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Your World Today

International Investigators Track Suspected Pedophile; Russian President Backs Tehran's Rights to Nuclear Program

Aired October 16, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: An international manhunt. First we saw his face. Now the world knows the identity of a suspected child predator.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A strategic visit. Vladimir Putin talks to the Iranian president and other Caspian leaders, but his message aimed at the United States.

MCEDWARDS: A walking contradiction. A new breed of communists in China who are also capitalists.

HOLMES: And until divorce do us part. The French president spokesman refuses to comment on rumors of a split, but others have plenty to say about Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife.

MCEDWARDS: It is 7:30 p.m. in Tehran, it's 6:00 p.m. in Paris.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes.

From Bangkok to Beijing, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, he thought he could hide. He thought he was so clever, he could put pictures of himself on a child porn Web site and disguise them so well that police could never unscramble them. Well, they did. And now international investigators have tracked suspected pedophile Christopher Paul Neil to Thailand.

Here's Matthew Chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After an international manhunt, the net seems to be closing on a man police are calling a child predator. Thirty-two-year-old Canadian Christopher Paul Neil was photographed entering Thailand from South Korea. His exact whereabouts are unknown, but officials from Interpol in Bangkok, meeting with Thai police, say security forces across the region are hoping to make an arrest quickly.

MICK MORAN, INTERPOL CASE OFFICER: I would like to think so. I know that the Thai authorities, that all of the regions, countries in this region, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, I know that they have all been alerted, they're all on alert, and they all have border controls in place in an effort to spot the movements of this man.

CHANCE: Police say pictures of a man abusing young Asian boys first appeared on the Internet more than three years ago, electronically manipulated with a swirl pattern to obscure his face. But German computer experts managed to unscramble the images, posting them on Interpol's Web site last week with an immediate response. Within days, police say they had a name, a passport number and a date of birth.

The problem of child abuse in Asia has vexed law enforcement agencies for decades. The region's often seen as an easy target by pedophiles who visit as sex tourists. Aid workers say poverty and what they call weak legal systems in Asia are the main problems, but insists this latest case shows just how much progress has been made.

RICHARD BRIDLE, UNICEF: We've got -- we've got police forces around the world now focused on catching someone who, if it's the same person who was in the videos, has been abusing children. And I think this is a really good sign that you cannot abuse children anywhere.

You can't do it and cross the border. You will be caught. You will be prosecuted. You will be put away.

CHANCE: And with each high-profile case, the hope is other pedophiles targeting Asia may be deterred.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And in just a little while, we'll be talking with an investigator from Interpol who will tell us how that international law enforcement organization is breaking new ground in the manhunt for a wanted child predator -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Meanwhile, in the United States, the search for a fugitive accused of raping a 3-year-old girl has come to an end. Police have identified 37-year-old Chester Arthur Stiles as the man seen abusing the girl on a videotape that surfaced last month in Nevada. And, you know, that's where Stiles was picked up last night, in Nevada. Police in Henderson pulled him over for not having a license plate on his car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER MIKE DYE, HENDERSON, NEVADA, POLICE: We didn't believe his story or who he was. He finally told us, "Hey, I'm Chester Stiles. I'm the guy you're looking for." And at that time he said, "I'm sick of running."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: And Stiles was turned over to police in Las Vegas, where he is wanted on 21 felony charges. HOLMES: All right. Let's check now some other stories making news around the world this hour.

MCEDWARDS: And we begin with a high-profile visit to Washington.

China is warning that U.S. plans to honor the Dalai Lama could damage relations between Beijing and Washington. The exiled spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists will receive the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. China does not like this at all.

President Bush will meet him at the White House on Tuesday. China opposes the Dalai Lama for pushing independence for Tibet.

HOLMES: Well, it wasn't so long ago that Libya was on the receiving end of U.N. Security Council sanctions. Now the former rogue state gets to help decide who should be slapped with sanctions after winning one of the non-permanent seats on the 15-nation body.

The United States didn't oppose the election of Libya, which has renounced nuclear weapons and also support for terrorism. Victims of the 1988 Pan-Am bombing say they are outraged.

MCEDWARDS: And dramatic new video of Spain's Mediterranean coast. Look at this.

