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Amanda Knox to Address Court; Michael Jackson's Doctor on Trial; New Casey Anthony Video Released; The Impact of Birth Order; Review For Two New Movies Over The Weekend

Aired October 01, 2011 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. State Department issued a global warning for Americans traveling abroad. They say yesterday's death of Al Qaeda figure Anwar al-Awlaki could motivate his followers to lash out in revenge. Two other men are either confirmed or believed dead in that air strike in Yemen yesterday. One of them is a U.S. citizen, Samir Kahn, who ran the terror group's Web site. The other is a Saudi bomb maker. More about him when we go live to Washington in a minute.

It's an anxious weekend for American Amanda Knox as she awaits to hear her fate. She is appealing her 2009 conviction for the murder of Meredith Kercher, her former roommate in Italy. Knox's attorney say she is the victim of an overzealous prosecutor who decided her guilt regardless of reason. Knox is expected to address the court on Monday.

And the trial of Michael Jackson's physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, has entered a new phase. Paramedics and a doctor are talking about what they witnessed at the end of the pop icon's life. One paramedic described Murray's demeanor when they arrived at Jackson's house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SENNEFF, PARAMEDIC: I asked was what his underlying health condition was. He did not respond. I asked again what his underlying health condition was. He did not respond. And then he, I think, it was the third time he said nothing. Nothing. He has nothing. And simply that did not add up to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is that?

SENNEFF: Doctor's in the house, IV pull, IV hooked up to the patient. It didn't seem normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Next week the ER doctor who pronounced Jackson dead returns to the stand.

New jail video of Casey Anthony has been released. The security video shows the moment Anthony actually learned the remains of her two- year-old daughter Caylee had been found. She got that news from a television news report. A judge ruled the video was too inflammatory to be played in court. Anthony was later acquitted in the murder. A California grandfather is recovering after spending six days trapped in a ravine. David Lavau drove off the road in the Angeles National Forest and landed about 200 feet below. His children refused to stop looking for their father and then rescuers found him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LAVAU, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: We stopped at every ravine and looked over every hill. Then my brother got out of the car and we kept screaming and the next thing we heard dad say "Help, help."

SEAN LAVAU, VICTIM'S SON: You don't know if it's echoing or where it's coming from. So I just ran up to the top where those bushes are, and I looked down and I saw my dad's car. (INAUDIBLE) my heart dropped. I was like, "Oh, my god." I realized running all the way down here, everywhere, I couldn't see how to get down. I just could not figure it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Lavau broke several bones and fractured his back in that crash.

And then a remarkable sight. A small plane crashed into a ferris wheel at a fair in Australia today. You can see the plane is just tangled in the middle there. It took crews about an hour to rescue four people, including two kids on the ride. The pilot tells an Australian television station that he simply didn't see the ferris wheel.

All right. Now back to our top story. We're learning more about the associates of Al Qaeda's Anwar al-Awlaki, men who may also have died with him yesterday in that CIA drone strike. U.S. officials tell us today they believe a known bomb maker was also there.

CNN's Athena Jones is following that story for us today from Washington. Athena, why is this third man's, I guess, name, familiar with anti-terrorism circles?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly Ibrahim al-Asiri is known to be the top bomb maker for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. So if he was in fact, the importance here is the technical capabilities. He was behind that thwarted Christmas day bombing of the plane going into Detroit in 2009, the so-called underwear bomber. He was also behind a plot to put explosives into printer cartridges, and send them in cargo planes to the United States.

And so it would certainly be a big deal if he is, in fact, dead. We spoke with a U.S. official this morning who said that there were indications that Asiri was on the scene, but that he didn't know, this official didn't know if he had been killed.

I spoke with an official a little while later who said it's just not entirely clear yet. They are looking into it. This is in line with what we heard from a Yemeni official today who said that the other operatives who were killed in that strike have not yet been identified and that right now the idea that Asiri is dead is a rumor.

But of course, we're watching and waiting to hear more on that, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so what about this global travel warning being issued by the U.S. State Department. Are they talking about Americans traveling to a specific region of the world?

