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British Terror: Authorities Believe Cell is Linked to al Qaeda; Hezbollah Implicated in Attacks on Troops in Iraq

Aired July 02, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A bomb disposal team responds to the hospital treating a suspect in a Glasgow attack and foiled bombings in London.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Emerging tactics of Hezbollah militants. The U.S. reports a group that led a campaign against Israeli forces in Lebanon now is operating in Iraq.

Plus, testing the waters. The presidents of the U.S. and Russia set to tackle their disagreements amid a fishing trip.

It is 5:00 p.m. right now in Glasgow, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

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

I'm Jim Clancy at CNN Center in Atlanta.

ANDERSON: And I'm Becky Anderson in London.

And this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: Literally hour by hour, British authorities making headway, dramatic at times, and cracking a terror network.

Let's go straight to Becky Anderson in London and get the latest in the fast-moving terror investigation.

ANDERSON: Jim, thank you very much indeed.

More arrests and a mounting pile of evidence. British officials are hot on the trail of terror cell believed responsible for two failed bombings in London and an airport attack in Scotland.

Now, seven people are now in custody, including two suspected of ramming a burning Jeep into the Glasgow airport. Police say those two men also planted the car bombs in London a day earlier.

One of them who was severely burned in the Glasgow attack is being treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. A bomb disposal unit carried out controlled explosions there a short time ago. Now, two suspects are said to be physicians who -- one who works at that very hospital.

Well, authorities believe the terror cell is linked to al Qaeda, saying the network has imported the tactics of Baghdad and of Bali to the streets of Britain.

For more on all of these developments, let's bring in Phil Black, who is outside Scotland Yard -- Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, a very intriguing picture is beginning to develop here of this particular terror plot, with sources close to this investigation confirming to CNN that they now believe the two men who they say slammed that car into the terminal building at Glasgow are also responsible for planting the car bombs in London's West End.

Follow that theory, that means these men who we believe live in Scotland drove down into London, placed the car bombs outside that nightclub near Trafalgar Square, failed to detonate them, but then headed back out to Glasgow before mounting that apparent suicide attack on Glasgow airport. Now, in that attack, as you mentioned, one of the men suffered severe burns, critical burns. He is now being treated in a hospital, where we are told he previously worked as a doctor.

Now, he is not the only doctor implicated in this case. British media agencies are report that another doctor named as Dr. Mohammed Asha (ph) was also one of the people arrested on this occasion, arrested while traveling northward on the M6 motorway just the other day.

Now, police -- so sources have told CNN that they believe that there is a strong medical link through this. They are examining the very real possibility that all the members of this group that are believed to be behind these attacks are linked somehow through medicine.

Now, as this investigation begins to fill in the gaps, the British home secretary, Jacqui Smith, updated the members of parliament today. She spoke in the Commons, spoke about the investigation, denounced terrorism, and also made a point of what she said the government is doing to fight terrorism.

Let's hear a little bit more of what she had to say now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAQUI SMITH, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: We have refocused the Home Office, developed the Office for Security and Counterterrorism, and have established a weekly security board chaired by myself to coordinate the efforts of key departments and agencies. Across government, ministers will work together to oversee the delivery of this complex package of measures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith there outlining what she believes the government has done to fight the threat of terror here -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Phil, this is a fast-moving investigation at this point. Perhaps more fast-moving than we could have possibly imagined. The police will probably know at this stage a lot more than we do.

What more can we expect from them? Are we expecting any press -- any news conferences at this point?

BLACK: Certainly the police say they're very confident that they will get to the bottom of this. That is what they have been say for some days now.

And you're right, it is fast-moving. They've been say that, and that has remained the case.

We have seen those two further arrests today. We've seen some 19 properties searched. That operation is on going in Glasgow hospital, where we understand police are searching the hospital there, and where they have safely detonated two safe detonations within the residence area of the hospital there.

Fast-moving, lots of developments today. The police say they are confident they will get to the bottom of this -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Interesting.

Phil Black there at Scotland Yard.

