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Death Toll Expected to Rise From Cyclone in Bangladesh; Student Murder: International Arrest Warrant Issues for 4th Suspect in Italy; Suicidal Christian Sect Holed up in Russian Cave

Aired November 19, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: After the storm. Bangladesh copes with a disaster of epic proportions in the wake of a killer cyclone.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: New suspect, new questions. Italian police widening their search in the death of a British student.

MCEDWARDS: Doomsday drama. A suicidal Christian sect is holed up in a Russian cave with children among those in danger.

CLANCY: And diamonds are a queen's best friend. A look at a royal anniversary in Britain.

It's 11:00 p.m. in Bangladesh, 5:00 in the evening in London.

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

I'm Jim Clancy.

MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards.

From London to Lahore to Los Angeles, wherever you are watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: Looking at it through the eyes of someone who knows. A relief worker quoted as saying, "The more villages they reach, the more the tragedy unfolds."

MCEDWARDS: Four days now after that fierce cyclone hit Bangladesh. Bodies still being recovered by the hour. The death toll is now topping 3,100, and you know it's expected to climb.

CLANCY: No doubt about it. The focus, getting urgent help to those who survived the storm, helping the survivors.

There are hundreds of thousands of people hungry, homeless, and now vulnerable to disease. Entire villages have been washed away by huge walls of water. Crops and livestock and many roads along with them. All of that, crucial links to the outside world, vanished.

Dan Rivers talked with some villagers surrounded by devastation, some of them saying their loved ones didn't have to die.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Abdul Rob (ph) is consumed with despair. His house is swamped with stinking mud, now just a dangerous jumble of misshapen corrugated iron and wood.

Cyclone Sidr took everything, including his 8-year-old boy, Farid (ph). "No one gave us any warning about the cyclone, neither from the government nor the local authority," he says. It's a complaint you hear everywhere in Gocarli (ph) -- 114 bodies have been found here and another 100 are still missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This area -- they are very poor. They have no radio. They have no TV or anything. So they did not get any warning from the government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no television, there is no radio. There is no (INAUDIBLE). No, nothing. People did not know what was happening.

RIVERS: If they had known, they could have got to the special cyclone shelters nearby. The concrete pillars supporting this one still bear the green stain of the floodwaters.

Even if they got here, though, they might not have been allowed in. A thousand people crammed into these rooms which had previously been used as a school.

The teacher complains there aren't enough shelters in the area. "The district has a population of 1.5 million people, but only 204 shelters, he says."

(on camera): Whether it's a lack of shelter or a lack of warning, it really amounts to the same thing, thousands of people were still in harm's way when Cyclone Sidr smashed into the coast.

(voice over): Bangladesh is better prepared now than it was in 1991 when Cyclone Gorky hit. Then, 130,000 people died. This time, the death toll will be smaller, with the authorities insisting they did all they could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People have been warned long before, actually, well in the past they were warned by television, by radio.

RIVERS (on camera): A lot of people here said they don't have TV or radio so the local authorities didn't tell them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have radios, I'm sure.

RIVERS (voice over): But that's not what the people of Gocarli (ph) are saying. The world knew about Cyclone Sidr for days before it hit, yet tragically, no one came to warn those most in danger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: Well, the electricity is still out across large parts of southern Bangladesh, but that huge aid operation is now swinging into place. We've seen the Bangladeshi army out, lots of U.N. vehicles around, Save the Children, World Vision, lots of charities all involved with trying to get food and shelter out to those people. But there are still many, many communities and islands which are completely cut off that haven't been reached yet -- Jim.

CLANCY: Dan, good to have you with us, joining us live. Let us know where you are.

You know, I go back to in your report the haunting face of that man at the end. I mean, do they have anything -- water, food, anything for what's left of his family?

RIVERS: Well, it's a pretty desperate situation. These people were among the poorest people in the world anyway, before the cyclone hit. They were, most of them, rice farmers, farmers, you know, clinging onto life as it was.

Now, with this cyclone that swept everything they had away, all of their tools for tending the fields, they've lost their rice harvest, and many of them have lost their family, children, loved ones. They really are at their wits' end.

What we have seen though is incredible resilience, people sharing food together, coming together as a community. These are tightly-knit communities that we've seen.

People rely on each other. They have family members there. They look after each other.

