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Your World Today

Hurricane Dean Approaching Yucatan Peninsula; Democratic Candidates Spar in Iowa Debate

Aired August 20, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Caribbean collision course. Jamaica feels the fury of Hurricane Dean as Mexico braces for a direct hit.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A ball of fire on the runway, and passengers barely escape from an airliner. Only seconds to spare.

Technology opens doors for science ahead of entertainment, though.

GORANI: And 100 times sharper than high-def television. Technology opens doors for science. Ahead of entertainment, though.

FRAZIER: It's 11:00 a.m. in Cozumel, Mexico, midnight in Beijing.

Hello and welcome to our report that's broadcast around the globe.

I'm Stephen Frazier.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani.

From Tokyo to Toronto, Houston to Hong Kong, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, already considered extremely dangerous, Hurricane Dean is picking up strength and speed as it churns towards some of the Caribbean's busiest beaches.

FRAZIER: It's a Category 4 storm, approaching Category 5, and it is approaching Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula after giving Jamaica and the Caymans quite a pounding.

GORANI: Now, Dean's fiercest winds blew just south of Jamaica, but the hurricane still battered the island with driving rain, knocking down power lines and leaving streets littered with smashed roots and trees.

FRAZIER: So far, no casualties are reported. There's some injuries, perhaps, but the storm is blamed for at least seven deaths elsewhere in the Caribbean.

GORANI: Well, right now, Dean is southwest of the Cayman Islands, sparing them the worst of its 240-kilometer-an-hour winds. That's about 150 miles an hour. It's expected to grow into a monstrous Category 5 hurricane before making landfall near Cancun and cozumel.

Tens of thousands of tourists in Mexico aren't waiting around. Not taking any chances to see whether Dean crashes ashore or not. They're mobbing airports for the last flights out, while many locals are heading for higher ground.

Let's get an update from Cancun and our Rob Marciano.

Rob, give us the situation now where you are on the ground.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the weather's all right, Hala, at least for now. The winds have been picking up, but as you can tell, the sun is still out. So, the weather has far from deteriorated, but the winds are picking up, and so the waves are rolling in a little bit more and the water is coming up.

I mean, normal high tide is -- well, it's very close to where I'm standing. The problem with Cancun, if you haven't been here, is this entire stretch of beach for miles is lined with hotel after hotel.

Here comes the high tide right here, right up to my feet, almost up to the seawall right here. OK? So, if you can imagine how high the water is getting right now, the sun's out, the winds maybe 20 miles an hour -- or, you know, think about just how far this water's going to get up later on tonight, when the high tide comes and the surge really begins to press on.

Right now, the storm is about 450 miles or so out to the -- out to my -- out to my left, out to the east, heading this way. It looks like the center of it is going to head to the south of us, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to get a big impact.

The winds are going to be kicking. We could see a storm surge anywhere from three to five meters.

And tourists here are heading inland, trying to get to the airport as well. But a number of the hotels here are either closed or just trying to do the best they can in this situation with the tourists that they have held up in their -- in their respective hotels.

So, it's very similar to what happened to the states along the Gulf Coast, Hala, what we've seen for the past couple of years with this busy hurricane era. It's going on right now in Cancun.

This is an area that's not -- no stranger to big hurricanes. Back in 1988, this is one of the few places in the world that has seen a Cat 5 hurricane. And we could see that again later on tonight if this thing strengthens to a Cat 5. But right now, with a Category 4 storm, t hat's about as bad as they would like to see it here in Cancun along the Yucatan Peninsula.

Hala, back up to you.

GORANI: Rob, one quick question. We hear that tourists are leaving. What about the locals? What are they doing?

Are they, at this point, really frightened that this could cause major damage? Are they taking off as well?

MARCIANO: Well, businesses and homeowners alike have -- are taking the precautions they need to take to protect their property. They're boarding up. They're tying down items that will be blown around in any sort of wind -- palm trees here. Trees are being tied down as well. So, those sort of precautions are being taken.

