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Your World Today

Car Bomb Kills 18 Boys Playing Soccer in Ramadi; Taliban Claims it was Targeting Cheney in Afghanistan Bombing; Child Obesity Case in Great Britain

Aired February 27, 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: Raising the stakes in Afghanistan. The Taliban claim a suicide bomber tried to target the United States vice president.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Way too big, way too soon. A British boy's overeating could land him in foster care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pyramids still exist until today as the symbol -- the symbol of the genius of the ancient people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Ancient wonder or modern wonder? The Great Pyramids of Giza are in the middle of a very large generation gap.

CLANCY: And a lowdown on high heels. A new shoe pad could bring blissful comfort to potentially painful footwear.

It's 9:30 at night in Kabul, Afghanistan, 7:00 p.m. right now in Giza, Egypt.

Hello and welcome to our broadcast around the world.

I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala gorani.

From Kabul to Giza, London to New York, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: All right. We're going to have all of those stories for you ahead. But first we want to turn our attention to Iraq.

GORANI: Well, that's where there's been another bombing that may have targeted children playing in a park.

CLANCY: It happened in the Sunni-dominated area of Ramadi. The news coming to us just a short time ago on a day of some optimism on efforts to try to stem the violence there.

GORANI: All right. We want to take you first to Baghdad. That's where Michael Ware is live with details first on that bombing in Ramadi targeting children, apparently -- Michael. MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Hala.

What we're getting at this stage is early reporting from local Iraqi police in Ramadi, in Iraq's western Anbar Province. This is the province that the U.S. military, by and large, has conceded is at least politically controlled or dominated by al Qaeda. There, we understand, that shortly after 4:00 p.m., according to the Iraqi police, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive that killed as many as 18 children playing football --Hala.

GORANI: Violence -- amid all of this horrific violence, there seems to be at least a diplomatic effort in the works with regional powers, as well as European powers meeting in Baghdad.

Tell us about that.

WARE: Yes, what we have is, this is an Iraqi government initiative inviting its neighbors and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to a regional conference, as it's said, to look at ways to support the Iraqi government. The situation as we have it right now is that what it appears is that representatives of varying levels of the American, Iranian and Syrian governments at this stage are saying they're prepared to sit down together at the same table in the same room.

Now, in many ways, this is hugely symbolic gesture. Yet, there's been back-channel communications between these three entities for some time, by and large, through the Iraqi government and other partners here in the region -- Hala.

GORANI: But the big question is, will it work? Will it make any difference when you say purely symbolic? I mean, that implies that it won't be as effective as some might hope it would be.

WARE: Well, at this point, nothing can really hurt. I mean, the situation here is so frightful. Though we're seeing some improvement in the day-to-day sectarian violence in the capital here in Baghdad as a result of the temporary surge of the Baghdad security plan, things are still in a perilous state. And a few meetings are not going to change that.

Indeed, we have Iraqi government officials saying this is merely conference to appoint a date for a further summit some point down the track. We've had a lot of talk before. It's not expected that anything substantive will come out of this -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. Michael Ware in Baghdad.

Thank you, Michael -- Jim.

CLANCY: Well, there was one measure of progress in some Iraqis' views. Authorities say they made an arrested in that attempted assassination on Monday of Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shia and one of Iraq's two vice presidents. They say both the suspect and Mahdi were injured from a bomb, and it was planted under chair -- planted just as officials were gathering for a celebration. Two ministry officials were among those wounded.

GORANI: Well, later on this program, we'll take a closer look at Iraq's oil reserves. Iraq has a lot of oil. Will foreigners be controlling the country's great resource? Jonathan Mann will join us with some insight.

CLANCY: All right. The Taliban, as we said earlier, claiming responsibility for a suicide bomb attack outside Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. They say U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was their intended target.

