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Iraq: Americans Kidnapped; Symbolic Visit to Vietnam for President Bush; Presidential Sweepstakes; TomKat Wedding Frenzy; Laughter Clubs For Good Health

Aired November 17, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And first this hour, our developing story, the search for five contractors kidnapped in southern Iraq.

With the latest, CNN's Arwa Damon live in Baghdad -- Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, just to update you on what is going on, let's start with the incident that happened today. Now, what we have been able to determine is that another private security company called Secure A Force (ph) was attacked in the vicinity of Basra by what is believed to have been either Iraqi police or militia masquerading as Iraqi police.

What we do know is that one of the British contractors was wounded. He was medevac'd by the British military which responded to the attack, arriving after the firefight had ended. One of the main representatives from that company telling us that the fate of the other four in that particular incident is right now unknown.

This follows an attack that happened yesterday, again, in the vicinity of Basra, where four U.S. contractors and one Austrian contractor were kidnapped. They were working for the Crescent Security Group on a convoy going from Kuwait to Tallil Airbase, where just outside of Basra, their convoy came upon a fake checkpoint manned by, according to a military source, local militiamen, again, masquerading as Iraqi police.

Fourteen individuals were kidnapped. Of those, nine released. They were the drivers, all of South Asian origin. They were released a short distance away from where the attack took place. Still in captivity, the four U.S. contractors and the one Austrian contractor.

Now, there were earlier reports that Iraqi police had managed to free two American hostages. We have not been able to confirm that. In fact, the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. military and the security companies are not able to confirm that any U.S. hostages have been released -- Don.

LEMON: All right.

Arwa Damon live in Baghdad.

Thank you so much for that report. We have more on this developing story. Someone who's been there joining us now by telephone, American Roy Hallums, a former contract worker, was a captive in Iraq for more than 300 days, ending in September of 2005. He's in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

Thanks for joining us today, Mr. Hallums. When you hear this report, what are your thoughts?

ROY HALLUMS, FORMER HOSTAGE: Well, I just recall back to when I was kidnapped and the situation I was in. I mean, you're just totally terrified in the beginning because you don't know what's going on. And usually, like in my case, they -- you're blindfolded and have nylon zip ties or these nylon straps put on your hands. So...

LEMON: And then during this, aren't they forcing you to make comments to the camera so that they can send it out?

HALLUMS: Well, yes. In my case, after I had been held for a while, they wrote a script that they wanted me to say. And they did a video of it, and it was released, yes.

LEMON: All right. Let's go back to your ordeal.

You worked for food services contractor, right? I imagine sitting at your desk in a heavily secured area in Baghdad when four men just stormed into the place? Why do you think -- go ahead.

HALLUMS: That's right. I was in the office when four people came in.

LEMON: Why do you think they picked you?

HALLUMS: Well, I don't know that they picked me personally. I think they knew this was an office, and I think they knew that they could get some equipment. And if there were people in the office, they could be kidnapped and held for ransom. I don't know that they knew if I, in particular, were there.

LEMON: All right. So you were moved around quite a bit during that time. You were in an underground bunker of sorts, you were in a farmhouse outside of Baghdad.

Describe the 10 months of captivity that you went through.

HALLUMS: Well, the first two months, I was moved every week. Every Friday they would move us to a different location. And then after the end of the second month, they took me to a farmhouse and had a hole under the floor, and I was kept down there for the following eight and a half months. And that's where I was finally rescued.

LEMON: Did you have any concept of time during all this? This 10 months, a long time.

HALLUMS: Yes, it is a long time.

LEMON: Yes. HALLUMS: Yes. I mean, I started counting the days, and I would keep track of the days. And the Muslim holy day is Friday, and on Fridays at 11:00, you could hear the speakers at the mosque where the imams were calling people to the mosque.

So I would know each Friday. And every few months, I would ask one of the guards the date and they would tell me. And I'd correct my counting again.

LEMON: Let me ask you this. How would you -- how did you get through this? It's a twofold question. How did you get through this, and what advice can you offer families who are going through the same thing?

