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Your World Today

Joyous Homecoming for British Sailors and Marines; Who Really Called the Shots in Iran?; Indonesia Court Clears Editor of Indecency

Aired April 05, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A joyful homecoming. Fifteen British sailors and marines detained by Iran are back with loved ones. But questions about their captivity linger.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The case against "Playboy". An Indonesian court says a local editor did not violate indecency laws, but many Islamic hard-liners reject the verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Part of these small, small groups taking every opportunity to behave bad.

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CLANCY: Soccer hooliganism, or police brutality? Did Italian riot police overreact to fan violence at a champions league match in Rome?

GORANI: And a $100 million debut. A Japanese pitching sensation gets ready to hurl his first ball for the Boston Red Sox. Will Daisuke Matsuzaka live up to the hype?

It's 5:00 p.m. in London, 11:00 p.m. in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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

I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

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

GORANI: Well, they are back on British soil, 15 sailors and marines held captive in Iran. They have returned home to the collective relief of a nation.

CLANCY: British Prime Minister Tony Blair says the rejoicing, though, tempered by the deaths of more British soldiers in Iraq, and what he calls Iran's ongoing support of terrorism there.

GORANI: We'll look at all of this, as well as what happened behind the scenes in Iran to brick about the Britons' release. First, they left Tehran with smiles and gift bags, even from the Iranian government, ending a crisis that stretched nearly two weeks. Those sailors and marines are now at a military base in southwest England. They are being debriefed and enjoying a long-awaited reunion with their families, of course.

Matthew Chance is in London with more.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Freedom at last. After nearly two weeks as prisoners in Iran, the 15 sailors and marines are back on British soil. For a few moments at Heathrow, they paused for photographers. Then, looking physically well and relaxed after their ordeal, boarded military helicopters for the final leg of their journey home.

Hours earlier, in Tehran airport, they bade farewell to the Islamic republic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I won't say anything different than I've said over here. I'll be absolutely completely truthful. I'll definitely promote Iran, actually. I think there's a lot of ignorance in the U.K., really, about Iran, and the people.

FAYE TURNEY, FMR. BRITISH CAPTIVE: It's just a feeling of relief, that I'm actually going to home to my daughter and my family. And obviously, we've had a very pleasant stay under, like, the conditions we were in.

CHANCE: And now at last the agony of their separation is relieved. Emotional scenes at the British marine barracks at Chivena (ph), in southwest England. Thirteen days of anxiety for these families, at an end.

But the celebrations are tempered with news from Iraq. In the southern city of Basra, at least four British soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing, bringing to six the number of U.K. soldiers killed there in a week.

The British prime minister stopped short of blaming Iran for their deaths, but only just.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: So, I make no allegation in respect to that particular incident, but the general picture, as I've said before, is there are elements, at least, of the Iranian regime that are backing, financing, arming, supporting terrorism in Iraq.

CHANCE: It is a hardening of language towards the Islamic republic now the British captives are safely back home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: And that was Matthew Chance reporting, and Matthew joins us now live from London. From the people you're speaking with, Matthew, in the U.K., there was a dual strategy, one of dialogue and not being too aggressive in their rhetoric, and also one of international pressure.

What got those captives freed in the end?

CHANCE: Well, there is a discussion about that under way in Britain and elsewhere at the moment. The British prime minister, Tony Blair, has made it very clear what he thinks.

He thinks it was this bilateral quiet diplomacy that his government pursued that eventually got this very positive result. But he had been following a dual strategy. At the same time as indulging in that quiet diplomacy, he was also working particularly early in the crisis to build international condemnation against Iran.

Now, it's not clear what actually happened. There is a third option, and that is perhaps that Iran extracted what propaganda value it could out of exhibiting and parading these captured British service personnel, having them apologize on Iranian television. It got what value it could, propaganda-wise in the region, and then decided unilaterally that it would just release them and look magnanimous in the process.

It may not have been any diplomatic pressure at all that resulted in that.

GORANI: All right.

Matthew Chance, live in London.

Thank you.

CLANCY: You know, we're looking over this entire situation, asking you your opinion as well.

GORANI: Well, do you think the release of those British troops will change anything? Will it open up dialogue between Iran and the West?