The blast killed at least 15 people. Cheney was nowhere near the explosion, but as Tim Ewart reports, it may be a sign of things to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM EWART, ITV NEWS (voice over): This was an ominous warning shot from the Taliban as they prepare for what's feared will be a big spring offensive. It happened at the Bagram military air base north of Kabul. The dead included one American and one South Korean soldier. But security at Bagram is strict, and the suicide bomber was far from his intended target.

This is the man he wanted to kill, the U.S. vice president, Dick Cheney, in Afghanistan for meetings with President Hamid Karzai. Mr. Cheney, delayed at Bagram by heavy snow, said he heard a lot boom as the bomb exploded.

There are now 27,000 American troops in Afghanistan. The highest number since the invasion in 2001. Britain is sending more soldiers, bringing its force to around 7,000. The Americans believe the months ahead will be crucial against the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies.

The bombing at Bagram has underlined the Taliban's willingness to resort to suicide attacks. They were virtually unheard of until two years ago. Last year, there were nearly 140.

Tim Ewart, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: There was a mortar attack in Sri Lanka. It's injured the American, Italian and German ambassadors to that country, as well as nine others. Government officials say Tamil Tiger rebels fired on helicopters ferrying those diplomats to an eastern city. Rebel leaders say they weren't aware the envoys were on board and they blame the government for bringing them to an active military site.

The delegation was reviewing developments in the area hit hard by the tsunami. The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority for the past two decades. About 65,000 people have been killed in the violence in that time -- Jim.

CLANCY: Well, turning now to Africa, where Khartoum is rejecting war crimes allegations that have been made in the U.N.'s court in The Hague. It says the body hasn't any jurisdiction to put on trial Sudanese suspects.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court say a Sudanese government official and a Janjaweed militia leader bear criminal responsibility for war crimes. The conflict in Darfur began in 2003. The charges include murder, torture and rape. The ICC chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, detailed the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIS MORENO-OCAMPO, ICC: The prosecution has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel Rahman (ph), better known as Ali Kushir (ph), bear criminal responsibility in relation to 51 accounts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Now, the United Nations estimates that the fighting, disease and hunger related to it have killed some 200,000 people or more and driven at least two million others from their homes.

GORANI: Let's check some other news we're following today.

(NEWSBREAK)

GORANI: Well, it's a story that has captivated Britain and raised some serious questions about the rights of parents, but also their responsibilities.

CLANCY: At the center of the storm, Connor McCreedy (ph). He's 8 years old and nearly 110 kilos. That's right, three times what most 8-year-olds would weigh.

We get more from Alphonso Van Marsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Snack time at Connor McCreedy's (ph) house, and weighing in at around 200 pounds, Connor is relishing every bite. A chicken drumstick may seem typical for a young kid, but Connor is just 8 years old. Almost four times the average weight for a kid his age.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And where's my pork chop?

VAN MARSH: Connor's mother says she's obliged to answer her son's constant demands for more food, but British authorities say they're very concerned the diet he is being fed could seriously damage his health. And now they're considering putting the child into care until he loses more weight.

The implication, neglect.

NICOLA MCKEOWN, MOTHER: What if I neglected Connor? He would be a skinny kid? A skinny little runt? VAN MARSH: On a typical day, Connor he starts with chocolate cereal, followed by some toast with processed meat. Lunchtime means a burger and fries and sausages, or a pizza, a whole pizza. It's fast-food takeaway for dinner. And toss in four bags of potato chips.

And Connor's family admits that in addition to all of that, he scarfs down cookies and other snacks about every 20 minutes.

DR. MICHAEL MARKIEWICZ, PEDIATRICIAN: They love him. They actually love him to death, literally. In fact, not saying they can't care for him, what they're doing is, through the way they're treating him and feeding him, they're slowly killing him.

VAN MARSH (on camera): Now, that meeting includes health workers, specialists in childhood obesity, social workers, even a police officer, as well as an official from Connor's school. The child has missed a lot of class due to health problems and bullying.

Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, young Connor's situation brings us to our "Question of the Day."

GORANI: Right. The question is: Do you think parents can control their children's weight?

E-mail us at yourviews@cnn.com. We will read some of those comments on the air a bit later.

