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Blizzard Causing Travel Chaos; Eight Americans Killed in Egypt; Obama's Prospects for the Next Presidential Election; Ed Henry Explains Covering the White House; Diplomatic Action at Work in Korean Peninsula
Aired December 26, 2010 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: The homeward bound are snow bound as the blizzard hits the Northeast, stranding air travelers and forcing officials to declare a state of emergency.
A holiday trip ends in tragedy after a tour bus accident in Egypt. Eight Americans are confirmed dead this hour.
And an Arizona lawmaker is left for dead after being brutally attacked inside his own business.
(MUSIC)
GORANI: Hello, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. Don Lemon is off today.
This is not how anybody wanted to finish their Christmas weekend -- a blizzard bearing down on the Northeast as we speak. You see images of it there.
Thousands of travelers are stranded away from home this evening. Canceled plans, canceled flights, even a canceled NFL game. Several cities and states are already declaring weather emergencies. Officials are begging people to stay safe and warm inside if they can.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: I understand that a lot of families need to get home after a weekend away. But please don't get on the roads unless you absolutely have to and if you drive, exercise extreme caution. If you take your car, you may not get where you want to go. So, it'd just make more sense to take an extra eight, 12, 24 hours. I know it's inconvenient. Sometimes it can be expensive. But nothing is worth losing your life over this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: There, of course, the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg.
Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is standing by at New York's La Guardia Airport.
All right. So, first off, how many cancellations are we talking about here, Allan? ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: We're talking about hundreds and hundreds. American Airlines alone has canceled more than 280 flights; Delta Airlines, 850, on and on. So, this is affecting literally tens of thousands of travelers, Hala.
And as you can see, right now, virtually nothing is happening here at La Guardia Airport. So, very, very quiet. No flights right now at all.
GORANI: So, presumably many people are going to be stranded tonight? They're inside that airport terminal building that you're broadcasting live from. How are they coping with all this?
CHERNOFF: Well, you know something -- maybe it's a good thing that we're right after Christmas, because the holiday cheer seems to be lasting. Now, let's also keep in mind that folks did have advance notice. The airlines made these cancellations beginning yesterday. And some of the other cancellations were this morning. They gave notice to travelers.
Some people came here anyway, hoping to find some way out, hoping to buy a different ticket. One gentleman I spoke with from France trying to get to Dallas. He was told he won't have a flight for three days. So, he came here to try to buy another ticket.
I met another couple from Brazil. They're actually pretty happy that the snow is coming down. Not too disappointed at all. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: It's looking like you may get a few more days in New York?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That will be good anyway. Sorry, boss. We won't make it.
(LAUGHTER)
CHERNOFF: You're not upset about this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really. But don't tell him, please.
CHERNOFF: Glad to be here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. It's -- well, for us, it's a good weather, because back in Brazil, it's very hot. And it's, you know, we don't get to see snow every day. So, it's nice. It's nice to be here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Well, they are going to be here for a little bit. The airlines will try to get things back into place tomorrow. And hopefully, their schedules will be back to normal on Tuesday -- Hala.
GORANI: And what are they doing to clear the backlog? I imagine, are they adding flights in order to try to clear some of these flights up that have been canceled today and the day before?
CHERNOFF: That's right. The way that they actually do this is by having the cancellations so far in advance, they're able to position their planes around the country, get the planes away from the snow. So, then, once the snow is finished, once the storm is all done with, the planes can come back in, they'll be coming back in tomorrow, and so, they'll be in position for a normal schedule hopefully on Tuesday.
GORANI: All right. Allan Chernoff live at La Guardia, thanks very much.
Bonnie Schneider at the weather center with more on the winter storm that's hitting the Northeast.
Tell us about where it is now and what people can expect in the coming hours as well, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Hala, the worst has not occurred yet. We're looking for a lot more wind-driven snow. And that's the key to a blizzard. That's what makes it so treacherous.
Visibility is already down to a quarter of a mile in New York. We already have three inches of snow on the ground in Central Park. But watch as this storm expands, we're going to see a whole lot more heavy snow. The blizzard advisories go through tomorrow for cities like Boston. And into the South, winter storm warnings persist all the way down into the heart of the South.
We have snow showers across much of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, places -- some places that didn't see a white Christmas for many, many years, saw it for the first time actually.
Now, you can see -- looking at New York City, this is where we're getting some of the heaviest snow at this time. The brighter white indicates where we have the most intense snow, one to two inches per hour.