CLANCY: Send your opinions to us here at, one word, yourviews@cnn.com. We're going to be reading some of these out on the air, and interested to hear what you think about it.

Well, while President Ahmadinejad was the public face of Iran's surprise decision to release those detainees, was he really the one that was calling the shots?

Let's get some perspective on that and bring in our Middle East correspondent, Aneesh Raman. He's right now in Amman, Jordan.

Aneesh, who was running the show?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, in principle, it was the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. But in practice, it was Dr. Ali Larijani. He's the secretary of Iran's National security Committee. He is a close ally of the supreme leader, and he is seen as a pragmatist when it comes to international diplomacy. One can assume he is who the British prime minister was speaking about when earlier today he talked about new lines of communication opening up.

The crux equation for Iran, as we heard Matthew suggest, really, it seems, was this: to have this standoff go long enough to show Iranian resolve, Iranian strength, but not go so long that it put Iran into a path of no return in terms of potential international isolation. Clearly, Tehran felt it reached that mark on Tuesday, and had the opportunity to really one up that position by those orchestrated images of grandeur.

So, it was a calculated decision, it seems, from Iran's top leader, via Dr. Ali Larijani -- Jim.

CLANCY: What did it do for the image, though, of Ahmadinejad?

RAMAN: Well, clearly, within Iran, his popularity has suffered greatly over the past few months. He hasn't delivered on economic reform, but he is very popular still among the hard-liners, which is why it was so interesting that, given he was taken out of the decision making, that he became the very public, very smiling face of the release of those British personnel. It could very well be that publicly Iran wants to tie this all together nicely, not show publicly divisions within the government, show unity, and that's why Ahmadinejad became the man that actually pardoned them and allowed them to leave.

CLANCY: Concurrently, Iran and the West are really locked in a showdown over Iran's nuclear enrichment program. Just having Larijani play such a prominent role in all of this, what effect could it have done the road?

RAMAN: Well, the hope, certainly from the British government, that we've seen implicitly suggested is that the same lines of communication with Dr. Ali Larijani can be carried over into the nuclear dispute. Of course, many of the Western governments have said one of the difficulties is figuring out who they actually should talk to within the Iranian government to find out what the position is of Tehran.

The message out of this standoff from Iran was this: diplomacy works. And it was a not-so-subtle hint that that's what should happen, dialogue, not confrontation, over that nuclear dispute.

The fear, of course, is the larger dynamic, the United States and Tehran, Washington and Iran. And the fear is that Washington, who sees things in a very black and white manner, may not allow this sort of nuance diplomacy that Iran requires to actually take place, given all the military signals and buildups we've seen in the Persian Gulf.

CLANCY: Aneesh Raman there with not only a view of what's going on today, but we can look for on the horizon. Aneesh, as always, thank you.

GORANI: Well, let's check some of the other news we're following today.

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GORANI: Welcome back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: That's right. We're covering the news the world wants to know. And we're going to look now to a story in Iraq, where the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni group, says an attack on its television station earlier was an attempt to silence what it calls the voice of moderation.

A suicide bomb exploded just meters away from the party's Baghdad headquarters. It killed one employee, a prominent journalist, and wounded 12 others. The blast knocked the satellite station off the air, temporarily, at least. Nearby cars were set ablaze.

GORANI: Well, it's a brand name in America and in the West, and it's stirring controversy in the East. The editor of "Playboy" in Indonesia has been cleared of indecency charges. The ruling comes a year after a less risque Indonesian version of the men's magazine hit newsstands, sparking protests across Muslim nations.

Religious hard-liners are upset at the verdict, and they are vowing to press on with their fight.

Anjali Rao reports.

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ANJALI RAO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The verdict was met with only a muted reaction from those assembled in the court. The Islamic Defenders Front, and anti-'"Playboy" group dressed all in white, listened to the proceedings, then quickly left.

A few hundred of their supporters gathered outside, watched by hundreds of police. Authorities were ready for trouble, but there turned out to be no need for their water cannon.

"Playboy's" editor, Erwin Arnada, had faced a maximum penalty of two and a half years, charged with distributing indecent pictures and making money off them. But the judge said the magazine could not be categorized as pornography. Prosecutors say Arnada and his magazine have harmed the morals of the country.

