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Worst Fires in Memory in Greece; Evacuation of Shiite Pilgrims Under Way in Iraq; New Zealand Rescue

Aired August 28, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Wildfires raging in Greece, reinforcements being brought in from overseas. For many, it's too little, too late.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Shiite pilgrims racing away from their sacred destination. Deadly gun battles force evacuation of Karbala.

CLANCY: Out of this world. CNN viewers are sending in incredible pictures of a special lunar eclipse.

CHURCH: And from rescuer to rescued, a caver survives with a smile after being trapped deep below the earth for days.

CLANCY: It is 7:00 p.m. right now in Athens, 8:00 p.m. in Karbala.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.

From Baghdad to Beijing, Athens to Auckland, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, across Greece, desperate people are using anything they can get their hands on, garden hoses, buckets, tin cans, and even branches, trying to protect their homes and save their lives.

CLANCY: That's right. The country now battling the worst fires in living memory.

Flames have killed at least 63 people thus far. Officials say the devastation is so bad, they cannot begin to estimate how much land has been scorched since the fires started. That was five days ago.

Thousands of people have been left homeless. Countless others have lost their livelihoods as flames consumed olive groves, vegetable farms and livestock.

Now, food, clothes, water and blankets are slowly making their way into the Peloponnese as charity groups begin sending in some desperately needed humanitarian aid. Well, fire crews can't even begin to keep up with dozens of new fires popping up every day. Weather conditions have improve slightly, but the break in the winds could be just a temporary reprieve.

For the latest, we go to Frederik Pleitgen in Rodina, Greece.

Frederik, just give us an idea of the situation as we talk this hour.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, you're absolutely right. The authorities here are very, very much concerned about how the weather in the next couple of days is going to develop.

Right now, as you said, the winds have calmed down somewhat, and that does give rescue crews here the chance to really fight these fires and to really make some headway fighting these fires. But they say come Thursday, they expect the winds in this country to pick up considerably, and that will further fuel these fires.

And you can see that play out several times today and also yesterday, what happens when those winds pick up. You can just see the flames igniting, you can see the fires gaining speed and gaining strength.

And when that happens, you can also see that even with dozens of planes in the air, and even with helicopters assisting those flames, they can't really make much headway against these fires. And these fires just keep moving all throughout the land -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Now, Frederik, these devastating blazes have actually infuriated many people across Greece. What are they actually saying?

PLEITGEN: Well, absolutely. This has become a major political issue, where the largest opposition party is saying and many residents of Greece are also saying that the government just completely failed in reacting to this crisis. They say there was not enough firefighters on the ground to actually help them and that the firefighters that were there were not skilled in actually dealing with wildfires like this one, and that they really weren't coordinated enough to help these people.

I talked to one person today in the village that was really devastated by these fires, where the fires raged for hours. And he said during this whole time that the fire raged, they didn't see a single firefighter in that village -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Frederik Pleitgen reporting there from Rodina in Greece.

Thanks for that.

CLANCY: Well, all of Greece is looking on. It can hardly believe what it's seeing. Most people have never seen anything like this in their lives. CHURCH: No, that's right. And this, despite there were some fires in June and July, too. But those flames are destroying everything in their path.

And we've been getting some amazing pictures from our viewers on the scene. I-Reporter Kostas Gougakis shot this image from the balcony of his house in Athens. Now, in the foreground there, you can actually see the Olympic Stadium from the 2004 summer games.

CLANCY: All right.

Here's a nighttime shot from I-Reporter Vasilios Porgaizis. Porgaizis, I guess, is how I would say this. They were taken from Marco Polo (ph) Beach near Oropos. It shows the massive fires burning on the island of Evia.

CHURCH: Now, we are, of course, always on the lookout for new I- Report pictures and videos. So you can just go to CNN.com and click on the I-Report logo for how to send in your pictures. If you have them, we would like to see them.

CLANCY: All right. We're going to change gears and switch over to Iraq.

CHURCH: That's right. Now to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi pilgrims from one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam.

CLANCY: There are buses that have moved in now to take the worshippers away from Karbala as quickly as they can. This all prompted by deadly gun battles that marred a major religious festival for a second day.

CHURCH: Now, some 26 people were killed in outbursts of gunfire over two days. Dozens of others were injured.

