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Tennessee Faces Unprecedented Flooding; Taliban Denies Connection to Times Square Bomber; TSA Asks Airlines to Update No-Fly List More Often

Aired May 05, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Don Lemon in for Ali Velshi.

DON LEMON, HOST: All right. Thank you, sir. Always good to see you. I'm Don Lemon, as he said, in for Ali Velshi today. I'm going to be with you for the next two hours, taking every important topic we cover just a step further for you. I'll try to give you a level of detail that will help you put your world into context. So let's get started, why don't we?

Here's what we have on the rundown for you. One of America's iconic cities, the country music capital of the world, swamped by an unprecedented flood. We are live.

Also, how did the Times Square bombing suspect almost get away? Now because of him, every single airport in the country is on a new alert right now.

Plus, is there a solution to the gulf oil mess? Crews are down to their final options and a new strategy. Will any of this work in time?

But first -- but first -- this is one for the history books. Weekend storms spawn record flooding in the mid south, killing 28 people, mostly in Tennessee. Flood waters are receding, but the recovery is only just beginning. Now we're starting to see the enormous scope of all of this damage.

In Nashville, pieces of American history might be washed away. The County Music Hall of Fame is closed, the Grand Ole Opry House, and Gaylord Opryland submerged in several feet of water, and the famous honky tonks and restaurants in downtown Nashville, many are closed due to extensive water damage. And LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans, also flooded by several feet of water.

In all, parts of Nashville received more than 13 inches of rain. That's a lot of rain. And right now rescue crews are going door to door in surrounding neighborhoods, making sure folks made it out safely and alive. Some people have been allowed back into their homes right now but only to discover they have lost everything. And President Barack Obama has named parts of the state a disaster area.

Well, the weather has gotten better in Tennessee, but that only means people are getting a clearer view of the massive damage that they are facing.

So joining me now by telephone from Nashville is the Tennessee governor. His name is Phil Bredesen.

Governor Bredesen, we hear there are still power outage and possible water contamination issues. What's your latest assessment there, especially in the situation in Nashville?

GOV. PHIL BREDESEN, TENNESSEE (via phone): Things are getting -- things are getting back to normal. We still have some power outages around the state, really, but they're coming back under control. The Cumberland River has crested. It's going back -- going back down.

But this week is -- this week starts the digging out process. And there's an awful lot of that to do. A lot of damage.

LEMON: Listen, we know Nashville provides a lot for your economy. The whole country is hurting right now. We're in an economic slump trying to dig our way out of it. You're going to get some federal assistance right now. But you're -- this is really going to take a chunk out of your economy.

BREDESEN: Well, it certainly -- it certainly hurts the economy. This is not news that any state would love to have in these -- you know, in these times. But most important thing right now is the people impacted. There are people who never even thought their homes were in danger of having flooding...

LEMON: Right.

BREDESEN: ... around it who have lost their homes. And, you know, they're in shelters. They're staying with friends and neighbors and in motels and such. And right now we're trying to reach out to those people and get them all the help we possibly can.

LEMON: How many people are we talking about here?

BREDESEN: We still have several hundred in shelters. And of course, I have no idea how many are staying with -- staying with relatives and friends and so on. But where FEMA has been, I would say has done a good job. The president called me right away. White House has been in contact. FEMA has been in contact. The director was down here, the administrator, I guess he's called, and we're getting a lot of help.

And the faith community here is doing a great job. Churches are really reaching out and finding people and giving them some help. So, you know, it's going to take weeks and months, really, to get things -- get things back together.

LEMON: I was going to ask you, specifically, have they told you? Or do you have any -- you said weeks or months. But do you really know how long? Because this is unprecedented. It takes longer than you think.

BREDESEN: It really is. But, you know, I know that we think it's like Opryland and some of those icons, I mean, it's going to take a while to get those back. It certainly is in the months category.

For individuals, it obviously totally depends on the amount of damage they have. Red Cross is here and is handing out, as they do, the buckets and the scrubs and so on to help people clean up the mess where there hasn't been excessive water damage but, of course, there are houses that, you know, the water was up over the first floor. So it's going to take more than a bucket and mop to fix them up.

LEMON: Yes. Well, Governor Bredesen, you know, as Americans, we always come together and help. And I know Tennesseans will do, as well. Governor Phil Bredesen, governor of Tennessee. Best of luck to you. Thank you so much for joining us.

