Talk about a heavy withdrawal.

  In Madrid, Spain, a unique type of ATM, known as Gold To Go, dispenses gold bars and coins to customers in exchange for cash. Many might ask how an invention like this, the first of its kind in Europe (there is a duplicate device in Abu Dhabi), can serve as a practical means of trading currency.

"The big benefit for the client is to have gold at an always reasonable price, what you never can get on a daily basis in banks or with other deals," Thomas Geissler, Gold To Go's inventor, said during the unveiling of the device at the lush five star Westing Palace Hotel in Madrid.

In a time of economic uncertainty, Geissler believes that this twist on the ATM protects customers from devalued paper currency. And the machine has an internal computer which updates gold prices every 10 minutes.

"So if you want to buy gold at a good price you come to the machine and you buy, if you are looking for some small souvenir, the smallest souvenir is for 40 euro, you can find here in the machine," Geissler also noted.

Now, investors in Gold To Go hope that the device will usher in a new golden age of banking.

Syrian authorities are vowing to reveal the identities of two female teachers shown in a widely-circulated cell phone video violently punishing terrified pupils in the country's north, hoping to bring conclusion to a case which has shocked the public and raised questions on the vulnerability of Syrian schoolchildren.

The two teachers' faces were seen clearly in a short video clip, posted on a Facebook page and then circulated by e-mail and other social networks.

The Directorate of Education for the Aleppo province promised the women would be identified "soon," with the new school year having now begun on Sept. 19.

In the video, scared pupils in a mixed-sex elementary school, possibly in a rural area of Aleppo, were seen receiving multiple harsh lashes with a baton on the palms of their feet and hands. The children can be heard screaming and crying in pain.

Assistant Education Minister Farah Suleiman said the suspected teachers could be from Ain al-Arab or Tel Arn in Aleppo countryside, adding that his ministry was serious about putting the nation's fears and worries over the incident promptly to rest.

He also called on all those involved to cooperate in disclosing all the details behind the humiliating event.

The case infuriated Syrians, particularly parents across the country, when the video found its way online thanks to a group of young Syrians who posted it on a banned Facebook page.

Facebook users posted comments describing the incident as "scandalous humiliation," a "massacre against childhood," and a "slaughter of childhood."

There were calls for the women to be punished in the same way they are seen punishing their students, and then dismissed.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are officially banned in Syria, but the country's younger generations have found ways to evade the censors, and many regularly use such social networking sites.

(CBS/AP)

Updated 3:25 p.m. ET

The Yemeni army destroyed five homes suspected of hiding al Qaeda militants Tuesday as a siege of a southern village entered its second day, but officials denied reports that U.S.-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was among those surrounded, the AP reported.

Earlier Tuesday, an unofficial website run by government opponents, Alganob.net, had reported that al-Awlaki had been surrounded.

But the chief municipal official in the area, Atiq Baouda, and the security officials denied that he was in the area under siege. The Yemeni army refused to comment on the operation.

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A Yemeni news website reported Tuesday that state security forces had surrounded a group of suspected al Qaeda leaders in a south Yemen village, possibly including American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

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The state-run newspaper in Egypt has been heavily criticized for doctoring a picture creating the illusion that its country's president, Hosni Mubarak, was leading the Middle East peace talks that began in Washington earlier this month.

The newspaper, al-Ahram, published a picture of Mubarak leading President Obama and the leaders of Israel, Palestine and Jordan to a gathering of reporters in the East Room of the White House Sept. 1, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

(See the doctored photo at left)

Pictures actually taken that day show Mr. Obama leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan down a red carpet with Mubarak bringing up the rear.

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A Taliban commander in northwest Pakistan tells CBS News a wave of recent U.S. air strikes have had an "incredible and accurate" impact on al Qaeda militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.

Relentless waves of air strikes, suspected to have been carried out by unmanned U.S. drones, have pounded the region in the past three weeks, leaving dozens of alleged militants killed. They have been focused North Waziristan, where al Qaeda leaders are known to be hiding and planning attacks on the West and Western troops in Afghanistan.

