>> all right, zain verjee this morning. thank you, zain. >>> still ahead, a warehouse filled with billions of dollars

we're joined now by zain verjee live in london. good morning to you, carol. this is a pretty historic day and an important tribute ceremony honoring u.s. troops, iraqi troops and troops from any other country that have fought the insurgency in iraq since the fall of saddam hussein. this is a really big deal, something like 11,000 u.s. troops still in iraq, and as the drawdown continues throughout the month of december, it's believed that there are only going to be about 150 or so u.s. troops left in iraq. so, a really important day, very symbolic, but this really marks the start, too, of a big, practical push to withdraw troops. >> on another topic, the suspect in the natalee holloway disappearance and her accused murderer, he's filing a lawsuit against chile. so, what's that about? >> reporter: yeah, yeah, this kind of took a lot of people by surprise. but essentially, he is suing chile over his extradition to peru. you'll remember that he is on trial in peru for killing a 21-year-old woman, stephany flores in a hotel room in lima

i'm zain verjee in london.you newspaper editorials around the world are saying about what european leaders need to do to just deal with the debt crisis. >> all right, guys, thanks so much. plus a history of college hazing exposed. >> you have to walk from the front to the back of the bus backwards and while the bus is full with other band members and you get beat until you get to the back. >> former band member talks about a ritual that may have killed a florida a&m drum major. more on that next hour. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's

let me bring in zain verjee who is in london for us. zain, just some things. you are not supposed to take a knife or nuclear material on a plane. what happened here? >> what happened was is that this was a flight from moscow to tehran and it was found in a passenger's luggage. actually, it was 20 times the normal levels of radiation levels that you normally have there and it raised a red flag and this is what the federal customs service said in a statement. i'll just read it to you. they said 18 metallic objects of industrial origin were found packed into individual steel boxes. tests then found that the objects were, in fact, the radio active isotope sodium 22 and could have only been obtained as the result of inwork of a nuclear reactor. that's an important last line because that is a direct contradiction to russia's atomic agency who says that this kind of stuff, sodium 22 is only used for medical and scientific research. now, cnn spoke to a nuclear expert that said, number one, there is no radiation hazard here given the levels that were still high, but th

cnn's zain verjee joins us now from london with the headlines and reaction. hi, zain. >> hi, don, good morning. 34 million people around the world are believed to have hiv. let me give you an idea of what some of the newspapers are saying today. "the herald" in south africa has this headline. the fight against aids is not over. it says the responsibility for caring for aids orphans is not just the government's alone. it takes a village to raise a child. we all need to play our part in ensuring aids orphans are given a chance. take a look at "the guardian." do not forget this disease. how could this be the right time to let the global fund founder, there are more than 6 million people in poor countries on the drugs right now, just as many are still in need and many more will join the waiting lists without treatment and continuing effort. three decades of progress could be reverse. take a look at dna, this is from india. its headline says slipping back is not an option. it quotes the indian philanth ropist and the paper says access to prevention and care remains

>> all right, zain verjee this morning. >>> still ahead, a warehouse filled with billions of dollars worth of luxury items, just some of the treasures that belong to the department of justice. we're going to get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look. >>> and general motors is taking another big step to ease concerns about the chevy volt and its safety. you won't believe how they're going to back up how they feel about this car. it's 19 minutes after the hour. this is your "am wake-up call." d the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. >>> stocks ended the day mixed yesterday after that big rally a couple days ago. the dow dropped 26 points, ending a three-day streak. the s&p slipped by two points, but nasdaq closed up with a six-point gain. look, that's essentially holding on to that huge rally. so hey, bulls will take it, right? investors, though, continue to wor

