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Two Terror Strikes before Russian Olympics; How to Save Money Next Year; An Up-close Look at Antarctica's Thick Ice; New Rules for Vending Machines; Robin Roberts Reveals Longtime Girlfriend

Aired December 30, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Kyra Phillips, in for Carol Costello today.

Well, for the second time in two days terrorists have struck in Russia sending an ominous message just weeks before the Winter Olympics there. At least 14 people died when a bomb exploded aboard this trolley bus during this morning's rush hour. And just yesterday commuters were targeted in this bombing that killed 17 people inside the main train station in Volgograd, the city once known as Stalingrad.

It's more than 400 miles from Sochi where the Winter Olympics will be held in less than six weeks. But because Volgograd is a major rail hub, travelers from Moscow and central Russia will travel through on the way to Sochi.

CNN's Diana Magnay is in Moscow. So Diana, have there been any claims of responsibility?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

No, not yet. But authorities are telling us that they do believe that the two attacks are linked because if you look at the explosives themselves apparently the shrapnel which they both included was identical. And it is quite possible that the attackers like so many others who since 2000 have launched terrorist attacks on Russian soil come from Russia's troubled north Caucasus region.

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MAGNAY (voice over): Two deadly terror attacks in the southern Russian city of Volgograd in less than 24 hours. This morning's attack on a crowded trolley bus in morning rush hour more than a dozen killed. Authorities say the blast the work of a suicide bomber, possibly detonating his device towards the back end of the bus where the damage seems worse. Many onboard were students. This is exam time in Russia. Among the injured, a baby in serious condition.

This follows another attack at noon on Sunday in Volgograd's main railway station, the moment of the explosion caught on surveillance video; 17 people were killed in that blast; authorities saying that was also the work of a suicide bomber. These attacks come less than six weeks before the start of the winter games in Sochi which is around 400 miles southwest of Volgograd. Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, has vowed the highest possible security around the games themselves in the town of Sochi.

But it is clearly hard to police the whole of southern Russia to the same level. Russia is fighting an Islamist insurgency in the north Caucasus not far from Sochi. In July Russia's most wanted man Dokka Umarov, a Chechen extremist and leader of an Islamist faction in the north Caucasus threatened to unleash quote, "Maximum force to prevent the game from happening."

The U.S. State Department has a $5 million reward out for Umarov. Former intelligence officials believe further attacks are kindly possible.

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think if we don't see one an attempt on the Olympics I would be surprised.

MAGNAY: Even if the high security around Sochi means terrorists may not be able to strike there, they're proving themselves more than capable of spreading maximum fear ahead of the games themselves targeting other cities in the region with deadly results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MAGNAY: And Kyra, Russian officials say they're not going to change their security measures around Sochi as a result of these attacks, that they are high enough; they've got things like fan IDs that they'll be distributing to everybody and there are some very stringent security checks that will be going on there.

The head of the International Olympic Committee has written a letter to the president of this country expressing his condolences but also saying that he was confident that authorities here could deliver a safe and secure games.

But if the terrorists point is to spread fear ahead of those games, then that is certainly what they have done and also just around a key Russian holiday, New Year -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Diana Magnay in Moscow -- thanks so much.

Well two top House intelligence officials are taking issue with a new report that says that al Qaeda was not behind the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Four Americans including the U.S. ambassador as you may remember were killed in that attack.

Now a "New York Times" report says the attack was likely carried out by independent Libyan militias and that those fighters were infuriated by a movie called "Innocence of Muslims". But the "Times" report also questions the early claims from the White House.

CNN's Jill Dougherty at the State Department with more -- Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, Republicans are firing back at that "New York Times" report continuing to claim that the Obama administration lied to the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY (voice over): The "New York Times" investigation calls into question claims made by both Republicans and the White House about what happened in Libya on September 11th a year ago.

The newspaper finds fault with the Republican case saying there's no evidence that al Qaeda had any role, that the local militias and looters were to blame. That an anti-Muslim video did play a role motivating the attackers at least in part. And that the attack was not meticulously planned but neither was it spontaneous nor without warning signs."

A top Republican insists the intelligence shows al Qaeda was involved.

REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE: There was aspiration to conduct an attack by al Qaeda and their affiliates in Libya. We know that. The individuals on the ground talked about a planned, tactical movement on the compound.