There are a few shelters that are set up a little bit farther inland. This area which normally would be very busy both with tourists and locals is very, very quiet. So, it seems like the word has gotten out. And the folks who live here year round are taking precautions either by boarding -- by protecting their property or themselves by moving inland.

But it looks like we still have a good six hours or so before the weather really starts to go bad. So, I suspect the exodus inland will ramp up as we go on to the next few hours.

GORANI: All right.

Rob Marciano in Cancun. We'll continue to track Hurricane Dean with Rob and our team of journalists spread out across the region that will bear the brunt of this weather system -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Hala, Dean has so far done everything the experts said it would. It hasn't been wobbling around very much. Its path has been straight as an arrow, and it's been getting bigger, just as everybody predicted.

For more now on what we should look for, let's bring in our Guillermo Arduino at the weather center.

The big news here, Guillermo, is just how powerful it's getting.

GUILLERMO ARDUINO, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: It is getting, because we saw, like, two days of steady conditions over there when it was going through Jamaica, and now the Cayman islands. It's leaving all these areas behind, so, as Rob was saying, in six hours from now, we see part of the system getting into the Yucatan Peninsula.

And I interviewed actually last night the governor of Quintana Roo. Cancun is in Quintana Roo, and he told me that they are happy to see that it's gone a little bit to the south right now, because a lot of people live here in Cancun and there are so many tourists.

But anywhere from Isla Mujeres to Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and Asuncion (ph), that's exactly where we think it's going to make landfall. The danger exists because this icon represents the eye of the hurricane, and if you spread that 95 kilometers north, it's where we are going to see hurricane-force winds.

And we're talking about, in this case, 241 if we're talking about winds of a Category 4. If it's five, it will be 250 kilometers per hour. So, it's quite intense.

And what we are going to see here, apart from all those bad news that Rob was giving us, is that people are ready over there for this. We have seen a little bit of intensification. We'll see a little bit more of it. And definitely, this is going to be the first direct landfall.

And don't be confused if after it makes landfall, you got a temporary lull, because that's the eye of the system. Stay away from your windows, because then the other half of the hurricane is going to go through the Yucatan Peninsula.

As you see then, due to the interaction with the land, we're going to see some weakening, probably, a Category 1. And the question mark is if it's going to go to the United States. So far, we can't say it is not. Probably not, but we can't assure that.

It will gain some more strength, and then it will make landfall again, in this case, in the vicinity of Veracruz, another area of Mexico that is densely populated.

We'll talk to you later more on Hurricane Dean. Back to the news now.

GORANI: All right. Thanks very much, Guillermo Arduino.

Well, Hurricane Dean is a massive storm. I'm sure we've communicated that idea to you. But to get even a better idea of the magnitude, look at Dean from space.

It's forcing space shuttle Endeavour to return home on Tuesday. That's a day earlier than planned. This image was captured from the International Space Station, and it's very clear there on the map, where you see the eye of the storm in the center of that white, cloudy, circular weather system right there as it's heading toward parts of the Mexican coast.

FRAZIER: What a monster.

The fear there, of course, that Houston -- that Mission Control has to move, because they're right in the path, the eventual landfall in the United States.

GORANI: It's affecting a very large area. And some of our viewers have been nice enough to send us photos.

FRAZIER: Yes, they've been risking their own personal safety to some degree to send us these images.

We got some video sent to us by Juan Espinoza on the island of St. Lucia, the Windward and Leeward Islands first hit by this storm, and he tell us that trees are down and there's debris everywhere. But after the storm passed over, the weather returned to normal, Juan tells us -- sunny, beautiful, blue skies.

GORANI: The calm after the storm. Another viewer, Marvin Del Sid, sent us this picture from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. He said his country didn't get too much damage, but you can see how high that wave was. So it might have been a good idea to get away from the shore at that point.

FRAZIER: Yes. The winds not too strong, nor the rains, but the waves clearly. In fact, that is Marvin taking that image. He's a little too close for comfort there, perhaps.

GORANI: All right. Well, that said, everyone, continue to submit your pictures and your video.

