. hey, there, everyone, i'm errol barnett with you for the next two hours on cnn. big welcome for you those tuning in from all around the world. applause for sony after the company announces americans will see "the interview" movie in limited release on christmas day. >> when people are told no they always want to say yes especially when you're told no by someone with nothing to do with the united states. a baggage handler busted for smuggling scores of weapons onto u.s. passenger planes. also, on edge from brisbane

to paris, heightened concerns over potential terror attacks. also coming up for you, christmas for your pet. tens of millions of you spending real money on your four-legged friends this holiday season. let's begin with a bit of entertainment that spilled over into the worlds of diplomacy. the star of the new comedy movie "the interview" seth rogen says freedom has finally prevailed. sony agreed to release it in more than 200 theaters on christmas day, the fictional story of a plot to assassinate north korean leader kim jong-un in case you're hiding under a rock. even president obama praised sony for releasing the film. >> reporter: a shocking turn of events in the growing sony saga. >> what! >> sony announcing it will roll out a limited theatrical release of "the interview."

a controversial movie about the assassination of north korean leader kim jong-un. >> i have a gift for you. >> reporter: sony's about-face after coming from celebrities like george clooney and even president obama who criticized the studio's initial decision to delay the release. >> i wish they had spoken to me first. >> reporter: now a growing number of independent theaters announcing they'll be showing the movie. first to announce the plaza theater in atlanta. >> i think now they are seeing that the right thing to do is to be bold, go forward and see what happens and it's starting on a small level i think the larger theater chains are corporate and cautious will see that, okay, it seals to be working all right and we can make money off the movie. >> i'm pulling out. >> reporter: after movie chains pulled off following a threat by the hackers sony's powerhouse attorney david boies hinted on "meet the press" the studio was not backing down. >> remember, sony only delayed

this, sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. it will be distributed. >> reporter: now the stars of "the interview" speaking out on social media. james franco posting victory, the people and the president have spoken. and seth rogen tweeting "freedom has prevailed." in a statement michael lippeynt says we're excited it will be in a number of theaters on christmas day. we are proud to make it available to the public and hood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech. as tensions are heightened between the two countries reports that the recluse i have country's internet went down at least twice in the past 24 hours and remains spotty according to an internet monitoring company. >> whoever shut it down and we don't know yet it doesn't matter that much there's only several thousand users in north korea. >> reporter: pamela brown, cnn, new york.

>> so where can we see this film? well, it's not at the big corporate theaters. it's at all the indie film houses, right, the alamo drop house and cinema in ashburn, virginia, says some screenings are already sold out and the plaza right here in atlanta will also be showing the film. take a listen. >> there is absolutely a good portion of the population that perhaps this film was never on their radar and what's happened now is when people are told no they always want to say yes so especially when you're told no by someone that has nothing to do with the united states. >> now security still a concern. he is adding extra security here and may not allow items like backpacks for their showings of "the interview," as well. all right, let's go ahead and get you to new york as several hundred demonstrators who are angry over racism and police violence just flat out ignored the mayor's plea to suss spend protests. bill de blasio, you may remember, had asked protesters

to ask until after the funerals for the two police officers who were ambushed and killed saturday. many new yorkers though are in mourning this holiday over the deaths of those two officers on tuesday. the lights went out on the famous rockefeller christmas tree in tribute and our martin savidge has more. >> reporter: at new york city hall, everything stopped at 2:47 p.m. >> now bow our heads in memory of officer ramos and officer liu. >> reporter: the moment saturday when two new york police officers were shot to death as they sat in their patrol car in brooklyn. after days of angry words and political finger-pointing over who beyond the shooter was to blame, today's silence said the most. earlier mayor bill de blasio paid an unannounced visit to the site where the two were shot. like so many new yorkers, de blasio was drawn to an ordinary