AS'AD YUSUF, LAWYER FOR ISLAMIC DEFENDERS FRONT: We can say that this is the death of the morality in Indonesia, but it's not the end of the (INAUDIBLE).

RAO: The magazine's first edition was published in April 2006, though it was a tamer version of the "Playboy" most readers in the West would recognize. It contained no nudity and less visible flesh.

But Indonesia's version of "Playboy" was still hot enough to spark protests and attacks on the "Playboy" offices in Jakarta. Hard- liners smashed windows and doors, forcing the magazine to move to mostly Hindu Bali. Lawyers representing the Muslim groups which filed the suit say they plan to re-file their complaint.

Anjali Rao, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: All right. We'll keep following that story.

Now a Kenyan woman has emerged from a horrific attack that disfigured her with her life, hopes and dreams unblemished.

CLANCY: And it wasn't easy, though, Hala. As you'll see, it took surgeons far away in Britain to complete her transformation.

GORANI: Nina Nannar has her story. But a word of caution, some of the images you are about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello there.

NINA NANNAR, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice over): After so many heartache and pain, this is at least a happy time for Sundeep and her new husband Amripal (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is married life?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great. Great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes? Yes?

NANNAR: She had to wait two years for this, her traditional Punjabi wedding, her moment as a beautiful bride. It was an occasion that had to be delayed through horrific circumstances.

In 2005, Sundeep was badly disfigured when an unknown attacker through acid at her near her home in Nairobi. It has taken two years of surgery by British doctors to rebuild her face.

SUNDEEP HUNJAN, ACID ATTACK VICTIM: As I go out more, many people have seen me, so they do recognize me. It's not that they don't. So, it makes me more confident.

They can tell it's the same Sundeep, so it's fine for me. And that -- personally, I feel I do look almost like I was before.

NANNAR: Doctors at Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex had a massive job on their hands. This is how Sundeep was before her attack.

Her eyelids, badly burned, had to be rebuilt. Her nose, her chin, all required major surgery. And doctors who gave their time for free to help her even restored her hair. Now, at last, all major surgery is complete.

DR. RAMAN MALHOTRA, HUNJAN'S DOCTOR: This is one of the worst cases I had ever seen, and I really couldn't have imagined that we would have achieved such a an excellent result in such a short space of time.

NANNAR: Sundeep had feared she would never have her wedding. How different things look now.

HUNJAN: I'm happy now. I'm so happy now that we are married, and life will go on. So, we have so much more to look forward to.

NANNAR: Newly married, newly confident, and so grateful to the doctors who helped her. Now Sundeep can start concentrating on her future.

Nina Nannar, ITV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Unbelievable job there they did in a couple of years. What she looked like two years ago and what she looks like today...

CLANCY: A lot of people interested in this, too. You know, on our sister site, CNN Interactive, our Web site, this is the most popular story that people are looking at today, a transformation of a young woman. And really, restoring not her face, but really restoring her life.

GORANI: And her confidence.

All right, we're going to take a short break on YOUR WORLD TODAY. When we come back, a check of the financial markets.

CLANCY: Also, another brawl over a football match. Fans doing a lot of finger-pointing in this one. And they are pointing at Italian police.

GORANI: And later, the official New York City condom. It gets a makeover. I said official, and, yes, I said condom.

We'll explain ahead.

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CLANCY: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries and territories all around the globe, including here in the United States.

GORANI: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

I'm Hala Gorani. CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. And these are the stories making headlines.

Fifteen British sailors and marines back at home after nearly two weeks of captivity in Iran. They were reunited with their families at a base in southwestern England after landing in London.

southwestern England after landing in London. British Prime Minister Tony Blair says there was no deal, no negotiation, no side agreement with Tehran for their release.

GORANI: British troops on patrol west of Basra were ambushed twice Thursday. The second time with fatal results. Four soldiers and a Kuwaiti translator died in the attack. A combination of roadside bombs and rocket propelled grenades.

In Baghdad, a powerful suicide bomb was apparently aimed at a Sunni-run television station. One employee was killed and 12 others were wounded by the blast.

