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Beirut Bombing Killed 6, Wounded 70 Plus; Struggling with Unemployment; Dow Hits 50th Record Close; Power Outages to Continue Through Weekend; Moments that Got Women Talking
Aired December 27, 2013 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
A car bomb erupts and the massive blast reverberates all the way to Washington. The target of this attack in downtown Beirut, a key friend to the United States. Mohamad Chatah was Lebanon's former ambassador to the United States and more importantly echoed Washington's concerns in the region. He was a fierce critic of Syria's embattled president and the militant group Hezbollah, which the U.S. denounced as a terrorist group.
It's not yet clear who killed him, but the fears are ominous. His death threatens to bring instability to Lebanon as it grapples with Syria's civil war just across the border.
Mitchell Prothero is a journalist based in Beirut. He works for the McClatchy News Service covering Lebanon and Syria.
Tell us more, Mitchell.
MITCHELL PROTHERO, MCCLATCHY NEWS: Well, we're here at the bombing scene where investigators continue to comb through the wreckage of the convoy that was hit this morning as they were leaving a meeting of the Future Party Movement.
We've also gotten a statement in the last hour or so from the head of the Future Party, Saad Hariri, a former prime minister, where he accused the killers of his father who died in a similar car bomb in 2005 of conducting today's attack.
COSTELLO: Can you tell us about the casualty? Is the fire still burning? What does the scene look like?
PROTHERO: They were able to get the fires out relatively early. There was about a dozen vehicles on fire and a number of hotels and luxury buildings have all had their windows blown out.
Right now we've been told that six people have been killed and at least 70 have been wounded, although those figures are expected to rise throughout the course of the afternoon.
COSTELLO: All right. Mitchell Prothero of McClatchy News, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Help is on the way for an expedition ship stuck in the Antarctic sea ice for four days. Three icebreaking ships are headed to the stranded vessel including this Chinese ship that had to travel through a cyclone.
The ship's expedition leader says despite the circumstances, everyone on board had a great Christmas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS TURNEY, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES: The vessel is fine and safe. And everyone aboard is very well. Morale is really high and I don't know if you saw any of our YouTube (INAUDIBLE) Chris Turney (INAUDIBLE), but we got hit by heavy blizzard yesterday with wind speeds in excess of 70 kilometers an hour.
And fortunately, the winds have passed as the low-pressure system moves away. And a lot of pressure around the (INAUDIBLE) has eased back now as the winds have subsided.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Professor Turney says getting stuck actually gave the crew time to study life under the sea ice.
(LAUGHTER)
That's looking at the glass half full.
For millions of Americans it's one thing keeping them afloat in an uncertain economy, their unemployment insurance. And now, tomorrow, some of them will lose that money when those benefits expire.
CNN's Tory Dunnan spoke to one woman about her struggle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Mary Carrie, this is home sweet home.
MARY CARY, UNEMPLOYED: You'll see him big feet.
DUNNAN: At 53, she lost her job in June after 20 years as a medical biller. Now she's desperate.
(On camera): How many of these have you sent out?
CARY: Probably along between 300 and 400.
DUNNAN (voice-over): She's one of more than one million Americans receiving long-term emergency unemployment. Up to 99 weeks instead of 26.
CARY: We're asking for a helping hand so that we can get a job.
DUNNAN (on camera): And you're actively trying to? CARY: Every day. Probably 12 hours a day.
DUNNAN (voice-over): President Obama wanted lawmakers to extend them.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If members of Congress don't act before they leave on their vacations, 1.3 million Americans will lose this lifeline.
DUNNAN: They're set to expire December 28th.
CARY: I know I will survive. I know my son will survive. You know. No, I won't have this home that I've worked hard for for eight years, but I worry more about my animals because they didn't have a choice.
DUNNAN: In true Washington form, it's become a political debate.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: It's practically at the level as immoral to do to people who work hard, play by the rules, lose their job through no fault of their own.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they're paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers.
DUNNAN: Michael Strain is an economist at the conservative leaning American Enterprise Institute.
MICHAEL STRAIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: The problem with that logic is that while it may apply pretty well in a healthy economy, it doesn't apply as well in an economy that's still very weak.
DUNNAN: Strain says people on unemployment benefits generally stay unemployed longer. But in a recession, it's different.
STRAIN: If their benefits expire, they may conclude that their job search is just hopeless. They may just leave the labor force which means that they -- you know, some of them might end up on public assistance rolls.
DUNNAN: Something Mary Cary says she'll be forced to turn to.
