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United States to Step Up Military Aid to Lebanon; News Conference on Chicago Bank Robbery; CNN Heroes; Poisoned Spy Case

Aired May 22, 2007 - 15:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: And good afternoon. I'm Melissa Long, in today for Kyra Phillips.

Record prices at the pump -- you have seen them -- record profits for the oil companies. What is wrong with this picture?

LEMON: Well, some says it's just free market, supply and demand. Others say it's price-gouging. But most of us just want to know if there's any relief in sight.

Pull over. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LONG: First this hour, police in Chicago are searching for three bank robbers who left three people wounded and in critical condition this afternoon.

Keith Oppenheim is following this story.

Keith, what do you have?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Melissa.

I'm across the street from a bank called Illinois Federal Service Savings and Loan. Let's zoom in and see if we can get a few of all the police officers who are on the scene investigating a bank robbery that started, they say, at 9:30 this morning.

Three suspects, we're told, in disguise came into the bank. We're also told there was gunfire between one of the guards, and, as a result of that gunfire, three people injured. The guard who fired his weapon, as well as a teller and a customer, they are in serious to critical condition.

Now, the police who spoke to us told us that the bad guys got away with a small amount of money.

More details now from Chicago Police Deputy Chief Mike Shields.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHAEL SHIELDS, CHICAGO DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF: We're looking for three offenders in dark clothing. They left in a late model maroon Buick or Olds with temporary Illinois license plates. We're working to find out where that -- where -- who that car belongs to, and trying -- we're going to be working with the FBI to enhance the temporary plate on that vehicle, so we can find out exactly who was -- exactly who was driving the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: Melissa, take a look at surveillance photos from the bank. This is a picture of the getaway car. We're told it's either a Buick or an Oldsmobile.

We're also being told that there's a $50,000 reward for the apprehension of these suspects from the FBI. And FBI agents think there might a similarity between this robbery and another one that happened in Chicago on May 10.

And, before I go, I just want to tell you, Melissa, that I was talking to a mom whose daughter was a teller in the bank when all this happened. She said, her daughter, 18 years old, a college kid, just on her second day of the job as a teller, and all this happens -- pretty frightening stuff.

LONG: Oh, absolutely.

I understand, according to the deputy chief earlier today, that the suspects may have been in the bank four to five minutes. So, did anybody happen to get a good description of them -- I don't know if they were in disguise at the time -- or anything that can really help police to find their guys?

OPPENHEIM: Well, they were in disguise, according to police.

They -- the police who spoke to us said they were not wearing masks. But it might be hard, in terms of the -- the people who were in the bank to get a good description of what they looked like. But the police have been interviewing people who were on the scene for quite a while after the incident occurred.

LONG: Keith Oppenheim outside that bank on the South Side of Chicago -- Keith, thank you.

LEMON: Happening right now, Congress is trying to figure out how to bring gas prices back down to earth, more competition for big oil, less thirsty vehicles, suing OPEC for price fixing, to name a few ideas on Capitol Hill.

Gas had been cheaper than it was in 1981, when you adjusted for inflation. Can't say that anymore. AAA says the national average has hit a record $3.20 per gallon. And the Lundberg Survey average tops the 1981 average by a nickel in today's money. AAA says there's only one state left with an average price below $3.

So, what in the world is going on here? Well, CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When drivers fill their tank at Chris's Cho gas station, Chris tells them, don't blame me for high gas prices.

CHRIS CHO, GAS STATION OWNER: I would blame the oil companies. I mean, if you just look at their profit statements, they're making lots of money.

CHERNOFF: Record amounts of money. The country's big three oil companies, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, raked in $72 billion of profit last year. Some members of Congress charge price- gouging is behind those profits.

SEN. BYRON DORGAN (D) NORTH DAKOTA: I find it kind of interesting that we keep talking about the marketplace as if it was a free market. Nothing could be further from a free market with respect to what's happening with oil.

