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Your World Today
Winds Spread Flames, Create More Wildfires in Southern California; Reports: Kurdish Rebels to Announce Cease-fire
Aired October 22, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The situation has gotten dramatically worse overnight. And we're faced with a situation this morning which is worse than many of us could have imagined.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: From bad to worse, winds spread the flames and create even more wildfires in southern California.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A troop buildup on the border. Kurdish rebels call for a cease-fire as the Turkish military takes up more positions near Iraq.
HOLMES: A top title eludes a rookie racer, but Formula One's first black driver may still be on a winning course.
MCEDWARDS: And fireworks on the political stage. U.S. presidential hopefuls trade barbs in their race for the White House.
HOLMES: It is 9:00 a.m. in Malibu, California, 7:00 p.m. in Ankara, Turkey.
Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.
I'm Michael Holmes.
MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards.
From Warsaw to Washington, from Los Angeles to London, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
And we begin in southern California, home to nearly 24 million Americans.
MCEDWARDS: It is a place often thought of as representing the American dream. But really, only today that dream is more like a nightmare.
HOLMES: Indeed. Massive wildfires are scorching some of the most valuable real estate in the entire country. And there is no relief in sight at the moment.
MCEDWARDS: That's right. The fire stretched all across the region from San Diego, in the south, to the wealthy oceanfront community of Malibu, which is right near Los Angeles.
HOLMES: Yes.
And we begin in Malibu, where the median price of a home is $2.8 million.
MCEDWARDS: Today some of the homes are going up in smoke.
Vince Gonzalez is joining us live.
Vince, what's the latest there?
VINCE GONZALEZ, REPORTER: Well, the latest is actually a little bit of good news, Colleen. That is that the fire is now 10 percent contained.
The winds abated overnight. Crews were able to get some containment lines in. And like you were saying, they're trying to protect some really high-dollar homes.
We talked to the acting mayor a little while ago. She said fire is a part of life here. Living here, she said, is paradise, but it's also perilous, because these big fires build in the canyons and start throwing embers ahead of them that can set homes and buildings on fire that are not even in the fire zone. And that's what happened here at the Presbyterian Church of Malibu.
As you can see behind me, it is now just a blackened ruin. An ember hit it, and before fire crews could get here, it was fully engulfed, leaving nothing but a blackened shell.
Also, residents in this area are without power. And even as we speak, crews are out across the street over here trying to string back up power lines, trying to get power back to the homes so people can even hear if there's an evacuation order. Right now, authorities are reduced to having sheriffs' deputies patrolling the streets with loud speakers telling people when it's time to get out.
And this morning, because the Santa Anas have kicked back up, they are calling for voluntary evacuations in some areas and saying if the winds get much worse, they could ask hundreds more people to get out of the area. The main part of Malibu, which is actually south of here, it's the part of Malibu that you think of when you think of Hollywood, the multimillion-dollar homes, that is now in the line of fire.
If this big fire should come out of the canyon and down into Malibu, it will be the homes of the stars that burn. Yesterday we saw some of them putting fire-retardant material on their rooftops, doing everything they can to prevent this fire from doing a repeat of what happened in the early '90s, when the only thing that stopped the major blaze was the Pacific Ocean. It burned right through Malibu, hit the ocean, and then it finally stopped and went out.
MCEDWARDS: Yes, that is incredible, Vince. I mean, this time around, what is it that's making it the most difficult for firefighters? Is it these winds, is it the sort of dry, windy conditions?
GONZALEZ: It's kind of the perfect storm that firefighters don't want to encounter. You've got the Santa Ana winds, the double winds, coming off of the desert hot and fast. Faster than we've actually seen them for quite sometime. Almost hurricane force yesterday and getting up there with some of the gusts today.
And then we've been going through a really bad drought here in California. These hillsides that are black were actually brown the other day because there's been no water.
