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Egypt Uprising; Big Storm System Coming Across U.S.; SAG Awards Tonight

Aired January 30, 2011 - 16:58   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: People's voices rising up from Egypt are being heard by the leaders of the United States and Europe. The U.S. and French presidents joining the prime minister, the minister of Britain, and the chancellor of Germany. All are calling for the Egyptian leadership to make big changes and fast.

Meanwhile, crowds of frustrated Egyptians in Cairo and elsewhere are not using such diplomatic language.

Awra Damon is live in Cairo. Arwa, at midnight, please tell us the situation where you are at the moment.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're just outside of Tahrir Square where the demonstrations have been concentrated. The crowds have dispersed at this hour. But pretty much for the last hour and a half, we have been hearing sporadic gunfire, an indication of just how tense the situation here continues to be.

And, of course, what everyone, all of the demonstrators want to see is President Hosni Mubarak resign. We also heard earlier from Mohamed ElBaradi, Noble laureate and one of the images emerging as a possible transitional leader should President Mubarak eventually step down.

He was speaking about the fact that one of the main problems that Egypt was facing, the fact that Mubarak was able to hold onto power for so long was because of western support, mainly support by the United States, saying that they supported him in the name of trying to bring about so-called stability. He also spoke about the respect that he had President Obama but had this warning for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, EGYPTIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: They are the friends of the US, that your policies right now is a failed policy. It's a policy that is lagging behind. It's a policy that is -- is -- having the effect here in Egypt that you are losing whatever's left of credibility. People need to see that you not only talk the talk but walk the walk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: And we've been hearing that sentiment echoed quite frequently here. People becoming increasingly frustrated with the United States, with some international powers, wanting them to really come forward and say that they support this demonstration, they support the demonstrators calling for a democracy, calling for truth and genuine reform in Egypt.

GRIFFIN: All right. Arwa Damon live from Cairo just outside Tahrir Square, as you said, our correspondents north of Cairo, now, in the coastal city of Alexandria, are telling us they're hearing heavy machine gun fire. In fact, we heard it ourselves in an earlier report. That's while thousands of people are defying the ordered curfew and marching through the streets there.

Some young people organizing the marches say they're actually cooperating, now, with the army, and earlier today, they let CNN's Nic Robertson in on a secret planning meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We've come to this apartment building because it's where a secret meeting is taking place. The people that helped organize the demonstrations are now having a meeting to try and organize security here. And we've been brought into this secret meeting.

Thank you. Hello, how are you doing? Very good. How are you doing? Nic. How are you. Nic.

So, what's happening?

ALI REGAL, STUDENT ACTIVIST: In English or in Arabic?

ROBERTSON: English would be great, yes.

REGAL: Now we are trying to make a plan, strategic plan for -- to close holes the borders of Alexandria and the places where we're seeing and the districts where we're seeing that well-structured weapons and vehicles and all this stuff we are hearing on the news --

ROBERTSON: To protect the --

REGAL: Yes, to protect --

ROBERTSON: Protect the population. Yes, yes.

REGAL: Protect the population. Now, there are a lot of popular committees everywhere, as you can see. But we are trying to close some critical points and different places on the borders.

ROBERTSON: How's it going so far?

REGAL: Well, so far it's -- it's starting to develop, so we hope we can finish it by 5:00 or 6:00.

ROBERTSON: And what about the army? Are they -- you're working with the army?

REGAL: Yes, yes. The army is very helpful and working with us, and it's a great cooperation between the masses and the army.

ROBERTSON: Do you feel that the army is on your side or on the president's side at the moment?

REGAL: Oh, look, I cannot be sure of this, but what I'm very sure is there is a strong cooperation between the masses and the army. That's what I can tell so far.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Nic Robertson joins us live from Alexandria. Nic, last hour, you had what appeared to be some kind of a chase and firefight going on off the balcony, there. I just want to get an update on what the situation is from your vantage point in Alexandria now.

ROBERTSON: Well, Drew, I think one thing that we're seeing here differently to what we've seen the past few nights is the army actually being a little bit more active about going through the streets and chasing down anyone who -- the crowds, at least, who they're sharing these checkpoints with -- think could be looters or escaped convicts or whomever else they think it is that's out there that's against them.

We've also, in the past hour since that incident right outside this hotel, we've also seen a couple of other armored personnel carriers moving through the streets.

