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American Morning

Alabama Battered by Storms; Royal Super Fans; Tornadoes Kill 160 in the South; Royalty Overnight; Atlanta Braves Coach Apologizes; Fires Near Kennedy Space Center

Aired April 28, 2011 - 06:00   ET

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


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans.

Breaking news: caught on tape, a terrifying mile-wide twister, part of what could go down as the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history. Storms death reported in five states, parts of some towns obliterated.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.

Played his trump card -- President Obama tells us the birther crowd, here it is. But they're still not buying that he was born in Hawaii and the conspiracy theories are getting even uglier.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry, live in London, where we're just a day away now from the royal wedding. Some late-breaking news about some of the diplomatic troubles, one prominent ambassador now being disinvited.

We're going to have the latest live from London on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(MUSIC)

VELSHI: Good morning. It's Thursday, April 28th. I'm Ali Velshi.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans.

And we're following just devastating storms in the South -- 123 people dead in Alabama. Amazing pictures. We've got that for you from New York.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry here in London, where, of course, we're just a day away.

The mood is much more celebratory than it is there obviously because of the tragic news that you guys are dealing with this morning. But there is -- there are a few hiccups in the road the day before the wedding, including some ambassadors that may have to decline the invitation because of unrest and government crackdowns in their nations.

We're going to have the latest on that and we're also going to be talking to a woman who is the best American friend of Princess Diana. What would she be thinking here today if she were here to share in her eldest son's special day? We're going to have all of that coming up. ROMANS: Up first, breaking news. A deadly, devastating night in the South, especially in Alabama, where they got a close-up look at Mother Nature at its most violent.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMANS: That twister over Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The governor of Alabama says 123 people -- 123 people have been killed in his state by these storms, killed by devastating storms and tornadoes. Hundreds more are trapped, hurt or missing. In Tuscaloosa, at least 15 people were killed by some of the most savage storms ever witnessed there.

After seeing the destruction, the mayor simply said, "Pray for us." Block after block flattened; infrastructure gone. And a nearby power plant, nuclear power plant forced to run on emergency power. This is the mile-wide twister that tore apart so many homes, so many lives.

Alabama's governor asking for and receiving now federal disaster help -- 1,400 National Guard troops have been called in to conduct search and rescue operations.

VELSHI: All right. And that's just in Alabama. We have more than 30 confirmed dead in other states. So, the death toll now above 160. And as Christine said, many missing or trapped. Tuscaloosa is home to the University of Alabama. Right now, the student rec center is being used as a shelter.

Look at these amazing pictures. The production department is going very, very busy. Take a look at the video of the giant twister that tore up so much of that town. It was shot by Christopher England of Crimson Tide Productions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER ENGLAND, CRIMSON TIDE PRODUCTION (via telephone): You can see that the tornado was sucking stuff up from the ground. I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see all kind of things floating around it. But then you could see just different colors being sucked up into the tornado. And you knew it was just ripping stuff up and you just didn't know, you know, you didn't know what. But it was just, you know, unreal to see something that violent, something that massive because it was just huge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And it's not over, because the storms that caused all this death and destruction, 123 dead in Alabama and 30 in other states, what happened in the South is moving up the East Coast right now.

Jacqui Jeras is tracking the extreme weather in the extreme weather center. We're going to get to that in a moment.

But, first, Reynolds Wolf is live in Tuscaloosa this morning.

I mean, what can you tell us? Tuscaloosa flattened by this thing. REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Guys, a little bit of a personal observation. I grew up in the state of Alabama. I've been doing weather for about 19 years. Earlier in my career, I worked here in Alabama and covered tornado outbreaks. I've never seen anything like this.

This is Tuscaloosa. To be more specific, you can see the sign right here and we have photojournalist Jonathan Sheer (ph) with us, street sign says 19th Avenue and 27th Street, a part of Tuscaloosa, which doesn't even exist anymore.

You see off the distance, you see the trees that have been ripped apart, farther off, the trees have been completely ripped away of the shrubbery. And then in the foreground, you can see also what was a house. Farther back, some houses that have been stripped of some of the siding.

I'm going to hop over this power line over here and this pole and step back.