corner now turned almost sacred. last night with tears streaming down their faces the family of officer liu spoke. the most powerful words coming from his wife of just two months. >> this is a difficult time for both of our families. but we will stand together and get through this together. >> reporter: among those offering condolences the family of the gunman ismaaiyl brinsley who later took his own life. brinsley's estranged sister said her brother's actions were not revenge, but the result of untreated mental problems. >> i feel so bad for the family. >> we give our condolences. we are griefshging. >> this has nothing to do with police retaliation. this was a troubled emotionally troubled kid. he needed help. he didn't get it. >> reporter: also drawn to the street memorial the daughter of eric garner, the death of her

father at the hands of new york police helped spark public protest against the nypd which some say triggered brinsley's attack. garner's daughter said she snows what the officer's families are going through. >> we just want to let everybody know we're not anti-police. we just want to let everybody know that we support them and we're out here, you know, to lay a wreath and have a moment of silence for the families. >> once again, silence became the loudest trib bult. martin savidge, cnn, brooklyn. >> and now to other big stories, christmas is now just a day away in the u.s. mother nature is not making it easy for holiday travelers. people across the country are dealing with wet and messy weather. in the west, snowstorms have bogged down drivers in colorado, montana and wyoming. you see that footage from colorado and here in the south, a tornado system is blowing through at the moment. four people were killed by

storms on tuesday in the state of mississippi. you were telling me the tornado here in the south touched ground, picked up again and then touched ground once more. talk more about the storms. >> the apparent thunderstorm was dropping down these twisters across portions of louisiana then heading up into mississippi as something you see more typically during the early or at least spring here, but we had it in december, it can happen and certainly did today. the weather ingredients were there. what also has been happening, of course, people have been getting on what you see here, lots of planes and that has been an issue. thousands of delays as a result of severe weather rolling through the united states. across the southeast we are still looking at severe weather threat. the tornado reports, of course, national weather service crews will be out there today. not only louisiana but also

mississippi and let us know what kind of tornadoes hit. we don't know the intensity of them and get that work done today and, of course, the pieces will be getting picked up literally what's behind some people's homes, although the lucky ones got away with their lives here, four did not, unfortunately, the severe weather threat has now moved further south and east. i don't think we have to worry as much today about tornado threat here. it is going to be raining heavily here but it's going to be more of a dangerous situation if you're going to head out with visibility and things like that. nothing spinning coming out of the clouds but that storm is headed out towards the eastern seaboard which, we find all the major hundreds here, so if you're traveling internationally coming into the united states on christmas eve, you would normally expect delays anyway but this is not going to help. big storm headed this way and it is going to be bringing heavy rain and windy conditions, now, if this was a coastal low and the low was here then we'd be talking about the snow in the

east but that's not going to be the case. snow will be relegated just to the midwin u.s. which is bad enough, chicago will see a white christmas and as a result anywhere from 3 to 5 inches accumulating. winter storm watches posted there. so the delays for the new york metro anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes, philadelphia was doing just that through the day on tuesday i think we'll have a repeat, errol, today, 60 to 90-minute delays and not as bad for charlotte, boston will be seeing the rain and seeing gusty winds and the storm will, of course, be last to leave there and will be talking about this continuing into the very early part of christmas, thereafter, beginning to wind down. we'll have details on that when i see you in the next half hour. >> thanks very much. >> now, in australia, two young men are facing terror-related charges. police arrested the men aged 20 and 21 as part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation. this comes though eight days after the deadly hostage siege

at the lindt chocolat cafe in sydney. tony abbott warned of heightened chatter and urging them to remain vigilant. a curfew in place in parts of northeastern india after a series of deadly attacks. a police official tells cnn tribal militants targeted a rival group tuesday. 54 people were killed. india's home minister plans to visit the area today to assess the tensions. now, an alleged gun smuggling operation in the u.s. brought firearms sometimes loaded on to at least 20 passenger flights this year. now, it involved flights from atlanta to new york. aviation correspondent renee marsh has details. >> reporter: 153 firearms recovered. smuggled on board nearly 20 commercial passenger planes from atlanta to new york. that according to federal

