[Kyra Phillips, Cnn Anchor:] U.K. terror alert still critical. Transatlantic flights, the logjam is clearing. And what about that al Qaeda connection? Well, here's what we know right now. Security at British airports tight and tighter. The highest stage of official terror alert remains in place. The U.K.'s home secretary calls it a precautionary measure for the sake of public safety. It's affecting operations at all international airports that serve Britain. Heathrow still hectic, but easing up in passenger backlog and passenger frustration. The investigation into the foiled plot to bring down planes over the Atlantic is wide, reaching Pakistan and a possible al Qaeda involvement. British officials are working a lead that two of those 24 suspects in custody may have a contact inside Osama bin Laden's terror group. And we're just getting word now out of Rome, according to The Associated Press, that the Italian police have arrested 40 people in security operations after this British aircraft terror plot was thwarted. Once again, coming out of Rome, through the AP, Italian police arresting 40 people in a security operation after this British aircraft terror plot had been thwarted. We're working our sources on that and trying to get more information about those arrests. Meanwhile, Europe's busiest airport is a lot busier today than yesterday, but still not back to normal. CNN's Becky Anderson is watching the comings and goings at London Heathrow Becky.
[Becky Anderson, Cnn Correspondent:] That's right. There are some 200,000 people who come through this airport every day, Heathrow, one of, if not the busiest, of the international airports in the world. It is getting back to some sort of normality at this point, but the CEO of the actual airport here run by BAA, British Airports Authority, says that things are still extremely difficult and extremely chaotic. And coming into the weekend, he says, things are going to be very, very difficult, indeed. He says to those who are traveling, he has two pieces of advice, particularly for those who may be traveling from the U.K. to the U.S. and coming from the U.S. in. Remember, no carry-on baggage. Everything you take on must be in plastic bags. And do be prepared to get to the airport extremely early. The planes are taking off, as you can see behind me, as he says. They're trying to get back things on schedule, but those schedules have been amended. And they do ask for people to be calm at these airports, as well. Let's just bring you up to date on what we know about the investigation now. Nineteen of those 24 who have been arrested have been named. The reason for that is that the Bank of England were asked to freeze their assets and actually publish their names on a Web site. So, those names are now out. It seems that most British Muslims, homegrown terrorists, if you want, between the ages of about 17 and 35. Some reports coming in now, as well, Kyra, that many of those actually belong to the same society of one of the London universities, an Islamic society. That's what we know today here. As I say, chaotic still at the airport, but things are beginning to get back to normal. Back to you.
[Phillips:] All right, Becky. Thanks. Well, the United Kingdom, for the second straight day, is under what they call the critical level of terror alert. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is in London with more on the investigation. Deborah, what have you been able to dig up?
[Deborah Feyerick, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Kyra, the interesting thing about information here in the U.K. is there's not a lot of it, simply because they keep a very strong hold on all of the details of this investigation. But what we can tell you is that government officials do tell CNN that suspects recently placed two phone calls to people in the United States, the calls were investigated. At this time, there's no evidence that anyone in the U.S. was involved in this particular plot, but, again, officials are careful to warn that this is really the first stage of the investigation. Now, meantime, investigators here have been pouring over bank accounts, trying to find the money trail. The Bank of England froze the financial assets of 19 of the 24 suspects in custody, releasing their names, as is required by law. And the suspects are between the ages of 17 and 35, many of them British-Pakistani decent. Now, authorities did raid many of the homes, and among the key items that were seized, computers, as well as laptops. A U.S. official telling CNN that an analysis of hard drives reveals virtually "every aspect" on some of the suspects' lives. Now, authorities are particular particularly interested in friends and acquaintances, anybody who the suspects may have been in touch with. One intelligence analyst says investigators are likely doing a forensic analysis of all the different Web sites that these people visited and all the information that they downloaded, specifically as it relates to how they planned to build this bomb. Now, the crime and justice minister, John Reid, is the one who is overseeing this investigation.
[John Reid, British Home Minister:] This is an ongoing operation. We are not in the least bit complacent. We will go where any further evidence takes us. We will take whatever further action is necessary. We will apprehend anyone else who appears to be linked or connected to this. We will maintain the highest state of vigilance at our airports. And we will continue with this operation.
[Feyerick:] Now, other items taken from some of the homes include DVDs, as well as videotapes and a vacuum, the contents of which, one intelligence analyst tells us, will likely be analyzed specifically to see whether there are any sort of traces of bomb components, wiring, things like that. There is a report in the British media today that, in fact, two airline tickets were found in the home of one of the suspects, and the date on one of those tickets was today Kyra.
[Phillips:] Thank you. Well, there's growing optimism at the United Nations about the prospects for a Mideast peace resolution vote later today. After a week of discussion, things appear to be moving pretty quickly. CNN Senior U.N. Correspondent Richard Roth has the latest for us again. Hey, Richard.