They are going to be OK, but there are a lot of communities out there that we haven't got to, that the aid agencies haven't got to. We don't know what the situation is there. Certainly there's a big effort to get food and shelter to them now, and certainly going ahead, that's going to be a problem for several months with that rice harvest that has been devastated.

CLANCY: Dan, I see it's almost complete darkness all around you. What does that say about the power, the communication and, really, as you note, where that death toll is going?

RIVERS: Yes, unfortunately, the death toll is going only in one direction, and that is up. And in terms of the power, there is some power. It's very patchy in places.

The odd (ph) building here has a light. I don't know if they have a generator. But generally, most of this region is in darkness.

We've seen people repairing the power cables, a very low-tech way, just literally pulling them back up with ropes and pulleys, trying to get them back on to the pylons. But there are so many trees down all across this region, it's going to take a long time to get all the electricity reconnected.

CLANCY: All right. Dan Rivers reporting to us there on the coastal areas of Bangladesh, where some of the devastation he has just shown us in his report is just absolute sweeping away entire villages and lives.

Now, if you would like to help victims of the cyclone, CNN.com can point you in the right direction. Log on to our Impact Your World Web site at CNN.com/impact. Just click on "Bangladesh Cyclone." There you will find a comprehensive list of aid agencies that are trying to help.

MCEDWARDS: Now, there are some new reports that an international arrest warrant has been issued for a fourth suspect in an Italian murder case, a bizarre case. The victim was a student from Britain, and her American roommate is one of the suspects here. Now, Italian police are trying to sort through a lot of different clues.

Jennifer Eccleston has more details now about the three suspects that are already in custody.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A police source close to the investigation tells CNN that further analysis of evidence taken from the murder scene revealed a bloody fingerprint on Meredith Kercher's bedroom pillow. They say the fingerprint does not match those of the three suspects.

Amanda Knox, the 20-year-old American exchange student and Kercher's roommate, her Italian boyfriend, Raphael Sollecito, also a student, and Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese pub owner, are all being held in an Italian jail on suspicion of murder. A judge's preliminary ruling issued on the 9th of November concluded that all three were present when Kercher died on November 1st.

The ruling said the 21-year-old British student's throat was cut with a knife as she fought off a sexual assault. It said she took two hours to die.

All three suspects say they were not at the house on the night of the murder and deny any involvement in the killing. But on Thursday, a forensics lab in Rome confirmed that a kitchen knife found in Sollecito's apartment had DNA from both Knox and the murdered student.

Still, his lawyer says that discovery does not implicate him because Amanda Knox had access to his client's apartment. Other forensic evidence is still being examined.

From the very beginning of this case there has been widespread media speculation of a fourth suspect due to leaked reports of DNA found in a toilet at the villa on Pergolo (ph) Lane. The police source tells CNN that DNA evidence is feces and not that of the three suspects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ECCLESTON: Our source who is very close to the prosecution says the arrest warrant doesn't affect -- doesn't change the status, rather, of those three suspects. The source does say that the fourth suspect has a criminal record here in Italy that is associated with drugs. They don't know if he's still in the country, but they do say day by day, they are putting the pieces of this complicated murder mystery together.

MCEDWARDS: Wow, Jennifer. So, this fourth suspect obviously an interesting development in this, but I'm wondering also what they are saying about the relationship with the other three and the murdered -- the murdered woman. What's that all about?

ECCLESTON: This, again, is according to our source close to the investigation. He was an associate of Amanda Knox, according to our source, the 20-year-old American who is currently in jail, along with two other suspects.

It is also believed that he had other relations -- other knowledge of some of the other residents in the house where the murder took place. We don't know specifically if there was any connection to Meredith Kercher or the boyfriend or the bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, although there's been widespread media speculation. We cannot confirm that.

Right now, all we know, that the arrest warrant has been issued. We know that it is a man, we know he is from the Ivory Coast. And police are doing everything in their power to find him at this stage because he will be crucial to helping figure out -- whether he's a suspect or not, whether he's directly related or not, he is crucial to trying to figure out just what took place at that villa on Pergolo (ph) Lane -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: All right. Jennifer Eccleston keeping us up to date there.

Jennifer, thanks very much -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Let's turn our attention now to Russia, where deep inside a cave near a remote village, some two dozen members of a doomsday cult are praying, waiting for what they say will be the end of the world.

