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Your World Today
Ailing Iraqi President Undergoing Medical Tests; Military's Ability to Respond to Crises Concerns Pentagon; U.N. Court Clears Serbia on Genocide Question
Aired February 26, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Off the hook. A world court acquits Serbia of genocide charges stemming from the Balkans war, but issues a stern warning about its wartime leaders.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Iraq's president is placed in intensive care with heart problems, but his family says there's no cause for concern.
CLANCY: A research team says DNA evidence could solve a very old mystery about who once occupied an ancient Jerusalem tomb.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR: Thank you. Thank you. Could you double-check the envelope?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: But the envelope doesn't lie. Legendary director Martin Scorsese finally takes home Oscar gold.
It is 6:00 p.m. in Belgrade, 9:00 a.m. in Los Angeles.
Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.
I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.
From Belgrade to Jerusalem to Hollywood, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
GORANI: Well, topping the news this hour out of Iraq, threats to the health and safety of two of the country's top leaders. The president, Jalal Talabani, is in the intensive care unit of a Jordanian hospital.
CLANCY: Now, there are conflicting reports from the hospital and from his family at this hour about his condition.
GORANI: Well, meanwhile, Iraq's Shiite vice president, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, was injured in an apparent assassination attempt while making a speech at a ministry building. The bombing killed at least 12 people and wounded 42 others. Mahdi has been treated and was released from a hospital. CLANCY: The 73-year-old Talabani was flown Sunday from Amman, Jordan, as what was termed a precautionary measure. That according to his son. Mr. Talabani's office says his condition is now completely normal and stable.
Well, joining us now for more details is Michael Ware.
Why should everyone be worried about the health of Jalal Talabani?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in many ways, Jim, certainly constitutionally, they really don't need to. I mean, this is a position that's given -- divided up under the constitution, and a replacement for Jalal Talabani can quickly be found.
And let's remember, under the constitution and parliamentary system that's been established here in Iraq, executive power does not lie with the president, nor indeed with the wounded Shia vice president, or Sunni vice presidential counterpart. Executive power resides with the prime minister and the cabinet, with the various ministers.
So, in many ways, whatever happens with the president -- the position of the president at this stage and his health will remind a key concern in this country and will be watched attentively. But in terms of the conduct of the war here, and in terms of the business of government, very little will change regardless -- Jim.
CLANCY: You know, Michael, though, as you look at it and you remember Jalal Talabani's famous and brave trip to Baghdad to negotiate for Kurdish autonomy with Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf war, often seen as an inspiration, he's certainly seen as the elder statesman of the country.
WARE: Very much. And, I mean, you need to bear in mind that President Talabani is an ethnic Kurd. Yet, nonetheless, to a certain degree, he has been able to rise above some of the ethnic divides here between Kurds and Arabs.
However, nonetheless, Arabs, be they Sunni and Shia -- and again, we've become all too familiar thanks to the civil war of the multitude of breakdowns within those communities -- still regard the Kurds within their own country cautiously. Of course, Jalal Talabani, coming from the PUK faction of the dominant Kurdish government in the north, long protected by coalition no-fly zones since the first Gulf war, has an ongoing relationship with Iran, too, something that western intelligence has raised.
So, Jalal Talabani is a figure of incredible import, both historically and in terms of influence it endures today -- Jim.
CLANCY: On another level, right now, perhaps a day when many Iraqis are just wondering where the security situation in their country is going here, when the top leadership can be targeted -- they're vulnerable from ordinary illness as well. WARE: That's right. I mean, we see constitutionally, two out of three of the most symbolically important positions. The president and two vice presidents have received medical treatment in the past 24 hours.
Now, whilst it may be a health scare that has stricken the president, Jalal Talabani, it's something far more sinister that has struck the Shia vice president, Adel Abdul al-Mahdi. He's been the victim of a bombing today within a ministry. This is being seen potentially as a direct strike against one of the most powerful Shia political blocks in this country that American intelligence says is linked to Iranian intelligence -- Jim.
CLANCY: Michael Ware reporting for us live on the ground in Baghdad, Iraq.
Thank you, Michael -- Hala.