Do not take any risks in order to capture these images. However, if you do have pictures you'd like to send us and video, I-Reports, go to CNN.com, click on the "I-Report" logo, or you can send the e-mails from your cell phone at ireport@cnn.com.

Now, let's move on to this story. Parts of the U.S. are soaked and flooded by the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin, another system.

Rescuers were out in helicopters and boats in the state of Oklahoma under harrowing and difficult conditions, as you saw there. One woman fell as she was being flown to safety.

They circled back for her. She wasn't seriously hurt. Several deaths are reported in that state. Texas and Minnesota as well.

Search and rescue operations continue. The storm was expected to weaken early Sunday, but did end up surprising some forecasters with its velocity and the speed of the winds.

FRAZIER: And flooding, rain also causing trouble in China, where at least 15 people are now reported dead in the wake of Typhoon Sepat. The national media say most of those died in a tornado that was spawned off the typhoon which has now weakened into a tropical storm. Almost a million people were evacuated before the storm came ashore early Sunday. Before it reached China, Typhoon Sepat sent people running for shelter in the Philippines and Taiwan.

GORANI: Well, China's wet weather has forced rescuers to race against time. They're trying to pump water out of two flooded coal mines in eastern Shandong Province.

Some say there is little hope that the 181 miners trapped underground since Friday are still alive. The two shafts were filled with water after torrential rains triggered a flash flood.

The disaster is just the latest to strike China's coal industry. It is the world's deadliest. At least 4,700 miners were in killed in accidents last year.

FRAZIER: In the United States, hopes are also fading in another mine rescue operation. This one is in Utah, and it's been going on a long time.

Six men have been trapped deep underground for two full weeks now after part of their coal mine collapsed on them. Underground tunneling by rescuers was put on hold last week after three of the rescuers were killed during a cave-in on them as well. But work continues above ground.

Rescuers have drilled four narrow bore holes trying to find the missing men and sent cameras down and sensed the air. The air is not good, though. And for families, that bore hole is just not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONNY OLSEN, SPOKESMAN FOR MINERS' FAMILIES: We continue to sit and wait. We're at the mercies of the officials in charge and their so-called experts. Precious time is being squandered here and we do not have time to spare. We must utilize the rescue capsule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: This rescue capsule that the family spokesman talked about there is an alternate rescue method. It involves drilling a bigger hole that's almost three feet wide directly above the trapped miners, if they can find them, and dropping in this capsule which is really kind of a steel cage suspended by a crane in an effort to extract the miners.

GORANI: Well, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

FRAZIER: And coming ahead this hour, an amazing escape. Truly amazing. We'll see how an entire plane full of people avoided a massive explosion just in the nick of time. This is Hollywood kind of stuff here.

GORANI: Also ahead, face off. U.S. Democratic presidential candidates feel the heat from each other at their latest debate.

FRAZIER: And later still, a video screen unlike any other. The hype over the HIPer Wall.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back to CNN International.

You're with YOUR WORLD TODAY. We're covering the world the news wants to know, of course, and giving you perspective deeper into the stories of the day.

Now we go to Peru. After a few days after that earthquake hit, rescuers say there is very little hope of finding any more survivors from last week's earthquake.

Officials are now focusing on recovery, security, as well as aid operations to those who survived, while health care workers struggle to treat those who were injured. Aid has been slowing getting into outlying areas, and many of the victims are cold. It's winter there right now. They're hungry, and many of them as well traumatized. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We want them to send us coats, blankets. Look at the people. They don't have anything here, nothing.

Every night they cry. They cry. They...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, Peru's president, for his part, is promising that no one will die of hunger or thirst. And Alan Garcia says the government is preparing plans to rebuild the city of Pisco.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN GARCIA, PERUVIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It's very difficult to recover completely, but I think in the next five months, there should be houses built to substitute for those houses that were destroyed by the earthquake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Well, there are conflicting reports still on the death toll, the exact death toll at this point. But it looks to have topped 500 people.

