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CNN Sunday Morning
Alleged bin Laden Tape Warns of More Attacks; Haitian Man Rescued From Rubble After 11 Days
Aired January 24, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING for the 24th of January. I am T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. It's 6 a.m. here in Atlanta. We do want to thank you for starting your day with us.
All right. Let's get right to it, because we do have some breaking news right here at the CNN newsroom: a new terror tape and actually new threats as well.
HOLMES: Yes, an audiotape we're talking about here. And on it, believed to be Osama bin Laden, claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day airline-bombing attempt in Detroit. And, on this tape, the voice says more attacks are coming. More details in just a second on that tape.
NGUYEN: Plus, a remarkable story of survivor - survival, in fact, out of Haiti. And a survivor indeed. Check out this man. He's been trapped for 11 days. Well, he was found alive after the search- and-rescue efforts officially ended. We'll tell you how rescuers found him.
But first, let's get a quick look at the news from overnight.
HOLMES: Yes, some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on.
Fifty-eight million dollars and counting - that's how much money was raised, so far at least, in that Hope For Haiti telethon that you saw on Friday night. It was covered by several networks, including CNN.
Now, this is not counting, that $58 million number, the large corporate donations and also private donations. Those numbers not in just yet.
Now, this $58 million, the one we have already, that number, a new record for public giving through disaster-relief telethons. So great news. And also, you can continue to give through that number, through the Web page, also through texting. You can still do that for the next six months. So you can keep those donations coming in.
NGUYEN: Wow, $58 million, that is remarkable. OK, so to this now: a grueling day for passengers onboard a United Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas. The plane finally landed hours after it was suppose to yesterday because of an unruly passenger. Officials say a man tried to open a plane door while the plane was still in the air. The pilots made an emergency landing in Denver, where the man was taken into custody. Police are questioning him now.
HOLMES: In suburban Chicago, two men dead after a small plane crashed near a home. The sheriff's department says the men killed were onboard that plane, and no one in the house was actually injured. The plane was headed to Denver when it crashed shortly after takeoff. The National Transportation Safety Board now investigating.
NGUYEN: All right. Now to this breaking news and that new terrorist messenger just out this morning, and believed to be from Osama bin Laden.
Our Cal Perry is in the Middle East, in Abu Dhabi to be exact. He joins us now live.
Cal, tell us exactly what's in this message.
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Betty.
This message surfacing about 90 minutes ago, purportedly from Osama bin Laden. It's important to note that CNN cannot independently authenticate that this is Obama bin Laden. But in the past, intelligence officials have said that these messages carried in this manner were Osama bin Laden.
To the message itself, Osama bin Laden claiming responsibility for that failed bombing on Christmas Day. That flight, of course, from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Now, he linked this failed attack, this bombing, to the attacks on September the 11th, saying basically that al-Qaeda is sending America this same message.
NGUYEN: All right, Cal. Let me ask you this, and - and there's very little information that we're getting from it, because it does have to be authenticated.
But, you know, we've already heard from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, saying, 'We claim responsibility for this.' So - so, I - I guess I'm trying to understand the reasoning behind another tape, this time Osama bin Laden, also claiming responsibility, if indeed it is Osama bin Laden.
PERRY: That's right.
Al-Qaeda in the Arab peninsula actually claimed responsibility on December the 27th, two days after that attack. Now, we spoke to an intelligence analyst here in the Emirates, who said basically what he believes happens is that Osama bin Laden may have not even known about this attack, that these offshoot groups of al-Qaeda carry out these attacks in the name of the sort of head al-Qaeda, of course Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The other interesting thing about this message is that Osama bin Laden really linking the safety of Americans to the safety of Palestinians in Gaza, really playing here to the Middle East. This, of course, a - a very big issue in the Middle East, the Palestinian issue.
And it's, of course, become a bigger issue even for the U.S. administration with George Mitchell in the region now, something that the administration is really paying attention to.
But I think your question is to the key point of, what is the command-and-control structure inside al-Qaeda? Does Osama bin Laden really have command and control of this movement around the region and around the world? Because as you noted, of course, it was two days after that failed attack on Christmas Day that al-Qaeda in the Arab peninsula claimed responsibility. And then today, of course, this purported message from Osama bin Laden doing the same thing - Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes, exactly.
And - and just to get into the details of the message a little bit, we have a report here, and it says - quote, from this person who's believed to be Osama bin Laden - that America "will never dream of security unless we have it in reality in Palestine." And it goes on to say, "God willing, our rays on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue."
So the message is shifting to the situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis, whereas before, we've heard it just simply against Westerns in general.
PERRY: Well, absolutely.
The last message - audio message purportedly from Osama bin Laden came at the end of September. And in that message, he really urged Europeans to distance themselves from the United States, because he said the war in Afghanistan is a failure.
This message really playing among sympathies, people here in the Middle East sympathetic, of course, to the Palestinian issue. It's really a way to rally support. It is a rallying cry for people here around the region, and Osama bin Laden is playing into those sympathies, trying to rally support for these attacks based on that issue.
This is an issue that plays across the region, Betty. The Palestinian issue in every Middle Eastern country is first and foremost on the front of people's minds.
NGUYEN: All right. Cal Perry, breaking it down.
Of course, we're going to get more information as we're able to get verified this indeed is from Osama bin Laden, and have more details about what exactly was in that message.
But Cal, thank you for that report. We'll be checking in with you shortly. Thank you.
HOLMES: Want to turn back to Haiti now. And here we are, the 24th of January. That earthquake was on the 12th, and here we are, all these days later, and we're still getting stories of people being pulled out of that rubble alive.
We've got another for you now, a man being buried alive for some 11 days in the dark. And he came out smiling yesterday.
NGUYEN: Wow, this is just quite the story. Just really amazing.
Wismond Jean Pierre may be the luckiest man alive today. His rescue yesterday came a day after Haitian authorities declared search- and-rescue efforts were over.
And CNN's Hala Gorani has the story of this remarkable rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven days underground, clawing his way out of a dark hole, Wismond Jean-Pierre has only a few yards to go to freedom.
This dramatic video, given to us by French authorities, shows the 24-year-old pushed out of the rubble of a four-story building. He survived that long because of sheer luck: caught in an air pocket and surrounded by food and drink from a shop on the ground floor.
