Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Bombings Kill 65; Puerto Rico Refinery Explodes; H1N1: A National Emergency; Airborne Police Cruiser
Aired October 25, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN Sunday Morning. It is October 25th. Good morning everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
We are trying to get TJ Holmes on the air right here. He's -- well, you know, you're -- you're trying to get your microphone on and everything. I saw you sprinting around here. We're getting it together.
TJ HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We're good. Hey!
NGUYEN: It's early! It's early. Good morning.
HOLMES: I'm -- I'm TJ. How are you? It's 6:00 AM here in Atlanta where...
NGUYEN: Yes. Well, here in Atlanta.
HOLMES: ... where we sit. (INAUDIBLE) in Chicago for you folks. It's 1:00 PM in Baghdad. We got a story coming out of there we need to bring to you right now.
NGUYEN: Yes. We do have some breaking news out of Baghdad this morning. Explosions rocked the Justice Ministry overnight. Look at this video. We'll go to a live report in just a minute.
HOLMES: Also, another top story this morning, the CDC has logged millions of cases of H1N1, thousands of deaths as well, also a lot of hospitalizations. Now it's being called an official emergency by the president. We'll tell you exactly what that means this morning.
But we do want to start in Baghdad. This is about three hours ago. We saw two powerful explosions there rocking that city. The death toll has continued to go up. The latest update we've gotten is that 62 people have been killed, another 180 have been injured.
CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is in Baghdad for us this morning. Mohammed, good morning. I know you heard these explosions from where you are. Tell us about that, first of all, and also tell us about the target of these two bombings.
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: TJ, well, we actually have updated numbers since we last spoke. We now have confirmed from the Ministry of Interior here at least 65 people killed and over 420 people injured. That's a staggering number. It's a very deadly day in Baghdad today.
These were twin car bombings that targeted the Ministry of Justice and the Baghdad Governorate Complex. Now, these happened at about 10:30 AM local time. Very powerful explosions, rocked central Baghdad, and this is really an attack on the central government. We haven't seen an attack like this since August 19th. That day, over 100 people were killed and over 500 people were injured. Those were attacks that targeted, among other buildings, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- TJ.
HOLMES: Mohammed, also this is not necessarily a surprise to some somewhere out there predicting that maybe we would see an increase in violence. Why?
JAMJOOM: Well, that's right, TJ. In the last few weeks, I mean, the chorus on this has been growing louder. What you see, the problem here is this Iraqi election law. There's a new election law that needs to be a passed before elections can happen as scheduled on January 16th.
Now, you've seen Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, you've seen the UN Ambassador Christopher Hill, several other US officials come out and say the Iraqi parliament really needs to get this passed, otherwise the elections are delayed. The Iraqi parliament has failed to pass this in the last few weeks. They've missed several deadlines. Now people are worried that if this doesn't pass and the tensions continue around election time, there will be political violence.
Basically that's what they're saying. They were concerned -- and they're also concerned that of there's more violence as there was today, this really calls into question Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's leadership, it calls into question the Iraqi security forces and how good a care they're taking of the country, and it also calls into question if it will effect of the US troop drawdown -- TJ.
HOLMES: A last thing here, a major US official actually there, Susan Rice, UN Ambassador was actually in Iraq over the weekend. What was she doing there?
JAMJOOM: Well, Ambassador Rice came to visit with several officials. The main purpose of the visit was to discuss the lifting of sanctions. There are still sanctions that remain from the UN Security Council on Iraq from the days of Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait, and they say it's very restrictive for Iraq and they've been calling for those sanctions to be lifted for several years now.
But Ambassador Rice, when she was here yesterday, she actually went to the Foreign Ministry Complex in Central Baghdad and she toured the wreckage of the site of the bombing on August 19th. While she was there, she was given a tour of the site. Afterwards, she expressed her condolences on behalf of US President Barack Obama and on behalf of the US people, saying that they express their sympathy towards Iraq and support the solidarity and sovereignty of Iraq -- TJ. HOLMES: Mohammed Jamjoom for us in Baghdad. We appreciate the report this morning. Thank you so much. We'll be checking it (ph).
NGUYEN: Well here are some of the other stories that we are following for you overnight. The FBI investigating a just massive fire that is still burning out of control at an oil refinery in Puerto Rico. Here's some video of that.
It erupted after a sudden explosion on Friday -- there are the flames -- and witnesses say it felt like an earthquake. At least 1500 people have been forced to evacuate, but our Senior Latin American Affairs Editor Rafael Romo tells us that the biggest concern right now is possible environmental effects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: The Coast Guard is also helping in the effort to monitor the environmental effects to this area in Puerto Rico. The plant itself is not too far from the San Juan Bay, and the main fear right now is that the water is going to get contaminated. At the same time, they are using ocean water to bring it into a facility and try to contain the fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That fire is expected to cost the island at least $6.4 million. President Obama has declared a state of emergency.
HOLMES: Still Iran now where its nuclear program under scrutiny again today. A team of international inspectors this time arriving in Tehran this afternoon (ph) -- a little earlier today. They'll be checking out the recently disclosed nuclear facility near the city Qom. Inspectors want to make sure that facility is being used for what Iran says it's being used for, and that's peaceful purposes.
NGUYEN: You know, we've heard a lot about the shortage of the H1N1 vaccines and the incredible demand, yet, listen to this, 1200 nasal spray vaccines were available at a clinic near Fresno, California yesterday. But health officials say only 400 people showed up to get the vaccine and they were surprised at such a low turnout. And that is surprising considering the H1N1 pandemic is now considered a national emergency.
HOLMES: Yes. That made official by President Obama. He brought the status up a bit. Here is why he made this move. It doesn't necessarily mean a lot more money is going to be going toward the issue. It means that this lets the Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius relax certain government requirements, meaning there's not so much red tape to get things done. Hospitals should be able to treat a surge of H1N1 patients more quickly.
Here now, more from our Elaine Quijano.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Betty and TJ, administration officials emphasize this is a just in case move. Still, it underscores the seriousness of the H1N1 pandemic and the threat it continues to pose.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): President Obama declared a national H1N1 emergency -- an ominous sounding name for what officials insist is a purely preemptive move. In the declaration, the president said, "The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities."
The declaration is meant to list that potential burden, so hospitals get overwhelmed with H1N1 patients they'll be able to bypass bureaucratic requirements, like making patients sign certain forms. The goal, to allow doctors and nurses in disaster mode to focus on patients, not paperwork.
The declaration comes as millions of Americans in 46 states have come down with H1N1.
DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: ... of the pandemic. In April and May, we've seen more than 1,000 deaths from pandemic influenza and more than 20,000 hospitalizations in this country.
QUIJANO: In communities nationwide, including this line that stretched for hours in Michigan...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two-hour wait for the swine flu shot.
