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NEW DAY

Comet ISON Grazes Sun; Lindsey Vonn Back On The Slopes; Explosions Outside U.S. Air Base in Japan; Lawsuit Threatened Over Fine

Aired November 29, 2013 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to "NEW DAY". Let's go around the world.

We're going to start in Japan where an investigation is underway after a pair of explosion outside a U.S. air base near Tokyo. Karl Penhaul is there with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Japanese police and bomb squad teams are combing this area, which is just a few hundred yards from the perimeter of the U.S. Air Force Yokota Base. Residents say they heard two loud explosions during the night. Police now say they found two steel tubes attached to wires, a battery and a crude timing device. It is apparently a homemade mortar system.

The U.S. Air Force says that there were no explosions on the base itself and no reports of damage or injuries. Around 3,500 U.S. servicemen are based there and there have been sporadic incidents like this in the past, usually blamed on ultra leftist guerrilla group.

Back to you, Michaela.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: To Mexico City, now a father undergoes a rare double arm transplant. Nick Parker has that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PARKER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, a dramatic recovery here in Mexico, for Gabriel Granados, the first patient in Latin America to receive a double arm transplant. Granadas' arms were previously amputated at the elbow after a massive electric can shock. He spent 17 hours undergoing a rare transplant procedure.

Now, after a year and a half of rehabilitation, he is revealing the full extent of his ability to control his new limbs. Doctors say he has recovering around 70 percent of his movement and is independent again. He hopes his story will provide a boost to the campaign to donate organs in Mexico.

Michaela, back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Truly extraordinary.

And to Australia where Justin Bieber, a little bit of hot water for street art that he left at a hotel. Monita Rajpal joins with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pop star, Justin Bieber, just can't seem to go anywhere without stirring up some sort of controversy. The latest is this Instagram photo of some gravity he and his entourage spray-painted on a wall of a hotel in Australia. Hotel staff say Bieber had permission to spray paint the wall and has proudly displayed the images on its Facebook page.

But the local government wants it removed. The mayor says it undermines the city's effort to fight graffiti. He wants Bieber to go and clean it himself. I am sure those are images a lot of people would pay to see.

Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Get over there and clean it up.

PEREIRA: Clean that up. What a mess.

LEMON: Yes, it is a mess.

OK, so pay attention to this. If you've -- you've left reviews, right, we all have. A Salt Lake City couple threatening to sue a company they say has ruined their credit rating. John and Jen Palmer posted a negative review after receiving what they considered was bad service by an online merchant, OK?

It sounds simple. But they were shocked when they were given a hefty fine by that company.

CNN's Pamela Brown picks up the story from here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Palmer bought a few Christmas gifts for his wife, Jen, on the website KlearGear.com in 2008, never imaging he would still be paying the price five years later. The Palmers say the items they ordered never arrived. The transaction was canceled.

JEN PALMER, CONSUMER: After 30 days or so, PayPal said, hey, there is no activity here. They turned around and gave the money back into my husband's account and effectively canceled the sale.

BROWN: After repeated calls to clear gear to find out what happened, Jen Palmer post posted this review on ripoffreport.com saying in part, "There is absolutely no way to get in touch with a physical human being. No extensions work."

Fast forward, 3 1/2 years, the Palmers received this e-mail appearing to be from Kleargear, stating this he would be fined $3,500 if the negative review wasn't taken down in 72 hours.

PALMER: We were shocked that somebody would attempt to do this because it's ridiculous that anybody would turn around and try to extort us like that.

BROWN (on camera): Have you ever heard of anything like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never heard of anything like this happening to the consumer, only because retailers mainly protect the consumer.

BROWN (voice-over): The e-mail cited this obscure non-disparagement clause and the terms of the use contract that says, "Your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com."

Legal experts warned more and more companies are adding this type of language in the fine print as protection.

PAUL CALLAN: The First Amendment does not protect certain kinds of free speech. You can sign a contract giving away your free speech rights if it's a fair contract. This contract, though, is not fair and, frankly, it would be thrown out by any court.

BROWN: We found other examples of non-disparagement clauses in customer agreements, including this one from a vacation rental company threatening to charge customers up to $10,000 in damages if a post containing unreasonable negative sentiment isn't removed.

The company told CNN, it stands by its practice. The Palmers couldn't take down the review and refused to pay up. Kleargear apparently reported the bills as unpaid to a collections company.

PALMER: It was bad enough when we went to get our second car, it took them a month to find a bank that was willing to finance us, because of the huge ding this puts on our credit.

BROWN: CNN tried multiple phone numbers listed on Kleargear's website, all of them disconnected. Kleargear.com did respond via email to our affiliate KUTV defending its actions. The Palmers say they are taking their fight all the way to court.