Two major sports stories in the news this day. A pair of Manchester United supporters remain in the hospital after violent clashes with AC Roma fans during Wednesday's Champion's League match.

At least 20 people were wounded in that fighting which also involved Italian riot police.

And the $100 million man, Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka making his Major League debut in the U.S. shortly. He's going to start for the Boston Red Sox against the Kansas City Royals.

GORANI: Returning now to our top story. The end of the crisis over those British troops detained in Iran. Their seizure in disputed waters of the Persian Gulf has some in the U.S. wondering, could something happen to American patrols in that area, and there are American patrols in that disputed waterway.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr put that question to the U.S. Navy's highest ranking officer, and she joins us now with details on how he answered that question. Hello, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Hala. Well, indeed, make no mistake, the U.S. military for the last several days has been watching this incident unfold between the British military sailors and marines, and the Iranian government, and they have been watching it around the clock.

Earlier today, we conducted an exclusive interview with Admiral Michael Mullen, the U.S. chief of naval operations, he has been in constant contact with his British counterparts, with his own commanders in the region. And we did put the exact question to him -- could all of this have happened to the U.S. Navy?

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ADM. MICHAEL MULLEN, U.S. CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS: It's a dangerous world. We can't be perfectly predictive. But my expectation is that American sailors are never seized in a situation like that. And individuals and units are guided by the right of self- defense, they don't have to ask permission to take action to protect themselves. And they go into operations like this, and missions like this, with that understanding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Mullen taking a pretty tough line there. He does not expect his sailors and marines to ever be taken captive. Already, in fact, the U.S. Navy had stepped up its security procedures in the Persian Gulf area when it conducts these patrols. That had all been going on for some time.

Admiral Mullen, Hala, making it very clear, when he talks about the right of self-defense, he means that if U.S. troops are threatened, they will defend themselves, they will use lethal force, they will shoot. And they don't have to call anybody in Washington, he says, for permission to do that.

Now he also went on to say, he will be talking to his British counterparts in the days ahead, trying to get more information about exactly what happened. Were any of these British sailors and marines under duress, under coercion? He wants to know that to see if the U.S. Navy has to change and of its training for its troops out in the region to be able to cope if something like this were to happen.

But Admiral Mullen also made it clear that U.S. troops have a code of conduct. If they are taken, name, Social Security number and their rank. And very little conversation with their captors, he said. Hala?

GORANI: All right. A very different approach.

A good question there on a U.S. helicopter that was forced down in Iraq this morning. You have some information about what might have forced that helicopter down, Barbara?

STARR: Right, Hala. We have spoken to some sources familiar with the incident. One U.S. military official who has some familiarity with the latest reports says now that the initial indications are that helicopter was brought down by small arms fire. What is not clear yet is whether the small arms fire led to the helicopter being forced down, essentially, or, whether the pilot, knowing he had taken fire, decided to land. There were nine people on board, four injured, but there were, thankfully, no fatalities.

GORANI: All right. Thanks for clearing that up. Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent.

CLANCY: Well, now we're going to examine our question of the day and your responses.

GORANI: Now we've been asking you, do you think the release of those British troops will open dialogue between Iran and the West?

CLANCY: William from Croatia doesn't think so. He writes, "The release of the British will make no difference. Blair has already closed the door and is dancing to the same old tune."

GORANI: Now, viewer Jeff writes and disagrees. "Diplomacy is the only way to solve any disputes. The release of the 15 British captives has definitely opened a negotiation channel between Britain and Iran."

CLANCY: Marloth from the Netherlands weighed in with this. "I don't think there is any chance of dialogue between Iran and the West as long as Bush is president. Bush has already made up his mind, war is the answer to Iran," is how she concludes that.

GORANI: All right. If you'd like to tell us what you think, e- mail us. As always yourviews, one word, @cnn.com.

CLANCY: And there's a lot of U.S. viewers that have written in, too. Their comments, surprisingly, many of them do not believe that the diplomacy is properly being followed up in this case. All right.

On with other news now. It's been nearly two years since those teams of suicide bombers detonated explosives aboard London's transit system. Well now Scotland Yard says it has enough evidence to prove the bombers had some help. But as Paula Newton reports, there could be other suspects that remain at large.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the hours after the gruesome attacks of July 7th, 2005, counterterrorism officials in Britain launched one of the most complicated and covert operations in their history.