zain verjee is in london. , tell us about these attacks, specifically about churches on a very holy day for christians, of course. >> reporter: exactly, hala. this is the second time in two years this has happened. it's widely being reported that the group boco haram is claiming responsibility. that's translated into western education is sinful. this is a group that western agencies have kept their eye on. they have increased in sophistication in their attacks. they're better coordinated. essentially they have loosely founded themselves on the taliban in afghanistan and their goal is to impose saria law across all of my gear yeah one of their biggest concerns is that they'll continue attacks like this and fuel sectarian violence in the country. in fact, people are saying one of the ways they've been able to fund themselves is by robbing banks recently. there has been a whole spate of that that's been going on in the last few months. they've been flashing much more with police and security forces in nigeria. abo

zain verjee joins us from london with european reaction to the debt deal. ement. well, not quite. the eurozone is split. majority of countries in the european union want to push ahead with a set of policies that will basically pursue fiscal rules in order to balance the budget, but the uk has said, no, way, they're not signing up for t. they want to protect their own banking sector. the guardian says the european question will it be splendid isolation or miserable? i don't hear the sound of champagne corks or celebration among british euro skeptics, it says. who knows what happens now, but europe for all its follies and failings has become a scapegoat for weaknesses that are really our own. we may be able to rediscover that awkward truth. it was why we joined in the first place. take a look at the international herald tribune. trety to save euro takes shape but britain sits out. though not a perfect solution because it could be seen as institutionalizing a two-speed europe. the intergovernmental pact could be ratified much more quickly by parliament than a f

let's bring in zain verjee live in london.terview with the syrian president he seemed sort of delusional. >> he said crackdown? what crackdown? i haven't ordered any crackdown. he went on to insist he doesn't feel guilty about it because he's not responsible for it and, in fact, he said i'm the president and i deal with policy, i don't command the security forces. they're not responsible, what their actions are for him in terms of the president's office. but this dignity strike idea is something that's really gaining momentum in syria, on-line, on facebook. it's supposed to occur in different stages. the idea is basically civil disobedience. get out on the streets, block roads, close businesses, tell kids not to go to schools, things like that. and what activists are now hoping is that by using this new tactic, that they can put even more pressure on the regime and go that kind of strategy, rather than violent protests. >> wow. okay. let's talk about something much happier. the royal christmas card. >> i don't know if that loo

. >>> i'm zain verjee at cnn in london. here are the top stories. the u.n. says more than 5,000 people have been killed on the syrian's government crackdown. meantime the military is threatening to attack the city of homs if there's no surrender. >>> the united states says it wants its missing drone back. the general in the military says they won't return the spy equipment. the remote-controlled aircraft was displayed on iranian state tv and appears to be intact. >>> one of the world's richest men says he plans to challenge premier vladimir putin. the owner of the new jersey nets basketball team has invested in russia's hybrid car. he was pushed out earlier this year after a disagreement with party veterans. >>> canada is pulling out of the kyoto accord, this comes days african da and 193 other nations agreed to a new climate treaty that extends the accord by several years. canada's conservative government criticized the previous liberal government for endorsing kyoto. those are the top stories from cnn, the world's news leader. i'm zain verjee. "world busin

i'm zain verjee. "world business today" starts now. >>> hello, i'm andrew stevens in hong kong. >> and from cnn london, i'm charles hodson. this is "world business today" and these are our top stories much there had a cautious mood on the markets after a downgrade warning in europe. >> a change of tact by china breathes new life into climate change talks. >>> and a trickle of tourists return as thailand recovers from devastating floods. >>> the timing could hardly have been worse. just as leaders of the euro-zone's biggest economies put on a united front standard & poor's threw a big spanner into the works and put 15 euro-zone nations under review for possible downgrade including germany and france an put the brakes on the rally we've been seeing. >> we'll bring you numbers and detail in a moment. suffice it to say europe apart from the uk is off by 1%. have a look. these are the 17 that all use the euro. greece's credit rating reflects a high rick of default and cyprus which was already under review.