The gathered crowd, first hushed, erupted in spontaneous applause as the young man was taken by ambulance to a French field hospital.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CORP CHIEF SPRESSE MARIE-LAURENCE, FRENCHI CIVIL PROTECTION RESCUER: (INAUDIBLE) together, all the - all the stuff, and - and we - and we are very happy. Very much (ph).
GORANI: A rescue that would probably have never happened had it not been for the dogged determination of Wismond's family.
Wismond's brother, Jean-Ely (ph), told me, 'I spoke to him. I called his name. I knew he was alive.'
He said he tried to get officials' attention for days, but it took the help of a Greek journalist to mobilize the massive rescue effort.
Another family member on the scene worriedly showed me a picture of Wismond. He was waiting, too, and hoping.
As the day unfolded, reinforcements were trucked in. Ordinary Haitians pitched in to help, and rescuers worked for hours under a flimsy tin roof and deep into the ground to save the young man's life.
At the hospital, later, Wismond was well enough to speak to CNN.
He moved his arms and legs because he was not crushed by the falling building. Now, he needs hydration and rest.
A moment of true joy in a country with little to help.
Hala Gorani, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, some of Jean-Pierre's rescuers were crying as he emerged from what could have been his tomb. One called it simply, "a miracle."
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour spoke with the rescuers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Captain Vincent Boichard and Lieutenant Colonel Christophe Renou were part of the rescue team.
And I'm going to ask you first, how did you hear - how did you find out that there was somebody alive there?
CAPT. VINCENT BOICHARD, FRENCH CIVIL PROTECTION: When we arrived, we - we - we shot (ph) - we - we shot with two other contact (INAUDIBLE) teams, and after we - we cry, and we heard him. And to - to locate him (ph) we used the radar. And through the radar (INAUDIBLE), and we - we - we (INAUDIBLE).
AMANPOUR: The radar blinked, and so (INAUDIBLE)
BOICHARD: Yes, blink - blink. And we - we can...
AMANPOUR: We're going to show some pictures now, which are very dramatic, from some of the photos and - and cameras that you took...
BOICHARD: Yes.
AMANPOUR: ...as you're talking. And you can see, in the hole, way at the bottom. And then you can see, Wismond coming out.
So you knocked, and then you started shouting. And that's how you made contact with him.
BOICHARD: And you - you know, too, (ph), of the contact. And when we have an answer, we use the radar to located exactly for the - the rescue team after. And when we are able to contact, it's more easy to - to locate it. And we can heard him.
AMANPOUR: How do you think that he survived? After 11 days, how does a person survive in a hole like that?
LT. Col. CHRISTOPHE RENOU, FRENCH CIVIL PROTECTION: Actually, after the rescue, we had a chance to get into the hole and to have a look.
And we found out that he had access to cookies, beer and Coke.
AMANPOUR: How is that possible?
RENOU: The building was a grocery shop. And he was a very lucky man, because he fell down on the food side of the grocery shop. And so he had access to food and - and Coke and beer. So he could drink and eat.
That's - that's the main reason why he was in such a good condition at the end.
AMANPOUR: Now, you also, as we were saying, pushed this camera in and you could see him coming out.
Describe for us a little bit, as we replay that video.
RENOU: Actually, we've got a camera right at - which is especially down, specifically down, to get into small holes to see if contact voice and - and image contact with - with the victim.
And with the camera, we can follow the operation, and we can - we can monitor what's going on. Everything is going well, if the victim is OK.
So - and at the - on the other end, the doctor can have a look, and give advice on what to do what the victim.
AMANPOUR: Looking at the - at the pictures, it looks like, wow, he was just there, you could pull him out.
RENOU: No.
AMANPOUR: But this is - this was lots of time before you put that camera in.
RENOU: Yes, actually - actually it took a total of four hours to get access to him and to pull him out. And even - he could not get out by himself.
We had - we had to get one of our member - actually, a girl.
AMANPOUR: It was a woman. I saw her in there, yes.
RENOU: The woman, because she was small - small thing, so she was the only one able to get into the hole.
AMANPOUR: And she had to push him?
RENOU: And she was (INAUDIBLE) to push him and to help. And then you get somebody - some people out to pull him.
AMANPOUR: So - so did you have to - just what were you doing, pulling one - one piece of concrete after another? How did you actually get to that hole?
RENOU: We - we get to that - yes, we had to remove pieces of concrete, of wood and everything. And we - were quite lucky on that case, because we did not need it to - to cut a very, very easy walking to get access.
AMANPOUR: Not too heavy. It was...
RENOU: Not too heavy.
But the problem is, we had pieces of wood were blocking the concrete. So he could not get out by himself. So from the outside it was more easy.
AMANPOUR: When you brought him out, or when he was brought out, why did you go back into the hole?
BOICHARD: It's to - to do a - to experience, to know why how we can live, how we can stay alive in this hole. It's very difficult to understand this - this position, to - to know if he can eat, if he can drink.
And after, when we - when we search another victims, we can look - observe different factors with experience.
AMANPOUR: So - so you have to go back down just to see for yourself...
BOICHARD: Yes.
AMANPOUR: ...exactly what that hole was.
BOICHARD: Just to photograph the situation, to - to start to (ph) imagining their position.
AMANPOUR: Now you have done, the French team, along with other teams here, you've done a lot of rescues for the last 11 days, a lot of search-and-rescue.
You, your team, has pulled out something like 15 people.
RENOU: Yes, correct.
AMANPOUR: Were you - I mean, did you ever imagine you would pull somebody out this far afterwards, 11 days?
RENOU: Yes and no.
No, in the way that 11 days is pretty long after the earthquake, and the chance to find somebody alive is - is very small.
But experience shows that it's - it's - we can still expect, I would say, a miracle.
AMANPOUR: The U.N. is now saying that it's moving, it's transiting from rescue to recovery. Obviously, you hope to find more.
Are you going out on more rescues tomorrow, the days after? RENOU: Well, first of all, going for some search. But we are going to change our - we conduct search for people. It's less - I would say less proactive, based on information to know where to go, and not to check every single building.
But yes, we could assume that there are still some chance to find somebody within the next days. Transition will be conducted very smoothly.
AMANPOUR: Smoothly.
RENOU: Yes.
AMANPOUR: Slowly, and - and...
RENOU: Absolutely. Absolutely.
AMANPOUR: ...according to what's on the ground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Just amazing there, to hear how all that happened.