CHERNOFF: A barrel of crude oil is actually a bit cheaper than it was this time last year, but oil companies say gas is more expensive because demand is high, while supply isn't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should be blaming the marketplace. They should be blaming the -- the supply and demand.

CHERNOFF: The nation's oil refineries are running well below capacity. Some critics charge, that is intentional. But refiners say they are doing necessary maintenance that was delayed because of Hurricane Katrina. And, in recent weeks, several refinery fires have caused output to be further reduced.

PAUL SANKEY, SENIOR ENERGY ANALYST, DEUTSCHE BANK: No company is stupid enough to try and make money by gouging the U.S. consumer. The simple fact is, they don't need to right now. Frankly, they're making so much money just by the nature of the market.

CHERNOFF: There could be more supply if there were more refineries, but no new ones have been built in decades. Oil companies blame that on tough environmental policies and the high cost of upgrading older facilities.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LONG: Seems like timing just could not be worse.

B.P. is forced to shut down some of its operations in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, because of a small leak. The shutdown will take 100,000 barrels of oil per day off the market. But analysts do not think the shutdown will affect the price of oil or gas. A B.P. official says they do hope to have it back up and running in just a few days. If you want to go green in New York City, what do you do? You go to Central Park, maybe an Irish pub. Pretty soon, you can also hail a taxi -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg announcing just last hour that all of the cabs in New York City will be hybrid vehicles by 2012. He says it will mean less pollution for the city and more savings for the drivers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: You know, changing our taxis to hybrid power is the key to this regulatory effort. And, as a result, by 2012, five years from now, New York City will, with a few exception for handicap accessible vehicles, have a fully hybrid taxi fleet.

It will be the largest, cleanest fleet of taxis anywhere on the planet. And, because taxis are so heavily used, the new standards will have the equivalent effect of removing 32,000 individually owned gas powered vehicles from our streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LONG: You can find out more about the greenie of Gotham coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Mayor Bloomberg talks with Wolf Blitzer about the hybrid taxi plan.

LEMON: From New York City to what folks call the second city, Chicago, a sad story happening this morning. We're preparing to get you to a news conference as soon as it happens. It should happen in about 10 minutes, 3:15 Eastern time, 2:15 Central.

The bank president, Illinois Services Federal Savings and Loan president, will hold a press conference -- as we have been telling you throughout the afternoon here on CNN, a bank employee, a security guard, and also civilian injured when three men came in, opened fire, and injured those three people. So, we're going to update you at 3:15 Eastern time, press conference happening in Chicago.

Three days of fighting, the Lebanese army on one side, Islamic militants -- caught in the middle, tens of thousands of refugees and the people trying to help them. The battle rages on in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

And CNN's Paula Newton is monitoring it all for us from Beirut -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Don, some new developments this evening.

We understand that thousands of refugees are actually trying to escape that camp. The Red Cross confirms that there's a little bit more than 2,000 already there. The U.N. and Red Cross officials confirm that they are expecting more than 10,000 overnight. That will be very good news to refugees, who have essentially felt like human shields, as that radical Islamic group, Fatah al-Islam, fights from inside the camp against the Lebanese army outside the camp. Add to that a very quiet night here in Beirut. That's in contrast to yesterday, where a car bomb went off. It's a very destabilizing situation here right now. And many people are concerned that what is going on to the north, in Tripoli, just an hour north of here, is impacting what is going on in the rest of the country. They are afraid that perhaps this type of a battle is triggering other cells within the country to destabilize the situation.

As I said, so far here in Beirut, all is quiet this evening, in contrast to what is going on in Tripoli. It seems that the refugees finally are getting a chance to take advantage of a very small lull in the fighting to try and get to another Palestinian refugee camp just to the south, where they will be safe and housed, and perhaps schools where the Red Cross and the U.N. can get aid to them, finally, after three long days -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Paula Newton, thank you for your report.

LONG: Now an army in need of ammo -- Lebanese troops have fired off countless bullets in their battle with the militants. And now they want more. And they are asking the U.S. for help.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Melissa, that's right.