PALMER: We don't want them to get away with this. Apparently, we are not the only people they have done this to. We're just the only ones who are fighting back and we're not giving up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: The Better Business Bureau is now investigating and has put the company on alert. Now, to protect yourself during this busy holiday shopping season, retail analysts suggest that you read all the fine print and make sure a company is legitimate. If you do write a negative review, make sure that it's accurate, because a company can sue you for libel even if it doesn't have that clause.

Back to you.

LEMON: I want to tell you that Kleargear is responding, defending its actions in a station. Here's what they're saying, they're saying it's request for the Palmers to take down the comment was not blackmail but, quote, "a diligent effort to help them avoid the fine."

I would be furious.

PEREIRA: Oh, my goodness.

LEMON: It makes the company look worse.

PEREIRA: They were talking about the lodging site that provides lodging. It says the review cannot have unreasonable sentiment. That is so relative. What you might think is reasonable, I might find completely unreasonable. That seems strange that would be the basis of it.

LEMON: You heard what Paul Callan, our legal expert here said, this will not stand up.

PEREIRA: Thank goodness.

LEMON: So let's hope they get some action.

PEREIRA: Cyber Monday is coming up, people.

LEMON: Absolutely.

PEREIRA: People will be getting their shop on. They will need good weather to help them.

Jennifer Gray is our meteorologist, in for Indra Peterson.

How is it looking for the weekend?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is looking so much better. We had a rough week. We had rain and we had snow all over the place now. Now, we're dealing with just chilly temperatures, but it is quiet, Boston, you're going to be chilly today, at 32 degrees. That's about 15 degrees below normal. And we are going to be chilly across most of the Northeast.

Temperatures look a little bit better in the South. Atlanta, you will be at 59 degrees today. A lot of you happy about that, returning to normal. You had the coldest Thanksgiving yesterday in 100 years with a low of 22 degrees. So, you are starting to rebound nicely. It should be a nice day in the South.

Look at all the sunshine, though. Sunny across the Deep South and the West as well, even up to the North. It is just cold up there. A little bit of rain pulling into the Pacific Northwest over the next couple of days.

As we get into the weekend, we are going to keep the sunshine around, a little bit of lake effect snow in for the north. We could see anywhere from an inch or two of that. That is really all that is happening across the country. No rain, no snow, just cold.

LEMON: Remember when we are all like, oh my gosh, we're on lockdown mode. What's going to happen? We are on alert. What happen? It just went away.

GRAY: It's gone. It is pushed off the east coast. This is our benefit.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Jennifer, thanks so much.

LEMON: Thank you so much.

Up next on "NEW DAY", scientists watching for the comment that went around the sun but did ISON flame out or did it survive? Details straight ahead.

PEREIRA: And talk about dreams. Why this basketball shot has so much special meaning. It is our must-see moment on this Friday. We'll show it to you when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back to "NEW DAY", everyone. Astronomers have their eyes on comet. The comet is called ISON. The comet mostly broke apart during its trip around the sun, but researchers now believe it's a part -- part of it may have survived, if I can get my lips to work.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: That was me slapping my face here. CNN meteorologist, Jennifer Gray, is here with more on some amazing pictures of this event. So, what's going on? What happened?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Thing is really cool. It's got science geek like me really, really jazzed up about it. And you know, it took a trip around the sun yesterday. Now, we're just crossing our fingers really hoping that it survived. And we've been watching this thing for more than a year. It's been traveling for more than four million years.

PEREIRA: Which is incredible when you think of it.

GRAY: It's crazy. So, we're really hoping it survived. And it's huge. The nucleus of it is three to four miles across. And, the tail is bigger or wider than Australia. So this thing is just gigantic.

LEMON: Is that why it's so unique because of the size of this monster? GRAY: Yes. Well, for many reasons it's unique. They're calling it the comet of the century. And, it is the brightest comet that we're supposed to see in the last 50 years. And we can learn so much about this. It's unique, because it's called sun grazer. It passes very, very close to the sun, 730,000 miles away from the sun yesterday. And so, we can learn so much about the sun from this comet. But it's kind of ironic, because it's made of ice. They call it a dirty snowball.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

GRAY: -- slingshots around. And so, by passing so close to the sun, of course, it can melt it, break it apart. And so now, we're just hoping that something emerges and some scientists say, yes, I think we do see something. We just don't really know what. Some people are calling it the headless comet. It may just be debris from what's left of slingshot journey around the sun.

PEREIRA: And this is the other thing that's so fascinating, it came from the very edge of space. That is just cool in itself.

LEMON: The edge of space.

PEREIRA: I'm with you.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: The thought is that because it came so close to the sun, we could really have -- quite, if some of it survives, we could have a really cool light show like the beginning of December, like the first or second week of December.

GRAY: Yes. At the beginning of December. And what's cool about this, you know, a lot of times, we have the solar eclipse and things like that. If you have clouds in the sky, forget about it. This is going to be around for most of the month of December.