GORANI: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has undoubtedly put a severe strain on the American military. Now there is word that the Pentagon is concerned about its ability to respond to additional potential crises.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is monitoring this and joins us now.
Barbara, what is being said at the Pentagon regarding the possibility of responding to any third crisis that erupts around the world for the U.S. military?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Hala, yet again another indication on that question of just how stretched thin the U.S. military is right now -- Afghanistan, Iraq, and of course a number of other commitments around the world.
What is the indication? Well, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, has sent a classified report to the secretary of defense, and now to Capitol Hill, that says the risk is now significant. That's the word, "significant," of the U.S. military being able to meet its obligation, if in fact a third crisis now were to break out.
This all has lead under the law for the requirement now for Secretary Gates to come up with what they call a mitigation plan. Once the risk is significant, the secretary must report to Congress on what he's doing about it.
What the military says is that they could meet a third contingency, but it would take extra time, extra cost. The troops that they would have on hand might not be front-line combat troops. They might not initially be as well trained as the Pentagon would wish. They might not have all of the equipment in hand.
All of that adds up to this issue now of significant risk -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Thanks very much.
Barbara Starr reporting from Washington -- Jim.
CLANCY: Echoes of bloody conflicts past. A first-of-its-kind trial at The Hague, acquitting an entire nation of genocide charges.
The court ruled that Serbia was not directly responsible for the mass killing of Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica, a U.N.-protected zone. However, it urged Serbia to bring those individuals who were responsible to justice.
ITV's Tim Ewart looks back at the slaughter and those responsible.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIM EWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was the worst single massacre in post-war Europe, remembered in this ceremony of reburial two years ago. Tens of thousands of civilians had taken refuge in Srebrenica, believing they were under U.N. protection. They were wrong.
The Bosnian-Serb military commander, Radklo Mladic, entered Srebrenica, ordered his men to hand out sweets, and promised people safe passage. It was a lie.
Mladic's men separated women, children and the elderly. They were forced on to buses and driven into exile.
The men of Srebrenica were lead away to their deaths. Eight thousand were murdered by Bosnian-Serb soldiers in what has already been declared an act of genocide by the war crimes tribunal.
This horrifying video of the massacre recorded by one of Mladic's men came to light two years ago, 10 years after the event. Most of it is too terrible to transmit, but it shows the slaughter of young Bosnian Muslims by Serb troops. The cameraman told them to hurry up, his battery was running low.
Today, judges at the International Court of Justice said the state of Serbia could have prevented the genocide but was not responsible for it. A ruling that will prevent Bosnia from claiming bill billions of pounds in compensation.
The people of Srebrenica, meanwhile, still grieve. The bodies of 4,000 of their men have not yet been found.
Tim Ewart, ITV News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: We now turn to an archaeological find in a land holy to so many that, if proven to be true, could challenge the basic foundation of the Christian faith. But not everyone is buying the amazing claims.
Ben Wedeman has this story from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Christian faithful have journeyed to Jerusalem for centuries to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to worship on hallowed ground. But a new documentary could shake the bedrock of Christian faith, taking up where "The Da Vinci Code" left off, purporting not to be fiction, but rather fact. Or at least a theory based upon fact.
The theory goes that Jesus was not resurrected but rather died a natural death after fathering a child with Mary Magdalene. The claim is based on inscriptions on several osuaries (ph), or stone boxes containing bones, uncovered in 1980 in a cave south of Jerusalem.
The inscriptions indicate the bones are of people with the names of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, among others. But the man who excavated the tomb and studied its contents says names like Joseph, Mary and Jesus were common 2,000 years ago.
(on camera): Nobody knows this tomb better than you. Do you think it is the tomb of Jesus?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, because the family buried there is a middle class Jerusalemite family, and we don't know about the family of Jesus as being such.
WEDEMAN (voice over): Archaeologist Joe Zia (ph) studied the osuaries (ph) and says the documentary's claims just don't add up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What they try to do is they try to con the public into believing we're talking about a nuclear family. When we say family tombs, these are not nuclear family toms. These are tombs of extended families.