And perhaps this is -- this may go a little way to answering the criticisms that we've heard from people today that the army is just out protecting government institutions and buildings, not going into neighborhoods and protecting the people there and giving them a sense of security, which is why that group we saw before in that short clip, why they were forming their own neighborhood defense committees.

Interesting about that group is that these are the same young men that were driving the sort of Facebook campaign to get the first demonstrations out just a few days ago on Tuesday earlier in the week, which precipitated all these other protests and the overthrow of the police that we've seen so far.

So, having got the protests out, they're now trying to manage it. But as we've seen, literally in the last hour, and you shared with us an hour ago, gun shots being fired. So it's a very tenuous situation.

And when you go to different neighborhoods, you pass through different sort of -- areas that are controlled by different groups. One group was handing out fliers saying "We want Egypt to be an Islamic state." These are people that are far more radical than the Muslim Brotherhood, who have been out working with the demonstrations today, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Nic, there appears to be a remarkable story brewing across Egypt, that I've talked to people in Cairo, south of Cairo, and now you in Alexandria, that this idea that this nation is sort of self- securing itself. A remarkable story in that the people seem to be, perhaps where you are with the military's help, replacing the police.

ROBERTSON: It is, and it -- as we've seen over the last few days, this is an ever-changing dynamic, and we've seen this group today, this group of young lawyers and students, putting together this plan.

You have these other groups, like this Salafis group we saw before, extreme conservative Muslim group, we've seen the Muslim Brotherhood helping organize. It's going to be interesting to see how they, these different entities, share power on the streets between themselves.

But the other interesting dynamic that may enter into this, again, state television here is reporting that the police will come back on the streets tomorrow. Hard to imagine how that can happen in Alexandria after the scenes Friday.

Still littering the streets here are the burnt-out police trucks and burnt-out police stations on many corners. It's hard to imagine the police could really come back on the streets here and be effective and not be chased away by these crowds. So, it is an evolving dynamic, and it, perhaps, isn't too soon to say that, I think, between these different groups on the streets, we're going to see problems and tensions arise between those different groups. Not least of which may be at some point confrontation with the army as well, whom you heard in that short clip, people are still not sure which side the army are really on, Drew.

GRIFFIN: Right. Nic Robertson, excellent, reporting from Alexandria, Virginia -- oh, Virginia. Egypt, all night long, Nic.

Josh Levs watching the web, plugged into several social media outlets --

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

GRIFFIN: In Virginia and Egypt, I imagine.

(LAUGHTER)

LEVS: I know, right?

GRIFFIN: Josh?

LEVS: Hey, it's been lots of long days for all of us. Look, it was kind of amazing. What's happening here is that these protestors, who have taken to the streets in Cairo, are having ripple effects all over the world. And we've been talking to you all about the fact that there have been, now, protests in many cities around the world.

Well, what's also happening is online, people who are inspired by these, are taking videos of those protests, sharing them, commenting on them, talking about them online, organizing online.

One example of a video that's getting a lot of play is an i-Report that was sent to us, it's a protest from Boston. Take a look here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoo!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hosni Mubarak, you've got to go! CROWD: Hosni Mubarak, you've got to go!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Omar Suleiman, you've got to go!

CROWD: Omar Suleiman, you've got to go!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: This is from i-Reporter Aly El Attal, who brought us this from Boston, it's a rally that began in Harvard Square in Cambridge. They were chanting in Arabic and also they were chanting in English.

This group was organized through Facebook, an example of what's happening all over the world, people are getting involved this way.

I also want to show you a couple of images that we've been getting, some more of these, images from our i-Report keep coming to us from inside Egypt. Lots of people, then, looking at these on -- in Egypt. These came to us today, they were taken after the curfew last night. And they're just some examples of what the city looks like there in Cairo. Also, there's some shots from Giza.

A lot of people taking a look at just little bits of the country. We can't be physically everywhere in the entire country. So, people are sharing photos on i-Report, there.

All right. I promised last hour, we were inviting you to give us your thoughts, because my Facebook and Twitter pages have been going crazy, people filling them with their thoughts. I want to show you some of what our viewers are saying about these protests.

Here's an example, we can zoom in. Let's take a look at what people are saying on Facebook. From Tim, "Citizens of corrupt countries are starting to take back their homelands. This is not just another protest. This is the beginning of a movement."

Here's Katee. "Having lived in a Middle Eastern country, I can tell you that the people of these nations have lived with so much oppression that, unfortunately, violence is their only hope to gain freedom."