If you would like to help, well, there is a lot you can do. Just go to our Web site to find relief organization lists there. That's CNN.com/impact -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Hala, this next story we have to report and the amazing pictures that go with it show it really is important to pay attention to those flight attendants when they are going over emergency evacuation procedures. For that, you only need ask the 165 passengers and crew on board this Taiwan-based China Airlines flight, the last of whom escaped only seconds, literally, before the plane burst into flames on the runway.

Kyung Lah has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The flight level Taiwan International Airport and landed on time at Okinawa's Naha Airport. All 157 passengers and eight crew members got out.

Soon after landing, something went terribly wrong.

According to witnesses, it was the engine on the left side of the plane that exploded. Thick, black smoke billowed from China Air Flight 120. The fire so intense, it cracked the Boeing 737 in two.

"Everyone on the flight is safe," said the airline. China Airline, Taiwan's largest passenger air carrier, has had four fatal crashes in recent years. Among them, a crash in Hong Kong in 1999. All but three of the 315 passengers and crew survived.

(on camera): The airline's fleet of 737s is now grounded. The airline promises it will fully investigate why China Air Flight 120 burst into flames, focusing for now on the lucky survivors despite their harrowing close call.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: All right. Well, to the United States now, back to the U.S., where Democratic presidential candidates faced off in Iowa Sunday night. The state holds a significant place, of course, in American politics, according to tradition.

Iowa's state caucus kicks off the primary election season. So, all eight contenders were there, putting their best arguments forward.

Here's senior political analyst Bill Schneider with the evening's highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): The strongest challenge to the front-runner in the Democratic debate on Sunday came from someone who wasn't there. Karl Rove was quoted as saying that no one with Hillary Clinton's negatives has ever been elected president.

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I find it interesting he's so obsessed with me.

SCHNEIDER: Barack Obama raised a similar concern.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to need somebody who can break out of the political patterns that we've been in over the last 20 years.

SCHNEIDER: Clinton's response? Don't kid yourself.

CLINTON: The idea that you're going to escape the Republican attack machine and not have high negatives by the time they're through with you, I think is just missing what's been going on in American politics for the last 20 years.

(APPLAUSE)

SCHNEIDER: Obama came ready to take some hits.

OBAMA: To prepare for this debate, I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair. And...

(LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: Other candidates criticized Obama's foreign policy views. JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I personally think and I would as president not talk about hypotheticals and nuclear weapons. I think that's not a healthy thing to do.

CLINTON: One thing I agree with is we shouldn't use hypotheticals.

SCHNEIDER: But Obama stood his ground as a candidate who defies convention.

OBAMA: We shouldn't have strategic ambiguity with the American people.

SCHNEIDER: The biggest substantive debate came over Bill Richardson's Iraq proposal.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D-NM), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To end this war, we have to get all the troops out. All of them.

SCHNEIDER: All of them?

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What are you going to do with the 4,000 or 5,000 civilians that are left inside the Green Zone?

CLINTON: Moving troops out cannot happen without careful planning.

SCHNEIDER: Leaving Obama to play the outsider.

OBAMA: The thing I wish had happened was that all the people on this stage had asked the questions before they authorized us getting in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: All right. Here we are. Bill Schneider joins us now live from Washington.

So, who had the edge? Because Hillary Clinton is leading currently. Obama playing the outsider. Is that helping him in the polls?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it hasn't helped him a great deal. He's still running behind Hillary Clinton. But it's -- it's keeping him in second place.

He's putting up a good fight. A lot of Democrats want change, but the polls indicate that they think they can get change from Hillary Clinton, as well as Barack Obama.

His problem, of course, is people still have questions about how much experience he has. Compared to her, he usually shows up with a deficit of experience to run for president.

GORANI: All right. Now, he's announced as well that he's going to cut back on these debates and these forums in order to focus, I suppose, more squarely on -- on the ground campaigning.

How will that change the race?

SCHNEIDER: Well, he says that these debates are very useful but, you know, they've become so numerous, so many parts of the country, that they distract from the business of campaigning and one-on-one contact with the voters or contact in small groups.

