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Winter Storm Moves East; Bitter Cold Grips Eastern U.S.; Holbrooke's Presence Missed At White House; 300 People Stuck in Vehicles in Canadian Snowstorm; The End of Privacy; Julian Assange Granted Bail, Remains in Jail; 300 Stranded On Canadian Highway; Julian Assange Granted Bail From Sweden; Berkeley to Vote On Resolution; Remembering Richard Holbrooke; Tax Deal Heads to Full Senate Vote; NY Police Find Four Bodies
Aired December 14, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi and I am in a different place right now, and I'll tell you why in just a second. We've got stuff to tell you.
First - why don't I go to the weather first? Kelly, can I do that because Chad's right here? All right, Chad's with me. This is a continuing saga of the weather that we've seen over the last few days, but right now in southwestern Ontario, we have a military operation, basically, because 300 people at least are stuck in cars on a major thoroughfare, at least. Tell us a little bit about what's going on because this is the part that's almost like in the united states. It's right close to an area we've been covering.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's just east of the Blue Water Bridge, Port Huron right there. And then Sarnia and then the 402, a major highway that goes - trucks on there. This is a major interstate highway. They call it 402. It could be I-69. Whatever. It comes all the way right toward London. It is the fetch of the snow that happened over the weekend and, in fact, was still happening as of this morning. We talk about Buffalo. We talk about Buffalo getting a big lake effect snows because the river of air goes along the lake then dumps into Buffalo.
VELSHI: Right. So Buffalo gets it from all sides.
MYERS: Well, this is even a bigger lake. Lake Huron. And it's not frozen. It's even a little bit warmer. You get all of that water, and it dumps the snow right there and that's where these people are stranded. Now, for 24 hours at least, the story is, that for a while, the Ontario provincial police shut the 402 and said, get off. It's done. It's closed. Well, then what happened? These people went into the hinterlands trying to find a way home and they are stuck as well.
VELSHI: All right, so let's join right now, on the phone, the mayor of Sarnia, Mike Bradley, is on the phone with us right now. Mayor, good to talk to you. How are things in and around Sarnia right now?
MIKE BRADLEY, MAYOR OF SARNIA (via telephone): Well, Sarnia, itself, is not so bad, but to the east, towards London, and it indicated, it's quite severe. It's quite brutal out there. And this has been going on now for almost 36 hours.
VELSHI: What's the issue right now? As Chad was saying, there's a lot of snow on the highway -- where are people stuck? Mostly, on the 402 or the roads around the 402?
BRADLEY: On the 402. And there are efforts underway right now from both ends to try to rescue people, but it's been a very tough 24 hours for people who have been out there. Their cars have run low on fuel or they've run out of gas. Truckers are stepping in and helping them by letting them into their rigs. People have opened up their farmhouses. And there's all sorts of efforts underway to support people that are still stuck out there.
VELSHI: Mayor, tell us, as Chad started to tell us, this is a major route, and we're looking at live pictures or we're looking at picture right now from earlier. A lot of trucks. This is a commercial route as well as something leisure travelers would take.
BRADLEY: Well, there's no question, Sarnia and Port Huron, the port across there is one of the busiest in the United States and we are our biggest trading partners. So it's a very critical route to our economies. Right now, the American truck traffic is being held up in Port Huron and probably won't be out of there for a number of hours to keep them from coming on to the 402. Passenger traffic is being let across the water bridge into Sarnia, but they're being asked not to not even try go on to the 402.
VELSHI: And that, of course, is going to affect people on both sides of the border who are expecting deliveries. There will be parcels that are on those trucks may be delayed as a result of that. What do you know so far of the military operation that we've been talking about?
BRADLEY: I'm dealing just with media reports. The city did not call for the military to come in, it was the county of Lampton (ph) which is the part of the government system we are a part of here. But I understand that they are out there right now trying to spot people that are stranded. They have rescued a number of people.
VELSHI: Look at that.
BRADLEY: They are moving forward to help people as much as they can.
VELSHI: We're looking at pictures of cars buried almost to the top there. You're from Canada. I grew up in Canada. Chad has spent a lot of time in cold, snowy place. Why is this unusual? This does seem more than what we're used to seeing.
BRADLEY: It was a combination of - Lake Huron is still warm and the streamer came off there. This is probably the most brutal storm we've had in if 25 years.
I can tell you, I grew up in Australia and right now I wish I was back there.
VELSHI: Sounds for now as if authorities have this under control. They are - they are engaging in these rescues and we're doing okay.
BRADLEY: It's not over yet though and we are urging people not to try to travel. It is still very severe outside the city of Sarnia, between here and London. But the efforts are underway, and it's our hope we'll have everyone rescued in the next 24 hours.
VELSHI: Right, Mayor, that's always a big point because people assume on big highways, that it's under control. No matter how bad the weather is, for some reason, you can keep that corridor open. In most places, authorities can. Good advice from mayor Mike Bradley of Sarnia, just don't, right now. As much - as urgent as it is to get where you need to go, just don't.