It's just been lashed by violent storms over the past few days. Downpours sending those floodwaters rushing through Valencia, other towns as well. At least two people have died. One when a wall of water, quite literally, rushed through her house. And a man who was kite surfing was killed when a powerful gust actually blew him into a hotel wall.

HOLMES: All right. Standing by Iran and sending a veiled warning to Washington, Vladimir Putin making headlines on the first trip to Tehran by a Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin during World War II.

Mr. Putin met with the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other leaders of nations bordering the Caspian Sea. He says they agreed that peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed in the region. And he says the main objectives of Iran's nuclear program are indeed peaceful. He also says no Caspian nation should be used for an attack on another. Now, that's a reference to reports that the U.S. was perhaps planning to use Azerbaijan for any possible assault on Iran.

MCEDWARDS: Well, let's get some perspective now on Mr. Putin's remarks.

Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joins us now from London.

Christiane, I understand you just got back from Russia. And you know, as well as anyone, this is not an easy relationship with Iran.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's fraud. And actually, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, shows how difficult this is for the United States, because the United States and Britain and western Europe want to put pressure on Iran, sanctions and any other additional pressure to stop it from enriching uranium and to make it come clean about its nuclear program.

Russia, on the other hand, has now at the highest level gone to Iran and basically publicly said, Putin, that Iran must have the right for a peaceful nuclear program. And he's additionally said that pressuring and trying to intimidate Iran will not work. So, you can see there that hoping that Putin, because of the close relations between Russia and Iran over the nuclear issue, hoping that Putin would be able to get Iran into the tent, the U.S. is not quite sure whether that's going to work, because Vladimir Putin did not also say publicly that Iran must be transparent, must answer the outstanding questions of the IAEA about its nuclear program.

And also complicating matters, Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and the defense secretary, Robert Gates, were recently in Moscow, having talks with Vladimir Putin. And underscoring their issues and their dilemmas is that Putin is essentially making strides backwards when it comes to democracy, freedom of the press, rule of law, human rights, et cetera.

So, this is quite a difficult moment. How does the United States react? What does it -- what does it do in terms of trying to get not only Iran to comply with Security Council resolutions, but also try to get some of its so-called allies to help pressure Iran to comply?

Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Yes. And, you know, we have this situation, too, Christiane, where Iran's ally, Syria, is coming under some nuclear scrutiny as well.

AMANPOUR: Well, indeed. You know, September the 6th, there was an Israeli air strike on Syria. For many days, it remained secret. We -- I broke it on CNN and confirmed it, that this, in fact, was an Israeli air strike on a target inside Syria. And ever since, there's been a huge guessing game about what actually that target was.

There was Draconian "military censorship" imposed on the Israeli press. They were not allowed to report about it. There was an unusual level of secrecy and no leaking from any officials around the world, not even in the United States. Not even in some of the most leaky capitals. But there's been this constant drumbeat of suggestion that this, in fact, was a nascent nuclear facility.

Apparently, the prime minister of Israel now has been briefing EU nations and other heads of government and heads of state about the attack and about the target. And CNN has heard that certainly on the day of the strike, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was in the command and control center when that strike was going on.

We know from people who have told us and who apparently are aware of what was going on in Israel at the time that the leadership was ecstatic, were close to each other, were very pleased at what they had achieved. Some have reported that it may have been, as I say, a nascent nuclear facility.

Syria, in its only comments, have said that it was an unused military facility. That was, President Bashar al-Assad told the BBC several weeks ago. But many believe that this was a message sent by Israel not just to Syria, but to Iran as well, that any attempt to have any kind of nuclear program will be deterred.

MCEDWARDS: Understood.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour in London for us.

Christiane, thanks.

HOLMES: All right.

A face was unscrambled.

MCEDWARDS: The tips came pouring in. And now Interpol may be closing in on its man.

Up next, a woman who tracks pedophiles for a living talks about the tricks of her trade.

HOLMES: Yes. And we're also going to talk about France's first couple. Are they on the verge of splitting up?

MCEDWARDS: That story, plus Republican frontrunners unlace the gloves and start reaching for the mud.

You knew it would happen. And that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE GOLDENFLAME, FMR. SEX OFFENDER: We know what we're doing is wrong. We feel badly that we're doing what we're doing. We feel powerless to help us -- to help us stop it.

