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Your World Today

Missing British Girl's Mother 'Formal Suspect'; German Police Seek Suspects Tied to Alleged Plotters; Tense Exchange After Bush-Roh Meeting

Aired September 07, 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: Traces of blood raising new questions. Police interrogate the parents of a missing British girl and name her mother as a suspect.
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: From horror to hope. An injured Iraqi boy sees a future opening up beyond the war zone.

CLANCY: No food, no supplies. A woman survives two weeks in rough terrain after her family gave up hope of finding her alive.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They are courageous people. They have -- they're willing to sacrifice their freedom or sometimes their lives. To me, they're heroes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter recognizes men and women from 20 countries as defenders of human rights.

VASSILEVA: It is noon here in Atlanta, 5:00 p.m. in Portimao, Portugal.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

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

From frantic mother to formal suspect, we're going to begin our report with a sudden shift in this case of a missing British girl that has captured the attention of the world.

VASSILEVA: A spokeswoman for the family of Madeleine McCann says her mother has now been named a suspect months after Madeleine vanished in Portugal.

CLANCY: But she says Kate McCann has been released from a Portuguese police station without any charges. Now it's her husband's turn to undergo questioning.

VASSILEVA: And Robert Moore reports the family is ready to fight any suggestion of guilt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT MOORE, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice over): She arrived here just of a 11:00 this morning. Police barricades providing some relief from the crowd of cameras.

Kate made no comment, but she looked visibly exhausted and emotionally drained. There was some whistles from the crowd of locals, but also a few shouts of support.

Police have now changed her status from witness to Aguida, or suspect. And she is being advised by lawyers police may charge her today with the death of Madeleine. And I put that to Kate's adviser and friend, Justine McGuiness.

(on camera): I understand the police may actually charge her with the death of Madeleine today.

JUSTINE MCGUINESS, FRIEND: That's a possibility that we're -- you know, we're deeply concerned about that, because Kate would obviously never, ever do anything to harm her children. She's a loving and caring mother. And anybody who knows Kate would know that she wouldn't hurt a fly.

MOORE: It is fair to say she must be shaken to the core by this development?

MCGUINESS: She's horrified by it. Absolutely horrified. And she -- she hopes and prays that Madeleine's still alive. And she sincerely wants to be reunited.

She wants -- she wants her daughter back. That's all she wants. She wants her daughter back and she wants to go back home to Britain.

MOORE: The stress is obvious, but she's also said to be furious, livid with the Portuguese police.

MCGUINESS: Well, she's -- wouldn't you be if you were in her position?

MOORE (voice over): At 1:00 this morning, Kate had emerged from the first round of questioning. It had lasted 11 grueling hours.

And we now know Kate had been confronted directly with forensic information that has implicated her in the death of Madeleine. Her lawyer refused to comment on that, but Kate is adamant now, as she has been all along, that Madeleine must have been abducted.

The public mood here is divided. Some British tourists are at the police station to show support for Madeleine.

(on camera): What did you shout as she went in? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We support you, Kate." All of Britain supports her, I think.

MOORE (voice over): We still do not have any official statement from police. But these are dramatic developments that have radically changed the direction of the investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: We heard Robert Moore there mentioning forensic evidence that has surfaced which police believe links Kate McCann to the disappearance of her daughter.

Let's bring in Paula Hancocks now to get some more details on all of that.

She's in Portimao, Portugal.

How much do we know about this evidence?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Jim.

Well, at this particular moment we know Gerry McCann is inside the police station behind me. He got there about an hour and a half ago. And according to the McCanns' spokesperson, he's expected to be in there around about three hours. But they did specify he's being questioned as a witness.

Now, certainly we've been hearing from the family's spokesperson, also a lawyer from the family. We've heard little, if anything, from the Portuguese police.

There's an ongoing criminal investigation. They're not going to give us any information.

But what we have heard from the spokesperson is they believe that on Thursday evening, Kate McCann was approached by the police inside here when she was questioned for 11 hours. And they said they had found blood in a car that the McCanns had rented. But the crucial part is they had rented that car 25 days after Madeleine had been reported to be missing.

