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CNN Saturday Morning News

Ariel Sharon News Conference; Updates On Randal McCloy; Fisherman Survive Boat Fire; Miscommunication In West Virginia Mining Disaster; New Electronic Gadgets

Aired January 07, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: People in Israel and around the world are watching the condition of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. We expect an update from the hospital in Jerusalem in just a few minutes.
Welcome. It's Saturday morning, January 7, 2006. Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for starting your day with us. And here's what's happening now in the news.

Final farewells to the 12 coal miners killed in West Virginia begin this weekend. Families are holding the first visitations today. Let me stop what I'm doing right now and let's get you quickly to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for an update on the condition of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

SHLOMO MOR-YOSEF, DIRECTOR, HADASSAH HOSPITAL (through translator): ... planned scan that is part of their standard treatment of patients in this condition. The CT scan today showed a slight reduction in his -- the edema in his brain, which means a slight improvement in the CT scan picture.

The condition of the prime minister is still critical. The other tests that we are following, as you all know from reports in the last few days, the intracranial pressure is maintained. It is within normal range. The blood pressure, the pulse and urine output are within normal range.

All these parameters indicate stability in the condition of the prime minister. We've planned tomorrow morning, all the experts at Hadassah Hospital, all the neurosurgeons and neurologists, imaging experts and emergency care experts, we will all convene every morning, as we do every morning, including over the weekend, in order to discuss the following treatment of the prime minister in the next 24 hours.

As you know, part of the treatment will be induced coma anesthesia. This is still part of the treatment.

When the prime minister will be awakened and his brain functions will be tested, a decision about that will be made tomorrow morning at the session, at the meeting of Hadassah experts.

The hospital team is fighting, together with the prime minister, and together with the Sharon family to save his life.

I am pleased to say that we have had enormous support from the very responsible medical community in the state of Israel. I have had calls from the directors of the hospitals of Ein-Tal, Shmuel, Ichilov, Soroka, Barzilai, Poriah, Bikour Holim, Shaaer' Zedek. I had a call from the director of the medical association in Israel.

All of them are reinforcing us and encouraging us to focus on one thing, which is to save the life of the prime minister. And this is the primary mission that we here at Hadassah are focusing on and in which we are investing and have been investing since the prime minister's arrival at Hadassah and until this very moment.

I conclude the condition of the prime minister is still serious. It is stable. There has been a very slight improvement in the picture, as indicated on the CT scan performed today.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)?

MOR-YOSEF: Of course, the question for which we all want to know the answer is exactly the question that was asked now -- what is the extent of the damage and when will we be able to estimate the danger of the damage?

At this point, in addition to the CT scan, which shows normal brain tissue in the left side of the brain of the prime minister in this picture, in this image, we don't know anything apart from this -- the results of this test. And before we wake him up gradually and test his reactions as he emerges from his coma, we will not be able to answer this question.

QUESTION: Can we say that the prime minister is out of danger? Is there room for optimism as expressed by his aides and visitors?

MOR-YOSEF: We as people are optimists. But I cannot say that he is out of danger. I can say that his condition is still serious, but there are very slight signs of an improvement. The situation is still difficult. The condition is still serious.

According to the original plan, the dosages were to be reduced as of tomorrow morning. I understand now that this will perhaps happen after the meeting of the physicians, of the experts, tomorrow morning, or maybe not at all.

As you realize, the profession of neurosurgery works at a different pace than what you are used to. This is not a terror attack, this is not a trauma incident. This is a different rate of events. Certainly, no change will be made before the experts convene tomorrow morning.

After the expert session, a decision will be made as to when the dosage of the anesthesia will start to be reduced and we will report this to you.

QUESTION: You said that there has been a very slight improvement in his condition. Is this what you were expecting or were you expecting a more significant improvement in his condition?

MOR-YOSEF: We are following the picture as conveyed by the CT scan in all patients in this condition. In some cases, the condition improves, in some cases it worsens. I describe the situation, the condition of the prime minister, we didn't have expectations either way. We are looking at the facts and we respond according to the facts at hand.