And then when you take a closer look at the Boston area and into Massachusetts, you can see that wintry mix coming on to Cape Cod. At times, you'll have sleet, a little bit of snow, and even rain towards areas into the cape and the islands here into Nantucket. It's raining right now. It was snowing earlier.
That's what is interesting about a nor'easter. Depending where you are, on depends on what wintry mix you're going get. And also it's important to note that we may see sometimes where the storm subsides a bit and it seems to calm down. But then more snow bands will work their way into the region.
These winter weather advisories you see all the way down to South Carolina and into Alabama, they will expire tonight. We're still looking at dangerous conditions because of the cold temperatures. Temperatures tonight are dropping down into the teens and the 20s in this region. You can see right now Atlanta is below freezing. Be careful out is there, if you don't have to drive, the roads are very icy. Well, one place that saw snow is Virginia Beach, Virginia. And our iReport tonight comes to us from there. You're looking at a military salute on the iReport. This is from a shout-out to the military serving around the world who couldn't be here to see it.
Brent Morris sent this in from Virginia Beach. He calls it a Navy SEAL snowman. It looks pretty good to me.
GORANI: All right.
SCHNEIDER: Right, Hala?
GORANI: Yes, I -- it's very handsome snowman.
SCHNEIDER: A lot of people are making those overnight.
GORANI: And you were talking about the snow in the South. And it was really actually kind of fun seeing the snow come down here in Atlanta over Christmas. You know, a white Christmas for the first time in, what, 130 years or so. So, that was kind of fun.
And we'll get back, of course, to Bonnie with more weather forecasts there for your region as well across the United States.
Now, though, let's take you from the United States to the Middle East and to Egypt where tragedy struck a tour group from the U.S. Eight Americans were killed.
And you can see the aftermath of that. Look, this was a tour bus. It looks like the side of it was entirely sheared off.
Eight Americans killed when that bus smashed into a parked dump truck. The crash happened in Aswan, a popular site, about 600 miles south of Cairo -- a very popular tourist site.
Christine Theodorou is the CNN producer who is in the area. I asked her how this type of accident could happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE THEODOROU, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, Hala, the exact cause of the crash is currently unknown, but it may have been attributed to excessive speed. Egypt has one of the world's highest rates of road fatalities per mile. And in recent years, there has been a marked increase in tourists killed in bus-related incidents. Now, although inner city roads are generally in good conditions, in a remote location such as this, the conditions can be hazardous, and as a result, deadly.
GORANI: OK. So, eight people confirmed dead, four at least critically injured. Others injured as well.
What is being done to help those who suffered injuries in this crash, Christine?
THEODOROU: The injured will receive military transportation to Cairo. Now, the U.S. embassy in Cairo has also mobilized staff to identify and assist those Americans involved. In a statement, they said they're deeply saddened by the incident. Now, in two separate locations, both on Facebook and on their Web site, they have published a phone number for people that may have questions or concerns so that they can themselves reach out to U.S. embassy's staff and they can address those concerns.
GORANI: Yes, and these were all American citizens, correct?
THEODOROU: Yes. Two of the injured were Egyptian. The bus driver and the tour guide.
GORANI: And now, do we know what tour company, what organization flew them there? I mean, people who are watching this who might be worried, who might have relatives in Egypt right now -- what should they do to get more information on their loved ones?
THEODOROU: They should go to facebook.com/USEmbassyCairo, and the U.S. embassy will provide them all of the information. The phone number is right there on that front page.
GORANI: All right. And the injured are ready being flown to Cairo?
THEODOROU: That is true. That is correct.
GORANI: Christine Theodorou, thanks very much -- reporting from Egypt there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, after the weather, body scanners are probably the second most popular -- unpopular experience at the airport. So, why does the TSA insist that they stay? The homeland security secretary explains -- that is next.
Plus, I'm online, so are you -- @HalaGorani on Twitter. Send me a comment or a question, and we'll read some out perhaps on the air.
We'll be right back. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back.
Weather is the biggest villain if you're trying to fly somewhere tonight. But this time last year, the country was in shock -- you'll remember, of course -- after the alleged underwear bomber as he was called flew to Detroit. Since then, the Transportation Security Administration has started using some controversial body scanners and pat-downs. The head of homeland security defended the unpopular measures on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: My fail rate is zero. I mean, we want nothing to get aboard a plane that is not safe. So, when something does get aboard, something does get through the system, and again, as I explain, it's many, many layers before you even get to the magnetometer or the new machine. If something does get through, then we immediately go backwards and say, "OK, what happened here?" and repair that deficiency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Janet Napolitano there.