BREDESEN: Thank you very much.

LEMON: You can find out how you can help. Here's how you can make a difference to help the flood victims in Tennessee. Make sure you visit our Impact Your World page. It's at CNN.com/impact.

Now is time for what we call "Sound Effect," because sometimes pictures really don't tell the whole story. Two words stand out in this clip from the streets of New York City. And I quote, "NYPD rocks," NYPD rocks. Here New Yorkers and visitors talk about the terrorism in the wake of a botched car bombing and some textbook police work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a concern, but I've lived here for 20 years. And I was here through 9/11. And I feel like -- I think the NYPD rocks. And I think New Yorkers have their eyes open. And if they see something, they're going to say something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Yorkers seem to have the guts just to do, to go on with their lives. If something happens, we'll react to it, and then we'll just let it go from there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a visitor to New York, are you worried about the terrorism threat in Times Square?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not really, because we saw lot of police on the streets. So we're kind of safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The Times Square terror investigation spans the globe. And so does our coverage. Just ahead here on CNN, we are live in Pakistan. And from Washington, big news from the TSA. New rules for the no-fly list.

Ali is off this week, and that means I'm taking over "The XYZ," his XYZ. People of New York, you have been through a whole lot lately. And I've got a personal message for you that you don't want to miss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. We know what happened in Times Square last Saturday night. And we know how the man accused of trying to set off an SUV bomb was arrested. What we don't know yet is how a high-achieving Pakistani-American came to shun his American dream and allegedly embrace jihad.

Faisal Shahzad was headed back to the Middle East when customs officers took him off a plane he never should have -- allowed to board. Now comes a new rule for airlines from the TSA, we're hearing. And we've got live reports from both fronts. CNN's Reza Sayah is in Islamabad, and also, our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is joining us from Washington.

We're going to start with you, Reza. Reza, tell us about the people being questioned in Pakistan right now.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, officials telling us several more people were picked up today in the Karachi area. We don't know their names. We don't know what type of link they had with Faisal Shahzad. We have the names of three other people who have been arrested there. His father-in-law, Iftikhar Mian, one of his friends, Tausif Ahmed, and a young man described as his associate, Mohammed Rehan. These people are being questioned. They're not arrested, officials say; they're only being questioned.

But that -- I want to pass along some very important new developments concerning the Pakistani Taliban that we've just got in. A lot of talk about the Pakistani Taliban. Were they involved in this attempted bombing in New York? You would have thought Faisal Shahzad himself said he received training in Waziristan, which is the nerve center for the Pakistani Taliban.

But now in a phone call to CNN, the spokesperson for the Pakistani Taliban, Azam Tariq, essentially saying, "We're impressed with what this man tried to do. We like what he tried to do, but he's not one of us."

Take a look at his statement. He says, "The action of Faisal Shahzad was very good. We appreciate Faisal Shahzad, but he has no link with Tariq-e-Taliban Pakistan. He might have received training from other militant groups but not the Tariq-e-Taliban Pakistan. There were other groups that can provide that type of training, too."

So there you see the Pakistani Taliban saying, "This young man is not one of us." Don, this only adds to the mystery surrounding this 30-year-old Pakistani-American.

LEMON: And Reza, where you are, any word on how he, you know, changed from a white-collar American success story to a failed bomber? How did that happen?

SAYAH: No, Don, there's absolutely no red flags, no indications that this man was headed down this type of path. He spent a lot of time where he's from, in northwest Pakistan, a village named Pavi (ph) right outside of Peshawar. That's where his father is from. Very interesting. His father is a retired vice marshal for the air force. We've spoken to some family members. And they say that they're shocked. They're absolutely shocked, and they're reeling from this development that's obviously going to put this family under scrutiny. They say they never thought that he would end up this way. Some of them flat out don't believe it, Don. So no red flags, no indications that this man was going to do something like that.

LEMON: Reza Sayah, thank you. And stand by, because we're going to go to Jeanne Meserve now and new requirements regarding airlines and the no-fly list.

Jeanne, what is going on here?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, you know, he got on that plane even though he'd been put on the no-fly list. The Department of Homeland Security today moving to close a loophole in this system.

The no-fly list is provided to airlines on a Web board. They're required to update it every 24 hours. But they do get special notifications from the Transportation Security Administration, alerting them when someone, a priority, someone new has been put on that list. And it's been up to the airlines to do the updating themselves.