cnn's zain verjee is following this story for us from london now. zain, what do you have? >> hi, there, fred. yes, he's saying that there's specific demands that need to be met in order for warren weinsten to be released. he is an aide worker and living in pakistan for seven years and then just disappeared in august. it wasn't really clear whether he was kidnapped by criminals or what was exactly going on. it seems, though, based on this message by ayman al zawahiri. zawahiri wants all al qaeda prisoners released that the west is holding. he wants all prisoners in guantanamo bay released. he wants all of osama bin laden's relatives that are being held released and he is demanding that the u.s. stop its bombing of afghanistan, of yemen and other places like somalia and also in pakistan where the u.s. is reportedly operating drone attacks in those area. now, u.s. officials have said that they're going to follow every single lead to try to get hold of this hostage. the family is really concerned. they have been appealing to the captors over the past while saying their hostage

. >>> i'm zain verjee at cnn here in london. here is our top story. we've been watching striking scenes of grief and mourning unfold in north korea. kim jong-il, the reclusive country's dear leader has been laid to rest in pyongyang. cnn's not allowed inside north korea. our paula hancocks is monitoring developments from soeg in neighboring south korea. she joins us now. walk us through some of the highlights of the funeral. >> reporter: well, zain, it really was a very well choreographed affair, as we were expecting from north korea, very similar to what we saw 17 years ago for the funeral of kim il-sun. we saw the procession. coffin going through the streets of pyongyang, 40 kilometers was the procession. and along those snow-laden streets, there were tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of mourners who had come out to pay their last respects. this was a lot of emotion. we did see at the front of these crowds a lot of wailing and weeping and beating of chests. although further back in the crowds, there were some more passive looking people

let me turn to our zain verjee. the whole world, zain, she's joining me from london. the whole world watched this event today. what is the world saying now that it's over? >> well, there's been a lot of reaction today, as you can imagine. it's been eight years, eight months and 26 days. and a lot of blood, sweat and tears on both the sides of the american people, as well as the iraqi people. let me give you an idea. "the guardian." has this headline. the u.s. troops are pulling out, but what have the people left behind? iraq has readied itself for a moment big on symbolism, but like so much of the war and subsequent occupation, what appears to be big in symbolism subject to claims that it is lacking in substnsh. "the national" says this. the future of iraq will not be built on empty words. iraqis will no doubt cheer the moment when the last u.s. service member boards the plane and latches the door, but glossing over the challenges ahead will not see them vanish. "the washington post" man of the shadows. this article actually questions whether the prime minister nuri a

. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> i'm zain verjee at cnn in london.ere are the top stories. as arab league observering prepare to fan out across syria, more disturbing images of violence are being posted on youtube. this video purportedly is from the flash point city at the center of the brutal crackdown by security forces. a member of arab league advance team says damascus has promised complete access to the country. >>> as north korea prepares for the fun ralg of kim jong-il, the country's new leaders consolidate in power as kim jong-un pubically mourned his father, state media referred to him as head of the ruling party. sunday a group of visiting south korean visitors met with the assembly. >>> two swedish journalists have been sentenced to 11 years in prison in ooet yoethiopia. they were found guilty of supporting terrorism. >>> britain's prince philip will leave hospital today. a buckingham palace says the 90-year-old will rejoin the queen and members of the royal family. prince philip spent christmas in hospital following a successful surgery t

i'm zain verjee. "world business today" starts now. >>> good morning from cnn london. i'm charles hodson. >>> i'm andrew stevens from hong kong. welcome to "world business today." the top story this friday, december 30, the final wbt of the year. >>> penultimate. anyway from austerity measures and anger on the streets to bond yields going from bad to worse, it's been a rough year for the eurozone and there could be more of the same to come. >>> traders have had a turbulent time of it, too, as major stock markets slumped. we'll take alike at the best and worst performance. >>> and it's been a quiet christmas for occupy london protesters, but eviction from their central london camp looms in the new year. >>> and as the year draws to a close, we have seen a modest rally here in asia following those gains on the u.s. overnight and ahead of a higher open in europe, charles. things at least in the final trading day are looking a little better. >> yes, i think we are seeing a certain amount of buying going on here. it doesn't take much to boost these indices. clearly the trad