And, as I said, the improvement in the picture as expressed in the CT scan is significant. I didn't say that the improvement in general is significant because all other indications are steady. The improvement is as conveyed by the CT scan.

QUESTION: Can you say, based on statistics, what functions will be damaged?

MOR-YOSEF: The only thing that we can say is that the left side of the prime minister's brain seems in the scan to be intact. What this means, we will only know after we wake the prime minister up gradually.

Have a good week.

NGUYEN: Officials there at the Hadassah Medical Center giving us the latest on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's condition.

We want to bring in now our Wolf Blitzer, who is in Jerusalem, to talk about what we've just heard -- Wolf, it sounds to me that the CT scan shows that there is some slight improvement. But as we just heard, it doesn't appear that there's been any overall improvement in the prime minister's health.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think you're absolutely right, Betty. We shouldn't leave our viewers under any misunderstanding, mis-appreciation of what Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the Hadassah Medical Center, just said.

This CT scan that was performed a couple hours ago here at the hospital in Jerusalem showed what he said was a very slight improvement in terms of the blood, the hemorrhaging and the pressure that resulted in that emergency five hours worth of surgery yesterday. In other words, the pressure and the hemorrhaging seems to have been dealt with, at least for now, which is obviously good news.

But they're not going to know, at least until tomorrow morning when they start this process of weaning him off some of these drugs that have resulted in this induced coma in which he's in, in which they'll be able to determine what the extent of the damage to his brain, to his body, the trauma from all of the surgery, from the stroke, the massive stroke he endured on Wednesday, all of that is going to result the kind of trauma, the kind of damage, long time damage to Ariel Sharon.

And that they won't have a better sense of until tomorrow morning, when the neurosurgeons, the neurologists and the other specialists gather at the hospital to deal with his current situation. What does seem to be slightly, slightly encouraging is that the bleeding has stopped. There's no need to go in once again, at least not yet, not now, to deal with hemorrhaging or any kind of swelling, the pressure that was manifest yesterday that did result in that emergency surgery.

So he's by no means off the hook, but Dr. Mor-Yosef did give a little bit hopeful sign that maybe he can come out of this over a long, long period of time.

But they're really not going to be able to know more until they get him off those drugs which have resulted in the induced coma.

NGUYEN: As the director said, is there room for optimism? He went on to say we as people are optimistic. But at this point, Mr. Sharon is not out of danger.

And, of course, we will be watching. So will you there in Jerusalem. Wolf Blitzer, thank you for that.

HARRIS: More bloodshed in Iraq. At least 13 people were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded as an Iraqi police commando patrol was passing a Baghdad neighborhood. Authorities say six of the wounded were police commandos.

NGUYEN: Heavy hearts in West Virginia as the families of 12 miners killed this week prepare to say their final good-byes. Several families are holding visitations today and tomorrow the funerals begin. Six on Sunday. Five more are planned at the beginning of the week. One victim's family is choosing not to have a service.

The sole survivor of that tragedy remains in a medically induced coma in a Pennsylvania hospital. And while Randal McCloy's condition is still critical, there are some signs that he's improving.

Bringing us the latest information from Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, CNN's Chris Huntington.

He's got an update -- and we heard earlier from the doctor, Chris, that there, as we mentioned, are some improvements.

Talk to us about those improvements.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, yes, the primary concerns going into last night -- and, again, this is a situation that is going hour to hour -- Randal McCloy's left lung, which had been collapsed, was still troubling the doctors. They were still seeing a lot of inflammation and a lot of fluid buildup. And that's one of the main reasons that they had kept him under heavy sedation, because if somebody rises up out of sedation, the opportunity is for that person to fight.

He's been on a ventilator with breathing tubes in and they don't want him fighting that assistance at all.

The good news is that overnight he has shown improvement in his lung.

Now, the main reason that they moved Randal McCloy up here to this hospital in Pittsburgh, Allegheny General, is so that they could give him special pressurized oxygen treatments in a hyperbaric chamber.

Now, the -- he has received two of those treatments. He was scheduled to have received the third one last night, but they held off on that.

