Apple Facing Growing Number Of Lawsuits; Apple Shares Dip, Dow Trading Flat; JetBlue Flight Skids Off Taxiway In Boston; Francis Prays Two-State Israeli-Palestinian Solution; Vatican Discovers Two Lost Paintings By Raphael; Shoppers Hunt For The Meghan Markle Look.
GORANI: Days of bad press just got a little worse for Apple. Remember last week when we told you how the tech firm admitted to slowing down older versions of its iPhone? A lot of people weren't happy. Some are now suing. CNN's Samuel Burke is on the story. So, Apple is admitting that it slowed down some iPhones. What reason is it giving for doing?</s>SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And CNN Money now counts five different lawsuits. Basically, what iPhone said is, yes, we slowed down these models, take a list and see if your phone is on there, the iPhone 6, 6s, SE and the relatively new iPhone 7, but they say it's not because we're trying to force you into buying the new iPhone, which costs $1,000, by the way. They say there's actually a problem in the battery. There's a surge in these batteries that cause the phone to shut off all of a sudden, which many people --</s>GORANI: I've experienced that actually.</s>BURKE: It has 20 percent, you think you are good and all of a suddenly it's gone. So, Apple saying we are trying to elongate the battery life by doing this, but a lot of people are upset about it.</s>GORANI: Yes. The lawsuit is alleging what that Apple is doing this to force people into buying the newer model? Is that what they are saying?</s>BURKE: What we are seeing over and over again -- I will show you a good old portion of one of the lawsuits. This one is from Chicago. There are four in the U.S. even one in Israel. I think they're saying there's a lack of transparency. So, if we look at this lawsuit, the Chicago lawsuit is saying Apple's failure to inform consumers these updates would wreak havoc they say on the phone's performance is being deemed purposeful. They go on to say the following, "an if proven, constitutes the unlawful and decisive withholding of material information." Apple knew they were doing this obviously because now they --</s>GORANI: They didn't give people a heads up.</s>BURKE: Exactly. I think that's the issue here is they didn't tell people. I have spoken to two lawyers who tell me it's very easy to file these lawsuits, but to win one is very difficult.</s>GORANI: Yes. But if you are going to file a lawsuit against a company that has lots of spare cash, Apple might be a good target. So, what can you -- I have not experienced this, but I think part of the reason is because I don't really use that many apps. I'm not on my phone loading pictures --</s>BURKE: A low user.</s>GORANI: Yes. I use my phone a lot to read. I'm a consumer of material on it, but I don't really use it to input information. That could be part of it, too, the reason I'm not experiencing the slowdown. If you are experiencing a slowdown, what do you do?</s>BURKE: Well, I think this is what's so difficult is people are between a rock and a hard place or one iPhone and another because a lot of people think I won't do the IOS update then, but as the tech guy at this network, I got to say, don't do that. You do want to upgrade because you get the security update and patches. So, you are stuck with a phone that's slow or turning off, like you have experienced. Apple is not even clear about whether you are getting a new battery, which costs $80 at the Apple store if you want to do it yourself it's $20. It can be a bit difficult. Some experts are saying that could help. Others aren't, and I think there's another place where Apple's lack of transparency about this is what has them receiving all these lawsuits.</s>GORANI: All right. Samuel Burke, thanks very much for joining us with that. Well, Apple shares are trading lower by more than 2 percent in New York right now. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is basically flat. Overall, U.S. markets have been on a tear this year. We've heard a lot about it on Twitter from the U.S. president himself. Alison Kosik takes a look at a remarkable run on Wall Street.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there. Stocks are set to have their best year since 2013. There are a few more days for a Santa Claus rally, which could take the market even higher. But keep in mind, trading this time of year is usually light, which could exacerbate volatility. Still the numbers are impressive. The Dow was up 25 percent in 2017. It's been quite a year of milestones for the blue chips. The Dow first hit 20,000 on January 6th. Just 24 trading sessions later, the index hit 21,000. Then in early August, 22,000. In October, 23,000, just 30 trading days after that, mark up 24,000. It's not just the Dow that's on fire. The broader S&P 500 has jumped 20 percent this year. This is the continuation of a bull market which since 2009 hasn't really stopped moving forward. The euphoria on Wall Street is being driven by a combination of factors, a pickup in economic growth, solid corporate profits, and excitement about tax reform, especially that big tax cut that corporations will get. But going into 2018, there are some wild cards. The economy has been benefitting from goldilocks environment of low inflation and low interest rates, but analysts worry that inflation could heat up forcing the fed to hike rates faster. That could put a damper on the rally. Remember, the market has overcome a lot this year. Back to you.</s>GORANI: Alison Kosik, thanks. It's one of the busiest times of the year to travel and some airline passengers got quite a scare Christmas day in Boston. Our aviation correspondent, Rene Marsh, shows us what happened.</s>RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, snow and ice in Boston made travel very complicated for people trying to get to their destination on Christmas night. This was a JetBlue flight from Savannah, Georgia, and it skid off of the taxiway right after touching down at Boston's Logan Airport last night. Passengers said that the plane was spinning until it was actually facing in the opposite direction. Here's what they had to say.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were straight and then all of a sudden it started fishtailing and started getting rough.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once I realized we were going off the runway, I was like, uh-oh.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, we started sliding and spinning and spinning and spinning and ended up in a snow bank.