HALLUMS: Well, I just -- I got through it by dealing with it day by day. I mean, you can't think about, you know, a week or a month ahead of time. Or I couldn't. I would just deal with it day by day.

And for the families, it's really tough. I mean, I know for my family it was. And that was one of the main things I worried about when I was being held is how concerned my family would be.

LEMON: Right.

HALLUMS: And it's just the not knowing.

LEMON: Right.

HALLUMS: And all I can do is give my sympathy to the family and support and tell them to, you know, just do the best they can.

LEMON: And I would imagine keep the faith, right?

HALLUMS: Yes.

LEMON: Thank you so much, Mr. Hallums, for joining us.

HALLUMS: OK.

LEMON: Roy Hallums from Pinehurst, North Carolina, was in captivity in Iraq for more than 300 days.

Thanks again.

HALLUMS: OK. Thank you.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get straight to the newsroom. T.J. Holmes working details on a developing story -- T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Kyra, we're still keeping an eye on that fire at the building close to the airport in St. Louis. This is Lambert International Airport, where they had a fire that started about 11:30 local time at a power plant building there close to the airport, just west of the airport.

And according to airport officials, they are reporting to the AP that sure enough, some of their power was down for a short time at the airport. And right now some of that power still being restored. Most of it back up, but some of it still being -- being restored.

This caused a few problems, of course, at the airport as far as processing passengers and whatnot. And according to the local fire chief there, telling us that planes have not been taking off, but they are being allowed to still land at Lambert International Airport.

Also, American Airlines telling us that their computers were down a short time ago. Don't know if those are back up and running. But this is starting to cause some problems and some delays at the airport.

Don't know how long those delays will be and how long they might last into the afternoon and the evening, but if you're going through this area, you might want to brace yourself for this and be ready for what you might experience when you -- when you get there.

But again -- also, I need to tell that you one person we saw, at least, has been injured, carried off in a stretcher from -- from that building. But just something we're keeping an eye on here, and the delays and issues they're having right now at the international airport there in St. Louis -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll thank it.

Thanks, T.J.

Comparisons are unavoidable, and for President Bush uncomfortable. Still, with the U.S. mired in an unpopular war in Iraq, it's hard to escape the symbolism of Mr. Bush's maiden visit to Vietnam.

CNN's Elaine Quijano is with the president in Hanoi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Within hours of arriving in Hanoi to attend an Annual Economic Summit of Pacific Rim Nations, President Bush made clear he prefers to look ahead.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Vietnam is, you know, is an exciting place. It's a place with an enormous future.

QUIJANO: Yet he knows the symbolism of his visit here is rooted in the past and present conflict.

BUSH: I thought a lot about what it was like, what my impressions of Vietnam were growing up. And, you know, and here I am in this country today. And it's -- I guess my answer is very hopeful.

QUIJANO (voice-over): After launch with Australia's prime minister, he raised the issue that will ultimately define his presidency, Iraq. When asked if Vietnam held lessons for the debate on Iraq, he answered yes. BUSH: One lesson is, is that we tend to want there to be instant success in the world, and the task in Iraq will take awhile. We'll succeed unless we quit.

QUIJANO: Quitting Vietnam still haunts the United States. And though the White House rejects comparisons, how to proceed in Iraq could haunt the U.S. for years to come.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, with the president in Hanoi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And an interesting footnote to the president's visit. Among the sights he saw today in Hanoi was a lake, the same lake where Senator John McCain was captured when his Navy plane was shot down in 1967. McCain was a prisoner in Vietnam for almost six years.

LEMON: The 2008 presidential race -- for the first time since 1928, neither the sitting president nor the vice president will be seeking his party's nomination. George W. Bush can't and Dick Cheney won't. And you don't have to go quite as far back to find an election with no presidents or VPs on either ticket.

When you think about that, watch Candy Crowley's report on a certain Republican senator's campaign to win friend and influence with his fellow conservatives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain filled out the paperwork for a presidential exploratory committee today, but in word and deed he's way past exploring.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Commonsense conservatives believe that the government that governs least governs best.

