so to have it occur in, somewhere that's not New York is an issue, because then everybody can wonder whether or not somebody in their neighborhood is plotting to do something like this in their community. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Mohamud is expected to appear on federal court in Portland on Monday. We'll hear more -- we'll we will hear more from the former FBI Assistant Director Fuentes live in our noon Eastern hour.

Now, some early bird shoppers in Buffalo, New York, they got more than they bargained for on Black Friday. One man had to be rushed to the hospital after getting trampled trying to get into a target store.

You see that white circle there it's around Keith Krantz. He says that he got pinned against a door support and shoppers stepped over and around him before he stumbled into the store seriously hurt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH KRANTZ, INJURED SHOPPER: At that moment I was thinking I -- I don't want to die here on the ground. That's exactly what I thought.

I see it as a little absurd. I don't think it's worth staying out there all night to get -- to get trampled or trample somebody else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now Krantz says that he suffered a herniated disk. Target officials released a statement saying safety is a top priority and they plan well in advance to Black Friday. The statement goes on to say, quote, "We continually analyze and improve those plans and will do so in this case."

You know for a lot of merchants the holiday shopping season this is make or break time and the National Retail Federation is predicting shoppers will shell out $447 billion -- can you believe that -- billion dollars before the end of the year, and if past years are any indication retailers could make more than $41 billion just this weekend.

Our Sandra Endo is out with shoppers in McLean, Virginia, she is at a mall, Tyson Center there, one of the biggest shopping areas outside of D.C.

How is business going, Sandy?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's -- yes, Brianna, I've been walking around the mall all morning long and I have seen people out there buying, they're shopping, they're carrying their shopping bags.

So people are spending and in fact, the National Retail Federation anticipates there will be an increase this year about 2.3 percent in spending and people going out shopping and going to those malls and actually buying stuff this year, because of the tight economy loosening up a little bit. And the National Retail Federation says that stores are doing everything they can to lure in customers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT KRUGMAN, V.P. PUBLIC RELATIONS, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION: Retailers understand that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Consumers do have more spending power, but they lack confidence mostly because of the job market. And in absence of jobs, retailers are looking to discounts as a way to boost confidence and I think consumers going to respond.

So what you're going to see are retailers using every weapon in their arsenal to get consumers out to the stores. Whether it be discounts, whether it be their multichannel strategy, whether it be using mobile and social media, I -- I think they're reaching consumers in new and unique ways and offering some amazing deals to go along with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: All right, well a lot of people will be out there shopping online as well.

You were talking Brianna, earlier about Cyber Monday coming up, but come on, you can't get a -- a holiday season without Santa here. He is the big lure at this mall, so many people have lined up to see you, big guy. So happy holidays and its one reason why a lot of people are actually coming out here to the stores to spend their money and do their holiday shopping -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And Sandy, can you tell Santa that I want an e-Reader, I mean, just kind of put that in there for me. Is that cool?

ENDO: OK, Santa our anchor Brianna Keilar wants an e-Reader. Can you make that happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An e-Reader, oh how nice is that? Very nice. I know, I'll check my list and make sure that she's on the good side.

ENDO: All right. Have you been naughty or nice, Brianna?

KEILAR: Probably somewhere in the middle there. But maybe Santa can look past that.

ENDO: He says you've been nice. So --

KEILAR: Oh good, oh Santa.

ENDO: All right.

KEILAR: Thanks, Sandy.

Well, you know three Florida women will never forget their first Black Friday experience. They were first in line at the Best Buy in West Palm Beach, camping out for more than 24 hours and they spent about $1,000 on computers and other electronics. They put them in their car, continued shopping, and that's when the thieves came and took everything.

You know diplomatic officials from around the world are reacting to a threat by the whistle blowing Web site WikiLeaks. The site is expected to post thousands of confidential diplomatic cables within days. Former U.S. ambassador to Russia James Collins tells CNN the cables could reveal a U.S. negotiating positions and secret intelligence and he says that could seriously damage diplomatic relations.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen reacted to the expected leak on CNN's "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Another set of WikiLeaks documents, the -- the founder of WikiLeaks says that this is telling truth to power, this is how we open up the process. Do you think that this endangers the lives of American troops, these kinds of leaks?

