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International Manhunt for Masterminds Behind London Attacks; Middle East Conflict

Aired July 15, 2005 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A biochemist detained in Egypt. British authorities look for a connection to the London bombers.

Missile strikes in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian infighting leave a shaky truce in tatters.

And "Harry Potter" strikes again. Why the world is under a young wizard's magic spell.

It is 5:00 p.m. in London, 7:00 p.m. in Gaza. I'm Jonathan Mann, along with Jim Clancy in London. Welcome to our viewers around the globe. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

Thanks for joining us.

We begin with the international manhunt for the masterminds behind London's terror attacks. Here's what's happening now.

There's been an arrest in Egypt in connection with the bombings. Security sources say biochemist Magdy el-Nashar was detained at Cairo's airport at London's request. Egypt's interior ministry said in a written statement that el-Nashar has denied any connection to the London blasts. British media report el-Nashar left Leeds for Egypt earlier this month.

London police commissioner Ian Blair says the explosions bear what he calls the hallmarks of Al Qaeda. Police are now about hunting for the group's leaders and those who helped make the bombs. Blair also says they're looking as well for a possible link between the bombers and Pakistan-based cells of the Al Qaeda network. Three of the suspects were Britons of Pakistani descent.

CNN's Jim Clancy joins us now from King's Cross Station in London with the latest -- Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, Jonathan, as you well know, it's been a week since YOUR WORLD TODAY came here to the streets of London in the wake of last Thursday's bombings onboard London's transport system. It has been a week of tears, a week of terror, and at some times, turmoil. But it has also been a week that has seen Londoners come together.

Behind me, there's a long line of people this day waiting to sign a condolence book, waiting to walk through and leave flowers at a makeshift shrine memorial, if you will, to the victims of that blast. More than 50 Londoners lost their lives in those explosions.

Four of the suspected bombers have now been identified. The investigation has been moving apace with new developments by the hour.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He could be a living link to the London bombings. Magdy Mahmoud el-Nashar, age 33, an Egyptian chemistry expert arrested in Cairo on Britain's request. British agents are believed to be with Egyptian officials as he's questioned.

In Leeds, where he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry earlier this year, police have been continuing their forensic search of properties linked to the suspected bombers, including one rented by el-Nashar. Sources say home made explosive material has been found in one of the properties, the same kind British shoe bomber Richard Reid had in his shoes when he tried to blow up a Transatlantic flight in 2001.

IAN BLAIR, METRO POLICE COMMISSIONER: Because, you know, one day we hope to put people on trial, I'm not in a position to discuss the explosives. But I have said before this explosion has the hallmarks of Al Qaeda, the simultaneous explosions, the fact that the dead appear to be sort of foot soldiers. And we have got to find is the people who trained them, the people who made the bombs, the people who financed it.

CHANCE: And this is the face of the man police say was one such foot soldier responsible for the London bus bombing, just one of the explosions that shocked the British capital. Identified at Hasib Hussain, he's just 18, photographed by security cameras at Luton train station on the day of the attacks. He's wearing a backpack which police believe concealed his bomb.

They're also confirming the identity of another suspect, Shehzad Tanweer, 22 years old, from Leeds, pictured here as a school boy back in 1995. He's believed to be responsible for the Aldgate bombing which killed seven.

The third suspect, Mohammed Sidique Khan, who's 30, has been linked to the Edgware Road explosion. These are his wedding pictures. He was a primary school teacher and a father of an 8-month-old son.

And as Londoners continue to grieve their loss, a fourth suspected bomber has been named by U.S. officials to CNN as Jamaican- born Germain Morris Lindsay, a convert to Islam, most likely killed, say police, in the explosion between Russell Square and King's Cross.

(on camera): Police say this is an investigation that will be complex. And as the latest arrest in Egypt is underlined, one with an international reach, it could be many months, they say, before those who planned the attacks, trained the bombers and encouraged them to strike are ever caught.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Magdy el-Nashar, the Egyptian biochemist who was trained here at Leeds and got his doctorate there at Leeds University, is at the focus of the attention in Egypt, being questioned by investigators there. At the same time, his flat in the city of Leeds is being surveyed by police.

Let's go to John Vause there.

And John, just give us an idea of what's happening at the scene that you've been able to tell from today.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Jim, police are still at the scene of this apartment which was rented by Magdy el- Nashar. Now, police have spent the last three or four days here, going through on a fingertip search, examining it in every detail.