The drama is unfolding. It's in central Russia. Sect members say they will blow themselves up if anybody tries to force them out.

Why might they do that? Well, they are holding -- they've got at least four children with them.

Matthew Chance is following this dramatic story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Deep in Russia's Christian heartland, the faithful pray for salvation. But outside the official orthodox church, there's growing concern for a bizarre splinter group, a suicidal Christian sect predicting the end of the world with dozens of its members holed up in a dark cave.

"It's so sad," says Olga. "I think it would have been better if they had gone to church and prayed like the rest of us." "It's wrong to hide in the cave," says Maria. "They can't escape the apocalypse in there," she told us.

Nor escape fascination with their fate. Police are guarding the snow-covered ravine near the cave's hidden entrance. Smoke rises from makeshift chimneys on the surface. Cult members say they're deep in prayer and will blow themselves up if their retreat is stormed.

(on camera): Well, this is the freezing hillside where this bizarre standoff is taking place. In the ridge behind me, in a cave they hollowed out themselves, dozens of cult members are hiding, praying and waiting for the end of the world. But they have children with them, one known to be only 18 months old, and that's placing a lot of pressure on the authorities to act.

(voice over): Already, the self-styled leader of the sect who ordered his followers into the cave is in police custody undergoing psychological tests. Pyotr Kuznetsov, or Father Pyotr, as he's known, told Russian television he hadn't gone inside himself because he was waiting for more people to save.

The doomsday drama has shaken the remote village of Nikolskoye in central Russia, where the cult's houses and makeshift churches were abandoned. Residents told us they are shocked their neighbors have gone underground and taken at least four children with them.

"I only worry about the kids," says Nikolai (ph). "The adults can decide for themselves."

And the authorities must decide, too, to wait it out or risk storming the cave, and those inside making good on their suicidal threat.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Nikolskoye, in central Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: We have to take a short break here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, but coming up, she was gang-raped, sentenced to 200 lashes, and thrown in jail.

CLANCY: Now even her lawyer faces stiff punishment in a headline-grabbing case that's calling into question the treatment of women under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic law.

MCEDWARDS: And later, the leaders of Iran and Venezuela plant some common ground in their mutual dislike of the United States.

We'll explain.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: A new appeal in Saudi Arabia following a controversial court decision there. MCEDWARDS: That's right. A human rights attorney wants the government to restore his license to allow him to continue to represent a client. Now, this client was gang-raped. A court ruling last week actually increased the punishment of the rape victim -- yes, you her that right, the rape victim -- after the attorney went ahead and talked about case to the media, right?

CLANCY: She's 19 years old, this woman originally sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone with a man who is not her relative. The court then, when she appealed, increased her punishment to 200 lashes plus six months in prison. He won the appeal to increase the original sentences for the seven rapists.

Now, the court, of course, also punished that attorney, Abdul Rahman al-Lahim (ph). He was disbarred after defending the client. The court revoked his license to practice law.

Al-Lahim (ph) now trying to appeal that decision. He's going to meet with a justice minister today.

A confusing case causing some outrage.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is following Saudi reaction. Joining us now live from London.

What is the reaction in Saudi Arabia, especially among women?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one women's rights group in Saudi Arabia described that decision to revoke the license of the lawyer, the attorney, essentially equivalent to rape in the first place. It was so heinous, they said.

Now, they also say -- this same women's group also says that they feel that Saudi Arabian women are being mistreated in this case. This case exemplifies why they say that they feel afraid for their women to go out on the streets, for their daughters to go out on the streets, because they could get involved in something not of their own making and the verdict could come down against them.

So, it's not going down well in certain sections of Saudi society. Saudi society is very strict, and a lot of women you will find there will follow the letter of the law. They won't get into a vehicle with anyone that's not -- that's not a male relative. They won't drive vehicles because that's against the law. But there are some more liberal-thinking women there who want change, and this certainly, for them, is -- it shows them that there's no change for them on the horizon at the moment -- Jim.

CLANCY: Nic, to the outside world it seems unbelievable that a court system would increase the number of lashes on the woman, on the victim of a gang rape. I mean, what is going on inside the Saudi -- inside Saudi Arabia's judiciary?

ROBERTSON: Well, listening to that ruling, the indications were that the judge felt that the defendant, the 19-year-old woman, had used the media to draw attention to her case. And reading his verdict, it seems to imply that she's being punished for that.