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, JOINT CHIEF CHAIRMAN: Absolutely. And not just American troops but it also endangers the lives of other individuals that we've engaged in our -- in our overall efforts, whether they -- they be in Afghanistan or other countries, so I think it's a very, very dangerous precedent.

What -- I don't think those who are in charge of WikiLeaks understand is we live in a world where just a little bitty piece of information can be added to a network of information and really open up an understanding that just wasn't there before. So it continues to be extremely dangerous.

And I would hope that those who are responsible for this would at some point in time think about the responsibility they have for lives, that they're exposing, and the potential that's there, and stop leaking this information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You can catch that entire interview with Admiral Mullen on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" that's tomorrow 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

After being fired on for North Korea this week, guess who some members of the South Korean military squared off against today? Would you believe their own riot police? We have details behind the irony next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Early winter storms are devastating parts of northern China. The Inner Mongolia region is digging out from its worst blizzard in 30 years. We're talking about so much snow, more than 39 inches in some places, livestock there freezing to death. Nearly 50,000 residents are snowed in with roadways, even airports closed, and our Reynolds Wolf is in the weather center. We're seeing snow in some parts of the U.S. as well. REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're seeing something else, too.

KEILAR: Wind.

WOLF: The Statue of Liberty and you're right that's not poor camera work. That is some of the wind that we have and it's out in parts of New York. So while that's jostling around like crazy that wind is going to keep a lot of planes grounded in certain places.

In fact, you check this out for a moment, I want to show you what we have in terms of delays. Look at it, Boston, New York Metros, all your major airports including LaGuardia, you're going to have a possibility of some major delays, maybe up to an hour at times. Your D.C. Metros in Philadelphia some wind there, half hour to a full hour delay there possible. Cleveland, the delays there all due to the snow, possibly up to 60 minutes.

The reason why we're seeing the snow is because we've got that prevailing wind that's coming from west to east, moving right across the Great Lakes. It got a lot of cold air aloft and as that moisture is picked up off the lakes you're going to have the snow begins to pile up.

Same rule applies out to the west. Pacific moisture comes onshore along the coast, its rain, and high elevations, it turns to snow and at times it could be very heavy in some places up to a foot of snow.

Now, what's interesting about the snowfall we're seeing out in places like Buffalo, where one big swathe is moving right over to the falls and about to move into downtown Buffalo within minutes, when it begins to pick up, the intensity could measure anywhere from say not one but possibly two to three inches of snowfall per hour.

That's right, a major snow machine no question about it. So we could have some big time issues on the roadways, including 81, even 80 before the day is out. So certainly keep that in mind.

Very quickly as we look at your national perspective the troubles out towards the west, we have had some trouble in the Great Lakes, but high pressure is going to be your dominating feature in the center of the country. And with that things are going to be pretty pleasant for you, nice for you in places like say in Kansas City, where your highs are going up to 53 degrees, some low 60s in Dallas; 31 in the twin cities.

If you're going out shopping it's going to be kind of cold for you, no question about it. But this afternoon, 36 in Billings; it's 56 in Atlanta and 56 in Raleigh, 73 in Tampa and 62 in Los Angeles.

You're up to speed. That's your forecast. Let's kick it back over to you.

KEILAR: All right, thanks Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

KEILAR: Checking our top stories now, the Feds in a sting operation catches suspected terrorist planning an attack at a crowded holiday event in Oregon. The FBI says 19-year-old Mohamud Osman Mohamud is accused of trying to blow up a van which he thought was packed with explosives.

But the Justice Department says it was fake. The Somali-born suspect targeted a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland.

And a lightning strike kills seven people at a nursery school in South Africa; sadly the tragedy happened at the school's Christmas party. A child died along with two parents, two teachers and the school's director. At least 30 people were hurt in the lightning strike.

And the commander in chief nursing a busted lip this holiday weekend; President Obama was accidentally elbowed in the face during a basketball game yesterday. The White House medical unit gave Mr. Obama 12 stitches. He is doing fine.

The never-ending war seemingly back on the brink, some of South Korea's military vets squared off against their nation's own riot police as the government wrestles with what to do in response to North Korea's deadly shelling of a contested island.

CNN's Stan Grant was literally caught in the crush between demonstrators and security.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The protesters surged forward. They were hurling themselves at the police and the police firing tear gas and charging back into the protesters. This is an indication of just how much tension there is on the streets of Seoul right now. As you can see, they're starting to move behind me. And we're going to try to keep our distance here.

