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YOUR WORLD TODAY

String of Bombings Kills at Least 144 in Baghdad; Funeral Held for Lebanese Cabinet Minister Pierre Gemayel; 9/11 Conspiracy Theory

Aired November 23, 2006 - 12:00   ET

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


STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: More carnage in a city already reeling under violence. A string of car bombs ripping through Baghdad, leaving more than a hundred people dead.
RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Raw grief, anger and defiance towards Syria. Hundreds of thousands gather in Lebanon for the funeral of a slain politician.

FRAZIER: Desperate to flee. A North Korean woman risks her life and leaves loved ones behind to get away from poverty and oppression.

VASSILEVA: And controversial ideas from a U.S. professor. He consents 9/11 was an inside job and says he has proof.

It is 7:00 p.m. in Beirut, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

FRAZIER: And I'm Stephen Frazier.

From the Middle East, to the United States, to wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Fires are burning in the streets of Baghdad after the deadliest single attack since the war began.

VASSILEVA: While in the streets of Beirut, a groundswell of grief turns into anti-Syrian anger as a slain critic of Damascus is laid to rest.

FRAZIER: We are following both of those major stories for you at this hour. Let's begin in Baghdad.

One after the other, these powerful car bombs exploded in the Shia district of Sadr City, ripping through crowded markets and squares. And half an hour later, at least 144 Iraqis had lost their lives, hundreds more wounded in these attacks.

And now authorities are imposing a curfew. It is just now beginning.

Let's bring in Michael Ware in Baghdad for a sense of what's happening there now -- Michael. MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Stephen. As I stand here now, the capital, Baghdad, is under definite curfew, a measure to curb what might be a vicious blow back to a terrible strike on Iraq's Shia population.

As American families back in the United States sit down in the celebration of Thanksgiving, so many Iraqi families have now been torn apart this afternoon. This is the single worst event in terms of the loss of civilian life here in Iraq since the war began.

At least 144 are now declared dead from this series of car bombings in the space of 30 minutes in what is clearly a coordinated strike against the Shia. Hundreds more are wounded, many of them critically. All expectations are that the death toll will rise.

The scenes in Iraqi hospitals are simply appalling. There's a call for doctors who are now coming in from other parts of the city.

Mosques in the Sadr City Shia ghetto are calling for blood donors. We're seeing in the corridors of these hospitals bloody people laying on the floor -- children, men, it's indiscernible who is alive and who is dead.

Perhaps in retaliation, we then saw a series of mortars rain down on neighboring Sunni suburbs. So what we're seeing is one neighborhood striking another in what the American military still insists is not civil war -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: All right. These are attacks that go neighborhood to neighborhood. But we're getting word, too, Michael -- could you fill us in what you know about an attack on a ministry -- the Health Ministry?

WARE: Well, almost at the same time as these coordinated car bombings, we have three confirmed, other reports unconfirmed of possibly three more. That could be six car bombings.

So while this was being unleashed, there was an assault here in the heart of the capital under American and Iraqi army control on the Ministry of Health building. As many as 30 gunmen laid assault with small arms fire and mortar attack.

The significance being that this is a ministry controlled by the same Shia political and militia faction that comes from Sadr City. So while we see an attack on their government face, one of their key ministries that is now handling the dead and the wounded, we also saw a direct strike on their population on a scale that's not been seen here since the American invasion and occupation began in 2003.

FRAZIER: All right. Mike Ware, live from Baghdad.

Michael, thank you.

VASSILEVA: Now to Lebanon, where the funeral of an anti-Syrian minister turned into a powerful show of defiance against Syria and its Hezbollah allies. Hundreds of thousands gathered in Beirut's Martyrs' Square while Muslim, Druze and Christian leaders standing behind bulletproof glass called for solidarity.

Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson joins us now.

So, Nic, was that call for solidarity heeded?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly was, Ralitsa. A lot of people did come out today for the funeral.