And, John, if you can, let's walk over on this side. Let's show the people some of the debris we have here. I mean, it's just a mangled mess.

From what I've seen here, it's an equivalent of an EF-4, the damage that's been through here. Jon, please watch your step. There's all kinds of boards, all kinds of wires, all kinds of everything. You see, of course, some the siding that's popped up.

And what's really interesting about this, guys, is above all the siding and debris, you find personal things. For example, a shoe right here. Little bits and pieces. If you look over behind me, there's a stroller, there's a bed, a television set, and even some cars.

We often tell people that you should never try to outrun a tornado. Proof positive is the destruction you see there.

Right towards the top of this pile, you see something that resembled old faithful. Well, you get a water main that's broken. And with the sight of the running water, the debris everywhere, there's also this eerie sound that we keep hearing, sirens off in the distance, an occasional dog bark. It's just an eerie, eerie thing to see.

Something else that's eerie, we mentioned 123 deaths that have been reported in the state of Alabama. We have every reason to believe that number is going to go up. There's certainly the possibility that we may have some of the places behind us, whole neighborhoods that go back quite a way, you might have some people that are trapped. We have seen people going by, looking at a lot of the wreckage, trying to hear, again, very difficult to do so with all the sirens and the barking dogs and whatnot.

But it's just the very beginning of what may be very, very difficult, the next couple of hours, couple of days as we get an idea how devastating this twister really was. Let's send it back to you in the studio.

VELSHI: Reynolds, Christine and I were just wondering, you know, when people are often told to go to the lowest point in your home, the basement in North Carolina, we saw the storms rip off houses that didn't have basement because of the high water table. Are these places that had basements that people could have gone into?

WOLF: It's great point you bring up. As a matter of fact, many of these places do not have those basements. They don't have those storm cellars.

I have to tell you, Ali -- Jonathan, if you can pan over here in this side, you'll notice some these buildings, the only place you're really going to be safe is in the innermost room or to be absolutely certain of any kind of injury, you've got to be underground. But if you don't have the root cellars, you don't have the basement, certainly, you don't have that option.

Just complete and utter devastation -- as the sun comes up, we're going to get a better idea of what's going on. Later this afternoon, the National Weather Service officers are going to get up, take a look at aerial -- take a look this from high above, get an idea of how big this tornado was, the storm path. I would imagine an official report may come out tomorrow morning, perhaps even into Monday, Monday before we have a better idea of how long this is on the ground, the type of damage it did and, of course, the number of lives lost.

VELSHI: All right. Reynolds, thank you for that. We'll stay in touch with you all morning and as the sun comes up. I mean, I almost don't want to see it. But thanks for being on it for us.

ROMANS: Meantime, President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Alabama that clears the way for federal emergency management teams to come in and coordinate disaster relief efforts. Homeland security personnel will be helping, too.

VELSHI: The storms are now moving to the north and east. Jacqui Jeras has been on top with us all morning.

Jacqui, we just hope the worst is behind us and this happens.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're not out of the woods yet. You know, we still have that tornado threat out there at this hour. And there you can see those red boxes. That means tornadoes are possible in these areas.

And we've got watches and it's like from Georgia all the way up through Maryland in terms of tornado watches and then severe thunderstorm watches to the north of it. And sometimes, you do get tornadoes even in the severe thunderstorm watches. So, keep that in mind.

This is going to be moving through the most populated areas today. You know, the megalopolis, New York City, into Philadelphia, Baltimore and D.C., and so, a lot of people in the lines of these storms throughout the day today. And it's going to be really nasty throughout most of the day.

Now, we're not expecting a tornado outbreak today like what we saw yesterday. But there is that slight risk out there. We're talking just west, say, of the I-95 corridor, all the way over to the seaboard, where we will see that threat throughout the day today. There you see that big fat "L" on there. That's the low pressure system which is developing and it's going to help ride up the coast there and eventually pull this thing offshore.

Things look much better up and down the East Coast by tomorrow. So, still, a long ways to go. Just an incredible storm system that we've been dealing with.

It's been 10 days, guys, since we've not had a tornado report somewhere in the U.S., more than 150 yesterday. We're going to go through these.