JONES: Well, no, it's not specific. This came out just a short time ago. and they said they are sending this, of course, in response to this drone strike in Yemen yesterday. They know that the people who support al-Awlaki and Al Qaeda in general might want to retaliate. Quoting from the travel alert saying that the death of al-Awlaki in the near-term could provoke motivation for anti-American attacks worldwide. It doesn't say specifically where. So the idea is really that again American travelers should stay vigilant wherever they are.

WHITFIELD: All right. Athena Jones in Washington, thank you.

JONES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. You may not be familiar with the name Samir Kahn, but U.S. authorities believe the North Carolinian was a key player in recruiting young jihadists. He did it through a Jihad magazine online. Molly Grant of our North Carolina affiliate, WBTV, reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOLLY GRANT, REPORTER, WBTV: We started off by ringing the door bell of Samir Kahn's parents house. No answer. So we talked with Jibril Hough, he is the spokesperson for the family.

JIBRIL HOUGH, FAMILY FRIEND: As you can imagine if it was your child, a number of emotions, embarrassed. Frustrated.

GRANT: he said the ideology that Samir promoted and wrote about was wrong. He said Samir was dangerous but he won't take the next step.

(on camera): Was Samir a terrorist?

HOUGH: That's a good question. He definitely was a terrorist supporter.

GRANT: But you wouldn't say he was a terrorist?

HOUGH: Did he actually commit an act of terror? You know, I don't think it's ever been proven that he has.

GRANT: Would propaganda, the words he used against people online, would that not be considered an act of terror?

HOUGH: I don't know, because he was doing the same thing while he was here.

GRANT: So he was backyard terrorist while he was here.

HOUGH: While he was here, I would say he should have been arrested and tried for that.

GRANT (voice-over): The federal government might agree with him on that one. At one point Kahn was listed as the number two guy in Al Qaeda when it came to propaganda. Last year U.S. representative Sue Myrick said she couldn't believe we could track them down yet they couldn't.

If he was the number two guy, how did they let him get away, move from Charlotte, hop on a plane, go to Yemen, when I could find him in a parking lot?

REP. SUE MYRICK: I know Molly those, it's crazy. And that's the same - those are questions I'm asking right now.

GRANT (voice-over): Jibril said he tried to council Samir years ago as with other Muslim-Americans in the Charlotte community, including Samir's own father. It didn't work. Even so Jibril says this is not a day to celebrate.

(on camera): There are some Americans who say this is a huge day to rejoice, because he was dangerous, he was a terrorist and now he's taken out along with al-Awlaki.

HOUGH: Yes, but I'm not one who rejoices in the loss of a human life, regardless if they had it coming or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As for Kahn's online magazine, copy of its bomb making articles have been found in possession of several would-be attackers in both the U.S. and Britain.

A delay in an unusual trial in Italy. Italian scientists are accused of manslaughter for failing to predict the severity of an earthquake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Checking international headlines now. For the second time in as many weeks, a typhoon is battering the Philippines. The storm is already being blamed for one death. One person was killed in a landslide triggered by the storm. This comes as the death toll from the previous typhoon has climbed to 52.

An unusual trial in Italy has been postponed for a couple of weeks. Seven scientists are accused of manslaughter for failing to adequately predict the danger from a killer earthquake in 2009. Authorities say the six seismologists and one government official were too reassuring about the rumblings that preceded the quake which ultimately which ultimately killed more than 300 people.

All right. And people who live in a country known for tulips and windmills want to keep it that way. Those world famous coffee shops in Holland sell much more than coffee and attract visitors from all over the world who buy sometimes marijuana and other drugs that are legal in the Netherlands. Well, things are changing. Beginning today. Ralitsa Vassileva from CNN International to explain why and how and what gives. What's going on in Holland now?

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: We are trying to figure that out. Basically, it's one town, (INAUDIBLE), which is on the border between Germany and Belgium, which has decided that it's going to ban, as of today, foreign tourists from entering their coffee shops and purchasing cannabis, soft drugs that they sell legally there.

The reason they're saying that they had to enforce this ban is because local authorities are asking them to shut down their shops, or restrict things or else there will be a complete nationwide ban that is being considered on a national level because the drug tourists are attracting a lot of traffic, a lot of gridlock and a lot of pushers of the illegal drugs, who sometimes are aggressive. They rob other tourists, who are trying to sell these tourists illegal drugs, hard drugs that are even illegal in the Netherlands.