CNN has learned that, literally overnight, the Lebanese government came to the Bush administration and said they need help for their troops in this emergency fighting going on in the north of the country.

What the Lebanese government is asking for is critical supplies of ammunition, armored vests, and protective helmets. Sources are telling CNN that the U.S. and other countries are looking urgently for those supplies and may try and get a cargo flight into Beirut Airport within the next 24 hours to bring those supplies to the Lebanese army.

You know, a lot of people may not realize it, but the U.S. already has had a military assistance program to the Lebanese military for about the last year, since the fighting there last summer, about $30 million of military assistance, some of it really basic equipment, things like Humvees, five-ton trucks, those critical ammunition supplies that Lebanon has needed for some time now, and even spare parts for helicopters.

Why such basic material? It's because part of the effort is simply to get the Lebanese army better able to move around its own country, engage in these security operations, and to be more seen by the people of Lebanon as the credible security force for that country, as opposed to Hezbollah or any of these other militant groups -- Melissa.

LONG: Basic materials, Barbara, but it just shows how important the success is of the Lebanese army to the U.S. Why is that? STARR: Well, you know, what U.S. commanders and what U.S. officials tell us is, you know, given the broader backdrop of the security and stability situation in the Middle East, Lebanon is vital. And, so, it is vital that their military be that credible security force.

As we see in this fighting going on, Fatah al-Islam, a group that is said to be inspired, if not affiliated, with al Qaeda, certainly thinks it's found a safe haven. The war last summer demonstrated that Hezbollah thought it had a safe haven in southern Lebanon.

Those are the kind of developments that the U.S. does not want to see. They want to see the Lebanese army in control of its own borders, in control of its own territory. So, making them more capable is definitely, they say, in the U.S. interests -- Melissa.

LONG: Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon -- Barbara, thank you.

LEMON: In Ankara, Turkey, a busy shopping district turns into chaos.

Ambulances rush to the scene after an explosion that killed at least five people and wounded more than 60. The prime minister calls the evening rush hour blast a terrorist bombing -- no word on who is behind it. Kurdish separatists and Islamic militants have claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Turkey.

LONG: Two-twelve in the afternoon in Chicago. The microphones are set. Cameras are ready. Now we're waiting to hear from the president of the bank there after a shooting this morning, three people injured, three people on the loose, after that robbery at the bank.

When this news conference gets under way, we will bring it to you live on CNN.

LEMON: And a smoking warning that has nothing to do with tobacco products. Ahead in the NEWSROOM: Atlanta wakes up to the danger from a distant fire.

LONG: The whale sounds didn't lure them. The banging pipes didn't scare them. So, now what? We will update the quest to reroute two stranded whales -- ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Fifteen past the hour.

Here are three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Three bank robbers on the loose in Chicago, and police are on the hunt. They say the robbers shot and wounded a security guard and teller and a customer at a South Side bank. They got away with only a small amount of money.

And we are standing by for a live news conference from the president of that Savings and Loan.

The U.S. plans to step up military aid to the Lebanese army, as Lebanese troops take on Islamic militants at a refugee camp for a third day. The Lebanese army says it urgently needs more ammo.

Meantime, a U.N. convoy brining aid to the refugees got caught in the crossfire, trapping relief workers in the camp.

Stormy weather is on the way. The government predicts this year's Atlantic hurricane season will be busier than usual, with up to 17 named storms. Up to 10 of them could become hurricanes.

LONG: Whales on the move -- scientists in California say a pair of wayward humpback whales seem to be heading back toward the ocean, just very slowly. The whales had made it close -- 20 miles closer to the coast before reaching a bridge over the river that halted their progress overnight.

Dan Simon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these two wayward whales just don't want to cooperate.

When they were spotted earlier this morning, near the town of Rio Vista, they were going the wrong direction. They are still about 50 miles from where they need to be in the Pacific Ocean.