Of course, the worst, the one that went through Tuscaloosa on up to Birmingham. It appears that that was one super cell that stayed on the ground for 100 miles. And I think, when all is said and done, we're talking about an EF-4, an EF-5 out of this thing.

Just an incredible, terrible outbreak that we've been dealing with, guys. Back to you.

VELSHI: As it moves up the coast, they lose power?

JERAS: I'm sorry, pardon me?

VELSHI: As this whole system moves east and up the coast, does it lose power?

JERAS: Well, it is. Right now, you know, it has to do with the jet stream and upper level winds. We have what we call a negative tilt in the jet stream yesterday. And that's starting to flatten out just a little bit. And the forcing mechanism with that jet stream has weakened quite a bit. So, that's the good news today and why we won't see as much rotation.

ROMANS: And devastating that so many of those places don't have basement. So, today is going to be a search and rescue operation and it's going to be incredibly dangerous -- downed power lines, water mains that are bursting, you have natural gas lines and the like. So, all of this makes it a very dangerous effort. The story is still unfolding.

Jacqui, thank you.

VELSHI: And we remind you, 123 confirmed dead in Alabama, at least 30 confirmed dead in other states. People are still trapped and missing. So, we'll stay on top of this story for you.

Another big story that we've been following with you has been gas price increases. We're going to show you where gas prices are in your state. You probably know that. We're also going to show you projections of where they're going in your state, when we come back. (VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

ROMANS: Also, violence again in Syria. Problems on the ground, people panicking, crowds ducking for cover under the gunshots. We'll have that.

VELSHI: And another FAA investigation. This time a Delta flight tried to land in Tampa, getting no response from the tower. We'll show you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. It's evident to you because you drive, gas prices increasing. Not yet at the record high set three years ago, $4.11 nationwide. This morning, though, according to AAA, gas is $3.89. That's the national average for a gallon of unleaded self-serve, up 0.7 of a cent overnight.

Take a look at this from Money.com. It's a map of where gas prices are relative to the rest of the country. If you're in dark red like over here in Connecticut, in D.C., Illinois, California, Hawaii, of course, the darkest red, you're paying the highest prices for gasoline on a statewide average. Wyoming, South Carolina, still a whole lot lower. That's what you're paying now. You know this information.

But on that same site, these are projections of where you're gas prices, how your gas prices are going to increase all the way from a low. So the lightest colors are an increase of five percent from where you are right now, up to the darkest blues which are about 13 percent or so. So you're looking at Mississippi, looking for big increases, Montana looking for big increases and some of these states in the middle, South Dakota, Texas, Oregon - sorry, Oklahoma, Arkansas and South Carolina all looking for bigger than average increases.

If you're in New York, if you're in - if you're in New Jersey, Illinois or Nevada, you're probably getting up to the height of where you are right now.

So that's a look at - at what your gas prices are and what they're going to look like - Christine.

ROMANS: You know, Ali, it's interesting because of those gas prices, Wal-Mart is noticing shoppers are - are running out of money, right? I mean that's what's -

VELSHI: Yes.

ROMANS: -- so crazy here. When you look at the - with the percentage of your income that's going to pay for gas prices, for gas, at a time when your income isn't growing and all of the other costs - costs are, it's been - it's been pretty - just devastating for some of these places.

Also, I want to show you those pictures again one more time of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This is breaking news. New pictures of a devastating storm overnight. A hundred and twenty-three people are dead in Alabama. And our Reynolds Wolf and others are telling us they expect that numbers to go higher because many of these homes did not have basements.

These towns have been flattened - parts of these towns have been flattened. There are big piles of twisted metal and wood and masonry and they're trying to still sort it out and find folks. So we're going to have more of these pictures, more of reports from the ground in Alabama. A hundred and twenty-three people dead in Alabama, 30 more in other Southern States. So we're going to have that for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. We are now live right here outside of Buckingham Palace. People are camping out. And, of course, there's a lot of excitement.

I did want to bring you guys up to date really quickly on some developing news that we just heard from the British Foreign Office, releasing a statement just moments ago about Syria's ambassador to the U.K. who was invited to attend the wedding. As we've said there's been a bloody crackdown in that country and a lot of diplomatic pressure.