WHITFIELD: So for a long time it's been completely OK and legal. In fact, that was part of the tourism lure for some folks who would say they could buy pot, they could, you know, buy all kinds of paraphernalia et cetera and it was OK. Nobody had a problem with it in these coffee shops.

VASSILEVA: Well, what they're saying is actually being enforced by the coffee shop owners themselves. The police is not going to enforce it. It's not illegal. They're saying we are not going to check I.D.s. but they are doing it because they want to keep coffee shops open to tourists, because they say if we don't do this, the Dutch Parliament is considering a nationwide restriction on drug tourists coming from other countries.

So we are doing this to show that we can handle things, we can restrict things. And in the meantime what they're doing is they are building coffee shops on the outskirts of the city so they can move the drug tourists on the outskirts until local authorities say "Look, we've solved the problem. We don't have this crime that comes in and traffic gridlock that is brought in by the drug tourists."

WHITFIELD: So if you're a local you can still go in.

VASSILEVA: If you're a local you can still go in. And if you're German and Belgian, they make an exception for the neighbors. What the government wants to do, and there's a huge debate in the Netherlands, they want to give people something like a coffee pass, if you're Dutch, you get that coffee pass, and you go into a coffee shop and they ask you for your coffee pass and you show your coffee pass and you get your drugs. So that will be just for they want to restrict it to the Dutch.

WHITFIELD: Interesting.

VASSILEVA: So basically this appears to be a preemptive move.

WHITFIELD: So things would be a little less abusive?

VASSILEVA: I don't know. It just appears to be a preemptive move by the coffee shop owners themselves so that they can keep their coffee shops open.

WHITFIELD: They want a little bit more control. Interesting. Ralitsa Vassileva bringing us all kinds of things.

VASSILEVA: All kinds of things.

WHITFIELD: Everything under the sun in this beautiful globe of our.

VASSILEVA: That makes our job fascinating.

WHITFIELD: That's right. All right. Ralitsa, thanks so much.

VASSILEVA: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Do you owe your success and good health perhaps to where you are in the family tree? You got a brother, sister, older, younger all that? Discover how birth order can impact your health and your career perhaps.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Top story straight ahead including Bank of America's plan to charge you more to spend your own cash. It could change how customers are shopping.

But first two more deaths are being blamed on cantaloupe contaminated with Listeria. The Centers for Disease Control says one person died in New Mexico and another in Colorado this week. The Listeria outbreak has been traced to a Colorado farm. A total of 15 people in eight states have died and they're still trying to figure out how to keep this from spreading.

Now to other health news, who would you say is the healthiest among siblings? The first born? Middle child? Perhaps the youngest? Birth order can influence our susceptibility to various health and behavioral conditions. It's the subject of our weekly look at how to get and stay healthy. Dr. Bill Lloyd, our healthy living expert joins us now from Sacramento. All right. Dr. Bill, help us unravel the health and birth order and which child is usually the healthiest?

DR. BILL LLOYD, HEALTHY LIVING EXPERT: Well, Fredricka, as the youngest of four, I'm here to set the record straight. When we talk about health this could be physical health or behavioral health. And it's interesting there's a lot of stories out there and a lot of mixed data. But I can tell you this that the oldest child is not at increased risk for diseases like diabetes or multiple sclerosis which had been information that has been wrongly disseminated for many years. However first born have a much more sensitive immune system and that means they're going to be more prone to allergies and getting asthma. And in my own family I know. My older brother, he is the one that got asthma.

WHITFIELD: Oh, really. So then what are the advantages of perhaps being the first born?

LLOYD: Oh, these go way back to the start of time. It's true. Older children do fare well. They do better at work. They have a couple of points higher IQ. Some it may be in the modern era due to the fact that the first born often receives longer breast feeding, so that may be a contributor. But also the oldest child also gets more parental time. On average, Fredricka, 3,000 more hours compared to their sibs.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness.

LLOYD: once a parent has a second child, now that time is split between the two children. Guess what, the second, third, and fourth children are never going to catch up. And this could influence their behavioral choices as they get older. The youngest children are more prone to risky behaviors.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. So what would be the medical advice for parents out there to try and, I guess, dispense a bit more equal time to all their kids so that they all have kind of equal footing, equal advantages, et cetera?