CLANCY: The Interior Ministry says the fighting apparently between members of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, the Mehdi army, and security forces that are guarding the city shrines that are loyal to a rival Shia group, the Badr Brigade, or the Badr Organization, who is tied to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Much of the violence is Shia versus Sunni.

Elsewhere in Iraq, authorities say these deadly gun battles are part of long-standing hostilities between these rival Shia groups.

Let's bring in Arwa Damon for more.

Arwa, how would you describe this rivalry? Why does it exist?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, this is definitely Shia-on-Shia fighting. And in fact, we have been seeing these types of clashes erupting across Iraq's Shia heartland in the southern part of the country for quite some time now, intensifying in the recent months. We've been seeing tit-for-tat assassinations, as well as gun battles erupting between rival Shia factions. Today pretty much just another example of that.

Now, today's clashes began when members of the Mehdi militia, the militia you just mentioned there that is loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, tried to enter the city of Karbala carrying their weapons. As part of a security precaution, weapons had been banned.

But as they entered the city, Iraqi security forces, trying to guard the holy shrines, asked them to disarm. They refused, and that is when the gun battles first broke out on Monday evening.

They died down, but then on Tuesday, today, they erupted in three different parts of the city, one of the fiercest gun battles taking place between the two shrines. But this, most definitely, exemplary of the many challenges that face the government. On one hand, you have a Shia militia that is trying to regain control of the streets. On the other, you have a Shia militia that essentially is part of the Iraqi security forces -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. So -- but try to get us, if we can, get a clear picture here. Are you saying that this -- the Badr Brigades are really -- they make up the Iraqi security forces in that city?

DAMON: Well, Jim, the Badr Brigade essentially said that they were going to lay down their arms and many of their members joined the Iraqi security forces. This is not just an issue that is unique to the Badr organization.

There are a number of so-called former members of militia that are now being enforced or folded into the Iraqi security forces. But this really underscores one of the main problems that the Iraqi government hasn't been dealing with, and that is the disarmament of the militias.

According to the spokesman for the Iraqi government, he believes that the government's weakest point is that it has put forward no effort to disarm these militias. And until you start to disarm the militias and move that process forward, many argue that Iraq is not going to move forward as a whole.

We see the government right now that is essentially paralyzed because power is in the political parties and the militias are loyal to the political parties, and they have street credibility -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right.

Arwa Damon reporting to us live there from Baghdad.

Thank you, Arwa.

CHURCH: Meantime, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, is sending a warning to the United States -- any early pullout of American troops will spur a collapse into all-out civil war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARHAM SALIH, DEPUTY IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: The premature withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be a disaster, not only for Iraq, but for the region and the international community as a whole. It will lead to an all-out civil war, it will lead to a regional war, in my opinion, because the fate of Iraq is crucial to the regional balance and to regional security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Salih says he has been warning U.S. politicians who have been visiting Baghdad recently. A progress report on the war in Iraq will be delivered to the U.S. Congress in about two weeks from now.

CLANCY: Well, one of Iraq's neighbors is staking out a bigger regional role for itself once the U.S. withdraws. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, telling a news conference in Tehran today, "The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly. Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. We are prepared to fill the gap with the help of regional friends like Saudi Arabia and with the help of the Iraqi nation."

We're going to have more on this story coming up a little bit later in the program. We'll be talking with CNN's Aneesh Raman, who was recently in Iran, as well as get some analysis from a security expert. What is Iran really saying with all of this?

Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Let's go to Afghanistan now.

Nineteen South Koreans held hostage there for more than a month could soon be freed. Now, the South Korean government says it has secured a deal for their release after holding face-to-face talks with Taliban militants.

A South Korean official says the agreement does not include paying the captors or releasing any Taliban prisoners. That was a major demand of the kidnappers in the initial stages.

CLANCY: Well, you know there were some spectacular scenes if you got up early enough here on the East Coast of the Untied States. If you looked up over the skies of South America and North America overnight, many of you noticed, and they actually sent us some pictures of what was going on up there.

CHURCH: That's right.

Now, the Earth's shadow crept across the moon, turning it into shades of orange and red in a lunar eclipse.

CLANCY: Now, an eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon. It blocks the sun's light, or most of it.

And we're getting some amazing pictures from you, our viewers, of the lunar eclipse -- sent us all of these.

CHURCH: That's right. Let's take a look. Let's bring some of them up.