investigators. >> they put guns on a plane this time. they could easily put a bomb on one of those planes. >> reporter: here's how authorities say it happened. delta baggage handler eugene harvey uses his badge to enter the secure area of the airport bypassing security checkpoints. most airport and airline employees like ramp workers and baggage handlers undergo security vetting and reoccurring background checks. but they do not go through daily tsa screening to gain access to secure and restricted airport areas. the accomplice former delta employee mark henry clears tsa and arrives at a concourse, the two men communicate by text message and meet in an airport bathroom. once inside out of the camera's view, the guns are handed off. >> tsa, the airports and the airlines after 9/11 are there to prevent this type of incident occurringrd henry seen here in

surveillance video boarded flights from atlanta to new york with handguns, ar-15s and ak-47s. some of the weapons loaded. it was all part of a five-man operation. >> this gun can shoot through a car door, can shoot through an apartment door, can shoot through a bulletproof vest. in november, mr. henry brought this gun on a delta commercial airliner to new york. >> reporter: this kind of breach in security has happened before. in 2010 an american airlines baggage handler helped smuggle 12,000 pounds of marijuana on board a flight to new york. in 2013 an airline employee sentenced after agreeing to smuggle a machine gun and cocaine on to a commercial plane. and a 2009 government audit says workers with access to secured airport areas is one of the greatest potential threats to aviation.

>> everyone who is involved in aviation and aviation security know that this is a gap and a vulnerability. >> reporter: renee marsh, cnn, washington. >> former u.s. president george h.w. bush is at a texas hospital at this hour. his spokesman says bush had a shortness of breath and was taken by ambulance to houston methodist hospital as a precaution. mr. bush is 90 years old and served as the nation's 41st president, of course, the father of george w. bush. u.s. president barack obama who is vacationing in hawaii is aware bush was hospitalized and sent good wishes to the former president and his family. now, investors are getting an early holiday gift. the u.s. markets are red hot as the dow closes at an all-time high maybe we should say green hot. we'll look behind what this surge is next. and a new spin on holiday drinking. we'll show you how sommer

sommerrymakers are taking a sober approach to celebrating christmas. who would think? we're back in two minutes.

let's take a look at the asia pacific markets at this hour as you see there. tokyo's nikkei closed over 1%. hong kong's hong seng was up slightly in a half day of holiday trade. sydney's asx 200 closed up a

quarter of a pr sent and zhang a "amount" shares pulling down almost 2% bucking the trend. the dow jones reached a new high on tuesday hitting the 18,000 mark for the first time. cnn's richard quest explains how this index managed to get there. >> reporter: consider it an early christmas present for the markets. the dow jones has crossed the 18,000 for the first time. this is the number. this is how it got there, up 18 -- a third of 1% up to -- up 66 points to 18,025. look at the whole session. investors are cheering the crucial milestone and it saw 35 record closes for the dow. it came out of the gate higher and, in fact, it did get high after lunch and gave back some of the gains but by the close of

play it was up some 64 points. it came 50 points with an 18,000 at the beginning of december. but as you will have seen let's look at how the last, say, three months have traded this. is fascinating. 18,000 was tantalizingly close but then we had this dramatic drop in the market in the middle of december and at that point just about there it was at 17,000 and change so to put this in perspective the market has gained the best part of a thousand points in just over -- just under a week, i should say since december the 16th. look at this. this is the one year to the date so you get an idea how we are since the beginning of the up roughly 8%. how did we get here? how did we get here? well, it's christmas. so we're going to be suitably festive as we look at how we got here. here we have the quest means business christmas tree. now, time to do a bit of, well, the first thing, of course, to

get towards 18,000, the first thing was gdp which today came in at 5% on an annualized basis for the third quarter. the gdp number sits very nicely on the tree. then we have the question of jobs. here we have the jobs bauble. there's been 321,000 jobs added in november and incidentally the u.s. economy has pretty much gained and increased all the b jobs it lost in the recession. one of the big thrusting points in the last months -- couple of months, the price of oil which has fallen some 40% to 50% on the exchanges. that has disadvantages for the oil producing countries and parts of the u.s. economy, but it certainly is a great benefit to the consumer, puts more money in the pocket. now, there are some negatives.