Everything was dead. It was the perfect tinder, ready for a fire to start, and the terrain is against them as well. Steep canyon walls that slope up and down, the fire speeds up, gets into the next canyon, throws embers ahead.
Crews have had to hopscotch all over this area trying to make sure this fire didn't create smaller fires all over that could merge together and again give them that monster fire that could move right down to the water. And the only thing that would stop it would be the Pacific Ocean.
MCEDWARDS: Yes.
Vince Gonzalez, live in Malibu.
Vince, thanks very much.
Incredible pictures.
HOLMES: It is. And you know, I was reading that part of the problem is that firefighters in the U.S. got too good at the job 100 years ago and they were putting out fires too early which allowed a buildup of fuel. And so when a fire takes off now, it really takes off and it's got so much fuel to burn.
MCEDWARDS: Yes, more stuff to burn.
HOLMES: Which is -- and also environmental concerns meant that they weren't doing precautionary burnoffs. You know?
MCEDWARDS: And when you're talking about these just Santa Ana winds, too, these are not just any winds. I mean, these are essentially hurricane-force winds that are making these fires extremely dangerous.
HOLMES: Yes. Amazing. And those winds are continuing now.
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HOLMES: Let's turn to Turkey now, which has been under pressure to crack down on Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq for years. But after a Kurdish ambush Sunday left 12 Turkish soldiers dead, another eight missing, the pressure from the people has intensified. And now we're getting reports that the rebels are set to announce a cease- fire. A lot of developments happening here.
Paula Hancocks joins us via broad band from Ankara, Turkey, with the very latest.
What more are we hearing about this potential for cease-fire and talks that are going on between Turkey and Baghdad?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, to be honest, Michael, what we're hearing is coming from the Iraqi side and Iraqi officials, as opposed to here in Turkey. They're far more tight-lipped here.
We do understand though that the Turkish foreign minister, Ali Babacan, will be going to Baghdad on Tuesday to meet with the Iraqi prime minister, which really shows that diplomacy is continuing despite the fact this is a very tense situation, despite the fact that many Turkish politicians have been saying that if necessary, they will go into northern Iraq and they will try and root out at least some 3,000 PKK rebels they believe are hiding there without thought to the repercussions from other areas. Of course, Washington and Baghdad are putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the Turkish government to hold back and not to start this new conflict on this particular Iraqi front.
Now, We've seen on the streets of Turkey this Monday a huge response from the Turkish public, venting their anger and their frustration following Sunday's attacks that the Turkish government is not doing more. Quite frankly, the Turkish public have seen this since the 1980s, since '84, when the PKK started a violent campaign to try and secure autonomy in southern-eastern Turkey. And many people on the streets were carrying Turkish flags shouting, "Down to the PKK!" Some shouting, "Down to the Turkish government!"
They have heard promises before, they have heard rhetoric before. And yet, they are still seeing their soldiers being killed on the border.
HOLMES: All right. Paula Hancocks there in Ankara.
Thanks, Paula.
MCEDWARDS: We want to take a look now at the area known by Kurds as Kurdistan. Take a look at this.
It covers parts of Turkey, northern Iraq as well, northwestern Iran, and then smaller parts of Syria in there as well. But the flash point we're talking about today is in northern Iraq. And that is where our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, joins us on the broadband. He's in the Iraqi town of Erbil -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Colleen, we've heard today from Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, who is himself a Kurd. And he was up here in the north of Iraq today, and he said that he expected the PKK to announce a cease-fire. That's what he expected. We've also heard from the Agence France-Presse, a news wire service, that they have found a Web site operated, they say, by the PKK. And on that, the PKK lays out the terms of a cease-fire that is supposed to come into effect this evening, expected to come into effect this evening.
The terms of that are that the Turkish army should stop attacking PKK groups, and that the Turkish army and the Turkish government should drop plans for an incursion into Iraq. Those are the terms being laid out by the PKK according to the Agence France-Presse, who say they've found a Web site operated by the PKK. It does seem to run concurrent with the expectation of Iraq's president of the PKK would make a statement about a cease-fire.
