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Terror Investigation Expands in Britain; A Family's Shock; Flooding Disaster in Kansas

Aired July 03, 2007 - 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: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips.

We now know the name of the driver of the rolling firebomb at Glasgow airport. His name and several others on the suspect list has an M.D. after it.

LEMON: And what do the initials VIPR mean to you? Well, if you're traveling in America over the Fourth of July weekend, VIPR means teams could save your life. That's Visual Intermodal Protection and Response.

And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Developing news just in to CNN moments ago. The second person in that flaming Jeep that went into the Glasgow airport over the weekend is also identified as a doctor. That is according to British news agencies reporting that.

They're saying his name is Khalid Ahmed (ph). He's believed to be the man in the photographs being subdued by police with all the burn marks on him from that photograph. He's being treated for those serious burns in Alexandra Hospital in Scotland. He's believed to be in critical condition.

But again, British news agencies reporting another doctor now involved in this plot on the U.K. Not sure of the country of origin or of his nationality.

We'll get more information on that and hopefully now more from one of our reporter who's been watching this.

U.S. officials tell CNN the man allegedly behind the failed attacks in England and Scotland have links to al Qaeda in Iraq.

In Britain, meanwhile, two more people are under arrest on terror charges, but police can't say whether those two are linked to the car bombs in London and Glasgow. In another twist, at least six of the suspects or detainees are doctors, including one in Australia.

CNN's Adrian Finighan is at Scotland Yard in London with the very latest for us -- Adrian.

ADRIAN FINIGHAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, another development I can report that's just breaking here in Britain at the moment. British news sources are reporting -- and we can't independently verify this yet at CNN, but we're looking into it -- but apparently British media reporting sources close to the investigation are saying that while the police believe there was a connection between the London attacks on Friday where those two cars were left with bombs that didn't go off in them, they were connected to the attack that we saw at Glasgow airport on Saturday, British media is now saying that they were carried out by the same people.

So, we know that there were four doctors now suspected of being involved in this alleged terror plot, this foiled terror plot in London and Glasgow. Here in the U.K., Iraqi-born doctor Bilal Abdulla is being held. He's believed to have worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Glasgow. That's the same hospital where the man you just named, Khalid Ahmed (ph), who is the man that we saw in those dramatic pictures from Glasgow airport at the weekend, is believed to have been the second person in that Jeep which crashed into the airport.

The other doctor arrested in that dramatic raid on the M6 highway in the northwest of England on the weekend, Dr. Mohammed Asha. The fourth doctor, the eighth arrest in this investigation, in Brisbane, Australia. Police detained a doctor, a 27-year-old Indian-born doctor, Mohammed Haneef, as he was about to board a flight out of the country, we're told, on a one-way ticket -- Don.

LEMON: Adrian Finighan at Scotland Yard.

Thank you for your report, Adrian.

PHILLIPS: Well, so far, at least eight people are under arrest or being questioned in the failed terror attacks in Britain. One suspect, Mohammed Asha, is a doctor from Jordan. And his family there insists that's all he is.

CNN's Cal Perry traveled to Amman to speak with the family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A fiery attack at Glasgow's International Airport. Two car bombs thwarted in London sending the city into virtual gridlock. The acts perhaps more surprising to officials than the arrests of a neurosurgeon. Dr. Mohammed Asha, born in Saudi Arabia but a Jordanian national, and his wife arrested on the M6 freeway in northern England, a long way from home.

(on camera): This is the house in Amman where 27-year-old Mohammed grew up with six brothers and two sisters. His parents remain upstairs, exceptionally distraught over the situation. They've heard nothing from the government. His brother Ahmed paints a picture of a young man who traveled to the U.K., had a baby, and looked forward to becoming a doctor.

(voice over): His brother Ahmed at first orders us to turn off the camera. But after a few moments of conversation, he agrees to tell us about his brother. And without warning, pictures and certificates of academic merit come pouring on to the table. Ahmed refuses to believe his brother is responsible.

(on camera): So what was your first reaction?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't believe about this. We don't believe it.

PERRY: You can't believe it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't. It's impossible.