"Within 72 hours, four to five drone attacks in tribal areas have interrupted badly al Qaeda and Pakistani militants," the Pakistani Taliban commander told CBS News' Sami Yousafzai in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The Taliban commander, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name, said the number of al Qaeda militants in the region was dwindling as a result of the increasing pressure.

While it may seem counter-intuitive for a Taliban commander to reveal apparent advances by the U.S. military and intelligence apparatus, it is important to note that the Islamic fighters in the region are divided into myriad tribal groups. Yousafzai's source is a commander in a group not friendly with the Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud -- a prime target of many American missiles -- or his al Qaeda allies. Foreign fighters, many from Uzbekistan, are often recruited into the ranks of al Qaeda and allied with Mehsud's faction, but are viewed by many locals in the border region as outsiders and distrusted.

The Taliban commander also said, however, that the missile strikes -- the most recent of which slammed into a house early Monday in North Waziristan, killing 10 alleged militants -- are taking an increasing toll on the Taliban, in addition to al Qaeda operatives in the area.

"That is a headache and a big worry for the Taliban," he told Yousafzai.

Regardless of which militants feel the sting of U.S. missiles more acutely, the strikes represent hopeful news for the U.S.-led war against the Islamic radicals in the region where the Sept. 11 terror attacks were planned. Both the Taliban and al Qaeda launch periodic attacks against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, while al Qaeda is also the sworn enemy of both nations' U.S.-backed governments and anyone found to be working with them.

Both Pakistani intelligence sources, and the Taliban commander who spoke to CBS on Tuesday, say better cooperation with Pakistanis on the ground is likely behind the wave of successful strikes.

The commander told Yousafzai locals seem to have ramped-up their "spying" on militants in the area, and are increasingly grassing on even the more native Taliban fighters who have long enjoyed some degree of support in the region.

He said the Taliban's "brutal punishment and beheading of spies" was apparently failing to halt the villagers' cooperation with government forces, who have increased their tip-offs to American intelligence operatives.

The commander went so far as to say the reprisal attacks could be "widening and complicating" the Taliban's fight in Waziristan.

A Pakistani intelligence official said in June that Pakistan had stepped up its cooperation with the U.S. since December 2009, reports CBS News' Farhan Bokhari. In the briefing, the intel official said the boosted cooperation was yielding dividends in the form of praise from Western allies, "because everyone is happier with Pakistan."

Intelligence sources tell Bokhari that the strikes over the past couple days have killed important "field commanders," though nobody has mentioned any of the most-wanted figures believed to be hiding out in the mountainous region.

The Wall Street Journal reports the White House will officially notify Congress in the next two weeks of a $60 billion deal to sell Saudi Arabia dozens of U.S.-made fighter jets and military helicopters.

If it goes ahead, the sale of some 84 new F-15 jets and dozens of helicopter will be the largest U.S. arms deal ever.

The Obama administration is pitching the sale as a major opportunity to create new jobs for the beleaguered American economy. Companies including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and General Electric say more than 75,000 jobs could be created to build the new aircraft.

According to The Journal's sources, who remained anonymous, negotiations are also continuing on a side-deal which could see the Saudis pay an additional $30 billion for a U.S.-made upgrade to their naval forces.

Congress is expected to okay the sale of the aircraft ---- made tough to reject in America's current economic state by the prospect of new jobs.

As much as it represents a potential boon for the U.S. economy, the deal with Saudi Arabia would also serve to shore-up the defenses of a nation at the heart of the Middle East which is often viewed as America's key partner in the effort to stem Iran's regional influence.

Iran criticized the arms deal with Saudi Arabia as potentially destabilizing almost as soon as it became public three years ago.

"What the Persian Gulf region needs is stability and security," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying on a government Web site in July of 2007. "Americans have been trying to disturb it by selling weapons to the region."

