A Carnival Cover-up on Engine-Room Fire?; President Obama Arrives in Japan for APEC, Reacts on Bush Tax Cuts; Let Them Sleep; Airport Body Scans
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. And thanks so much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. It is the 12th of November, I'm John Roberts.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us this morning. A look at the top stories now. Is the big election defeat here at home hurting President Obama's standing on the world stage? The president will arrive in Japan fresh off of the G-20 economic summit in Seoul which ended with smiles on the surface, but some disappointment underneath. We'll have a live report just ahead.</s>ROBERTS: Are airport body scans going too far? Pilots, travel executives and flight attendants are all taking on the new security standards and one group is planning a protest that could affect your Thanksgiving travel plans.</s>CHETRY: And if you've tried everything to motivate your teens, but their school work is still suffering, their grades are slipping, maybe you let them just sleep in. It's working like a charm at one cutting-edge high school. We'll show it to you.</s>ROBERTS: You let them sleep in, but they still have to go to school.</s>CHETRY: Yes. Just a little later.</s>ROBERTS: Up first, kept in the dark while drifting at sea. The Carnival cruise from hell is over and now that everyone is back on terra firma, we're finding out passengers were never told about the engine-room fire that left them stranded for four days. Listen to this. It's the crew's public address announcement on home video that was shot moments after the fire broke out on Monday.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a smoke situation. Lots of smoke in one of the engine control areas. You are all smelling that smoke if you're on deck, one, two, possibly deck six, as well, and if you're on the back of the ship.</s>CHETRY: A smoke situation. That's all passengers say they were told. They also say they didn't find out just how serious the fire really was until they got off of the ship yesterday in Southern California.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just now they actually told us there was a fire on the boat.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did not know that there was a fire on the boat until now?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what did they tell you why the boat suddenly stopped, you know, on your excursion?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never told us what the issue was. All they told us was that there was smoke. There's lots of smoke.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they told us on the ship was that it was a flameless fire. And I don't understand what that means because wherever there's smoke, there's fire. They say that the aft motor had caught a fire, I guess, or they said it was a flameless fire electrical wires that went out. And eventually that got into the forward engine which then cut all the power to the entire ship. That's what they told us. It was a flameless fire is what they told us.</s>ROBERTS: In just a few minutes, we'll be joined live by two passengers who are onboard that cruise ship. One of them was staying in a cabin directly above the engine room where that fireless fire started.</s>CHETRY: Flameless fire.</s>ROBERTS: Flameless fire, whatever it was.</s>CHETRY: That's a little strange. Well, the ordeal at sea was no laughing matter for the 3,300 passengers and 1,200 crew members who had to endure it, but it was perfect fodder for late night television.</s>CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Everyone knows this story by now because it's been covered exhaustively in the news. Adrift for three days, no electricity, surviving on pop tarts and Spam. That's what they airlifted to these people, which is a delicious sandwich.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>O'BRIEN: That's what I did in college. I don't know what the big problem is. The ship was towed to San Diego, safely docked. I'm told it's now ready, and it's -- I think it's already going out back to sea.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?</s>O'BRIEN: Yes. It's on the way. There it is! It's back.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, wow!</s>O'BRIEN: Oh, hey. Look at it. Good luck, you guys.</s>JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": The president of Carnival Cruise Line spoke to the press today. He said he has everything under control. But did you see -- show the press conference today.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, the safety of our guests and crew -- second, we want to get them home as quickly as possible trying to make it as comfortable as possible.</s>CHETRY: Now, that was not a flameless fire.</s>ROBERTS: Merciless.