PERRY (voice over: He hails Mohammed as a top student too busy to do anything but study, graduating at the top of his class. At one point his academic successes grant him an invitation from the queen. Ahmed is quick to show us the picture.

And the man who, according to his brother, is not devout. "He didn't pray all the time," he tells me. "Mohammed didn't make any difference between Christians and Muslims. He has a lot of Christian friends. My wife is Christian," he adds.

For now, this proud family continues to wait for word that this nightmare is only a big mistake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Cal Perry now joins us live from Amman.

Cal, obviously the family is worried about the situation. What are they planning to do next?

PERRY: Well, Kyra, this is a family that's actually completely in shock. They're learning everything from the television news.

Their biggest concern is this 2-year-old son of Mohammed whose name is Enis (ph). He was born in the U.K. They have no idea where this child is.

Now, one could assume that the child has gone into U.K. custody and some kind of child services, but they have no idea. They've appealed to the king for help, they've appealed to the government in the U.K. for help. They've appealed to Jordanian authorities here on the ground for help, and they've heard absolutely nothing.

Now, I spoke to the brother yesterday. And he said if he hears nothing in the next 48 to 72 hours, he plans to fly to London to investigate this himself. But literally, Kyra, this is a family that's gathered around the television set waiting for any news at all.

PHILLIPS: So, Cal, this family says that Mohammed Asha never once voiced any kind of passion or compassion toward extremism?

PERRY: This family, and especially the brother, says exactly the opposite. They say he used to send postcards and letters and pictures from the U.K. home saying what a great time he was having, he found this new life. He was freshly married. He enjoyed his job as a neurosurgeon, so much so that he was planning to come here and visit the family on July the 12th.

The tickets had been booked. He had spoken about it in letters. The brother was absolutely shocked to hear the news on the television.

I think he was more shocked to see international members of the press suddenly surrounding the house. This seemed to have come out of nowhere, and the family, at least, presented it as an absolute impossibility.

PHILLIPS: Cal Perry live from Amman.

Great get, Cal. Thanks so much.

And as we mentioned, homeland security is beefing up security at U.S. airports and ground transportation systems in eight U.S. cities. So-called VIPR teams already are on the job on the eve of the Fourth of July. But officials say that the move is not linked to the failed terror attacks in Britain.

VIPR teams are searching main transportation hubs in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, L.A., Philadelphia, Houston and San Francisco. VIPR teams include air marshals, TSA inspectors and dogs trained to detect explosives.

LEMON: He was convicted, he was sentenced, but Lewis "Scooter" Libby won't spend a day behind bars. President Bush has commuted Libby's 30-month prison term, which was supposed to be his punishment for lying to investigators in the CIA leak probe.

The president's decision came just hours after a court ruled that Libby could not stay free while appealing his conviction. The president is not ruling out an eventual full pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had to make a very difficult decision. I weighed this decision carefully.

I thought that the jury verdict should stand. I felt the punishment was severe. So, I made a decision that would commute his sentence but leave in place a serious fine and probation. As to the future, I am -- you know, rule nothing in and nothing out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Democrats are outraged, but some Republicans are pushing for a pardon.

So what is the difference between a pardon and a commutation? Well, a pardon basically nullifies the punishment for a crime. A commutation simply reduces the punishment, most often affecting prison terms. President Bush's commutation erases Lewis Libby's two-and-a- half-year prison sentence, but Libby still has to pay a $250,000 fine and send spend two years on probation.

PHILLIPS: Want to let you know we're waiting for a live news conference about Andrew Speaker. Actually, a federal health official is expecting to take up to the mic.

You'll remember Andrew became that famous or infamous TB patient when he traveled all types of legs across the country here in Greece to get married when he knew that he had TB. There was a controversy back and forth on whether that TB was the worst possible form of tuberculosis that you could have. That's what doctors had said.

Now the big bombshell today is it wasn't that extreme form of TB. There's a back and forth between the hospital tests, the CDC tests. We're waiting for a live news conference and we'll take it live when it happens.