So, you may have in three or four generations, you may have 100, 200 people in these tombs. So it's impossible to go and tell who is related to whom simply on the basis of names.
WEDEMAN: But some see a positive lining to the controversy this documentary made (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I think will come out of this film is a greater interest in studying more about -- about Jesus, more about archaeology, more about history. And I think in terms of Christians, they are going to have to re-evaluate the basis upon which they hold faith in Jesus. Is it because of historical reasons or is it because of reasons of faith?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Ben Wedeman reporting there from Jerusalem.
"LARRY KING LIVE" will have a lot more on this story tonight, including interviews with the directors, James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, who were both involved in the excavation process. That's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 02:00 GMT, on Tuesday.
CLANCY: Well, let's check some of the stories that we're following this day.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. You're with CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.
CLANCY: Our survey of stories of interest all around the globe.
Thanks for being with us.
Well, we're going out to Hollywood right now. It's the day after out on the West Coast, 9:00 in the morning. Although, no doubt some celebrities are just now getting home from the parties and the breakfasts that followed the parties following the 79th annual Academy Awards presentation.
One of those who was up very late but joins us now, Brooke Anderson, is out there in Los Angeles. She has the latest on a starry Oscar night.
I hope you didn't get too much sleep. That's a sign of a bad party.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. Right, no I only got a few hours. So that makes it a good night, right, Jim?
And a lot of stars did tell me they are going to party all night, especially the winners. And speaking of one of those winners, she played "The Queen," and she did reign supreme last night. Helen Mirren picked up the Oscar for best actress.
I want to take a listen now to what she said after she picked up Oscar gold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HELEN MIRREN, ACTRESS: I've got my purse in one hand, my earring in the other.
Thank you, Academy. Thank you so much. A huge honor.
You know, my sister told me that all kids love to get gold stars. And this is the biggest and best gold star that I have ever had in my life. I want to share my gold star with the fellow nominees, those brilliant, brilliant actresses who gave such amazing performances this year.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: That's generous for her to recognize her fellow nominees there -- Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, Judy Dench -- who wasn't at the Oscars -- and also Meryl Streep.
And when I caught up with Helen Mirren at the governor's ball, she continued to share the love.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIRREN: The one thing I learned (INAUDIBLE) is that nothing is sure in life. And so you accept it -- no, it's true. And you accept it, you know.
I was incredibly honored to be nominated. That was the most amazing day. But it's incredible and it's a night I shall never forget that. That's for sure. It was a great honor to be up there among the finalists (INAUDIBLE). No question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: She is truly a class act. And another first for a nominee last night, Martin Scorsese, who helmed "The Departed," picked up what some say is the long, overdue Oscar for best director after five previous losses in that category.
I also spoke with Marty at the governor's ball last night. And listen to this -- he told me he's glad he didn't win until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN SCORSESE, DIRECTOR: In a way, I'm glad it's happened now, if it was to happen at all. I think -- I don't know if I would have been strong enough if it happened earlier to continue making the kind of films I really wanted to make. So this just means hopefully to get a few more pictures to make. You know, as you get older, that's what you realize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And you could see a couple of women behind Scorsese. Now, Jim, you couldn't really see the entire entourage, but he was flanked by about four or five women.
So I joked with him, "Do you always travel with such a group, such an entourage?" And he said, "No, no, no, they're all family, they're all related." There to help him celebrate his win.
CLANCY: What a night it was. A lot of glittering stars in Hollywood.
Brooke Anderson, I want to thank you very much for keeping us up to date -- Hala.
ANDERSON: Thanks, Jim.
GORANI: Well, the former vice president, Al Gore, was also at the Oscars. But he wasn't just star gazing. He was a player. His film about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," won two awards.
As Bill Schneider reports, journalists took the opportunity to ask Gore about his next project.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): Before the Oscars, the Al Gore question was, will he or won't he? After the Oscars, the question was, did he or didn't he?
It was Al Gore's night at the Academy Awards. His movie won not won Oscar, but two. One for best documentary featured...
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: And the Oscar goes to "An Inconvenient Truth."
(APPLAUSE)
SCHNEIDER: ... and one for best song?
