hala? >> alison kosik, thanks very much. >>> i am hala gorani in washington, d.c.for brooke baldwin. vatican city now, catholics are preparing to celebrate the birth of jesus christ. thousands are gathering at st. peter's basilica. next hour, pope benedict xvi will celebrate christmas eve mass. the pontiff is preparing to deliver his christmas eve homily to mark one of the holiest days of the year for catholics. i asked eternal world tv network news director raymond arroyo about what message catholics should expect from the pontiff this christmas. >> after reading the pope's new book, which is all about the infancy and the birth of christ, one imagines he'll sound similar themes. he really talked about the freedom that, you know, the virgin mary, answering the call of the angels and submitting to that culall and human freedom i essential to the church's teaching and the nativity story. i think it resonates with all of us, that we all have our own obligation to act with god's will and in his will -- >> raymond arroyo on what to expect from the homily and the message

saying he was a hero others say he was a drunkard with mr and psychological problems whatever more hala was this is real motivation was his act of self-immolation set up a string of events which became known as the arab spring decades old regimes were toppled what came to replace them is hardly what most of the people in these countries had in mind when they were doing the revolutions they wanted freedom of speech and free elections bred on their tables and jobs what they got seems to be a very different result situation as war strike on comparison to. comparison to the years before. the revolution personally i don't feel safe. when we see. all the violence of the police. or of the salafist or. if unpoliced attacked by some nationalist people.

cnn's international hala gorani joins me now here.white house talked about the fear of the chemical weapons. now tell me what we're learning as far as the mixture of these gases is concerned. >> well, the u.s. official who spoke to barbara starr is saying this goes yobeyond moving aroun chemicals but if we have intelligence, it is a step further from what we thought was going on. so essentially the question is why would you start mixing chemicals if you had absolutely no intention of using it. so this is making many people nervous. not just the united states, but as you mentioned, turkey as well, which is asking natu inin deploy patriot missiles. conventional bombardment creates destruction and death. but the chemical weapon bombi i, potential bombing of areas could be a lot more lethal. turkey wants to make sure nato helps it protect itself against a potential chemical attack, and these chemicals could be loaded into artillery shells and when they land, then you the potential for wide scale death and destruction. >> when i hear this,

he was a hero others say he was a drunkard with a history of psychological problems whatever more hala was this is real motivation was his act of self-immolation sort of a string of events which became known as the arab spring decades old regimes were toppled what came to replace them is hardly what most of the people in these countries had in mind when they were doing the revolutions they wanted freedom of speech and free elections bred on their tables and jobs what they got seems to be a very different result situationist war strife comparison to. comparison to the years before. the revolution personally i don't feel safe. when we see. all the violence of the police sore or of. our. ever unpoliced man attacked by by some nationalist. and there are less freedoms right now when it comes to and there were freedoms there are attacks on individual freedoms every day i received so many messages from girls saying but they were. straight even by police men. who didn't tolerate their or their way off but there are saying this is to be a common pattern in the countries that i shared the so-cal

i want to bring in hala to talk about what we're seeing. a lot of developments. arwa damon's piece was unbelievable, and we were watching it. you said, these things happen every day. >> dozens of times a day you have people shot and injured and killed. this is a daily occurrence in syria. people i'm in touch with inside the country have gotten used to death and the sound of bombs, of shelling, and now we were talking about the scud missiles there that u.s. officials told cnn they believe were used by the syrian regime and came very close to the turkish side of the border in northern syria. >> how significance is that? these are much more dangerous and sophisticated weapons. what does this mean for people on the ground? the people in that piece trying to stay aalive he? >> they're lethal and not necessarily unsophisticated. they're unmanned missiles and insed naer type of bombs that cause death and carnage that's worrisome to a country like turkey if the regime is so desperate it uses these type of scud missiles and some of them inevitably, because they're not as

hala, first of all, you've got the syrian rebels, they're there fighting al assad's government. now the u.s. government, state department, steps in and says, a small faction of this group is considered a terrorist organization. what does that mean on the ground in syria for the rebel forces? >> well, it's hard to tell if it's going to mean anything, really. because what we're hearing now, uniformly from rebel groups on the ground after the designation by the united states of the nusra front as a foreign terrorist organization, look you can't not arm us, not finance us, and at the same time tell us not to rely on the best sort of armed and financed subgroup in the anti-assad fight. so rebel groups are saying you're putting us in a difficult position. they're having in some cases to rely on the jihadist group and its tactics reminiscent of what happened in iraq, suzanne, as you know with the car bombings and suicide bombings, in order to make battlefield gains. you saw nick paton walsh's pieces as well one of the most significant battleground advances, the reported occupation, i s

so it happenand that we are in a strange situation where we actually havefour 24/7 restaurants hala block away from us. i actually drew a map in the back and so you could go to slide six or seven and a map that shows that we are next to the cafe, and jack in the box at 24/7 and cafination and a diner. by, or most of the time, this restaurant is a very quiet, family, with children running around, that kind of a place. unfortunately, we are also some what have to be on the weekends between the hours of 2:00 to :00 a crowd that comes out of clubs and ambassadors and they are some what intoxicated, some of them ar, absolutely. some of them are just trying to get sober and before they get behind the wheel. they want to basically have a meal... >> sorry. >> it is fine. >> we have no all a lot of problems because again, ten years, no issues, rece because we have been strict with our clientele, especially those that were regulars, have felt that they are entitled to something, and what they are bringinin the restaurant and monitoring how they are behalfing if they are not removing them out of her