Well, we hear about the daily violence in Iraq, but we don't hear much about other issues that have an impact on the future of the country, such as oil.

CLANCY: Now, the country has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, of course. Now the government must come up with a way to share that among competing factions, religious and otherwise.

GORANI: And the ancient pyramids of Giza, they've survived into modern times. Does that mean they should top a modern list of the world's greatest wonders?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Hello, everyone. And welcome back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

GORANI: Well, we're covering the news the world wants to know and giving you some perspective that goes deeper into the stories of the day

(NEWSBREAK) CLANCY: The Iraqi cabinet finally approving a draft law that would manage the country's oil industry and share the proceeds with their own people.

GORANI: The legislation now is going to go to parliament for approval. Now, the deadlock lasted months, and the fight for these resources may not be entirely over.

CLANCY: Jonathan Mann gives us now a little bit of an inside view of this on "INSIGHT".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The cynics say it's always been all about the oil. Maybe oil hasn't been the cause of Iraq's problems, but it has been linked to a lot of them.

Oil, for example, is why Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 and set off Iraq's two wars with the West. Oil For Food was supposed to sustain Iraq through years of sanctions, though it generated scandal and corruption instead. Oil was supposed to pay for Iraq's reconstruction, but it became a target for the insurgency.

Now the deal on oil is being seen as a crucial stepping stone to progress, and it might be. Iraq has the second or third largest oil reserves in the world. And they are largely untapped.

Here's one way to look at it. Think of Texas. Texas doesn't have nearly as much oil as Iraq, but it's drilled roughly a million oil wells. Iraq has fewer than 2,500.

Now, the country's oil is concentrated in the Kurdish north and in the Shiite south. But the middle, where Sunnis predominate, was largely unexplored. You don't see any wells there. No one's really been pumping.

That may explain why control was so crucial to the deadlock over the new oil law and why Sunnis wanted the oil money directed to Iraq's central government, so that they could get their share.

Well, maybe it's a coincidence, but Iraqi Sunnis recently got a surprise. According to "The New York Times," they may have a lot of oil of their own as well, some of it in the Accas (ph) field near the western border with Syria. You can see the new oil finds or the re- evaluated oil finds in red up there near the border with Syria and just southeast of Baghdad. So another Sunni area with oil as well.

All in all, that means that Shia, Kurd and Sunni Iraqis can now be confident that they all have oil, making it easier to agree on how to share it.

CNN's Michael Holmes has a look now on how it actually happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): All roads to Iraq's economic recovery come from one place, the oilfields. There have been a couple of problems, however -- a war that won't quit and furious political squabbles over who gets what.

The United States has been pressing the government of Nuri al-Maliki to come up with an oil plan for his oil rich but under-producing country, and that plan is about go to the parliament.

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: This is the first signs since 2003 that all major Iraqi communities have come together on a defining piece of legislation. This law is a major pillar of a national compact among Iraqis.

HOLMES: If passed, it will end decades of total government control over the nation's massive oil reserves and distribute oil income among all the country's regions.

HUSSAIN AL-SHAHRISTANI, IRAQI OIL MINISTER (through translator): This law will guarantee for Iraqis not just now, but for future generations, too, complete national control over this natural wealth, and that the benefits of this natural wealth will be distributed to all Iraqis in all regions, provinces and districts. And that it will be under the control of the United council of Oil and Gas that will make all decisions and the development for this wealth.

HOLMES: At the heart of the new plan and after months of argument will be a high council for oil that would include representatives of the oil-producing provinces, the ministers of oil, finance and planning, and the central bank governor. It may be headed by the prime minister himself.

BARHAM SALIH, IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: We have reached what I consider to be a very good deal that will satisfy the needs of all the regions of Iraq and will turn oil from the curse it has been for Iraq into a blessing.

HOLMES: Barham Salih is a Kurd, and it is the Kurdish region that has some of the biggest reserves. Kurds wanted to develop and sell those reserves the way they want, but now a complex compromise is in place that would give Baghdad veto power.