Mayor, good to talk to you. Thank you for joining us with that update.
That's a good point. There's a border. This is the United States.
MYERS: The most beautiful bridge you've ever seen right there and the water pouring out down St. Mary's (ph). Just the bluest water. That's why it's called Blue Water Bridge. It's probably the bluest water I've seen in America. And, literally, then - so, Sarnia didn't get a lot of snow, but it was here, because that fetch of snow came down, that streamer, as he called it, completely came through. And the people we were talking to last hour, said they were driving along, it was snowing, it was fine. And then five minutes later, they couldn't see. And they couldn't see for 14 hours. That's how hard it snowed.
VELSHI: Right. You've got to stay warm, you've got to make sure you have enough gas, but, generally speaking, you and I talk about this all the time. Some people end up in places because it wasn't planned for and they got to get where they're going and there are commercial vehicles and stuff. But, generally speaking, watch the weather reports and don't go places where you're not going to get stuck.
MYERS: You must stay in your car.
VELSHI: And this is Canada where they've got plows. They know how to do this, and, still, it's that crowded.
MYERS: The plows can only do so much with the winds blowing 50. And, all of a sudden, a plow that went through at 5:00 is now re-plowing at 5:05 because the road is still closed.
VELSHI: When we here these stories from the upper Midwest and from Canada, it gives you pause to realize mother nature does win some battles. And we'll stay on top of that one.
MYERS: Yes, mother nature's still in charge. VELSHI: Our other top story takes us from London to Berkeley, California. The common bond? WikiLeaks and two men at the heart of what many consider treachery, others consider heroism.
In London, today, Web site's founder, Julian Assange, was granted bail while he fights extradition to Sweden. He's wanted there in a sex crime case entirely unrelated to the leaking of government secrets. But just within the past few minutes, we learned that the Swedes are appealing the British bail decision, so, Assange won't be using - going anywhere for the next few days.
In Berkeley, meanwhile, half a world away, a vote is expected tonight on a resolution declaring US Army private, Bradley Manning, a hero. That's him. Bradley Manning. Manning is being held in a military brig in Virginia on charges that he leaked to WikiLeaks, video of innocent people killed in Baghdad in 2007. There you see that video. You've seen it here on CNN. You may have seen it on the Web.
He's also the suspected source of a huge stash of Iraq and Afghan war documents. Possibly the state department cables that are being dribbled out. And that brings me to TWO AT THE TOP. CNN's Dan Simon is watching the latest political statement in a city that loves making political statements. Dan, what's going on at Berkeley? Ready to call Bradley Manning a hero.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's interesting. This is right Berkeley's wheel house. They have a history of getting involved in controversial, international issues. This was a resolution that came out of a commission called the peace and justice commission in Berkley. A guy named Bob Yola, who's on this commission, says that PFC Manning should be a hero.
So, they had this very lengthy debate at the commission. It passed by a 7-3 vote. By a pretty decisive vote. So now, it goes to the city council. And that's what they're going to be taking up tonight.
But the conventional wisdom here, Ali, is that this is going to be voted, no, by the city council because for a couple of reason, but chiefly, among them, is that, at this point, these are just allegations against PFC Manning. He's not convicted of doing anything, but there is a sense that if, in fact, he did leak these documents, that in the eyes of many at Berkeley, he should be labeled a hero. But, at this point, they're not ready, exactly, to call him a hero, because right now they're just allegations.
VELSHI: The no may not be they don't want to do it. The no may mean we have to wait and get more information, but this is not something entirely unusual to Berkeley. This is a city that's used to making statements even at the official city council level.
SIMON: This is a city council that doesn't just get involved with pothole, Ali. You know, a few years ago, Berkeley was in the headlines because they called the Marines unwanted intruders a few years ago during the height of the Iraq War. There was a Marine Corp recruiting center that opened in downtown Berkeley and there was some protest there on a daily basis by the Code Pink organization.
Well, the Berkeley city council agreed with what Code Pink was doing and they sent an official letter, basically, calling the Marines unwanted intruders. That's sent an avalanche of e-mails to the city council and people protesting. 25,000 e-mails.
So, the city council reversed itself in that situation. It realized that it went too far. It looks like there might be a similar situation happening here that they're not quite prepared, at least to go into these controversial waters just yet - Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Dan, we'll follow it very closely. Thanks very much for being with us. Dan Simon.
All right, today's sound effect is proof that words can stop wars. Richard Holbrooke dedicated his life to stopping wars through the power of persuasion aided by the force of his own personality and intellect.
He began his foreign service career in Vietnam and achieved his biggest victory 15 years ago today with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia.
President Obama named Holbrooke his special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and while his skills were put to the test, his tenacity never waned.