It should be taking place 3:00 p.m. Eastern hour. We'll take it live.

LEMON: We'll have an update on the health and the latest on the tuberculosis treatment again, as Kyra said, coming up at 3:00.

The emotional and physical pain apparently was too much for a young hate crime victim. Eighteen-year-old David Ritcheson jumped from a Carnival cruise ship to his death Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, last year near Houston attackers beat the Mexican-American teen unconscious and sodomized him with a plastic pole. One attacker shouting, White power!"

Ritcheson seemed to be making a full recovery. Earlier this year, he testified before Congress in support of a hate crime bill. At a Houston news conference earlier today, Ritcheson was remembered for who he was and how he could have helped others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN KOMINSKY, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: In our opportunity to get to meet David, we know that his life was a courageous one. We were with him through many of the travails that he had. But in the end, I think he wanted to be remembered not as a victim of hate, but a courageous rescuer that would help other people be able to fight hate and bigotry and would protect other victims of hate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, one of Ritcheson's attackers got life in prison. Another got 90 years. The hate crime bill passed in the House in April is pending in the Senate.

PHILLIPS: Practicing terror as well as medicine? We'll have more on the professional ties between the men arrested in London and Glasgow.

LEMON: His probe into illegal steroid use began long ago but took on new urgency after the death of wrestler Chris Benoit. We'll talk with "Sports Illustrated" reporter Louis Fernando Llosa.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

LEMON: Flooded out in the Midwest. President Bush declares a major disaster in 17 counties in southeast Kansas. That includes the town of Coffeyville, which is not only under water, but coated in oil.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Coffeyville, the water is actually receding, but when all of this floodwater came in over the weekend, it really caught all of the residents here by surprise. Case in point, the woman that you're about to meet. She's 38 years old, lifelong Coffeyville resident, and never experienced a major flood before, until now.

(voice over): Melanie Wright (ph) can no longer walk or drive to her house like most people. She has to travel by boat.

(on camera): To you, this is the street you've been on many times.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

OPPENHEIM (voice over): She could not hold back tears. This was the first time Melanie had gone to see her home since the flood suddenly overtook it last weekend.

(on camera): Is that it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. My front door is that right there. The long thing is a big glass window to my front room.

OPPENHEIM: Just days ago, this three bedroom house was home to Melanie, three of her five children, her granddaughter and her brother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see my ice chest there. I see another ice chest right there floating.

OPPENHEIM: It was a house that was passed down to her after her mother died five years ago. Melanie is a housekeeper who is just getting by. She had no flood insurance and she never suspected there was much danger of anything like this happening.

(on camera): So when you see it, it makes it real?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It makes it real that you really are homeless. What you own -- the only thing you owned in your life is gone. OPPENHEIM (voice over): Later, we went to the motel room where Melanie and her kids are all staying temporarily. A family displaced, unsure where they will go next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have nothing now. Nothing. I just really want to cry. That's all I want to do.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): This flood has not only been emotionally devastating for residents, but it's also quite dangerous.

There is an oil refinery nearby, and 42,000 gallons of crude oil spilled out of that refinery. Take a look at what you can see right by my feet here.

This is oil that's right in the water. Some of that oil has seeped downstream towards Oklahoma. Officials are not only investigating the cause of this leak, but so far they're telling us that no drinking water has been affected.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Coffeyville, Kansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: A Georgia doctor accused of over-prescribing dangerous drugs to some patients. Will the evidence show that he did the same for wrestler Chris Benoit?

Red flags ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, he's supposed to be a healer, not a dealer, but the personal doctor of professional wrestler Chris Benoit has just been charged with improperly dispensing and distributing painkillers and other drugs. It's the latest twist in Benoit's double murder/suicide case.

CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen looking into it.

Tell me exactly what's going on here, because there's a lot of back and forth after hearing the attorney for the doctor...

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. He's accused of doing quite a few things. There are three different accusations that we're going to run through.

The first one is what Benoit (sic) was indicted for doing. He was indicted for illegally distributing four different painkillers. This is Dr. Phil Astin I'm talking about, including Percocet and Xanax, so four different kinds of painkillers.