However, the original sentence was because she had broken the law by getting into a vehicle with a man that wasn't her relative. That's what she is being punished for.

It does seem very strange to the outside world, and certainly there are critics of the Saudi judiciary system inside Saudi Arabia that say it's long overdue for reform, that it is too heavily stacked with religious scholars, that they play -- they have too much influence . King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has called for a review, but the critics say that it could be five to 10 years before there are any real changes in the Saudi judicial system, and this type of case, therefore, they say, could happen again -- Jim.

CLANCY: In this particular case, because it seems so unreasonable, is there any chance that this attorney -- well, first of all, he's got to get reinstated to even bring the case, but can some attorney bring another appeal? Or is it done?

ROBERTSON: Jim, it's not clear at this stage how it will proceed from here. Certainly this particular attorney seems to be being punished at this moment. That's why he's had his license revoked.

Is he being punished or is this just a way to punish again the victim of the rape? And that's not clear.

If it's him that's being punished, then perhaps another defense attorney may be able to come forward, may be able to represent her. But the feeling among the women's groups -- women's rights groups in Saudi Arabia is this is a verdict against women's rights. And there are changes that they would like to see in the law that would essentially liberalize them more and put them more on a par with other women in other Arab nations -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right.

Nic Robertson, as always, Nic, thank you very much for joining us there from London with some more on this amazing case in Saudi Arabia.

MCEDWARDS: You know, when we come back, we're going to check in with the markets in London and New York.

So stay with CNN.

CLANCY: And then a little bit after that, churches in England are seeing renewed interest from some heavy metal gangs, but they're not showing up to worship.

MCEDWARDS: And later, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip celebrate a marital milestone.

Stay with us.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries and territories all around the world, including this hour in the United States.

JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.

MCEDWARDS: I'm Colleen McEdwards. Here are some of the top stories that we're following this hour.

Rescuers still struggling to reach some of the remote areas of Bangladesh. They have been absolutely devastated by the worst cyclone to hit there in decades. The death toll from Thursday's storm is now topping 3,100. It is expected to keep on rising. Hundreds of thousands of villagers were left hungry and homeless and people are really worried right now about the risk of disease.

CLANCY: In Italy, a source in a prosecutor's office telling CNN a fourth suspect has been identified in a murder case. The victim, a student from Britain. Her American roommate one of four suspects now. The source tells CNN, drug use played a part in this crime.

MCEDWARDS: After declaring a state of emergency in Pakistan and replacing supreme court judges with his personal allies, it was certainly no surprise when the top court dismissed most of the petitions against President Pervez Musharraf, against his whole -- the whole issue of his re-election and whether it should stand. The move brings the president, of course, closer now to taking that oath of office for a new term and also, as he said he will do, stepping down as military chief. Now the last challenge will be heard on Thursday. General Musharraf cannot be sworn into office until the parliamentary election results are final.

CLANCY: All right. Staying with Pakistan. CNN has learned the Bush administration is looking for some ways to help a Pakistani paramilitary force join in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda. Let's get some details. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now.

Barbara, is this based on what we see in Iraq, going on in Anbar province?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, at first blush, Jim, you might think so. What they're talking about is trying to work, again, with some of the tribal leaders out in this very remote area of Pakistan along the northwest frontier. Somewhat like we have talked about in Anbar province in Iraq. But it's two different countries and it's two different situations. You know, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte just finished a series of meetings in Pakistan, trying to convince them to get back on the road to democracy. Not something Musharraf appears to be rushing to do.

So the U.S. is looking for ways to continue its operations in Pakistan. And this is one of the things that's at the top of the list. Could the U.S. military, the special operations command, start a new program to train and equip Pakistan's frontier corp? That's about a 60,000, 80,000 man strong paramilitary force that works up in that region against al Qaeda, against the Taliban. They have long needed a good deal of additional equipment. They have had some very mixed results out there. And now the Pentagon looking at whether it would be possible to start a new military assistance program for them.

It really, Jim, is part of the effort to say, OK, Musharraf has his problems. But we, the United States, need to continue our antiterrorism and counterterrorism efforts with Pakistan and we're going to continue to look for ways to do it.

Jim.