Well, Britain's threat level is set at critical right now, meaning another terrorist attack could be imminent. And security is extremely tight across the country. Right now cars and other vehicles are banned from directly approaching any airport terminal as authorities work to prevent more violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY MCNULTY, U.K. MINISTER OF COUNTERTERRORISM: With respect, we don't know the full details of the individuals, the networks, the support mechanisms concerned. But you can be assured that we will learn every lesson from this attack, as we have done with every attack in the past.

We are very, very keenly aware that the British intelligence services are second to none, as you say, in terms of surveillance and keeping up with those who would do murder. Whether this one slipped through or not, whether there were people the authorities knew about, are questions for a later day rather than now, while the operation is still so live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: All right. Not much is being said about the nationalities or religions of the seven suspects in the Britain terror plots. But authorities do believe they are all part of an al Qaeda- linked terror network.

Now, Britain's minister for International Development, Shahid Malik, a Muslim, spoke earlier to CNN's John Roberts about what he sees as some terrorists' misguided motives for violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAHID MALIK, U.K. MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: But the most important thing is that these people might well believe they're doing it in the name of a religion. It might well be Islam. And some people believe, for example, the people who killed themselves in that heinous act on the 7th of July were martyrs going to heaven.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: OK.

Well, it's been a big weekend here in London, what with the Wimbledon tennis tournament, of course, the concert for Diana, of course, this latest terror situation.

So how is the public coping with all of this? Well, here to sort it all out for us, someone who knows the city and its people very well indeed, our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

And it is amazingly business as usual, isn't it here?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is.

Even here outside parliament -- I've been watching all day -- there's British people and tourists, young children, adolescents, grownups, just doing their normal tourism and their business here. But beyond that, the home secretary has said that there's a big and increased police presence across the U.K., very highly visible.

There's a new armed response -- increased response being put out at airports. There's a lot of checks. It appears that people have taken the warnings to take public transport such as trains to the airport, because several people who I've talked to today going to some of the airports say that actually they got through very quickly, and actually getting to the airport is not as difficult as they had thought.

ANDERSON: I was at the concert for Diana yesterday. Security stepped up. There were 450 police officers there working alongside the Wembley Stadium security, and it was -- they were taking no risks.

They reintroduced stop-and-search tactics effectively to the police here in London. But as we say, things moving on and pretty much business as usual.

Now, let's get to the investigation. What do we know? What is the very latest about the identity of those involved?

AMANPOUR: Well, we've been trying to pinpoint the identity of one man who has been now much more described than the others, one man who's under arrest. His name is Dr. Mohammed Asha (ph).

The Jordanian foreign minister confirms to CNN that this is a student who was studying in Jordan, that he did come to the United States, and that British authorities confirmed to the Jordanian authorities that this man is "merely a suspect". We're not sure exactly what that means, but the Jordanians are definitely confirming that he comes from a medical school there.

We've also talked to our journalist colleagues and a CNN employee in Jordan. And the colleagues are basically saying that they have talked to this man's father, Mohammed Asha's (ph) father. And he has said that his son was a neurologist, he was a very high-level student in Jordan, that he was honored, he says, several times while he was studying here. And he had been sent here a couple of years ago to specialize. He was here with his wife and family and, according to the father, they were due to go back to Jordan for a holiday just a few days from now on July 12th.

So, you know, this man, a doctor, one of the others in custody also a doctor. And one of the theories that the police are working on, Scotland Yard, is that this could be some kind of medical professional network that is now, you know, trying to commit these terrorist acts.

ANDERSON: Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, with more on where we stand at present.

Well, later on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we'll be back with more on the investigation here in the U.K. I'm going to find out what the U.S., perhaps an even bigger target for terrorists, is doing in the wake of the recent incidents in London and in Glasgow.

Well, authorities in Yemen are investigating a suicide car bombing that killed some eight people. The attack took place at an ancient temple in Marib, the eastern part of the country. Spain says now that seven of those people killed were Spanish.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but local police said they had received a tip last month about a possible al Qaeda attack.

With more now on that and the rest of your news, back to Jim Clancy at CNN Center -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Thanks, Becky.

And we'll be getting back to Becky in just a little while, and, of course, for any breaking updates that we get. It's a very fast- moving investigation under way now there both up in Glasgow and in London, at Scotland Yard headquarters.

