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Italy Student Murder Case; Saudi Rape Victim's Sentence Sparks Outrage; Plight of Bangladesh Survivors From Cyclone Sidr; Rail Cable Sabotage; Overdose For Quaid Twins; Britain Security Breach; U.S. Election System Questioned; A Child's Support

Aired November 21, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: High-tech clues. Italian investigators scour cell phone records, computers and DNA in the murder of a British exchange student.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A husband's outrage. The Saudi man whose wife was raped and then sentenced to prison blasts his nation's legal system.

HOLMES: Hospital foul-up. Actor Dennis Quaid and his wife stand vigil as their newborn babies recover from a dangerous overdose.

MCEDWARDS: And a child's courage. One small boy providing hope and inspiration to those who need it most.

It is 6:00 p.m. in Rome, it is 9:00 a.m. in Los Angeles.

Hello and welcome to our report seen around the globe.

I'm Colleen McEdwards.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes.

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

MCEDWARDS: Suggestive Internet postings, cryptic text messages, a tangled web of suspects.

HOLMES: Yes. Italian police looking at all pieces of a puzzle, trying to figure out exactly what happened the night a British exchange student was killed.

MCEDWARDS: And they are awaiting the extradition of one of the suspects from Germany, a huge moment in this case.

HOLMES: It is. And it is a bizarre case. Police could also soon get crucial DNA test results that could help solve the murder of Meredith Kercher.

MCEDWARDS: Here is Jennifer Eccleston now with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Amanda Knox's MySpace page tells of her love of things Italian. Italian police tell a depraved tale of sex, drugs, brutality and murder inside an apartment just north of Rome. Two conflicting pictures of the exchange student from Seattle.

ANTONELLA NEGRI, AMANDA KNOX'S TEACHER: In my mind, I thought maybe she has two lives.

ECCLESTON: That's one of Knox's teachers, Antonella Negri. She says the American was a good student and well-liked, but there was a darker side to her, one that came out on her blog where she posed with a machine gun and called herself "Foxy Knoxy," one that police say led to a night of debauchery and then her roommate's murder.

(on camera): On November 2nd, at this quaint hillside villa, just steps away from the university where both students attended, Meredith Kercher's lifeless body was found half naked, lying in a pool of blood, with a stab wound on her neck.

(voice over): A judge's report found she died fighting off a sexual assault involving not only her American roommate, but Amanda Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and Patrick Lumumba, a bar owner from the Congo. The report said Knox and Sollecito had smoked hash that evening, then went to her house in search of Kercher and a new sexual experience.

The judge said Lumumba was there, too, seeking Knox's help in persuading Kercher to have sex with him, but Kercher fought back and died trying. Amanda Knox told police Lumumba had killed Kercher, and then she told her mother she wasn't even there.

Lumumba says he wasn't either. He's been released for now for lack of evidence.

Knox, Lumumba and Sollecito all maintain their innocence. Now a fourth suspect has emerged.

He is Rudy Hermann Guede, an African immigrant joking here in a YouTube video posted nine months ago. Police say they found traces of Guede's DNA, as well as a bloody fingerprint, at the murder scene. He's in custody in Germany, awaiting extradition.

Every twist in this bizarre case has captivated the European media.

BEPPE SEVERGNINI, COLUMNIST: It is a perfect plot for the perfect murder story. The sad and dramatic thing, this is not a murder story out of a book. It really happened.

ECCLESTON: When Amanda Knox blogged a few weeks ago, she said she was in one of her happiest places in life. She was, and her roommate was alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: Wow.

Jennifer joins us now live with more on this.

Jennifer, you mentioned that fourth suspect in custody, awaiting extradition. What's the latest on that? .

ECCLESTON: Well, he remains in Germany. The German police are trying to determine whether they have enough evidence to keep him in jail there while the prosecutors begin to make their case for the extradition to Italy.

As was mentioned in the piece, he was arrested after traveling on a train in Germany without a ticket, then police realized that there was an international arrest warrant issued for him by the Italians, and now the Italians want him back. He could appeal that extradition order. If he does so, then he may not be back in Italy for several months -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: How much more do we know, Jennifer, about the DNA in case?