CROWLEY: He's testing out themes, and it is not just what he's saying, but who he's saying it to, conservative groups, AKA, the people who vote in Republican primaries, the people upset with George Bush for, among other things, decidedly nonconservative spending, and the people suspicious that McCain's maverick impulses make him an unreliable ally.

McCain is buffing up his creds, soothing the qualms.

MCCAIN: We were elected to reduce the size of government and enlarge the sphere of free and private enterprise. We increased the size of government, in the false hope that we could bribe the public into keeping us in office.

(APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: And the people punished us.

CROWLEY: In conservative world, there is but one godfather to the movement. MCCAIN: Let's invite a genuine contest of ideas within our party and with the other party, for conservatism, as Ronald Reagan told us, is not a narrow ideology.

CROWLEY: What does it say when a speech mentions Ronald Reagan 10 times and George Bush not at all, except by inference?

Without naming names, McCain criticized elements of U.S. military policy, the war in Iraq, and the aftermath of Katrina.

(on camera): What you can say about speeches like these is that the Bush era is fading and John McCain looks back to the Reagan years to launch himself into the future.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. Still wondering about the last presidential election that did not include an incumbent president or vice president? Dwight Eisenhower versus Adlai Stevenson, 1952.

PHILLIPS: Change majority to minority as voters did to congressional Republicans 10 days ago, and you've got John Boehner's new title. This morning, Republicans in the House chose the lame-duck majority leader to lead them in the Democratic-run Congress -- or Democratic-run come January. Boehner of Ohio says he's eager to get to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER-ELECT: I'm pleased to introduce the new Republican team who is going to work together to earn our way back into the majority in two years. I know in my case, it's an honor to be chosen by your colleagues to be their leader. I pledged to them to do everything I could to bring our team together and to work hard so that we can earn our way back into the majority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Boehner rose to House majority leader when Tom DeLay resigned in February. He's been in Congress since 1991.

Now, before entering politics, he started his own packaging business. He's married, and today, believe it or not, is his 57th birthday.

LEMON: Face to face with disaster. People in a tiny North Carolina town return to what's left of their storm-ravaged neighborhoods. The governor's there, too. We'll take you back to Riegelwood ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: And they say the third time's a charm. Is Tom Cruise hoping a special ceremony will seal this deal? We're checking out weddings Scientology style straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Pouring rain and flood alerts from Maine into Canada. Remnants of that storm that destroyed so much in the South, then drenched much of the Mid-Atlantic. The heavy rain and winds have knocked out power to thousands of people, washed out roads and flooded homes and businesses.

Hundreds of folks, including this SUV driver, had to be rescued when flash flooding caught them by surprise. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing in parts of upstate New York either.

The heartbreak of disaster. Survivors of a deadly tornado pick through the rubble now, searching for anything that reminds them of home. Their governor offering comfort and promises of help.

CNN's Rick Sanchez on the ground in Riegelwood, North Carolina, with a firsthand look at the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, when we talk to the sheriff, he tells us that the homes in this area were disintegrated. And you really don't get a sense of it until you come up real close to what used to be houses in this area.

This is part of that mobile home park that we've been telling you about. This is where one particular couple lived. Both of them died as a result of this tornado.

And let me show you something else. I'm going to step back into the frame and direct you into the area where unfortunately the bodies of the folks that lived here were found.

They were found in that wooded area that you see right over there. That is, according to police, 200 yards away where they were actually found. That's two football fields. They say that's how much effect or how strong the winds were that actually picked up, unfortunately, not just the parts of these houses, but some of the people that were in them at the time.

They're calling this the absolute worst natural disaster in the history of Columbus County. And, of course, there's also the issue of the sirens and the fact that there wasn't one, which is not uncommon in a lot of rural areas. But obviously, had there been a siren, at least it would have given the folks a chance who live in homes like this a chance to at least get themselves up and perhaps seek some kind of cover before this killer tornado.

Kyra, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, just a short time ago Governor Mike Easley agreed that the state needs to look at Riegelwood's tornado warning system. He's seen the damage for himself. And while he doubts it's enough to qualify for federal assistance, he says the state will do all it can. The governor also urges people to help the town through donations to either the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.

