Tornado Warnings in New York City; Pressure on Musharraf to Step Down
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>FOREMAN: We have breaking news coming out of New York City and Chad Myers is standing by to explain -- Chad, what's up?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tom, unbelievably, a tornado warning for Manhattan County and also up toward Bronx County. Circulation in the cell -- a tornado cell in New Jersey near Bergenfield. And it's going to be crossing the river and getting into the Yonkers and up into the northern sections of New York City. I'm not talking about lower Manhattan. We're not talking about Central Park. But to the north of there, up in the Yonkers and the Bronx, this tornado warning is still in effect for another 20 minutes. Rotation in the clouds, but nothing so far on the ground. If anything does drop out, we'll certainly get back to you -- Tom.</s>FOREMAN: Is that area up there, Chad, mainly sort of more residential and light industry, that sort of thing, not the big buildings like downtown?</s>MYERS: Yes, you know, Tenafly, Englewood. And so these are residential -- these homes, not big tall skyscrapers. But, you know, I mean very expensive homes and a little bit of damage goes a long way when you have so many people packed together, you know?</s>FOREMAN: Unbelievable. You so seldom see things like this near big cities.</s>MYERS: Absolutely.</s>FOREMAN: Of course, we had the big hit in Atlanta not long ago.</s>MYERS: Yes.</s>FOREMAN: But right now, we're just looking at the northern edge of New York. And generally a pattern like that would tend to move north and east, I guess?</s>MYERS: Yes. A little bit -- a little bit to the east, I'd say, northeast. That shot was right up the Hudson there, toward the G.W. Bridge. And that's the direction that this storm would be coming from. We can't tell where this is panning around to, but the gray clouds that were up on that other shot right where it's coming from, right up Englewood, right up through the Palisades, across the cliffs up there. You can just begin to see the G.W. Bridge there in the distance on the top of the screen. That's the direction that this storm is heading -- Tom.</s>FOREMAN: And at the very least, I'm guessing this can turn a little bit wild with people trying to commute home there. Any special warnings you should give to people who might be trying to head into this way, going to commute home?</s>MYERS: You know, sure. The whole thing is, if you see a tornado get out of your car and get in a ditch -- well, that's all great if you're in Kansas. But it's very difficult to do if you're in traffic. So far -- I mean especially at this time of hour -- at this hour, 5:25, with hail coming down on the bridge and things like this, you just need to slow down, take your time and don't overdrive your car, because if you get into some hail, driving on that hail can be like driving on ball bearings, whether there's a tornado out there or not. This is still very dangerous weather all up and down the Tristate.</s>FOREMAN: Well, and even a little upset in the commuter hour there in New York can be such a problem there. Thanks so much, Chad Myers. We'll check in a little bit later for some more.</s>MYERS: You're welcome, Tom.</s>FOREMAN: Our Carol Costello is monitoring other stories coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now -- Carol, what do you have?</s>COSTELLO: Well, Tom, Colombian rescue teams scramble to help more than a dozen people after a bomb in a trash can detonates, killing at least seven people. The explosion ripped through a town northeast of Bogota last night, where townspeople were having a music festival. Authorities are blaming the attack on the violent FARC rebel group. Notice that you're spending less money at the pump? It could be. Gas prices have fallen for the 29th straight day. A AAA survey shows the nationwide average of regular unleaded is now $3.77 a gallon. Prices continue to slide since hitting a record high of $4.11 a gallon in July and are in step with the decline in oil futures. Disneyland far from the happiest place on earth for more than 30 protesters. The costumed demonstrators were arrested yesterday after sitting at the theme park gates. More than 2,000 maids, bellhops and cooks of Disney-owned hotels are disputing what they consider unaffordable health care. And, you know, he wore his finest tuxedo for the occasion. There he is. That's a fine looking tux, isn't it? Nils Olav, famed penguin of the Edinburgh Zoo was knighted by the Norwegian king's guard today. Sir Nils already has the dubious distinction of colonel in chief. He is the third bird of the same name. The original died back in the '80s. Congrats -- back to you, Tom.</s>FOREMAN: That's quite an accomplishment for a penguin there.</s>COSTELLO: Yes.</s>FOREMAN: Thanks so much, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: He looks good.</s>FOREMAN: I guess he does. He is all dressed up. Let's go back to Chad Myers and ask him a little bit more about what's happening up in New York there. Any new developments for that -- Chad, with that storm? I know these can move quickly.