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Gabby Giffords Resigning From Congress; Joe Paterno Dead At 85; New Audio Of Cruise Ship Captain; Nigerian City On Edge; Gingrich: South Carolina "Decided To Be With Us"; Next Stop For GOP Contenders: Florida; Chinese New Year: Year Of The Dragon; Oprah Goes To Literary Festival In India; Chocolate And Child Slavery; Georgia Storm Downs Powerlines, Trees; Kodak Files For Bankruptcy Protection; Online Shoe Retailer Zappos Hacked; Forecast For Key Interest Rate

Aired January 22, 2012 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news out of Washington, Representative Gabby Giffords announced just moments ago that she is resigning from her House seat. She made the announcement on YouTube.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE GIFFORDS (D), ARIZONA: I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's bring in from Washington, Athena Jones. You've been watching this. Any reaction thus far in Washington?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We've gotten swift reaction already. We have a statement from Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Pelosi's office that says, I join all my colleagues in Congress in thanking Gabby for the honor of calling her a colleague and wishing Gabby and Mark great success and happiness.

And so we, of course, expect to see more a lot more reaction as the day goes on. But as you saw in that video it's about two minutes long, posted on her web site, much of it is a thank you to her constituents and to her supporters.

We see a lot of images of Arizona. We see pictures of Gabby Giffords from when she was a congresswoman before this horrible accident, this horrible incident at the supermarket last year, January 8th, 2011.

The mass shooting that left six dead and 12 others wounded. So she wants to thank her constituents, says she is stepping down to do what's right for Arizona. We haven't seen all that much of Congresswoman Giffords in the last year.

We know it was a traumatic brain injury and she's taking a long time to recover. Still has some weakness on her right side. W saw in that video that she has some trouble speaking still. Speaks haltingly and walks with some trouble as well.

And so the whole idea of the video as you can see, the message in it is to thank her supporters. She also urges people to work together on issues like creating jobs and border security and others.

WHITFIELD: All right, Athena Jones, keep us posted on that. Thanks so much.

JONES: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: And we're also following the loss of a college football legend. Former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno is dead. Students, alumni and supporters are paying their respects at his statute outside Beaver Stadium today.

They're leaving their flowers, touching the statutes, outreached hand there. As well you see a lot of tears. Susan Candiotti is there as well. Susan, what are people telling you?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're very sad, of course, about the passing of Joe Paterno. Someone they called "Joe Pa" because he's like a father figure here on campus.

The heart and soul many people have said over the years of Penn State. Fredricka, there's been a long line of cars through campus, coming from the area, through town, as people want to use this as a gathering place to pay their respects.

Some people coming by foot. There's an elderly man in a wheelchair who just arrived, someone pushing him here so that he could place a bouquet of flowers at the statute of Joe Paterno.

Of course, everyone also has in mind the wonderful legacy that they enjoy of him and honor him over the years. But there is also that tinge of scandal, the Penn State scandal that unfortunately, has also become part of his legacy.

But people here are willing to talk about it and want to discuss that when they talk about honoring Joe Paterno. I spoke with a couple.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's more than a coach. His family is more than a family. They're, aside from all that's happened, this is different. It's all the people that have come to pay respects to him and it's Joe was Penn State. He made Penn State.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're still going to love him no matter what anybody else said. It wasn't Joe's fault. We're still going to love Joe Paterno forever and ever period because we are Penn State.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Condolences have been coming in from across the country including from former President George Herbert Walker Bush and also Pennsylvania's attorney general, who is leading the prosecution of accused child molester and rapist Jerry Sandusky, Paterno's former assistance coach here.

Linda Kelly, the attorney general, states in part, quote, "The Paterno family is in our thoughts and prayers as they mourn the loss of a beloved husband and father." She goes on to say, "few people have influenced the lives of so many others in the way Joe Paterno was able to."

Now, the family, of course, has -- was at his bedside when he passed away. He died of complications from lung cancer and currently the university says they are trying to put together plans for a tribute here.

