Car Bomb Kills 18 Boys Playing Soccer in Ramadi; Taliban Claims it was Targeting Cheney in Afghanistan Bombing
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Raising the stakes in Afghanistan. The Taliban claim a suicide bomber tried to target the United States vice president.</s>JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Way too big, way too soon. A British boy's overeating could land him in foster care.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pyramids still exist until today as the symbol -- the symbol of the genius of the ancient people.</s>GORANI: Ancient wonder or modern wonder? The Great Pyramids of Giza are in the middle of a very large generation gap.</s>CLANCY: And a lowdown on high heels. A new shoe pad could bring blissful comfort to potentially painful footwear. It's 9:30 at night in Kabul, Afghanistan, 7:00 p.m. right now in Giza, Egypt. Hello and welcome to our broadcast around the world. I'm Jim Clancy.</s>GORANI: I'm Hala gorani. From Kabul to Giza, London to New York, wherever you're watching, this is</s>YOUR WORLD TODAY. CLANCY: All right. We're going to have all of those stories for you ahead. But first we want to turn our attention to Iraq.</s>GORANI: Well, that's where there's been another bombing that may have targeted children playing in a park.</s>CLANCY: It happened in the Sunni-dominated area of Ramadi. The news coming to us just a short time ago on a day of some optimism on efforts to try to stem the violence there.</s>GORANI: All right. We want to take you first to Baghdad. That's where Michael Ware is live with details first on that bombing in Ramadi targeting children, apparently -- Michael.</s>MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Hala. What we're getting at this stage is early reporting from local Iraqi police in Ramadi, in Iraq's western Anbar Province. This is the province that the U.S. military, by and large, has conceded is at least politically controlled or dominated by al Qaeda. There, we understand, that shortly after 4:00 p.m., according to the Iraqi police, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive that killed as many as 18 children playing football --Hala.</s>GORANI: Violence -- amid all of this horrific violence, there seems to be at least a diplomatic effort in the works with regional powers, as well as European powers meeting in Baghdad. Tell us about that.</s>WARE: Yes, what we have is, this is an Iraqi government initiative inviting its neighbors and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to a regional conference, as it's said, to look at ways to support the Iraqi government. The situation as we have it right now is that what it appears is that representatives of varying levels of the American, Iranian and Syrian governments at this stage are saying they're prepared to sit down together at the same table in the same room. Now, in many ways, this is hugely symbolic gesture. Yet, there's been back-channel communications between these three entities for some time, by and large, through the Iraqi government and other partners here in the region -- Hala.</s>GORANI: But the big question is, will it work? Will it make any difference when you say purely symbolic? I mean, that implies that it won't be as effective as some might hope it would be.</s>WARE: Well, at this point, nothing can really hurt. I mean, the situation here is so frightful. Though we're seeing some improvement in the day-to-day sectarian violence in the capital here in Baghdad as a result of the temporary surge of the Baghdad security plan, things are still in a perilous state. And a few meetings are not going to change that. Indeed, we have Iraqi government officials saying this is merely conference to appoint a date for a further summit some point down the track. We've had a lot of talk before. It's not expected that anything substantive will come out of this -- Hala.</s>GORANI: All right. Michael Ware in Baghdad. Thank you, Michael -- Jim.</s>CLANCY: Well, there was one measure of progress in some Iraqis' views. Authorities say they made an arrested in that attempted assassination on Monday of Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shia and one of Iraq's two vice presidents. They say both the suspect and Mahdi were injured from a bomb, and it was planted under chair -- planted just as officials were gathering for a celebration. Two ministry officials were among those wounded.</s>GORANI: Well, later on this program, we'll take a closer look at Iraq's oil reserves. Iraq has a lot of oil. Will foreigners be controlling the country's great resource? Jonathan Mann will join us with some insight.</s>CLANCY: All right. The Taliban, as we said earlier, claiming responsibility for a suicide bomb attack outside Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. They say U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was their intended target. The blast killed at least 15 people. Cheney was nowhere near the explosion, but as Tim Ewart reports, it may be a sign of things to come.