And so, you know, you'll have a shot to see it. And there's sort of a breakdown of where you are in the world and when you'll be able to see it around dawn and after sunrise for most of us here in the United States. And so, we're just really hoping that it survives and we can see something.

LEMON: So, you are an astronomer -- I'm sorry.

Rosa Flores, CNN anchor: Go ahead.

LEMON: You're an astronomer or just a common geek, a space geek.

(LAUGHTER)

GRAY: When you're in meteorology, you just love everything, you know? The sun kind of drives everything. So, anything about space is just very cool.

FLORES: I was just going to say that one of the things that fascinated me was just all the videos online as to how to see this, just because there are so many people who are fascinated about it. And so, they're posting a lot of science geeks. I really like science, too. I raise my hand on that one. They're just posting these videos saying, here's how you can watch it. It's pretty fascinating.

PEREIRA: The fact is, if you have the right camera, you could get a really good shot. Photographers would really get excited about something like this.

GRAY: -- ice that's so old.

PEREIRA: Dirty snowball. I love this.

(LAUGHTER)

GRAY: You know, it will give us a huge glimpse about what's out there in the solar system and the fact that it's been traveling for so long that we'll be able to see it in our lifetime is really cool.

LEMON: A dirty snowball in urban dictionary I'm sure is not --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Jennifer Gray trying to elevate our conversation here on NEW DAY. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

LEMON: I'm sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I'm sorry.

PEREIRA: We'll make you all feel better with our "Must-See Moment" today. This one is really, really special.

I want to introduce you to Colfax, Wisconsin. This is where this is happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA (voice-over): An eighth grader, his name is Tyler Blodge (ph), had his very first basket Monday night. It wasn't the winning one. It wasn't even the tying shot. It was special, nonetheless. That's him sinking one in with just seconds left on the clock. Tyler has learning abilities. He's got a speech impediment and he has ADHD.

His teammates and their opponents let Tyler take as many tries as he needed to take that shot and to make it. Basketball actually helps Tyler socialize, something that's somewhat of a challenge for him. His mom says this kind gesture of sportsmanship, oh, this is getting to me, went a really long way. I love when kids can do this for one another. It is so special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That's really special. Tyler --

PEREIRA (on-camera): And did you see how he just stood taller? A little fist pump and everything.

LEMON: Tyler, you're the man.

FLORES: I love how the other teammates said, just take as many tries as you want.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: It's just amazing. It's really moving. So there's your "Must-See Moment." Good stuff later, too. We thought you might need a little must-see inspiration.

LEMON: I needed that. Thank you.

PEREIRA: You're welcome.

LEMON: Was that just to get everybody --

FLORES: Just to bring it back up --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: That might be your new nickname, dirty snowball.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: God, I have so much to say but it is really early in the morning. I won't.

PEREIRA: We must get to break.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Up next on "NEW DAY", madness at the mall and on the set of "NEW DAY". Shoppers hunt for bargains and retailers hope to end the year in the black. It is Black Friday as you can see here on CNN. And we're going to talk with the CEOs of Macy's and Wal-Mart for their take on holiday shopping this season.

PEREIRA: And then, how are Americans feeling about the economy. We have a new CNN poll just out. The results, frankly, they may surprise you. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Three women have become the first females to complete the intensive nearly two-month Marine course. You hear about this? They said it was brutal. They said it was grueling. The reason they did it, they wanted to do something that was easier than signing up for Obamacare.

(LAUGHTER)

LENO: It's amazing.

Busiest shopping day of the year. Be careful. Try not to injury your fellow shoppers because a lot of them no longer have health insurance. So be careful -- you don't want to knock them over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was rough.

PEREIRA: That was rough.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: So, Thanksgiving yesterday, full of family, full of great food, and of course, packed full of NFL action. The biggest challenge was trying to stay away. You know, Andy Scholes, had a nap plan.

LEMON: Oh, he did?

PEREIRA: Yes. We have to get with him and find out.

LEMON: Andy, can we say what we call you?

PEREIRA: What did they call him?

LEMON: I call you teeth shoals. You're all teeth.

PEREIRA: He's got a beautiful smile.

LEMON: It's all teeth. Yes. It's really great teeth.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Thank you, guys.

LEMON: Awkward moment.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: So, let's talk about this. It was great football action yesterday.

SCHOLES: Yes. And like you said, Michaela, I had a plan. I was doing really good, but half time of that first game, fell asleep. It took me a while to wake up. But luckily, there are great games all the way to watch. The nightcap last night had the Ravens hosting the Steelers. And there was a bit of controversy in this game.

Check it out, third quarter, Jacoby Jones is going to break free on the kickoff return. But look, Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, gets in his way on the field. Now, Tomlin was looking the other way watching the jumbtron. The refs could have given Jones a touchdown, but they didn't even throw a flag. Now, the fight could have been costly.