Also, a separate criminal complaint said that Astin had written prescriptions for one million doses of controlled substances for patients over the past two years including "significant quanties of injectable anabolic steroids".

Now, this last one is actually perhaps the most shocking. A DEA agent said in an affidavit that Dr. Astin had prescribed 10 months' worth of anabolic steroids to Benoit every three to four weeks. So in other words, he was getting a 10-month supply of steroids every three to four weeks.

PHILLIPS: That's what I was just trying to figure out right now.

COHEN: Do the math. Right. Right.

PHILLIPS: Yes, that's what I was trying to do so I could follow up.

That's a -- I mean, that's sounds like a lot. I mean, why would a doctor do that?

COHEN: Well, you know, I asked a professor who studies physician behavior and decision-making. I said, "What would drive a doctor to do that?" And he said, "When you're talking about huge numbers like this," he said, "it really comes down to money."

Not speaking about Dr. Astin in particular. This researcher said sometimes doctors will basically go bad.

They'll realize that they can make a ton of money off of prescribing these drugs inappropriately. They'll have these boutique practices, if you will.

They'll charge, say, $300 for an office visit and they'll prescribe these drugs. And they get a lot of patients because patients know they can go there to get all sorts of drugs they couldn't get anywhere else.

PHILLIPS: Well, is money the only incentive?

COHEN: You know what's interesting? Is it's not always the only incentive.

When you're talking about numbers like this, money is probably the big driver, but sometimes doctors just get caught up in the lives of their VIP patients. The doctor starts to think of himself as a -- sort of agent of change for this celebrity.

He's going to help the celebrity build up and bulk up if it's a bodybuilder, or help a celebrity slim down if that that's what she wants to do. Sometimes doctors get caught up in what their patients are going after even if it's not medically a good idea.

PHILLIPS: Yes. We'll continue to follow the investigation.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: Well, apart from Scooter Libby, is anyone happy about the president's commuting his sentence? Well, not if you read the Internet blogs. Anger on the left and the right ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. Illegal steroids and professional sports.

"Sports Illustrated" reporter Luis Fernado Llosa has been probing the links for months.

PHILLIPS: But since the death of wrestler Chris Benoit, the story has taken some unexpected twists. He joins us to talk about it. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

He was convicted, he was sentenced but Lewis Scooter Libby won't spend a day behind bars. President Bush has commuted Libby's 30-month prison term, which was supposed to be his punishment for lying to investigators in the CIA leak probe. The president's decision came just hours after a court ruled that Libby could not stay free while appealing his conviction. The president is not ruling out an eventual full pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: I had to make a very difficult decision. I weighed this decision carefully. I thought that the jury verdict should stand. I felt the punishment was severe. So I made a decision that would commute his sentence but leave in place a serious fine and probation. As to the future, I'm -- you know, rule nothing in and nothing out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Democrats are outraged, but some Republicans are pushing for a pardon. All of this started with Valerie Plame, a onetime secret CIA operative who is no longer secret. After an almost four-year probe into who leaked Plame's identity, Libby was convicted of lying to investigators.

Prosecutors say the leak was part of a Bush administration push to discredit Plame's husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Now, he was one of the most vocal critics of the intel of the U.S. -- or the intelligence that the U.S. used to justify the invasion in Iraq. And he's equally vocal about President Bush's commutation.

Here's what Wilson told "American Morning's" John Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH WILSON, FMR. U.S. AMBASSADOR: The president, by commuting Mr. Libby's sentence, is guaranteed that he will be under no incentive whatsoever ever to tell the truth to the special prosecutor, who has said repeatedly that there remains a cloud over the office of the vice president. This cloud now extends over the office of the president. I think there is a very real suspicion now that the president himself is an accessory to obstruction of justice in this matter.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Joe, the White House insists that yesterday, that the president made this decision on his own with no outside consultation. Do you believe that, or do you see the fine hand of Dick Cheney in here somewhere?

WILSON: Well, I see the fine hand of Dick Cheney everywhere. I admit my bias on that. But, of course, I read "The Washington Post" four-part series last week, and I've seen the hand of the vice president in the trail of the covert identity of a CIA officer, as have the rest of the world now.