There are a number of reports exactly what was inside this apartment. We do know that when police arrived here on Tuesday, this is one of those six initial homes that were part of that sweep on Tuesday that led to all of these arrests and all of -- all of the information which we're now hearing about.

So when police arrived here, they called in the bomb squad. They say inside was in fact a substance which could be harmful to the public. And they evacuated the area.

British newspapers are reporting that in fact there were traces of chemicals in the bathtub, which mixed together, could make some kind of explosives. So police continue to go through this apartment.

And Jim, I've got to say, in this whole area of south Leeds, really searchers continue by the hour. Different areas being sealed off, homes being searched, computer hard drives being taken away. It is an incredibly thorough, very wide-reaching search here in Leeds.

CLANCY: All right. John Vause reporting to us there from the scene as the search continues.

We're going to turn it back over to you in Atlanta -- John.

MANN: Jim, we'll be back to you later in the program.

Looking now at the Middle East, where there has been more violence. Palestinians clashing with other Palestinians, while Israel is again targeting militants. The violence poses a growing threat to a fragile 5-month-old cease-fire agreement.

CNN's Guy Raz joins us now from Jerusalem with more -- Guy.

GUY RAZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jonathan, strikes and counterstrikes in the West Bank and in Gaza. Violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants. And inter-nesting clashes, Palestinian versus Palestinian in Gaza.

All of this happening now in the past day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAZ (voice-over): The smoldering ruins of a targeted van. Its inhabitants assassinated. Israeli gun ships launched near simultaneous attacks on Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian security officials say all the dead were members of Hamas.

Israel appears to have resumed its policy of targeting suspected militants for death.

Just hours before, more blood in Gaza and gun battles in its densely-packed streets. But no Israeli soldiers anywhere to be found. This is a showdown between Palestinian security forces and Palestinian militant groups battling for supremacy in Gaza.

The gunfire left two young bystanders dead. Both caught in the crossfire.

Palestinian police are poorly equipped to confront militants. What they do have, a few armored transport vehicles, for example, were torched. Other cars blown apart.

Palestinian leaders, trying to stamp their authority on this patch of land just weeks before Israel withdraws its settlers, have now declared a state of emergency in Gaza and ordered police to patrol the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, what's going on is a real conspiracy against the Palestinian Authority and its leadership.

DORE GOLD, ISRAELI GOVT. ADVISER: There's an internal Palestinian struggle under way, and Israel has nothing to do with that.

RAZ: The Palestinian leaders are under intense Israeli and international pressure to crack down on militant groups, especially after Tuesday night's suicide bombing in Israel, claimed by Islamic Jihad.

MUSHIR AL-MASRI, HAMAS SPOKESMAN (through translator): What the Palestinian Authority is doing is a very dangerous escalation. It hurts our national unity.

RAZ: Hamas and Islamic Jihad have launched dozens of rockets at Israeli targets in the past months. The groups say in retaliation for Israeli arrests of their members.

One of those Hamas rockets landed inside Israel Thursday night, killing a 22-year-old Israeli woman. Not long after, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at three buildings inside Gaza. There were no injuries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAZ: Jonathan, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, wants to avoid civil war at all costs. But the Palestinian leader can be characterized as now in a sort of vice grip. On the one side, Israeli officials demanding that he forcibly confront Palestinian militants. On the other side, Palestinian militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad using weapons to make a mockery of his authority -- Jonathan.

MANN: Guy, the Israelis are supposed to withdraw from Gaza in a month's time and hand it over to Palestinian control. Is that in jeopardy now?

RAZ: Well, it's -- according to the Israeli government, it's not in jeopardy. They say they will be pulling out of Gaza beginning mid- August, evacuating 9,000 of its settlers, all of its soldiers from the occupied Gaza Strip.

The issue for the Palestinian Authority at this point is to stamp its authority on Gaza. They do not want Gaza to be controlled by Hamas or Islamic Jihad. And the Palestinian Authority is now trying to really go into Gaza and show that it is in control there -- Jonathan.

MANN: Guy Raz in Jerusalem. Thanks very much.

