anna coren there. there has been a fairly speedy verdict in na million dollar fraud case against two former assistants of the celebrity chef nigella lawson and her ex-husband charles saatchi. >> francesca and liz bet ta were found not guilty of misusing credit cards when they racked up luxury purchases worth more than $1 million. cnn's erin mclaughlin explains nigella lawson's confessed drug use during the trial might have tipped the jury against her it's a trial turned real life soap opera, played out in a london courtroom. the star witnesses celebrity chef nigella lawson an us cooed of habitual drug use. and her multimillionaire ex-husband charles saatchi, accused of ipty mat terrorism. the actual wa defendants, their former personal assist nz, liz bet ta and fran chess cal grillo. the prosecution alleged the sisters fraudulently abused sachi company credit cards to fund a million dollar lifestyle. the defense claimed nigella allowed them to spend what they wanted to hide her drug habit from sachi. >

anna coren, cnn, tokyo. >> here's a look how biden's week is set to play out.orrow in japan, he'll meet with the prime minister there. then on wednesday the vice president heads to china where he is expected to discuss the air space dispute and then on thursday, biden travels to south korea where he will be briefed on the nuclear situation with north korea. then the haven't heads home. so yes, a pretty busy week. >> a lot to talk about, too. boy, well a ray of hope for a pair of americans being held captive in north korea. a look at a new call free the men, plus we're going to hear from the sister of one of those being held who was sentenced for 15 years hard labor. we'll be right back. once upon a time, an insurance clerk stumbled upon a cottage. [knock] no one was at home, but on the kitchen table sat three insurance policies. the first had lots of coverage. the second, only a little. but the third was... just right! bear: hi! yeah, we love visitors. that's why we moved to a secluded house in the middle of the wilderness. just the right coverage at just the r

. >> anna coren has gotten very close to the recovery work there. closer than any other journalist. she takes us deep inside the nuclear plant to explain the risky clean-up operation in this cnn exclusive. >> we are here inside reactor 4 at the fukushima daiichi power plant that was severely crippled during the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 leading to the country's worst nuclear disaster. it was in here where there was that massive hydrogen explosion that severely damaged the building, that this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and it wasn't actually operating. well, now, two and a half years later, tepco says it's reached a milestone. that massive crane behind me is successfully moving 1500 fuel rods in that cooling pool to a storage pool next door. it's a slow and delicate process that will take about a year, but once finished, it will mean that this reactor can be decommissioned. attention will then turn to reactors one, two, and three that suffered far worse damage. the situation there is serious. and levels of radiation are dangerousl

anna coren there. >> the man who invented the world's most widely used military grade assault rifle has died. mikhail ca lishny cov created the automatic weapon more than 65 years ago. the design hasn't changed much since. he named the rifle after himself, became the standard issue rifle for the soviet army. >> initially called the ca lashny cova automatic ca lishny cov. he described other weapons, as well. none were as successful as the ak. there's an estimated 100 million ak-47 rifles in the world today. they're famed for their reliability. >> you describe this one. >> oh, yeah, even the occasional tv reporter gets a chance to fire an ak-47 if he's in the right place and right time. on this occasion at a training session for afghan forces, ca leshny cov, 94 years old. he died in russia in the town where the rifle is still made. at the reportedly had been sick for some time. >> all right. take you now to berlin. he wentz from the richest man in the country to the most famous political prisoner. for the first time in ten years, dissident mick cal courtkovsky is now speaking out in an in

here's anna coren. >> reporter: with his piercings, tattoos and at times outlandish behavior there'sdeny diagnose dennis rodman loves attracting attention. where he's heading it's certain the world will be watching as the 52-year-old makes his third visit into a country ruled by one of the world's most repressive regimes. >> i want to bridge a gap with north korea. that's all i want. >> reporter: it comes at a time of dramatic political upheaval in north korea. of just last week, the country's young leader kim jong-un had his uncle executed in what some experts believe is just the beginning of many more punches to come. a power struggle is believed to be the reason why he had his mentor and second? command allegedly killed by machine gunfire. and with all the instability, it would appear that the supreme leader could use a good friend. >> call him my friend. he's my friend. if you hate my guts, hate my guts but he's my friend. >> rodman is traveling with a documentary crew that will film him training the north korean basketball team. they're preparing for an exhibition match in janua

anna coren, cnn, seoul skblch. >> what do you think of his visit to north korea?e your thoughts with me on facebook or tweet me. >>> everybody's getting ready to celebrate the holidays, including president obama. he's now vacationing in hawaii. but he's still got plenty of stuff to work on. we'll go live to honolulu. >>> but next, reports that a 17-year-old suffocated accidentally at school, raises big suspicions. so cnn pushed for answers, what the school surveillance camera showed and why the fbi is now involved. next. my dry hands used to give away my age. [ female announcer ] gold bond intensive hand cream. now my hands look great. [ female announcer ] gold bond intensive hand cream. this stuff really works! >>> new developments in the mysterious death of a teenager whose body was found inside a rolled-up gym mat at a georgia high school. kendrick johnson was found dead in january. well, this week, the fbi was expected to seize the original hard drives from the school's surveillance system, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. victor blac

