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Highlights of GOP Debate; Christmas Spirit Lost & Found; A Face for Youssif

Aired November 29, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning again, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

Developments keeping coming into the CNN NEWSROOM on Thursday, November 29th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

The CNN/YouTube presidential debate, Republicans zap and zing each other. So who conquered and who bombed?

HARRIS: Back in surgery. The badly burned Iraqi boy Youssif in the O.R. right now. Doctors work to give him a new face.

COLLINS: They are secret criminals and they could be at work on your computer right now. An FBI cyber expert this hour.

Bot plots -- in the NEWSROOM.

The front-runners faced off, but other candidates got in their licks. We check out last night's CNN/YouTube debate with John King, part of the best political team on television.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Up first, immigration. From the get-go, crackling.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the reality is that New York City was not a sanctuary city.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The mayor actually brought a suit to maintain its sanctuary city status.

GIULIANI: In his case there were six sanctuary cities. He did nothing about them. There was even a sanctuary mansion. At his own home, illegal immigrants were being employed.

KING: The Romney-Giuliani face-off on immigration, one of many raw moments. Another, when Romney refused to say whether he considered waterboarding terrorism suspects to be torture.

ROMNEY: I don't think it's wise for us to describe specifically which measures we would and would not use.

JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a defining issue and, clearly, we should be able, if we want to be commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces, to take a definite and positive position.

KING: The unique format meant unique questions.

This one from Joseph in Dallas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe every word of this book?

KING: "The Book of Mormon" defines Romney's faith.

And yet...

ROMNEY: I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the bible and I believe the bible is the word of God.

KING: Faith factored as well in a death penalty question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would Jesus do?

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you grant your vice president as much power and influence as I've had?

KING: That colorful entry brought a rare Republican debate criticism of President Bush.

MCCAIN: And he did not have as much national security experience as I do, so he had to rely more on the vice president of the United States, and that is obvious.

KING: Just back from Iraq, McCain was assertive again when Ron Paul called for bringing the troops home.

MCCAIN: The message of these brave men and women who are serving over there is, let us win.

KING: Each candidate allowed a 30-second video, and the struggling Fred Thompson used his to attack two rivals causing him fits by drawing conservative support.

ROMNEY: I believe that abortion should be save and legal in this country.

On abortion, I was wrong, and I changed my mind as the governor. KING: When it was over, a momentary truce. It won't last. The first votes in Iowa are just five weeks away.

John King, CNN, St. Petersburg, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: So who do you think won the debate? Check out CNNPolitics.com to watch highlights and get analysis from the best political team on TV. See what everyone is talking about at CNNPolitics.com.

(NEWSBREAK)

HARRIS: An elderly woman's money and dreams cast to the wind. Some people scramble to scoop up the loose cash, others rush to save her Christmas spirit, and maybe yours, too.

Details now from Lesley Tanner. She is with CNN affiliate WSHM in Springfield, Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LESLEY TANNER, REPORTER, WSHM (voice over): We've all had a shopping cart get away from us while loading groceries into the car, but for 83-year-old Olive Corbiere of Turners Falls, that common slip led to an unbelievable accident. The cart slid underneath a tractor- trailer, getting stuck with her purse and a $1,100 in cash she had just withdrawn still inside.

CHIEF RAYMOND ZUKOWSKI, MONTAGUE, MASS., POLICE: The truck continued up our main street dragging the shopping cart and its contents.

TANNER (on camera): It's a scene usually only seen in game shows. When the truck got here to the Gill-Montague Bridge, the bag ripped open, bills went flying through the air, and several drivers stopped to collect as much cash as they could.

OLIVE CORBIERE, LOST CHRISTMAS CASH: The only thing I was hoping, that some of the people who picked up the money might have turned it in.

TANNER (voice over): But as word of the accident spread, it was uninvolved residents that came to Corbiere's aid, stopping by the police department and a local business to help replace what was lost.

ZUKOWSKI: It gives you a lot of faith. People don't call here to say they're having a good day usually, but this is different. People are coming in today to -- you know, to try to help out this elderly woman.

EVELYN DALY, OWNER, AVENUE A CAFE: You know, we can put a bucket out and donate our tips for the day just to her so she could have something.

TANNER: But Corbiere got more than just something when an anonymous customer saw the donation jar at the Avenue A Cafe.