So -- but I don't know. The president may have made this decision on his own. It was a bad decision. It undermines the rule of law in the system of justice in this country.

ROBERTS: Right.

Now, the point that Libby's supporters are making, is that there was no underlying crime that was found here. That Patrick Fitzgerald did not prosecute anybody for the actual leak, only for things that were said in the investigation of the leak. So based upon that ...

WILSON: John ...

ROBERTS: Yes -- go ahead.

WILSON: I would just go back to what the special prosecutor has said from the very time of the indictment, something that you all forget to put up there every time you report this. He has said from the very beginning, that the reason he was not able to get to an underlying crime was because Mr. Libby repeatedly lied and threw sand in the umpire's eyes. That is why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Wilson calls Lewis Libby a traitor and says the Bush administration is corrupt.

LEMON: Well, it will be weeks before we know whether steroids may have played a role in the double murder/suicide of pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his family. Well, police say a lot of prescription drugs, including steroids, were found in Benoit's home.

For more than a year, Luis Fernando Llosa has been investigating an alleged steroid distribution ring with links to pro athletes. He's a Senior Investigator Reporter with "Sports Illustrated" and si.com.

I got to ask you, when you saw this Chris Benoit story sort of hitting the headlines, what went through your head?

LUIS FERNANDO LLOSA, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Well, I was trying to get a little bit of vacation in, and the first thing I did was call up a round of sources to find out whether there was any link between this and the major pipeline that we'd been looking into. And of course they found out that packages were sent through a pharmacy, a compound pharmacy in Florida, which was a target of the original investigation, to Chris Benoit at three separate locations.

LEMON: Yes. According to one of the -- it seems that you're right on about that. One of the officials involved in the investigation, they said that there were receipts that indicated he had purchased shipments of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones from a pharmacy company in Orlando, Florida. Is that the facility you're talking about?

LLOSA: That may be. There have been different reports, so I'm not 100 percent sure what they're referring to.

LEMON: Yes.

LLOSA: And we don't know exactly -- I at least, don't know exactly what was in those packages.

LEMON: Yes. Well, this charge for prescribing these drugs, or for at least the illegal distribution of those drugs and pain killers and what have you or improperly doing it, was not directly connected to Benoit.

Part of a larger investigation by drug enforcement agencies. Do you think eventually they will track back to Benoit? And is this -- go ahead, answer that question and I'll ask you something else.

LLOSA: Yes, no, it's very likely that not only will Benoit come up again as a name in the overall, overarching investigation, but also that there may be other wrestlers named.

LEMON: OK. So, we're talking about other wrestlers and we're talking about a culture here. That was my next question, as a matter of fact.

What have you found during your investigation? How prevalent is it in the wrestling world? Because again, you know, we've heard that he was taking these drugs. Does that necessarily mean that they would cause him to have a steroid rage and kill himself and his family? How prevalent is this, and that sort of roid rage behavior in the wrestling world?

LLOSA: Now, the roid rage issue is sort of a separate one, so I'll address the first question, which is Jon Wortheim and I have been working on this for -- since last summer. And what we did discover in an ancillary investigation that was happening out of -- based on a compound pharmacy in Alabama, was that 11 wrestlers were linked through documentation, DEA documentation, to receiving either human growth hormone or steroids or both.

Some big names. And several of them from one doctor in Arizona who signed almost 4,000 prescriptions in a six-month period. Wrote them, signed them, and they were shipped over to this compound pharmacy that then filled the orders and sent them back out.

LEMON: What happened to the people who were prescribing those?

LLOSA: By that, you mean the doctor?

LEMON: Yes.

LLOSA: Well, I know he doesn't have a license anymore, and I'm not sure if the investigation is continuing or not. I haven't talked to sources down in Alabama lately about that.

LEMON: When you think of the world of wrestling, this pro wrestling, obviously it's not relegated by the same rules and regulations as professional sports are. What do you think should be done in terms of this -- helping people to do this?

