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Your World Today

U.S. Negotiator Makes Rare Trip to Pyongyang; Lebanon Fighting; Shutting Down North Korea's Nuclear Program is a Complicated Process, Not To Mention, Their Tendency To Bend The Rules.

Aired June 22, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: An about-face for North Korea. Pyongyang gives cues it is ready to shut down a nuclear reactor.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Getting around an executive order. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney tries to keep classified documents off the record despite orders from the top.

MCEDWARDS: Feminism through fashion. Women push for change in Iran as police enforcing a law requiring head scarves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was great the service in the military. I contributed in my country and it was a great experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: Trading their uniforms for bikinis. Former Israeli soldiers pitching in for a government-sponsored advertising campaign.

MCEDWARDS: It is 7:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. It is 12:00 p.m. in Washington. Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Colleen McEdwards.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier.

From Berlin to Boston, from Cape Town to Kuala Lumpur, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

U.S. envoy Christopher Hill says North Korea is now prepared to shut down its controversial nuclear reactor at Pyongyang. Hill had just come back from two day of talks with North Korea's nuclear negotiator. He is the highest ranking U.S. government official to visit Pyongyang in five years' time. And as John Vause reports, it was a visit that many in the Bush administration once swore would never happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When is a deal not a deal? When the deal, it seems, is with North Korea and its unpredictable leader, Kim Jong-il. CHRISTOPHER HILL, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: The six- party process has had a rather serious bump in the road in the last few months.

VAUSE: Critics have argued not so much a road bump, but a roadblock, put up by the North Koreans.

DAVID SHAMBAUGH, ANALYST: It's a question of getting North Korea to live up to this agreement. After all, they've signed previous agreements they haven't lived up to.

VAUSE: There has been no progress since all of the self- congratulations in Beijing earlier this year. Everything stalled, over $25 million North Korean money held at this bank in Macau and frozen by the U.S. Treasury amid allegations the bank was involved in counterfeiting.

The U.S. insists the money has now been released and to jump- start the talks, chief U.S. enjoy Christopher Hill made a two-day visit to Pyongyang. So last minute, there was trouble finding a private jet.

HILL: What was encouraging was the fact the North Koreans are prepared to move ahead and shut down the reactor. They're also clearly prepared to disable the reactor.

VAUSE: Two months have already passed since the North Koreans were meant to shut down their nuclear reactor, and now once again the six parties involved in these negotiations, the U.S., two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia, plan to sit down and resume talking.

(on camera): So before those talks even get started, chalk one up for the North. Hill's personal visit there is the first by a top U.S. official in almost five years and appears to be a concession by Washington which has, for years, insisted there be no one-on-one meetings with the North Koreans.

John Vause, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: In Pyongyang, Christopher Hill spoke with North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator and foreign minister. And just a short time ago, he talked with us in an exclusive interview about his visit and the timetable for shutting down the reactor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: We've got the international inspectors who are supposed to get in there pretty soon, and they're going spend a few days kind of figuring out their terms of reference. And then soon thereafter, the North Koreans are going to shut the thing down and put seals on it and keep it shut down.

But, you know, we don't want them to just stop with shutting it down. We want to get on with the next step of disabling. And that will come probably -- the actual disabling, where you break it and it can't be brought back on line, we're talking probably a few months to get that step done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: That's the plan anyway, but there have been many, many hitches along the way with this thing. Those six-party talks, by the way, on North Korea's nuclear program are set to resume in early July.

FRAZIER: This about-face on North Korea is an abrupt change, especially for an administration in the U.S. that prides itself on consistency. But at least one Washington authority says that in this case the White House is, in fact, doing the right thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: If a visit from an assistant secretary of state to Pyongyang can help crease the skids, maybe it helps the North Koreans with a little bit of face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: Not everyone agrees with that, though. Critics say sending Hill to Pyongyang is a sign of weakness born of desperation.

Michael Green, once one of President Bush's top advisors on Asia, says, "It is therefore perplexing to see the U.S. now taking a series of unilateral steps to unravel this policy and reward North Korea for doing... well, nothing."