Well, in the sleepy little town of Kennebunkport, Maine, it's not an official summit, but the Russian and American presidents close to concluding their two-day visit at the Bush family retreat there up on the waters of Maine. And Vladimir Putin appeared to catch at least a small fish as he and George W. Bush took to the water this day.

The informal get-together featured a lobster meal. But on the diplomatic menu, some items that might be a lot tougher to chew over.

The meetings are hoping to find some common ground on the basic dispute between Russia and the U.S. The Russians portraying the U.S. as trying to isolate them in the world. The symptoms of that come up over the future of Kosovo, over the future of a missile defense system, as well as other topics.

And the water's really set here to try to ease things down and stop the stormy relationship between Moscow and Washington. It makes a lot of investors and others very nervous.

In the meantime, both the Kremlin and the White House telling the media, back off a little bit, we don't expect any big statements, any big breakthroughs to come out here. They're just improving, if you will, they're friendly relations.

We're going to take a short break.

Still ahead, does the United States have a dangerous new enemy in Iraq? The U.S. says it has proof now that Hezbollah fighters are aligned with an elite Iranian force doing battle in Iraq.

Also ahead, the race for the White House, whose campaign is suddenly flush with more cash than others. We're going to tell you about a Democratic contender's record hall.

Plus, a new era for England's pubs. For those who are smoking about the ban, some advice from a smoke-free city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

We're covering the news the world wants to know, sometimes needs to know, and trying to give you some perspective that goes a little bit deeper into the stories of the day.

One of the main stories is who's behind the violence in Iraq. CNN breaking a story about the largest U.S. military operation since the invasion of Iraq and what appears to be emerging signs that the U.S. is fighting another enemy there, very familiar.

CNN's Michael Ware has details now how a manhunt for the people who ambushed and killed U.S. soldiers took the military down a very unexpected path of discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): These men are masters at guerilla warfare, Lebanon's Hezbollah. Last year, they claimed victory over the might of the Israeli defense force. Now believed to be fighting another war in Iraq.

U.S. intelligence sources say they've carried one of Hezbollah's top special operations commanders. Ali Mussa Daqduq, said to be an expert with these roadside bombs, his role in Iraq was so covert there are no known pictures, save for his prison mug shot and a confession which coalition forces have not released. Captured on March 20 in the southern city of Basra, the Americans say he and the Iraqi militia commanders he trained and led admitted working with Iran's elite Quds Force Special Operations Unit. Documents, forensic evidence and the personal effects of dead American soldiers seen by members of the Iraqi government and shown to CNN support their claims.

After months of interviews with Shia militia members in Iraq, as well as Iraqi government and intelligence officials, CNN sought the U.S. military's comment. But it was not until today that the military confirmed the arrest.

BERGNER: He is Lebanese-born and has served for the past 24 years in Lebanese Hezbollah. He was in Iraq working as a surrogate for Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force operatives involved with special groups.

WARE: Senior U.S. intelligence officials say their confirmation of Hezbollah's long-rumored involvement in Iraq began with this: the January 20 attack on American soldiers in Karbala, a well-planned attempt to kidnap five GIs that went horribly wrong, ending with a soldier's execution.

Senior U.S. military officials tell CNN that after the attack, the order came to hunt down the men responsible and kill or capture them. That mission has been a stunning success.

A few weeks ago, during a raid in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, American and Iraqi forces killed this man, Azhar al-Dulaimi, said to the mastermind who led the Karbala attack. While Mehdi army militiamen mourned his death in this memorial in Sadr City filmed by CNN, coalition operations across the country had already seen most of those behind the kidnap attempt killed or imprisoned.

Early results in the U.S. investigation led to this man, Qais Khazali, seen here in 2003 when he was the spokesman for rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi army. By the time of his March arrest, he had left the Mehdi army and come to head one of the most feared organizations in the country known as the Special Groups, a well- trained, well-financed and efficient paramilitary unit modeled on Hezbollah, and, according to U.S. intelligence, sponsored by Iran's Qods Force. A claim Hezbollah's Daqduq and the Iraqi leader Khazali have apparently admitted during their interrogations.

