the israeli national accused of roaming three states, stabbing 18 people and killing five of them. apparently elias abuelazam has been caught twice before but set free to only stab again. it was when he tried to board a plight in atlanta that he was nabbed. he's due to appear at a hearing in just a couple of hours for extradition to michigan on murder charges. homeland security corn den jeanne meserve live in washington with more. what are you hearing now? >> reporter: he's an israeli citizen. as you mentioned he was nabbed as he tried to board a flight to go d'back to his home country. authorities believed that this man is responsible for stabbings in michigan, ohio, and virginia, five of them fatal. elias abuelazam, a 33-year-old israeli citizen, living legally in the u.s., was arrested wednesday night as he was about to board a delta flight to tel aviv. >> the suspect was located at the boarding gate. atlanta's hartsfield airport and was called to the front of the boarding area where he surrendered without incident to customs agents. >> reporter: the stabbings ghan may. the last one was just last weekend. they attracted national publicity because there were so many and so many of the victims were african-american. 17 year old women son was one. >> i pushed off of him and ran. ran to the first house i seen with a light on. >> reporter: during the investigation, police released a composite drawing and surveillance tape of a green suv. a tip eventually connected abuelazam with a car and crimes and when authorities realized he was en route to israel they moved in. though abuelazam recently worked in michigan, he lived for a time in this house in leesburg, virginia. a man who lived just steps away was stabbed and bludgeoned to death last year. the murder is still unsolved. the victim's daughter remembers abuelazam. >> pretty nice, his whole family. >> reporter: officials in virginia and michigan had different responses. when asked p the stabbings were race related. >> my belief is that he selected victims in leesburg based upon the color of their skin good we don't have any other evidence that suggests it is racially motivated. i'm not saying it is not. what i'm saying is that without more evidence, i'm not going to make that statement. >> reporter: on august 5, abuelazam was arrested in virginia. he was driving a green suv and inside authorities say police found a knife and hammer. a hammer was used in one of the stabbing attacks. but he was released because at that point in time the police had no connection between the crimes of abuelazam or the car. late their day, there was another stabbing in the state of virginia. >> we heard about this motive. possibly race. but if that isn't it is there my other motive that surfaced? >> well, you know, yesterday at the press conference in michigan there were questions about that and officials said that they just didn't want to speculate at this point in time. they said at this point that official didn't feel he had the evidence to say definitively it was race but he wouldn't speculate on what else it might be. we don't know if this suspect is talking to police and don't know what else the investigation might have turned up. as of yesterday at least they weren't commenting on what an alternative motive might be. >> jeanne meserve in d.c. dr. laura earned fame and fortune by giving people advice on her radio show. maybe she should have employed some of her own wisdom before opening her mouth this week. here is her jaw-dropping exchange with an african-american colleague. one was concerned about her interracial marriage. the conversation turned pretty testy after dr. laura used the "n" word. >> yeah. i think you have too much -- [ bleep ] and not enough sense of humor. depends how it is said. >> is it okay to say that word? is it ever okay -- >> it depends how it is said. black guys talking to each other seem to think it is okay. >> but you are not black. they are not black. >> oh, i see. so a word is restricted to race. got it. can't do much about that. >> i can't believe someone like you is on the radio screwing up the [ bleep ] and i hope -- >> i didn't spew out the [ bleep ] word. right. i said that's what you hear. yes, they did. >> i hope everybody heard it. >> they did and i will say it again. [ bleep ] what you hear -- why don't you let me finish a senten sentence? don't take things out of context. don't naacp me. >> i know what it means and i know it came from a white person and i know the white person means that. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. can't have this argument. you know what, if you are that hyper-sensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race. >> that exchange created a firestorm. reverend al sharpton called it despicable and dr. laura issued this apology. >> i talk every day about doing the right thing. and yesterday i did the wrong thing. i didn't intend to hurt people but i did. and that makes it the wrong thing to have done. i was attempting to make a philosophical point and i articulated the "n" word all the way out -- more than one time. and that was wron. i'll say it again. that was wrong. >> take a closer look next hour with the cnn political analyst roland martin. outrage and perspective. 