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European Banking Giant Gets Capital Injection; Church Shootings in Colorado; Michael Vick Sentenced

Aired December 10, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: More American dreams go bust, and Europe's biggest bank reveals a multibillion-dollar loss, consequences of the collapsing U.S. mortgage market.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: From NFL uniform to prison suit, Michael Vick finds out how long he will be wearing an orange jumpsuit for his dogfighting conviction.

GORANI: And he has the support of Russia's president. Now he looks to the party. The chairman of a Russian energy giant eyes a presidential nomination.

CLANCY: And drawing the crowds on the campaign trail, Oprah Winfrey's star power packs the house for a U.S. presidential hopeful.

GORANI: Hello, everyone. It is noon in Washington, D.C., 8:00 p.m. in Moscow, Russia.

Hello and welcome to our report seen around the globe this hour.

I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

From Beijing to Brussels, to Boston, wherever you are watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

We are going to begin our report with a domino effect of the U.S. credit crisis, now claiming its biggest casualty yet among European banks.

GORANI: Well, the Swiss giant UBS is announcing huge losses linked to the U.S. subprime lending market, requiring an emergency injection of funds.

CLANCY: And what we're hearing right now, Hala, from UBS is it will be writing down a further $10 billion in mortgage-related assets. Now, that leads to a loss for the fourth quarter and perhaps for the entire year.

GORANI: Here's how they're doing it. The bank is raising funds by selling stakes of more than 10 percent to investors in Singapore, and an as of yet unidentified Middle East investor.

CLANCY: Now, the capital crisis, as you might already know, has roots in the U.S. mortgage meltdown. Many homeowners who were given loans despite being considered high-risk have been defaulting on their payments.

GORANI: Today, UBS said its write-down reflects the "distressed" mortgage market, adding the overseas capital should help it absorb any future shocks.

Now, it might seem that the news should cause shares of UBS to sink. Well, at first they did, and they've lost a lot this year, but markets are now rebounding on the news. Investors welcoming this announcement by UBS.

Gerri Willis is in New York for more on all this.

Gerri, first of all, explain to us exactly what UBS did.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, as you just described, the bank taking a very big write-off to cover its debt in the mortgage crisis, as many other banks have done. Remember, as recently as mid-November, the bank had predicted a profit for the fourth quarter despite ongoing speculation about its subprime holdings.

Now, this isn't the first time that the bank has written off debt from the subprime mortgage sector. In October, the bank downgraded $3.4 billion in assets, and this isn't the only bank having trouble. Citigroup, Credit Suisse and many, many others have taken write-downs as well.

Remember, the trouble started with subprime loans that were rolled into investments by Wall Street banks for deep-pocket investors, including pensions and even endowments. The pain is being felt by literally everybody in this chain -- Hala.

GORANI: Well, Gerri, of course investors are welcoming the fact that UBS is wrapping good news into bad news bay saying it's going to get the funds to save itself, but how much of an impact has this had on U.S. consumers and the economy?

WILLIS: Well, quite a big impact. In fact, many economists now predicting the possibility of a recession for the U.S. economy, in part because of what's going on in the mortgage market. Let's take a look at the numbers.

In fact, 7.2 million U.S. families have a subprime mortgage. Of those, 14.4 percent are in default. $1.3 trillion in subprime loans are outstanding, and the projected loss, the loss in equity -- that's what homeowners own -- is $164 billion.

So, as you can see, the ramifications of this very big, could impact the U.S. economy. We could see growth slowing, particularly as we head into 2008 -- Hala.

GORANI: And Gerri, so much of people's perceived wealth is their homes, so this, of course, impacts that as well.

Thank you so much, Gerri Willis, for your report.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

GORANI: Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Want to bring you up to date on a story that is just coming in to us.

The Reuters news agency is reporting that former newspaper mogul Conrad Black has been sentenced to between six and a half and 8 years in prison for swindling shareholders in his media empire out of millions of dollars. Now, U.S. federal prosecutors had recommended the Canadian-born Black, who's a member of the British House of Lords, be sentenced to as much as 24 years in prison. Two other former executives of Hollinger International and a Chicago lawyer who worked for the media holding company also are being sentenced today.

Well, along the spectacular snow-clad Rocky Mountains in Colorado, two cities in shock. Residents there asking why.