LEMON: So what is the weekend outlook? Stormy? Sunny? How about chilly.

One man with the answer.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: We have a sad loss to bring to you now from the world of college football. CNN has confirmed that longtime Michigan coach Bo Schembechler has died. Schembechler collapsed this morning while taping a television show on the eve of Michigan's biggest game in years. The second-ranked Wolverines play arch rival and top-ranked Ohio State tomorrow afternoon.

Bo Schembechler won 234 games in his 26 years as head coach. He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year seven times.

Once again, legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler dead at the age of 77.

PHILLIPS: Well, it was a brutal attack. A young Hispanic teen beaten, doused with bleach, sodomized with a pipe. One teen now convicted, another awaiting trial next month. We'll have the update straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Former Enron CEO Ken Lay died more than four months ago. So why is Congress still debating his case?

Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to explain that one.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, this next story broke hearts and turned stomachs. An Hispanic boy beaten to a pulp and sodomized at a party in a suburb of Houston last spring. Today an 18-year-old white supremacist faces a possibility of life in prison.

More from CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLOS LEON, ATTORNEY FOR VICTIM'S FAMILY: It's a great, uplifting situation today. I think it's just step one. We're excited, we're happy.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): The attorney for the victim's family reacting to Thursday's guilty verdict. Eighteen-year- old David Henry Tuck was convicted of aggravated sexual assault for attacking an Hispanic teenager during a party in April. Prosecutors said and Tuck, and his alleged accomplice, 17-year- old Keith Turner, beat the boy, kicking him with steel-toed boots, dousing him with bleach, and burning him with cigarettes, sodomizing him with the end of a plastic umbrella pole. They said Tuck, an alleged white supremacist, screamed racial slurs during the savage attack.

The victim told jurors this week, at Tuck's trial, he doesn't remember the attack that nearly killed him. He spent more than three months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. He has had maybe 30 surgeries.

LEON: This sort of a verdict, this sort of confirmation that what happened was wrong and should be punished I think will help him emotionally and physically.

S. O'BRIEN: Back in July, I visited with the boys' parents in Spring, Texas.

(on camera): Do you think this was a hate crime?

MRS. GALVIN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Oh, I know it's a hate crime.

S. O'BRIEN: How do you know?

GALVIN: How do you put a Swastika on somebody or burn them? You would have to hate someone to hurt somebody like that.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Prosecutors, though, decided not to charge the suspects with a hate crime because it would be harder to prove, and wouldn't add to the punishment. Now, after getting a conviction, the victim's family is cautiously optimistic.

LEON: We still have the punishment phase, and we still have another trial in a month, so it's a good first step.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And that was CNN's Soledad O'Brien. The other teen charged, 17-year-old Keith Turner, will be tried next month.

PHILLIPS: So what exactly happens in a Scientology ceremony? Ahead from the NEWSROOM, we'll ask the president of the Church of Scientology in New York, the Reverend John Carmichael joins us live as Hollywood celebrates the marriage of Tom and Katie this weekend. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Future generations will surely envy the fact that we lived in the golden age of TomKat. While Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes prepare to say their I-dos and take their vows, our Sibila Vargas leafs through their celebrity scrapbook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the moment this first shot of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes surfaced in Italy in April 2005, their relationship has been the stuff of international headlines. The pairing of the then 26-year-old actress with the 42-year-old superstar stunned many including "People Magazine's" Mike Fleeman.

VARGAS (on camera): I mean, it certainly seemed that it came out of left field.

MIKE FLEEMAN, "PEOPLE MAGAZINE": It did. It did. There was some speculation about his love life, he had broken up with Penelope Cruz. But all of a sudden, Katie Holmes of all people?

VARGAS: Some questioned the timing of the romance. Cruise was heavily promoting "War of the Worlds" while Holmes was set to hit the big screen in "Batman Begins."

KATIE HOLMES, ACTRESS: It's just been so exciting. I love him.