Looking for Khazali, the coalition troops found more than even they had hoped -- computer documents detailing the planning, training and conduct of the failed kidnap. What they didn't know is they had also scooped up Hezbollah's adviser to the Iraqi Special Groups.

Originally pretending to be deaf and mute, Daqduq's real identity was not revealed for weeks. Once uncovered, though, American officials say he began to talk. The Americans now believe his role was crucial to the Karbala attack.

What remains a mystery is why Lebanese Hezbollah's leadership would risk sending advisers to Iraq. American intelligence officers suspect Hezbollah had no choice, indebted to Iran's Qods Force for its decade of military and financial support.

Contacted by CNN, a Hezbollah spokesman in Lebanon said he would not dignify the U.S. allegations with a response. And though representatives of Iraq's Mehdi army militia and cleric Muqtada al- Sadr say they share some of Hezbollah's ideals, they deny receiving any military aid.

"I say clearly that we do not accept any logistic, financial or any other kind of support from anyone outside the borders of Iraq," says this adviser to Sadr. The Iraqi government declined to comment.

And though Tehran has repeatedly denied arming or aiding any militia forces in Iraq, Daqduq's arrest and the weight of Washington's new evidence of Hezbollah's presence in Iraq may just demand fresh answers from Iran.

Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, in assessing what the situation is in Iraq today, all we can go with sometimes are the numbers, and there are new numbers from Iraq that suggest the U.S. troop surge may be making a difference for some people. The Iraqi Interior Ministry says the number of civilians killed in June was the lowest monthly total thus far this year. The ministry says more than 1,200 civilians were killed in violence across the country last month. More than 1,900 civilian deaths were reported in May.

We're going to take a short break.

Still ahead, how concerned should the U.S. be about a possible al Qaeda strike on its soil? A top U.S. official will discuss that threat.

Also, a cash course in counterterror. Israeli forces show their U.S. counterparts just how to deal with terror.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello. Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries around globe including the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy at the CNN Center.

ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson in London.

Let's give you a quick update now on the terror investigation in Britain. Seven suspects are now in custody in connection with the failed London and Scotland terror attacks. Two of them are said to be physicians. One educated in Jordan, seen here in a picture held by his father. Now, media reports say the other doctor is from Iraq.

Police believe the two men who rammed a jeep into the Glasgow airport were also the ones who planted car bombs in London, a day earlier. They say the terror network has the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.

Well, investigators are still on the hunt for at least one more suspect in connection with the attacks. For the latest on the investigation, let's get to our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson, who is in Glasgow -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Becky, the latest here in Glasgow, outside the Royal Alexander Hospital a second bomb disposal truck has just pulled up outside the hospital.

I don't know if you can see it over my shoulder.

Two white trucks parked on the hillside there. A couple hours ago there were two controlled explosions. The police have sealed off the area around the hospital. A few hours before that they were searching through the doctors' quarters, the doctors' living area in the hospital. Part of their on going investigation into the attack at the Glasgow airport, into those failed car bombs in London.

We don't know exactly what it is that the police have been performing the controlled detonations on. But two small explosions, there were no secondary explosions. The indication from that perhaps, perhaps, that whatever it was that was setting the charge off on, there was no explosive there. So there was no secondary explosion.

The situation right now, a second bomb disposal team called in. We have seen bomb disposal experts wearing full -- sort of, bomb disposal protective equipment, green camouflage, flack jackets, heavy protective equipment.

Now this second vehicle brought in here at the moment, Becky. This appears to be part of the on going investigation. It's not clear what the police have discovered in this hospital while they've been investigating, but there do appear to be clear links between the bombers at the Glasgow airport and this hospital. We do know that one of those bombers, who suffered critical injuries, severe injuries, burn injuries, is being treated at this hospital as well, Becky.

ANDERSON: All right. Nic Robertson there in Glasgow. Well, a Jordanian educated doctor, Muhammad Asha, appears to be a key figure in the investigation. CNN's Cal Perry has been speaking with some of Asha's family in Amman, in Jordan. He joins us now, on the telephone.

Cal, what have we learned about Muhammad Asha?