DOUGHERTY: The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee agrees but says it's a complex picture.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The intelligence indicates that al Qaeda was involved, but there were also plenty of people and militias that were unaffiliated with al Qaeda that were involved.

DOUGHERTY: "The Times" also says, however, it was not a copycat of street protests in Egypt against the American made anti-Muslim video as then U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice suggested on Sunday talk shows.

SUSAN RICE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Our current assessment is that what happened in Benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo.

DOUGHERTY: The Obama White House isn't commenting or disputing "The Times" report which notably does not mention then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: What difference at this point does it make?

DOUGHERTY: The former White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor blasted Republican demands for Benghazi hearings and for their claims that the Obama administration was lying, tweeting "they were wrong". And "we could have avoided months of disgusting demagoguery."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: And this report uses the word "murky" and that is important, Kyra, because really in essence what they are saying is it's not a black and white picture. It's not totally what the Republicans said and it's not totally what the White House said. So as you can predict there is going to continue to be debate and a lot of controversy about this.

PHILLIPS: And we'll be talking about it. Jill Dougherty, thanks so much.

Still to come New Year's resolutions on everyone's list. After the break a few tips on getting your financial house in order for the New Year.

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PHILLIPS: Well, 2013 is coming to a close. The Christmas decorations are coming down, everyone is making a list on what they want to achieve or do better in 2014.

How about your finances? I bet that's on your list. There are a few things that you can do right now actually to make sure you start out the next year on solid financial footing.

Joining me with some good money saving tips, Monica she's the managing principal at Seventh Capital Investment. All right give them to us.

MONICA MEHTA, MANAGING PRINCIPAL AT SEVENTH CAPITAL INVESTMENT: All right.

So as you mentioned, some of the best things you can do for next year are right now before the ball drops. And it starts with exhausting that flex spending account. Now these are the tax oriented health savings accounts that we set up and they're use it or lose it, meaning if you have met any money sitting in there, you want to use it now because it will be gone by the end of the week.

And you can use it very simply by just visiting your -- and getting new eyeglasses, and you're sunglasses or even getting that last teeth cleaning in. So that's one thing that can save you a lot of cash right now.

And the second is taking advantage of the American opportunity tax credit. Now this is a big one for those that are in college or parents that are paying for kids and undergrads. Now this is a very special deduction because unlike other deductions this comes as a refund so the first $2,000 that you spend on college comes right back to you even if you're not paying taxes. And the next $2,000 comes back up to 25 percent. So this is an excellent credit to make sure that you use.

The third is to make sure that you're making any kind of big purchases now; if you've got an engagement ring that you're planning to buy or a new car, you can still deduct sales tax in 2013. But by January, that very big deduction is going away. Now that's a very important deduction for those who live in low tax or no tax states so you want to make sure you take advantage of that one.

Finally with the stock market as high as it is, you want to harvest tax losses. That means you don't want to just sell the winners, you want to sell some of the losers so you can offset some of those gains. Now capital gains rates are going up and there's brand-new taxes for higher income Americans so it's very important to think about not only the losers but the winners when you're thinking about stocks.

And you know, with charitable giving on everyone's mind, this is the time to clear out your closet, get rid of any old furniture and not only can you make the season a little bit brighter for somebody else, you can also get a nice little tax deduction for yourself.

And if you're thinking about giving cash, give stock instead because the wonderful thing about making stock donations is that you don't have to pay capital gains and you're getting the fair value of the market value of that stock. So that can be almost 20 percent higher than just making a cash donation today. So these are some savvy tips that can save you big bucks and you don't want to lose them.

PHILLIPS: Yes and you know Monica it's funny, your first one talks about exhaust your flex spending account.

MEHTA: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Can I tell you every single year my husband forgets that he has money in that flex spending account and he's always so excited with either a dentist appointment, a new pair of glasses, exactly what you mentioned. A lot of folks they put that money away right for the advantage and then completely forget about it.

MEHTA: And then they forget about it and especially the men. So stay on top of your husbands everyone.

PHILLIPS: There you go. Take advantage of that money. You don't want to lose it. Monica thanks so much.