FRAZIER: The same topic now, different country. We're getting confusing statements from Iran ahead of an important meeting about that country's nuclear program.

An unofficial Iranian news agency report says that the country has now stockpiled 100 kilograms of enriched uranium, the fuel for nuclear weapons. It has quoted the country's interior minister for that number, but now the minister -- the ministry, rather, is denying the quote.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator meets the head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency today.

And here's a quick check of some other stories making news.

(NEWSBREAK)

FRAZIER: Despite government assurances, the fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp is clearly not over in the northern part of Lebanon. Gun and artillery fire erupted sporadically today. The army says it is tightening the noose around fugitive militants who are inside the camp. The two leaders of the uprising are still at large.

And as Brent Sadler tells us, the real end of this confrontation could still be weeks away. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): Lebanese government forces threw everything they had into a fight to defeat Fatah al-Islam, an al Qaeda-style Islamic militant group. Deploying maximum fire power to destroy well (ph) 45 positions in the Nahr al- Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli in northern Lebanon.

ELIAS MURR, LEBANESE DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): The military operation is over. The terrorist leadership has run away, but the camp remains a military area and the theater of operations until those criminals are handed over.

SADLER: For weeks, Lebanese army artillery pounded their holdouts from afar with deadly cannon fire. Naval forces backed up ground troops. And as tanks moved in to blast their main strongholds, army special forces and infantry units fought intense machine gun and grenade battles against combat-hardened militants.

This camp war raged for more than a month. Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 15-year civil war here that started in 1975 and ended in 1990, igniting fears violence could spread to other camps that are scattered across the country.

Inch by inch, this relentless offensive tore down buildings, drove out the well-armed fighters, and eventually cornered them. But the cost was high. At least 75 soldiers were killed in the battles. Many fell to snipers, booby-traps and buildings that collapsed when explosives detonated.

Dozens of militants were killed, and at least 20 civilians also lost their lives. But it is difficult to be precise about casualties, because there's been no independent access to the camp for any prolonged period of time.

The latest claims the army has crushed the terrorists came as Lebanese officials admit the militant leadership itself seems to have survived the firestorm, taking refuge deep inside the embattled camp, hiding, it said, amongst civilians who many number a few hundred. The military says the camp remains a dangerous place to be and that lower- level combat could last many more weeks, unless the runaway militant leaders and remnants of their group are killed, surrender or are captured.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.

FRAZIER: And here we take a break. But when we come back, secrets at the White House.

MCEDWARDS: The U.S. vice president says he is entitled to withhold records from a government agency, but critics in Congress say his actions are downright criminal.

FRAZIER: Also, they are gorgeous and they know how to brandish a weapon. Israel brings out some of its sexiest former soldiers to boost its image abroad. MCEDWARDS: Look out.

And the height of adventure. Our Richard Quest explores the alluring beauty of Tibet. Some incredible pictures in this story.

Stay with us. It's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

FRAZIER: We're seen live in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe.

U.S. Senate leaders say they have set America on a path toward a reduction of its dependence on oil. In the first time in 20 years, Congress is now taking steps to raise the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The Senate passed a bill that requires all vehicles to average 35 miles per gallon, but not until the year 2020. The bill also requires huge increases in ethanol production and provides funding for research into fuel-efficient vehicles. The House of Representatives plans to take up similar legislation sometime soon.

MCEDWARDS: Well, now to a controversy that has critics accusing the U.S. vice president of acting as if he is above the law. Dick Cheney says he is just exercising his constitutional rights in withholding information from the National Archives, but as Suzanne Malveaux reports, some say that is a distortion of American history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The vice president's office is keeping a secret. The secret is over how many secrets it keeps.

An order by President Bush requires Cheney's office to tell the National Archives how many documents it classifies or declassifies each year. For years, the vice president's office has refused.

Now Cheney's solution to the dispute, just abolish the office asking for the records. That according to Congressman Henry Waxman, who heads the congressional committee investigating the matter. He warned Cheney in a letter that his actions could be downright criminal, saying, "I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions."