And yet at the same time, because of that, secretly we want to be caught. We know we need to be caught. We know we...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: Want to get caught is how he finished that sentence, actually. And those comments were from Jake Goldenflame, a convicted pedophile who now helps authorities catch child sex offenders, like the one authorities are looking for right now in Thailand, Christopher Paul Neil.

Now, that case, of course, started with those pictures on the Internet. It was unusual because of the technology involved to figure out who he was. But in other respects, it wasn't unusual at all. Not even close.

Jonathan Mann joins us now with some "Insight" into this -- Jon. JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Colleen, the Internet an enormous marketplace for child porn that's open 24/7. An obvious place for police to look for people who abuse kids, and sometimes the only way to track them down.

Here are a few examples of how Interpol gets its clues from the pedophiles. First, with a playground.

Interpol was alerted to 50 Internet pictures of child abuse by the Swedish police, and then videos of the same child from Canadian cops. It honed in on a playground that was visible in one of the images.

Investigators also recognized the language they heard in the videos, Polish. So, focusing on Poland, they were able to narrow the location to Warsaw and to one specific neighborhood. Because of that playground, they found the child and arrested the suspect.

Then a case where a keyboard proved key. Police first found images on the Internet of very young children being abused. But again, the cops in Canada didn't know where. A Spanish officer at Interpol noticed that a computer keyboard in one of the shots from was from Spain. With that clue and some others, they narrowed the search to Spain and identified the suspects, one of whom worked as a baby-sitter.

Finally, the case we're talking about today, the case of Christopher Paul Neil. Long before police had a name to attach to their pictures, they had other clues, images on the Internet from a hotel room with a brochure that had been left on a night table. A brochure showing the name of a Vietnamese hotel.

They found it in Ho Chi Minh City and even knew the date because it was imprinted on the image by the digital camera that was used to take the pictures. But that turned out to be a dead end. None of the staff remembered the man or had a name they could match him to back then.

If these examples now sound obvious and easy, it's because the police worked hard and got lucky. Interpol has half a million more pictures of child sex abuse. In fact, more than half a million, with maybe 10,000 or 20,000 kids in them -- 10,000 or 20,000 victims.

They've rescued roughly 600. Do the math. It means that the pedophiles are way ahead of the police, even when the cops can see exactly what they're up to -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Jon Mann there with some fascinating insight.

And as we've seen, Interpol now playing a major role in the search for that suspected child predator who was thought to be in Thailand. In fact, for the first time, they've released pictures of the suspect directly to the media instead of going through local authorities. That's unusual. Here to talk about the international law enforcement agency's role in the investigation is Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's trafficking in human beings unit.

And it's sad that you have to have such a unit, but you do. And this was a success for you.

What brought this about? It was really a combination of things, wasn't it?

KRISTIN KVIGNE, INTERPOL INVESTIGATOR: Yes. Well, we decided to go public with this image. And it's not quite true that we didn't go to the national authorities first, because we did. We had through our member countries, investigators, we tried every line of investigation to track this man down. So, this was the last straw, to put it that way, to put his image out to the public.

HOLMES: How much help did you get from the public?

KVIGNE: We got a tremendous response from the public. We had more than 350 tips from the public as to who this man could be. And in identifying Christopher Paul Neil as the one, we had numerous hits or tips, naming him as the suspect, yes.

HOLMES: Interpol has, in many ways, struggled a little bit I think in terms of funding and support from some governments in terms of literal support. Does this really -- it must be giving a bit of a boost to Interpol as an entity.

KVIGNE: I think this proves to the world and the law enforcement community that the role of Interpol is vital, that Interpol has the capacity to reach out globally and aid law enforcement agencies everywhere.

HOLMES: Yes, one thing I'm curious about -- and I'm sure you've got a good answer for it -- is we've heard throughout this case a lot about the technology that was used, and a lot of what you do to catch up with these people by looking in the background, magnifying things. We've heard about seeing a Spanish keyboard on a computer and all of this.

Are you worried that you're giving a lot of tips away here?

KVIGNE: Yes. I think, you know, investigations will always include all this. And I think the important thing for the public to understand is that, you know, no technology can easily solve cases like this. It's grueling police work everywhere in the world, and it's the community of police that together can do this.

