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CNN Sunday Morning
Terror in Mumbai; Obama National Security Team; States of Despair; Bangkok Tensions; December Job Market
Aired November 30, 2008 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, good morning, everybody. We've got several new developments to tell you about this morning in those terror attacks in Mumbai, including one hotel official who is now saying they were warned that this could happen.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Also, looking for the official word tomorrow from President-elect Obama, as he prepares to nominate Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, we are bringing you news from all around the world today. Good morning, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes, Sunday, November 30, last day of hurricane season. Also, your holiday forecast. A lot of you trying to get back home after the holiday weekend, we're going to keep up on your screen for you, throughout the hour, we'll have different updates about the weather, we'll have the temperature, we have the travel a forecast...
NGUYEN: And we'll tell you right now, it's not pretty. You're going to see some delays in many areas. So, we'll try to get that to you shortly, but in the meantime, though, there you go, see you ask, and we shall deliver.
Fallout, though -- this is what we're going to start with -- from the terrorist attack in Mumbai hitting India's leadership this morning. Here is the latest. The chairman of the company that owns the Taj Mahal Hotel says the hotel was warned of a possible terrorist attack. India's home minister, the official in charge of security, well he resigned today saying that he was taking moral responsibility for the attacks. The three days of terror left 183 people dead, 273 hurt, and among the victims, five Americans including two rabbis and a Virginia man and his daughter.
HOLMES: Well, the investigation, of course, a difficult one. We have nine separate attack sites. That means, essentially, nine different crime scenes And a couple of those, behave crime scenes. Those, hotels, the Oberoi, the Taj Mahal. Well, Liz Neisloss is joining us now on the phone from Mumbai, it's 7:30 in the evening, there, now.
Liz, hello to you again, this morning. What is the latest on the investigation, any closer to figuring out who's responsible?
LIZ NEISLOSS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: hi, T.J. Yes, it's evening, here. Things have quieted down somewhat. On the investigation front, you can hope that things are certainly heating up. We really don't know how many total suspects they have in custody. Investigators are very tight-lipped about that.
You can be sure, though, that these crime scenes continue to be combed. I'm standing right in front of the very large historic hotel, the Taj Hotel, which was the scene of an essential seize.
Meanwhile, though the terrorism has seemed to have quieted down, what's heating up, T.J., is some of the anger, some of the accusations, as you mentioned earlier. There was some ruffle in the government; there was a resignation earlier in India of an interior minister. This interior minister said he took moral responsibility for the attacks.
But there are leading Indians here, newspaper editors, analysts that say that this was a resignation that was called for long before these terrorist attacks and that this is a government that is struggling for its own survival. As the anger heats up, we saw protests here outside the Taj Hotel. Here's what one protester had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
We would like to ask just one question. What is the action the government has taken? Why is the systems not in place? What is it that went wrong? Even after knowing that in Pakistan (INAUDIBLE) was bombed, the intelligence has failed completely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEISLOSS: So, there will be many more protests here. But, T.J., there will also be many vigils and many, many funerals. The death toll is still not final. It is expected to climb -- T.J.
HOLMES: Yeah, still expected to climb from that 183 number, is where it is officially right now. Our Liz Neisloss in Mumbai for us. Liz, we appreciate you.
NGUYEN: Well, the Taj Mahal Hotel is owned by Tata Sons and Taj Hotels and the company chairman, Ratan Tata, says he was warned. He was interviewed by CNN's Fareed Zakaria. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
We did have such a warning. And we did have some measures to, you know, where people couldn't park their cars in the portico where you have to go through a metal detector, but if I look at what we had, which all of us complained about, it could have not stopped what took place.
They didn't come through that entrance, they came from somewhere in the back. They planned everything. I believe the first thing they did was they shot a sniffer dog and his handler. They went through the kitchen. They knew what they were doing. And they did not go through the front. (END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And you can hear more from Ratan Tata today on Fareed Zakaria's GPS, that's at 1:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
HOLMES: Well, a lot of survival stories coming out of Mumbai. Also one now we're going to bring you from a Chicago couple. They made it through the attacks at the Taj Mahal Hotel. And they didn't wait to be rescued. Randi Belisomo of our affiliate CLTV, now, tells us how they got out on their own.
JOE ERNSTEEN, ATTACK SURVIVOR: We heard what we thought was firecrackers and explosions and stuff like that. That was about 11:00 at night. We were planning to have our luggage picked up at 4:00 in the morning to catch a flight two days ago.
RANDI BELISOMO, CLTV, REPORTER: But a series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, responsible now for the deaths of at least 151 people, interrupted Joe and Marilyn Ernsteen's exit from India. The Deerfield couple reunited with family today at the end of their three- week tour that had to be extended by three days.