QUIJANO: ... people are already flooding health care facilities, anxious to get their H1N1 vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been trying not be paranoid about it, but, yes, be aware and be cautious, be safe and take advantage of any opportunity that we can.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (on camera): But the government acknowledges officials have nowhere near the amount of H1N1 vaccines that manufacturers predicted they'd have. The shortage is being blamed on problems growing the vaccine, but one top official predicts there will eventually be enough vaccine to meet demand -- Betty, TJ.
NGUYEN: All right. You know, so we've been asking you what do you think about the H1N1 virus. Are you going get the vaccine, especially now that we've heard that there's been a state of emergency issued by the president?
We want to hear from you today on our Facebook pages, our Twitter sites as well, as well as the blog. Let me go to my page just really quickly, and let's see -- Jim Fields (ph) says, "I still wouldn't get vaccinated, but if the threat is really that serious, this is a good thing," and he's talking about the -- the state of emergency that's been issued by the president.
And the go down here to Allesandro (ph) who said, "The vaccine was not adequately tested, so, regrettably, until it is issued and the side effects assessed on people willing to receive it, I wouldn't be vaccinated. If it's safe, though, then I will," and I think a lot of people are a little worried because, you know, this is the first time around for a lot of us when it comes to the H1N1 vaccine and people just don't really know what kind of side effects might be seen in the future because of it.
HOLMES: A lot of questions. Surprising to hear about that clinic that had all those vaccines and nobody went and showed up...
NGUYEN: Yes. Only 400 people showed up for it. Yes.
HOLMES: ... less than half of what they had. So, by all means, please keep those comments coming in, questions as well this morning.
NGUYEN: You know, you can reach us on our Facebook pages, you can reach us on Twitter, weekends@cnn.com is our e-mail. Also go to our blog, cnn.com/betty or cnn.com/tj. Lots of ways to reach out. We want to hear from you and we'll be reading those on the air.
All right. You know, this looks like a scene from a TV cop show, but how in the world did this happen? Look, the wheel is still spinning on that cop car right there. That's crazy. Look at it.
HOLMES: Oh, that poor officer.
NGUYEN: Oh, now it's on -- is that on fire?
HOLMES: There's a little fire going underneath. We're going to try to explain what in the world happened there.
Also this week, we've all been trying to figure out what in the world happened above the skies in Minnesota. They are looking into how two airline pilots missed their destination by some 150 miles. They say they were not sleeping, they were not in an intense argument, so...
NGUYEN: What were they doing?
HOLMES: ... what in the world were they doing?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Well, we are -- we're trying to figure this picture out.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) show the picture and let it tell the story here, but this is a -- a sheriff's deputy vehicle, as I'm told. I can't tell what...
NGUYEN: What is that thing? Is that a tree?
HOLMES: It's on some power lines...
NGUYEN: Oh, power line.
HOLMES: ... and a power pole, apparently, there.
NGUYEN: OK. And we know it didn't hop up there, so what in the world happened? Well, the cruiser, abandoned on top of these power wires with its wheels still spinning, above the flames none the less. The deputy was reportedly speeding to an emergency, the sirens blaring, when he came upon another car in an intersection, forcing the cruiser to swerve --
Yes. But we don't have an exact explanation how this happened. It swerved and then something went awry, apparently, but we are told that everybody is OK. But imagine trying to -- having to explain that to the boss.
HOLMES: You know, the built in excuse these days is going to be I wasn't sleeping and I wasn't in a heated argument.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: That's just going to be...
NGUYEN: And he wasn't 150 miles away from the destination, so...
HOLMES: Yes. So that's something.
NGUYEN: ... that is something.
And here's a little something, too. There was some heavy rain across the country, but there is still a threat of flooding in the Northeast.
HOLMES: All right. Bonnie Schneider, can that deputy claim that weather was a -- a factor in his accident?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I don't think so. It went straight up.
NGUYEN: Well, all right. It's crazy looking.
SCHNEIDER: It sure is.
Well, we have some video to show you of the flooding that occurred in Philadelphia, and a lot of rain. Very tough to drive a vehicle when you have a couple inches of rain on the ground. The good news is the rain has stopped, but, boy, did it come quickly. You know, it only takes a few inches of water to completely dislodge steering on even an SUV, so if you see the water covering the road, don't try to cross because you just don't know how deep it is.
We can show you how much rain has accumulated across much of the Northeast. Take a look at these rainfall totals and you'll find that many of them are well over an inch. We had a record shattered in Washington, DC with 1.69 inches of rain for the state, also Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Albany and there in Philadelphia, 1.34 inches. Now, some of the areas may have certainly received less or more depending on where you are, but we're definitely looking at a lot of wet weather across the region.
The good news is the front has now pushed all the way to the east so it's feeling a little bit cooler for sure, but it's also feeling drier, which is good news for baseball tonight since the game was postponed between the Yankees and the Angels due to heavy rain, and, boy, was it coming down last night.
So the good news is that the rain has definitely subsided, and as we look at the country as a whole for today, most of the weather is mild for this almost to last weekend in October. We really don't have any freezing temperatures on the map, just some cooler weather in Minneapolis and in Billings. Betty, TJ.
NGUYEN: Oh. OK. Thank you, Bonnie. We do appreciate it.
We're getting some information on some breaking news, and here it is. The death toll in Iraq, it is increasing after two overnight bombings. The latest, we're going to get that. Some 400 people have been injured because of that.
HOLMES: ... injured now. That's a huge number.
NGUYEN: So we're going to give you the latest on that breaking news just after this break.
HOLMES: Also, we're talking about some of the images we're seeing around the world. Josh Levs taking out this year's winners of an amazing images contest. Good morning, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, guys. Yes. Check this out. It's pretty incredible. And we're asking people this morning if they can guess what this is.
I'm going to give you a hint -- you've probably taken lots of them -- eaten them, actually. And here's another one we can show you. This is where we all come from, in a sense. I'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: One of our top stories is a breaking story out of Baghdad this morning. You're seeing video here after two powerful suicide car bombs go off there. Sixty-five people dead -- that's the latest death toll. That number has been going up, also the numbered of injured, which is up to some 420 now.
These blasts were just three hours ago, targeted two government buildings. Iraqi and US officials have warned of possible violence ahead of the country's national elections set for mid-January.
And, actually, just as I'm hearing, I'll go ahead right here, Betty, 74 is the number. Like we've just been saying, those attacks in Iran, the number's been going up just as I was speaking to you. Just our international desk just getting an update. Now up to 74 dead in that bombing. Again, that number could go up, because the number of injured has gone up to some 400 plus, but 74 now killed in two suicide attacks in Baghdad. NGUYEN: All the violence there.
OK, I want to show you some pictures now of the New Jersey man that police have arrested and charged with killing a priest. He is a janitor at the church and has apparently worked there for 17 years.
Police say he stabbed Reverend Ed Hines 32 times after an argument. His body was found in the church rectory Friday after he didn't show up for mass.