I'm told that many do, but they aren't required to. Now the TSA is saying you've got to do it within two hours of getting a notification from us, that there's someone of concern that's been added to this list, you have to go back. You have to look at this Web board and put him on your list.

Now, fortunately, there were redundant systems in place here. Customs and Border Protection was looking not just at the no-fly list and comparing that to the manifest but looking at any number of other alerts and databases that they have access to. They're the ones who realized he was on that flight and got him off.

LEMON: Here's the interesting thing. He paid for those tickets in cash. How about the people who paid for their airline tickets in cash? Is that going to change, Jeanne?

MESERVE: Well, there's a movement afoot to do that. Right now the airlines are not required to tell TSA if someone buys a ticket at the last minute, one way, with cash. But some members of Congress are saying there should be a requirement, at least on the cash provision, that if someone pays with cash, they give an alert to the airlines.

I will tell you that Emirates says it did turn around and alert security officials at TSA -- at JFK the minute they saw this person purchase a ticket with cash, but I'm told by U.S. government officials that they didn't get that information until about 1:30 in the morning, long after that arrest had taken place.

LEMON: All right. Jeanne Meserve at our security desk. Thank you very much, Jeanne and also Reza Sayah in Islamabad. New York's mayor and police commissioner on Capitol Hill today for a terrorism hearing. It was scheduled long before the attempted bombing in Times Square.

Ray Kelly, the city's top cop, told senators that, since 9/11, New York has been the subject of 11 terror plots. Eleven plots that we know of, he says.

But I also want to show you a fascinating chart that we came across. It's from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

From 1970 to 2007, New York was hit by -- get this -- 284 terror attacks, most of which occurred in the 1970s. Now, remember now, these are attacks I'm showing you, not victims.

Of all the people killed in terror attacks in New York, 98 percent died on September 11, 2001.

Now, look at this map. Take a look at this. We picked out the top five U.S. terrorism targets over the past four decades. Miami is a distant second with 70 attacks. San Francisco had 66; Washington, 59; Los Angeles, 54. Unbelievable. Two hundred eighty-four in New York City. Next closest, Miami, with 70.

Trying to get a job? Trying to qualify for a student loan? It may be getting easier for you. Our Stephanie Elam tells you why. That is straight ahead.

Plus, we'll also take stock of the stock market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone. We have some breaking news to tell you about here on CNN. Take a look at these live pictures. This is coming to us from San Antonio. And what we're hearing is that this is a fire at an oil refinery, a massive fire that is just southeast of downtown San Antonio.

Here's what we're being told, that there are large plumes of smoke that can be seen. This company is called AGE Refinery. It specializes in petroleum products and also jet fuel and diesel. Founded back in 1991.

Again, no injuries just southeast of downtown San Antonio. There may be -- no injuries, we are told, and there are no fatalities. So we will continue to check on that on this breaking news story.

Welcome back now to our -- this edition of the CNN NEWSROOM. I want to tell you, look at the big board. We know that Wall Street was down yesterday. And if you look at the numbers, we're not sure exactly how it's doing today. There it is. And that's why we turn to our Stephanie Elam for the best financial advice on all of this. She can tell you what's going on. You can catch "YOUR $$$$$," hosted by Ali Velshi and then Christine Romans, Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. So, Stephanie, tell us: how is the stock market doing today?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don, I know. It's one of those things where I'm pitch hitting for Christine today, the true "YOUR $$$$$" host, but if you take a look at the markets today, the relieving thing is that we're not down as much as we were yesterday.

Yesterday the Dow was off 225 points. Right now the Dow is off 30 points at 10.895. And a lot of this having to do with fears about what's going on with the Greek -- the Greek -- Greek debt situation. So that's the situation there, Don, just trying to give you up to date of what's going on with the markets.

LEMON: OK, listen, so on Friday, right, or this morning the jobs reports number came out this morning, and then ahead of Friday's monthly job reports. Another month of gains. Is that true?

ELAM: Yes. That's true. According to ADP, take a look at the private sector. It actually added 32,000 jobs last month. And that's the third month in a row of an increase here.

The service sector added 50,000 jobs, the most since last fall. That's really good news, since the service sector makes up about 80 percent of the U.S. workforce.

Manufacturing employment, it rose -- it rose 29,000, and that's the third month of gains there, as well. So as far as ADP is concerned, they're cautiously optimistic that this job growth will continue.