CAL PERRY, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: I was able to speak to his older brother, Achmed, who is his older brother, he's 31 years old. He paints a very rosy picture of his younger brother, saying he was at the top of his class, his medical class here in Jordan. He was recently married, in fact, about two and a half years ago. He moved to London, to the UK, with his wife. And they gave birth to a son.

The big concern with the family, at this point, you're seeing pictures there of him meeting with Queen Nor. As I said, he was at the top of his class. The big concern amongst the family is what the condition is of their two-year-old son, Anef (ph). They say they've heard nothing from the British government, they've heard nothing from Jordanian officials in and around the U.K. The concern among the family, obviously very distraught. His father has appealed to the king of Jordan for any help that they can provide. But most of the information that the family is receiving -- they tell us -- they're receiving from television news reports.

ANDERSON: Interesting stuff. What you're saying effectively is his family extremely worried. They don't know the whereabouts of Asha's son, either I believe. Difficult times for this family.

PERRY: Very, very difficult. The father was so distraught when we arrived at the house that he was unwilling to talk to us. As I said, I sat down with his brother, Achmed. And he was really stunned, saying there's no way his brother could have carried out these attacks. We spoke about his brother's religious beliefs. He said his younger brother said, I'm married to a Christian. My brother is not very religious. He's not fanatical at all. He loves the U.K. He sends pictures home to the family from the U.K.

And again, the concern amongst the family is they gave birth some two years ago to their son, Anef (ph), and they've heard absolutely nothing on that two-year-old's whereabouts. They've heard nothing from the British authorities and nothing from the Jordanian embassy in London.

ANDERSON: You say that the father was unwilling to speak to you, Cal, when you first arrived at the house. What's the atmosphere in and around that area there in Amman?

PERRY: Well, it's a Palestinian area in the northern section of the city. There are many children outside. We had trouble finding any friends of Muhammad. We were able to speak to his brother, Achmed. There were members of the local Jordanian press gathered outside the house. In fact, we were quite lucky to get in to speak to Achmed. His father had given an address, you see it there on your TV, to an agency, pleading for any help from the Jordanian government, for the return of their son, or any information.

But they're really -- the family would say is holed up in this house. They are without information. I think that's what's really driving their anxiety. That and this missing child. They said they're not hearing anything from the Jordanian government, nothing from the embassy. They're planning to perhaps travel to the U.K. to investigate what has happened.

But the overriding message that they kept sending is this is a neurosurgeon, at the top of his class from Jordan, who chose to go to the U.K. and really could not be capable of such attacks.

ANDERSON: Cal Perry there, on the phone with us from Amman in Jordan.

Let's get back to the U.K.; and the main terminal at Glasgow airport has now been reopened. Travelers there are facing long security lines, stepped up vehicle inspections and canceled flights. Katie Razzle (ph) now, with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): Less than 48 hours ago Glasgow airport was under attack. This morning it looks almost back to normal. Yes, there are restrictions on dropping off travelers in front of the airport, but those restrictions were in place before two men drove a flaming Jeep into the terminal. Yes, that area is still sealed off and there's a heavy police presence here, but it's business nearly as usual.

GORDON DEWAR, MANAGING DIR.,GLASGOW AIRPORT: We obviously have some restrictions still about the front of the airport where the incident was but we're working around that so we can still get to and from the airport well. We advise people getting a little bit extra time. But as you can see behind me, we're pretty operational, running.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday the disruption at the airport was evident with people struggling in with their luggage. Today's cues look fairly standard for the busy holiday season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We expected some delays but as it turns out it was very well welling or organized here so no issues at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is frightening, but then that's their point, isn't it? They're trying to terrorize us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't feel frightened and I feel safer and confident that everything will be fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the threat level critical, all British airports are on a high state of alert. At London's Heathrow, for example, drivers are restricted from approaching the terminal and police are searching cars. British airport's authority are warning passengers there may be long delays in reaching the airport by car, and offering 20 minutes free in short stay parking.