The funeral profession itself, or the procession, at least, began at about 10:00 in the morning here, high above Beirut in the mountains in Pierre Gemayel's ancestral home. A very emotional time for his family this morning as his body left the house, first carried on shoulders, then placed in a vehicle driven in to the center of the city. But when it got to here, Martyrs' Square, there were hundreds of thousands of people who had been waiting for hours in the sun for the service and for the funeral to begin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice over): At times the crowd was lost in a sea of red and white as Lebanon's flag was waved more in celebration than in mourning. For the hundreds of thousands of mostly Christians crowded into Martyrs' Square, Pierre Gemayel's funeral was not a somber day. They came to pay their respects.

UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: He is a symbol of youth, he was a young man full of life, full of energy. He represents every young Lebanese.

ROBERTSON: They also came to demand justice.

UNIDENTFIED MALE: I'm here today to say no for the killing of innocent people like Pierre Gemayel.

UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: We are here to know the truth. All Lebanese people. Lebanese, Lebanese, Lebanese, we want to know the truth. Who killed all these different (ph) people?

ROBERTSON: Hard to get anyone to say publicly who they blame for Gemayel's death. Then one lady did. She dared to say what appeared to be on the minds of everyone around her.

UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: Iran and Syria (INAUDIBLE). I said it.

ROBERTSON: Fear seemed to keep some people away. The crowd was smaller than the anti-Syrian lobby had hoped for.

(on camera): One of the biggest concerns in these densely-packed crowds is the possibility of an attack, a bombing, perhaps, that could kill and injure many, many people.

(voice over): There was no attack in the moment, for it seemed to pass as Pierre Gemayel's body was carried over the heads of his family and friends. But inside St. George's Cathedral, where the funeral service was held, the strongest indication of the rifts ripping Lebanon apart. Pierre Gemayel's father, Amin, appeared to ignore Nabih Berri, a leading politician aligned with Hezbollah. Outside on a stage, Amin Gemayel appeared a broken man. Then, with the cheers of the crowd, he seemed to rally.

And so the speeches began. The funeral over. Politics, as it always does in Lebanon, taking over.

(on camera): As each of these politicians have come out to speak to the crowd, they told them the same thing, that they won't be put off. And the one thing that won't be put off is what they call their revolution to free the country, as they say, from Syrian influence.

There were plenty of cheers, but perhaps not enough in the speeches to lay the most basic of fears to rest.

UNIDENTFIED FEMALE: We really want to know what will happen. And is it safe to be here? And we really want to know.

ROBERTSON: When the service was over, the bodies of Gemayel and his aide, who died with him in a hail of bullets, were carried out the same way they went in, shoulder high, above the heads of their loved ones.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, Gemayel's body has been carried back up the mountain to his family's ancestral home. He has now been buried, but it seems very unlikely at this stage that his killers are about to be brought to justice. What does seem to be apparent is that his death is really ripping apart the unity of this country that so many people who were gathered here today said they cherish so much -- Ralitsa.

VASSILEVA: Nic, how big are the fears of the possibility of a serious conflict breaking out again, civil war?

ROBERTSON: Well, people are very concerned. And particularly among the young people in the community here.

They see this as a very fragile time, if you will. If one minister can be killed, if the stakes are so high, then that could possibly happen again, that some small spark of violence could trigger more widespread violence.

Some of the older people we talked to in the community have been through this all before in the civil war between 1975 and 1990. They don't want to see it happen again.

And they really hope for unity. And they say that very strongly. But at the same time, passions are high.

And as the people here were saying, they don't know who is responsible. So therefore, they don't know how to stop it if these people want -- want to perpetrate another killing. And that really is troubling. So I think the best estimate from people here is that they can hope, at least right now, that things aren't or haven't spiraled out of control, but the potential is very much there. The timing is very tense right now -- Ralitsa.

VASSILEVA: Nic Robertson in Beirut.

Thank you very much -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Ralitsa, we heard from Nic how subtle signs are important there. They give off great signals. Here's another one of great importance.

The Arab League's secretary-general was at the side of the prime minister for Pierre Gemayel's funeral. Amre Moussa is actually Egyptian. He's hugely popular across the Middle East. And he's warning that the unstable political situation in Lebanon could have a negative effect on the entire Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMRE MOUSSA, ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL: I believe the situation in Lebanon, if it deteriorates, it would have its effects on the region, and vice versa. That the deterioration in the region that we see all over around us will also affect Lebanon and help the federation and this country.