VARGAS: Are you surprised, though, at the scrutiny you've experienced?

HOLMES: I don't really care. I mean, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

VARGAS: Then there was the now infamous Tom Cruise/Oprah sofa moment.

FLEEMAN: That sofa incident cost him millions of dollars.

VARGAS: Why do you think that was, though? I mean, because, I mean, there's a guy professing his love for his woman.

FLEEMAN: Well, it was a little much. And it was a little much in the context of Tom Cruise, a man who we knew very little about, who was very circumspect about expressing his feelings and now he's hopping up and down on a sofa.

VARGAS: But Cruise was just getting started. At yet another press event for his movie, this time in Paris, Cruise announced the couple was engaged. But the headlines were far from over. Just six months into their romance, the couple confirmed Holmes was pregnant.

FLEEMAN: This went from what a lot of people thought might be a publicity stunt to something a little bit strange, to now a legitimate lasting, deep relationship. They're starting a family.

VARGAS: Suri Cruise was born April 18th, 2006. But the couple's reluctance to bring their new daughter out in public created a whole new media frenzy.

FLEEMAN: We saw Britney's baby. Where's Tom's baby? Is it not real? It's like the baby's not real until it appears on the cover of a magazine. VARGAS: And then finally, she did. The couple allowed famed photographer Annie Leibowitz to shoot Suri for the October 2006 cover of "Vanity Fair."

FLEEMAN: And then when the baby was on a magazine cover, people were, like, my gosh, they're exploiting the child. Such is Tom Cruise. Everything he is does is the subject of debate, speculation, mystery and intrigue.

VARGAS: Now cruise and Holmes' relationship comes full circle with a wedding in Italy. It's the place where this first made their love public. But if history serves as any indication, it will hardly be the last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Sibila Vargas joins us now from Hollywood. Sibila, I'm sure parting ways, the last thing on their minds, but there's got to be a prenup in involved in all of this.

VARGAS: Yes, you know, it's interesting that you ask that because there hasn't been confirmation of a prenup. So, it's kind of hard to imagine that they wouldn't have one, you know? All Tom has to do is look at lessons learned from Paul McCartney and Britney Spears which have been all over the papers. Paul didn't have a prenup with Heather Mills, and a lot of people are actually saying that could cost him a pretty penny.

Now, Britney, on the other hand, by most accounts has an ironclad prenup in with her soon-to-be ex Kevin Federline. A lot of people are saying good for her.

But tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," we'll be getting into the nitty-gritty of a possible prenup for Tom and Katie. How much should Tom be willing to give up and how much should Katie demand? And how awkward is it to agree to all these kinds of deals when marriage is at stake? The fascinating details on TV's most provocative entertainment news program, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," 11:00 p.m. Eastern on headline prime. Thank you.

LEMON: And, of course, conventional wisdom, every expert we've had on here says get a prenup, prenup, prenup in. Sibila Vargas.

VARGAS: It's sort of strange, though, you've got to admit.

LEMON: Yes, it is. Thank you very much.

VARGAS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's a lot you probably don't know about the Church of Scientology, especially about Scientology weddings. But with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes about to make it official, we decided to get the professional.

Reverend John Carmichael joins us now. He's the president of the Church of Scientology in New York. Good to see you, Reverend Carmichael.

REV. JOHN CARMICHAEL, CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY: Good afternoon, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the ceremony. We actually put together what it's going to look like and where everybody stands and sits. It looks pretty much the same as any other wedding. But I want to ask you about the ARC, the three elements that make up the understanding, the affinity, the reality, the communication. Tell me about these three elements.

CARMICHAEL: Well, Kyra, the basic difference, I think, in a Scientology ceremony than from many others is that it offers practical advice, if you like, to the couple. Affinity, reality and communication, together, make up understanding. Affinity meaning liking, or love; reality, the solid things in life, the things we agree upon; and communication, of course, interchange.

Those three together make up understanding. And if you can maintain understanding in a relationship, then you have one that will continue, as we say in the ceremony, everliving, evernew.