SALIH: It will be based on sharing revenues and redistributing oil revenues equitably among all Iraqis, and to ensure that the best business practices will be adopted in developing the oil sector in Iraq.

HOLMES: Western oil companies are rubbing their hands in glee at the potential windfall, at least those companies who would be willing to come to a country where hundreds of contractors have been killed and pipelines are regularly blown up by insurgents.

SABAH MUKHTAR, ANALYST: In fact, this is -- this is an obscene exercise we're going through. Who cares about the oil? If the American soldiers, in their tanks and their armored vehicles, are afraid to move around Iraq and they are being killed, you want to tell me some idiotic geologist or an oil company will go and prospect for oil in Iraq? This is an absolute nonsense.

HOLMES: Still, the stakes are enormous, with oil prices hovering near historic highs and estimates of Iraq's oil reserves ranging from 120 billion barrels to 250 billion barrels, making them the world's third or second largest.

(on camera): Now, the new law is far from passed, of course, and regional and sectarian self-interest still very much part of the game. Many ordinary Iraqis fear their country's oil wealth will be robbed by the Americans. Shiites and Kurds who have most of the reserves feel it's their turn to take a slice of the cake, and Sunnis, who have few reserves, fear getting left out.

(voice over): Oil smuggling and corruption are still major issues, too, with insurgents often the beneficiaries of the cash. In any event, passage of the law won't mean wholesale oil exploration and development overnight. There is, after all, a war on.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: Iraq doesn't have the money or expertise to develop its own oil right now. So it's going need production-sharing agreements with foreign companies. That's the next big debate. PSAs have become a four-letter word among critics -- Iraqis among them -- who say they're essentially just a giveaway to big oil and that it's not the right way to deal with a country emerging from crisis at a weak time.

Oil industry analysts say that's just the way the poor countries, some of them, have to do business.

AXEL BUSCH, ENERGY INTELLIGENCE GROUP: There's nothing essentially or inherently wicked or bad or corrupt about a production-sharing agreement. It depends on how it comes out in detail. But for some reason or another, it's sort of come up -- acquired a very nasty smell to it.

MANN: The details aren't well known right now. The debate in Iraq has hardly begun. And as we've all seen, oil is still the kind of thing that people fight over.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, that's putting it mildly.

Well, when rereturn, a look at the markets in New York and London.

CLANCY: And there is an uproar in the United States over charges of secret military funding.

GORANI: At issue, is the White House funneling money to groups that are linked to al Qaeda and perhaps not doing it in an above-board fashion?

CLANCY: Plus, Hala, we're going to hit the streets of New York City, where women are finding a way to be well at heeled without all the pain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

CLANCY: The U.S. military says it has uncovered more Iranian- made weapons and explosives in Iraq. But as Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr tells us, the weapons and the components might be coming from within Iraq itself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military has recovered another stockpile of weapons it believes were made in Iran and shipped into Iraq to kill U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, as well as civilians.

Troops showed off hundreds of components discovered in a Shia village north of Baghdad. It had all been buried in several large containers and covered up with palm leaves.

The seizure included mortars and rockets and more than 150 metal disks to be used in making explosively formed penetrators -- armor piercing bombs the U.S. says are coming in from Iran.

The troops say capturing this stockpile will make a difference.

CAPT. CLAYTON COMBS, U.S. ARMY: They're expensive. They're complex to manufacture and you've got to put them together. So taking this away from the enemy has definitely set him back and we're certainly on the offense in the area.

STARR: Officially, the Pentagon says it cannot prove the Iranian government has authorized weapons shipments into Iraq. And some analysts question whether these components are really Iranian. Some are not of the high quality typical of Iran.

JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: Well, I think this smoking gun evidence is going to have to be something that has Iranian markings on it, something that unambiguously indicates that it's of Iranian manufacture. There's a lot of circumstantial stuff that we've seen thus far, but I don't think anything with smoking gun quality.