This, all after a gunman or gunmen opened fire at a Christian missionary center and a church, cutting down innocent victims. When it was all over, five people were dead, including one of the gunmen, and five others wounded.

Jim Acosta following this story from Colorado Springs, south of Denver.

Jim, what can you tell us? What are the police telling you?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, they're not saying a whole lot right now. We do know that overnight, police searched a home in nearby Englewood, Colorado. That's about 40 miles from where we're standing now, in front of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

No word yet whether or not they found anything of any significance at that home. And at this point, investigators aren't saying whether or not these two shootings are linked. But just after midnight on Sunday, police say a man wearing a skullcap and glasses shot and killed two employees at the Youth With a Mission residential building. That's in Arvada, Colorado.

The suspect, according to investigators, had asked to spend the night there and was turned away by employees. That apparently led to the gunfire. That gunman then escaped, according to authorities.

And then flash forward 12 hours later, about 12:30 in the afternoon here at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A gunman -- not sure if it's the same man -- opened fire here, when about 7,000 parishioners were getting out of a church service here. Two teenagers, according to the head pastor here, were shot and killed before a woman who is described as a member of the security detail here actually took out that gunman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRADY BOYD, PASTOR, NEW LIFE CHURCH: Yes, she -- she was a member -- she's highly trained, but she's a volunteer member of our church who simply, her role at the church was to provide security. And she did her job yesterday.

She's a real hero. She -- when the shots were fired, she rushed toward the scene and encountered an attacker there in a hallway. He never got more than 50 feet inside our building. He could have caused -- there could have been a great loss of life yesterday.

And she probably saved over 100 lives. I mean, he had enough ammunition and -- on him to cause a lot of damage. And she rushed toward the attacker and took him down in the hallway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And one big difference between these two shootings, the reason why investigators say they're not sure yet if they're dealing with one gunmen or two, is the fact that a handgun was apparently used at the shooting -- at that missionary residential building in Arvada, whereas a high-powered rifle was apparently used here at the scene at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

And one other note we should mention, that this church has been going through some difficult times as of late. Back in 2006, last year, the head pastor here, the Reverend Ted Haggard, had to step down amid allegations of a sex scandal with a male prostitute -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Jim Acosta there in Colorado Springs.

I want to thank you very much for keeping us up to date on what is happening there along the Rocky Mountains.

GORANI: Well, to another part of the United States -- thank you, Jim Acosta -- Michael Vick will spend nearly two years in jail. That was the sentence handed down to the former pro football star a short time ago by a federal judge in Richmond, Virginia.

Larry Smith joins us from Richmond, live, with more on the Michael Vick sentencing.

Was this a surprise, Larry?

LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think it was a surprise in terms of what we saw two of his co-defendants, the sentences that they received just last month. They received sentences of 18 months and 21 months respectively.

Now, that's important to know because both of those exceeded sentence recommendations. And so, considering that Michael Vick was considered the money man behind this and, as prosecutors said today, he was someone who was certainly very much involved, though he wasn't on the property all the time with this, certainly he was the financial backing -- backer of this operation. And also did go on different trips to dogfight, things like that. He was an integral part of that, and so we expected something 18 months, 21 months or more. And as you say, he now gets 23 months now total time. In addition to that, three years probation for Michael Vick and a $5,000 fine. And as a convicted felon, there are a lot of other things he cannot do. He cannot vote in a national election. He also cannot possess a handgun.

Now, Vick, just 27 years old, currently still on the roster of the Atlanta Falcons, though he is under indefinite suspension by the NFL, he showed up today in a black and white prison jumpsuit. He turned himself in to authorities three weeks ago, and so he is already now currently serving that time even before he was sentenced.

Also wearing white Nike shoes. He was not shackled and he showed no remorse when the sentence was announced by the judge today.

He had about a dozen family and friends in support of him there in the crowded courtroom here in Virginia, and now Michael Vick looks forward to a future behind bars, and certainly not any time soon, not back on the field.

Let's go back to you.

GORANI: Yes, you mentioned there when we might expect him back on the field. Very briefly, we have a few seconds. What is the earliest that he might get out?

SMITH: The very earliest is the 2009 season. He has to serve at least 80 percent of this sentence. That will be about 18 months. It puts him out late spring of 2009.