So, at this point, experts really aren't sure what to do. We are told that they are going to turn to the pipe-banging technique. That is taking long pipes, putting them in the water, and just banging them with a hammer. Nobody likes the sound of that, including whales. So, they are hoping that might do the trick to get the whales going in the right direction.

When the whales were spotted last night near the Rio Vista Bridge, experts concluded that the traffic noise might be the problem. So, what did they do? They actually halted the traffic on the bridge. But that didn't work either -- so, at this point, these whales still quite a distance away from where they need to be.

We are on the whale watch, waiting to see what is going to happen.

Dan Simon, CNN, Marin County, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: The plot sickened and then killed former KGB agent -- a former KGB agent. Now, months later, London prepares to file charges and stirs up a diplomatic stew with Russia -- more intrigue straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: All right, a live picture there on the left of your screen, where we expect a press conference at any moment. You're looking at the pictures from that -- I guess you can call this devastating -- a devastating bank robbery this morning. Three people were injured.

The three suspects, who are armed -- and police are concerned about them, obviously -- they are on the loose.

We're waiting for a press conference. And there may be a couple of people who are going to speak here. We're thinking the president of this Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan will speak, as well as Chicago police. At any rate, whoever is speaking, it's going to happen within the next couple of minutes. And we will bring it to you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LONG: It seems like, over the last seven months, it's been Dow, Dow, more Dow. Meantime, another market average has quietly crept near record territory. And it could set a new high today.

Susan Lisovicz is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more on the S&P 500's recent run, why we should all care about it.

Hi, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Melissa.

Well, consider this sort of a stock market 101, if you will. We talk a lot about the Dow industrials, because it's the most prestigious of the major averages. But there are only 30 stocks in it. So, consider it like an elite little club. There are 30 stocks. They have a couple from pharmaceuticals, from manufacturing, from retail.

But the S&P 500 is 500 stocks, big-cap stocks, mostly American. They trade at major stock exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. And it's a much better representation of stock market psychology, of investor psychology, and how we're doing.

The fact that the S&P 500, which was down nearly 50 percent in the bear market in the dot-com bust, and is able, is just a hair shy of its all-time closing high, just tells you how far we have come -- the S&P 500 fueled in this rally, just like with the Dow, by these -- all this M&A activity, all these mergers and acquisitions, stock buybacks.

The fact that interest rates, while they have crept higher in the last two years, are still historically low, and the fact that these are multi -- these are multinational companies, they're -- they are based in the U.S.. But the fact that, while the U.S. economy is slowing, they are getting a lot of revenue overseas, where many economies are growing faster.

So, the S&P 500 right now just about a point away, yes, just a point-and-a-half away, from its all-time closing high, Melissa -- we're watching it closely.

LONG: Just a hair from that high. We know the S&P 500 is doing great. Thanks for the 101.

The Dow is doing wonderfully, performing very well. What about the Nasdaq?

LISOVICZ: Ah, the Nasdaq. It's the third of the three major averages, not doing so well.

And I think the point is, is that the Nasdaq, which has been rising as well, benefiting from this rally, the Nasdaq is up 7 percent this year. That is -- that lags both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500, shows just how far it came down.

The valuations of these tech stocks was so high during the tech -- during the height of the dot-com mania, that it's got this much more to go. If the Nasdaq were to climb 10 percent each year, it would take about eight years for it to get to its all-time closing high, which was also reached in March of 2000.

And, just to give you an example, I mean, we're not talking about small caps here. We're talking about Microsoft, which is still down more than 40 percent from its all-time high, Intel down 70 percent from its all-time high, Cisco down more than 65 percent from its all- time high -- the Nasdaq weighted with techs. Techs led the bull market, the great bull market, in the '90s, but it also got hit the hardest -- Melissa.

LONG: And, of course, we will see how the numbers settle about 35 minutes from now. We will talk to you again as the...

LISOVICZ: You got it.