MARILYN ERNSTEEN, ATTACK SURVIVOR: They had turned off the TVs and they shut off the phones. So, we didn't know what was going on. Had we known they were terrorists, I would have been horrified.
BELISOMO: The Ernsteen's thought the commotion outside the Taj Mahal Hotel was simply a reaction to a local fire. They didn't feel anything and thought a phone call they received asking them to stay in their rooms with the lights off was just overboard.
J ERNSTEEN: I'm an optimist, so I got up and showered anyway and got dressed and was ready to leave and it was really very quiet at that stage of the game.
M ERNSTEEN: It had been several hours and there was no gunfire and it was very quiet and Joe said, if it gets to be 9:00 in the morning and nothing's happening, I'm going to go out in the hall, although we were told not to.
BELISOMO: That's exactly what Joe did, eventually convincing Marilyn to join him.
J ERNSTEEN: I decided that it was more interesting taking pictures of the smoke-filled floors and then came back and got my wife and said, I found the staircase. We went down the staircase, exited on to a, kind of a rooftop, and then took a fire escape down.
BELISOMO: Though Joe and Marilyn appear pretty nonchalant, their family back home is anything but. Grateful they have them back, especially considering their first assumptions upon hearing the tragic news from afar.
BURT SCHMARAK, MARYLYN'S BROTHER: Thought they were dead. Yeah. That was the starting point. Anything from there was good.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, the death toll in India is up since that report was actually filed. We heard earlier, at least 183 people died in those attacks. So, the Ernsteens, they are now saying they are heading home to their winter home in Florida and, their words, they're looking forwards to a little peace and quiet.
NGUYEN: Tomorrow, President-elect Barack Obama is expected to nominate three people who will have major roles on his national security team. Let's take you live now to CNN's White House correspondent, Ed Henry.
And Ed, this is an important announcement, especially coming on the heels of the India terror attacks.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt, Betty. Good morning to you. It's certainly a fresh reminder of the national security challenges that will be confronting the incoming president early next year. We've been talking so much about the financial crisis, all the economic issues he'll be grappling with. But you're right, this rollout we're being tomorrow. In fact, we're now getting a time of 10:40 a.m. Eastern time here in Chicago on Monday, Barack Obama planning to roll out this national security team.
Of course, we're told by two Democratic officials that the top of the list will be Senator Hillary Clinton, nominated officially. What we've been reporting for a while, as secretary of state. We're also told by various Democratic officials that current defense secretary, Robert Gates, will be asked to stay on the job for at least one year at the Pentagon for some stability with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all of these various security challenges around the world.
CNN has also learned that in the last couple of days, retired marine general, Jim Jones, has privately indicated that he's willing to accept the job of national security adviser inside the White House.
We're told by one source close to General Jones, though, that he has one more meeting today to sort of finalize this, one way or another. What's really interesting is, you hear a lot of Democrats talking about this national security team as sort of a team of all- stars. They think there are a lot of heavy hitters in this lineup, but there are some people in the Democratic Party who are concerned that there are a lot of Washington insiders here, even though Barack Obama talked so much about change in the election. I actually asked the president-elect about that very point earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT-ELECT: What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking, but understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost. It comes from me. That's my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going and to make sure then that my team is implementing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HENRY: Now for example, there are some anti-war activists that are concerned a lineup like this, more centrist, more hawkish, perhaps that Barack Obama was in the campaign, that may change his position on pulling out all combat troops from Iraq in 16 months. But I can tell you, senior Obama aides have been telling me privately that no matter who's in the cabinet that the change in positions will come from the president himself, the incoming president, and that he has not changed his position, he's pulling out combat troops within 16 months -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Ed, you talked about it as possibly a team of all-stars. Some may even call it a team of rivals, especially on this national security issue. Ed, when you look at that, though, how much can they truly get done if it is a team of rivals?
HENRY: That's the big question. You're absolutely right. Certainly Barack Obama and insiders in his tradition have been talking up this team of rivals concept that Abraham Lincoln sort of pioneer as a positive thing for getting a healthy debate within the cabinet. But the flip side could be, how do you keep all those high-powered personalities on the same page. It's going to be a major challenge for Barack Obama -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Ed Henry, as always we do appreciate it. Thank you.
You know, presidential race is over, but we have not heard the last of Governor Sarah Palin. In fact, she's expected to be in Georgia tomorrow to stump for Republican incumbent senator, Saxby Chambliss. He's locked in a runoff against Democrat Jim Martin after a very close November 4 election. The final runoff vote, well, that happens on Tuesday. And if Martin wins, Democrats will be closer to their long sought-after 60-seat majority in the senate.
HOLMES: All right. We turn to the weather now. And you can see the weather on your screen right now. We're leaving that up because a lot of people are out there trying to get home. It's been a busy, busy travel weekend. A lot of people trying to get back home and Karen Maginnis in our Weather Center, sitting in for Reynolds Wolf, today. People trying to get home, might be tricky for some.