We also heard from a senior Kurdish politician who says that -- that it is taking Iraqi Kurdish leaders to pressuring the PKK into making that statement about the cease-fire. So this does seem to be the result of pressure being leveraged on the PKK. Remember, that's a Turkish-based Kurdish group being leveraged on them by the Iraqi Kurdish leadership here -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: Nic, if indeed there is a cease-fire declared, I mean, what next? It certainly wouldn't be the first time that a cease-fire gets declared and doesn't hold.
ROBERTSON: Well, it's going to be a matter of trust. And do both sides trust each other? And what measures of verification can both sides offer each other that this is going to hold?
This is not an everyday ongoing battle where you see pitched battles or even small battles every day. The model we've seen over the last month or so is three attacks over the last month. So it will take a degree of nerves on both sides to see if both sides are willing to agree.
What one would expect to happen in this situation, the visit expected by the Turkish foreign minister to Baghdad tomorrow may begin to try and put some flesh on the bones of how Turkey can verify what the PKK is saying, provide to the PKK through those same channels verification that Turkey is perhaps willing to go along with it. So one would expect a big degree of nervousness at this time on both sides -- are they really committed, will they hold to this obligation that they say they're prepared to put forward on the side of the PKK.
And then getting some real negotiations. Let's not forget here there haven't been real negotiations between Turkish politicians and the PKK, or even Iraq's Kurds here. So there's a lot of ground to be covered yet -- Colleen.
MCEDWARDS: Yes.
Nic Robertson there for us.
Nic, thanks very much.
HOLMES: All right. Will Friday's free-fall turn into a Monday rebound?
MCEDWARDS: Coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, Wall Street is trying to recover from one of its worst stumble this year.
We'll bring you some analysis on these, the latest numbers.
HOLMES: Yes.
And move over, Tiger Woods. There's a new young phenom driving media sensations.
MCEDWARDS: And face-off in Florida. The Republican presidential hopefuls clash over abortion, gun control, and Hillary Clinton.
HOLMES: No kidding? Surprise, surprise.
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MCEDWARDS: This is CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.
HOLMES: And a special welcome to our viewers in America joining us on CNN USA for this hour.
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HOLMES: Well, the war of words between the U.S. and Iran is ratcheting up. The U.S. vice president, Dick Cheney, accusing Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon under the cover of pursuing energy technology. And he also claims not for the first time that Iran is directly involved in the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
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RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Given the nature of Iran's rulers, the declarations of the Iranian president, and the trouble the regime is causing throughout the region, including direct involvement in the killing of American, our country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its most aggressive ambitions. The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences.
The United States joins other nations in sending a clear message. We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
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HOLMES: Well, Tehran, of course, has long denied that it is seeking atomic weapons, says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and got some support from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on that issue just last week.
MCEDWARDS: Well, still to come here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, he didn't take the title but he's still on a winning trek.
HOLMES: He took that first turn a little wide. A Formula One phenom races down a road that could lead to celebrity endorsement deals.
MCEDWARDS: And, is one of the Republicans similar to Hillary Clinton?
HOLMES: Rivals in the GOP presidential field take an interesting tactic to woo conservative voters.
You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY.
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DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes, but first, a check on the stories making headlines right here in the United States.
We're talking about winds gusting to strength of a hurricane, flames racing to the doorstep and beyond. Buildings are reduced to ash in southern California.
In all, more than a dozen fires are burning and thousands of people are under orders to evacuate. So far, at least one person has been killed and 20 others injured.
The most harrowing scene? Well, it's in San Diego County. Authorities there have ordered evacuations in Ramona, a community of about 36,000.
And major fires are bearing down on the beachside community of Malibu. Check out these live pictures from our affiliate KTLA.
That's Malibu. You can just see exactly what they're going through there.