Yesterday, at the age of 69, Richard Holbrooke passed away after suffering a torn aorta. Today, I want to play you a bit of an interview that he gave my college, Fareed Zakari, in October. He talked about the obstacles for negotiating peace in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
A peace deal requires a agreements, and you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies. But in this particular case, unlike the two issues I mentioned a moment ago, there is no clear single address that you go to. There's no Hotchi (ph) Min, there's no slogan on Velosavich (ph), there's no Palestinian authority, there is a widely dispersed group of people that we roughly call the enemy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: That was Richard Holbrooke. A top administration official says that while being prepped for surgery, Holbrooke told his Pakistani surgeon, I quote, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."
Stay with us next hour. Fareed Zakari joins me live to talk more about Richard Holbrooke, the Afghan War, and the prospects for negotiated peace, something that Holbrooke had sought.
OK, on to other developing stories we're tracking for you right now. After sailing through yesterday's procedural vote, that $858 billion tax deal is expected to go through the full senate tonight as early as tonight. If the compromise crafted by president Obama and the GOP leaders is passed, the house remains the final hurdle. Some house democrats have vowed to block it because it extend the so-called Bush tax cuts to wealthier Americans. Also, at issue, the form - the terms of a revive to state tax. This, of course, is expected to be the final week of Congress's lame duck session.
New York police go looking for one missing person and find four bodies in three days over a quarter mile stretch of beach. This all happened on Jones Beach Island just off Long Island. As you can imagine, a big investigation has been mounted. Police are wondering if they have a serial killer on their hands. No positive IDs, yet, on the bodies, so it's not clear if original missing person is among them. Police say that it looks like all four were killed somewhere else and dumped near the beach from a car.
Well, big trouble for - from Florida. All the way up to Canada. Some dire weather situations. We were telling you a little about that earlier, we're going to tell you about flooding, bitter cold, more people stranded on snowy highways. All of that coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, that massive winter storm we've been talking about the last couple of days, is moving east now. I told you a few minutes ago about those motorist stranded in southwestern Ontario by the snow. There's also a deep freeze across the east and all the way into the deep south. Where, here in Atlanta, it's colder today than it is in Philadelphia.
But look at this, out West, very different problem all together. Flooding and mudslides. Rivers in nine counties in Washington state have already crested at or above flood stage on the weekend. Amtrak said its service between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada, has already been down since Saturday. It's going to remain halted for at least two more days because of mudslides. Chad's back with me. He's been tracking the nasty weather across the country.
Boy, this is nuts.
MYERS: It's nuts because there's a big lower pressure center in the eastern part of the United States.
VELSHI: OK.
MYERS: We call it a trough.
VELSHI: OK.
MYERS: A trough is like what cattle would eat out of, right.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: It's a depression.
VELSHI: OK. MYERS: The depression in the jet stream goes down like this.
VELSHI: OK.
MYERS: That allows all the cold air to come down and, of course, come across the lakes in make snow.
VELSHI: OK.
MYERS: It also allows the west to heat up. Near record temperatures across parts of the south --
VELSHI: Right, it's lovely down here.
MYERS: Yes, it's 55 in L.A. It might get to about 80 degrees in parts of the eastern part of the valley. San Francisco, 58. And Seattle 30. But the problem was, because this is where the jet stream is coming in, that's where all the rain was coming in as well. We call it the Pineapple Express. The Pineapple Express brings in the Pineapples from Hawaii.
VELSHI: Right. Right.
MYERS: If you would put a big -- put a pineapple on a kite --
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: You might be able to get a pineapple in Seattle.
VELSHI: OK.
MYERS: But then the cold air, 25 to 30 degrees below where we should be this time of year, and it's only fall. I can't tell you the number --
VELSHI: It's not winter yet.
MYERS: It isn't winter. I can't tell you the number of people on my phone that says, what are you doing. Like it's my fault. But it's not fall. It's not even winter yet.
VELSHI: I got up this morning and said, what's going on here.
All right, Chad, you're on top of a number of stories for us right now. Rob Marciano is tracking the weather. He's made his way to Chagrin Falls up in -- it's near Cleveland.
Rob, that looks beautiful. I mean, Chad just pointed out, it's fall, but that looks like Christmas Eve.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And that's what's -- you know, everybody's trying to, you know, keep a holiday glow about them and, you know, look at the optimistic side. Optimistically, for the first time since we've been here, I've been able to pack a snowball. What does that mean? That means that temperatures are coming up just a little bit. So that, I suppose, is encouraging, but we don't expect them to go above freezing any time too soon. Maybe before Christmas shows up.