CARY: Are you ready to see me on the street begging for food? You know? I know I'm not ready to. My life's not over. I might be -- have slowed down a bit, but I -- I can be a very contributing member of society.
DUNNAN (on camera): Mary Cary could be waiting weeks for benefits if she gets them at all. The House has gone home for the year and Senate leader Harry Reid says he won't take up any extension until after New Year's. And with Republican opposition, that's far from a sure thing.
Tory Dunnan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: President Obama taking a break during his Christmas vacation for a very good reason, to help avoid another government shutdown. The president signing into law the much-touted bipartisan budget deal which provides a framework for federal spending through 2015. That means Washington will be open for business for the next few years. The new budget also eases some of those automatic spending cuts.
We are less than 30 minutes away from the Opening Bell. The Dow looking at the 50th record open for the year. And it's on track for its best year since 2003. The S&P 500 which holds most of the stocks in your 401(k) is up nearly 30 percent.
But does flying so high just mean we have farther to fall? Are we at the point where a bubble is about to burst?
Alison Kosik is in New York to answer this question.
We're ready. Hit us.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK. Sit down for this one, Carol. You know, by most accounts, actually this rally is for real. And there is a huge amount of money that happens to be going into mutual funds now. In fact, money flowing into stock funds has reached an all-time high.
Investors stashed $346 billion this year into mutual funds and exchange traded funds that own stock. That's more than the $324 billion that investors put into these funds in all of 2000, which was the biggest annual inflow on record. So we've also seen some strength in the economy. Obviously, the economy is not exactly where we want it to be, but there is that strength.
That's giving investors confidence to put their money back into the market. You look at GDP. It's stronger than first thought. The jobs picture is getting better, although it's not quite where we'd like it to be. Car sales are solid.
There's another piece to this puzzle. It's been those easy money policies of the Fed, the Federal Reserve, which is now buying $75 billion of bond every month. And by most accounts, the Fed did a good job in conveying the fact that it was going to go ahead and cut back on its bond buying by $10 billion a month. So what you're seeing now at the end of the year is investors taking this news enthusiastically to say the least -- Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. So investors are taking this news enthusiastically and I don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but there's a new CNN poll out there that shows most people, 70 percent, don't feel the economy is getting better. What gives with that?
KOSIK: You know, there -- there's the continual disconnect that we talk about. And you know, a lot of that really has to do with jobs. You know, what's interesting is you look at the things that make people feel wealthy. Their house, the value of their house. Housing prices are going up. Your portfolio, how's your portfolio doing? Portfolios are probably doing pretty darn well right now but the problem is, not a lot of Americans, actually only about half of Americans, are invested in the stock market.
So there's half of the Americans out there aren't even invested. So they're not reaping the rewards. Then you look at the jobs picture, yes, we're adding jobs. But the problem is, these are mostly low wage jobs. So that doesn't make people feel very confident about where the economy is going -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So the bottom line is people have less money in their pocket these days even though they may have a job. They just don't have the money to invest in the stock market to celebrate with the rest of America. At least the -- you know, the top 10 percent or so.
KOSIK: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, that expendable income is being spent on necessities, you know, like food and medicine hopefully.
COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, thousands still without power after this week's deadly winter storms. And more bad weather could be on the way this afternoon.
Chad is in New York.
Hi.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol. Yes. You know what, warm air, then cold air, and all these people with no heat. I'll have to deal with a couple more days of no power, I'm afraid. Have that update for you coming up right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 13 minutes past the hour.
Connecticut State Police will release the final report on the Newtown shootings later today. The redacted report is several thousand pages long. It includes texts, photos, and 911 calls from last December's attack. Adam Lanza killed 27 people, 20 of them children, before committing suicide.
Have you had your flu shot yet? The flu season is kicking into high gear. And widespread infection rates have hit several states including New York, Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas.
Texas is reporting at least five deaths from h1n1. Also known as swine flu. You may remember the outbreak in 2009 that closed some schools and triggered widespread fears.
The "Duck Dynasty" controversy is writing a new chapter on social media. As you can see on this new Facebook page, fans of the reality show are encouraged to wear camouflage clothing and eat at Chick-Fil-A next month. Notice the spelling has been altered to P-H-I-L, as in you know, Phil Robertson. The show's star who was suspended for those controversial remarks on gay rights. The same issue had drawn criticism of Chick-Fil-A. Day four of no power and no heat for hundreds of thousands in the northern United States and Canada. This week's snow and ice storm sent tree branches crashing into power lines and slowed down crews trying to restore power.
At least 19 people have died. Some from carbon monoxide poisoning from running those generators.