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's going to be slippery. We've got a lot of areas and territory to cover. This is on our flight explorer. We've got about 3,200 flights in the air, so a lot of folks definitely interested in what's happening as far as their delays are concerned.
The busiest airport in the world, Atlanta, now we're looking at some arrival delays of just about 30 minutes or had been a ground delay, meaning if you were trying to get into Atlanta, you were just sitting there in the airport or the airport, waiting to take off. Also, Philadelphia, visibility is down to about two miles in Philadelphia now. Drizzle, fog, overcast, and then the wind starts to pick up. Here's a frontal system. Area of low pressure, another area of low pressure will move towards the Great Lakes and that's going to be problematic as far as the snowfall is concerned, into the great lakes. Right now, it's rain in the northeast. When we come back, we'll talk about the shuttle and the big snowstorm for the Great Lakes. Back to you.
HOLMES: All right. The shuttle, they're trying to get home.
MAGINNIS: Space travelers.
HOLMES: They might have to use an alternate route. All right, Karen, thank you so much. We'll see you again shortly.
Of course, as we've been talking about a lot over the past couple of weeks, we know money is tight. Everybody's cutting back, but when states start trimming their budgets, it could get a bit personal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, this could be a pivotal week for America's auto industry. Congress, expected to take up Detroit's request for a $25 billion in federal loans. And the big three, they have until Tuesday to submit a plan outling how they would remain viable if they do get that money. And that same day, automakers are expected to release sales figures for November, following in October that was the industry's worst month in 25 years.
HOLMES: All right. Well, we don't have to wait to find out how much shoppers spent on Black Friday. They spent $10.6 billion. That marks a three percent increase over last year. But, obviously, people were interested in spending out there, but at the same time, interested in saving.
Want to go to our Brianna Keilar, who is at a mall. Found a mall, already, this morning. Brianna, good morning. We're talking about people saving, and we're not just talking about looking for a deal, shopping around for those deep discounts. There's more to it than that.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: No, you can be very strategic. A few of the ways you can do it is to look for refurbished items, sporting goods, like golf clubs or maybe electronics, things that people have bought, but they returned. You can get as much as a 10 percent discount on these items.
One word of caution on this, though. Beware because some stolen items are sold on online auction sites. And one of the other things we're seeing this holiday season, is layaway. For instance, Sears bringing it back for the first time since 1989. Good way to avoid using your credit cards, to be making payments on your items. You can get them closer to the holiday.
And I think one of the big things, T.J., is just to have some courage and to ask. Ask the person at the counter, the store counter, to get on a friends and family list. Ask for free shipping, ask outright for a discount. This is something I've done recently, and I've found someone who waived their 10 percent commission on a dress they bought and saved quite a bit of money. HOLMES: Is that really happening? Really, you can just ask? Were you really nice when you asked about it? That sounds like a good story, somebody was willing to do that, that was awfully nice of them.
KEILAR: Well, I have to say, I give credit to my girlfriend, because she actually said, hey, can you give her a discount, and I thought, she's not going to give it to me, but this woman in the store did. It's really amazing. So, it doesn't hurt to ask...
HOLMES: I want to ask you this. Something -- people don't usually like to get gifts that somebody made. If someone hands you a sweater that they knitted, they're not usually that excited. But people are doing. And in these hard times, it's a good way to save some money and give a nice and thoughtful gift.
KEILAR: Well, a recent survey showed that more than 58 percent of people compared to last year said they're going to incorporate homemade gifts into what they're giving people. And some experts say, hey, the thought does count, so this is important. That said, word of caution here, don't get yourself in over your head. A lot of people expected to do things like make jewelry, as you can see the lovely homemade earrings that I'm wearing. That's something sort of easy to do.
If you're like me, can only crotchet or knit at right angles, you know, stick to the homemade scarf, don't try for the hat or the mittens. And also cooking is going to be a very popular thing, T.J. Maybe stick to cookies, if you don't want to get in over your head with, say, jam, where you have to sterilize jars and go a little crazy.
HOLMES: OK, well, I'll be looking forward to my mittens from you this holiday season. Brianna Keilar for us.
KEILAR: Scarf, T.J., scarf.
HOLMES: It'll be the scarf. Brianna, thank you so much. Good to see you this morning -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Kind of like the idea of you cooking, T.J., you're not a bad cook. Maybe I'll get something like that for Christmas.
HOLMES: Thank you.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, we're talking more about your money, because the nation is in a financial crisis and it's trickling down to state and local governments. And that means some cutbacks are going to get personal. CNN's Lisa Sylvester explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): States have enjoyed many profitable years but now hard times are here. The housing market collapse has meant a drop in state's property taxes. Consumers are cutting back on spending so sales taxes are down. And as unemployment rises, state income taxes are falling. Many state officials haven't seen a crisis of this magnitude in recent memory.