JOHN TRAVOLTA, OSCAR: And the Oscar goes to Melissa Etheridge for "I Need to Wake Up from "An Inconvenient Truth."
SCHNEIDER: This is liberal Hollywood. They love Gore.
ELLEN DEGENERES, HOST: Jennifer Hudson was on "American Idol," America didn't vote for her, and yet she's here with an Oscar nomination. That's amazing. That's incredible.
(APPLAUSE)
DEGENERES: And then, Al Gore is here, America did vote for him, and then...
SCHNEIDER: The big question hanging over the ceremony was, will he or won't he run for president?
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: Now, are you sure, are you positive that all of this hard work hasn't inspired you to make any other kind of major, major announcement to the world here tonight?
SCHNEIDER: The envelope, please.
AL GORE, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I guess with a billion people watching, it's as good a time as any.
So, my fellow Americans, I'm going to take this opportunity right here and now to formally announce my intention...
SCHNEIDER: Meaning what exactly?
GORE: I think the moment has passed now. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you completely...
GORE: The music coming off and...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the future? In the future?
GORE: In all seriousness, I have -- I've said before, I don't really have plans to run for office again.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): That settles it, or does it? Mr. Gore says the moment has passed, but it could come again, especially if squabbling among the Democratic front-runners gets out of hand.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Yes, Bill all dressed up in his suit. He was expecting a little something out there in his tux.
We're not done yet with the Oscars. In fact, there's pirates ahead.
GORANI: Well, not the Hollywood kind, but the kind who makes and sell illegal copies of Hollywood's movies. "INSIGHT" will take a look at the multi -- it's not million -- billion-dollar business of movie piracy and what is being done about it.
Stay with us.
CLANCY: Also, e-mail us. What is your favorite movie of 2006? And why did you like it? YourViews@cnn.com is our address. We're going to read your e-mails right before we get to the end of the show.
Stay with us.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR, YOUR WORLD TODAY: Welcome back. You're with YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR, YOUR WORLD TODAY: I'm Jim Clancy, These are some of the stories that are making headlines around the world. Insurgents killed at least 12 people, wounded 42 more in a bombing in an Iraqi ministry building. Vice president Abdul Madi (ph) was among those who was wounded. He was then checked into a hospital. Some doctors say he was treated and then later released. The attack comes of course as Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was put in intensive care at a Jordanian hospital. Talabani's son though denying to CNN that his father had a heart catheter inserted.
GORANI: The highest court of the United Nations has acquitted Serbia of genocide charges. The international court of justice in The Hague ruled that the 1995 (INAUDIBLE) massacre in Bosnia did constitute genocide, but Serbia itself could not be held responsible. It urged Serbia's government to capture the individuals responsible and bring them to The Hague for war crimes trials.
CLANCY: A group of archeologists and scholars and an investigative journalist and an award winning film maker all say they may have found the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. They claim the ancient wooden box was found in Jerusalem in 1980, may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family. They say they used DNA extracted from the boxes and then consulted with experts. Some archaeologists in Israel are challenging the claim.
GORANI: Have you seen any of those Oscar-winning films this year? A lot of people make a point of heading to the movie theater during Oscar season, but a lot of people don't have to.
CLANCY: It's no secret you can get most of the major movies today on the black market long before they make it to a theater near you. Jonathan Mann takes a closer look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did you see "The Departed?" It's about a bunch of Boston thugs who make their money running different illegal rackets. Well, forget it. Forget what you saw in that movie or "Pirates of the Caribbean." It's pirates of the multiplex, stealing movies who make the real money. The movie industry likes to compare DVDs to drugs. The markup on heroin for example from the people who make it to people who use it, 360 percent, the markup on cocaine, 1,000 percent. But a Hollywood movie pirated in Malaysia and purchased in London, 1150 percent. How much real money does that add up to? The estimate once again from the Motion Picture Association of America is more than $18 billion a year in lost revenue.
Where do the copies come from? That may surprise you. A small number are copied from studio prints, movies that aren't even finished or released. The vast majority, maybe 85 or 90 percent are cammed. They're taped with video cameras when they first hit a cinema screen. Ever see those movies playing in your hotel room? (INAUDIBLE) see them and attach computers to hotel TVs to record digital copies that way.