Those plans have not yet been formulated nor do we know the specifics of his funeral plans just yet -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Susan Candiotti, thanks so much for that live report.

So Paterno's history with Penn State dates back more than 60 years. He was named assistant coach back in 1950 and he became head coach in 1966. Over the course of his career, he logged 409 wins, more than any other Division 1 coach in college took history.

Under his leadership, the team won two national championships in 1982 and '86. Paterno was fired last year amid child sex allegations against his assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

In Italy, another body has been found in the ship wrecked cruise liner off the coast of Tuscany. Search and rescue teams located the body of a woman. The discovery raises the death toll to 13.

There's also new audio surfacing today of the ship's captain who is blamed for last weekend's disaster. He's talking to the coast guard as the disaster plays out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I just went out on the deck to see if we were leaning towards the mountain to see what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Please hang on a second, Captain, one question, everybody will abandon ship or somebody will remain on board?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I will stay here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Will it be just you or somebody else will remain on the ship?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think it will be just me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: At least 20 people are still missing. A northern Nigerian city targeted by bombs and gunfire is on edge today after blasts killed at least 157 people. Police headquarters and other government buildings were destroyed in the attacks. Nigeria's president toured the damage today.

Turning to politics now, today, Newt Gingrich is celebrating his win in South Carolina's presidential primary and promising a battle for the Republican nomination in Florida later on this month.

Here's breakdown of what happened in South Carolina. Gingrich captured 40 percent of the vote easily beating Mitt Romney by 12 points. Santorum came in third, Ron Paul fourth, Gingrich appeared on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" today and talked about the challenge that he now faces in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think my job in Florida is to convince people that I am the one candidate who can clearly defeat Obama in a series of debates and the one candidate who has big enough solutions that they would really get America back on track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can hear the victory and concession speeches from South Carolina's primary on our special election coverage, "The Contenders" airing today at 4:00 Eastern Time.

So let's talk about the next stop for the 2012 primary contenders. Florida, for that, let's bring in Peter Hamby. He's joining us right now on the phone near Columbia, South Carolina.

So Peter, you know, how does Gingrich's South Carolina win influence the Florida race come January 31st?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (via telephone): It's enormous, Fredricka. We're still waiting for a good poll to come out to see what impact, what kind of balance he will get. CNN poll last week had Mitt Romney with a substantial lead in Florida.

But the race shifted so dramatically in the course of just 48 hours in South Carolina at the end. The Romney people thought just two days ago they were comfortable, they thought they would win South Carolina.

In the course of days, they went from that to, my god, we're going to lose South Carolina and we're going to lose it bad. So this is an extremely volatile race and Gingrich has the momentum.

It's a close Republican primary in Florida unlike New Hampshire, unlike South Carolina, so just the Republican base, which is really the kind of voters that Newt Gingrich won last night in South Carolina, those are the folks that are going to be going to the polls a week from Tuesday in Florida, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, Peter, Gingrich has the momentum, but will it be incumbent upon him as well as Mitt Romney and maybe Rick Santorum and Ron Paul all to kind of change their strategy or even their staffing as they head into Florida? It's a very different race from South Carolina?

HAMBY: Yes. You're absolutely right. South Carolina is a state that's a smaller state. Gingrich won the strength of his debates on television, not really any sort of measurable ground game, although he did have some organization in place.

Florida, you need a lot of money to run TV ads. Romney and his -- the "Super PAC" supporting Mitt Romney have already spent some $6 million or $7 million on television there. Probably need about $1.5 million a week to even stay competitive with "Super PACs" it changes the game completely.

So Gingrich really needs to kind of build up an organization and really get some TV ads on. The other thing for Mitt Romney however, he said he's already signalled he is changing strategy.

He said today that he's going to release his tax returns this week, after waffling on the issue all week, costing him badly in South Carolina, so he's sort of taking a different tack.

We'll see if he becomes a little bit loser because Gingrich is certainly under his skin and under the skin of the Romney campaign. Gingrich sort of dictating the terms of the race right now, so we'll have to see how Mitt Romney reacts to that.