LLOYD: Sure. If you want to balance things out for your children, one thing that works is to establish a daily ritual that you can use at home coming. When you come back to the house at the end of the day, give yourself a few quiet minutes for each of your children if you were to download what they know and what their day's experiences have been. Give them that special attention. Ensure and enforce family meals together and everybody gets a chance to contribute.

In our family we call it all hands on deck. That means everybody participates in chores. I'll mention to you, as the youngest of four I spent a lot of hours with my dad putting up storm windows and painting. I learned a lot about technical skills but he also learned a lot about me at the same time. Never make comparisons between the children, positive or negative. It never goes down well.

WHITFIELD: Good luck.

LLOYD: It always leaves -

WHITFIELD: Don't all parents end up doing that? I'm sure they do that, right?

LLOYD: We're all the guilty of doing it. Be aware, try not do it as much, Fredricka. And, you know, one other tip that my wife and I have used, our children, thank god, have all turned out well, is small weekend meetings. We call them boy meetings or girl meetings, where it's just one parent and one child. And you go away someplace cheap overnight and just have that dedicated time with that one child and you rotate it around and everybody feels like they're getting equal treatment.

WHITFIELD: That's nice. That's fair. Great idea. Dr. Bill, thanks so much. Always great to see you.

LLOYD: We'll talk again soon.

WHITFIELD: All right. Straight ahead. Petting zoos are popular because you can pet animals like bunnies, sheep, et cetera but what if you had a chance to pet a baby Siberian tiger? Stick around to find out what I mean in our next viral video.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Live pictures now of the Washington Monument in our nation's capital. People have gotten used to seeing some rappelling taking place on the outside. Not today. Cloudy skies today have forced the park service to suspend the work on that damaged monument. The team of engineers that had been rappelling are grounded for the day. It is a dangerous job when they're able to do it and visitors to the Mall seem to actually appreciate what they're seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad there are people willing to do this, but it would not be me. When you look up, it really takes a special person to be able to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You better believe it. It takes a lot of courage. Weather permitting, engineers will be back assessing the damage tomorrow.

All right. For many Americans money is tight when it comes to their travel budget these days. So how can you visit five great American cities without breaking the bank?

CNN's Chad Myers find out while talking to Melissa Bradley, the founding editor of "Town and Country Travel."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (on camera): I'm going to give you 20 seconds, you're going to give me what you like about the city and do it with a budget in mind. How about that?

MELISSA BRADLEY, FOUNDING EDITOR "TOWN AND COUNTRY TRAVEL": OK. I'll do my best.

MYERS: Can you do that?

BRADLEY: I'll try.

MYERS: New Orleans.

BRADLEY: New Orleans. Great music. Great food. After Hurricane Katrina, amazing energy. You can volunteer there. It doesn't cost a thing. Memorable experience. Don't go to Bourbon Street, go to Frenchman Street. Clubs there are free. Drinks so much cheaper.

MYERS: How about New York City? A little bit more expensive.

BRADLEY: It can be but the most exciting thing in New York City right now is the 9/11 memorial. It's free. High line and the elevated parks, amazingly free. There's lot of more inexpensive boutiques than there have been before. Food trucks, the chicest way to eat New York now.

MYERS: All right. I got two for you. They're both named Portland, Maine and Oregon.

BRADLEY: OK. Both historic cities. Beautiful harbor town. Incredible access to the outdoors. Oregon you got the (INAUDIBLE) valley which is where the affordable version of Napa. In Maine, you've got an incredible bay, both of them focus on local markets, seafood. You can actually go out on the ferry (INAUDIBLE) and see the islands for 7.50.

MYERS: Santa Barbara, California.

BRADLEY: Great outdoors, hiking, surfing, access to amazing beaches, amazing mountains. Easy to find. Bikes to rent. Food is fantastic. There's farmers markets. There are beach stands with probably the best milkshakes and hot dogs in the country.

MYERS: Washington, D.C..