first of all, russia. duh, duh, duh. the russian economy, president putin all related to the falling cost of oil, that is most definitely a negative for some people in the market. then you have emerging markets. they are going to feel the effects of a higher, stronger dollar. that is a negative. we'll put it down here. all in all, though, the number one, the reason why we've reached 18,000, ah. janet yellen, the fed. we have to put janet yellen near the top of the tree because taking our baubles we managed to get all the way to the top and we hit 18,000 on the dow jones industrials. >> it's genius, how many of you have a vladimir putin ornament

on your tree, right? only on quest means business. now, with the u.s. markets lately and the economy growing it seems more americans think the economy is actually in good shape. take a look at our cnn/orc poll that shows in october 38% of americans said the economy was very good or somewhat good. now that figure has jumped to 51%. the first time in more than 7 years that a majority of americans have a positive view of the economy. this is a very big deal and this news has helped boost president barack obama's approval rating to its highest point since the spring of 2013. it's now up to 48% and you see that's the best number he's posted since 53% approval rating in may of last year. and it's already -- so there we go. that's the approval rating and things to be improving in the u.s. at this moment already christmas eve in some parts of the world but the celebrating may be a bit more subdued this year thanks to

what's being left out of some holiday drinks for some families this, is a great idea. we'll explain why a sober christmas is a new thing for some after the break. ♪because i love you ♪[music continues] ♪

[announcer] this is my business. i started it. i believe in it. i know and grow it. i live it and breathe it. i put my heart and soul... ...blood,sweat and tears into it. i run on quickbooks. that's how i own it. we like the christmas tree. the town has done a good job in manger square so we're excited to be here during this time of year. >> some american tourists there reflecting on their visit to

bethlehem. the town is revered as the birthplace of jesus and it's already getting ready for a huge christmas celebration. thousands of tourists have already arrived in the west bank town. many flocking to see the bright lights there in mamger square. some are taking a less holy but you might still say spiritual approach to the holidays this year. by celebrating with their favorite drink but as jim boulden reports more are turning to libations without the buzz. ♪ >> reporter: 'tis the season to be jolly. time to raise a glass to friends, colleagues and respective voters. but pity the designated drivers. tee totalers and fitness fanatics. these people are sometimes treated with pure bewilderment. just like in the film "the wolf

of wall street". >> want to be a pal? >> what are you drinking? >> i got this nonalcoholic -- nonalcoholic beer. no alcohol. >> is it beer? ♪ >> reporter: the wolf is not alone, though. europe has a growing thirst for nonalcoholic beer which is regular beer boiled to reduce the alcohol within it. it's the fastest growing part of the beer market. well, over the years and purely for research purposes i've tasted a lot of nonalcoholic and low alcoholic beers and to me they've never really tasted that good. but recently that's all changed. >> the problem with the whole sector back in the '90s, the taste wasn't good enough and put a lot of consumers off, really put them off deeply. the taste has got a lot boughter with germany with the wheat beers they're producing. >> reporter: it's not just the taste. drinkers are watching their

waistlines more than ever and don't want to look out of place with a soda. >> we get through a couple of cases a week so 48 bottles -- yeah, it's a really big seller. lots of people working and driving. not. >> reporter: not just western europe, the market is growing fast in the middle east and north africa where muslim consumers want a beer without the booze. so whether it's an office party or a new year's bash, there are some that won't land you in trouble, jim boulden, cnn, london. >> interesting concept there. did you embarrass yourself at your holiday party this year? come on. tell the truth. well, a man in utah, i didn't because we didn't have one, a man in utah needed a trip to the er after drinking so much eggnog at his company party but there wasn't even alcohol in it. >> chug, chug, chug.