CNN's Chad Myers has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Talk about another blow. Hundreds of thousands of residents in the northern tier of the country are still waking up with no power. This as another blast of arctic air is on the way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was tough. I mean, it was dark, candles can only do much. I mean, the fire, you've got to keep that going. That's our only option.
MYERS: This morning, people in Pennsylvania are recovering from multiple mass casualty pileups on state highways. As the dramatic scenes unfolded Thursday, first responders rescued more than 40 people injured, transporting a couple dozen to area hospitals.
More snow is expected from Michigan to Maine. This comes as a blow to power crews who have been rapidly working again the ice and below freezing temperatures to try to restore power to some of those left in the dark since last weekend.
Crews have finally been able to fire up their electrical grids, but are warning some people won't have power until at least the end of the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been challenging.
MYERS: Crews even sacrificing their Christmas to restore the city's power. After being hit by what Bangor Hydroelectric Company is calling the most damaging ice storm in Maine since 1998.
GAIL RICE, CENTRAL MAINE POWER SPOKESPERSON: This is probably the worst time of year to have something like this happen.
MYERS: This Portland Inn even opened on Christmas day to feed the crews racing to bring back power. And up in Canada, another cold weekend is in store. Leaving citizens in Toronto icy cold.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The trees are still down. Like the power lines are still down. Nobody's been to our street to fix anything.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Let's bring in Chad Myers. I feel so sorry for those people. It's going to be 55 degrees here in Atlanta. I just -- wish I could make the weather, you know, rise up. MYERS: What's the longest you've ever been without power?
COSTELLO: Probably only, like, a couple of days -- like two -- I can't imagine being without power for --
MYERS: Exactly. Right. I think my biggest power outage was like two hours. It was a tragedy, oh, my ice cream's going to melt.
COSTELLO: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: You know, could you imagine four days, Carol, with just no temperatures in the area above 32, morning lows down to about zero. And you have no heat. You have no heat because the furnace won't turn on. The furnace won't turn on because the gas when it comes on, it won't get blown by the blower. And then all of a sudden, the little heat furnace in there gets too hot, and your furnace turns off because the blower doesn't run.
That's always a problem when you don't have power. And people try to turn on their gas furnace, and that doesn't work. They try to turn on the gas stove. It does work, but it also puts carbon monoxide in your house, and you really can't do that. Go to a warming center, try to find a cheap hotel or obviously just friends.
Here's the next storm system. Mostly a rain event moving up the East Coast for Saturday into Sunday. And Toronto, it does warm up. Look at this -- and we're talking about Toronto, talking about Flint, Michigan, up into Maine. Temperatures will get above 32.
What happens when a tree that should be standing up right now is like this because there's ice and then the ice melts and falls off. It snaps back up, knocks the power lines off the other direction, and then the ice falls on you. So be careful, you know we don't want people hit by this stuff.
When I was a kid growing up in Buffalo, icicles were falling off buildings like big spears falling off these things.
Minneapolis, by Sunday back to zero. It gets cold. So hopefully the power gets back up by the end of this weekend -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I Hope so. Yes, like happy new year, everyone. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, from Miley Cyrus' twerk fest at the Video Music Awards to Cheryl Sandberg telling us all to lean in, we've got the moments that got women talking in 2013, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Oxford dictionary may have proclaimed selfy as the word of the year. But we're pretty sure twerking gave it a run for its money. Earlier, I sat down with CNN correspondent Kelly Wallace and asked about the incredible year Miley Cyrus has been having, as well as some of other stories that got women talking in 2013.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Kelly, I guess the number one person might have been, oh, Miley Cyrus.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You think, right? Hello? I didn't -- I have to admit I didn't quite know what twerking was until the VMAs. I know. What an outrage. But this story got people so worked up for so many reasons including, you know, girls and women because many people look at Miley Cyrus -- hello, she used to be Hannah Montana only a few years ago.
And you had a lot of women and men around the country saying, is she really the best role model for our kids, right? What she's doing now. On the flipside of that, you have people saying, you know, this is the entertainment industry. Right? She's only doing what the entertainment industry kid of requires in a way. People are buying her records and watching her videos. And she's just doing in some ways what it takes to get noticed. But it was provocative and continues to be as we enter the end of the year.
COSTELLO: Well, hey, she's going on a global tour.
WALLACE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Her album is -- is a best seller, right? People are talking about her. You know, the kind of yuckiest part about this story to me -- her mother is her manager.
WALLACE: I know.