</s>CHETRY: I know. Well, you know, some of the passengers also said you kind of had to laugh or you would have cried because it was very uncomfortable to say the least. Of course, CNN's coverage of the cruise won't be complete without the Spam-gate controversy and trying to put it to rest. Media reports suggested that the stranded passengers were forced to eat Spam while waiting to be rescued, but the folks at Carnival Cruise Line shot down those reports via Twitter writing, "Despite media reports to the contrary, Carnival Splendor guests were never served Spam." Apparently, it was delivered to the ship but it wasn't served. So that was the difference.</s>ROBERTS: There you go. All right, so putting to rest those rumors. Now on to President Obama's trip to Asia. He's going to arrive in Yokohama, Japan this hour. It's the final stop of his 10-day tour where he'll attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Earlier, the president wrapped up the G-20 talks in Seoul, South Korea with a news conference where he addressed extending the Bush tax cuts and his own standing on the world stage. Ed Henry has been traveling with the president. He's live in Seoul. And some question as to whether or not the White House is prepared to compromise with Republicans and allow the current tax rates to stay in place.</s>ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. And the president in this news conference pushed back really hard on the notion that he's about to cave in to Republicans and allow them to extend the tax cuts for the rich. And the president basically saying his number one priority instead is to focus on extending the tax cuts for the middle class, making sure they extend beyond the end of this year and that he'll sit down and negotiate next week with Democrats and Republicans. But contrary to this report in the "Huffington Post," that he's ready to just give it all up because the only way to get to the middle class cuts is to cave on the rich. He said that's not the case. Take a listen.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is the wrong interpretation because I haven't had a conversation with Republican/Democratic leaders. Here's the right interpretation. I want to make sure that taxes don't go up for middle class families starting on January 1st. That's my number one priority for those families and for our economy. I also believe that it would be fiscally irresponsible for us to permanently extend the high-income tax cuts. I think that would be a mistake, particularly when we've got our Republican friends saying that their number one priority is making sure that we deal with our debt and our deficit.</s>HENRY: But the fact of the matter is that the president really has very little leverage heading into these tax cut negotiations in addition to Republicans insisting that the tax cuts for the rich continue. He also has some conservative Democrats in the Senate who want to do that as well. So he simply doesn't have the votes to stop them. He's very likely going to have to compromise. So what seems more likely going on right now is he's trying to stake out a firm position, not show all his cards. But in the end, he's very likely going to have to give in on that -- John, Kiran.</s>ROBERTS: So when the president gets back to Washington, Ed, one of the people he'll be sitting down with is Nancy Pelosi. Is he voicing his support for her as the minority leader?</s>HENRY: He all but is. It was sort of a tacit endorsement at this news conference. Remember just a few days ago, the White House insisted they're going to stay out of this leadership race. Nancy Pelosi wanting now to be the minority leader in the new House. And there are some conservative Democrats saying, wait, not so fast. Maybe there needs to be some new faces and what not. The president got a question from a reporter saying what about some new blood in your party on Capitol Hill? The president basically said, look, there's going to be a lot of voices, but Nancy Pelosi has been an outstanding partner in pushing my agenda. So he's pretty much onboard with her, John.</s>ROBERTS: Ed Henry live for us in Seoul, South Korea with the latest on all that. Ed, thanks.</s>CHETRY: Also new this morning, subway rage caught on tape. A commuter says he was left scratched, bruised after a transit worker in Boston slapped him around. Stuart (ph) Wilkerson said that the woman gave him the wrong train directions to Providence so he asked for her name and when she refused, he tried to take her picture and that's when she lost it. That worker has now been fired. But a transit spokesman says the victim didn't handle it right either.</s>RICHARD DAVEY, MBTA GENERAL MANAGER: It looked as though he may have been a bit aggressive putting the cell phone camera, as I understand it, almost in the employee's face. The reaction of the employee was far too aggressive. And, again, nothing that we will tolerate at the MBTA.</s>CHETRY: Union rep for the worker says the tape doesn't tell the whole story and that she was just trying to defend herself.</s>ROBERTS: Well, heads up, if you drive a Nissan. The company says it's recalling more than half a million Frontiers and Xterras in the United States to fix problems with the stirring column. The recall also includes about 18,000 Nissan Sentras to replace a battery cable that could lead to the car stalling out.