Now, we also heard from the lawyer who said that an article of clothing of Kate McCann's had been given in to the police about a month ago. That also had the same type of blood -- Jim.

CLANCY: As we look at the case, and this DNA evidence that's coming out here, who is doing the analysis of it? How certain are investigators of its authenticity?

HANCOCKS: Well, there was some that was done in Britain, certainly, a couple of months ago. There were sniffer dogs from Britain that came into the holiday apartment where Madeleine was last seen. And at that point the sniffer dogs found some traces of blood, some hair, some other materials which were sent to a laboratory in Britain. And that came back about 48 hours ago. Now, there has been some speculation, much speculation, in fact, that that is what prompted the Portuguese police to then decide that they wanted to talk individually to Kate and Gerry. But the Portuguese police are not commenting at this point. All the bits of information we are getting is from the family itself.

CLANCY: All right. Paula Hancocks there in Portimao, Portugal.

Thank you.

She continues to follow this investigation in progress. We'll have much more on the story later in the show.

A legal expert joining us to help us understand what protections are afforded suspects in Portugal, and what might be next for Kate McCann. That's coming up in about 30 minutes' time.

VASSILEVA: The media arm of al Qaeda announced a new videotape of Osama bin Laden will soon be released. And just a short time ago we learned that the U.S. government has obtained a copy of it.

Production company Al-Sahad (ph) had promised to post the terror leader's message online before the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. These fall on next Tuesday. These are supposedly the first new images of bin Laden since October, 2004. That makes it significant.

A U.S. official said the tape is being analyzed right now to determine its authenticity and whether it is really new. And Michael Chertoff, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, spoke to us just a few moments ago and told us exactly what these procedures are, as authorities look at tapes like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, I'm not going to comment on whether we have a particular tape at this time. I'll tell you what we normally do, though.

We review it for authenticity. We review it to see when we think it was made, if it's a single tape or a compilation of outtakes. We look to see if the -- if there are overt messages or hidden messages. And that's our routine operating procedure whenever we get these kinds of tapes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Thursday it had no credible information warning of an imminent threat.

CLANCY: And worth noting -- for the first time since 2001, a majority of Americans doubt that bin Laden will ever be found. A new poll by the Opinion Research Corporation shows only 42 percent think he will be captured or killed -- Ralitsa.

VASSILEVA: Jim, with three suspects already in custody, German authorities are running down the list of other people they think may have been involved in that terrorist plot bigger than those in Madrid and London.

Frederik Pleitgen spoke with a German government official about the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Germany's top criminal investigator tells CNN American intelligence told German authorities of the plot to target Americans and other westerners. "Yes, we got a tip-off from our American colleagues, that is correct," Joerg Zierke says, "because all of those that have now been arrested went to terror training camps in northern Pakistan of the Islamic Jihad Union and were trained there as terrorists. It was from this time in 2006."

German police say Fritz Gelowisc was the mastermind behind the foiled attacks. What's shocking to many here, Gelowisc, a convert to Islam, is German.

In an exclusive CNN interview, Germany's interior minister, Wolfgang Shauble, says the foiled attacks show that the threat of terrorism in Germany is real. "The German public should be on alert. They should have trust in the work of the authorities. They should report suspicious activity to the authorities, but they should not let themselves be intimidated by terrorists," he says.

Opinion polls here show more and more Germans are on the edge about terrorism and want tougher laws to combat it. They seem shocked by this terror plot. Three suspect are in custody so far, while investigators say they are tracking seven more suspects in the cases. German government officials are meeting in Berlin to consider more laws giving investigators more power to probe the computers of possible terror suspects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VASSILEVA: And Frederik Pleitgen joins us now from Ramstein with the latest on the case.

So, Frederik, what have authorities learned specifically about the suspects they have in custody and the group to which they belong?

PLEITGEN: Well, they have learned that the suspects that they have in custody were, of course, in terrorist training camps in Pakistan in 2006, and that's where U.S. intelligence services picked up communications from there and then relayed that to German authorities, who then picked up the investigation against these people. Now, the terror organization that they are a part of is called the Islamic Jihad Union, which apparently is a splinter group of an Islamist -- of an Islamist extremist organization from Uzbekistan that splintered from that group in Uzbekistan and is now promoting global jihad.