Now, I-Reporter Chris Cowan of Terrell in Texas shot this. A keen photographer. I think this was on his Nikon, from my memory.

CLANCY: Yes. No, it's a really nice photo.

And we've got our next one here is from Steven Malecki, I think I'm saying that right, of Sunnyside, New York. A really nice clear one showing a lot of the texture there of the moon, where all the...

CLANCY: That's right. And another keen photographer. He did a second one. That's his second one there.

So, some lovely shots. I mean, these guys dabble in photography. Some of them are professionals, in fact.

CLANCY: Yes. They don't sleep a lot when they're getting these shots either.

CHURCH: Now, this next one, I-Reporter Heidi Enghelberg of Hollywood, Florida, she did some spectacular shots here. And she's another one.

She was actually born in Romania, lives in the U.S. And enjoys taking all of these shots. And these -- she got this interesting tinge of blue in some of these shots. And didn't really know why.

CLANCY: I think she shot it in black and White. Well, no, I think she shot it in black and white and she just changed...

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: Yes. There's a tinge of blue there.

She was writing to us saying, she doesn't know why there was that effect, but spectacular pictures all the same.

CLANCY: All right. We've got another one, Mike Black of Spring Lake. You know what makes the planet red? What makes it look red?

CHURCH: What makes it look red?

CLANCY: Well, because this is -- the light comes from Earth and it actually splatters a little bit around the Earth, and the dust in the atmosphere goes out there. And that's what gives it that red look to it.

Otherwise, it would be a complete shadow. But there's a little bit of light that gets around there and gets to it, just, you know, reflecting off the atmosphere that surrounds the Earth.

CHURCH: Now, I think that shot actually came in at the start there.

So, some great shots there from our viewers.

CLANCY: Thanks a lot for those.

CHURCH: Yes.

CLANCY: Thanks for getting up. I didn't get up that early this morning to take a look at it, but glad you all did.

CHURCH: Well, you got a chance to see those.

And you can send us your photos, video and comments. And just go to CNN.com and click on the "I-Report" logo.

Well, a three-day order ordeal inside a cave is finally over.

CLANCY: That's right. And still ahead, we're going to show it to you, the incredible effort to rescue a trapped explorer in New Zealand.

CHURCH: And later, look out for the living dead if you're in London. We have a ghoulish tale to tell later this hour.

Take a look at this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

CHURCH: That's right. We are covering the news the world wants to know and giving you some perspective that goes a little deeper into the stories of the day.

Well, a U.S. senator known for his stance against gay marriage is in trouble after being arrested in an airport men's room. Larry Craig, a Republican senator from Idaho, pleaded guilty earlier this month to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.

Now, according to Minnesota criminal records, Craig was arrested on June 11th by an undercover police officer investigating complaints of lewd behavior in the men's room of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Now, Craig now says his behavior was misconstrued and that he pleaded guilty and paid a $500 fine only to settle the matter quickly.

CLANCY: Now, this case is obviously drawing widespread attention in the United States based on one thing, primarily. Craig was a staunch opponent to any gay rights issues at all.

Now, here's what you need to know about Senator Larry Craig. He's 62 years old. He is married. He has three children, they're all adopted from his wife's previous marriage.

He has served three terms in the U.S. Senate. Before that, he was a member of Congress.

Conservative groups have praised his voting record. Craig has voted against gay marriage, he also opposed hate crimes legislation that would have extended some special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims.

CHURCH: All right.

To another story we're covering, to New Zealand's South Island, in fact. And that's what is described as one of the trickiest rescue missions ever carried out.

Doctor and experienced caver Michael Brewer is usually one of the first called when people need to be rescued, but this time he was a victim.

Here's our Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was rescuer-turned-rescued. New Zealand caver Michael Brewer emerging from a complex cave system after a three-day ordeal.

In what authorities call the most difficult mountain rescue in the country's history, Brewer had to be extracted centimeter by centimeter from the middle earth cave system on New Zealand's South Island. The local doctor and volunteer rescue team member had been exploring the caves when a rockslide left him trapped with a broken pelvis and head injuries.

MICHAEL BREWER, CAVE CLIMBER: Just a routine trip. And going down (INAUDIBLE). We had gone down probably a dozen or so times beforehand, and this rock leapt out of the wall at me.

