ahmadinejad is ready to cut a deal over his country's nuclear program. is his office for real? from britain, patients say the problems are as bad as cancer in alzheimer's. where's the money? say hello to a man who helped give birth to the country's electric car industry. from bolivia, a look at the impact of global warming. one of the world's most famous lakes is fighting for their survival. from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts from around the globe, this is "worldfocus." major support has been provided by --

rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional fundi is provided by the following supporters -- welcome to "worldfocus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. the issue of iran and its nuclear ambitions is once again taking center stage. in a television interview, the president, ahmadinejad, is ready to honor a deal designed to curb its nuclear program. the deal would require iran to send its uranium abroad where it would be processed for civilian, not military, use. but several countries involved in the negotiations, including the united states, are already expressing skepticism about auk

ma dean jaud's offer. they launched yet another rocket into space, raising concerns that technology could be used to deliver an atomic weapon. we have the lead focus from tehran. >> reporter: an iranian probe sent into space. inside, two turtles, a hamster and a worm. this all part of ambitious plans for an independent space program. president ahmadinejad was there to watch, something he likes doing, promoting iran's achievements. revealing a new satellite. iran's nuclear ambitions are already at a more advanced stage. in a rare conciliatory moment, the president said ready to send itself rich uranium abroad to be further enriched to a higher grade. >> translator: some people made a fuss about it, but there's no problem. well seal a contract.

we will seal a contract. some people say it won't happen, they won't return it. but i said we are producing it anyway. even if they don't return it, what will happen? >> reporter: and the president offered another exchange, three detained americans charged for spy iing jailed iranians in the united states. they were arrested six months ago after they crossed over iraqi the border into iranian territory. it's been on the table for months. even ithe president of iran is willing, there are conservatives within the islamic iranian republic that stopped the deal before. this all comes at a crucial time for iran, in its third day of revolutionary festivities and will culminate on the 11th of february with a huge rally. they have been told, in the

strongest of terms, not to turn up, a warning they are expected to ignore. >> iran has said before that it would agree to a nuclear deal, only to later back away from such a commitment. so how real is ahmadinejad's latest offer? for more, we are joined once again by geneive abdo from the website insideiran.org. thank you very much for joining us on the program again. >> thank you for having me. >> iran's offer to send the uranium overseas has been met with great scepticism. do you believe ahmadinejad's offer is genuine? >> i think the skepticism is certainly warranted. it's difficult to know if president ahmadinejad is serious this time.

and i think that the reason for the skepticism is what's happening sort of now in the context of his offer. not only is iran facing tougher sanctions, we've heard a lot of tough talk from secretary of state hillary clinton, but also there are going to be big demonstrations in iran next wee and it's likely the government feels a bit weak right now. >> what about the united states? is it certain about what to do about iran at this point? >> no, there's really a lot of confusion here in washington. i think that people are pursuing and the administration are advancing this idea of sanctions simply because there don't seem to be other alternatives. but i think there's great skepticism within the administration that there will ever really be any sort of nuclear deal with iran, at least not in the foreseeable future. >> with the increased sanctions

on iran, where do you see the nuclear issue playing out? now? where do you see it going in the future? >> well, i think the administration is hoping that with these sanctions they will be able to extract compromises on the nuclear deal. but i think as many economists have pointed out, there have been years of sanctions against iran, and it doesn't seem to achieve the objective that the united states hopes for, which is to weaken the systems to some degree. and people are warning, of course, that even if sanctions are imposed, they could hurt the iranian people rather than, y, for example, the islamic revolutionary guards who have widespread economic interests outside iran. the people who are questioning the effectiveness of sanctions are asking if this is really the right approach to actually affect the stability of the stem. >> briefly, i want to talk about

the demonstrations expected next thursday, commemorating the fall of the s had h of the shah of iran. do you think the opposition movement will use this to continue with their own protests? >> yes, absolutely. they have said they are going to demonstrate on thursday. their leaders, at least the symbolic leaders of the movement, mir houssein moussavi and others, have called for the demonstrators to come out, but to sort of organize peaceful demonstrations. on the other side, on the side of the regime, there have been high-ranking officials and clerics who have warned that if the demonstrators come out, that the military will confront them. that they will do -- the state will do everything in its power to crush the demonstrators. so i think, unfortunately, we are looking at a pretty massive confrontation next week. >> all right. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you.

>> we want to know what you think about the standoff with iran. our question -- do you think iran can be trusted when it comes to its nuclear program? tell us what you think by visiting the how you see it section at worldfocus.org. another international arms control treaty is nearing completion. this one between the united states and russia. the deal would reduce the number of each country's nuclear warheads to around 1,500. now the united states has more than 9,000 nuclear warheads, russia more than 12,000. diplomats are hoping to sign the deal by the end of march. if they do, it will be the first major nuclear arms agreement between the two countries in nearly 20 years.