DALY: They were very taken by the story and they actually wrote a check for $1,100.

TANNER: Because of the amount of cash, Corbiere didn't want her face shown on camera, but says she is overwhelmed by all the generosity.

CORBIERE: Very grateful and very pleasantly surprised there are so many nice people.

TANNER: And Corbiere says through all of this she's learned at least one important lesson.

CORBIERE: I won't take my hand off a cart if I have it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Doused with gas, disfigured by fire, an Iraqi boy back in the operating room this morning. We're watching his progress in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A little Iraqi boy doused with gasoline, set on fire, and disfigured. Youssif is back in surgery this hour at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, California.

Our Arwa Damon is following his progress.

Arwa, nice to see you. We have been talking about this particular procedure for a little while this morning, saying that it's really going to make a dramatic difference to Youssif.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Heidi. And, in fact, we can already see that difference. But before I go into those details, let's just talk about exactly what is happening.

The doctors have removed the tissue expanders. That is the large swelling that you see underneath Yousiff's chin and in his right cheek. Those expanders were placed there some two months ago, and over the course of every few weeks they have been inflated with a saline solution. If you can believe it, the one underneath his chin was about the size of a coke can.

Then they began to remove that thick scar tissue that's on his chin. And Dr. Peter Grossman, who is the lead surgeon on Youssif's case, was remarking how thick it was. He said it's like it's almost as hard as wood. So you can imagine how that impeded little Youssif's ability to open his mouth.

Now, all that scar tissue has been removed, and you can actually begin to see the definition of his chin. And, in fact, when doctors pull that newly-expanded skin over it, you see the old Youssif once again, at least underneath his mouth. What they are doing right now is fine tuning. They're stretching the skin, trying to see how far to stretch it, exactly where to attach the new skin to the old one. But it is such a remarkable and amazing process, and so far it's going very well.

COLLINS: Arwa, I know that you have gotten to know the family and Youssif pretty well in all of this. Tell us a little bit about what they tell you he was like before this tragedy happened.

DAMON: Well, really before this attack took place, his parents say that Youssif was a fairly happy child, but you also have to realize where he comes from. He grew up in Baghdad. War is all he knows. He was seven months old when the bar began, and there is no such thing as a childhood in Baghdad.

Followed by this horrible attack that took place, where all of a sudden their beautiful little boy became this sullen, withdrawn and grotesquely disfigured individual, what has been amazing and remarkable to see for his parents and also for those of us that have been involved has been Youssif's emotional transformation once he arrived in the United States. He's slowly been coming out of his shell.

He loves to laugh. He loves to crack jokes. He loves to make those around him laugh. And every single time his parents hear him shriek with delight, they can't help but to laugh themselves.

But at the same time, this is a 5-year-old boy that is wise beyond his years. He understands what happened to him. He understands why he has to go through this incredibly difficult and painful procedure.

In fact, yesterday right before he checked into the hospital, we were with him as he was having his last meal, and he was trying to spoon food into his mouth, which is incredibly difficult because his jaw only really opened prior to the surgery about that much, and he said, "Mommy, after the surgery I'm going to be able to open my mouth, right?"

COLLINS: Oh, man. Wow. That is just something else, Arwa.

We're so glad you're there today, and really want to find out how all of this goes. I know it's going to be a very long process.

So CNN's Arwa Damon.

DAMON: It is.

COLLINS: Also, we want to let you know that you can see a complete interactive guide on how Dr. Grossman plans to remove Youssif's scars. Plus, before and after photos and more on this story at CNN.com.

HARRIS: A possible cell phone horror story. Could your mobile device be putting your life at risk? It is one of the most talked about stories at CNN.com. Our Veronica de la Cruz joins us next with details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Your cell phone, a ticking time bomb? Our Veronica de la Cruz is joining us now with one of the most talked about stories on the Web this morning.

We have been watching this one all morning long, Veronica. Tell us first what happened.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, there were questions today about whether it was actually an exploding cell phone that killed a 33-year-old man in South Korea. The man was found dead at his workplace.

His mobile phone melted into his shirt pocket. Now, the police believe the lithium-ion battery in the cell phone exploded.

TheKoreaTimes.com posted this photo of the melted phone on their Web site. They say the picture was given to them by local police.