But the Ravens ended up winning this game, the Steelers' last chance on a two-point conversion will go incomplete, 22-20. Baltimore -- in that game.

The Lions record nine-game Thanksgiving losing streak is now over. Detroit dominated the Packers winning 40-10. Packers offense was awful in this one. They gained just 126 yards. The Lions, Ndamukong Suh was on his best behavior. No stomping or kicking from him this year. He even gently sacked that guy, you see right here, for a safety in the third quarter.

In the afternoon match-up, the Dallas Cowboys came from behind to beat the Raiders, 31-24. Running back, DeMarco Murray, had a career day scoring three touchdowns. This was the first time since 1999 that both the Cowboys and the Lions won on Thanksgiving Day.

All right, guys. Here are some great news. Less than two weeks after crashing during a training run, Olympic skier, Lindsey Vonn, is already back on the slope.

PEREIRA: Already?

SCHOLES: Yes. Look, she posted this selfie on Facebook yesterday with the caption, "Happy to be on the mountain doing what I love, skiing." And Vonn partially tore her reconstructed ACL in that crash a little over a week ago. But guys, I guess, it looks like recovery is going great. She's actually going to try to compete next week.

PEREIRA: These athletes are made of different stuff. I had ACL reconstruction, and I wasn't doing anything after two weeks but sitting on the couch.

LEMON: Can we go back to the Packers and Lions?

PEREIRA: You love that game.

LEMON: That game was amazing, because -- I mean, you could sit there -- you could fall asleep on that game and you didn't miss much, right?

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: It was the lions got like 20 yards in every play and the Packers barely got 20 yards all day.

PEREIRA: Overall, a good day of sports. Andy, you should take the weekend off, my friend.

SCHOLES: You know what, I might do that.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: All right. Good to talk to you. Thanks for joining us on this Friday.

LEMON: See you, sir.

SCHOLES: Have a good one.

PEREIRA: You, too.

We're at the top of the hour, which means it is time for top news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What, eight hours of shopping?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it was all night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Eight hours or so.

PEREIRA: Mall madness. Stores open and chaos as Black Friday shoppers storm in. The battle for deals caught on tape. New this hour, the CEOs of Wal-Mart and Macy's join us live. What are they expecting this holiday season?

LEMON: Taking the stand. A nasty court battle involving Nigella Lawson and her husband heats up. New allegations flying after he accused her of doing cocaine and he may be on the stand today.

FLORES: Fined. Brooklyn Net's coach, Jason Kidd, caught on tape allegedly spilling soda to delay the game. The league is punishing him this morning but, is it fair?

PEREIRA: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: What you need to know --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This website is going to get fixed, and we are going to be signing people up.

ANNOUNCER: What you just have to see --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were fighting, trying to get those deals. Some ladies just started going at it.

ANNOUNCER: This is "NEW DAY" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Good morning. Welcome back to "NEW DAY". It is Friday, the 29th of November, and it is seven o'clock in the east. Chris and Kate obviously are off.

LEMON: No, it's me.

PEREIRA: You've been sun tanning. Don Lemon and Rosa Flores are both here.

LEMON: Don't forget about my jacket.

PEREIRA: And the jacket is here.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: It looks like there's a hash tag on Twitter --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Designed to wake you and me --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: How are you feeling?

PEREIRA: I'm feeling good. I think we all have full bellies. We might have some full dishwashers and apparently the stores are full. Did you see this madness? Black Friday madness really has begun. I want to show you video. Chaos breaking out at one store. Folks getting aggressive. Police having to interject as they try to get the perfect deal.

Many stores didn't even wait for Black Friday. They opened up last night. Macy's one of them, breaking a 155-year tradition of being open on Thanksgiving. CNN Zain Asher is at the retailer's famous flagship store in New York City. I have a sneaking suspicion, Zain, you might have done some shopping in between and you like it.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I actually did not. I've been standing here and I've just been talking to shoppers, actually. And I asked a Macy's executive about the decision to open yesterday on Thanksgiving. He said, listen, last year, we opened at midnight and we had 11,000 shoppers and they already had bags from other stores. So, for the retailers, it's about keeping up with the competition. For the shoppers, it's about getting those deals before they run out. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER (voice-over): Just hours into the holiday shopping season kicking off, the hunt for bargains is becoming a contact sport. Many taking advantage of some retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving night, some even foregoing the holiday dinner. Tempers flaring at this Wal-Mart with shoppers clamoring for a bargain on tablets in Virginia.

Just hours after its signature parade, Macy's broke out the barricade for hundreds of hungry shoppers starving for a deal at their flagship store in New York City. Across the country, long lines are welcome sights for retailers hoping to cash in on the holidays.