But one analyst says this doesn't mean a hiring boom is around the corner, so we have to keep that in perspective, because employers are still nervous. Obviously, we will get the government's big job report on Friday. We are expected to see an addition of 187,000 jobs.

LEMON: Wow.

ELAM: At the same time, unemployment will -- probably is expected to stay held -- hold steady at 9.7 percent. But I've got to tell you, if you take a look at it, Don, one sector that really got hit was education. And...

LEMON: Yes, is this going to offset that layoff? Is this going to offset the layoffs in the school districts around the country, hopefully?

ELAM: This -- this is going to be part of the problem here, though, because if you look at this, and this education group is saying that they see 275,000 education jobs being cut next year.

And it's not just teachers. It's nurses; it's guidance counselors, these people who work in schools. And 80 percent of school districts would implement these cuts. And you take a look at this, and you can see that they're feeling the pain because of budget constraints that are going on at local levels, at the state levels, as well. Stimulus dollars starting to run out there, as well. So you can see that they're really starting to feel some of the pain there in the education. And that's part of the issue there, too, Don, for them.

LEMON: Can we continue on? College students, Sallie Mae, lowering interesting rates on nonfederal student loans. What's that about, Steph?

ELAM: Yes. It's a new program that Sallie Mae is coming out with today. And basically, they're saying, starting next week, they're going to lower the interest rates on some of their student loans. So interest rates will now fall into a range of 2.88 percent and 10.25 percent. And that's about a 2 percentage point drop from where they are right now.

Now, the rules, here are the rules. The rates are variable. You must pay the interest while you're still in school and, for nonfederal loans only -- this is all this is applying to -- which typically lack consumer protections.

And Sallie Mae really has been up against the wall, so they're trying to make up some lost revenue. So starting this summer, students must get all of their federal loans directly from the government. Remember, that's part of the health-care bill that was in there. So that's something that's coming from the government.

And because of that change, Sallie Mae said that last week they're going to start cutting jobs because of that. So you see they're feeling the pinch, and you can see the change here on what they're doing for college students.

LEMON: Boy, a lot of news coming from our Stephanie Elam today. Stephanie, we appreciate it. As always, have a good one, OK? Good to see you.

ELAM: Thanks, Don. You, too.

LEMON: We're going to check our top stories right now.

Long-time House Democrat David Obey has just announced that he won't run again in November. Obey's representative was constant since 1969. He is the chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. We'll have more on that on CNN.

The arrest of the Times Square bombing suspect in New York is having ripple effects across the Atlantic. A group of his associates has been detained in Pakistan. Faisal Shahzad's father-in-law and a friend are among those taken in for questioning in Karachi. The 30- year-old U.S. citizen from Pakistan is facing WMD and terror charges after allegedly trying to set off a car bomb on Saturday.

And federal inspectors are slamming a drug maker, saying it knowingly used contaminated ingredients in some batches of children's and infant's Tylenol products. The FDA says it found bacteria and raw material at the McNeil Consumer Health Care Plant in Pennsylvania. But no contamination has been found in the finished products. Still, certain types of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl are being voluntarily recalled.

One leak plugged, two more to go in the Gulf of Mexico. BP says the smallest of the three oil-spewing leaks has been patched, thanks to a team of underwater robots. But the Coast Guard says it's not slowing down the flow. So today, a 40-foot steel containment dome is leaving the port, headed for the site of the leak.

I want to tell you about our breaking news, breaking news here coming up from near San Antonio. The pictures are horrific, but we're being told so far no one is injured. A huge fire and explosion. We're going to update you on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're going to update you now on that huge mess in the Gulf of Mexico. Just before the break, I told you about this containment dome that they were going to try to get: 5,000 feet down there in the Gulf of Mexico. Pictures now of that containment dome being shipped out. Going to go now to the ground. Our producer, Eric Fiegel, watching the containment dome being shipped out to sea.

Tell us what's going on, Eric.

ERIC FIEGEL, CNN PRODUCER (via phone): Well, Don, as you can see, the big white structure is slowly moving, about to take its 12- hour -- 12-hour journey to the people on the horizon rig where it still hasn't been able to be contained.

Many believe this structure, which is going to be lowered from a ship, is the best hope to stop this leak and contain it. What will happen is this giant 40-foot structure will be lowered down on top of the leak, almost like you put a bucket under a dripping faucet or a pipe in your house. But it's going to be the opposite direction, on top of the leak.