Just seconds ago, you saw in that picture a plane dropping fire retardant on those fires. That's going on in Malibu, California. We're going to continue to tell you about that.
And also in Malibu, 2,200 acres have burned there. Two dozen buildings are damaged or destroyed. A college campus is also threatened.
Ahead in the "CNN NEWSROOM," we'll talk with a Pepperdine University student about how students are preparing to evacuate if necessary.
Wow, amazing pictures.
If you are in southern California, share your pictures and what's happening there to you. Send them to CNN. It's a CNN I-Report.
You can show us the flames, how you're protecting your home, or what you and your family are doing to escape that danger. There are two ways to send in an I-Report. On your computer, just go to CNN.com and click on "I-Report," or type ireport@cnn.com right into your cell phone and share your pictures and your video with us.
Of course, be careful, and don't put yourself in harm's way. Absolutely. We always give that advice.
Chad Myers, what a mess.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is a mess. And it should have been, probably could have been, more of a mess than what it is right now.
The winds are everywhere. We have really only one focus area of big-time fire, then another smaller area of big-time fire. But the winds are 30 to 50 miles per hour. The gusts have been over 75. And the relative humidity somewhere around 5 percent.
Look at the rain that L.A. has picked up this year, almost three inches. You should be way above that. You should be 10 inches.
Now, I know that makes the grass grow and also makes the hillsides grow. So there's even less maybe brush than there could be or should be out there. If there are many fires, more fires are going to be zero percent contained, because that's what they have in Malibu.
Right now, so far, Don, the fire chief says zero percent contained.
LEMON: Oh, just amazing. All right, Chad. We're going to check back with you at the top of the hour. Thank you so much for that.
And Denver is getting an early look at winter. Up to seven inches of snow fell on the city's southern side. Well, it brought down some trees and also some power lines. And one driver had to wait for emergency crews to remove a power line from her car before she could get out.
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JULIE CHRISTIANSEN, TRAPPED BY DOWNED POWER LINE: I was just driving and I saw the branch fall down in front of me. So I slammed on my brakes. And then all I knew was I had a power cord over my head, or a power line over my head.
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LEMON: Well, despite the snow creating some traffic problems, there are no reports of any injuries.
Word that President Bush will ask Congress for billions more dollars to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is expected to make an announcement this afternoon.
Pentagon officials tell us the president will request more than $42 billion in extra funds. That will bring the total to $189 billion for fiscal year 2008. If approved, the extra money would pay for additional armored vehicles and repair existing equipment damage in the war. President Bush will comment on this latest war spending request this afternoon at 1:55 Eastern. He'll make that statement from the Roosevelt Room at the White House -- at the White House rose garden.
CNN will carry it for you live.
Navy SEAL Michael P. Murphy was part of a unit tracking terrorists in the mountains of Afghanistan in June of 2005. The unit was ambushed and outnumbered nearly 10 to one. What he did next trying to save his fellow troops cost him his life.
Later on in the "CNN NEWSROOM," the president will present the Medal of Honor to his family.
Congratulations to him. Sorry it had to be such a sad note. And you'll hear a survivor's firsthand account of that as well.
Meantime, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.
I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you at the top of the hour.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from around the globe, including this hour in the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Michael Holmes.
MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards. Here are some of the stories we're following for you.
HOLMES: A state of emergency has been declared in Southern California where several major wildfires are burning out of control. One person has been killed so far, 17 others injured. Thousands of homes, meanwhile, are in danger, including many multimillion dollar estates in Malibu, owned by dozens of Hollywood celebrities. Dry conditions, a lot of fuel, and the wicked Santa Ana winds have helped the wild fires spread from Los Angeles all the way to San Diego.
MCEDWARDS: Wall Street opened down on Monday. So far, it's staying there, following Friday's steep losses. Overseas markets really set the tone earlier as high oil prices and low corporate profits had investors jittery. Hong Kong's Hang Sang, the big loser, it's off 3.5 percent.