Now, that's the words of one German official telling us that. And they said it promotes a global jihad. And this is apparently -- these three people are the first sort of kernel group ever to have operated in Germany.

So really this is a new group operating in Germany right now. And German officials say they believe that with the arrests that they have made, that this group is no longer dangerous to the public. But as you said, they are still searching for seven further suspects, some of them in Germany, but others in other places in the world -- Ralitsa.

VASSILEVA: Frederik Pleitgen in Ramstein.

Thank you very much.

CLANCY: Well, coming up, an amazing story. They thought she was dead.

VASSILEVA: And her devastated family was actually planning her memorial service.

Ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, how this U.S. woman lost in the wilderness survived for nearly two weeks.

CLANCY: And an Iraqi boy who lost a friend and a leg in a terrorism bombing, now enjoying something rare in his young life -- hope for the future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

VASSILEVA: We're seen live around the world. Thanks for looking in today.

Well, let's bring you up to date now on diplomatic dealings out of the APEC summit going on right now in Australia. It concerns North Korea, which has invited an international team of inspectors to visit next week. The trip could pave the way for Pyongyang to dismantle its entire nuclear program by the end of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HILL, U.S. ASSISTANT SEC. OF STATE: The purpose is to do a survey of the site that need to be disabled pursuant to the -- to our agreement. And so, they will visit Yongbyon in particular, because Yongbyon, as we already know, even without a declaration, we know that Yongbyon has three of the main sites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: But the reality is, even as tensions seem to be subsiding with the north, they seem to be rising a bit among the allies. U.S. President Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun appeared to mix it up in front of the media during what is normally just a chance to make nice. Suzanne Malveaux is in Sydney.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was a rare, unscripted exchange. President Bush publicly challenged to explain his position on how to formally end the Korean War. It happened after private talks and pleasantries with South Korea's president Roh Moo-hyun.

ROH MOO-HYUN, SOUTH KOREA (through translator): I think I might be wrong. I think I did not hear President Bush mention a declaration to end the Korean War as of just now. Did you say so, President Bush?

MALVEAUX: Surprised, President Bush reaffirmed U.S./Korean policy. The U.S. will only initiate a formal declaration of peace between North and South Korea after North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il no longer poses a threat.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I said to President Kim Jong-il as to whether not we're able to sign a peace treaty and end the Korean War. He's got to get rid of his weapons and verifiable (ph) sanctions.

MALVEAUX: But Roh, throwing his head back with laughter, was not satisfied.

ROH (through translator): I believe that they are the same thing, Mr. President. If you could be a little bit clearer in your message, I think (INAUDIBLE).

BUSH: I can't make it any more clearer, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end -- it will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons.

MALVEAUX: South Korea plays a vital role as a member of the six- party talks aimed at convincing North Korea to disarm. The country is also eager to reunite with its northern neighbor. But with more than 37,000 U.S. troops, helping keep the peace along the North/South Korean border, the Bush administration is reluctant to make any changes while it still considers North Korea a threat.

(on camera): White House officials say the exchange between President Bush and Roh was simply a case of lost in translation. That they are both in agreement of what's expected of North Korea's leader and that there is no tension between them. And obviously there's also the element of domestic politics in play for the South Korean leader.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Sydney, Australia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, back to the U.S. and some good news in the search for a missing person.

VASSILEVA: That's right. An elderly woman lost for nearly two weeks in the mountains of the northwestern United States.

CLANCY: Now, her family was planning a memorial service already when the good news came.

VASSILEVA: That's right.

Thelma Gutierrez brings us this incredible story of survival.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In this vast, rugged Oregon wilderness, an amazing discovery. Seventy-six-year-old Doris Anderson, who had been missing for 13 days, found alive.

MELVIN ANDERSON, BROTHER-IN-LAW: You'll never believe this. They found her. And I figured they found her dead. No, they found her alive. She was in the bottom of a ravine, just off the road.

GUTIERREZ: Doris's husband Harold believes it's a miracle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife I stated I'd never see again. That's why I have her pictures up close to me.