Now, as we look at this comment, I'm going to remind us, our reporters saying that these protests have been remarkably peaceful, getting along with the military, some people think ultimately that might not be enough, as Katee's view.

Cameron, here. "I'm shocked that $1.3 billion of our money is sent to this horrible dictator yearly. If the US would stop aiding the world, we may get out of debt."

Let's get a couple more here. Michael. "I can only hope our government tells the Egyptian government that those tanks we gave them are not to be used on the Egyptian people."

And I'll put in one more. Susan, "It seems to me that if the Egyptian government would reinstate the internet, more people would go home to get online and get off the streets."

As we switch over to Twitter, I'm going to tell you, if anyone is supporting the Egyptian government, we're going to share that, too. We're looking for all sides, here, whatever you think. I'll show you how to weigh in.

Amani, here, on Twitter. "Here in Georgia, I'm an Egyptian Christian praying for my country. Muslims and Christians all are united."

And we've got time for a couple more. Whoops, let's get back to Twitter. One more here. From Joan. "Obama needs to respond soon. Ambiguous statements from the White House and state only feed anti-US sentiment."

The kinds of responses we're getting, here's how you can weigh in. I've got my Facebook and Twitter pages for you, I'm @JoshLevsCNN.

TEXT: YOUR QUESTIONS, YOUR COMMENTS. CNN.com, cnn.com/Josh. Facebook, facebook.com/JoshLevsCNN. Twitter, twitter.com/JoshLevsCNN.

LEVS: Go ahead, join the discussion, share your thoughts, let us know what it is that you think, always happy to hear from you. And as I always say, let's keep these discussions peaceful and respectful of different views all online. Drew, back to you.

GRIFFIN: Josh, thanks for that.

LEVS: You got it.

GRIFFIN: Hey, Sarah Palin's back in the spotlight. We're going to tell you why in our political update after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Busy week ahead in the world of politics. Here's CNN's Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser. Paul?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Drew. Early voting gets underway tomorrow in Chicago in advance of that city's February 22nd election for mayor. Late last week, the Illinois State Supreme Court put the former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel back on the ballot, reversing a lower court ruling. Polls indicate Emanuel's the overwhelming favorite to succeed longtime Chicago mayor Richard Daly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: Good morning!

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: On Tuesday, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney makes the rounds on the talk shows, including our own "Piers Morgan Tonight," as he puts out a paperback version of his book, "No Apology." Romney ran for the White House in the last presidential election, and he's considered likely to run again in 2012.

Another probable contender for the GOP presidential nomination, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum. He makes visits to New Hampshire and South Carolina this week. Those are two crucial early voting states in the presidential primary calendar.

And Friday, Sarah Palin's back in the spotlight. The former Alaska governor headlines a major dinner at the Ronald Reagan Ranch in California, marking the 100th anniversary of the late president's birth. Drew?

GRIFFIN: Thanks, Paul. Well, politics heating up, the weather turning cold and wet. Jacqui Jeras looking really bad, getting worse, dire predictions.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know! Yes. It really is. This is an extremely powerful storm, it's going to be impacting millions of people, so many states, and has the potential to cripple a whole lot of major cities, especially across the nation's midsection, followed by an arctic plunge, where temperatures could be as much as 50 degrees below the seasonal average. Yes, 50 degrees below where you should be. Not fun.

All right, so all the watches and warnings are in place ahead of the storm system, and this is really, for the most part, going to get rolling late Monday night through the day Tuesday and into Wednesday, and then, finally, into the northeast as we head into Thursday.

We even have blizzard watches in effect for places like Chicago and Milwaukee, when the winds are expected to be up to 40 miles per hour on top of the heavy snow accumulation that's going to go along with it.

All right, let's talk about where this storm system is today. Way out here in California, it's just bringing a -- some scattered showers over there, a little snow into the higher elevations. But this thing is going to take a dive down towards Texas, and then roll on up into the nation's midsection, and that's when the real trouble is going to begin.

Let's talk about accumulations. This is just one computer model, to put it in perspective for you. So the track of this storm could change a little bit. First phase, by the way, for tomorrow across the Dakotas and into parts of Minnesota, some heavy accumulations here.