But again, there's the suspension and what team will he play for, and those kinds of things yet to work out. So it could be 2010 even before we see him back. He still has two state charges he must face in Virginia in 2008 on these same charges.

GORANI: OK. Larry Smith live in Richmond.

Thanks, Larry.

CLANCY: All right. You are with YOUR WORLD TODAY.

And coming up this hour, it was undoubtedly a big day for Al Gore.

GORANI: The former U.S. vice president accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. We'll hear from Gore and take a look at the events that led up to this landmark day for him.

CLANCY: And then later, the Taliban is forced to retreat center a stronghold in Afghanistan's opium growing region, while elsewhere the U.S. and NATO troops have been forced off the roads by the enemy's changing tactics.

We're going to bring you a live report. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL GORE, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT: The future is knocking at our door right now. Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask, what were you thinking? Why didn't you act? Or they will ask instead, how did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: The former U.S. vice president there, Al Gore, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize a little bit earlier today in Oslo, Norway.

GORANI: Well, Gore shared the coveted honor with a United Nations climate panel. They were cited for their efforts to warn the world about the dangers of global warming.

CLANCY: For Gore, it's been an extraordinary ascent into the world's spotlight, but the award doesn't come without some critics, as we learn from Jonathan Mann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GORE: The planet has a fever.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Al Gore hasn't just been talking about the weather. As a young lawmaker, he tried to convince the U.S. Congress to pay attention. As U.S. vice president, he supported the Kyoto Accord on U.S. gas emissions. As a private citizen, he's written books, rallied rock stars, and given lectures across the U.S. and around the world that were filmed for "An Inconvenient Truth," trying to persuade the most prolific polluters on Earth, the American people, that they are heating up the planet.

THOMAS LOVEJOY, PRESIDENT, HEINZ FOUNDATION: Well, I think he's done just an extraordinary job of awakening public consciousness to essentially, you know, the largest environmental challenge of all time.

MANN: For years the threat seemed uncertain. The planet may be getting warmer, but there was still widespread debate about why or whether mankind was to blame.

The United Nations decided that the world had to work together to find out. Coming together with a big job and an ungainly name, thousands of scientists formed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

DR. VAUGHAN TUREKIAN, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION, ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: It's actually one of the amazing stories of both science diplomacy, but science diplomacy leading to some of the most important findings about something that we all share, which is the global climate.

MANN: Much of the criticism of the award has centered on Gore. MYRON EBELL, COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: I don't think global warming should be at the top of the world's political agenda. And secondly, I think he's done it through essentially scare mongering.

MANN: Still, the Norwegian Nobel Committee had this to say about Al Gore and the IPCC: "His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films, and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus."

Jonathan Mann, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, Jonathan Mann has hosted our annual prize for peace special since 1995, and now you can travel through a timeline of the 12 Nobel laureates he has spoken to. A very interesting read there. It's on our Web site, cnn.com/international. Once there, just click on the "Al Gore" link under top stories or any other Nobel laureate you would like to know more about.

Now, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has named his choice for his successor, his deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev. Mr. Putin's endorsement is seen as a virtual golden ticket for Medvedev, but who is this man who will likely be Russia's next president?

Our man in Moscow, Matthew Chance, has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Who will succeed Vladimir Putin as Russian president? Finally, a sign.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As far as the candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev is concerned, I have known him for more than 17 years. We have worked hand in glove together, and I fully support this choice.

CHANCE: Dmitry Medvedev, first deputy prime minister and a long- time Putin ally, now virtually guaranteed the presidency. He has to be elected, of course, in March, but in a country where Vladimir Putin holds such sway, his support is seen as the only way of winning.

It's a bitter disappointment for other Kremlin players tipped as possible successors, not least the other first deputy prime minister, Sergei Ivanov, a former KGB officer. He appears to have lost out to the liberal lawyer who describes himself as pragmatic and business- friendly. Russia's ruling party is now expected to formally endorse Putin's choice.

BORIS GRYZLOV, UNITED RUSSIA PARTY LEADER (through translator): The United Russia Party believes that solving of the social issues should be the paramount task for the next four years. And Dmitry Medvedev is the most socially-oriented candidate of all candidates.