Now to Iraq, where at least 26 people have been killed in another wave of suicide attacks there. Five car bombs exploded in different areas of Baghdad, killing Iraqi civilians, police and soldiers. More than 40 people were wounded. The blasts come as the government works to write a new constitution by August 15. The deadline set is part of the U.S.-backed timetable for Iraq's transition to independence.

We take a break now, but coming up, inside Iraq's insurgents. CNN investigates who's behind the relentless bombings and why it seems to be getting so much worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back. Let's check some stories making news in the U.S. right now.

Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has made it crystal clear he is not retiring. The 80-year-old justice says he plans to stay on his job as long as his health permits. Rehnquist has battled thyroid cancer since October. He made the announcement amid persistent rumors he was about to step down from the bench.

Space Shuttle Discovery remains on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. Technicians continue to search for the cause of a faulty fuel sensor which scrubbed plans for a launch Wednesday. The shuttle requires a three-day countdown. So the earliest Discovery could take off would be after the weekend. If NASA doesn't launch Discovery by July 21, it will have to wait until the next launch window in September.

The Associated Press reports that embattled White House adviser Karl Rove told a grand jury he did talk to two journalists before they revealed the identity of a CIA agent. But Rove reportedly said he learned the name of Valerie Plame from reporters. Democrats are calling for Rove to be fired. The White House has not recently commented on his future.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has a look now at how the entire controversy began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his January, 2003 State of Union speech, President Bush, building the case for war with Iraq, insinuated Saddam Hussein was trying to build nuclear weapons.

March 20, coalition forces invade Iraq. May 1, the president announces major operations over.

On July 6, 2003, Joe Wilson, the former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, wrote in a "New York Times" opinion piece that he had traveled to Africa in February, 2002, to investigate similar allegations for the CIA. His conclusion: It was -- quote -- "highly doubtful that such a transaction would have occurred."

On July 14, CNN political analyst Robert Novak wrote in his "Chicago Sun-Times" column: "Wilson never worked for the CIA. But his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate."

And that's where the possible criminal case begins. Under a 1982 law, it's a crime to reveal the name of an undercover CIA agent.

But the burden of proof is high. Among other things, the disclosure must reveal the identity of a covert agent. It must be intentional. It must be made by someone with authorized access to classified information. And the source must be aware that the information disclosed will reveal the identity of the covert agent.

In September, 2003, nearly three months after Novak's column, the Justice Department opened an investigation.

There were early suspicions that the White House was behind the leak, perhaps the president's top adviser, Karl Rove. Press secretary Scott McClellan was dismissive.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's totally ridiculous. I said it's totally ridiculous.

BLITZER: And the president said he welcomed an investigation and promised action. BUSH: If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, that person will be taken care of.

BLITZER: In December, 2003, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed to find out who leaked Plame's identity. Over the course of the next 18 months, top administration officials were questioned, including Rove, Vice President Cheney, and even the president himself. In August, 2004, at the Republican National Convention, in an interview with CNN, Rove denied he was responsible.

KARL ROVE, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name.

BLITZER: Prosecutors also went after journalists, who had Plame's identity leaked to them.

"TIME" magazine's Matthew Cooper, who wrote an article on the story, and "The New York Times'" Judith Miller, who researched one but never published it.

But after the Supreme Court refused to hear the journalists' requests to shield them from prosecution, Cooper's employer, Time Inc., which is owned by CNN's parent company, cooperated with the prosecutor, turning over notes which revealed that Karl Rove was, in fact, Cooper's source, which Cooper himself later confirmed.

Miller is currently in jail for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury.

The White House immediately went into a no-comment mode, putting up a wall of silence that has yet to be broken.

BUSH: We're in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed.

BLITZER: Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: The latest from the financial markets next here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Also ahead, authorities in London release more names of those killed in the terrorist attacks. A list of the dead reflecting the city's multicultural mosaic. A closer look at that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back.

Supporters of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo say they will stage a massive rally Saturday to counter demonstrations by those calling for her resignation. The anti-Arroyo demonstrations continued Friday as protesters marched on the presidential palace but were blocked by police from getting too close. A separate group broke marched on the agriculture department, smashing windows and hanging banners demanding that she resign.

Those calls have been getting louder for a month now since Mrs. Arroyo admitted it was her voice on a wiretap with an election official. She is accused of rigging the vote that returned her to office last year, something she strenuously denies.