But let's watch as the southern tracking storm comes on in. And I mostly want you to focus on where we think the heaviest accumulation is going to be, here. Places like St. Louis, over towards Chicago, into Detroit, maybe even into Cleveland as well. There's the potential in the heaviest bands of snow, here, that we could get up to two feet. So, ten to twenty inches, certainly, are a reasonable range to go along with this.

Now, in addition that that, we think there's going to be a lot of ice or freezing rain, because that warm air is going to override the cold air as those two kind of become together.

And so, we're worried about accumulations that could be anywhere between a half of an inch to an inch. That's going to collect on trees, that's going to collect on power lines, so some of you could be without power for days. So, be prepared. And today's that day to get outside and, certainly, get all your supplies if you don't have them.

In the meantime, just want to mention a couple of things going on today. First of all, our Gulf system, here, this is bringing in some scattered showers, isolated thunderstorms, maybe a couple of them could be strong or severe. Not too terribly concerned about that threat, but just kind of a wet day for you.

And last but not least, I'll try to end with good things, as I like to do from time to time, Drew. Look at Atlanta, Georgia, 70 degrees right now. So, at least a few of us got a very nice day --

GRIFFIN: Yes.

JERAS: Before things fly.

GRIFFIN: I had a little guest in here, was jumping in that very fountain today.

JERAS: Oh, really?

GRIFFIN: Yes.

JERAS: All right.

GRIFFIN: A little wet. Thanks, Jacqui.

JERAS: Sure.

GRIFFIN: Well, the turmoil in Egypt has a lot of American workers trapped, worried about their safety. Up next, what companies need to do to keep their workers safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: What US companies need to do to keep Americans working in Egypt safe. I'll talk with an expert in just a minute from now but, first, our top stories.

Crowds of Egyptians are defying a curfew, staying in the streets to demand President Hosni Mubarak's resignation. The army is on patrol in Cairo in a bid to maintain order, and reports say police have returned to the streets. We're trying to check that out right now. So far, the latest protests have been mostly peaceful. The demonstrations are entering their seventh day.

Iran has executed a Dutch-Iranian woman by hanging, accusing her of being a drug smuggler. That word from reports in Iran. The Netherlands has frozen all ties with Iran, now, calling the execution, quote, "a shocking act by a barbaric regime." Comcast and General Electric have completed a deal merging Comcast cable networks with GE's NBC Universal Entertainment Unit. The new joint venture will be lead -- will retain the name NBC Universal, but it will be managed by Comcast.

Well, American companies with workers in Egypt face a huge challenge. With political upheaval and turmoil in the streets, what to do to keep the company's workers safe. We're going to bring in Paula Caligiuri, she's a human resource managing professor at Rutgers who specializes in management of employees assigned overseas, joining us from New York. Thanks for joining us, Paula.

First of all, maybe just explain to us what kind of Americans are in Egypt, by and large. Is it one industry or multiple industries?

PAULA CALIGIURI, HUMAN RESOURCES EXPERT: Well, there's certainly workers from all of the industries represented in Egypt right now. But what's interesting is there's different types of employees. There's -- certain people are called ex-patriots, or international assignees, and there's probably about 30,000 of them right now, working in Egypt.

There's also short-term assignees, these are people who probably didn't bring their families and their children, but they're probably living in longer-term housing.

And then, of course, there's business travelers, all of the folks who are there just on business trips. But lots of people.

GRIFFIN: Yes, I know from our own people there, there are procedures that CNN follows. There are things to do, things not to do, when this happens. What should workers be doing, or what do businesses do for their workers when turmoil like this occurs?

CALIGIURI: Sure. Most companies are very mature in this regard, and they have incredible safety precautions in place. They have crisis management teams that work directly with their senior management leaders that will put in their likely responses, depending on the level of risk.

So, the big thing right now, I think, for what I'm seeing with organizations currently, is they're trying to assess the real level of risk and trying to make sure they're getting the best possible information to respond accordingly.

If you think about whether they need to be just making sure their employees are home safe, maybe suspending operations for a while, or ramping it all the way up to evacuating employees. We're probably not quite there yet. But certainly making sure employees are safe right now is critical.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Paula, we had somebody on from the State Department earlier, talking about the tourists. Obviously, tourists are not usually in these kind of situations and are frustrated. But in the first few days of a crisis like this, it seems that the best thing to do, the safest thing to do, is not to try to get out of the country, but just to remain where you are, remain safe, and stay indoors. I'm wondering at what point, though, do the companies have to put in place the next step, which is, "we need to get these people out of there."