For Cheney's part, his camp would neither confirm or deny whether they sought to abolish the National Archives Office seeking the vice president's records. But they did respond to Waxman's accusations, saying, "We are confident that we are conducting the office properly under the law."

That executive order Mr. Bush signed in 2003 required all agencies and any other entity within the executive branch to report its records for classifying top-secret documents. But according to Waxman, the vice president's office is now claiming it is not an entity within the executive branch.

Sound cut and dry? Not exactly.

If abolishing the National Archives Office doesn't work, Cheney's office has another tactic. They say as vice president, Cheney also serves as the president of the Senate, which means he's in the unique position of straddling the executive and legislative branches.

STEVEN AFTERGOOD, FED. OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: It's transparently silly. If it were true, then we would have to rewrite all of the textbooks that we all grew up with. It's obvious that the vice president's office is part of the executive branch, and to claim otherwise is preposterous.

MALVEAUX: Those textbooks say the U.S. Constitution establishes the office of vice president under executive branch, Article II Section I.

(on camera): What is also interesting is that the Bush administration has made the case numerous times for keeping information secret, citing executive privilege and executive power. So it seems inconsistent that the vice president's office is now saying that he's in a unique position.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: For viewers in the United States, a check of U.S. headlines is coming up next.

FRAZIER: For everyone else, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues.

And coming up, is she or is she not getting a ton of money for a television interview after she steps out of jail? The details may be a bit fuzzy at this hour, but Paris Hilton is already generating more fuzz and buzz.

MCEDWARDS: Also ahead, coming to America. But before refugees begin a new life in the United States, they have to learn the ABCs of being American.

America 101 when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back to our viewers, joining us from more than 200 countries and territories around the world, including the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

I'm Colleen McEdwards.

FRAZIER: And I'm Stephen Frazier.

Here are some of the stories we've been tracking at this hour.

The U.S. space agency, NASA, is trying for a second day now to bring the shuttle Atlantis back to Earth. But you saw those clouds which make it hard. Bad weather in Florida has meant they will skip Friday's earliest scheduled landing opportunity at the Kennedy Space Center. The next opportunity is in about three hours' time, but it's not in Florida. It's at California's Edwards Air Force Base.

MCEDWARDS: An airstrike that killed 25 Afghan civilians is prompting a demand for a serious NATO investigation. Secretary- General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer calls the incident an unfortunate mistake. The kind NATO must avoid or risk alienating the Afghan people. NATO says the air strike was ordered after ground forces came on fire from Taliban fighters. About 20 Taliban were killed.

CLANCY: Some unusually positive language from U.S. Envoy Christopher Hill who calls his talks in North Korea very useful and positive. He just spent two days meeting with North Korea's top nuclear negotiator. He is the most senior U.S. official to visit Pyongyang in five year's time. Now the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program are set to resume in early July.

Christopher Hill also said that he expects the Yongbyon nuclear complex to be fully shut down within a few weeks now. What would that actually amount to? Jonathan Mann joins us with insights.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yongbyon is not equipped with a big on/off switch and so what is ahead is not exactly straight- forward. There are more than 100 at Yongbyon, with dozen different facilities and with a difficult negotiating partner like North Korea, breaking down may be hard to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN MCCORMACK, SPOKESMAN, U.S. STATE DEPT.: I believe that we have taken an expansive view of what constitutes Yongbyon facility. I think our view is it encompasses all of the buildings on that -- within that facility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: The heart of Yongbyon is the five-megawatt nuclear reactor that everyone has been talking about. That's where Pyongyang has been making the plutonium for its nuclear weapons. If it were a regular reactor, in a regular country, there would be a few typical steps ahead. First, there'd be the shut down, of course, simple enough to understand. Then, a clean up. They'd have to remove the fuel and store it. Then decontamination; they would clean everything out so that it would actually be safe to demolish it. Then they would dismantle and carry out the demolition.