STARR (on camera): Without the smoking gun evidence, some analysts say this latest seizure demonstrators that Iraq is developing the capability to manufacture and assemble these advanced weapons without Iran's help.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Now could the Bush administration be secretly funding an effort to counter Iran and Hezbollah's influence in the Middle East. That is a question that Tom Foreman reports the journalists Seymour Hersh is convinced it is, and that the effort is being headed by the vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The explosive charge comes from a journalist, Seymour Hersh in the "New Yorker" magazine.

SEYMOUR HERSH, "NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: We have been pumping money, a great deal of money, without Congressional authority, without any Congressional oversight. Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia is putting up some of this money for covert operations in many areas of the Middle East where we think that the -- we want to stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.

FOREMAN: The accusation is this -- to keep Iran, the big Shiite power, under control, money is being secretly funneled to groups who oppose Iran. Those groups would certainly include Sunnis, even though Sunni insurgents have been the major opponents to U.S. forces in Iraq and al Qaeda is Sunni.

White House officials declined to comment on the funding claim, but had this to say about the story as a whole.

DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: One thing I can say about Seymour Hersh is that he definitely has a wanton disregard for the truth.

FOREMAN: One member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, however, wants a hearing on it.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D-OR), SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The suggestion in the article that the administration is planning various covert activities in the Middle East without telling the Congress is extremely troubling.

FOREMAN: The U.S. government can fund groups overseas, as long as it follows certain procedures.

BRUCE RIEDEL, FMR. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL AIDE: It has to get a presidential finding. That is, a piece of paper in which the president certifies that this is in the national interest. And that finding has to be notified to the Congress of the United States.

FOREMAN (on camera): The accusation boils down to a simple idea -- is the United States in an effort to control its big opponent in the Middle East -- Iran-- building up smaller opponents in the same region?

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Now a remarkable testament to the human spirit, despite insurmountable odds.

CLANCY: It's the story of an American journalist who was severely wounded while covering the war in Iraq, and his incredible comeback.

GORANI: AB -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

ABC News' reporter Bob Woodruff suffered traumatic brain injury when the Iraqi military vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb. Now the explosion broke open his skull, and it put him in a coma for more than a month.

CLANCY: That's an amazing story. Fourteen months of intense therapy later, he returned to work at ABC News in New York City. He's produced a documentary about his experience. But you know, he also takes it beyond that, and he talks about the plight of many U.S. soldiers who suffered similar wounds on the battlefield in Iraq. Amazing job.

Well, still ahead, they towered above the sands of Egypt for thousands of years.

GORANI: So what's new about them, and how can you insult a pyramid?

CLANCY: Yes. You can. You don't have to be a sphinx to guess that answer. We're going to tell you in just a second.

GORANI: Well, and Speaking of old things, how about Noah's Ark. There's something new about that old boat, too.

Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: You're with YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

CLANCY: Seen live in more 200 countries all around the globe.

Now when you're the oldest wonder of the ancient world, the only one that's still standing anyway, it's hard to make room for some new kids who want to crowd in on the block.

GORANI: Right, and that's the thing. The only standing old wonder of the world, but that's just what the pyramids of Giza may have to. The new seven wonders of the world will be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon on the 7th day of the 7th month of 2007.

CLANCY: Right, 07/07/07, and this of course being the seventh year of the century. You know, Aneesh Raman says the new vote though comes, believe it or not, ancient history is colliding with modern history. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It seems like a good idea -- take the pyramids of Giza, the world's only surviving ancient wonder, and make them a finalist in a new contest that lets people vote online for the new seven wonders of the world.

But here's the problem. Among the sites competing with the pyramids are relative infants like the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal.

And worried that you're only as good as the company you keep, Egypt's director of antiquities wants out.

ZAHI HAWASS, EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES DIRECTOR: No. The pyramids has to be away from this list completely. The pyramids still exist until today as the symbol -- the symbol of the genius of the ancient people. And we should not put them in any modern list.