A radical Islamic activist and lawyer in the U.K. has called on Muslims worldwide to burn U.S. flags outside American embassies on Sept. 11, a "direct retaliation" against a Florida church's plan to burn Qurans on the same day.

Anjem Choudary, former leader of the banned hardline Islamic group Islam4UK, told CBS News in London he was calling for, "an international burn the Stars and Stripes day" on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Choudary, who regularly organizes small demonstrations in Britain calling for the implementation of Islamic law, was the first public figure -- and a likely one -- to call for retaliation against Gainesville, Fla. Reverend Terry Jones' plans to burn at least 100 Qurans.

Above: Anjem Choudary (right) leads a demonstration of fundamentalist Muslims against then-Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in front of the Pakistani Embassy in London, July 11, 2007.

Anticipating a volatile reaction from the world's Muslims if Jones' church goes ahead with the stunt on Saturday, the State Department issued a warning to all U.S. embassies on Wednesday advising them to assess their security measures and brace for potential backlash.

Rev. Jones has ignored pleas from the Obama administration and U.S. military commanders to abandon his plans, telling CBS News on Wednesday that he felt the act was still "very necessary" as a warning to Islamic radicals, who he feels are attempting to gain political clout and push their agenda in the U.S.

More Quran Burning Coverage:

Quran Burning Legal? Protest Possibly Protected
Pastor Will Not Cancel Quran Burning
Quran Burning Protests in Afghanistan
Jones: Judaism, Other Religions "Of The Devil"
AG Holder: Quran Burning Idiotic, Dangerous
Pastor: I Know Quran Burning is Insulting
Extended Interview: Rev. Terry Jones
Terry Jones, The Man Behind "Burn A Quran Day"
Petraeus: Burning Qurans Could Endanger Troops
Fla. Church Denied Permit to Burn Qurans

GlobalPost's Erik German and Solana Pine look at the coming dystopia that is urbanization. In the five-part, the authors look at Dhaka, Bangladesh, which by 2025 the U.N. predicts will be home to more than 20 million people--more populous than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai. For more, read and watch Part Two: The dreams of Dhaka's garment girls, Part Three: Disasters drive mass migration to Dhaka, Part Four: Looking on the bright side of Earth's growing slums and Part Five: Who can solve a problem like Dhaka?

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The future is here, and it smells like burning trash.

As the evening call to prayer echoes across Dhaka's teeming slums, a bluish haze rises in the murky air. Cooking happens mostly on open fires in the shantytowns of the Bangladeshi capital, the flames kindled with paper, scavenged lumber and bits of plastic junk.

On a recent evening in a broken labyrinth of shacks called the Korail slum, a wiry young mother in a red sari stooped to light the clay hearth outside her family's one-room home. Mina, 24, touched her match to a castoff vinyl folder, three-hole-punched for documents she'll never read.

"I don't like to live in Dhaka," she said, fanning the smoking plastic, then laying splintered bamboo on top. "But we have a dream to buy a piece of land, some land back in our village."

Mina, who uses only one name, followed her husband here in 2009 -- joining the nearly half-million migrants who pour into Dhaka each year. It's not clear how soon, if ever, they'll leave. Mina's husband saves only a few dollars each month from his job selling fish. Mina, meanwhile, cares for their two children and, like millions of other women here, fires up the family's nightly meal.

The smoke from these fires signals not a return to a prior age but, rather, the dawn of something new. Depending on how one measures, the planet now boasts 20 or so megacities -- urban agglomerations where the United Nations estimates [2] the population has reached 10 million or more. The world's rapid urbanization is a reality fraught with both peril and hope. The peril is obvious. Overcrowding, pollution, poverty, impossible demands for energy and water all result in an overwhelming sense these megacities will simply collapse. But the hope, while less obvious, needs more attention. The potential efficiencies of urban living, the access to health care and jobs, along with plummeting urban birth rates have all convinced some environmental theorists the migration to cities may in fact save the planet. But only, these experts hasten to add, if this shift is well managed.