European lawmakers just back from Pyongyang saying North Korea wants substantial progress in the next round of nuclear talks later this month. Pyongyang announced last weekend it will end its 13-month boycott of the talks.

The head of the EU delegation says she doesn't expect immediate progress in the talks which are set of Beijing. Ursula Stenzel of Austria says North Korea ultimately wants substantial, not ceremonial, negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA STENZEL, EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION: They want a sort of peaceful coexistence and recognition of the system. They want us to encourage the United States to give up their demands and wish of changing the system in the DPRK. And they want to survive. The nuclear issue is one of the instruments for them to achieve this goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: The European lawmakers also say they question the existence of a North Korean uranium enrichment program for nuclear weapons, something that Washington says is very much under way.

Time now for a check on what's moving the markets in the U.S. and Europe.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

MANN: We're going to take a break. And then a rare glimpse inside the ranks of the Iraqi insurgency coming up. Our Nic Robertson sits down with some self-described fighters in a report you won't want to miss.

And a new "Harry Potter" book set to make it's debut around the world. Still ahead, we'll tell you about the woman behind the best- selling series, author J.K. Rowling.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. For Jim Clancy, I'm Jonathan Mann. Here are some of the top stories we're following this hour.

In Egypt, authorities have detained a biochemist wanted in connection with the London attacks. Egyptian security sources say Magdy el-Nashar was detained at Cairo Airport at London's request. Egypt's interior ministry said in a written statement that el-Nashar has denied any connection to the blasts. People are hunting for the leaders or financial backers and people who helped make the bombs.

Palestinian sources say Israeli air strikes killed seven members of the militant group Hamas in two separate incidents in Gaza and the West Bank. Shortly after those strikes, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired three Kasam rockets into southern Israel. The latest violence comes after a Palestinian rocket attack Thursday night that killed an Israeli woman.

Police say five car bombs exploded in streets across Baghdad, killing at least 26 people there. Iraqi civilians, police and soldiers are among the dead. More than 40 other people were wounded. And there is an as yet unknown amount of injuries from two other car bombs Friday.

According to U.S. sources, there may be tens of thousands of insurgents in Iraq carrying out hundreds of attacks each week. Staggering numbers, gathered by senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, as he returned to Iraq to report more about who is behind the relentless bombings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unpredictable and deadly, violence cuts a swathe across parts of Iraq, bloodying the U.S., the country is reeling under an insurgent onslaught. And the worst of these, claimed by Al Qaeda and Iraq and its leader, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi.

(on camera): It is the spectacular impact of the suicide attacks, often directed by non-Iraqi fighters, that can obscure the true nature of the insurgency, a homegrown Iraqi-based insurgency. To find out who they are and what they want, I've come here to Baghdad to meet them.

ABU OMAR, INSURGENT (through translator): We represent 20 percent of the Iraqi resistance, but we represent fully the Iraqi will. We can influence 80 percent of the Iraqi resistance, and we can say, stop. The question is, when to stop.

ROBERTSON: He says, he is a former Iraqi general. He offers a picture of himself in uniform to bolster the claim. Says to call him "Abu Omar," but he won't reveal his true identity. This video, he says, shows insurgents, or "resistance fighters," as he calls them, under his command on the streets of Baghdad in April 2004.

OMAR (through translator): We have plenty of weapons, and money and men, and our belief in God is great.

ROBERTSON: He speaks with authority, welcomes me to Iraq and introduces a friend he calls "Abu Mohammed," tells me he is an insurgent commander, too.

ABU MOHAMMAD, INSURGENT: We refuse American, all American opinion. Their ideology -- election or freedom, we refuse anything from American.

ROBERTSON: Abu Mohammed tells me the pair met in military staff college, decades ago, now commanders in different insurgent groups, part of a larger network of nationalists, former regime officials, tribal leaders and Iraqi Islamists, most of whom lost out when Saddam Hussein fell from power.

Within weeks of Saddam Hussein's toppling April 9, 2003, intelligence sources say his deputy Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, met in a car in Baghdad with four of Saddam's top allies. They decided then to activate the insurgency.

Abu Mohammad and Abu Omar were more than ready to take up the call. Weeks after the U.S. invaded, it disbanded the Iraqi army, and they lost their jobs. But they already had training.

OMAR (through translator): Six months before the occupation, we started training and exercising, resisting the American Army in small groups.