ECCLESTON: It's all about the evidence, it's all about the DNA. How many times have we heard that on a number of crime programs in the United States and all around the world? But it really is the most crucial aspect of this case because all of the suspects involved say they were there.

It's a he said/she said, so prosecution teams are trying to piece together that puzzle, trying to find the physical evidence that will link either all the suspects to the crime that evening when Meredith Kercher died, or link some of them. And there still are some very big pieces of evidence outstanding that we are waiting, confirmation from the chief forensics lab here in Rome.

They include a computer. Raffaele Sollecito, the boyfriend, maintains he wasn't there that night. He was on the Web in his apartment. They are looking at his hard drive to see if that, in case, is actually the case.

The other big issue is a bloody footprint they retrieved from the duvet that had covered the body of the British exchange student. They say -- prosecutors say it matches that of the sneaker, the Nike sneaker worn by Sollecito, Raffaele Sollecito, but we won't know that until we receive that information from the forensics lab. And if they do find that it belongs to him, it will be hard for the young man to prove that he in fact wasn't there that night -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, indeed.

Jennifer Eccleston.

Thanks, Jennifer.

HOLMES: All right. To Saudi Arabia now and a controversial case there that is turning the spotlight on the Saudi legal system.

MCEDWARDS: A 19-year-old victim of a gang rape sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison. HOLMES: Yes, and she's the victim. Well, in an unusual move, the government is now speaking out about the court decision. And what's more unusual is the victim's husband also speaking out.

MCEDWARDS: He is calling for justice and he spoke exclusively to CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After days of intense media scrutiny over verdicts in a gang rape case, Saudi Arabia's government issued a statement of clarification. It begins, "We would like to clarify to the public that the Ministry of Justice well comes meaningful criticism."

We conducted interviews by telephone as we await Saudi visas. The victim's husband is speaking out to western TV for the first time, says he is angry with the judges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The king has called for judicial reform. We read about that in the media. They should say something to you. This means our judicial system needs to be reformed.

ROBERTSON: He says the case has thrown his 19-year-old wife into a state of severe depression, and accuses one of the judges of bias against his wife from the outset.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Even when he pronounced the sentence, he said, "You were involved in a suspicious relationship and you deserve 90 lashes for that."

ROBERTSON: In a six bullet-point statement of clarification, the government defends the court's decisions. On the critical issue of increasing the severity of the victim's punishment, it contends that she, as well as her attackers, had broken the law, but it did not explain why the judges decided to increase her sentence to 200 lashes, and at a six-month jail term.

Saudi journalist and women's right activist Epti Hal Mubarak (ph) told us women are angry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well this is extremely, highly frustrating and (INAUDIBLE) women activists (INAUDIBLE). There's nothing much we can do about it, just, you know, other than write about it or write petitions about it.

ROBERTSON: She says the rape victim did not break the strict law that bans unrelated men and women from meeting in private.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It shows clearly that they were in a public place, they were in front of a shopping mall before they were abducted.

ROBERTSON: This case, she says, reaffirms women's worst fears -- if raped, they have no defense in the law. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're out on the street, I mean, and you get raped, really there's no certain law that will correct things or bring justice. It does send a message of that sort.

ROBERTSON: It is rare in conservative Saudi society, where rape stigmatizes not just the victim but a whole family, that a husband is willing to go public. He says all he wants is justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I take Islam seriously and I don't like injustice. I see this as an important social issue.

She is my wife and, to me, marriage is sacred. You marry someone for good or for worse. And I love my wife.

ROBERTSON: Women's rights activists like Mubarak (ph) see little hope the sentence on the rape victory will be reversed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. And to be honest, I don't think that (INAUDIBLE) the lashes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right.

Nic Robertson now joining us for more on this from London.

Some high-level support for reform, Nic, but is that because of international pressure? Does it give this young lady any hope?

ROBERTSON: Well, the move for reforms in the judiciary has sort of been under way in the background in Saudi Arabia for some time. And King Abdullah, before this case, has announced that there will be reforms. And he is known as a king who will bring reforms on many issues.