1,500 agents, new drones, communication gear will be heading to the border with mexico. president obama plans to be sign a $600 million emergency funding bill this morning, two lawmakers returned from summer recess yesterday to give senate approval. the security bill is being funded in part by raising fees on personal probes that bring foreign workers into the u.s. president obama and his family are leaving tomorrow morning for panama city beach, florida. the weekend trip will be the president's latest visit to support gulf coast residents and businesses since the oil disaster. recent study estimated the region's travel industry could take a $22 billion hit over the next few years. the jury deciding the case of rod blagojevich will have the weekend off. when it returns to zlib ratidels monday, there is growing concern it is deadlocked. jurors told the judge yesterday it reached unanimous agreement on only two counts in the corruption case. another 22 counts are still in limbo. next wednesday expect more wedding bells to ring in california. a federal judge struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriages yesterday. cnn's dan simon has the reaction from san francisco. >> reporter: barring a reversal from an appeals court same-sex couples in california can resume getting married next wednesday, august 18th at precisely 5:00 p.m. that was what was in the judge's ruling. the judge issuing that ruling at city hall, numerous same-sex couples in line hoping to get marriage certificates and get married without a judge saying that cannot take place until next wednesday. we talked to people on both sides of the issue. >> undermines the definition of marriage. institution of marriage in the same way that counterfeit dollar bill affects the dollar bill. the real dollar bill in my pocket. interest undermines the value of that because it takes away and something false in there as something that's true. >> it is life. it will happen for us. >> one step forward and -- >> one step back. >> yeah. you know, like -- it is life. you have to take it through its courses. we are not going to give up. >> reporter: we have a statement from the national organization of marriage which supports proposition 8. it says in part when a lower judge makes an unprecedented ruling that totally overturns existing supreme court precedent, the normal thing for that judge to do is stay his decision and let the higher courts decide. obviously prop 8 supporters making it clear they plan to appeal this ruling and try to keep this ban in place but barring any sort of decision or reversal federal the appeals court, same-sex couples can get married in california. once again, beginning next wednesday. i'm dan simon reporting from san francisco. >> 340 youngsters take to the skies without their parents ever knowing it. >> nobody else had i.d.s. >> more on their ride after lifetime coming up next. 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[ female announcer ] just because a counter looks clean, doesn't mean it is clean. but with one sheet of bounty, you'll have confidence in your clean. in this lab test, just oney leaves this surface thr than the bargain brands. want confidence that your surfaces can get really clean? even with just one sheet? bring it. super durable... super absorbent... super clean. bounty. the clean picker upper. and for huge value? try bounty huge roll. our i-reporter stayed up really late. they got up really, really early to send us amazing images of the meteor shower. it is at peak -- at its peak, rather, nasa says could you have seen up to 60 shooting stars per hour. what you are see sing debris from the comet that shows up in the sky every year about this time. it is one of those celestial shows you wouldn't have to need a telescope to see. right, rob? >> sorry. somebody else was in my ear. >> is somebody talking to you? >> you always have one of my ears. but this one has control -- >> are you ignoring me again? i was talking about the cool meteor showers. did you stay up and see it? >> i did not. it is something not to be missed at least sometime in your life. it happens every year. if you missed it this year, like i did, it will be back same time, same place. >> 60 falling stars an hour. >> clear skies, get away from the city lights. >> that's a lot of wishes. >> exactly. live a charmed life. a couple of things going on here. we have thunderstorms rolling across the midwest. into wisconsin. thunderstorm watch out here. some of these are moving at 50, 60 miles per hour. that's the movement of the cell. it is going to have damaging winds possibly over 60 miles an hour. these, by the way, heading towards whistling straits. that will be a bit of an issue as far as the pga championship is concerned. speaking of issues, we have more disturbing video coming out of pakistan. unbelievable amounts of rain there in the northern part of the country. and now getting some of that water flowing downriver towards the more populated areas and -- this is the result of that. just -- flash flooding happening in the cities now with over 1300 if italities and thousands upon thousands