ROBERTSON: Some U.S. intelligence sources say there are now as many as 200,000 insurgents. There are still 300 to 400 reported attacks a week. And that each U.S. offensive creates more recruits for the insurgents.

Abu Mohammad and Abu Omar refuse to put a figure on the insurgency. But claim, at the moment, its driving force is Iraqi nationalism. They warn, however, the time to cut a deal is now.

OMAR (through translator): Those who like to inflict the most harm on the Americans prefer to join Al Qaeda. The youth wants immediate result, therefore he will join Al Qaeda to inflict most harm against the enemy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: CNN's Nic Robertson reporting from Iraq.

Join us this weekend as CNN presents "PROGRESS REPORT: THE IRAQ WAR." Our correspondents take a hard look beyond the headlines to assess the real situation on the ground. The program airs at the times you can see on your screen.

Let's go back to London now and the ongoing bombing investigation, and our Jim Clancy -- Jim?

CLANCY: Jonathan, beyond the investigation, you have a lot of Britons that are asking a question that the Pakistani community here is asking as well. How could they do it? Three of four suspected suicide bombers aboard trains last Thursday killed more than 50 people. How could they have done it? Who turned them around? How could they turn on their own countrymen?

Well, looking for answers in Pakistan, some are putting attention on a practice here, a tradition, if you will. When young men of 15 to 18 years of age are preparing to go to college, their parents often send them back to Pakistan to study at religious schools, to try to make sure they're on the right track to preserve their own Pakistani culture, to be strengthened in their faith of Islam, and to be exposed to the culture of their own people. Well, that isn't turning out to be what many of them had expected.

Journalist Ahmed Rashid had this to say.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

AHMED RASHID, JOURNALIST: What is happening is that perhaps some of these kids are coming -- are joining the wrong madrassa, that is, the wrong religious schools. The parents out in Leeds or in Scotland don't know that perhaps the madrassa that they knew five or ten years ago has now been taken over by a radical militant group and is preaching, you know, the kind of Al Qaeda philosophy. So, some of these kids are going -- you know, are just landing up at the wrong religious schools.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CLANCY: And that led one friend of the family of one of the suspected bombers to say this to me -- that before he would send his children off to school, he would make sure what kind of school that was. There will be much more soul searching on that front in the weeks and months ahead in the Pakistani community. Meantime, people still focusing on the victims of this attack, still focusing on what is perceived by many to be an effort to divide the Pakistani Muslim community from the rest of the people that live in Britain.

For a closer look now at the victims, here's Robyn Curnow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): People from nearly every nation in the world live in London. Like the Bangladeshis, who live in Brick Lane East London, nearly every group has made a little corner of the British capital their own. Linking this diverse population are the buses and underground subway system. So when the bombs exploded last Thursday, the dazed and the missing came from around the world. Nigeria, Poland, Sri Lanka, Romania, Israel, America, Italy, Turkey, Tunisia, Australia.

KEN LIVINGSTONE, LONDON MAYOR: People come from around the world. 200, 300 languages spoken in this city. 200 nationalities are represented in this city. And what those bombers wanted was that we would turn on each other like animals in a cage. Nobody did that. And the thing they most sought to do, they were defeated on.

CURNOW: This week, the city united in grief. The Greek bus driver of the bombed number 30 bus, echoing the thoughts of many Londoners.

GEORGE PSARADAKIS, DRIVER OF NO. 30 BUS: You will not defeat us and you will not break us.

CURNOW: A global defiance against terrorism. Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: There is a determination, Jonathan, for this city to be united, for all of Britain to be united, and all of its communities to come together. But it's only fair to say, at the same time, there is some fear and apprehension on both sides. Back to you.

MANN: OK. Jim Clancy in London. Thanks very much.

The journal "Science" is asking some big questions. When YOUR WORLD continues, an editor joins us with the most compelling puzzles that are facing science today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back to CNN International.

Ages ago, the people we have now come to call scientists began their quest to find out what makes things tick. It took a good while longer until they had a reliable way to record their findings or share them with others.

As Femi Oke reports, the journal of "Science" has been one way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From research on the Big Bang and the origin of the universe to the earthquakes and tsunamis that strike our modern Earth, scientists the world over strive to have their discoveries published in the "Journal of Science." The magazine was founded 125 years ago by someone famous for something else, Thomas Edison. That first issue explored the star cluster Laflerdees (ph), and asked the question, could electricity someday be used to power the railroads?