But as we have seen in Saudi Arabia over the years, these reforms come very, very slowly. And there's a reason for that.

There is a definite move on the part of the leadership of Saudi Arabia not to anger the more religious in their community. They don't want a backlash from them. And that's why because -- because it is the religious scholars who are in abundance in the judiciary and essentially run the judiciary who have the upper hand there. So it's going to take a long time the way Saudi Arabia goes about it to bring about those changes -- Michael.

HOLMES: But what sort of impact does international pressure have on the Saudis? As you say, they're walking a very fine line diplomatically, politically and socially, culturally, religiously a fine line, but so, too, is the U.S., isn't it? We've not heard much coming from the State Department other than, well, it's not really our business, which a lot of people would be surprised about given their condemnation of other nations on other issues.

ROBERTSON: Well, and certainly it wouldn't go down very well in Saudi Arabia if the United States officially was to criticize the Saudis. So this is -- this is very -- exactly the sort of diplomatic language one can expect on this. What happens through the back channels is something else, but I don't think we're going to see the Saudi leadership here turning and changing any of their decisions on the basis of international opinion.

What we may see in the longer term is an effort by them to accelerate this process, but in this specific case, it's very unlikely to see an about-face and a change. But again, in Saudi Arabia, these things are handled very slowly, and typically there may be -- there may be changes in this particular case. But we're not likely to hear about them publicly.

It's not going to happen any time right now, and it may just be a case of some of the issues here are just allowed to quietly fade away. But there's a big faction in Saudi Arabia, a religious faction that won't want that to happen either -- Michael.

HOLMES: Yes. Somebody who spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia, Nic Robertson there.

Thanks, Nic.

(NEWSBREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, still ahead, plenty more news, including the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, that's right. We're going to take you to Bangladesh. Survivors of the worst storm there in a decade trying to piece their lives back together. And we'll show you what that's like.

HOLMES: And check this out. He showed up, had nothing to say. The doctor who operated on rapper Kanye West's mother makes a very brief appearance on "LARRY KING LIVE."

Why did he walk off the set?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Well, the stench of death is still hanging in the air, quite literally, across parts of Bangladesh.

HOLMES: Cyclone Sidr we're talking about, of course. It's left more than 3,000 people dead. Nearly 2,000 are still missing.

MCEDWARDS: And there's at least some aid now coming in for the millions of people who are suffering. They are still displaced.

Cal Perry has a closer look now at the survivors and their plight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kids will be kids, even in a disaster zone. The water these kids are playing in is mere meters from a line of fresh, shallow graves that tell the story of a small village lost.

Perhaps one of the most remote places in the world close to Bangladesh's border with India we travel by boat. Even from the water it's obvious the main city of Patrakarita (ph) has been largely washed away.

Four hundred thousand people live in this city. The government says that 140 people died here, but the locals insist that well over 1,000 perished.

And nobody knows how many have died in the outlying areas. Neither the government nor aid organizations have reached the more isolated places. We're the first to come here.

The only way in is on motorbikes until the jungle becomes too thick. From there, we walk.

The closer we get, the ominous stench of death becomes overwhelming. What we found was horrifying even though we were warned. A decomposed body floats in a riverbed. The body so mangled after five days, the villagers can't tell us who it is.

It's slowly pulled away from the body of an animal by a simple farming tool. Soon it will be added to the line of graves.

And as we get deeper into the jungle where the farming village of Pota (ph) used to be, we encounter overwhelming grief. Mujabar Param (ph) wails in agony while fellow villagers bury his 6-year-old daughter Lima (ph). His story is gut-wrenching.

"My daughter, wife and I were clinging to a tree," he says. "We were all holding hands, but a gust of wind came and swept my daughter from my arms. We are now helpless. There is no communication, nobody has come here. Nobody has come."

A simple farmer burying his 6-year-old daughter in his own field, waiting for any help that simply has not arrived.

