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Airline Workers Arrested for Drug Smuggling; Fugitive Molester Arrested in Nevada; Tensions Rise with Turkey; Dalai Lama to Receive Congressional Gold Medal

Aired October 16, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: He told police he was sick of running. While many would say he was just plain sick. Chester Arthur Stiles, accused of videotaping his sexual abuse of a toddler, is a fugitive no more. We'll get a live report from Las Vegas.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: We're also live at the White House where President Bush is hosting the Dalai Lama, and slamming the door on angry complaints from Beijing. Much ado about Tibet this hour in the NEWSROOM.

Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen in today for Kyra Phillips, at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We start this hour with some developing news that's happening at one of the nation's busiest airports. T.J. Holmes following the story for us.

What do you have, sir?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, JFK, out of New York. Not just passengers going through here, apparently.

About -- let's see -- 18 people, airline workers have now been arrested and charged in connection with a plot to smuggle drugs through JFK Airport. Now this was a scheme here, and apparently where people were, according to the officials, at least, people were actually hiding drugs as the planes were leaving the Dominican Republic.

And then when they got to New York, to JFK airport, the people on the other end, the other airline workers, would then get a hold of that luggage, and get a hold of those drugs and get the drugs out before anyone was ever able to inspect that luggage.

So we have 18 people here, 18 airline employees, employees at Delta airlines, and one person at American Airlines.

And authorities say this was part of a two-year investigation that they had going on here. And they seized 46 kilograms of cocaine, 25 kilograms of heroin and also three kilograms of Ecstasy in this particular sting that has, again, a two-year investigation that has resulted in these 18 arrests for people in the Dominican Republic as well as people that worked at JFK. But a pretty elaborate scheme that apparently has been going on for quite some time that they were able to do this after a two-year investigation. But 18 people in custody. I'm sure we'll hear a lot more details about this.

But just kind of, Don, an intriguing situation here there. They're shifting them from one place, sending them onto a plane, unsuspecting passengers and everybody else don't even know that they're on a plane that's being used to smuggle drugs.

LEMON: And safe to say this is a pretty big deal that, T.J., we'll be following throughout the day in the CNN NEWSROOM. We appreciate that. Thank you.

NGUYEN: Let's get you now to a story that we're following in suburban Detroit. Students and staff have evacuated two schools in Melvindale, Michigan, where hydraulic acid leaked from a metal finishing plant.

Officials say they don't know of anyone getting sick. Nevertheless, a number of folks are being cleared out, just as a precaution.

One of America's most wanted is nabbed in Nevada. It started when cops pulled over a car missing a license plate and ended when the driver said, "I'm the guy you are looking for."

Now Chester Stiles is behind bars, suspected in the videotaped rape of a 3-year-old girl.

CNN's Chris Lawrence has the latest now from Las Vegas, and he joins us live. So tell us what you've been able to find out in all of this.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, Chester Stiles is going to be arraigned tomorrow morning, and prosecutors are expected to charge him with multiple counts of sexual assault, as well as using a child to produce pornography.

Now, all of this started, really, on a routine traffic stop. Stiles was driving a car with no license plate, and when the officers pulled him over, he handed them a driver's license with a picture that just didn't match up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER MIKE DYE, HENDERSON, NEVADA, POLICE: We didn't believe his story or who he was. He finally told us, "Hey, I'm Chester Stiles. I'm the guy you're looking for." And at that time he said, "I'm sick of running."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Now all of this goes back to a videotape, a very graphic videotape that was shot four years ago but just turned over to police last month. It graphically shows a man raping a little girl who probably was no older than 3 years old at the time.

Police believe the man in the video is Chester Stiles.

The little girl is now 7 years old. She's living with her mom, who apparently had no idea this assault had even happened. The assault apparently happened while the little girl was left with a baby-sitter, and while the mom was away at work -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Chris, I've got to ask you this, though, as the search was going on for Stiles, are police at all surprised that he stayed in Nevada?

LAWRENCE: Well, they've been getting several tips that placed him in this area, so they did believe that he was somewhere in the Nevada area, somewhere in the greater Las Vegas area. And they actually picked him up in Henderson, which is a suburb.

The question that they're going to be asking now is, is this little girl the only alleged victim? They don't know the answer to that right now. But we do know that even before this case, Stiles was already wanted on a state and a federal warrant for allegedly groping another little girl four years ago.

NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Chris Lawrence following the case very closely for us. Thank you, Chris.

LEMON: More on what farmers in central Iowa need -- don't need, I should say, is rain. Intense storms yesterday turned fields into lakes and flooded roads. We're seeing much of the same across north Texas. One traffic death.

Roads underwater and delays still at the airports there. The storms couldn't stop some avid golfers, though, who figured, well, what's a little rain if you get the course all to yourself?

One problem, the course in Garland was flooded when that creek overflowed. I think I see a life boat on the golf course. Don't think I've seen that before.

Now the total opposite: dusty, dry, red clay, visible for miles around Georgia's Lake Lanier, usually filled with skiers and fisherman, ground zero for a record drought that's gripping parts of the southeast.

Experts predict this reservoir, which provides water for about a third of Georgia's residents, could run dry in -- get this -- just 90 days.

Many towns banned outdoor watering weeks ago. Restricting indoor water use could be next. And this is just one lake. The drought covers most of Tennessee, Alabama and the northern half of Georgia, as well as parts of North and South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia.

We will explore this dire situation at length next hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Meantime, still a mess in the middle part of the country, our Chad Myers is there, and he tells us it is spreading, Chad Myers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: Well, you said it. So you know what's going on. Just real quick, really quick, the situation that's happening with the drought, is it safe to say it's almost an emergency situation?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, you know, it absolutely is. And even in my household we're doing things that you normally don't do.

LEMON: Yes.

MYERS: I'm potty training a 2-year-old. And he goes, "Daddy, why can't I flush the toilet?"

LEMON: Yes.

MYERS: Because we're just not going to do that for that No. 1.

LEMON: Yes.

MYERS: We'll wait for No. 2.

LEMON: It affects so many parts of our lives.

MYERS: You've got to think about it all the time now. I haven't washed my car in probably six weeks, easy.

LEMON: Well, that's good. But, you know what? We're going to talk about that next hour.

MYERS: Yes.

LEMON: Chad and I are going to talk about this, as we say, emergency situation happening in southeast Georgia.

Chad, we appreciate it. Thanks.

NGUYEN: Record high oil prices are fueling jitters in financial markets all around the world. The surge, arising in part from new tensions between Turkey and Iraq.

CNN's Ali Velshi joins us now from New York to explain how all of this is affecting the market.

So break it down for us, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Betty, I mean, just this morning I had my trusty oil barrel, and it had a number in the 86s.

NGUYEN: Really?

VELSHI: That was the highest, where oil closed yesterday. Check this out: $88.20 is where it hit today. This is quite remarkable. The track that oil has been taking over the last month has been quite remarkable.

Take a look at where it's been for the last rear. We have moved up 30 percent, more than 30 percent this year alone. Since August oil was in the $70s. We're now -- we closed -- we settled yesterday at $86.13. We're now around $88.

We're not seeing this fully translate, Betty, into the price of gasoline yet, which is what a lot of people are concerned about. Still about $2.75 for a gallon. That's a national average.

But the issue here is the weather is starting to get a little bit colder. People who heat with oil are starting to feel this.

And, of course, Betty, it's not even that simplistic. Whether or not you use oil or gasoline, the fact is, 80 percent of the goods in this country are trucked to the stores in trucks. They come from overseas, using ships. Oil is used to manufacture the things that we buy: the packaging, the heating in the plants.

So this definitely gets felt in the economy, gets felt all around. And that's what leads to inflation, which causes a lot of other problems in the economy.

So when you look at oil that has moved from $70 to $80 in a month, the idea of $100 a barrel oil, and gas going up, does become a bit of a serious issue.

NGUYEN: Ali Velshi, you did not say $100 a barrel.

VELSHI: I didn't. I didn't. This is on tape. You can rewind it. I did not say that.

NGUYEN: I don't even want to hear that. All right, thank you.

VELSHI: All right, Betty.

NGUYEN: Don.