MELANIE WRIGHT, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: I'm afraid I think we are set to see a whole host of delays at various airports around the country as the increased security measure kick in. I think people shouldn't also rely on travel insurance policies because unfortunately these do include exclusions against terrorism, so don't expect to get compensation through that route, either.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're still a way off a repeat of the tanks and armored vehicles we saw at Heathrow four years ago, the authorities reaction to reported intelligence of an imminent attack. Passengers, though, are getting used to extra security before they travel.

So what is the advice? If you're traveling by air, contact your airline to check delays or cancellations. Travel to the airport by public transport, and allow extra time to get there. If you're traveling by train you should contact your rail company to check any delays. And, of course, this applies to all situations, be vigilant.

At London's Kings Cross station this morning and across the rail network, police patrols and random searches have been stepped up. Travelers heading in to work on Monday morning with a sense all this is necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one of those things, isn't it? You've just got to get on with it. You can't let anything stop you from doing your daily job. Otherwise you're doing exactly what it is they set out to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Armed police at railway stations, an unusual and uncomfortable site, but perhaps the future.

ANDERSON: Katie Razzle (ph) reporting there.

As these recent attacks and attempts in Great Britain remind us following leads and working sources, in other words, good solid police work is a key part in the fight against terrorism. And more and more, police from around the world are working together. Now, CNN's Ben Wedeman looks at one program where police officers from the United States got some lessons from some veterans, their counter parts in Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is a drill these policemen have done time and time again, preparing for the worst.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One can imagine a hostage is being held by terrorists.

WEDEMAN: These drills are being staged for senior police officers from across the United States. Among them, Lester Fultz, from Cleveland, Ohio. He's seen a lot in 25 years on the force but violence on a Middle Eastern scale hasn't been part of his beat.

LESTER FULTZ, DEP. POLICE CHIEF, CLEVELAND, OHIO: Terrorism certainly is not high on our list of priorities. But you practice for the eventuality that something happens. If something would -- a type of terror would visit our city, we want to be prepared. There's no better way than to learn but people who are really experts.

WEDEMAN: These police officers spent a week touring Israel, visiting sites where previous terrorism attacks had occurred.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a huge terrorist attack, a huge terrorist attack on Friday night, with the youngest (ph).

WEDEMAN: The American cops also stopped by Ben Gurian Airport, where long before the U.S. introduced intrusive and onerous security measures, Israel had them down to a T.

(On camera): Tight security like at this Jerusalem shopping mall is normal. And while alert levels are at the highest in the United Kingdom, following the failed attacks in London and Glasgow, here they're always high. Simply a fact of life.

(Voice over): In Israel security is also big business. And American police, potential big customers. But on this visit the experience is freely shared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that the way that we have learned, I believe, that the United States shouldn't pay with it's own blood in order to learn the same lesson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

WEDEMAN: These policemen hoping by coming to Israel they won't have to learn those lessons the hard way. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All right. Becky Anderson, Ben Wedeman, there with some more coverage of the focus on terror this day, over what has happened in Britain.

We're going to take a short break. When we come back, here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, shunned by their families, and forced to live on the streets. We're going to show you a compelling story about widows in India, who find a sanctuary, who try to breakthrough centuries of tradition that strips them of their rightful place in society. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone. Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY right here on CNN International, seen live in more than 200 countries and territories all around the globe.

Well, 18 people are on trial in Turkey for the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink. History, too, on trial. Among the defendants alleged teenage gunman. Dink's killing led to international condemnation and protest in Turkey over free speech. What could be said in public.

Dink was gunned down in January. It is a crime believed to have been retaliation because he wrote about the mass killings of Armenians in the last century daring to use the word genocide.

Let's turn our attention now to India. The many widows shoved aside virtually forgotten by their own families and society. Many now flock to the holy city Vrindavan for generations. Arwa Damon traveled there to report on an effort to restore dignity to those who have been pushed aside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Promita Das was widowed when she was 15 and instantly ostracized by those she thought loved her. Stripped of all respect, among many of India's Hindus, even a widow's shadow is considered bad luck.

"My neighbors, my friends, no one helped me, no one loved me," she says. "I survived on my own, cleaning people's houses."

Das is now 85 years old, but literally decades after her rejection she found acceptance here at a refuge called Amarbari (ph), which translates into "my home" opened seven years ago by the Guild of Service which helps destitute women and children.