He's got to do well in those early states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. And in order to get more face time, literally, with the voters, he says he just can't participate in not just debates but also presidential forums. Every interest group, every organization is trying to sponsor some kind of forum, and you can just do that day after day.

GORANI: Right.

And historically, who has the edge, very quickly, the person who campaigns on the ground or the person who comes across better on television?

SCHNEIDER: Well, television has usually been the key in these events, because they get through to a lot of voters and they often define you very clearly. You know, we found that when you see a person do something on television, it's often more real than seeing them do it face to face.

GORANI: All right.

Bill Schneider, our senior political analyst.

As always, thanks, Bill.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

FRAZIER: Well, this time a week ago, we were beginning the roller-coaster ride in all the financial markets. It was mostly downhill. But so far today, it seems to be a little bit more quiet.

GORANI: All right. Stephanie Elam is in New York with the latest on that.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Jacqui Jeras, meanwhile, is tracking Dean from state to state, country to country.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Country to country, yes, exactly. And this thing is so big, Kyra, too. Even if it doesn't make landfall in Texas, which we're not expecting that it will, you're probably going to feel some of the impact. Look at this. This really takes up the entire western Caribbean. It's bringing clouds from Cuba, all the way down to Central America. And we're starting to see some of the high level cloudiness push in over the Cancun and Cozumel area.

But look at this eye. This is a powerful storm. This is 150 miles per hour. That's the sustained winds, with gusts well beyond that. The Cayman Islands still seeing tropical storm-force wind gusts, and that's going to continue really throughout the entire afternoon hours.

It's a on a westerly track and it's got the Yucatan Peninsula in its mind for a possible landfall here. And unfortunately, intensification is expected before that time.

You know, we're only six miles away from this being the granddaddy of all hurricanes, the Category 5 storm, and expected to be up to 160 miles per hour. We'll have an update at 2:00 Eastern Time.

The hurricane hunters will be flying into the storm, sampling it and trying to find the strongest winds. And at that time, we'll find out whether or not it will be upgraded.

The cone of uncertainty south of Cancun and Cozumel, but close to it. And kind of near the Tulum area. Expected to move across the peninsula and weaken, head out into the Bay of Campeche, and then we'll watch for probably another landfall across Mexico's coast near Tampico. A Category 2 possibly at that time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jacqui, thanks.

This is what Texas governor Rick Perry had to say about preps for Hurricane Dean just a few minutes ago...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: We have skilled rescue teams in place, like Texas Task Force One, Task Force Two. We have Texas military forces that are positioned to help with manpower, with vehicles, with aviation assets.

There is fuel available for people who need to leave the area. And we have approximately 3,000 buses that are ready to evacuate those who cannot make it out on their own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(NEWSBREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back, everyone. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Hala Gorani.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier.

Here are some of the top stories we've been tracking. A terrifying ordeal with a happy ending in Japan, where a China airlines Boeing 737 burst into flames just after it landed. Witnesses say they were about to get off the plane when they saw an engine exploding. Incredibly, everybody, all 165 passengers and crew on board that craft, got out.

GORANI: Rescue workers in China are trying to reach 181 men trapped in two flooded coal shafts in the eastern province of Shandong. Angry family members stormed the coal company offices Monday, demanding more timely updates on the status of rescue efforts.

FRAZIER: Hurricane Dean, growing bigger and stronger as it churns through the warm waters of the Caribbean. It's now expected to intensify into a Category 5 storm, the most powerful on the scale, anytime now, certainly before it makes landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

GORANI: Well, Dean also spared Jamaica the worst of its fury, but still unleashed those violent winds and driving rains.

FRAZIER: Trees were pulled up. Roofs were torn off, and tossed into the streets. Power lines were brought down all across southern Jamaica. Thousands of people sought refuge in shelters as floodwaters undated their homes.

GORANI: Well, fortunately, as we watch these pictures that have come in to us from Jamaica, no deaths were reported, but the storm, of course, Stephen is continuing on its path with potentially destructive consequences.