The problem here has been how cold it's been and the longevity of that. For the second week in a row now, although it warmed up a couple of days over the weekend, boom, they got hit with another blast of that arctic air that Chad's been talking about and that -- and the lake effect show showers and squalls that have been coming through this area. Got another foot of snow overnight last night. And even for the, you know, the most hard Midwesterners, the most storm ready Midwesterners, the past couple of weeks have been pretty harsh. And here's what the mayor had to say about that streak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR TOM BRICK, CHAGRIN FALLS, OHIO: In terms of early, this is nasty. In terms of winter, this is normally as bad as it gets. But -- so we have had storms like this in the past, but you don't have them every winter and you certainly don't have them on a repeated basis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Still over 200 schools and organizations and businesses are closed for the second day in a row. A winter storm warning remains in effect for this area until 7:00 tomorrow morning. And it will be, as it stands now, they're in for a White Christmas. So that is the optimistic part of it. But it is bitterly cold and folks could stand things to warm up just a little bit more.
VELSHI: Wow.
MARCIANO: Back to you.
VELSHI: All right, Rob, we'll stay in touch with you.
Is there some break in sight for this, Chad?
MYERS: You know what the good news is, the lake can only give so much snow.
VELSHI: Right, (INAUDIBLE) run out of water.
MYERS: It doesn't run out of water, but it gets frozen over.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: And eventually when heck freezes over, then you don't get any more snow.
VELSHI: We don't have any (INAUDIBLE). All right.
MYERS: So maybe they won't get any --
VELSHI: Until then. Until then, stick around with us.
MYERS: Yes, keep the shovels handy.
VELSHI: All right. One of America's favorite electronic stores not doing so well today. Why your holiday shopping isn't helping Best Buy. I'll tell you about that on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for "Your Money." Retail sales for the month of November, we just got those numbers in, went up according to a government report that was released today. Estimated monthly sales were up 0.8 of a percent. That means that stores made about $3.1 billion more than they made in October in revenue. That's not profit, that's just how much they took in.
The three biggest drops in sales were auto cars and auto parts, actually, the two of them together. Electronics and appliances. I'll tell you more about that in just a second. And sales at miscellaneous stores, which range from floral shops, to auction houses, things like that.
The three biggest gains, clothing and accessories. I don't know, maybe it's the cold weather and people are stocking up on warm clothes. Sporting goods, book and music stores, that's all in that category, too.
But look at that one in the middle. Gasoline. Gas stations. Gas stations are the real kicker here though. Sales at gas stations were up 4 percent for the month compared to 0.8 percent for everything else. But of the entire increase in the amount of stuff that was sold in November, 46 percent of it comes from retail -- from gas. Well, it doesn't mean that we sold 46 percent more gas. You know what it means because you feel gas. It means gas prices are up.
So you have to watch these numbers. Even though retail sales were up, have of the gain came from an increase in gas prices, which means instead of being up 0.8 percent, really it's more like 0.4 to 0.5 percent of a gain. Still, good direction. It's up. But always watch those gas prices when they're going up, it could skew the numbers for you.
Now, despite all the gains in November, best Buy stocks plummeted today. Look at this chart behind me. This huge drop in the stock, which you can see over there, Mark's going to show it to you on the right-hand side, that's because -- that's a 14 percent drop, by the way, after the market opened this morning. Basically, Best Buy said it made less money in the past few months than it expected to. It didn't even do all that well on Black Friday. Typically a time when shoppers go to places like Best Buy. One of their biggest losses, TV sales, which are an important product for that company.
We always like to keep track of these things to give you some sense of how the economy is really going because there's really no greater indicator than what you are spending your money on. If you want more details on things like this and everything to do with your money, tune into "Your Money," Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sunday's at 3:00. Christine Romans is my co-anchor there and the author of a great new book called "Smart Is The New Rich," which is on shelves now.
Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories we're covering right now.
Swedish prosecutors say they will appeal today's court decision granting bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He'll remain in jail for at least another 48 hours while the appeal is considered. Assange was arrested in London last week. He's wanted in Sweden for questioning about sex allegations unrelated to his controversial website.
The soldier suspected of turning U.S. secrets over to WikiLeaks is being praised in some corners. The Berkeley, California, city council set to vote tonight on a resolution calling Army PFC Bradley Manning a hero. The Berkeley city council has approved other controversial resolutions in the past. In 2003, it opposed the Iraq War and in 2008 it called U.S. Marine recruiters uninvited and unwelcome intruders.
Well, even though the official start of winter is still a week away, most of the east is enduring wintery weather today. Temperatures are way below normal for this time of the year and there's a hard freeze warning in Florida. Winds are expected to be light. Citrus growers are hoping that will save their crop.
And there was an important presence missing from today's Afghan war meeting in the situation room. We'll go to the stakeout with Ed Henry and find out what the loss of Richard Holbrooke means at the White House.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Ambassador Richard Holbrooke being remembered as one of America's great diplomats. He also had an important role inside the White House. Ed Henry is there for us live with the stakeout, as he always is. Ed's our senior White House correspondent.
Ed, you know, people who are listening to these obituaries about Richard Holbrooke will think that this is a guy who's been involved for decades. He was involved last week. I mean he is very current with respect to the White House and its biggest problem.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, foreign service officer going back to Vietnam War, obviously 15 years ago this very week helped end the war in Bosnia. But, yes, right up until his death, he was working and, in fact, he first got the pains and had some trouble, had to go to the hospital while in a meeting with Secretary of State Clinton just a few days ago.