As you can see, the pushing and shoving has started again. This is what -- this is what the police have been brought in here -- this is what the police have been brought in here to try to stop.

Now, we're in the middle of this so we're going to try to get out of here because this can flare again violently. So I'm just going to try -- let's try to get out of here. Let's try to get out of here. This is not going to are safe for us. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

It's been quite confusing what has actually happened here today; now, of course, violent scenes, lots of pushing, lots of shoving. These protesters charging towards the police; the police charging back at them. Just look around here and you can see that we're talking about heavily armed riot squad.

These people are used to this type of protest, but this gives indication of just how much anger there is on the streets of Seoul right now, and just through in here, you can see the protesters themselves -- I think you can see one of them has now taken his shirt off, the others wearing banners around their heads.

Now all the men have been pushed back up there against the wall and surrounded by the police. All you can see through here are the heads, the black helmets of the police riot squad. With the United States and South Korea about to begin this new war games in the Yellow Sea, and North Korea warning that that will take the whole Korean peninsula to the brink of war.

And now that tension is spilling over onto the streets, more and more people angry and more and more people demanding that the South Korean government take a tougher line and move in harder against North Korea.

And here over here you can see the protesters themselves as they're starting to disperse. Calm is being restored right now. But as you can see this is a situation that is fluid and could always explode again at any minute.

Stan Grant, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Authorities in Brazil say a major drug ring leader has been shot and killed in an ongoing standoff between police and rioting gangs. The violence broke out six days ago after officers tried to round up suspected drug dealers in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Hundreds of troops have been sent in to help secure the area. At least 35 people have died in the violence and nearly 200 have been arrested or detained.

And an extremely sophisticated drug tunnel nearly a half mile long uncovered in California; we'll be telling you what else investigators found, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Our first cross-country stop is in Palm Beach County, Florida, where animal control agents are on the hunt for an aggressive otter. And I am being completely serious. It's suspected in as many as three incidents and one that was caught on videotape here attacking a teenager on Wednesday. Will Gibbons says that he just grabbed his cell phone to capture what he thought was a playful little creature until it lunged and attacked his leg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM GIBBONS, VIDEOTAPED OTTER ATTACKING HIM: I was scared, it's that simple. It was a cute little otter, didn't expect it to do anything. And right when it bit I was just like, wow, I wasn't expecting this, so then it just took off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And FedEx can now stand down after finding that package containing radioactive material that had been inadvertently misplaced. FedEx employees found an unlabeled container yesterday at one of its shipping stations near Knoxville, Tennessee, and reports as well out of -- of this is a completely different story. Moving on.

Reports out of Hudspeth (ph) County, Texas, have country music legend Willie Nelson out of jail, yes, after his arrest yesterday on charges of possessing marijuana. Nelson's tour bus was apparently stopped at a checkpoint when police smelled something a bit out of the ordinary, and cops say they found a few ounces of the illicit weed on board.

Federal agents have uncovered a very sophisticated drug tunnel that links two locations in San Diego to a home in Mexico. Here is Phil Blauer (ph) with CNN affiliate, KFMB.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fairly moist still indicating that this portion of the tunnel has not been here for too awfully long.

PHIL BLAUER, KFMB REPORTER: An unidentified tunnel task force agent is taking a close up look at a half-mile long drug smuggling tunnel which runs from Otay Mesa to Tijuana, Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They cut through the soil which is so high in clay content and it is somewhat self-supporting.

BLAUER: The sophisticated passageway began at this Marconi Drive warehouse and ends in two places, first in this empty Villa dela Amistad building 800 feet away and then continues to a home across the border.

MIKE UNZUETA, ICE, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: There's about a two by four-foot section of flooring that's removable. Once you look straight down into that there's about an 80-foot shaft and it's lined with cinder block. When that levels out, there's a wooden floor that runs almost the entire length of the tunnel and on that wooden floor there's a rail system and a cart that was being used to move the narcotics.

BLAUER: Authorities were tipped off Thanksgiving Day while watching this tractor trailer when it stopped at Temecula border patrol checkpoint. Agents found 14 tons of marijuana packed inside. Back at the warehouse they discovered another 3 to 4 tons of pot. Two people are in custody in the U.S. Connected to the operation. Seven others have been arrested in Mexico.