Returning to the neighborhoods where the four suicide bombers grew up and lived, and apparently plotted their attacks. Now three alleged accomplices have been charged with maliciously plotting with the suicide bombers to cause explosions. With these charges, the very first in this case, Scotland Yard says the investigation has reached a new stage. Their manhunt is now out in the open.

PETER CLARKE, HEAD, COUNTER-TERRORISM COMMAND: Who else knew what was happening? We will find out. It is only a matter of time. It is highly likely that in due course, there will be further arrests.

NEWTON: It is an unnerving revelation for Britain. Key members of a terrorist cell possibly still on the loose. And it is all the more worrying now that prosecutors are alleging that the three suspects charged were also targeting London tourist attractions.

SUE HEMMING, CHIEF COUNTER-TERRORISM PROSECUTOR: The allegation is that they were involved in reconnaissance and planning for a plot with those ultimately responsible for the bombings on the 7th of July before the plan was finalized.

NEWTON: Scotland Yard says this case is a puzzle they are still piecing together. Convinced others are still at large, going as far as saying they believe witnesses are being intimidated.

CLARKE: The search is not over. I firmly believe that there are other people who have knowledge of what lay behind the attacks from July 2005. Knowledge that they have not shared with us. In fact, I don't only believe it, I know it for a fact.

NEWTON (on camera): This is all unsettling in a country where the Secret Service warns that the 7/7 attacks were not an isolated incident. As many as 30 terror plots could be brewing and key suspects, even in this case, remain at large. Paula Newton, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Well, football, or soccer, captures passions all over the world. But disturbing scenes in the aftermath of a match between Manchester United and the Roma football team have some people crying foul. They're accusing of Italian police of overreacting. Alessio Vinci has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even before the match began, fans clashed outside the stadium, leaving 18 injured. Among them, this Manchester United supporter who was taken to a Rome hospital. He says he was ambushed by a group of Roma fans wielding knives.

STEVE FITZSIMONS, MANCHESTER UNITED FAN: I got stabbed just above the thigh here. Lucky to be alive, another two centimeters, it would have hit an artery and I would have been dead.

VINCI: Cashes also erupted shortly before halftime following a Roma goal, when fans taunted each other close to the separation barrier. Riot police intervened with tear gas and batons, prompting Manchester United officials to accuse them of overreacting.

Rome's official in charge of police operations who was present at the stadium, rejected the accusation. "Obviously, when we have to intervene in these situations, we cannot do it with flowers," he told CNN. "But it lasted only a minute, and I don't think there were unnecessary actions taken. I will launch an inquiry," he said, "but only if there is evidence of alleged police brutality."

Manchester United fans returning home had no doubts. ASHLEY WILSON, MANCHESTER UNITED FAN: I was scared to death. Almost got caught (ph) in the back of my head. Battered and bruised all over, and I can't understand why they weighed into us like they did. We did nothing. You can probably see it on TV. I mean, my girlfriend spoke to me today, said, there was nothing to provoke it. I just got weighed into and just wave after wave after wave and it didn't stop. There was a 60-year-old guy next to me being shielded by his wife, getting hit again and again and again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They group up in a big line, and then they don't -- they don't really, like, take into consideration any people's safety. They just swing the batons, swing first, think later, I suppose.

VINCI: A ban on the sale of alcohol in the city before and after the game appears to have been largely ignored. Journalist Victor Simpson witnessed some of the clashes.

VICTOR SIMPSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS: It's really hard to find out who is -- who started it. But they are always out there. Teams have both sides, whether they are away from home, at home, and I think they like to mix it up.

VINCI: On its Web site, Manchester united warned fans to stay away from certain areas of the city saying there was a real danger of being attacked by Roma fans.

(on camera): The warning issued by Manchester United outraged some Rome security officials who said it only contributed to the tension.

(voice-over): This tension is expected to remain high until next week's return match at Old Trafford. Manchester police will be on high alert. But soccer violence in England has declined, just has it has become a bigger problem here in Italy.

Alessio Vinci, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: For baseball fans in the united states, all eyes are on one guy. Dice-K, they are calling him.