Well, if you're one of the thousands of stranded travelers tonight, perhaps your most sincere wish is to get to one of those screenings. Thanks to the severe winter weather belting the Northeast, hundreds of flights are canceled and at the worst possible time.
Kate Bolduan is standing by live at Reagan National in Washington.
How bad it is there, Kate?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Hala. I think you actually said it very well. Many people would never say this normally, but maybe happy to actually come to have to encounter one of those full-body scanners today because so many flights are canceled, very few people are here at this airport. This has been a very unusually quiet day here at Reagan National Airport -- a day that should be is, traditionally, one of the busiest travel days of this holiday season.
Take a look at the monitors (AUDIO BREAK), the very same pictures you're seeing at many of the major airports in the East right now -- cancellations across all the major airlines, really across the board, cancelling flights to and from, places like New York, Boston, Providence, Newark, places like Raleigh and Nashville, just to name a few. Airlines were very proactive as they like to call it in cancelling flights ahead of this major weather. That's why we're seeing so few people actually come to this airport.
But with very little, if you even want to call it any accumulation of snow on the ground here at Reagan National and the surrounding airports. (AUDIO BREAK) especially frustrating for some of the passengers that are arriving here today.
Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATIE WILBER, STRANDED PASSENGER: Absolutely no winter storm. It's a light rain. It's rather nice out. So, it's kind of frustrating because like the airplanes here, we could take off and leave. But instead, we're having to cancel tickets, re-buy ticket now, and it's a big hassle.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: And the cancellations are extended to Amtrak as well -- Amtrak cancelling trains south of D.C., into parts of Virginia. And the governors of both Virginia and Maryland have both declared states of emergency, really kind of as a preemptive measure to be proactive as well so they can, very quickly, have the flexibility of mobilizing resources like the National Guard if need be.
Now, I'll tell you, in terms of the airlines and what this could mean for tomorrow, it still seems that many of the airlines are trying to work that out, Hala. We're hearing that some airlines are waiting for later this evening, to figure out what the plan is for tomorrow, some waiting even until tomorrow to see what they're going to do.
But as we've been talking to passengers, we are being told that many of them, the airlines, are trying to book them on flights for tomorrow, giving us some kind of a -- a little bit of an early indication that they're going to try to get maybe fully operational at some point tomorrow, Hala.
GORANI: All right. Kate Bolduan at Reagan National Airport, thanks very much.
While many were giving thanks during Thanksgiving, thieves in New York made a daring heist. Thousands of dollars' worth of art was stolen. Ahead, we'll talk to a man who tracks down these priceless works of art and finds out how he does it.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Checking some of our top stories.
An Arizona state lawmaker is hospitalized in stable condition after he was attacked on Christmas Day. Frank Pratt went to check on his swimming pool store when he was confronted by a person already inside the building. Police say the attacker knocked Pratt unconscious and bound him inside his business, and then stole his SUV. Pratt's wife found him about four hours later. The suspect in this attack is still at large.
A major hassle for post-Christmas shoppers in London. Drivers for the city's underground subway system staged a one-day strike Sunday. A spokesman said about a quarter of all trains were running. One trade union representing the drivers wanted triple pay for their workers today. The day after Christmas Day is Boxing Day in the United Kingdom, a national holiday in Britain.
And a little news from Hollywood: here is a man not afraid of commitment. "Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner is getting married. The 84-year-old got engaged on Christmas Eve. His fiancee is 24-year-old Crystal Harris. She was December playmate of the month a year ago. This will be Hugh Hefner's third walk down the aisle. His first wedding was more than a half century ago.
All right. Now to this -- a daring art heist at a posh New York City apartment. The burglar, or burglars, made off with paintings and prints by artists including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Jewelry and watches were taken as well. So, altogether, the heist was worth between $500,000 and $1 million -- up to $1 million.
But how do thieves unload famous works of art like these?
Joining us now is Chris Marinello, with the Art Loss Register. It's Chris' business to recover art when it's stolen.
So, what happens now? Let's say you have, I don't know, "Thinking Nude" by Lichtenstein or "Superman" by Andy Warhol, highly recognized pieces of art. What do you do with them once you stolen them?
CHRIS MARINELLO, ART LOSS REGISTER: Well, once an item is stolen, the police departments or the collectors themselves will register these items on the Art Loss Register database as stolen. We then scan the marketplace, Sotheby's, Christy's, Bonham's, all the major auction houses doing over 300,000 searches a year, looking for these items that have been registered with us. Eventually, they will be found because the thieves are looking to convert the item into cash.