>> oh, now you see what the problem was. ryan drank an entire quart in 12 seconds. happy at that moment. he started choking. he couldn't breathe. doctors say he aspirated the stuff into his lungs and essentially was dry drowning. he was in the hospital for three days but has fully recovered and for the record he did win the chugging contest. so it was worth something. coming to a theater near you sony charts a new course for "the interview." how they plan to get the film out in time for christmas. plus, france is stepping up security over the holidays after a string of recent attacks there. now there are new fears of terrorism. the day's biggest stories continue here on cnn. the holiday season is here,

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whether you are here in the u.s. with me or joining us from around the world, i appreciate you tuning in. i'm errol barnett. let's check the headlines for you this hour. more than 200 independent theaters in the u.s. will show the controversial sony comedy "the interview" starting on christmas day. sony pulled the film last week after hackers made threats against theaters. the film's about a fictional plot to assassinate north korean leader kim jong-un. george h.w. bush is hospitalized in houston, texas, right now. his spokesman said bush had shortness of breath so taken by ambulance as a precaution. bush's 90 years old and served as the nation's 41st president. australian police arrested two men as part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation there. both are facing terror-related charges. the arrests come a day after tony abbott warned of heightened terrorist chatter since the

sydney cafe siege last week. now, france is stepping up security in public places over the holiday season in the wake of recent attacks there. the government is bringing in up to 300 additional security forces to patrol crowded shopping and tourist areas. a cnn's nima elbagir reports it is sparking new fears of terrorism. >> reporter: france, saturday afternoon, a string of unnerving attacks. a man brandishing/knife rushes a police station injuring three. he's later identified as a muslim convert. sunday, in dijon, a driver on a rampage, injuring 11 pedestrians he's had to shout a la hugh akbar, "god is great." this time one person is killed.

later that evening, shots are fired at a synagogue in paris. french police say the attacks are unrelated and while the motives remain unclear, there are new fears about terrorism. lone wolf attacks linked to the jihadist campaign in iraq and syria given the hundreds of europeans who have traveled to the middle east to join isis. the french prime minister acknowledged those concerns. >> translator: when 1,200 french residents have links to jihad, when nearly 380 are present in syria and are active in terrorist groups and learning terrorism and horror, then, of course, let me emphasize, there is a threat of proportions never seen before. >> reporter: the threats, of course, not limited to france and across europe, the fear is manifesting itself in different ways. in dresden in germany for weeks now thousands of protesters have been meeting on mondays in

increasingly popular anti-islam marches. the latest drew 15,000 people. a loose coalition of the anti-immigrant, the right wing and those claiming to fear what they call islamization. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> reporter: the german chancellor condemned the demonstrations but some worry attacks like these in france are likely to further boost their cause. under the pal of what a local paper called fear over christmas the prime minister is urging calm saying hundreds of additional military personnel would be ordered onto the streets to reinforce those already on duty. meanwhile, at the market in nantes, shoppers have returned. wearing white arm bands in solidarity with the victims. [ speaking a foreign language ] >> translator: we are not scared. we must come back. we have no choice.

>> reporter: a show of resolve even as so many remain on edge and on alert. nima elbagir, cnn, london. >> now to this, authorities in algeria say they killed the leader of a terror group that beheaded a french hiker. they say, the leader of the group was killed with two other militants after the al jerian military set a trap. state media released this image along with photos of weapons seized the day he was killed. in september, the terror group which was formerly linked to al qaeda beheaded this man to show their support for isis. more now on our top stories, sony's decision to release "the interview" and hundreds of independent theaters on christmas day. some of those theaters say tickets are already sold out. our senior media correspondent brian stelter reports. >> reporter: one theater owner called this the best christmas gift anybody could ever give us,

and now those gifts are on the way to the theaters. they're actually being shipped out overnight to movie theaters across the country. films these days come on hard drives so they had to be mailed to theaters in time for christmas day. and there's over 200 theaters that have signed up to receive "the interview" after not believing it was going to be shown at all last week when sony canceled the movie. back then sony had lined up about 3,000 screens to show this movie on. obviously a much smaller number are going to be able to show it on christmas now because instead of having big movie theater chains support it it's independently owned art house cinemas mostly now going to be screening it. i do wonder though if some of these big chain also help sign up and show the movie in the coming weeks. if it does well rat those independently owned cinemas. that might be what's sony's hoping for, start small and get bigger for this movie as time goes on. the other big question is whether sony's going to be able to make a video on demand deal for this movie. there has been talk about maybe a streaming service like netflix