ALANA ROBINSON, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: In any case involving over 1,000 kilograms the defendant is facing a minimum mandatory of ten years in prison and a statutory maximum of life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Investigators suspect one of Mexico's largest cartels operated that tunnel.

There are reports of election violence in Haiti ahead of that country's very critical vote. We'll have a live report from Port-au- Prince just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It has been a long time coming but an American man accused of killing his newlywed wife in Australia is back in the U.S. And Deborah Feyerick has more on the man that Aussie's called the honeymoon killer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tried, convicted and in prison for killing his newlywed wife in 2003, Gabe Watson was released from prison in Australia early Thursday and flown to Los Angeles. Now he sits behind bars again, on charges in the U.S. that he killed his wife.

Watson, coined "the honeymoon killer" by Australia media served 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of manslaughter stemming from the death of his wife, Tina. The couple, wed in Alabama, was married for only 11 days when Tina died while scuba diving off the Great Barrier Reef on her honeymoon with Watson.

Now seven years later authorities in Alabama are saying they have their man. Assistant attorney general Don Velasquez says a grand jury returned an indictment against Watson in October for murder and kidnapping. The indictment was unsealed Thursday. Alabama authorities believe Watson hatched the plot to kill his wife while the couple was living in Alabama because he wanted to cash in on his wife's insurance policy.

Tina's father, Tommy Thomas speaking to reporters in Alabama is hopeful justice will be served.

TOMMY THOMAS, TINA'S WATSON'S FATHER: The one thing that we're focused on is seeing justice done by her and for her, and until that day comes, until he actually faces the evidence for the first time, in a criminal trial before a jury, there can be no rest or no peace for anyone in our family.

FEYERICK: Watson's attorneys could not be reached for comment by CNN but did release a statement to CNN earlier this month saying, quote, "The state attorney general has manipulated a grand jury to believe that not only can he prove that Gabe murdered his wife of 11 days but that the crime began in Alabama."

Watson is scheduled to have an extradition hearing in Los Angeles early next week. He could then be back in Alabama in early December, awaiting his first court appearance in his home state.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Haiti is on the cusp of a critical vote. After the break we'll check in with Ivan Watson live from Port-au-Prince.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Tension is high in Haiti on the eve of that country's national elections. Just a week after a violent political protest in the capital, there's a report a candidate has been targeted in a violent attack.

CNN's Ivan Watson is in Port-au-Prince, and he filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Throbbing music laid on a steamy Caribbean night. This is politics Haitian-style -- raucous street parties. This one organized by Michel Martelly, a candidate for president who's better known for his stage name --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sweet Micky.

WATSON: -- "Sweet Micky." Before politics, Martelly was a celebrity singer with a bad boy image, notorious for performing in drag.

(on camera): What does performing on stage, singing, wearing a pink skirt do to help you be a president of a country?

MICHEL MARTELLY, CANDIDATE: Well, it's just helping me as far as popularity. OK? Yes, I've been to (ph) bad boys, but the people of Haiti believe in that rebel status that I'm selling. You know, able to fight the system.

WATSON (voice-over): Martelly is the most flamboyant politician in a crowded field of 19 presidential candidates. Martelly's style clashes sharply with that of another front-runner, Mirlande Manigat, a 70-year-old graduate of The Sorbonne whose husband was president of Haiti in 1988 for just a few months.

(on camera): What happened?

MIRLANDE MANIGAT, CANDIDATE: There was a coup d'etat, a military coup against him, and we had to go again in exile for two years.

WATSON (voice-over): Twenty-two years later, Manigat could become Haiti's first female president.

The election is being held in a time of cholera. More than 1,400 people have died since the epidemic struck last month. Some fear the cholera outbreak could further scare already nervous voters from going to the polls.

BERNICE ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Haiti's elections, I mean, there's a history of some violence, some irregularities, some accusations of fraud.

WATSON: Last week, protesters shut down Haiti's second largest city, Cap-Haitien, during a week of violent protests. And in the capital last week, angry crowds attacked the posters of Jude Celestin, the candidate endorsed by Haiti's outgoing president.

Celestin leads the largest bloc of candidates competing for seats in both houses of parliament, in legislative elections, which will also be held on Sunday. His well-funded campaign even features an airplane dropping confetti from the sky.

(on camera): Candidates have plastered Port-au-Prince with campaign posters. They've been spending millions of dollars hiring planes, hiring bands to advertise their campaigns, despite the fact that 10 months after the earthquake, much of the city still lies in ruins.