FRAZIER: The phones are back on now. Water service has resumed. But the power is still off. The government turned it off earlier in an effort to preserve the power infrastructure from damage from falling trees. Windows blown out in some of the more substantial buildings like hotels there.

But all in all, an astonishing story. They were so well prepared, no one was killed by the storm, we hear. Jamaica, of course, out assessing the damage now, checking for injuries, picking up the pieces in the aftermath of dean. Susan Candiotti was there for the storm. She joins us now from Montego Bay via broadband.

What's it like now, Susan?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Stephen.

Well, the sun is shining again, and this is a day to mop up, to clean up, and as you said, to assess how much damage is (AUDIO GAP) the island. You pointed out they did a good job apparently turning off the electricity ahead of time, because that presumably will help preserve the power grid system and avoid more serious damage.

At this hour in Montego Bay, we actually have news that the airport is back open. Now, that does not necessarily mean that flights are going and coming just yet. But, they are trying to get things back online. We understand from the airport officials that airlines will be sending their aircraft back in to begin taking tourists out. And it's quite a scene at the airport right now. Because stranded tourists who were here, some 14,000 of them, some of them have made their way back to the airport already and are frankly standing in line in hopes of getting some of those first seats that will be sold to get off the island again.

The curfew does remain in effect here, but the streets are actually very busy here in Montego Bay. We don't know whether the same is true in Kingston, where we do hear reports of the equipment being brought in, because a lot of the roads are covered with sand. Power lines are down. They have some flooding there, some landslides as well in the rural area of Kingston.

And, again, they're trying to assess that damage and trying to see (AUDIO GAP) rescue efforts, if any, are necessary there -- Steven.

FRAZIER: I'm a little worried, Susan. You recall the last time we spoke as the storm was just arriving last night, a lot of people were staying in their houses, they were worried about their own belongings, and not going to the 1,000 shelters the government had opened. Doesn't that pose a greater possibility that rescuers are going to find people hurt in their homes?

CANDIOTTI: It is -- it is possible, of course, Stephen, and that's why they're trying to find out where they stand. Rescuers went out yesterday and assessed the potential. Now they say for the most part, the reports they're getting, are wind damage and (AUDIO GAP) the question, of course, that you pose is an important one. And we're trying to get additional word on what efforts (AUDIO GAP) people unsuccessfully weathered the storm.

As you know, however, if there is any good news here, they were spared a direct hit in Kingston, the eye being somewhat south of that area, although they were still pounded, of course, by heavy winds and rain. So, that's what authorities are doing now, what you pointed out. And, of course, everyone hopes that the outcome is a good one.

FRAZIER: Well, we're grateful for this assess in the early hours of the aftermath. Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for that update.

And we're hoping that in addition to these pictures that you can see now, that you, our viewers, will end us whatever images you may have from your video cameras or cell phone. You can go to CNN.com and click on a special logo there that says "i-Report" you'll find special instructions on how to upload video or images.

And please, though, don't put yourself at any kind of risk when you go out to do this. We know that power lines are down and it's kind of dangerous. We're especially interested to see what it is like in Kingston, the capital city, since our Susan Candiotti was up in Montego Bay, at the other end, the other coastline.

GORANI: All right taking you to Iraq now, where despite efforts from both the government and coalition forces, incomprehensible violence finds its way to the most remote regions of the country.

FRAZIER: And last week it found the Yazidi, who had lived in peace for an awfully long time, but last week they endured the deadliest suicide bomb attack of the entire war. Now the living are searching for the dead and mourning those who are never going to come back.

GORANI: Well, our Dan Rivers has the story from the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Katanea (ph) is choked with rubble and grief. Everywhere, evidence of lives cut short. It's almost a week since the cataclysmic terrorist attack here, and heavy machinery arrived to excavate the ruins.

But when a body is found, the work is done by hand. The torso of a young woman is carefully removed, ready for burial. Many of the corpses yielded by the rubble are obscenely disfigured. As we walked through Katanea's (ph) ground zero, it looks like an act of God. But this was a deliberate attack.