The bottom line is that, look, on paper, the policy is the same. The president has surged U.S. troops to Afghanistan. There's a yearend review coming out in a couple of days. It's going to basically say, according to senior officials, there's been some progress, but still a long way to go, which we all basically know already.
And so, on paper, that all remains the same. But there's sort of this intangible factor that senior officials say you can't quite put your finger on with Richard Holbrooke because while a lot of the obituaries are lauding his long services and its successes, and rightly so, some also should note that he was a tough guy. Not everyone got along with him.
You know, in death, a lot of people are going to come forward now and talk about his legacy. There were a lot of people who were very angry with his style, thought he was abrasive. But, you know, senior officials here point out, that kind of style is sometimes what enabled him to get things done. To execute the policies.
And, you know, they've got all of this on paper now, but who's going to implement some of the tough decisions they've got to make in the days ahead to try to bring home U.S. troops? He was going to be a pivotal person there and now he's gone.
VELSHI: Right, he'll go down in history as one of the better negotiators.
HENRY: Without a doubt. Absolutely.
VELSHI: Speaking about negotiations, not been a fantastic week for the president and things that haven't gone the administration's way. They might get their way on this tax deal, at least in the Senate.
HENRY: Yes. Yes, and that's why, you know, the president, he seems to be popping into the press briefing room almost every other day now. New conferences, statements. Came in late last night and basically wanted to hail the fact that it crossed the first hurdle in the Senate last night. Could be passed as early as later today. They hope to get it up in the House in the next couple of days.
I think the bottom line is that while last week was a pretty rough week, as you noted, they finally have momentum. They're very likely to get this tax cut deal done. But not a lot else, frankly. They're sort of -- all this is grinding down and this is his key thing on the domestic front. He still hopes to get the START treaty. We'll see. But bottom line is that after a rough week, I think he's finally got the momentum on the tax cut.
VELSHI: Ed, you got your Speedos on underneath that suit?
HENRY: Yes. You know, it's pretty darn cold out here. I know Rob Marciano's cold in Ohio. But it's cold here as well. But I'm looking forward to being in Hawaii in a few days. We're going to do the stakeout for about two straight weeks and I'm going to rub it into you every step of the way.
VELSHI: You certainly will. You always do. You work hard, but there are a couple of perks to it, you get to work in Hawaii over Christmas.
Ed, have a fantastic trip and we'll talk to you from Hawaii.
Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. It's not a vacation. He'll be working from Hawaii with the president. Just his luck that our current president doesn't come from Ohio.
All right, tiny hidden cameras spying on you in all sorts of places you never would have imagined. We'll show you where they might be and how to outsmart them, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Happening now, about 300 people are stranding in their vehicles. Look at that snow in a snowstorm in southwestern Ontario. Military helicopters are in the area, just east of Sarnia, which is across the bridge from Port Huron. That's the border crossing with the United States. Officials of Canadian Forces based (INAUDIBLE) say if conditions permit, rescue personnel could be lowered from the choppers and people taken out the same way. Can you imagine having to rescue people with helicopters from a major highway?
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will remain in jail even though he was granted bail today by a British magistrate. Sweden is appealing that decision and Assange will remain in custody while the appeal is being considered. Assange is facing accusations of rape, sexual molestation, and illegal use of force in separate incidents in August in Stockholm.
It looks like the Senate is going to pass a tax cut deal, possibly as early as tonight. The compromised plan would also extend unemployment benefits. The deal, which President Obama cut with Republicans, still faces hurdles when it gets to the House, where some Democrats have said, not interested.
All this week, we here are CNN are focusing on the End of Privacy, both online and in real life. These days we're surrounded by cameras almost from the moment we walk out our doors. Millions of cameras are sold every year. Everything from security cameras to traffic cameras. Some are hidden in places you probably never imagined.
Now, there's a way to detect cameras that are spying on you.
CNN's Josh Levs has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They look like everyday objects -- a lamp, a radio, an iPod docking station. But when you look closer, they have hidden cameras inside. Tiny, unnoticeable.
BRIAN CURRY, PEACH STATE INVESTIGATIONS: The camera lens is right here and it's usually pointing up.
LEVS (on camera): And I have no idea that there's a camera there. There's nothing about this that suggests anything is videoing me.
(voice-over): They can provide an extra layer of security.
CURRY: The ones that tell me what they're doing with the cameras are going to be the people that are either wanting to keep an eye on their sitter, their nanny.
LEVS: And we've all seen how hidden cameras can help the good guys in movies like "Mission Impossible."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a camera built right into the bridge. Whatever you see it sees, and then it transmits it back here.
LEVS: But some end up where they shouldn't be.
CURRY: I recently heard one that the guy had a pen camera that he got that's -- I guess it was motion-activated, and he set it up in a gym bag and took it in the -- maybe the YMCA or something.