here is cnn's anna coren. >> the 52-year-old is currently in beijing and travels to pyongyang on thursday spend four days training the north korean basketball team preparing for an exhibition match to celebrate the birthday of north korean leader kim jong-un next month. last week, kim had his uncle executed after he was convicted of treason. and analysts believe there are more punches to come. rodman considers kim to be a close friend and says this trip will not be political. but activists have asked him to raise the issue of human rights and the imprisonment of american missionary kenneth bae who was sentenced to 15 years jail for attempting to overthrow the regime into thank you. let's discuss both of these issues right now. our chief international correspondent christiane amanpour is joining us. let's start with president obama's picks for the u.s. delegation to the sochi winter olympic games. how significant is the message, the message he's clearly sending to the russian president putin? >> well, it's quite brilliant really. there is no more high profile athlete than billie jean king

anna coren reports from seoul. >> well, the ceremoniton honor the death of north korea's dear leadering to be a rare opportunity to see who was in and out of his son's regime following last week's brutal purge by kim jong-un. in a symbolic gesture, the country's supreme commander was flanked by leaders of the military and the workers party putting on a united front, but behind the scenes it was a completely different story. in civility, an alleged coup and power struggle is what will analysts forced kim jong-unton execute his uncle jong song that he can, a mentor for the 30-year-old, the youngest ahead of state in the world. this audacious act caught analysts and the international community by surprise proving that no one is untouchable in north korea, are not even family members. there are now concerns that military provocations will follow. here in south korea, the president has placed the military and police on high alert describing north korea as reckless and unpredictable. while the united states believes that north korea which is trying to develop its nuclear weapons program wi

anna coren in seoul.that. >>> the white house is giving people who had their individual insurance policies canceled because of obamacare another option in order to not fall through the cracks. the option to buy catastrophic coverage. meanwhile, state officials are reporting seeing a surge in obamacare signups. rising 30% to 40% in the last few weeks. monday is the deadline to enroll to guarantee coverage january 1st. >>> the senate introduced a bill that revamps pay and how the military handles cases of military sexual assault and rape. the house passed the bill with strong bipartisan support. the president is expected to sign it. >>> new information about a possible motive in this week's deadly shooting inside a reno, nevada medical building. the gunman has been identified now as 51-year-old allen frazier. police say he left behind a suicide note indicating that he was angry about a surgical procedure he had had there in 2010. frazier shot two doctors and a patient before killing himself. it is not clear

anna coren has the latest from seoul. >> you're absolutely right.s rodman appears undeterred to travel to the kingdom in the wake of kim jong-un's uncle's execution. he's currently in beijing. he will be traveling to pyongyang tomorrow. we know that the world will certainly be watching his every move. with his piercings, tattoos and at times outlandish behavior, there's no denying former nba star dennis rodman loves attracting attention. and where he's heading, it's certain the world will be watching. as the 52-year-old makes his third visit into a country ruled by one of the world's most repressive regimes. >> i want to bridge a gap with north korea. that's all i want. >> reporter: it comes at a time of dramatic political upheaval in north korea. just last week, the country's young leader, kim jong-un had his uncle executed in what some experts believe is just the beginning of many more purges to come. a power struggle is believed to be the reason why he had his mentor and second in command allegedly killed by machine gunfire. and with all the inst

just fascinating anna coren is with us live. this is being called basketball diplomacy.really the only kind of diplomacy we've seen. what exactly is he doing? >> what is he doing? wouldn't we all like to know? as you heard from the man himself, his trip was awesome. though he didn't meet with the leader kim jong-un. he was there to train the national basketball team in preparation of the exhibition game to be held in honor of kim jong-un's birthday. we believe he would be turning 31. the two men did not meet. this was rod man's third trip. they had formed a rather close friendship. why they didn't meet, we don't know. rodman said he doesn't have to meet him on every trip. we also need to take into account there's a great deal of political upheaval follows the execution of kim's uncle less than two weeks ago. one development that has come about in the last few hours, the company sponsoring rod man's trip, the irish online gambling company has pulled out. they've withdrawn their name. they say in hindsight it was the wrong move, considering the condemnation towards north k

thanks very much, anna coren in seoul. >>> joining us rachel nick dolls, her show quinn unguarded" airs rodman notoriously eccentric when he was a player, since then. this bond that he's forged with the young north korean leader kim jong-un. >> i will preface this by saying i certainly am not in the mind of dennis rodman, and that's probably a good thing, but he's gone on record, he does like attention, he is certainly getting a lot of attention for this. also it wasn't that long ago that a ex-wife of him had him in court saying he owed her $800,000 in back child support payments, so the question has come up, how much money is he being paid to go over to north korea. dennis, of course, won't talk about that or how much of a facto that money is, not question the politics, but there are a lot of people who say that his line of reasoning, that he's just using sport as a way to find common ground between the west and a country that otherwise doesn't have any ground to -- well a lot of people think that's faulty reasoning. >> how does the nba, the professional community reacting to the push