Here's the statement. "In light of this week's attacks against civilians by the Syrian Security Forces, the Foreign Secretary has decided that the presence of a Syrian ambassador at the royal wedding would be unacceptable and that he should not attend. Buckingham Palace shares the same point of view."

So, again, even in a day before the wedding, some diplomatic headaches for this country as they prepare for their biggest day yet.

Meantime, there's a lot of levity here. People are camping out because they want to get a prime viewing spot as the royal couple exits Westminster Abbey and makes their way to Buckingham Palace for their kiss on the balcony. Let's give you a little taste of why people are out there and who they are. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have sleeping bags. We've got two little tents. We've got a little camping cooker to make our tea in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feeling good. It's hard sleeping because of Big Ben. Yes. Makes ding-dong like all night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's very lucky now that Prince William as a husband, when she get married.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I want them to have a very good life and spend some nice time together. And I hope they never break up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last night, I certainly watched the television and there were already people here. So my grandson, age 11, said, "Grandma, you've got to be there." So I had to get up at 5:00 this morning and come and get my bit of England.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother and I, we just came this morning to just have a look and we saw these people camping, and we said, well, let's stay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just see them come out as a married couple, looking so happy. That's what I'm waiting for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As long as we get that one picture, we just want one just when they come out of the Abbey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did one night for Charles and Diana, two for Fergie and Andrew. Three for this and the atmosphere is lovely. (INAUDIBLE). I know you see more on the television, but it's better to be here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: All right. So we're back out here live at Buckingham Palace and they are also camping out here. We have Pam (ph) -

PAM (ph): Hello.

CHETRY: -- from West Sussex. She has a family of 12 with her and they're all going to be waiting here until the big day. Here's their tent. Is it comfortable, by the way?

PAM (ph): Oh, we haven't slept in it yet. We have when we've been family camping, but not here.

CHETRY: So this is the first time for you outside of Buckingham Palace.

PAM (ph): Yes. Well, we've done it before so we'll do it again. Yes.

CHETRY: Well, good luck to you. (INAUDIBLE).

PAM (ph): Yes. Oh, it will be wonderful, wouldn't it?

CHETRY: It will certainly be. So a lot of die hards out here today. Very excited. A lot of anticipation before the royal wedding.

Let's send it back to Ali and Christine in New York.

ROMANS: All right, Kiran. It sounds like a lot of fun.

VELSHI: Well, I'm still fascinated by it. Camping out in the woods is one thing. Camping right there in front of Buckingham Palace, it's a little noisy at nights, whatever.

ROMANS: I wouldn't go camp out in the woods.

VELSHI: Yes. All right, Kiran. We'll get back to you.

Hey, Sarah Palin speaking out on Katie Couric's departure from CBS. And a hint about what she said, it involves reading newspapers.

ROMANS: Ooh. And a return to our top story this morning. Deadly tornados in the South. Now, some 159 people are dead in these twisters.

Jacqui Jeras is going to be here to break it down for us and tell us what to expect as this storm system keeps moving. It's still happening, folks. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: We begin this half hour with breaking news.

A deadly, devastating night in the south especially in Alabama where they got an up close look at Mother Nature at its most violent.

VELSHI: The governor of Alabama now confirms 128 people dead in his state. We have confirmation of 32 dead in Mississippi. There are still many people trapped, hurt or missing in these devastating storms and tornadoes.

ROMANS: We're told they are in overturned cars, they're under the wreckage of their homes, in some cases the homes have simply disappeared.

In Tuscaloosa, at least 15 people were killed by some of the most savage storms ever witnessed there. After seeing the destruction, the mayor simply said, pray for us. Block after block flattened, infrastructure gone and a nearby nuclear power plant was forced to run on emergency power.

VELSHI: All this - this is the mile-wide twister. Let's just show it to you. Look at that. That's the mile-wide twister that tore apart so many homes and lives. Alabama's governor is asking for and receiving Federal Disaster help. Fourteen hundred National Guard troops have been called in to conduct - conduct search and rescue operations. And as the sun comes up, the scene is going to get substantially more devastating.