MEHTA: Yes. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well still to come, starting next year new rules will require vending machines to display calorie counts. But will that really stop us from grabbing those cookies or chips when we're starving? We're talking about that next.

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PHILLIPS: A new mission is in the works to rescue people stuck on tat research ship in the Antarctic. A Chinese helicopter will now airlift 52 passengers and four crew members from the ship when the weather is better. That announcement follows another attempt by an icebreaker ship to reach the vessel. An Australian icebreaker actually turned around earlier today due to the horrible weather.

I've had a chance firsthand to see how thick that ice is and how unforgiving the weather can be in Antarctica. It was a decade ago -- I actually traveled to the South Pole for my documentary "Harsh Continent". And watching the U.S. Coast Guard cut through that ice really gives you an idea of just how difficult a rescue like this is.

Here is part of my journey.

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PHILLIPS (voice-over): Life at McMurdo Station relies on the constant flow of supplies to its open harbor, a big challenge in a place where the ocean can freeze almost instantly. Pack ice like this kept explorers away from Antarctica for centuries. Wooden ships were crushed by the relentless moving ice.

Today, the U.S. Coast Guard breaks pack ice every season in specialized ships like the Polar Sea. This is breaking the ice, cutting a 56-mile channel for supply ships to bring in fuel and food, two of the most crucial supplies for winter survival.

Commander Steve Wheeler is executive officer of the Polar Sea.

CMDR. STEVE WHEELER, POLAR SEA: This is called Scott (inaudible). And we've got the channel over here and what we want to do is run a parallel track and shave off big chunks of ice between us and the channel. Then, next year when we come down and have to break the channel, it's all first year ice, which is much, much easier to break. This stuff is second year. We've already gotten rid of all the first year ice.

The older ice is, the harder it is. All the salts and dirt and whatnot leeches out of it and the stuff becomes rock hard.

PHILLIPS (on camera): How thick is this ice, Commander?

WHEELER: About six foot out here. You know every once in a while you get an eight-foot chunk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the stranding of the research ship comes on the heels of newly discovered photos of another Antarctica voyage. We saw these this morning -- we had to show you.

This one happened almost 100 years ago, though. The negatives spent nearly a century in an expedition hut belonging to Captain Robert Falcon Scott. In 1912 he set out to reach the South Pole, and he did. However, Scott died on his return home. Several years later another group of explorers snapped these pictures when they stayed in Scott's abandoned hut after their ship blew out to sea.

It's pretty amazing the things that are there frozen in time and then we get to look back and actually see history from 100 years ago.

We all know how tempting vending machines can be, right? The next time you pick up that quick snack, you might, well, you might get more than just a sweet treat. Starting next year an estimated five million vending machines will be required to display calorie information. The new rules are actually part of Obamacare.

But here's the question. Will it really work, and how much is it going to cost?

CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us from New York. That's the big question.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Is it going to be worth the money, Christine?

ROMANS: It's going to be more information for you, and this is part of Obamacare. It's also part of sort of a wellness initiative. Wellness initiative in Obamacare to let you know how much -- how many calories are in these items. Vending machines are usually impulse purchases or desperation purchases -- right. You often don't read the labels but you'll be able to see the calorie counts right away.

For example, take Lays potato chips -- almost always in our vending machine here -- 240 calories. Skittles -- 250 calories. Snickers I've been known to eat several of those a week -- 250 calories each.

Kyra, maybe you will make different choices. Maybe you would choose baked Lays, for example, if you could see right there that it's fewer calories. Maybe you would choose Fig Newtons, less than 200 calories and there's some fiber in there. Planter's Peanuts, 160 calories and more protein. So that's sort of the idea here.

The FDA says that if you can see these calories, you can make these choices, this is something that would be good for consumers. Now it's not necessarily going to be good for very small businesses with very tight margins, right? We're going to have to pay for it. The FDA expects it's going to be about more than $25 million to make this changeover for this industry.

That would be the cost of the vendors. And the Trade Association for Vendors says the very small companies -- it will be difficult for them to eat up that cost.