So because of the seriousness of the situation and the tense situation in the Middle East, we see what we are seeing. And it allows a lot of negative events to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is adding his voice to the chorus calling for calm in Lebanon. On Tuesday, the Security Council approved a plan to set up a tribunal to look into last year's assassination of Lebanon's prime minister. Annan says all the countries in the region must now focus on stability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: Now I have called leaders in the region, including Syria and Iran, to work with the parties to ensure that there's unit and stability in Lebanon and to encourage patience on all sides. I hope the government will be able to react quickly to the -- to the statutes which have been sent to them so that we can move on to the next stage.

But of course the situation is delicate, is very fragile. And we should all do whatever we can to support the Lebanese people and the government, and encourage them to stand united.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: For its part, Syria has told the U.N. Security Council that it wants nothing to do with a tribunal looking into Hariri's assassination.

We will have more on the volatile situation in Lebanon a little bit later this hour when Stephen talks to the Lebanese minister of culture.

FRAZIER: There are some new questions now about what it was that caused a former Russian spy-turned-critic of the Kremlin to fall gravely ill.

VASSILEVA: Alexander Litvinenko is fighting for his life at a London hospital.

FRAZIER: The story tops our check of other stories making news around the world this hour.

The former KGB agent has taken a turn for the worst overnight. A friends says Litvinenko has suffered heart failure and has been put on a ventilator so that he can breathe. Earlier, when these pictures were taken -- or even after those, but while he was in the hospital, doctors suggested that Litvinenko may have been poisoned. Now, though, they're saying they simply do not know.

VASSILEVA: All 23 Polish miners caught in a gas explosion in a mine in southern Poland are confirmed dead. The company made the announcement to family and friends keeping vigil outside the mine in the (INAUDIBLE) region. Poland's president says there will be a full investigation.

FRAZIER: Chinese president Hu Jintao is balancing his trip to India with a visit now to rival Pakistan, which gets most of its arms from China. He was greeted right on the tarmac by President Pervez Musharraf and a 21-gun salute. They are due to sign a broad range of agreements, including a free trade pact.

VASSILEVA: Iran's influence grows in the Middle East.

FRAZIER: Just ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY, Tehran hosting a conference to end violence in Iraq. And the U.S. conspicuously absent.

VASSILEVA: Plus, giving back. Volunteers pick up saws, drills and hammers to help rebuild the U.S. Gulf Coast on this Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VASSILEVA: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY, where we bring CNN's viewers around the globe the latest on the most important international stories of the day.

Our top stories today on CNN, an emotional good-bye. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese paying their final respects to slain industry minister Pierre Gemayel.

And a massive spike in the level of violence in the Iraqi capital. One hundred and forty-four people are killed in Sadr City. FRAZIER: There have been reprisal attacks already in other neighborhoods, and an attack on Lebanon's Health Ministry.

And to give us more of a sense of that, Dr. Ali Shammari, the health minister in Iraq, is joining us now on the line live from Baghdad.

Mr. Minister, thank you for joining us.

What is the condition of your ministry now?

DR. ALI SHAMMARI, IRAQI HEALTH MINISTER: Thank you very much.

Actually, this day our ministry is attacked by three missiles this afternoon, and followed by the fire incoming from the surrounding area, which is called the (INAUDIBLE) area. And our -- our guards respond to that, and some people come, they want to attack our ministry. But the guards around the ministry, they were -- they were ready and they suffered the attack. And...

FRAZIER: But let me ask you about those missiles you mentioned, Mr. Minister.

SHAMMARI: OK.

FRAZIER: You said before the -- before the ground attack, ground insurgents of some kind, there were missiles fired. Did they hit the ministry building? Has anybody been hurt there?

SHAMMARI: Yes. Yes. It was hit by three missiles today, (INAUDIBLE).

And usually, every other day we are -- we are -- we were attacked by such a missile. Before two days, three missiles hit the office of the minister. And today, these missiles have fallen in front of the minister's office. At the same time, as you know, because of this, a lot of chaos (INAUDIBLE), and the employees, they were astonished and they were fearful from such an attack.

FRAZIER: Now, this attack occurring at roughly the same time that chaos was occurring, Mr. Minister, in Sadr City. Were the employees of the ministry aware of that? And what can you tell us about what happened in Sadr City so far?