of people displaced from that. i want to show you a high-resolution imagery of the indus river. it is the main river that unloads all the water that flows that rain, gets it into the ocean. this is what it looked like before all the rain the past couple of weeks. and this is what it looks like after as far as the width of it concerned. it is like flooding ten miles in either direction. it gives you an idea of all about what it has to be in south. a couple of showers across northeast. we mentioned the rain and thunderstorms moving across the upper midwest. then the heat. turn that down a little for you. come on, guys. anyway, the heat -- over 100 degrees in spots today. yesterday for record highs. we will see similar numbers, i think, today. eventually we will start to see things cool off just a little bit. our friends in the northwest, i don't think they want to think we are ignoring them like i seemed to be ignoring you earlier which i didn't mean to do. >> okay. thank you, rob. check the top stories. serial killer suspect going to court in a couple of hours. elias abuelazam is being held in an atlanta jail. the israeli citizen is being accused of killing five people. bp hopes to have a permanent kill on the ruptured well in a week. and despite a pentagon warning, wikileaks is preparing to release 15,000 more documents about the afghan war. the founder of the whistle blower website says it is redakotaing information that could endanger people. men poured gasoline on a man and put his house on fire. you probably remember this attack on this boy. three years later you are going the see how he is thriving. he was 4 years old playing out his home when masked men attacked him. pouring gasoline on his face and setting him on fire. we brought thaw story of yusef three years ago. he came to america and got the surgeries he needed. dr. sanjay gupta has an update on yusef you don't want to miss. >> reporter: >> an unbelievable journey for this young boy. a young boy, unspeakable act of cruelty, a war zone. then incredible generosity and compassion that changed his life and his family's life in ways i don't think people could have imagined. his story went on the cnn impack your world website and thousands of donations, hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised. enough to bring the family to the united states. they got special visas and got the free services of a burn surgeon, dr. peter grossman, from his clinic in california. he started to -- profound changes. when i first met him, it was before his first operation. 5-year-old boy, shy, introverted, badly burned, very much wanting his face to be fixed. he hardly would talk to anybody. his family sort of -- a little bit the same way. that was all about to change. three years later now, 15 operations, he has had. remarkable number of operations. he's -- his face has changed in many ways. i will tell you, emotionally, first of all, when i met him, you know, immediately gave me a high-five and wanted to play soccer. just a cute boy. 8 years old, learned english and speaks it perfectly. he is in school here and has lots of friends. it was good to see that. as a dad, certainly. from a medical standpoint, you know, what we are going to do is show you the before and after images and show thank you impact of all these different operations and given the mind of a burn surgeon and how they try to take care of someone like youssef. we don't want to show you too much right now because some of it can be tough to look at. certainly we are going to go through his whole story, whole ordeal, this weekend. back to you. >> you can watch "rescuing youssef" tomorrow and sunday. gulf oil disaster, bp is seen as the villain. waited until you hear the latest outrage. a cleanup worker is raped. her supervisor is charged. the oil giant faces tough questions about the people working in the gulf. you talk to these guys. they go through every car and truck we make with a big fat red pencil. because they know a family's going to be inside. a teenager. a guy on the way to the job. the engineers of chevrolet. just another reason why we can offer a 5-year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. and another reason why a chevy's a chevy. a 5-year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. i'm from the gulf coast. i vacation here, my family spends a lot of time here. i have a personal, vested interest in ensuring that we get this job done right. i'm keith seilhan. i'm in charge of bp's cleanup on the gulf coast. bp has taken full responsibility for cleanup in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. you may have heard that oil is no longer flowing into the gulf. there's less oil coming ashore every day, but we still have thousands of people ready to clean it up if it does. when oil is spotted, we get right to work. we're working with the coast guard and many other government agencies. summer is the busiest time on the gulf, so every day, we're working with residents and local business owners to make sure beaches are clean and that they can stay open. and our efforts won't come at any cost to taxpayers. the work's not over. we're not going anywhere. it may not be perfe