HOLMES: President Obama has declared a national emergency to deal with the rapid increase in H1N1 flu cases. This declaration expected to cut through a lot of red tape needed to get more people vaccinated. Federal health officials say about 11.3 million doses of the vaccine have been sent out so far. Still, one top official says, and I'm quoting here, "We are nowhere near where we thought we would be," in talking about sufficient number of doses.
NGUYEN: Well, an 18-year-old who had been wandering the streets of New York for two weeks -- there's a picture of her -- claiming that she didn't know her name or who she was. Well, she may finally have some answers.
Thanks to a CNN viewer, she has been reunited with her parents in Washington State. Police say a viewer out in Maryland helped identify her and the photo of the teen who had been referred to as Jane Doe was circulated by police and aired on CNN this week, and, again, we believe that she has been reunited with her family in Washington State.
LEVS: I love it when we do these "Lookout" segments because I get to show you these cool things that you pretty much wouldn't get to see otherwise, and I get to find out about them myself. Like this -- let's take a look at this. These have just won this big award.
The Wellcome Image Awards are out for the year and they highlight the most amazing pictures from kind of about life (ph). It's from the world of medicine, and the good folks at PopSci.com which we linked to from CNN.com are calling them the most amazing medical images of 2009.
Let's go to the screen on my left here. I have really good pictures here, what these winners are, and we're going to show you. This is the first one that you were just seeing. This is actually a pill -- any pill that you take. These were taken under a microscope. Sometimes they use dye or sometimes the artist go in afterwards and put in color to emphasize things, but all the shapes are real. When you take a pill, this part on the inside is that part that was affecting you, the outside was the coating.
Now let's skip ahead. This one is a small intestine. I was a picture taken from inside a mouth. But this is what we all have inside our body. These are called villi. Let's go to the next one. A lot of people have been asking me about this third one. This is an aspirin crystal. When you get really, really close up to aspirin, this is what it's like, this little things you hold in your hands. And we're going to go to the fourth one, which is perhaps the most striking of all. It looks like the sun. This is actually the moment just before conception, just before fertilization. This is an egg right here. You can see the little tadpole-y things, which my director call the swimmer sperm, trying to get through.
Let's go to the next one. These are all images from life, all true to life shapes. This is a seed from a plant that's called bird of paradise, and I've got time for a couple more. Let's go to the next one here, which sensory nerve fibers on a hair follicle. So someone touches your hair, you feel something a little bit. This is nerve fibers on there.
That's what you're seeing -- true to life, all captured in these picture. And we've got time for I think a couple more here. Let's go to these. This is kind of a bad thing. Beautiful to look at, but this is actually one cell from lung cancer that was isolated. One lung cancer cell here. Again, the pictures show the true to life shapes.
And let's end with this last one, which is a little bit different because this is an image, just an imagining. Let's see if we can zoom -- Scottie (ph), can you zoom way in to these little people? This is an artist imagining the manipulation of DNA. What if you could make DNA this huge on a computer screen to work with it and people could kind of knock out little bits of them, reshape it? It's also kind of a statement a little bit about needing to think about changing DNA and DNA manipulation in the future.
All of these pictures getting a lot of traffic online, a lot of buzz, a lot of people talking about them, and I posted them for you right here. Let's show the graphic where you can get them. At cnn.com/josh, also Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN.
It's really interesting to pull out of some of the day-to-day news stories and stop and look at life as we have never seen it before, and, Betty and TJ, each year, the Wellcome Image Awards, that's what they try to do, and that's why we have these cool pics for you today.
NGUYEN: Yes. Very, very neat. All right, Josh. Thank you.
LEVS: Thank you.
HOLMES: And we want to keep you updated on the breaking news we're following out of Iraq, the death toll now up to 74 and some 400 plus injured after a pair of suicide bombing today. We'll continue to follow that breaking news story. Stay with us. We'll continue to update you there.
NGUYEN: Also, campaigning just began this weekend for the runoff election, but in Afghanistan there are threats -- threats, I should say -- from the Taliban to disrupt those elections.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back, everybody, to the CNN Sunday Morning. I'm TJ Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes. Hello. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nyugen. It's Sunday, October 25th. We've got a lot to tell you about, including the breaking news.
HOLMES: Yes. We have been following this breaking story overnight and into the morning, but now the death toll is up to 74 after two powerful suicide car bombings in Baghdad. We also know, according to our reporter there on the ground, that at least 400 people have been injured.
These blasts happened just some three plus hours ago. Two government buildings were the target. Iraqi and US officials have warned of possible violence ahead of Iraq's national elections which are set for mid-January. A live update from Baghdad coming up in the next half hour.
NGUYEN: President Obama has declared a state of emergency for Puerto Rico after a massive fire has burning in an oil refinery. At least 1500 people living nearby have been told to evacuate. Now, the governor of Puerto Rico estimates that the fire will cost the island at least $6.4 million.
HOLMES: And President Obama has declared a national emergency over the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. This declaration s meant to cut through a lot of that bureaucratic red tape for health care facilities. Still federal health officials say production of the vaccine is slower, right now, than expected.
NGUYEN: This week, past and present presidents are expected to attract big crowds. And those tea parties, well, they are back as well. For details let's turn now to CNN's Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser.
Hey there, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. So, let's get right to it. Former President George Bush, been keeping a relatively low profile since the election. What does he have planned on Monday night?
STEINHAUSER: I guess you can say, George Bush, motivational speaker. That is what we are hearing from this group called Get Motivated. That President Bush, the former president, will be the big speaker, the motivational speaker Monday night, that's tomorrow night, in Houston, Texas. We also hear from the group that his former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani will be there, as well. And they say the president may do it again, come November, Betty.
NGUYEN: Interesting, interesting. All right. I know President Obama trying to help out a few of his friends, Democratic ones, indeed. Tell us what is on the schedule this week? STEINHAUSER: Yes, the campaigner and fundraiser in chief continues. Tomorrow night, he's in Miami for a big fundraiser, for congressional Democrats as they are beefing up towards next year's big mid-term elections. The president is expected to be the headliner there and to bring in some big bucks for the party. He's been doing a lot of that lately.
Then next day he is in Virginia. On Tuesday he's with Creigh Deeds. That's the Democratic candidate in Virginia who is running for governor. And the president going down there again to give his follow Democrat a helping hand, Betty.
NGUYEN: Has the president's support changed anything when it comes to the polls? Where are they trending right now?
STEINHAUSER: In that Virginia race the Democrats are trailing now. The Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds is trailing the Republican candidate by about 8 or 9 points. And we are getting down to the wire, just over two week. He's also, as you know, the president has been up in New Jersey to help out incumbent Democratic governor up there, John Corzine, who is also fighting for his life. The polls up there indicate that race is pretty much dead even, Betty.
NGUYEN: Oh, really? That one's going to be a good one, OK.
Political tea parties, they are back. So where do they start? And what's the message this time?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, the Tea Party Express, I guess you could call this the sequel, Part II. Remember that bit tea party caravan from late August and into early September?
NGUYEN: Oh, yes.