CLANCY: Well, you bring up, you know, the whole issue of political stability. Also concerns about security. The CIA has been monitoring Pakistan's nuclear weapons or nuclear armed country. We all know that. Concerns on that front as well?

STARR: Well, not publicly, let's be very clear. The public view by all parties in the Bush administration is that Pakistan's nuclear weapons, at this time, those are the words they use, are secure. And they have no public reason to believe they're not. Because the Pakistani military officials that run the nuclear establishment are, indeed, loyal to Musharraf.

But make no mistake, again, the administration hedging its bets, as prudence would dictate, looking at what they might have to do if some type of different leadership were to come into power. And by all accounts, the U.S. intelligence community really stepping up its effort for surveillance or spying, if you will, against Pakistan's nuclear complex, making sure they know where all the weapons are and who's in charge of them. They don't want anything to go missing, obviously.

Jim.

CLANCY: Barbara Starr, as always, thank you.

Barbara reporting there live from the Pentagon.

MCEDWARDS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has wrapped up a visit to Tehran with a promise to build some strategic unity, and that's a quote, with his Iranian counterpart. Mr. Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agreed to form a joint bank into expand industrial cooperation. They also attacked the weakening U.S. dollar at a rare meeting of all OPEC nations. Now the Iranian president called the currency a "worthless piece of paper." Well, Mr. Chavez said the empire of the dollar has to end. Despite oil prices hovering near $100 a barrel, cartel members resisted pressures to increase production.

Now right now the price for January delivery is more than $94. In his opening remarks at the OPEC summit, President Chavez also issued a stark warning to the United States about that price of oil. He said that if the U.S. attacks Iran, the price could double. Lisa Desjardins has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Yes, it seems bad now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't drive that often. But, you know, when I do, it's definitely -- makes a huge impact in the budget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like gas prices are going up like crazy. I don't know what's going on.

DESJARDINS: But to understand what's happening, Americans busy watching the gas pump instead may want to look here. At OPEC, where Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, made a thinly veiled threat to one of the world's largest oil consumers.

HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT, (through translator): If the United States attempts the madness of invading Iran or attacking Venezuela again, the price of oil is probably going to reach $200, not just $100.

ANNE KORIN, GLOBAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, he's a big bully.

DESJARDINS: Anne Korin is an oil market expert at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and she says oil could only jump that high from several catastrophes happening at once.

KORIN: He is also very determined to use oil as a weapon. And he is very determined to get OPEC to use its clout and use its power over this strategic commodity.

DESJARDINS: Another U.S. adversary and friend of Chavez, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, used the OPEC meeting to go after something else, the U.S. dollar. OPEC members sell in dollars now. If OPEC countries stopped using the dollar, it would be worth less. And in America, that would mean anything imported, from cameras to clothing, would cost more. Korin says it's a way for oil-rich adversaries to hit U.S. wallets twice, at the pump and at the mall.

KORIN: That will have a very serious, almost avalanche effect on our currency and on the buying power of the dollar and it will affect every American's pocketbook.

DESJARDINS: For now, OPEC is sticking with the dollar. Meanwhile, the White House is responding to news out of the meeting, saying the price of oil is too high and the U.S. needs to pull away from foreign sources of energy.

Lisa Desjardins, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Israel's cabinet makes some moves but refuses to make others. It okayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said it will free 441 prisoners, mainly from the Fatah Palestinian faction, as a goodwill gesture. He's going to be meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a few hours from now ahead of that planned peace conference in the United States. Israel holds 9,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Speaking in Jerusalem a short time ago, international Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said Israel and the Palestinians are planning several projects. One of the moves might create thousands of jobs for Palestinians.

Israel says it's making goodwill gestures in the name of Middle East peace. So, too, are the Europeans. Jim Bittermann looks at the unique role the French want to play in the Middle East peace process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Just days ahead of a Mid East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, the French foreign minister headed off on a peace mission of his own, hoping to help the process along with a European initiative to finance a Palestinian state, if Israelis and Palestinians can work out their differences. And Bernard Kouchner believes the timing is right since he thinks leaders on both sides are being driven to the international peace process by their weaknesses at home.

BERNARD KOUCHNER, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER: The fact is they are closer (INAUDIBLE). They have to succeed.