GORANI: But what's the point in stealing a highly recognizable piece of art? You know, Warhol's "Superman" -- I mean, it's not something that even needs to be registered. It shows up at any auction house anywhere, people will know what it is and that it was stolen.
MARINELLO: Well, a lot of times, the thieves don't think about that. It's a crime of opportunity in many cases. And they steal these items, and then they say, well, now we want to convert them to cash and they have problems with that. The Art Loss Register is searching worldwide. So, if you steal them in New York and take them to London or to China, we will be searching the auction house there. And we will find them eventually.
GORANI: Yes. And, Chris, who buys them? I mean, of course, people imagine that, you know, sort of some evil collector somewhere in a -- you know, in a cave is collecting all these priceless works of art, and only a few people get to see them. But it's really not that much of a sort of a Hollywood scenario, is it?
MARINELLO: No. We have not found the "Dr. No" type collector yet.
GORANI: Yes.
MARINELLO: We find that people who are buying stolen art are people who think they want to get a good deal that are turning a blind eye to what they're buying. And then there are people who just buy in good faith, not knowing that they're buying stolen art. But that's why the public needs to check with the Art Loss Register before you buy. Just as you would with a new car, you take to it a local garage to make sure, you know, everything is in order -- you need to check with us before you buy art.
GORANI: All right. Now, how are, in the end, some of these works of art are found? How are those who stole them arrested? Do the operations involve stings? Or what is it exactly? MARINELLO: Well, we work very closely with law enforcement. We're a free service to law enforcement. Occasionally, we had asked to participate in sting operations.
I tend to prefer public locations, maybe a Starbucks. So, if you do see me at a Starbucks, chances are, I'm not just having a cup of coffee.
GORANI: OK, Chris Marinello, Art Loss Register, joining us live from London. Thanks very much, shedding light on some of the very high profile art heists, and there were a few this year. Thank you, Chris.
MARINELLO: Thank you.
GORANI: The FBI has a whole task force, by the way, that handles art theft. Here's a few of their top 10 unsolved art crimes. In 1990, the FBI says two thieves hit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. They stole Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" and several of other paintings. The haul estimated as high $300 million.
Now, in 1999, the FBI says a thief broke into a museum in Oxford in the U.K. He or she hit during a fireworks show when everyone was distracted. Cezanne's "View of Auvers-sur-Oise" has was not been seen. It's valued at $4.6 million. Oftentimes, these works of arts, by the way, stay underground.
And in 2002, the FBI says two thieves broke into the Vincent Van Gogh's Museum in Amsterdam. They got away with two paintings, including Van Gogh's "View of the Sea at Scheveningen." Total value of the heist: $30 million U.S. dollars. Two men were convicted, but, the paintings were not recovered.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Traveling with the president isn't all work and no play as our Ed Henry knows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: When you cover the White House beat and follow the president all around the world, you learn real fast he loves to eat, and so do the reporters who cover him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: We'll find out what the president and members of the media eat, what they eat on the road in Hawaii. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back.
Democrats may have lost control of the House next year, but they recently gained a lot of credit for their work in the final weeks of the 111th Congress. From helping 9/11 responders to tax cuts -- that compromise deal -- the lame duck session got a lot done. Some even called it the "do something Congress." Now, this is all benefitting President Obama. But for how long?
Let's talk about it. We have Jason Johnson, who is the political editor for the "Source" magazine, joining us here in the studio. And we are going to talk as well to Mike Paul, who is in New York, who is a Republican strategist.
For now, Jason Johnson. Thanks for joining us.
So, you were saying this might have been a plan all along for President Obama. How so? What do you mean by that?
JASON JOHNSON, POLITICAL EDITOR, THE SOURCE: Barack Obama, he's "Rocky." He is not Mike Tyson, OK? He's not going to do a big thing that's going to knock things out early. He has a long term plan. He did it when he beat Hillary Clinton, he had a 50-state strategy.
So, I think from the very beginning, he always viewed getting these policies done, as long as he can get them done before the midterm election that gets accomplished. And that's why I think he's been really successful in this lame duck session.
GORANI: Is it because of the tax deal compromise? Do you think that he got some Republicans on his side for the other initiatives?
JOHNSON: I think it was tax deal, but I also think it was things like "don't ask, don't tell," where he had already gotten the military on his side. So, Obama had sort of set the stage for being really successful at the end of the year when Republicans just wanted to go home.