WHITFIELD: All right.

HAMBY: -- this week. There's two more debates coming up as well.

WHITFIELD: That's right. This week, two more debates. Possibly Mitt Romney releasing the tax returns on Tuesday, big week, and then on Tuesday we know it's the president of the United States "State of the Union" address so all of these things potentially impacting this 2012 election.

Thanks so much, appreciate that. Peter Hamby in Columbia, South Carolina. Next, we're going to be checking your international headlines including how one of the most important holidays in China will be celebrated this year.

Plus, a special CNN Freedom Project uncovers the use of children in West Africa to harvest your guilty pleasure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking international headlines now.

We start in China. The Chinese New Year starts tomorrow, but celebrations are already under way around the world. China says good- bye to the Year of the Rabbit and hello to the Year of Dragon, which symbolizes courage and prosperity.

And Oprah Winfrey is visiting India. She was greeted by a large crowd at a literary festival there. She says the trip is the greatest experience she's ever had. Winfrey says she plans to interview author Depoc Chopra while she's there.

Imagine supporting child slavery and not being aware that you're doing it. You could be doing just that when you eat chocolate. The U.S. State Department says more than 100,000 children are involved in the worst forms of child labor in Africa. CNN's Richard Quest has the disturbing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNNI'S "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" (voice-over): There is a dark connection between the chocolate we enjoy and the child slavery in West Africa. Researchers have documented disturbing signs of forced labor and trafficking.

Children held against their will, many never paid. Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa. The U.S. State Department estimates there are more than 100,000 children involved in the worst forms of child labor on cocoa farms throughout the country.

JUDY GEARHART, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FORUM: This is trafficking. A child being trafficked, a child being forced to work, it doesn't get worse than that. I don't think it's -- it can't be just about are there enough of them. It's a serious abuse.

QUEST: According to an industry-wide agreement, signed on September 19th, 2001, this should not be the case. The Harken-Angle protocol was written to put an end to forced child labor in chocolate by 2005. That deadline had to be extended to 2008 and again to 2010. It's now been more than 10 years.

SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D), IOWA: If these companies aren't willing to come forward and work with us and put some more money forward to get these kids out of the cocoa fields, I think they may face a really big backlash.

QUEST: Kevin Bales with "Free the Slaves" signed the protocol in 2001 along with leading companies in the cocoa markets.

KEVIN BALES, "FREE THE SLAVES": I am disappointed and to a large part it's a resource question. It's all about the fact that while several million dollars a year are moving from the chocolate industry to work on the ground in West Africa, it's simply not enough to meet the size of the problem.

QUEST: CNN has spoken to the top chocolate and cocoa companies, inviting them to be on our air. They either declined or did not respond.

Those that did passed us along to the International Cocoa Initiative. The ICI was set up by the protocol to bring all parties together to address the worst forms of child labor in the supply chain.

JOANNA SCOTT, SPOKESWOMAN FOR COCOA AND CHOCOLATE COMPANIES: The progress isn't enough and that's why we've joined force with other partners to this new framework of action and we have -- we really believe we have to accelerate action, we have to do more, and we have a very challenging goal we're all supporting.

QUEST: The goal now is to reduce the worst forms of child labor within the next eight years, by 70 percent. However, the International Labor Rights Forum sees flaws within the cocoa initiative.

GEARHART: The idea that companies can join an initiative and sit behind that initiative I don't think answers the real question. It's not the same as getting companies to step forward and transparently say this is what we are doing.

QUEST: Richard Quest, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Just ahead, cleaning up from nasty storms while more severe weather takes shape. Jacqui Jeras will tell us where.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at some pretty wild weather criss-crossing the country, parts of the south and east coasts are cleaning up after storms. People in Boston have a lot of shovelling to do.

A winter storm dumped several inches of snow across the region and in Georgia, a nasty storm, a rainstorm, swept through yesterday leaving a lot of damage behind there, including several downed trees and power lines.