STEINHAUSER: Well, this time, they are starting in San Diego, LA, moving up California, into the Northwest and then they are going to cross the country. They are going to go through Atlanta, Betty, your way. And then end up on Veterans Day in Florida.
The same issues as last time, really. They're talking about too much taxes, too much money being spent, the deficits are too big. They don't like the Democrats health care proposals. They don't like some of the other things the president and the Democrats in Congress are pushing, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. They want their voices to be heard and we, indeed, will be seeing them.
All right. Paul Steinhauser, thanks so much. We always appreciate your insight.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right, investigators are reviewing the voice recorder from a Northwest Airlines flight that overshot a Minneapolis airport by some 150 miles. Take a look at this map here. This is was Flight 188, it was en route Wednesday from San Diego heading to Minneapolis. Air traffic controllers could not make contact with the plane for over an hour, an hour and 18 minutes, actually.
One of the pilots is denying what was initially reported, which was that the two were in some kind of a heated discussion, in the cockpit and lost, quote, "situational awareness." This pilot says that wasn't going on and they weren't sleeping either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD COLE, FIRST OFFICER, NORTHWEST FLIGHT 188: Nobody was asleep in the cockpit. No arguments took place. But other than that, I cannot tell you anything that went on because we are having hearings this weekend, we're having hearings on Tuesday. All that information will come out then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No arguments took place? I mean, that's the statement that's out there all over the place.
COLE: There were no arguments at all in the cockpit. There was -- that wasn't even an issue. Absolutely not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So, what was the issue? No matter what, the passengers didn't even realize there was an issue. So, what was it like on that flight?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNE KROSHUS, NORTHWEST FLIGHT 188 PASSENGER: If any of us had known that that was going on, I'm sure the entire flight would have been in a complete state of panic. But I think it's better that we didn't know. I'm glad that they were at least trying to look out for us, because I don't think the pilots were.
We were just completely under the impression that it was air traffic and that Minneapolis airport was not giving us clearance to land. And that's basically we were just going to fly around until they allowed us to do so. And that's what we all believed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Na, not what was happening. We have also learned that senior White House officials, they were aware the plane was off course, also knew that it was out of touch. Jets were alerted, but none of the planes actually took off. Because they did, of course, the air traffic controllers regained communication with the pilots of that plane before the jets took off.
Also, the flight recorder, which they are looking at, it only records for 30 minutes. It's on a loop so it records over and over again. It would have the last 30 minutes of that flight, which --
NGUYEN: So, that hour and 18, where they couldn't get in touch with them? HOLMES: Gone, more than likely. We don't know anything about that. Just the last half hour.
NGUYEN: Well, you are talking about it. And we were asking you yesterday, as well as this morning. What do you think about the story? What in the world could they have been doing if they were not arguing and if they were not sleeping?
Well, let's go to our Twitter page, shall we? Let's go to mine, first of all.
Phil Burnett (ph) says, "I say they were asleep. What else can explain such horrible job performance. The flight data recorder knows all."
But as we just mentioned, it only has for about 30 minutes of the last portion of that flight. But he goes on to say, "Fire them."
It seems like everyone keeps thinking that they were sleeping.
Let's see, Alf says, "Those pilots are pretty ridiculous. Can he really not share what they were doing? Could it be something totally bizarre?"
I don't know. I mean, they're not saying exactly what it is. So, it just leaves you to wonder what this investigation is going to turn up.
HOLMES: Got one here from Santana Tuck (ph), who says she's a former flight attendant. This is interesting.
She says, "I'm betting any amount of money that they were sleeping. They are not supposed to sleep at the same time though. Most use a rotating schedule."
So, she is speaking there as a former flight attendant, saying that maybe -you know, usually, one sleeps and the other one stays awake, kind of thing. She says, it appears certainly that was not the case.
One more from Twitter, this lady here saying, "Maybe the radio was not on the right frequency."
There's an idea.
NGUYEN: OK, yes.
HOLMES: That's not legit, but.
NGUYEN: But it is not, because the radio tower also tried text message them, to call them by cell phone. So, there are many modes of communication that were used to try to get in touch with this plane. It seems like everyone does not buy the argument that they weren't sleeping. And everyone -at least on our sites -- tend to think, the majority that, yeah, they were snoozing.
HOLMES: No other way to explain it. By all means, if you have any other ideas, please. We'd love to hear them.
NGUYEN: Of if you know the pilots and have the real answer, let us know.
HOLMES: Please, let us know. You know where to find us, now Twitter, Facebook, and on our blogs, as well.
NGUYEN: We want to get you back to that refinery fire in Puerto Rico; now a pollution threat to both air and water. We are going to go to our crews on the ground in San Juan.
HOLMES: Also, Afghans living in America are anxiously awaiting President Obama's decision on possibly sending more troops to their homeland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think there is a better solution, instead of 40,000 troops? Something else?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 40,000 educators, 40,000 doctors, to take care of the sick, 40,000 teachers, 40,000 scholars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Interesting point he's making. We'll take a look at what one Afghan community here in America thinks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody, on this Sunday morning. We are following some breaking news out of Baghdad this morning. Just look at these pictures right here. Two powerful suicide car bombs kill at least 74 people, injure some 265 more.
Those blasts just about three hours ago and it targeted two government buildings. Iraqi and U.S. officials have warned of possible violence ahead of the country's national elections, which are set for mid- January. We will get an live update from Baghdad in the next half hour.
HOLMES: Just outside of Cairo, Egypt, more than a dozen people were killed and at least 40 injured after a train hit another that was stopped on the tracks. You see some of the video here, horrible pictures. In fact, some of the dead were found buried underneath those trains.
NGUYEN: Well, police have made an arrest in the murder of a New Jersey priest. Let me show you a picture of the suspect, right here. He's a janitor at the same church and has apparently worked there for 17 years. Police say he stabbed the Reverend Ed Hinds 32 times after an argument. His body was found in the church rectory Friday after he didn't show up for mass.
HOLMES: We turn to Afghanistan now, where campaigning for the national election there, going on for a second time around. NGUYEN: Yes, the two candidates, incumbent President Hamid Karzai, and challenger Abdullah Abdullah are hitting the trail this weekend in Kabul. Neither received 50 percent of the vote back in August and have asked for the runoff. Now that runoff is set for November 7th. The Taliban, though, is threatening to disrupt the vote with violence.
HOLMES: And run off in November no the only issue weighing on the minds of thousands of Afghans living right here in the U.S.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes, they are also concerned about the debate in the White House over sending more troops. A decision many of them feel is critical for stability and security there. Our Kate Bolduan talked about this with them and she has their part of the story from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The embassy of Afghanistan estimated more than 300,000 native Afghans live in the U.S. Very tight-knit communities, something Masooda Baluch has cherished living in Northern Virginia.
MASOODA BALUCH, AFGHAN EXPATRIATE: I'd like to keep my culture and I'd like to raise my kids in the Afghan community that is being Afghan, too, to remember where we came from.
