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Weather Outlook; Flight Missing; More Bodies of MH-17 Victims Arrive in Netherlands; IKEA Partners with Animal Shelters to Get Pets Adopted

Aired July 24, 2014 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back. Let's give you the five things you need to know for your new day.

At number one, we are watching breaking news. A search underway at this hour for an Air Algerie flight reported missing over Africa. One hundred and ten passengers, six crew members aboard.

Seventy more coffins carrying MH17 victims arriving in the Netherlands this morning. The European Union is now considering harsher sanctions on Russia for its suspected role in that disaster.

Meanwhile, the FAA lifting a ban on flights into and out of Tel Aviv. Now three U.S. carriers that fly to Israel, Delta, United and American, must decide when they will resume their flights.

White House officials say the president is considering whether or not to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S./Mexico border. He is having a meeting today with Central American leaders. Actually, that's tomorrow he'll meet with the leaders in Central America.

And new research suggests the most common over-the-counter medication for back pain ineffective. A study published Wednesday followed over 1,000 adults and found that acetaminophen was no more effective than a placebo in relieving back pain.

We always update those five things to know. So be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the very latest.

Let us talk weather because, as you know, I like to call Thursday Friday adjacent. Meteorologist Indra Petersons is looking at it for us.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're switching it up because I used to call it Friday evening (INAUDIBLE).

PEREIRA: Yes, got to keep it fresh, lady.

PETERSONS: I'm going to get your lingo down. I'm going to call it Friday adjacent from here on.

All right, here's what we're talking about. A huge cool down especially for a place like Boston. Ninety-two degrees, that's what it was yesterday. Today, ah, right, so much better, 74 degrees. That is all thanks to that cold front that kind of swung on through. About a 10 degree drop if you're in places like Philly and even D.C.

Now, that cold front, it is still there, bringing some rain even to D.C. right now, but making its way out of the northeast. But as it always does, the tail end hanging around in the southeast. They're still going to be seeing some showers there.

And then the story is going to be switching as we get close to the weekend. Sorry, guys, but around the Midwest, around Chicago, by Friday in through Saturday, here we go, another storm making its way through. Then eventually will make its way through the Ohio Valley on Saturday. Saturday night in through Sunday, in through the northeast, so so many people are going to be affected by this storm.

Now, when I talk about numbers, try 50 million people looking at the threat, not just for storms, but for severe weather. Not a good travel day for Saturday. Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, look at all these hubs, even St. Louis will have this threat for severe weather. Likely some very strong winds. On the opposite side, remember, it's cooling down. It's not going to stay that way, right?

As we go towards the weekend, at least it's going to be getting warmer. Temperatures will start to soar and go right back up where they should be. The only piece of good news is, yes, where it was mild, we're very hot. We're still going to see milder temperatures in the Midwest. That's the one good thing rain does, it brings cooler and drier air behind it, so it will feel at least more comfortable where it rains.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Very nice.

PETERSONS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

PETERSONS: Sure.

CAMEROTA: All right, next up on NEW DAY, the fate of 116 passengers and crew is unknown at this hour. Their flight to Algeria has dropped off radar. A search is underway. And we will bring you the very latest right after the break.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And more coffins will be returning today to a nation that is in mourning. Families are going to gather at the airport again as unidentified remains arrive in Amsterdam. We're going to tell you the extraordinary way the Netherlands is honoring the victims of Flight 17.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back.

We are following breaking news. An Air Algerie Flight with 16 people on board disappeared from radar and is missing. It was last heard from about an hour into the flight. There are early reports the pilot asked to change course because of a storm. So let's get to meteorologist Indra Petersons.

What do you think this is referring to, Indra? What would this pilot have seen?

PETERSONS: Yes, so we want to talk about the flight path. We know it's about a four-hour flight before it would have landed in Algers (ph) and we know that it lost contact about 50 minutes in, so about a quarter of the way, right. So what we're going to be looking at, is you want to dissect it in half. That would be half the way. But a quarter of the way would put it right here. And notice, you are seeing a system right in that region. So the question is, what kind of system is this?

It's important to note, we talk about the intertropical convergence zone. It sounds complicated, but this actually shifts to the north. This is the area where the tropical waves form, the ones that typically start in Africa and make their way all the way across the Atlantic and form what we know as our tropical storms and hurricanes. So a very strong systems develop right in that region.

So let's go back and take a look at what we're seeing here. Remember, right here is that wave. Now, we don't have any stats currently. It's very hard to find observation towers that give us exact stats on the ground. Remember, this flight was already 50 minutes in, so it should have been above the level that should have been affected. Regardless, though, if it was trying to land, we're talking about very strong winds out there and even visibility being poor, potential some heavy rain, so that's going to be the concern. The question is, was it this system or is it something going on on the ground that could affect it, which maybe David Soucie can give you a little bit of - a further look into.

