24/7 Holiday Sales; Exploring a Closed City
HARRIS: If it is trending online, we are tracking it for you. Well, in fact, in all honesty, Sandra Endo is tracking it for us. She is following what's trending. Good to see you, Sandy.</s>SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, hi there. Trending today, OK, check it out. On CNN.com, this is a pretty serious story. Congress, after a lot of debate, finally passed a health benefits bill for 9/11 first responders. And this would provide them free health care and compensation, as you know, Tony, for the 9/11 emergency personnel who responded that day and now are having so many health issues. Well, the issue is actually stirring up a lot of passion on the blogs. And hear what some people are saying on CNN.com. From Shouter Guy, he says, "Denial of benefits was coldhearted and calculated." Another comment from European Dude writes, "The ones that opposed it and/or voted against it should be fired. Taking care of our own people should be the number one priority. Why did it take 10 years?" And one more. Miked2003 wrote in, "Too little, too late." And the total cost of this bill, Tony, $4.2 billion. At issue was that Republicans wanted the price tag to be a little less than that.</s>HARRIS: Yes. You're right.</s>ENDO: So, always a political debate, right, in Washington? All right. One more thing, Tony, I have to tell you that's trending. You know, pretty bad timing for Skype. This is what you're going to see when you log in to the Internet phone service.</s>HARRIS: Whoa.</s>ENDO: And basically, they are having technical problems. People can't log on to the service, and it all started yesterday. They are still trying to fix the problem. And this is a really popular way to communicate, especially around the holidays. People want to log in, see their family across the screen from them with these video-type chats. And people can't log in, so Skype tweeted their problem. And this is what you're going to find. And they are basically working out all the kinks, but hopefully people can get connected during this holiday season.</s>HARRIS: I haven't read it, but how long is it going to take? Will folks be able to get connected before the holidays?</s>ENDO: Yes, hopefully. They have identified the problem.</s>HARRIS: OK. All right.</s>ENDO: But clearly, they're still working on it.</s>HARRIS: Well, that's the first step.</s>ENDO: Yes.</s>HARRIS: All right, Sandy. See you next hour. Thank you.</s>HARRIS: And a developing story overseas for you now. Bombs exploded at two embassies in Rome today. The first was a package bomb that went off at the Swiss Embassy. Police say the person who opened it was seriously wounded. A second bomb exploded at the Chilean Embassy. One person was injured. Police are checking all of the embassies and consulates in the city. On the phone from Rome is "Newsweek" correspondent Barbie Nadeau. And Barbie, the explosions at these embassies in Rome come amid, as you know, growing concerns in Europe over possible holiday season attacks. After the recent suicide bombing in Stockholm, Sweden, and raids this week in Britain that, as you know, netted a dozen suspects, are any of the dots being connected here?</s>BARBIE NADEAU, "NEWSWEEK" CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the authorities here in Italy are really focused on this being an act of the anarchist resurgence that we've seen in parts of Europe lately. Since last week, when Silvio Berlusconi won a confidence vote and remained in power, there have been a lot of anarchist attacks, infiltrations of these violent groups in the normally peaceful protest. And the Italian government right now has announced that they aren't looking far beyond that as the sources of these two bombs. They're most concerned right now that there are bombs in other embassies. And because this is the Christmas holiday, and today is really the last day of work -- tomorrow is a holiday here -- there could be more of these parcel bombs in the mail rooms at some embassies. That's their focus right now, to really take a good look, door to door, at all the embassies.</s>HARRIS: Yes. And Barbie, while I have you on the phone, have you learned anything more about Tuesday's bomb scare in one of Rome's subways? A suspicious package was found under a subway seat. Correct?</s>NADEAU: That's correct. That bomb hadn't been completed. The police, at the end of the day, came to the conclusion that someone was still building that, that they had accidentally left it. It hadn't been planted on the subway. And that bomb most likely was going to be used in the protest that was held yesterday. There were lots of students who had these sort of handmade bombs and all sorts of hand-thrown bombs that they used in protest across Italy yesterday. So that bomb wasn't related to this. The police right now really aren't giving a lot of information until they have done a sweep of all the embassies. And, of course, Rome has embassies for both Italy and the Holy See. So they got twice as many embassies as any other capital city.</s>HARRIS: "Newsweek" correspondent Barbie Nadeau on the phone with us from Rome. Barbie, appreciate it. Thank you. If the trend holds, retailers are looking at their best holiday season numbers since 2007. One thing helping people spend, around- the-clock shopping. Here is Alison Kosik.</s>KOSIK: We're out here on Long Island, just outside of New York City, at this Macy's. It's 1:00 a.m., but guess what? This Macy's is open. In fact, it has been opened since the Tuesday before Christmas, and it's not closing until Christmas Eve. So who would come out here in the dark of night, in the freezing cold, to do their last-minute Christmas shopping? We're going to go in and take a look.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I figure, it's the best time to shop. Nobody is here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am working all day, so I don't have any other time to shop.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I know I'm tired, I'm like sleepy. But if I don't get it done at 1:00 in the morning, I just won't get it done tomorrow in the day.</s>KOSIK: So surveys even show that almost a third of consumers actually leave their Christmas shopping up until the last minute. And retailers like Macy's know it, it's why they keep their stores open around the clock in the final days till we get to Christmas. And look, even people are here at 1:00 in the morning still shopping.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I come here usually the last four or five days and I usually show up around 11:00 and shop.</s>KOSIK: Do you still have a lot of shopping to do?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. I got four kids, so you can imagine.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We purposely waited until the 24 hours to come. We wait until the last minute so we can come in the middle of the night when no one is here.</s>KOSIK: And how long do you plan on being here?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Whenever we're done.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have travel clock alarm, travel umbrella, Juicy sweatshirts. Ugg boots is on my list, a rechargeable phone, hair straightener we're looking for.</s>KOSIK: And it's not just Macy's staying open around the clock in the days leading up to Christmas. Toys 'R' Us is doing the same, so is Old Navy. And you know, this phenomenon is growing in popularity as the economy improves.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did it last year and then this year. So --</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we'll do it next year.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we are doing it next year. It'll be our new tradition.</s>HARRIS: All right, CNNMoney's Alison Kosik joining us live from the New York Stock Exchange. And, Alison, is it really worth it for retailers to stay open past midnight? Does it really help their bottom line that much?</s>KOSIK: You know, you got believe it does, because, if you think about it, Macy's started this around the clock shopping thing back in 2006 with one store. Now it's happening in 14 stores in major cities. Toys 'R' Us is doing this this year nationwide. Old Navy is even kind of doing a version of it for 36 hours. They are obviously doing well. They are continuing it year after year -- Tony.</s>HARRIS: And what was the commotion we heard down there on the floor earlier?</s>KOSIK: Oh yes. You heard what was going on? That was the traders. They actually stop working for about, I don't know, 30 seconds to sing the song. It's called "Wait Until the Sun Shines, Nelly." If you want to take a listen, if we can get the video.</s>HARRIS: Yes, yes. We got it.</s>KOSIK: Let's listen.</s>KOSIK: So this is a tradition at the New York Stock Exchange. It happens on Christmas Eve, the last day of trading, which is December 31st. It's a song about better times ahead, of hope. This tradition began back in the Depression, in the Great Depression in 1934, which is kind of fitting for our economic times. Here you have kind of an upbeat view for next year. So there you go.</s>HARRIS: Absolutely. All right, good stuff, Alison. Appreciate it. Thank you. CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the streets of Pyongyang. We open the door on North Korea's closed capital.