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CNN Live Saturday
Bombings in Jordan; Some Killed and Injured at Wedding Party in Jordan Radisson Hotel; President Bush in the Defensive; Pirates off the Somalia Coast; Cell Phone Clad Bank Robber; Oil Companies and Executives Make Record Profits; Sisters Found Each Other in Boot Camp; New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin Getting Earful at Town Hall Meetings; A Visit To Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Hometown; French Rioters May Target Landmarks; Italian Immigrants May Suffer Same Problems As French; Wal- Mart Apologizes Over Christmas; High Heating Bills May Limit Holiday Toy Shopping; Upside-down Christmas Trees
Aired November 12, 2005 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Unfolding this hour, new details on who the Jordanian government believes is behind this week's suicide bombings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were waiting for this day for so long and it was their day. Someone took it from them.
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WHITFIELD: Among the victims, a young couple robbed of what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of their life together.
Also this hour, it's the stuff movies are made of. Two young Army recruits discover they have a lot more in common than just their uniforms.
Welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Thanks for joining us. Here are the headlines now in the news.
U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan makes an unannounced visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Abraham al-Jaafari. Annan condemned insurgent attacks and urged Iraqis to reconcile their ethnic and religious differences. It is Annan's first visit to Iraq since Saddam Hussein was removed from power back in 2003.
In Baqubah, Iraq, a search for suspected terrorists. Iraqi police have rounded up 360 people including the city's deputy mayor, a city council member, and a college dean. At least some of those detained are members of the Islamic party and the party had issued a statement condemning the raids and the detention of Sunnis in Baqubah.
And in Israel, Tel Aviv police are on high alert for possible terror attacks. Thousands are expected at a memorial to mark the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton is expected to address the rally. New developments this hour in the suicide bombings in Jordan. Jordan's King Abdullah says initial findings indicate four Iraqis carried out this week's suicide bombings in Amman. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Abdullah said there is a possible that the four entered Jordan through Syria.
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KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: Zarqawi's network, al Qaeda, poses the threat to the international community and obviously Jordanians had suffered in the past two days because of the al Qaeda network. Obviously, we're going crack down and take the fight to Zarqawi, but this is part of our coalition to the international community as countries have banned together against this extremist threat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: On Wednesday, the bombings of three hotels in Jordan's capital killed 57 people and injure more than 90.
Earlier today Jordan's deputy prime minister placed blame for the bombings at the feet of native son, Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. The bombings prompted angry protests in Amman where demonstrators call toward al-Zarqawi's death. The United States has a $25 million bounty on his head. Later this hour we'll take you to al- Zarqawi's hometown and hear what's on the minds of his former neighbors.
Among those killed in the Amman hotel attacks, members of a wedding party gathered at the Radisson hotel. CNN's Hala Gorani has more of how a day of joy turned to one of unspeakable grief.
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HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It should have been one of the happiest days of Ashraf Da'as' her life, his wedding day. Instead...
ASHRAF DA'AS, GROOM: It's my family, all of them. We lost 16 people and my wife's family lost 12 people and we lost also 10 people and friends and close friends.
GORANI: That's 38 people including his father and father-in-law, dead in the suicide explosion at Amman's Radisson hotel. At a traditional wake, the groom accepted condolences, friends and family whispering words of comfort.
At the hospital, several injured friends and relatives are being treated. The groom's brother, still dazed recounts the shocking story of the bloodbath.
BACHAR DA'AS, GROOM'S BROTHER: My mom's first cousin, there's seven or eight, they died on the table.
GORANI: As they recover from the massacre, other guests recall how the bomb went off right before the wedding procession reached the hotel's main hall. One of the guests, Mohammed, says he fell on the floor and people started trampling him. When he finally fought his way to his feet he tried to help carry the injured and the dead away from the chaos. The groom's brother, emotional, says Ashraf Da'as was robbed of his happiness.
B. DA'AS: They were waiting for this day for so long and it was their day. Someone took it from them.
GORANI: In front of the Radisson hotel where a day before ambulances rushed to save lives there, there is a candlelight vigil. Strangers mourning, sharing the pain of a family united in grief. Hala Gorani, CNN, Amman.