LEMON: U.S. military -- thank you, Betty -- is facing the possible loss of a key air base in Turkey. Now it's getting ready to find alternatives. New developments amid new tensions between the U.S. and its Muslim ally.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Barbara Starr. She's at the Pentagon for us -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, at this hour, in fact, a top general here in the Pentagon is meeting with reporters in the briefing room, taking questions about the latest developments in Turkey. Lieutenant General Carter Ham, the director of operations on the joint staff, struggling to explain a bit just how involved or not involved the U.S. military plans to get in this situation, especially in that border region where Kurdish PKK rebels, launching out of northern Iraq, are attacking into Turkey, and Turkey is becoming extremely concerned, returning artillery shell fire back across the border. The U.S. military simply trying to stay out of the way.

Look, if that situation wasn't enough, we have the second situation in Turkey, this business of a congressional resolution declaring as genocide the killing of Armenians by Turks during World War I. As a result of that problem, the Turks are threatening to cut off U.S. access to the critical air base, Incirlik, Turkey.

What is the latest there today? Well, the U.S. military has now very quietly confirmed they have issued a warning order to troops, to U.S. troops to be prepared to look at alternative air routes into Iraq, without having to go into Turkey.

About 70 percent, Don, of U.S. military cargo into Iraq goes through Turkey or Turkish air space. If Incirlik is cut off, the U.S. has to be ready with other options. And now, indeed, a warning order has gone out to be so-called prepared to execute other options.

We're talking about looking for aircraft, crews, fuel lines, air supply routes out of Europe. It will be much more expensive, and much more time intensive for the war effort -- Don.

LEMON: You said it. Barbara Starr, thank you for that.

NGUYEN: Well, the U.S. versus China. The Dalai Lama in the middle. So find out why his visit to Washington has infuriated Beijing.

LEMON: Plus, they do Windows, and they might do away with voicemail. Microsoft's next big thing is coming up. Ali Velshi has more on that.

NGUYEN: Plus, angioplasty or a bypass? Well, in an ideal world, you could bypass both. But is one better than the other for heart patients?

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Let's take you back to the news room now and T.J. Holmes with details on that developing story out of JFK Airport -- T.J.

HOLMES: Everybody knows you come back into the country, you've been somewhere, you fly back in, you've got to have your bag checked out by customs. Well, there was a pretty good scheme that was avoiding customs at JFK, because these bags apparently had drugs in them.

This was a smuggling scheme that involved heroin and cocaine, and now 18 people have been arrested in this scheme. Ten of those are employees at JFK International Airport in New York, and they worked for Delta Airlines and American Airlines. Actually, one person worked at American Airlines. The rest of them, seven of them, rather, worked at Delta Airlines. And what they were doing was some of the co-conspirators, according to the authorities, were in the Dominican Republic. And they would hide the drugs, cocaine and heroin, on luggage that was being packed up and heading to New York. And then on the other end, when the planes arrived in New York, allegedly the other co- conspirators on that end would then grab those bags before they got to customs and take them to a safe area, get the drugs unloaded.

Now this is a scheme that apparently has been going on for quite some time, because the investigation here, according to customs officials, had been going on for some two years that they had an eye on these folks, and they finally moved in now. And we have 18 arrests, several of them, ten of them at JFK International Airport.

So a fairly complicated scheme that's been going on for quite some time, Betty. We're going to get a lot more details about this, I'm sure. And here's some of those details.

Just how much -- how many drugs have been brought into this country? How long has this been going on? But it seems like they have been able to get away with it for quite some time.

NGUYEN: Yes. For two years.

HOLMES: Yes, at least.

NGUYEN: OK, T.J., looking forward to that. Thank you.

HOLMES: All right, Betty.

LEMON: Outrage from the Chinese, a vigorous defense from the White House. The Dalai Lama is at the center of new tensions between the U.S. and China.

The exiled Buddhist leader from Tibet is in Washington for a private meeting with President Bush and to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. And Beijing is not pleased about that.

Let's check in now with CNN's Elaine Quijano. She is at the White House with the very latest for us.

Hi, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Don.

You know, this event is not even on President Bush's official public schedule, and the White House is really keeping information on this private meeting to a very bare minimum. They're not even going to be releasing a still photograph of this meeting today.

But this afternoon, the president is going to be sitting down for that private meeting, in the White House residence here, with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan monks.

Now the Dalai Lama, as you noted, is in Washington this time to receive the Congressional Gold Medal tomorrow. The president has met privately before here at the White House with the Dalai Lama.

But China this time, a country, of course, that has a very complicated relationship with the United States, to say the least, is not happy, as you noted, about this award that the Dalai Lama will be receiving.