So the couple is asked to make an agreement that they will never go to sleep on a broken triangle -- this triangle of affinity, reality and communication -- but that they will heal any breach using communication.

PHILLIPS: It's interesting. Within the ceremony, you give a lot of advice in addition to having the bride and groom make promises. Why is that? You talk about never going to bed angry, and there's a number of other words of wisdom. Why so much advice?

CARMICHAEL: Well, I think that this reflects the nature of Scientology. Scientology is not a religion of blind faith. It's a religion of practical answers, answers people can use to make their life better, to make their life healthier, to live lives of more self- respect and respect for others. So it's a different kind of religion. And in that sense, the ceremony is a little different.

PHILLIPS: Is God involved?

CARMICHAEL: God is absolutely involved in Scientology. L. Ron Hubbard said in his 1951 book "Science of Survival" that no society accepts the most thoroughly depraved and expiring ones would attempt to deny the existence of a supreme being. In the wedding ceremony, we are -- we tell the couple really, though, that it is up to them primarily to maintain the relationship.

PHILLIPS: Why is there a bust of L. Ron Hubbard within the wedding party there in the ceremony?

CARMICHAEL: L. Ron Hubbard is the author of the ceremonies that are mostly done, and, of course, it's a ceremony of the Church of Scientology. L. Ron Hubbard founded the religion of Scientology.

PHILLIPS: What does the Scientology cross represent?

CARMICHAEL: The Scientology cross represents -- as you may know, the cross predated Christianity, and in this case, it represents the eight dynamics, the urges to survive. In Scientology, we see that people are trying to survive for themselves.

They're trying to survive as part of a family. They're surviving through groups of various sorts. They want to survive as part of mankind, through all living things, through all physical things, through spirits, and ultimately, they have an urge to survive as part of the supreme being.

In our viewpoint, a person has to go through these stages, if you like, to develop a full understanding of themselves, takes some responsibility for their family and groups and so forth before they can truly understand the creator, the supreme being.

PHILLIPS: And, you know, Christianity believes in, you know, the meaning behind the cross for Christians and that Jesus died on the cross. Do you in any way see similarities between Hubbard and Jesus Christ? I see a lot of similarities in symbols. Is there a similarity between those two individuals to you?

CARMICHAEL: Well, L. Ron Hubbard was an artist. He was an explorer. He was a writer and eventually a person who discovered practical techniques that people can try and test for themselves and see if they work.

People believe in Jesus. And friends of mine are Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims. They have a separate set of beliefs. L. Ron Hubbard is a person who developed methods that people can use, and they can see for themselves whether these are useful methods, and Scientology is one of the fastest growing religions in the world precisely because of the practical answers.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you about those methods. I mean, the church has a reputation of being very secretive. Why is that?

CARMICHAEL: Well, you know, I think it's because the world is large. Scientology is, in fact, the most wide-open religion that I can think of. The church here in Times Square is visited by more than 1,000 people a week just -- as I say, just in New York who want to find out about Scientology.

People who are interested in a subject and are willing to look at it for themselves are likely to be very interested in Scientology. And people who want to have someone else do their thinking are not likely to be very interested in Scientology.

PHILLIPS: I'm curious. What do Scientologists believe about or feel about sex before marriage and the fact that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a baby before they got married. What are the beliefs?

CARMICHAEL: You know, Scientology's not designed to dictate to people about what their personal lives should be like. Scientology's designed to help individuals survive better, to be able to respect themselves and others and help others. So the main thrust of Scientology is helping people be able to choose for themselves ethical relationships.

PHILLIPS: Reverend John Carmichael, appreciate your time today.

CARMICHAEL: My pleasure.

LEMON: Well, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, check out this video we just got from Fresno, California. Police were called to a Best Buy store because last night, that's where a virtual stampede -- look at that -- broke out ahead of the debut of Sony's PlayStation 3. Two people were arrested in this. Fortunately, no one hurt but, unfortunately for those folks here, the store only had 34 of the coveted consoles in stock.