Jacqui Jeras is here. Boy, Jacqui, something tells me there's more on the horizon.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: What an insane day we're going to have here, Fredricka, as we head into the evening hours especially. A lot of different weather elements that we're tracking from the west coast to the east coast.

And one of our greatest concerns is the threat of severe thunderstorms. These are going to be developing especially after it gets dark and that's what makes this a particularly dangerous situation because people aren't going to be able to see them, they will be going to bed and this will be ongoing through the overnight hours.

This is the storm that pounded the west two days ago and made its way to the nation's mid section and as it does that, it's going to be picking up moisture and warmth from the Gulf of Mexico, some very dry, windy conditions on the west side of this.

We have dust storm warnings across Texas and on up into Oklahoma. On the northern edge of this, we have enough cold air in place that we're getting snow in the Dakotas. As it heads up towards Minnesota, Iowa, parts of Wisconsin and Illinois some of the cold air will ride the cold air so we'll get some light freezing rain. You know what that does to the roadways late tonight, may linger into tomorrow morning. This is the moderate risk area then for severe thunderstorms, including tornadoes that could stay on the ground for a long period of time and do damage.

We're looking at eastern parts of Arkansas, Northern Mississippi, parts of Alabama, western Kentucky, South Western Indiana as well as into Illinois and the boot hill of Missouri. The farther north the greatest risk will be for damaging winds.

The farther south down here in the big bullet is where we expect to see the risk of rotation. Out west, another storm moving in for tonight and through tomorrow.

And look at this through the state of Washington from our I-Reporter Melissa, Fredricka, they already have hundreds of thousands of people without power and with more winds arriving today, not a good situation there.

WHITFIELD: Not at all. All right, thanks so much, Jacqui.

So next, an American icon that helped capture a lifetime of memories becomes a fading business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An American icon is in financial trouble and the group that determines your credit card percentage rate, is meeting this week. Our money team is all over it. Let's start with Felicia Taylor in New York.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Those Kodak moments we know so well are taking a pause as Kodak files for bankruptcy protection this past week.

The company that began in 188 is struggling to move into the digital age and holds $7 billion in debt. A lifeline from Citigroup will keep Kodak running at least for now.

Security troubles at zappos.com. The shoe retailer says it's been hacked putting shoppers' personal information at risk. Zappos is forcing its 24 million customers to reset their passwords. Poppy Harlow has a look at what's coming up next in business news -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Thanks so much, Felicia. Well, big changes at the Federal Reserve next week. Policymakers will clearly lay out a forecast for the fed's key interest rate for the next few years.

That rate as you well know has been at a record low level since 2008. The forecast will be released on Wednesday following the fed's regularly scheduled monetary policy meeting.

Also ahead Wall Street will gets first look at fourth quarter GDP. Some analysts are expecting growth upwards of 3 percent. That would be good news because in the third quarter, the U.S. economy grew at a 1.8 percent annual pace.

We'll track it all for you all week and a slew of corporate earnings reports coming up on CNN Money. Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: Look at our top stories right now, the Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head last year, is stepping down. Gabby Giffords released her statement in a video message today online. In that message, Giffords says she has a lot of work to do on her recovery.

And Penn State students, alumni and other supporters are mourning the death of legendary coach Joe Paterno. He was the most successful coach in major college football history.

But his career ended in November amid allegations he didn't do enough to respond to sex accusations involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

And Yemen's president will come to the U.S. for medical treatment, but a Yemeni official said President Ali Abdullah Saleh will stop at a neighboring country first.

Yesterday, Yemen's parliament gave him immunity from prosecution over the deaths of government protesters in exchange he agreed to step down after three years. Saleh was injured in an attack on his presidential palace back in June.

And I'll be back in one hour from now to look ahead at Florida's diverse voter population. Which candidate might have the advantage in the sunshine state? And how the president's "State of the Union Address" might impact the 2012 presidential race?

Stay tuned. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "YOUR MONEY" starts right after this.

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