The Chinese government considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and has protested this award, calling it interference in Chinese affairs.

Now, just a short time ago, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a briefing that the decision not to release a photo from today's private meeting was not necessarily made as any kind of gesture toward the Chinese.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We in no way want to stir the pot and make China feel that we are, you know, poking a stick in their eye to a country that we have a lot of relationships with on a variety of issue. I mean, a good relationship with on a variety of issues. And this -- this might be one thing that we can do, and -- but I don't have -- I don't believe that that's going to assuage the concerns of the Chinese.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Certainly a delicate balancing act, as President Bush meets behind closed doors, away from cameras. But tomorrow will be a much different story: out in public, appearing at that ceremony, honoring the Dalai Lama, of course.

As you noted, Beijing not happy about this. But despite those tensions, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino saying the president plans to go on with the appearance and his planned remarks at that ceremony -- Don.

LEMON: And Elaine, you were so kind not to correct me, because I said the Congressional Medal of Honor. It's a Congressional Gold Medal.

QUIJANO: That's right.

LEMON: True professional. Thank you for that, Elaine. We'll check back.

And let's talk about the Congressional Gold Medal that's being presented to the Dalai Lama, some information on it. It's one of four awards bestowed by Congress, the nation's highest most distinguished civilian award.

The first Congressional Gold Medal was presented to George Washington in 1776. It's given for acts of service and lifetime achievement.

NGUYEN: Well, he took a bullet to the gut from one of his own students. And now, a teacher wounded in last week's Ohio school shooting rampage tells us what happened just before that gun went off. You're going to hear from him ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The further contraction in housing is likely to be a significant drag on growth in the current quarter and through early next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: All right, so you heard it from the fed chairman himself: slowing economic growth due to troubles in the housing market. CNN's Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us what it all means.

Hey, there, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Betty.

Ben Bernanke's comments last night to economists in New York are just one of the factors weighing on stocks today. But it may be tough for the Fed to further cut interest ratings because of the spike we're seeing in oil prices, which raises concern about inflation.

As Ali reported earlier, crude rose above $88 per barrel today, on questions about supplies, as well as mounting tensions between Turkey and Kurds in northern Iraq.

The price of oil has soared 44 percent so far this year. And that's hurting stocks for a second day in a row.

The Dow industrials right now are down 75 points or half a percent. The NASDAQ is down a third of a percent.

Shares of General Motors, by the way, the biggest drag for the Dow, down about 3 percent after an analyst downgrade.

Google shares are flat. That's the parent company of YouTube, which is unveiling long-awaited anti-piracy tools. Hollywood has been frustrated, because YouTube makes so much money using video for which it often has no rights to use.

The new filtering software automatically deletes copyrighted material from its web site. YouTube had been removing copyrighted material upon request.

Some studios, however, already complaining, because for one, the new software requires companies to submit copyrighted material it doesn't want appearing on the site. In other words, a lot of work. And that often means handing over decades' worth of material.

So not a perfect solution, in the studio's view; not yet anyway, Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, isn't a judge banning some other software that's floating around out there, as well?

LISOVICZ: That's right. And I think this is something that a lot of us can relate to us. Because, you know, so many times folks are really psyched about a concert. They get online. They're buy -- trying to buy tickets the minute they go on sale and they get locked out, oftentimes because there's software out there that really works against us. It allows users to buy tickets in bulk, leaving us mere humans who logged in manually to buy tickets.

Now a federal judge is banning RMG Technologies from selling that software. It's a victory for consumers and to ticket masters.

The most recent example is parents who raised a stink about not being able to get Hannah Montana tickets for their kids. And they were forced to pay a premium at sites like StubHub, because that software is often sold to ticket brokers, who resold them at a big profit.

Coming up in the next hour, a drought affecting Atlanta could make profits dry up for businesses in the south. I'll tell you which industries are feeling the pain, in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

Betty and Don, I know you'll be listening.

NGUYEN: Yes. And I was going to say, parents are definitely feeling the pain, because they can't get their hands on those Hannah Montana tickets.

LISOVICZ: That's exactly right. There have been investigations, in fact, launched into it, because it's such a hot ticket.

NGUYEN: Yes. Some going for $3,000. I can't even imagine.

All right, thank you, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

LEMON: You get a bunch of voicemails every day, right?