(voice-over): Very little has been done to clean up mountains of rubble, or to resettle the 1.3 million homeless people who are still living in tents. But that hasn't stopped the political campaigns from playing their music and dancing through the streets of this shattered, suffering city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Brianna, late last night, that singer-turned-politician, Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, claimed that he survived an assassination attempt in a southern Haitian town, and that there were many dead and wounded. Well, United Nations police spokesmen, they cannot confirm any deaths or wounded people, but they do say that supporters between two rival candidates did clash in that southern city.

Now, Haitian authorities there posing strict curfews in the days ahead. Alcohol sales will be banned, cars and motorcycles can only operate on the streets of Haiti with special permits during Election Day. And gun licenses will be temporarily suspended until Wednesday.

I spoke with Haiti's top voodoo priest yesterday. He says he's praying for peace on Election Day -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Certainly, Ivan. I'm wondering, when you talk to Haitian residents, are they nervous ahead of this vote?

WATSON: I do think that there are quite a lot of nerves. Haiti's had 13 elections since 1987, but a lot of them have been marred by violence.

There was a massacre in 1987 that is really ingrained in Haitians' psyche. And one woman I talked to, for instance, she said, "I'm leaving the country ahead of Election Day. I don't want to see any trouble here."

KEILAR: Yes. Certainly some people who are very worried.

And the other thing I wonder, is this affecting the vote, this cholera epidemic going on in Haiti?

WATSON: This is absolutely horrible. According to the Ministry of Health here, Brianna, more than 1,600 people have died just since last month, when the deadly cholera bacteria was first discovered here. More than 60,000 people treated for this deadly bacteria, and that has also raised anxiety dramatically.

There's an education campaign out there, an awareness campaign, to try to teach people how to prevent the spread of disease and how it can be passed. Basically, it's fecal to oral transmission.

The World Health Organization has put out a statement saying that no, you cannot get cholera just by going to the polling stations. We'll have to see whether fears about the disease may prevent people who are already quite worried about the election from going to the polls on Sunday.

KEILAR: Yes. And hopefully they can be educated about sort of the sanitation issues that they're dealing with.

Ivan Watson for us there in Port-au-Prince.

Thanks for that report.

And now a CNN programming note. Halle Berry, Jon Bon Jovi, just a few of the big names featured at the four annual CNN Heroes All- Start Tribute. If you missed even a second of it, see it again this weekend.

You have two chances, two more chances to watch it, tonight and tomorrow night, 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Thanksgiving is over, but you probably still have a lot of leftovers. So what do you with them besides making a turkey sandwich? Well, our Sandra Endo goes inside the kitchen of a very popular Washington, D.C., restaurant for some ideas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ENDO: After a big Thanksgiving meal, there will be plenty of leftovers you don't want to throw out. But what to do with all of them? You're tired of all those turkey sandwiches.

Well, we're going to take you through these doors, inside this kitchen, for some trade secrets on what to do with those leftovers.

AL NAPPO, FOUNDING FARMERS EXECUTIVE CHEF: We're going to make something that is so easy for - to use your Thanksgiving leftovers.

And we've got some stuffing and some ham and turkey. And we're going to take those and we're going to mix them together and we're going to make some fantastic griddle cakes.

This is just a little something different. And it'll help you out because you're going to be able to use all those leftovers, and you're not going to waste anything. And it'll safe you a few bucks. Mix it up and go. Look at that. ENDO (voice-over): The American Farm Bureau says the price for an average Thanksgiving dinner this year rose 1.3 percent, and whole- turkey prices are up 13 percent since last year, at $1.68 a pound.

The total cost for a dinner for 10 averages $43.47.

So not to put any to waste --

NAPPO: You've got guests in from out of town, and you want to wow them with a little breakfast. We're going to take some of these sweet potatoes and we're going to right them right into our pancake batter.

We've got sweet potato pancakes with the cranberry and maple syrup.

ENDO (on camera): Delicious.

NAPPO: I'm going to dig in. That's what I was looking for.

ENDO (voice-over): Ways to spice up that Thanksgiving meal that keeps on giving.

Sandra Endo, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And, of course, NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield.

So what's coming up?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, good to see you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Very good to see you.