Finally when the movie is already out on DVD, someone figures out the encryption code and copies it that way. The biggest problem for the industry by virtue of the numbers are those cammed movies, but they are oddly enough the easiest to follow. The have fingerprints. The studios actually put ID marks on their movies that are invisible to the naked eye and that are different in every cinema that gets a marked print. Every copy ever made from those marked prints can be traced back to that original cinema. Guess where a surprising number are coming from? Canada. Police there have made some impressive hauls, but Canada is the camming capital of the world. Why? Well, there's no specific law allowing a Canadian movie house to actually detain someone who's caught camming a movie or to confiscate their tapes. Once a movie comes out on DVD, it's a different story. Copying from the disk rather than videotape is a little more complicated. But as Jim John Bolden reports from London, the crooks have figured that out too.
JIM BOLDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was how pirated DVDs used to enter Britain, smuggled in computers, in machine parts, even children's toys. But that was a few years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not an issue so much (INAUDIBLE) all done in this country.
BOLDEN: The office of Federation Against Copyright Theft or FACT is full of pirated films, seized by police, many now produced in British bedrooms. These 5,000 DVDs were seized in one recent raid in London.
FACT believes the pirated copies originated in North America with an uploaded to a secure website, then downloaded here in the UK and numerous copies made. Many of the DVDs overseas were for films that were nominated for Academy Awards.
The Internet is now the preferred route for pirates to get a hold of their first copy of the movie, made easier by the newest file sharing technology which allows seamless downloading of films one portion at a time.
KIERON SHARP, FACT: The idea of actually share files in small bits and then bring it all together later, something that just developed in recent times. A while back, we wouldn't really have thought that was going to happen. And if you think of how it's developed from VHS, to DVD to Internet, we've got to watch that progress.
BOLDEN: This website lists a host of Oscar-nominated films, urging users to download them, watch them and then cast their own votes. Users can even make comments on the quality of the illegal downloads. Hollywood has invested heavily in new technology to make all of this more difficult. A supposedly unbreakable code was added to the newest DVD formats to make copying impossible, but tech websites have reported in recent weeks that hackers have already cracked it.
CHRIS KHOUN, DATAMONITOR: For every solution that industry comes out with, of course there's going to be some 14-year-old kid that goes and hacks it within a week. I think what's really important and what's really concerning the industry at the moment is the speed at which this is occurring.
BOLDEN: The film industry says it's not too worried. An updated code will be added to DVDs released later this year. But will it be unbreakable? Jim Bolden, CNN, London.
MANN: And remember, most DVD bootlegs aren't copied from high quality studio DVDs with encryption codes. They are made from inferior quality cammed copies and those cammed versions are everywhere fast. The very first illegal copies are cammed and available on the Internet just six to 12 hours after the red carpet premiere. Back to you.
CLANCY: Jonathan Mann, our thanks to you. A lot of stuff there I didn't know. Canada, who would have thought it.
GORANI: Absolutely.
CLANCY: Anyway, the question we want to know today, did your favorites win big at the Academy Awards?
GORANI: We're asking you what was your favorite movie of 2006 and of course tell us why. Casmir from Nigeria says my favorite movie for 2006 is "Blood Diamond" because it depicts real nature of African rulership distrust and misuse in the application and proceeds of natural resources.
CLANCY: Chuck in Seattle in the United States says it's "Apolacaptyo." (ph) hands down. He writes, unfortunately, I don't know if the folks at the Oscars are capable of forgiveness for Gibson's statements last year.
GORANI: Manuel, he's in the Philippines. He voted for "Happy Feet." He writes, unlike other animated films, this one has substance, a simple demonstration of how important food chain is and our role as human beings in preserving it.
CLANCY: Keep your e-mails coming. Our address again, yourviews@cnn.com. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
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CLANCY: Hello, everyone and welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN international.
GORANI: All right. We're seen live in 200 countries across the globe including Afghanistan and Pakistan.
CLANCY: Now with reports of the Taliban and al Qaeda militant activity on the rise there, the Bush administration again turning to regional leaders to get some help.
