Saddam Hussein's Lawyers seek Trial Delay; Meltdown of Glaciers could cause Water Shortage and Flooding
WHITFIELD: A look now at top stories and a live look of the entrance of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., ahead of tonight's annual gala for the arts. President Bush will be there as awards for lifetime achievement are given to actor Robert Redford, singers Tina Turner and Tony Bennett. A man who scaled the White House fence faces a charge of unlawful entry. The Secret Service identifies the man as 29-year-old Shawn Cox of Arkansas. He penetrated White House property after 12:00 noon today at a time when President Bush was on premises. Gasoline prices have taken another dip but that may be it for now. A new survey released today showed the nationwide cost of a gallon of gas dropped 11 cents over the past two weeks. But the survey's author says higher crude prices and higher consumer demand are likely to start to send prices back up. And chaos erupts at a political event in Iraq. Former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was chased by a mob from a Shiite mosque in Najaf. Allawi says shots were fired from the crowd. He sped away in a convoy with overhead protection from the U.S. military helicopters, as well. After two delays, the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co- defendants is to resume tomorrow in Baghdad. Perhaps unaccustomed to western style justice, many Iraqis are expressing impatience. Some believe Hussein should have been punished already for the alleged killings of 140 Shiite Muslims, among other alleged crimes. But as CNN's Aneesh Raman reports, the former leader has learned to work the system.</s>ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The case against Saddam Hussein, many here see it as open and shut.</s>BAMAS RIDHA, ADVISER TO IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: The Iraqi people wish to see a short tribunal to a big turn around, shorter turn around for Saddam Hussein to be executed sooner than later.</s>RAMAN: But for the court trying Hussein, the legal process getting more complicated by the day. And as they reconvene, there is little doubt another showdown will ensue between the Iraqi High Tribunal and Hussein's defense team. At the first session, defense lawyers asked for a three-month delay citing insufficient access to evidence and a lack of training. They were granted 41 days and Hussein got a chance to question the legitimacy of the court.</s>SADDAM HUSSEIN, FORMER IRAQI DICTATOR (through translator): I don't acknowledge neither the entity that authorized you nor the aggression because everything that's based on falsehood is falsehood.</s>RAMAN: At the second session last week, the defense asked again for a delay, citing the assassinations of two defense lawyers. They were granted one week, but the issue is far from resolved. Likely to work its way back to court on Monday with former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, officially part of the defense team, planning to make a statement centered on security.</s>RAMSEY CLARK, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's dangerous for them every day. It's more dangerous every day that they appear in court. So we want the protection in place.</s>RAMAN: The government says it's offered the defense lawyers special security but the lawyers have concerns, saying it's insufficient, creating an impasse and testing the patience of the Iraqi people.</s>RAMAN (on camera): Security will be a key concern Monday, not just inside the trial, but outside as well. Iraqi security forces on Sunday said they uncovered a plot to attack the courtroom with mortars and delay proceedings indefinitely. Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.</s>WHITFIELD: Members of the former September 11 Commission are saying America is not well prepared for another terrorist attack, and they believe another one will happen. The members are releasing a report tomorrow to evaluate how well the government followed their recommendations.</s>THOMAS KEAN, CHAIRMAN, FORMER 9/11 COMMISSION: We're going to grade everybody. We're not going to grade the President. But what we've said is that we have not moved forward to the extent we should. We've made some progress, very little progress in some areas. It's not a priority for the government right now. You don't see the Congress or the president talking about the public safety as number one, as we think it should be. And a lot of the things we need to do really to prevent another 9/11 just aren't being done by the president or by the Congress.</s>WHITFIELD: National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley says President Bush is committed to enacting most of the commission's recommendations. And icy roads cause a number of accidents across Idaho in recent hours. Several miles of Interstate 84 had to be shut down after an SUV flipped a semi truck. Police were able to reopen the road after several hours of cleanup. And some treacherous weather from Syracuse, New York and further south. We're looking at a few different pictures from Syracuse, New York where they've been experiencing a lot of snow to icy road conditions, across parts of New Jersey where three deaths are blamed on icy road-related traffic accidents. Meanwhile, the season's first major snowstorm in Illinois has dumped two to four inches in Chicago. And Monica McNeal has much more detail on all of these conditions across the board. Boy, it's a mess out there.