CALIGIURI: Right. I think what we're seeing, Drew, is exactly that right now. Many of the companies that I've been speaking with are maybe suspending operations for a while. Certainly, they're in constant communication with their employees.

They're making sure that they know where all of their employees are and have updated contact information. They're encouraging people, exactly as you said, to stay home or stay in a safe location.

Right now, they're not quite up to the point of evacuating, but airports are open, and I promise you that those plans are in place, if need be, they will execute all those plans.

GRIFFIN: All right, Paula Caligiuri from Rutgers University, appreciate you coming on this Sunday afternoon --

CALIGIURI: My pleasure.

GRIFFIN: Speaking to us about this. Thank you so much.

The US walking a delicate line on the uprising in Egypt. Hear what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is saying, right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: That picture you're seeing right there, that is not what Egypt's leaders wanted to happen. First of all, it's after dark when people were ordered to stay indoors. Clearly, they did not. Second, it's the popular opposition leader, there, Mohamed ElBaradei, joining an enormous crowd of cheering protestors in central Cairo. This, just a few hours ago.

ElBaradei told CNN today that Egypt was, in his words, "falling apart," and he called for President Hosni Mubarak to, quote, "leave today and save the country."

One fear held by many Egyptians today did come to fruition that, in the chaos, prisoners could escape from jails while the police were occupied elsewhere or just went away. That did happen in Cairo and several other cities. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen and his crew drove straight to a Cairo prison when he heard that all authority had broken down there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When we got to the prison in Abu Zaabal, a gun battle was still raging inside. Local residents advised us to leave. Inmates had escaped, they told us, and stolen many weapons from the building's arsenal. The problem is not just that the prisoners got out, this man told us. The problem is the prisoners got out and took all the weapons with them.

The townspeople told us looters later stormed the prison and went on a shooting rampage, and that there were still dead bodies on the premises. And no police around. A total breakdown of law enforcement. We came past half a dozen abandoned police stations, looted and torched.

Local citizens are banding together, arming themselves, trying to protect their neighborhoods. In this neighborhood, they stop a stolen car full of armed men, one carrying an automatic weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We attacked them, like we were a lot of people, we attacked them. One of the -- one of our friends, he hit him with a stick on his head. They value the machine guns, so he starts shooting everywhere, and then, they fainted.

PLEITGEN: Irrigation engineer Ahmed Abdul Latif and his son are part of a community defense force. Recently, they've gotten help from the army. Latif says his wife and daughter are scared and did not want to be filmed.

AHMED ABDUL LATIF, IRRIGATION ENGINEER: I will protect myself with anything I have. Anything I have in my hand, anything. Tools, my car tools, I used my car tools.

PLEITGEN: He blames one man for the upheaval overtaking his country.

LATIF: Thank you, Mr. Mubarak. We wanted to thank him, very much, for this situation we are in. We want to -- want him -- please, Mr. Mubarak. Please. Thank you, very much.

PLEITGEN: Latif and the others will probably have to spend more nights with their clubs, defending their houses. Still, they say, these days are days of hope, even as chaos seems to reign.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Cairo, Egypt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is choosing her very words very carefully when talking about what's going on in Egypt and what role the U.S. might play but she does say Egypt needs to move toward a peaceful transition to democracy. Here's the secretary of state speaking with our Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We do not want to send any message about backing forward or backing back. What we are trying to do is to help clear the air so that those who remain in power, starting with President Mubarak, with his new vice president, with the new prime minister, will again a process of reaching out, of creating a dialogue that will bring in peaceful activists and representatives of civil society to, you know, plan a way forward that will meet the legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Let's bring in CNN's State Department producer, Elise Labott. Elise, on the streets in Cairo, Alexandria, they're saying too little, too late from the U.S. I'm wondering if there is any kind of rethinking of the message that the secretary of state has given yesterday and today.

ELISE LABOTT, SR. U.S. STATE DEPT. PRODUCER: Well, Drew, you saw them kind of struggling with their message over the last few days and the problem is no matter what the Obama administration says, it is going to be too little for the protesters on the street and it's going to be too much for President Mubarak.

So, they are really walking this fine line between trying to support the protesters, supporting their aspirations for more democracy, more jobs, more political inclusion but they're not going to call for President Mubarak to step down, not yet.