GORANI: Vice President Dick Cheney met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Monday. The U.S. wants more preemptive action from Pakistan and Afghanistan to help disrupt Taliban and al Qaeda activity.
CLANCY: Now analysts insist both groups are reenergized and inflicting casualties possibly preparing for a major spring offensive.
GORANI: Anderson Cooper looked at the evidence offered up by a terrorist monitoring group.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crude and chilling. You're looking at what is purportedly videotape of al Qaeda fighters building a bomb. The nails are put into the IED to create maximum destruction. According to Intel Center, a terrorism monitoring group, this terror tape was made by al Qaeda in Pakistan, along the Afghanistan border in early 2006. U.S. intelligence officials say al Qaeda's influence in the area is increasing and they're teaching their deadly bomb building and suicide bombing techniques to the Taliban.
The flash point for both groups is an area known as Waziristan (ph), a province in Pakistan. It's a haven for al Qaeda and the Taliban, a base U.S. military officials say to conduct cross border raids into Afghanistan. Pakistan says it's an ally in the war on terror but recently signed a peace deal with Waziristan's pro-Taliban militants. This after dozens of Pakistani soldiers and tribal elders were killed in this area. On the tape, we see what purportedly are members of al Qaeda openly conducted training exercises in Afghanistan. Guns are fired and rocket propelled grenades are launched. Then at night they leave their position for what Intel Center says is an attack on a Pakistani military outpost. First we hear the pops of gun fire. They're followed by explosions. Then the apparent aftermath. We see what appears to be the bodies of Pakistani soldiers as al Qaeda fighters take weapons and ammunition. The tape ends with al Qaeda setting fire to the outpost. The flames and the bodies a bloody testament to al Qaeda's growing strength. Anderson Cooper, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Let's get reaction now directly from the White House. Dana Perino is the deputy White House press secretary and she joins us now live. Thank you for being with us Dana. I'm going to start with the vice president's trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are reports that the U.S. is saying we'll cut financial aid unless you, Pakistan and the president of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf don't do more to destruct al Qaeda activity on that border region there.
DANA PERINO, DEP. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There were reports of that earlier, in I think late January coming from Congress, not coming from the White House. As recently as two weeks ago, the president gave a speech talking about how important it is that we continue to support President Musharraf and the Pakistanis. The vice president went to Pakistan on his way home from his trip to Asia in order to talk about U.S. policy and to reiterate our commitment to making sure we're doing all we can, to make sure that we dismantle and tackle al Qaeda, try and track them down before they track any of us down and try to kill us.
GORANI: So there was no threat made or a trade-off discussed that unless you sort of try to tackle that al Qaeda, resurgent al Qaeda on the border region, then perhaps U.S. financial aid won't be as forthcoming as it was. The vice president didn't discuss that with President Musharraf?
PERINO: Of course I wasn't there in the room having the private discussion between Vice President Cheney and President Musharraf, but I can tell you that we have made a commitment to making sure that this strong ally in the global war on terror has what it needs in order to tackle these border regions that Anderson Cooper was just talking about. GORANI: All right. Now I'm sure you heard over the weekend, Seymour Hirsh, the "New Yorker" reporter saying the White House has developed a plan to attack Iran within 24 hours. Before I ask you about that, let's listen to what Seymour Hirsch told us right her on CNN on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEYMOUR HIRSH, "NEW YORKER": They are planning very seriously at the president's request to attack Iran and as I wrote in the article, one of the assignments they've been given contingency assignments - there's no operational order, no order to hit anything. But one of the contingency assignments would enable the president to at 2:00 in the afternoon say I want to hit and within 24 hours targets would be struck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: You heard it there from Seymour Hirsch, within 24 hours an order from the president would put this whole machine into play and Iran would be attacked. Is that accurate?
PERINO: One thing I can say about Seymour Hirsch is that he definitely has a wanton disregard for the truth. The president has said from the beginning and is reiterated by all of his cabinet officers and his military advisers, that we're on a diplomatic path with Iran. We believe we can solve this diplomatically and that's exactly what the advisers are doing right now, talking with the UN Security Council about next steps in terms of the UN Security Council resolutions.