Science soon joined the British publication "Nature" as one of the most prestigious sources in the world for scientific inquiry.

IRA LONGINI, EMORY UNIVERSITY: It's not any specialist journal. It's not highly technical. It's just pure good science laid out for a general audience.

OKE: After 9/11 and the anthrax deaths in the United State, "Science" published (INAUDIBLE) statistics professor Ira Longini's work on how an attack of smallpox might be controlled.

LONGINI: The reviewing process was fair, and extremely useful and constructive. It had a big impact on relieving a lot of the public anxiety about smallpox.

OKE: Articles submitted undergo a rigorous peer-review process before publication, subjective at times, political at times, says Longini.

LONGINI: So even though there's some imperfections, there's no better system, and it's the only way to ensure scientific credibility.

OKE: So whether it's exploring the mysteries of DNA or looking for water on Mars, the magazine's mission has not changed much since 1880, to afford scientific workers the opportunity to promptly recording the fruits of their researches, and facilities for communication between one another and the world.

Femi Oke, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: The journal of "Science" is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a special issue looking at the biggest scientific questions that remain unanswered.

News editor Colin Norman joins us now from Washington with a quick look at that list. I think we have a few of the questions up, we can have a look at. While waiting, well, here they are, what is the universe made of? Obvious enough. What is the biological basis of consciousness? Essentially, where do our thoughts come from? Why do humans have so few genes? To what extent are genetic variation and personal health linked? Which is to say, how responsible are we for our well being as we go through life. And can the laws of physics be unified? That doesn't really matter to most people, but that is the biggest question probably that theoretical physics faces today.

Let me ask you, what is your favorite question?

COLIN NORMAN, NEWS EDITOR, "SCIENCE": Well, I think my favorite question is probably the first one we asked, you know, what is the universe made of? As you say, it seems like an obvious answer to that question. It's the stars and the galaxies that we can see out there.

But in fact, that's only about five percent of what constitutes the universe. There's a lot of what's called dark matter that holds galaxies together. There are unknown particles that sculpt the big structures in the universe. And beyond that, we only have realized over the last 10 years by studying supernovas, big flashes of light when certain star systems end, that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate, that there's some force that's pushing the universe to expand, and that's now become, I think, one of the biggest questions in physics. I'd love to know the answer to that one. What is dark matter?

MANN: Most of us in grade school or in high school, just to pursue that one, we're taught that the universe is made out of atoms. I raise that as an example, with most of us trying to answer some of these questions, and there are 125 of them, just we be wrong? Would the conventional wisdom that we learned as kids, or just looking around, just mislead us?

NORMAN: No, I don't think it's misleading. Yes, atoms, which themselves are made up of many smaller fundamental particles obviously constitute the ordinary matter in the universe. But what we now realize, is that there's something beyond that, that's not ordinary matter; it's some kinds of particles that we really don't know what they are.

MANN: How many of the questions like this are you expecting will be solved, or solved within their lifetime?

NORMAN: Well, one of the -- we got this list by asking our board of reviewing editors, which is 100 or so top scientists, to come up with some questions that they think either will be answered over the next 25 years or we'll at least know how to answer them over the next 25 years. So a lot of these we will know at least how to answer them. And this question of dark matter and dark energy, which is this strange force, I think we'll have a good handle on what dark matter is, but dark energy may, that I think may take a long time.

MANN: Without getting too specific, most of us don't run across dark matter in the course of our daily lives. So if you or if anyone could figure out really what it is and where it's going, it wouldn't effect us. How many of these questions, these 125 really big scientific mysteries, really would have an impact on our lives if their were finally answered?

NORMAN: I think most of them would. If you take a couple of stem cells, which is in the news a lot. How does a cell that begins as an embryonic cell become a certain very specific type of cell? What are the signals that transforms that cell into, say, a dopamine- producing cell, which is the problem with Parkinson's Disease. What other steps along that way? We really don't know those very well. And if we can finds those out, then that would lead to regenerative medicine and a lot of really good scientific advances, and there are a lot of other questions in our 125 list of that kind.

MANN: Well, we wish you and the people who are doing science every day good luck. Colin Norman of "Science," thanks so much for being with us.