Well, Christiane will be live from Port-au-Prince with a look at what needs to be done to ensure Haiti's survival now and in the long term. So don't miss "AMANPOUR," live from the quake zone, this afternoon at 2 Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, a new audio message we're hearing this morning that is directed to President Obama, and it is threatening more attacks on the U.S. The voice on that tape believed to be Osama bin Laden's.
NGUYEN: Yes, we'll be checking into that.
Plus, snow in New Mexico? Really?
Karen Maginnis is in for Reynolds Wolf this morning.
And I know it's January, but New Mexico?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the same weather system that produced all of the heavy rainfall and the mudslides in California, slipped on in across Arizona and New Mexico. Did produce some heavy snowfall there.
Well, what can they expect in the forecast? And can we expect more wet weather in California? I'll bring you those details coming up in the next couple of minutes on CNN SUNDAY, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: You know, we talked about this yesterday when the death- toll numbers came out, and how can you get an exact number...
HOLMES: Yes. NGUYEN: ...when so many people are still buried under the rubble?
Well, the United Nations, officials there, they admit that we may never know the exact death toll from the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
HOLMES: Yes. What we have gotten though is from the Haiti government, the Haitian government there. They got the figure at 111,000 people. That makes it one of the deadliest disasters of the last decade.
Josh Levs has been looking more in-depth at those numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: One thing we keep hearing from so many of you is that it's hard to wrap your mind around the scale of this disaster. And the death toll is part of - a big piece of the big picture.
So what I want to do now is give you some context on it.
Let's start off with this: we're going to take a look at Haiti and to show you Haiti's total population. So Haiti's population is about nine million.
Let's sit on that for a second. What they're saying, with 111,000 killed, is more than one percent of the population of Haiti has now been declared dead. So more than 1 in 100 Haitians have now been declared dead as a result of the earthquake and all that followed it, according to Haiti's government.
And it is one of the biggest disasters of the last decade. Let's go to the next one, which looks back at that - that tsunami that you all remember from several years ago. The death toll, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, from the tsunami, was 228,000 people. And that was originally an earthquake. There was an earthquake in that region, and then what followed was the tsunami, through that big section of Asia. So more than a quarter million people were killed there.
And there have been two other major earthquake disasters in recent years. The next one we've got for you here is Pakistan. That was a few years ago, 2005. Eighty-six thousand people were declared dead there.
And the other one is China, where 88,000 people - a lot of you remember the China quake in 2008. Eighty-eight thousand people killed in China.
So what we're seeing right now, with the numbers that have been declared from Haiti, makes it one of the deadliest of recent years and the deadliest already since the earthquake and tsunami that struck five years - well, actually, now - yes, a little more than - than five years ago. Let's zoom in here. I want to show you a couple things on CNN.com. We talked to you about this. We talked to you about the history of earthquakes.
First of all, we have some really powerful photos at our section, CNN.com/Haiti. And as you scroll through, you're going to see what I was talking about. I mean, every story is a family, is a life.
But before I go, take a look over here. This talks to you about earthquakes of recent years. And you can click on places all over the world, basically. And you can see where the earthquakes were in recent years, and really, over the past century, and how many people died there. The deadliest, the strongest, the most powerful.
Also, we do have information for you here about all those people out there who want to recognize their loved ones, who are talking about their loved ones whom they lost under the rubble. And in some cases, these people, where you see it lit, this means that these people are being registered as found, according to their families. So some families with little pieces of good news all in what we've been tabulating here, those "Looking for Loved Ones" in Haiti.
All of it at CNN.com/Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, Josh. Thank you for that.
And, you know, coming up though, thousands of agencies are trying to get into Haiti. But doing so and - and with all the medical supplies, the aid supplies, all that, it's no easy task.
HOLMES: Yes, that's kind of tricky. A lot of people are trying still, at least explain what one relief agency rain into and how they kind of made the - make - made do with what they had to do.
Also this morning, we've been telling you about that audiotape from, or believed to be from Osama bin Laden. We'll explain more about what that message says and explain who it's addressed to.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking our top stories now, there is a new audiotape believed to be from Osama bin Laden. And on it, he is claiming responsibility for the failed Christmas Day airline bombing over Detroit. He's also vowing more attacks on the United States.
The man accused in that attempted Christmas Day says he was instructed by al-Qaeda in Yemen.
HOLMES: To suburban Chicago now, where two men are dead after a small plane crashed near a home. The sheriff's department says the men killed were onboard that plane and no one in the house was hurt.
The plane was headed to Denver when it crashed shortly after takeoff. NTSB now looking into it.
NGUYEN: Well, there's been a massive oil spill in Texas after an accident involving a tanker ship. You can look at the video of that right now. Cleanup crews are working to clear about 450,000 gallons of crude oil at Port Arthur, which is about 100 miles east of Houston.
Now, no injuries have been reported, but a 50-block area around the spill was evacuated. There are also concerns that the spill could threaten marine life.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Story coming up for you: one airline accused of going too far in enforcing its rules over how much baggage passengers can check. We're going to show you that right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hey, there, everybody. Welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Thanks for joining us.
HOLMES: President Obama changed his mind to the surprise of a lot of people. He is now agreeing to create a bipartisan fiscal commission to help tackle the federal debt. Last week the administration signaled it would favor a weaker version of a commission by forming it through an executive order. So, no, not going to do that now. A senior Senate source suggests the president's reversal was made to pacify lawmakers who said they would not support an increase in the nation's debt ceiling unless the administration supported a full-scale fiscal commission. They are worries that failing to increase the amount of money the U.S. can borrow might further derail the markets. A Senate vote on that, scheduled for Tuesday.
NGUYEN: This is a big week for the president, but it starts off with a little fun. Tomorrow he welcomes the NBA champions for the 2009, the Los Angeles Lakers, to the White House. Of course, you know, the president is a huge basketball fan. Then it is back to work ahead of the State of the Union Address on Wednesday. Then on Thursday the president and vice president head to Tampa, Florida. There newspapers are reporting that President Obama may announce funding to expand the high-speed rail system in the area. Then on Friday the president is in Baltimore, that is where he'll address the Republican House Issues Conference.
