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CNN Saturday Morning News
Twitter Subscriber Information Targeted in WikiLeaks Investigation; The New Year's Best Tech Stuff; History of Rastafarian Religion; Buying and Selling in Today's Housing Market; Australian Recovery From Massive Flooding Could Take Years; Top Sports Moments of the Week
Aired January 08, 2011 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Here are some of the other top stories we're watching this morning.
It was an emotional scene overnight when two sisters just released from prison in Mississippi arrive at their mom's home in Florida. There to greet them were their own children. CNN was the only network there to see the tearful reunion. Sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott were released from Friday after serving 16 years for armed robbery. They got out on the condition that Gladys donate a kidney to her ailing sister.
Twitter is being ordered to hand over information involving WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange, according to documents posted online by Salon.com and CNET. The order is for things like subscriber, screen names, even their addresses. It's part of the investigation into the leaks of thousands of sensitive government cables and documents and the involvement of Private Bradley Manning. Manning, you may recall, is accused of leaking the information to WikiLeaks.
You can now track mass death of animals on the Web if you really want to. Google has unveiled a special tool to track incidents like the 5,000 blackbirds that died in Arkansas on New Year's Eve. They've got bird and fish kill from all over the globe, right there for you to check out.
The injured actor who was one of the stars of the "Spider-Man" on Broadway returned to the theater last night for the first time since he was hurt last month. This is tape of Christopher Tierney's crash. He cracked his skull, broke his back and several ribs when his safety harness actually failed. It was the latest in the string of high- profile accidents for that show.
Last night, Tierney just wanted to go see the show.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER TIERNEY, INJURED "SPIDER-MAN" ACTOR: I believe in the show. I believe in everything that's done on that stage, and I care about the show and think it's fantastic. And it's my dream come true. I'm "Spider-Man" like in a suit. I love my crew. We went through the process of like forgiving, me forgiving them. It wasn't a long process. It was me just going that can't happen, ever again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: A group of World Trade Center construction workers got a nice Christmas present, thanks to the Mega Millions lottery. That always helps. They hit five of the six winning numbers on the Christmas Eve drawing. It netted them a quarter of a million dollars split 18 ways.
After taxes, they are each walking away with just over 9,000 bucks. Maybe those guys should walk over to the Consumer Electronic Show. Thousands of next generation TVs, tablets, phones and gadgets all right there in one place. We are there to show you the tech toys that could change the way you watch TV and surf the Net.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back.
AT&T no longer has dibs on the iPhone. Starting in February, Verizon is getting in on that action. Verizon is expected to announce next week that they will offer the Apple iPhones. The move will end AT&T's four year-run as the popular smart phone's exclusive carrier. Last October, Verizon began selling Apple iPads in their retail stores.
All the smartphones, flat screens, handheld accessories and high- tech devices expected to be the rage this year are on display right now.
Dan Simon has your special invite to the 2011 Consumer Electronic Show.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A television as thin as a quarter, 3D no less. People are looking at this LG screen, the world's thinnest as if it were the Mona Lisa.
Mitsubishi, though, is going big, 92 inches.
(on camera): Did you ever think having a hi-definition, 3D, 92- inch television would be possible?
DAVID NARANJO, MITSUBISHI: No, I did not. Technology really advances to the point where we can do this at a very affordable price point.
SIMON (voice-over): That is if you consider just under $6,000 affordable.
As the Consumer Electronic Show kicked off to what convention organizers believe as one of the largest CES shows ever in Las Vegas, company executives seem convinced that consumers are ready to start buying.
Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWork's fame dismissed those who say 3D television is not going to catch on.
JEFFREY KATZENBERG, DREAMWORKS ANIMATION: If you look at the introduction of color 70 years ago, started in the movie theaters, moved to television, moved to print, moved throughout the world, in which, today, everything is in color. You know? And so, I think, 3D, it's how we see.
SIMON: The 3D universe is extending to consumer camcorders. This attachment turns regular video images into 3D.
(on camera): This is a normal HD camera, but if you take this accessory, suddenly, you have a 3D camera, right?
PAUL REYNOLDS, CONSUMER REPORTS: Right. I mean, I think these are -- these are camcorders which are designed to work with this 3D converter. This is Panasonic's approach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Incredibly easy to read.
SIMON (voice-over): Nike making headlines with a watch for serious runners. It uses GPS technology to monitor runner's location and help map routes. It connects directly to your computer.
STEFAN OLANDER, NIKE: In the wristband is built in the USB connector. So, as opposed to any other watch, you need to have a separate cable to plug it in. This thing goes straight into your Mac or PC.
SIMON: But some of the most impressive products here don't even have a display. Take this memory chip that holds 64 gigabytes, or more than 14,000 songs and it's only the size of a dime.