I think what you heard Secretary of State Clinton say is she is implying an end to the end of Mubarak. She is calling for a transition, for a transformational process. She has been talking a lot about elections this September. What she is hoping is that President Mubarak will institute some kind of dialogue with the people of Egypt which will set them up for a free and fair elections in September because right now there isn't, as you see, no unifying figure that could take the country over right now if Mubarak were to fall.

GRIFFIN: Elise, any of your sources at the State Department telling you that they realize that the process cannot move forward with Mubarak in place? It seems that the people simply want a transition to democracy but none that involves President Mubarak?

LABOTT: I think they know that the end is near, but I don't think they have kind of come around to the idea that it is over for President Mubarak right now. I don't think they want him to get on a plane tonight. I think that they do see him eventually leaving the scene but they want to do it in a way that is gradual and they are very concerned about him leaving the country, leaving a vacuum. A lot of U.S. national security interests at stake. So they are really pushing this idea of managed change, a process through September where a political opposition can develop, can flourish, some institutions can be set.

They are really looking right now for President Mubarak to take certain steps like lifting the emergency laws, setting up job creation process. They are trying to get him to institute these things but at the same time, officials I have spoken to say they are not really sure he gets it. They really don't know if he really understands what he is up against, Drew.

GRIFFIN: All right, Elise, thank you for that.

The State Department is advising Americans not to travel to Egypt but some are already there, they can't get out. Earlier, I talked to one, Laura Murphy, an American who has been docked on a cruise ship since Wednesday. I asked her if she had seen any of the uprising firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA MURPHY, STRANDED AMERICAN TOURIST (via telephone): In Cairo, I saw a truck being bombed in the evening on Saturday evening, rather Friday evening. And I also saw all day Friday a fantastic peaceful marching across a bridge near our hotel balcony. We were sent to Alexandria because we could not get into the Egyptian museum.

Once we got to Alexandria, we were turned away and all tourists who were not based in Alexandria were asked to leave the city. So we drove two and a half hours from there from Cairo to Alexandria and then had had to go back then flew to Luxor where we were supposed to take a cruise down the Nile. All the stops along the cruise of the Nile asked the ship director not to come because they couldn't guarantee the safety of American citizens. There are well over 100 American citizens stuck in Luxor. We cannot get out of the city because the Egyptian airline is not flying into Cairo because of curfew restrictions and plane problems. I have spoken tonight ambassador today and I believe what she and the State Department are doing is well intentioned but grossly insufficient --

GRIFFIN: Let me ask you --

MURPHY: To ensure the safety of American people.

GRIFFIN: Do you feel safe at your location right now? You're at a hotel?

MURPHY: Yes, I'm safe but I'm trapped. Two of the group members I was with went to the airport, they had paid for tickets from Luxor to Cairo, which is about an hour flight and they could not get on the plane, the plane never showed up. The airport was packed with American citizens.

So you cannot get away by water. You cannot take public transportation because it has been deemed unsafe and you cannot fly. And when I spoke to the ambassador, I was more distressed after I talked to her than before because she did not seem to know of the attempts to bomb the government buildings, the national Democratic Party buildings and the fact that gangs and criminals were looting homes and cars, attempting to burnt governor's house.

GRIFFIN: Let ask you --

MURPHY: She did not know about these things, and so we're not being addressed.

GRIFFIN: What was the advice that the ambassador gave you? What are you getting from the State Department?

MURPHY: The ambassador said -- the ambassador said you're on a lovely cruise ship so I suggest that you stay there. Now, on the trip are women who are senior citizens. I'm not one of them but senior citizens on fixed income. They cannot pool their money to charter a plane. They have been told to call a number, the ambassador, the White House, people that I know in Washington where I work, I have called them at state. At least we have cell phone coverage.

We are being told to call a number. When you call the number, you are being told to go to the Internet site. We have no Internet access in Egypt and then when you can't, when you press the button for emergency assistance, you are kept on hold. So apparently there are over 50,000 Americans in Egypt, some of whom may be flown out of the major cities. But those of us who are not in Cairo or Alexandria are trapped right now. We are not being called by the State Department even though we registered with the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: You can heart frustration in the voice of just one American tourist. Of course there are many others who feel they are trapped and not getting straight information from the State Department. So we went to the State Department. Janice Jacobs, the assistant secretary of our consulate affairs. I talked to her earlier today and she had some critical information for citizens who are trying to evacuate Egypt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANICE JACOBS, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: Well, thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to talk to you today. Certainly taking care of American citizens in Egypt right now is our top priority. And we have tried to get information out about the situation there through a variety of means. We understand the frustrations with not being able to get through either by e-mail or by phone. We, as you can imagine, are getting hundreds and hundreds of inquiries. We have posted information on our website. We understand without access to the Internet that that presents special problems. So we are putting -- getting information out through radio, through television and other means.