Well, CNN is your place for politics. On Wednesday we'll have analysis of what the Republican Senate win in Massachusetts could mean for the president's health care initiative. Then we'll bring you his annual State of the Union Address live. Our coverage starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, a lot of people these days having a tough time getting supplies to Haiti, and in some cases, they are having a tough time putting them on the airplanes they are trying to get on. We have been talking and reporting about, you know, some stuff is sitting at the airport in Port-au-Prince. But you are seeing a video from one of our iReporters. There is a relief agency out in California that was trying to load all this stuff onto a plane, you know, a commercial flight trying to get down to Haiti. But, of course, many of you who traveled out there, you know there are strict rules on how much stuff, how many bags you can take and pack onto a plane.
They were trying to take all that and they were over. The airline, however, American Airlines, here in particular, is sticking to their rules right now. And they say they have to. Because if they allow everyone to bring all those supplies onboard, it will take up a lot of space, and take up a lot of space that is allotted for other people's bags.
So, that group, our iReporters, that sent us that, at least. They had to do creative packing, I guess, you could say, Betty, to get all their stuff onboard. But this is kind of, I don't know, not sitting well with a lot of people that, make an exception. These are supplies, some medical supplies, that need to go onboard. Make an exception and let us bring extra bags. The airlines says you open it up for one relief agency, then you open it up for all of them. That stuff belongs on cargo planes.
NGUYEN: That's tough. Because if you have all kinds of aid agency coming to American Airlines saying we have all of this -- granted, it is much needed. The gesture is very important there to get the aid to the people in Haiti, but if everyone did that, how could you take off? It is not a cargo plane.
HOLMES: That's the point they are making. That stuff is better suited for a cargo plane. This one group in particular, the one that sent us the iReport. Again, it took then about an hour to put stuff in a certain bags. They went over the weight limits, of course, but all the stuff, thankfully, was able to make it.
NGUYEN: The two bag maximum?
HOLMES: The two bags, you know, the 50-weight limit. You have to pay more if you go over the 50 pounds. They were OK, to do that. But they wanted to take exactly three extra bags is what it was.
NGUYEN: Oh, well, yes, creative packing.
HOLMES: Creative packing and they made it happen.
NGUYEN: Exactly. Hey, it all worked out in the end.
You know, this morning's top stories and your Sunday forecast, all of that is coming up right up.
HOLMES: Yes, you are watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Checking top stories right now. A new terrorist message out this morning believed to be from Osama bin Laden. The audio message says Al Qaeda was responsible for that failed Christmas Day airline bombing attempt over Detroit. It also vows more attacks on the U.S.
HOLMES: Let's turn to Haiti now, where 11 days - we are up to 12 days, but still 11 days, still hadn't had (sic) stories of survival, people being pulled out from under that rubble alive in Port-au- Prince. French civilian protection crews helped pulled a 24-year-old Haitian man. You see him coming out there, on his own power. Really with a big ol' smile on his face. Beyond severe dehydration, that man was not really injured. Thought to be doing just fine.
NGUYEN: In New York a section of the Long Island Expressway, near Melville, remains closed this morning after that: a fuel tanker exploded yesterday. You can see the fireball for miles. Heat from the flames melted a huge road sign that collapsed closing all lanes temporarily. The traffic is now moving westbound, but eastbound it is still a no-go near the Nassau County line, where the pavement is still suspect. The driver of the fuel tank truck was killed in the inferno.
HOLMES: We turn to Karen Maginnis now, who is in for Reynolds Wolf.
Where do you want to start? We have some of those rain totals?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, tons of auto dealers around the country could be driven out of business by their own company.
NGUYEN: Yeah, but they got one day to turn things around. That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
That song is appropriate for this story, unfortunately.
Hundreds of GM and Chrysler car dealers whose businesses were shut down, well, they face a midnight Monday deadline to file for federal arbitration. Our Poppy Harlow brings us the story of one dealer's drive to stay open.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In all the fallout from the U.S. auto industry, Colleen McDonald didn't exactly make the headlines, but she and others like her should have.
COLLEEN MCDONALD, FMR. PRES., HOLIDAY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP: Everything that I once knew was no more.
HARLOW: Within just two days last spring, McDonald lost all three of her car dealerships on the outskirts of Detroit, victims of GM and Chrysler bankruptcy.
"We wish there was a better way, but there isn't," reads a letter to McDonald from Chrysler.
MCDONALD: I just can't believe what's happening. We are sitting here in my showroom that's freezing cold, as you can see, and no heat on, no one is around, no cars. We are just here left to try to pick up the pieces and see what we can do in the future.
HARLOW: More than 2,000 U.S. dealership closings were announced last year. And more than 88,000 jobs lost as a result.
"The rejected dealers are left in the cold shaking our heads, pounding our fists, and demanding justice," McDonald wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
And Washington responded. President Obama signed an appeal procedure into law last month that allows owners of terminated dealerships to file for arbitration against GM and Chrysler. McDonald, who started working at her father's dealership when she was 16 is preparing to do just that, to try to win back her Chrysler dealership.
MCDONALD: This is what the right thing to do is, is to fight for what he worked so hard for. It's all I've ever done. That's our life. That is our livelihood. They took it away for no reason at all.
HARLOW: Despite testifying at the Chrysler bankruptcy hearing and meeting with lawmakers in Washington, McDonald couldn't save her business. All 170 of her employees lost their jobs.
MCDONALD: It is so, so sad. I mean, to this day I just -- I miss them. I'll get teary eyed already. It is just horrible.
HARLOW: GM calls the restructuring of its dealer network extremely painful, but necessary. Chrysler CEO expressed his understanding when we told him about McDonald .
SERGIO MARCHIONNE, CEO, CHRYSLER GROUP, LLC: I understand her plight. But you need to understand ours and we need to find a way to resolve it for her benefit (INAUDIBLE) for us as well.
HARLOW: Whether McDonald wins this fight or not, she has many more ahead. She has decided to run for state senate. She says to create and keep jobs in Michigan and stand up for businesses like the one she used to run. In Detroit, Poppy Harlow, CNNMoney.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All next week CNN is working hard to show you the money. We are helping you keep track of the stimulus dollars. Ever wonder what happened to the that money? Where is it going? Is it working? Is it being wasted? Has anyone been gaming the program to get rich? Well, there's a lot of questions out there. We have a series of reports on the stimulus all next week right here on CNN. We hope to find answers for you.
HOLMES: All right. I don't know if you -- I'm not a big award show guy. If it is not the Grammys or the Oscars, I don't watch it. But I hear this is a pretty good show they put on; it is the SAG Awards.
NGUYEN: The SAG Awards, yes, the Screen Actors Guild.