LONG: ... bell rings to end the day of trading. Appreciate it.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

LONG: Also, some unplanned activity to tell you about at the Kennedy Space Center, it's getting NASA's attention today. A small airplane breached the restricted airspace around the Space Center shortly before noon today, flying within sight of the launchpad, where the space shuttle Atlantis is right now.

Officials say a Volusia County sheriff's helicopter escorted the plane to a local airport, where it was searched for explosives and drugs. Police say they found nothing suspicious. The pilot, not surprised, is being interviewed by the FBI.

LEMON: All right.

We want to get you back to some developing news now. We're awaiting a press conference in Chicago at the scene right across the street from that terrible bank robbery that happened this morning. The sad thing is that they got away with a little amount of money, but they injured three people in the process. We don't know their conditions.

And they are still on the loose, three bank robbers still on the loose in Chicago -- a news conference expected to happen at any moment now. And, if this is live pictures, we can get back to that.

I see the police spokesperson, Monique Bond, walking across the street in the picture -- I don't know if we have that picture now -- and several representatives. But that press conference is expected to happen very shortly.

This happened, again, earlier this morning in the 8700 block of South King Drive in Chicago in a neighborhood called the Chatham neighborhood, one of the neighborhoods that's in a renaissance there in Chicago, trying to build its way back, after some years of blight.

So, we're going to bring that to you live.

I thought we had the folks walking up. We will bring it to you just on the other side of the break.

CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right.

You're looking at live pictures now happening from Chicago, this press conference where that bank robbery happened.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MARIA MAHER, CHICAGO CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: ... call has been disseminated citywide with the description of the offenders and the vehicle in question.

This investigation is being conducted by the Violent Crimes Task Force. This task force is comprised of Cook County sheriffs, Chicago police detectives, and FBI agents.

And now Frank Bochte will update you on the FBI investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)

FRANK BOCHTE, FBI SPOKESMAN: Yes.

Frank Bochte -- B, as in boy, O-C-H-T-E.

I would just like to add that the FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of those responsible for the crime committed here today. Currently, the FBI and the Chicago Police Department investigators are on scene. They will be on scene for quite some time.

And we will be working jointly with -- with those and other agencies to try to bring these individuals to justice. We feel that the violence exhibited in this case was extremely cruel. And that is the reason why the reward is being offered immediately at this time.

These individuals are extremely dangerous. They shot three people today for virtually no reason. And -- and we want these individuals caught and taken off the streets as quickly as possible.

I will now turn over to the CEO of Illinois Service Federal, Norman Williams.

NORMAN WILLIAMS, CEO, ILLINOIS SERVICE FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN: I'm Norman Williams -- W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.

This is a difficult day for all of us who work here and at our branch at 46th and King Drive. It remains open to serve our customers even as we speak at this moment.

I have received a number of calls from other bankers across this town, as well as our federal regulator in Washington, expressing their concern and their compassion for us.

I would ask anyone in banking who knows how we feel to keep us in your thoughts and in your prayers. I would ask our customers to keep us in their thoughts and prayers. We have a very special relationship with our customers. We are a small bank. And this has hit us very close to home.

But we will continue. We continue to be in business. And our business will not be stopped by this senseless violence.

Thank you.

FREDDRENNA LYLE, ALDERMAN, CHICAGO'S 6TH WARD: I'm Freddrenna Lyle. I'm the alderman of the 6th Ward.

On behalf of the community, I want to send our prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery for each one of the victims of the shooting.

To anyone who has any, any knowledge about who would go out and think that this is some sort of TV game and some video game or some movie, and that you can shoot at people and folks get up and go home, I want them to know that this is real life. People were hurt today. Families are shattered as a result of what happened today.

This is not TV. You're not Queen Latifah. This is real life.

My community has had a long and very, very reciprocal relationship with Illinois Service Federal. Many of the constituents in this area were here today trying to just show their support for this bank.