WHITFIELD: We've got lots coming up on this Thanksgiving Day -- or I guess I should say Thanksgiving weekend.

KEILAR: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Of course our legal guys are here with us. They don't take any time off. So, Richard and Avery will be talking about the Amanda Knox case.

Remember her, the 23-year-old convicted of murdering her roommate, serving 26 years in prison? Well, she's going to be back in court. She is filing for appeal, and our legal guys are going to talk about what's at issue and why she might get some relief. She's looking for a complete reversal. That might not happen, but we're going to hear from our legal guys on what they think will or possibly could happen.

And then, Guns N' Roses. Well, you know there's a pretty popular video game, "Guitar Hero 3," in particular, which involves all of the Guns N Roses guys, including this former guitarist, Slash. Well, Axl Rose is now suing the video game maker, saying, no, we don't want Slash to be in this because he's no longer a part of our team.

KEILAR: Really? Oh, he's not part of Guns N' Roses anymore?

WHITFIELD: Yes. So they had a big falling out, Axl Rose and Slash. Yes.

KEILAR: GNR without Slash though? I mean, come on.

WHITFIELD: I know. I know. Well, Axl Rose wouldn't want to hear that kind of argument, but he's taking it to heart.

KEILAR: OK.

WHITFIELD: And then 2:00 Eastern Time, of course the holidays are upon us. It means people are spending money, maybe spending money you don't have. But you do have to spend money in order to get from point A to B.

Are you buying any plane tickets say, for instance, this holiday season in?

BALDWIN: Me? No, I'm not.

WHITFIELD: No?

BALDWIN: I've sort of avoided that.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's good.

KEILAR: I Know.

WHITFIELD: Well, for anyone you know -- and I know I will be buying some plane tickets -- our Dolans are going to be with us. We call them "The Dynamic Duo" of anything financial. They're going to have some great advice on the best time of the week in which you need to buy your plane ticket.

Big hint -- Tuesdays.

KEILAR: Really?

WHITFIELD: Yes. And they'll elaborate on other great deals --

KEILAR: Oh, good.

WHITFIELD: -- and little cutting of the corner kind of techniques on buying holiday airfare.

And then 4:00 Eastern Time, of course, time to go to the movies. "Faster," I actually saw that last night with The Rock.

KEILAR: Was it good?

WHITFIELD: You don't want to hear from me because I'm not the film critic. But we will have a film critic who will be with us. He's going to talk about "Faster," whether you should run to the theaters to go see it.

And then for, you know, young kids and their parents, how about "Tangled"? It's a new age version of "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let your hair down." We'll find out if our critic likes it.

And then all day, beginning at noon Eastern Time, "Face to Face" with Salman Rushdie. You remember him, author. You'll remember him most famously, probably, for "The Satanic Verses."

KEILAR: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Well, he is out with his second children's book.

KEILAR: Really?

WHITFIELD: His first children's book was a big hit. I go "Face to Face" with him. We talk about everything from the book he's currently working on, to the memoir which will elaborate on all that he went through while he was living in seclusion and hiding.

KEILAR: Yes, and hiding.

WHITFIELD: And the death wishes (ph) out for him.

Here's a little bit of what he had to say.

Oh, it looks like we're not going to have that sound for you.

KEILAR: Oh, well, all --

WHITFIELD: Was that a killer tease or what?

KEILAR: All the more reason to stay tuned, because that's fascinating.

WHITFIELD: You'll have to stick around for him.

KEILAR: I mean, this is someone who was completely in hiding.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

KEILAR: And you're going to be talking to him.

WHITFIELD: And he's a fascinating character.

KEILAR: Sure.

WHITFIELD: He is so complex, and he's quite humorous. You'll really love his personality. He's got that wonderful kind of dry humor.

KEILAR: All right. I'm going to stay tuned for that.

WHITFIELD: OK. Good.

KEILAR: And I'm hoping that you're actually going to give us your critique of "Faster" as well in your show.

WHITFIELD: I'm no movie critic.

KEILAR: All right.

WHITFIELD: We'll leave it up to our --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: He's going to be with us

KEILAR: All right. We'll check that out. Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: You know, top-shelf coffee, literally at the bottom of the food chain. Coveted coffee beans found in the -- let's say the dung of an Indonesian creature.

WHITFIELD: Ooh.

KEILAR: Perk up for that strange --

WHITFIELD: I have heard of it.