As expected, though, tablets are dominating the show, with some 50 different versions taking the floor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: It's pretty cool.
Christmas is over, right? Well, not if you have dreadlocks were red, gold and green are used to palm trees instead of pine. We are saying merry Christmas to Rastafarians around the world. That is next on our morning passport.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Music and lyrics from the most famous Rastafarian we have ever known, but the movement means much more than Bob Marley.
Our Nadia Bilchik is joining me to tell us all about it.
Good morning.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Good morning, Randi.
Well, it all starts in Ethiopia, because in Ethiopia, yesterday was Ethiopian Christmas otherwise known as Ganna. Now, why it's so relevant? I know.
Well, what it is, it's not Christmas itself, but it's the honoring of Christ by the three kings, when they pay homage to Christ. But interesting, Ethiopia itself is the place that Rastafarians look to as the homeland. So, while Ethiopians are celebrating Christmas at this time, so are Rastafarians around the world.
And did you know there were even Rastafarians in Japan?
KAYE: Really?
BILCHIK: The video we are about to show is Rastafarians in Japan playing "Naya Binghi," which is the drumming that happens at this time of year.
KAYE: Look at that.
BILCHIK: Celebrating.
KAYE: And this is in Japan?
BILCHIK: This is in Japan. Rastafarians in Japan. There are 1 million Rastafarians around the world and they are playing the drums, "Naya Binghi," a celebration of what is their Christmas. And, by the way, you don't say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Christmas."
KAYE: What do you say?
BILCHIK: It's blessings and greetings.
KAYE: And I don't see a lot of red.
(CROSSTALK)
BILCHIK: This is the green and gold. Exactly. But what you do see, of course, is the dreadlocks. The dreadlocks are very significant because it's about Judah, the great lion. And it's saying let us grow dreadlocks and look like the lion. Also, just be very natural.
Now, of course, Bob Marley -- Bob Marley is so fascinating, because although he didn't start Rastafarianism, Rastafarianism came from Marcus Garvey in Jamaica.
KAYE: And I think a lot of people think Bob Marley created that thing.
BILCHIK: No, he didn't. Marcus Garvey came up in '20s and '30s with the concept of really African nationalism, inspired by Haile Selassie in Ethiopia.
Now, the word Rastafari comes from Haile Selassie. His real name is Tafari. His original name was Tafari. Ras means king. So, it's King Tafari.
It's how we thought Rastafarianism inspired by the king, Haile Selassie, this Pan-African king.
KAYE: Amazing.
BILCHIK: Now, Haile Selassie himself did not think of himself as a deity. But the Rastafarians go so far as to believe, many believe, that Haile Selassie is, in fact, not dead, that he is still alive. And although he died, that he is still alive. Or if he's not alive, he manifest in the Rasta movement.
Now, looking at the wonderful Bob Marley for a moment -- did you know Bob Marley's father was a white Jamaican, a white British Jamaican?
KAYE: Really?
BILCHIK: Yes. His father was Norval Sinclair Marley and his mother was Cedella.
KAYE: I don't believe it.
BILCHIK: Yes, he has a very mixed background, but he related. And although he said I am a person of God, and that's very much the Rasta philosophy, in fact, they don't even talk about I and you, they say I and I.
And you're just hearing the word Zion. Zion is believed to be Ethiopia, when in fact, Africa, a return to Zion in Africa.
KAYE: Isn't there something about that music when you listen to it? I mean, it's just so great.
BILCHIK: It's so magical.
KAYE: It really is, whether it's for their celebration for their holiday or -- it's just great.
BILCHIK: And often enhanced by the smoking of marijuana, (INAUDIBLE).
KAYE: Oh, really, I didn't know that.
BILCHIK: Lots of Bob Marley great day and greetings and blessings.
KAYE: All right. Greetings and blessings, Nadia. Thank you.
BILCHIK: I and I, not I and you.
KAYE: Right.
BILCHIK: Because we are one as a unit.
KAYE: I have learned plenty here about Rastafarianism. Thank you so much.
BILCHIK: By the way, when you say Rastafarianism. We say Rastafari or the Rastafari religion.
KAYE: See, I learned something else. There you go. Thank you.
Up next, a guide to buying and selling in a housing market that just went from bad to worse. Back in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Whether you're a homeowner or a perspective buyer or just someone who watches the markets, what's going on in the real estate world matters to you. And at the height of the holidays, there was a nasty little surprise. A key housing index released then shows home prices dropped more than many economists were expecting last October. Prices in 20 metropolitan areas were down 0.8 percent from October 2009.
Financial analyst Clyde Anderson is here to tell us all about it.