Then they're going to hope it contains the oil. The oil will then go up giant tubes to a ship that will be on top. The problem is, is that this has never been done before, Don.

LEMON: Yes.

FIEGEL: In this deep of water. They've done it during the Katrina, during the -- when a lot of the rigs were damaged, and stuff like that. But it's never been done at this depth of water. So it could make a 12-hour journey.

LEMON: Eric, I just want to ask you real quickly, the live pictures that we're looking at, is this -- is this the ship that it's being sent out on, in the background? Can we get those pictures up? I just want to make sure the viewers know exactly what they're seeing here. Is this the thing that it's being sent out on?

FIEGEL: Yes, that is a slow barge. It just got loaded on. They just buckled it down. As you see, there's giant orange straps. That's the ship that's going to take it all the way out to -- on its 12-hour journey, like I said. And hopefully, it can be lowered to stop this leak, contain it, and then they can pump the oil up to a ship that's on top of it.

It's never been done. They're hoping it's going to work. It's the quickest option they have right now. And hopefully, within a day or two, this will be lowered in the water.

LEMON: Yes. And the concern is that they're running out of options. They've tried chemicals. They're going to try this. This is only going to contain it, they believe, 85 percent. But any little bit will help.

I want to thank our producer there on the ground, Eric Fiegel, showing the containment dome, that huge containment dome that they're going to try to lower down 5,000 feet into the water to try to cap off that oil gush in the Gulf of Mexico. Live pictures now of it being sent out to sea, and hopefully, that will work. We'll get to that story. Follow that for you here on CNN as well, as well as the breaking news we have coming from San Antonio and also the situation on the Times Square bombing suspect.

Months after the devastation in Haiti, hundreds of children are still at risk. And this weekend, our very own Soledad O'Brien introduces us to Haiti's orphans and the people who came to their rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Makenson Oliphi (ph) works in the guesthouse here at the Maison de Lumiere Orphanage in Haiti. He is helping raise abandoned children just like himself.

Makenson was born in a rural Haitian village called Kaphaitian (ph), a place with wrenching poverty. Life was so desperate that his father sold him and his sister to a stranger. They became child slaves, restaveks, literally the Creole words for "stay with."

(on camera): Were you a restavek?

UNIDENTIFIED TRANSLATOR: Arrested?

O'BRIEN: A restavek? A child slave?

UNIDENTIFIED TRANSLATOR: Oh, OK.

O'BRIEN: Oui?

MAKENSON OLIPHI, FORMER CHILD SLAVE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And your sister?

OLIPHI (through translator): The same, yes.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Makenson was nine and his sister was six.

(on camera): How much money did the woman who paid your parents, how much did she pay for you?

OLIPHI: Me and my sister?

O'BRIEN: Yes, you and Mona (ph).

OLIPHI: One hundred twenty.

O'BRIEN: One hundred twenty Haitian dollars?

OLIPHI: Haitian, yes.

O'BRIEN: Which is like $10, $12 U.S.?

OLIPHI: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Someone bought you for $12? Do you ever think about that?

OLIPHI: No.

O'BRIEN: It doesn't make you mad, angry?

(voice-over): Makenson is not angry because he says he understands his parents' desperation. Haiti had an 85 percent unemployment rate even before the earthquake. His path to The Lighthouse began in one of Haiti's worst slums.

OLIPHI (through translator): This is where I used to live.

O'BRIEN: We are looking for the woman who kept him as a slave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Be sure that you watch "RESCUED" this Saturday, May 8th only here on CNN 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Chaos and death in the cradle of democracy. Mobs of protestors square off against police when a bank is firebombed. We're getting the very latest for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Protests in Greece have reached crisis level. The economy is in shambles, debt out of control, taxpayers are furious and now people are actually dying. Our Diana Magnay is in Athens, but first we want to go to our Josh Levs, he is tracking everything that is going on.

Josh, what do you have?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what we're looking at today in "Globe Trek," because obviously this is where a lot of the news is taking place, all the way on the other side of the world from us right here, and this is some of the latest that we're getting.

About three bank workers have been killed, and this is just some of the initial information we've been getting. Let's get right to these pictures I want you to see that have been coming in from Greece throughout the day, particularly in Athens. And as we take a look at these photos, what you're going to be seeing basically is a lot of protesters who are in the streets very upset over the cutbacks, what's called austerity measures, inside Greece.

