columbus day, a lot of people are enjoying the long weekend. we ll have to get our shot of the statue of christopher columbus on columbus circle this morning. there it is. christopher columbus on this columbus day here in new york city. tanks, missiles, and thousands of soldiers welcoming a dictator in waiting. north korean leader kim jong-il and son, the heir apparent participating in the biggest celebrations in the country s history, and our alina cho was one of the few foreign journalists allowed in. in chile, the final step underway to bring the 33 trapped miners to the surf, rescue crews finished drilling an escape shaft. the men could be brought to the surface as early as wednesday. we re live in chile with the latest developments this morning. also a mass overdose at a college party in massachusetts. police say it appears that young women were targeted and their drinks spiked with a powerful drug.
rescue workers are finishing up work on an escape shaft that will finally hopefully pull up the 33 trapped chilean miners and bring them up to freedom after like two months, and on wednesday, the miners will be carefully lifted up one by one in a tiny capsule that s slightly wider than a man s shoulders. doctors will be there to monitor their physical and mental health. meanwhile, the men understandably are so anxious, they ve been apparently arguing over who has been the last one out after more than two months and this is the live shot of the scene down there in chile. that s great. the government says it will not appeal a judge s decision to ban a key witness from testifying at the first civilian trial for a guantanamo bay detainee. federal prosecutors say they don t want to further delay the trial and will be ready to begin tomorrow. ghalani is on trial for suspected role of the bombing of two embassies in africa back in 1998. sir richard branson s enterprise
as far as finding the body, all we can do is hope. mexican police named two brothers who are allegedly members of the zeta drug cartel as suspects. they are already wanted by law. at 8:00 a.m. eastern, we ll be talking to david s wife, she s been here before about the latest developments in the case. after two months, crews put the finishing touches on an escape shaft to finally pull out those 33 trapped chilean miners. really, this wednesday, actually the men are going to be hoisted up one by one and it s a really narrow capsule. doctors will be on hand to monitor their health. interesting way this whole situation is going to unfold. meanwhile, the miners are so anxious, they ve been apparently fighting over who will be the last one out. not surprisingly. and those are your headlines for this beautiful monday. they built like a family atmosphere down there and they re all pulling for each other and they re going to wait around the exit hatch until they re all out. they re not goin
democrats should be happy that the president s out there loan owning it, owning the issue. do we know if it resonates in 9.6% unemployment? chuck, we ll move on to chile where the stage is finally set far dramatic rescue months in the making. crews are putting the finishing touches on an escape shaft into the collapsed mine. the final step before hauling the trapped men to the surface one by one. nbc s kerry sanders is in copiapo, chile. it s a waiting game as the final days are upon us. reporter: yes. and a lot of excitement, electricity as it counts down here to what looks like is going to be a wednesday rescue. the biggest step that s taken so far after discovering that the men were alive, all 33 of them after the first 17 days is the complete breakthrough of the shaft down to the men. that came on saturday morning. take a look at this picture. this is a camera down below and you actually see it breaking through.
he was the only person onboard. light at the end of the tunnel for the 33 chilean miners who may be just days away from freedom, fame and perhaps fortune. this morning engineers finished reinforcing an escape shaft more than 2,000 feet long. and now the difficult ascent stands in the way possibly as early as wednesday. the miner who is have been trapped more than two months will be hoisted to the surface during a heroing 20-minute ride in a tiny 28-inch wide capsule. kerry sanders is in chile. and drama unfolding, i understand, not only down below the surface, butç on the surfa as well, kerry. reporter: well, there s a lot of excitement. it looks like all the check boxes have been checked and that things are falling into place. and the teams here have a high degree of confidence that things are going to work because they have put the sleeve down there. they were going to initially do it deeper, but they only went