And here's how Dr. Shanon explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICHARD SHANNON, ALLEGHENY GENERAL HOSPITAL: We thought it was better to spend our time focusing on the care of his injured lungs. And I'm pleased to report overnight that we have made substantial progress in that regard. So I think the time was well spent.

Following his neurological evaluation this morning, we will give consideration to a third hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: So, the hope is that if he is strong enough, particularly if the lung is strong enough, they might go in for a third treatment, a pressurized oxygen treatment this morning.

The other crucial issue they're dealing with, of course, is the evidence of brain damage that they've seen in Randal McCloy's brain scans, MRI and CT scans.

The good news on that front twofold. One, that the small lesions, as they're calling them, and, also, tiny, tiny, tiny blood clots, as they refer to them, are not getting worse, at least on the imaging. What they want to do today, Betty, is to ease off on the sedative, bring him out of sedation so they can get a better sense of how neurologically he's responding to other stimulus. That's a very crucial aspect of the way the doctors want to treat him and the way they need the measurement.

They need to bring him out of that sedated state just enough so that they can begin to measure some of his responses. They hope to do that some time today -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Chris Huntington there in Pittsburgh.

Thank you so much, Chris.

(MUSIC)

NGUYEN: What a welcome sound. In New Orleans, some signs of normalcy. Coming up, we're going to show you how one holiday tradition is being kept alive. HARRIS: And scary moments for two fishermen trapped aboard a burning boat off Cape Cod. Just ahead, you'll see and hear how they responded to this life-threatening emergency.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now in the news, doctors have just given an update on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's condition. They say his latest brain scan shows slight signs of improvement. But there isn't any overall improvement in the prime minister's health. Mr. Sharon is clinging to life in a medically induced coma. He has undergone three rounds of brain surgery following a massive stroke this week.

Funeral services are being held this morning for one of the New Jersey police officers killed when his emergency truck plunged from an open drawbridge. Officer Robert Nguyen is being given a hero's sendoff. He and another officer died after helping other police place warning flares to make drivers aware of that damaged bridge.

And tonight, you can watch Lou Rawls' final performance at an annual An Evening of Stars telethon which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The three time Grammy winning singer helped UNCF raise more than $200 million for those telethons. He died yesterday of cancer at the age of 72. But the program was taped back in September.

HARRIS: And now, Betty, an amazing story of survival at sea.

A Massachusetts fishing boat goes up in flames, trapping the two men on board. But the fishermen's presence of mind in those first few terrifying moments may have helped save their lives.

Mike Macklin from our affiliate WHDH has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE MACKLIN, WHDH CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fishing boat Hizzoner was two miles off the coast of Wellesley when the two men on board suddenly realized they had an emergency at sea.

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: Mayday! Mayday! Fishing vessel Hizzoner, Cape Cod Bay.

MACKLIN: A fire had broken out below decks in the boat's engine room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your distress, over?

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: We have an engine fire, and it looks like it's out of control.

MACKLIN: The captain, Shawn Rose, and his first mate, Sam Beard, were out fishing for clams at dawn. Suddenly, they faced a crisis they couldn't handle.

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: We couldn't put it out. We couldn't put it out so...

QUESTION: Do you have any idea what caused it?

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: I believe electrical. It was on the engine room.

QUESTION: Is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: On the engine, you know? We did what we could to try to put it out and we couldn't.

QUESTION: What was going through your mind when this was happening?

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: Trying to put the fire out. Trying to save the boat.

MACKLIN: The fire at sea sent flames shooting into the sky. Thick black smoke could be seen for miles. The two men on board moved quickly, guided by the instincts of men who spend their lives at sea.

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: That comes natural. We both had a job to do and we both did what we had to do.

MACKLIN: But the fire roared out of control. Explosions fueled by diesel fuel stored below decks sent huge fireballs into the sky. Another fishing boat, Integrity, nearby at the time, moved closer as a Coast Guard rescue boat raced to the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had been out of the water from their life raft. We came up on the Integrity, got the two survivors on board our vessel and returned to the station.

MACKLIN: The boat burned to the water line and sank. But back on shore, the two fishermen still have the survival suits that, along with quick thinking and good judgment, saved their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: That's something that's automatic when you've got to do that, when you're in a situation like that.