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Fidel Castro criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and advocated global nuclear disarmament, specifically recommending to Israel that the only way it can achieve security is through dropping its nuclear arsenal, in an interview published online Tuesday.

Cuba's revolutionary leader also discouraged the United States and Israel from using sanctions and threats as a strategy to deter Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons of its own, The Atlantic magazine reported on its website.

"This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats," Castro told the magazine.

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg spent three days in Cuba interviewing Castro, describing him as "frail and aged" -- two bodyguards held the former leader by the elbow when Castro greeted Goldberg -- along with an "acute" mind, "high" energy level and "a self-deprecating sense of humor."

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(CBS/AP) - Rare color film of Winston Churchill and of bomb damage inflicted on London during World War II has surfaced on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Blitz.

The footage shows the destruction of several London landmarks, including the flagship John Lewis store on Oxford Street, and of bombing victims being treated by medical personnel.

The film was released Monday by Westminster City Council to mark the anniversary of the devastating German bombing campaign that began September 7, 1940, and continued until May 1941.

The footage was taken by an air raid warden and mayor of Marylebone, A.E. Reneson Coucher. It was recently found by his family in their attic, unseen for decades.

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In an exclusive interview, Israel's United Nations Ambassador Gabriela Shalev discussed the upcoming Middle East peace negotiations with CBS Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will be at the White House with President Obama to negotiate the creation of a Palestinian state.

Shalev said that the negotiations will succeed, in part because of the chemistry between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and in part because all sides want peace.

The negotiators hope to have a two-state solution ironed out within a year, but it may take longer, Shalev said, noting that Middle East timetables were not like Swiss watches. She added that the talks will bear fruit, regardless of the fact that Hamas will not play a role and Iran will try to derail the peace process.

After two years as Israel's UN ambassador, Shalev is returning to her country to continue her academic work in the legal field. Next month the UN General Assembly is expected to deal with the Goldstone Report on Israel's alleged war crimes during the Gaza invasion of 2008 and the flotilla incident on May 31 when nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed when Israeli naval commandos boarded a Turkish ship that was trying to break Israel's sea blockade of Gaza.

See also:

What If Iran Was A Nuclear Nation?

Why Have the Middle East Peace Talks Now?

(CBS/AP) COPIAPO, Chile - The first video released of the 33 men trapped deep in a Chilean copper mine shows the men stripped to the waist and appearing slim but healthy, arm-in-arm, singing the national anthem and yelling "long live Chile, and long live the miners!"

Only about five minutes of what is reportedly a 45-minute video was released late Thursday by Television Nacional de Chile via the Chilean government.

The men made the video with a small camera sent down to them through a small emergency shaft drilled to their emergency shelter deep in the San Jose mine.

The grainy, night-vision images show some men standing, others lying down and apparently just waking up. One man proudly displays the way they have organized the living room-sized shelter where they took refuge after a landslide trapped them Aug. 5. They also showed off areas outside the shelter where they can walk around.

An animated miner gives a guided tour through the ample space where the men have plenty of room to stand and lie down. He shows where the men meet and pray daily and points out the "little cup to brush our teeth."

"We have everything organized," he says.

The few items they have are carefully laid out: a first aid cabinet, shelves holding unidentified bottles, mats in a corner for rest.

As the camera shows a table with dominoes laid out, the tour guide says that "this is where we entertain ourselves, where we play cards."

"We meet here everyday," he adds. "We plan, we have assemblies here everyday so that all the decisions we make are based on the thoughts of all 33."

The men have been told they'll be stuck underground past Chile's Independence Day in mid-September but that they should be with their families by Christmas, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.

Prepared for the long haul, life-saving supplies like water have been lowered from above along with dominos and other distractions to sustain sanity.

The camera was sent down through a bore-hole used for communications. Another small hole that snakes down to the men's shelter is used for lowering food and a third provides ventilation.