CAPT. BARRY SEIP, U.S. ARMY: It's a horrible destruction. There were many people that lost their wives, their fathers. I saw babies that had terrible injuries. Had -- it tore my heart out.

RIVERS: And the blasts also tore the heart out of this tiny rural town. The damage radiates for four city blocks. The survivors are now putting up donated tents. On the edge of a desert, families are trying to cope. You can see how many are now homeless.

Hassan Khalil (ph) describes how two trucks blew up in the center and another exploded on the outskirts of town. "It was like an earthquake," he says.

Fifteen-year-old Zed Hamad (ph) saw one of the suicide bombers. He says he looked dizzy. He was smiling like he was mocking us. American and Turkish aid is arriving by the truckload for these people. Unloading it gives these children something to take their mind off what they saw. Local officials are still trying to count the number of new orphans here.

But it's in a tent in a courtyard that we find the most distressing sight; a Yazidi funeral ceremony. The bereaved beat themselves in grief and tear their hair out with sorrow.

(On camera): This Yazidi community is starting a month of mourning, from sunrise until sunset, they will dance here to remember those that were killed in the bombings.

I asked one woman, Lalo (ph), who was lost. It takes her almost a minute to list the names of the dead she knows, including her husband. Yazidis believe they are descended from Adam and are different from other humans. Their religion made them a target, but their faith is all some of these people have left. Dan Rivers, CNN, in the villages of Katanea (ph) and Al Jazeera, Iraq. (END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Welcome back, everyone, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. And this week CNN brings you a three-day, six-hour global television event. It's called "God's Warriors" and it examines the intersection of faith and politics around the world.

FRAZIER: No shortage of those places. One of the flash points is the Middle East, of course, where half a century people on both sides of the Arab/Israeli conflict have tried to sabotage any peace effort.

GORANI: Well, in this excerpt, Christiane Amanpour tells us the story of a former Jewish terrorists in the West Bank.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Yahoda Etienne (ph) was an early leader in the movement to settle the occupied territories. Like many religious settlers, he believed there was a higher authority than Israel's political leaders. But he went to extremes. Plotting to literally dynamite the peace process. With a vigilante group that became known as the Jewish Underground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I had served in the army, and I knew how to use explosives.

AMANPOUR: In 1980, after six Jewish students were murdered in the West Bank City of Hebron, the Jewish Underground conducted its first operation.

(On camera): You and your group of conspirators, you decided to take revenge?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You know, in the Jewish tradition, the period of one month has a special meaning. It's the period of mourning. So, we decided the timetable of one month.

AMANPOUR (voice over): And so, they planted bombs in the cars of Palestinian mayors in three West Bank cities; one of them, Basam Shaka (ph), the mayor of Nablus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The bomb went off the minute I stepped on the clutch. My legs were instantly blown off. They tried to save my knee in this leg, the longer one. So, they kept it. But within two days, I had gangrene and almost died.

AMANOPOUR: Basam Shaka (ph) and the others were targeted because the Jewish Underground believed they were behind the six killings in Hebron. But the Underground was wrong. According to Karmi Gilon (ph), the former chief of Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As those male (ph), we had no information that they were involved in any terror act.

AMANPOUR: The car bomb attacks remained unsolved for years. Until 1984, when Shin Bet uncovered a plan to bomb Arab buses in East Jerusalem. One arrest led to others, and ultimately to the most sensational plot of all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We said that with explosives, we would destroy the Dome Of The Rock.

AMANPOUR: The Dome Of The Rock is Islam's third holiest site, a 1,300-year-old shrine towering over this enormous outcropping of limestone. Sitting nearby on a thrown-like chair, the Jerusalem's top Muslim cleric told us why The Rock is so important.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We consider this to be the spot where the Prophet Muhammad began his ascent to heaven.

AMANPOUR: But Jews also revere this spot as the site of their ancient temple, which Etienne (ph) believes must be rebuilt for The Redemption, the coming of the Messiah. Etienne (ph) and his co- conspirators believed blowing up the Dome of The Rock would undo the peace with Egypt, and make room for the Jewish Temple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Damaging the Holy Shrine would lead to repercussions, the scale of which I can't even imagine.