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WHITFIELD: Two of the wedding guests killed at the Radisson hotel in Amman were Syrian-born Hollywood filmmaker Mustafa Akkad and his daughter Rima. Akkad is best known for producing the series of "Halloween" horror movies and also directed "The Message" a film about the prophet Muhammad.
To Iraq now where United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan is meeting with government officials one day after visiting two of the bombing sites in Jordan. Annan arrived for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and other government and community leaders and is renewing his calls for U.N.-member countries to come up with a comprehensive plan to battle terrorism.
He wants that plan in place by the end of the year. As Annan's visit to Baghdad, the deadly violence in the Iraqi capital continued. Earlier today the car bomb exploded at a busy market killing four Iraqi civilians and wounding dozens more.
While facing sliding poll numbers and growing criticism in Congress over his Iraq war policies, President Bush is now taking off the gloves. He's accusing his congressional critics of being irresponsible and sending the wrong message to terrorists and to U.S. troops. Mr. Bush made those comments while speaking yesterday in Pennsylvania. Here's CNN's Elaine Quijano.
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ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before a Veterans Day crowd of military families in Pennsylvania, President Bush hit back hard against renewed democratic criticism that his administration twisted intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the Iraq war.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision of the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began.
QUIJANO: The president's pushback is part of the campaign-style strategy the senior administration officials outlined earlier this week. It comes in the wake of the Scooter Libby indictment in the CIA leak case in which the president's top political adviser, Karl Rove remains under investigation. Democrats have revived their attacks about how the U.S. went to war.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The benefit was always given to this president because of the actions that he took after 9/11, but that, we have found now, historically, was the fact that this administration manipulated and misused intelligence information that rushed us to war.
QUIJANO: The president is also facing falling poll numbers. His overall approval rating continues to hover below 40 percent. And a new "Associated Press" IPSOS poll shows 57 percent of people would not describe the president as honest.
STU ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORTER: This speech is an important first step, but it's not going turn around public opinion. The president's going to need more speeches, more of a P.R. offensive and frankly, heel need good news and then he can start to change opinions significantly.
QUIJANO (on camera): Top Bush aides acknowledge headlines like the Libby indictment may have had an effect on the president's poll numbers, but officials believe they can be restored. In the coming days, look for the administration to continue with its forceful rebuttal against democratic critics and to enlist the help of republican allies on Capitol Hill.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Last Saturday we were the first to tell you about an attempt by pirates to take over a luxury cruise liner of Somalia's coast. Over the past week at least five other pirate attacks have taken place northeast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.
The pirates are believed to be using high-speed boats. Officials are mobilizing a search for the pirate's mother ship and fishermen apparently have spotted the vessel drifting off Somalia's coast. Pirates armed with machine guns and grenades attacked Seabourn's cruise line, "Spirit," last Saturday, but the crew directed the ship out of harm's way.
Earlier CNN's Tony Harris spoke with Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator for the Kenyan Seafarer's Association.
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ANDREW MWANGURA, KENYAN SEAFARER'S ASSOCIATION: According to the information they have AK-47s and propelled grenades and some other (ph) weapon heavy artillery, and they have also, according to a picture -- a photograph by our friends down there, they also have -- I don't know which gun, to bring down an airplane.
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WHITFIELD: You can watch cruise ship passengers recall the close encounters with the pirates by logging on to the Web site at cnn.com.
When CNN LIVE SATURDAY returns, we'll pick figure out what this woman is doing and try to answer what she's doing on the cell phone exactly. She's no casual customer.
And drivers are boiling mad over high pump prices, but wait, have you seen the pumped up paychecks in the executive suites? We'll show you the salaries at big oil right after this.
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BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider with a look at the cold and flu report for this weekend. Well, checking he map, believe it or not, no reports of the flu have been reported across much of the country, though we are getting sporadic outbreaks in places like California, Alaska, and Hawaii also in Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Florida.
Looks like regional activity reported in Texas, but the rest of the country is looking good with no reported activity across much of the Midwest and into the Carolinas. So that looks good, so far so good, anyway, for this flu season. That's a look at your flu report. I'm meteorologist Bonnie Schneider. Stay healthy.