GUTIERREZ: Their ordeal began August 23rd when the couple went elk hunting. Their SUV got stuck in the creek in the mountains.

They walked for several miles for help but decided to separate when Doris couldn't go on. She would return to the vehicle, where there was food and water, and Harold would seek help.

He was picked up by hunters late in the afternoon, but when they returned to the vehicle, Doris was nowhere to be found. The family said Harold was inconsolable.

ANDERSON: He was devastated. He said life would never be the same.

GUTIERREZ: A massive search went on for days, but the family thought there was little hope. And just as they were planning her memorial service, two Baker County sheriffs deputies found Doris Anderson.

She was flown to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Baker City, Oregon, where doctors are surprised as how well she's doing, considering she survived nearly two weeks in frigid temperatures, without food or water.

DR. STEVE DELASHMUTT, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Yes, for that age, and being unprepared, and being out in the cold, she's done remarkably well.

GUTIERREZ: No one more surprised than Harold, who's been married to Doris for 55 years.

(on camera): Are you going to go elk hunting again like this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never. Never. I'm going to spend the rest of my days with my wife.

GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Baker City, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, terrorism may have destroyed parts of his body.

VASSILEVA: But not his spirit. Next on YOUR WORLD TODAY, a young Iraqi boy finds hope, half a world away.

CLANCY: Also...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a targeted man. And I was told that the minute I arrive in the country again, I would be arrested, detained and tried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: They enter some of the most dangerous corners of the earth to fight for the defenseless. Still ahead, a closer look at some human rights heroes.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries and territories around the globe, including the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. And I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Clancy. Let's update our top story this hour.

The mother of missing girl Madeleine McCann has entered a second day of questioning by police in Portugal. A family friend says Kate McCann is still a suspect in her daughter's disappearance but has not been charged.

Her husband, Gerry, is now undergoing questioning by police. He has not been named a suspect.

VASSILEVA: A McCann family friend say police found traces of Madeleine's blood in a car rented by her parents 25 days after she vanished. To help us analyze the legal status of the McCann's' case and this turn of direction, legal affairs commentator Ian Kaplan joins us now live from London. Ian, thank you so much for joining us.

I have to ask you, something I can't wrap my mind around, how is it that they found blood in a car 25 days after Madeleine disappeared?

IAN CAPLIN, CNN LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think this is ultimately going to be a concern which has ventilated over the course of the investigation, however it concludes. There are no doubts going to be issues which are raised during the course of that investigation. And it is something which I think attracts attention at first blush.

I think what's more interesting at the moment in many ways is the fact that Mrs. McCann has been designated as an Arguido, which under Portuguese law is something that has a special legal status. Somebody who is particularly interested in the case, not a formal suspect in the sense that we would understand in the U.S. or U.K. And that's a sort of material development which is going on at the moment.

VASSILEVA: Now, being classified as an Arguido gives her more rights but it also gives the police more leeway for questioning, doesn't it?

CAPLIN: Absolutely. It allows the police to effectively take a more aggressive line of questioning but the correlation to that is she has further rights. So he has a right to attorney, and she has a right not to answer questions. And it really shows the investigation is shifting into a different gear. There's been no arrest and no charge. And what you have in a U.S. or U.K. case is normally somebody is a suspect, they will be ordinarily arrested on suspicion and at some point charged or perhaps some period of detention between. But neither of those two things have happened here. The strange concept of the Arguido or Arguida is speak to Portuguese or other similar legal systems.

VASSILEVA: Does this mean they have very serious evidence against her?

CAPLIN: We don't know what the basis of the reclassification is. But one would assume that has been some prior investigation which leads to the police collecting sufficient evidence at least to justify to themselves if nobody else that it's necessary to classify Mrs. McCann as an Arguido. It's worth mentioning that some people have said that in appropriate cases somebody who is being questioned as a witness might also wish to apply to be classified as an Arguido so that he or she could have the extra protections if the investigation and the questioning with it is taking a certain line and a certain sort of aggressive tenor which leads towards potential suspicion. So whatever view, there's no doubt when the investigation is taking a different level now.