SHAMMARI: Yes. Actually, six cars bombed and exploded between the people of the Sadr City and (INAUDIBLE) the people. And they killed a lot of children and women -- children and women. And the number of the persons who are killed, 138. And the number of the injured, 210.

And the number maybe increases, because there are a lot of injured persons in serious condition. And, you know, this is -- this is a bloody day.

Not only the bomb cars was associated with the (INAUDIBLE) rockets. So also, (INAUDIBLE) was hit by a rocket. And there were 15 persons injured. Fortunately, no one killed in (INAUDIBLE).

And (INAUDIBLE) area, the terrorists and those people who are against the new government, they (INAUDIBLE) checkpoints, and they threaten certain people -- certainly the Iraqi people, especially those people who are related or who are employed at the Ministry of Health.

They want to empty (ph) the Ministry of Health (INAUDIBLE) so they can tell the people that America and the Iraqis, they cannot -- they cannot rule Iraq. We are the followers of Saddam, we are the terrorists (INAUDIBLE). We can run Iraq, but not (INAUDIBLE) Americans.

FRAZIER: So in the face of that kind of intimidation, Mr. Minister, how are you and your employees carrying on? Will you be going to work tomorrow with the curfew in place?

SHAMMARI: Yes, of course. Tomorrow is Friday, but we are working day and night.

Now, I am not (INAUDIBLE). I am working. I am -- contact every -- my employees who are there about their needs, about the medical supply, about the -- they want help, a surgeon or physician (INAUDIBLE).

We will continue to work. We will continue to proceed. This is our Iraq, and we will withstand, and we will (INAUDIBLE), and the terrorists will lose.

FRAZIER: Well, we are grateful that you took time away from such a busy day to give us those insights.

Dr. Ali Shammari, minister of health in Iraq.

Thank you.

VASSILEVA: Well, this whole violence going on as today people in the United States are separating Thanksgiving.

FRAZIER: These holiday traditions include a big dinner, turkey. Also football, American football, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We'll take a look at the giants floating over New York.

VASSILEVA: Also, will Earthlings ever walk on the moon again? Yes. And they won't stop just there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

More of YOUR WORLD TODAY in just a few minutes, but first a check on stories making headlines here in the United States.

Explosions rock Baghdad in the deadliest single attack since the war began. Iraq's health minister says more than 140 people were killed, some 200 wounded in a string of car bombs and other explosions. It happened in Sadr City, a Shiite militia stronghold.

Our Michael Ware, who is on the scene, says those blasts were followed by mortar attacks in a nearby Sunni neighborhood. The new bloodshed brings new concerns about unbridled sectarian violence ravaging the country.

Stay with CNN for the latest from Iraq.

In Beirut, anger, grief, and at least for 200,000 people. They crammed into Martyrs' Square to honor a slain cabinet minister. Pierre Gemayel was gunned down two days ago. His outraged supporters waved flags and angrily accused Damascus of the killing. Gemayel had been a vocal critic of Syria and its influence in Lebanon's politics.

Syria denies any connection to the killing.

High drama in Chicago. A gunman takes two women hostage in their south side apartment building.

Anupy Singla, of our affiliate CLTV, is on the scene and filed this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANUPY SINGLA, REPORTER, CLTV: Obviously, it is Thanksgiving, and many in this south side neighborhood not expecting to wake up to a situation like this.

Take a look over my left shoulder. The police presence here on the 69th Street block of South Jeffrey Avenue (ph) in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago has been growing all morning.

At 9:30 Chicago time, about a half hour ago, they brought a S.W.A.T. team in to deal with the hostage situation that has been developing since 2:30 this morning. And it was about that time that police received a 911 call saying shots were fired from an apartment building on the 6900 block of South Jeffrey Avenue (ph).

Those shots came from an unidentified adult male on the top floor of a three-story apartment building. Police say they believe he lives in the building and has two unidentified women with them.

Police describe them only as young adults. Police have been negotiating with the man since early this morning, though they will not give details about the negotiating process.

MONIQUE BOND, CHICAGO POLICE: Time is on our side always in these kinds of situations, so we'll do whatever we can, take our time to make sure that everyone gets out safely.

