[Kyra Phillips, Cnn Anchor:] All right. It's 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 out west. Right now, we are watching Australia. People in northern Queensland woke up in the biggest storm to ever hit the region. Cyclone Yasi. The storm has lost power but it's pounding the interior with rain and wind. Norwegian politician has nominated WikiLeaks for the Nobel Peace Prize. He cites the web site's contribution to democracy and freedom of speech. And an apartment fire in Dallas forced people into 17 degree weather. Some of them barely had time to grab a bathrobe before heading into the cold. No reports of injuries. The ice making it hard for firefighters to gain footing as they fight that fire. We begin in Cairo this morning where CNN correspondents are reporting a uptick in violence. This past hour anti-government protestors and supporters of embattled President Hosni Mubarak have thrown rocks and had occasional clashes. But at least for now, it's nowhere near the level of yesterday's massive explosion of violence. Among the groups, guns, rocks, machetes, even Molotov cocktails. Five people killed, more than 800 wounded. The images so terrible and stakes so high that President Obama called attention to the crisis in his National Prayer Breakfast this morning in Washington.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] We're also mindful of the violence that we're now seeing in the Middle East, and we pray that the violence in Egypt will end and that the rights and aspirations of the Egyptian people will be realized, and that a better day will dawn over Egypt and throughout the world.
[Phillips:] Well, Egypt's soldiers are being credited with restoring peace in Cairo, at least temporarily. But yesterday they stood impassively as thugs beat protesters, turned on reporters covering the protest. Even our Anderson Cooper was among those who was targeted. Here's his view from inside the bloody free for all.
[Anderson Cooper, Host, "ac360":] I was shooting this video on my Flip camera so as not to attract too much attention. Suddenly a man jumped out of the crowd and tried to grab Neil's camera. That's when all hell broke loose. [on camera]: Hey, calm down. Calm down. [voice-over]: We only had about a block left to go when another guy came up and punched me in the head. [on camera]: I've been hit now like ten times. The Egyptian soldiers the Egyptian soldiers are doing nothing.
[Phillips:] Well, U.S. State Department is now condemning those attacks on journalists. And CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us live on the phone with more. Not only our crews but all types of journalists attacked, even some sent into the triage with head injuries Fred?
[Frederik Pleitgen, Cnn Correspondent:] Absolutely, Kyra. I mean, we've been seeing it almost everywhere we go, journalists being attacked, especially actually almost exclusively by the pro-Mubarak protesters. It is really a dangerous walk that yuou make when you try to cover these protests. Certainly if you get into the hands of the wrong sides, you are very likely to be beaten, just the way Anderson was. And I've had similar things happen to my crew, as well. We've, of course, also had people smash our cameras, we've had people threaten to take our cameras away, confiscate our equipment. We've seen a lot of reporter's equipment confiscated. There's also a lot of sort of make shift checkpoints where you don't really know who it actually is who's asking for your I.D., who's asking to search your stuff. So right now, yes, it is a very, very dangerous situation for foreign journalists covering this. We were hearing of journalists being detained by sort of semi-militia especially on the pro-Mubarak side and also by the military allegedly for their own safety Kyra.
[Phillips:] So right now, at this moment, Fred, from your vantage point, how do things I mean, it's quite a switch from yesterday, right?
[Pleitgen:] Well, it still is very violent. It's just less people doing it. I mean, right now, there are still street battles going on with people throwing rocks at each other. It's sort of sticking with that right now. We're not hearing very much in the way of gun fire except for soldiers firing into the air. But it is still quite a scene. It is sort of a pitch battles in the street, people throwing rocks at each other, people shooting those flash bangs that the military normally usually uses at each other. So it is still a battle in the street going on here. What we're seeing the anti-Mubarak protesters seemingly, increasingly gaining the upper hand as they are pushing back the pro-Mubarak people, if you will, further and further away from Tahrir Square, where, of course, the mass of these protests have been occurring, Kyra.
[Phillips:] And the big question is, will Hosni Mubarak continue the last number of months in his term, or will he be pushed out sooner like the anti-government protesters want. Fred, we'll keep following it with you today. Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much. Anti-government protests have boiled up in six Arab states now. And new concerns turn to two countries. Opposition groups in Syria and Jordan are planning big rallies there tomorrow. In Jordan, the protests are planned despite big concessions by King Abdullah already. Earlier this week he actually dissolved his government and ordered the new prime minister to launch swift reforms. That massive winter storm is loosening its grip on the U.S. today, but it leaves behind mounds of snow, frigid temps in Texas and parts of the deep south, as well. The Arctic cold front is also complicating cleanup efforts and spurring freeze warnings through much of the nation's midsection. We've got something developing, actually, near Miami, Oklahoma. Jacqui, you're watching these live pictures coming to us from our affiliates KOTV and KWTV. What's going on?