LEVS: They're relatively affordable. These costs a few hundred bucks, and technology is making smaller and more sophisticated ones all the time. Some even broadcast their video wirelessly over the Internet.
So, how can you tell if there's a hidden camera where you are? Technology can help with that, too.
CURRY: This is actually a low-cost camera finder.
LEVS: Private investigator Brian Curry runs a spy shop near Atlanta. He sells the cameras, but he also helps people watch out for them.
(on camera): I'm seeing a big bright red blinking dot right there. And it's telling me there's a camera on me.
(voice-over): Some more sophisticated detectors can even seek out wireless camera signals.
CURRY: You see it's actually scanning the frequencies.
LEVS (on camera): So what we're seeing here, it's picking up all these -- lots of different cameras in here?
CURRY: Well, yes, it's pulling up -- that's going to be the flower pot camera that we had on earlier.
LEVS (voice-over): It's technology versus technology, potentially giving people the tools to invade your privacy, but also giving you a chance to catch them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: End of Privacy. I have to tell you, I'm not that uneasy with cameras being all over the place.
LEVS: By the way, look where we are. We're surrounded by cameras, right now. We're used to this. This is our reality.
VELSHI: There's some kind of control room. This is like mission control.
LEVS: Look over here. Zoom in over there. Spy cam 1, Spy cam 2, Spy cam 3. This is our life.
VELSHI: Is this legal?
LEVS: Here's the thing.
VELSHI: I assume when the police do it, it's legal. I guess some people don't even make that assumption.
LEVS: Actually, a lot of these -- this can be illegal. You need to protect yourself that way, too. There are different laws in different states. There's something called expected privacy. Basically, if you have a reasonable expectation of privacy, like a changing room, like you mentioned, obviously, there shouldn't be a camera there. So check your state laws and there are things you can do about it if you've been violated that way.
VELSHI: All right. And we've got jamming devices and things like that we can use?
LEVS: Yes. There are jamming devices, as well. So you've got these detectors that'll beep, that'll vibrate, that'll show you what the images are. And other kinds, as well, that you can go if you want to get more sophisticated, that sometimes can actually get in the way of those images, as well.
So there's ways to protect yourself but you have to be suspicious in the first place. And that's a key. You got to think, I might -- it's not just going to automatically show up because these things blend in with everything else. So you just got to get one of these devices, check it out and see --
VELSHI: What if people are just not naturally suspicious?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Nice to see you, my friend.
All right. I've got some other news to tell you about. There's been some intense fighting in one of the most dangerous valleys in Afghanistan. So we sent a crew of folks in there to find out exactly what NATO forces are up against. I'm going to bring you that information on the other side of this break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is time to go Globe Trekking. Today, we are taking you to Arghandab Valley in the Afghanistan. This lush area in the Kandahar Province was once known for its pomegranate orchards. Now, it's become one of the most dangerous spots for U.S. troops battling an elusive enemy.
CNN's Nic Robertson takes us there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Just after seven in the morning and we're getting ready to drive through the Arghandab area. Just north of Kandahar, there's been a lot of intense fighting there. Troops trying to take control of some the area around Kandahar. Now we're just getting a briefing before we know what to do if there's small arms fire, what to do if there's (INAUDIBLE).
(voice-over): It's a short ride. Arghandab is a key gateway to Kandahar. Unless its secure, Kandahar is vulnerable.
LT. COL. ROGER LEMONS, U.S. ARMY: The low ground down there, she would shoot rockets up here at us.
ROBERTSON: Brigade Commander Colonel Lemons arrived in August. His job, expel the Taliban from one of its strongholds.
LEMONS: We've gained the initiative from the Arghandab River Valley from the enemy. We definitely have gained the initiative. Now our job is to sustain that, improve the development here.
ROBERTSON: As he takes us on a tour of his bases, we stop to see some of that development. Designed to win support for government. Road building, 150 men employed, good for the community, good for the government. A boom for farmers, too. Even if it's not always corn they're growing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how many people are working?
ROBERTSON (on camera): That's a truckload of marijuana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, it is.
ROBERTSON: What can you do about that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what you can do about that, sir.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): It weaves through the convoy. Troops are told to leave farmers alone, but the drugs often fund the Taliban. The road engineer tells me this area is safe, but in nearby villages, he says, Taliban would kill them for working on such development projects. We're about to get an unexpected taste of that hidden threat.
It was supposed to be a quiet patrol. A model village rewarded with a new mosque courtesy of local government.
LEMONS: We're starting to see more and more of these communities which are interested in their own security so that they gain development. They gain the ties to the district governance and they stabilize the area, which is extremely important.
ROBERTSON: Suddenly, there are shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 7226. Roger, we just had six audibles.
ROBERTSON: Producer Tommy Evans (ph) points to where bullets hit the hillside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 250 meters into the orchard, there's four guys running around. Staying low.