CHANCE: But who is the man who would be Russian president? At 42 years old, Medvedev is chairman of Gazprom, steering the Russian energy giant through gas price battles with neighboring countries. But he's also responsible for what are known as national projects, like boosting agriculture, hospitals and education. It's earned him a high profile and a reputation as a good administrator.

(on camera): The announcement brings to an end months of intense speculation about who Vladimir Putin will support as his likely presidential successor, but it does not answer the much wider question of what Putin himself will do once he steps down next year.

(voice over): Medvedev is often described as a Putin prodigy, 100 percent loyal to his long-time boss. He may be Putin's best hope of hanging onto power when his Kremlin days are finally over.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: South Korea facing a crisis, struggling to slow the devastating effects of its worst-ever oil spill.

GORANI: Ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we'll see how the sludge is contaminating a pristine coastal region.

CLANCY: And then, political rallies packing a punch when Oprah's in your corner. Stay with us for details of Barack Obama's big boost.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome back, everyone. All of our viewers joining us from around the globe this hour, 200 countries and territories, including the United States. You are very welcome. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Jim Clancy. And these are some of the top stories that we're following right now.

GORANI: The U.S. mortgage meltdown has claimed its biggest casualty yet among European banks. Swiss giant UBS is writing down $10 billion in losses tied to the U.S. subprime lending market. The bank is raising emergency capital by selling stakes to investors overseas.

CLANCY: A federal judge in Richmond, Virginia, sentencing Michael Vick to 23 months in prison. The former U.S. football star pleaded guilty in August on charges related to his role in a dogfighting conspiracy.

GORANI: Well, two teenage sisters were among the four victims killed in shootings at a Christian mission, in a church in Colorado. The attacks happened within a matter of hours in cities just dozens of miles apart. An armed volunteer security guard at the church fired back, killing the gunman. Police say the shootings may be related.

CLANCY: It is the front line in the war on terror. It is a critical fight that some generals say could still be lost. We're talking about Afghanistan. Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, congratulating his forces this day in Afghanistan personally for their part in what is being called a key victory in the war on terror. Brown was in Afghanistan following a similar unannounced visit with troops in Iraq a little bit earlier. British forces, along with Afghan and U.S. troops, all taking part in an assault on a town called Musa Qala(ph). It is a key part of Helmand province. NATO says Afghan forces entered the town Monday. Brown said the victory was a prime example of allied cooperation and that British troops would stay in the fight until the job is finished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This action in Musa Qala is an example of how Afghan forces working with British and other forces can make a difference. And there is no doubt that succeeding in Musa Qala will make a huge difference, both to how people see the weakness of the Taliban in the future and the ability of the government to build, not just militarily and politically, but with social and economic progress for the people of the area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: There is a battle on right now for Afghanistan. Does this one victory mean that Afghanistan has been won? We need to get some expert analysis here. And we want to bring in senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He has quite a bit of experience there in Helmand province. He joins us now from Patika province in the east.

But, Nic, I want to ask you, what is going on in Helmand province? Why does it matter?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it matters a lot because the Taliban have been controlling the town of Musa Qala since early this year and that effectively means that they've really gone from being a sort of a hit and run insurgency, to an insurgency that can control a town of several thousand people, control the key roads and routes in that area. And the reason that the Taliban were able to take control of the town was because they were able to essentially walk into the town controlled by the elders and there was nobody there to defend the town.

Yet only several months before, the British had fought the Taliban out of Musa Qala, then handed the town back to the local elders. The elders weren't able to hold onto it, which raises a question right now, with NATO troops stretched so thin across the country, who is going to control it -- the town now?

And from what we understand from the Afghan government, there were several arrests, several people killed, several Taliban killed in this fighting, but only about 10 Taliban captured. Which does raises the question, where have those Taliban gone? Have they simply decided against the face of such a fierce NATO and Afghan force to melt away and fight another day?

So who is going to control it, the town now, and where are those Afghan troops gone? But important to the Afghan government, where have those Taliban troops gone. Important for the Afghan government, who -- to show that they can dominate the area and stop the Taliban controlling towns, roads, routes and important parts of that very large province.

Jim.

CLANCY: That seems to be a question all over Afghanistan. Nic, you have been examining closely there in Patika province, there along that border area with Pakistan, the very important job of having outposts. But there are other problems that are being faced with the shifting tactics of the Taliban. Tell us about it.