Now, the market, obviously, Clyde, has been depressed for a while. What does this mean for the homeowners?
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Well, it means a couple of different things. There's some good, some bad and some ugly if you got to look at it. The good is that rates are great. You know, it's a great time to buy. And prices are great.
You know, there's a lot of inventory out there. So, the whole supply and demand thing, you know, is really working for buyers because it's a great time to buy because prices are so low.
KAYE: Sure. What about any bright spots? Any bright spots for homeowners?
ANDERSON: Yes. I think there are bright spots if you're ready to stay for awhile and wait it out. And I think some people panic sometimes because they hear that the prices are going down. They feel like they got to do something. But most of these people aren't really looking to move anyway. It's just the idea of that, you know, I'm losing value in my home and it's, you know, something personal.
But I think the bright spot is that it is going to turn around. You know, the market is going to come back, but -- which is the matter of when is the crystal ball answer.
KAYE: As you said, you know, a lot of people are wondering what they should do. They're holding on to their homes. They're wondering, do I -- if the prices are going to go down, do I hold on this for a little while? Do I try and get rid of it right now? Is it going to come back up?
So, what do you advise?
ANDERSON: Well, you got to look at it like this. Real estate is personal and it's local, you know? And so, it really depends on where you are, what state you're in and what your plans are.
So, if you're planning or need to move anytime soon, you really want to consider moving now if you have to and really kind of looking at, taking your losses and moving to the next place.
But everybody has an experience of decreasing value. So, in certain areas, it went up so rapidly. But now, they are feeling the brunt of it as it's coming down and everything is kind of corrected it, but also selling off really low.
KAYE: No matter where you go, people are always saying, oh, it's a buyer's market.
ANDERSON: Yes. I mean, it's definitely a buyer's market right now. I mean, when are prices are this high everything -- I mean, this low, it's on sale. It's like a discount sign flashing in neighborhoods all across America. So, it's a great time for buyers.
KAYE: So, for 201 --
ANDERSON: Yes.
KAYE: -- as we start the New Year --
ANDERSON: Yes.
KAYE: What's the big picture?
ANDERSON: The big picture is that rates are probably going to go, kind of sell off a little bit and start to go up, is what I'm thinking. The hard part is that a lot of these banks are still holding REO, repossessed properties. And so, they're going to release these properties back out into the market.
And once they do that, we've got even more inventories. So, we're talking about that supply and demand. We got supply. It's going to drive prices down a little bit more.
So, I think we're going to see, you know, a little while before we see prices come back up.
KAYE: Well, speaking of going back up, what about interest rates? Because if they creep up, people can actually afford less house, because they're paying more interest. So, what's that going to do to the market?
ANDERSON: Well, it's going to compound of what's already there. You know, we got all these people that may want -- a lot of people can't qualify because of credit issues, because a lot of jobs have been lost. And so, the main thing for me is the job piece, and we're looking at unemployment still at 9 percent. If they don't have jobs, you can't buy homes.
And so, when you're talking about this people are going out and saying, OK, wait until creeping up a little bit, I can't afford, you know, as much. The good spot is that values are low. They can get great deals still, but they couldn't have got two, three, four years ago.
KAYE: And just quickly, do you think we'll see any more of, say, housing incentives like we saw this year with the housing credit -- or last year with the housing credit?
ANDERSON: I think the government is going to do something that kind of, you know, put a boost in there. They got this $6 billion they're looking at buying up some of the treasuries, but anything like we saw with that $8,000 tax credit. I don't see anything like that on the horizon anytime soon. But who knows? You know, what we may get to when next year comes around.
KAYE: All right. I was quietly taking notes here while you were giving up all those tips. I'm sure everybody at home was, too. So, thanks, Clyde. Appreciate it. Good to see you.
ANDERSON: My pleasure. You, too, Randi.
KAYE: We are minutes away from a check of the top stories. We'll tell you why the world could have a brand new country by the end of this weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. So glad you are waking up with us this morning -- time to check top stories.
A scare at a mail facility. A package addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited yesterday at a postal sorting facility. No one was hurt. The package was similar to two packages that ignited at state offices in Maryland just the day before.
Going home to vote. A U.N. refugee agency says southern Sudanese have been trickling back from the country's northern region ahead of next week's vote on splitting the nation. About 2,000 people are returning daily. The northern government is dominated by Arab Muslims. The south is an autonomous region of black Christians and non-Muslims.
Twitter is being ordered to hand over information involving WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange, according to documents posted online at Salon.com and CNET. The order is for things like subscriber names, screen names and subscriber addresses. It's all part of the investigation of the leak of thousands of sensitive government cables and documents and the involvement of Private Bradley Manning. Manning is accused of leaking the information to WikiLeaks.