Because this is part -- you've got to get as big as you are, you want to be the biggest guy in the ring, the biggest guy in the game and you want to stomp out everybody. Is it possible to even put controls on steroid use in the wrestling world?

LLOSA: Well, I mean, there are two ways to look at that. One is the sort of the more depressing outlook, which is that we're becoming like imperialist Rome, a society which enjoys watching Christians slaughter each other in an amphitheater. And we do the thumbs up or the thumbs down and determine their fate at the end.

We're an entertainment and drug culture now. That is obvious. We put these guys in the ring. They're pumped up, they're juiced up, there's no equivocation about that. And then they are dying.

Eddie Guerrero, one of Benoit's best friends, roomed with him in Japan, a great friend of his, died in '05 in Minneapolis. You've got to wonder what that death did to Benoit's state of mind as well.

If we switch over to this issue of roid rage, it is very hard to pinpoint what happened over a three-day period. A very sort of seemingly deliberate series of acts on roid rage, which is usually a more impulsive instantaneous burst.

But the question is, and this is all speculation obviously, was he doing other things at the same time? Was he taking Xanax for anxiety? Was he taking the date rape drug to sleep better and recover better and take the edge off anabolics that he could have been taking as well? LEMON: And, if you look at all of that, too, Mr. Llosa on top of mental health, and exactly what state of mind he's in, then one has to wonder what were the factors and what all played out there. Thank you for joining us today.

LLOSA: My pleasure, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, as we follow the race for the presidency, we also are following the money trail.

We are just getting some numbers in concerning former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. The numbers in now, he raised $14 million in the second quarter, total revenue for Romney this quarter, is $20.5 million now.

Now, that's in comparison to Senator John McCain, who did lead the campaign cash. He started off with $11.2 million but then took a slide in the second quarter. Advertisers saying that -- or critics rather, blaming that the Arizona Republican support failed because he didn't do well with the immigration bill.

So, we're following the money trail as we also continue to follow the election for president.

LEMON: Well you know it's going to be a bad day when? When you're driving down the road, minding your own business, and what do you know -- see that? A crane falls on top of your car. We're going to have details straight ahead.

PHILLIPS: SUVs, pickups and minivans put to the test. How safe are you and your family in a wreck? The hits and the misses, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this is one of those things you just need to see to believe. Watch the highlighted area there of your screen. You can see a huge construction crane coming down right there in the middle of the road.

It happened in the middle of a busy street in Rome, Georgia. A police dash cam was actually rolling when that crane was crashing. Take a look at the damage. The definition of a close call.

The car, a total loss, but the driver, OK. Probably a little shaken, though. That tons of steel just landed feet from her head.

LEMON: If she had just been going a little slower maybe, that would have been terrible. Man, very lucky. OK.

A crash test wouldn't have helped this, but new crash test results that could literally save your neck. How safe is your SUV when someone hits you from behind? Here's CNN's Greg Hunter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG HUNTER, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: So, what goes into making a seat that protects you well in a rear-end collision?

Well, watch this. This one has a bar in the middle of the seat. Watch the head restraint. It comes up to meet the back of your head if you get pushed into the seat. This is one technology that's saving your neck in a rear-end collision.

(voice over): It's a wreck you often don't see coming. In a rear-end collision, if neck injuries are to be minimized, the seat and head restraint need to take the blow.

Take the high-rated 2007 Mercedes M Class, where the headrest pops out to meet the back of the head.

To test head protection, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been simulated rear-end crashes, with just a seat and a dummy.

DAVID ZUBY, SR. V.P. VEHICLE RESEARCH, IIHS: Without something behind and near the back of your head, your head is going to flop around as the rest of the body moves forwards in a rear impact crash.

HUNTER: These tests were on SUVs, pickups and minivans, which account for more than half of new vehicle sales.

ZUBY: Over 60 percent of the vehicles had a marginal or poor rating, but we are seeing a lot more goods, a lot more acceptables, than we did when we started testing two years ago.

HUNTER: According to the institute, seats offer different levels of protection, even seats from the same company. The Honda Element, on top, was given the highest mark.