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WHITFIELD: Welcome back to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. Police in northern Virginia are on the lookout for a bank robber this weekend. Not just any bandit, this woman has a flair for digital drama and like so many Americans these days, this thief is good at multitasking. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She looks distracted, maybe even rude, but law enforcement officials in northern Virginia say this young lady is more focused than she appears.
SHERIFF STEVE SIMPSON, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA: This particular bank when she went in was apparently on the cell phone when she went in the door, went over to the teller and handed her a note and opened up a brown purse and showed her that there was a handgun inside the purse. The teller gave her the money and outdoor she went.
TODD (on camera): At this bank and two others in northern Virginia, law enforcement officials say the woman office her cell phone the entire time she was conducting robberies. They say she's robbed a total of four banks in the area over the past month, all of them branches of Wachovia Bank.
(voice-over): No one's been hurt and officials won't say how much money she's gotten away with, but there are key questions authorities say they cannot answer. Is she talking to an accomplice? Is the person at the other end directing her, reassuring her, or even threatening her? Is there someone at the other end or is the phone just a prop? Authorities and criminologists also have different theories on why she's using a phone.
PROF. JACKIE SCHNEIDER, CRIMINOLOGIST, AMERICAN UNIV.: She might be thinking that it's a distraction. She just looks like a normal person talking on the cell phone and the bank teller isn't suspicious in any way, shape or form, and there's no guns blazing, there's no hooded, you know, scary people coming in.
TODD: Only a person described by authorities as a 5'5" Hispanic woman, 18 to 20 years old, with dark, curly hair and a unique M.O.
Brian Todd, CNN, Ashburn, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, filling up your car isn't as painful as it was, say, last month. Gas prices have fallen over the past two weeks, but consumers haven't forgotten the sky high prices of the summer and they want to know why oil companies reported huge profits while prices went through the roof. Oil executives were call to Capitol Hill to hear that very question. CNN's Chris Huntington reports.
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CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As gas prices soared above $3 a gallon last summer, ExxonMobil made nearly $10 billion profit in the third quarter, more than $1,200 a second, every second in July, August, and September. In the time it took this guy to fill up, the oil giant made $1 million. On Capitol Hill, ExxonMobil's CEO tried to defend that windfall saying it was all a matter of worldwide supply and demand.
LEE RAYMOND, EXXONMOBIL, CHMN & CEO: Consumers in the United States sometimes are going have difficulty realizing that they're part of that world, but in fact they are. Raymond occupied a different place in that world, but in fact they are.
HUNTINGTON: Raymond occupies a very different place in that world. Last year he took home more than $38 million in salary, bonus, and stock options. Chevron's David O'Reilly made nearly $7 million. And James Mulva of ConocoPhillips, a bit more than $6 million. All three were called to task by one senator voicing the outrage many Americans feel.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: I hope I can give you a bit of a reality check. Working people struggle with high gas prices and your sacrifice, gentlemen, appears to be nothing. Each of your bonuses, forget the rest of it, each of your bonuses was more than 300 times greater than the minimum wage worker's annual pay.
HUNTINGTON: The oil executives never got a chance to answer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll stop the clock right here for you, Senator. We're permitted to have charge to show information that pertains to our issue, this chart is really publicity. HUNTINGTON: Boxer didn't even have the chance to take on the highest paid U.S. oil executive, Occidental Petroleum's Ray Irani who according on "Forbes" magazine, last year, took home salary, bonus, and stock option worth $64 million.
(on camera): Oil executives say they deserve to be well paid for their company's record profits. Still they're quick to claim that they have little or no control over oil and gasoline prices which they insist are set by supply and demand, begging the question, is their compensation due to management skill or just market forces?
PROF. PETER CAPPELLI, THE WHARTON SCHOOL: The extent to which executives are receiving very big and higher executive compensation payments because oil prices are up, that's not something that's the result of anything their firms did and that's pretty much a windfall, so they just are lucky.