We want this bank to continue here. We want to continue doing business, as we have always done with our 5,000 bulletproof glasses, where we're worried about the bad guys. We want the bad guys to go some place else and plunder and ravage.

On behalf of the community again, to the families, if there's anything that we can do to assist you in your time of trouble, please give us a call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Questions?

QUESTION: What kind of masks were they wearing?

MARIA MAHER, CHIEF OF DETECTIVES, CHICAGO: All we can tell you is that they appeared to be three males. We can't discern their age because their faces are covered, or their race at this time.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MAHER: You know, it would be a guess on my part. They were -- I would say young. The one offender jumps over the counter pretty easily.

QUESTION: Can you give us a better sense of the scene? Can you paint a picture of the scene when the robbery started, and also specifically what the employees did at that time? Did some employees, for example, barricade themselves in rooms? Anything like that?

MAHER: This happened extremely quickly. I think -- we think it happened in approximately four minutes.

As we said, they stormed into the bank. They came in, two of them just literally rushed in the bank and caught everyone off guard. So they didn't have much time to react.

QUESTION: Did they open fire first?

MAHER: I cannot tell you at this point?

QUESTION: Maria, typically it's my understanding -- and I don't know if maybe Frank wants to touch on this -- but aren't most bank employees instructed not to engage robbers and to give the money, give what they want to get them on their way?

MAHER: I will let them answer that because they know better than I.

WILLIAMS: We train for this every day. And we are instructed not resist or not to try to be the police. And it's my understanding that we did not.

LEMON: OK. You're listening to a press conference there.

Alderman, Freddrenna Lyle gave out a passionate plea to help find these bank robbers and to tell people. It may have seen like a really far-fetched statement, but what she was referring to when she said Queen Latifa was a movie, "Set it Off" -- three female bank robbers, one woman worked in a bank and ended up becoming a bank robber. Queen Latifah did, and Jada Pinkett, Vivica A. Fox.

She was referring to that movie, saying this is real life, that three people are possibly in harm's way, their life. We are not sure of their conditions. But again the Chicago Police Department, the FBI, the alderman there, and the president of the bank saying -- talking about the details of this. Three armed men go into this bank and then end up robbing, getting a very small amount of money, injuring three people.

A $50,000 reward now. They don't know anything about them except they were masked. Three armed masked men.

Check out this car. This is the one that they believe they got away in. It's a late model maroon Buick or Oldsmobile. And they are working with the FBI to try to enhance this photograph, and also the picture of the license plate. They did say it had a temporary Illinois license plate on it.

Just a little bit of background about this neighborhood.

This is an historic Chicago neighborhood on the south side. This neighborhood, Bronzeville, very popular neighborhoods back in the '50s, '60s, '70s. And then during the '70s and '80s it went through blight, and now they are trying to revitalize these neighborhoods by bringing in businesses.

This particular savings and loan is a black-owned business, a very small bank here where they try to reach out to the community and get people to invest. And they try to create wealth within the community.

So this is a blow to this bank. That's why you're hearing some passionate pleas not only to the bank, but also to the neighborhood, just to give you some background information.

But the more important thing here is there are three people who are on the loose and who are armed and dangerous, and three people who are in the hospital.

We're going to continue to update you on this story happening in Chicago in the CNN NEWSROOM as the information develops.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: The plot, sicken and then kill a former KGB agent. Now months later, London prepares to file charges and stirs up a diplomatic stew with Russia.

More intrigue straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All this year CNN is bringing you stories of some remarkable people, people dedicating their lives to improving the lives of others. We call them CNN Heroes.

We found one of them on the streets of Phoenix, in Tempe, Arizona, helping street kids who have no money and no way to afford a doctor if they get sick.

His name is Dr. Randy Christensen, and he is today's CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I was 10 years old, I decided I would run away from home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been on the streets from 12 to 20.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's scary living on the streets. There's so many drugs and there's violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I sleep in an abandoned house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was taken away from my parents at 10 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad dropped me off at a dumpster. He told me, don't even think about coming back home.