ROBERTSON: It's not the picture of security Lemons wanted to show. Impossible to confirm if Taliban are responsible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I want you guys to go ahead and push on.
ROBERTSON: After a few minutes, we move on. Lemons knows there are limits to his success.
LEMONS: We're definitely not everywhere. You're right. It would be nice to have more soldiers to be everywhere. We're not going to be able to do that, so we focus where the people are and where we can have the most effect.
ROBERTSON: And so, too, do the Taliban.
(on camera): That is the Arghandab Valley. That is Colonel Lemon's area of operation. The sun's going down, I've got a full cell phone service on my phone here. But in the a couple of minutes, once the sun goes behind the horizon, the Taliban will come out and exert their influence on the community and shut down the cell phone service, the transmitters will be turned off. This phone will be useless. That's the influence the Taliban still have here.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): They may not be showing themselves, but the fight is far from over.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Very interesting story.
All right. You can wave goodbye to that keyboard and mouse. We're going to show you a whole new way -- a hands off way to browse the internet. That's coming up next in our "Big I."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: In today's "Big I," hacking Microsoft Kinect. We introduced you to Kinect months ago. It's the new camera equipment on the market for the X-box 360 that basically enables you to manipulate games and videos with just your hands. No controls at all. There's a camera, basically, that sits near the unit, and it sees you. It reads you and it reads your actions. Fantastic.
Of course, with new technology comes new ways to make it do things it wasn't originally built for. Some say that's hacking. Sort of. Microsoft actually doesn't call this particular instance that we're talking about hacking. Microsoft told NPR last month that quote, "What has happened is that someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs, which essentially opens up the USB connection, which we didn't protect by design, and reads the input from the sensors." This will all make more sense to you in just a moment.
Researchers at the MIT's Media Lab, the famous Media Lab, have converted the equipment into a hands-free browser. You've got to see it to believe it. It looks ridiculously similar to the technology that Tom Cruise's character used in the movie "Minority Report," which is the still sort of the gold standard for how we can think we can manipulate things without the use of an input device like a mouse or something like that.
OK. Let me bring in Aaron Zinnman and Greg Elliott. They are research assistants at the MIT Media Lab to find out what this is all about. So, guys, basically, the starting point is this Microsoft Kinect, which is a remarkable device. You made it do something else. Now, first of all, did you hack it?
AARON ZINMAN, RESEARCHER, MIT MEDIA LAB: No, we're building off of existing work of with Open Source's (INAUDIBLE) already put together the project Open Kinect. So, we weren't the ones that hacked it. What we did is we took the work that other people have done and built on top of it to make it so that web browsers could interact with the Kinect.
VELSHI: OK. And you're going to show us how this works. Let's see this.
GREG ELLIOTT, RESEARCHER, MIT MEDIA LAB: OK. What's compelling about this is that these are normal Web sites, right? So, we can actually have sort of interactions with every day Web sites that allow us to move around, we can zoom out and do things like this.
What's great and as you can imagine are sort of presentations where I talk to the audience. I'm in a courtroom. I'm doing a presentation now, right? I can sort of point things out and zoom in, and it all feels very natural.
Additionally, we start to think about what Web sites like Facebook and CNN and Flickr can do with these kinds of things. So, we've got other movements like just doing a pointer, which allows us to sort of point out things on a page. Again, these are sort of demo applications that we're showing what we made possible, but at the same time, and now, I can sort of maybe even interact with the page if I'd like to.
VELSHI: This is like sign language. You seem to be doing specific things for it to read your instruction.
ZINMAN: Yes, we've developed a set of gestures that we feel are somewhat natural. But again, these are sort of explorations we're doing. We're creating a bridge more than anything at this point.
VELSHI: All right, so tell me -
ZINMAN: So, we're building on top --
VELSHI: Yes. Go ahead.
ZINMAN: I was saying, we're building on top of long tradition of (INAUDIBLE) research that have been done in places like the Media Lab and thinking about more natural ways to interact with computers. So, the Media Lab is all about human-computer interaction. This is just one example now with a consumer device easily available at Best Buy where we can make any web page interact with it using these kinds of gestures that we recognize.
So, by default, the web browser only knows about the keyboard and mouse, and what we did is that we built the software that allows it to connect with the Microsoft Kinect. But we also did was to recognize that these individual gestures we created so it's really easy for any web developer to come in and take these gestures and do something interesting with it.
So, we did this web browsing interface, but we're imagining a whole suite of new scenarios from games to interacting with 3-D content. Maybe CNN would have a new kind of way to interact with news, for example.
VELSHI: OK, so Greg, what would happen is if this technology were out there -- let's use CNN as an example -- we would develop sites that are welcoming or inviting or useful to people who wish to interact with it in that fashion. So, things would be different in the way we design sites?
ELLIOTT: Exactly. What's great is the existing web developers that are writing code right now write the same code they always write, right? They don't need to learn anything new. We've just given them a set of tools, and they instantly have access to the Kinect. And anyone that's got our Depth GS software, (INAUDIBLE) is a new way to talk to CNN.