I want to get straight to our Diana Magnay who is in Athens while we're looking at this. Diana, can you start off here by giving us the absolute latest. We heard three people killed. What can you tell us about injuries and killed in these protests today?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Josh. Well this was -- these killings happened in a bank just about five minutes down the road from where I am now. Three bank staff who were inside a bank when demonstrators threw a petrol bomb at that bank. We know that two of them were women, one was a man and we're hearing from the Ministry for Civic Protection that one of those women was pregnant.

So obviously a huge tragedy here on the streets of Athens. This protest was really a demonstration of anger at this austerity package that you've talked about, but no one here expected it to turn deadly as it has, Josh.

LEVS: Yes. And, Diana, we've been hearing a long time about the problems that are in Greece. What I would like you to do is help our viewers understand how things got this bad. I mean, we have massive debt in this country, but what's happened in Greece there is basically that the credit rating has been dropped so incredibly low it's almost impossible for them to borrow money at this point. They're talking about massive, massive cutbacks.

Can you trace us through how things got this bad in Greece?

MAGNAY: Well, it's quite complicated and it's one of those things that when you talk to people on the streets of Greece, they don't even know how the problem has got this bad. But essentially, it's years and years of fiscal mismanagement on that part of government, there's also a sort of culture of tax evasion here which is pervasive across all of sectors of society, and speculation on the money markets. All of those things have contributed to a massive public debt. It's running at 13.6 percent of the country's GDP. So that is a big percentage of the country that -- of the debt that's running.

And of course, now when the government tries to borrow money off the money market, it's having to borrow it at such a high interest rate that it is unaffordable and just on May the 19th. So in a very short space of time it's going to have to refinance some of the expiring bonds and it doesn't have the money to do that.

So that is why it's forced to go to the IMF and to EU countries and beg for money from them.

LEVS: And that's what they've been doing. A handful of EU countries got together, talked about providing approximately $150 billion. There's some questions about whether that's going to happen or even if that will be enough to bail it out. Greece's debt at this point already valued in U.S. dollars more than 400 billion. And, Diana, as you know, it's impacting the rest word. We know here in America it hitting stocks. Really quickly, can you tell me about the impact it's happening in Europe and on the euro there?

MAGNAY: European markets very much down as a result of what's been going on here in Greece. The markets have been hit very badly as has the euro. That's it in a nutshell.

LEVS: I know, it's a massive drop.

Diana Magnay, thank you so much for that.

And, Don, what we're seeing here are some of the photos that we're getting today.

LEMON: These are extraordinary.

LEVS: Look at that.

LEMON: That's exactly what we don't want to happen here, but look another these.

LEVS: These are petrol bombs, you're seeing a lot of fighting in the streets. And what we've not seen so far is any indication that it's decreasing. Unfortunately, more and more of this in this critical country in Europe there.

LEMON: Josh, will keep watching this for us, please?

LEVS: You got it. I'll be right here.

LEMON: Josh Levs, thank you. And also, thank you to our Diana Magnay.

Coming up, we're going to tell you about a star lacrosse player at the University of Virginia is dead. The suspected murder? Her ex- boyfriend and he's talking to police. It's a story that has an entire campus and community shaken to its core.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A pool of blood on a pillow, a fist size hole in the bedroom door, and an alleged murderer confession -- these are the details that are emerging from the University of Virginia after a star lacrosse player was found dead allegedly at the hands of her ex- boyfriend.

Both Yeardley Love and George Huguely were chasing bright futures just weeks away from graduating from UVA and playing in the lacrosse national tournament, but that all ended early on Monday. A search warrant says that Huguely admitted to officers that he beat down the door to Love's bedroom, shook her violently and banged her head against the wall over and over before leaving with her computer. Now Huguely sits in a jail cell charged with first degree murder and his lawyer calls Love's death an accident with a tragic outcome. This Huguely's first legal trouble, I should tell you. In November of 2008, an officer in Lexington, Virginia shot him with a stun gun after resisting arrest for public intoxication. And police say they are checking into witness reports that Huguely was seen drinking in the hours before he showed up here at his ex-girlfriend's apartment.

Her body was found after a 911 call from Love's roommate concerned about alcohol poisoning. But by the time police arrived, they say Love was already dead.