</s>MARSH: The good news is JetBlue says there were no injuries. Passengers were bussed to terminals. The runways were shut down briefly yesterday because of the winter weather. However, the aircraft has since been removed from the taxiway. Things are back up and running at Boston Logan Airport. The NTSB saying they won't be investigating this one since there were no injuries. Hala, back to you.</s>GORANI: Rene Marsh, thank you. This story new into CNN, an Egyptian court jailed a British woman for three years on drug charges. You see Laura Plumber here on the right. She was arrested in October. She was charged with possession of smuggling of Tramadol. This is a painkiller drug. It's legal in many countries, including her own, the U.K. as a prescription painkiller. Her lawyers say it wasn't listed as illegal in the travel advisory until November after she traveled to Egypt. She was sentenced. Her family says they are devastated and say that the sentence is harsh, and she did not know that she was carrying illegal substances. Pope Francis gave his Christmas day message at the Vatican. He touched on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict when he greeted thousands Monday in St. Peter's Square saying children are suffering because of growing tensions in the region.</s>POPE FRANCIS (through translator): On this festive day, let us ask the Lord for peace for Jerusalem and for all the Holy Land. Let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached. One that would allow the peaceful co-existence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders.</s>GORANI: Staying at the Vatican for our next story. A discovery has revealed two renaissance masterpieces not seen for 500 years. Here is Delia Gallagher.</s>DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 500-year-old mystery at the Vatican has just been solved. The renaissance painter, Raphael, who painted these famous frescos in three rooms at the Vatican began work on another room before his death, but those paintings had never been found, until now. (on camera): So, coming from the three rooms that Raphael painted, we're now in the Hall of Constantin. This room was used for lavish banquets by renaissance popes. Right now, they are cleaning and restoring its frescoed walls. They made a once in a lifetime discovery. (voice-over): Two paintings by the Master Raphael, depicting the female figures justice and friendship. Raphael planned to paint the whole wall in oil instead of the traditional frescoed technique but died before he could finish. The figures were lost amidst the frescoed paintings done after him. One of the Vatican's chief restorers, Fabio Placentini, explains the thrill of their rediscovery.</s>FABIO PLACENTINI, VATICAN RESTORER (through translator): It's an amazing feeling knowing these were probably the last things he painted. You almost feel the real presence of the maestro.</s>GALLAGHER: A first clue to the existence of these paintings is found in this book from the 15th Century, written by the historian, Vasari, who said that Raphael began to paint two figures in a new experiment with oil. But for centuries, they remained unidentified in the Vatican until they began cleaning these walls. To the expert eye, it was clear that these two figures were not like the others.</s>PLACENTINI (through translator): The way the paintbrush moves, even the subtlety of the point of the brushes used to create the small wisps of hair.</s>GALLAGHER: He says that clues that this is a genuine Raphael are seen in the confidence of the brush works, the unusual shades of color and the fact that there's no sign on these two figures of a preparatory drawing underneath. This infrared photo confirmed to the restorers that these two figures were not like the rest. The oil paintings clearly showing through in this advanced technology. For the head of the Vatican museum, Barbara Jatta, the discovery is a major one restoring the Raphaels in the whole room will take them until at least the year 2022.</s>BARBARA JATTA, DIRECTOR, VATICAN MUSEUM: Probably one of the most important projects last decades, apart from the chapel done in the Vatican Museum.</s>GALLAGHER: With so much history and artwork here, could there be yet other major discoveries?</s>JATTA: This is the beautiful thing of projects. We are still working on that. We are still searching. That's the good point of the research, it never ends.</s>GALLAGHER: Delia Gallagher, CNN, Vatican City.</s>GORANI: If you spent Christmas overindulging in turkey then you should have burned those calories in boxing day sales. That's what crowds did in London today. A few shoppers were after very specific items apparently. Those worn by Prince Harry's fiancee, Meghan Markle. Anna Stewart has the story.</s>ANNA STEWART, CNN JOURNALIST (voice-over): Christmas day is a day off for the royal family. They were seen as they arrived at church. Many fashionistas got to work racing to find out what Harry's fiancee was wearing. Meghan Markle wore a camel-colored coat by Canadian Branson Tyler, a pixie bag by Chloe, and boots that bloggers have identified as Stewart Weissman. Online the coat has sold out. The boots have sold out. The bag hasn't quite sold out today, but perhaps that's got something to do with the price tag, $1,400. (on camera): (Inaudible) to Meghan Markle's outfit maybe sold out online, some shoppers here today are hoping that it might be available in store, but only if they are quick. (voice-over): These girls told us they were inspired to buy a Chloe bag today after seeing Meghan wearing hers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's an obvious thing for everyone want to buy. Yes, I have the bag that Meghan Markle wear.</s>STEWART: The royal engagement has brought even more interest in Meghan Markle, who already had a big fan base from her acting career. "Meghan's Mirror" is one of several blogs dedicated to Meghan Markle style.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had a lot of people asking where can I buy this, where can I get this? So, we created a database where people could go on the website and find pretty much anything she's worn and click to purchase it. It's turned into a great business for us.</s>STEWART: And great business for the brands that Meghan Markle wears in the months ahead. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.</s>GORANI: I will be back with a check of the headlines in a moment.