. >>> i'm zain verjee at cnn in london. here are the top stories. iraq is preparing for a landmark event, the withdrawal of nearly all u.s. troops left in the country. vice president joe biden is joining officials on thursday which will honor troops from iraq and the co-lags who fought during nine years of war. elsewhere in iraq police say ten people were killed and 30 wounded when a car bomb was blown up at an outdoor village market, 75 kilometers north of bagdad. in a separate incident, seven people were killed when a gunman struck a town. when he meets with the eu foreign ministers thursday, hague shutdown the embassy and expelled diplomats in response to an attack on demonstrators on tuesday. he says iran should be ashamed of failing to protect britain's interest. >>> today is the 24th annual world aids day. people, organizations and retailers are working together. in 2010 34 million people have the virus, nearly 17% than a decade ago. i'm zain verjee and "world business today" starts now. >>> it's 9:00 a.m. in the morning here in london. a very

zain verjee has more on this and the rest of the world headlines. ibility for these explosions, zain? >> good morning, carol, no, so far no one has taken responsibility, just a short while ago, we heard from one spokesperson on the ground in kabul saying 40 at least are dead and at least 100 are wounded. this happened at a shrine called abdel faisal shrine. we're getting reports that the other attack in the area has killed four. we'll continue to follow the story. this is the situation on the ground and the scene as it's unfolding. important day, carol, for shia muslims around the world marking a few days known as ashurah. let me just show you some live pictures coming from karbala in iraq. the death of the prophet muhamm muhammad. they feel he was betrayed when he had to fight this losing battle and thought at the time he should have had more support than he did so imam hussein was killed in battle and like here in karbala will mourn his death and the fact they feel he was betrayed. some will beat their chests in mourning but hussein was killed in k

in washington, i'm zain verjee in london. >> i'm jim clancy. and you're watching cnn, we want to welcome you to our special coverage, "iraq: after the war." >> moments ago, u.s. defense secretary, leon panetta arrived in baghdad to participate in the formal end to u.s. military involvement in iraq. we want to take you now live to baghdad, where you are looking at live pictures of the casing of the colors ceremony in the iraqi capital. it has been almost nine years since the u.s. invaded that country. and in that time, at least 128,000 iraqis have been killed in conflict situations. more than 4400 u.s. troops have also died. and now at this very moment,ed american military command in the country is closing a chapter in the history of both iraq and the u.s. armed forces with this somber ceremony. it is such a big contrast to the explosions that marked the beginning of the war in iraq, back in march of 2003. >> now, this moment does, in a very real sense, mark the end of a difficult period, not only for the u.s. military, but for the people of ira

. >>> let's bring in zain verjee now for more on this. he's disputing everyone else's claims and what the pictures show here, zain. >> that's exactly right. bashar al assad very defiant in that interview and sticking by what he says that he never ordered a crackdown. in fact, it's his troops and his supporters that died. listen to how he put it. >> we don't kill our people. nobody kill no government in the world. kill its people unless it's led by israeli -- i became president because of the public support. it's impossible to follow in this state. >> do you feel guilty? >> i do my best, you cannot feel guilty when you try your best. >> u.s. has already reacted to this interview, don. the state department is saying this, that the spokesman mark turner put it, i find it ludicrous that he is attempting to hide behind some kind of shell game, but also some sort of claim that he doesn't exercise authority in his own country. and the point that he was making in the interview was essentially that he's the president, he makes policy, he doesn't co

thanks very much, zain verjee in london. we'll talk to you a bit later. >>> a week after u.s. troops left iraq, iran is beginning to reassert their influence there. what this means for the neighbors' complicated relationship and what it means for the united states, as well. >>> 2011 brought us memorable moments in politics, to say the least. we're looking at a list of the top ten. stay with us, we'll be right back. [ mujahid ] there was a little bit of trepidation, not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. >>> the white house might let yemen's president into the united states for medical treatment. the preside