or hulu or amazon signing up and agreeing to distribute it online on christmas day or shortly thereafter. sony has had no announcement yet about that but talks are ongoing and i think we might hear about some sort of on demand deal later today. >> now, the fbi blames north korea for the cyberattack on sony that resulted in the release of sensitive e-mails and confidential information, you may remember. pyongyang denied responsibility and offered to conduct a joint investigation with the u.s. into the matter. global affairs correspondent elise labott reports on why this movie hit such a nerve. >> reporter: kim jong-un portrays himself as a man of the people. a revered leader depicted as inspiring such adoration his public cries at the very sight of him. his cyberattack against sony dismissed by the u.s. as a north korean slight by an insecure leader. >> it says something interesting about north korea that they

decided to have the state mount an all-out assault on a movie studio because of a satirical movie. >> reporter: who study kim say the hacking was not just an attempt to quash a film that ridiculed him but a calculated move to show his people he will stand up to america. >> they feel that we feel he's weak, he's not decisive and so this is another piece of that puzzle for them. it's part of a pattern of testing their leader, and that strikes at the very core of the system so they are going to respond in a very hash shall way. >> reporter: the film "the interview" portraying kim's assassination may be a comedy but its portrayal of an irrational and dangerous leader is one that kim has deliberately cultivated with fiery rhetoric, attacks against south korea and nuclear tests.

joe detrani tracked him since his teenage years. >> i think that element of unrest, unpredictability is part of a psyche that says, i'm someone you have to deal with and believe me, i have capabilities that despite the fact that we're a small country have capabilities that you have to address. >> reporter: inside north korea, the carefully crafted perception the country is locked in a state of war with south korea, the u.s. and its allies allows kim jong-un to continue the country's isolation and maintain absolute rule. >> in many ways avert ago tension from some of the economic hardships that people have to live through in north korea, but they're saying militarily was strong. and we're independent and nobody is going to mess with us in that regard so, yes, i do agree having that element of an external enemy isn't one for domestic control. >> reporter: the u.s. is still

considering its response for the cyberattack on sony. officials are being very coy about whether the u.s. was responsible for these latest disruptions in north korea's internet. whatever the measures they take they do expect some kind of counterresponse from kim jong-un, an effort to show he is in control both home and abroad. elise labott, cnn, washington. >> now despite its antics many americans believe north korea is a serious threat to the u.s. in a new cnn orc poll it was first among those polled. take a look at this. iran followed closely behind, you see russia, syria and china rounding out the top five, north korea's kim jong-un topped the list of least popular leaders. if you've been paying attention we're about to get hacked, 84% of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of him followed by fidel castro, putin,

rouhani and syrian president bashar al assad. health officials recommend gay men who abstained from sex for one year could donate blood in 2015. if approved this would end a lifetime ban on the group. officials say evidence shows the change in policy would not create a risk to the nation's blood supply. coming up for you here on cnn, we'll look at two brothers orphaned by the 2004 tsunami and how they transformed their grief. stay with us. ♪

make the best entertainment part of your holidays. catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast.

we are approaching now the 10th anniversary of the devastating indian ocean tsunami. it was december 26th, 2004 when the tsunami surged across the ocean with such violent power. it was brought on when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of sumatra. more than 226,000 people in 14 countries lost their lives. the majority more than 160,000 were in indonesia and the rebuilding effort after the disaster is estimated to have cost more than $13 billion. now, all this week cnn is bringing you a series of special reports as we commemorate the loss from this tragedy and today we have the story of two young brothers left orphaned when the tsunami hit vesri lanka. as issa soar rest reports they've turned it into something to give back to their community.