But, you know, the FDA makes its point. They say that even if 0.2 percent of obese people ate 100 fewer calories every week you would more than offset that cost to society, that $24 million a year cost to society. Even just a very small portion of obese Americans ate just a few fewer calories a week it would make a difference to the cost of health care on society -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: That's interesting. Because you point out, it's true, how many times have we gone to the vending machine because we're desperate. It's out of desperation. If I were to see, OK, what's the healthiest choice within my desperation, I definitely would go to the healthier choice and not snack --

ROMANS: I'm always going to go for the Snickers. I'm going to be real honest with you. I'm always going to go for the Snickers and here is why. Because if I'm eating out of the vending machine, it means I've lost all self-control. I'm working for a 13-hour day. I'm very, very hungry and I can't get to the lunch room. That's exactly why I've gone to the vending machine.

PHILLIPS: You're right.

ROMANS: It does influence behavior. You know, in New York they've been doing this since 2008 or 2009. The studies haven't shown that it overwhelmingly changes behavior. Some people do change their behavior. Some people don't.

PHILLIPS: So I'll take a bite of your Snicker bar and you'll have a bite of my Granola bar. There we go. Christine, great to see you.

ROMANS: You too.

PHILLIPS: All right. NEWSROOM is back in just a moment.

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PHILLIPS: For the first time ABC anchor Robin Roberts is sharing with fans something that her friends and family have known for a long time. She's gay. In an end of the year message posted on her Facebook page Roberts thanked her longtime girlfriend for all her support. Roberts returned to "Good Morning America" this year after undergoing a bone marrow transplant for a rare blood disorder.

CNN's entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner is with us. So Nischelle, was it really a big surprise? I guess not to those that knew her well or know her well.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right, that she's a lesbian not as much of a surprise as the fact that she decided to announce it publicly -- Kyra. You know, Robin is a really private person. She did make this announcement but in a subtle way. She did it on her Facebook page.

Here is a little bit of what she wrote on the page. She said, quote, "I am grateful to God, my doctors and nurses for my restored good health. I am grateful for my sister, Sally Ann, for being my donor and giving me the gift of life. I am grateful for my entire family, my longtime girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together."

And like you said, you know, she has been pretty open about her health. I know, it's beautiful words -- very poignant. And Sunday actually marked her 100th day of recovery, Kyra, from her bone marrow transplant but this is the first time she has come out and publicly acknowledged her sexuality.

You know she was just chosen as one of Barbara Walters' ten most fascinating people of 2013. She didn't make this revelation there although when I was thinking about it I thought that would have been really public, a very public forum to do so there. And, of course, she's not the first person to go public with her sexuality.

Her former colleague Sam Champion revealed that he's gay. There have been some other celebrities in 2013 -- (inaudible) Miller, Jodie Foster, Raven-Symone, and NBA player, Jason Collins who have all come out this year.

PHILLIPS: So what more do we though about her girlfriend?

TURNER: Not a lot. She didn't go into it a lot. She didn't go into a lot of details about her girlfriend but "People" magazine is reporting that she is a licensed massage therapist from San Francisco, and that she and Robin met through mutual friends about ten years ago. So, yes, longtime girlfriend would be correct if they've been together for about ten years -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: There you go. And probably the massage therapy worked very well while she was going through treatment.

TURNER: Exactly. And you know what -- Robin, her outlook on life is that life is short now and she's blessed every day. I'm sure she probably has a little bit of a different outlook on just who she is.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Be proud of who you are and --

TURNER: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: -- and who is in your life. Thanks, Nischelle.

TURNER: Exactly -- sure.

PHILLIPS: Well thanks so much for joining us today. I hope you have a great Monday.

"LEGAL VIEW" is next.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: So soon after the corks start popping to ring in 2014, marijuana will be just as legal as champagne in Colorado. So what are the experts saying about the new law? Cheech and Chong's Tommy Chong is here to weigh in this hour, along with our legal experts.

Also ahead, back to back terror attacks killed dozens in Russia just weeks before the Winter Olympics. Who is to blame and what's being done now to keep these games safe and keep the terrorists from striking again?

And you know it's bad when the icebreaker on its way to rescue a stranded ship has to turn back. So what happens now to those 74 people stuck, frozen in the ice in the Antarctic?

Hello everyone. I'm John Berman -- in for Ashleigh Banfield today. It is Monday, December 30th. Welcome to "LEGAL VIEW".

And life is about to get very, very different January 1st in Colorado. Anyone over the age of 21 will be able to legally buy marijuana for recreational use.