GORANI: But you don't think this is all accidental?
JOHNSON: No. No. I don't think it's accidental at all.
Barack Obama is too much of a planner. This guy doesn't do anything by accident. And I think, right now, think about it. He has red meat for his own constituents. He can say I passed "don't ask, don't tell." He helped the 9/11 responders.
And the biggest gift of all, by all accounts, this has been the best Christmas season for shopping in three years. So, even the economy seems to be improving.
GORANI: Well, we're still at almost 10 percent unemployment, you know? It's not victory -- quite the victory dance quite yet.
Mike Paul, Republican strategist joining us from New York. Mike, what do you make of this lame duck session and what was passed just in the last week to 10 days or so?
MIKE PAUL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, if I were advising President Obama, one of the things I would be telling him is we've got to be careful not to rest on our laurels. If we're looking at, you know, a survey that's coming back, for example, saying that you've got about 55 percent approval right now, that means obviously about 45 percent of the country is still not happy.
We're hearing some positive messages right now that it's going to be leaning a very strong job message for the coming year, which I think a lot of people are looking forward to -- but we're unsure how it's really going to make that happen with actually jobs being in the hands of Americans in the near future.
GORANI: What do you think will happen then when the Republican- controlled House starts off next year? I mean, are we going to see some of these deals unraveled? We are going to see Barack Obama weakened, do you think?
PAUL: Great question. You know, one of the things you're going to see from the Republican perspective is a very strong position -- very strong position that says we have many people in this country that are leaning towards our ideas, look at what happened in the elections, look at what just happened with redistricting, excuse me. And there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be listening to that.
I think we also need to throw out something that a lot of people don't want to discuss -- which is the race card. We have the first black president in office. Are people satisfied with him being the first black president? A lot of people don't want to talk about it directly. I think that is something that needs to be talked about.
GORANI: All right. How does that play into things? I mean, you have there -- the race issue I suppose brought up there. How does that play in the overall politics in America?
JOHNSON: The reality is there are some people in the country that are always going to be hostile about seeing a black man in a position of importance.
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: Barack Obama has dealt with that in the campaign. He is doing to deal with that as president and he's going to deal with that when he runs for recreation. It's a reality everybody has to face.
GORANI: I want to, Jason, ask you, we talked about jobs. And in the end, you can pass all the initiatives you want in Congress. Almost 10 percent of the working population is out of work. You're in deep trouble politically, aren't you?
JOHNSON: Pretty much. Look, the magical number is eight. If by May or June of 2012, unemployment is down to 8 percent, Barack Obama is going to get reelected. If it's not, he's got no chance. He has to focus like a laser, as he said about three times so far in his presidency, on improving the economy. If he does, it's his to lose in 2012.
GORANI: Mike, quickly, if the jobless rate remains above 8 percent, closer to 10, what happens to Barack Obama?
PAUL: He'll be the one-time, one-term first black president of the United States and go down in history as someone who tried, who didn't think jobs first, who thought health care and other issues first. Some would say quite frankly that he had too much hubris in going after an issue like health care before jobs. And quite frankly, I don't think that the job situation in this country is going to turn around any time soon. I don't think the average American thinks that either. And the Republicans are going to beat that like a drum, certainly during the first quarter of the coming year.
GORANI: All right, Mike Paul, Republican strategist in New York, Jason Johnson, from "The Source" magazine, joining us here in Atlanta, thanks very much to both of you.
PAUL: Thank you.
GORANI: This week between Christmas and New Year's, it seems businesses everywhere take a break, and that includes the White House. While the president is on vacation, our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, explains his job of covering the president, is the beat that loves to eat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If you cover the White House beat and follow the president all around the world to exotic places like here in Hawaii, you learn real fast he loves to eat, and so do the reporters who cover him.
(voice-over): This president is an adventurous diner, despite the first lady's healthy eating initiative.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And then you put French fries on top of it. So we can't tell the first lady.
That is a big-looking piece of cake.
(LAUGHTER)
HENRY: But in fairness, the president usually can't say no, especially on the campaign trail, unless he wants to offend the locals. Reporters have a choice. We could say no, but often say yes. Whether it's a gourmet restaurant here in Honolulu, like this, or a dive in Dubuque.
Just ask veteran correspondent, Bill Plante, of "CBS News," so good at picking wine, we call him our unofficial sommelier.