CAMEROTA: Yes, great idea, Indra. Thank you.

Let's bring in CNN safety analyst David Soucie.

David, I hate to hear that storms are involved because we've all landed in storms.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Sure.

CAMEROTA: So what about a storm brings down a plane? How does that happen?

SOUCIE: There's a number of things. There were accidents in Denver. There's been accidents in Dallas that were -- because of this phenomenon. But basically you have a downdraft. The - as it's coming down, the temperature of the air is different in the water mass than it is around it. So as you approach these large thunderstorms, you get either a tailwind or you might get a headwind. The aircraft automatically adjusts for that and says, I need to go faster to maintain my flight altitude (ph) and my speed and where I'm coming into this area. So as it does that, then you get into a wind shear. We've probably all

heard about wind shear. So with that wind shear is the difference between the air density on one side and the air density on the other based on the temperature and the humidity in it. So the aircraft is unable to respond quickly enough to say, ah, geez, we've slowed down here, I need to speed up the speed of the aircraft relative to the density altitude. So that can create a lot of trouble in there. And that's what those really - those wind shears can do to an aircraft.

But typically those are only done -- wind shear is not going to affect you too badly unless you're at a landing zone or you're, you know, at a takeoff airport because at that flight altitude (ph), you've got plenty of time to respond to whatever might happen in the air. So it's very, very rare to see an aircraft go down due to weather in the middle of a flight like that.

PEREIRA: Yes, you talked to us before we've all sort of become aviation experts with you here with us on set.

SOUCIE: Right.

PEREIRA: You've talked about that venerable time in takeoff -

SOUCIE: Yes.

PEREIRA: Because that's when the plane's going only at a certain attitude, a certain speed.

SOUCIE: Right.

PEREIRA: But at that - that altitude - and again, you would assume that at 15 minutes into the flight, what altitude would they be at roughly, if all things were going normal?

SOUCIE: They're going northeast, so it would be like 33,000, 35,000, an odd number. Yes.

CUOMO: Why wouldn't they have - why wouldn't the pilot have communicated anything to the tower?

SOUCIE: That's what's most intriguing about this right now is that there has been no communication saying, I've got to do this. The last thing they heard was that we're going to have to divert the flight because of this weather system that's ahead of us. So that indicates that, as Indra was saying, that it may not have been as high as they were but there is a lot of activity that can go up above that, that maybe isn't showing up on the radar too, like lightening and other things. So they may have been diverting because of that.

CAMEROTA: And your concern is that they may have diverted over some sort of restricted airspace?

SOUCIE: Well, I don't know which way they went still. I'm still trying to get that information. But if -- my concern is that they kind of pinch in - when you've got restricted air space, and this is actually prohibited airspace, so it's not like they can't flying there, it's just that it's prohibited.

CUOMO: Right.

SOUCIE: It's a kind of dangerous place to fly. So they can still make the decision to fly through it. And -- but yet that's going to help the pilot make a decision, do I take that risk or do I take this risk? And how do you prioritize those risks, you know, as (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: So was it the weather or was it the decision to divert and then you went from bad to worse?.

PEREIRA: Or was it something else entirely that we don't know? I mean, that's the question.

SOUCIE: Absolutely.

PEREIRA: I mean so little information coming in.

CUOMO: Right, knowing that he - knowing that that pilot said the weather -

PEREIRA: Yes. Yes.

CUOMO: That's a big clue.

PEREIRA: (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: That's why we had Indra unpacking it for us.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: And David telling us what would it mean if you did fly into weather. So that's helpful.

SOUCIE: Right. You bet. Thanks, Chris.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, David.

SOUCIE: Thanks.

CUOMO: All right, let's take another break here on NEW DAY. More on the victims from Flight 17 are arriving in the Netherlands. After all the indignity at that crash scene, the Dutch made up for it and then some. An exceptional tribute to the victims and their families. You're going to want to see it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: By now you are well aware of how the dignity of the dead from MH-17 was abused in Ukraine, but at least now the bodies are starting to come home. The Netherlands has made sure that journey, and the reception, showed the respect these victims deserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): The victims of MH-17 are returning home to a country in mourning. Today, 74 more coffins return to Eindhoven, Netherlands, joining the 40 that arrived yesterday. Loved ones line the tarmac, the king and queen of the Netherlands present to welcome their people home. Who lies inside is still unknown, so relatives stand united by their loss.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CUOMO: A lone bugler playing the traditional military farewell for the 298 innocents killed in a conflict that wasn't their own. Then a moment of silence. From the airstrip in Eindhoven to Amsterdam's airport where MH-17's journey began and then observed around the world, millions paused in silent reflection. A grandmother of two of the young victims breaking her silence to tell us her hope is that their deaths can mean something to the world.