SINGLA: Now, lots of questions about what could happen in this situation. Police trying to be very careful. They say they've been talking to this individual via phone, and apparently he's been watching news reports. And so they want to clarify that shots were fired by this individual, but they say that they were not fired upon police, and they say that police did not return gunfire. So they want to make that clear, because apparently he's had some issues about some of the news reports that have been put out there.

They're hoping they can resolve this situation. Now this individual's mother and sister have come in and are talking with him over the phone, and they hope they can start to resolve what is going on here relatively soon, especially because it's affecting many of the residents here on this block behind me. And Chicago police just issuing a warning to residents just to kind of stay out of this area if they can avoid it. And if they cannot avoid it, just to continue to remain calm.

Reporting from the city's South Shore neighborhood, Anupy Singla, CLTV News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's almost as much a Thanksgiving tradition as turkey or pumpkin pie. The annual Macy's Parade in New York, rain and gusty winds threatened to put a damper on the celebration.

SpongeBob looked a bit waterlogged, but the bands marched on and the giant balloons flew, though a little closer to the ground than usual. Parade organizers installed wind sensors along the route to keep watch on the conditions. You may remember that a woman was seriously injured when a balloon careened out of control back in 1997.

Reynolds Wolf, it is beautiful in parts of the country today.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It really is.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, it seems like everybody was trying to get out of town for Thanksgiving, and some had good reason to make a run for it. These wild turkeys were spotted by workers at a Ramsey, New Jersey, train station.

The turkeys hung out on the platform for a while, left, and they came back. Well, maybe they couldn't find their connection.

YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break.

I'm Kyra Phillips.

We'll see you again at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VASSILEVA: Welcome back to "YOUR WORLD TODAY." I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier. Here are some of the stories we've been tracking. Eight hundred thousand people crammed into Martyr Square in Beirut to pay tribute to the late Pierre Gemayel, the administer of Industry who was assassinated Tuesday. Several politicians delivered speeches afterwards to honor Gemayel's memory. They harshly criticized Syria. Many people in Lebanon blame Damascus for Gemayel's killing. That is a claim Syria denies.

VASSILEVA: In London, former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, has taken a turn for the worse. A friend says Litvinenko suffered heart failure over night, and has been put on a ventilator so he can breathe. Earlier, doctors suggested that Litvinenko may have been poisoned, but now they say they just don't know.

FRAZIER: Also taking a turn for the worse, life in Baghdad where officials imposed an indefinite curfew now following the deadliest single attack since the war began. A string of car bombs exploded in the densely populated Shia district of Sadr City. We know 144 people have died; at least more than 200 were hurt.

VASSILEVA: And these attacks come just a day after a U.N. report underscored the enormous human cost of this war. Iraqi officials dispute the report's finding that more civilians were killed in October than any month during the war. They called the report misleading. Whatever the numbers, Michael Ware found signs of their brutal reality at Baghdad's Central Morgue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At (inaudible) Morgue, this father pleads for help. I came here, he says, for my son.

Just 17 years old, Mohammed al-Tomami (ph) left his aunt's house almost two weeks ago, bound for home. He hasn't been seen since.

His increasingly dispirited father cannot rest, trolling Baghdad's hospitals, jails, army barracks and morgues. It's his third visit to this one. I looked everywhere but I can't find him, he says. He's my son. I feel lost.

He's far from alone. These faces, each seeking someone dear, fill Baghdad's Central Morgue.

More than 13,000 men, women and children have died in the past four months alone according to the United Nations, victims of insurgent violence and sectarian death squads. And this sad place is swamped each morning prompting a macabre efficiency.

Viewing bodies is impossible in the crush, so a large video screen has been installed, with photographs of the dead scrolling slowly past, with many of the images still bloodied, barely recognizable, we agreed not to show the screen.

Inside, women hold worn photographs. As men peer at the screen, a wail rises up. While outside by hastily made coffins, others grieve and even more wait.

At home, Ali's (ph) wife, Rukma (ph), can't help but hold a mother hopes her boy will return.

RUKMA (ph) (through translator): My heart is telling me he's still alive. I want him back. I have no other son except Mohammed. WARE: His grandmother, however, is sure he's dead. He's gone, she sighs. But Rukma can't bare the thought.