VELSHI: Very interesting. We will follow this with great interest. Thanks so much.
Greg Elliott and Aaron Zinman, both researchers at the MIT Media Lab, joining us live from Cambridge, Massachusetts.
To read even more about the MIT Media Lab and the Kinect hacks, head to my blog, CNN.com/ali and we'll get you pointed in the right direction. Unfortunately, just pointed in the old-fashioned way where you have to use a mouse.
Updating the latest developments in our top stories right now. Canadian authorities using helicopters and air lift baskets to rescue stranded motorists. More than 360 vehicles got stuck in a snowstorm. Look at that! Look at that!
On a highway in southwestern Ontario, a major artery that begins I-69 on the other side, on the U.S. side, it's near a border crossing. Many of the drivers have been stranded more than a day. Authorities say about 150 have been rescued so far. Traffic is not being allowed on that highway from the United States until they have got this cleaned up a little bit.
Swedish prosecutors say they'll appeal today's court decision granting bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He'll remain in jail for at least another 48 hours while the appeal is considered. Assange was arrested in London last week. He's wanted in Sweden for questions about sex allegations unrelated to his controversial Web site.
Violent street protests broke out in Italy today after prime minister Silvio Berlusconi narrowly survived a no confidence vote. Protestors threw rocks and bottles and set fires. Berlusconi is under heavy fire from opponents who say he hasn't done enough about Italy's economic crisis. He survived votes in both houses of parliament, but his margin of victory in the lower house, just three votes.
By many measures, the Republican party had a successful year. So, why are some surprised when the head of the party's national committee said he'd run for the post again? We'll explain this to you so you can explain to other people in our political ticker, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Michael Steele says he's going to run again for the chairman of the Republican National Committee. That might be a surprise to quite a few people.
Mark Preston is CNN's senior political editor. He is at the political desk in Washington. I have to ask you, Mark, before you start, if you could reach over to your right and grab that pink scarf and do your report with that pink scarf, I think that will look quite fetching on you.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: You think I should do that? Do you think I'll get in trouble if I do it?
VELSHI: I think you probably will, but it's quite a scarf.
PRESTON: I mean, I'll do it.
PRESTON: It is nice!
VELSHI: I think it adds to the -- look.
PRESTON: All right. I'll do it.
VELSHI: Yes! Tell us about Steele.
PRESTON: Let's roll with it with the scarf.
All right, so SOL, Michael Steele decides that he is going to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee. He hadn't been telling us what he was going to do. He's been very quiet for about a month. He received a lot of criticism for his lack of fundraising over at the RNC and also for really mismanaging the Republican message many critics said.
But last night in a conference call, a private conference call with Republican National Committee members, Ali, he said he is going to run. He acknowledged he had problems at the committee, but he said he's always been forthright about some of his mistakes and said the fact of the matter is the RNC deserves a lot of credit for the Republican electoral gains that were made last month. So, Michael Steele will run and he'll have a lot of competition for that post. Election, Ali, will happen in January.
Up in Alaska, Joe Miller is appealing a superior court judge ruling over the counting of ballots in that contested Alaska Senate election. Miller is still upset. He doesn't think that these votes that are being contested should be counted. Now, Lisa Murkowski, who is a Republican, lost the primary to Joe Miller. Won in November because she was running as a write-in candidate. They are now going to the state supreme court, Ali, and they are going to be dealing with this on Friday. So, the Alaska Senate race, Ali, still up for grabs.
VELSHI: As we suspected, that wouldn't end just because we thought it ended. We should make that the official political ticker scarf. Sort of like Simon Says. If you don't have the scarf on, can't do the Ticker.
You look like a million bucks. Mark Preston, thanks very much. The next political update coming your way in about an hour.
Now, some international "Odds & Ends" for you straight ahead. We're going to look at two very different adventures that you probably won't want to try but you will want to see. So, stay put.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for "Odds & Ends" global edition. We'll start in Ukraine.
Better get your passport in order because the government is about to lift restrictions on the sealed exclusion zone around Chernobyl. You know, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. We're going on 25 years now since a reactor exploded there, sending a radioactive cloud over much of northern Europe. Thirty-two workers and firefighters died in the incident. Some 4,000 others have died -- either died or will from cancers caused by the catastrophe. A background radiation in the accident zone is still above normal, but the government says it's got experts plotting travel routes that are informative and safe.
Hopefully safer than this Australian adventure. You're looking at actor Hugh Jackman's not-so-grand entrance on to "The Oprah Winfrey" show. They're shooting in Sydney right now.
Look at this. OK, there he goes in for a landing.
Something went wrong there. Jackman was meant to zip-line down from the famous opera house. The only problem is that he was late hitting the brakes, and he hit the lighting rig instead. But Wolverine is tough. He escaped with a black eye and little cut on his face.