MICHAEL BIRD, NATL CONF OF STATE LEGISLATURES: What is so different about this one is that you've got the convergence of a housing problem, the credit crunch, financial institutions who are in crisis.
SYLVESTER: At the same time state revenue is dropping more families are tapping into state services like unemployment insurance and food stamps. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the budget gap for 31 states is now at $40 billion and that number is expected to soar by the year's end.
On top of all of this, states are having a tough time raising funds through municipal bonds. They are facing higher interest rates and the insurance companies that back up those bonds are on the verge of going under. Some towns in Connecticut are considering not building new schools.
Missouri may need to put off what they say are badly needed repairs at the St. Louis airport and states, towns and cities that have to balance their budget by law are scaling back.
NANCI NISHIMURA, COTCHETT, PITRE & MCCARTHY: Schools are cutting services, cutting classroom time. They are going to have to fire teachers. Senior centers are going to have to cut its services to the seniors because it has to take the money from somewhere.
SYLVESTER: The states are asking the federal government for help as part of the economic stimulus package, saying Congress helped out Wall Street, now it's time for Main Street.
SYLVESTER: The credit crunch is real for many towns and cities. They are having a hard time finding financing to build roads and schools and some cities like San Francisco are suing the bond insurers accusing them of fraud. The municipalities took out bond insurance policies, but what they did not know is that the insurers were also backing up subprime mortgage pools.
Now for some towns those bond insurance policies are worthless and the taxpayers are now having to pay huge increases in bond interest rates at the same time they're facing this enormous budget crisis.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And coming up, find out how to actually get a job in December when most businesses, they are not hiring at all. We're going to show you the trick.
HOLMES: We will also turn to Bangkok, that town on edge. Explosions, more demonstrations are rocking that city. The latest on Thailand's political crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: A pair of explosions rocked Bangkok early today. Protesters continue their seize against the Thai government. About 50 people injured, some serious injuries to report. The blast targeted the Thai government house, also an airport, both occupied by protesters.
Meantime, thousands of government supporters gathered in the heart of Bangkok. It was the first big progovernment rally since the protesters took over the airport, last week.
NGUYEN: Rescuers in southern Brazil, they're trying to find for victims of deadly flooding there. Government officials say at least 109 people are dead, many of them killed in mudslides. Tens of thousands had to get out of their homes and volunteers are working to get food, water, and Minnesota to the victims. .
HOLMES: We got a shuttle watch right now in Florida. We should probably call this a weather watch. The "Endeavour" due to come home today from the International Space Station. And I say "due" to come home.
NGUYEN: It looks a little windy with that shaky shot right there. The first landing opportunity is at 1:19 eastern at Kennedy Space Center. NASA now has, though, as T.J. was talking about, its eye on the weather, because winds and clouds could threaten the arrival. It doesn't look too promising from this picture. The backup site in California is being prepared just in case.
And you know it is a busy travel week and a lot of people headed hope from Thanksgiving. And we've been talking to Karen Maginnis, she's in for Reynolds Wolf, today.
Look at the weather outside and just looking at the plains and some of the other graphics that you've had, they are already up in the air and people delayed.
MAGINNIS: Exactly, and that was not a hand-held camera that you were looking at. It's windy out there. Kennedy Space Center, it looks like our frontal system is going to be sweeping by this area. I want to show you what we think will happen in the forecast --. 1:19, first attempt is not looking very good, at 2:54, I think, is the possibility of a second attempt, but we've got clouds, showers, but even the parameters say that the winds are not going to be favorable. We could see them between about 25 and 35 with occasionally higher gusts, maybe over 40 miles-an-hour. So, not looking good for the simultaneous for both attempts.
For travelers, we've now added Baltimore, departure delays, it's not showing up just yet. But Philadelphia, also in Atlanta and we've just heard the space shuttle has been postponed. So, that is the very latest, until 2:54, but I'm thinking even then, at 2:54 time for landing, still not going to be good. I think there are still going to be showers in the area and that wind is going to really be a problem. I think the cross wind there could be problematic for the space shuttle.
Now back to you, T.J., Betty.
NGUYEN: So, I was going to say, looking at the weather, you're not seeing really anything happening today?
MAGINNIS: For the first time period, officially delayed until 2:54, but I think 2:54 is still not looking good.
NGUYEN: All right, Karen, thank for that.
HOLMES: Well, a lot of folks out there, y'all know somebody traveling today. They're coming home maybe from that Thanksgiving Day visit.