ROBERTSON: Well, Jim, what the Taliban appear to be doing is shifting their tactics. They have, in the past, sort of stood back and shelled the NATO bases. But what NATO and principally U.S. forces are doing along this border area is to disperse their troops into the districts around the provinces here, to work with the Afghan security forces, to work with the local district government and to work on rebuilding projects that build support for the Afghan government, to build support for the Afghan government.

But what the Taliban have done is, while those troops have moved out to the districts, they've started planting IEDs on the resupply routes, which means that the NATO troops, the U.S. troops here, have to run a gauntlet of IEDs, if you will, to get to their outposts. And in some places that now they have stopped driving those routes. They're only re-supplying those outposts by helicopter. This particular base, right close to the Pakistan border, they are still driving some of those routes and they remain very dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The camera guy is going to be behind me, right?

ROBERTSON, (voice over): Moments before a dangerous drive along the Pakistan border, soldiers get a stern briefing from their commander, beware of IEDs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lying (ph), you know, clear across there was a DC-6. There was no RC device attached to it whatsoever. So let's stay off the road. Let's do it.

ROBERTSON: In Chris Hammonds (ph) convoy to a remote outpost, passes right through one of the easiest places for insurgents to slip into Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we think most of the cases they're simply trying to come across and put an IED in.

ROBERTSON: The roads are dirt, easy to hide an IED. They've found six on this short stretch in the past six weeks. But IEDs are not Hammond's only problem. Upwards of 50 Taliban at a time sneak across the flat terrain. The drive ends where the mountains begin. The high ground revealing just how tough Hammonds' task is to stop the Taliban crossing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can actually see the border fence. About 10 kilometers of it is actually a fence consisting of about six roles of (INAUDIBLE) wire.

ROBERTSON: But as we continue to the outpost on foot, Hammonds explains he's not alone. He's getting help from Pakistan's army.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're able to call, make a request for an addiction (ph) from the Pagnol (ph) and they either move their forces into a blocking position.

ROBERTSON: Hammonds' outpost is barely a kilometer, or half a mile, to the nearest Pakistani border post. Proximity, he says, that's made his cross-border relationship one of the strongest in the U.S. Army. So strong the Pakistanis tipped him off recently when they saw insurgents heading his way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They picked them up and then we were past the target from them. We interdicted them with indirect fires from the FAB (ph) and it drove the enemy north of the OP (ph) and the Pagnol (ph) engaged them on the far side.

ROBERTSON: Although some parts of the border are marked with a razor wire fence, what makes it particularly difficult to control movement across it is that for many of the people here they don't recognize it as an international boundary. They're tribes men and they consider this whole area to be their tribal area, Waziristan. Hammonds hopes a new ID card will help solve the problem, control movement on both sides of the border, make it harder for the Taliban to blend in.

Although he and his men believe the Taliban recruit, train, gather intelligence and plan operations from bases inside Pakistan, they can see Pakistani troops may not be to blame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've been up to their waist in the enemy. There are checkpoints that are right across the border here, that you got eyes on now, been attacked multiple times.

Hey, you guys stay warm.

ROBERTSON: As he leaves the outpost, Hammonds can perhaps afford to be a little relaxed. It hasn't been attacked for months. The drive back to base, however, will be as dangerous as ever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And that reason that those drives are so dangerous, some of those drives now not being done at all by the military. Re- supplying by helicopter. It's putting a huge pressure on the limited helicopter supply there are for the NATO troops here. Just a couple of weeks ago, they -- NATO Chief (INAUDIBLE) Schaffer (ph), came to Afghanistan, his military commanders with him who were calling for more helicopters to be donated by the NATO countries. Just last week, Robert Gates, U.S. defense secretary here, saying that he needs more NATO troops to be contributed here. The image, the impression being traded here right now is that there is a shortage of NATO troops and a great need for more helicopters to defeat these changing Taliban tactics.

Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. As always, a man with more experience than any other correspondent we have on the ground there.

Nic, thank you for that message of more troops, more commitment to Afghanistan.

Hala.

GORANI: All right. "America Votes 2008." Barack Obama's campaign is relishing a reality it discovered at a rally in South Carolina over the weekend -- tell perspective voters Oprah will be there and they will come. Suzanne Malveaux explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Whether you saw it as Oprah-loosa or Obama-mania, it was contagious.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: It's Obama time.