[Richard Roth, Cnn Sr. U.n. Correspondent:] Hello, Kyra. The United States, France and Britain appear confident enough they have agreement on a text of a resolution. Revisions have been made, and now they're ready to go to the full Security Council to present it for a potential vote within a matter of hours. The British foreign secretary saying she thinks it's ready for a vote. U.S. officials are saying and Condoleezza Rice was here meeting Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary-general U.S. officials are saying that this resolution will give a very robust mandate to U.N. peacekeepers who are already there in southern Lebanon, but which have a real toothless operation. Here's British Foreign Secretary Beckett also arriving. Her French counterpart is expected to fly in. And they won't have the vote without him. So, some of the tricky parts of this resolution regarding the level of force and who's going to be able to use the force, seem to have been worked out. And we'll see if Lebanon and Israel they appear to be ready to sign on, but we've heard that before. A lot of twists and turns, but it appears there's a vote that may occur in the Security Council chamber later today Kyra.
[Phillips:] All right, Richard. Thank you. Well, it's official FAA acronym LAX, but it absolutely does not apply to security standards today at one of the nation's busiest airports, Los Angeles International. Our Kareen Wynter is there Kareen.
[Kareen Wynter, Cnn Correspondent:] Kyra, good afternoon to you. What a difference a day, even a couple hours makes here at Los Angeles International Airport. I can tell you, just within the last several hours, morning rush hour looked nothing like this. Curbside check-in completely clear here. People are getting through with no problems. And we want to take you inside here, where people are also getting their bags screened. The lines this morning, incredibly long. Things are moving very knick quickly here. It seems as if things are really getting back to normal. And we did hear that from airport officials here, saying that passengers you know, they got the word out in terms of what items are now banned, and people are really adhering to that, coming early, arriving here on time. And speaking of that, I want to bring in a couple passengers who we were able to snag, here to chit chat with us for a few seconds. Tim and Wendy Governor, you're on your way to Aruba. Got here early. A couple hours to spare, Tim.
[Tim Governor, Airline Passenger:] Yes. We it's been remarkably quick. We got here about three hours early, is what was recommended to us, and, you know, it took us about 30 minutes to get here and it literally took us about 15 minutes to get through security. So, it's been great.
[Wynter:] And I'm sure you've seen the extra manpower around from Los Angeles police. The California National Guard is also here assisting. Does that make you feel any safer at all?
[Governor:] It does. I mean, we've seen quite a few police. I haven't really noticed the National Guard, to be honest with you. But quite a few police cars, and, you know, the police dogs around. So it I feel very safe. I mean, as a matter of fact, we were talking about it. You know, to me, this is probably the safest day of the year that we're going to travel. So, you know, we feel a little more comfortable.
[Wynter:] Well, Tim, we know you have to go through other layers of security. You're not through yet. So good luck to you and your wife in your travels. Thank you so much for talking to us. I also wanted to bring in a couple more points, Kyra, on what is going on all around me today. Sure, things may seem calm behind me, but there are also a lot of passengers and we saw this yesterday, people pulling out their suitcases, unpacking those items, those new items that are now banned from going through security checkpoints on your carry-on, liquid items, any items that contain gel. So we still are bumping in those passengers into those passengers who are very frustrated on that end, saying, "Wow, I should have known this. I would have left it at home." We also saw, Kyra, earlier today people sneaking in those items in their pockets, maybe a little bit of a reminder, maybe thinking that they wouldn't get caught. We'll have to see. I can tell you also that in a short time from now we will be getting an update just on a situation here from airport officials, any new details that they can offer, but the big point I think to stress this hour, I think, is getting back to normal here at Los Angeles International Kyra.
[Phillips:] All right. Good news. Thanks, Kareen. Well, coming up next hour on LIVE FROM, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff going to hold a news conference in the 3:00 p.m. Eastern hour, Reagan National Airport in Washington. We're going to bring that even to you live when it happens. And how are travelers coping with all the changes? Let's bring in reporter Regina Waldroup with CNN affiliate CLTV, at Chicago's O'Hare International, one of the world's busiest airports. Well, what do you think?
[Regina Waldroup, Reporter, Cltv:] Well, you know what? What a difference a day makes. I was hear I was here yesterday from 9:30 on, and I can tell you the lines were endless and the garbage cans were brimming with all kind of stuff. You know, all the new restrictions that were put in place. But today, less chaos, less confusion, more conformity among passengers. A lot of them said, "Hey, you know what? I had time to read the newspaper, listen to radio, listen to TV. I understand what's going on. I understand the new restrictions regarding liquid items." And they came prepared today. And it was really longer lines, still, but people were really prepared and they knew what was in store. And they checked a lot of those items into their baggage and they knew not to bring it on to the plane. Also, something interesting that happened yesterday, you know, when the height of all these restrictions were going into place, a 21- year-old, one of the Egyptian students, he was trying to get on a plane, trying to book a flight at 7:30 on a Delta flight. He was talking to the ticket agent and became a little agitated. And he had a wrong ticket. His ticket was actually to New York, not from Chicago. He told the young lady, "Please, call the school I go to. Call Montana State University." She did that. They told her to immediately contact authorities. She contacted a police officer who was near her and then he the young man was arrested. So, interesting things happening at one of the nation's busiest airport. And again, yesterday, Thursdays are typically a heavy traffic day here at O'Hare.
[Phillips:] Regina Waldroup, thanks so much. Well, when we're covering breaking news, you are the eyes and ears of CNN, as well. If you capture a great picture or video on your camera or cell phone, send it to us. Log on to CNN.com or punch IReport@CNN.com, right there on your cell phone. We'll air it. Straight ahead, common ingredients, deadly results. More about the plot to slip through security with the makings of liquid bombs. LIVE FROM has more on why the TSA is making new rules.