</s>CHETRY: Well, you can't even sit down to eat anymore, must shop another store. Toys "R" Us now says it will be open on Thanksgiving joining a lot of other retailers who cannot wait for Black Friday anymore. This is the earliest that Toys "R" Us has ever kicked off its door-buster deals.</s>ROBERTS: A beast of a merger in the media world. "Newsweek" joining forces with "The Daily Beast" to the online media site to form the Newsweek Daily Beast Company. "The Daily Beast" announced it by saying we're getting hitched. The current editor-in-chief of "The Beast," Tina Brown, is going to be in charge of both staffs.</s>CHETRY: And from upstate New York to "30 Rock," the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is on its way to New York City this morning. It's a 74-foot Norway Spruce. It was donated by the family of a 9/11 first responder. The tree lighting is scheduled this year for November 30th. So everything is moving up.</s>ROBERTS: Everybody's into the season a little earlier.</s>CHETRY: Shopping, tree-laying. Yes.</s>ROBERTS: I guess when the economy's bad, you've got to give people a little more time to sort of get out there and do all the things they need to do. Coming up on nine minutes after the hour now. Let's get a quick check of the morning weather headlines. Reynolds Wolf for us in the extreme weather center. Hey, Reynolds.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. It looks pretty good on the East Coast now towards the west, but smack dab in the middle of the nation, it's hard to miss, the big trouble that we're going to have later on today. Let's go right to the maps. As we do, you're going to see a line of storms that extends nearly 1,000 miles just to the west of Chicago, clear down to Amarillo, Texas. You see it right there. Some of the heaviest rainfall now moving across the central plains. Kansas City, no rain for you just yet that's on the way. Over in Wichita and southward to Oklahoma City, we're seeing some scattered showers and storms. Possibly a little bit of flash flooding. And then on the far left-hand side of your screen, you're seeing something else altogether. A little bit of light snow fall developing just north of Amarillo at this hour. As for the big problem, it's going to be really will be the central plains into the afternoon. Any travel plans you have, say, going through Dallas, perhaps even at Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City, you might have some delay. Fifty-one degrees, the expected high in Wichita but pure bliss in Boston and New York. We're looking at the highs in the upper 50s. Sunny in Boston with 57 degrees, 77 in Orlando, 74 in Phoenix and Portland. Imagine that. The Pacific Northwest with sunshine and 52. Your complete forecast is coming up, plus another look at your travel weather and a sneak peek at what you can expect into the weekend. Back to you.</s>CHETRY: Reynolds, thanks so much. Looking spiffy today. By the way, I like the vest.</s>WOLF: Thank you.</s>CHETRY: I like that.</s>WOLF: Thank you.</s>CHETRY: Well, the pushback against new security screenings at airports is growing this morning. Pilots unions for US Airways, American Airlines are now urging members to avoid, to opt out of those full-body scanners at airports. They say the screenings are both a health risk and intrusive.</s>ROBERTS: Travel industry executives are going to take on the topic today in a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Those businesses say -- those business leaders, rather, say the screens are hurting their bottom lines. A statements from an industry spokesman says, "You can't talk on the one hand about creating jobs in this country and getting this economy back on track and on the other discourage millions of Americans from flying, which is the gateway to commerce."</s>CHETRY: And you better pack your patience if you're flying on one of the busiest travel days of the year. A group of flight attendants oppose to the security procedures. They're now calling on travelers, as well, to opt out of these body scans Wednesday, November 24th. Does that ring a bell? Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving. And the protest would force security workers to give travelers pat- downs, and you know that physical searches take a lot more time. The idea being the cause of long delays and send a message to the Feds.</s>ROBERTS: I wonder if the people involved in the protest are actually going to be traveling that day. That'll be interesting to know.</s>CHETRY: Yes. Exactly.</s>ROBERTS: Well, coming up in our 7:00 hour, we're going to talk with the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He is suing the TSA to try to get all of those body scanners pulled out of airports across the country.</s>CHETRY: So it's Murkowski, m-u-r-k-o-w-s-k-i.</s>ROBERTS: Ding.</s>CHETRY: Coming up, spelling may not be the only factor in play as the ballot counting continues on who ultimately will get that Senate seat in Alaska.</s>ROBERTS: And in three minute's time, we're going to be joined by two passengers who just returned from vacation hell. They were onboard that stranded Carnival cruise liner, and one of them had a cabin directly over the engine room that caught fire, but there were no flames. Yes. Twelve minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.