What does the U.S. want at Yongbyon?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HILL, U.S. ASSIST. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think we're going to get the shutdown of this reactor. That is not the whole problem, obviously, because we've got to go from a shut down of the reactor, to disabling it, so it can't be brought back online. We also have to get some clarity on what has been going on with highly enriched uranium. And, finally, we need to get the materials that were already produced and we need to get a hold of those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: That may be the sticky part. There's a lot more than just that one reactor we've been talking about. There's an entirely separate, for example, 50 megawatt reactor that's been under construction on and off for years, and another even bigger half built one at a separate site, that is not part of this agreement. At Yongbyon there is also a plant that manufacturers fuel rods, a reprocessing plant that recovers uranium and plutonium from fuel rods, and a facility to store the used rods.

There are a lot of other things besides. But some experts say this agreement is nonetheless a very good start.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL LEVI, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: The danger is not going to be gone. North Korea has an arsenal of nuclear weapons. That's a huge danger, that's a long-term process to deal with it. Now, if we're talking about preventing future building of nuclear weapons, creation of nuclear weapons material by North Korea, three key facilities, fuel production, nuclear reactor, and reprocessing facility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Critics, though, say that the extra facilities and the exact details are crucial. The devil is in the details and in North Korea's case, so is North Korea. In 1994, Pyongyang agreed with Washington to freeze its pursuit of nuclear weapons by dismounting its plutonium program. What the West discovered was that it was pursuing a uranium program instead. Given wiggle room, North Korea always finds a way to wiggle. Back to you.

MCEDWARDS: It does, indeed, Jon. Thanks very much for that.

The United States is one of the major destination countries for refugees fleeing conflict or persecution at home, but it is not all smooth sailing on that trip to America. Before starting their new lives abroad, refugees attend orientation classes to try to separate their dreams from reality. Arwa Damon visits one class in Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): First, the basics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone please guess what is the population of the United States?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 215 million?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can go a little up.

DAMON: This is cultural orientation to America 101. Time zones, climate, geography, people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one, American?

DAMON: The students are asked to vote are these Americans or not?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The lady, American?

DAMON: They're all American. The point?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if you have any doubts that's -- because of your appearance you think that you won't fit into the United States and people will like understand that you're an Iranian, or some other nationality, that's wrong, that won't happen.

DAMON: These are Iranian refugees, Bahia, fleeing religious persecution, scared of retribution they don't want their faces shown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a little excited, right now.

DAMON: The course, he says, will help him and his family cope when they make it to America, a land where dreams can come true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The refugees that come to us think that everything is so easy in the United States so they think they're going to be rich, they think they're going to be famous, they're going to have Ferraris, or big cars, or big houses and stuff.

DAMON: Fantasies about all things America. That Denize (ph) she warns the class aren't necessarily good for them -- like fast food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So don't get attracted to the family sized chips -- like they're this big.

DAMON: But survival in American is about more than just avoiding super size.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it a good idea to pay it in one or two payments, and then get rid of it?

DAMON: The flight to the U.S. is not free. The refugees have three years to pay it off. Denize (ph) uses that to introduce a concept these refugees have never heard -- building credit. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you pay your promise, or not, in, for example, 12 perfect payments, pay it on the right date, and the right amount, it will have a better start for your credit history. They're going to have a low hourly wage in the start and they're going to have to maybe work into a jobs, or three jobs, on the weekends. So that creates a problem because they have these fantasies.

DAMON: The three-day course will also teach education, rights, employment, basics of American law, the essentials to get started. But before they can get started in the U.S., they have to get there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So he is putting his luggage in the X-ray machine.

DAMON: It turns out only one person here has ever been on a plane before. Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Arwa was showing us Iranian citizens who are halfway here. They were in Turkey for those classes, and they have left. We also hear that some Iranian women still there are pushing the limits on the laws of attire. Religious fundamentalists are pushing back.

MCEDWARDS: They sure are. Coming up, we will see how fashion is mixed very much with feminism on the streets of Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't walk around with Uzi guns in Israel. We lead normal life. We're going out, we're having fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: That's a very different look on women's dress.