VASSILEVA: Now, just a few hours ago we heard from our reporter on the ground that the mother was going to be charged, yet, she was questioned for a few hours and released. Without being charged. What does that tell you?

CAPLIN: I think what it says without more is that the investigation continues. The classification of Mrs. McCann's an Arguido remains with that classification. There are restrictions that can be placed on an Arguido's movements within Portugal. There is the obligation to appear at judicial proceedings, if there are any judicial proceedings which take place. So there are sort of prior restraints which you don't get if you're a mere witness in the case. So, again, a very different classification we're seeing here. A very different level, whatever the outcome of the investigation as it stands so far.

VASSILEVA: When you say a very different level, does this make it a more serious case against the parents?

CAPLIN: I don't think we can infer anything. There's been no -- at least to that degree, there's been no arrest and no charge. Basically this procedure allows the police to put more aggressive questions, more deeper questions in the context of the investigation, and the Portuguese legal system sets up a co-relative protection for somebody like Mrs. McCann who the police want to ask that sort of question to. Mrs. McCann is as an Arguido has a special position and a special interest in the investigation. That's -- people who try to compare the position of an Arguido with a suspect as we might understand it in the U.K. or the U.S. don't understand, it's an intermediate step. It changes the level of protection has in the context of the investigation but also ups the questioning.

VASSILEVA: All right. Ian Caplin, legal commentary, thank you for speaking to us.

CAPLIN: My pleasure.

VASSILEVA: And again both parents say they had nothing to do with the disappearance of their daughter. Stay with CNN as we continue to cover the developments in the Madeleine McCann case. You can also logon to CNN.com. There you will find photo gallery and links to videos about the missing little girl.

CLANCY: Well, our job is to cover the world for and you almost every day it seems we show you images of humans suffering from places like Darfur. We tell you stories about individuals standing up to defend the rights of the defenseless. But who are these people? What drives them? What do they go through, to stand up for what we all know is right but don't necessarily do ourselves? Now, we're going to take a few minutes here to introduce you to some of these people and hear in their own words what they face.

SAAD EDDIN IBRAHIM, IBN KHALDUN CENTER: Telling the truth to a dictator is unforgivable sin. And they will track you all your life until you disappear or...

CLANCY: Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is Egypt's leading human rights defender. He served three years in jail only to see the nation's high court dismiss all charges, charges he said were based on his criticism of President Mubarak and the government.

IBRAHIM: They arrest you and detain you and then they find a crime for you to try you on. After the fact.

ZAINAH ANWAR, SISTERS OF ISLAM: The fact that we're working on women's rights and on women's -- on human rights, when you, you know, accused of being anti-Islam, anti-god, anti-Sharia law.

CLANCY: Zainah Anwar is executive director of Malaysia's sisters in Islam, a Muslim feminist. She asserts there's nothing in Islam that discriminates against women except the men who interpret it that way.

ANWAR: When, actually, the struggle that we're involved in is a struggle for a just Islam, and that is very Islamic.

GERARD JEAN-JUSTE, HAITIAN HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER: Death threats. Arrest. Almost killed. And then almost (inaudible). The people are in dire needs. We have to satisfy that.

CLANCY: Father Gerard Jean-Juste is a catholic priest who ran a soup kitchen in one of Haiti's poorest parishes. His goal? More aid and education for the poor in Haiti's economically divided society.

JEAN-JUSTE: We are Americans. We are in America, 600 miles from Florida. Too much suffering. Too much misery. We must get rid of it.

JESSICA MONTELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, B'TSELEM: We faced a great deal of hostility from the public.

CLANCY: Branded Arab lovers by some Jessica Montell is executive director of the Israeli human rights group. The group has been highly critical of the government's tactics dealing with the Palestinians.

MONTELL: The big challenge is confronting this idea that anything can be justified in the fight for security. That counterterrorism then is a -- it's a blank check to do almost anything.

CLANCY: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited those four leading human rights activists to come here to the Carter Center, along with activists from more than 20 nations. President Carter, joins us now. I think this is a question, I want to begin here. I think you can answer this. What drives these people?