The phone was apparently made by LG Electronics, the world's fifth largest cell phone manufacturer. So, Heidi, we put a cull into LG and they told us the model in question is not sold in the United States and they are withholding further comment until they hear more from the police.

In the meantime, we asked the president of the watch group Wireless Consumers Alliance about the possible dangers of cell phones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL HILLIARD, PRESIDENT, WIRELESS CONSUMERS ALLIANCE: Because you have so much energy packed into such a small space, that it can explode, and when it does, the results are very horrific.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: And doctors in South Korea say the man who died had burns on his chest, fractured ribs, and internal bleeding. The Wireless Consumers Alliance told us they get reports about once a month about cell phones exploding in the United States, but they have never heard of anyone dying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLIARD: The message that needs to get out to consumers is these are not toys. These are very sophisticated instruments. They require a lot of power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: Hilliard also says the Consumer Protection Agency and the cell phone industry have been looking into this problem and are working toward a solution, such as a new battery design. Now, people should probably be worried about this, probably at home thinking, OK, are there steps that I can take to prevent my cell phone from exploding? We have talked to CPSC, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and, Heidi, this is what they're saying. They're saying avoid contact with metals such as keys or coins in your pocket. Don't hold your cell phone while it charges, don't put pressure on your phone. You know, be careful, women, if you have your cell phone lodged at the bottom of your purse.

Also, you want to keep your phone away from heat, away from the stove, the iron, so on and so forth. Other things you should probably do to avoid problems down the line with your phone, don't drop your phone. Don't get it wet. And be wary of purchasing second-hand batteries or buying batteries from unreliable manufacturers.

Now, as far as the investigation into the cause of death, Heidi, the police do say they need 10 days to conduct that. So as soon as we get another update, we'll of course bring it to you.

COLLINS: All right. CNN's Veronica de la Cruz.

Great. Thank you, Veronica.

HARRIS: So what does a global rock star do in his off time? Jon Bon Jovi helps build housing and fight homelessness.

In our final "CNN Heroes," sharing the spotlight profile, Jon Bon Jovi introduces us two to women from Philadelphia. They are in a creative way breaking the cycle of homelessness in their community.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JON BON JOVI, MUSICIAN: Homelessness hits people for different reasons and different walks of their lives. It doesn't discriminate. It doesn't care if you're white, black. It doesn't matter if you are young or old.

I'm Jon Bon Jovi, and my heroes have devoted their lives to breaking the chains of homelessness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The mission of Project Home is to solve homelessness permanently for people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of these men and women that once lived on the streets now are taxpayers, voters, and they themselves become leaders and create their own future.

BON JOVI: Over the years they built close to 500 family units.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our first project was three units of housing, but also provided space for a restaurant, a catering business. We wanted to find a way to provide opportunities for employment through these various businesses.

BON JOVI: Job training and service providing are the key elements in helping people break the chains of poverty and getting them off the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes the people that you meet on the street don't feel connected to anything, and when you reconnect people to each other, something stirs inside and things just flourish from there.

BON JOVI: Today, in the 21st century, we have to rely on each other and get back to neighborhoods and not worry about government and the corporation to save the day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe that none of us are home until all of us are home. What affects one of us affects all of us. We're all part of that inescapable network.

BON JOVI: Heroes to me come in all shapes and sizes. You don't have to be a rock star, and you certainly don't have to be a nun to make a huge difference. Sisters Mary and Joan (ph) are the inspiration for people like me, and then hopefully this will inspire somebody else.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You can go to CNN.com/heroes to see who our judges have chosen as the 18 finalists from among, what, the 7,000 you nominated to be honored as a CNN Hero? We will recognize them during a live global tribute hosted by our own Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour on December 6th.

COLLINS: Your computer turned into a cyber network. Bot nets (ph), are you sitting by one right now? An FBI expert explains how to seek and destroy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, here we are, bottom of the hour. Welcome back, everyone to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

Want to take a moment to get straight over to the weather center now. Rob Marciano is standing by. There's a pretty big storm that's brewing ...

HARRIS: Not really. Look at him.

COLLINS: He's sitting by.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh hey, guys. No, I'm getting ...

COLLINS: He's still getting the latest information on this, right?

MARCIANO: Well, you know what, let's go right to the tower cam because I'm getting briefed as to what -- maybe -- have you guys ever been to Phoenix? HARRIS: Yes, oh yes, yes.