QUESTION: Are you going to go back out on the seas again?

UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN: Oh, I imagine so. It's not my first round, you know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: That was Mike Macklin from our affiliate, WHDH.

Fishing is one of the most dangerous professions, with the third highest fatality rate after logging and working as a pilot, didn't you know?

Next, we're going to go global with Shanon Cook.

Here's a preview -- hi, Shanon. SHANON COOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony.

The U.S. has handed a sailor over to authorities in Japan. He's under investigation for allegedly killing a Japanese woman. We'll bring you the details after the break.

CNN SATURDAY will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And time now for a check of some of the stories making news around the world.

NGUYEN: As Mecca prepares for Sunday's holy ritual, the Hajj, rescue operations have come to an end in a deadly hotel collapse.

For more on this, we turn now to Shanon Cook on the International Desk -- Shanon, what's the latest on the death toll from that accident?

COOK: Well, Betty, officials say the death toll has reached 76 at the moment. Rescuers in Mecca are now saying that they've done all they can do in their search for survivors buried in the rubble of this collapsed hotel.

The eight story building tumbled earlier this week. It was being used as a hotel by Muslim visitors in town for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Millions are expected to turn out for the Hajj this weekend. It officially begins tomorrow.

To Turkey now, where there has been an outbreak of human bird flu. The European Commission confirms the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu in poultry in the country. So now the World Health Organization is sending its own team to investigate the outbreak. Three children have died of bird flu in eastern Turkey. All three were from the same family. Now, these would be the first known human deaths from the H5N1 strain outside Asia, if confirmed by the WHO.

Let's move on to Japan now, where a U.S. sailor has been transferred to Japanese custody. Officials say 21-year-old William Oliver Reese admitted to killing a Japanese woman during an apparent robbery. The 56-year-old woman's body was found beaten near the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka. She died from excessive bleeding and her empty purse was found nearby. Reese faces murder and robbery charges in Japan.

All right, well, let's try and end things on a lighter note.

And, Betty, you might be interested to hear about a new store that's opened in Paris.

NGUYEN: Oui, oui.

HARRIS: Oh, come on!

COOK: Oh, nice French there.

HARRIS: Come on!

NGUYEN: That's the best I can do.

COOK: This -- it's better than me.

This is a bakery, but I doubt it's a bakery that you or I would like to eat at, Betty, because it's a bakery for canines.

NGUYEN: Oh, they look like little cookies that we -- yes. I'm going to stay away from those.

COOK: Don't they look good? But -- and they're apparently healthy. They're salt and sugar free. So maybe we should actually eat them.

NGUYEN: I'll take your word on that.

No, no, I think I'll just take your word on that. I won't be trying those out anytime soon.

COOK: Well, this is the brainchild of an award winning American pastry chef named Harriet Sternstein. She moved to Paris with her dog Sophie Marie to bake tasty patisseries for pooches. The bakery is called is called Mon Bon Chien. There's my French for you today. And that means my good dog in bad French.

NGUYEN: Well, you know, this is from a chef, so it's got to be good, although I won't be tasting them any time soon.

COOK: Right.

NGUYEN: But here's the question. How popular are these doggy bakeries? How many people have got the money to shell out to take their little pooch down to the bakery and get a treat?

HARRIS: Yes!

COOK: Well, this pastry chef went to the right city, because Parisians really indulge their dogs. And there are some 200,000 dogs living in Paris. The woman says she bakes about 200 to 300 biscuits a day. So it's doing really, really well. Honestly, though, people would shell out money for their dogs in Paris. If you're wandering around Paris, you see some very pandered -- what are they called, the funny little fluffy little things? Poodles! That's the dog.

HARRIS: There you go.

COOK: You see them everywhere. They go all out on the grooming and everything. So she's a smart lady to start this.

NGUYEN: So don't throw those dogs a bone, just get them something from the bakery.

COOK: Exactly. NGUYEN: All right, Shanon, thanks.

COOK: Thank you.

HARRIS: I could use them as a training tool to help with my new dog.

NGUYEN: Oh, that's right, you've got problems with the big puppy, don't you?

