tonight on "worldfoc" -- >> on e eve of critical meetgs over its nlear progra iran's president calls

thealks a test for the u. and its allie tonighwe see what the israelis think. a powerful earthquake sends a maive tsunami plowi into e isnds of samoa and american samo sweeping cars and people ou to a. tonight th death toll continues to climb. first it was honey bees. now the's another isect being threatened we see why nits in malaysia e losing their glow. and we contie our "signature series" o politics and popculture. tonight we vente inside iran where authories are trying but failing to stop the ood of western music d tv. from the world's leading reporters and analystshere's at's happening from around t world. this is "worldfocus." major suppt has been provided by rosalind p.alter and the peteg. peterson foundation, dedicated to promotingiscal respsibility and addressing key economic challengefacing americ

and additional fding is providedy the following supporters -- good evening i'm martin sadge. thk you for joining us. with crucial tal aimed cuailing iran's nuclear ogram set to begin, the rhetic is heating up. tomorrow thenited states along with otherermanent members of the u.n. secuty council and rmany will meet with iranian officials in switzerland ping to convinc irano come clean out its nuclearambitions. they may be fighting an uphill battle. today iranianresident hmoud ahmadijad said it's the west at needs to change its ways. maybe no cuntry will be following theprogress or lack of it mre closely than israel. there's be a great deal of talk that the israelis willtake military action agains iran if the talks don't succe. the buildup to the tdown in switzerland. that our lead focus tonight as iran's chef nuclear negotiator arried in geneva for

e start of crual talks tomorrow, back in tehran, iran's presidentahmoudhmadinejad id the negotiions are a gd opportity for a fres star but he insisted once more that iran will not give up what he called iran'sight to enri uranium. and he said the talks will be a test of how much the world's major pors respect iran. >> translator: ts meeting is a test to measurehe extentf sinceritand commitment some countrie to law and justice. >> but i light of the disclosure last week about a previoly secret iranian uranium enrichment plant, man ofhe other countries at the table tomorrow, the u.s., france, germany, china and russ, are already contemplating new an tighter sanctions on iran, a clear signal tha hopes for the meetins success are low. the talksn switzerland will b closely monitod in rael. earlier this week, the iranians test red missiles capable of reachi israel. and ahmadinejad has reeetedly

questied israel's right to exist. ef ran cn closely follows iran. >> in the states, hopef, optimistic about the tal that are going start tomorrow. they're tryi to gai time in order to make further progress on their nuclear ogram. >> forears the israeli government has warned th iran was not bngonest abouthe size and nature of its nuclear program and has ld out the poibility of military ation against iran's nuclear facilities. fonow, israel isrepared to let other countri take e lead in confroing iran, hoping the threat of harsher sanctions will persuaderan to revealhe truentent of its nucar ambitions. >> e emphas at the mome is on e diomat efft.

but at the same time i thi it is important to keep the option open for the future. i think it ould be the agenda in order to prevt the iranians with thesanctions that they might have to face. >> n, would an israi air stke againstiran's nuclear facilities even be effective? that was the subject of this column, which appeare in last we's "wall stre journal," and ich was written by our next guest, anthony cordesman a noted nional security alyst is the chair in strategy at the center for strategic nd internatiol studies, and he joins us from washinon. anthony, describeo us the difficultieshat israelis would facen launching an air strike agnst iran. >> in many ways,the most serious diffulty is knowi how many targets there are and extly how to strike them. because it'sot only a matter of locating them. many of the are complexes

with a large numr of buildings. some are underground. you don't know exaly where the crital facility or critical equipment is. even if you know that thi may be a active site. but beyond that, israel does not have bombers. it doesn't ve stealth airaft likehe united states it does't have long nge cruisemissiles. it has to use fighrs, and its fighters are ry, verycapable, but they need multiple refuelling toet tothe targets in iran from israel, andthey have fly very demanding profes to get through arab territory with the minimum ri of being intercepted b fighters or ssiles. they hto fly beyond their rmal range and come back, having penetrated iranian air fenses. so can iael do th with a lited number ofstrikes? yes. can it do it i the nbers required obably not. >> well, if israel does attack

