Plane Crash in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Cuban Oil: Exploration Heats Up
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Flames and dark smoke fill the sky after a plane crash in Indonesia. What caused the tragedy? And how did most on board survive?</s>JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Iraq's hidden war, far from the combat zones. Iran and the U.S. wage a high-stakes battle of wits.</s>GORANI: So close, yet so far. American companies can only sit and watch as other world powers hunt for oil off Cuba.</s>CLANCY: Lady Liberty versus the Pyramids of Egypt? Why a famous statue faces some tough competition to enter the ranks of modern wonder. It's midnight right now in Jakarta. It is noon in Havana and New York. Hello and welcome, everyone, to our report broadcast around the globe. I'm Jim Clancy.</s>GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. From Yogyakarta to New York, to Najaf, in Iraq, wherever you're watching, this is</s>YOUR WORLD TODAY. CLANCY: It almost seems each day brings word of a new disaster of one form or another in Indonesia.</s>GORANI: Well, they're earthquakes, tsunamis, ferry accidents, just some of the tragedies, both natural and manmade, to strike Indonesia in recent days, weeks and months.</s>CLANCY: Now you can add to that list a plane crash.</s>GORANI: Now, authorities say 23 people died when a packed airliner overshot a runway and crash-landed into a rice patty field. But most of those on board the flight into Yogyakarta actually survived by leaping from emergency exits to escape the burning wreckage. Daniel Rivers is on the scene.</s>DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Within seconds of overshooting the runway, Garuda Airlines Flight 200 was an inferno. This remarkable video was taken by a news cameraman who was aboard. Moments after, he'd scrambled out. In spite of his injuries, he manages to film the awful scenes behind him. Inside the burning fuselage, passengers who weren't so quick. Many horribly burnt, stretchered (ph) away by rescuers who fought the flames for two hours. But, incredibly, many did make it out alive.</s>RUTH BAMGGADAN, CRASH SURVIVOR: We were about to land. And the plane was going lower and lower. But unlike the usual process of landing, we got turbulences (ph). Even when we were just only a little above the roofs of houses. And suddenly we got (ph) like a bomb. And then we hit the ground for a while. And when it stopped, I already see fire outside of the plane. I sat on the right side of the plane, so the fire was outside the window.</s>RIVERS: Among the 140 passengers and crew were nine Australians preparing for a visit by foreign minister Alexander Downer. They included embassy officials, police officers and journalists.</s>ALEXANDER DOWNER, AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: We have no reason to believe this accident was as a result of sabotage or terrorist attack or anything like that. It does look like just a straight accident, where the aircraft apparently ran off the end of the runway.</s>RIVERS: Hospitals in Yogyakarta were inundated with more than 90 injured passengers and crew, with distressed relatives desperately praying for good news. (on camera): What caused this plane to catastrophically overshoot the runway and burst into flames is still not clear. It's possible it was simply coming in too fast along the runway, skidding off the end and smashing through this fence. It is also possible there was a problem with the landing gear. Either way, the Indonesian president has now ordered an urgent investigation as to why this flight ended in such horrible tragedy. (voice over): On New Year's Day, an identical Boeing 737-400 operated by Adam Air mysteriously plunged into the sea of Sulawesi, killing all 102 people aboard. Now there are renewed concerns about Indonesia's air safety record. The key question: Was this mechanical failure or pilot error? Dan Rivers, CNN, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.</s>CLANCY: Now, this air disaster comes as Indonesia is struggling to cope with a powerful earthquake that rattled the island of Sumatra. Relatives setting about burying the dead on Wednesday, even as relief workers were still clearing debris and distributing emergency aid. At least 52 people are known to have died, including some young children.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My daughter could still look at me, but she could not speak. I held her and felt that she was still strong, but then blood flowed from her face and she was gone. She died.</s>CLANCY: The 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday. It was followed by an aftershock that was nearly that strong. The tremor was felt as far away as Malaysia and Singapore.</s>GORANI: All right. Well, taking you to Iraq now, and Shia pilgrims are defying continued insurgent attacks, and still heading to the Iraqi holy city of Karbala. Shiite security forces are doing their best to watch over them as the pilgrims run a gauntlet of violence through some Sunni-dominated areas. Now, at least 17 people were killed today, Wednesday. This comes a day after more than 100 Shiite pilgrims were killed in attacks across Iraq. The bloodiest came in Hilla, when two suicide bombers attacked a crowd of Shiites marching to Karbala to observe a religious ritual this weekend.</s>CLANCY: All right, Hala. Let's check some of the other stories that are making news around the world right now.</s>GORANI: Well, China's going to become a very important economic power all over the world, and the U.S. Treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, is there. He's making a pitch for Beijing to drop its trade barriers. On Wednesday, he met Chinese premiere Wu Yi for talks at the airport before flying to Shanghai. That is China's commercial capital. There is pressure from the Democratic-controlled Congress to address the U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit a record $232 billion last year. Now, Paulson is also urging China to loosen currency controls that make Chinese goods relatively cheap and adds to that trade imbalance.