BITTERMANN: So despite a case of laryngitis, Kouchner took on a whirlwind, 24-hour trip to Israel and the West Bank, out to sell the French plan to sponsor a donors conference in Paris two weeks after the Annapolis meeting, to come up with money for the Palestinians. Which, as his Israeli counterpart concedes, is directly linked to security for Israel.

TZIPI LIVNI, ISRAEL FOREIGN MINISTER: The future Palestinian state of being viable and prosperous Palestinian state in the future is part of (INAUDIBLE) the interest we believe that these are security is part of the Palestinian interest as well.

BITTERMANN: Later, joined by Tony Blair, the special Mid East envoy, Kouchner traveled to the West Bank to promise that the Palestinians that a great deal of financial aid for them is at stake at the Annapolis conference.

Already, the U.S. and Great Britain have put $1 billion on the table to cover Palestinian short-term budget deficits and provide for longer term projects. The Paris donors conference will bring together 80 more countries and institution to race the ante. But all of it depends on the success of the peace conference in the United States.

After his lightning trip, Kouchner was not convinced the back-to- back conferences to provide the framework and financing for Mid East peace would work but he compared the moment to one exactly 30 years ago to the day when Anwar Sadat ignored the risks and traveled to Israel to make peace.

KOUCHNER: No, but this is a historic time. Historical momentum.

BITTERMANN: Still, not even Kouchner would hazard a guess whether that momentum is enough to arrive at the elusive notion of a final settlement of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: Coming up, sailing against the tide.

CLANCY: That's right. Despite worldwide condemnation, Japan's whaling fleet setting sail, out to kill more than 1,000 whales in the name of scientific research.

MCEDWARDS: We will explain when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Japan, once again, what some would say harpooning its own international reputation as it launches a massive whale hunt.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, that's right. This is one of those stories that kind of makes you say, how is this happening? And we'll get you answer to that fully in the piece that follows. But, you know, Greenpeace protestors have gone after whalers, say they are going to track them down, they're going try to make this thing stop.

CLANCY: No matter where they are in the Pacific Ocean. Kyung Lah, our correspondent in Tokyo, says taking advantage of a loophole in a whale hunting moratorium is allowing Japan to take advantage of what some call lethal research.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): To the sound of a jovial brass band, families wave a cheerful farewell, tossing the fishermen aboard this ships bon voyage as they set sale to Antarctica. But this is no ordinary catch they seek. One of the targets, the humpback whale. The whalers plan to capture and kill up to 50 humpbacks in what's believed to be the first large scale hunt of the protected species in four decades.

SHUJII YAMADA, JAPAN FISHERIES AGENCY CHIEF, (through translator): The scientific research we carry out will pave the way to overturning the moratorium on commercial whaling, and to better utilize whale resources. Scientific research into whaling is imperative for Japan.

LAH: The government also says the International Whaling Commission allows this hunt of an estimated 1,000 whales a season. And here's even more controversy. The whale meat harvested on these whaling expeditions is brought back to fish markets, then packaged and sold in meat departments and stores across the country. We went looking for whale meat in a Tokyo market. And it didn't take long before we found it.

It took us a couple of stops to find this. This is whale meat packaged and sold as bacon. It's increasingly harder to find, especially as worldwide scorn has slowed sales here. But especially among the older generation, it's still considered a delicacy and part of the culture and tradition of Japan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: :Yes, I've seen it in sushi restaurants and places like that. I guess they think it's very tasty. So, yes, it's like asking westerners to give up eating something you like very much, maybe veal or something. I guess you could say veal is very cruel as well.

LAH: But Greenpeace protestors who also set sail called the hunt of the humpbacks beyond cruel, urging President Bush to intervene.

JUNICHI SATO, GREENPEACE SPOKESMAN: This is simply a commercial whaling in disguise. Therefore, these whaling ship needs to come back to Japan as soon as possible and simply this whaling program needs to be stopped.

LAH: But as whale meat sellers point out, these hunts will continue as long as there is a market that is willing to pay for it.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: And, you know, we should give you some quick background on humpback whales, because this is interesting. You know, they're endangered, migratory whales, so they're found in all of the ocean bases of the world.

CLANCY: There were once more than 125,000 of them, but their numbers fell to just 10,000 in the 20th century.

MCEDWARDS: The International Whales Commission enacted a moratorium on the commercial hunting of humpbacks. And that happened in 1963.

CLANCY: The current population estimates, well they vary, but seem to hover right now at around 30,000.