GRIFFIN: And what is the advice, Ms. Jacobs? Are there going to be some kind of -- I hate to say rescue flights because that brings up a dire situation that may not exist but are there going to be any kind of U.S. State Department-sponsored flights to evacuate Americans?

JACOBS: Yes there will be. In fact, we are in the process right now of arranging for some charter flights that will be going out of Cairo. Those will begin tomorrow and then they will be ongoing until we are able to get all Americans who are not able to get out via commercial airline.

We are going to be giving more information about those flights late today and tomorrow, so people will have full information. We do courage people, of course who already have tickets for a commercial airline to go ahead and take advantage of that. But we are going to be working to get Americans who want to leave out of Egypt. In fact, we are sending a number of additional consular officers to Egypt right now in order to help with that evacuation of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: The biggest problem seems to be the lack of Internet in Egypt. So Jacobs is calling on Americans in the U.S. who have family and friends in Egypt to download the information, check it out and then try to send that over to their loved ones or friends in Egypt that may not have access to the Internet.

Well, the SAG Awards are tonight. We are going to go to the -- live to the preview on the red carpet. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Our top stories now. Crowds of Egyptians are defying a curfew and staying in the streets to demand President Hosni Mubarak step down. So far, today's protests have been mostly peaceful. State-run TV reports police forces have returned to the streets in all parts of Egypt. We are trying to check that out. We don't have confirmation on that.

In southern Sudan, it is a huge victory supporters of the region's independence. A preliminary tally from the recent referendum is showing 99 percent of voters want to split from the North. If the results are validated, the South would become a new nation in July.

And a tragic accident in eastern Germany. Two trains have collided, killing 10 people, injuring 43 others, many of them seriously. What caused the collision isn't clear. There, of course, is an investigation under way.

Well, CNN's Don Lemon is kicking off the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with several intriguing stories, including one that hasn't been getting a lot of attention today, with all of this, but it comes out of Detroit.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's a very sad story, broke it last weekend. I don't know if you remember, Drew, when we were sitting here and in Detroit, four police officers, gunmen, walked into a precinct, opened fire, injuring four police officers. One of them had to go into surgery, was critical for a while and then turned out to be OK. But that gunman, police eventually shot that gunman. Well they released the video inside the precinct, it happened on the west side of that city last week and they released that video and you are going to see it. We are going to play it out for you, our Susan Candiotti is digging into that and to the gunman, who is dead. His name is Lamar Moore, into his background as to why. And also in that city, they're looking at more security for police precincts. Why wasn't there bulletproof glass? Anything like that.

GRIFFIN: Amazing when you walk into --

LEMON: Into a police precinct.

GRIFFIN: You will also obviously continue the big, huge story.

LEMON: We're going to talk a lot about Egypt and talk about the difference between the parliamentary and the army. General Russel Honore, you know he's a contributor here on CNN, he has worked with the Egyptian army and he will explain to us the difference between those two and the really close relationship that the American army has with the Egyptian army and to explain how much money we give to the army every single year and explain our role in that unrest as well and what we should be doing, in his estimation, to take care of business there.

Also talking about the cyber security there. Did you know they shut down the Internet? Not only cyber security, but what do you do in that case if the Internet shut down and could it happen here in the United States? You will be surprised.

GRIFFIN: The ingenious response of the Egyptians has been incredible. They just dodged right around it.

LEMON: We're going to also tell you how you can get on the Internet, if they do shut it down. There are ways around it, we will tell you how. Katie Lenehal (ph) will do that.

GRIFFIN: I know you're going to be following this, but we're going to do it right now. Big winter storm threatening parts of the country this week ahead. We are going to check the forecast with Jacqui Jeras.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: A CNN Equals Politics update now, we are keeping an eye on all the latest headlines on the scene at politics.com desk. And here is what is crossing at the moment.

European leaders banding together to urge Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to make major political and economic reforms. The heads of England, France and Germany issuing a joint statement saying the reforms should be made quickly and include open elections.