BILL PLANTE, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Eating is important because you spend the whole day working and you need some opportunity to relax. How do you relax? You relax over good food and good wine.
HENRY: So after a series of long days, um, working, yes, that's it, working on the beach.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are working, just to be clear, right?
TONY HARRIS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: He is White House correspondent, not a fashion reporter. Poor Ed Henry. A random moment of the day.
HENRY: It was time to take Bill Plant's advice and get a nice Christmas meal in Honolulu.
PLANTE: There are a couple that are particularly nice where you can sit in the evening breeze, open to the sky and the sea and sip a fine glass of wine and have wonderful food. Have them give me a call.
HENRY: The person to call in Honolulu is Alan Wong, celebrity chef, who has hosted the president and first lady here many times, but is still in awe of the experience.
ALAN WONG, CELEBRITY CHEF: In Hawaii, it's what we call chicken skin moments.
HENRY (on camera): What does that mean?
WONG: Goose bumps.
HENRY: And you get that?
WONG: Oh, yes, every time.
HENRY (voice-over): Contrary to some of the junk food the president and the press enjoy on the road, this restaurant is known for local vegetables and fresh seafood, like the tilapia the first lady prefers. That's why the first couple keeps coming back, and so do we.
WONG: You're in Hawaii, so you should be able to taste Hawaii. A little bit of east, a little bit of west. It is kind of natural.
HENRY: Alan Wong confides that the president just loves the short ribs, though you'd never know it, because he is in such great shape. That's a problem with having such a skinny president. It reminds all of us in the media we need to get cracking on those New Year's resolutions.
Ed Henry, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: When we come back, they serve their masters and their country. What happens to dogs injured in the line of duty? We will take you to a new high-tech hospital designed to help service animals wounded in action. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: The U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, is, quote, "appalled" by the Taliban's attack on a food distribution center in Pakistan. A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon called Saturday's attack abhorrent.
As Chris Lawrence tells us, the gender of the bomber has stunned officials in Pakistan and abroad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've now confirmed with Pakistani authorities that the first female suicide bomber has struck here in Pakistan. They have confirmed to us that it was a young woman who hit a food distribution point on Saturday in the tribal areas.
They're using a combination of eyewitness accounts together with certain evidence they have now collected at the scene, a foot and other body parts to confirm that this was a young woman, probably between the ages of 16 and 18 years old.
Eyewitnesses say she was wearing a burqa, the full-length cloth, and she was standing in line at that food distribution area. She was in the security checkpoint area with about 300 people when she then detonated her explosives.
The explosion from eyewitness accounts was just devastating. The death toll has continued to climb. Now up to about 46 people killed in this attack, and the wounded have gone up over 100.
So does this change? Is this a game-changer in terms of tactics? The Taliban already taking credit for this attack. We'll just have to wait and see. A time and context will tell that story. if, over the next several months and years, we see more and more female suicide bombers, then we know a deadly new tactic has been introduced here in Pakistan. But if this remains the only one or one of just one or two, then we will look at it more as just an isolated incident.
But again, the first female suicide bomber has now struck in Pakistan.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Of course, female suicide bombers is just something we have seen in Iraq before.
Well, speaking of Iraq and Afghanistan, military working dogs save lives. They detect bombs. They're also trained to detect other explosives. And if a dog gets injured, a state-of-the-art hospital in Texas helps them get back on all fours. Gary Tuchman has more on today's "Edge of Discovery."
(EDGE OF DISCOVERY)
GORANI: As a presidential hopeful, Barack Obama said he would close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. As president, he hasn't done it, at least not yet. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gives CNN a status update on that, straight ahead.
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GORANI: Taking a look at some of our top stories, documentary filmmaker, Bud Greenspan, has died from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 84. Greenspan won an Emmy for his films about the Olympic Games and the inspirational stories about Olympic athletes. The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee calls Greenspan's death the loss of a giant.
A brutal winter storm is slowing travel to a crawl in the northeast. Many airlines are waiving penalties for travelers who have to reschedule. And here is how you know it is really bad. The NFL is postponing the game that was supposed to be played in Philly tonight. The Eagles will now take on the Vikings on Tuesday evening.
And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tells CNN he is not optimistic about the prospects for closing the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. President Obama has been calling for the facility to close since he was a White House hopeful. Today, Gibbs told CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union" that, in his words, it's going to be a while before Guantanamo closes.