NGUYEN: Yeah, but before you head out, we're going to show you all of the shortcuts, so don't miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody and welcome back. I'm Betty Nguyen. Take a look at this live picture. This is the reason that the space shuttle "Endeavour" has been delayed, shall we say, as it is making its way home. You can see the camera shaking, there. That's wind. And in the background there in that shot, you can see how the weather is not looking too good.
So, they originally were going to land around 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time and now we've learned that that next opportunity is at 2:54 p.m. So, we're going to see if the shuttle "Endeavour" will be able to land at that time. If not, they may have to use their backup at Edwards Air Force base in California. But, we are watching it very closely for you. We're also checking your top stories this hour.
HOLMES: Yeah, we have a suicide bomber on a bicycle targeting a German embassy car today in Kabul, Afghanistan. The car's occupants not hurt. Not clear if the German ambassador was in that car. Two people were killed, however, three others, injured.
NGUYEN: Five Americans are among those killed in the three-day terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. And among them, two Rabbis, as well as a Virginia man and his teenaged daughter.
Also, protests against the Indian government, today. Look at this, demonstrators complain it should have been prepared for the attacks. The chairman of the company that owns the Taj Mahal Hotel says that that hotel was warned of a possible terrorist attack.
HOLMES: Also, Indian's home minister, the man in charge of security, resigned today. He says he's taking moral responsibility for those attacks.
NGUYEN: Well, this investigation is obviously broad and very difficult. There are a number of different attack sites, some nine that people have been talking about. CNN's Nic Robertson has joined us with the latest on what investigators are finding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a distance, police investigators can be seen sifting through the remains of Rabbi Holsberg's house. They're under pressure to find out who killed him and his wife.
(on camera): I think there's a misunderstanding, we don't want to go inside.
(voice-over): We are trying to figure out who would plan such a brazen attack.
(on camera): We don't want to go in.
(voice-over): A police relents, tells us what he can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are collecting crucial evidence inside the building.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Have you found anything important yet inside the building?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, definitely, but at this point of time nothing can be disclosed to the press.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): More than 180 people in the most audacious terror attack here ever. A handful of gunman shut down the country's financial capital for days and now everyone wants to know who they were and who is behind them.
(on camera): How long have you seen in the process the investigation takes here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will take a long time.
ROBERTSON: A long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Long time.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): We're looking for answers now and go next door.
Prashan Refes' (ph) tiny apartment overlooks the rabbi's house. From what he saw, he said the gunman never planned to negotiate. They killed the Rabbi Holsberg soon after storming into his house and then rigged his body with explosives.
(on camera): The rabbi who was in here, they booby trapped his body with a bomb?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, with a bomb.
ROBERTSON: On the rabbi's body?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. Because I was here.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): His neighbor, Sanjay, says he was there too, close enough to hear the gunman talking in a north Indian Hindi dialect.
SANJAY BHASHME, WITNESS: But 101 person is not (INAUDIBLE) Pakistan.
ROBERTSON: He blames Pakistanis for the attack.
BHASHME: The Pakistani people.
ROBERTSON (on camera): You think the Pakistanis are behind this?
BHASHME: Yeah. Everyone knows. Know that this is a -- India and Pakistan always get fight and this terrorism obviously comes from that way.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): India's foreign minister has said the same. The two nuclear nations have long held grievances over Kashmir, a disputed province in the north. Pakistani officials categorically deny any involvement and so far India has offered no proof of a government role.
Another top Indian official says one of the gunman captured is a Pakistani national, and government investigators are offering up more evidence. A mobile phone belonging to one of the gunman, detailing investigators say, calls made to Pakistan during the attack, also a global positioning device, tracking a sea route.
Increasingly, investigators, according to our sister network, CNN-IBN, believe that at least some of the gunman came by boat and have showed a captain killed on his fishing vessel, they say, the gunman hijacked.
(on camera): The fisherman here say they saw one group of gunman land their boat here, come up the causeway and get off into the busy traffic in the city that Wednesday night.
(voice-over): In the few photographs taken of the gummen that night, they all look gun. The complexity of their attack point to sophistication and training. The claim of responsibility by the almost unknown Deccan Mujahideen group is taken by officials to be intentionally misleading.
(on camera): When the gunmen got into the city, investigators are indicating they split up into teams of two. When they arrived at hotels, like the Oberoi, here, and began asking for British and American passport holders, they gave the strongest clues to their motivations, buying, it appears, to part of the anti-western al Qaeda message.
(voice-over): Until now, terror attacks in India, that have claimed close to 4,000 lives, in the past four years have been blamed on homegrown radicals, sometimes with Pakistani or Bangladeshi support, the vast majority have targeted Indians.
The last big attack in Mumbai, a sophisticated multiple bombing of the rail network in 2006, killing more than 180 people, was blamed on Lashkar-e-Toiba,a Pakistani Kashmir terror group, allied with al Qaeda and the Indian Mujahideen group. I
The last significant attack by gunmen was on India's parliament in 2001. Indian officials blame that too on Lashkar-e-Toiba and another al Qaeda allied Kashmiri group, Jaish-e-Muhammad.