GORANI: Well -- that's easier to pronounce than his real name. I'll be honest, the Japanese phenomenon with the $100 million arm is about 90 minutes away from his U.S. Major League debut. But will he live up to the hype? And the massive paycheck?

CLANCY: Another story we are following. Praying for rain in the clutches of the worst drought in a century. Australia struggling to survive in paper-dry conditions. We will have a look at how bad things could get. That's coming up, right here on YOUR WORLD TODAY. Stay with CNN.

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GORANI: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

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

GORANI: Including Australia, and Australians are used to living through dry spells. But not like this one they are suffering through now.

CLANCY: They said this could turn out to be the worst drought in the recorded history of Australia.

GORANI: Now, as James MacDonald reports, some people are afraid things could get even worse.

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ROSS THOMPSON, AUSTRALIAN FARMER: We would just be under water now.

JAMES MACDONALD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ross Thompson remembers when this dried up dam was almost overflowing. But lately, he's seen barely a trickle, leaving this Australian farmer with a constant question. Will this be the rain day he so badly needs?

THOMPSON: My wife thinks I'm going mad. Because I check the radar three or four hours, I check the updated weather forecast every three or four hours.

MACDONALD: In the last year this cattle farm in southeastern Australia has had roughly a quarter of the normal rainfall. Times are tough, even for farmers accustomed to this unforgiving climate.

THOMPSON: '94 was a horrendous drought, '97 was a horrendous drought, 2002 was a very difficult drought. And this is probably been the worst of them.

MACDONALD: Maybe the worst in a century. It's been called the Big Dry, a long-running and gripping most of the country. Dry spells are common in Australia, but researcher believe this is something else.

FRANK DROST, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES: This particular pattern that we're experiencing now, the severity and the length of the drought, I think people are saying, have been saying, about once in 500,000 year event, is unique.

MACDONALD: It's not just farms. Reservoirs supplying major cities are running low. There are severe restrictions on water use. To prevent a shortage, radical and unpopular solutions are being considered, like recycling sewage into drinking water. The drought is keeping climate on the agenda, and leaving many wondering if there is a link to global warming.

TIM FLANNERY, GLOBAL WARMING SCIENTIST AND AUTHOR: Aspects of the drought are without doubt I think tied to climate change. We've seen a global decline in the rainfall zone across southern Australia that's very well-attested to be a factor of or outcome really of global warming.

MACDONALD (on camera): A year and a half ago, this creek bed was full of water. Today, it's dry as a bone. And after 18 months, many farmers are wondering when the drought is finally going to come to an end.

(voice-over): Agriculture has been hit hard the production is down, and the government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Some farmers are giving up and leaving the land. Although the drought has cost Ross Thompson a small fortune, he's decided to stick it out.

THOMPSON: We're very resilient as a breed of people, farmers, and we all love what we do.

MACDONALD: Still waiting for the drought to break, that resilience is being put to the test. James MacDonald, CNN, Australia, near Bathurst, Australia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: We continue to follow, of course, the release of those 15 British royal marines and sailors. They have arrived back in England. And we have got a comment that was coming from a spokesman for the Royal Navy, Lieutenant Colonel Andy Price, speaking with reporters in Devon, England, earlier. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. ANDY PRICE, BRITISH ROYAL NAVY: They were extremely happy to be back home in the U.K. and reunited with their loved ones. "Touching down at Heathrow this morning, was, for all of us a dream come true, and the welcome home we have enjoyed today is one none of us will ever forget. The past two weeks have been very difficult. But by staying together as a team, we kept our spirits up, drawing great comfort from the knowledge that our loved ones would be waiting for us on our return to the U.K. It is only now that we have learned the enormous public support we have all enjoyed in the U.K. and we wish to thank everyone for their thoughts, kind words, and prayers. It means so much to us all.

"We all long to be back with our loved ones, and now that we are home, we all are very much looking forward to spending some time with them. We are also extremely grateful for all the support we had have the media, and we would also ask that we would have some space and privacy at this time."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: All right. There you heard it. Statement, a joint statement, coming from those 15 royal navy sailors and marines. Wire services are attributing a quote to them, saying that their time there had been very difficult. Obviously, expressing, too, some concerns, because, it was only when they got home they saw just how much their statements to the video cameras were exploited by the Iranian media during their captivity. We're going to take a short break. We'll be back right after this.