HOLMES: Getting Brewer to safety was no easy task, lifting him on a stretcher up vertical walls and through narrow passages known as squeezes.

BILL TALBOT, NEW ZEALAND POLICE: They moved a lot quicker through the cave once they got through the squeezes. And they got out sooner than we thought. Fantastic effort by everybody, really.

HOLMES: Still, the whole operation took three long days as Brewer's anxious wife and teenage daughters waited above ground.

SARAH BREWER, MICHAEL BREWER'S WIFE: We're just -- it's fantastic to see him. And he sounds really tired. And yes, really looking forward to catching up with him in hospital.

HOLMES: Normally the rescuer, it was Brewer's turn to be saved by those he normally works alongside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do it for him. And he does it for us. And that's the way it goes.

HOLMES: The highly experienced caver said that after the rock fall, he figured his caving and rescuing days were over. But now he's not so sure.

M. BREWER: Three days ago, I decided this was probably going to be the end of my caving career. But I have doubts now. I have got some more things to do.

HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Yes, I bet he's glad to be out.

CHURCH: Three days of rescue. Yes.

CLANCY: That's right.

Coming up, the cost of doing business.

CHURCH: In China, it's not always a matter of dollars. In fact, critics say the Internet giant Yahoo! is paying too high a price to crack the Chinese market in terms of human rights.

CLANCY: And then a little bit later, Londoners maintain their traditional stiff upper lip despite being invaded by stiffs.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone, no matter where you are around the globe, we would like to welcome you back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. Here's some of the stories we're following this hour. Iraqi forces evacuating hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from the city of Karbala after gun battles marred a major religious commemoration there. There was street fighting between members of a Shia militia and Iraqi security forces.

CLANCY: The South Korean government saying now it has secured a deal for the release of 19 South Koreans that have been held in Afghanistan, by the Taliban, as hostages for more than a month. A presidential spokesman cautioning that many details have to be worked out. The agreement did not include paying for captors or releasing any Taliban prisoners that are held.

CHURCH: A string of deadly wildfires are burning up the Greek landscape. So far at least 63 people have been killed. Many of them caught up in the very flames they were trying desperately to escape. One mother's remains were found clutching her four children not far from their house, which in a heart breaking twist was left untouched by the fire.

A lot of heartbreak and tragedy with those fires. Theirs is also a lot of finger pointing going on now. Is Greece's hot, dry weather to blame for the fires, or is there someone else at fault. Either way, despite the devastation, many find there are rewards in the ruins. Jonathan Mann has "Insight".

JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: With so much beautiful land burned and so many people dead it's hard to imagine anyone profiting from the problem. The truth is, though, that some do benefit and some get the blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like it's all over the country. It's the most horrible thing have ever seen in my life. I know that this government is to blame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I feel rage. I feel the same rage as all of you. So many fire fronts in so many locations in the country can't be a coincidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: Now, overall, hundreds of separate fires have burned across Greece this summer. Over the last few days the fires are centered mostly in the south of the country, in the peninsula known as the Peloponnesus. This map illustrates the scope of the problem. See all those red fires? Those flames represent only the fires that are currently burning. Those fires and those that have already been extinguished are already affecting Greece's environment, it's economy and it's upcoming election. So, one of the biggest potential losers in all of this, is the government.

Greeks are lashing out, accusing the government incompetence in preventing and fighting the fires. That makes the opposition, the Socialist Pasak (ph) Party, a potential winner in all of this. Remember there are general elections coming up in just three weeks' time. The opposition was a few percentage points behind the governing party. The latest poll puts it less than 1 percent behind.

Now, the environment, and those who work to protect it, obviously among the losers here. Activists have long pressed the Greek government to protect the country's forests better, and ensure that burned areas are replanted. Well, spin it another way. That burned land could represent a big opportunity for developers. Arrows up for them, because they can move in where trees once stood in the way. Greek forests are officially protected.

But get this, they are not mapped. And Greece has no land registry. If a protected forest burns down and a developer builds on it, there's no easy way for the government to prove it was ever protected to begin with.

The most obvious losers, here, though, the people in those forests who lost their livelihood, their homes -- and lives. The disaster left them feeling helpless and hopeless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What can I say? I'm devastated. Shall I speak about human lives, ecological destruction, about the economy, the agricultural sector, which has been destroyed? I can't find words. I don't think any Greek can right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MANN: The other losers, seven people who have been charged with arson and 26 more charged with crimes linked to the fires. One of them a 77-year-old woman who was cooking in her garden and apparently set off a blaze all by herself, by accident.