>> for the first time i had a chance to look around properly. the world had ended. everywhere was submerged. i couldn't see a soul. it was boxing day, 2004. >> reporter: salvage member irs of two young orphans a day rob and paul would much rather forget. >> all around us was chaos, the world was being washed away. now everything was destroyed and then i wondered where our parents were. >> reporter: the one they have lived with since the tsunami of 2004 when they lost their parents and their youth in sri lanka. ten years on they have turned their tragedy into tribute to their parents. creating gandhi's, a company that makes flip-flops from natural materials. already it's begun to make tracks. since 2011 they have sold 200,000 flip-flops with 10% of their profits going to charity. so this is your first stand or all it all started. did you ever imagine now with the selection here that the business would get to where it is? >> yeah, i did.

still got a long way to go in terms of the countries, seven or eight countries and we want to get it so we're in pretty much every country. >> reporter: it's more than just profits but honoring the memory of their parents. so taking inspiration from them, both who volunteered for humanitarian projects, they have decided to open a school in sri lanka. >> we kind of just wanted to do something that would continue our parents' legacy and everything that they taught us kind of while we were traveling and volunteering and were able to do that for us, the vision is to continue building the momentum and then hopefully having them all around the. >> reporter: they have been putting their best foot forward since 11 and 13. that's when they were taken out of school in uk and moved to india. there they helped with fund-raising and traveled with their parents in their flip-flops. what did you learn from your parents? what did you take away?

>> the values that we have that all stems from everything that we did over those course of years kind of traveling so we've always been taught if you fall off your bike get back on it, whatever the negative kind of situation you're in, try and turn it into something positive. >> reporter: the loss of their parents, the memories of boxing day 2004 will no doubt haunt them forever. >> uprooted trees smashed into a super flooding and wreckage nearby power lines came down and hung menacingly in the party sparking as they hit the flow. to this day i have no idea where it came from. >> reporter: strength that could only come from within. inspiration that you could only get if you stood in their shoes. itza suarez, cnn, london. >> 'tis the season to give if you're looking for some last-minute gift ideas, might want to get your shopping done and help out some worthy causes at the same time although i got to tell you it's a bit late. you go to cnn.com/impact with

for a list of ways to make the world a better place. if you're hoping to see friends and family over the next 48 hours, for the holiday season, i don't know if that's going to work out. >> are you where you need to be? >> yeah, i'm here already. i'm just flying into town. not going to get here if -- >> coming in through new york or -- >> my mum will fly from arizona. viewerers don't care. >> of course, viewers care. >> travel is the issue for many people. >> of course, yeah, and there are people that couldn't get on their flights yesterday and they'll have to be doing that early today but if you waited till the last minute to get to your destination, the weather won't cooperate. let's take to you the big board and show you what's happening. another badly timed winter event here across the eastern united states and i say winter because we are in winter and it is a winter storm on the back side of it here, but the track of it here is important. in that we are on the warm sector here so the big cities are not going to be seeing snow

so if you're flying in internationally you will not have to worry about snow in washington, new york or boston. but it will be wet, it will be windy and i think that will be enough to cause some airport delays and then, of course, in chicago it will be snow and later on today we are going to see delays there as a result of that. tornado watch box still in effect. of course, we had the severe weather that rolled through louisiana into mississippi, we had those fatalities there with those tornadoes at this point i think the threat will continue to diminish as we head towards the next few hours here across the southeastern united states but what did we do? well, we had record rain in tallahassee, they had multiple swift water rescues under way as a result of record rain. it had never rained this much since we've been keeping records on december 23rd in tallahassee and they picked up 7.4 inches, 189 minimum meters and the hail was coming down, grapefruit side, 11 centimeters, 4 1/4 in louisiana. just an incredible day across the southeastern u.s. so here comes the storm towards the