ROMANS: Yes. This is still search and rescue at this point. Very dangerous conditions as well with downed power lines and - and flooding in some parts of these areas, too.

Tuscaloosa is home to the University of Alabama. Right now, the student's Rec Center is being used as a shelter. And their Production Department has been quite busy. Take a look at this video of the gigantic twister that tore up so much of that town. It was shot by Christopher England of Crimson Tide Productions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER ENGLAND, CRIMSON TIDE PRODUCTION (via telephone): You can see that the tornado was sucking stuff up from the ground. I couldn't tell what it was, but I could see all kind of things floating around it. But then you could see just different colors being sucked up into the tornado. And you knew it was just ripping stuff up and you just didn't know, you know, you didn't know what. But it was just, you know, unreal to see something that violent, something that massive because it was just huge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The amount of energy in that twister is just unreal. And what looks like paper flying around can be roofs, cars, big sheets of corrugated metal. It's incredibly dangerous.

VELSHI: Jacqui Jeras is in our extreme weather center this morning.

Jacqui, let's talk about that for a bit because Christopher England was saying -- you could see it in a video. You could -- you know, you don't often get video that's that clear of a tornado that you see big things being sucked up in it. You said earlier these could end up being EF-4s or EF-5s. EF-5 is the most powerful.

JERAS: Yes. I think that's certainly going to be a good possibility. And, you know, when we talk about the Enhanced Fujita scale, we're talking about a damage scale.

So, you can't really look at a tornado and say for sure that's an EF-5 because we base it on the damage that it does, right? However, when you're talking about a mile or more wide potentially, it just really envelopes everything.

I mean, everything in the path of this storm is just obliterated. And there's no way to survive something like this if you're above ground. You really have to be underground in order to survive a tornado with this kind of intensity. You can really see the rotation on it. There's all that debris that you can see flying.

And, you know, this tornado also moved through Birmingham. It was about two miles west and north of town. But debris was falling in downtown Birmingham. And it can be carried, literally, hundreds of miles because it gets so high up into the atmosphere. It's just amazing to see pictures like this. This is what we call a classic wedge tornado for sure.

The severe weather threat is still ongoing there. We -- there we go. Here's the EF scale that I wanted to show you, how we rank these tornadoes. An EF-4 estimates wind between 166 to 200 miles per hour. An EF-5 would be over 200 miles per hour. So, the Storm Prediction Center, the National Weather Center folks, the guys who analyze these storms, are going to go out there and today. And it's going to take a long time to get an official rating to see how long this thing was on the ground as well because they're going to have to get up in the air, they're going to have to look at all the damage. So, just a devastating outbreak under way.

We have more than 150 reports of tornadoes yesterday, guys, and that was all over across the Deep South. And we talk about those fatalities in Alabama, too. Remember, they got hit really hard early yesterday morning. You were talking about tornado warnings this time yesterday morning in Alabama. And then they got that second round, late in the day after the atmosphere heats up, when we get those super cell thunderstorms, guys, that's what we call those. They are individual, discreet storms that stand out all by themselves and they suck up all the energy in the atmosphere. That's why they can stay on the ground for a long period of time and cause such destruction.

ROMANS: And we know in Mississippi, they've already declared a state emergency, the governor there. Tuesday night and Wednesday night were particularly brutal in Mississippi. I think, now, in Mississippi, the death toll has risen to 32. And one of those fatalities was a 3-year- old little girl asleep in her bed killed by a tree that came crashing into her house.

So, there's the tornado, then there's also this other -- just the savage storms that just have been wreaking havoc across the South. Certainly a sad situation and is still unfolding.

VELSHI: All right. Jacqui, thanks very much. Let's take it over to London. Kiran is standing by.

Hi, Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys.

Well, the wedding of the year just less than a day away now. And Kate Middleton, you can't imagine what must be going through her mind right now. I mean, today, technically, she's a commoner and tomorrow, she'll marry into the royal family.

So, we have lots to talk about this morning. And I'm joined by Lana Marks. She is a designer, the best American friend of the late Princess Diana. She knew William very well. And Mark Saunders, who is joining us all week, a royal biographer.

Great to see you both of you this morning.

LANA MARKS, HANDBAG DESIGNER: Thank you.