Back to you.

CHURCH: Jonathan Mann with that "Insight".

More now on that warning from Teheran. The country's president says a power vacuum is imminent in Iraq, and that Iran stands ready to help fill in that gap. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the statement during a wide-ranging news conference in Tehran. Middle East Correspondent Aneesh Raman joins us now live, from Baghdad, with more.

Aneesh, these words from the Iranian president is going to send shutters through Washington?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Rosemary, the immediate question, of course, is why now? Iran's president is known for making controversial statements, but their timing is rarely arbitrary. A big reason why we saw these comments today, it seems, is Nouri Al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister.

Now, you see Ahmadinejad there at a press conference for foreign journalists earlier today in Tehran. Maliki was just in the Islamic Republic a few weeks ago. I was there at the time, it was a very public gathering, very friendly one. Maliki listened as Iranians authorities told him the U.S. is the cause of instability in Iraq and that U.S. troops need to leave immediately.

Now Maliki is suffering fierce criticism. As you see him there, from within his own cabinet. Almost half have either left or threatened to resign. He's also facing calls for resignation out of Washington, by those who say he can't bring about the necessary political end game.

Well, today, Iran shifted the blame, as it often does, back to the U.S. He says, no, it's the U.S.'s power that is decreasing in the region, that will disappear, that will leave a vacuum that Iran will step into, along with other countries in the Middle East.

Now, of course, Rosemary, on the ground a lot of people say that Iran is already intimately involved with Iraqi affairs, tied with Shia parties. U.S. says it's arming Shia militia -- which Iran denies. Could be the last thing Maliki needs, defense for the Iraqi prime minister, Rosemary, from the Iranian president.

CHURCH: Interesting. All right, Aneesh Raman, reporting from Baghdad. Thanks so much.

Jim.

CLANCY: Certainly the idea of Iran stepping in to fill a possible power vacuum in Iraq would be the Bush administration's worse nightmare. Let's get some perspective here. Joining us from Washington, John Pike; he's the director of globalsecurity.org.

John, Ahmadinejad has said a lot of things in the past.

(LAUGHTER)

CLANCY: He comes up with this line. I mean, tell me it isn't true, but I wonder -- you know, you listen to this guy and he's saying -- what he's really saying here is, U.S. political power in Iraq -- not military power -- political power is collapsing. Does he have a point?

JOHN PIKE, DIRECTOR, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG.: Well, I mean, I think that certainly, the Iraqi government has not developed in a way that many people hoped they would several years ago. But if we're trying to understand the power deficit in Iraq, certainly the Bush administration is going to tell you that Iran is already the problem. That they've already moved in there. That they are the source of instability and the difficulties that the Iraqi government is having.

And I think the administration is going to be joined by the Saudi government in saying that it's precisely this sort of Iranian power grab, creation of the Shia Crescent, that American military presence in Iraq is, among other things, is intended to prevent.

So I think this is exactly the sort of rhetoric coming out of Iran that the Bush administration has been warning about for some time.

CLANCY: Some analysts, George Friedman, who wrote a geo political intelligence report here on the situation, says that there was a period in time when the United States need to sit down and talk with Iran. But the time is quickly fading, because how the president's plans have been undermined, really, and Iraqi government itself has failed. Iran has to only sit back now and bide its time.

PIKE: I think the advocates with negotiations with Iran have underestimated the resistance to those negotiations on the part of Iran. It's not simply that Iran is a normal government and can't figure out why the Americans won't talk to them.

Iranian ideology since the beginning of the Islamic revolution, has put America as the source of the world's troubles. It's not simply absence of willingness to negotiate on the part of the United States that enabled Iran to persist in those views. It's fundamental to the regime.

CLANCY: This regime, though, is not immune. It is not without problems. Ahmadinejad needs to create jobs. His economy is a complete mess. Is the U.S., you know, countering Iran where it needs to?

PIKE: Well, I think the United States particularly over the last six, or eight months has really stepped up the financial pressure on Iran. You're seeing more and more companies that are basically being told you can either do business with the United States or you can do business with Iran, but you can't do both, and you are going to have to choose. More are choosing the United States, because the United States has more money. So Iran's economy, which was already in tatters -- I mean, this was a big oil producing country that imports gasoline? What's wrong with that picture?