HOLMES: You know, one of the things we hear about those you catch up with -- of course, you don't hear about those you don't catch up with. Any idea how many of these predators are out there?

KVIGNE: Well, in the terms of traveling sex offenders, we believe that there's thousands of people that travel over borders to sexually abuse children. HOLMES: And what do you think is going to happen going forward? How are you going to prevent them from doing what they do?

KVIGNE: I think one thing I would like to mention is that Interpol has got great tools in place for preventing people with prior convictions, et cetera, to enter into countries unknown. Countries can use the notice system that Interpol has in alerting other countries as to their traveling potential sex offenders. And we would like to see that used more by law enforcement globally.

HOLMES: Yes, what about -- what about locally? I mean, we hear a lot about Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, other places like that where a lot of this goes on. And while you appear to be as an entity, Interpol, getting cooperation in tracking down people, do you think enough is done at a grassroots level to prevent these guys doing what they do in the first place? English school teachers, sex tourists and the like?

KVIGNE: Well, as I said, I think that law enforcement communities -- and I can -- and speaking on Interpol's tools, they could probably use Interpol tools to a much greater extent to prevent traveling sex offenders. As to what they do in each country, I think that needs to be addressed to the national police authorities.

HOLMES: All right. We'll leave it there.

Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's trafficking in human beings unit.

Thanks for your time.

KVIGNE: Thank you.

MCEDWARDS: We have to take a break, but coming up next, he won't comment, but everyone else certainly is.

HOLMES: Oh, boy, are they. Rumors flying over the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy's personal life. But is France ready for a single man in the Elysee Palace?

MCEDWARDS: Plus, border tensions. Turkey tells Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels on its soil or face consequences.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

We'll have more of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes. But first, want to take a check of the stories making headlines right here in the United States.

Want to get to a story that we're following from suburban Detroit. Evacuation at two schools in Melvindale, Michigan. Authorities say hydrochloric acid leaked from a metal plating plant. Officials say they don't know of anyone getting sick. Nevertheless, a number of folks are being cleared out of the area as a precaution. We'll continue to follow that story.

More than 100 volunteers are fanning out in West Virginia this half hour. They're searching for an autistic 18-year-old.

His name is Jacob Allen. He was hiking with his parents Sunday with he became separated from them. He carried no food or water, and was wearing only a long-sleeve T-shirt. Nighttime temps have dipped into the 30s.

Search crews are focusing on about a 10-square-mile area of the Dolly Sods region. It's described as rugged and covered with brush.

Police say he raped a little girl and videotaped it. Today, he is in a Las Vegas jail.

Chester Stiles was arrested last night during a routine traffic stop. He surrendered without incident, despite fears that he could be armed and dangerous.

Stiles was pulled over because his car didn't have a license plate. Police say he confessed his identity after officers said his driver's license looked suspicious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DYE: When me and Officer Dow (ph) were questioning him, because we didn't believe his story or who he was, he finally told us, "Hey, I'm Chester Stiles. I'm the guy you're looking for." And at that time he said, "I'm sick of running."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Stiles has been wanted for about two weeks. That's when police identified him on the videotape. The little girl being assaulted was 3 years old at the time. And police say she is now 7, is doing fine, and has no memory of being molested. Police say the girl's mother was completely unaware of that attack.

Back in class in Cleveland, Ohio, the high school where 14-year- old Asa Coon went on a shooting rampage last week, was reopened today. Students and teachers were cheered as they entered SuccessTech Academy. Big security changes there, though. An armed security guard is on duty and students now have to walk through metal detectors.

Time now to check on the nation's weather and CNN's Chad Myers in the severe weather center.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Don, we've got a little tropical thing trying to pop up here in the Gulf of Mexico. This could be some good news for some very dry areas across the southeast part of the country, from New Orleans, back to Mobile.

It's just cloud cover. It's just amassing now. I know you're seeing some rain here across northern Florida, but the bulk of it is still not in radar range.

And we're hoping that it kind of interacts a little bit with a front up to the north. It could bring some rainfall over the next couple of days.

Now, the computers aren't so convinced yet. Most of them believe that the rain is going to be farther to the west, from Nashville, to Memphis, all the way down to Mobile, not in the areas through here that probably need a little bit more rain. And we'll talk about that in the 1:00 hour as well.