BRADLEY: Amazing memorials, monuments. The Smithsonian is free. The Kennedy Center has free performances every single night at 6:00 at the Millennium stage. You should be smart about it, plan in advance because you can tour the White House or the capitol. If you book in advance, no cost at all. But you got to pay your taxes.

MYERS: Your time is up and so is mine. Thank you so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. The U.S. State Department just issued a global warning for Americans traveling abroad. They say yesterday's death of Al Qaeda figure, Anwar al- Awlaki could motivate his followers to lash out in revenge. And two others are either confirmed or believed dead in that air strike in Yemen yesterday. One of them is a U.S. citizen, Samir Kahn, who ran a terror group's web site, the other is a Saudi bomb maker.

And back in this country, the judge in Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial has threatened his lawyers with contempt of court. Murray's attorneys violated a gag order by participating in a nationally televised interview. Jurors in the case are hearing from the paramedics meantime who tried to save Jackson's life. The EMTs say when they arrived at the house, Murray was evasive about Jackson's health.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENNEFF: I asked what his underlying health condition was. He did not respond. I asked again what his underlying health condition was. He did not respond. And then he - I think it was the third time he said nothing. Nothing. He has nothing. And simply that did not add up to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is that?

SENNEFF: Doctors in the house, IV pole, IV hooked up to the patient. It didn't seem normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Our Red Rowlands recaps the trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Next week at the Conrad Murray trial is expected to be an extension of where last week left off. Prosecutors were laying out their case using witnesses. They were with Michael Jackson in the days leading up to his death and those people that were around him while they were trying to revive him. On Friday we heard from two paramedics that responded to the 911 call to Jackson's home. They told the jury what it was like inside that room while they were trying to resuscitate Michael Jackson.

They both testified that Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, was asked what drugs he had given Jackson and they both testified there was no mention of propofol, that, of course, is what caused Jackson's death.

We started to hear a bit of testimony from the emergency room doctor who treated Jackson at UCLA Medical Center. We'll have more of that testimony next week. We will get more of the same of what the paramedics told that is Murray was again asked by this emergency room doctor what did he given Michael Jackson. Again, no mention of propofol.

We're also expected next week to hear from the detectives who were assigned to this case. These detectives have been sitting in the courtroom all the way through this trial so far the first week and have been referred to many times by the lawyers, so the jury is starting to get to know them. They'll really get to know them now because they'll be on the stand for some time. And we also may hear from two of Doctor Murray's girlfriends. One of his girlfriends lives here in Los Angeles. This was the place where Murray was having all of the propofol that he purchased shipped to. The other girlfriend we may hear from is based in Houston, Texas. That's the woman that Murray was on the phone with when he realized Michael Jackson was in trouble.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: The words Amanda Knox speaks in an Italian courtroom on Monday could help her come home. She is appealing her 2009 murder conviction in the death of her British roommate. Prosecutors have portrayed Knox as a sex-crazed party girl, an image she hopes dispel when she addresses the jury. Paula Newton is covering the trial in Perugia, Italy.

And so, I wonder of the people in the town of Perugia, how closely are they watching this trial at this juncture. Are they just hoping it ends soon? Do they have personal opinions about it?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely people here have strong opinions about it. In fact, people throughout Italy have strong opinions about it, but Fred, no more than this town. You know, it is so busy here right now. I can't tell you. This is the middle of one of the busiest tourism seasons they have. And yet everyone talks about the case and everyone has an opinion.

Many people Fred, you know it was discussed in court, even this week, defense lawyers saying look, the press in this town and nationally, in their words, crucified Amanda Knox. You had seen a lot of people back away from that. Many people say they just don't know what happened that night. But they are willing to, you know, let some doubt sneak in there. They looked at some of the evidence and admit it is very confusing.

Why is this interesting? Because you have six new jurors there, lay people from the public who are really a product of what is going on this town. They will go into this ruling with their opinions and what their prejudices, and all of the thousands of inches and minutes that have been running in the media here ever since. A lot of conflicting opinions. And more than anything Fred, confusion. Many people confession look, we still don't understand what happened that night.

WHITFIELD: Paula, so much has been said about the family members of Amanda Knox, but what about Meredith Kercher's family? Any sign of them at this juncture, in this proceeding, in this final appeal?