</s>MYERS: Yes, they can go quickly. And what they also can also do is they also have what we call back build. Back build means even though the storm, the circulation is up by Yonkers now, another storm can develop behind the first one and kind of work its way to the southwest. And that's this tail that you're seeing here. This is really toward -- I mean this is -- if you're looking south down the Hudson now and you're looking toward Hoboken, and this is the next storm that's going up. You don't see any rain falling out. This is now the updraft of a developing storm that very well could get over Manhattan in the next few hours, maybe even in the next 15 or 20 minutes, depending where you are in Manhattan -- East Side, West Side and so on. But the rotation itself would have to rotate that camera around 90 degrees to the right and go up toward the Palisades, up toward Tenafly, now east of Bergenfield, east of Wycoff and on up there. There's the shot. If we could tilt it up -- and we can't -- then you would see the big cloud there, the big storm cloud just to the north of that bridge, of the G.W. Bridge, and then on up toward the Bronx and well up north now, even north of Harlem. And that was probably a lightning strike that that camera took or at least the power hit that it was trying to do. We're getting a little bit of tilt there. Here's where you go. This is where we're talking about. That storm is -- you can see the demarcation of no rain uptown. And all of a sudden, you get to that bridge, and that's exactly where that storm now fires. This is where the southern edge of the storm is -- the rotation a little bit farther to the north. I don't want be to you an I-Reporter with this storm, even though maybe you're close to it. The rotation is wrapped in a blanket of rain. There would be no way to see the tornado anyway. Stay inside. Stay away from the windows. Get inside to the lowest level of your house, if you can. Find your neighbor downstairs if you live in an apartment. If you live on the third floor, that's not the floor to be in. We want you to be a little bit farther to the south, a little farther -- lower in the building than that. We have a brand new update for you here now. Now we're talking about Southern Westchester County in Southeastern New York. This is until 6:00. A brand new tornado warning just handed to me here. This is near Bronxville and about six miles south of New Rochelle and up toward Scarsdale by 5:40. So that's another 10 minutes. So it's the same storm. They've just now extended that warning across from New Jersey, where it was, across the river and now up into New York itself, here north of Yonkers. This purple box right there, that's the new tornado warning. And I would suspect that it's going to be right in the middle of that box. We don't have to worry about the cone of these boxes. These boxes are right where the speed -- there you see it right over Yonkers, the circulation itself moving to the east-northeast at about 20 miles per hour -- Tom.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN ANCHOR: An ominous new threat for U.S. troops and Iraqi officials alike. Iraqi hit teams trained by experts inside Iran. Let's go straight to CNN pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr for that. Barbara, tell us what this is all about.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tom, the latest information is that Iraqi Shia fighters are now being trained inside Iran as assassination squads. The U.S. military has handed over the evidence to the Iraqi government. A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad confirming these details now to CNN. The official said that details are being made public in part to pressure Iran to stop the training. Here's what got the U.S. so deeply worried. The training is being conducted by Iran's</s>FOREMAN: All right, thanks so much, Barbara. Iraq and Iran share a long border, and an uneasy mix of ethnic and religious groups. In the north the Kurdish minority, which has made a strong push for autonomy straddles the border. In the south, Iraq's Arab population is divided between the Sunni and the Shiite Muslims. Iran is mostly Persian and mostly Shiite. But in the south it has a large Arab minority. Amid a wave of terror bombings and rising anti-American feelings, a key American ally is feeling an awful lot of heat now we must say. CNN's Reysa Sayah has the story from Islamabad.</s>REYSA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tom, in Pakistan pressure mounting on President Pervez Musharraf to step down. Two of his closest allies telling CNN talks are under way to enable Musharraf to step down without an ugly impeachment. If Musharraf is to step aside, that will shift pressure, say analysts, to Pakistan's young civilian government to turn things around for a country that's a crucial ally in the U.S.-led war on terror. Despite billions of dollars in military aid, the pentagon says al Qaeda and the Taliban are still active in Pakistan's tribal region. And the suicide bombings continue and anti-Americanism is rife. Many here believe that Pakistan is fighting America's war on terror on its soil. Up until now, Pakistan civilian government has blamed President Pervez Musharraf for what it calls a failed strategy. Some analysts say if Musharraf steps aside, that will unite Pakistanis in the fight against extremism. But many say his ouster will not make a difference, because this young civilian government has already tried its strategy to talk and negotiate with militants and Washington has quickly made it clear that it prefers a more aggressive approach. Pakistan has gotten more aggressive against militants, but the bloodshed continues. This week alone, in back-to-back attacks, in two of Pakistan's largest cities, 20 people have been killed. Analysts do agree that if Musharraf steps aside, that will strengthen democracy, and democracy, they say, is often the most effective way to fight extremism. As for Musharraf, on Friday he is still clinging to the presidency, but certainly the pressure growing. Tom?</s>FOREMAN: Thanks so much, Reysa. The U.S./Russian war of words over action in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, harkens back to cold war days. Just ahead, CNN's special correspondent Frank Sesno ponders what if the Russian bear has awakened. President Bush on vacation. Does it send the wrong message that he's in Crawford for the next 11 days? Stay with us, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.