RUKMA (ph) (through translator): I'm keeping my eyes on the gate of the house waiting for them to push through the gate.

WARE: Ali would keep a similar vigil. Heavy with mourning, he's forced to return to driving his minibus taxi. I had to go back to work, he says. It's very hard for me. But what can I do? All Rukma can do is pray.

Most of the disappeared die at the hands of death squads, for the sake of their faith, a cruel torment of this family. Ali is a Shia, Rukma a Sunni. For them, the sectarian divide meant nothing. Now it's the source of their terrible lament.

Before we didn't have the Sunni versus Shia thing, says Ali. We were the same, brothers living together, playing, eating together. I don't know where all of this came from or where it will end.

Michael Ware, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: And agencies are saying that North Korea may be slipping into a new famine. There has been a surge of refugees to China and Mongolia, even though they are Asian countries that are hard to reach.

Food shortages are apparently worse, since Pyongyang was hit with more sanctions for its nuclear test in October.

From a Chinese city on the North Korean border, John Rea shows us now how desperate some are to flee the oppressed and impoverished North.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN REA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korea is a closed country but, in place, it seem close enough to touch, certainly close enough to hear the voices of children playing and to see villages bring their washing to the freezing Yalu River that marks the border with China.

We spent a morning here watching North Korean troops keeping a careful guard over an impoverished land where some even sift through rocks for freshwater shellfish. Hunger is a daily reality. Basic necessities have become luxuries.

(on camera): It's hard to imagine, looking at the ramshackle collection of cottages across the river, that North Korea is now a nuclear state. But it is. And yet, it's a state that can't even feed its people.

(voice-over): And as a state, untold thousands risk everything to escape a few miles into China. We met a refugee that we'll call Miss Kim. She told us she crossed the river using a car tire as a raft and trekked through the snow for a week, begging wherever she could for food.

At the border, we watch them toil to build a higher wall around this torturous land. Yet, according to our guide, when the River freezes, even soldiers sneak across to steal food for the Chinese. For them it's easy. For the likes of Miss Kim, the penalty is death.

She told us she, too, will face a firing squad if she's caught and sent back.

She carries the photograph of the family she left behind.

(on camera): We can't actually show this photograph, because it would identify them to the North Korean authorities and put them in great danger.

(voice-over): Miss Kim is one of many who are desperate they are prepared to take the ultimate gamble. North Korea might threaten the world with nuclear weapons, but it can't guarantee the obedience of its own people.

From the North Korean border, John Rea for National 9 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Coming up, a very provocative academic thesis, was 9/11 an inside job?

VASSILEVA: The Bush administration says its main goal is finding and punishing those responsible for the terrorist attack. But what if the government was itself behind the attacks on the World Trade Center? That's what one university professor believes and he's actually teaching it in class.

FRAZIER: Later, scientists say the each is on the very of a new era of space exploration. One which will make Neil Armstrong's small steps look like small steps.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Welcome back to CNN International.

VASSILEVA: Seen live in more than 200 countries across the globe, this is "YOUR WORLD TODAY."

A European Union report saying an international banking agency did indeed break the law when it gave U.S. terror investigators access to sensitive financial records.

Jim Boulden joins us now live from London with more on this controversy -- Jim?

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ralitsa. This independent European watch dog says that the Belgian based banking consortium, known as SWIFT, needs to take urgent action to stop sharing financial information with the United States.

You may remember, back in June, SWIFT admitted it had been sharing the financial data of some Europeans ever since 9/11. Frankly, the U.S. Treasury has been allowed to tap into private records.

The idea was to stop the financing of further terror attacks. But EU privacy laws are very strict. This kind of money transfer information is not supposed to be shared with other governments, unless that other government takes steps to protect the data.

Interestingly, the U.S. is not deemed reliable by the European Union with this individual data.

So the European Central Bank says it admits that it knew that the secret sharing of information was taking places all these years.

You may remember, Washington was furious when "The New York Times" broke this story in June and said the U.S. has been sharing this data.

One European lawmaker calls this mess a clash of cultures. She said the U.S. feels it can take any step it wants to stop terror, while in Europe, data protection and human right laws are not to be trampled.