iran, what is the likly outcome? could the israelis prmanently cripple iran's nucle program? >> n at this point. it's not even clear we could unless we kept restriking again and agai every time we saw a new indicator. iran is simply too deveped. it has all the components i needs to produce nuclear weapons, it has many nuclear facilities, itas been able to create a cenduction capability wch means, as we saw justast week, it can create new small fcilities and hide them, put theentrifuges thereather than a central facility. isel might be able to hit t rden site, which is the main site. iran which hasup to 150,000 centrifuges as cacity, but it could not be certain that it woulever hit anything like the ability to produce more

ntrifuges or find all of t facilities that they're hien in. >> so recent reports indicate that israelis may be pushing back their deadlines for military action. is that your asessment as well? >> i don't ink israel has ev set deadlines. it has constant talked aut this risk and for ve real reasons. on nuclear weon could do devastating damage to a sml state like isrl. but much of this political. it is intend to send a signal to iran that if it doesot comply with the unitednations, itoes not negotte and reduce theprofile of its activities israel mig strike. that it will be a constt threat. so w needto be very careful not to assume that just because isel's leaders keep warning iran, that means they're ready to go to war. we only have a few seconds ft, but do you think that

rael actually wl carry out an attack if these negotiatis don't succeed? i think it is a serious risk, but i thinkhey understand the limits onheirsnd that ty might simpl provok a worse iranian response over te even if they go lited short-rm gains. >> anthony coesman, thank you very much for joiningus tonight. >> thank you. >> all right. w it's your turn. we want to know wh you think about all of this. our question tonight is if the talks inwitzerland fail, would rael be justified in attacking iran's nuclear facilities? yocan tell us what you think by visiting the "w you see it" seion of our website at worldfus.org. thers word tonightof a deal between isrel and another of its foes. members of the militant wingof hamas announced that they will provide israelis with a deotape pring that an israel soldier being held the ga strips still alive. ineturn, israel has agreed to

return 20 palestinn women from its prisons and toda celebrationsrupted in gaza. the deal is first sign of movement in more tn three years of tal over the release of t israeli soldier. netheless, the soldr's release is not expected on. a powerful earthque rocked the iand nation of ionesia today. the mnitude 7. earthquakeas centered just off t coastf the city of padong in western donesia. indonesia levision reports that hundreds of buildings collapsed therend that numerous fires bro out acrs the city many pple fled in fear. the death tll is now put at 75 but is expeed to go highe an earthquake along that same fault line in december of 2004 spawned a massive tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people throughout southeast aa. d today on the islands of samoa in the sou pacific

residents struggled to recover from yesterd's devastating tsunam that s spawn by an earthquake that took place 120 miles south of t islands. waveas high as 20 feet roared ashore sweepg several people out to sea. at least 120 are now reported killed. ragsartell of i.t.n. has the latest. >>eporter: houses flattened, ca baered and smashed into buildings, boats swept ashor the scalef thetsunami's struction is only begiing to emerge. scores of people are dead, hundre injured, many still missing. >> th is really messed up. lord, wat's going on? >> reporter: these exusive pictures obtained by channel 4 news show the moment immediate after th tsunami ruck amican saa's capital pagopago. >> the water started surging. at first it was only three or

four feet in our parng lot just outhe window. but aftethe water syed for several minutes, anoer faastic surge that completely dwfed t first surge came u and th waterose to 15 feet. at this poi, trees, boats, cars, trucks were all floating past my second storywindow. it completely wiped out everything that wasn't madef brick. >>eporter: the tsunami was triggered by powerfularthquake in the ocean oor. the epicenter was 120 miles south of american samoa. it struck at 6:48 brish standard time. wn in the pacific region. the quake had a magnitudeof 8.3, generating 15-foot tidal waves. e tsuna reached t coast within inutes, leaving little time for people to eape. >> where thecoast, where the land is ju right next to t earthquake, you typically don

have enough time toigest the datand get a warng out in an effective way. i haven't heard if any warning was made in this case. >> reporter: one confirmed british death, a toddler who was just 2. it's thought there were around 20 britons in t area athe time. but th overall devastation is only jus light one of the main hospits descrid as hing bodies everhere. >> that report from itn's rags martel. from thearibbean there e more signs that rlations beeen the u.s. and cuba ntinue to warm. yesterdait was revealed that a senior u. diplomat he a series oreviously undiscled ilon a recent viit to that couny. the kipt also met wit opposition activistsuring the trip. not long ago the uited states eased restrictions o traveng and sding money to cuba. the u. has also been intalks with cuba over migration issues and over restori direct mail service beeen the two countries, something that s suspended in963.