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I think a commitment to basic human rights on the local level. They are courageous people. They have been willing to sacrifice their freedom or their -- sometimes their lives in order to protect the integrity of the universal declaration of human rights. I think some of them look at it from a global point of view, some of them from a strictly local point of view, what affects them and their families and their neighbors and the people for whom they feel responsible. And to me, they're heroes.

CLANCY: One of the questions that always comes up, what are these governments, what are these groups really afraid from the defenders of human rights? We asked some of the defenders, they're here at the Carter Center question center that question. Let's listen.

IBRAHIM: They are afraid of truth, they are afraid of sharing power. Simply put, they are afraid of the people. They want to continue to rule as an autocracy, to have monopoly over power, wealth and prestige. And anyone who question that becomes an enemy, not of them but of the state, of the nation. They feel insecure being sharing with others. They feel insecure to see people are being educated. Don't be afraid of sharing. Don't be afraid of getting rid of underdevelopment. Don't be afraid of helping your brother to live like god's children. CARTER: A government, sometimes this starts out as ostensibly benevolent becomes infatuated with power and their commitment to stay in power sometimes benefiting from corruption becomes so overwhelming that they stamp out all dissenting voices. And force them either into exile or put them in prison or otherwise persecute. Quite often as you know in extreme cases those human rights defenders are killed.

CLANCY: Has the U.S. contributed to the decline of human rights around the world with this war on terror, this obsession with security at all costs?

CARTER: Grossly. One of the main factors in the escalation of human rights abuse has been the lack of leadership in the United States. And the demonstration by the united states that we have rejected long-standing international agreements against torture, against the imprisonment of people without access to legal counsel, caught access to one's own family or even without access to the charges that have -- that have caused their -- their long-term imprisonment. Those kind of things have set a horrible example for the rest of the world.

CLANCY: Fortunately a lot of the people that are out there trying to defend human rights, get encouragement from messages like the one that you just gave us. And as a result, they are more determined than ever to carry on. Let's listen to what some of the human rights defenders had to say.

IBRAHIM: Don't ever underestimate what few individual, determined individual, can do, to change the course of history. I'm determined to continue fighting. No matter what the Tierney does to me.

MONTELL: Once you know the truth, once you see the injustice, you can't not know it anymore. So -- and once you know, I think there is no choice but to be working against the injustice.

ANWAR: It is my country. This is my religion. I have a right to shape it, to influence it. And I have a right to live in my country, you know, in peace, you know, with everybody else.

JEAN-JUSTE: We going to keep as human right defenders, we going to keep educating the people. We in our generation, in our time, we can succeed. Let's try. Let's try. Don't be afraid. Let's keep trying.

CLANCY: Determination that should serve as an inspiration to the rest of us. Our thanks to the human rights defenders and their defender, former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter.

We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone and welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY. Where else? But on CNN international. VASSILEVA: We are seen live in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe.

Well, Benedict has begun a three-day visit to Austria. His pilgrimage comes at a time the traditionally catholic church is waning in influence in Austria. Socialist youth organizations planned protests because of the pope's views on homosexuality. In Vienna, the pontiff paid tribute to Jewish holocaust victims. And on Saturday, he will hold an open air mass to commemorate a famous shrine to the Virgin Mary.

CLANCY: Watching the fury of hurricanes making landfall. And sharing the world's loss of an opera great.

VASSILEVA: Citizen journalists like you captured it all on their cameras and their cell phones and told us about it in their own words.

CLANCY: And our own Jonathan Mann, our colleague, gives us a look at some of the best of this week's I-reports.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Felix hammered the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and Honduras this week. It was a powerful storm that broke records. Barreling ashore Tuesday as a category 5 strength. Along with our own coverage, CNN received I-reports from viewers in the storm's path. I-reporter and meteorologist Mark Hodaberg shot this video Sunday as Felix passed over Aruba. Ross Gotler had both a storm and a new spouse to keep him occupied, but he found the time for this footage from the balcony of his hotel room at the Westin in Arriba.

ROSS GOTLER: I saw the storm hitting the island, and you can really see it off the island in the distance, too. So, I decided to take out my camera and record at that point.