The body stays in line with the neck, as opposed to the Honda Odyssey, where the head can whip back, rated marginal.

Among the lowest rated, the Hummer H-3, GM, which makes Hummer said it, "designs its head restraints to meet a variety of driver sizes, rather than focusing on a single set of metrics."

Nissan's Quest minivan was also rated poor. Nissan told CNN it designs its, "products to provide a high level of occupant safety in a wide range of real-world crashes, including rear-impact collisions."

The institute says, some manufacturers like Ford, are improving the designs of poorly rated models like the F-150. Ford told CNN, "We have always designed seats and head restraints for the safest possible scenario in the real world."

Among the highest rated, the Hyundai Santa Fe, Toyota Tundra and the Ford Edge.

ZUBY: You are more likely to need the protection of a good head restraint and seat, than you are the protection of a front air bag. Not that we wouldn't recommend having cars with good air bags, but you are more likely to be in a rear-end collision, where whiplash is a risk, than you are a serious front crash where the air bag will deploy.

HUNTER (on camera): They tested dozens and dozens of seats and a little more than 20 got top marks, that tested good. Most tested marginal or poor.

So, how do you get the most out of your seat head restraint system even if it doesn't test well? Here's what they say at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A lot of folks make the mistake of having their head restraint down low like this and the top of the head can actually roll over and increase your chances of whiplash.

So here is what they say, make sure that head restraint meets the center of the back of your head. Center of the head restraint, center of the back of the head. And that way you'll get the most out of even a poorly performing seat.

Now, for a complete list of test results, log on to CNN.com.

Greg Hunter, CNN, Ruckersville, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Yes, he's a champ on the green, but how's he doing in the nursery? Hear from the new dad, Tiger Woods. Just ahead, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. Actress Lindsay Lohan blew out 21 candles yesterday. I'll tell you how she celebrated that momentous birthday and I've got details on the world-wide concert event this weekend to save the environment. All that, when CNN NEWSROOM returns.

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LEMON: I have to read Harry Potter so I could figure out exactly what muggle is. Muggles everywhere will be getting plenty of boy wizard this summer. Harry Potter is working his magic on the big screen and in the bookstore as well.

CNN Entertainment Correspondent Brooke Anderson joins me now with that.

Have you ever -- I've done lots of stories on the book, you know what? I've never read any of the books. Have you?

ANDERSON: I have, but ...

LEMON: Not so much.

ANDERSON: ... my interest has kind of waned over the years, I will say that. But it is immensely popular and a muggle, by the way, Don, is a person without the magical powers.

LEMON: So I would be a muggle.

ANDERSON: You and I would both be muggles. Yes.

LEMON: But you would not be a muggle. You would be an unmuggle.

ANDERSON: Oh, well.

LEMON: Who's a person with magical powers?

ANDERSON: A wizard, like Harry Potter.

LEMON: Oh, a wizard.

ANDERSON: And so for all you manic muggles out there, Harry Potter will soon be back on the big screen. The film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," premiered today in London. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson celebrated by walking that red carpet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL RADCLIFFE, "HARRY POTTER": Really funny scenes in it, possibly more towards the beginning, but towards the end of the film you're right, there's not many laughs to be had. But I think -- while there's not actually direct sort of comedy in it to the same extent as in the previous one, I think there's some really heart felt emotion and warmth.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There is goodness in it.

RADCLIFFE: There's goodness in it. Absolutely right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The boy wizard will be in theaters in the United States on Wednesday, July 11th. Now, the "Order of the Phoenix" the fifth installment of the film franchise.

Alright, going over to the book side, the seventh and final book of the J.K. Rowling phenomenon, has cast its spell on readers, too. The book has been preordered on Amazon by nearly 1.6 million people worldwide. That number beats out 1.5 million preorders from the last book, the "Half Blood Prince."

According to Amazon, all the orders placed before noon July 17th will insure this that the book hits your doorstep on July 21st. So, Don, a lot of people very excited about that.

LEMON: So, Daniel Radcliffe, at this premiere, was he wearing all of his clothes?