RAMAN: Which is why Egypt refused to even meet with the contest organizers, who were greeted like here in Petra (ph) with fanfare virtually everywhere else.

(on camera): The pyramids of Egypt leave little doubt. Really from any angle, they clearly are a wonder of the world. And from the tourists here, they say the pyramids are in a league of their own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first time I saw the pyramids here, I had a tear in my eye. I never had a tear in my eye when I saw the Statue of Liberty. And I never had a tear in my eye when I saw the Eiffel Tower.

RAMAN (voice-over): Not all shed tears at the foot of the pyramids. But for the thousands of visitors to Giza every week, the pyramids always make the cut as one of the seven wonders, though not always at No. 1.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first one would be Grand Canyon. The second one, Sydney's opera house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously the pyramids because we're here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The third one, the pyramids. The fourth one, the Amazon River.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taj Mahal, pyramids, Great Wall of China.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifth one, Rome. Sixth one, London. Seventh one, my home in Essex.

RAMAN: His home in Essex? That's not among the 21 finalists. Other sites are though, like Angora Wat (ph) in Cambodia. But the Egyptians are well, heritage snobs. HAWASS: You don't do it. You don't do it at all. No sites in the world can compete with the pyramids.

RAMAN: Aneesh Raman, CNN, Giza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: On Monday, filmmakers heralded the discovery of what they say could be the tomb of Jesus Christ and his family. Now today, we have the story of another possible biblical find.

CLANCY: That's right. This seems to be a week of biblical finds, but a Christian archaeologist group says that it's found the remains of a large boat in Iran and it says that could be Noah's Ark.

GORANI: Well, as John Roberts reports, it may not be the first ark siting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many believe the Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, a 17,000-foot-high extinct volcano in Turkey.

In 1949, a U.S. spy plane first took photos of an anomaly on the mountain, an anomaly that some believe is the Ark. Then, last spring, new satellite photos of the mountain sparked new interest.

PORCHER TAYLOR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND: This is a paradigm-busting satellite photo of what might be the remains osf Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat.

ROBERTS: Professor Porcher Taylor of the University of Richmond has been hunting the Ark for years. He's also a national security analyst.

TAYLOR: I have had very intriguing conversations and meetings with intelligence officials regarding the spy satellite imagery of this exact site, and more than a few CIA photo interpreters believe this is the remains of a huge boat on Mount Ararat.

ROBERTS: But some analysts weren't so sure, saying, the images suggest an Ark so big that it wouldn't hold together, also that the Ark was 15,000 feet up the mountain.

Then, a new theory: Over the summer, a group of Christian archaeologists hiking in the mountains of Iran made their own discovery.

BOB CORNUKE, PRESIDENT, BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY SEARCH AND EXPLORATION INSTITUTE: We just found what could be the carcass of the Ark.

ROBERTS: Members of the U.S.-based Bible Archaeology Search & Exploration Institute found a rock formation emerging from a ridge. This one was 13,000 feet up, and it looked like a fossilized wooden boat. CORNUKE: Some of those rocks look they have been cut at right angles, and even beams. And others look just like pieces of log.

Well, you can see here that these -- this is definitely looking like sea life, and that it's definitely clams. And what's it doing at that altitude, so high up on the mountain?

ROBERTS: Did the great flood carry the Ark up this mountain in Iran? Or is this the Ark captured in satellite photos of Turkey? We may never know. And, for true believers, it may never matter.

John Roberts, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, a lot of ancient news coming right back at us these days.

Coming up though, a revolutionary scientific breakthrough.

GORANI: OK, so it may not be a cold fusion or interstellar travel, but scientists finally come up with a way to keep those killer high heels from killing your feet. Jim, stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: If we can put a man on the moon, we should be able to put a women in high heels without killing her feet. Jim, what do you think?

CLANCY: Well, OK, technically I think it's feasible. We have. They have. And wouldn't you know it, it took a rocket scientist to do it. Alina Cho explains what we're talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Sex in the City's" Carrie Bradshaw showed us just how much women love their high-heeled shoes, and what can happen. You've seen it on the catwalk and on the street, yet women won't give them up. The problem?