BOLDUAN: Where they came from is where her husband is now, working to rebuild and secure their homeland. One more reason Masooda Baluch and her three kids are watching the debate over U.S. strategy there, closely.
ALI BALUCH, AFGHAN EXPATRIOTE: Another aspect is, it's between a rock or a hard place. The army being there, or if they leave, the security will get worse and the stability will get worse, and then Muslims will start fighting Muslims again, Afghans will kill Afghans.
BOLDUAN: Twenty-year-old Ali has traveled back to Afghanistan twice in the past two years. He says progress is evident.
A. BALUCH: I saw this one huge hospital, right in the middle of Kabul.
BOLDUAN: But he views the current level of stability as a product of the U.S military presence, with the ongoing threat from the Taliban and insurgents, the Baluch family and many other Afghans anxiously await President Obama's decision on whether to commit more troops.
(On camera): Do you think 40,000 additional troops will secure that country? Will offer the safety and security to your father and to your relatives?
A. BALUCH: It can, but then it could cause a lot of other mayhem.
BOLDUAN: But you think that there is a better solution? Instead of 40,000 troops, something else?
A. BALUCH: Well, 40,000 educators, 40,000 doctors to take care of the sick, 40,000 teachers, 40,000 scholars, or sheiks (ph).
BOLDUAN: In the meantime the Baluch family stays connected to their father and country as much as possible, praying for safe times ahead, hoping to someday return home.
M. BALUCH: I still love my country and I would love to live there and take my kids.
BOLDUAN: The Baluch family says the Afghan community is also keeping close watch on the November 7 presidential runoff vote in Afghanistan. The Baluchs hope this second vote is an indication of a country moving away from corruption toward peace and security.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, in about a half hour, we will hear more about the runoff election from our Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence. He is monitoring the elections from Kabul and he will join us live from there with a full report.
All right. So what do concerned college students have to say about Afghanistan? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long adds Al Qaeda and terrorists have the intention of attacking United States people, on our soil, we have to be able to leave the fight over there and to limit their ability to plan and train.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHIOR (On camera): You are advocating however long it takes, whatever it takes, essentially?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Within reason, with a good plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You heard from Lacy (ph), there. She received a Bronze Star for her tour in Afghanistan. We will be hearing from more kids at Georgia State.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: I want you to take a look at this. We have some CNN I- Reporters on the scene of that oil refinery blaze in Puerto Rico and pictures from Ramiro Delgado Ruiz (ph). Look at this! Thick plumes of smoke and ash. He says he was just horrified by the images he saw. And we are actually going to be speaking with our senior Latin American affairs editor at the top of the hour to get the latest on this fire, which is still burning. It is threatening both the water and the air quality there in Puerto Rico. And in fact, President Obama has declared a state of emergency. We will get the latest on that coming up very shortly.
HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to weather now, Bonnie Schneider in for our Reynolds Wolf.
Always good to see you, Bonnie. Are we going to be able to get that game in, up New York today, it was postponed last night?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. We are definitely looking at a lot better weather in terms of the New York forecast. Last night, the game was postponed due to heavy rain, as we thought that would probably happen because of all the rain there.
It would be nice to get some rain in Puerto Rico to improve air quality, from that explosion. You can see what it looks like at night. Actually at night that is when some of the worst of the pollution is occurring, because during the day, the warm air rises as the Earth's surface heats. That helps to disperse the smoke vertically. So, at night it almost acts as a capping mechanism, where we have that smoke and soot spreading more.
I want to show you a little bit more on the winds because we are going to be seeing some big changes. We even have the pictures from outer space, from NASA, visible. Here is Catano, just south of San Juan, where the fire is burning. And you can actually see that smoke plume burning in the region. The problem, as we go towards today, as we take a closer look on Google Earth. I want to show you where the fire is, first of all, right here, just south of San Juan.
And as we take a look at where the wind has been and where they were there are some big changes ahead, unfortunately, for Sunday's forecast. On Friday morning, right after the explosion occurred, the winds were actually moving you away from the island, heading it back into the ocean. The air quality could have been worse, but it was not. Then on Saturday we saw a change. The winds started taking more of an east to west path, allowing the winds to kind of work their way to be parallel to the coastline.
However, today we are going see some big changes. The wind shift for Sunday calls for the wind direction to come from the northeast and head further to the southwest. And unfortunately, as the winds come in from that direction we are going to be definitely seeing more soot and more smoke and poor air quality for the main island of Puerto Rico. So, at first the air quality was not as bad as it could have been. But today I'm afraid it is going to get worse, Betty and T.J.
NGUYEN: Goodness. OK, Bonnie, thank you. We do appreciate it.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
NGUYEN: You know the H1N1 is spreading fast, but is there enough vaccine to go around? We'll show you where to look for some resources in your area.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, as the strategist and politicians debate what to do in Afghanistan, our Tony Harris went back to school to talk to young people about what they think the U.S. should do.
HOLMES: Yes, some of them served time in the Army. Others have studied the issue as political and history majors. And he asked Democrats and Republicans at Georgia State.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS (On camera): You're sitting in the room with the president, OK? And you have got plot the next steps forward for Afghanistan. You have three choices, counter-insurgency, counter- terrorism, you've got a slow, responsible draw down. Where do you stand?
GREG ABT, PRES., STUDENT GOV'T. ASSN, GSU: Obviously, the key reason for being in Afghanistan, the first place is to combat the terrorists. Terrorists are being harbored by Taliban, local governments.
HARRIS: Why are we still fighting in Afghanistan eight years later?
I remember the secretary of State at the time, Condoleezza Rice, saying the Taliban had been defeated.
LACEY ENYART, FMR. SPECIAL FORCES MEMBER: Studies show counter- insurgencies generally take about 30 years. The reason the mujahedeen and the Afghan people have been successful when any dominating power has come in is because they are just willing to wait people out.
HARRIS: Are you willing to commit for 30 years in Afghanistan? Whatever the force and troop level is?
ENYART: Yes.
HARRIS: Is that something that you're willing to do?
ENYART: As long as Al Qaeda and terrorists have the intention of attacking United States people, on our soil, you have to be able to leave the fight over there and limit their ability to plan and train.
HARRIS: You are advocating, however long it takes, whatever it takes, essentially?
ENYART: Within reason, with a good plan. Now, I mean, you can stay over there for 100 years with a bad plan, and you're not going to improve anything. But if you --you need to have a good plan, which is nation building.
HARRIS: Wow.
ENYART: Like --
HARRIS: You are signing on to that?
JOSH GOLDBLATT, INT'L. RELATIONS GRADUATE: When we decided to take over their government, we decided to overthrow whoever was there, we claimed that responsibility.
HARRIS: Was that your understanding when we went to Afghanistan after 9/11? Was that your understanding, that we could be there a generation?