HARRIS: Oh, yes. Yes. I've got issues. Shanon, thank you.

COOK: Thank you. Good luck with your dog and your issues.

HARRIS: Yes, well, thank you.

And still ahead, voices from a tragedy. The 911 tapes from the Sago Mine disaster have been released. And you'll hear how mine officials and rescue teams reacted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now in the news, at least 13 people were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded in Baghdad today. Authorities say the blast happened just as an Iraqi police commando patrol was passing by. Six of the wounded were police commandos.

Britain has shut down its embassy in Jordan due to security concerns. The British government issued a statement today saying, quote, terrorists may be in the final stages of planning attacks against westerners and places frequented by westerns. The statement calls for extra care at Jordan's borders with Israel and Iraq.

And a sole survivor of the West Virginia mine explosion is still critically ill in a medically induced coma. Doctors at Allegheny General Hospital say they have made substantial progress treating Randall McCoy's inflamed lung, but they are still very concerned about possible brain damage.

HARRIS: And now a glimpse of what happened behind the scenes as that mining disaster unfolded. The 911 tapes have been released and they reveal an increasing sense of urgency as well as a tragic case of miscommunication. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the time of the explosion, nearly an hour and a half passes before the world gets its first inkling of what's happened inside the Sago Mine. Monday, January 2nd, 7:55 a.m., a call from the mine to the Upshur County 911 operator.

OPERATOR: Emergency squad.

MINE CALLER: Yes, ma'am, we need an ambulance at Sago Mine.

OPERATOR: OK. Is this the one up on the Sago road?

MINE CALLER: Yes, ma'am.

OPERATOR: OK, what's going on?

MINE CALLER: Yes, something happened inside the mine there.

TODD: Less than 15 minutes later, an emergency crew is on the scene with the first chilling account of what rescuers are facing.

CALLER ON SCENE: OK, be advised we are being informed we are on the scene, we are being informed that there are several men trapped inside. We're going to need a lot of help.

LOUISE BLEIGH, UPSHUR COUNTY 911 SUPERVISOR: Certainly hearing that there were several men trapped inside came as quite a surprise, quite a shock, and then, I think your adrenaline kicks in and you start doing what you're trained to do.

TODD: Benny Nazelrod, fire chief in Adrian, West Virginia, says his station is less than five miles from the mine. His teams get there quickly, but by law, only specially trained mine rescue teams can go inside.

CHIEF BENNY NAZELROD, ADRIAN, WEST VA. FIRE DEPT: You do feel helpless. You know there's only a certain amount you can do and your normal instinct, when you're in any type of rescue is to go help.

TODD: We know of no 911 calls between Monday morning and late Tuesday night. At 11:48 p.m., Tuesday, the first inaccurate reports have come from inside the mine and one emergency response team radios another.

OPERATOR: Go ahead man.

CALLER ON SCENE: OK, you might as well just stand still right where you're at Gary. That they did find them and they are all OK, I guess, so I think we might be transporting them. I'm not exactly sure. But we're stuck right here.

OPERATOR: 10-4 man.

TODD: In the next two minutes, another call comes in saying the men are alive and there's one from an incident commander requesting any medical unit that can transport patients. The 911 supervisor tells CNN they never received a call saying the men were dead. They found that out by watching the news.

Brian Todd, CNN, Tallmansville, West Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: The latest update on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's condition came just 30 minutes ago. Doctor say a brain scan done this morning on the 77-year-old leader shows slight improvement. But he's still in critical condition and they won't know the extent of damage to the prime minister's brain until he is slowly brought out of a medically induced coma. Mr. Sharon suffered a massive stroke on Wednesday and has undergone three brain surgeries since then. CNN's Tom Foreman explains why Sharon's condition should matter to you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not far from the capital in downtown DC, like many Americans, waiter Ben Parker knows he should care about what's happening with Ariel Sharon. He's just not sure why.

BEN PARKER, WAITER: Well, yes. I mean, he's been a pretty -- he's been in the spotlight over in the Middle East for a long time, helping shape policy and what's going on.

FOREMAN: Does he affect your life?

PARKER: I'm sure he does. I don't know of any -- I don't know of what the connection would be.