So who exactly is George Huguely? And he came from an affluent family, we are told, in suburban D.C. and went to the same prep school as several of those Duke University lacrosse players involved in a sex scandal. In 2006, he actually spoke to "The Washington Post" defending them. He is quoted as saying, "I sympathize for the team. They have been scrutinized so hard and that one knows a has happened yet. In this country you're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I think that's the way it should be." That's a quote from him.

The University of Virginia decided to it will compete in the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament later this month to honor the memory of Yeardley Love and the women's team on which Love was a star defender. It's ranked fifth, number five, I should tell you.

And to say that she'll be remembered fondly is really quite an understatement. She died on Monday and already more than 16,000 people have signed up for a Facebook page in her memory.

All of our smartphones and gadgets are lifesavers till the battery dies on you. Imagine if you could power back up by walking down the street. Think about that, just by walking down the street, creating energy, powering back up. We'll talk to an engineer taking us -- telling us about a huge step in that direction. We're walking today.

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LEMON: So exercise gives you energy, right? That is no big news there, but thanks to some scientists' big ideas, it can also give you some electricity. Give all of us some electricity. I'm talking sneakers with mini power plants in the heels. Imagine that. You remember you used to have, like, your music in the heels? These have mini power plants and all you have to do is lace them up and go.

Let's find out about them now from Dr. Ville Kaajakari, he is the one giving powerwalking a whole new meaning lately. So he's an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech and he devised the materials and the technology for these super shoes.

So tell us, how does this work? This is for small devices. This isn't for huge, you can't power a city with this.

DR. VILLE KAAJAKARI, LOUISIANA TECH INSTITUTE FOR MICROMANUFACTURING: Right. It's from polymer, it's a PS electric polymer, which means when you compress it, it gives electric power out. And the unique thing about this polymer itself is that it matches the (INAUDIBLE) of shoe fillings so you can put it into shoe, in the cavity there where you usually have to shock absorber. Like a regular shock absorber, and it will act like a regular real sole, you will not feel a difference but it gives you power out.

LEMON: And it called piezoelectricity right?

KAAJAKARI: Right, coming from the Greek word piezo meaning that when compress it gives out electric power.

LEMON: OK, so you wear it in your shoe and what do you have to have attached, cause you have to have a device like on your phone or your computer or whatever you have? Is it wireless or do you wire it to yourself?

KAAJAKARI: Yes, we are putting right now we are looking at putting wireless sensors in the shoe like a locator beacon, so GPS or medical devices. So the question you are asking, how to power up a cell phone that in your hand? That's the future, it might have a smart glow thing that powers up devices that you carry out with you. But first we have powering devices fit in the shoe.

LEMON: So listen, here's an interesting thing. I understand that there are other people who are trying -- you have peers who are working on this. But you actually like the competition, the competitive aspect of it because you think it makes you better, it'll make them better and help with energy?

KAAJAKARI: Certainly, there's been a lot of energy harvesting devices out there and people constantly coming up with new ideas. I think we good talent coming up with a polymer type of device that is more robust and user friendly than, say, putting ceramics in the shoe or putting a crank wheel motor that you will have to --

LEMON: Like you had on your bicycle, you would have the people who were sort of pedaling for energy.

Let's look at the tape again and sort of demonstrate to our viewers because I'm interested in this. I want to see, demonstrate to the viewers exactly how this works.

According to the doctor here, you put it in your shoe, you go walking, you go running and it actually powers everything. And here is the interesting thing we're going to talk about. I alluded to it in the first question to the doctor whether or not this can happen on a bigger level whether it can be used to power a room, a home and then on and on and on.

Don't answer that, Doctor, because after the break we're going to continue this very interesting conversation. This is a new way. We're walking into power here, and we're going to tell you this could be the start of something big.

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LEMON: I like that song.

So, continuing I'm my conversation right now with Dr. Ville Kaajakari on the power of walking. We're talking about giving the power of walking a whole new meaning. He's an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech. A new device here that powers -- this powers your personal devices like maybe your phone or your iPod or your Walkman, whatever you have -- I shouldn't say Walkman, showing my age here.

But, again, show us how it works. You put it in your shoe and then just by the walking that you do or the running, it creates energy.

KAAJAKARI: That's right. So, whenever you step on your heel, you have this compressive device in the shoe and every step you take you get some power that goes into the battery or whatever you want to power up.

LEMON: People are going to be concerned about, oh, how do I use it. Is it going to be cumbersome? Is it going to hurt me in my shoe or whatever? Is it small enough that it won't be felt inside of the shoe?