KEILAR: -- oh, yes, it is, strange brew. We've got it ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KEILAR: Wait. So, Reynolds, let me ask you. Have you heard -- I know that Fred knows what this is, but have you heard of Kopi Luwak? Do you know what that is? It's a type of coffee.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I have no idea what that might be, but I have a feeling you might give me some help.

KEILAR: OK. Well, it's giving the term "bottoms up" a whole new meaning when it --

WOLF: I'll bet it is.

KEILAR: -- comes to what's really considered to be some of this world's best coffee. It's actually found in animal dung, and CNN's Sara Sidner gives us the full story here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jack Nicholson's character was obsessed with it in the movie "The Bucket List."

JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR, "THE BUCKET LIST": Kopi Luwak, the rarest beverage in the world. Take a whiff. SIDNER: If nothing else, it should smell expensive because Indonesia's Kopi Luwak is said to be the world's most expensive coffee. This rich, velvety brew can cost as much as $50 a cup.

Why?

HENRY FERNANDO, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KOPI LUWAK: Because the supply is very limited in the world. That makes the price very expensive.

NICHOLSON: In the Sumatran village where the beans are grown lives a breed of wild tree cats. These cats eat the beans, digest them, and then defecate.

SIDNER: That's right, except the beans are grown in more than just one place. "Kopi" means "coffee" in Indonesian, and "Luwak" is the wild Asian palm civet that eats the coffee tree berries and produces the rare beans.

(on camera): Because the coffee bean does come out of the bottom of an Asian palm civet, you can imagine the number of nasty names people have for this coffee -- "crappuccino" is one, for example. But the popularity of this coffee is no joke.

FERNANDO: We opened a coffee cafe in 2002, and we already have 20 stores that provide the Kopi Luwak.

SIDNER (voice-over): Not to mention Kopi Luwak has long been selling all over the world.

Henry Fernando is the manager director of Kopi Luwak's plantations and shops, and has had to defend the brand. As the coffee's popularity boomed in Indonesia, two of the country's main Muslim organizations considered putting a fatwa on Kopi Luwak because the process appeared to be ritually unclean. But Fernando says after a bit of explanation about the bean when it's excreted, that all changed.

FERNANDO: It still has the skin, the inner skin layer. And also, we do the cleansing process before we do the processing and steam (ph). So it's totally not a problem. And right now the popular (ph) (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: And it's a heck of a lot less expensive in its home country than elsewhere.

(on camera): How much is this cup of coffee going to cost?

FERNANDO: It's about $8 -- U.S. dollar.

SIDNER: It's a bargain when you consider $50.

FERNANDO: You are surprised, right?

SIDNER: So, let me ask you, would you pay $50 per cup for this again? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I don't think so. That's directly (ph), right? But $8? Yes.

"I do like it compared to other kinds of coffee. It has a more distinctive coffee taste and aroma," this Jakarta resident says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel it's the type of thing you have to do once at least.

SIDNER (voice-over): After waiting two minutes for it to brew in its special cup, the rich flavor definitely leaves this first-timer craving more of one of Indonesia's treasures.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Jakarta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And, of course, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Fredricka Whitfield.

If you told me it was called "Kopi Luwak," I might go, OK.

WHITFIELD: It would sound interesting.

KEILAR: But if I said, "Fred, would you like a cup of crappuccino," would you do that?

WHITFIELD: No, "crappuccino," "poopuccino," no.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: I think I'll pass on that one.

KEILAR: All right.

WHITFIELD: But maybe it's trendy kind of thing. Maybe it won't be around for long. You know, you're cool and hip if you try it, and then, after a while, it's so yesterday.

KEILAR: Yes.

WHITFIELD: We'll see.

KEILAR: I don't know. I might try it.

WHITFIELD: You might give it a try?

KEILAR: It's kind of pricey though.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, cheers.

KEILAR: Cheers.

KEILAR: Brianna, see you tomorrow -- or tomorrow, right?

KEILAR: See you. WHITFIELD: You're here tomorrow. See you tomorrow.

KEILAR: I'll be back.

WHITFIELD: All right. Take care. Have a great weekend.

Maybe you're out shopping today, huh? Taking advantage of the sales?

KEILAR: Yes. Getting some of those good last-minute deals. We'll see.

WHITFIELD: Very good. All right. Excellent.

All right. Thanks so much, Brianna.