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: All right, well, a little quiz. Let's show you this shot, and maybe you can tell me what we're looking at. Live shot of Phoenix, Arizona.

COLLINS: Rob Marciano.

HARRIS: That's Rob, that would be Rob. Hi, Rob.

MARCIANO: You've got me. Check plus plus, you kids.

COLLINS: Camel -- what's it called?

HARRIS: Hey, I opt out, OK?

MARCIANO: All right, I see a sun devil there. I'm pretty sure.

COLLINS: Oh. What a great track team.

HARRIS: Is that Arizona State?

COLLINS: ASU, great track team.

MARCIANO: And I'm told that's a mountain.

COLLINS: Oh, A Mountain?

MARCIANO: And the kids -- you can kind of see the A on it. I guess the kids climb up there every once in a while just because that's what they do.

COLLINS: And a big tower.

HARRIS: Whacky kids.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: I don't want to give you a hard time because we love having you on this show.

HARRIS: But this could be the last day.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: Arizona State, isn't that in Tempe?

MARCIANO: I didn't say Arizona State. You said Arizona State, I said sun devils.

HARRIS: I sure did.

COLLINS: Sun devils -- ASU.

MARCIANO: You said ASU.

COLLINS: Right.

MARCIANO: Yes.

COLLINS: Anyway, we'll check it all out. We'll get back to you on that later. Love the state of Arizona entirely, though.

MARCIANO: Yes, we do.

COLLINS: Thank you, Rob. We'll check back later on.

MARCIANO: Thanks, see you later (ph).

COLLINS: Want to get to this story now. We've been following it for quite some time here. Doused with gasoline and disfigured by fire. An Iraqi boy back in the operating room this morning. Dr. Sanjay Gupta fills us in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: His name is Youssif, a little Iraqi boy doused with gasoline, set on fire, and horribly disfigured. He is undergoing another round of surgery this hour at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, California.

Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is following his progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Burn surgery is one of those things that takes a while to develop. So, people expect sort of dramatic results right away.

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: That's not the way it happens. Typically, it takes months, it takes lots of different operations. You have all the scarring tissue and it takes even -- first, they inject it with steroids to sort of soften that up. This may be more than some people want to know. But you know, state of the art burn surgery, you see him there. As I saw him just a few weeks ago, he has these bulges that are ...

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: ...kind of obvious. Those are tissue expanders, Tony. And what that means is they take healthy skin and they expand it with this idea that you might be able to take that healthy skin and cover up the obviously burned areas as you see there over his nose, around his nose, on the cheek. Tissue expander in the cheek there and then another one, a little bit harder to see there, but underneath his neck.

All that -- what's being done right now, probably this morning, is that they're going to expand a lot of that tissue to cover up those areas of his face. And that's sort of the transition from one to the other.

HARRIS: You know what I'm thinking as I look at these pictures, the skin on the face is one thing. Our lips is something totally different. How successful do you think the doctors are going to be at repairing, making, forming new lips?

GUPTA: It's -- you ask a very important question because it's one of the most cosmetically difficult areas of the face according to the plastic surgeons I spoke to. Think about your lips. You go from normal skin ...

HARRIS: Yes.

GUPTA: ...to essentially this border, and then you go on to your lips. Sort of just crafting that border again cosmetically is a challenge. Especially in one that's been so badly burned and has so much scar. But Dr. Peter Grossman, who is doing the operation at Sherman Oaks, believes that he's going to be able to create new lips.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, that surgery is happening because of you, our viewers. Boy, you donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Youssif through CNN's Impact Your World initiative.

And to get your daily dose of health news online, log on to our Web site. There, you will find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address CNN.com/health.

COLLINS: Want to take a moment and get over to Fredricka Whitfield in the news room now. Fred, there's a problem with an aircraft somewhere in New Jersey -- Morristown, is that right?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, in Morristown, New Jersey. What you can see right here is emergency response vehicles that are poised for whatever may be impending there. We hear from the airport that there has been an incident involving a plane. We understand that other media outlets have been reporting that a plane may be coming in for an emergency landing.

But again, getting some real clarity on exactly what is to take place at this Morristown, New Jersey airport is still a bit tricky right now. But you're looking at the live view thanks to WABC. There, their helicopter view there of the airport where right now, everything looks like it's OK, except that you saw those emergency response vehicles on the ground. But it's unclear exactly what is about to happen or what may have already been averted.

We're continuing to watch the situation there in Morristown, New Jersey. When we get anything more, we will be able to bring that to you, Heidi.

COLLINS: OK, terrific. Fred, thank you very much. In fact, standing by now, we have Miles O'Brien, who as many of you know, is a private pilot as well and always tries to offer us a little bit more information when we get alerts like this.

So, Miles, what I'm reading is that there's some sort of problem in the air. And apparently, this plane going to be coming down at some point here in Morristown, New Jersey and making a "possible belly landing." What do you have?

MILES O'BRIEN, LICENSED PILOT: Well, that's about all we have, Heidi. Indications of some kind of problem with the landing gear. CNN viewers, we've seen this time and again, this is a relative -- in the sense that there are routine emergencies, this would be it. That sounds like an oxymoron, but that's what we're talking about here. We don't know the type of plane yet. We don't know the circumstances just yet.

We're getting more details, but basically the crash trucks obviously have been deployed there at Morristown Airport, about 20 miles from Manhattan. It's got a 6,000 foot runway. Plenty of space for most any sort of aircraft to make an emergency landing. Given the way the wind is right now, probably be coming in from the northeast to the southwest on the 6,000 foot runway there, runway 2-3, and what's happening right now, presuming that there is a problem with the landing gear, is kind of an effort that kind of goes in tandem.

First of all, going through an emergency procedure. Every airplane has sort of a backup hand crank type plan to get that landing gear down. Pilot would be working on that. While at the same time burning off fuel because what you want to do, you want to make sure you have the least amount of fuel possible when you try something like this, a potential belly landing, because of the risk, of course, of that fuel igniting, and also you want to land as light as possible.

So, we're going to be listening as carefully as we can to see what exactly is going on in the air right now. But if it is, in fact, a problem with landing gear, we've seen it time and again. And it does put the pilot in a position of having to do a landing frequently with the gear up. And these things tend to go off without a hitch, but they still nonetheless make for some dramatic moments as we watch it, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, and Miles, as we're looking at these pictures here and the type of jets that I'm seeing, which look to be business jets and then obviously not jets, the regular private planes that we're looking at, some Cessnas and so forth. The type of airport we're talking about here, not a commercial airport like we are used to seeing in -- you know, New York LaGuardia, or nearby or even down here in Atlanta.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it's -- it would be akin in Atlanta to Peachtree DeKalb or Charlie Brown or it's very similar to Peterborough Airport here in the New York area. Lot of corporate aviation there, quite a few jets are stationed there, quite a few small aircraft like you see right there. That happens to be in the upper part of your screen there, a Cessna used by the Civil Air Patrol. So, it's generally an aviation field, corporate aviation, that kind of thing, no scheduled airliner service. I've flown in and out of there many times. It's a well-equipped general aviation, sort of what you might call a reliever field to keep general aviation away from LaGuardia and Newark ...

COLLINS: Right.

O'BRIEN: ...where obviously, the congestion with the airlines is an issue.

COLLINS: OK, so do we have any idea -- I'm sorry I'm asking you questions that you probably don't have information on. But what type of aircraft is this, whether it's going to be one of those business jets or a much smaller, private plane?

O'BRIEN: Unfortunately, we don't know that just yet. We're working on that right now. And as soon as we get that to you, we'll let you know. Obviously, it could be anything from one of those jets you see there all the way down to one of those little Cessnas.

COLLINS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Of course, it would have to be a Cessna with retractable gear to have this ...

COLLINS: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: ...particular problem, but there are those. So, we'll -- as soon as we find out what kind of airplane it is, we'll get back to you.

COLLINS: All right, very good. We know that you are watching it. We see pretty much nothing is going on in the skies right now. So, not quite sure if they have halted all other air traffic getting in there in order to get this particular plane in safely or not. But we are watching this story for you. That coming from our affiliate WABC, those live pictures from Morristown Municipal Airport.

We'll get back to it just as soon as we learn more. Thank you, Miles.

HARRIS: Your computer turned into a cyber monster: botnets. Are you sitting next to one right now? An FBI expert explains how to seek and destroy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to very quickly get you back to the story that we have our eye on today. You're looking at pictures of the Morristown, New Jersey Municipal Airport there. Those pictures coming in from our affiliate WABC, live pictures now. We have gotten word that there is an aircraft that may be in trouble.