</s>CLANCY: Now, China, like other nations, needs energy, of course, to fuel its booming economy. And the search for resources has led it to Cuba, which holds substantial reserves of crude and natural gas.</s>GORANI: But why is the United States ignoring a set of billion- dollar oilfields right next door? Morgan Neill has our story.</s>MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tattered as it may be, the Chinese flag already flies over some small oil rigs on Cuban soil. Now many in the U.S. government fear China could soon move into the Florida Straits in search of bigger oil reserves.</s>SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: Right next door, stand on a high place in the lower Florida Keys and some day you may see an oil rig, and it won't be ours. It could be Red China's.</s>NEILL: A U.S. Geological Survey study in 2005 indicated the North Cuba Basin could hold substantial deep water reserves of crude and natural gas. Nothing like the huge deposits of the Middle East, but much closer to U.S. shores. China has already been drilling onshore in Cuba for years. Offshore, Canada, Spain, Norway and India have all bought rights to plots off Cuba's northwestern coast.</s>JONATHAN BENJAMIN ALVARADO, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: And we are actually...</s>NEILL: Professor Jonathan Benjamin Alvarado is an expert on Cuban energy policy.</s>ALVARADO: There's a potential for investment in the billions of dollars on the part of the United States, especially in the energy infrastructure.</s>NEILL: That can't happen as long as the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba remains. Embargo supporters say it keeps money from the coffers of Fidel Castro's government. But as one proponent of trade with the island points out, U.S. competitors face no such obstacle.</s>KIRBY JONES, U.S.-CUBA TRADE ASSOC.: They're going to get their oil. It's a question whether they get it in partnership with India, Canada and Spain, or in partnership with the United States. So, our relevance to their economic future is getting less and less each month and each year as other companies from around the world step in.</s>NEILL: If there's one industry with the influence to seriously threaten the embargo, it would seem to be big oil. (on camera): But for now, the embargo stands in the way of a sector start (ph) for new opportunities, and the clock is ticking. Currently, Cuba is still selling plots here off the coast. But once drilling begins, other sections could disappear quickly. (voice over): And that could happen soon.</s>ALVARADO: I would say that within the next two to three years we could legitimately see oil drilling.</s>NEILL: Analysts say a partnership with U.S. companies would make a lot of business sense in terms of technology and proximity. But the decision on whether U.S. companies will take part or leave the field open to rivals like China won't come from Havana, but Washington. Morgan Neill, CNN, Havana.</s>GORANI: All right. Now, the man who helped create the U.S. wine market has died. Ernest Gallo, he was a pioneer and a giant among winemakers. In 1933, he and his brother Julio founded Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery in the California town of Modesto. Now, their business grew at the time from three employees to eventually become the world's largest winemaking empire. Now they've lost that title to a New York state company, but are still a name to be reckoned with in that business.</s>CLANCY: Now, Ernest Gallo's contributions to winemaking made California's vineyards famous all around the world.</s>GORANI: Well, that leads us to our "Question of the Day" today. And there's much debate in France and Europe, all over the world. Do you think California wines measure up to other wines from around the world?</s>CLANCY: What do you think? Send us your comments to yourviews@cnn.com. We're going to read some of these out on the air.</s>GORANI: And definitely California wines have become more successful over the last decade. And French winemakers are feeling the heat as well from California and from Australia.</s>CLANCY: All right.</s>GORANI: Both those regions. So, anyway, e-mail us with your thoughts. Now, at least two mega-size celebrations are going on today.</s>CLANCY: Presumably in or around Dalton, Georgia, and Woodbine, New Jersey.</s>GORANI: All right. Not too far from here, one of those tickets was bought. And we know that's where winning tickets were sold. And get this -- how much is the jackpot? $370 million. The biggest lottery prize in U.S. history. But there's a little problem. There was a glitch in California's reporting system, and it means that that state's results are not yet final. So, there could be additional winners.</s>CLANCY: Now, brisk ticket sales pushed the jackpot $7 million over the previous lottery record. Organizers deciding to move the drawing from its normal location, right here in Atlanta, to Times Square in New York City. And there you see them. Those are the winning numbers. Pretty hard to hit those -- that many numbers.</s>GORANI: I'm telling you. It's good to always have the same ones...</s>CLANCY: That it was easy...</s>GORANI: ... because then you can be reassured every time that you wouldn't have won. Anyway, we have a lot more coming up here on YOUR WORLD TODAY after a short break. The U.S. and Iran battle for influence over Iraq's intelligence apparatus. And so far, it looks like the U.S. is losing.</s>CLANCY: And then a little bit later, "INSIGHT" is going to explain why the road to winning the hearts and minds in Afghanistan runs right through this dam in the restless Helmand Province.