NEWTON: Their family has always shown quite a large amount of grace, to be honest, Fred, to this entire process. Their lawyer spoke on Friday and they basically through the lawyer made it clear, they still believe that Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaello Sollecito did have something to do with Meredith Kercher's death.

At the same time they have always said they will respect whatever the decision of the Italian court is. And we do expect to see some of their family members here on Monday and perhaps as they did last time they will give out some sort of a statement.

But many people have commented as well, including Meredith Kercher's family to say look, there's been so much said about Amanda Knox, but nothing said about the victim who was brutally murdered. You are talking about more than 40 knife wounds left in her own blood. A young woman who showed so much promise. And many people alluded in the courtroom to the fact that that kind of hurt, that agony they have gone through for so many years has to be respected in this ruling.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paula Newton. Thanks so much in Perugia.

And now Astronaut Mark Kelly is a retiree. His retirement from the Navy took effect today. Kelly was a tactic combat pilot before commanding NASA space shuttle flights. In June, Kelly said he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She was shot in January at a public appearance. The couple has written a book which is scheduled to be released next month.

And bank of America plans to charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards at stores. The fee kicks in whether you swipe your card as debit or credit, even if you only do it once. The bank says customers can withdraw cash at its ATMs for free. Meantime, Bank of America's Web site had several outages yesterday, which a spokesperson said had nothing to do with the fee announcement.

It's October, so there are plenty of fall festivals, haunted houses and scary movies to enjoy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERAS: Sweetie, are you OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you so scared about?

JERAS: There's something out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Movie critic Gray Drake joins us a bit later to review "Dream House."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's Saturday, you may be thinking of heading to the movie theatre tonight. Well, earlier I asked movie critic Grae Drake from fandangoandmovies.com if two new films are worth the money "Dream House" and 50/50.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Faster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Faster. I'm a student.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's your hook. It's what you got.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to say hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That makes you different. It sets you apart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Let's try it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a great song.

JERAS: Totally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have cancer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was wrong. I was wrong. It's weird. It's weird like that. Doesn't sound cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: OK. Alright Gray, what do you think? This sound like one of those movies where a lot of people talking at one time which is confusing but somehow it's funny.

(LAUGHTER)

GRAE DRAKE, MOVIE CRITIC, FANDANGOANDMOVIES.COM: It's fantastic.

WHITFIELD: It's fantastic?

DRAKE: This movie is. It is it's so good. Its terms of endearment minus the estrogens plus medical marijuana. Loved it.

WHITFIELD: It's called "50/50" by the way.

DRAKE: Yes. And those are his chances and those are his odds. And the good news is your odds of going into this movie are 100 percent good.

WHITFIELD: Really?

DRAKE: Because everyone in this movie is spectacular. I can even count the number.

WHITFIELD: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great.

DRAKE: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great.

WHITFIELD: Seth Rogen.

DRAKE: I like to call him, JGO personally. And the watching JGO and Seth Rogen on screen together, it is never dull. It's so fantastic. Seth Rogan is really perfect.

WHITFIELD: Which is why Angelica Houston.

DRAKE: Yes. Angelica Houston is in this movie for, like, 15 minutes. But it's a credit to her I cried. She made me cry.

WHITFIELD: She has a way.

DRAKE: She really did.

WHITFIELD: OK. Something tells me your grade will be spectacular.

DRAKE: It is. I want to hug every single person involved in making this film. This movie gets an "A."

WHITFIELD: Wow. A bit of a tear jerker, too?

DRAKE: Yes. I cried in the movie, on the way home in the car. Actually, on the way to the studio.

WHITFIELD: OK. Alright, well. But somehow it's uplifting as well because you laughed.

DRAKE: It is. It's not the terminal illness movie you're expecting. You get to watch these guys use cancer as an excuse to score with chicks.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right. That sounds different. But even if we will take your recommendation. You like it. It an "A."

How about "Dream House." This thriller. This trailer, we've been seeing it all over the place. And it looks like it will make everybody afraid to be in their own home. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See?

JERAS: No. They are right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait a minute. Look at this. Watch. Look at the window. And. See. See it was your own reflection. When the light was turned on it wasn't a man it was you, little one. It was you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. Daniel Craig, Rachel White, Naomi Watts. It looks scary. Were you screaming like the kids were there, too?