HOLMES: A spokesman for the Iraqi President says Kurdish rebels will announce a cease-fire Monday night. This comes as Turkish military convoys head towards the border with Iraq. Turkey says it has lost contact with eight soldiers after an ambush on Sunday, by Kurdish rebels, killed 12 others.
Details of that possible rebel ceasefire have not been made public yet. So how would a cease-fire change the tense situation between Turkey and the Kurdish rebels? With the view from Ankara, we're joined by Baki Ilkin, the Turkish ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Ambassador, thanks for your time. This talk of a ceasefire, for a start, the PKK is rumored to be laying out conditions for a ceasefire. No further bombardment for the Turkish side. No further crossing the border by the Turkish side. What do you make of the conditions if they are the case, what are your conditions?
BAKI ILKIN, TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: As a nation which has gone through terrorism, the American people would understand us better than anyone else. We are not talking about ceasefire, or what the terrorists claim as declaring ceasefire. We want the eradication of the PKK presence in northern Iraq. That is important.
HOLMES: How is that going to be achieved, Ambassador?
ILKIN: We have been approaching on numerous occasions to the Iraqi authorities. Seeking their help and intervention, we have been approaching our American friends to support and encourage the Iraqi authorities to put the end to the existence of a terrorist group in northern Iraq.
That is the problem. We are not bargaining with the terrorists and we won't bargain with terrorists.
HOLMES: The difficult thing I suppose when it comes to the PKK and that extremely mountainous area in northern Iraq is that the central government really doesn't call the shots there. Do you think the Kurdish regional government is doing enough -- and the Peshmurga, for that matter the militia doing enough to put pressure on the PKK?
ILKIN: Well, that depends on the government of Iraq, to what extent they want to cooperate with the local administration. But they have the responsibility to put an end to the attacks originating from northern Iraq.
HOLMES: Do you think the central government of Iraq has any sway with the PKK?
ILKIN: Let me rephrase it then. The president of the central government of Iraq is one of the two Kurdish leaders from northern Iraq. So we do expect their intervention and I'm not talking about a ceasefire. I'm talking about the eradication of the PKK camps in northern Iraq.
HOLMES: You are facing -- your government, that is -- is facing a lot of pressure from the people in Turkey to go across the border. We've seen pictures of Turkish armored columns heading towards border areas. What's the plan?
ILKIN: Turkey, if possible -- Turkey would prefer the Iraqi government with support of the American elements in Iraq, to come to grips with the problem, without us having to intervene. That is what we would want to see. Because we have always supported the territorial integrity of Iraq and unity of Iraq. That is what we will not see. If we don't have any other option, then government will have to do what it has to do. HOLMES: What sort of pressure is your government feeling from the U.S. I know that there have been approaches to hold off for a few days, see if any diplomacy that can take place. Do you have faith that diplomacy can solve this given the political -- the geographical situation?
ILKIN: Would rather not use the word, "pressure". But I know there has been some contacts between Ankara and Washington. And I'm sure that Washington knows exactly what Turkey needs. And Iraqis know exactly what they need to do. Let's leave it at that.
HOLMES: Do you feel you're crossing the border anytime soon?
ILKIN: I wouldn't be able to rule out anything and I wouldn't be able to rule in anything at this stage, as you can imagine.
HOLMES: Spoken like a diplomat. I want to thank you, Ambassador. Thank you very much.
Ambassador Baki Ilkin, the Turkish ambassador to the United Nations. We appreciate your time.
ILKIN: Thank you.
MCEDWARDS: A political shift is taking place in Poland that could spell the end to its involvement in Iraq. Results from Sunday's election show an opposition party racking up enough wins to unseat the ruling conservatives. Now, besides promising to pull Polish troops from Iraq, the new leadership has other changes in mind as well. CNN's Robin Oakley explains.