By tradition, widows must shave their heads and wear white, but many at Amarbari (ph) reject traditions that have rejected them. Hindu widows are shunned, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition. And as a financial drain on their family. They cannot remarry, they must not wear jewelry. Within these walls they begin to regain the dignity society snatched away from them. But comfort is hard to find.

Inside her tiny dark room, Ranu Makurgi (ph) wants to sing for us. The lyrics about a lost traveler and wasted days, a mirror of her life.

"Look, God is watching," she says, showing us her shrine to Gopa (ph), the god of love and devotion. Love she lost 35 years ago. She came here to die. It's no accident that Amarbari (ph) is in the city of Vrindavan. Hindus have long believed that people who die here are freed from the cycle of life and death.

Perhaps death in this holy city will save these widows from being condemned to such a life again. But there are only about 120 widows in the sanctuary of Amarbari (ph). It's estimated there are some 15,000 on the streets of Vrindavan.

We find the most destitute in the side streets, easily recognizable in white, or by the pain etched in their faces. Reduced to begging in front of temples for a few coins or scraps of food. All they own, the clothes they wear, and the gods clutched tightly in their hands.

"Does it feel good? Now I have to loiter just for a bite to eat?" Radarani Vishwa (ph) says, close to tears. "My son said to me, you've grown old. Who is going to feed you? Go away. What do I do? My pain has no limit."

Her pain felt by many of India's estimated 40 million widows forgotten by society, banished to the shadows. Arwa Damon, CNN, Vrindavan, India.

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CLANCY: Welcome back, everyone. A final note here. Nerves already rattled over the terror scare? Well, this may not be the best week to give up smoking. But lighting up in pubs and other public place across England now, against the law. Across the pond, New Yorkers already quite familiar with coping with the terror jitters on one hand, and without being able to smoke a cigarette in a pub, as Richard Roth tells us.

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RICHARD ROTH, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The great indoor New York City Smoke out began four years ago.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MAYOR, NEW YORK: This local law that we are proposing will prohibit smoking in all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants.

ROTH: Bar owners weren't cheering, predicting business would collapse. Now that the smoke has cleared --

PAUL HURLEY, RESTAURANT OWNERS REPRESENTATIVE: I was totally against it at first because I thought we would lose out on a lot of business, a lot of people, customers. It's completely opposite. It's increased on every level.

ROTH: Since smoking was banned in bars, New York City says impact has been minimal. Restaurant videos flourished. But a Lower Manhattan club owner disputes the rosy comparisons.

DAVID RABIN, LOTUS CLUB, CO-OWNER: Unfortunately they measure their statistics based on the years immediately following 9/11 and dotcom recession. So of course business went up.

ROTH: But patrons can breathe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love it. My hair smells great. My clothes don't stink.

ROTH: Others are crying in their beer over the prospect of London drinkers having to endure the indignities that are now part of life in New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one thing I loved about London is that you could smoke in pubs. Being a smoker, it's just much easier to have a beer, sit down, have a cigarette.

ROTH: This American bar owner says the British should stage a revolution.

MICHAEL MCKEE, BAR OWNER: Let them smoke. Stick together. You know, fight it. Definitely fight it.

ROTH: England, beware. Friendships will be tested.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It starts with smoking and it's going to end up being something else, and then you can't do anything anymore. You know, what I mean? I understand some people, they don't like it.

ROTH: You're his friend, how can you hang out with him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has every right to smoke, just not around me. So he'll go can outside; he'll be back in five minutes and we'll still be friends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be right back.

ROTH: People who live above or near pubs may have the most to worry about in English cities. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bars are caught in this catch 22 situation. If they allow smoking inside the department of health can fine them out of existence. If they push their smokers outside, as they are supposed to, they create great tension and anger from their neighbors.

ROTH: This time the former colonies serve as a model for England.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't be scared. Go for it. It's great. It's a great law.

ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, New York.

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CLANCY: And that is our report for this hour. For our viewers in the United States, CNN NEWSROOM is up next. For everyone else, another hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY with Becky Anderson in London and me, Jim Clancy, here in Atlanta, straight ahead. Stay with us.

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