ZACHARY McFALL, FMR. PRES., YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF GEORGIA, GSU: I didn't understand that we could be there a generation. But I also thought that we went in with coalition forces. And right now, it is my understanding that we really don't have any help. So, we are going to be spending either money or our soldiers' blood, one way or the other, if we don't defeat this enemy.
HARRIS: So we have to stay?
McFALL: We have to, we have to finish what we started.
HARRIS: Anyone advocating withdraw at all?
JOHN MURRAY, CHAIR, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS, GSU: If we immediately pull out, or remove our influence, it just turns into a bad situation where tyranny takes place.
STEVEN FIELDS, PRES., CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDENT ASSN., GSU: I think we are almost morally obligated now to rebuild the country. But at the same time, we should be moving out of the country. We really have to refocus our mission over there.
CLAUDIA RIVERA, SERVES ON LATINO STUDENT COUNCIL, GSU: To build a nation, you have to get the people involved. Like, avoid the corruption, actually go to the people, provide aid to them. Because that's how you are going to get their allegiance, if you provide education, if you provide clean water. If you provide the basic principals for them to live, a crop that is other than opium, that they can get money and feed their families, then they will be happy and they will help you any way they can.
ENYART: But that doesn't really work. Because you provide them aid and the Taliban either will do retribution towards them for accepting the aid. They steal the aid, they attack the people while they are getting aid, and that causes a lot of public outcry.
I mean, the problem with counter-insurgency, is it takes time, and it's hard. And at the end of the day, it's just hard. And so, in order to protect our country, it's something we have to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: You can check out "Class in Session" this coming week, in the noon hour of the "CNN Newsroom" with Tony Harris.
And we appreciate you being here for this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We want to start with breaking news out of Baghdad this morning. We have been watching the aftermath of two suicide bombings there. Two bombings happened just within the past few hours. The death toll now stands at 74; also another 200 plus injured in these two powerful suicide bombings. Again, this happened just some hours ago. CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is in Baghdad for us.
Mohammed, tell us, what was the target of these bombings?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: T.J., the target of these bombings were the Iraqi ministry building, this was the justice ministry, and it was also the Baghdad governor, which is the military compound in Baghdad.
Now at about 10:30 a.m. local time, there were two suicide car bombs that went off in rapid succession. One targeted the Baghdad governor, one the justice ministry. These are really attacks at the heart of the Baghdad government complex and these really mirror the attacks that happened on August 19th. On August 19, there were six bombs that went off in Baghdad. That day over 100 people were killed and over 500 people were injured. They targeted the finance ministry that day and the foreign ministry that day. We are told that we expect the death toll, and the toll of the injured will rise, T.J.
HOLMES: Muhammad, we know as well, like you said, you mentioned that other attack, massive attack on August 19th. We know this is all leading up to the national elections that are coming up in January. So, should we expect more of this leading up to the elections?
JAMJOOM: T.J., this is the big concern in Iraq here now. In the past few weeks you have seen every official imaginable, including the Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, the U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- so many people have come out and said that the national elections that are scheduled for January 16th really need to take place.
These are the most crucial elections in Iraq's history, that if they don't happen, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was quoted as saying, if they don't happen, the country could descend into chaos, there could be political violence.
So, there was already a lot of heightened concern about this. What's been happening is the Iraqi parliament has failed to pass a crucial revised election law in order for the elections to take place.
Now, the next question will be, if there is more violence, like we've seen today, will that affect the U.S. troops drawdown schedule? So far, it's been going better than planned. It's been accelerated.
Now, we've spoken to military officials -- publicly, they are saying that this will not affect the drawdown schedule; it will go ahead as planned. But there were pressures that happened a few weeks ago in which U.S. military spokesman said that in case there was increase in violence, there could be contingency plans. We still don't know what those plans are -- T.J.?
HOLMES: All right. But right now, the plan still is to drawdown all U.S. combat forces by the end of summer next year. We'll see if they stay on schedule.
Mohammed, we appreciate you. We'll be checking in with you again. Thanks so much. BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get you a look now at some of the top stories that we are working on this morning.
President Obama is declaring a national emergency over the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. That declaration is meant to cut through red tape for health care facilities. Still, though, federal officials say the production of the vaccine is slower than expected.
Well, firefighters, they are trying to get an handle on an out- of-control blaze at an oil refinery in Puerto Rico. I mean, look at these pictures that are coming into us. It is sending thick, black smoke into the air. At least 1,500 people have been told to evacuate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It was horrible. We live nearby. It has affected us really bad. It's very hard for us to get from one place to another.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I don't live nearby but it's definitely affecting traffic. It's something very weird. But I see that the authorities are taking measures and helping with the traffic flow. So, I have hope everything will go back to normal soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, Rafael Romo is our senior Latin American affairs editor, on the ground in San Juan. He joins me now by phone.
We understand this is still raging out-of-control. Any idea when they might get it under control?
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (via telephone): Betty, we still have five tanks burning here in San Juan. The latest we heard is that the company expects to have this fire under control by Monday afternoon. But that has not been confirmed by firefighters.
And it's a huge problem because, so far, the island has spent $6.4 million trying to contain this fire. When it exploded on Friday morning, it felt like a 2.8 magnitude earthquake and people initially felt this could have been a terrorist act.
President Barack Obama last night declared an emergency, which is going to free up funds for the EPA to work with the local authorities here and try to determine what happened here in Puerto Rico, Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, do you have any idea exactly what sparked this fire?
ROMO: There has been no official cause. The FBI, the ATF, are treating the scene of the fire as a crime scene, but they say that it's still too early to determine what might have been the cause or whether this was an act of sabotage.
NGUYEN: And we are looking at these just amazing pictures of the thick, black smoke that is billowing into the air. What kind of concern is out there for both air and water pollution?
ROMO: Betty, I was there last night. And fortunately, the wind has been blowing north and west, which takes the smoke away from the most densely populated areas here in Puerto Rico. The EPA -- both the EPA and Puerto Rico government, Luis Fortuno is saying that the air quality is good so far. But that can change rapidly if the wind changes direction. So, they're closely following the situation and just making sure that if anything changes, people will have enough shelter space to be relocated.
NGUYEN: Yes, because some 1,500 people have already been forced to evacuate.
Rafael Romo, our senior Latin American affairs editor, on the ground there in San Juan, joining us by phone -- thank you so much.
HOLMES: We turn to Afghanistan now, where the presidential runoff election is less two weeks away. But the Taliban, once again, vowing to disrupt the voting, warning people to stay away from the polling places.
Our friend and Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence -- in Kabul for us.
Chris, tell us what campaigning looks like the second time around?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There is no campaigning, T.J. In fact, we've been dropping all over the city today asking people if -- voters -- if they have seen or heard from the candidates. And almost no one has. Now, one reason for that is the security. The Taliban has ordered a boycott of this runoff election and threatens violence against anyone who participates.