NGUYEN: Mm-hmm.

LEMON: We all do. But say good-bye to voicemail?

NGUYEN: What?

LEMON: How about that? It could happen.

NGUYEN: Really?

LEMON: CNN's Ali Velshi has the 411, coming up.

Don't you, in the NEWSROOM, Ali?

VELSHI: Yes. What I would do if my life were rid of voice mail. It annoys me and, guess what, it annoys Bill Gates, too. I'm going to tell you about what he's doing and saying about it in the NEWSROOM. It continues right after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. Good afternoon, everybody, I'm in for Kyra Phillips today. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Happening right now, we're following this story. It's in suburban Detroit. Two schools in Melvindale, Michigan, have been evacuated. Students and staff, after hydrochloric acid leaked from a metal finishing plant. Officials say they don't know of anyone getting sick. Nevertheless, a number of folks are being cleared out of the area just as a precaution.

NGUYEN: Three by three, tree by three, and then rock by rock, dozens of volunteers are searching some of West Virginia's most rugged wilderness for an autistic hiker. Authorities say 18-year-old Jacob Allen had no food, water or heavy clothing with him when he wandered away from his parents on Sunday. Temperatures both nights have been close to freezing.

And right now searchers are focusing on ten square miles of the Dolly Sods wilderness area, much of it steep and covered with brush.

Last week, gunfire and panic. This week, cheers and applause. Students and teachers are back in class at Cleveland's SuccessTech Academy. Community groups lined up outside to welcome them. Inside, armed guards and a new metal detector are on the job. It's been almost a week since a student shot and wounded two classmates and two teachers at the alternative high school before killing himself.

Two guns, plenty of anger. Student gunmen Asa Coon had both when he went on his rampage last week. Now we're hearing from one of the people he shot, his own teacher Michael Grassie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL GRASSIE, WOUNDED TEACHER: Asa Coon came into my classroom and I backed away from him, away from my storage room behind some tables. And he was about ten feet away from me, and he was -- I don't know what he was saying. He just -- he stood there, and he had his hands up like this with a gun in his hand. And he said, now what do you got to say to me? And then he just shot me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Grassie says security was lax at the school before that attack. He also says Coon had a number of behavior problems which should have been a warning sign of worse things to come.

LEMON: It is 32 past the hour. Three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We're just getting word of a federal drug bust involving JFK Airport in New York. 18 people are accused in a plot to smuggle cocaine, heroin and other drugs through JFK, ten of them are airport workers.

Chester Stiles facing arraignment tomorrow in a videotaped rape of a toddler. A nationwide manhunt for the Las Vegas man ended last night when a cop pulled over his car in Nevada.

Crude oil prices hitting record highs today, 88 bucks a barrel right now. The surge is partly based on new tensions between Turkey, and Iraq.

Well, you've probably been there, done that. Tried to reach a friend or a co-worker on the phone, but never got past the voicemail. For companies, well that's a big time waster. But it could soon be a thing of the past.

CNN's Ali Velshi joins me now from New York to explain what is going on. I hate it when I always get voicemail when I call some people, never a person picks up.

VELSHI: It's the irritation of the voicemail, but it's what it signifies. Right? It means you're chasing -- it means the chase begins. I didn't get you on voicemail, so then I go to e-mail or instant message, or your home phone or your cell phone. Well, Microsoft says that if they can solve that problem, it's a big step toward how we're going to work in the future.

And I had a chance to go out to Microsoft, and I even spoke with Bill Gates about this, about what they're doing. It's something called Unified Communications. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: What if you never had to hear this again?

TELEPHONE OPERATOR: Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system.

JEFF RAIKES, PRESIDENT, MICROSOFT BUSINESS DIVISION: I call you, I leave voicemail. You call me back. You leave voicemail. We want to break out of voicemail jail.

VELSHI: And even when you do reach someone on the phone, Bill Gates says you're probably still not getting enough done.

BILL GATES, CHAIRMAN, MICROSOFT: Well, the amount of time you waste calling somebody up, going through some pleasantries, saying please send me this thing or that thing.