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ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN EDITOR: For the victor, the kisses. The Donald Tusk and his Civic Platform promising to make Poland more outward looking, to modernize the economy, and to make the country a friendlier member of the European Union, won by a much bigger margin than pundits had predicted.
The new prime minister will govern a coalition with the much smaller Peasant's Party, after the biggest turn out of electors since Communism ended in 1989. He promised to work in the interest of all of the people.
DONALD TUSK, LEADER, CIVIC PLATFORM (through translator): I thank everyone who went to vote. I thank also those who voted for our competition. We will do everything to make sure that Poland is good to you.
OAKLEY: Things were more subdued at the headquarters of the Law & Justice party known as Peace, where the vanquished prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused Mr. Tusk of having promised the impossible.
JAROSLAW KACZYNSKI, LAW & JUSTICE PARTY (through translator): We will be a very hard and determined opposition party, which will hold promises accountable. OAKLEY: The outgoing prime minister will still have a connection with power. His identical twin brother, Lech, remains as Poland's president at least until 2010. But with a new government likely to achieve 60 percent support in parliament for its program, the president's blocking power will be limited.
The Kaczynskis defined Poland by its enemies, picking fights with Russia and Germany, and making it an awkward member of the E.U., which it joined as the biggest ex-Communist member in 2004. E.U. leaders welcomed Mr. Tusk's commitment.
JOSE MANUEL BARROSO, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: I'm sure that we will build a very good cooperation with the new government of Poland. I never had doubts about the commitment of the Polish people to Europe, and to democracy (ph).
OAKLEY: Internationally, the new government will continue support for the planned U.S. missile defense shield site in Poland, though the price may be increased.
RADEK SIKORSKI, CIVIL PLATFORM: I believe that the negotiations will succeed, if indeed, the package that comes with the missile defense base increases Poland's anti-air defenses, anti-missile defenses, and is therefore overall, in Poland's advantage.
OAKLEY: But the new team have made it plain that Poland's remaining troops will be pulled back from Iraq as soon as possible. Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: Coming up, the race gets rough.
HOLMES: A little bit, huh? The Republican presidential candidates taking the gloves off for their latest debate.
MCEDWARDS: They're trying to prove to voters who was the most Republican of them all -- mirror, mirror on the wall.
HOLMES: Exactly. I'm more Republican than you'll ever be, as they said.
In a special preview of our "Planet in Peril" series, we're going to look at a lucrative trade in endangered species in Myanmar. Stay with us.
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MCEDWARDS: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International.
HOLMES: Yes, seen in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe. Well, in U.S. politics, there is one thing that the Republican presidential candidates can agree upon, that is, being considered a conservative is important. What they don't agree about is who has the best claim to that title. The hopefuls went after each other again in a debate in Florida. As Dana Bash tells us, they didn't mince words.
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DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Right out of the gate, Republican presidential hopefuls were encouraged to mix it up on who's the real conservative. But it didn't take much prodding.
FRED THOMPSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mayor Giuliani believes in federal funding for abortion, he believes in sanctuary cities, he's for gun control. He sides with Hillary Clinton on each of those issues.
RUDY GIULIANIA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Fred has his problems, too. Fred Thompson along with few Republicans blocked tort reform over and over and over again. That's not a conservative position.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House by acting like Hillary Clinton.
BASH: It was the most aggressive GOP debate with the sharpest exchanges to date. Frontrunners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney took the most incoming about their conservative credentials.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Governor Romney, you've been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don't want you to start fooling them about mine.
BASH: All that prompted this.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let them fight all they want tonight. Shed each other's blood and I'll be ready to run for president.
BASH: Eleven weeks before the first Republicans vote in Iowa, Rudy Giuliani leads nationally. But in key first contest states, polls are mixed. The increasing heat here is generated by an unsettled and unsatisfied GOP electorate. But one thing these candidates know Republican voters want is the best man to go after Hillary Clinton.
ROMNEY: She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She has never run a city. She has never run anything.
BASH: They were eager to deliver.