In U.S. politics, a weekend meeting near Palm Springs, California, fueling a heated debate over the role of corporate money in politics. At the meeting, billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch and powerful Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Liberal groups say the meeting shows how wealth unfairly influences politics. The spokesman for the Koch brothers denies any of those charges.

And early voting for Chicago's February mayoral election starts tomorrow. Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will be on the ballet. Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Emanuel does meet residency requirements and can remain a candidate.

Jacqui Jeras, I'm smirking just a little bit as I remember they say in Chicago, vote early and vote often. But certainly vote early tomorrow if you're going to vote because a storm is coming.

(WEATHER REPORT)

GRIFFIN: All right Jacqui, thanks for that. I've been sneaking over at the red carpet out in Los Angeles and it looks like the weather there is terrific. The 2011 SAG Awards are tonight. The beautiful people are on the red carpet. Kareen Wynter, one of them, joining me live from the red carpet. Kareen, "The King's Speech" I guess is getting all the buzz tonight. Is that the big heavy favorite?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my gosh. Well, the critics are certainly betting on "The King's Speech," but you know what? The two films to really watch in this category would be "The King's Speech" and also the popular movie about Facebook, "The Social Network." "The Social Network" winning big, big-time at the Golden Globes, but Colin Firth, he is the leading man in "The King's Speech" and he took home the top award in the lead category, the acting category at the Golden Globes Awards. And so it's going to be a toss-up between those.

And speaking of the lead actor, you know so many people have been saying that it is Colin Firth's year. His movie has received so much critical acclaim. So he is definitely the man to beat in that category.

On the women's side, of course, actress Natalie Portman. Everything she touches these days seems to turn to gold from her comedy movie with Ashton Kutcher. It was number one at the box office last week and it will be interesting to see how it does this week. And she's engaged. She's expecting a baby. Oh, and her amazing performance in "Black Swan." She got nominated for an Oscar. She took home the big awards also at the Golden Globes. So many people are saying that it is definitely her night.

And one thing that's so great about the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Drew, is that so many actors I speak with, year after year, they say that this is actually their favorite award show because it's actors in essence honoring each other. They vote for each other. They recognize each other's work. So they say it's extra, extra special for them.

By the way, there are more than 150,000 members in the guild. So it also recognizes television. Also in the comedy category, the two big favorites here, "Glee" as well as "Modern Family." Now a little bit of competition going on there besides being hugely popular shows. Well, "Glee" won really big, did amazingly well last year at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. But guess who took home the big award at last year's Emmy? "Modern Family." So they'll be duking it, duking out as well.

It's so, so exciting to watch. Not just for the media, the press covering this, but also the fans, some of them. They've been braving the weather. You mentioned how great it is. Well the sun is trying to make an appearance here. It was still rainy and cold, but again it is not going to stop the stars from shining tonight. Drew?

GRIFFIN: Kareen, I think you guys faked me out, I didn't see the roof on that red carpet until you just pulled out to a wide shot. Thanks a lot, appreciate it, we'll see who wins tonight at the SAG Awards tonight there in Los Angeles. Now for one of those awkward entertainment moments, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" brought together the three Mark Zuckerberg's last night, the real Facebook founder Zuckerberg, the actor who plays him in "The Social Network," the movie about Zuckerberg that Zuckerberg hates, by the way, and the "Saturday Night Live" actor who makes fun of both of them.

Here it is the awkward moment. So you can keep them straight, "SNL's" Andy Samberg will be on the right side of the screen. Jesse Eisenberg, the actor is the middle, and the real guy is on the left side.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SAMBERG, ACTOR: Have you two not met?

JESSE EISENBERG, ACTOR: No.

MARK ZUCKERBERG, FACEBOOK FOUNDER: No.

SAMBERG: Awkward. Well, I'll be going. Samberg, out.

EISENBERG: So.

ZUCKERBERG: So.

EISENBERG: Yeah, yeah. It's good. I really liked you on "60 Minutes."

ZUCKERBERG: Thanks, man.

EISENBERG: Yes. Did you ever end up seeing the film, that "Social Network?"

ZUCKERBERG: Yeah, I did.

EISENBERG: Cool, thanks. And what did you -- what did you think?

ZUCKERBERG: It was interesting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: And that was awkward. I'm Drew Griffin in Atlanta.

Don Lemon up next with more of the day's developments in Egypt, plus he's got surveillance tape from a shooting attack on a police precinct station that happened in Detroit.