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow, treacherous weather all over the map. Thanks so much, Monica. While delegates meet in Canada at an international conference on climate change, protesters are trying to dramatize what's at stake. About 7,000 marchers hit the streets of Montreal yesterday. Similar marches were planned in dozens of other countries. In Germany, in the meantime, hikers along the Austrian border say the effects of global warming are already very real. Here's CNN's Chris Burns.</s>CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (off-camera): At the Zugspitze Glacier on the German Austrian border, retired truck driver, Erhardt Otto takes one more hike before the winter snows. Having spent holidays here for the past 20 years, he doesn't need a scientist to tell him what he sees, that the glaciers here are melting away.</s>ERHARDT OTTO, TRUCK DRIVER (through translator): It is sad because something is missing. Nature is going away.</s>BURNS: In Switzerland, works crews have tried with some success to protect some slopes with fabric. Across the Alps and mountain ranges around the globe, the story is similar. Some call glaciers the canary in a coal mine. Scientists suggest the canary is dying, signaling more trouble ahead.</s>WILFRED HAGG, UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH: Almost everywhere on every continent the glaciers are shrinking. And in the Alps, for example, they have lost half of their mass and one-third of their area.</s>BURNS: The World Wildlife Federation says its just one example of how Europe is being hit by global warming. While not all researchers agree, many do.</s>STEFAN RAHMSTORF, POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT: Glaciers have receded worldwide because the global mean temperature has increased by about .7 degrees centigrade in the last century. This arises predominantly due to our emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.</s>BURNS: Other examples of global warming, in Argentina, the country's most popular glacier has collapsed. (on camera): Since the mid-19th Century, researchers say glaciers, like this one, have shrunk by up to 90 percent and could likely disappear over the next few short decades. Whether or not it's because of global warming, the potential repercussions are not only environmental, but human. (voice-over): The primary reason, glaciers are a vital water supply for many people around the world like those living around Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro, whose snowcap is steadily melting.</s>RAGG: If the glaciers disappear or shrink to a extreme degree, they will get very strong shortage of water for irrigation.</s>BURNS: In a recent edition of the scientific journal, "Nature," researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the University of Washington have also documented concerns about a potential water shortage. The fight over water sources, or the quest to control glaciers, could also become sources of international tension.</s>HAGG: This was completely on the territory of Kurdistan, but now China has moved its border to the west so that the upper part of this catchments (ph) belongs to China now.</s>BURNS: Glacial meltdowns could also cause flash floods. Lakes, like this one in Tibet, threaten to flood areas below them. How to stop the meltdown? Some scientists say there are no immediate answers, but reducing emissions now and getting more countries to reduce emissions even further could, in the long run, save the canary in a coal mine. Chris Burns, CNN on the Zugspitze Glacier, Germany.</s>WHITFIELD: In our world wrap tonight, a new law takes effect in Britain tomorrow. It allows civil partnerships. The law gives gay and lesbian couples the same legal rights as heterosexual couples. Twenty-year-old heiress, Athina Onassis, has married a Brazilian Olympic equestrian. Onassis married Alvaro Afonso de Miranda, yesterday on a Sao Paulo estate. Reports say they celebrated with friends, family and 1,000 bottles of champagne. Can't find a date for the big gala? Well, Japanese engineers to the rescue, called the PBDR, partner ballroom dance robot. Yeah. They're serious about it. The sophisticated robot is designed to waltz with a human partner. And from the desert nation of Dubai, the Middle East's first indoor ski slope. The new park includes areas for snowboarding, bobsledding, even a snowball target range. Plus special machinery to create 6,000 tons of real snow for something that at least looks and fees like it. Well, he was once a notorious gang leader, and now he's the author of children's books, and on death row. But does this killer deserve to live? You've been reading up on Tookie Williams. Ahead, the most popular stories on CNN.com And later, it's pandemonium. Oh, aren't they cute? A lot of cubs all in one place. But guess what, they're not cheap. Not cheap to get and not cheap to house. We'll explore the costs.