KAAJAKARI: Yes. That's right. That's something we did well. It actually fits right where you have the regular shoe filling, it feels like a regular shoe filling, it goes in and usually you will not feel any difference. It's taking so little power that you don't feel a difference.

LEMON: How much have you tested, and has it been approved yet? That's what I'm trying to get to.

KAAJAKARI: Approved for -- ?

LEMON: Yes.

KAAJAKARI: Yes. We have had some interesting discussion on different people trying to power up sensors like GPS, emergency locator beacon, but it's not on large-scale market applications yet.

LEMON: Is it something -- we talked about the competition here and what you are doing, what your peers are doing and your competitors, I should say. And I think that people think it could be used on a bigger level, maybe people just walking around the city or just walking every day can help to, you know, power rooms, homes, buildings, make even a city one day.

KAAJAKARI: Yes. I do not see short-term or even long-term how human power is going to power up so much devices without affecting the user. Powering up just a light bulb, it's hard work.

But on a smaller scale, it's the saving the batteries on your PDA devices, not having disposable batteries, it's going to have an ecological impact for our environment.

LEMON: I want to talk to you, affecting the user, cause that was one of my next questions. You don't see how you can do it on a large scale without affecting the user, even on this small scale people are going to be concerned about the possible side effects like they do with cell phones. They say sometimes it can cause injuries or what have you.

What are the risks here, if any, because you know people are going to be thinking about that, Doctor?

KAAJAKARI: I don't see a risk here. It's a simple plastic polymer that gives very little power. We are not talking about a big power plant in your shoe. It's just a -- it's feeling like a regular battery type of power levels.

LEMON: Dr. Ville Kaajakari, thank you so much. Let us know, it's a very interesting concept.

KAAJAKARI: Thank you for having me.

LEMON: Yes, it's good to talk to you about this. Let us know what happens, OK? Good luck.

KAAJAKARI: All right. Thank you.

LEMON: Some brand-new changes for airports all across the nation when it comes to their no-fly list and it is all because of the attempted car bombing in Times Square. We'll explain straight ahead here on CNN.

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LEMON: All right. So, here's the question, what good is a list if nobody looks at it? In the wake of Faisal Shahzad's near getaway on the plane he shouldn't have been allowed to board, the TSA is tightening the rules. So let's get the details from CNN's homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve, she joins us from Washington.

OK, Jeanne, so what's good about a list if nobody pays attention to it?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Excellent question. It's called the no-fly list and Shahzad has been put on the list, a notification has been sent out to the airlines, but there was no obligation that they update their list quickly. They're supposed to and many of them do check when they get one of these notifications, but they weren't required to do so, they could wait for the automatic update in 24 hours.

Now TSA is saying you've got to get on it. You have two hours once you get a notification from us to go to our web board and get that new information and check names against it.

Meanwhile, at the White House today, there were questions about all of this. Here's a bit of what Robert Gibbs had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The reason there are redundancies in the system is to allow for -- is to ensure that there are many -- many mechanisms that would allow you to prevent somebody from flying, which is what happened in this case. The CBP takes a locked manifest, it's required to be filed 30 minutes before a flight with people that are on the plane. That was checked against that list and the individual was removed from the plane.

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MESERVE: And some new details about the arrest. When officers showed up, Shahzad said, according to officials, "I was expecting you. Are you NYPD or FBI? " The agent, then, showed his badge and said CBP, that stands for Customs and Border Protection. Those are the ones who actually took into custody -- Don.

LEMON: So, listen, Jeanne, aren't flags raised when flyers pay for tickets with cash?

MESERVE: No, at the moment airlines are not required to inform anybody when somebody comes in and pays cash for ticket or buys it at the last minute or buys a one way ticket. There's a move afoot in Congress to change that and make sure airlines do notify about cash purchases.

I can tell you that Emirates Airlines said it did, that it immediately turned around and informed officials at JFK that this had happened. But I'm told by administration officials they didn't get the notification from the airlines until about 1:30 in the morning after that arrest had been made.

LEMON: All right. I'm sure they're looking in to all of this, Jeanne Meserve, whether how they're going to fix this and how they're going to tweak all of this to keep all of us safer.

Jeanne Meserve doing a great job working the story. Thank you so much for your efforts, Jeanne.

MESERVE: Thanks.