MCEDWARDS: Well, Britain is now experiencing a crime wave like any other in its history. And the target happens to be the nation's historic churches.

CLANCY: Now, more specifically, a highly prized material in the roofs of those churches. We need some explanation. Here's Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Historic Tewksbury Abbey. For 900 years, people have been worshiping here. In the last week, some have been stealing from here, too. Not religious relics, but the fabric of the building itself.

REVEREND CANON PAUL WILLIAMS, TEWKSBURY ABBEY VICAR: We've been hit here. The lead has been stripped off and taken away and probably going to a metal merchant as we speak.

BLACK: Lead lining has been used to waterproof churches in this country for centuries. But in an age where global lead prices are soaring, the roof of God's house is now a lucrative target for highly organized criminal gangs.

WILLIAMS: Each community has a heart, and the heart of a community is the church. And so to actually being targeted in this way, many people, particularly Tewksbury, will be quite upset about it.

BLACK: This wasn't your average break and enter. This staff is very heavy. And to get it, the thieves had to climb the face of the abbey, either using ladders or it's suspected they even scaled the drain pipes. It's a height of around 15 meters.

Then working in darkness, they stripped the lead, cut it, folded it, and threw it over the side. It was about 1,500 kilograms over two nights. They were after the lead, but the people who care for this abbey believe the thieves were as bold as brass.

And they're operating across the country. One company insures most of Britain's old churches. It says there were 80 lead thefts last year. Eighteen hundred have been reported so far in 2007.

CHRIS PITT, ECCLESIASTICAL INSURANCE: The trend of thefts that we've seen just recently is unlike anything we've seen before. We had over 400 claims in October alone. And there's no signs of these trends slowing up.

BLACK: To fight the problem, ancient churches are using the latest crime-fighting technology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost like giving the roof of an abbey a sort of forensic DNA fingerprints.

BLACK: The chemical shows up under ultra violet light. And if found in Britain, it can be traced. But it's believed most of the stolen church lead is smuggled overseas to medal hungry, fast growing countries, like India and China, where people may not be aware of its holy origins.

WILLIAMS: If any Chinese people see our lead, could we please have it back?

BLACK: Phil Black, CNN, Tewksbury, England.

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CLANCY: Well, elsewhere in Britain, a glittering milestone.

MCEDWARDS: Still to come, a diamond anniversary to tell you about. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip marking 60 years of marriage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MCEDWARDS: Welcome back.

Sixty years ago, almost to the day, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip tied the knot.

CLANCY: That's right. When they still had pictures in black and white. Now on the eve of that diamond anniversary, 2,000 guests celebrated right there at Westminster Abbey.

MCEDWARDS: Paula Hancocks takes a look back at the royal wedding of Britain's longest married monarch.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It was a royal wedding to lift Britain from its post-war gloom. Before a cheering crowd of thousands, 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece. Sixty years on, the royal couple once again walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey for a service of celebration.

ROWAN WILLIAMS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: Every marriage is a public event that some couples have to live more than others in the full light of publicity.

HANCOCKS: (INAUDIBLE) brought in during the war meant the princess, like other brides of the time, had to save up clothing coupons to buy her wedding dress. Unlike most other brides, though, her royal highness received 2,500 wedding gifts, many from leaders around the world. Some of the choir boys who sang at the 1947 wedding were invited to Monday's service, between nine and 13 at the time, now in their 70s.

ROBERT JOBSON, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Ten years ago, on her golden wedding anniversary, the queen made a significant speech in which she said that Prince Philip has been her strength and stay throughout her time as the queen. And I think that really he has been the head of the family while she's been the head of the country.

HANCOCKS: The royal couple have had to endure very public troubles in their family. Three out of four of their children divorced, and the death of Diana, Princess of Whales, shook the establishment to its core.

But throughout all the trials, the Duke of Edinburgh has been constantly by the queen's side, or at least a few respectful steps behind. This diamond wedding anniversary makes the queen the longest married monarch in British history.

The queen and Prince Philip will head for Montreal on Tuesday, for a more private celebration of where they spent the first few years of married life. Prince Philip was stationed there as a royal naval officer before royal duty called the young Princess Elizabeth.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MCEDWARDS: And on that note, that's all for this hour. More news just ahead. I'm Colleen McEdwards.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Stay with CNN.

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