FOREMAN: If you care about the war in Iraq, about gas prices, international trade, terrorism, even tourism, Sharon matters. Because all these issues are affected by what happens in the Middle East. Sharon was among the last of the old Middle East leaders, many of whom once fought each other and have been dying or disappearing from power for 10 years. in Israel, among the Palestinians, in Syria, in Jordan, in Iraq and in Saudi Arabia.

For better or worse, they were well-known, generally predictable and American foreign policy was built around them. Aaron David Miller knows that because he was an adviser to six secretaries of state.

AARON DAVID MILLER, POLITICAL SCHOLAR: Those who have fought this conflict over the last 50 years and those who also have had a role in helping to address it, are now passing from the scene. And we'll be up to a new and relatively untested set of leaders to inherit the not so holy land in this case and to try to grapple with the very difficult situation that exists on the ground right now.

FOREMAN: The Saudi royal family is under pressure, relations between Palestinians and Israelis remain uncertain and volatile, democratic reforms in Egypt even with the long-time president are slow and shaky. In short, the Middle East vacuum created by the old guard's disappearance is filling with uncertainty.

TAMARA COFMAN WITTES, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: And the squabbles amongst the youngsters, the relative youngsters, over who will come next to the seat of power are squabbles that don't have any clear mechanism for resolution.

FOREMAN: And no clear outcome at this point.

WITTES: That's right.

FOREMAN: The United States has tried many times to broker agreements, to ease the region's old conflicts. There was always progress, but never peace. But again, these people physically fought over the land and now the struggle passes to the next generation there and here. So, all of that said, as a young American, what do you hope emerges from the new young leaders in the Middle East?

PARKER: That they're more willing to compromise and, you know, find peaceful solutions.

FOREMAN: That's always been the hope. Peace, stability and benefits for people in and out of the Middle East. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We have got some conditions in the southeast portion of the country that we're dealing with, cold, unseasonably cold.

NGUYEN: Floridians waking up to something they're not used to, Bonnie.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Don't worry? It's just easy. Take it as it comes.

NGUYEN: Take it as it comes, although I'm ready for those 60s to come back in Atlanta. I'm not going to lie. Thank you, Bonnie. There are some fascinating, I mean, really new gadgets hitting store shelves all across the country. Next, we'll see a few that made news at this year's consumer electronic show out in Las Vegas.

HARRIS: And we'll get an update on some of the most popular stories on cnn.com at this hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And if you are just joining us, good morning to you. Our top stories this hour, an investigation is under way to determine what started a fire that destroyed one of the most historic buildings in Chicago. The Pilgrim Baptist church, the 115-year-old landmark was considered to be the birthplace of gospel music. At least two firefighters were hurt trying to put out yesterday's massive fire.

Tax cuts. That's what President Bush says is fueling the U.S. economy. During his weekly radio address today, Mr. Bush insisted tax cuts have created jobs and opportunity and he called on Congress to make them permanent.

There's no price cutting at the post office. Starting tomorrow, the cost of first class stamps jumped from 37 to 39 cents and if you think that's bad, prices are likely to go up again next year to cover rising costs at the postal service. There you go. You're informed.

NGUYEN: I'll just be e-mailing you then, Tony.

OK. If you go goo-goo over gadgets and gizmos, you're going to get a kick out of our next guest. HARRIS: The consumer electronic shows is under way in Las Vegas. The best high-tech toys are on display for all of you gadget heads out there. Joining us live from sin city to show us some of the goodies consumer electronics analyst Robin Liss. Robin, good to see you.

ROBIN LISS, CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ANALYST: Good to see you, too.

HARRIS: We are going to double team you a little bit here, because we both have a bunch of questions for you.

NGUYEN: Yes. Everyone's got a cell phone it seems these days, but there's new ones on the market that are pretty cool.

LISS: Yes. Verizon announced a new service at the consumer electronics show called V-cash. They updated the existing V CAST services out there. What is it, is a music download service for your cell phone so the songs are $2 each and you can download a copy.