MALVEAUX: The talk show diva and billionaire business woman, Oprah Winfrey, throwing all her star power behind him.

WINFREY: That moment is now.

MALVEAUX: It was the largest crowd ever for Barack Obama. Twenty-nine thousand in this South Carolina stadium. The pull?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came for Oprah, hoping to hear something good from Obama. And I think I did.

MALVEAUX: And that's just fine with the Obama campaign. Oprah fans Terry Brandon (ph) and Jamie Dees (ph) were like many in the audience, Obama's aides say, first-timers, voters who had never been to an Obama event, nor voted had in a primary, who came out of curiosity. Beverly and James Murphy (ph) drove two hours to attend the rally and heard just what they needed from Oprah to go for Obama.

JAMES MURPHY: She said, now is the time.

BEVERLY MURPHY: Now is the time.

J. MURPHY: They (ph) also have said, you know, a black man can't make it (ph). He said, OK, you know, what I can't do for them (ph), I'm going to do it. MALVEAUX: These are the voters Obama and his closest rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, are fighting over. In Iowa, the greatest competition is over white women over 50. In South Carolina, it's young African-American women, like Tonya Thompson (ph), a registered Democrat, who came undecided and left undecided.

TONYA THOMPSON: I think I know Hillary a little bit more. You know, she's been around for a long time, so, you know, I know more about her and what she stands for and, you know, her ideals. And so with Barack, he's a new, fresh face.

MALVEAUX: Oprah joked that she wasn't giving away free TVs or refrigerators like she does on her show, but she was giving away free advice. And that was to take a listen to Barack Obama. That's exactly what many people did this weekend, but some said they're not yet ready to commit to voting for him just quite yet.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Columbia, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Republican presidential candidates tried a softer approach during a televised debate broadcast in Spanish by a TV network Univision. Polls say Hispanic voters tend to favor Democratic candidates, but in Florida Cuban-Americans still vote Republican. The debate took on a low-ketone with candidates staying away from attacking each other. Questions were posed in Spanish and simultaneously translated into English for the candidates. On immigration, the candidates sounded virtually the same, praising legal immigrants and also calling for more secure borders.

CLANCY: All right. We have a correction to tell you about. Earlier in the newscast we quoted a reuters.com story, apparently jumping the gun on the sentencing. It reported that media mogul Conrad Black had been sentenced to as many as eight years in prison. We've learned from our sources at the trial that the sentencing hasn't even yet happened. There is some guidelines there that say that he might be sentenced between six and a half years and eight years. Black and three co-defendants were convicted of swindling shareholders in his Holendure (ph) media empire out of millions of dollars. As soon as we get confirmation on the sentence, as soon as the sentencing takes place, well, then we can bring you that story.

GORANI: British police attempt to retrace the steps of a man who says he can't remember anything.

CLANCY: Coming up, authorities release a photo of Britain's canoe man as they investigate allegations of fraud.

GORANI: Also ahead, tapping into solar power from a place where the sun never sets. Scientists look for an energy option thousands of miles above the earth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Now British police are turning to the public on three different continents to get some assistance in the canoe man case. Detectives investigating allegations of fraud released a picture of John Darwin (ph) with long hair and a beard. What are they looking for? Phil Black explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, ABC CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): More than four years after he was declared dead, John Darwin has faced court, charged with fraud over a $50,000 life insurance payout and making false statements to get a passport. Police have released the photograph from that passport. It shows John Darwin with a bushy beard.

TONY HUTCHINSON, CLEVELAND POLICE: People may have seen him when he looked like this. People may have known him as John Jones.

BLACK: Darwin disappeared in March 2002 while kayaking. He re- appeared just over a week ago, walking into a London police station claiming to have lost his memory. This photo allegedly shows Darwin and his wife, Ann, in Panama just last year. Police say their investigation is now focused on confirming a time line of Darwin's movements since his death and they hope to speak to anyone who met him in Britain and beyond. His wife, Ann, has returned from Panama where she moved six weeks ago and where she gave journalists some details about the time since her husband's disappearance. Investigators hope she will be as forth coming with them.

HUTCHINSON: In particular, we'll be discussing with Mrs. Darwin the version of events over the past five years as have been attributed to her.