HUNTINGTON: Lucky or not, oil company executives are still not even close to the top of the corporate heap when it comes to compensation. If you add up what the CEOs of the three biggest U.S. oil companies made in 2004, it still comes to less than one-quarter of what Yahoo!'s CEO, Terry Seville, took home last year, more than $230 million. Chris Huntington, CNN, New York.
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WHITFIELD: A big boot camp bonus for two Army recruits, each showing up for train and then, guess what? Discovering a family member she never knew she even had. That story coming up next. And later, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin gets an earful from some very angry residents. We'll listen in.
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WHITFIELD: When young recruits join the Army they know they're in for a whole host of new experiences, but two Army recruits from California came across something new and entirely unexpected at boot camp in South Carolina. Here's CNN's Zain Verjee.
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ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just one look at Yolanda and Kieshia Williams and most people can tell they were sisters, but they were literally the last to know and they discovered it in the most unlikely of places, boot camp.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were jumping up and down screaming and everything. We were happy. I was excited. I wanted another sister.
VERJEE: With the same last name the women wound up standing next to each other in formation. When they arrived for basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Fellow trainees noticed the resemblance right away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We ran to the bathroom after that and we're like, OK, we kind of like have the same forehead. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like our nose and stuff, was there a similarity.
VERJEE: In the weeks that followed more similarities emerged.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Favorite color, blue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Both did track.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. We like to eat. We both like to eat.
VERJEE: So many similarities that lead Drill Sergeant Timmy Searcy took notice. He did some investigating and discovered the women have the same father, former Marine Tyrone Williams who died in 1992. Twenty-year-old Yolanda, the product of his first marriage; 18- year-old Kieshia born of his second marriage. Searcy was the one who broke the news.
SGT. TIMMY SEARCY, U.S. ARMY: Once he found that information they gave each other a hug, but they gave it professional, all right, one-minute hug. I let it go.
VERJEE: The women's mother were eventually able to fill in the blanks and they're very happy that Yolanda and Kieshia have found each other.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was the first time away from home, I thought, god is good. I can sit back and relax. She's with her sister.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Remarkable. Kieshia Williams' parent his two children so Yolanda now has gained two sisters during her time at Fort Jackson.
Point of questions, angry accusations, and some rather stern advice. That's what New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been getting all week during a town hall set of meetings, packed with extremely frustrated residents who want to be heard. Here's Daniel Sieberg.
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MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: We have not demolished anything yet.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Each week New Orleans Ray Nagin and other city officials get an earful from residents still reeling from Katrina's punch.
NAGIN: This city is at a very critical point in its history.
SIEBERG: Many are just trying to get by.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm angry. I'm mad, and I'm upset and I have the right to be, because I want to sleep in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at night and go to work in the morning to clean the streets of New Orleans. It's not right, Mayor. Somebody needs to do something. FEMA can't give me no answers...
SIEBERG: They come to talk about everything from preparing to the next hurricane to simply getting back on their feet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two days ago a police was sent there from your office saying that we had to be out within 36 hours and, no real good reason has been given.
NAGIN: I will do this. I will get, you know, our assistant city -- assistant CAO to meet with you and we can -- I think she's here and we can...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that Cynthia...
NAGIN: Cynthia Sylvan-Leer (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cynthia Sylvan-Leer is the person who told the police kick us out, so she's not the person to help.
NAGIN: Hold tight. We will sit down and work through your issues.
SIEBERG: The first of these town meetings, just two weeks ago was no different. Residents demanded answers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this is construction fraud if these people that built and designed these levees deliberately did not construct them, are there going to be criminal charges filed? I don't care about lawsuits for monetary damages, I want them to go to jail and is this going to happen?
SIEBERG: But, now they want specifics and fast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got thousands of people spread out throughout the United States who wants to come home, but as you said, we don't have power. Their basic necessities. OK? NTG (ph), you need to be, I hate to say it -- shot.
SIEBERG: If nothing else, these meetings offer people a release.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need trailers. We need whatever we can because those people really want to come back home and I was told to come and see you and I'm glad for this opportunity.