HOLMES: Screen Actors Guild, right?
NGUYEN: That is the one -
HOLMES: It just sounds funny.
NGUYEN: The peers they vote on themselves, essentially.
HOLMES: I don't know. Didn't we just have the Golden Globes, a minute ago?
NGUYEN: I get them all confused. I am with you. The Oscars emphasize that.
HOLMES: The Grammys.
NGUYEN: Yes, the Grammys.
HOLMES: But we are going to show you some of the winners and loser. Even though, we might not be into it. We are going to show you the red carpet, because you might be into it. The winners, the losers, all total, Meryl Streep is going to be along, Alec Baldwin.
NGUYEN: She always gets nominated.
HOLMES: She's great.
NGUYEN: Deservingly so.
HOLMES: She is great.
We'll show you all the winners and losers and of course, a few dresses and whatnot at the red carpet. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: I love that song, still.
HOLMES: It is still in heavy rotation on the iPod.
NGUYEN: It makes you happy.
OK, and we got to the bottom of this. Screen Actor Guild Awards, the actors vote on who is going to win. This is really a cool honor because you are awarded by your peers.
HOLMES: By your peers.
NGUYEN: I love that.
HOLMES: I didn't realize as well, that the awards only go to actors, these are only actors, no directing and any of that stuff. Only for the actors, so that is kind of cool.
NGUYEN: Yes, Hollywood came out last night to see who was going to win one of these trophies. I guess they call them The Actor.
HOLMES: Is that right? I'm learning a lot this morning.
NGUYEN: Yes, I am learning so much about the SAG Awards.
HOLMES: Well, Kareen Wynter continues the lesson from the winners circle at the SAG Awards.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: This is completely unexpected.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN HOLLYWOOD CORESPONDENT (voice over): Alec Baldwin's victory wasn't that surprising as the "30 Rock" star won male actor in a comedy series, for the fourth straight year. And the show's creator, Tina Fey won her third straight, female comedy actor. But the comedy ensemble award went to the gleeful freshman cast of "Glee".
DREW BARRYMORE, ACTRESS: Improv is usually a good thing. Uh, and it is backfiring on me very badly right now.
WYNTER: Drew Barrymore's Golden Globe win a week before, didn't seem to help her prepare for a SAG Award, for her performance in the TV movie, "Gray Gardens." The rest of the small screen awards were also Globes repeats. Kevin Bacon, Juliana Margolis, Michael C Hall and "Madmen" for dramatic ensemble.
(On camera): Hollywood loves a sequel and as the Screen Actors Guild Awards moved from TV to film honors, SAG seemed happy to echo last weekend's Golden Globes.
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, ACTOR: We dedicate our lives to our contribution of the whole.
WYNTER: Austrian actor Christoph Waltz added a SAG Award to his other honor for his supporting role in "Inglorious Bastards". But both he, and his costars, winners of outstanding performance by a motion picture cast, gave credit to the man who put them all together.
ELI ROTH, ACTOR: Your vote is a vote for director Quentin Tarantino, who, if he feels you are right for the part, he will give it to you.
MONIQUE: Thank you to every member of the Screen Actors Guild.
WYNTER: Monique's blazing turn in "Precious" added a SAG award to you previous honors, making her, and Waltz, clear Oscar frontrunners, as is Jeff Bridges. The "Crazy Hearts" star earned the first SAG Award of his long career.
JEFF BRIDGES, ACTOR: To be honored like this by guys who really know what you have to go through and what it takes is really something special.
WYNTER: Best female actor came down to a showdown. Meryl Streep or Sandra Bullock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the actor goes to Sandra Bullock.
WYNTER: "The Blindside" star is looking more like an Oscar winner as the Actors Guild chose her over Streep.
SANDRA BULLOCK, ACTRESS: Fellow actors going, OK, I'm going to give her a shot. I'm going to let her try something.
BETTY WHITE, ACTRESS: With all the wonderful things that have happened to her, isn't it heartening to see how a far a girl, as plain as she is can go.
WYNTER: The only actor Bullock shared the spotlight with was Betty White who kept the audience laughing as she was honored for her lifetime of achievement.
WHITE: This is the highest point of my entire professional life.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Betty white is a hoot.
HOLMES: OK, that's funny.
NGUYEN: She's hilarious.
HOLMES: She's right. I mean, Sandra Bullock is in a place, Hollywood.
NGUYEN: She is a plain girl? Is that what you are saying?
HOLMES: Well, there is a lot of glamour and glitz and beauty and so on and so forth. I'm not saying she is an unattractive woman, not at all. She is very much so. But she is just the girl next door that you don't really think about when you think Hollywood. That's great for her.
NGUYEN: That is true. And the movie was terrific. We both thought, hmm, Oscar for Sandra Bullock, in "The Blindside"?
HOLMES: I never saw it. You saw the movie.
NGUYEN: It is a fantastic movie. But you know, usually those Oscars go out to these really dramatic performances. And was just one of those heartfelt movies that made you feel good. It wasn't one of those you were left going, OK, what happened? And why am I still thinking about these people?
Speaking of the Oscars, those nominations will be mentioned on February 2nd. The actual Oscar statuettes will be handed out on March 7. And they call this, what, awards season out there in L.A. And it truly is. We have had, what, the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and plenty more to come and it is only January 24th.
HOLMES: Monique, we have to give her, one of our Atlanta home girls, a shout out. She is expected to clean up for her role in "Precious."
NGUYEN: That's one of the roles I was talking about. One of the ones where you just felt like they really got into the character and it was really dramatic. Boy, I don't know if you can get any more dramatic than the role she played in "Precious."
HOLMES: She is expected to clean house for the role that she played. Kind of a different turn. She is of course, a funny lady and she is funny in just about everything you see her in.
NGUYEN: She is an abusive mother in that movie, right?
HOLMES: Yes. So, quite a turn for her.
NGUYEN: I tried to get T.J. to go see the movie with me, but he wasn't going to. It was too dramatic for him.
HOLMES: Yes, don't make me cry. I want to laugh. I want to see something blow up.
NGUYEN: We deal with enough reality and difficult situations just doing the news. Speaking of -- we hope you stick around because there's more news to come.
HOLMES: Hello, again. Welcome back. From the CNN center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORMING for January 24th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. It is 6:00 a.m. here in Atlanta. We do want to thank you for starting your day with us.
We do want to start with this, some breaking news, a new terror tape and new threats.