militants set off a roadside bomb today in northwest pakistan, near the border with afghanistan. the attack took place in a district killing at least seven people. the blast leveled a nearby girls schoolhat had been built with u.s. aid. but getting the most attention is that three of those killed were american soldiers. they are the first known u.s. military fatalities to occur in pakistan's lawless tribal region. the american soldiers were said to be there as part of a program to train the pakistani army, a program that both countries rarely acknowledge. in nearby iraq, there were two more attacks on shiite pilgrims making their way to the holy city of karbala for a religious observance. the roadside bombs killed at least one person and wounded seven others. today's attacks follow one on monday that killed at least 54 shiite worshippers.

the week-long pilgrimage culminates on friday. the iraqi officials are bracing for more violence. today the international criminal court in the hague cleared the way for prosecutors to charge sudan's president with genocide in connection with the conflict in darfur. the united nations estimates 300,000 people have died there. last year, the court issued an arrest warrant for al bashir and war crimes, including murder, torture and rape. as our partner reports, al bashir continues to travel freely, often welcomed by his hosts as a vip. >> reporter: the sudanese president has been traveling freely for months, meeting with heads of state, despite the warrant for his arrest by the international criminal court. only recently he attended a meeting of the african union in ethiopia. icc prosecutors say they are

determined to see bashir in court. >> in six months, in six years, we will see justice. we are a criminal court. we can wait. his victims cannot wait. so, for me, we end impunity. >> reporter: the existing warrant is for war crimes. but they are seeking to prove that al bashir also committed genocide. his regime has been accused of orchestrating violence where they were killed. the mounted militia forced them to find shelter in refugee camps. if the court proceeds, bashir will be the first sitting president to be charged with genocide. >> that report from deutsche welle. from britain there is big news of concern to all parents. the well-known british medical

journal "the lancet" had retracted a study linking the vaccine for measles, bumps and rubella to autism in children. the study published in the journal in 1998 sparked a wave of concern and many parents stopped allowing their children to get the shot. over the years questions have been raised about how the study was conducted, leading up "the lancet's" rare retraction. there's other medical news from britain. an alzheimer's research group released a major study on the impact and cost of dementia in the elderly. more than 800,000 people in the united kingdom suffer from dementia. that's more than twice the number of people with cancer. as shown in this report, the amount of money spent on alzheimer's research is far less. >> repter: alan johnson was diagnosed with dementia nine years ago, drugs helped him, but he still needs constant care. from his wife elsie. she has to lay out his shaving

gear. he can only eat with a spoon and needs her help to get out of the house. elsie says too little money is being spent on dementia research. >> i think it's because they look at somebody with dementia and they will say, well, he looks all right to me or she looks all right to me. but the fact is, they are not all right. they seem to forget that they are sufferg a long-term illness, the same as somebody with a cancer. >> reporter: today's report warns that by the 2020s, there will be over 1 million people with dementia. the amount spent on research is little. for every hundred pounds spend on caring for cancer patients, ten pounds goes to research. but for every 100 pounds caring for dementia patients, research gets a measly 50 p. the head of one dementia charity says research has a lot to offer. >> the disease can last a long time, average eight years.

some people last longer than that. it might be that better treatments that are coming along will help with those. but just as understanding more about the disease might mean there are more drugs out there we could use almost straightaway. more than that, we need to understand fundamentally more about the cause, and that means more research right at the beginning. >> reporter: ministers say they have taken that on board. charities and patients haven't yet seen the color of their money. the financial ramifications of toyota's problems are becoming clearer. the japanese carmaker estimates it lost 20,000 car sales over the last week as a result of the suspension in production of the sale of its most popular models.

toyota took their action concerned of faulty accelerator pedals. overall, toyota sales were off nearly 16% for the month of january with monthly sales hitting a ten-year low. while toyota's fortunes may be fading, those of many chinese automakers are on the rise. in tonight's signature story, we travel to china to meet a modern-day thomas edison to help with the electric car industry. now it seems the chinese can't get enough of the eco-friendly autos. we have the report for time.m. >> reporter: the chinese are getting into cars. even as car retailers employ an increasing amount of glitz to attract big city dwellers to their cars, it's here in this small garage that the seeds for a radical shift in the automobile landscape are being

planted. here this auto mechanic decided to conduct a small experiment for fun. >> translator: i wanted to build an electric car for myself to drive. i bought all the parts on the open market and assembled it. but, as soon as i finished the car, i was approached by someone who wanted to buy it from me. since then, i have started my own business. we have got about 20 workers and we've sold over 400 cars to people all over china. >> reporter: the compact electric car emits zero greenhouse gases and costs as little as $2,000 to $3,000, is affordable to many chinese famies. >> translator: the vehicle is meant for driving in the city. it can't go long distances. it can travel about 120 clom testi ters on one charge. it takes about six to eight hours to charge in an ordinary household outlet. most of my customers are workers

who use it to commute to work and senior citizens. the local government has been supportive and gave me $14,662 in subsidies. >> reporter: the cars have become so popular, they have a nickname, knockoff brand. they can be seen on the street s and in small cities across china. the man in the white shirt is a general manager of a company that's been researching and producing electric cars in the city where the vehicles have become so common that the city now issues electric car licenses. the city may be a step ahead of the rest of china. he says he won't move forward with plans to build a much larger assembly line plant to produce more at a faster rate because he's waiting for a policy announcement from china's

central government on the electric vehicles. now the cars occupy a legal gray area. they're not considered cars or motorcycles. most car owners drive them without licenses. >> translator: government officials are debating proposals on how to classify this vehicle. in addition to where licenses are issued, we'll be valid. right now we're not permitted to drive within large cities. but commuting in small cities and counties is okay. police won't stop you in certain provinces. >> reporter: the debate of where they can travel has bigger implications. many are looking to export their cars beyond chinese borders. according to chinese law, however, only car companies on a government-approved list can export large numbers of cars or legally sell them within the china.