DRAKE: No. I was asleep. This movie is better than ambient. Ugh.

WHITFIELD: It put to you sleep?

DRAKE: Lord.

WHITFIELD: How could that be? Maybe your threshold for fright is really high.

DRAKE: I don't know. The thing is this should have been good movie and it absolutely wasn't. It's really hard to figure out what happened because Daniel Craig, Rachel White, they are fantastic together. I think it had two major problems.

WHITFIELD: What?

DRAKE: First, the movie borrows most of its major plot points from other better films. So we've seen it, we're done with it. The second problem was is if you've seen the trailer for the film, you've seen the most important part of it. They ruined their own movie.

WHITFIELD: No.

DRAKE: I hate it when they do that.

(LAUGHTER)

DRAKE: Brutal. Oh, my gosh I had to give this movie an "F." Thanks for the nap, but forget about this movie.

WHITFIELD: You're kidding. I don't think you've ever given an "F" to anything that I can recall.

DRAKE: It was so bad I just couldn't even comprehend it. I couldn't believe what I was watching. This is James Bond for crying out loud. WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. So, maybe stick to the 007 stuff or sometimes - it's not necessarily the actors, sometimes it's the script. It's a lot of stuff.

DRAKE: Absolutely. Who knows who to blame in this instance but I want to point fingers. I want answers.

WHITFIELD: Oh, no.

DRAKE: Not a good way to spend 90 minutes.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, we have a hit and we've got a miss in your view.

DRAKE: Yes, very much so. 50/50 is so good it just makes everything else average out OK.

WHITFIELD: OK. Grae Drake. Always good to see you. Thank you very much.

She is a tough critic. But she calls them like she sees them. Remember, you can get all of the movie grades at fandango and movies.com.

WHITFIELD: Alright, our viral videos today, there's one big theme, animals.

JAQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Animals.

WHITFIELD: Today, we have a lot of them. We have more for you. I know. It's hard to compete with that, right?

JERAS: It's hard to compete with animals and hard to compete with baby animals. Really cute.

WHITFIELD: Here we go. A Siberian tiger cub. Look at the cute little baby.

JERAS: My gosh.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. This is Bogden, one of the only white Siberian tiger on exhibit in Illinois particular. And there is proud mama or proud papa.

JERAS: Proud papa. Proud mama didn't make it, actually.

WHITFIELD: No way.

JERAS: Yes. After birth, they were with still born with this one and mama didn't make it. So, this is a very special tiger to them.

WHITFIELD: Tell me more.

JERAS: Yes. This is at Brown's Oakridge zoo here in Illinois, a non- profit organization for animal preservations. And you know it's tough to get Siberian tigers, very rare. And so there's some inbreeding and sometimes there are some issues. That's what happened there. How cute is this? People can touch this. You can make appointments to come and see it.

WHITFIELD: While it's young, while it's little. Because you should not, cannot, would not want to.

JERAS: What a cool opportunity.

WHITFIELD: I know. That's incredible. All right. Love it. OK. Well, you know what? We're going go from the cute and cuddly to something else that is making a whole lot of folks bristle.

We are talking Republican politics. And presidential primaries, the Republicans are not so happy in particular with the idea about Florida moving the date of its primary. We are going to have much more on this straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Alright, time for a CNN equals politics update. Florida has decided to bumped GOP rules and moved its primary date up to January 31st. That's wreaking havoc with the Republican primary calendar. Now Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and Detroit and have bound to move their nominating process ahead of Florida to protect their early voting status.

In his first New Hampshire town hall, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry did not feel a single question on his controversial immigration policies that have dogged him for weeks now. Instead the man who introduced the Texas governor provided a rousing endorsement of Perry's conservative track record on cracking down on illegal immigrants.

And when Perry's biggest rival Mitt Romney campaigns in South Carolina next week, Romney is expected to attend a fund-raising event for may consider to be one of South Carolina's most tea-party friendly elected officials. The cost to attend the event, $500 a couple.