. >> anna coren, thanks so much. >>> still to come in "the newsroom," usually when airlines tell passengersst move is exactly what flyers want. chris lawrence is live. >> reporter: hey, carol. the government is considering lifting this ban on using your phone, making calls in the air, but you may be surprised what some of the airlines think about it, and just how ris rdisruptiv would it be? oke? no, i'm good. ♪ [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette, you celebrate a little win. nicorette mini delivers fast craving relief in just 3 minutes. double your chances of quitting with nicorette mini. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what? >>> in boston it was a gruelling journey to nowhere. passengers boarded their lufthansa flight to frarng furth frankfurt hitting on the tarmac for five hours and returning to the gate. they spent

>> thank you, anna coren. many americans are angry that rodman won't fight for bae's release.is eroding hollywood brand. he took advantage of bae's set back and he's the only one laughing all the way to the bank while bae's family and friends and the american people are left heartbroken. bae's sister is joining me from seattle. good morning, terry. >> good morning. >> first of all, how are you doing? >> we're hanging in there. it's difficult, definitely, around the holidays. >> i know. christmas is coming fast. do you think rodman is using your brother's misfortune to elevate his image? >> it's hard to know. we certainly would hope that dennis rodman would use his friendship with the leader of the dprk for good to raise the profile of kenneth bae to help his case. because he's the only american who's met with the leader kim jong-un. so i would certainly hope that he would do something. >> has dennis rodman ever reached out to your family? >> no. >> why do you think that is? >> it's difficult to know. he has said -- at first he said he would help. there was an infamous tweet bu

let's go to cnn's anna coren, what do we know?er: christians, as we see from the footage, dennis rodman was mobbed in beijing. he spent five days training the national basketball team, obviously, preparing for an exhibition game to celebrate north korea leader's bishth day next month. look, in a xrampbs he was short and sweet when reporters threw questions at him. he said the trip was awesome. he'll be back in a week in preparation for that big game. chris has yet to announce the team the manner teams. it's made up of former nba stars. apparently, some of those players are a little bit concerned about this their safety. obviously, there has been a lot of upheaval in north korea. less than two weeks to go. kim jon-un had his uncle executed. they're continuing in the hermit kingdom. dennis rodman says he will definitely be returning for that exhibition game to celebrate what we believe is the 31st birthday of kim jon-un. she hoping to catch up with his good friend a. very unusual friendship. this, of course, was his first trip to no

anna coren has details. >> braving subzero temperatures, they are making the final prep tags to the snowestival which opens in the new year. this 30-year tradition show cases massive skull -- sculpture s made from ice and snow. back to you, michaela. >> how cool is that? >> that's plain cool. >> the new year means a lot of things. one of the things it means is new laws from florida to washington state. an estimated 40,000 will take effect next year. many of them begin at midnight tonight. it's time to bone up. learn what's what. cnn's rosa flores has what you need to know to stay on the right side of the new laws in 2014. >> reporter: from flash mob crackdowns to pet lemon laws. 2014 will ring in nearly 40,000 new state rules. here are the highs and the lows. smoking a reefer in colorado is legal but don't toss the butt of a cigarette in a public street in illinois. it's considered littering. you could pay in cash or jail time. don't even think about lighting one in a car with a child in oregon. the beaver state won't allow it. >> first we said can you smoke in this part of the restauran

anna coren is following developments. >> reporter: this is always going to be a case of who's in and jong-un was flanked either side by the head of the military and also of the workers party, putting forward this united front. behind the scenes it's a completely different story. there's a great deal of political instability, a power struggle is going on, even talks of an alleged coup which is why he had his uncle executed last week. this is a man who was second in command. it just goes to show no one is off limits, not even family members. people here in south korea and certainly in the united states are concerned that there will be further military provocations, that is something that we can expect in the next few months. now, on a different story, michaela, i want to bring to your attention former nabe star dennis rodman who claims to be a good friend of kim jong-un is making his way here to north korea. this will be his third visit. he's traveling with a documentary team and they're here to train up and coming north korean basketball players. now, he says this is not a political t