Before Christmas, tensions were so tight on the border between north and South Korea the country seemed to be on the brink of active war. But tonight there is word of some diplomatic action. A defense ministry official told a South Korean news agency that China's defense minister, seen on the left, will meet with his counterpart in South Korea in February. It was just last month when North Korea fired shells at a South Korean island, killing four. In the spring, a South Korean ship sank, killing 46 sailors. North Korea has been blamed for that as well.
Let's get the latest on the conflict. Mike Chinoy joins us via Skype from Los Angeles.
Hi, there, Mike. Nice to talk to you. It's been a while.
MIKE CHINOY, AUTHOR: Hello.
GORANI: Hi. When you hear about the development of the ministers of South Korea and China meeting in February, OK, it doesn't seem like there's that much of a sense of urgency associated with it. It is happening in February. What are your thoughts about the meeting itself?
CHINOY: Well, the meeting has potentially a lot of significance because South Korea and China have been at odds over North Korea's behavior. The South Koreans have been very angry at the Chinese for their support of North Korea, for their unwillingness to condemn North Korea openly for the sinking of the ship in March, and the shelling of the island in November. So if the two defense ministers can talk, they might be able to clear the air. More importantly, they might be able to lay the groundwork for having a decent channel of communications if tensions ratchet up again on the Korean peninsula as I think is extremely possible.
GORANI: What about last week? What lessons can we draw from what happened last week? The feeling really that we were very close to open conflict.
CHINOY: I think we really dodged a bullet last weekend. And one of the things to conclude from that is there really is a danger of a very, very cataclysmic situation developing if you get an armed conflict on the Korean peninsula. And it's one that would involve the United States since there are nearly 30,000 American troops there. I think now there is a kind of a pause. The North Koreans held off responding to South Korea's live fire exercises that were staged around that island, even though the north had threatened to retaliate. So there is a kind of window now, and I think the question is whether or not there is going to be any reasonable likelihood of diplomacy getting underway to try to further diffuse the tensions before we have another cycle of escalation kick in.
GORANI: And you mentioned the military presence of the United States on the Korean peninsula. Why is North Korea so important? Is it also because of its nuclear program, its nuclear weaponry?
CHINOY: Well, the reality is, without nuclear weapons, North Korea would be just another failed third-world state. But with nuclear weapons and with the six-decade history of hostility to South Korea, with whom the United States has a security treaty, we have a military alliance. We've got, as I said, nearly 30,000 troops. So any armed conflict would inevitably involve the United States.
Moreover, with their nuclear capabilities, the North Koreans do, given their track record of having sold weapons to all sorts of bad guys around the world, there is always the potential they might sell nuclear technology or fissile material to people the United States doesn't want to have it. So there's a lot at stake if things go wrong.
In addition, recently, you have had a conservative government in South Korea that has been very tough on North Korea. And North Korea itself is going through a transition as their dictator, Kim Jong-Il, tries to arrange for his son, Kim Jong-Un, to secede him. So there are a lot of factors pushing both sides to get tough. It makes the situation very volatile.
GORANI: That succession issue as well in North Korea front and center in this crisis.
Mike wrote "Meltdown, the Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis."
Thanks so much for joining us on CNN. Mike, joining us live via Skype from Los Angeles.
Lighting up. If you're a smoker and you're in Spain, lighting up in public places will no longer be an option there. We'll tell you about the smoking ban in the New Year, in a country where smoking is a national pastime in some cases.
We'll be right back.
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GORANI: Returning now to one of our top stories, a horrific bus crash in Egypt has left eight American tourists dead. The crash happened in Aswan, a popular site south of Cairo, 600 miles south of Cairo. Their bus was hit by a parked -- hit a parked dump truck. A dozen injured Americans were taken to Cairo for treatment. A doctor at the hospital updated us on their condition.
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DR. FAHAA EL DIAN ABO ZID, HEAD OF NASSSER INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH & TREATMENT: We have received 12 cases, arrived since one hour. There are two cased needs to be admitted in the ICU. Both cases have been managed and are clinically stable. They are fully conscious and no problem for them. We are waiting for to complete our investigation and surgical intervention.
The other 10 cases have been examined by our medical team and they are stable, and most and all have been admitted to our ward and inpatient, and they are now managed by our consultant in different specialties, like neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, spine surgery and plastic surgery and ICU.
The cases admitted to the inpatient is stable, in good general condition. They are fully conscious and we are now managing the cases and continuing our investigation and treatment.
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GORANI: We've reported the latest on North Korea and Egypt. Now, other news that will be grabbing headlines in the week ahead.
CNN international editor, Azadeh Ansari, joins me.