GIULIANI: No kidding, Hillary, America can't afford you.
BASH: John McCain attacked Clinton for trying to spend $1 million of a Woodstock museum and used it as a reminder of his '60s experience as a Vietnam POW.
MCCAIN: Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time.
BASH: Dana Bash, CNN, Orlando, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: All right. Well, five more years for Hu Jin Tao. China's Communist Party has elected President Hu to lead the and the armed forces for another term. The Shi Jung Ping, a party secretary from Shanghai, was elected to the standing committee. That is the most powerful political body in China, and he's seen as a possible successor to Mr. Hu.
HOLMES: Last week's attempt on the life of Benazir Bhutto has deepened uncertainty about the political future of Pakistan. But the attack also may have created the reason for an alliance between two old foes, Bhutto and the president, Musharraf. John Vause has that.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As Pakistani authorities released this grim photograph of the alleged suicide bomber's head, U.S. officials are hoping the attack may have strengthened a fragile relationship between Benazir Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf.
Both have now been targets of failed assassination attempts, and notably after the blast, Musharraf personally telephoned Bhutto, and she hasn't scored political points by accusing him of being involved.
SHAMIM-UR RHEMAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: I believe it will re- enforce their resolve to work together for sometime, as long as they don't fall apart, their interests don't clash again.
VAUSE: Both leaders reportedly despise and distrust each other, but need the other for their own political survival. Benazir Bhutto's most devoted supporters are the poor and powerless. Many believe if she's elected prime minister for an historic third time, then quite simply they'll have a better life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope that, because the last time when she came in government, she provided the jobs, and people were so happy.
VAUSE: That's the kind of grassroots support President Pervez Musharraf lacks and Washington hopes an alliance between their military strong man, and one of Pakistan's most popular leaders would isolate a growing Al Qaeda and Taliban threat.
(on camera): For now, Benazir Bhutto is being seen here as a courageous leader, standing firm in the face of a terrorist attack, but she's also a divisive figure in Pakistani politics. Both her terms as prime minister were tainted with corruption, which she denies. But she only returned from her self-imposed exile after making a deal with President Musharraf to drop the charges against her.
DANIEL MARKEY, COUNCIL ON FOREIGH RELATIONS: She faces the prospect of losing some legitimacy for having made an arrangement with this military leader. And he also is losing some of his power.
VAUSE (voice over): And many of Pakistan's conservative Muslims never will accept a secular liberal woman as prime minister.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never.
VAUSE (on camera): Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never. Because basically she's a -- she's -- very, you know, a corrupt (ph) politician.
VAUSE: Last week's attacks made clear, some are willing to try to kill her to stop her. Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan could trigger more violence in the months to come. John Vause, CNN, Karachi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: Let's go back now to the U.S. State of California for another dramatic look at the fires that are burning out of control there.
HOLMES: We got some tape from Malibu just a short time ago. You can see there, the fires are burning away in Malibu. And you see there, a helicopter, which has just gone to the ocean. This is the ocean there. Just down at the bottom of the screen there, you can see the helicopter, bringing in water to dump on these fires. You can see there, the proximity of the houses as well.
MCEDWARDS: Yes, the proximity of the houses, proximity to the ocean. The fire literally run itself up against the ocean if it can't be contained. We learned earlier it's about 10 percent contained, which is better than it was before. The state governor is actually calling a news conference to talk more about this. That is going to happen a little over an hour from now, about an hour and a half from now. We'll bring it to you live.
HOLMES: Indeed, yes, in fact, yes, just about less than a half an hour from now. These pictures are coming to us live from Malibu. You can see some of the destruction wrought by these fires fanned by the desert winds, known as the Santa Ana winds, which up to what 130 kilometers an hour?
MCEDWARDS: Yes, essentially, hurricane force. I mean, these winds are really strong, really dry. Extremely expensive real estate you're looking at here, that has been reduced to rubble. Remarkably, one person dead at least at this point. A hospital we're told in that area is now being evacuated as well. Imagine the difficulty trying to get people out of a hospital through conditions like this and to safety.