what does zain verjee run in?hat's what she should have been doing in edinburgh, scotland. >> well, where were you? you would look pretty good in one of these outfits, kyra. when you look at these pictures of everyone running dressed up as santas, i have to say, it's all for a good klaus. here they were, raising money for charity. basically, for kids who have life threatening illnesses. and they want one wish to come true, so they were out there in scotland running around about three miles or so in two major cities, edenburg and glasgow. and they had a zumba artist come out and an instructor give them kind of a prerun workout fitness thing, but it was all for a really good cause. and a lot of kids are going to be really happy. but it's quite a sight. you have heard of the running of the bulls, but not the running of the santas, right? >> you just mentioned zumba. i don't think everybody knows exactly what that is. you have to explain that. >> combined with, did you do that and the run as well? [ laughter ] >> kyra

. >>> i'm zain verjee at cnn in london. here are the top stories. operation activists inside syria are criticizing the arab league saying the group didn't send enough observers to monitor the country. observers on this video appear to be witnessing heavy arms fire in the city of homs. the men in orange vests are apparently the monitors taking photos in the area. >>> state-run tv in mean marseilles at least 20 people were killed in an ploex and fire. government officials tell the french press agency the blast happened in a compound of warehouses but it was not caused by a bomb. the report says more than 95 people have been injured, many of them firemen. >>> a final tribute to their fallen leader. ♪ north koreans took part in a memorial service for kim jong il who died nearly two weeks ago. they observed three minutes of silence for the former leader and pledged support for the new leader, kim jong-un. >>> what's expected to be a robust debate has began in the indian government over anti-corruption legislation. the bill would give power to create an o

zain verjee is live in london.korea news today, whether it's the funeral of the dear leader in north korea or south korean ice breakers coming to the rescue. tell us more about this because the russian ship is certainly thankful, i imagine. >> they are. they were rescued on christmas day, that's when the south korean vessel tore through the ice and they made it to the spot of the russian vessel. and it was a lot of good news there. the south koreans there did a great job. essentially about a one-foot hole, hala, in the russian vessel. they banged into an iceberg, oops, got stuck for two weeks. the crew was panicked and they were already on some of the rescue vessels, the life boats waiting there. the south koreans got there and they basically fixed the hole. they put a metal plate, they welded that in there and then they managed to transfer fuel from ship to ship so that the russian vessel could get out of the ice. so, the south koreans escorted it very nicely out of the ice and they should be in open waters, well,

zain verjee here with more details. very interesting. >> truly fascinating that he's talking about getting into this race, kyra. one of the richest men in the world. something like $11 billion in metal industry. we do know that name. does he have a shot? many people really wonder if he could really win. one says, yeah, maybe he's jumping on the band wagon of a lot of protesters in russia. he saw thousands of them gathering in moscow over the weekend and maybe he's jumping in on that and give putin a real run for his money. the opposition and the cynics of the opposition saying that this is just a strategy being used by the kremlin. he is being used as a kremlin stooge just to give the appearance that vladimir putin is going to have a run for his money and there is some real competition. what they're saying is that he is in the race to draw the voters that would have voted for the opposition away. they don't go to putin and the opposition, but it gives putin a little bit of an edge. jury is still out on what's true and wh

zain verjee has more.u know they're going to go on to make a reckless accusation. what makes him think that the united states is responsible for the illness of latin american leaders, zain. >> hi, hala. hugo chavez is saying that it is very, very, very, very strange as to what's happening. he is saying that five former and present latin american leaders have cancer. himself, he says, he's defeated cancer. argentina's president has just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and she'll have to go through surgery. paraguay's got lymphoma and the former president is being treated for throat cancer. so, hugo chavez is saying, this cannot be a coincidence. he goes, what if the u.s. has developed a technology to induce cancer and nobody knows about it. and then while he was speaking in front of some kind of military event, he cited these revelations that the u.s. between 1946 and 1948 had carried out human experiments in guatemala where the subjects that they used were exposed to sexually transmitted diseases. he sa