CHETRY: Just to scan through the papers today. And you see two young people. This is Kate and William in some of their activities today. They did have a rehearsal at Westminster Abbey that they both attended.

But it appears that they're just living their life. In this picture, he's playing a game of football with some friends, with some of his buddies. In this one, he's riding his motorcycle like he doesn't have a care in the world, perhaps blowing off some steam.

What do you think of -- how normal are they living right now before the big day?

MARK SAUNDERS, ROYAL WEDDING CONTRIBUTOR: The football I thought was a great idea because you can imagine all the tension he must be feeling. You can just get rid of all of that on the football field. It's worrying, though, when you consider the amount of injuries that happen in football games every week.

CHETRY: Hopefully, his friends will take it easy on him.

(CROSSTALK)

MARKS: I think they would so delighted to see them living a normal life before the big day. Kate walking around in jeans and a sweater and William playing soccer, playing football, on a bike -- that's pretty normal for them and lovely, and taking away any of the stress of the big day.

CHETRY: Because she lived this. I mean, Diana was in Kate's shoes in 1981, when all this was happening to her. Now, the difference is that she lived among royalty. I mean, she was in that aristocracy, but she was so young, eight years younger than Kate when she was going through this same thing.

MARKS: Yes, she was just a young girl. And on the day before her wedding, she was virtually on her own. It was very, very difficult for her.

And I think that William is making sure that Kate is taken care of, he's making sure that she's with her family and everybody's with her. And he's having a good time. But I think the whole atmosphere is completely different.

CHETRY: Lana brings up a good point. It can be so isolating when you're the bride and going through all this. Her family is apparently having a big dinner for her tonight at the Goring Hotel. And that she's going to a day of pampering and being with the ones that she loves. How important is that?

SAUNDERS: I think it's very important. But it is the exact opposite to what Princess Diana went through, as you just said. And Harry and William are having a dinner with their father as well, which Charles always said he was astonished when he woke up on the morning of his wedding by the noise on the Mall, because when he went to bed, it was relatively quiet.

And I think that he'll point that out to William to look forward to that. And Kate, as you say, with her family at the Goring Hotel, they really seem to be getting this right this time. I don't think they're making the mistakes they made last time. It's two families are being united.

CHETRY: That is exciting. The other thing is these shades of Diana, these memories of her that really will be visible. The funeral for Diana was in Westminster Abbey. That's where they're getting married. The engagement ring is Diana's ring.

And we also heard some reports today from some of the newspapers that the hymn that's being selected, "Jerusalem," was a favorite of Diana's and Kate is using it as well in her ceremony. How much will Diana's presence be felt even though she's not with them anymore.

MARKS: The whole world is thinking of Diana at this time. And I think William and his presence, he looks so much like Diana. He is Diana. He carries out so many of the things that Diana would have wished.

He's taking care of Kate. He's taking care of the situation and Kate is being so respectful towards Diana's wishes and Diana's thoughts -- all the things that Diana loved. I think that the whole world can see her presence and feel her presence there.

CHETRY: It's interesting when we're walking around just talking to the crush of people, a lot of tourists out, of course, yesterday, whether it was in Piccadilly Circus, whether it was outside of Westminster Abbey. People are so excited for this young couple.

A lot of people have said, Mark, I want them to be happy so badly because it's Diana's son and we loved her so much and things didn't go as she planned, obviously, with her failed marriage and her untimely death, that they want things to be perfect for this couple.

SAUNDERS: Well, it was like we want the fairy tale. But this is like the sequel. Charles and Diana, it didn't work.

And this time it's -- I think his resemblance to Diana is uncanny. And I don't just mean physically. I mean, when he's working the crowds, when he's with people. We saw it in Australia, that empathy that he had and the joy on the face of a people who had just suffered a disaster and I think that's the best thing about it.

This is why people are so happy. They really want this fairy tale. And there's nothing wrong with wanting a fairy tale.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Well, Mark Saunders and Lana Marks, it was great to talk to you. We'll be talking to you in the next hour as well.

