Tornado Threat for Christmas; Newtown Police Get Christmas Off; Christmas Tree Puzzles Onlookers
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and Merry Christmas. Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM on this Christmas Day.</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): Pope Benedict XVI tells people not to up hope even in some of the world's most troubled reasons. We'll tell you about his appeal for peace. It's not the Grinch stealing Christmas cheer. It's the weather. Blizzard warnings may turn your White Christmas into a travel nightmare. And tornados threaten the South. We have your forecast coming up. We're seven days away from going off that fiscal cliff and with Washington in a political gridlock we're getting closer and closer. The question, how will it affect you and your paycheck? The images, the words, the names, highlights and lowlights of 2012. NEWSROOM starts now.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello, wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and we begin this morning with Pope Benedict XVI using his annual Christmas message to speak about the hope for peace even in the most difficult times and situations.</s>POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): In this world there is a good soil which God has prepared --</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): Just hours ago the 85-year-old pope spoke to a crowd in St. Peter's Square and to millions of others watching around the world. He says even in Syria, a nation embroiled in a nearly two- year long civil war, peace is possible.</s>POPE BENEDICT XVI (through translator): Yes, may peace spring up for the people of Syria, deeply wounded and divided by a conflict which does not spare even the defenseless and reaps innocent victims. Once again, I appeal for an end to the bloodshed, easier access for the relief of refugees and the displaced and dialogue in the pursuit of a political solution to the conflict.</s>COSTELLO: The pope also spoke out against violence against Christians in Nigeria and Mali. He wrapped up his address by delivering Christmas greetings in 65 different languages. In Bethlehem, worshippers packed the Church of the Nativity for midnight mass. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, was among those in the crowd. This is a 1,700-year-old church, by the way. And here's something you can mark as a first on Christmas Day. Queen Elizabeth's traditional recorded message will be broadcast in 3-D on British television next hour. You see her leaving church earlier this morning. In her address, the Queen is expected to speak about the excitement and pride around hosting the 2012 Olympics and celebrations surrounding her Diamond Jubilee.</s>COSTELLO: Camping inside on Christmas isn't the ideal way to spend your day, but there's some nasty weather already affecting many of us.</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): Take a look at this picture out of Oklahoma City, where at least 20 vehicles have been involved in an accident. Freezing rain likely to blame for this pile-up. That's according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. I-40 West, shut down for at least two miles. Winter storm have already been issued in Arkansas and Oklahoma and parts of the South could see tornados. If you are heading to the airport, you're urged to call ahead to make sure your flight has not been cancelled or delayed. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider joins us now. Well, hopefully, Bonnie, most people, well, most people are where they expected to be this Christmas Day.</s>BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I hope so, because if they're traveling across the South, dangerous weather is erupting right now. We have a tornado watch that's in effect until 1:00 pm Central time for much of southern Louisiana. This includes Baton Rouge, Hammond, New Orleans, Thibodeaux. We're looking at dangerous weather with frequent lightning strikes. And I had reports of nickel-sized hail across Texas. Look at the frequent lightning that is just hammering the Dallas area right now. You're seeing that sweeping across Mississippi into Jackson. This is a very dangerous situation for travel, not just in terms of damaging areas where we're having strong wind but we could likely see tornados. The area in orange indicates a moderate risk for tornados. What does that mean? It means that we have a 30 percent to 60 percent escalated risk in this region right here for severe weather to break out for today. So the weather is likely to get worse as we go through the afternoon when we're talking about the threat of severe thunderstorms. If that's not enough, we're also watching for the snowstorm to develop and get worse throughout the day. You saw reports of the accident on I-40 west of Oklahoma City. We've had freezing rain in Oklahoma throughout the night on Christmas Eve, then sleet on top of that. Now we're going to see this all change over to snow. The snow will advance further to the east, especially Christmas night. This means that as it intensifies and works its way eastward it's likely to bring blizzard conditions, meaning blowing and drifting, heavy, heavy snow to Paducah, Kentucky. We're even going to see snow in places in the South that don't typically don't see it like Little Rock, Arkansas. How unusual is it to see snow in Little Rock? Well, snow falling on Christmas Day or on the ground maybe once every 10 years but measurable snow, which we're likely to see with this storm, well, that hasn't happened since 1913. And even for Oklahoma City, Carol, it's really only once a decade that we on average see so much snow. So this is unusual this time of year. Please use caution. The snowstorm's going to impact millions of people and don't forget the tornado threat in Louisiana today.</s>COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Bonnie. First lady Michelle Obama is in the Christmas spirit. The White House just released this picture of the first lady answering calls from children who called NORAD Santa Tracker Control Center to ask about Old Saint Nick's big trip around the globe. Ms. Obama watched Santa's progress along with children nationwide last night. With the Obama family home for the holidays in Hawaii we couldn't help but wish everyone a Hawaiian Merry Christmas this morning. So "Mele Kalikimaka."</s>CROSBY: Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright, sun to shine by day and all the stars at night, Mele Kalikimaka --</s>COSTELLO (voice-over): You know what's next, don't you? I love this movie. Brianna Keilar is in Hawaii right now, traveling with the Obama family. So Mele Kalikimaka, Brianna. What are the Obamas doing today, I wonder?</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mele Kalikimaka to you as well, Carol. You know, there's nothing on the president's public schedule so we don't know exactly what they're doing but presumably they're doing what most -- what many Americans will be doing on this Christmas. It's still very early, of course, here on Oahu. It's about 4:00 am local time. So they will be presumably waking up in the home that they're renting, about 45 minutes from where we are in Kahlua, and celebrating. So you saw the first lady did get in the spirit yesterday, talking to kids who were watching NORAD track Santa, the president spending his Christmas Eve a little differently, playing some golf. So not quite as festive as what the first lady was doing and, also, going to the beach with the first family. We do know that the White House chef, Sam Kass, is here, Carol. So he will be cooking the meal for the first family and we're hoping to get some details on what they'll be eating today.