MCEDWARDS: Or undress, I was going to say. The Israeli government encourages former soldiers to show more skin.

CLANCY: For the sake of tourism, this is, by the way, tourism.

MCEDWARDS: We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN INTERNATIONAL.

CLANCY: We're seen live in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe.

We're talking now about students, professionals, poets, and even members of parliament.

MCEDWARDS: Women in Iran. Many accomplishments under their belt, that's for sure, but they still have to obey the rules of men when it comes to their attire.

CLANCY: Aneesh Raman looks at the legal rights of Iranian women and how a lot of them now are trying to push for change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From the hair to the head scarves, to the whole look in a country where women must cover their heads at all times, the way they do so is all about pushing a theocracy's limits.

But religious fundamentalists are now fighting back. Police have begun cracking down on women wearing the hijab, or head scarf, too loosely. Some fined and others arrested. Government official say they're just enforcing the law.

(On camera): The hijab is one part of a broad campaign being waged by women rights activists and over the past year here in Hactatier (ph) Square, under the guise of supreme leaders past and present, they have demonstrated for what they say is the core issue, prejudicial law.

Ali Karami is one of them. A lawyer by training and activist in practice she represents a number of women arrested in the past year for demonstrating against the basic laws.

ALI KARAMI, LAWYER, ACTIVIST (through translator): When women's lives are worth half those of men, what does that say about the human rights of a woman? It says that inequality is at its height. There is prejudice against women in other countries, but the difference in Iran is that it's written into law.

RAMAN: At every level, take Karami, for example, her testimony in court is worth half of that of a man's and overall from inheritance to divorce to social status, the laws in Iran, before and after the Islamic revolution, have treated women essentially as second class. But within those limits, Iranian women, Karami says, have never settled. They make up 65 percent of university students, are active in almost every professional field, and are pursuing change from within.

KARAMI (through translator): It is the will of all women in Iran, regardless of their education or social background, to see the laws changed. We have reached deep into society, every family, every woman.

RAMAN: Who, every day on the streets of Tehran, are mixing fashion with feminism. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: All right. Well, a very different way of looking at women now.

CLANCY: And this was official. Courtesy of the Israeli government.

MCEDWARDS: That's right. Israel says it has sexy soldiers.

CLANCY: They not only tell you that, the government, this is, will confirm it with pictures.

MCEDWARDS: Photo spreads in magazines, no less. Carol Costello has a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They're drop dead gorgeous and military trained. The girls in "Maxim" are former Israeli soldiers, who know how to wield a weapon. Take Yardin (ph), she loved taking apart her M-16. Or Gal, who was in charge whipping Israeli soldiers into shape.

GAL GADOT, FMR. ISRAELI SODLIER/MODEL: It was great, my service in the military. I contributed to my country. It was a great experience.

COSTELLO: It's the sort of thing you usually see in "Playboy" with features like the "Women of Enron", and the "Girls of 7/11", photo spreads not endorsed by their respective companies. But the "Maxim" spread is different. It was orchestrated by the Israeli government.

ARYE MEKEL, ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL: Israel has always mentioned in context of war and terror, you know? We're trying to change that. We're trying to create a situation where you think about Israel in a different way.

COSTELLO: The ambassador says tourism in Israel is steady, but it should be higher. Pictures of violent attacks in the Middle East are part of the problem. He wants young tourists to know that Israel is hip, sexy, fun.

"Maxim's" party celebrating the soldiers' spread was packed. That's Gal Gadot with the Israeli ambassador, surrounded by Israeli media. When word hit the street there, it wasn't completely embraced as a brilliant idea. The former Counsel General Collette Avatal (ph), calls the campaign pornographic, and wonders if the best way to encourage tourism is by advertising sex.

MEKEL: Oh, these days we're trying to use a new tool, in order to reach new audiences.

COSTELLO: And what about the image of the Israeli military, which took a hit during last year's conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon? Critics called the campaign inept and ineffective. How could this possibly repair the damage?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't walk around with Uzi guns in Israel. We lead a normal life. We're going out, we're having fun.