More Mine Coverage

Complete Coverage: Chile Mine Collapse

Chile Mine Can't Afford to Pay Trapped Miners

Challenges in Chilean Miner Rescue Effort

Length of Chile Mine Rescue Kept Secret

Chile Miners' Long Ordeal Poses Novel Challenges

Many of the miners appeared in the video wearing their hard hats. As the camera pans to them, some flash peace signs, wave and smile. Others look groggy as if just awakened.

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The fog of war in Afghanistan is becoming denser with each day. The New York Times reported Wednesday that Mohammed Zia Salehi, a key figure in the country's corruption investigation and an aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, is on the CIA payroll.

According to the NYT report, it's not clear what Salehi does to earn his CIA money or what, if any, involvement the CIA has in Salehi's allegedly corrupt activities. He was arrested in July but released through Karzai's intervention. The Afghan president's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, has been on the CIA payroll according to U.S. officials and has been accused of accused of gaining power via the drug trade and making deals with tribal warlords and Taliban fighters.

Corruption in the Karzai government has been a constant point of concern for the Obama administration. In the complex Afghan counterinsurgency led by Gen. Petraeus, the administration is unclear about how to deal with corrupt officials who play both sides.

NYT reporters Dexter Filkins and Mark Mazzetti wrote:

The ties underscore doubts about how seriously the Obama administration intends to fight corruption here. The anticorruption drive, though strongly backed by the United States, is still vigorously debated inside the administration. Some argue it should be a centerpiece of American strategy, and others say that attacking corrupt officials who are crucial to the war effort could destabilize the Karzai government.

Video: Overcoming Corruption in Afghanistan: Mandy Clark interviews Ahmed Wali Karzai

By now, it seems almost everyone has heard - and gasped - about the 120-day (shorthand: Christmas) timeline which Chilean officials have set for the rescue of the trapped miners. The only group of people who may not know about this four-month estimate is the trapped miners themselves. Chilean officials say they haven't told the miners because don't want to dampen their spirits, especially after the euphoria of finally establishing contact with the world above. But the euphoria is likely short-lived. "We are waiting for all of Chile to do everything to get us out of this hell," said Luis Urzua, shift foreman of the trapped miners, late Tuesday.

As the equipment to drill the larger "rescue" hole is assembled and staged (a process which we're told will take days) some are starting do to the math, and scratching their heads.

My sister is a geologist who drills for a living, so I've heard at the dinner table just how difficult, methodical, and slow it can be to bore through the earth. There may be some days when the drill gets stuck and doesn't bore down at all. But, a Chilean mining company which will assist with the drilling says the equipment they plan to use has the capacity to dig as much as 20 to 30 meters (roughly 65-98 feet) per day as they carve out the biggest "rescue" tunnel.  The miners are roughly half a mile (around 2,300 feet) below the surface.

Now, I'm no math whiz, but if they drill as quickly as the equipment would allow -  the numbers don't quite add up. By the more conservative estimate it seems they could reach them as soon as a month or so (roughly 35 days). So, why the estimate that it'll be Christmas?

I asked several experts to try to explain the math to me. Former assistant secretary of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, Davitt McAteer, told me over the phone that the Christmas-time estimate seemed conservative to him.

I received a similar answer from Dennis O'Dell who works for the United Mine Workers of America. He was also curious about the official estimate. I asked him to explain to folks (like me) who don't know much about drilling why it would take so long. He said that he simply couldn't really shed light on that issue. The timeline seemed stretched to him, too.

Both experts point out that there are complicating factors to drilling so deep in this gold and copper mine in the Chilean desert. The fact that the mine has already collapsed and may be unstable is just one issue.

But could a rescue take place much sooner than Christmas?

Of course, there is a lot of attention to "when" the miners will be rescued. Lest we forget that in these difficult conditions we might be wise to add another qualifier to the conversation: "if." But experts say that the geological conditions favor the miners survival as the 26-inch rescue hole is drilled in the coming weeks.

CBSNews.com Editor in Chief Dan Farber discusses the latest rescue efforts for the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground with CBS News correspondent Seth Doane