Also, on the political radar, Sarah Palin calling Republican candidate Herman Cain, the flavor of the week. Cain joked about Palin's comments in on this "Jay Leno show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the fact that she called me flavor of the wee, if you look what just happened, that may be true with some people. But I have to believe that there's ice milk, and that's Haagen-Dazs's black walnut substance. That's the difference, OK?

(APPLAUSE)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And for the latest political news, you know exactly where to go to CNN politics.com. Alright, former president Bill Clinton is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his first bid for the White House this weekend. Events are being held in Little Rock, Arkansas. Clinton announced his candidacy there October 3, 1991 in the middle of his fifth term as governor.

And former president Jimmy Carter has two reasons to celebrate in Atlanta today. That's because it is his 87th birthday and the 25th anniversary of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. A film about the former president will also be screened and a brand new exhibit on the secret service is opening.

And you're about to see the coolest way to fly. I didn't say it was the fastest way, however to New Mexico and the world famous international balloon fiesta next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's a look at some other stories making news today. Three of Nelson Mandela's granddaughters are starring in a new reality show. The husband of one of the women says it could air here in January, but they're still in negotiations. The production company called the trio role models to women all over the world.

A Harvard study shows female coffee drinkers are less likely to suffer from depression. Researchers say their findings suggest what's called a protective effect. They think caffeine is associated with two brain chemicals linked to mood and depression.

And take a look at this. This should make you smile. A dozen baby pandas in China. These super cute newborns made their debut at a research center this week. When the center opened more than two decades ago, it only had six endangered pandas. And now there are more than 100.

And balloon lovers all over the world are actually in Albuquerque, New Mexico right now for the 40th annual balloon fiesta. Beautiful pictures right there. Just take a look at the screen and you can see why. There are events, shows, competitions all of that throughout the nine-day fiesta. In a couple hours the distance race for gas balloons is scheduled to begin. Pilots from five countries will see who can actually travel the furthest from Albuquerque. And trips of more than 1,000 miles have actually been documented before. Beautiful sight. Looks like a painting, doesn't it?

JERAS: Gorgeous.

WHITFIELD: I know. I like that. And then there's this - I know. This is kind of - oh, you're feeling for that runner there. My goodness. You know that water is cold.

JERAS: At least it's scary.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's very scary. And, my goodness, Jacqui huge waves along the city's fame north shore knocked down these joggers. You just see right there. Usually they think this is a wonderful scenic route to take. Not on this day. This was yesterday morning in fact. Chicago is known as the windy city, but people got warnings that the wind gusts going to be you know so potentially dangerous. Wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour that it would bring potential, again, get out the waves.

JERAS: Yes waves.

WHITFIELD: It brought the waves. It made the big waves.

JERAS: Ten to 16 feet.

WHITFIELD: I know. There they were huge. So, there they were crashing up on the causeway on lakeshore drive. They tried to you know block it off and tell people not to go on there. Apparently, they either they didn't listen or didn't get the message. But a lot of people got knocked over by those waves.

JERAS: So, you know that storm system is still out there, Fredricka. It's across parts of the northeast today. Our cold front is way offshore. You can see its way over here. But we have the upper low which is kind a lagging back behind. So things are good in Chicago today, albeit cold. The dreary wet weather is out of here. We are talking the "S" word by the way.

WHITFIELD: Sex. No?

JERAS: We're not the naughty one. Well yes, that's also a naughty one. We have snow out there across the mountains of West Virginia. Seen it in the mountains of North Carolina. A nice dusting here. This is a very cold core system. And there you can see a little bit of that pink. So, that's a bit of mixing. Ground temperatures are pretty warm, so most of us really aren't going to be sticky. And everything is fine, just wet across much of the big cities.

But we've got the freeze threat, too. Behind this system, where we have the clear skies, so overnight temperatures in the upper 20s to middle 30s. So be aware of that if you're trying to save plants or may be bring those pumpkins in and temperatures staying cool across the east tomorrow but very warm across the Rockies and the high plains.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. Fall is definitely here. We're feeling is.

JERAS: It is across the east.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much Jaqui. And I'll see you again tomorrow, yes?

JERAS: Yes. I'm here.

WHITFIELD: OK.

JERAS: All weekend long.

WHITFIELD: OK. Good. That's right. We will see you this evening as well. We have much more of the newsroom straight ahead. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Susan Hendricks is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)