DR. RANDY CHRISTENSEN: There's as many as 5 to 10,000 kids on the streets of Arizona. We turned our heads. We don't look at them in their eyes. Many of the kids are truly forgotten.

I'm Dr. Randy Christensen. I'm the medical director for the cruising health mobile. We take care of kids on the streets through a medical mobile van. Everything that would be in a regular doctor's office is on the van. All of the kids that are seen by us are seen free of charge.

Did you need anything? Did you need a new backpack?

I've never really been about the money. I went to medical school thinking that I was going to be a surgeon but everything that made me stop and think had to do with children and adolescents. I chose to come out in the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dr. Christensen makes it where people actually want to come back and actually want to get help.

CHRISTENSEN: We pull up in the van and within five to 10 minutes, there's 20 or 30 kids coming out of every different alley or different street. You get out there and you see some of these kids and you talk to them and you give them a little bit of dignity and respect. All of a sudden, they open up. It's like a light bulb goes off and they want to talk and they want to tell you their story.

Let me listen to you. They think you might have pneumonia. Take a deep breath.

They still have that gleam of hope in their eyes. It's that hope that gives you hope. And at the very end, they give you a big hug and they say thank you. That means the most to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Certainly our heroes. There's a lot more about Dr. Randy Christensen and his cruise and health mobile on our Web site, where you can also nominate your hero for special recognition later this year.

All the details are at cnn.com/heroes -- Melissa.

LONG: Don, thanks.

Adam and Eve, or Fred and Wilma? A controversy new museum claims dinosaur and humans co-existed and even perhaps hitched a ride on Noah's Ark.

Details just ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LONG: It reads like a Cold War thriller. One-time fellow soviet spies meet in London. Hours later, one falls gravely ill and dies an agonizing three weeks later. Today, the other back in Russia is accused of murder.

CNN's Phil Black is following the developments from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Slow, horrible death. A murder plot so intriguing it has often been compared to a spy novel. Now British officials have accused one Russian citizen of responsibility.

SIR KEN MACDONALD, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS: I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Alexander Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning.

BLACK: The day Litvinenko fell ill he met with Andrei Lugovoi and another Russian at the London's Millennium Hotel. A former KGB officer, now businessman, Lugovoi has always insisted he had nothing to do with Litvinenko's death, but Alexander Litvinenko's widow welcomed news Lugovoi may face British justice.

MARINA LITVINENKO, WIDOW: I would like to say I'm very happy about all the job that Scotland Yard has done already, and definitely they're going to do more. And I'm very happy with the judge and court going to be here in England.

BLACK: Alexander Litvinenko was a former Russian spy. He was granted British asylum in 2000 and later became a citizen. He persistently irritated the Russian government with criticism and claimed the Kremlin was responsible for the 1999 bombing of apartments in Moscow in an operation designed to ramp up feeling against Chechen separatists.

On his deathbed, Litvinenko said Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, was involved in his poisoning. Putin rejects that, but Litvinenko's family and friends maintain the highest levels of Russian government played a part.

ANDREI NEKRASOV, LITVINENKO FRIEND: Alexander's whole point and possibly the hatred he generated in his old ex-colleagues was that the efforts by Russian secret service is becoming like a criminal gang. So if it's true, he predicted his own murder.

BLACK: For 23 days, Litvinenko languished in hospital suffering. For much of that time doctors did not know what had poisoned him.

Too late it was identified as Polonium 210, a rare highly- radioactive substance. Scotland Yard's anti-terror officers then followed a trail of radiation across London and beyond. The Millennium Hotel, this sushi restaurant, British Airways jets, properties in Germany, even the embassy in Moscow all were found to contain trace elements of Polonium.

Britain's chief prosecutor says it all leads to Andrei Lugovoi and is demanding his extradition from Russia.

MACDONALD: So that he may be charged here with murder and brought swiftly before a court in London to be prosecuted for this extraordinarily grave crime.