Cal Perry, CNN, Pota (ph), in southern Bangladesh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A lot of people are trying to look for a way of helping the victims in Bangladesh. And here's a useful Web site, CNN.com/impact. There's a wealth of information there, including a list of the top aid organizations working to help those affected by the cyclone.

MCEDWARDS: Business headlines are going to be up next here on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

HOLMES: Yes. Also, acts of sabotage in France. Some major slowdown for the country's high-speed trains. We'll tell you why.

MCEDWARDS: Then, reports that a Hollywood star's twin babies were given a drug overdose.

Stay with us.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries and territories all around the world, including this hour the United States.

HOLMES: Yes, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Michael Holmes.

MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards. Here are some of the top stories that we're following for you.

Italian police are awaiting DNA test results on evidence that they hope will help solve the murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher. They're also awaiting the extradition of one of the suspect from Germany. Rudy Hermann Guede says he will not fight extradition, but does maintain he's innocent.

HOLMES: The Saudi government is standing by a court ruling that punishes a victim of gang rape. Despite a global outcry, the woman will get 200 lashes and six months in jail for being alone with an unrelated male when she was abducted and then raped. Her husband spoke earlier with CNN demanding justice for his wife.

MCEDWARDS: Attacks on France's high speed rail lines have prompted criticism from both union officials and the government. Striking railway workers are suspected of deliberately setting cables on fire and that, of course, caused major delays. Well, the fires damaged 30 kilometers worth of cable and they come on the eighth day of this crippling national transportation strike.

Jim Bittermann has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Along France's high speed train lines in the north, east, west and southeast of the country, acts of sabotage. Signaling and communication cables were deliberately set on fire overnight, forcing the railway to reroute and slow down the trains, which normally run at 320 kilometers an hour, that's more than 190 miles an hour.

Railroad officials said there was no danger to passengers since control systems automatically alerted supervisors to the damaged wires. While no one would directly blame striking transportation workers for the destruction, officials called the vandalism coordinated acts of sabotage, which occurred just hours before the first negotiation sessions aimed at ending the labor dispute.

The transport minister, Dominique Bussereau, condemned the destruction and said President Sarkozy wants the perpetrators punished to the full extent of the law. And the interior minister, Michele Alliot-Marie, called it inexcusable and said she has directed investigators to proceed with the utmost urgency.

Union leaders, too, condemned the sabotage, although one suggested that it was directed by someone trying to discredit the union movement. It will no doubt have that effect. The railway was not shy about explaining to passengers that this latest reason for delays was due to the sabotage.

And even before the railroad company disclosed the attacks, public opinion against the striker was growing. The latest poll shows 68 percent of the French believe the strike to be unjustified and 69 percent hope the government does not give in to the strikers' demands.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right. California health officials are investigating how the newborn twins of Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid were administered a dose of medicine said to be 1,000 times more powerful than what was prescribed. The children, a boy and a girl, are being cared for now at the neonatal intensive care unit at Cedars- Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. They're said to be showing no adverse effects from the overdose.

A statement read by Quaid's publicly says, "Dennis and Kimberly appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and hope they can maintain their privacy during this difficult time."

Joining us now with more with this story, CNN's medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

How does something like this happen?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's just an awful thing, isn't it? And the way that it happened -- you know what, Cedars-Sinai has not said, this is exactly what happened. All they've said is this is a preventable error and that procedures were not followed. Standard procedures were not followed.

But I asked some experts in medical errors and they said what they thought probably happened was that a nurse turned to reach for a vial of heparin, which is the drug that's in question here, that was 10 units and instead they got 1,000 units. They literally reached for the wrong vial, grabbed the wrong vial and used it.

And Heparin is used to flush out IV lines. And it's an important drug. I mean the babies were supposed to get heparin. But they got the wrong dosage.

HOLMES: Does this sort of thing happen a lot?

COHEN: You know what, unfortunately, it happens more than you think. We're hearing about this because it's Dennis Quaid, so we're hearing about it. And last year we heard about an incident with the same drug, the same exact dosage mistakes, in Indiana because three children died. Three babies died. But it happens. It happens more often than you think. In the United States you don't have to report when a medical error like that happens. So you just don't always hear about it.