HOLMES: On the tape, it is an audiotape, but the voices believed to be that of Osama bin Laden. This voice is claiming responsibility for the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt in Detroit and also warns more attacks are coming.
NGUYEN: So, from that to this. Just a remarkable story of survival out of Haiti. This man that you see right there, trapped for 11 days. He was found alive after the search and rescue efforts officially ended. We'll tell you how rescuers found him.
But first here is a quick look at some of the news that happened overnight.
HOLMES: Yes, the U.S. military is saying three American service members were killed in two separate roadside bombings today. The bombings in southern Afghanistan, few details available right now, but that part of the country has been a hot bed for insurgents.
Looking out for some of the earthquake's most vulnerable victims. About 80 orphans from the quake zone arrived safely in Orlando yesterday. Adopting a child from Haiti, usually takes years of paperwork and patience, but officials agreed to speed up the process after the earthquake hit.
And a grueling day for passengers onboard a United Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas. The plane finally landed hours after it was supposed to yesterday because of an unruly passenger. Officials say a man tried to open a plane door while the plane was in the air. The pilots made an emergency landing in Denver, where the man was taken into custody. Police are questioning him now.
OK. Let's get to that new terrorist threat that is out this morning. It is believed to be from Osama bin Laden. The message says al Qaeda was behind the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt over Detroit and it also promises more attacks on the U.S.
Now, earlier, we spoke with Cal Perry in the Middle East about this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This message surfacing about 90 minutes ago, purportedly from Osama bin Laden. It's important to note that CNN cannot independently authenticate that this is Osama bin Laden. But in the past, intelligence officials have said that these messages carry in this matter were Osama bin Laden.
To the message itself, Osama is claiming responsibility for that failed bombing on Christmas Day. That plane, of course, from Amsterdam to Detroit. Now, he linked this failed attack, this bombing, to the attacks on September the 11th, saying basically that al Qaeda is sending America the same message.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN, TERRORIST (through translator): The message intended to be sent to you was through the hero and fighter, Umar Farouk -- may God release him -- confirming an earlier message that the September 11th heroes delivered to you and it was repeated before and after that event, and that is, the United States will not dream of enjoying safety until we live it in reality in Palestine.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
NGUYEN: We've already heard from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula saying, "We claim responsibility for this." So, I guess I'm trying to understand the reasoning behind another tape, this time Osama bin Laden also claiming responsibility -- if it is, indeed, Osama bin Laden.
PERRY: That's right. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula actually claimed responsibility on the December the 27th, two days after that attack. Now, we spoke to an intelligence analyst here in the Emirates, who said basically what he believes happened is Osama bin Laden may have not even known about this attack, that this the offshore groups of al Qaeda carry out these attacks in the name of the sort of head of al Qaeda, of course, Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan.
The other interesting thing about this message is that Osama bin Laden really linking the safety of Americans to the safety of Palestinians in Gaza, really playing here to the Middle East. That's, of course, a very big issue in the Middle East, the Palestinian issue. And it's, of course, become a bigger issue even for the U.S. administration with George Mitchell in the region, now something that the administration is really paying attention to.
But I think your question is to the key point of what is the commanding control structure inside al Qaeda? Does Osama bin Laden really have command and control of this movement around the region and around the world, because, as you noted first, it was two days after that failed attack on Christmas Day that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility. Then today, of course, this purported message from Osama bin Laden doing the same thing, Betty.
NGUYEN: Exactly. And just to get into the details of the message a little bit, we have a report here. It says, quote -- from this e person who's believed to be Osama bin Laden, "that America will never dream of security unless we have it in reality in Palestine." And goes on to say God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support to the Israelis will continue.
So, the message is shifting to the situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis; whereas before, we've heard just simply against Westerners in general.
PERRY: Well, absolutely. The last message, audio message, purportedly from Osama bin Laden, came at the end of September. In that message, he really urged Europeans to distance themselves from the United States, because he said the war in Afghanistan is a failure.
This message is really playing among sympathies of people here in the Middle East, sympathetic, of course, to the Palestinian issue. It's really a way to rally support. It is a rallying cry for people here around the region. And Osama bin Laden is playing into those sympathies, trying to rally support for these attacks based on that issue.
This is an issue that plays across the region, Betty. The Palestinian issue in every Middle Eastern country is first and foremost on the front of people's minds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. That was our Cal Perry reporting from Abu Dhabi today.
And Peter Bergen is one of the few Westerners who has actually done a face-to-face interview with Osama bin Laden. He is a well- known authority on bin Laden and he is going to join me on the next hour to discuss this new taped message, and Britain's increasing its terror level.
Also, we're talking about this -- an incredible story of survival coming out of Haiti.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Wismond Jean Pierre is his name and he was buried alive for 11 days and he survived on what, cookies, beer and coke. Don't do that, don't try that at home. You just do that in desperate times. But this rescue yesterday came a day after Haitian authorities declared search and rescue efforts were actually over.
NGUYEN: Yes. CNN's Hala Gorani has the details on this just remarkable rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven days underground, clawing his way out of a dark hole, Wismond Jean Pierre has only a few yards to go to freedom.
This dramatic video given to us by French authorities shows the 24-year-old pushed out the rubble of a four-story building. He survived that long because of sheer luck caught in an air pocket and surrounded by food and drink from the shop on the ground floor.
The gathered crowd first hushed erupted in spontaneous applause as the young man was taken by ambulance to a French field hospital.
(CHEERS)
CROWD: Bravo!
CORP. CHIEF SRESSE MARIE-LAURENCE, FRENCH CIVIL PROTECTION RESCUER: We have found together all of the stuff. And we are very happy. It's very emotional.
GORANI: A rescue that would probably have never happened had it not been for the dogged determination of Wismond's family. Wismond's brother, Jean Elie told me, "I spoke to him. I called his name. I knew he was alive."
He said he tried to get officials' attentions for days but it took the help of a Greek journalist to mobilize the massive rescue effort.
Another family member on the scene worriedly showed me a picture of Wismond. He was waiting, too, and hoping.
As the day unfolded, reinforcements were truck in. Ordinary Haitians pitched in to help and rescuers worked for hours under a flimsy tin roof and deep into the ground to save the young man's life.
At the hospital later, Wismond was well enough to speak to CNN.
He moved his arms and legs because he was not crushed by the falling building. Now, he needs hydration and rest -- a moment of true joy in a country with little to celebrate.