No, I think that they were already having economic problems, the United States is stepping up pressure on Iran. But Iran continues to move ahead quite briskly with its nuclear program and it's not clear which one is going to get to the finish line first.

CLANCY: One last question very quickly, I was surprised when I heard Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA yesterday saying that the U.S. has to quit going after the Revolutionary Guards, perhaps labeling them as a terror group, at the same press conference, Ahmadinejad said we'll retaliate if you do that. But should the United States move ahead on that front?

PIKE: I haven't quite been able to understand what problem it solves. It's also not clear to me that the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency is authorized to have an opinion on that question.

CLANCY: All right. John Pike, as always, I want to thank you very much for being with us.

PIKE: Thank you.

CLANCY: And sharing your views and perspectives. Very important, thank you.

CHURCH: All right. Well an explosion and fire that destroyed a China Airlines plane in Japan is prompting U.S. aviation authorities to order emergency inspections of new model Boeing 737s jet liners. Investigators found that last week's incident was caused by a nut inside the moveable wing slats, falling off and piercing a nearby fuel tank. Almost 800 of the potentially affected planes are registered to U.S. airlines with another 1,500 flying overseas.

CLANCY: All right. (INAUDIBLE) with that one.

CHURCH: I'd think so.

CLANCY: A shot of redemption for a pageant contestant that stumbled first time around.

CHURCH: Up next, Miss Teen South Carolina explains the response that left everyone laughing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone. Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY. This is CNN International.

CHURCH: It is. And we are seen live in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe. A U.S. judge paved the way for Manuel Noriega to be extradited to France. Now the former Panamanian dictator is due to be released from prison in the U.S. next month. He's also wanted in France for money laundering charges. So, just a short while ago a U.S. court in Miami cleared the way for his extradition. Magistrate William Turner, rejected arguments that Noriega status is as a prisoner of war, it meant that he had to be immediately returned home when his U.S. sentence is up.

CLANCY: Well, there was no room for small talk at the latest meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem. Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tackling the big topics. Borders, refugees, statehood, Jerusalem, but only in the broadest terms.

The two leaders are laying the ground work for a Middle East peace conference, expected to come in November. Abbas is pressing Israel for details of it's position, saying the U.S. sponsored conference will be a waste of time so long as Israel talks only in broad terms of establishment of a Palestinian State.

CHURCH: Well, from important talks to small signs. What happened to an Israeli army major who lost his way, is raising hopes about the way forward in the Middle East. Our Ben Wedeman has his nerve-wracking story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT: The images from the cell phone camera show a man in Israeli army fatigues led away by Palestinian security. A voice in Arabic orders no one go near him. This Israeli army major apparently had driven by mistake into the West Bank town of Jenin. The crowd beat him and set his car ablaze. But he was saved by Palestinian police, who quickly handed him over to Israeli forces.

Israeli officials are haling this incident as another sign the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas is serious about good ties with Israel.

President Abbas came to Jerusalem Tuesday for what have become regular meetings with Israeli leaders, stopping to sign the guest book at the prime minister's residence before talks began.

Beside all these gentile gestures and high hopes for the American sponsored Mid East, summit scheduled for November, there is no guarantee a breakthrough is around the corner. Abbas and his Fatah- dominated Palestinian Authority, are still bitterly opposed to Hamas, now firmly in control of Gaza.

And until the two factions settle their differences, or one eliminates the other, real progress toward peace will be hard to achieve. Some analysts ask whether Israel is dancing diplomatically with the wrong partner.

ROSEMARY HOLLIS, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, CHATAM HOUSE: There's a classic debate going on here about do you make peace with the peacemakers, those inclined to do a deal, or do you have to take the harder route, and try to negotiate with those who are causing the violence, who are more implacable -- and without whom you can't have peace.

WEDEMAN: While it's all handshakes and smiles in Jerusalem, further south, near Gaza, more ominous developments. Tuesday a Qassam rocket crashed into a house in the Israeli town of Sderot, the frequent target of Palestinian missiles, wounding one man. Prompting this Israeli cabinet minister to issue a warning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time is running out. If there will be no choice. We will have to take even more forceful steps to do whatever we can to protect our citizens.