This European Central Bank says this whole mess could be sorted if the U.S. and Europe could agree common rules on protecting data while fighting terrorism -- Ralitsa?

VASSILEVA: So, Jim, what is the next step?

BOULDEN: This report will go to the European Commission. And then, the European Commission can decide what it wants to do. It can ignore this report if it chooses to. It could take legal act to stop SWIFT from sharing this data with the U.S. Either way, it does look like the U.S. is going to have a harder time getting information that it has been getting for the last five years -- Ralitsa?

VASSILEVA: Jim Boulden in London, thank you very much -- Stephen?

FRAZIER: Let's go over, Ralitsa, from controversy in the financial world to controversy is the classroom.

A guest lecturer at the University of Wisconsin is gaining world- wide attention. He has been teaching a class on Islam that includes lessons on a September 11 conspiracy theory. He believes the attacks were an inside job, a sinister by the U.S. government itself.

Keith Oppenheim has more on the story and the furor that his teaching causes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twice a week, Kevin Barrett heads to class, teaching what would seem like a pretty benign subject: introduction to Islam.

KEVIN BARRETT, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: The message is that you absolutely have to submit.

OPPENHEIM: But the description he wrote, under his department photo, suggests something not so benign. It reads he enjoys gardening, music and bringing down fascist regimes in his spare time, and he isn't talking about other countries.

Kevin Barrett believes that the U.S. itself probably orchestrated the September 11 attacks?

(on camera): What would have been the incentive for the Bush administration to have allowed for the death of 2,000 people?

BARRETT: To trigger a war that was preplanned. It was a new Pearl Harbor.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In academic articles, Barrett writes 9/11 was a planned excuse for war, intended to set the American empire in stone for at least 100 years, perhaps to found a new imperial 1,000-year Reich, like the one the Nazis dreams of. He believes the Twin Towers were knocked down by explosives planted in advance.

(on camera): Most people, I don't think, believe that those buildings came down because there were explosives put in the buildings ahead of time.

BARRETT: That's because most people haven't looked at evidence. But the evidence is widely available. And I urge your viewers to take a look at the videos of these buildings collapsing.

OPPENHEIM: Most people, when they hear that, would think that's crack pot stuff.

BARRETT: Until they actually look at the evidence.

OPPENHEIM: He says his evidence includes questions about why the U.S. military never intercepted the planes and how unlikely is 19 men with box cutters could pulled off the sophisticated attacks. Others call that nothing but speculation.

SCOTT SUEDER, WISCONSIN LEGISLATOR: It's offensive, not only to Americans, but it's offensive to the victims of 9/11.

OPPENHEIM: Scott Sueder is one of 61 people Wisconsin legislators who signed a resolution demanding Barrett be fired, arguing Barrett's ideas have no academic merit.

SUEDER: To teach those to students on the taxpayer dime, this has become a nationwide embarrassment for Wisconsin.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Are teaching political ideology?

BARRETT: Not in my class, but on my blog, I sure am. OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Barrett he said he doesn't discuss his personal writing in class, but does quote others who question the official explanation of 9/11.

PATRICK FARRELL, PROVOST, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: Clearly, people can read into that whatever they like.

OPPENHEIM: University officials don't like the kind of attention Barrett is bringing but they are backing him.

FARRELL: None of his apparent ideology has found its way into the classroom. And now is the gist of our discussion over the summer, and has been in every discussion that he and I have had.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Are you sure that's true?

FARRELL: Am I sure that's true? I've not sat through and every minute of class, no.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Barrett showed us his lecture notes. They do present main stream ideas about 9/11, but also quote other academics who claim the CIA has been funding al Qaeda for years, a claim the CIA, of course, has denied.

Some of Barrett's students say they haven't made up their minds yet.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): You're thinking twice about it?

JAMES THEESFELD, STUDENT. Yes, I'm thinking twice. There's some influence. But I don't know enough to vote one way or the other.

AARON ZWICKER, STUDENT: It's scary that we could lose a good professor, like Professor Barrett, who I consider to be my best lecturer right now, because of stuff that he hasn't really talked that much about on in class.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Still, the university is under intense pressure. More than a thousand alumni have sent e-mails opposing Barrett. Some say they'll stop donating.