But for tomorrow and into the end of the week, we are going to have a severe weather outbreak. And you think of severe weather in the spring. That's when the warm air is trying to push away the cold air. And then a cold front comes by and they all bump together.

Well, the same thing happens in a little bit of a smaller term in the fall. You've got cold air, warm air. They're still going to bump around. And this is going to be an outbreak that we're probably going to see some tornadoes for tomorrow and also into the day on Thursday.

We'll keep watching it for you. Also, any rain we can get is good. But we just don't want tornadoes at the same time -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

LEMON: Hey, coming up in the "NEWSROOM" at the top of the hour, we're going to be talking about this: is the city of Atlanta just months away from running out of water? That is the big question. Extreme drought that's already led to water restrictions could lead to rationing for millions of people.

Ahead in the "CNN NEWSROOM," what people across the Southeast are doing to cope with a major problem.

In the meantime, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Don Lemon. I will see you at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from around the globe, including the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: Indeed it is. And I'm Michael Holmes. Here are some of the top stories to the minute.

A worldwide manhunt for a suspected pedophile is now centered in Thailand. Interpol looking for Christopher Paul Neil. After scientists unscrambled his computer-altered image on child pornography web sites. Neil is a Canadian. He worked as an English teacher in South Korea. The pictures are believed, however, to have been taken in Cambodia and Vietnam. MCEDWARDS: Russian President Vladimir Putin is defending Iran's right to a nuclear program for peaceful purposes. In Tehran for a summit of Caspian nations, Mr. Putin said peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed in the region. He also said no Caspian nation should be used as an attack base. Now that is a reference to reports that the U.S was at one point planning to use Azerbaijan for any possible assault on Iran.

HOLMES: A high-ranking Iraqi official is making an emergency trip to Turkey, hoping to convince the government there not to authorize force across the two country's border. Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi arrived in Ankara and called for emergency talks aimed at staving off the potential for war.

Turkey says recent attacks by Kurdish rebels may force its military to strike back across the border. And the Turkish parliament may approve a cross-border counter offensive as early as Wednesday. Iraqis along the frontier meanwhile say the battle has already begun. CNN's Nic Robertson with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Twelve miles from the border with Turkey, school boys show us fragments of missiles.

(On camera): Yes, this is a missile?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is a missile.

ROBERTSON: You can see there's an electronic circuit in here.

(Voice over): They say shells came crashing down here two nights ago.

(On camera): What the children are saying is this is just part of a bigger missile that was on the hillside. They say they can't bring it all down. This is all they've been able to unscrew from it, and bring up.

(Voice over): American Kurd David Niko (ph), from Michigan, was in the village that night this man says more than 20 missiles landed. Everyone here blames Turkey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They start shooting around the village. And that woman, the children start crying, screaming. Going out of the houses, they don't know where they should go.

ROBERTSON: Kurdish regional officials say more than five villages were hit that night, more than 250 artillery shells or bombs. Until now, the Kurdish north has been a haven of peace, compared to the rest of Iraq. Hameed Salih, a Kurdish official shows us the area close to the border with Turkey.

HAMEED SALIH, PUBLIC RELATIONS, DUHUK PROVINCE: As you see the mountain earlier it's very hard for the government alone to control it. ROBERTSON: It's remote and rugged, but he denies Turkish claims that fighters from the PKK, Kurdish Worker's Party, outlawed as terrorists by the U.S. and Turkey, are here.

SALIH: You know, we are driving all this way and we haven't seen any PKK members here, or any activities here.

ROBERTSON: He wants us to understand how long the shelling has been going on.

(On camera): When did this happen?

SALIH: One month ago.

ROBERTSON (voice over): A month ago. About the same time the PKK was blamed for starting a wave of deadly bomb attacks in Turkey.

(On camera): The Turkish border is where?

SALIH: This is one of the bases.

ROBERTSON: You can see the Turkish flag on the hillside there.

SALIH: Yeah.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Dera Waddah (ph) is a Christian, moved here as part of a government plant to repopulate villages destroyed by Saddam Hussein.

He says they're afraid, they've been shelled almost every night for the past month. Many have fled. The irony, they originally came here for safety.

Jago Alha (ph) tells us we're from Baghdad, from Mosul. If we leave here, we have nowhere to go.