SIEBERG: Mayor Nagin's office says it can only do so much with limited resources. The city recently laid off 3,000 workers and Nagin still faces a mammoth coordination effort with state and federal agencies. But with anger and frustration growing as each day passes without answers and solutions, these weekly meetings will likely get even uglier.
Daniel Sieberg, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, he's one of the most wanted men in the world. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is blamed for spearheading this week's terror attacks in Jordan. Straight ahead, CNN's Nic Robertson pays a visit to Zarqawi's hometown.
And could the outbreak of violence in France spread across Europe? We'll find out what France's neighbor, Italy, is doing as it confronts that very question.
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WHITFIELD: Checking stories now in the news, King Abdullah of Jordan says four people carried out this week's bombings in Amman and initial findings indicate the bombers are from Iraq. Along with the king's comment, a government official also says Jordan has confirmed that al Qaeda in Iraq is responsible for the attacks. The bombings at three hotels in the Jordanian capital killed 57 people.
In Iraq, police commandos detained more than 380 people in a sweep through Baqubah. Among those arrested, the city's deputy mayor, a city council member and a college dean. The operation was aimed at rooting out suspected terrorists.
The first woman elected president of an African nation could soon take office. With nearly all of the ballots counted from Tuesday's presidential runoff election in Liberia, Harvard-educated Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has nearly 60 percent of the votes. But her opponent, a soccer star, claims the voting was tainted and he's demanding a new election.
The government of Jordan says it has confirmed the man behind this week's suicide bombings in Amman is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. The attacks killed 57 people and wounded 90, sparking angry protests throughout Amman where demonstrates called for the death of Zarqawi, a native son.
CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, visited Zarqawi's hometown of Zarqa, Jordan.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): In Zarqa, the town Abu Musab al-Zarqawi took his name from, the Friday call to prayer draws a crowd. More than three-quarters of a million people live here, most of them poor.
(on camera): This is where Zarqawi used to live, just up the hill around the corner. A lot of his relatives and some of his friends still live in this area, and they've come to the mosque he used to pray at to find out what people here have to say about the bombings.
(voice-over): We are allowed in for a few minutes, but are soon asked to leave.
Prayers are so popular, they spill onto the street, and after that, opinions about Zarqawi spill out too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he come in, I'm sure all of these people kill him.
ROBERTSON (on camera): They'd kill him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: They hate him so much now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he kill too much, too much, too much people.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): What I want to know is what impact this new anger will have.
(on camera): Is Zarqawi going to lose support in Jordan now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course. I hope so.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): But as I hear more, I realize that's not necessarily the case.
"Zarqawi is a good guy," he screams into my face. Everyone is shouting now, telling me what they think.
(on camera): So where are we going?
(voice-over): I'm saved by a friendly pharmacist. He takes me to his house. Ramid's (ph) an English teacher who wants to tell me Zarqawi was not behind the attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think America exaggerates in speaking about him and make him the responsible for these actions.
ROBERTSON: Next stop in my search for answers, Zarqawi's brother's house. Neighbors outside say the last journalist here had rocks thrown at them.
We wait. My producer, calls on the intercom.
ROBERTSON (on camera): What does she say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said just go, just go.
ROBERTSON: The lady inside the house said, just go. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's brother is sleeping, the woman in the house says, and she's told us just to go. So I think maybe, given what happened to journalists last time they came here, maybe that's what we should do.
This is our last stop. This is where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi grew up. I came here four months ago to ask people what they thought. They told me then they supported him.
(voice-over): Little seems to have changed. This religious man declines an on-camera interview, but says he supports Zarqawi. Young men here have a streetwise look and attitudes to match.
Zarqawi wasn't responsible for the attacks, he says. It was the Americans, or the Israelis.
At the nearby corner store, we find Zarqawi's cousin. He opposes terrorism, he says.
(on camera): Do you believe that it was your cousin who was responsible?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe yes, maybe no. I don't know.
ROBERTSON: You don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): His hometown seems the last to accept his true colors.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Zarqa, Jordan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Killed by anger, weed this France next. Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour takes a look at what's fueling the fires in the nation's ongoing urban violence. Is it a lack of jobs or a lack of respect? And it will happen elsewhere in Europe? We'll take a look at immigrants in Italy. Is the welcome mat out there?