In these past attacks, LET and JEM, haven't claimed responsibility. However, that's unlikely to stop investigators here looking in their direction again.
(on camera): It's going to take investigators weeks to pull together all the evidence, months to follow up on all their leads. But if after all that responsibility does seem to lie with Pakistan, it would seem almost inevitable that tensions between these two nuclear arm neighbors will rise.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Mumbai, India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And we do want to make it very clear that Pakistan has denied involvement in the attacks, but the government does say it will go after the attackers if they turn out to be homegrown.
HOLMES: Eight people shot dead in a restaurant. This happened in the troubled border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Police say at least a dozen masked gunmen barged into this restaurant and just started opening fire on people who were eating inside. So far, no arrests have been made. The area has been plagued by drug-related violence. In the past week alone, the "El Paso Times" reports at least 40 people have been killed.
Well, in New York, police continue to investigate the trampling incident that killed a seasonal Wal-Mart employee, . They're now looking at surveillance video to find shoppers who ran over Jdimytai Damour when the story opened early Friday morning. Damour was 34 years old, his family struggling now to understand just what happened here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OGERA CHARLES, VICTIM'S FATHER: It's a brutality, just people just walking on a human being like that. You don't feel that? You don't feel nothing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A union that represents retail workers says Wal-Mart failed to protect its employees from those Black Friday crowds. A Wal-Mart spokesman declined to respond, but a company statement released Friday says the store added security staff for the day, also put up barricades.
NGUYEN: Well, a plea deal is being offered to that 8-year-old Arizona boy who is accused of killing his dad and another man. Prosecutors say it will keep his case in juvenile court. The details haven't been made public just yet and it's still not clear whether the boy will accept. The prosecutors say the deal is contingent on the results of a psychological exam.
And could be some bad news for Giants fans hoping to get Plaxico Burress back into top form before the playoffs. The team says the wide receiver was shot in the leg in what appeared to be an accidental shooting. He was treated and released from the hospital yesterday, but right now the Giants organization isn't saying where the shooting happened, but "Sports Illustrated" reports on its Web site that burress accidentally shot himself at a New York nightclub.
HOLMES: It's been trouble for him. You know, I hope he gets it together, but he's been one mess after another this season and caught the touchdown that won them the Super Bowl last year.
NGUYEN: The man has talent.
HOLMES: Important guy. Hope he gets it together.
Well, we're talking about the holiday travel season, it's only just starting, millions of Americans booking their trips for around Christmastime.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, and millions hoping to avoid those travel nightmares that we seem to see. Our Josh Levs joins us now with your Holiday Travel Survival Guide.
And Josh, you know, we touted this as all the shortest routes out there, so hopefully you can deliver.
JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually that's one of the things you can get at CNN.com/travel. I just want to pop I here for just about a minute, just want to let you guys know some of the cool things that we found.
We've been playing around CNN.com/travel and I want to encourage all of you to go there if you have some trips coming up. One of the big things that we connect you to is what Betty just mentioned, your Holiday Travel Survival Guide 2008. It's from Budget Travel, but we link you right to it.
And what I did is I made the words pretty huge, because I want you to see some of the points they tell you about. I didn't even think about these things. Leave your gifts unwrapped, that one I knew. If you bring wine or perfume, make sure it's accessible. But they also tell you to make sure that you know battery rules.
It turns out that if you're carrying extra batteries for one of your gizmos, they can actually give you a hard time about that. So, you got to learn some of these basics in advance. I encourage you to check out that list, here.
Let's go back to one more thing I want you to see. If you're at that (INAUDIBLE) travel, there's something up here called the Travel Troubleshooter. It's a guy you can contact who might actually contact airlines for you if you're having any problems with them. So check it out, Travel Troubleshooter, all that and more, including, the fastest routes Betty was just talking about, CNN.com/travel -- guys. NGUYEN: Right, want to save us some time. Appreciate it, thank you.
HOLMES: As we've been showing here on the screen, we're tracking the weather, the flight delays on this busy travel weekend.
NGUYEN: Yeah, you may not be saving too much time if you're headed to the airport. Karen Maginnis is in for Reynolds Wolf.
And Karen, I understand there are some delays?
MAGINNIS: Yes and it's going down fairly quickly. I think we'll start to see even more delays at some of the major airports added, especially in the northeast. About 3,700 flights in the air and we are looking at the northeast, it has seen deteriorating weather conditions. LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, they're open, everything is working, but the weather, it really is deteriorating. Visibility's going down. The rain keeps coming down. You could change over to rain/snow mix. So, that's going to be problematic.