We are going to take a break. When we come back, a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING live from London continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

Those ruthless crackdowns in Syria caught on tape. Take a look at this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

VELSHI: This amateur video apparently shows a panicked crowd of protesters fleeing gunfire in the city of Homs. Human rights groups say at least 500 people have died in security crackdowns since the uprising began.

A city already in ruins is being battered from all angles again. We're talking about Libya here. NATO airstrikes shelling Libya's port city of Misrata trying to drive back Gadhafi forces that have turned the town into a virtual wasteland. Rebels say 18 more people were killed and 42 injured in Misrata in the past 24 hours. ROMANS: Here at home, it has happened again. The FAA investigating an incident in which a Delta flight trying to land in Tampa got no response from the control tower. It happened last Saturday. Officials say eight calls from the pilot seeking clearance to land went unanswered. It wasn't until nearly 3 1/2 minutes later that the controller responded.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CONTROLLER: That was on my end apparently. The transmitter failed apparently. So, I didn't even know you were calling me. When you were going around, my supervisor was calling me saying, "Hey, Delta can't get hold of you."

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: The pilot had to perform a go-around, landing safely on his second attempt.

VELSHI: And a weekend after a plane carrying Michelle Obama aborted a landing at Andrews Air Force Base, the FAA has reassigned top managers at the radar center that handled the aircraft. But the agency says the changes are part of a nationwide review of the air traffic control system.

ROMANS: The U.S. Air Force is releasing video of a welcome home ceremony for those two airmen forced to eject from their F-15 over Libya. You remember that story? Major Kenneth Harney and Captain Tyler Stark talked about the rescue at a yellow ribbon event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. KENNETH HARNEY, U.S. AIR FORCE: We soon found ourselves in a situation where we were forced to eject over potentially hostile territory over the country of Libya -- something that neither one of us thought we'd have to do. When you find yourself alone and you're isolated in a country where there's hostiles, you are scared.

CAPT. TYLER STARK, U.S. AIR FORCE: Being on the ground, I haven't really talked to Meso about this, but me personally, you feel the weight of not only the Air Force, but the entire military focusing on you, making sure you get home.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

ROMANS: Details of that crew's mission and their names had been a closely held military secret until now, until the Air Force released that video and that sound.

VELSHI: The Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner losing a bid to keep his medical records sealed. A federal judge has ordered the records released to a court appointed psychiatrist who's been examining Loughner to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial. Loughner is accused of killing six people and wounding 13, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords back in January. ROMANS: Atlanta Braves pitching coach, Roger McDowell is apologizing for allegedly making homophobic comments and crude sexual gestures with a bat at heckling fans in San Francisco last weekend. Another fan who was at the game with his daughters said he felt threatened by McDowell's words and actions.

JUSTIN QUINN, FELT THREATENED BY COACH'S REMARKS: Those statements were lewd, inappropriate, and undeserved. Even though, I am not gay, and these statements were not directed to me, I heard them, I saw them, and so did my nine-year-old daughters.

ROMANS: Keep it clean, right? The fan's lawyer, Gloria Allred, sent a letter to baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, demanding an investigation.

VELSHI: NASA's space shuttle crew prepares for "Endeavour's" final launch tomorrow. NASA's keeping a close watch on brushfires in a wildlife refuge near the Kennedy Space Center. So far, it is not affecting launch plans. "Endeavour" is set to lift off tomorrow at 3:47 p.m. eastern time. So, once you're finished watching the royal wedding, you'll have something else to focus on. A whole day of TV watching tomorrow.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: And tune in to CNN.

VELSHI: We'll cover it all.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, Sarah Palin taking a shot at Katie Couric. Here's what Palin said on Fox last night about the news that Couric was leaving her CBS anchor chair.

SARAH PALIN, FMR. ALASKA GOVERNOR: I think I read that in a newspaper. One of many newspapers that I read online. Yes, and I hear that she wants to now engage in more multidimensional storytelling versus, I guess, just the straight on read into the teleprompter screen storytelling. So, more power to her. I wish her well with her multidimensional storytelling.

ROMANS: Ouch.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: You'll recall during the 2008 campaign, Couric pressed Palin on which newspapers she read on a daily basis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS (on-camera): Oh, yes. A now famous exchange.