HOLMES: Really? That actually surprises me. You don't have to report them. OK.

Well, if somebody's reaching around and grabs 1,000 instead of 100 or whatever, surely something can be done to stop that. What can be done to stop this sort of thing from happening?

COHEN: Right. There are various pieces of technology that can stop someone from grabbing the wrong dosage. And, for example, there are bar code systems. Nowadays pretty much everything we buy has a bar code. So there are bar coding systems where what a nurse would do is they would scan the baby's bracelet and then they would scan the medicine. And if the baby is supposed to be getting 10 and you're trying to give them 10,000 it would go beep, beep, beep and would tell you not to do that.

Unknown whether Cedars-Sinai uses a bar coding system. They wouldn't tell me. But if they were using it, someone was circumventing it. Something went wrong.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Sounds like a fairly obvious . . .

COHEN: Exactly.

HOLMES: I mean, but, you know . . .

COHEN: Well, that's what medical experts say. They say, why aren't people using these? A lot of hospitals don't use them and they said it's really pretty basic.

HOLMES: Yes, it is. These days that's pretty standard technology. All right, Elizabeth, thanks.

COHEN: Thank you.

HOLMES: Elizabeth Cohen, medical correspondent, good to have you on the show.

COHEN: Thanks.

MCEDWARDS: Well, an exclusive interview ended abruptly on last night's "Larry King Live." Viewers and Larry himself expected to hear from Dr. Jan Adams. He's the plastic surgeon who operated on hip-hop star Kanye West's mother the day before she died. But instead, Adams walked off the set during live television saying that the West family asked him not to talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JAN ADAMS, PLASTIC SURGEON: What I really want to say is I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren't accurate about me. But I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family and they've asked me not to go on. And I said from the very beginning, I don't have a side in this. They are my side. And so I'm going to respect their wishes. And I'm going to apologize to you because I think I'm taking up your air time. But I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I'm going to honor their wishes. OK.

LARRY KING, CNN'S "LARRY KING LIVE": OK. Meaning you won't answer any questions about anything?

ADAMS: None. None.

KING: All right. Then how will -- will you ever answer questions? I mean what -- where does this go?

ADAMS: Well, I will talk with them . . .

KING: I'm not mentioning Mrs. West.

ADAMS: I will talk with them. When they're comfortable, then I'll be comfortable. If they're never comfortable, then I'll never be comfortable. They are what's important to me. I said that from the start. And that's what I'll continue to honor.

KING: Then just a few things having nothing to do with them. Don't you want to speak out?

ADAMS: No.

KING: You don't want to?

ADAMS: No. I do not.

KING: All right. But you came here to speak out?

ADAMS: That's correct. But I'm going to honor their wishes.

KING: OK. We'll bring our panel back. We'll take a break and we'll be right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: And on that note, that was it. Dr. Adams not board- certified in plastic surgery, by the way. He has been arrested for driving under the influence and has been sued for malpractice. Larry King said that Adams received a letter from the West family asking him not to discuss the case, although some have suggested that that letter was more like a threat not to discuss it or else. After the show, King talked about why the walk-off was a bit of a first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I used to say nothing has ever happened before that hasn't happened before. In other words, I've had everything happen to me in 50 years, except that. I've had fires in the studio. I've had people fight. I've had people hit each other on the set, running for mayor of Miami Beach, punch each other. But I have never had a guest rip off the mike and walk -- and remain friendly. He stayed until the end. He was there at the end of the show. He was very friendly to me. He took out -- he said he was taking my producer to dinner because she had gone through so much over this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCEDWARDS: All right. There you go, some of the back story there. You know, just to bring you up to date on the case because, again, some serious issues behind this. It's still not clear what caused the death of can Kanya West's mother. Toxicology tests -- the results of those tests still pending.

HOLMES: An extraordinary performance. Amazing.

MCEDWARDS: Yes. Yes. Incredible. I sort of wish I had seen the one where the mayors hit each other. I was trying to remember, geez, did I see that?