military is again not making a concrete barricade outside the presidential palace at this time even hala one of our tweets on r g underscore. made it all reports image of sion media suggests president morsi will soon authorize the military to help police keep order but some analysts fear the army is close involvement would mean the country plunging deeper into political chaos. at this point you should have known the gathering the trust and good will of the egyptian people is more important than any specific action he wants to accomplish so things are really very dangerous in egypt now and i hope the violence will follow the strand of confrontations in front of the presidential palace my fears are that the military missed the. clear clear of the dark for himself i don't think it's dangerous in terms of morsi using to run this power to crush and kill thousands and thousands of egyptians i don't think he will go that route so my feeling is only from the military and military have a history of doing those things in egypt or elsewhere. and public outrage is also spilling onto the streets of k

let's go live to halas hall where wgn's rich king is. hey rich. he is a out of there is a good coach. confirmed about an hour ago after stories broke this morning. after nine years as coach of the bears. missing the playoffs five out of the last six years did him in. a nine year career here in chicago. it began pretty well. he was coach of the year his second year. he is always in charge of the defense. the defense did well over the years. he had no offense. the offense struggled this year. it was hoped to be better. it did not work out that way. it eventually cost him his job. not enough points, not enough victories. >> changes and always a bad thing. sometimes it can be good. nobody wants to really change our attend about changing. now it is upon us. that is what it is. but he got to keep moving forward and whoever we get as our next coach. >> there's a lot of opportunity out there for him. we want him to be here but it is not the scenario. he is a great coach. he is a great man. >> am anxious to see what they do. i'm going to go home and away f

. >> i want to bring in hala gorani and you can't help, but look at those kids' faces and see the facesf these kids in newtown, connecticut, who were massacred. this is happening on a daily basis in syria? >> reporter: well, absolutely. children are killed on a daily basis in syria. they're not safe in schools and big challenge for cities such as aleppo, and i am in touch with people in that city very regularly is for those children who can't go to school because their districts and neighborhood are regularly bombed and shelled and they're homeless in parts of the city where there is less violence is trying to figure out a way to keep their lives as normal as possible. they are pouring into schools that are not in their neighborhood. so class sizes are increasing and many of them don't have their toys, their rooms and so you have schools and hospitals and other organizations trying to keep them busy every day with coloring books, with activities, with group activities for these children. this is a lost generation, suzanne, essentially. for the last year, year and a half, these are 9, 10

just beat up some eggs, some milk, some spices, poor it all over in a baking dish, thick slices of halanight. before you put it in the oven, add some blueberries. >> it is so much less messy than regular french toast. >> so much better than a bowl of egg whites. >> look at all the accidents you are avoiding. >> i'm blown away. that was really good. >> we are going down the line with health. here is lester. >> there is nothing healthy in this bonbon. my mom used to make this every holiday. i know i haven't had them since i was a teenager. she was coming to visit. i said, bring that recipe. she dug it up. yesterday, between shows, i made it. it has coconut, some nuts and lots of sugar and lots of butter. it tastes really good. >> are these hard to dip? i find when i making any with chocolate, i can't make them. >> it calls for paraffin wax. i panicked. i said, mom, you can't eat paraffin wax. i did this without paraffin wax. >> whatever you did it with, it's delicious. >> really good, really good. >> thank you. >> we should all get together and do something, at least food. >> we're going

the situation is deteriorating rapidly. >> hala gorani, thank you so much.appens in syria. >>> one man across the united states found a unique way to honor the victims in newtown. you'll meet him next. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. to the best vacation sp(all) the gulf! it doesn't matter which of our great states folks visit. mississippi, alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible. thanks, karen. love your mississippi outdoors. i vote for your florida beaches, dawn. bill, this louisiana seafood is delicious. we're having such a great year on the gulf, we've decided to put aside our rivalry. now is the perfect time to visit anyone of our states. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beaut

. >> thank you, hala. >>> something triggered a new democracy and the movement against the assad regime and that's this. believable reports that the syrian military was possibly getting ready to use chemical weapons against the rebels. everyone, even russia warned syria not to do it. now you see this exclusive to cnn. our camera crew inside syria got dangerously close to a chemical weapons production plant. the syrian government doesn't us to see this. they make that very clear. we want you to watch this report from arwa damon. >> reporter: in most of these villages we don't dare stop. while no longer fully controlled by the government, the regime spies still lurk, and we're sneaking our way towards a facility the government most certainly does not want us to see. a site that multiple sources on the ground say is where the assad regime produces chemical weapons called the scientific research facility. to the southeast of aleppo lies the town of al scattered safari. on the outskirts a sprawling factory manufacturing anything from containers to long-range missiles. this is as close as we

the iranian government made threats to cut them off from the global internet and have a hala networknly allow them to have websites that are okayed by the government . this is causing cancer in the country has sky rocketed. 500 channels and 200 radio stations are blocked and genetic mutations with the children. >> much deeper than just shutting down communication. >> lisa, always great to get your insight on this. have a great day. >> my pleasure. >> kim stone, a town that is too tough to die all to protect that cute little owl on your screen. flight to florida are going up. we'll tell you why. ♪ ♪ cer ] package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! tomato, obviously. haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8. you won't t