(On camera): If the shelling continues and if tensions do continue to rise, then almost undoubtedly the border with Turkey could close. That would have a very serious impact for U.S. troops here. Much-needed supplies come by road from Turkey. Water, food, new armored vehicles, all being delivered to the troops. Without the border, that would stop. Nic Robertson, CNN, Inishki (ph), northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: Now, another issue that involves relations between the United States and Turkey, we've been reporting this in recent days. There's a lot of tension right now between the two countries over a congressional vote on the mass deaths from the early part of the 20th century in Turkey. The U.S. military making some contingency plans of its own related to this.

Because Turkey says if this measure does pass the full House, as it may do, that it will take action. That it will strain relations with the United States over calling the deaths of Armenians in that period a genocide. A loaded phrase, of course. We have CNN's Barbara Starr is joining us now with more on this.

I mean, how serious is this? Because if you start talking about bases in Turkey and the United States need for them, it sort of takes it to a new level.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Colleen, indeed. Tensions are ratcheting up. The U.S. military very much wanting things to cool off on both of those fronts with Turkey. The border situation with northern Iraq and the Kurds as well as this Armenian genocide resolution.

But the U.S. military says they have to plan for everything. So, officials have now confirmed to CNN that the military has issued a so- called warning order to the U.S. troops to be ready to execute options as an alternative to the Incirlik Air Base, in Turkey, if the Turks move ahead with their threat, if you will. Or at least their very strong view that they will cut off U.S. access to Incirlik Air Base if that resolution goes through.

Now, Incirlik, as well as Turkish air space and Turkish land routes are absolutely vital to the U.S. military effort in Iraq. Secretary Gates confirming a few days ago that about 70 percent of the cargo that goes into the war effort in Iraq moves through Turkey. So, Incirlik is terribly vital.

The U.S. had already been looking at alternatives if the situation was to worsen. But as an indicator of just how serious the U.S. military thinks this might get, they have now, indeed, Colleen, issued that warning order. Looking for additional air crews, planes, supply routes, air routes, all of it, throughout the system, especially in Europe, to be ready to step in if Incirlik is cut off to them -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: CNN's Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon.

Barbara, thanks.

Michael.

HOLMES: The situation getting more and more serious.

Well, only five months after becoming one of the world's most powerful leaders, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy could soon suffer a blow in his personal life. Rumors flying that he and his wife, Cecilia, will announce a divorce, perhaps as early as this week. Jim Bittermann with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A half dozen times he was asked, and a half dozen times the presidential spokesman said he was not going to comment about the president's personal life. But if he wasn't saying anything about the French President Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, others have been.

In fact, the couple's tempestuous relationship has been the subject of gossip for years, some of it true. Two years ago, she had a very public, widely reported affair with another man. She rarely appeared with her husband during the presidential campaign. When the French president went to see the American president and his wife, Cecilia stayed away, sick with a sore throat, she said.

The presidential couple did appear more than close during Sarkozy's inauguration ceremony. Publicly sharing some tender moments in the presence of their five children, four from previous marriages.

But only weeks later he told a reporter his only worry as his new president of France was Cecilia. She took a leading role in the liberation of Bulgarian medical workers from Libya, but after taking criticism from Sarkozy's opponents, she has been seen little in public since. And the presidential spokesman says Mrs. Sarkozy will not travel with her husband on an official state visit to Morocco next week. Leaving some here to conclude that the presidential couple is on the verge of a divorce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. If they're not happy together, they should probably split.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the way it is now. So, why not? Why not the president without a wife?

BITTERMANN: Presidents and their spouses here have a long tradition of living separate lives, even while carrying on the functions of state. Francois Mitterrand not only lived apart from his wife Danielle he maintained a secret second family, which only turned up in public at his funeral.

And as a satirical film here famously showed, Jacques Chirac and life partner Bernadette were often so distant that they used to address each other in a formal vou form.

Given all of that observers say a presidential divorce would not shock the French, but what might would be the image of a president not in control of his personal life.

CHRISTOPHE BARBIER, EDITOR, L'EXPRESS MAGAZINE: The president can do what he wants in his private life, but he has to be the boss. He has to say clearly and he has to do the job with, or without, a wife.