BARRETT: An example of the ego...

OPPENHEIM: But for now, the university is standing up for the right of Barrett, or any professor, to teach controversial ideas.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Madison, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VASSILEVA: Well, the future of space exploration looks bright, and very, very red.

FRAZIER: Coming up, on "YOUR WORLD TODAY," a mission to mars could be only three decades away. A vision of the future, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Welcome back. Since the triumphant landings of all of the "Apollo" missions, humanity has only ventured to other space destinations with robotic explorers.

VASSILEVA: Now, manned expeditions back to the moon are in the planning stages.

FRAZIER: But as CNN Future Summit host, Richard Quest, explains here the real target of manned exploration lies well beyond the moon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a tiny, shiny red dot in the night sky. Mars has always been a subject of fascination. Yet it wasn't until the Viking probe landed in 1976 that we first got a close-up look at the surface of the red planet. When will we set foot there ourselves?

REX GEVEDEN, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: It takes at least six or seven months to get to mars. And six or seven months to get back. You would be on the surface for weeks or months at a time.

QUEST (on camera): The surface of mars may look pretty but it's not a nice place. Its cold and you can't breathe the air. And if you left something behind on earth, forget it. You're out of luck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) every kilo from Europe, it would cost a lot.

QUEST: Despite the cost and the challenges, for many experts, it's not a case of if, but when.

GEVEDEN: Our next steps are to return to the moon by 2020 and then on to mars.

UNIDENTFIEID MALE: I look downstream 30 years, clearly I would envision that we'll have permanent station on the moon and possibly having, or already, humans arriving to mars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a 30-year time period, we'll probably have the first bases on mars.

QUEST: And if you asked, why go at all?

GEVEDEN: From a human point of view, there's a compulsion to explore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The point is to not just to live on mars, but to find out if something else lives on mars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Might be dangerous, very risky. People might get killed. But in spite of that risk, people really, really, really want to do an exploration.

UNIDENTIFIED AMLE: But I think, if you recall the picture of earth, taken from the moon by the astronauts, and showing that blue dot, or the pictures that we took from Voyager of the earth, or recently taking it from Cassini or from the Mars Rover of earth, it kind of -- it makes you think, you know, after all, we are just a small dot and there are no boundaries. Really, this is exploration on behalf of all of humanity.

QUEST: There is so much more on space exploration with "CNN's Future Summit, Wild in Motion."

In Singapore, I'm Richard Quest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: And the sky is no longer the limit. Richard will host a remarkable hour-long discussion with guests, who include astronaut Buzz Aldrin and space tourist Anusha Ansari (ph) -- all about the future of space tourism. For viewers everywhere outside the United States, this program airs about four hours from now.

VASSILEVA: And now, to a different kind of story about exploration in space.

FRAZIER: Exploring the limits of one's golf game.

VASSILEVA: That's right. Here's a golf shot that's truly out of this world. Russian cosmonaut (inaudible) stepping outside the International Space Station for the world's first drive in zero gravity.

FRAZIER: This was a stunt for a golf ball company, which paid a lot of money to the Russian space program. You talk about putting your weight behind your swing or having weightlessness work in your favor, this ball traveled about 1.6 billion kilometers, about one billion miles. Not even John Daly can achieve that kind of distance. But what we want to know is, how close to the pin did he get it, after all of that?

VASSILEVA: (Inaudible) says he never hit a golf ball before that.

Well, CNN's space correspondent gave us this memorable, should we say, shot.

FRAZIER: Here's how things went for Miles O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... Canadian company. And they spent high six figures, maybe low seven figures for this. He'll do it one-handed because he's in that bulky space suit. But you just go like this. May I have a Mulligan, please? Thank you.

Oops. Four.

M O'BRIEN: Do we have a shot of -- yes, there it is.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: No, no, give the context of our brand new studio that cost some odd gajillions of dollars.

M. O'BRIEN: There's been a surge in the expected business of TV set studio designers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we can send a bill to the golf club company.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: That was a huge plasma screen with that star-shaped smash through it there.

VASSILEVA: And a very expensive one, at that. Hope it's not coming out of his paycheck.

FRAZIER: Miles used a 3 wood.

VASSILEVA: Well, that's it for this hour. I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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