Hala Gorani, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, the rescues of another kind to tell you about. Haiti's orphan children are now finding homes here in the U.S. And because of the earthquake, those adoptions are moving forward on the fast track.
CNN's Martin Savidge has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the time this military plane carrying 80 Haitian orphans arrived at the Orlando Sanford Airport, Katy Hansley had been waiting for it for years.
(on camera): Are you ready to start a family?
KATY HANSLEY, ADOPTIVE PARENT: Absolutely. I have been waiting for a long time.
SAVIDGE (voice-over): Katy isn't alone. Many here have been waiting a long time for this day. Adopting a child from Haiti requires lots of paperwork and plenty of patience. Then the earthquake came.
HANSLEY: We're also desperate to hear that our kids are safe and that they're OK and that they have food and water.
SAVIDGE: Fortunately, the children were safe.
And the earthquake did have and ironic twist, adoptions were dramatically sped up to move more children to safety. But before the kids could come to the U.S., they had to get special visas from the U.S. embassy in Haiti -- a grueling ordeal that took several attempts riding dilapidated buses and sweltering heat with the devastated city. The desperation captured by CNN's Soledad O'Brien.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please call and tell them that we are on the bus. We have gotten conflicting so many reports. This is crazy to treat children like this.
SAVIDGE: Even after the children finally arrived in Florida on Saturday, the wait wasn't over. They had to undergo exhausted documentation checks while keep separate from their adoptive families, who had come from all over the country to claim them.
HANSLEY: It is very hard knowing that she's back there and I can't be with her. It's almost like somebody just holding a cookie out in front of you and not letting you have it.
SAVIDGE: Eventually, an official said the process would take many more hours, perhaps well into Sunday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing is wrong. Nothing is unusual. You just need to be patience. And it's going to take a while.
SAVIDGE: She told people to go back to their homes or hotels. They didn't. Instead, they simply bedded down in baggage claim.
If these would-be moms and dads had learned one thing about adopting a child from Haiti, it's patience.
And somewhere in the early morning hours, that patience paid off big time -- a lot of hugs, laughter, and tears.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Sanford, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And Martin adds that it took nearly 12 hours from when the plane landed until the adoptees were reunited with their new parents, but good to see them together.
HOLMES: And we're going to be giving you a view from Haiti here in a moment like you've probably never seen it before, a 360-degree view. It's something to see. Stay with us.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And we will tell you about another Pacific storm taking aim at the west coast and the soggy forecast up and down the eastern seaboard. Those details are coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. I want to bring you a tough story that a lot of families are trying to deal with right now -- a mother who is looking for her son who had checked into what's left of that hotel now. Hotel Montana, you've been hearing a lot about it, well, that is what it looks like today, pretty much gone.
Well, Brendan Beck is the young man's name. I want to put his picture up now.
There he is.
He actually sent an e-mail literally about 10 minutes before the earthquake hit to tell his family that he had arrived and he was safe. They have not heard from him since.
Beck's mother, Sally Baldwin, will be in Washington tomorrow to talk to lawmakers, but this morning she's in Dallas and she's joining us.
Ma'am, thank you so much for taking the time out. We certainly want to get the story out about you and your family. This is what a lot of families are going through right now. But, I guess, first of all, what do you think when you see those pictures now of that hotel. The place you know that your son was at.
I mean, what do you think now when you see these pictures? Just what goes through your mind? SALLY BALDWIN, SON MISSING IN HAITI: It's just heart-wrenching. You can't believe that your loved one, my child, is in there. I can't believe what he must have experienced.
HOLMES: Now, ma'am, are you to the point now where so many are looking for word -- but have you gotten to the point, are you still holding on to the hope or have you kind of transitioned you and your family to the point where you realize that he may have lost his life there, and now, the battle is just to recover his remains?
BALDWIN: There's always a ray of hope.
HOLMES: Yes, ma'am.
BALDWIN: But for the amount of time that's gone by, we are having to think that we need to recover his body. And I guess what I'm really looking for is a commitment from our U.S. government that they're going to bring home all our U.S. citizens from the Hotel Montana.
We've had different congressmen and senators from the state of Texas write letters to President Obama and Secretary Clinton. And we know the military always brings home their own.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: And they would accept nothing less. And I would like to hear from President Obama and Secretary Clinton that they are going to accept nothing less than bringing home all our American citizens from the Hotel Montana.
HOLMES: And you said you are looking for a commitment. You haven't gotten that just yet. So explain to us and our viewers...
BALDWIN: No, there has not been a commitment yet.
HOLMES: Yes. What is it that you are getting from the State Department? I guess, what are they saying to you? Of course, it's still, I guess, fairly -- relatively early after the earthquake and still more work needs to be done. But are you not hearing that kind of commitment that we will absolutely make sure we bring Americans home?
BALDWIN: No, we have not heard that kind of commitment. The first communication from the State Department was Tuesday, which is one week after the earthquake. They did hold the teleconference and they did bring in the SAR workers from the U.S. embassy in Haiti.
And my heartfelt thanks goes to the SAR team because they have just been doing a tremendous job trying to get everybody out. But my issue is with the U.S. State Department. It seems like they're improvising their communication and protocols along the way.
HOLMES: Yes. How much of that...
BALDWIN: They have not... HOLMES: Yes. How much of that, ma'am, would you say, that you say, OK, it's still early. It's still chaotic. And I know some things are still a mess over there. Do you think we've gone beyond that. I guess you could give them a break in some ways because you know it's still chaotic. But it sounds like it's going beyond that for you.
It sounds like -- you think they should have, have it together a little better than they do right now?
BALDWIN: Right. It's been, what, almost 11 or 12 days.
HOLMES: Yes, ma'am.
BALDWIN: There's still no plan on how they're going to recover the deceased, how they're going to identify them, and how they're going to bring them home.
There was a telephone conference yesterday morning with Representative Holt on there and he asked the question, "Who is the point of contact? Who is the person responsible for making sure that the bodies are recovered, identified and brought home?" And the State Department's response is, "Well, we got the DOD. We got FEMA, and we have several agencies within the State Department." But there's nobody that's held accountable. There's no accountability.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: And there's no one person in charge.
HOLMES: I know you're going to Washington tomorrow and going to make those pleas. We will follow you on that.