</s>TIM EWART, ITV NEWS (voice over): This was an ominous warning shot from the Taliban as they prepare for what's feared will be a big spring offensive. It happened at the Bagram military air base north of Kabul. The dead included one American and one South Korean soldier. But security at Bagram is strict, and the suicide bomber was far from his intended target. This is the man he wanted to kill, the U.S. vice president, Dick Cheney, in Afghanistan for meetings with President Hamid Karzai. Mr. Cheney, delayed at Bagram by heavy snow, said he heard a lot boom as the bomb exploded. There are now 27,000 American troops in Afghanistan. The highest number since the invasion in 2001. Britain is sending more soldiers, bringing its force to around 7,000. The Americans believe the months ahead will be crucial against the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies. The bombing at Bagram has underlined the Taliban's willingness to resort to suicide attacks. They were virtually unheard of until two years ago. Last year, there were nearly 140. Tim Ewart, ITV News.</s>GORANI: There was a mortar attack in Sri Lanka. It's injured the American, Italian and German ambassadors to that country, as well as nine others. Government officials say Tamil Tiger rebels fired on helicopters ferrying those diplomats to an eastern city. Rebel leaders say they weren't aware the envoys were on board and they blame the government for bringing them to an active military site. The delegation was reviewing developments in the area hit hard by the tsunami. The rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority for the past two decades. About 65,000 people have been killed in the violence in that time -- Jim.</s>CLANCY: Well, turning now to Africa, where Khartoum is rejecting war crimes allegations that have been made in the U.N.'s court in The Hague. It says the body hasn't any jurisdiction to put on trial Sudanese suspects. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court say a Sudanese government official and a Janjaweed militia leader bear criminal responsibility for war crimes. The conflict in Darfur began in 2003. The charges include murder, torture and rape. The ICC chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, detailed the investigation.</s>LUIS MORENO-OCAMPO, ICC: The prosecution has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel Rahman (ph), better known as Ali Kushir (ph), bear criminal responsibility in relation to 51 accounts of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.</s>CLANCY: Now, the United Nations estimates that the fighting, disease and hunger related to it have killed some 200,000 people or more and driven at least two million others from their homes.</s>GORANI: Let's check some other news we're following today.</s>GORANI: Well, it's a story that has captivated Britain and raised some serious questions about the rights of parents, but also their responsibilities.</s>CLANCY: At the center of the storm, Connor McCreedy (ph). He's 8 years old and nearly 110 kilos. That's right, three times what most 8-year-olds would weigh. We get more from Alphonso Van Marsh.</s>ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Snack time at Connor McCreedy's (ph) house, and weighing in at around 200 pounds, Connor is relishing every bite. A chicken drumstick may seem typical for a young kid, but Connor is just 8 years old. Almost four times the average weight for a kid his age.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And where's my pork chop?</s>VAN MARSH: Connor's mother says she's obliged to answer her son's constant demands for more food, but British authorities say they're very concerned the diet he is being fed could seriously damage his health. And now they're considering putting the child into care until he loses more weight. The implication, neglect.</s>NICOLA MCKEOWN, MOTHER: What if I neglected Connor? He would be a skinny kid? A skinny little runt?</s>VAN MARSH: On a typical day, Connor he starts with chocolate cereal, followed by some toast with processed meat. Lunchtime means a burger and fries and sausages, or a pizza, a whole pizza. It's fast-food takeaway for dinner. And toss in four bags of potato chips. And Connor's family admits that in addition to all of that, he scarfs down cookies and other snacks about every 20 minutes.</s>DR. MICHAEL MARKIEWICZ, PEDIATRICIAN: They love him. They actually love him to death, literally. In fact, not saying they can't care for him, what they're doing is, through the way they're treating him and feeding him, they're slowly killing him.</s>VAN MARSH (on camera): Now, that meeting includes health workers, specialists in childhood obesity, social workers, even a police officer, as well as an official from Connor's school. The child has missed a lot of class due to health problems and bullying. Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, London.</s>CLANCY: Well, young Connor's situation brings us to our "Question of the Day."</s>GORANI: Right. The question is: Do you think parents can control their children's weight? E-mail us at yourviews@cnn.com. We will read some of those comments on the air a bit later. Well, we hear about the daily violence in Iraq, but we don't hear much about other issues that have an impact on the future of the country, such as oil.</s>CLANCY: Now, the country has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, of course. Now the government must come up with a way to share that among competing factions, religious and otherwise.</s>GORANI: And the ancient pyramids of Giza, they've survived into modern times. Does that mean they should top a modern list of the world's greatest wonders? Stay with us.