HOLMES: There's scoop (ph) there for a Larry King special, isn't there. Things that you never thought would happen.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, exactly.

HOLMES: All right. We're going to take a break. When we come back, imagine your name, all your personal records, details of your bank accounts, all that information in the hands of strangers.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, well, imagine it. Twenty-five million people in Britain don't have to imagine it. They're in this situation. The government says the information was lost in transit.

HOLMES: Yes, the government lost the information. How could it happen? Details ahead.

MCEDWARDS: Also coming up, we'll introduce you to a four-year- old who is inspiring wounded warriors.

HOLMES: Ah, look at that. A story of hope and courage coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Your name, your address, your birth date, insurance numbers, banking details, all information that you would think should be locked away from strangers. Especially if the government is the keeper of that information. Well then imagine how Britains felt when their government said it had lost the personal data of some 25 million people. Paula Hancocks tells us how the security breach happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know what people want from their prime minister on a day like this is for him to stand up, show some broad shoulders, be the big man and take some responsibility.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): This is a parliament session Britain's prime minister would rather forget. Anger and disbelief that the government's admission it has lost confidential records of some 25 million people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), you must be have yourself.

HANCOCKS: A junior employee at the finance ministry sent two computer disks containing the personal information to the national audit office. Unregistered, unrecorded and unencrypted. Britain's entire database of people claiming child benefits was quite simply lost in transit.

GORDON BROWN, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I profoundly regret and apologize for the inconvenience and worries that have been caused to millions of families who receive child benefit.

HANCOCKS: An investigation is underway, a review of safety procedures will be made, but the disks themselves have simply vanished.

RICHARD THOMAS, BRITISH INFORMATION COMMISSIONER: How could so much information about so many people be downloaded onto a single disk? There really are some very hard questions to be answered there about how easy it was for this situation to come about.

HANCOCKS: The government insists there is no indication the disks have fallen into the wrong hands, but tells those affected to keep an eye on their bank accounts just in case. The top secret data would be a dream come true for a fraudster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that it's asking for, example, previous addresses, dates of birth, previous phone numbers, all of this kind of information, middle names, this can all be used to access someone's account illegally.

HANCOCKS: Hugely embarrassing for the government, but it also throws doubt on Gordon Brown's plans for compulsory I.D. cards in Britain.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: Well, as the U.S. presidential election draws closer, a long-running debate once again getting some attention.

HOLMES: Is it getting closer?

MCEDWARDS: It is getting closer.

HOLMES: It is. Good to know.

The U.S. president is officially elected by an electoral college. Americans will know this as they're watching. A lot of people around the world will find it a little bit more complex to understand. There's a national vote, then the electoral college has its say.

MCEDWARDS: That's right. It's a process that some say, you know, really ought to be a thing of the past. But critics say tinkering with the system is dangerous.

HOLMES: Yes. Here's Jill Dougherty to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Maryland's historic state house. Built during the American Revolution. These days, its lawmakers are taking aim at how Americans elect their president. It's the first state in the nation to reject the current electoral college system.

JAMIE RASKIN, MARYLAND STATE SENATE DEMOCRAT: The electoral college is a wacky institution in our history and there of been many attempts, both in the constitution and by the states, to deal with it.

These are first amendment rights.

DOUGHERTY: Soldier in this new revolution, Maryland state senator and law professor Jamie Raskin.

RASKIN: We think we've come up with a pretty good way of dealing with it to get us to a national, popular vote, which is what the vast majority of American people want.

DOUGHERTY: You've heard of the electoral college.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know much about it. I remember learning about it in like grade school.

DOUGHERTY: But most Americans do remember the 2000 election. The fight over disputed ballots in Florida, when George W. Bush lost the popular election by nearly 544,000 votes, but won the electoral college vote. It was a fourth time in American history that's happened.

Just how does the electoral college work? Americans go to the polls, but the results aren't official until electors in each of the states cast their votes. The number of electors each state gets depends on the number of U.S. senators and representatives they have. California, for example, gets 55 electoral votes. Montana gets only three. In all but two states, it's a winner take all system, even if the vote in that state is close.