</s>COSTELLO: Yes. I'm not going to ask you about the fiscal cliff because it's Christmas and I want to forget about it for at least one day. So I'm going to ask you a total nonsensical question. Is the first dog traveling with the Obamas?</s>KEILAR: The first dog is traveling with the Obamas. This happened last year as well. Bo is here and he's really quite the hit, you know? He's a big part of Christmas decorations at the White House. All of the Christmas trees have a lot of Bo flakes, as they're called, on it, snowflakes with Bo in the middle. So he factors very big into the holidays, holiday cookies shaped like Bo at the Christmas party. So, you know, Christmas isn't really complete without the White House dog. And he, also, I wanted to show you some video that we have just released yesterday by the White House. And this was the first lady from earlier this month, visiting the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., reading "'Twas the Night before Christmas" to kids and getting a little help from Bo. Check it out.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon. I'm --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- (inaudible), president and CEO of Children's National.</s>MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: This is exactly what he does at home. He tries to beat Malia and Sasha to my lap. This is one of my favorite things to do during the holidays is coming to the children's hospital to see all of you. And I want to thank my escorts. Gordon and A.J. You guys are awesome.</s>KEILAR: It was really -- isn't he cute? He's a little big to be in the first lady's lap but don't tell that to Bo. He doesn't think so.</s>COSTELLO: Although her daughters are, too, you could argue, but she's Mom. You do that.</s>KEILAR: Yes. He's adorable and, also, that's a really cute video clip. He also tried to help -- it almost was like he was trying to help turn the page at one point and I think that the kids there were pretty excited the first lady was there, but, honestly I think they were more excited that Bo was there.</s>COSTELLO: I'm sure they were. Thank you so much, Brianna. We appreciate it. The Newtown tragedy has dominated our coverage over the last week and a half, but the year will also be remembered for other major news stories. Here's a look back.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown (inaudible).</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you so much.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A massive crowd has gathered here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to be freedom. We want to be free people.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Italian cruise ship capsized.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly 23 percent unemployment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joseph Kony --</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Joseph Kony, viral on social media sites.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Outrage stirs social media.</s>SANDRA FLUKE, WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST: My name is Sandra Fluke.</s>OBAMA: The Affordable Care Act.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Legitimate rape.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very massive play by Facebook.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The largest IPO in tech history.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, she's really breastfeeding in the picture.</s>ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: One article has the entire country talking.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The president says he now believes that same- sex marriage should be legal.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We now know the name of the suspect blamed for the movie theatre shooting spree.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People now tell CNN people have been shot in front of the Empire State Building.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bath salts.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bath salts.</s>LEMON: Bath salts.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jerry Sandusky sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison.</s>WHITFIELD: An iconic statue honoring the late Penn State football coach, Joe Paterno, is gone.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: (voice-over): The British people are going gaga for the Diamond Jubilee.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Flying squirrel.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Fierce five.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brine lobster (ph).</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Someone sold photographs of Britain's Prince Harry naked during a strip billiards game.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's one of the hottest novels around.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What went wrong? Why now?</s>CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST: Isaac is forcing some changes at the Republican convention.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you mean, shut up?</s>OBAMA: Thank you.</s>BALDWIN (voice-over): Christopher Stevens and three other embassy staff, they are dead.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We will bring those to justice who committed these murders.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the effects of Hurricane Sandy already.</s>COOPER: Sandy's carved a path of destruction across all along the Eastern Seaboard.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't fully secure the crane until the wind dies down.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Is there another story on this? Gangnam style.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call me maybe.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tan mom.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honey Boo Boo.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Live picture in Los Angeles from Endeavour, the shuttle rolling down the streets of</s>L.A. BURNETT: Let's take a look at the man at the center of this scandal, General David Petraeus.</s>BLITZER: Israel responded to fresh rocket attacks from Gaza.</s>WHITFIELD: Despair in Syria has gone on for 20 --</s>BURNETT: Are these red line warnings talk?</s>BLITZER: CNN projects that Barack Obama will be re-elected President of the United States.</s>BLITZER: Terror at an elementary school in Connecticut.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty children dead. Six adults are also dead.</s>OBAMA: So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children. May God bless the memory of the victims. And in the words of Scripture, heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds.