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American Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing; Storms Hit Midwest, Texas; Pakistani Scientist Accused of Aiding al Qaeda; Climber Discusses Dangers of K2

Aired August 05, 2008 - 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: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon here in Atlanta in the NEWSROOM.
We're following breaking news out of Los Angeles. I'm here with Randi Kaye today.

Randi, fill us in on our breaking news.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

I'm Randi Kaye here, joining you from the CNN's World Headquarters in Atlanta.

Taking a look there now at some taped pictures, video just coming into CNN. These are new pictures of an American Airlines flight. We don't have the flight number for you. But we can tell you that that flight is now safely on the ground at Los Angeles Airport at LAX.

Apparently, their -- that flight left at 8 a.m. Los Angeles Time. That would be Pacific Time. The pilot apparently reported smoke inside the cabin, turned that plane around. And that is all according to the L.A. City Fire Department, Brian Humphrey there, who has been feeding that information to CNN.

So once again, we don't have the flight number for you, but you can see that they did deploy those inflatable chutes. Everything did go very smoothly. Apparently, there were some reports of smoke in the cabin of this American Airlines jet, leaving LAX at 8 a.m. Pacific Time.

You can see the people there deplaning with the inflatable chutes. We will continue to follow this and bring you more developments as they come into the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Absolutely, Randi. And of course, our national desk is working on getting information on this story, as well.

You're looking at live pictures now here on the runway at LAX. This is from hour affiliate KTLA in Los Angeles. And boy, do we appreciate those pictures.

If you look now live, you see that most of the passengers, as this pans around -- we don't have control of this. We can go back to that new video. You can see most of the passengers have been evacuated from this. And you can also see other planes coming in here. Also live pictures. This is from another angle on this plane.

Those emergency chutes apparently, apparently were deployed because of some sort of smoke situation on this plane.

Again, we're working to try to figure out exactly where this plane was coming from or headed to at the time, how many passengers were on board this plane. But you can see there from the back of this plane, it was an American Airlines jet. Again, these pictures courtesy of our affiliate KCAL in Los Angeles. All of this happening right during the middle of the day. Actually, morning in Los Angeles.

Look at this. This is from the United Arab Emirates. You can see that this plane is coming in, as well. It doesn't appear, just from looking at these pictures, it doesn't appear that traffic has been stopped into or out of the airport, because otherwise this plane would not be landing here.

But again, we're trying to get more information on this. Again, an American Airlines flight making an emergency landing at LAX just a short time ago. It happened while we were on the air with our "ISSUE #1" programming.

And again, you're looking at live pictures now here from KCAL. This is the back side of this plane. We had a different angle just a short time ago. And if you see all of these chutes that were deployed, we saw passengers actually coming out of these chutes, sliding down the chutes. This is that new video that I was telling you about. Those passengers coming out the chutes again.

So it would appear it would be something you would imagine fairly significant and serious in order for American Airlines and for the FAA to order this sort of evacuation, especially, especially when a plane is already on the runway.

So, again, it was an emergency landing. And as you can see, these firefighters rushing in from the back of this plane, one of them waving his hands around here to try to get to these people and give them some instructions on exactly what to do.

Now, here's what we're seeing. Again, this is the latest information from our desk. And also, according to the Associated Press. It says the city fire department, the spokesperson says no fire had been discovered on board this plane, as we look at these pictures that were just taken just a short time ago. That no fire had been discovered on the plane, no injuries to report so far here.

And the FAA spokesman says that the flight was bound for Honolulu. So I would imagine that this flight had taken off from LAX. It doesn't say exactly where the flight took off from. It was headed to Honolulu. And then some sort of smoke situation on the plane. And then they made an emergency landing. And then passengers had to be evacuated there, of course, on these emergency chutes.

We're going to continue to follow this story. If we want to stay with this, guys, you need to tell me. We're going to move on now, because we have another big story. We're talking about Edouard. We're talking about a major storm that's happening here in the Midwest. It is a very busy day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We're going to talk about weather now. Let's get you now to some other information that we have. This one is from Griffith, Indiana. Take a look at these new pictures.

At least one person died from storms that happened there overnight and this morning. One man driving his car as the severe storm moved through across northern Indiana, causing some scattered damage and power outages there. But a tree fell on top of this man.

This new video coming in from WGN, our affiliate in the Chicago area there. This -- these storms happened Monday night with winds of as high as 60 miles an hour dumped plenty of rain over this area.

As I turn now to our severe weather expert, Mr. Chad Myers, he can debrief us on exactly -- or should I say brief us on exactly what happened overnight there, in the Indiana area, northern Indiana. At least one person killed so far.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

LEMON: And they're still sort of assessing the damage in that area.

MYERS: It was an ugly night in Chicago, too. We're sitting here watching it, waiting for the 10:00 p.m., 11:00 p.m. advisory for Edouard. And all of a sudden, we see this big storm headed into Chicago. And not only did Chicago see some tornado damage, especially on the north side, not as much as we're seeing in some of these pictures here down to the south.

Now, this area in Griffith, here's Gary and here St. John's. Right there, just over the border from Illinois, into Indiana. Let's go back to some of these pictures, because I don't think we really saw the worst of what we were seeing. We saw this is one of the buildings there in Griffith. It looks like a factory kind of in and out with long-haul trucking or short-haul trucking.

But this is the neighborhood right by that -- that industrial park. And houses without roofs. I mean, that's an F-1 or an F-2 tornado to do that. And that's not just one building. That's actually not just one building that was under construction, and it didn't have a lot of support. These were fully constructed buildings, and there's more than one right next to each other.

So we know that this is not just a wind event. This was clearly a tornadic event. There was a funnel cloud reported in the area, no report of a touchdown, but you have to remember, it was after dark. Many times funnels look like they're just hanging from the sky, but they can actually be attached from the ground. You just can't tell, especially if it's dark and all you're seeing is funnels cloud with lightning.

So the storm did roll the through Chicago, Evansville, right on down through and into Indiana. And it is still rolling right now into Kentucky and Tennessee. This thing is still going down. We'll get to that in a little bit. We'll also talk about Edouard in a second, as well.

LEMON: Yes, we are going to talk about Edouard. But in the meantime, Chad, stand by, because I want to talk about Edouard, but I want to get back to our breaking news.

Scott, if you can get me more pictures of what's happening at LAX, either a live picture here or some video, because I have some new information that's coming from an American Airlines spokesperson.

Live pictures now from our affiliate KTLA. You're looking at the runway there at LAX. This is the latest information we've gotten.

This is Flight 31, LAX to Honolulu. It returned to LAX because of an odor, possibly a hazardous situation onboard in the cockpit or the cabin, not exactly sure which. And again, this is according to an American Airlines spokesperson.

Normal landing, according to the captain. The captain ordered an emergency evacuation. Not exactly sure why the captain deployed the emergency slides. They're working on that.

It is a Boeing 757, and they believe at least 188 passengers onboard, 188 passengers onboard, again. No reports of any injuries. Some sort of situation happened in the air, according to smoke. And this latest video just into the CNN NEWSROOM moments ago showed the passengers exiting on those emergency chutes.

We're working to get more information on this story, this breaking news story coming out of LAX, out of Los Angeles, and we're going to continue with our developing story, our developing news on Tropical Storm Edouard -- Randi.

KAYE: Thanks, Don.

Tropical Storm Edouard made it ashore, but it never made it to a hurricane status. The fifth named storm of the season is still packing a punch, with tropical force winds and a whole lot of rain. We're talking three to six inches overall.

Edouard made landfall around rush hour this morning between Galveston, Texas and the Louisiana border. Some areas around Houston are flooding. Trees and power lines are down.

Mainly, though, it is just rain and, for the most part, welcome rain, right? Isn't that right, Chad?

MYERS: No question about it. They were under a big drought, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. I mean, this was a crop-crippling- type drought. And obviously, also a lot of cattle in the area, all having to be watered.

This thing basically was the best-case scenario for a dry area. It came on land basically right in a marine sanctuary. And then -- a bird sanctuary. So not really anything going on there. The birds flew out of the way. There's no problem. The rain showers now coming down into Houston. This is what I'm really kind of getting concerned with. These are heavy showers in Houston, and they've been there for a while, especially towards Baytown. Up to five inches of rain so far.

But it's still moving. When you get a tropical storm that still moves when it's on land, that will spread the rain out, unlike some tropical storms that just stop and rain in one place, and then you have, really, flash flooding. Now, I expect we will get flash flooding with this. I don't see how you get any tropical storm to come onshore without some type of flash flooding somewhere.

It just happens because one spot gets way too much, even though other spots here -- this is basically what would be called the eye, northeast of Baytown, where the eye would be, although it never really did get an eye because it never really was a hurricane. But that's the center of circulation, and most of the rain is now to the west and to the northwest of the center of circulation.

As long as it keeps moving, Randi, we're in good shape. If it doesn't move, we're going to get more flooding. We just don't want it in big areas like this. If you get it in the hill country, people there expect it because it's hilly. And sometimes, those arroyos wash out. But you don't want it in downtown Houston, for sure.

KAYE: No, you certainly don't. All right. Thank you, Chad.

If you've been watching this storm blow ashore, help us tell the story with your iReport pictures and video. You can just go to iReport.com or type iReport.com right into your cell phone. And please play it safe: do not take any unnecessary chances.

LEMON: We are following developing news in the CNN NEWSROOM today. We have two big weather stories happening: a storm in the Midwest, and we're also talking about Tropical Storm Edouard.

But our other developing news here: an emergency landing for an American Airlines flight at LAX. Joining me now by phone is Brian Humphrey. He is the spokesperson for the L.A. Fire Department.

At last report, Mr. Humphrey -- first of all, thanks for joining us. But at last report you said that no fire had been discovered onboard this plane. Tell us exactly what happened.

BRIAN HUMPHREY, SPOKESPERSON, L.A. FIRE DEPARTMENT: That's correct. For those just joining us, this American Airlines flight described as Flight 31 leaving LAX for Honolulu, Hawaii, departed about 8:40 local time, and about an hour into the flight, the pilot requested emergency access to the Los Angeles International Airport and landed in from the west. The aircraft landed on the runway, and the pilot made a decision -- we believe it was an appropriate, proper decision -- to evacuate the aircraft.

The information we have from the flight crew was it was a smell. And I emphasize the smell of smoke in the cabin. And because the doors had not been de-armed, they opened the doors, flight activated. And we can have only the greatest praise for the flight crew, the flight attendants who worked to get everyone off this plane safely. Basically, there have been no injuries, and these people are all being taken care of by the American Airlines desk at LAX. And they'll hopefully be on a flight again soon.

LEMON: OK, 188 people onboard, and you said an hour into the flight, the pilot requested an emergency landing of this plane. This is because of -- was it smoke in the cabin?

HUMPHREY: The pilot reported a smell of smoke in the cabin, rather than the cockpit. That's the version that came in to us. As such, more than 150 Los Angeles firefighters were brought to the scene. This is a well-rehearsed drill.

The plane came in over the ocean. An atypical landing at LAX that stopped in the middle of the runway the southern part of the airport. And immediately, the doors opened, and the passengers were accommodated in evacuating the aircraft.

I can't underscore the importance of looking at this image we're seeing right now on CNN and reminding people how important it is to follow the instructions of the flight crew when a flight attendant tells you to look around for the closet exit, to follow the instructions and read that information card. It's for just these kinds of reasons.

LEMON: I'm not sure if this is outside of your bailiwick, because you're with the fire department there, but do you know anything about traffic into and out of LAX?

HUMPHREY: Well, the ground traffic is, of course, being accommodated. The air traffic, our friends at the FAA are working closely, obviously, with LAX officials.

As a major airport, one of the busiest in the world, obviously having a runway blocked with an aircraft can present an effect. So we ask if they have flights in or out of LAX, consult with the airline as necessary and to allow for any minor delays that may occur today.

LEMON: OK. LAX to Honolulu, 8:40 local time, one hour into the flight, you said the pilot requested an emergency landing because of the smell -- of the smell of smoke in the cabin. He was granted that emergency landing. Once he did land -- you said a very normal landing -- the emergency chutes opened, am I correct?

HUMPHREY: That is correct.

LEMON: And then the passengers had to leave. Is this SOP, standard operating procedure, when you request an emergency landing? Or could the passengers have gotten off the plane without having to go down these emergency chutes?

HUMPHREY: Well, LAX is one of the few airports in the nation where the airport authority provides the fire department with emergency air stairs (ph). But it's just one set of air stairs. And evacuating an aircraft like this, the pilot is truly in charge. And when that -- the flight attendants, not to be on the doors but to actually open the doors, the chutes automatically are activated. And it's standard operating procedure for us, a well-drilled, well- rehearsed option.

And I do want to remind people, this was a report of the smell of smoke in the cabin. We have Los Angeles firefighters with thermal imaging cameras who have gone through the cabin and parts of the cargo hold. Thus far, no fire has been discovered.

LEMON: Nothing has been discovered. So no idea where that smell is coming from?

HUMPHREY: Not yet. We'll be working closely with the NTSB, the FAA, and, of course, American Airlines and LAX staff to get this plane off the runway and determine exactly what happened.

LEMON: Real quickly, no reports of any injuries or anyone had to be taken to the hospital or transported as you call it?

HUMPHREY: Not yet. No one taken to the hospital. And we admire the staff. Again, the flight attendants did a remarkable job. Notice, nobody has any luggage in their hand. You leave all your carry-ons aboard. You follow the flight attendants' instructions, and you're going to get out of an aircraft safely.

LEMON: Last time you saw something like this at LAX, Mr. Humphrey?

HUMPHREY: Last time I saw this was at a drill, to be honest with you. In my 15 years of working in the LAX area, I have yet to have a chute activation like this. Typically, the LAX (ph), JetBlue was its last emergency landing. Each time we've used air stairs.

But the pilot's in charge of his aircraft. If he or she calls for a chute evacuation, this is the right thing to do. There's no second guessing there. That pilot who's in charge, we believe he or she did the right thing.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. Brian Humphrey with the Los Angeles Fire Department, a spokesperson joining us on the phone. Thank you very much for that.

We're following breaking news today in the CNN NEWSROOM. of course, an emergency landing by an aircraft at LAX in Los Angeles. According to the fire department, no injuries.

One hour into the flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, we're told that the pilot requested an emergency landing after the smell of smoke in the cabin. Everyone was evacuated from the plane safely, according to the fire department.

We'll continue to follow this developing news as the day goes on right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

KAYE: And Don, we can add to that, we've been trying to get in touch with American Airlines and LAX. Both will be issuing a statement. They will not be ready to join us by phone. So we will be waiting for that statement, and we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it.

Now, checking issue No. 1: the nation's economy and your money. You might have a couple extra pennies in your pocket after filling up today. AAA says the national average price of a gallon of regular gas fell 1 cent overnight. Most of us now paying in the neighborhood of $3.87.

It is the 19th straight day prices have detoured down. That's largely because oil prices have slid, too. This morning, crude briefly hit a three-month low of $118 a barrel.

The money mavens at the Federal Reserve have been meeting today on interest rates. Up, down, status quo. We'll be watching and waiting for their announcement, expected in just about an hour.

Your money, your concerns. Be sure to check out CNNMoney.com for in-depth coverage and analysis. And everyday, noon Eastern it is "ISSUE #1" with Ali Velshi and Gerri Willis, right here on CNN.

LEMON: Gusty winds and heavy rain, calling cards of Tropical Storm Edouard on the Texas Gulf coast. We have continuing coverage of this big rainmaker.

KAYE: And China is taking no chances with security as it gets ready to host the Olympic Games for the very first time. A clampdown is already underway.

LEMON: All right. You won't believe these pictures, but take a look at what can happen when the up escalator suddenly goes down. Chaos, of course.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Don Lemon. They're the three digits you dial when you need help in a hurry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: Well, I can't get through on Pizza Hut line or 411.

OPERATOR: Well, ma'am, 911 does not connect you to Domino's pizza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, that is just the tip of the 911 iceberg. You won't believe what some people ask the dispatchers. One guy's bad call won him a trip to jail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now, to a developing story in New York. A Pakistani scientist educated in the U.S. and the subject of a global terror alert is in federal court facing charges. Our Mary Snow reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thirty-six-year-old Siddiqui was brought here to New York to face charges of attempted murder and assault of U.S. officers and FBI agents in Afghanistan.

Her story is one shrouded in mystery. She is Pakistani, but she was educated here in the United States as a neuroscientist. And she disappeared in Pakistan in 2003 with her three children. She then became the first woman to be the subject of an FBI alert in connection with al Qaeda. Her whereabouts in that time frame are unknown.

Prosecutors say she was arrested last month in Afghanistan, and she was found to have bomb-making instructions with documents about U.S. landmarks, including some here in New York City.

But her sister tells a very different story and held a press conference in Pakistan today, saying her sister is innocent, and she believes she's been held in U.S. custody for these past five years.

Siddiqui's lawyer here in the U.S. says the U.S. government's story does not add up. The U.S. military says Siddiqui was not being held in U.S. custody.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: John "Junior" Gotti was under indictment again. He was arrested at his home on New York's Long Island and is expected in court later today.

Gotti served time on racketeering charges several years ago, you may recall. But more recent attempts to prosecute him have ended in mistrials.

This time he faces conspiracy charges stemming from three murders in the 1980s and '90s. He and five co-defendants could face life in prison if convicted.

Gotti's late father, the boss of the Gambino crime family, the Teflon Don, as he was known, died in prison six years ago.

LEMON: In pain, but on the mend. Morgan Freeman is said to be recovering after surgery late last night in Memphis. The 71-year-old Oscar-winning actor suffered arm, neck, and shoulder injuries in a weekend car wreck on this stretch of road near his home in northern Mississippi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL ROGERS, EYEWITNESS: It slid right through here as I looked out the window from next door. I could see as the front end of the car hit here, it got airborne and it flipped, end over end. It went down about 25 or 30 yards. It hit on the trunk of the car, mashing the trunk of the car in and popping the trunk lid open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A friend says Freeman is upbeat but hurting and could need three or four months to recover. A passenger was also hurt. Her condition hasn't been released. Police are investigating that crash.

KAYE: Sharp edges, icy slopes, sudden avalanches, and a bad attitude. Just how perilous a peak is K2? We'll take you for a climb.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The last frost-bitten survivor of an avalanche waiting to get off the mountain where 11 of his comrades died. But he'll have to wait for bad weather on Pakistan's K2 peak to clear up before he can get a helicopter ride to the hospital. For now, he's being treated at a base camp.

Two others survived the avalanche, which struck a multi-national group of climbers about four days ago and swept away their safety ropes. Those two climbers were flown from the mountain yesterday.

Well, Everest may be taller, but K2 is meaner. CNN's Brian Todd takes us for a climb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's second only to Everest in height and experts say more technically challenging to climb. The section of K2 where about a dozen climbers died after an ice avalanche is known as the dead zone because it's so cold and there is so little oxygen that it's difficult to survive for very long.

Chris Warner's been there. He's tried to reach the summit of K2 three times and made it once. Warner says judging by initial reports, the avalanche occurred at one of the most treacherous points of the climb.

CHRIS WARNER, CLIMBED K2 IN 2007: You pass underneath this section of glacier. This glacier here is 500 feet thick. It's just a piece of ice precariously placed there. It's constantly calving off, constantly dropping sections of ice down onto the bottleneck.

TODD: Warner knows from another mountain what it's like to be caught in an ice avalanche.

WARNER: When it hit me, I never knew it was coming. Suddenly I was in -- like being caught in a 10-foot tall wave, and it just carried my body down.

TODD: If the climbers survived the avalanche but lost their ropes in the slide, they would have had to traverse vertical ice faces with no protection. And Warner's pictures show the breathtaking drop- off below those treacherous passes. WARNER: If you started to tumble down this slope, it's going to be blunt-force trauma that's going to kill you. Your body would tumble, then, down the south base here, falling a distance of almost nine and a half to 10,000 feet.

TODD: That's just one factor making this one of the world's most treacherous mountains. With this accident, nearly 80 climbers have met their deaths on K2.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You know what? As the price of oil has soared, Americans' savings accounts have dwindled. Our Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with the details and a look at how the Federal Reserve is handling, I guess, we can say inflation, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

Well, you know, we know that high oil prices have sapped our spending. But oil prices is also sapping our savings.

Research group Trimtabs says consumers withdrew $2.4 billion from savings and investment accounts May to July, which includes withdrawals from savings accounts, CDs, money market funds, and mutual funds.

To compare, nearly $100 billion was invested in those accounts the same period last year.

Trimtabs says, with oil at $125 a barrel of oil, Americans spent 14 percent of their take-home pay on oil. Just yesterday, we were telling you that consumer spending fell in June when stripping out the price increases for the month -- Don.

LEMON: Well, Susan, you know, those prices are a big problem for the Federal Reserve, too. What can we expect from policy-makers today?

LISOVICZ: Well, the Fed has to slay two evils. It has to try to prop up the economy while fighting inflation. So it's expected to hold the key interest rates steady at 2 percent.

But the next rate may -- the next move, I should say, will likely be an increase. The futures market is betting that could happen before the end of the year. Higher rates fight inflation and rising prices, but for now, the slowing economy is tying the Fed's hands.

When we're talking about prices, well, we have to talk about oil prices. Another drop in oil prices, a catalyst for a triple-digit rally on Wall Street. We also got a better-than-expected report on the service sector, the biggest part of the economy.

The Dow right now, up 217 points, or nearly 2 percent. The NASDAQ's up 39 points, or one and three-quarters percent. Of course, we'll get the Fed decision in the next hour, 2:15 Eastern Time. I'll bring it to you, and we'll see if investors react to what the Fed has to say.

Back to you, Don.

LEMON: Well, we look forward to that. Thank you very much, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

LEMON: Next half hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

KAYE: And I'm Randi Kaye in for Kyra Phillips. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It is just about 1:30, and here are some of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

This is not the way these American Airlines passengers you're about to see wanted to leave their airplane. They had to evacuate on slides after an emergency landing in Los Angeles, after the crew reported the smell of smoke in the cabin. The plane had been in the air for about an hour -- just about 57 minutes, actually -- turned around, no injuries.

Tropical Storm Edouard is pushing towards central Texas right now after crashing ashore on the Gulf Coast. Houston is getting a soaking and part of a highway is shut down there, but Edouard is weakening as it moves inland.

An arraignment today in New York federal court for Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill Americans in Afghanistan. Aafia Siddiqui is a U.S.-educated scientist, but also thought to be working for al Qaeda.

LEMON: And Randi mentioned that emergency landing of an American Airlines flight at LAX. Our Chad Myers now working on a flight tracker for us.

And you heard the representative from the fire department saying that the FAA was working with the ground crew and what have you. So tell us what's going on as far as delays, or maybe none.

MYERS: The delays are pretty short. They are OK right now. LAX is still doing fine, planes are driving around these planes on other taxi ways.

We're going to rewind this flight explorer all the way back to a couple of hours ago and show you what happened to this American Airlines flight -- actually American Airlines flight 31. Here are the numbers. That 168, that was 16,000 feet.

Now see, this was going way, way, way too fast.

But anyway, 360 there, that means it's at 36,000 feet. It turned around, came back and went right back into L.A. So that's what it did. It took one hour to actually go through the Channel Islands and then back into. Actually, this is a wrong way landing. They should have actually circled and gone the other way, but the pilot was so concerned about the smell, he just said, hey, let's take it in, there's not enough wind to worry about it. We're just going to take it in against all of the traffic. And he parked it there on the runway, opened up all those chutes and everybody got out of that plane safely there, Don.

LEMON: OK, Chad Myers on top of this for us. Get any more information, Chad, we'll check back.

Thank you.

MYERS: Sure.

KAYE: Protests fit for a president. Asians take to the streets as President Bush gets off his plane.

And talk about a major buzz kill -- 3 million bees invade a Florida home. How do you kick that many insects to the curb?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Chicago is cleaning up after a night of some pretty fierce storms. It was one lightning strike after another for a while. The heavy downpours flooded streets, snarled traffic and caused huge delays at the airport. There were even tornado warnings in downtown Chicago, although none have been confirmed.

Fans at Wrigley Field had to be evacuated. Some wanted to stay even after the tarp came out and the game was called.

LEMON: President Bush is in Asia, protesters are in the streets. Take a look at Seoul, South Korea. Riot police fire a water cannon at protesters out in force today at Mr. Bush kicks off his Asian tour.

Now, other demonstrations were more peaceful, but just as packed. President Bush's trip also takes him to Beijing for the Olympics. Critics of China's human rights record don't think he should go, but the president says his Beijing stop is good for U.S.-Chinese ties.

KAYE: Jolted again. A strong earthquake hits central China's Sichuan Province today leaving rubble and shaken people in the streets hours before the Olympic torch made its way through parts of Sichuan, a region still recovering from a far deadlier quake in May. Today's quake was a magnitude of 6.0. An emergency official tells CNN at least one person killed, five others seriously hurt. The May 12th quake, magnitude 7.9, killed almost 70,000 people, more than 18,000 are still listed as missing.

LEMON: The city of Beijing -- well it lit up and fired up for Friday's Olympic opening ceremonies. You're seeing a live bird's eye view of the Chinese capital and it looks pretty dark from what we can see. But athletes fear it's masking a very ugly problem, and that is pollution. These arriving Americans are wearing masks despite Beijing's claim it's cleaning up the air. That clean-up, and a host of other costs, are making this the most expensive Olympics in history. Again, you're looking at live pictures now.

China spent more than $40 billion on the Beijing games. A big part of that, a new airport terminal, new subway lines, road repairs, a center piece -- that Bird's Nest stadium -- and yes, it is true, 40 million flower pots. The Olympic tab is four times what the central government spent on health care last year and almost three times what it spent on education.

If Beijing is sparing no expense, it is also sparing no precaution security wise. CNN's John Vause has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) around the national stadium. Heavily armed police roaming the airport, and with metal detectors and bag checks in the subway it doesn't look like much of a party in Beijing, more like a police state in overdrive.

DR. DAVID FINKELSTEIN, DIRECTOR, CHINA STUDIES CENTER: The Chinese are clearly hyperfocussed and hyperworried about security. And this is something that they've been working, I think, for at least three or four years by now.

VAUSE: More than anything else, the Chinese say they're worried about terrorism, with (ph) state media reporting last month an anti- terrorism force almost 100,000 strong seen here during a recent exercise was placed on high alert.

(on camera): Police have now set up check points on many roads into Beijing. Vehicles are being stopped and then searched. They're looking for any possible threat. Both Interpol and the U.S. State Department say there is cause for concern, especially from Muslim separatists in the northwest of the country with possible links to al Qaeda.

(voice-over): Earlier this year, Chinese officials say they stopped a plot to bomb Beijing and Shanghai and poison the water supply during the Olympics. In March, a flight crew allegedly prevented a hijacking. Muslim separatists from the rest Xinjiang region were blamed both times.

STEVE VICKERS, CEO, INTERNATIONAL RISK LTD.: I doubt that that group has the wherewithal to make it to central Beijing and to intervene in the Olympics. But, it is a threat and there are many other threats.

VAUSE: Threats, like a biological attack.

"Beijing will make full preparations for biological attacks, like anthrax. We've even made antibiotics and vaccines," says this government official. At the same time, thousands of foreigners, like Sabrina (ph), who works for a private charity, and asked not to reveal her full name, have been kicked out of the country in a pre-Olympic visa crackdown.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the thing is a lot of these rules have been there before, but no one ever looked at them because they were never really enforced heavily.

VAUSE: The authorities want to ensure protesters from groups like Save Darfur and Free Tibet don't make it into China in the first place. And if they do, they'll be closely watched.

Security analysts say China has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on video surveillance and facial recognition technology. Beijing is wired and will stay that way after the game.

RICHARD CHASE, SECURITY INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION: There have been a lot of issues about this raised about how this technology will be used after the games or even during the games. That is a real concern. The legacy issue here is yet to be written.

VAUSE (on camera): Beijing always wanted these Olympics to be a kind of coming of age celebration -- three decades since this country opened up to the rest of the world and again a breakneck economic transformation. But the leader at the time, Deng Xaio Ping (ph), warned when you open the window, the flies can come in. It seems, for the next few weeks, Chinese officials will be desperate to keep the flies out.

John Vause, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Oh, yes. Take a look at that. This is what happens when an up escalator stops, shakes a little bit, suddenly people who were going up find themselves going down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Their conditions are chronic, always there. Insurance isn't. A new study looks at the health of uninsured Americans. Medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with all the details of this study.

What did it find?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well what it found is that it -- looked at people who don't have insurance -- and what they found is that these people are grappling with a lot of chronic diseases that no one really has detailed before exactly what medical conditions people have to deal with when they don't have insurance. So let's take a look.

Here is the big, sort of eye-opening number. Nearly one in three adults who don't have insurance has at least one chronic medical condition. Now, if these people were elderly, you might say, well yes, elderly people have chronic conditions all the time, but these people weren't. They were under age 65. So that adds up to 11 million Americans who have chronic conditions with no insurance. A terrible combination. They have conditions like cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

Now, another thing that they found in this study that has been found before is when people without insurance get sick, where do they go? They often don't go to the doctor because, well, they don't have insurance. They go to the emergency room. That is bad for the person themselves and it's bad for the rest of us. It drives up everyone's health care costs.

KAYE: And certainly crowds them, as well.

COHEN: Yes.

KAYE: Because it is election season, I have to ask what are the candidates planning to do to help these people?

COHEN: This problem has been around forever, and lots of great minds have pined on what to do about it, and the two candidates are no exception. Their solutions to this problem -- they are very different.

Let's take a look at Senator Obama's solution first. He wants to expand Medicaid for poor people, he wants to mandate coverage for all children -- all children would have to have insurance under his plan -- and require companies, require employers, to offer insurance.

Now Senator McCain wants to do this more through the private sector. He wants to give tax breaks to people so that if they have more money, because they are not using it for taxes, they could use it to buy insurance and also health savings accounts so that people could help pay for medical expenses with tax-free dollars.

It'll be interesting to see which solution the voters like better.

KAYE: Absolutely. Everybody's got a plan, though.

COHEN: That's right. There's always a plan.

KAYE: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

LEMON: You guys ride the escalator everyday in this building, probably in other buildings, and you don't really think twice about it. I want you to check out what an escalator on the blink can do here. At least 20 people were hurt Sunday in Tokyo when an escalator suddenly stopped -- you never thought about an escalator suddenly stopping when you're on it, right? But not only did it stop, it went into reverse. One person might have broken a leg. It happened at the Wonder Festival, that's an exhibition of popular cartoons and animation characters. Luckily, more people weren't hurt.

KAYE: Yes, look at that panic. Really, people are struggling to get off there. LEMON: That's quite a long escalator. It looks like a long ride there. We have one of the longest in the world here.

KAYE: Yes, we do.

LEMON: Hopefully that doesn't happen to ours.

KAYE: No, ours worked perfectly.

All right. Well, an unexpected slide for some American Airlines passengers. We are following this developing story.

And NASA has been digging for life on Mars, but now it has found something else. We'll tell you exactly what.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Rings, check, priest, check, barf bags, check.

It's a match made in daredevil heaven. Two crazy kids winging it into holy matrimony. That is just ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Did you check for smarks (ph) as well?

KAYE: I don't know if those were there.

The potential for life on Mars might seem less possible after what NASA just found. The Phoenix Lander has discovered a toxic chemical in the soil near the Martian North Pole. It has been identified as perchlorate, which is actually used on Earth in rocket fuel. NASA is now trying to make sure the chemical didn't come from one of its Mars missions. But if the finding is confirmed, it could throw into doubt a previous NASA report which said some of the Martian soil is similar to backyard gardens here on Earth.

LEMON: All right. Pay attention to this, this is very interesting. First of all, the pictures of beautiful, and the animals are as well. It is a breathtaking discovery and it changes everything scientists believed about endangered gorillas. In a remote area of the Republic of Congo, scientists have found more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas. That is double the number believed to exist in the entire world.

Jillian Miller is the Executive Director of the Gorilla Organization, a group founded by famed gorilla advocate Dian Fossey, and she joins me now, live from London.

I see you smiling. I've been reading the accounts. And by all accounts, this is astonishing.

JILLIAN MILLER, EXEC. DIR., THE GORILLA ORGANIZATION: It is astonishing news. It is such good news. I -- it made my day. I've been doing this work for 20 years, and this is -- I think it's the best news we've ever had. It's fantastic.

LEMON: Well, you have to -- it begs the question, how did 125,000 gorillas go unnoticed and undiscovered?

MILLER: How did we not know? I think the thing to realize is that we're talking about the Congo Basin Rain Forest here. It is vast, it is huge. It's second only to the Amazon. And it is impenetrable. These gorillas are found in a swamp miles from the nearest road network. You have to -- (INAUDIBLE) through the forest, through swamps with leeches.

I think local people knew about it. Hunters knew about it. Certainly one of the researchers on this program said that they, in fact, they did know that there were gorillas, they just had no idea they were going to get there and find so many. That's what's so great.

LEMON: So you're celebrating now, but you're saying the celebration -- you have to end that quickly because you need to take care of these gorillas because of deforestation and all those things that -- Ebola disease, and what have you.

MILLER: We must not become complacent. I think the lesson for conservationists today is yes, the world is full of amazing surprises, maybe they are there (ph) -- but there is a lot of unchartered territory there in central Africa. There may be other populations. Maybe not as big as this, but there may be other populations.

We must not become complacent. The three threats: they are wild caught meat, what we call bush meat. Which, if it is done locally, sustainably, then that is the way that people have lived for centuries, but now what happens is they are sent to major towns and it's a big international industry. Deforestation for logging and for mineral extraction, and then also Ebola virus (INAUDIBLE) ... fever that has wiped out thousands of gorillas and it's marching towards this area where this new discovery has been made, so we have to be very careful.

LEMON: You mentioned there may be other populations, you're talking about gorillas. But I wonder, might there be other populations of other animals and mammals that are on the endangered species list that we don't know about and could possibly discover?

MILLER: Wouldn't it be wonderful. If you think about the tigers and they are so close to extinction. Could there be a place somewhere, tucked away in India or somewhere, where there are many, many thousands of undiscovered tigers. I tend to think not, but who knows?

LEMON: I've got to ask you --

MILLER: I think we do know in Congo and in central Africa, generally, that there are these vast unchartered areas. So that always gave us hope.

LEMON: What happens to the gorilla now?

MILLER: What happens to them? I think the thing now is all of the governments of central African countries that have gorillas are part of the United Nations Great Ape Survival Program. And I think there is going to be a lot of -- somebody said to me recently in international conversation, I think there is going to be a big international conversation now. There's no individual organization or individual government that's going to take action alone. It's going to be very carefully done because now what we have got to do is make sure that this environment is protected and that these gorillas are protected.

LEMON: Jillian Miller, Executive Director of the Gorilla Organization. We appreciate it, and we're glad you're so happy. We are as well. Thank you.

MILLER: Thank you. OK. Thank you.

KAYE: They are the three digits you dial for help.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Well, I can't get through on Pizza Hut line.

OPERATOR: OK. Well, ma'am, 911 does not connect you to Domino's Pizza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: But frivolous calls, as most of us know, are a no no. Learn how one man's calls to 911 over some missing condiments landed him in jail.

And it is the kind of home Winnie the Pooh certainly would have loved. Millions of bees making pounds of honey, not such a sweet deal, though, for the family who lives there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: 911 -- it is a life line in times of emergency, but apparently emergency is relative for some people like the woman who called with a pizza problem. And the Subway customer with a condiment crisis.

Eric Spivey, with CNN's Jacksonville, Florida, affiliate, WTLV, reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was so stupid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is unbelievable what people get upset about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wasting the police time to come for a sandwich.

ERIC SPIVEY, WTLV REPORTER: Who knew a Subway sandwich could cook up so much trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you ask for the works, it consists of certain vegetables on your sandwich.

SPIVEY: Police say that made Reginald Peterson (ph) pretty mad, mad enough to call 911 twice to complain about his spicy Italian the sub.

MORRIS: Well, evidently he tasted his sandwich and it didn't have mayonnaise or mustard on it, so he became upset.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OPERATOR: Arlington 911, what is your emergency?

CALLER: Is this Tuesday or Wednesday?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPIVEY: 911 operators across the country field calls every day from people with their own so-called emergencies.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: I'd also like to be connected to Domino's Pizza please, in Arlington.

OPERATOR: This is 911. 911 is for police and fire emergencies.

CALLER: Well I can't get through on the Pizza Hut line.

OPERATOR: OK, well ma'am, 911 does not connect you to Domino's Pizza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPIVEY: As for Peterson, the Subway caller, he got arrested and told officers to throw his sandwich away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And police say the first call Peterson made was to get the officers to have his Italian sub made correctly, the second time he complained that the police did not arrive fast enough.

LEMON: OK. Spicy, feisty, Italian bees -- well evicted after a home invasion in Miami, I guess you can call it that. Some three million bees formed a hive over the backdoor of this Florida home during the past year.

You want to buy it? You look in the market for a home?

KAYE: Not that one.

LEMON: It was about six feet high, two feet wide and three inches thicker than it should be. An exterminator says the Italian bees were pretty aggressive. He used a smoker to subdue them before removing the honeycomb. It's going to take a local -- take it to a local bee farm. The hive is large enough to make about 60 pounds of honey. So at least they get something out of it.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.