GORANI: So can we say with finality that this is completely inaccurate, the White House and these plans to attack Iran within 24 hours, this is inaccurate?
PERINO: I know of no such plans. What I can tell you is that we're on a diplomatic path. And we want to make sure that we solve this in a reasonable way. Iran has exactly what it needs to do. This weekend Iran said that they were on basically a run away train. No I don't know anybody who would hop on that train, but we are definitely on the right track with our approach. Of course no government would take any option off the table. But that is not anything that we are considering right now. What we are working on is the diplomatic solution.
GORANI: Right. A quick last question about Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president. Is the White House in permanent contact there with Jalal Talabani and his advisers and his family to keep up to date on his health condition?
PERINO: I know that we do get reports. I don't know how extensive that contact is in terms of as you described it. But I can tell you that President and Mrs. Bush offer their hopes and prayers for a full and speedy recovery for the president.
GORANI: All right. Dana Perino, the deputy White House press secretary, joining us live from the White House, thank you.
PERINO: Thank you.
GORANI: We're going to take a short break. YOUR WORLD TODAY will be back after this.
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CLANCY: Hala, as the saying goes, you are what you eat. Maybe you should think twice about what you're about to eat at your favorite restaurant.
GORANI: That would make me a bowl of oatmeal. Eating out used to be special occasions, but now, people in the U.S. get one third of their calories in a restaurant. Greg Hunter has the story.
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HUNTER (voice-over): Unlike food manufacturers, restaurants aren't required to have nutrition labels on their menus, so it's hard to know what you are eating.
JAYNE HURLEY, SR. NUTRITIONIST. CSPI: It's tough to find an entree under 1,000 calories and many are coming in at 2,000 calories.
HUNTER: Nutritionist Jayne Hurley works for a nonprofit nutrition watchdog group, Center for Science in the Public Interest. They issued a new report called "Extreme Eating" that contains startling numbers based on information provided by restaurants. Take the Ruby Tuesday colossal burger, 1,940 calories, 141 grams of fat, about the same as five McDonald's quarter pounders. That's almost equal to health official's recommended daily guidelines for an average adult. This makes McDonald's look healthy.
HURLEY: It certainly does in this case, though I'm not recommending anyone eat five quarter pounders.
HUNTER: Hurley says Ruby Tuesday's chicken and broccoli pasta with cheese in cream sauce isn't exactly light. It contains 2,060 calories with 128 grams of mostly saturated fat. You're telling me I could eat this, equals this?
HURLEY: Exactly. To your arteries and waistline, two sirloin steak dinners with Caesar salad and buttered baked potato, the same as one Ruby Tuesday's fresh chicken and broccoli pasta.
HUNTER: Just this would cut the calories in half.
HURLEY: Cut the calories in half, get a sirloin steak dinner.
HUNTER: Appetizers also have plenty of hidden calories, fat, and sodium.
HURLYE: One order of pizza skins, you could eat three Pizza Hut personal pan pepperoni pizzas, plus a pat of butter for each one.
HUNTER: You would never do that.
HURLEY: Nobody would, but many people would sit down and eat this appetizer at pizzeria Uno's.
HUNTER: Ruby Tuesday told us it has dishes for those who want to splurge as well as those who watching their weight.
RICHARD JOHNSON, SR. VP, RUBY TUESDAY INC: When they go out to eat at Ruby Tuesday, they have a menu with enough variety and enough choice to be able to eat a little or eat larger portions.
HUNTER: Uno Chicago Grill with nutrition kiosks in each restaurant for customers, calls menu labeling impractical. They say quote, given the extent of our menu, we cannot conceive of how one could possibly include all the information for each menu item that covers the legitimate needs of every guest and believe our kiosk, unique in casual dining, offers the best way to keep our guests informed and safe. In New York City, menu labeling becomes mandatory this fall. Hurley agrees, that's a good idea.
HURLEY: People need calorie information right on the menu next to the price so they can make some sort of informed choice.
HUNTER: Greg Hunter, CNN, New York.
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GORANI: That was quite eye popping. That's it for this hour. I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy and this is CNN.
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