RICK DELMONTE, FOOT SURGEON: You're taking a foot that is this big, putting it into a shoe that's this big.

CHO: Rocket scientist Brian Hughes believes he may have the solution. The MIT graduate started thinking about the idea during a college board meeting.

BRIAN HUGHES, CHAIRMAN, HBN SHOE: One of the women at the table literally leaned forward and grabbed me and said, I need these shoes. Now, I didn't know much about high heels at the time, but I did recognize passion when it grabbed me by the throat.

CHO: With the help of a podiatrist, Hughes came up with this -- a heel insert, called "Insolia." It's clear, has an adhesive, and Hughes says you can insert it in just about any shoe with a heel. HUGHES: What that does is stops a woman from sliding down and keeping the weight off the ball of her foot.

CHO: Hughes says without the inserts, a woman wearing three-inch heels would have 75 percent of her weight resting on the balls of her feet. That's what causes foot pain. Hughes says Insolia cups the heel, so the weight balance is more like 50/50. In other words, it's like wearing flat shoes.

Or is it? We tested them out on the streets of New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a little bit more comfortable, but it's not much different.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty much feels the same.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not hurting now.

CHO (on camera): Really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CHO: It's a miracle!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A miracle! And you don't find them very often.

CHO (voice-over): A miracle?

DELMONTE: I don't buy it, I wouldn't buy it, and I wouldn't recommend these for my patients.

CHO: But Hughes thinks he's onto something.

HUGHES: I think what we've done is basically relieved a little bit of pain from a whole lot of people.

CHO: It may not be rocket science, but Hughes says it's a good thing.

Alina Cho, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Music can describe the pain, the joy, the passion of life. And if you don't believe me, just watch and listen to the Argentines with the intensity of their tangos.

It might surprise you, if you haven't figured it out, who the Argentinians are listening to these days. It's the Japanese. Well each of these women has found an audience in Buenos Aires. They're recording albums there and performing before appreciative audiences. One singer said that the tango allowed her to express feelings that were usually not even alive in her native culture.

Tango in Buenos Aires. There you have it. GORANI: Well, it's time now for your views. In an age where fast food and sugared cereals are the norm, we're asking you for your thoughts on childhood obesity.

CLANCY: Right. Our question today was this. Do you think that parents can control their children's weight? Now here's how some of you replied.

GORANI: Vin writes from Malaysia: "Regulating a child's nutritional intake is a parent's responsibility and not doing so is tantamount to emotional and/or physical neglect."

Vin goes on to say: "Just as a parents is not supposed to indulge a child's every whim and fancy when it comes to material demands, well the same I think applies to a child's food intake."

CLANCY: Now we got this e-mail in from Switzerland. Terri writes: "Parents cannot really control anything their children do, but it's our job to educate and guide them."

GORANI: Well Danielle from Florida says: "Absolutely. A child under the age of 16 is not driving him or herself to restaurants or grocery stores and likely isn't preparing his or her own food."

CLANCY: And we've had other ones that have come in. People say that you know, allowing your child to overeat, talking specifically about the case that we highlighted here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, they say if you allow them to do that, it's like allowing a child to smoke. You can see that it is harming their health. They say that doctors are all doing it and there are things that parents can do to address that. A lot of people from all around the world and here in the United States, have that opinion that the parents have to be responsible.

GORANI: That some children have a natural inclination to be a little heavier, all right? So it's just a question of sort of balancing the two, I suppose. And you steer toward the parent as well.

CLANCY: Yes, I think though when an 8-year-old starts topping 200 pounds, or 100 kilos, I think you have a real problem that parents have to address. But should the state do it? That's another question.

GORANI: That is an entirely other question, yourviews@CNN.com. Tell us where you're writing from and include your name and we'll read a selection of your comments a bit later in the day. Well that's it for this hour. I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy and this is CNN.

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