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WHITFIELD: Three-thousand Paris police fanned out today to guard high-profile landmarks. Police say possible targets include the Champs-Elysees and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. Police say Internet blogs and cell phone text messages suggest rioters may expand their target to include those very landmarks.
Authorities have banned some public gatherings until tomorrow morning. Police say there were arson attacks in 163 towns last night. Most targeted cars or buses, but one mosque was damaged by Molotov cocktails. It was the 16th straight night of violence in France.
Police blame the rioting on mostly teenagers. Many, they say are the French-born children of poor immigrants. Poverty and discrimination, it seems, are fueling France's fires. From Paris now, here's CNN's chief national corespondent, Christiane Amanpour.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the France that everyone knows and many love: Notre Dame Cathedral, on the River Seine, the Place de la Concorde.
(on camera): And right on the same spot, the National Assembly, where despite France's multicultural makeup, there is not a single black, Muslim, or Arab member of parliament.
Just as Hurricane Katrina exposed racism and poverty in the United States, these riots have done the same here.
(voice-over): At Beur FM, the first radio station for France's Arab speakers, there is pop music and serious talk that the French way of integration has failed.
AHMED EL KEIYI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, BEUR FM: If we're talking about equality, so everybody has to be equal. And in France, it's not the case. Because we see people -- 10 percent of the population -- who has not the same opportunities, and not the same chances then the other part.
AMANPOUR: Here, on the fashionable, intellectual Left Bank, people are embarrassed and defensive about the violence. And yet they know it is a wakeup call. Jean (ph), Henri (ph), and Oreleon (ph) all go to the Sorbonne, where they have some classmates with names with names Mohammed, Abdul and Fareed (ph).
At the Sorbonne we have many students with these names, says Henri. They're French and have the best grades, but they'll have much more difficulty than us finding a job when they graduate.
Like 21-year old Karim (ph) from the projects. According to an official French study, applicants with Arab sounding names have their resumes rejected five times as often as those with traditional French names.
It's impossible, says Karim. You apply, you send letters; they never reply or they say there's no work, not even part-time.
Unlike in the United States or England, there is no Affirmative Action here. France does not officially recognize ethnic minorities. Instead, right wing parties making hay out of this violence wrap themselves in the flag and declare France: Love her or leave her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you love the French? You (INAUDIBLE). You don't like the French, you go home. (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).
AMANPOUR: But this home. These young people were born here on immigrant parents.
KEIYI: All this attention on the French system, on the French model, on this isolated and discriminated population will force maybe the government to take serious action.
AMANPOUR: Even in the hot zones, residents are beginning to demonstrate against the wanton burning of sports halls and nurseries, but perhaps the violent message is getting through. Along with curfews, the prime minister promises to fast track urban renewal programs and to help the poor, the young, with schooling and jobs.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: France's neighbors are keeping a weary eye on the rioting. Some fear the lawlessness could cross the borders. Here's CNN's Rome bureau chief, Alessio Vinci.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Abdoulaye Bousso came to Italy 15 years from Senegal.
ABDOULAYE BOUSSO, IMMIGRANT (through translator): What is happening in France this time will also happen in Italy, he says because we cannot send our kids back to Africa. They did not grow up there, they don't know the traditions. They are not capable of living there.
VINCI: Abdoulaye's 11-year-old son, Elimane, and was born in Rome and goes to the neighborhood school. He speaks Italian with a typical Roman accent. Most of his friends are Italian. But still he says he does not feel considered like a local.
ELIMANE BOUSSO, SON OF IMMIGRANT (through translator): When people see a black person they always think he is a foreigner, he says. They never think that a black person can also be born here and be Italian.
VINCI: It is that lack of identity with society that many say is one reason behind the riots in France, but Rome suburbs are far away from those burning outside Paris. Immigrants here complain they face the same problems as those in France: lack of adequate housing, few jobs and a general feeling that most of them are not welcome.