Some of it is choice. The challenger to President Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah last time, he traveled over the country, to more than 30 provinces. This time, he says he's staying here in Kabul, mostly only meeting with influential people, like clerical and tribal leaders who can influence the votes of others. Dr. Abdullah is also asking authorities to remove some members of this Independent Election Commission ahead of this runoff vote because he says they were responsible for rigging the last vote to give Karzai more votes -- T.J.?
HOLMES: Chris, also the big issue with the first round, there's just widespread fraud and it wasn't viewed as legitimate. So, this time around -- I mean, there wasn't a high voter turnout the first time around, and now, the Taliban is threatening people coming to the polls. You can't expect the voter turnout to be any much higher. Certainly, everyone expects it to be lower.
So, given that, is there a fear that now, this next round won't be seen as legitimate either?
LAWRENCE: It's a huge fear, T.J. A lot of people have talked about that. You've got all those factors, plus the fact that weather is getting worse in certain parts of the country.
There was a congressional delegation here over the past day or so. They were meeting not only with President Karzai and Dr. Abdullah, but also General McChrystal, the U.S. commander here in Iraq, and one senator told me after meeting with General McChrystal, he is convinced that he needs tens of thousands more American troops, not just a fraction of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. GEORGE LEMIEUX (R), FLORIDA: General McChrystal makes a very persuasive case. And I want to make sure that our military has the resources it needs to succeed here in Afghanistan. The worst thing, I would think to me, is to settle somewhere in between. We've -- the president said we are not going to take our troops out and I think that's a good thing. But if we need more troops, we have to make sure that we have enough troops to get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: You know, there are more American and Afghan troops in place now than there were a couple of months ago during that first election and some senior military officials here tell me that securing this election is now the highest mission priority for all of the troops here in Afghanistan -- T.J.?
HOLMES: All right. Our Chris Lawrence for us in Kabul -- Chris, we appreciate you as always.
Well, the two election rivals, you can see them both in two provocative interviews. This all starts at 9:00 this morning. John King is speaking with the former Afghan foreign minister and the challenger to President Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah. And then coming up at 1:00, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai is talking to our Fareed Zakaria.
What both have to say about the upcoming presidential runoff and whether it can be fair -- again, 9:00 and 1:00 Eastern today on CNN.
NGUYEN: Well, they're taking no chances against the H1N1, a pandemic that is. It's been officially called a national emergency. Hundreds of people in California and Utah are lining up to get the vaccines. One school in the Bay Area is closed until Tuesday. It's being scrubbed and disinfected after a first grader who died there tested positive for the virus. The Salt Lake Valley Health Department held four mass vaccination clinics just yesterday.
HOLMES: Look, we've all missed our exit before. It happened.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Not by 150 miles.
NGUYEN: Never.
HOLMES: Usually the case. But that's what happened -- these two pilots, they overshot their destination and they haven't exactly explain why. But the flight recorder many thought might give some answers -- it might not be able to give us anymore information either. We'll explain why.
NGUYEN: Yes. And an international mission to break the record for the most people dancing the Michael Jackson's "Thriller".
HOLMES: Why do people keep doing this?
NGUYEN: They just keep doing it. It's a fun dance.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: No.
NGUYEN: Why, come on?
HOLMES: Why do people keep doing this?
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: I mean, I like the dance, too.
NGUYEN: Everyone wants to break a record. Come on. You want to get in the history books some way, right?
HOLMES: Guinness, though.
NGUYEN: Yes, why not? If you're going to break it, you might as well go for that one. All over the world, though, this weekend, Michael Jackson fans are getting in touch with their inner zombie.
HOLMES: Yes, Wednesday, the new Jackson documentary, as we know, "This Is It," it's coming out. But the hardcore followers are trying to set a new world record this weekend. Well, there you go. Take a look. This is how it all went down.
This is in Houston, I do believe. This dance-athon, it's called "Thrill the World." It's happening in about 40 countries around the world. And they are trying to break the existing record for the number of people dancing at the same time to the hit "Thriller." Now, I was mixed up because I thought they have to all be in the same place.
NGUYEN: No.
HOLMES: I guess the record still stands at...
NGUYEN: Thirty-seven countries. Everyone dancing all simultaneously at the same time. Boy, that's really coordinating time zones, isn't it?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: The existing record, some 13,597, that should be easy to break if you're go through nearly 40 countries, you would think.
HOLMES: We'll see.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Bonnie, have you ever participated in one of these things? They have them every other week.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, in the privacy of my own home.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHNEIDER: Trying to do the dances, you know? Never in front of anybody.
HOLMES: All right. So, well, the weather participated, it looks, at least in that video...
NGUYEN: It seems like it, yes.
HOLMES: ... at that time. But, is the weather going to participate for any other outdoor activities around the country?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it sure didn't last night. We had a big baseball game postponed due to rain, the Yankees versus the Angels in the Bronx.
Well, today, no problem. The weather is so much better. What a difference a day makes. But I'll tell you that yesterday wasn't just rainy in New York, we had records shattered with heavy amounts of rain in Washington, D.C., for example, over an inch and a half, 1.69 inches. That does shutter the record in Dulles Airport.
So, we're also looking at a lot of rain across the northeast -- plenty in western Massachusetts; Pittsfield, almost an inch and a half. Also, Albany, Philadelphia and New York Central Park, a little over an inch, it seemed like more though. It's coming down so hard.
I want to show you what it looks like this morning outside in New York. We'll head a little bit further west of the park and look out to the north and we are looking at the George Washington Bridge heading to New Jersey. It looks good so far. A little overcast but I think the sun will be shining and we'll be seeing some better weather as we go through the day today there
Certainly, you see that the cold front has pushed to the east. So, the heaviest rain is now offshore, which is really good news. We'll be looking for some improvements for tonight's game. I don't think weather related issues will be a problem.
But as we look towards temperatures, just to show what else is happening across the country, we're also looking at some nice conditions and still the threat for some flooding and that exists into the rivers of Upstate New York and New Hampshire. Most of this is just runoff, and I think, by tomorrow, those watches will be lifted. Betty and T.J.?
NGUYEN: All right, Bonnie, thank you so much for that.
We're going to get back to a story that has a lot of people talking this weekend. At least one of the 144 passengers onboard that wayward flight wants a thorough investigation into what happened last week after this plane missed its runway, its destination, by 150 miles.
HOLMES: Nobody can exactly figure out how you can possibly do that. Not just miss your destination but the fact that they weren't in communication with the tower...
NGUYEN: Yes, for a over an hour.
HOLMES: An hour and 18 minutes. Now, the Northwest flight, you see the path here, it was on its way to Minneapolis, overshot its destination, like we said, by 150 miles. Again, an hour, the really (INAUDIBLE) is an hour of radio contact just silent, which was the big issue.
Now, senior White House officials were also told that the plane was off course and out of touch. Now, it's important in that case, as you know, after 9/11, they take this very, very seriously. The plane is not in contact. They often scrambled jets. So, White House was aware of this. No jets took off however because they were able to re- establish contact with the plane before it came to that.
So, we've been asking you all this weekend what other reason can you come up with?