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FRAZIER: And that's only one of the many stories featured in "God's Warriors." it premieres Wednesday. And first up, "God's Jewish Warriors", on Thursday, "God's Muslim Warriors" and on Friday, "God's Christian Warriors". All at 1300 and then again at 1900 GMT.

GORANI: You can follow in Christiane's footsteps as she conducted her year-long investigation. Go to cnn.com/warriors. This special section of our website offers a behind-the-the scene look at the making of "God's Warriors." And there are some interactive features as well, video diaries, on-location photos, a travel log, and you can submit a question to Christiane Amanpour.

And you can answer your question to the question, How strong is your faith? It's all at cnn.com/warriors. There's a lot going on and many features on our website as well as on television. Hope you can tune in.

FRAZIER: A little break for us now. But when we come back, we will show you a massive television monitor. It's like 25 feet by 70. Any techie will be drooling over this.

GORANI: Just ahead, a screen that displays images 100 times sharper than anything else on the market. A look at the Hyper Wall, next.

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GORANI: If you thought watching high-definition television was awesome, wait until you see the Hyper Wall; 200 million pixels, that's a detail that dwarfs current HDTV. I hope I'm never seen on that screen, frankly. It's the size of most people's living rooms, floor to ceiling. Better get your makeup right.

FRAZIER: I don't know. I think, a 20-foot Hala would be great. A 20-foot Frazier would be -- argh -- terrifying here.

Couch potatoes, though, gamers, people that like to do things at home are already drooling over this thing already. You can tell which camera we're looking at the Hyper Wall and whether we're looking at the wrong one. Chris Lawrence got an early look at this thing, though, and says the technology has real promise for scientists, as well as for people who just like to watch TV.

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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Picture Disney's hit movie, "Cars" on a screen 23 feet long and nine feet high. It's 200 million pixels. The image is 100 times sharper than the best high-def TV. On a normal screen, zoom in, you lose the context. Zoom out, you lose detail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The intent of the Hyper Wall was to show the big picture and the detail at the same time.

LAWRENCE: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, roads were flooded and blocked by debris. Maps were useless. But Hyper Wall gives a detail, down to the street look at the entire Gulf Coast.

STEPHEN JENKS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE: This can help first responders figure out where to go, and where the road are impassable.

LAWRENCE: Scientists at UC Irvine are using Hyper Wall to map earthquakes in South America, and study patients suffering from depression.

JIM FALLON, NEUROBIOLOGIST: You really see different things. Patterns come out that you wouldn't see on a small scale, and at one level of resolution.

LAWRENCE: Within minutes they're discovering genes in brain patterns that took months to find.

FALLON: This not only saves a lot of time, but it saves suffering of people.

LAWRENCE: And more good news --

JENKS: There's no reason this can't be in somebody's living room in 10 or 15 years.

LAWRENCE: New technology will eliminate those edges that split up the screens. Picture an unobstructed wallpaper display that constantly changes your view. How about an aerial shot of the Empire State Building? Or if you live in land locked Middle America, an ocean view of Australia.

JENKS: We'll be able to make huge rolls of this stuff, you'll just be able to put on your wall and have, you know, many tens or hundreds of mega pixels at home. LAWRENCE: Yeah, I look at this thing, and I see Super Bowl. Officials see it as a way to help people after a natural disaster. Remember all the trouble first responders had getting help to people after Katrina in New Orleans? Well, they could take a look at this and see a detailed view to say, OK, that street's flooded. That road is blocked. But you also get the big picture to be able to say, OK, we're going to bring the aid through that neighborhood, and down through that road, helping the first responders to get help quickly to the people who need it most. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Irvine, California.

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GORANI: You don't ever have to leave your house ever again.

FRAZIER: No, I'm never going to. I have to get one of those things.

For now anyway, that's it for us. I'm Stephen Frazier.

GORANI: And I'm Hala Gorani. This is CNN. Don't go away.

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