BLACK: The Darwins' two adult sons have publicly disowned their parents. Police say there is no evidence indicating they are anything more than victims.

HUTCHINSON: If that is the case, then, quite clearly, they have been duped in what could only be described as a really disgraceful fashion.

BLACK: Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, a massive cleanup effort is underway in South Korea after the worst oil spill in that country's history. The mess began Friday when more than 10 million liters of crude oil spilled after an oil tanker was struck by a wayward barge. Thousands of troops, police and volunteers, as you can see on these pictures, they're working hard to clean up the spill along the coastline. Critics say the government acted too slowly to limit the damage, which environmentalists say will linger for years.

CLANCY: We've got to take a short break here, but just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize has given the global warming issue, well, a major boost.

GORANI: But just how do we fix any environmental damage caused by this? We'll show you some unique ideas put forward to help solve the global warming problem. Stay with us.

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AL GORE, PEACE PRIZE WINNER: Now comes the threat of climate crisis. A threat that is real, rising, imminent and universal. Once again, it is the 11th hour. The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and growing.

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GORANI: There you hear Al Gore's warning to the planet and its inhabitants, us, as he accepted his share of the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway earlier today.

CLANCY: And he talked about it a lot, and there were a lot of solutions to global warming. The problems. Some of them obvious, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering our own energy consumption.

GORANI: But there are other ideas out there. Out of this world, literally. Miles O'Brien has this story.

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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's one long range vision of the future that is generating more buzz than ever. It offers a solution to global warming that leaves the globe behind. Solar power gathered in space and beamed back to our energy-hungry planet with no impact on the climate.

GEORGE WHITESIDES, NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY: And we're going to need renewable, sustainable sources. And space-based solar power is both unlimited and very clean. And that makes it, I think, a key part of our future.

O'BRIEN: As audacious as it sounds, the concept is simple, build huge solar arrays 22,000 miles in space where the sun never sets and is six times more intense, convert the electricity into microwaves, beam them back to rectifying antennas on the ground and convert it back into electricity 24 hours a day.

JOHN MANKINS, MANAGED ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES: There have been dramatic changes in the kinds of technologies that would be used to make such satellites possible.

O'BRIEN: The idea has been around for about 40 years. Tests show the power beams work fine and would not pose any health threat. But so far the cost has been too high. Electronics are smaller and solar arrays are more efficient and cheaper, but launch costs run at least $6,000 a pound. And even a small demonstration plant could cost at least $10 billion.

For now, at least, drilling down is a lot cheaper than drilling up. But in the next 10 years, that all could change as the price of fossil fuel heads into orbit.

Miles O'Brien, CNN, Oslo, Norway.

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GORANI: Well, for more on Al Gore, go to our website at cnn.com/international. Click on the Al Gore link under top stories and you'll be able to read how we've covered it with our Jonathan Mann and others on the ground in Oslo.

CLANCY: OK. Look, we got just enough time, I think, Hala, left to take a look at some of the most interesting stories of the day. Highlights.

GORANI: Absolutely, we do. Now from explosions to endangered species, here are the best pictures of the day for you. A spectacular light show in eastern Australia, but it wasn't supposed to happen quite like this. A fireworks factory erupted, damaging 50 buildings in the complex, even blowing out windows on nearby houses. Because of the damage, holiday fireworks displays in three cities are now in jeopardy.

CLANCY: Arachnids at the space center. Don't be alarmed. That's not a giant space alien attacking the shuttle Atlantis. That is a spider on the camera lens. It decided to crawl out on to the shuttle camera right before the launch on Sunday, but the launch got canceled due to a faulty fuel sensor. It wasn't, we were assured, because of the giant spider.

GORANI: And it's just not moving. Oh, there it goes. Bye.

CLANCY: Oh, there he goes.

GORANI: Bye, spider.

And check out this little guy. It's a unique, endangered species called a jerboa. It's called the Mickey Mouse of the desert. They're extremely hard to find, but conservationists managed to film the long- eared nocturnal mammal for the first time ever in Mongolia's Gobi Desert.

CLANCY: They're really cute. Going to get one, Hala?

GORANI: Though, seriously, they look a little freakish. But they are cute and endangered, so we must love them.

CLANCY: Yes.

GORANI: That's it for this hour. I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Wherever you are in the world, stay with CNN.

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