GRANDMOTHER OF VICTIMS: It's not just us. It is people crying every minute for the same reasons we are crying. I don't know where humanity is going, but when I see you and everybody and the flowers, there's always hope. And we have to move on. I don't know how, but we have to, because they were incredible kids.

CUOMO: The wooden caskets then carefully unloaded from the planes, soldiers gently, respectfully placing the victims into hearses. Stark contrast to the treatment these victims received in the razed fields of Eastern Ukraine. Then driven 60 miles along the Dutch country side, tens of thousands gathering along the procession's route, a four-hour-long tribute. People showering the cars with flowers and prayers. From a place of violence, these victims are now in a place of love and peace.

PRIEST (via translator): Dear lord, we pray to you.

CUOMO: Hundreds attended a memorial service at a church in neighboring Amersoort, breaking out in prayer and song. Words spoken of belief and a better place for the dead. Words that will accompany the victims to their next destination, a Dutch military base in Hilversum, where the somber task of identifying the victims begins. These bodies are just the start of the homecoming for the victims of MH-17. But the loss and pain for the families will never end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh, such emotional pictures. Chris, hearing that grandmother talk about how she's going to move on, that's really affecting.

CUOMO: Really a special moment for that country. Obviously it's borne of the worst type of experiences, but 17 million people, the moment of silence there, as complete as it was, as shared as it was by people all around the world, the length they're going to to make sure that these two hundred and, you know, 192 people, but really all 298. Nobody is really separating them out. It really was something to watch and I hope it helps the families.

PEREIRA: The thing that I was so moved by was such a sharp contrast. When you talked about the indignity of that field and the looting, and how the crime scene was compromised, and then you look in stark contrast to the whole nation gathering. The whole nation, the tone of it, such love, hopefully that will bring the families a measure of some sort of solace.

CUOMO: I've never seen a situation where there wasn't hate between the victim and the oppressor, where bodies were ignored the way they were there. The militants, I have no opinion on who's to blame and who not. That's for other people, but to leave people in the field the way they did, and to treat that scene the way they did was really a disgusting thing.

PEREIRA: I was really moved, too, by we also mentioned the fact that you told us, you are the one that told us about the families, the locals coming out and trying to do something to sort of make the scene not so --

CUOMO: There were villagers testing the militants, seeing how they could get in, asking to help. The coal miners came from search and rescue. They wanted to help, they wanted to do the right thing. The villagers collecting debris, because nobody is doing any investigating. They're putting it in front their homes.

PEREIRA: And they held a service and everything there. That was beautiful.

CAMEROTA: So there is humanity even in that horrible crash site.

CUOMO: Absolutely, you can't paint everybody with the same brush of conflict. And I just hope for the families there is some solace in the fact that their country cares about them. And to meet the family yesterday, the Calehrs, the grandmother Yasmine, her two boys, her grandkids were coming to see her in Bali, their vacation home, and now this. Just terrible.

CAMEROTA: The world is behind them all.

Up next on NEW DAY, a new plan to get deserving pets into some good homes. We do have some Good Stuff for you. We'll bring it to you momentarily.

PEREIRA: We need it.

CAMEROTA: We do.

CUOMO: Its a good one, too.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Oh, lord, good lord, do we need the Good Stuff, and we have it today.

What do you think would go well with your new bedroom set that you're thinking of buying? Throw pillow? Rug? How about a dog who needs a family?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CUOMO (voice-over): That is the idea, brilliant, that's coming up right now, to get deserving pets out of the shelters and into your home. A group of shelters teamed up with IKEA.

PEREIRA: The furniture maker?

CUOMO: Yes. They're putting life-sized cutouts of their shelter dogs and cats into the IKEA displays, so you can actually see what the pet would look like if you brought him home and put him into there. The cutouts have codes on them, so you scan your smartphone to the code and you get the information --

PEREIRA: Get out.

CUOMO: Yes. So far IKEA has tried this in Singapore and one store in Tempe, Arizona. But it hasn't worked. I'm kidding! It has worked! All six of the dogs on display adopted almost immediately.

PEREIRA: This is genius.

CUOMO: IKEA therefore planning to expand the program to other cities to get more animals adopted. The best part, you don't have to assemble those.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right? A lot of people follow that yellow brick road. That's a lot of foot traffic.

PEREIRA: Its so genius.

CUOMO: How great is that?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Good for you, IKEA. I take it all back, all the things I've screamed about you over the years putting things together. That's why you can't put anything heavy on anything in my house. Great to have you here.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: I'm going to see you guys tomorrow.

CUOMO: What?

CAMEROTA: I am.

CUOMO: I have to talk to management. A lot of news, let's get you to 'NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.