OK. Want a good laugh?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MADAN KATARIA, LAUGHTER CLUB CREATOR: I was very a serious physician practicing medicine in India. I never laughed too much because I don't have a great sense of humor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now this doctor's serious discovery has people laughing around the world. The story ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: And when the walls come tumbling down, they've got to be up to the task. A look at an elite team of rescuers straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Covering the angles, uncovering the details. See for yourself in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Well, if a major disaster strikes, they may be your last hope when all hope seems lost. Their specialty, search and rescue.

CNN's senior correspondent Allan Chernoff reports on an elite group out of New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Disaster scenario -- an earthquake strikes and these rescue workers search for survivors in a collapsed home, smash through a wall to get to an elevator shaft and work against the clock to save a woman pinned under a car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just slide him out.

CHERNOFF: And another, overcome by toxic fumes in an underground tunnel, but this isn't a real disaster. It's part of an annual exercise conducted by the New York Urban Search and Rescue Team, an elite corps of more than 200 firemen, police officers and medics specifically trained to save people trapped after natural or man-made disasters.

JOE DOWNEY, TASK FORCE LEADER: No, we're dealing with people, we have fake live victims here -- fake live victims -- that are calling out, I need help, I'm in here.

CHERNOFF: Team members have gone on rescue missions outside of New York. They helped in New Orleans after Katrina. This year, the drill took place at what was once New York's famed Concord Resort. Here, digging for victims in a tunnel outside the pool where the movie "Dirty Dancing" was shot.

Rescuing someone trapped underneath a car is delicate work, that, if done correctly, could save a life that might have otherwise been lost, because even if the victim survives, he may suffer what is called crush syndrome where circulation is partly cut off and toxins build up in the limp muscles, potentially proving deadly later. How to save the victim? Start medical treatment immediately.

GLENN ASAEDA, MEDICAL TEAM MANAGER: Providing the treatment right there on the scene, the chance of survival is much greater than in the past.

CHERNOFF: Team managers say the exercise helps sharpen their skills and allows them to make good on their advice to anyone trapped after a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remain calm and we'll get to you.

CHERNOFF: Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, she was 5'8 and 88 pounds. A look to die for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): She would say, mother, don't be mad at me. I don't want to eat. The food won't go down. I should have quarreled with her but I didn't say anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: When the need to be thin turns deadly. That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It started in India, now it has spread around the world. Thousands are coming to a highly contagious epidemic. Laughter. It's no joke.

Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with the final installment of his weeklong series on happiness. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, big breath in.

(LAUGHTER)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every morning on Laguna Beach, California, you'll find a group gathered on the sand, laughing. There are no jokes, no punch lines. They're laughing for no reason at all.

Before you write this off as just another off the wall California fad you should know laughter yoga was the brainchild of Indian doctor Madan Kataria. He was doing research for an article called "Laughter, the Best Medicine," when he got the idea.

KATARIA: I was a very serious physician practicing medicine in India. I never laughed too much because I don't have a great sense of humor. It just came from up, and suddenly 4:00 in the morning, I got this idea. I went out and started laughing out loud.

GUPTA: What began with five people in a Mumbai park in 1995 has spread to more than 5,000 laughter clubs in 50 countries.

KATARIA: You don't need any sense of humor to laugh. You don't need to be happy in order to laugh. In fact, when you laugh, you develop your sense of humor. You develop a joy within yourself.

GUPTA: More than that, Kataria says the breathing and laughing or laughter yoga will improve your health, even if you have to fake the laughter. It's a claim backed up by Lee Berk at Loma Linda University. Berk has found laughter decreases stress hormones, improves our immune system and boosts endorphins. Those are the brain chemicals associated with the runner's high.

Dr. Kataria, who began the laughter club movement, says people who laugh are, like the Dalai Lama, living in the moment.

KATARIA: Joyfulness makes you feel good immediately. It's now, and that is what children do and I want all -- everybody in this world to be like a child now. Just now.

(LAUGHTER)

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, Sunday night, Sanjay has a full hour long special, "Happiness and Your Health," a closer look at the surprising mind/body connection. It's starting at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN. In the meantime, you can go to our Web site, CNN.com/happiness.

And the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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