You can put one copy on your cell phone and one copy on your home computer and they have 500,000 songs available. So, it's pretty cool. Here's one of the phones that uses it. You can see they have these iPod-like controls on the front of the phone.

HARRIS: Download songs to your phone?

NGUYEN: You can do it on your computer which you can store on a CD or put on an iPod or whatever, right?

LISS: Right. What's good about this is that it's more expensive than a lot of the download services out there. The iTunes music store is a dollar a song. This one is $2 so to kind of compensate with that, they're giving you a copy both for your computer and for your cell phone.

HARRIS: I got you. I got you. Hey, Robin, what is this deal with this -- what is this? This is a Kodak V 570 dual lens digital camera.

LISS: Right. Do you see how this camera has kind of two eyes?

NGUYEN: Oh, yes.

LISS: So one of the big problems with digital cameras on the market is that the shot doesn't get that wide. So if you want to get a lot of people in a picture, you have to back up and if you're in a small room, sometime that's impossible. So what Kodak has done is they're giving you the best of both worlds. There's a 23 millimeter lens in here as well as a five times optical zoom lens in here. So you can switch between them based on your suiting situation.

NGUYEN: Turn that thing around. It looks really tiny.

LISS: It's really small. It's going to go for a little over $200. It's five megapixels, really great digital camera and it's just -- it's sleek. It's going to come in a couple of colors, as well.

HARRIS: Is that a good number, that five...?

LISS: Key number. Five is enough in general. You'll be able to print good stills and they'll look pretty high quality.

HARRIS: All right. Well, let me check that one off here.

NGUYEN: Put that down. All right, this other thing, I'm not really familiar with at all, this one chip camcorder. What is that?

LISS: Right, so when people come home with their camcorder and their new television, say their wide screen TV, they notice that the camcorder that they have at home often, it looks squeezed, right, because the difference between wide screen and standard aspect ratio. So what Panasonic has done is they've come out with these wide screen camcorders. This is a wide screen LCD and the chip inside, that's wide screen as well. So the video on this is going to look normal on your wide screen TV like your plasma television.

NGUYEN: Uh-huh. I have yet to buy. I don't have one yet.

HARRIS: Well, Robin can hook you up. And Robin, finally, what is this? This Sony e-reader virtual ink -- what is the rest of it?

LISS: This I think is the coolest thing at the show. Now, it's kind of ironic, because you think Sony, you know, movies, TV, their total entertainment kind of zone out company. But they're going to be promoting books now. Sony has this e-reader virtual ink technology. Now, how this works is there's a bunch of little balls that are black on one side and white on the other and it only requires power when you change a page so this can go through 7500 page changes. They've partnered with the biggest book publishers in the country and when this comes out in April, they're going to have 10,000 books that you can buy to read on the e-reader.

HARRIS: You know, I got to ask you, I mean, how much fun -- did you have another one?

NGUYEN: Well, we mentioned the plasma televisions and they seem to get bigger and bigger. I'm seeing here that there's a 103-inch plasma? That's way bigger than the 42 --

HARRIS: What?

NGUYEN: ...50 inch plasmas that are on the market now.

LISS: There's a war going on. Every year, this happens, where the companies come out with who can have the biggest plasma television. It's really funny. They come to the show with temporary signs, because they don't know if it's going to be the world's largest because they hide what they're going to announce. So this year, Panasonic has 103 inch plasma but poor Samsung, they came with 102 inch plasma.

NGUYEN: Just 102?

LISS: They're short by an inch, right. NGUYEN: Man, can you imagine sitting and watching one of those?

LISS: The TV's going to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

NGUYEN: I don't like that part.

LISS: They did announce a 1080p, this is the big technology, a 1080p 65 inch television which is going to cost around $10,000.

HARRIS: OK.

LISS: JVC also has some rear projection 1080p ones that are around $3 or $4,000. That's kind of the next generation in television.

NGUYEN: You kind of losing me, that 1080p thing.

HARRIS: So once again, size does matter?

LISS: Size does matter. Maybe they're compensating for something.

HARRIS: Robin, good to see you.

NGUYEN: Maybe so. All right, Robin, have fun out there.

(CROSSTALK)

LISS: I will. Bye.