HOLMES: A hospital and nursing homes, apparently hundreds of people involved in those evacuations. Going to take a break on YOUR WORLD TODAY. Stand by, we'll be right back though.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Almost a nearly a year in the making over the next several days, CNN is going to be airing the ground-breaking investigation, "Planet in Peril."
MCEDWARDS: It looks at a number of really huge issues, including this one -- a look at illegal trade in endangered animals. Here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): This isn't supposed to be happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on camera): Whiskers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Endangered animals for sale, in plain view.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on camera): How much is like one of these little ones?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): It happens every day in a place sometimes referred to as the back alley of Southeast Asia. The police state of Myanmar. Getting into the country proved surprisingly easy. We cross a small bridge, clear immigration --
(On camera): thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within minutes, we're in the market we've heard is ground zero for the sale of endangered animal parts. A stall with a glass case brimming with contraband wildlife sits out in plain view. Some of what they're selling is fake -- but not all of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on camera): Wow! Look at this incredible horn bill.
These things here would be relatively small timers. I think if we go around the corner we might find somebody who might be a slightly bigger timer trader. This kind of your introduction to the wildlife trade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): We head off to look for skins of cats. And within minutes we're in the footsteps of another stall.
(on camera): So right here, in this one shop, we see a great plethora of wildlife.
Doral? (ph) Doral? (ph) Either a sun bear or a spectacle bear, again, incredibly endangered, incredibly rare creatures.
How much is a bear stall? Here.
(Voice over): As we go even deeper to the store, we notice something is hanging on the walls. Cats, lots and lots of cat skins.
(On camera): What's this guy here? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are leopards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leopard. So, this is like a many endangered- cat gallery. This right here, this is a clouded leopard skin right here. This is a Sadis one, a critically endangered animal. They've got one, two, three, four, five leopard.
(Voice over): The shopkeeper offers us this partial tiger skin for just $600 U.S. dollars. A real bargain, she says.
(on camera): Here's your little leopard cats.
(Voice over): She shows us several other skins, jungle cats, clouded leopard ranging from around $800 to several $1,000s depending on their size and, of course, how rare the species is.
(on camera): Tiger is not a problem? I won't get in trouble if I try to take to take it into Thailand?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, you can.
(Voice over): She says it isn't a problem. She even offers to drive it across the border into Thailand. It sounds simple and plausible. Aside from the easy border crossing, there doesn't seem to be any regulation here. We haven't even seen one uniformed police officer in the market.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: Jeff Corwin, Anderson Cooper, Doctor Sanjay Gupta, these guys are everywhere. If you check out some of the previews, that are on line, on our website you'll see how much trouble they all got into and the lengths they went to bring this package to you.
HOLMES: That's right. There's plenty on the website. You, this morning, came across the outtakes section, which everybody should check out. Obviously, its a very serious documentary here, but some of those outtakes are hilarious.
MCEDWARDS: Yes, if you click on the link, you'll be able to see what happened when Anderson Cooper tried to repel down a glacier.
HOLMES: Yeah.
MCEDWARDS: You'll see Jeff Corwin take a stab at his finger with something a little scary.
HOLMES: And Sanjay Gupta misspeaking and talking about the naughty bits of a lobster. I kid you not, yeah.
MCEDWARDS: By accident.
(LAUGHTER)
MCEDWARDS: Check it out on the web. For viewers in the United States, it all begins Tuesday, that's tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. For our international viewers, "Planet in Peril" starts a day later, running Wednesday and Thursday at 1300 and 1900 GMT. Check it out. That's great.
HOLMES: It's terrific, been a year in the making.
That will do it for this hour. I'm Michael Holmes.
MCEDWARDS: I'm Colleen McEdwards. You're watching CNN.
HOLMES: See you tomorrow.
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