NGUYEN: What could it be? I mean, really, if you aren't sleeping and you weren't arguing, what were you doing for an hour and 18 minutes where you had no contact with the radio tower? You weren't answering the cell phone because they were calling. You weren't answering your text messages because they were texting.
OK. And let's see what you have to say about this, shall we? Let's go to my Facebook, actually, my Twitter site really quick. And Eagleflier145 says, "These pilots were more than likely sleeping." It seems like everyone is not buying the argument that they're not sleeping. "FAA needs to change rest requirements, eight hours away and 16 hours on duty. Snooze."
And let me go to Marveloso (ph) who says, "Not sleeping, not arguing, I've seen 'Soul Plane.' Maybe they had Snoop on the plane." Doing something with the chronic there. All right, Marveloso, come on, now.
HOLMES: Have you ever seen "Soul Plane"?
NGUYEN: "Soul Plane."
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: But Snoop got an Oscar for that.
Let's go to my Twitter page as well. I got a few I'm going to through quickly. The first one, Marlin64 says, "Are they allowed to bring board games into the cockpit, maybe they had a big Uno going on."
NGUYEN: Oh, come on.
HOLMES: Hey, these are just as...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Karaoke party?
HOLMES: Yes, also a karaoke party, maybe watching the first season of "Sopranos"; forgetting where they were going; flying under the influence. Now, that was not the case. We can't say at least. They did have a breathalyzer.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Both of them blew zero on the breathalyzer. So, but people are trying to come up with something.
NGUYEN: It's really baffling. What in the world have they been doing? Well, you know, there is an investigation underway. So, hopefully, we will get a definite answer sometime soon.
But continue to let us know what you think about this. You can go to our Facebook sites, our Twitter sites. You can reach us on or blog, CNN.com/Betty, or CNN.com/TJ.
HOLMES: All right. We're going to turn now to our Josh Levs, taking a look and keeping an eye on what's happening out there with the H1N1. Big story happening right now.
Good morning to you again, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning to you guys.
You know, President Obama's declaration is a reminder how seriously health officials have taken this. One thing they're saying is that people need to harness the power of the Internet. It's unprecedented what's available to you online. I'm going to show you the best tools to use to fight the swine flu.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. We are following some breaking news out of Baghdad this morning. Two powerful suicide car bombs kill at least 74 people, injured 265.
But look at this video. This is no cell phone video, in fact, that is coming into CNN, of someone who witnessed this blast on the streets. We can the person is trying to move to some kind of safety, some kind of shelter behind this armored vehicles. And you see the smoke billowing into the air there.
That blast, just about four hours ago, targeted two government buildings. Iraqi and U.S. officials have warned of possible violence ahead of the country's national elections which are set for mid- January.
But just look at this video. It's really pretty shocking to watch this as it was happening.
Now, the elections, again, from mid-January. We're going to get a live update from Baghdad in the next hour.
HOLMES: Police have made an arrest in the murder of a New Jersey priest. New Jersey police have charged the man you see there. He's a janitor at the church and has apparently who worked there for some 17 years. Police say he stabbed Reverend Ed Hinds 32 times after an argument. His body was found in the church rectory on Friday after he did not show up for mass.
NGUYEN: Well, a teenage girl who had been wandering the streets of New York for the two weeks -- there's the picture of her -- claiming that she didn't know her name or who she was, we will finally get some answers. Police say a CNN viewer, in fact, out in Maryland helped identify her. A photo of the teen who had been referred to as "Jane Doe" was circulated by police and aired on CNN this week.
She will be reunited with her family in Washington state.
(MUSIC)
NGUYEN: Well, President Obama has declared a national emergency over the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.
HOLMES: And health officials are calling on Americans who actually use the Internet to help fight the swine flu. Josh Levs is here to explain this for us.
Good morning, again, Josh.
LEVS: Good morning to you guys.
It's been very interesting to see how frequently authorities have talked about this and we've been following this for weeks. So, what I'm going to do now is I want to show you all a serious of very helpful Web sites and Web tools to use to track the spread of swine flu, H1N1, and also to get important advice. You don't need to write this site because at the very end I'm going to show you one place where I posted links to absolutely everything.
Let's zoom in. The first thing I'm showing you is something that's been created by Google. It's called a Layer. What they did is they took their Google Earth and all sorts of information and you can click on any state now.
And based on how much people were searching for information in any state, they have a -- basically, they're just posting what kind of activity they believe there to be. If all of a sudden there's a huge spike in a state, lots of people looking. Google says, historically, they have found that happens when more and more people actually have that illness. So, that's from Google.
Let's go over here to the first stop shop really, CNN.com/H1N1. It's packed with information. It has advice. It has videos for you to follow. It also has maps.
Protecting your family, an entire section on the vaccine and whether you can trust the vaccine, you also have to find vaccines rate near you.
And speaking of that, we link to you the CDC, which takes you to a lot of information about vaccines as well. Now, this is a CDC site, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One thing I'm showing you here is they've broken up the country into different regions and they here we'll show what's happening in your region. So, just click on where you are, they'll show you the number of visits, the number of people who have it. Also, they will show you each week, they're giving information about the number of cases and also -- it's tough to see -- but the number of deaths as a result of H1N1, all there from the CDC.
Now, let's get to a couple of more while we can right here. I wanted you to see this story from "The Washington Post" which is from last month. And they are saying right here, "Flu Trackers Encourage Parents to Blog About It." And it's talking about the role of social media.
They're saying, "Get on Twitter. Get on Facebook." Take a look at what people are saying on blogs. It often does a lot to tell you what's going on right near you.
Now, I told you that everything I was just telling you about is posted on one place. This is it, our newsroom blog, CNN.com/Josh or CNN.com/newsroom. And there's the graphic right there. I'm also posting a Facebook and Twitter, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, in each case, it's /JoshLevsCNN, a whole list of sites.
And also, we want to hear from you. If you know of other great sites, and in next hour -- let's go to this video -- next hour, I'm going to be showing you this, which is interesting. It's another Web tool that's actually tracking the progression. You can literally watch more and more cases appear in your state or anywhere the world if you're going to be traveling.
Betty and T.J, a whole bunch more resources, we will share with everyone -- coming up, next hour.
NGUYEN: All right, that is good information there, Josh. Thank you.
LEVS: Likewise.
NGUYEN: And, you know, the Vatican is making it easier for non- Catholics to join the church. That's coming up in the 8:00 a.m. hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
HOLMES: And also, we don't speak English, hey, we'll tell you where police officers are handing out tickets to drivers who do not speak English.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And we are following that breaking story out of Baghdad this morning, where the death toll has continued to rise throughout the morning. Seventy-four people dead, 265 injured in two blasts happening about four hours ago. The targeted government buildings there, Iraqi and U.S. officials have warned of possible violence ahead of the country's national elections set for mid January.
NGUYEN: We do have a live report at the top of hour. But, first, though, "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts right now.