ANDERSON: I think he was. Although are you referring to the play Equus? Where he doesn't?

LEMON: Yes. That was kind of weird. You know, Harry Potter naked, not ...

ANDERSON: Harry Potter growing up a bit. LEMON: Oh, well. OK.

Let's change the subject real quick now. Lindsay Lohan, she's now legal to drink. I thought she's been legal for years. I mean ...

ANDERSON: One would think.

LEMON: She turned 21 but did she have a cocktail to toast her day?

ANDERSON: She did not have an alcoholic one, thankfully, from what we're hearing.

LEMON: Did you check it?

ANDERSON: It was a pretty low-key party. The actress, according to her publicist, celebrated, it's official, her 21st birthday, with family and friends at a private home on the beach in Malibu, California.

"People" magazine says she stayed mostly inside, occasionally peeking out to see at least 30 paparazzi ready to snap a picture. Can you imagine 30 paparazzi just following you around? The star was in a giving mood yesterday. She bought pizza for the photographers and the food was delivered by her bodyguard, Jazz, who said they were from the birthday girl with love. The photographers reportedly yelled in unison, "thank you Lindsay."

Alright, that was a lot of fun and games, but you may remember, over Memorial Day Lohan checked herself into Promises Rehabilitation Center in Malibu. That, after a weekend of partying that included an arrest on suspicion of DUI. Her publicist confirmed, Don, with CNN, that Lohan is in Promises extended care program. So maybe she's taking it seriously and really wants to turn her life around.

LEMON: Well maybe -- we hope so. But seriously, the question is, Brooke, I mean, what about the club owners and all these people who are letting her in the club and letting her drink and then drive? And she's underage!

ANDERSON: That's a bigger issue, and I think there is really going to be a crackdown. There's an investigation into the club owners, into who they're letting in. Because a lot of people, you know -- the clubs if the celebrities are in, it's great promotion, great publicity for them, but I think there will be a crackdown that we will see in the future and rightfully so. It's dangerous.

LEMON: I think it is a good idea because they are underage and therefore, they are children.

ANDERSON: Right.

LEMON: You heard it, I've said my piece. On Saturday, we are going to be a lesson while listening to great music at the Live Earth concert. That should be interesting. ANDERSON: That's right. And that's what promoters of the event are hoping, that it is a lesson for all. Former Vice President Al Gore, one of the people behind Saturday's Live Earth show, says the point of the concert is to rally the world to make a difference regarding global warming.

One of the weekend goals is getting the audience to sign the seven-point pledge. By signing the agreement, you're promising to put pressure on leaders to change policies on pollution and personally work to reduce your own carbon emissions.

The 7/7/07 Live Earth concert will feature more than 150 artists performing in eight countries. And you know, I will be there at Giants Stadium at the Jersey concert, to bring you live coverage this weekend from Live Earth.

LEMON: Oh.

ANDERSON: Yes. Want to hear more about that?

LEMON: Lucky you, I do. I do, I can't wait to hear about that.

ANDERSON: Seventeen artists are going to be on the slate for the Jersey concert. Including Alicia Keyes, Bon Jovi, Melissa Etheridge, the Police, Kelly Clarkson, Ludacris, so, it is a great line up. One- hundred-and-fifty artists world-wide taking part.

LEMON: That's good. Everyone you mentioned, I know. Usually you mention artists and I'm like who is that?

ANDERSON: Well, that's why I named those for you, Don. I picked out the ones I thought you would know.

Alright, coming up tonight on "Showbiz Tonight" we have got a SPECIAL REPORT, Showbiz Investigates, everything from celebrity sex tapes to the plastic surgery secrets of the stars. The inside stories, TV's most provocative entertainment news show, "Showbiz Tonight," 11:00 eastern and specific. A.J. Hammer and I hope to see you then.

LEMON: We will see you then. Have a great Fourth, OK?

ANDERSON: You too. Thanks, Don.

PHILLIPS: Coming up, his illness sparked an international ruckus. In just a few minutes, Denver doctors will update us on the so-called TB traveler. We will bring that to you live, straight ahead, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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