COSTELLO: Whatever effect the "Maxim" spread on Israel's image, "Maxim", the magazine, is thrilled. Sexy soldiers and its young male readership certainly mesh nicely. (On camera): Ambassador Mekel told me it was "Maxim's" idea to use Israeli soldiers. As for how the campaign is working, well, it is certain to get a lot of attention from "Maxim's" 2.5 million young male readers who hopefully like to travel. Carol Costello, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Heiress Paris Hilton won't be leaving the Los Angeles county jail until Monday. But her release is already making headlines, because "The New York Post" is reporting that the U.S. television network, NBC will be paying Hilton $1 million for her first post-jail interview. Her family and NBC both say there is nothing to that story. A lot of people, though, are hoping that is the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES: I have never seen anything like it and it is embarrassing for networks that ought to be spending time on, what, more serious issues, to be just swept up by this Paris mania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Paris Hilton's incarceration was the result of a long chain of legal events beginning when she failed a sobriety test while driving and pleaded no contest to reckless driving. A spokeswoman for Mother Against Drunk Driving says the organization is appalled that somebody would be rewarded with a million dollars, basically for being arrested for drunk driving. MADD would rather see those dollars go to the elimination of drunk driving.

MCEDWARDS: Well, you have to leave it to Paris Hilton, I suppose, to cause a controversy even while behind bars. But some people are getting pretty fed up with the woman who is pretty much famous for simply being famous. Earlier I spoke with Anita Talbert, she's chief columnist for the magazine "Style Hollywood." And we had some fun with this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANITA TALBERT, "STYLE HOLLYWOOD": It's a rumor. It's not verified. And I hear NBC is doing it through the back door, through "Access Hollywood", which means they beat out Barbara Walters. But it's not for sure. It is a rumor. I understand that also, Getty Images may pay her $300,000 for the first picture, so crime pays.

MCEDWARDS: Why would she subject herself to this, and her family? This is not someone who needs the money, so why on earth would they bother?

TALBERT: Why would Paris bother? Because she loves the attention. I've known Paris since she was 16 years old. She has always been outrageous. She set her sights on being a celebrity and thanks to Page 6, they mention her day every day for the first year that she started her campaign. And she is; she has created a monster. She created herself. She is our little twisted princess. And the woman loves attention. That's why she is probably going crazy behind bars.

And why she is subjecting herself to this? Because she wants the world to know she's a changed person.

MCEDWARDS: Well, I was just going to say that. She's now saying from jail that she is feeling thankful that she is having a lot of time to think about what she wants to change in her life.

TALBERT: Yes.

MCEDWARDS: What about the new Paris Hilton, or is that just a load of you know what?

TALBERT: Well, we won't know until she gets out, but here right away, she is being rewarded for being a criminal. I don't think she's going to walk around being Mother Teresa. I mean, she is poised to become something extraordinary if she wants to.

She could really take this experience and do something fabulous for it. I mean, I think that what we will be seeing is Paris being driven around, if she still wants to drink and have a good time and party. Being driven around and never, never defying the law again. She never wants to go through this again.

MCEDWARDS: She can afford a driver, that's for sure.

TALBERT: Definitely. Definitely.

MCEDWARDS: Anita, why do we care about all of this so much? I mean, why is this a story?

TALBERT: Why do we care about Paris?

MCEDWARDS: Yeah.

TALBERT: Well, because she is outrageous. And she comes -- she is sort of our royalty, like I said. People love watching rich people. She has the wardrobe. She set a new standard in fashion. She's everywhere. She gets everything. And she has that kind of aura about her, "I am a princess. I'm untouchable. And I have much more than you. And I'm me. It's my world, you just live in it.

Do you know what I'm saying? She walks around with her dog, which is the new purse. And she's got -- must change her outfits 15 times a day. She lives the life we all dream about and she does it with just so much an insouciance. You know? She doesn't care, it's just there. She's Paris.