Philadelphia, Atlanta, and now Cincinnati. Cincinnati, one of those big hubs, especially for the international flights, as well. We've got delays there. They're saying it's a traffic management, a volume problems, but the weather there is not good at all.
Take a look at what's happening across the northeast in that I-95 corridor. New York, you're right on the edge, where we've got the temperature hovering just object freezing by a few degrees. Chicago, I think Chicago's going to see delays later on as well. Lots to tell you about, we'll be back. T.J., Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, Karen, thank you for that.
HOLMES: All right, end of the year, a lot of companies, trying to get their budgets and whatnot, what do we have? There are some hiring freezes out there, you see some layoffs? but also what do we have in December? We have some college graduates...
NGUYEN: looking for jobs.
HOLMES: Get on the job market. And these are well-qualified folks.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, so how do you find a new job and actually be employed as the year rolls around? We have expert advice, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: As we all know, those pink slips, they keep going out. The resumes keep coming in. December is not an easy month to find a job. In fact, most businesses are at the end of their budget and out of money. Then, of course, there's the holidays, time to map out a strategy. So for that, we have tapped Rick Smith. He's a career adviser and author as well as an entrepreneur.
Thanks for being with us, today. RICK SMITH, CAREER ADVISER & AUTHOR: Thank you, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, I'm going to put you on the spot, because what we need right now is a surefire way to lock in a job. How can people do that?
SMITH: Well, I think the first thing they need to do is be realistic, because as you said, there's a lot of companies that are out there that are out of money for this year and literally can't hire...
NGUYEN: Is this the hardest time of the year to get a job, if it's not seasonal work?
SMITH: Well, you have to understand the process of getting a job is a process, and it does take a period of time. And I think one of the important things is that people out there don't take the month of December off. Nobody's hiring, I can't do anything, why not just wait it out until January. The process actually does take a period of time, so while you may not be able to get a job or start the job in December, you still need to be planting the seed...
NGUYEN: So starting today, if I need a job, what's the first thing I need to do?
SMITH: Well, what I would -- the first thing is you need to understand, what is the landscape for job seekers right now, which has changed dramatically. Traditionally, you would write a cover letter, you would find a job opening in the paper, you would go get an interview. Today, it's almost instantaneous. People can post themselves on these job boards, which has created two different problems.
One, it's hard for you, as an individual, to differentiate yourself in the marketplace, but there's also a problem on the employer side. You post a position opening, and you often have 5,000 or more responses to that. How do you dig through that? So...
NGUYEN: Isn't it also true, that a lot of hires don't come from those openings we see? You can't wait around for an opening, can you?
SMITH: Exactly, the key I this market is how do you differentiate yourself? How do you find specific problems that need to be solved and become the solution for that problem rather than looking for the long-term fit in a company in this market?
NGUYEN: So if you're looking for a job today, say you may not get it within the month of December, but the goal is at least by January?
SMITH: It depends on what level you're seeking a job. The lower level job, the faster you can get in and find a position. But it does take a period of time and it is a process that you need to continually invest in.
NGUYEN: What companies are actually hiring? I mean, how do you find those little nuggets where you can say, yes, I finally know a place that is actually hiring someone this time of year?
SMITH: Right, right, I think in general, the best strategy is you go where the investment is and you go where the pain is. So, there are companies that are still making investments. Over the last six years, it may have been to try to keep up with growth. Now it's, how do I sell anything I can, so how do I increase my sales, and how do it cut my costs or improve efficiencies? And so companies are still making investments to improve sales or to improve efficiencies and you can find jobs...
NGUYEN: So you need to go in as a problem solver, saying, this is what I can do for you in the short-term, right now, and that's what really people are looking for.
SMITH: Yeah, absolutely. The second part of that is finding, where is the pain? Also, employers have a lot of pain right now. It's not about solving your own problem, how do I find my job, it's about identifying what is the pain this employer has and how can I quickly articulate that I'm the answer to that - I'm the solution to that problem?
NGUYEN: Rick Smith, we do appreciate your time today.
SMITH: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Hopefully these work, T.J. There are a lot of people who need this advice.
HOLMES: A lot of people need advice, a lot of people listening right now, hopefully. Good luck to them all out there.
We will turn next to a story about a young one who was born with AIDS. This is a young woman's personal story and it's helping her raise awareness and the message she is now sending to her peers. Look at that smiling face, there. You don't want to miss her story. Stay here.
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HOLMES: Well, tomorrow is world AIDS Day and events are scheduled around the world. Organizers are using everyone to stand out, or urging everyone to stand up and lead the fight against HIV and AIDS.
NGUYEN: We want to salute one remarkable leader and outspoken advocate of hope and personal responsibility. Her early dreams of understanding have propelled her journey to the top.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HYDEIA BROADBENT, AIDS ACTIVIST: You can't touch my dreams. I am future and I have AIDS.