BITTERMANN (On camera): For now, though, it is not clear whether Sarkozy will govern with or without Cecilia at his side. One presidential aide suggested that her role may be evolving rather than ending. Still in the only interview that she's given as first lady, she said mysteriously, that she does not believe in having any particular role at all.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It's so interesting. The French normally don't care what their politicians get up to, their peccadilloes or anything. MCEDWARDS: Yeah, they know it. It doesn't matter.

HOLMES: This is different. They're taking an interest.

MCEDWARDS: Well, U.S. presidents promise to defend the country from all enemies, of course, foreign and domestic. And presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is putting a whole new spin on that, you could say.

HOLMES: Especially the domestic part. Just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, for Giuliani to turn foreign, apparently includes extra terrestrials. We'll have that and all the U.S. political news a little later.

MCEDWARDS: And then coming up, communism certainly is nothing what it used to be. Nothing demonstrates that better than today's China. Our John Vause takes a look behind the Red Curtain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY, right here on CNN International.

MCEDWARDS: We are seen live in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.

And we've got some good news to tell you about for the Democratic presidential candidate in the United States, Hillary Clinton. Half of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents view her favorably. This is according to a new poll by USA Today and by Gallup, as well.

Her nearest rival, who is Senator Barack Obama, he has the support of 21 percent of those voters. John Edwards trails at 13 percent.

Now, Republicans are much more ambivalent about their field. This is a great story in and of itself. Even the Republican front-runner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is viewed favorably by only 32 percent of those surveyed. The rest of the Republican candidates are far behind, Fred Thompson at 18, John McCain at 14, and Mitt Romney sitting right now at 10.

HOLMES: Those poll numbers support what pundits have been saying for some time. That is that Americans don't seem to have much enthusiasm for the Republican field in general. They're a little bored. Every candidate has at least one negative that could count against him in a tight race. John King reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On Rudy Giuliani's home turf, the latest salvo in a Republican race turning testy.

FRED THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some people think, seemingly, that we need to defeat the Democrats next year by becoming more like them. KING: Former Senator Fred Thompson did not name names. Yet, there was no doubt the target was Giuliani, the pro-abortion rights, pro-gay rights former New York City mayor.

THOMPSON: I suggest that it's not time for philosophical flexibility in terms of our principles. That is a sure-fire way of making sure we don't win.

RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I promise to keep America safe and secure.

KING: Giuliani prefers to emphasize terrorism and leadership over social issues, with the luxury of being ahead in most national polls, he invokes Ronald Reagan when asked about the mounting attacks.

Giuliani: He used to have an 11th commandment. It was, thou shalt not attack another Republican. I'm going to try to follow that commandment as much as I can.

KING: Staying above the fray won't be easy.

TUCKER ESKEW, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: We're going in to a real scrap. This is a pretty fluid electorate on the Republican side, as we try to determine who we're going to be. So, get your game on.

KING: Mitt Romney started the latest dust-up late Friday in Nevada.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The conservatives in these state that have heard me time and again recognize I do speak for the -- if you will, Republican Party.

KING: Romney's target was Giuliani, but it was Senator John McCain who took issue.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My record of 24 years as a conservative Republican, with a voting record to back it up, of consistency on a variety of issues speaks for itself.

KING: McCain went on to note Romney vote Democrat Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic presidential primary. And that same year gave money to Democratic Congressman Dick Spratt (ph) of New Hampshire.

MCCAIN: We also should examine people's records as to whether they are, quote, "real Republicans" or not.

KING: The GOP race is wide open, in part, because none of the leading candidates get perfect grates from conservatives. Romney once favored abortion rights. Giuliani as mayor supported taxpayer financed abortion and marched in a gay rights parades. McCain and Thompson oppose a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying states should make such decisions. In the past, to put balance budgets ahead of bigger tax cuts.

ESKEW: Republicans are a party in transition. We're entering the post-Bush era. So, what are we doing? We're helping reconfigure what is Republican. What it means to be a real Republican. We'll actually have an answer to that question when we have a candidate.

KING: Picking that candidate begins in Iowa in just 80 days, which is why the race is getting more pointed and more personal. John King, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: There you have it right there. As John King just reported, when he's campaigning, Rudy Giuliani likes to emphasize the fact that he has plans to keep Americans safe from terrorist attacks.

HOLMES: Yes, indeed. But who knew he could also keep them safe from space aliens.