Officials in Australia say it could be months, even years before they fully recover from massive flooding that has impacted more than 200,000 people. And while places like hard hit Rockhampton are seeing receding flood waters, other cities like St. George have yet to see the worse of it.
CNN's Phil Black has this update from waterlogged Queensland state. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Randi, Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard came to Rockhampton today and other flood affected areas in the state of Queensland. And what she saw were communities experiencing all the different stages of the flood crisis.
There were those hit first where the water came up and has since receded, leaving behind homes devastated by water and mud, with people going back to realize they've lost everything.
And there are places like here in Rockhampton where the water has come up and you can see it's not going anywhere quickly. It's expected to take a week or more to recede, which means throughout that time, people are going to be living amongst this, wading through waist-deep water, getting around in boats.
The water has become stagnant, it's a bit smelly. Mosquitoes and other insects are a really big problem. And it's difficult getting access to food and water. It's hard living here in the moment.
And there are still areas in the state of Queensland where the water is still rising, where it's still raining heavily and people are desperately building flood defense to try and protect their homes and towns. Those flood levels are not expected to peak for a few days yet.
So, then the clean up begins and it's going to be huge -- months, years, people's homes and towns. But also, more importantly, in this very big state, the transport infrastructure -- roads and railways have really been seriously damaged by this. And the government here in Queensland and in the federal government of Australia say that's a real problem, it's expensive and that's going to take a long time to fix.
Back to you, Randi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: All right. Thank you, Phil. We'll take a break here. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: So, what were the sports moment this is week that made you go wow?
Ray D'Alessio from CNN Sports is here to tell us what made you go wow.
RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN SPORTS: Well, the big story obviously today, Randi, of course, you got Monday night BCS National Championship game, you know, coming up between Auburn and Oregon. Today, in the state of Alabama is actually Cam Newton day, in honor of the Auburn quarterback. And, you know, Randi, so much has been made of Cam Newton this year and how his dad have the pay-for-play scheme with Mississippi State. Well, the NCAA ruled Cam Newton knew nothing about it, there was no money exchange. That it will Cecil Newton's doing and so much was made about that that it really kind of took away the emphasis of Cam's presence on the field and what he does off the field.
So, Governor Bob Riley is saying, look, this guy, he's one heck of an athlete. He goes out. He speaks to kids. He's a mentor. He needs to be honor for that.
So, he named today Cam Newton Day in the state of Alabama. He did a similar honor last year for Alabama running back Mark Ingram who won the Heisman Trophy then. Of course, Alabama won the national championship last year.
So, Governor Riley is saying this is pretty is cool. I might be the first governor to boast back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners and national championship teams. That's pretty cool. I like that. It's a good story.
KAYE: What else you got?
D'ALESSIO: Well, the big thing -- Edison Pena. Of course, he was one of the Chilean miners.
KAYE: Yes, my pal. He sang Elvis to me.
D'ALESSIO: This guy is a -- yes, he loves Elvis. So, the city of Memphis, they invited him to Memphis for a tour of Graceland. He was a guest of honor last night at a Memphis Grizzlies game.
I love this guy. Anybody who can wear a shirt like that, get away with it. He's cool on my book. They presented him with his own jersey.
Here comes the best part, Randi, are you ready?
KAYE: I'm ready.
D'ALESSIO: Check him out. Check him. The blue suede shoes. It was almost night there. He had the blue suede shoes on.
KAYE: Oh, I love him.
D'ALESSIO: And wasn't it the story that when they were trapped down there, he actually had pump all those music, Elvis music to lift their spirits.
KAYE: The first thing he actually asked for was an iPod, so he could play his Elvis music. And then he was running in there and ended up training for the New York marathon.
D'ALESSIO: And the team -- that's right. He competed in the New York City marathon. And the team actually had him in the practice this week, speaking to the players, just, you know, how to deal with adversity and things like that.
So, you know, he needs his own -- he needs his own reality TV show. He really does.
KAYE: He does.
D'ALESSIO: He's a unique individual. I like the guy.
KAYE: I mean, even after coming up from the mine, he had so much energy. All he wanted to do was sing and dance to Elvis.
All right. Ray, good to see you.
D'ALESSIO: All right. Good to see you, too.
KAYE: Those Androids, iPads, billboard-sized flat screen TVs, they are so 2010. We are going to show you the next generation of electronics, including some surprisingly affordable new gadgets.
An American facing life in prison in Italy and a husband arrested for allegedly hacking his wife's e-mail account. Those are just some of the scandals that could become this year's hottest trials. We'll break down the stakes and tell you why in one case, legal precedence could be in the balance.
That's what's new in our next hour. Join us for that and the day's top stories in just 30 minutes.
"SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts now right now.