We want to go ahead and get to Kathleen Koch. She's got some new information about what type of aircraft, Kathleen? VOICE OF KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I just got off the phone with the spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, Les Door (ph). This is a Cessna 172RG, meaning it does have retractable gear. You heard Miles talking earlier about the fact that a pilot has a gear crank to raise or lower the landing gear in some small aircraft.

Now apparently, the FAA says what the pilot got is an unsafe gear indication, not getting green lights on all the gear. So at this point, the FAA says the plane is circling the airport in Morristown, New Jersey. They couldn't give us any further information about how many people were on the plane, where it was going to, coming from, but that's all they can give us right now.

Heidi, back to you.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Kathleen Koch with new information straight from the FAA. Kathleen, we appreciate it.

HARRIS: There's another story we're following. Boy, sneak attack is what we're calling it because that's what it is. Cyber crooks are turning your personal computers into zombies. Botnets they're called. Well, they can steal your identity and be used in malicious attacks to gum up servers. The FBI says in the past five months, another one million computers have been invaded. The computer in your home right next to you maybe could be part of a botnet.

Well, what do you do? James Finch heads the FBI's cyber division. Mr. Finch, good to see you. Thanks for your time, sir.

JAMES FINCH, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: You're welcome.

HARRIS: Well, what's a botnet?

FINCH: A botnet is essentially a number of compromised or hacked computers being controlled by one or many individuals from a centralized location or in the case of peer to peer bot network, from a distributed location.

HARRIS: How do you know if you're part of that botnet network?

FINCH: Unfortunately in many cases, you don't know because there are no apparent signs on your computer. However ...

HARRIS: Well, how does the FBI know?

FINCH: Well, we ...

HARRIS: Because you're the FBI.

FINCH: Well, if -- for a user, if a user would like to determine whether his computer -- his or her computer has been victim to a botnet, slowing of the computer as well as numerous pop-ups being directed, redirected to sites for which you did not put in an address, a Web site address.

HARRIS: Hey James, hang on just a second.

FINCH: Sure.

HARRIS: I just want to let viewers know we kind of squeezed the picture just a little bit. And we believe this is the small aircraft in question here that we've been filling you in on that's having some problems with the landing gear. So, we just want to let folks know that this is what we believe to be the plane that is circling the airport there in Morristown, New Jersey, the Morristown Airport in New Jersey.

OK, James, back to you for a second. How does your computer end up getting infected? I mean, is this a situation where you get an e- mail, you open it, and the next thing you know -- I think we understand that from viruses. Is that how this works?

FINCH: Yes, your computer can be infected in a number of ways with a botnet. By opening attachments, e-mail attachments, by surfing to Web sites ...

HARRIS: Yes.

FINCH: ...that have been infected with a virus, numerous pop-ups will come up. Those pop-ups can be infected.

HARRIS: OK, let me stop you, because I think we get that. What's the real threat here. I guess the number we're reporting is another one million computers in the past five months infected. What's the real threat here?

FINCH: The real threat is your computer, these computers, are being used together to commit criminal acts, to commit distributing denial-of-service acts, to steal money, to steal identities, to commit crimes.

HARRIS: Well, James, I have to end it there, just because we've got to get to this developing story.

James Finch, assistant director of the FBI's cyberdivision.

James, appreciate it. Thank you.

COLLINS: I want to go ahead and give you a little bit more information as we are watching this Cessna 172-RG -- RG standing for retractable gear -- that's coming in now. Oftentimes I think what we could see here -- Miles O'Brien is standing by, so, Miles, please correct me if this is erroneous in any way -- but it's possible, is it not, when the plane calls in and says I have this problem, he got some alert that said he didn't feel like he could be trusting his landing gear, may fly by the tower for them to get a look if there is even a tower at the Morristown Municipal Airport.

O'BRIEN: Yes, I think what we're seeing here, Heidi, too, is I don't see a nose gear. And if you look on The left side there, the wheel, it kind of retracts out like a Swiss army knife, and it's not fully retracted there. So he clearly does not have a good set of three landing gear. This may be a low pass. I'm not able to hear him on the radio. He may be coming down right now. He may have decided it's not going to get any better. It looks like he's going to land. Let's watch it.