But for a lot of people -- finally here to wrap it up -- who have been hearing from families who are not in the position you're in, explain to them how critical and how important it is for you as a mother, as a family, to even though maybe you lost your son, why still it's so critical that you bring him home?
BALDWIN: We want to bring him home so that he can have a burial that is dignified and not be buried in a pile of rubble. All American citizens that are over there deserve that dignity.
HOLMES: Well, ma'am, we will follow you and follow your story. We have heard several like yours and we certainly hope those families get that closure they need.
Ms. Baldwin, thank you so much for taking the time out with us this morning and good luck in Washington.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Wow -- that is just so difficult, and so many different emotions, too. One, holding on to hope; two, preparing for the worst; and three, trying to figure out what to do if, indeed, you have to bring his body back to the U.S. HOLMES: And you know that the other family we talked to last weekend, they weren't able to get their mother's body back in time.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: It had to be cremated there.
NGUYEN: Something the family did not want.
HOLMES: It's one thing. OK, I've lost my loved one.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: That's one thing. But now, there's a new fight and the struggle to get the body back.
NGUYEN: And then just waiting for information of any sort, whether it would from the U.S. government, from rescue efforts in Haiti. My goodness, I can only begin to imagine.
But best of luck to all those families that are searching.
You know, throughout the disaster in Haiti, new technology, in fact, has helped tell the stories like never before.
HOLMES: And something else we have now is a 360-degree view of the destruction that takes you on a virtual tour through the streets of Haiti. Josh Levs is here to show us that.
Good morning to you, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, guys.
Yes, and I'll tell you this story of Sally Baldwin and Brendan Beck. This one that we've been following very closely for the Haiti missing deaths throughout all of this, and these people who are spending their lives going into poor countries and working because they've gotten caught up in the disaster. You know, there's lot that's so heroic about people who are spending their whole lives doing that. We have a lot of stories like that online, along with this new feature that I'm going to show you right now.
Let's go this computer behind me, because I have a brand new video that just up today. We've never seen it on TV before. This is it. This is a 360-degree area of the palace area.
And what you can do here is once you press "play," it will kind of take you on this little tour, but you can control the image, so you can actually give yourself a virtual tour. You're looking around in the full circle. Here, I'm doing that.
I'd say I want to look back up. You can see the palace from this direction. It takes you through various streets in Haiti as well.
I'm going to show this one. This is a road that takes you down. Let's do this. I'm going to scroll up a little bit. I'm going to show that we have four videos that says page four of four. We have four different videos on this page. Each one just takes a couple of seconds to load up.
And then once you are there, you can control this image, see the devastation. See all around to the people, see the desperation. It takes you on this 360-degree tour.
And I have a camera here that Nano (ph) will hand me now, that's going to show me how this is being done. Basically, this is the new technology we're using. It's from Immersive Media. And they specialize in this.
They're using this camera here that has 11 different cameras inside of it. Each one takes a unique picture. And there's a computer system, basically a CPU, that takes all these images together and wraps them into one image. It marries them exactly where they overlap so you end up with what really is a legitimate 360 virtual tour of four different sites of Haiti. Just another way guys for people to see this devastation and the struggle that's going on there right now with nothing in your way -- almost like being there.
Betty and T.J., back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you for that.
And, boy, technology is really fascinating and unfortunately, it does give us a kind of a firsthand view of the devastation over there.
Josh, appreciate that.
LEVS: Thank you.
HOLMES: And we're going to turn to Afghanistan here in just a moment where we're just getting word this morning that three American soldiers have been killed in violence there.
NGUYEN: And more victims of roadside bombings in an insurgent hot spot. We'll have details on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's check the top stories right now because a new terrorist message is out this morning believed to be from Osama bin Laden. The audio message says al Qaeda was responsible for the failed Christmas Day airline bombing attempt over Detroit. And it also vows more attacks on the U.S.
HOLMES: Well, the U.S. military says three American service members were killed in two separate roadside bombings today. The bombings happened in southern Afghanistan. New details available right now, but that's part of the country, of course, has been hotbed for insurgents.
NGUYEN: And we have just gotten the first official number from the Hope for Haiti Now telethon. And it looks like the global fundraiser took in a record. Get this -- a record-breaking $58 million and that doesn't even include the donations from corporations or large donations.
More than 100 celebrities and musicians took part in Friday's event. Many of you watched it. And if you still like to help, you can. You can write off your donations on your 2009 tax returns, but you can still call the number that was up on the screen. You can also go to that Web site and donate for the next six months.
You know, when it rains, they often say it pours -- especially if you are on the west coast.
HOLMES: And we're going to check in with meteorologist Karen Maginnis in just a moment. So, the rain is coming once again. Some snow on the way as well.
Our forecast is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Karen Maginnis is joining us today, in of Reynolds Wolf.
And, boy, what a day to be her -- lots of rain in the forecast.
MAGINNIS: Rain in a lot of places, yes. But I want to show you this picture of LAX. I know it's dark, but at least we don't have rain, we don't have low visibility. So, it's going to be a pretty good day for L.A.
A little bit further north, from about the Bay Area northward and into the Great Basin, not so much -- because there's yet another Pacific storm. But it looks it is going to be bypassing that southern California area that was so devastated with mud and landslides and just all the debris that they had. It was just a really messy five to seven days that we saw previously.
Now, we got all this moisture moving towards the east and especially right across the southeast, right along the border between Mississippi and into Alabama. I'll show you, just kind of a closer view, as to what's happening across this region -- just kind of point out what is going on here. This is an area that has really seeing quite a bit of a messy weather for this winter season.
So, those water tables are running pretty high and as a result, there is the potential for some flooding across this region and severe thunderstorms could pop up.
While in Chicago, it is rain, it is not snow. But back on the backside of this area of low pressure, we've got a little bit of iciness here.
And I tried to get some pictures coming out of Dakotas because they really saw a mess yesterday on the roads, very icy mix, especially in South Dakota, 15 out of the 25 energy companies there were reporting outages. So, the folks that live there were really doing without over the last 24 hours or so. Winds, quite gusty there.
We want to quickly show you for the west coast a storm system moving in. West coast, our next big storm, Betty and T.J., could come at the end of the week. Back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. So, we'll get out our umbrellas, our rain gear, to prepare for this coming our way.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Thank you, Karen.
MAGINNIS: OK.
HOLMES: More top stories are coming your way. Betty and I will be back with more live news at the top of the hour.
NGUYEN: But, first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right now.