eastern seaboard. it will be impacting with the major cities but as i mentioned as a rain event, as a wind event, the snow will be confined towards the north and west. we have flood watches still in effect across the southeastern u.s. and move up. this will be round two, this will be part of the storm that will be hitting boston here, i think we'll have significant delays especially late if you have an early flight getting out of boston, you'll be in better shape than later in the afternoon because that's when i think condition also turn for the worse and, of course, on the back side of the storm, cold air, it will be snowing 3 to 5 inches accumulation so winter storm watches have been posted for chicago, northern michigan getting in on some of the snow, as well. so that is going to be a white christmas for you for the rest of us, it's going to be a wet and windy one and, well, by the time we get into christmas across the east, things will begin to wind down then another storm moves in across the west so busy time as head. >> folks in chi-town, chicago, they can handle it, right? living right next to the lakes they get this weather all the

time. >> they get it. they have more than eight plows so they can certainly do it. >> unlike us here in atlanta, ivan, thanks very much. nasa's exploration of galaxies and planets far, far away may include earth's sister planet venus. i'm not talking about mars. just 50 kilometers above venus conditions are so close of earth yes nasa is exploring the possibility of a 0-dan manned mission in a blimp-like vehicle, a rendition here, it could carry probes or even a two-man crew to study one of the most inhospitable planets with the possibility of a permanent manned presence in venus' atmosphere, a mission to venus could be seen as a practice run to mars. it's fascinating sending astronauts into space is, the images that come back to earth are just as astonishing. check this out. we've got video of nasa's orion re-entering earth's atmosphere. watch closely. orion returned home at speeds

reaching over 32,000 kilometers and listen to that they placed a camera inside the spaceship to give us a view of what an astronaut sees and encountering making its way back to earth. now, the intense temperatures cause the dense air to change from white then to yellow and then to light red as you've seen. i don't think that's like an added sound effect. after entering earth's atmosphere 11 par thoughts were deployed slowing it before splashing down off the coast of california. space exploration is coming back to earth quite awesome, as well. still to come for you here on cnn, christmas is going to the dogs this year. quite literally, we'll show you how much pet owners are spending on their furry friends.

man's best friend may get a lot of presents. pet owners in the uk are expected to shell out more money than ever. here's nino santos i think with her own pet and a look at some of the hottest pet products this year. >> reporter: santa seems to have a special place in his heart for our furry friends who this year will get their paws on more presents than ever before. in the uk, europe's biggest market for pet products, owners are set to fork out $75 million this holiday season. according to the online retailer with the average customer spending between $30 and $40.

>> huge growth year for us but around christmastime we're up fourfold on last christmas which was already up many types from the year before and we think that trend will continue to happen. >> reporter: so, what's happening this year? >> i will elt hat. >> christmas jumpers. >> reporter: and this time fido doesn't have to fight the kids for his hoard. >> they might have a dog or other animals earlier and so their part of the family just as much as the children would be so people are buying them christmas presents. there's been some crazy cases where one lady bought a rocking horse to give to herself from her horse and we had another customer last year who spent over a thousand pounds in a single order purely on christmas toys and treats. >> reporter: forget christmas because there's a veritable plethora of pet products all year round, and as it continues to grow so do does the value.

estimates analyst it could be worth as much as $78 billion by the year 2017. for the best of the season it's important to look best. in chelsea neighborhoods, this offers grooming and facials for canine companions. >> this is a record customer. he's just in for a little trim. >> reporter: which means this year's festive season, no shaggy dog tale but today's manicured puts. nina dos santos, cnn, london. >> those pampered pets. i'm errol barnett. stick around. i'll be back after this short break with rosemary church for more of the day's biggest stories. stay with us here on cnn. narrator: these are the skater kid: whoa narrator: that got torture tested by teenagers

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coming despite threats from hackers, details of sony's new plans. security breach, dozens of weapons seized from gun runners traveling through the world's busiest airport. a christmas storm floods and dangerous wind threaten to derail holiday plans. >> she's pushing us off the road. >> also coming up, this dramatic cell phone video captures some extreme road rage that turned into a life-or-death situation for one driver. we'll bring you the full story on that arresting footage. >> hello and welcome