COLLINS: Yes, I'm hearing in my ear it looks like he's been given clearance, so I guess...

O'BRIEN: Yes, there he is. He's good to go. He's cut off his engine, which is what you're supposed to do. He's got his flaps full, so he's as slow as possible.

COLLINS: That did not work.

O'BRIEN: There you have it.

COLLINS: Belly landing.

O'BRIEN: That's a landing to remember. He's got some issues with his insurance guy, but otherwise it's a story to tell, right.

HARRIS: Beautiful.

COLLINS: Yes, just like clockwork. Excellent.

O'BRIEN: Well done. Well done.

HARRIS: That's great.

O'BRIEN: And there's a lot of people watching. Everybody knows now when you have one of these that everybody is watching, right?

COLLINS: Yes, that's very true. No pressure, but, you know, we should point out, when this type of thing happens, obviously this is something that is practiced and practiced, studied I should say. Because obviously you're not going to go out and just perform a belly landing. But when you go to through training to get your license, this is something that's talked about.

O'BRIEN: Yes, and he's also getting a free plane wash now, too. But you have a plane like this, one of the things -- one of the first things you practice is manual retraction of the landing gear. There's actually a hand pump just underneath -- just beside the pilot seat, kind of where the left knee of the right-hand pilot would be, the co- pilot. You have to crank it about 20 times. But what happens on these airplanes is they get a hydraulic leak, a leak in the hydraulic system, and no matter how many times you pump it if you've lost the integrity there -- there you see a passenger or the pilot getting out. You can't get enough pressure to get that gear down. That might have been what happened in this case.

There are many stories of pilots who with the hydraulic fluid kind of low can actually pour liquid into a reservoir in the floor there just enough to get the landing gear down. It didn't work out in this case. Looks like they're opening up the left-hand side door. Maybe somebody else in there. But there they are, and obviously no worse for the wear. The plane, a different story. There were two inside there. So clearly they have quite a story to tell.

COLLINS: Yes, and just reading a little bit about the plane. This model, the 172, obviously very, very popular for civilian, training and so forth, but this one in particular -- and obviously you will know more about it than I am -- but apparently it wasn't all that popular for the regular private pilots and for people to fly on their own. They are using it a bit more for training and flight schools are using it. So I don't know for sure, but possibly was a training flight there, and...

O'BRIEN: Well, the 172 is the most popular single-engine airplane ever built. The number of RGs, retractable-gear version, many less than that. I don't know the numbers on that. But this might very well have been an aircraft used for training. You see two people in there, could have been a flight instructor there, could have been working on his commercial rating, which requires a retractable- gear aircraft. I can't make out the tail number, so I can't check it right now, but yes, it is a widely used training aircraft, and this could very well have been a training mission that ended up a little more real than they had hoped.

COLLINS Yes. They get to log a belly landing, I guess, one that was very well done.

All right, Miles, as always, we do appreciate your expertise on that. Miles O'Brien, our licensed pilot. As we saw just moments ago, these pictures coming in from WABC in Morristown Municipal Airport there, a belly landing of a Cessna 172-RG, the retractable gear, and today very retractable because the plane did not work. So that was the result, and looks like everyone is fine. Thank goodness.

HARRIS: When we come back, you first look at the White House all decked out for Christmas.

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HARRIS: OK. We are getting ready to load up the podcast for you, the most popular podcast in the history of the podcast universe. There you go, podcast nation. What you do is you go to CNN.com and you download the CNN daily NEWSROOM podcast. It is available to you 24/7. Do it today. Right there. Download it onto your iPod.

COLLINS: A shock for utility workers. A crew found an Asian monkey wandering around an Alabama road. The workers were able to lure the monkey into their truck by using the ever popular Cheeto. An exotic animal owner is now taking care of the monkey. If a permanent home isn't found for her, he says, he'll keep her, buy her more Cheetos, and name her Molly.

HARRIS: All right, your first look at the White House all decked out for Christmas. First lady Laura Bush today giving the tour of this year's holiday decorations. The tradition of placing a decorated tree in the White House dates back to 1889.

COLLINS: My house looks just like that -- not so much. No, I mean, you know, the decor. CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now. Big stories developing here today.

HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Have a great day, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

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