VELSHI: So Microsoft is counting on something it calls Unified Communications. It's taking programs and devices that we already use, and combing them. Using a computer or a handheld device, Unified Communications lets you reach someone if they give you the green light indicating they want to be reached instantly. Wherever they are, and however they want to be reached. Whether it's instant message, e- mail, on their handheld device, or at whatever phone number they're using. GATES: It's time we brought the magic of software to the whole way we communicate. I want software to understand who I work with, how I want them to be able to get a hold of me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here you see Francesca is in a meeting. Kevin is available.

VELSHI: You're all about the face time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you mind if I actually add video?

VELSHI: These tools have all been available, but now Microsoft is combining them, and it's betting that it will save your company enough time, and save you enough frustration, that 100 million people will be using Unified Communications within three years. And voicemail ...

TELEPHONE OPERATOR: To page this person ...

VELSHI: Will be a thing of the past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: You know, Microsoft doesn't have to do any work, Don, to sell this to anybody, because if anybody tells me that they can do away with voicemail and I can find people whenever I want to, I'd go for that. But remember the other side of that equation, Don, that means anytime you're available, they can make you work.

LEMON: Yes. And you know, I don't want to endorse anything, but if you can cut down on a step, that's a pretty good product.

VELSHI: It's a big deal. I'm going to come back a little later on and tell you sort of, give you a bit of my conversation with Bill Gates on some broader issues about competition.

And if you want more of this, Don, for those of you who are on the Internet all the time anyway, money.com -- CNNmoney.com has more of it. But it is -- half a billion people, Don, use Microsoft Office, so a lot of people will move over to this way of communicating. It will be interesting to watch.

LEMON: I fought the beeper for a long time. Fought the cell phone. Then, I fought the BlackBerry and you know what, you just ...

VELSHI: They've got you.

LEMON: Got to go with it. Ali Velshi, we look forward to your next segment. Thanks.

NGUYEN: Well, that means there's no hiding now. What are you going to do?

LEMON: I know. What are you going to do? I don't know, but up here you can't answer the phone because we're on the air.

NGUYEN: We'll figure something out. Yes, we'll work on that. LEMON: BlackBerry's been repaired. That works.

NGUYEN: Yes, we can get you now.

There are two justice systems in America. That's one of the questions that we're asking, one for blacks, another for whites. Well, a troubling question at today's House Judiciary Committee hearing that sparked by the Jena 6, the black Louisiana high schoolers charged with beating up a white classmate. Earlier, some students hung a noose from a tree at the high school, but were not charged.

Now, charges on one end, no charges on the other. And that alone is outraging lawmakers like Sheila Jackson Lee who zeroed in on Louisiana U.S. Attorney Donald Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Mr. Washington, tell me why you did not intervene, not by way of the legal system, but the consultation that the U.S. attorneys have with the local district attorney, why didn't you intervene?

This -- broken lines could have been prevented if you had taken the symbolic responsibility that you have, being the first African- American appointed to the western district. I don't know what else to say. I am outraged. And that's why my voice is going up like this. Literally outraged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, U.S. Attorney Washington says the Justice Department is probing a spate of recent noose hanging incidents, but decided not to prosecute the Jena noose hangers because they're juveniles.

LEMON: Man, that was heated. Yes, the Reverend Al Sharpton testified at today's hearings and said the white youths should have been charged. Sharpton is urging Congress to toughen hate crime laws, especially in light of the recent noose hanging incidents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: What has happened in Jena and what has happened all over this country, we have not heard one federal response. It is almost like the national government is not in the country, while we're watching nooses on the news every night, while we're watching hate crimes. And if we can't appeal to the federal government, where can we go?

It has been rationalized by those in Jena, some that these nooses was a prank. A prank to who? Grandchildren of people who saw their grandparents hang on nooses? If there is a prank, if there is a joke, the joke is, if we can represent to the world that we're the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we can't protect youngsters in Jena, Louisiana, and we can't stop people from hanging nooses, there's a difference between peace and quiet, Mr. Chairman. Quiet means shut up and allow a two-tiered justice system to continue to exist. Justice means we must have an even playing field, and the Justice Department at the behest of this committee needs to step in to Jena and the Jenas of this country, and establish that the federal government is still in charge, and the states did not win the Civil War.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, just last week, a judge sentenced one of the Jena 6 to 18 months in jail for violating the terms of his probation from a previous conviction. Two of the Jena 6 in a different kind of spotlight. Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis were invited to Saturday's BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta where they presented the video of the year award. The two thanked the hip hop community for its support. Hip hop awards air tomorrow night on BET.