MANN: We also got a submission from 9-year-old I-reporter Jonah Juliao.

JONAH JULIAO: There was wind moving the palms.

MANN: It was the first time this young I-reporter had ever used a camera.

JULIAO: My dad told me what button do you have to push, so the video comes. And everything.

MANN: Way to go, Jonah. After the storm moved west towards Central America, we received video of an incredible rescue from Jeffrey Nolan.

JEFFREY NOLAN: So, there were three people and the dog in there, and we said, we got to do something to help.

MANN: Nolan and his two daughters were able to tow the jeep to safety.

NOLAN: We pulled them out and pulled them all the way to their house.

MANN: Hurricane Felix hit the Honduras-Nicaragua coast at full strength. Osacr Nunez captured images of flooding in this Honduran city. He's actually a professional photographer. He was just grateful, though, for the chance to share these images of the hurricane with the world.

And in the pacific, another hurricane made landfall along the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. Henriette washed ashore in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where I-reporter Ryan Callas shot this video.

And a story you may not have seen on CNN this week, so we're doubly glad to get it for you with I-reports. They are expanding the Panama Canal so even larger ships can pass through. The expansion project launched this week with a bang, as Roberto Bruno's pictures demonstrate. He said the blast happened near the Pedro Miguel locks. Enrique Orillac also captured these images with his cell phone. The project is expected to take ten years to complete and could cost more than $5 billion.

And, of course, some sad news among the I-reports. Opera lovers lost their favorite tenor this week. I-reporters paid tribute with photos to share with the world. Luciano Pavarotti died of cancer at his home in Modena, Italy, and in his 50-year career he obviously touched a lot of us.

Jonathan Mann, CNN, reporting.

CLANCY: Well, when we come back, we're going to take you to the west bank, where Jews and Arabs have been demonstrating together every week for the past year or more.

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VASSILEVA: Welcome back. Opponents of the Israeli's government west bank barrier are celebrating an important legal victory today.

CLANCY: It was earlier in the week that the Israeli Supreme Court ruled the state is going to have to reroute a portion of that barrier that separates residents of the village of Bilan from their fields.

Ben Wedeman takes us there.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here's something you don't see too often. Palestinians and Israelis dancing together. They're celebrating an Israeli court order that the Israeli government must move the so-called security barrier to allow residents of the Palestinian village of Belaine access to their farmland.

For almost three years, Palestinians, their foreign supporters and leftist Israelis have met every Friday to demonstrate against the barrier. Israeli officials say the barrier is meant to stop suicide bombers. Palestinians say it's an illegal land grab. In protests past, this farmer put his heart and body into the fight. On this day, he says, it all seems worth it. We'll carry on, he tells me. We won't stop. We're proud and happy. While the protests were promoted as nonviolent, they weren't quite that. Palestinian boys threw rocks at Israeli soldiers. Who fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. Hundreds of villagers and activists were wounded, along with two soldiers, but no one was killed. And by the blood-soaked standards of this bitter conflict, that was unique. Tel Aviv software engineer Orgarlitz (ph) rarely missed a protest. Earlier this year he wasn't sure the commotion would yield anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's symbolic, but it's all we have.

WEDEMAN: But resistance has yielded results.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joined activity, show the Palestinian people, this isn't only the young generation who grew up after the first and the second Intefadeh, that it's not only Israelis. It's not only them and the soldiers.

The Israeli army says it will respect the court order. For barrier opponents what happened here is at best a symbolic victory. The wall, the fence, the barrier, whatever you want to call it, when completed will stretch nearly 800 kilometers around 500 miles. As a result of the Israeli court order, it will be 1.7 kilometers, or just over a mile shorter.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, outside Belaine village on the west bank.

CLANCY: A little bit shorter but still a long way to go.

VASSILEVA: A long way to go, yes.

CLANCY: Still, a lot of people out there were trying to have peaceful protests for the most part, and for them, they can look on and it say, well, we accomplished something. We did something. And a lot of people will look and say it was the Israeli court that accomplished something, too.

VASSILEVA: It was interesting to see Israelis and Palestinians together on that.

CLANCY: All right, we're together on this.

VASSILEVA: Right.

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