tre was yet another warning today about the dange posed by globalwarming. according to a report issu by the international fo polic rearch institute, an ngo devoted to eliminating hunger, rising temperatures could devastate family farming inoor counies around the world. sub-saharan africa a southern asia will be hit especially ha, the report say fcing 25 million more ildren into hunger over the ne several decades. in the southea asian nation of laysia, the impact of climatechange isn't th only environmental worry. like imany countriesin the region, the widespread destruion of fests to make way for big plaations is so tang its ll. t in thiscas the canary in the coal mine waing of problems ahead is the humble fire fly. laura kyle recently visited

maysia and has this report. >> reporter: it's one of nature marvels. thousandof fireflies liging up the trees on the banks o the kuala selangor river. he's been caying urists up and down these waters for6 years. typical night on the weekend might have up to 800eople from arou the world coming to see the magical illumination that are cread when themale and fele insects communicate. but the fireflies are dying. >> translator:'ve been seeing changes in the fireflies. there a differenceow because the destruction of the forest. >> reporter: pushed through the thinine of trees on the edge of the river and youfind this, the destruction of a habitat. treecrucial to the insects'

short three-month fe cye lled. the fireflies may b one malaysia's prime trist atactions, yet the government did nothing totop is. the destructn of vas swas of natur habat to make way for oil palm plantatio. theevelopers dideave a thin stri of vegetation running along e river but it's not enough to support the firly population. some experts believe it will have gone by t end of this ye. this woman hasbeen documentin the fireflies' decline for three years. six of seven of her monitong sites have been cleed of vegetation by lol land owners. irrition ditches atthis site already dug fo a plantation. >> if this keeps going on, you know, the population will disappear one day witht the habitat, the natural habita the firefes won't be able to increase their population

because their lifecycle, the early stages ofhe life cycle pend on natul habitat. >> reporter:he work has now stopped. the ate government somewha belatedly has declared the area arotected zone. >> i think it's coming -- i want toay at the right time, but th tail e ofhat could have been inevitab dtruction of the firefly. so what wre trying to do now is to rehabilitate. >> reporter: the race is on to replant the tree,but only the nextew months wi tell whether it'slready too late to stop the lights going out. laura kyle, al jazeer kuala selangor, malaysia. yesterday th seetary-general of the uned nations ban ki-moon held special press briefing here in new york about climate change. th secretary-general rently had trelled to the arctic for a firstha look at the impact of climate change. among tse yesterday was rafael

pi roma for wnet i new yor joins us with more onwhat the cretary-general had to say. we get to see each other each day but don't ten get the luxury to talk. this meeting th you attend ca as a result of some frustratn by the secretary-neral. >> that'right. he had a press coerence earlier in the day where he hoped to talk about climate change but most of the questions werebout iran. i think wanted to tal about climate ange. so healled for this more timate meeting with repoers. and that'what we talke about mostly. >>learly he believeshen that the issuofclimate change sursedes right now the momentarone of what to do about iran? >>e said thessue of climate change is more impornt than iran. whene pushed him on that,he saidt's more impoant at the end of the d because while you can negotiate wit iran no matter how difficul you cannot negotiate with nature about clime ange. >> he's g a verytrong pint there. there's some nations ther that heelt really stepped up to the plate when it comes to climate

change. >> hs very optimistic about the mes that japan and china have made. specificly the new pre minister of japan has pledged to duce carbon emissionsy % by 2020,something that japan didn't want to do before. and the present of china said that he was wling to tace ener intensity hayes call , as long as h ties with serious climatehange agreements by the developed cotries. >> thesere the second and third largest economies in the world. so theywould beseen as ver influential. president oba had a historic at the uned nations sessn this time around, and i'mondering howdid the secretary-general vi that? >> the secretary-genal mentned that more than once. a few timeshow happyhe was out president obama's role in the uned nations, h he's re-engaging wi the united natis. he thought thawas a very, very good move. >> yet at the same time he sd it cannot be expected that the u.s. leads o this ise. >> th's right he sdpecifically to the european union and other