WEDEMAN: Diplomacy in the Middle East comes and goes, but war and the threat of war, are never far away. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, the Internet has the power to make even the most ephemeral moments last forever, whether we want them to or not.

CLANCY: And there are so many that we don't want. No one knows this better than the girl named Caitlin Upton, she was Miss Teen South Carolina. And she's much better known.

CHURCH: Of course. She was asked at Friday night's pageant about why many Americans can't find the United States on a map.

CLANCY: Now, OK, here's the answer. She's really young, she's really nervous, but this is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN CAITLIN UPTON, MISS TEEN SOUTH CAROLINA: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so, because -- uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps. And I don't believe that our education, such as in South Africa, and as Iraq, everywhere, like such as, and I believe that they should -- our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. -- or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Yeah. OK, right on topic there. Very succinct and to the point. Started out looking for a map and sort of lost our way from there.

CHURCH: OK, Upton later explained she was under a lot of pressure and didn't fully understand the question.

CLANCY: Yeah, she was under pressure, anyway. She was later given an opportunity to answer it one more time in an interview. This was a couple hours ago. We call it a do-over. A second chance, really.

CHURCH: Let's listen.

UPTON: Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don't know anyone else who doesn't. And if the statistics are correct I believe there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people will learn how to read maps better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: There you go. She got it great the second time around.

CLANCY: Yes, and the reality is that kids today have those little GPS maps in their cars and everything. They don't need a regular paper, printed map.

Good for her. That sounded much better.

Well, Great Britain, here's a little fact you might not have known. It's made up of Scots, Welsh and yes, the English.

CHURCH: Wait a minute, you forgot the zombies.

CLANCY: Uh-oh. That's right!

CHURCH: They practically took over London Monday, as you can see.

CLANCY: And they return from the dead, when we return.

CHURCH: Good lord.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: All right. News flash! Zombies have invaded London, sort of.

CLANCY: Sort of. Hundreds of fans of the macabre try to set the new world record for the largest gathering of flesh eating zombies. It's true!

CHURCH: That's right. Our own Phil Black was brave enough to venture out among the living dead. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's not unusual to see the living dead walking London streets on a national holiday. But this lot aren't feeling the effects of a big night out.

Zombies, hundreds of them. Taking over fast food restaurants. Breaking out tourists on buses. Their goal was to set a new attendance record for a zombie gathering and have a good time trying. There was a zombie conga line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't let the zombies in the middle get it, quick.

BLACK: Zombie ball sports. A day out for zombie families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been eating someone.

BLACK (on camera): Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm hungry.

BLACK (voice over): You don't wake up looking this ghoulish, it can take hours of work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You need to get green and make it look horrible as possible.

BLACK (on camera): You do look truly horrible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. It's great.

BLACK: You have a little something through your beard, there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's mostly treacle (ph). It tastes all right, actually.

BLACK: To break the record the organizers are hoping to attract a pack of around 1,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (GROWLING)

BLACK: They didn't quite get there, which proves it is not that easy to raise the living dead.

(Voice over): A the center of zombie culture, is the zombie movie. The London party also marked the addition of the genre of the low-budget British film, "The Zombie Diaries."

KEVIN GATES, DIRECTOR, "THE ZOMBIE DIARIES": Zombies are the ones that people identify and love, absolutely love.

BLACK: Why is that?

GATES: I think it is because they are us. They represent the dead, what we all will eventually come. But they are living as well. They're wandering around, shopping around like these guys are behind us.

BLACK: Hard core zombie fans insist there's nothing weird about their passion. Why would anyone think that? Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Loving zombies? I don't know about that.

CLANCY: They look good, though.

CHURCH: Beautiful.

All right, now just three weeks ago Matt Murphy lived a baseball fan's dream in San Francisco.

CLANCY: The New York man caught that Barry Bonds record- breaking homerun ball; it was number 756. He's not keeping it, though as a memento.

CHURCH: That's right, Murphy, has decided to sell his little piece of baseball. Probably because he'll get taxed if he keeps it. It goes on the auction block at Sotheby's today.

CLANCY: The starting bid hasn't been determined. But auction officials say they think it will bring in half a million dollars. Then, Rosemary, this man will pay his taxes.

CHURCH: That's right. Some saying it could be up to $5 million, too, that he could get for that. Then he will definitely pay his taxes.

CLANCY: That's it for this hour. I'm Jim Clancy.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN.

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