Under the national popular vote plan, whoever gets the majority of votes nationwide wins. The electoral college would be required to cast their votes for that national winner.

JASON YAMPOLSKY, LAW STUDENT: I mean, I'm just saying . . .

DOUGHERTY: That simple logic has won over several of Jamie Raskin's law students.

YAMPOLSKY: It's kind of a sham where you can end up with a vote in the electoral college that is at odds with the popular vote.

DOUGHERTY: But some experts who ponder elections without the current electoral college system warn it could splinter Americans into multiple parties, even lead to the election of populist tyrants.

STEPHEN HESS, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: We end up with something that might even looks like a European system that we don't like very much and we are guaranteed virtually some sort of runoff elections. So we have more elections than we need.

DOUGHERTY: Polls by Gallup have consistently found that some two thirds of Americans favor a national popular vote for president. But just down the street from Maryland's state house, even husbands and wives can't agree. Just listen to Michael and Cherilyn Murer, both lawyers.

MICHAEL MURER, LAWYER: It's actually a good system that's served us well throughout our country's history.

CHERILYN MURER, LAWYER: Yes, I like the popular vote. I think it is something we should consider.

DOUGHERTY: Legislative chambers in seven states have passed bills in favor of a national popular vote, but many more would need to reject the current electoral college for a national popular vote to become reality. The United States may have been born in revolution, but when it comes to presidential elections, it seems to prefer evolutions.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Annapolis, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, you've seen the Democrats in the CNN/YouTube debates. Coming up next week in our continuing coverage of "America Votes 2008," it is, guess who, the Republicans' turn.

MCEDWARDS: Yes, watch the candidates debate your video questions and CNN's Anderson Cooper is going to host that. That will be Wednesday, November 28th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. For international viewers, it will be Thursday, the 29th at 0100 GMT.

HOLMES: Yes. If you haven't submitted your video yet, not too late. Go to cnnpolitics.com. Click on the link for the CNN/YouTube debate and submit your video. Easy as that.

YOUR WORLD TODAY back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCEDWARDS: Welcome back.

On the eve of Thanksgiving in the United States, an inspirational story about a very special little boy.

HOLMES: Yes, he is. He's an amputee providing hope and perspective to soldiers wounded in battle.

MCEDWARDS: Barbara Starr has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, amputees undergo hours of painful rehabilitation. Many struggling to walk again. But not all the patients are casualties of war. Meet John Yetmar, a four-year-old amputee who is inspiring these wounded warriors.

CPL. CHAD WATSON, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Oh, yes. Yes. I didn't even know he was an amputee. That is awesome. That's awesome because I've been at it now for almost a year since my injury. So I guess I'm catching up to do that little guy.

STARR: John was born without all the bones in one leg. Doctors thought a prosthetic leg would give him the best quality of life. Because his dad's in the military, John is treated at Walter Reed and gets the same care as the troops. The staff has a special touch with this tiny patient.

JOHN YETMAR: What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just turning your foot in a little bit. Nice and new and shiny. See that.

J. YETMAR: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Isn't that nice?

J. YETMAR: That's nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

STARR: John's dad, Paul, says a bond has developed between his son and the troops.

PAUL YETMAR, JOHN'S FATHER: He comes here and he sees double, triple amputees, you know, folks that are really going to have a challenging time. And I think in the long run it's going to keep him from developing any self-pity. I think the soldiers kind of like having him around because a lot of what they do is so stressful and painful and he kind of brings a cheery demeanor with him wherever he goes.

STARR: What does John think? He tells you he is as fast as a train. And then this little four-year-old boy does exactly what all little boys do. He takes off once again.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A little lesson there, isn't there?

MCEDWARDS: He says to his dad, put me down. He's on the move.

HOLMES: I got to run.

MCEDWARDS: So cute.

HOLMES: We've got to run, too. That will do it for this hour. I'm Michael Holmes.

MCEDWARDS: And I'm Colleen McEdwards. You're watching CNN.

HOLMES: We'll see you tomorrow.

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