MCEDWARDS: It's true. Listen to this exchange at a town hall meeting that happened in New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something living on another planet, and it is bad, and it comes over here. What would you do?

(APPLAUSE, LAUGHTER)

GIULIANI: That's the first time I've been asked how do we get prepared for an outer space attack.

If we're properly prepared for all the things that could happen to us, we'll probably be prepared that as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: That kid is so cute.

HOLMES: You never know. I don't know why he's laughing, you never know.

MCEDWARDS: When you're the front-runner, you get all the tough questions.

HOLMES: Exactly. I wonder if that kid is a Republican.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: All right, communism and capitalism.

MCEDWARDS: Two political systems that you can't have at the same time, right?

HOLMES: Or can you? We'll explain when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back.

Paleontologists in Argentina have unearthed a skeleton of what they think is an entirely new dinosaur species.

HOLMES: Let's see if I can mess it up. It's 32 meters long. It's one of the largest dinosaurs ever found. It is a vegetarian. Thank goodness. Scientists have named it -- wait for it -- Futalognkosaurus dukei. Incorporating the Mapuche Indian words for "giant" and "chief".

MCEDWARDS: Didn't know we needed a new species, but there we have it.

This is a Patagonian beast. And it is thought to be a previously unknown species of Titanasaur. Hope I've got that right. They know that, I guess, because of the unique neck structure. Something different about it.

HOLMES: You got Titanasaur and I got Futalognkosaurus dukei. All right.

MCEDWARDS: Not fair. Scientists say this thing walked the Earth about 88 million years ago. Interesting.

HOLMES: It is. My son will be interested in that.

MCEDWARDS: I was going to say, kids will love that.

HOLMES: I'm going to practice that, Futalognkosaurus dukei. OK.

All right, let's go to China now. Where leaders are gathered, of course, in Beijing for the Communist Party Congress.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, always an event.

It was once really a forum for Chairman Mao to essentially point those threatening fingers at class enemies, the capitalists.

HOLMES: The capitalists, that's right. But now there's a new breed of Chinese millionaires who have achieved some of Chairman Mao's dreams, but through very different means.

MCEDWARDS: John Vause has more now on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Robert Ren, is a walking contradiction. A card-carrying Communist who is also a capitalist, a former investment banker who, four years ago, started a steel company, buying, selling and making the stuff and, along the way, making millions.

He admits the only time he works up a sweat is playing tennis. A generation ago he's the kind of man Chairman Mao may have happily had killed.

VAUSE (on camera): Do you think Mao would think you're a good Communist or bad Communist?

ROBERT REN, CHAIRMAN, WUBO STEEL: Mao, if he really see what happen today, I think he would be convinced I'm a good Communist.

VAUSE: A good Communist who started his own party branch at his company. Most of the factory workers haven't joined, but the sales team has. These days, to be a Communist, he says, is good for business. He admits the old rhetoric of workers rise up, of everyone sharing everything equally has long since passed.

REN: I realize it's impossible. Logistically, actually, it's impossible. The idea is great. But I think in the short term -- of the near future, I can't see it's going to happen.

VAUSE: But early in the mornings, the elderly still gather to celebrate those revolutionary ideas. Chairman Mao and the Communist Party raised us, they're the never setting sun, they sing. Among them, 65-year-old Gao Shim Shun (ph).

"We should not abandon the past. If there is no past, there can be no today," he says.

And this is the past of China's Communists, the building where the party was born in 1921, now a museum in a ritzy part of Shanghai, a shrine to the party founders.

(On camera): So much of what these men believed in, at a time so brutally tried to impose, now belongs in a museum as well. To them, the capitalist, the entrepreneurs, the bosses were the enemies. But these days, they're the new heroes of the party.

(Voice over): One of Chairman Mao's dreams was to produce more steel than any other country. It never happened in his time. But now, in a booming market economy, China makes and uses more steel than any other country. The irony is it couldn't have happened without Audi- driving, tennis playing Communists like Robert Ren.

John Vause, CNN, Shanghai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: There you go. Well, that will do it for this hour. I'm Michael Holmes.

And you are?

MCEDWARDS: And I am -- I think, Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: I remember you.

MCEDWARDS: This is CNN. Stay with us.

HOLMES: See you tomorrow.

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