BLACK (on camera): Britain's foreign secretary has told the Russian ambassador she expects full cooperation from his government. But there is no extradition treaty, and relations between the two countries have grown very cold since Litvinenko's death. They could get cooler still.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

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LEMON: A look at the new museum all about creation. Did humans and dinosaurs coexist?

Well, plus the closing bell and a wrap of all the action on Wall Street.

Don't go away.

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LEMON: A new $27 million museum is opening next week in northern Kentucky. It's got animals, dinosaur exhibits, special effects, and a whole raft of supposed evidence aimed at refuting the theory of evolution. As you might imagine, it's creating a lot of controversy.

Here's Kurt Ludlow of CNN affiliate WBNS.

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KURT LUDLOW, REPORTER, WBNS (voice over): The Garden of Eden, paradise on Earth, where Adam and Eve walked with all God's creatures. All of them.

KEN HAM, MUSEUM'S DIRECTOR: And this will be very lush and beautiful.

LUDLOW (on camera): OK, wait a minute. Walking through the Garden of Eden...

HAM: Right.

LUDLOW: ... and we have dinosaurs.

HAM: Exactly.

LUDLOW (on camera): Ken Ham is a former high school science teacher from Australia. A devout man who began to doubt the textbooks he was using and got an idea.

HAM: Why can't we build a creation museum, something that's significant, something of high quality, professional, cutting edge? Something even the world will take notice of?

LUDLOW: Thirteen years later, the world is noticing his Creation Museum. Built for $27 million, every penny donated, 60,000 square feet of exhibits that profess to use the science of the bible to dispute the theory of evolution.

HAM: Well, really the mission is to tell people that the bible's history is true. And if its history is true, its message of the gospel is true.

LUDLOW: That message, that God created the Earth and mankind in six days, as written in the Book of Genesis, contradicting the common view that the world evolved over billions of years.

Mark Loy co-founded the museum.

MARK LOY, MUSEUM CO-FOUNDER: As people enter the main hall for the Creation Museum, one of the first things they are struck by is the fact that we have dinosaurs and people together.

LUDLOW: Among their most controversial, scientific claims that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time, and that dinosaurs were among the creatures on Noah's Ark.

At his museum, dinos come to life.

LOY: These are animatronic T. rexes, or what you might see in Universal Studios or Disney World.

HAM: What they'll find here is we don't just have dinosaurs with people, and dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden. We have observational science. We have Ph.D. scientists who will give them all sorts of evidence that shows you that that's not an unreasonable view at all.

JEFFREY MCKEE, ANTHROPOLOGIST: Yes, we have a whole series of fossils, and start going back 30 million years. LUDLOW: OSU anthropologist Dr. Jeffrey McKee has studied fossils first hand at digs in South African and written books about evolution.

MCKEE: This was found in 1924 and was the first bit of evidence that humans first evolved in Africa as small upright creatures walking on two legs.

LUDLOW: Dr. McKee says there's nothing scientific about the science at the Creation Museum.

MCKEE: They can believe whatever they want to about when dinosaurs were created and when humans were created. And -- but that the fact is dinosaurs went extinct long before humans were around.

HAM: Yes, of course we believe in dinosaurs.

LUDLOW: Back at the museum, they understand the skepticism, but the message continues in the state of the art planetarium, special effects theater, Dino Dig Site, and Dragon Hall bookstore.

HAM: We live in an era where people think science has disproved the bible. And so we're making a statement here. The statement is that the bible is not just a book of religion, it's not just a book of spiritual moral things. It's a book of history, and you can trust its science.

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LEMON: The Creation Museum slogan: "Prepare to believe."

And that was Kurt Ludlow of WBNS reporting for us.

LONG: That's opened on Memorial Day, if you'd like to check it out.

The closing bell is just about to ring on Wall Street on this Tuesday afternoon.

LEMON: Susan Lisovicz standing by with a final look at the trading day before she heads off in a possibly green taxi.

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LONG: And now to "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer.

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