NGUYEN: All right. Stay with technology, we do want to check CNN online to see what users of cnn.com are checking out today. So joining us for that is our very own Veronica De La Cruz.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm scratching my head over here. You're such a little gadget ...

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: I want one. I know all about them.

DE LA CRUZ: But you let Robin know, right, so she has your order?

NGUYEN: Well, she has my specs and she's looking for the best deal for me.

DE LA CRUZ: 103 inches?

NGUYEN: I'll take it.

DE LA CRUZ: All right. Well, some interesting stories this hour, Betty. We're actually going to start with a pretty disturbing story out of Florida. A store owner there is saying it's an accomplice to a robbery that is even more revolting than the crime. We're watching surveillance video right now of a mother and six- year-old daughter in a furniture store, Betty. If you watch closely, see the mother hand the child a vase and then the child turns and walks right out of the store with it. Now, apparently this goes on for sometime with other merchandise in that store.

NGUYEN: Really?

DE LA CRUZ: Something else users are clicking on, Betty, it seems this woman, she had trouble boarding a plane with her toddler and it's not because her baby was giving her trouble. But actually, that's the baby's daddy, but listen to this. Her four-year-old shows up on the terrorist watch list, her 4-year-old. So little Edward Allen's name shows up on this no fly list.

The airline says the family can't board their flight. So the TSA asks them to fill out paper work and provides three forms of identification for a four-year-old, some of which the child, like you just mentioned, was too young to have like a voter registration card, kinks in the system.

Finally, Google, Google, everywhere. How many of us rely on Google day in and day out? I think Tony is on it right now.

NGUYEN: Right now.

DE LA CRUZ: Not paying attention to me. Googling something. Googling you. That's what he's doing. Well, we may be seeing a whole lot more of Google in the coming year and that's because the company plans to unveil a new feature that will allow you to download and view video much like Apple's iTunes. They're also introducing the Google pack, which is a software bundle.

So instead of going to eight different places to get your software Betty, Google will help you do some one-stop shopping and I'm really excited about this news because I just got the video iPod and I know -- I know a month ago or two months ago, I was a little skeptical. I didn't know about that small screen but it is amazing.

NGUYEN: Really?

DE LA CRUZ: It is phenomenal, you guys.

HARRIS: Well, they unveiled all this at that fancy show that Robin is at right now.

DE LA CRUZ: I think the video iPod probably came out last year.

HARRIS: The Google stuff.

(CROSSTALK)

DE LA CRUZ: Well, Robin stealing my thunder, I guess.

NGUYEN: But the video iPod is very cool.

DE LA CRUZ: It is.

NGUYEN: So hats off to you for that.

DE LA CRUZ: All right, Betty, video iPod and plasma.

DE LA CRUZ: Robin has that order.

NGUYEN: She does. Thank you, Veronica.

HARRIS: It is over today. Coming up next, ushering out the holiday season, New Orleans style.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, it is party time in New Orleans. The city devastated by hurricane Katrina is going ahead with its 150th carnival season, 12th night celebrations mark the start of season which ends with Mardi Gras in February. Here's a look at the sights and sounds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to kick off the real parades begins six weeks from tonight with about 40 parades in 12 days leading up to fat Tuesday, February 28th. Tonight it all starts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Marie Antoinette. (INAUDIBLE). I'm queen of the funny 40 fellows ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's odd to say that you feel like - you're feeling kind of normal when you look like this. But this is -- we are getting back to New Orleans traditions and, you know, we just -- we laugh through our sorrow. We just roll up our sleeves and work hard and then we dress up at night and go out. Happy 12th night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: So good to see them having a good time.

HARRIS: Folk just have to take the time, it will happen. It's just going to happen slowly. But folk have to take their time and then let's hope New Orleans will be back to the way we know it and love it.

NGUYEN: They're on a good start.

HARRIS: They really are.

NGUYEN: We want to thank you for watching us this morning and we'll see you back here tomorrow beginning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: And up next, Gerri Willis takes over with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fighting for his life. We'll hear from a U.S. diplomat who's an expert on the Middle East about the prospects for peace in that region amid all the political uncertainty.

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