developed nation not to exct th united states to lad on this isue becae this country's enomy is so complex, the politicss so comex and cause we're in this process a little later than mostof the other untries. >> and know, you know,e was frustrat about the issue of ir but i can't let it without asking did he give some inght regarding his feelings about t issue of iran and its nuclear program? >> he ses to think it is sll a ry open question with iran's desi foruclear por is for peacefuleans or not. he said it is up to iran to prove that it is. >> rael pi roman, nice to talk with you. >> martin, nice to be he. now to oursignature gment. for mons the world's been focused on iran's nuclear prograand its post election violence, but of courslife es on for iran's 66 million people. so toooes culral life. iranians are lvers of music,

movies, poetry d books, and pop culture tre thves. these days the iranian authorities do all they c to control what iranian citizens see and hear but as our corrpondent discovered during a trip to ian earli this year, tenology is making tat virtuallimpossible. >> reporter: iranians are proud ir culture. so much so at they etty much view the rt of the world as only recently civilized. we o the ancient persians things like writing. now we're paying them back with dern cultual refinements like hip-p and tv mini series. ♪ iran has its ownhriving movie instry. wh you go to the movies i tehran, you're sure to be seeing a home grown film. the blockbter this spring w a war movi the iran/iraqwar, to be exact.

tcasts of the army parttwo is the most protable release here ever. the drama of that devaating war is staple of iranian movies. not everything here a oot 'em up. th is about a pair of conjoined twins. ons devout, the other a part animal. iran censors don'tave a lht toh and nothing gets past th that isven slight riske. unveiled women, kissing, swearing, and even the gentlest

humor pointed at islam and its clerics e all forbidn. that can makehe lives of iranian filmmakers difficult. >> translator: if you'reoing to make a lm about corruption in the system and t guidance ministry feels you're making a anti-iamic government movie, obviously they deny it but if the same corruptn is framed as praising the stem, they'll apove it. ♪ >> reporter: musicperates under en stricter cotraints. women ar't allowed to sing in public unless they're pa of a chorus. ♪ persian hihop is banned and songs about ankind of sex are, o. and it drives many to the derground music scene. iranian playlists are ful of wnloaded music you can't legally listen to. and exiled artists who post videos to youtube from europer north america.

on tehran's rooftop,ou find unmistakab signs thatranians are tapped intohe outside world. e dishes are ilegal but virtually anybody who c afford one grs hundreds of channels from satellites convenitly beyondhe reach of iran's gornment chaperone. and iranians watch lots of it. >> i love to see "lost," the series. >> my forite movie is "cret window" starring johnny depp. >> reporter: like everywre se, the video store guy dreams of being quenn tarantino. >> this iranian film is similar to "et joe black." >> reporte ran's islamic government has struggled and mostly failed to ke a fir between iranians and outside culture. >> tnslator: they say were turning iran's uth into gay and merciless se predators. when they grow up they'll rce emselves on their n sisters and mothe.

>> reporter: everybody already seen pirated copies of the big western hits. >> translator:ou can buy the foreign films on any street corn very cheap. they even have persn subtitles, whi is illegal. >>eporter: the recent turmoil in tehran's strts has opened western eyes t the passion iranians feel for their frdom of thought. a quick look a what's selling in bookstores would have ma that less of aurprise. >> translato this is the philosophy sectio is section is mostly philosophersrom the west. but we also hav iranian philosophers. >> reporter: thosephilosophy books,long with histories, are th biggest selrs in ir. and the grt persian poets are as well known here as th country'famous movie dictors. >> reporte this film is directed by a very wl known director. she's a world knownirector. this filwas a big hit.

>> reporter: sowatching a mix of foreign and anian tertainment doesn't raise fears in iran that other cultures will take over. >> i ha learned to learn amican culture. this is a cultura ciprocation. thiss not a colonization. reporter: that's been the pattern for 2500 years. iranians take what they like from the outside wld and figure out a way to make it their own. >> translator:his is a remake of "catch me if yu can" with tom hank and leo dicaprio. ey even pied the cover r the dvd. >> reporter: for "worldfocu" i'm richard o'regan in tehran. >> i torrow's sment we'll jamaica for a look at acontroversy there over seally explicit music. th is "worldfocus" for a wednesday wednesday evenin visit our weite at

worldfoc.org and let us know what you are thiing. m martin savidge i new york. we look for you tomorrow and any time on the web. until en have a good night. majosupport for "worldfocus"as been provided by rosalind p. walter anthe peter g. petson foundation, dedited to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressg key onomic challenges facing america's futu. and additional funng is provided bthe following supporters -- sturbed.

i can't go back. hey. ye. [ laughs ]