[Jacqui Jeras, Ams Meteorologist:] Yes. Well, what happened is the roads here continue to be very treacherous and a car slit off the road into the river here. This is in northeastern parts of Oklahoma. There you can see the car actually breaking through the ice a little bit. They've had to shut down the interstate there so they could land a helicopter and try and get crews there and help these people. Apparently there are about eight people that are trapped there. This is I-44, the westbound lanes which are closed at this time. You know, Kyra, sometimes in these kinds of situations, the blizzard stops, the snow stops and people think everything is OK out there. But these roadways continue to be very hazardous. You know, they've had over a foot of snow in this part of the country and you see just how much ice already is on the interstate there. There you can see somebody, I'm not sure if that's somebody they rescued or is that one of the divers there along with an ambulance. So this whole area right now, they're trying to help those people and get out of there. But you can imagine, if that car's submerged in that water, you know, they have to break through the ice.
[Phillips:] It looks like they were saying eight people were in that vehicle, Jacqui. And that it looks like Miami Fire and Rescue, also, the Oklahoma National Guard came to assist because the number of people and the conditions that they were in. They said they lowered a basket over the bridge.
[Jeras:] OK.
[Phillips:] Six people were on top of the vehicle. Two were still inside. So I think one of the individuals that you just saw is one of the individuals that was on top. And it looks like there might possibly be still two people trapped inside that vehicle.
[Jeras:] OK. There you can see a boat, too. Did you see the boat along the side of the car
[Phillips:] Right.
[Jeras:] Trying to help those people and get them out. The air temperature, by the way, about nine degrees below zero.
[Phillips:] What is that close to? That's not far
[Jeras:] Well, it's in northeastern parts of the state.
[Phillips:] OK, got you.
[Jeras:] If Shawn or Monica, if you guys are listening, here's our map. This is I-44. I think Miama is somewhere up in this area Miama somewhere up there in the northeastern corner.
[Phillips:] Got it. All right. So we're watching this Spring River rescue that's happening in Ottawa County, Miami, Oklahoma. And as Jacqui mentioned, the westbound lanes of I-44 there on the Will Rogers Turnpike just east of Miami, are closed due to this vehicle that slipped on the ice, drove off the turnpike into the Spring River. We're told that Life Flight just came down on the ground. So Jacqui, it may not be good news for those two people that are still trapped inside. But, boy, there were eight people inside the truck. Six of them got out.
[Jeras:] It's amazing six people got out of there when you think about it, Kyra.
[Phillips:] That's pretty incredible.
[Jeras:] In these type of conditions when the air is so frigid like this, if you get wet, it really could be a matter of minutes before
[Phillips:] For hypothermia, right?
[Jeras:] Exactly.
[Phillips:] Apparently we've got a connection with our affiliate. They're doing a live broadcast. Let's listen in. Let's listen to the chopper reporter.
[Unidentified Male:] In bound calls. Some have gone to Freeman, and some have gone to St. John's.
[Unidentified Female:] Well, the belief is, is that they may all be transported to Springfield. So that is the information that St. John does say they are St. John Hospital out of Joplin, participating in this. Those are their helicopters. But they'll be taking them to Springfield. We're looking at one of the divers, Will. That is a hero. Can you imagine? This is from Newton County, the dive team out of Missouri, called to this scene in these type of temperatures. An accident that happened potentially two and a half hours ago and them being in that water, obviously being tended to by the ambulance and emergency crews there on the scene.
[Unidentified Male:] Yes. This is where we need to stay. You know, as we saw, there were two gentlemen there. I believe one was a diver, obviously, who headed to the ambulance, and beside him may have been a part of the fire department, as well. He was not in a dive suit. But, Alan, if you were out on that weather, just on the bank, doing the work on the bank, you may be in a position where you're going to have serious issues of hypothermia yourself whether in the water or not. In this particular area, they have wind-chill warnings that are underway right now. The Tulsa Metro has wind-chill advisory. Wind-chill warnings across extreme northern Oklahoma and their wind-chills this morning, have been on average from minus 15 to near minus 25.
[Phillips:] All right. We're going to continue to follow that rescue that's taking place in Miami, Oklahoma. Thanks to Ed Lavandera there, writing me in from Texas. It's near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here's what we know now. Basically this truck slid off I-44 there on the Will Rogers Turnpike and it closed down the area so this rescue could take place. There were eight people inside that vehicle. Six of them got through the sun roof, were on top of the vehicle, and were able to get hoisted out of there to the ambulance. Right now, though, they're still working to get two more people out of that vehicle. We're going to volume it for you out of Miami, Oklahoma. Well, wanted: three Arab men with possible links to 911. Their identities revealed in recent online documents released by WikiLeaks. We're going to have full details in a live report in just 15 minutes.