MCEDWARDS: I think there is something in human nature, we love to watch that, and we love to watch it crumble on some level, Anita.

TALBERT: Oh, absolutely. We love to watch train wrecks, but she'll coming out of this smelling like a rose. And we will see if she is going to be Mother Teresa and she'll walk around with a book about God, I'm sure.

MCEDWARDS: And we'll see if she's going to be a million bucks richer, too. Anita Talbert, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

TALBERT: My pleasure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: You know, my gut says the million-dollar thing is not true. She doesn't need the money. I can see her doing the interviews when she gets out, but if she is smart, she won't take any money for them. I mean, come on.

CLANCY: Those are two institutions, too, NBC isn't supposed to pay for interviews, too.

MCEDWARDS: No, and the network's denied it.

CLANCY: That's part of official policy.

MCEDWARDS: The network has denied it. So, let's be clear about that.

CLANCY: "Maxim" might pay, though, for a spread on prison uniforms?

MCEDWARDS: Anita essentially said that. You know, it will be someone, you know? If it's not prison uniforms, if it's not Paris, it will be someone paying for something. We'll see.

CLANCY: If, now, she is ever in need of some extra cash then maybe Paris Hilton would want to look a little south of the border.

MCEDWARDS: Indeed. An Ecuadorian airline has come up with a pretty risque way of beating the competition and making sure that the bookings keep rolling in.

CLANCY: Ecuado Airlines is putting models in bikinis and skimpy lingerie in the aisles in flight. Passengers traveling from the capital Quito to the Ports of Gayev (ph) Key ,will be treated to a 10- minute sky-high catwalk show.

MCEDWARDS: Oh, dear. I don't know. Airline officials say this promotion has already led to an increase in bookings. I'm sure it has.

CLANCY: Sounds like the kind of place that Richard Quest would like to investigate, but he will be doing something else when we come back. He's going to take us to one of the highest regions in the world, remote and forbidding, but beautiful.

MCEDWARDS: Destination Tibet. Our intrepid reporter, part-time explorer, Richard Quest, is going to take us on a journey you will never forget. Don't go way away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Alluring and forbidding, that is Tibet.

MCEDWARDS: It is also called the roof of the world and Richard Quest takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): My journey continues through the majestic Himalayas. I'm not here to see the peaks and the troughs, I have a destination. A remote monastery that lies 4,500 meters above sea level.

Wong How Man is leading the way. The explorer who spent his life redefining our perception of China and Tibet.

(On camera): Traditionally, we think of Tibet as being a difficult place to visit, not only physically, but also politically.

WOND HOW MAN, CHINA EXPLORATION & RESEARCH SOCIETY: Yes, that is certainly the case, at least for the last 100, 150 years. This is the ultimate goal for a lot of explorers is trying to get to Tibet and Lasa (ph). So, if you consider Lasa the heart of Tibet and the capital of Tibet, then this part is really right under the very fringe of it as the farthest away from the heart of it. And we're trying to get further out into the remote areas today.

QUEST (voice over): This expedition is my modest attempt to experience the trials and tribulations of a life in pursuit of adventure and discovery, an explorer's life.

(on camera): It's 4,000 meters up. Oh, my goodness! With a rather sharp drop down there.

(Voice over): As we went deeper into Tibet, the number of people crossing our path became fewer. The roads had turned into rivers. And the rivers had now become our roads. Our four-wheel drives were getting a rather vigorous workout.

MAN: Right now is dry season so, otherwise, this entire riverbed, so the river finds its own course. And you don't have very high water, so you can pretty much, relatively safely, drive through.

QUEST: The vistas were my reward. My trials were about more earthy matters, and absence of the basic conditions by which I live my normal life. I can survive not washing for days. It's camping I hate!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: You can see more of Richard's adventures on "Quest For Exploration" this Saturday on CNN International, with the times there on your screen.

CLANCY: Well, for viewers in the United States, CNN "Newsroom" is up next.

MCEDWARDS: For everyone else, it's another hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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