But unlike France, Italy's immigrants began arriving only in the last decade and in fewer numbers. They do not live in suburban enclaves, but side by side with Italians. Their kids, most born here, are still too young to get caught up in the same sweeping sense of social dissatisfaction.
(on camera): Most security officials here in Italy and elsewhere in Europe where there are sizable immigrant communities say French- style riots are unlikely in the immediate future, but they do acknowledge that in order to avoid them further down the line, it is crucial to successfully address integration problems now.
(voice-over): Italian officials say integration policies must be applied together with tough measures to combat illegal immigration, but those who work with immigrants daily say politicians must pay more attention to younger generations.
MARIO MARAZZITI, ST. EGIDIO COMMUNITY: They are supporters of the Italian football teams, they speak perfect Italian. They love the same things that their classmates love and they cannot be put outside and feel for all their life that they are outsiders. I think that this new generation will be either a breach or a gap and it is up to us to decide what they will be. VINCI: The best way of preventing frustrations from reaching boiling points, experts say, will be to open up a dialogue with them. But many young immigrants here in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are wondering is anyone listening. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Coming, up the Catholic League is celebrating and Wal-Mart finds peace on earth after a former employee nearly cost the company its Christmas season.
And is the oil grinch putting a crimp on holiday spending? These stories and more straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, it turns out the grinch won't be shopping at Wal-Mart this season. A boycott of the giant retailer is off after an apology from the company. CNN's Ali Velshi takes a look at the holiday or should I say Christmas controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (voice-over): It's a sign of the times. Long-awaited proof that the world's biggest retailer was taking the Christ out of Christmas, came in an e-mail.
KIERA MCCAFFREY, CATHOLIC LEAGUE SPOKESWOMAN: It was the ramblings of an insane man is what it sounded like.
VELSHI: The e-mail came from a Wal-Mart customer service representative, identified only as Kirby. It was sent to a customer upset that Wal-Mart was using happy holidays instead of merry Christmas in its greetings to customers.
The e-mail read in part, "the majority of the world still has different practices other than Christmas, which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with Christmas, red and white, are actually a representation of the amanita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, and the thyme from the Visigoth. And the tree from the worship of Baal."
MCCAFFREY: It's not Wal-Mart's place to be, you know, revising the history of Christmas.
VELSHI: Wal-Mart's head office defended the use of holiday, saying that the season from Thanksgiving to New Years also includes non-Christian holidays, like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
Unconvinced, the Catholic League called on 126 religious organizations to boycott Wal-Mart if it didn't meet three demands: an apology, a withdrawal of its explanation of the origins of Christmas, and a clarification on its Web site. By Friday morning, Wal-Mart had addressed all three demands and had fired the author of the offending e-mail. The Catholic League called off the boycott.
Most analysts we spoke with say Wal-Mart's decision to put the word Christmas back into the holiday season comes down to it being the most profitable time of the year.
One of them told CNN, Wal-Mart just doesn't need the fight. As for the holiday fever, it's catching. Last year several conservative Christian groups cited Target, the nation's second-largest retailer, for banning Salvation Army bell ringers. Target said it did that to be fair to other charities.
(on camera): Last year, the parent company of Macy's and Bloomingdales also ran into some trouble. It was criticized for not using Christmas enough in the holiday season. So that company, Federated Department Stores, this year made a list of things it's going do to put the Christmas back in the holiday season.
They're going have Christmas gift cards at every register. They're going use the word Christmas in their radio jingles and their print ads over the season. And you know those famous windows on 34th street? Well, this year it will be called "Christmas in the City." Ali Velshi, CNN, Secaucus, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And then something else hanging over the holiday season. With energy prices expected to remain high throughout the holidays, some Americans are facing a pretty tough decision. How can they afford Christmas and heat their homes all at the same time? It is an issue that's already having an impact on toy sales. That story from CNN's senior correspondent Allan Chernoff in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as she hunts for pre-holiday bargains, Cindy Kilgore knows she may disappoint her kids this Christmas. Money she might spend on toys will have to go to heat their home.
CINDY KILGORE, SHOPPER: Well, it takes it away from your buying for your children for Christmas. It will be a short Christmas.