COSTELLO: And --
WALLACE: I know. And you know, we don't know. Like what's always hard about these stories, I don't know Miley Cyrus. Right? We don't know what goes on behind closed doors. But I know if Miley were my 20-something daughter, I don't know that I would be so comfortable in so many ways especially in terms of female and power men and really trying to put her best, you know, image forward.
So many people online were saying they think that there should be more parental discussion and maybe parental supervision going on behind the scenes.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: You know what?
WALLACE: But again we just don't know.
COSTELLO: She's 20 years old, she's a grown woman. She's powerful in her own right. She's a very wealthy person. So hey, maybe in the end more power to her, right?
WALLACE: Exactly. Right. Right.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo. She got this big "Vogue" write-up, but everybody wanted to talk about how she was lying on a chaise lounge in this dress.
WALLACE: I know. Right. And in this Michael Kors beautiful outfit, her stiletto heels. Again, this one, I always kind of -- you know, I know it's coming, but I'm always a little surprised because people are like, whoa, you're supposed to be appreciated for your smarts, you're CEO and you're tech savvy, and here you are, you know, posing in a sexy and seductive way.
And a lot of women were saying well, can't we be smart and sexy and beautiful? Why does it have to be one thing but other women are saying, you know what, we want to make sure that we're appreciated for our brains and our talents. And when you do something like that, maybe it gets in the way.
They say, how often do you see a male CEO, right, posing in a sexy way on the cover of "Men's Health" or something like that. So when we see that, maybe we have reached equality -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well --
(LAUGHTER)
That's something that always bugs me. There are so many articles written about women who hit the age of 50.
WALLACE: Yes.
COSTELLO: And supposedly you can still be sexy -- and you can be. But why do you have to be sexy your entire life? When does that end? Why -- why can't you just be smart or cute?
WALLACE: Right. Right.
COSTELLO: Why do women have to be sexy as long as they live?
WALLACE: I am with you eight million percent. Right? I agree. And also what I think, Carol, you know this, too. Sometimes women are the worst on other women. Right? So we have this pressure to look a certain way and be sexy through our 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s. Obviously it comes from magazines and culture, "Pop Culture" et cetera, but we often judge other women, right?
And we put pressure on each other when I think -- I truly believe the most beautiful women, really, are the women that age gracefully.
COSTELLO: I agree.
WALLACE: Spoken from a woman who's aging, I don't know gracefully, but she's aging.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Me, too. I'm not doing nothing. Too much work.
OK. Let's move on to another topic. Sticking with the ladies of technology, shall we, Sheryl Sandberg. She pushed women to lean in in her new book, but that came with controversy.
WALLACE: It did, and you know, she had this book and this movement encouraging women to do more to get ahead. And the controversy really was from women saying, wait a second, Sheryl Sandberg, are you blaming us? Are you saying we aren't doing enough? We need to do more, we are the reason we haven't broken through the glass ceiling, and I think, look, I read the book and I loved it. And I was actually looking for a job during that time.
And I constantly write when I have my interviews, lean in, lean in, because it spoke personally to me about being assertive, you know, going for it. And I think some of the criticism -- you know, everyone has their own view about that but it got a little lost because in some ways I think it was a personally empowering book to some about how can we all do a little bit more to get what we want professionally and personally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: I could talk to that Kelly Wallace all day. Thanks so much.
For more stories about family, career, and life, you can head to Kelly Wallace's page on CNNliving. It's terrific.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Pope as a political ally? That could be the goal for President Obama as he works to shrink the income gap in the United States. We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, markets up. But America's not buying. What's it going to take for the middle class to warm up to stocks?
Plus, the president and the Pope. One is lagging in the polls. The other a rock star. So what can President Obama learn from Pope Francis?
And piranha attack. Swimmers losing fingers. The ferocious fish and the terrifying torrent of teeth.
NEWSROOM continues now.
And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Here are this morning's top stories.
No claim of responsibility yet to the Beirut car bombing that killed six people and wounded dozens. Among the dead and the apparent target, a key friend to the United States. Mohamad Chatah was Lebanon's former ambassador to the U.S. and he shared Washington's concerns in the region. He was a staunch critic of Syria's president and the Islamic terror group Hezbollah.
Some people in Fresno, California, ran for their lives last night as a small plane came down in their neighborhood. The Cessna crashed into a front yard. The pilot and a 9-year-old boy on board the plane were killed. No one on the ground was hurt. Firefighters believe the plane hit a tree and stalled. And the pilot was unable to recover.
There they rang the bell. Well, we have another record-breaking day on Wall Street. On Thursday, the Dow closed at an all-time high. That's the 50th record set this year. Stock futures were lower before the Opening Bell.