NGUYEN: News you can use to protect your heart. Going under the knife versus angioplasty. New study could help you decide which is better for you. That's ahead.

LEMON: Plus, a convicted child killer just issued a life sentence will soon get a new lease on life. Will tax dollars save a very sick man? Details straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right, we do have some big news now about your heart. Doctors have long wondered which is safer, bypass surgery or angioplasty. Well, a new study reaches a surprising conclusion.

Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain exactly how this breaks down.

ELIZABETH COHEN, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is so interesting because we all know people who've had bypass or angioplasty.

NGUYEN: Yes.

COHEN: Everybody knows someone who's had it. And sometimes patients have to make a choice and it's really tough, which is better: to have a bypass, or to have angioplasty, and people assume that angioplasty is safer.

Let's take a look, bypass is when you have to actually go in to the chest, and you have to -- you can see right in there, you go in there and you take those arteries and you do a bypass past the clogged part and it's a very invasive surgery. But guess what? According to a new study, it is just as safe long-term as an angioplasty.

This is what an angioplasty is, is where you go in and you put a balloon, and you try to get rid of all that gook that you see on the walls of the arteries, and then after you put in the balloon, you leave a stent, which is sort of an apparatus that keeps those arteries open. But what they found long-term is that both are equally as safe, and this is really terrific news for patients who are trying to make that decision about which one to have.

NGUYEN: Oh, yes, absolutely. So, given this information, why would anyone want their chest cracked open when you can just put a stent in?

COHEN: Right, and the answer to that is that sometimes bypass surgery is the route you have to go. There are some circumstances based on the kind of blockages you have and where they are and how many, how blocked up they are, how sick you are, where you really are going to have to stick with that bypass surgery.

Now, there are other times where it is an option. Let's look at the benefits of bypass surgery because, again, people might think, oh, why do I want that? There's less chance of chest pain after you have the surgery. People have more chest pain with an angioplasty.

And here's the big one, there is less chance of repeating the procedure. When you have an angioplasty, that's the one with the balloon and the stent, the less invasive one, you're more likely to have to go in and have it done again. That's problematic. With bypass, it's a tougher surgery, it's a tougher procedure, but it's more likely to work the first time.

NGUYEN: Gotcha. OK, well either of them, will they provide a cure?

COHEN: They will not provide a cure. And that, I think, is what doctors say is a mistake that a lot of patients make. They think oh, well the doc went in and he did the bypass or did the angioplasty, he got rid of all that gook in my arteries, I'm good to go.

Well, you are good to go, but you still have to keep your health up. You still have to keep yourself at a reasonable weight. You still have to eat well, you still have to exercise. You can't just go back to the like burgers and fries diet that you once had or else those arteries are going to get clogged up again.

NGUYEN: Yes, right back in the same situation. Very good stuff. What's on tap next hour?

COHEN: Next hour, we have a very interesting story that also has to do with your heart. And that is, is it safe to have sex if you have a bad heart? This is a question a lot of people ask themselves. Surprising findings from a new study.

NGUYEN: Talking about sex, huh?

COHEN: We'll be talking about sex in the next hour.

NGUYEN: Always talking about sex.

COHEN: Always, I know, I know. What can you do?

NGUYEN: All right, we'll get to the bottom of it.

COHEN: OK.

NGUYEN: Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

LEMON: Lanny Barnes took a young life. Now, his own life will be saved by a bone marrow transplant, courtesy of Georgia taxpayers. Barnes was sentenced yesterday to life in prison for plowing into a family in a McDonald's parking lot, killing 2-year-old Avery King. Soon after his arrest last year, Barnes was diagnosed with leukemia. Avery King's aunt, who was also injured in the attack, says, whenever Barnes finally passes away, she'll be there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE CASOLA, AVERY KING'S AUNT: I plan to attend his funeral. You know, it would just be a definite closure, and to me, a happy ending to the story, the day I get to see him finally laid to rest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, according to witnesses, that day, Lanny Barnes smiled and laughed as he drove into the family, then reversed and hit them again.

Well, first we got a look at his face. Interpol digitally unscrambled it and released it last week. Now, we've learned an alleged pedophile's name. The Associated Press reports he's Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian who taught English in South Korea. The manhunt now centers on Thailand. Officials there say Neil flew in to Bangkok Thursday on a one-way ticket. He's accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen underage boys, and posting the photos on the Internet.