NGUYEN (voice-over): As a child, Hydeia Broadbent gave pediatric AIDS a face and a powerful voice.
BROADBENT: Losing your friends to AIDS, it's hard, but, like, you keep on going, because you have to.
NGUYEN: Infected by her birth mother and abandoned, ??? was adopted as an infant, diagnosed with HIV at three, she was not expected to live past her 5th birthday, but with medication she defied the odds. She began telling her story publicly when she was six and she hasn't stopped.
BROADBENT: I've gone all over the country trying to spread the message and just try to get people to accept people who are infected with HIV/AIDS. I just wanted somebody to hear, somebody to open their heart and their eyes and make a difference to the future.
NGUYEN: Now 24, Broadbent is taking a break from college to recover from an infection, while enjoying time with her mom and her boyfriend, she knows her work is not done.
BROADBENT: The most important thing people need to know about HIV/AIDS is that it's a choice. We choose our behavior, we choose our sexual partners, therefore we choose the outcome. It's not acceptable for anybody to say, I didn't know about AIDS.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: What a powerful voice.
HOLMES: It is a heck of a story, there. We'll continue to follow her. Also, I need show you, up next, the house in Nebraska that's lighting up the neighborhood with some Christmas cheer, already.
NGUYEN: Yeah, we're going to tell you what makes this amazing display even more special.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We have Christmas music already. We just had Thanksgiving the other day. You talk about this Christmas display. Let's show it here. Show you the full on display. It's pretty impressive. Now, you were promising people, what makes this one more special than another?
NGUYEN: Well, take a look.
HOLMES: It comes from 13-year-old Nebraska middle schooler. His name is Max McKeever. Says he's been dreaming about it, planning this light show for years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAX MCKEEVER, CHRISTMAS LIGHT MASTERMIND: I've been wanting to do this for many years, two or three years I've been wanting to do this and this year I finally decided, you know, spend the money and do it, because I've always wanted to -- I've dreamed it and now I want to do it.
MARK MCKEEVER, FATHER: It's pretty elaborate and he diagramed it and he had drawings of it and sketches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, he used 35,000 lights, here.
NGUYEN: OK, but hold up, that's a lot of allowance money, 35,000 lights.
HOLMES: We don't know how he got them. Maybe he got them on eBay. Maybe he stole them from his neighbors. Who knows.
NGUYEN: No, he didn't.
HOLMES: But, he's been using a computer in his closet and radio transmitter, as well, in his bedroom, to programmed the lights to dance to the beat of the music. We've seen this in other places sometimes. Most of the lights also LED, don't even know what that means, but it saves the family a lot on their electric bill.
NGUYEN: And that's all that matters.
Well, let's hopefully save you some time as you're headed home after Thanksgiving. Karen Maginnis is watching the weather, today.
Any chance for smooth sailing out there?
MAGINNIS: No.
NGUYEN: That's why he's so choked up, because it's nt.
MAGINNIS: It looks pretty bad just everywhere we look. To add to our airport delays, not just Philadelphia, but Atlanta, if you're watching us from the airport, Newark has been added. If you remember, I mentioned that just a few minutes ago, that I think in that northeastern corridor, LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, it looked like they were going to go down. JFK and LaGuardia, it looks like the weather conditions there are not good. You might start to see some slowing down once that volume really starts picking up.
Look at these temperatures around the Great Lakes, in Chicago, 39. We've got some pictures out of Chicago right now, poor visibility, the temperature still above freezing, but you could see four inches of snow before it's all said and done. And there's a tornado watch across north central Florida, space shuttle, you heard that first attempt is not going to go. We don't think the second attempt will either. Back to you, T.J. Betty.
HOLMES: All right, Karen, thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Coming up next on RELIABLE SOURCES, White House press secretary, Dana Perino's stint at the podium. What's it been like having to be the voice of the president? Well, Howard Kurtz takes a look.
HOLMES: Then at 11:00 on LATE EDITION, with Wolf Blitzer, terror in India. Finger pointing to Pakistan, a country that has denied any involvement, but first we have a check of this morning's top stories.
NGUYEN: "Now in the News," the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, India had been warned that a terrorist attack was possible. That happened before the deadly rampage that left at least 183 people dead. That is according to the chairman of the company that owns that hotel. He says security was tightened after the warning.
Well, a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, right near a car owned by the German embassy. Two people were killed, three injure. But no one inside the embassy car was hurt.
President-elect Barack Obama is expected to officially nominate top members of his national security team, tomorrow. And they include Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, retired Marine general, Jim Jones as national security advisor. And Obama is expected to keep Robert Gates as defense secretary.
We're going to have more top stories in 30 minutes. RELIABLE SOURCES begins right now.
