Russian Airliner Crashes in Siberia; Diplomacy With North Korea
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. Navy destroyers docked tonight in one of the world's hot spots, as diplomats try to cool a crisis.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did he get out of a maximum security prison? The answer is amazing.</s>LIN: You're going to watch this killer talk his way out of an arrest by a cop who's looking for him. Tonight, an inside look at a criminal Houdini. How'd you like a ticket to ride on a rocket ship in space? It's not that out of this world anymore. This is CNN SATURDAY NIGHT, your connection to the world, the web, and what's happening right now. I'm Carol Lin. And tonight, we begin with breaking news. A Russian airliner carrying 200 people on board crashed early Sunday at Irkutsk in Siberia. Russia's Interfax News Agency quotes the Russian Emergency's Ministry as saying 40 people have been hospitalized. There is no immediate word on possible deaths. Now the plane was an A-310 model airliner. Interfax says that the plane ran off the runway, while trying to land. And then it caught fire after it crashed into a concrete wall and a building. We're going to continue to follow this breaking news story and give you updates as we learn more. But it happened just about three hours ago. In the meantime, let's catch you up on tonight's other headlines. The U.S. military might, arriving in Japan. This destroyer docked today, plus an entire carrier group is on the way. Is this show of force related to North Korea's missile tests?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're aware of the situation in North Korea and the events of the past several weeks. We don't have any particular mission right now.</s>LIN: Also today, a U.S. diplomat had some tough words for Pyongyang. We're going to have a complete update on the North Korea tensions in about three minutes. New Israel airstrikes in Gaza highlight the tense standoff in the Middle East. The current showdown was sparked by the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier a couple of weeks ago. Israeli forces struck multiple targets earlier Sunday, including a bridge. Israel says there will be no cease-fire until the soldier is returned safely. Look at that. A massive protest in Mexico. More than 100,000 people rallied in the capital to support Andreas Obrador. He is the leftist candidate who mobilized the country's poor. Obrador lost Sunday's super close presidential election. And he is demanding a recount.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a second and look at the earth to your left. And I think we got Ireland and England coming up there.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My left? Oh, my goodness.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my goodness. It's a beautiful day in Ireland.</s>LIN: A beautiful day for a walk in space. Two Discovery astronauts took a seven hour walk outside the shuttle. They practiced making repairs and watched the sun rise and set multiple times during their space walk. A four-year-old boy falls out of an 11-story window and he survived. He bounced off a flexible awning before hitting the ground. Now he broke his leg and his skull, but police say it is simply amazing that he survived. Officers charged his mother with endangering a child. And tragedy in the North Georgia mountains. A single engine plane carrying five people crashed today. Three people were killed, two others were in critical condition. The plane was registered in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Well, you've done it for years, but now Google is officially a verb, as in "I'm going to Google my new boyfriend". Well the word was added to the new edition of the Miriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. So we want your feedback now. You choose the news. Is there a story you want to know more about? Our team is going to work on it to get it to you this hour. It's our "flash feedback". So e-mail us at weekends@CNN.com. And we're going to update you through the hour. North Korea missile tension still thick after this week's test launches. Washington is working to diffuse it on two fronts. One diplomatically. The other, not so much. The U.S. Navy docked a very powerful anti-missile ship in Tokyo today. And there's more on the way. CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae, just minutes ago, spoke face to face with the top U.S. envoy in Seoul working to smooth things over diplomatically. She's going to be live on the air in just a minute. But first, let's bring you up to speed.</s>LIN (voice-over): As U.S. Navy vessels go, few things floating are more high tech, capable of detecting, tracking, and taking out airplanes, submarines, and the word of the day, missiles. More than a hundred at a time. Hundreds of miles away. The USS Mustin, sporting the state of the art Aegis combat system, ported today in Tokyo Bay.</s>MAJ. GEN. THOMAS WILKERSON, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): The capability to stop a missile from entering home air space is something that's very desirable to have. And in fact, Aegis equipped destroyers of the latest class, flight 2 and beyond, are more than capable of handling any of the missiles that North Korea attempted to fire, whether they went well or not.</s>LIN: The Navy says it's routine. A deployment they announced months ago.</s>CMDR. EDWARD CASHMAN, USS MUSTIN: We are aware of the situation in North Korea and the events of the past several weeks. We don't have any particular mission right now. We're tasked to come and turn over as part of the normal rotation of forces.</s>LIN: What they didn't announce is that steaming eastward from the Persian Gulf is what may be the most formidable military force on earth, a naval aircraft carrier group. When the USS Enterprise arrives in the Pacific, half of the Navy's carrier fleet will be there, a potent show of military might, impossible for any missile capable and potentially unstable nation to ignore. The Navy doesn't even mention North Korea or a long range missile test. They say it's training. And the timing is pure coincidence.</s>LIN: All right, if North Korea wants to talk, let's talk. That is from the top American envoy on the Korean peninsula, Christopher Hill. He was walking a diplomatic line between an unpredictable nation and every country within missile range of it. Now it's midday in Seoul, where CNN Sohn Jie-Ae just spoke with one - spoke one on one with Christopher Hill. She joins me now via broadband. Jie-ae, what is the headline out of that conversation?</s>SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christopher Hill has just gotten out of talks with China and South Korean officials. He says that he was encouraged by what he heard from both countries. He says from China that Chinese provide a whole lot of oil, food, energy to North Korea. And China had asked for just one thing from North Korea. Not to test fire the missiles. But North Korea did it anyway. And so he felt the outrage and the upset from Chinese officials. And he hoped that when the Chinese officials go to North Korea early next week, that he -- they will convey to North Korea that this is not the way to act, and that the rest of the world is speaking with one voice and saying that North Korea should return to the six party talks format. Now you also said that in terms of whether North Korea's going to test another missile, he said it is quite possible, although there is no telling why they would. But of course, there was no telling why they tested the seven missiles that they did before. But if they did, that it would just be another clear indication that North Korea is not listening to anyone. In terms of the U.S. Security Council, he was hoping - he was hopeful that because the rest of the world is speaking with one voice, that there will be a positive result out of U.N. Security Council, Carol?</s>LIN: Jie-Ae, did he talk about the possibility of a unilateral military strike by the United States or whether that was even broached in the conversations with China?</s>SOHN: Well, he said that it was not off the table. He did not say whether it was - that that was in the talks with China. But he said no options were off the table at this point, Carol.</s>LIN: Jie-Ae, thank you so much. Now we want to hear from you. Tonight's last call, how do you think the U.S. should deal with North Korea? Give us a call at 1-800- 807-2620. We're going to air some of your responses later this hour. Coming up, the American face of al Qaeda, unmasked with unabashed criticism of the U.S.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I carried the victims in my arms. Women, children, toddlers, babies in their mother's wombs. You name it, they've probably bombed it.</s>LIN: From a California goat farm, to the inner circle of a terror network. Soaring into space.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But don't want to get hit by a meteor or something.</s>LIN: Now you can buy a ticket to ride. And you don't have to be a millionaire. He's the Houdini of criminals.</s>OFFICER: What it is, we've got an escapee.</s>MCNAIR: Where from?</s>OFFICER: The prison.</s>LIN: You won't believe how this fugitive got away. Again and again and again.