A little later, we'll check in with Interpol for the latest on the search.

NGUYEN: Well, this artist is an equal opportunity offender, but one drawing could cost him his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You said you would slaughter him like a lamb. Do you mean that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Muslim outrage over a cartoon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Well, most of us wouldn't try to provoke an al Qaeda vendetta, but an artist in Sweden, well, he's different. Now, there's a price on his head.

But CNN's Paula Newton reports no sign of fear in his heart. We should warn you, her story includes language you may find upsetting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON (voice-over): Lars Vilks says he wanted to take a stand for artistic freedom. Now, because of that, police are telling him to lie low and check his car for booby-traps and bombs.

Why? Al Qaeda says Vilks is a marked man. They want him executed for sketching this: a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog.

(on camera): You set out deliberately to provoke and insult Muslims?

LARS VILKS, ARTIST: Well, you have to understand the art world in this small place in Sweden.

NEWTON: Yes, but look what happened. It didn't turn into a small thing.

VILKS: No. But I don't think it should be a problem to insult a religion, because it should be possible to insult all religions. And it could be a -- in a democratic way out there, if you insult one, then you should also insult the other ones.

NEWTON (voice-over): This eccentric Swedish artist and sculptor says he's an equal opportunity offender, even depicting Jesus as a pedophile. CNN has chosen not to show details of his religious works. All of this now playing out in a menacing video.

(CLIP FROM AL QAEDA VIDEO)

NEWTON (on camera): There you are again.

VILKS: Yes. Yes. It's being shown, yes.

NEWTON (voice-over): Al Qaeda offers Muslims $150,000 to murder Vilks.

VILKS: "If I have the occasion, I should, inshallah, slaughter you."

NEWTON: Those chilling words written by this wife and mother, Amatullah (ph), who follows the most conservative tenets of Islam and lives just an hour-and-a-half away from Vilks.

(on camera): You said you would slaughter him like a lamb. Do you mean that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes. NEWTON (voice-over): Amatullah has already been fined for threatening Vilks. Still, she says she won't stop until he's dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Call me a terrorist. Call me an Islamist. But I have the right to defend my prophet.

NEWTON: Swedish police, who would not comment on security, say they have warned Vilks al Qaeda sympathizers could be hunting him down here.

(on camera): Did you just get a death threat?

VILKS: "I will kill you, you son of a bitch."

NEWTON: Why aren't you afraid? You just received a death threat.

VILKS: You get use to it.

NEWTON (voice-over): Something else he's getting used to, driving every night to a location near a safe house. Then, we went along on his secret route, climbing walls through back gardens.

(on camera): Boy, this is crazy.

VILKS: Yes, this is crazy. But it's -- I think it's very good.

NEWTON (voice-over): This artist, now in hiding, makes no excuses, his drawing, his right, he says.

VILKS: If you don't like it, don't look at it. And if you want to look at it, don't take it too seriously.

NEWTON: Vilks knows such defiance could get him killed. Still, he claims his art is worth dying for.

VILKS: Good night. Good night -- night-night.

NEWTON: Paula Newton, CNN, Hoganas, Sweden.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: All right, take a look, shrinking lakes, docks left high and dry. What's a state to do?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM WILLIAMS, ATLANTA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: We don't want another Katrina situation here in New Orleans. We need the court to be responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: The dire situation facing Georgia and its neighbors, that is ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, our Anderson Cooper did double duty last night. He did his show, as usual, and also appeared on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Anderson and Conan swapped stories about the horrors of going hi-def.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You notice things about yourself that you'd never noticed before, like I learned I have a little fatty deposit under my left eye, and I didn't really know. So, I went, someone told me this, so I went ...

CONAN O'BRIEN, "LATE SHOW" HOST: You didn't notice this before until ...

COOPER: Not really.

O'BRIEN: ...they started shooting in HD?

COOPER: He had this big, huge picture of me on a projection screen, and he gave me a mirror, and he said, what do you see? And I said, well, I'm here for this little fatty deposit, and he goes, well yes, there is that, and then I was like, what else is there, and he had this whole litany of things that I could have done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: He was ready for him. Well, Anderson also promoted his special worldwide documentary, "Planet in Peril" which debuts October 23rd at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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