the market for these electric cars is so large, there's a growing litany of companies that want to get on the government approved list. many of these companies weren't originally electric car manufacturers but are now looking for a piece of the market. if all goes well for the carmakers, china's roads will soon change from being dominated by large cars to vehicles like this. i'm jimmy wang for time.com. we would now like to go beyond the headlines and take a closer look at innovation in the auto industry. we have a correspondent for "the economist" and co-author of "zoom, the global race for the car of the future." welcome to the program. >> good to be with you. >> is it fair to say that the auto industry is in the midst of a revolution then? >> one has to be careful forecasting revolutions when it comes to old-line industries like cars and energy.

for 100 years we have had gasoline, the internal combustion engine, as the principle technology. but i think we've now entered a period of tremendous disruption of innovation. yes, a revolution is in the making. it's going to be slower than with the internet or software. the asset base is long-lived but it's a true revolution. >> the two industries you mentioned in your book, they are about to go through a divorce. >> absolutely. 100 years ago, there were more motor cars powered by electricity on the streets of london and new york than gasoline. and there were many other competitors for oil. we found, thanks to ford, rockefeller, the marketplace economics, they consolidated one technology again, gasoline, internal combustion engine, oil. the nexus that kept us going for 100 years. this is now fundamentally under threat in part by electricity, electric cars and battery cars have advanced, in part by

biofuels, sugarcane, ethanol. maybe in future, fuel cells and hydrogen fuel. it's a bit further off. the next century of transport will look different than the first century of modern transport. >> let's talk about who is taki the lead in innovation. if you look at detroit, industry there is in decline. if you look at japan, it shows the auto industry there can stumble. what are the other countries experimenting now? >> the classic polls of invasion in autos, detroit being the most famous. they are under assault. this is a geographic shift towards, for example, china, which is undoubtedly going to emerge as a great leader in ectric cars, battery technology which can be used by other countries. korea, investing in thgreen economy and the software that makes them work, that may come from silicon valley. tesla, a hot startup company started by california venture

capitalists is building an electric car already on the road. it's a $100,000 sports car. you're seeing it come from the periphery, not the traditional hub. >> what other alternative car fuels are out there, apart from electric cars? >> one promising candidate is biofuels. the best example is sugar cane ethanol made in brazil. almost every car sold in brazil is capable of running either on ethanol, which is environmentally friendly the way it's made in brazil, not the terrible stuff americans use made from corn or maiz, which is terrible stuff. the green stuff in brazil is a very good alternative. so, too, in future, hydrogen drawn from renewable resources. though, again, this is some years away. >> do you think the future is over, that gasoline-fueled cars are going to be done with in the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years. >> i think it's very clear that

the age of oil is drawing to a close. the oldest saying is the stone age didn't end because of lack of stones. the oil age will end before we run out of oil. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. finally tonight, a look at the potential impact of global warming from high in the andes mountains of south america. straddling the border of bolivia and peru, lake titicaca boasts the most beautiful lake in the world. for those who live nearby, it's more than a scenic wonder. water is essential to the very existence. those waters are rapidly disappearing. >> reporter: it's the largest lake in south america and it's at risk.

located at 3,800 meters above sea level on the border of bolivia and peru. lake titicaca has sunk to the lowest level in 60 years, evaporating two to three centimeters a week. global warming is to blame. and the length of the rainy season has been cut in half. >> translator: where we are standing, this time last year, it was covered by water. thousands of birds were feeding from it. now, as you can see, it's completely dry. >> reporter: millions of people depend on the lake and they have already started to feel the consequences of the disappearing waters. this man was forced to move his cattle to be nearer the water. the area they once came to drink is now dry and abandoned. >> translator: as the climate changes, little by little, we are forced to go with our animals to where there is water so we can survive. we have no other choice.

life is water. >> reporter: the decreasing rainfall isn't the only factor putting lake titicaca in peril. scientists say the glaciers that feed the lake are melting rapidly and could disappear in the next 40 years. >> translator: in the past ten years, we've begun to register that the lake doesn't return to the normal level. this is mainly due to a lack of precipitation and that tributary rivers have a lower inflow of water so it no longer reaches the level that's hoped for. >> reporter: lake titicaca accounts for the vast share of the region's economy. someties have already resorted to water rationing. but scientists say that if water levels drop by 30 centimeters, much of the plant and imal life here will disappear. along with it, the people that depend on this lake for their survival. that is it for now. but don't forget, you can find us anytime on our website at

worldfocus.org. i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. see you tomorrow. major supporfor "worldfocus" has been provided by -- rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following and additional funding is provided by the following supporters -- -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com