First up, let's talk about New Year's Eve. It's a few days away. Around the world, CNN and CNN International will be covering the New Year.
AZADEH ANSARI, CNN INTERNATIONAL DECK EDITOR: Absolutely, Hala. From Sydney to Seoul, from Istanbul to Rio, we're going to look at some of the unusual, usual and spectacular New Year's celebrations taking place. This year, one of the highlights -- events taking place is in Taipei, Taiwan. It's a fireworks display of 30,000 fireworks for five minutes. We'll see these things light up the sky. So definitely, a highlight event.
GORANI: It's that part of the world that usually rings in the New Year first. I think Angola is usually one of the first areas.
Let's talk about a smoking ban in Spain. It sounds as tough as a smoking ban in France, but the one in France actually worked.
ANSARI: It did but let's see if this one works. These smokers are not going to be happy in the New Year. Lawmakers have put into this smoking ban into effect, so starting January 2nd, next Sunday, you can't smoke in bars or restaurants in Spain.
GORANI: Nightclubs?
ANSARI: Nightclubs as well.
GORANI: That was the one that surprised me in France. The nightclubs, I thought, there is no way people will not smoke in a French nightclub. Let me tell you, it was strange. But you know what ends up happening? You end up smelling people's sweat in a nightclub. There's no more smoke to mask it.
Boxing Day.
ANSARI: I'm not talking about this kind of boxing holiday.
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ANSARI: No, no, no, not at all. But in England, it's the major shopping event, much like the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday. Shoppers were out catching their last deal bargains. This is going continue through the week ahead of the VAT tax increase that's proposed for the following week, so they want to get the deals while they can.
GORANI: Do you know why it's called Boxing Day?
ANSARI: Will you tell me?
(LAUGHTER)
GORANI: Because the day after Christmas, traditionally in the U.K., tradesmen would come collect their boxes up. That was the day they would take their boxes back in return for favors and good favors and good service for the rest of the year. I looked that up a few days ago.
(LAUGHTER)
Thanks very much, Azadeh Ansari, joining us with the international coverage we have planned for all of you.
Plus, this, coming up.
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PHIL GOODRICH, CAR OWNER: Not the old jolly spirit today.
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GORANI: We'll tell you why a candy cane has this man not feeling the holiday spirit.
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GORANI: Pictures from Providence, Rhode Island. The state of Rhode Island under a blizzard warning this hour as are many parts of the northeast as this weather system advances into the northeastern United States.
You know what? It's also been snowing in the south. Just outside of my window here at the CNN Center, some severe weather and it has caused flight cancellations and travel delays for thousands of people.
How could it be? A candy cane caused one grand headache for a Colorado family? Kim Posey, from our affiliate, KDVR, has the story.
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KIM POSEY, KDVR REPORTER (voice-over): Holiday decorations are supposed to bring out good cheer, but that's not the case here.
GOODRICH: Not feeling the jolly spirit.
POSEY: Here at this strip mall, a giant candy cane fell off the light pole it was attached to and crashed down on top of this couple's only car.
JESSICA GOODRICH, CAR OWNER: We just saw the candy cane fall on the car. We heard a loud thud and then a bunch of people came running out.
POSEY: The 4-foot candy cane did a lot of damage.
GOODRICH: It fell right here.
POSEY: It seriously dented the roof and the hood and broke the windshield, it was enough to total this 1991 Corolla and throw a wrench into the family's holiday plans.
JESSICA GOODRICH: A good Christmas.
(LAUGHTER)
POSEY: The insurance company for Colorado Lighting, the company that hung the decorations, says it does plan to cut the family a check, but it's been weeks, and the family has been without a car.
GOODRICH: They are not liable for providing us with a rental car because we don't have full liability on our car.
POSEY: The family says they're walking and taking the bus. But Phil says it's affecting his business.
GOODRICH: It's put a big strain on my family.
POSEY: He needs a car to drive to his client's homes for personal training appointments.
GOODRICH: I'm losing $150 to $200 a day.
POSEY: Now, just in time for the holiday, they don't know how they're going to make their rent, much less buy gifts for their two boys. They are stunned that something so festive could have turned their Christmas so dark.
GOODRICH: All because of the candy cane. Merry Christmas.
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GORANI: Merry Christmas. But wait, some good will, rather, had given this bad-luck story a happy Christmas ending. After their story was on TV, the Goodrich's received a car to drive from a stranger. Plus, a local company dropped off some presents for the couple's two little boys.