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CLANCY: Well, there you see it. That was the huge throng of Japanese cameras and camera crews coming to Kansas City, Missouri. Where else? Of course, they are following the U.S. Major League debut of a pitcher whose name we'll get to know. Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The Japanese hurler's Boston Red Sox take on the Kansas City Royals about an hour and Boston shelled out more than $100 million in order to bring Matsuzaka to the United States. Let's get a sense of the scene at Kaufman Stadium there in Kansas City. Joining us now on the line is Tony Massarotti, who covers the Red Sox for the "Boston Herald."

Mr. Massarotti, how far does this go? The Japanese have been in the United States, they seem to be rising to a complete new level in the game.

TONY MASSAROTTI, "BOSTON HERALD" SPORTSWRITER: Well, there's no question about that. And certainly, Hideo Nomo, when he came to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995, had quite an impact. But since Ichiro Suzuki joined the Seattle Mariners in 2001, when we won the most valuable player award, there's been a real turn up in Japanese interest in American baseball. And now with Matsuzaka here, I think it's reached unprecedented level. Largely because of the money the Red Sox spent on him during the winter. It was $103 million they committed to bring him here, and, which, certainly gets the indication their expectations are that they expect him to be impact performer here.

CLANCY: But it also raises so many expectations, you know, when he takes to the mound today, I mean, all the pressure's going to be on this kid.

MASSAROTTI: Well, absolutely no doubt about it. And, in fact, it's not just pressure in Boston, or, in the United States, and in Boston, there's a bit of an obsession and addiction, really, to the Red Sox to begin with.

But the game is going to be broadcast live at 3:00 a.m. Japan Time, and Matsuzaka -- to give you an idea what type of audience they are expecting there, when Matsuzaka pitched in his first spring game here, and that was against a college team, Boston College, in fact, there were an estimated 14 million people watching that game at 8:00 in the morning.

So, from what I understand, from some members of the Japanese media, they are expecting at least a big of a crowd, even though the game is going to be broadcast in the very early morning hours.

CLANCY: How about this gyroball? How about all the hype around that. Are the Japanese pitchers really bringing all that much new into the -- well, a game that, of course, Americans think is all their own?

MASSAROTTI: No, really, it's really an issue of semantics more than anything else. Any pitcher can call a pitch whatever he wants. And if he gives it a new name, I suppose there is the perception that there is something new. In effect, what the gyroball is, it's a combination of a changeup and/or split finger fastball. And, really, the closest American comparison would be a screwball. That is really what it's like, which few American pitchers really throw anymore, just because of the strain it puts on the arm.

But Matsuzaka has thrown it for the bulk of his career. Has had no arm trouble as a result of it, and I'm sure will unveil it here today against the Kansas City Royals.

CLANCY: All right, a lot of people watching the game. What's the sense there among the sports writers and everybody else about the increased presence of Japanese nationals coming to these games? Obviously, not only in the media corps?

MASSAROTTI: Well, it certainly feels that way, but this game does have a national and international element. There are reporters here from American media outlets all over the country, including New York and Washington, and obviously, there are a tremendous number of Japanese media here.

You get the feeling that there are dignitaries arriving at this game. I have yet to specifically identify one, but it has that feel to it very much like a playoff game would here in October.

CLANCY: Tony Massarotti, there, sportswriter, going to be watching the game and he will be writing that up, catch his report tomorrow in the "Boston Herald." Tony, thanks a lot for being with us.

Hala?

GORANI: The Big Apple is excited about changes to the official New York City condom. They have officials condoms in New York City. They've had them for years, part of an effort to reduce, of course, rates of sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies but recently there's been a redesign of the wrapper.

And now people can't get enough of them Mayor Bloomberg's office says the city gave away a record 5 million condoms in the first month the design was introduced. "New York, we've got you covered," is the slogan.

CLANCY: All right. I guess it fits.

GORANI: Fun to work on that ad campaign. All right. That's it for this hour. I'm Hala Horani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Stay with CNN.

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