VELSHI (on-camera): Sarah Palin, I gave her credit for that. She came on "Saturday Night Live." She had fun with it afterward. So, she continues the fun. Those two have a special relationship.

ROMANS: And Sarah Palin has a sharp sense of humor. VELSHI: She absolutely does.

ROMANS: All right. Obama. President Obama yesterday, as you know, on this program suddenly releasing his birth certificate, the long form birth certificate. This was a settled question even before then.

VELSHI: Mm-hmm, yes.

ROMANS: But does this finally, finally calm down the internet conspiracy theorists and put this whole thing to rest?

VELSHI: I bet you know the answer to that. We'll talk about it on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI (voice-over): A massive loss of life from monster storms across the south. Look at that video. Alabama taking the hardest hit. A 128 confirmed dead there. The destruction from tornadoes in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa is mind boggling. President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Alabama clearing the way for federal disaster assistance.

Did President Obama manage to short circuit the birther debate by releasing his original birth certificate? In a new "Wall Street Journal" poll, 72 percent say it settled questions about where he was born, 28 percent say it hasn't done that.

Life is good at Shell. The global oil giant reporting a 60 percent increase in first quarter earnings largely due to higher oil prices. Shell's net profit for the first quarter, $8.78 billion.

The NASDAQ begins the day at a ten-year high. The index surged yesterday after the fed announced it would keep interest rates low. NASDAQ is now at 2,869. That's the highest level since December of 2000. The other markets at three-year highs.

The federal judge who ordered the NFL to lift its player lockout has now refused the league's request for a stay of her original ruling. So, now, we don't know when they'll actually be playing football, but we do know this. The NFL draft begins tonight in New York and continues through Saturday.

Does the governator have another "Terminator" in him? Reports say that Arnold Schwarzenegger is shopping around a sequel to the major Hollywood studios. The movie would be the fifth in the "Terminator" franchise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI (on-camera): You're caught up on today's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING BACK in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Eight minutes till the top of the hour right now, and we're back live here in front of Buckingham Palace. Now, perhaps, you can see this. We're going to get a shot of this. Behind me, the flag that flies over Buckingham Palace. When the queen is physically in the palace, it is the royal standard flag that flies. There it is. And when she's not here, which has been the case all week, it's the regular union jack, the UK flag.

So, there we see the royal standard flying this morning. It means her majesty is in. Meanwhile, all around London, royal wedding fever is certainly taking over. London shops, every store chock-full of Will and Kate souvenirs. Some of them are cute. Some of them are fun. Some of them are just weird. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: I'm here in Piccadilly Circus, lights, tourists, kind of like the Times Square of London, and we're trying to pick up some cool memorabilia for the royal wedding. Cool Britannia is the store and have a lot of interesting things from cute stuff to tacky stuff but everything related to Will and Kate.

So, here's where they have a lot of the royal wedding memorabilia from busts of Will and Kate to beautiful glasses. My husband is very adorable. He got it on the home shopping network as a good luck charm before I left. What about you, guys? Three's a crowd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: A lot of people taking their picture outside of that cardboard cutout of Will and Kate. Of course, the flag, the union jack flag, they also have Will and Kate on the front. This was a very, very popular item there. In fact, they were almost sold out of that one where we went. And finally, you, guys, you know, we always joke about eating cereal in the morning.

That's how our show survives. We're fueled by cereal. I'm going to bring back for AMERICAN MORNING. This will last about an hour, I'm sure. Will's Royal O's. So, this will power you through like a monarch. It says put a monarch in your morning in place of our normal cheerios that we have. So, lot of things there. All about Will and Kate. They're flying off the shelves in the souvenir shops in London.

By the way, we want you to be part of our global viewing party. CNN's royal wedding coverage starts at 4:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow. And of course, you can get all of your royal wedding information any time at CNN.com/royalwedding, and you can check out the new CNN blog, "Unveiled." Everything you need to know about the nuptials, new information on the ceremony, on the dress. All of that is at CNN.com/unveiled.

And iReporters. We've talked to people who are actually submitting their iReports. People just fascinated by the royal wedding, where they're going to be watching it. If you'd like to be a part of that and get a little shout out on our website, go to iReport.com. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.

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