CHERNOFF: Jacqueline Dowd also will be tightening her purse strings.
JACQUELINE DOWD, SHOPPER: I have to have heat for my home. So if it's going cost me a lot of money to pay for heat I'm going have to pay for the heat and not buy the gifts.
CHERNOFF: It will cost hundred of extra dollars to turn the thermostat up this winter. The cost of natural gas, the most common fuel, is now up 50 percent from last year. Add price hikes at the gas pump as well as the economic effects from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and millions of American families could be facing a financial squeeze come Christmas time. With consumer confidence in a steady decline, retailers already are offering deep discounts on popular toys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Customers will get a great deal in a Toys'R'Us store this holiday season, just like they did last holiday season.
CHERNOFF: Shout Elmo is selling at a third off list price. Furby discounted 15 percent and prices could go lower.
SEAN MCGOWAN, TOY ANALYST: If you're looking for good items at a good price, I would advise you to wait. You know, this is not the kind of year where you're going to see a lot of things selling out really early.
CHERNOFF: Even Barbie is singing the blues. Sales are declining. In fact, many traditional toys are facing tough times, partly because those who can't afford what their children want are buying kid version of adult electronics. Teen-tronics such as video cameras selling at less than $100 and, yes, cell phones for children.
(on camera): For most parents, the kids come first. We don't want to deny our children, so if it does turn out to be a tough holiday season for toys, experts say it will almost certainly be worse for other retailers. Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Well, sticking with the holiday theme, how bored are you with the run of the mill Christmas decorations?
Well, some people are taking their holiday spirit in a whole new direction. Coming up right after the break, the ups and downs of the upside down Christmas tree. Of course.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Ever feel like the hustle and bustle of the holidays just turns life upside down? Oh boy, has Jeanne Moos found the tree for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): O, Christmas tree, what happened to your branches?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a sad looking Christmas tree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's beautiful.
MOOS: It is the upside down Christmas tree, fake, not real. A seven-foot, $600 version is sold out at Hammacher Schlemmer. But you can still get one for 300 bucks at Target's Web site.
Not since the oh, so annoying singing Christmas tree from a few years back, a tree we tried to silence in vain. Not since the singing tree has a Christmas tree gimmick so captured the limelight.
We asked the company that makes the upside down tree, Roman Incorporated, to send us a few. One version you hang upside down. The other sits in a base.
How many guys does it take to assemble an upside down Christmas tree?
(on camera): The natural way to read the directions would be this way. No, we've got to read them this way.
(voice-over): The manufacturer tells us the tree was intend for stores.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The retailer needed a way to display ornaments in the store without taking up, actual floor space. So what we did is designed a tree that takes up...
MOOS: A tree that takes up more air space than floor space.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, and Santa could get more presents under there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it! It's so non-Christmas.
MOOS: Rumor has it that Liberace used to go both ways with his Christmas trees, displaying both regular and upside down. The question is, where do you put the star?
(on camera): You think we should put it down here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.
MOOS (voice-over): OK. So it's not as spectacular as the Rockefeller Center tree...
CROWD: Three, two, one!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Light the tree!
CROWD: Three, two, one, yay!
MOOS: But it all depends on your perspective.
(on camera): So would you want one like that in your house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never. Yet, maybe. I don't know. Why not. It makes me laugh.
MOOS (voice-over): Ho, ho, ho.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: It's got a little potential there. Still much more ahead on CNN Saturday. In a few moments, "IN THE MONEY." Here's a preview right now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks. Coming up on "IN THE MONEY," cash flow. We'll see if the oil companies deserve all those profits they're making.
Plus, the flipside of a classic tax break. Find out why a former Secretary of Labor wants to ditch the mortgage interest rate deduction.
And too much information. We'll show you some of the goopy stuff that job hunters put on their resumes. All that and more, coming up after a quick check of the headlines.
WHITFIELD: And here are the headlines. The head of the United Nations is in Baghdad today on a surprise visit. It is Kofi Annan's first visit to Iraq since Saddam Hussein was deposed by the U.S. led military invasion. Annan called on Iraqis to put aside their ethnic rivalries and participate in upcoming elections.
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