NORMAN: Thank you.

MANN: Let's check some stories making news in the U.S. right now. A panel of judges in Aruba has ruled that Joran Van Der Sloot will remain in jail in connection with disappearance of American tourist Natalee Holloway. The Dutch youth is one of the last people known to have been with Holloway the night she disappeared. The same judge has decided not to arrest two brothers who have been released more than a week ago.

Battling sky-high fuel costs, Delta Airlines has railed the cap on its most expensive fares, by $100. Make that raised the cap. Other U.S. carriers quickly followed suit. The price hikes come six months after Delta launched its Simpler Fares program, which brought some of the steepest cuts in the airline industry in years.

Mixed results on the education front. According to New Public Education test results, U.S. elementary school students made more gains in both reading and math in 2004 than at any time in the 1970s. Middle school students, though, made less progress. Older teenagers, hardly any.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: Palm trees are not an unusual sight in many parts of the Middle East. But in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, a series of particularly large palms are taking shape. Developers are building three of these giant palm-shaped items just off the coast. When complete, luxury resorts, villas and apartment buildings will dot their leaves, all boasting immediate beach access.

The Palms are being constructed from sand left over, as a nearby port is dredged. In all, the project will add about more than a hundred miles -- about 160 kilometeres -- off new shoreline to the coast of the UAE. The first residents will start moving in next year.

And that's the big picture of Dubai's new Palm Islands.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKE: Looks good, doesn't it? I didn't tell you how much it costs. So if you want a tiny apartment, that will be about $400,000 to you, sir. And if you want somewhere big, nice, like this big villa, $3.2 million. Location, location, location.

And that is a wrap for world weather this hour. Jonathan, back to you.

MANN: And affordable, too.

OKE: Absolutely.

MANN: Femi Oke.

OKE: I think I'll have this little pad back here.

MANN: Thanks very much.

OKE: Take care.

MANN: "Harry Potter" fans around the world are counting down to the witching hour. In a moment, the woman who gave Harry Potter his extraordinary powers.

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MANN: He is the wizard who has conjured up enough money to make his creator richer than the queen of England. Harry Potter's latest adventure is poised to go on sale in the U.S., the U.K., and just about anywhere people can read. It's expected to sell millions of copies and make author J.K. Rowling even richer.

Paula Hancocks has more.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, J.K. Rowling!

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A welcome you'd normally expect for a rock star. The woman who brought the world "Harry Potter" has secured a place in a generation's hearts. A phenomenal rise to stardom she can hardly believe herself.

J.K. ROWLING, "HARRY POTTER" AUTHOR: The first reading I ever did, there were two people who had wandered into the basement of Waterstone's by mistake and were too polite to leave when they saw someone was doing a reading. And they had to get all staff in the shop downstairs to bulk out the crowd a bit.

HANCOCKS: 250 million copies later, she can certainly hold her own in Waterstone's these days. The boy wizard has made Rowling the most successful author of her time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Famous Harry Potter. Can't even go to a book shop without making the front page.

HANCOCKS: Fiction reflects fact, thanks to her phenomenal success of her books and the movie adaptations. The Hogwart's Express sped Harry towards wizardry. Harry's ability to sell sped a single mother on benefits to a spot as one of the wealthiest women in Britain, a far cry from humble beginnings in Edinburgh, where she penned her first novel longhand in this cafe with her sleeping daughter by her side.

J.K. Rowling even met Queen Elizabeth II last year, safe in the knowledge she was probably more wealthy than her highness, the "Harry Potter" fortune estimated at around $1 billion. J.K. Rowling has never put an exact figure on her wealth. In fact, she very rarely talks about her personal life at all, fiercely protective of herself, her husband and her three children. She does not want fame to change her.

ROWLING: My life is really what it always was, which is trying to get time to write, which used to be difficult because I'm a single parent and I was doing a day job. And now it's difficult because the phone never stops ringing, so I still walk out of the house to write.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Come midnight tonight U.K. time, it probably wouldn't be too safe for me to be standing in this doorway, as there will be a rush of excited children coming in to get their hands on the latest "Harry Potter" book. Now, at the same time, up in Edinburgh, J.K. Rowling will be hosting an exclusive event at the castle for more than 2,000 children.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: For Jim Clancy in London, I'm Jonathan Mann. The news continues here on CNN.

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