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Your World Today

World Leaders Arrive for Summit; G-8 Protests; London Wins 2012 Olympics

Aired July 06, 2005 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Anti-G-8 protesters take their anger out on a more accessible target, clashing with police in Scotland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awarded to the city of London!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The British capital now three for three in its Olympic bids. The 2012 games set to go off in London.

VERJEE: And going to Guantanamo, the much-criticized U.S. detention camp, as seen by our Ben Wedeman, joining us live.

CLANCY: It is noon at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 5:00 p.m. in London. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. Welcome to our viewers throughout the world. This is CNN International.

We are following developments in two major stories here for you today. Both from Great Britain. There's jubilation in London after the news that the city won its bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

CLANCY: But first to the north. G-8 leaders are arriving in Scotland for three days of talks even as anti-G-8 protesters make their presence felt. We have Robin Oakley and Matthew Chance standing by.

Let's go, if we can, to Robin Oakley now.

No formal meeting's going to be held this first day as leaders of the nations meet there. But certainly, Robin, they have a lot on their agenda.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: They certainly do have a lot on the agenda, Jim. A former German foreign minister once described the people arriving at one of these G-8 summits 10 or 12 years ago as dead on arrival. And what he meant was that nearly all of them were struggling in the opinion polls at home. You could say that this time around. President Bush's polls are falling. He arrived not long ago. And perhaps a good omen for him, the rain cleared just at the moment he arrived.

Paul Martin of Canada, a struggling coalition government. The same for Silvio Berlusconi of Italy.

And many of these leaders in some trouble at home, needing to infuse their voters. And the pressure is really on them at this summit because of those Live 8 concerts and the attention that has been fixed on this G-8 to really deliver on the question of forgiving Africa's debts, increasing the aid to Africa -- Tony Blair wants it doubled -- and increasing the prospects of trade for Africa.

At the same time, pressure for people to do something about climate change. And there, President Bush is the odd one out. He's the only member among these G-8 leaders who didn't sign up to the Kyoto treaty two curb global emissions of CO2.

He was making noises in Denmark today on the way here, which led some of the officials here to believe that maybe he's trying to form some kind of compromise with the other leaders on climate change. He said he did acknowledge that the Earth was getting warmer and that human activity had something to do with that.

So with Tony Blair obviously in a very boisterous mood following the success of London in winning the 2012 Olympics, he will be pushing these other leaders to get the maximum out of what is a very ambitious summit agenda -- Jim.

CLANCY: What are they going to tackle first? Obviously Africa has been discussed so much in recent weeks. It has the support of every one of these G-8 leaders, to one degree or another. Global warming, though, as you point out, a little more testy when it comes to Washington.

OAKLEY: Yes, global warming is the tricky one. And that's what they are going to get down to first.

And one of President Bush's objections to the Kyoto treaty was that big developing nations, big users of energy, like China and India, were left out of the Kyoto treaty. And he said it would have wrecked the U.S. economy and that it was meaningless to have the Kyoto treaty if they were left out.

Well, significantly, the leaders of Russia and India -- sorry, China and India and Brazil will be joining the G-8 leaders here at their discussions tomorrow. And climate change is going to be the first topic that they tackle.

What we are likely to see is not any new target for curbing CO2 emissions, but basically an agreement to push forward with clean energy technology, and to cooperate in doing so -- Jim.

CLANCY: Robin Oakley, our European political editor. As always, Robin, thank you -- Zain. VERJEE: Jim, protesters already streaming into towns near Gleneagles. CNN's Matthew Chance is in Auchterarder, Scotland, with more on the demonstrations.

Matthew, do police have things under control now?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not quite, Zain. No.

As you can see, I'm standing in the middle of a field just on the outskirts of Auchterarder, a short distance from the Gleneagles Hotel, in fact. About a mile away or so.

You can see I'm amid a police line of riot police and a number of protesters. Let's take a look around with the cameraman to show you the sort of scene that we are witnessing here.

There's many protesters here that have gathered. The protests started off initially as a peaceful protest. But this is exactly the kind of confrontation with the British police that many had expected would come from this G-8 summit, of course, where so many issues are being debated, so many issues are being discussed that many people feel so passionately about.

At the moment, the sort of violence has been more or less sort of subdued between the police and the protesters. There have been a few stone that have been thrown, a few charges.

And we're just about to experience one now. But it's relatively low level stuff. They are trying to push back the crowds here in the fields outside of Auchterarder.

They are using their batons, and you can see that people are putting their hands up and saying, you know -- the police are determined, it seems, to push back these crowds. They've got dogs.

And so there are -- I don't know if you are still with me, here, but we are being charged by the police lines.

Press. Press. Press.

They are fine. Anyway, you have this picture.

Scotty, stay with us.

Basically, we are bringing you now live pictures of the police charge on the outskirts of the Gleneagles Hotel where the G-8 summit is taking place. Thousands of protesters have come here to voice their concerns about global warming, about global poverty, about environmental concerns.

Other than that, as well -- and many hundreds of them have broken through the route. They've tried to penetrate the perimeter that has been put around Gleneagles to try and actually disrupt the summit itself. And this is the police action that we are seeing to prevent those protesters from getting any closer to Gleneagles than they actually are -- Zain. VERJEE: Have the police there called for backup? It looks like they need some.

CHANCE: Well, actually, over the course of the past hour or so, we've been seeing military, Chinook helicopters traveling in at a very low level. And in the field, just beyond there, putting down reinforcements of police in riot uniforms. Also, see these white vans that have been arriving, carrying further police reinforcements as well.

What we do know, there's between or about 6,000 police have been drafted in from England and Wales to join the 4,000 or so Scottish police deployed around this summit to make sure security is as tight as possible. These kinds of protests, again, as I mentioned, were widely anticipated.

They have been licensed. But it was widely anticipated that they may turn violent.

And this is the kind of robust police response that would be dealt out in the event of the protesters deviating from the agreed route of this protest, as they seem to have done here -- Zain.

VERJEE: What are the different groups, Matthew, that make up the protesters there? The different groups have different messages, don't they?

CHANCE: That's all right. Stay still. I'm sorry, Zain. I didn't quite catch that last question. Could you give it to me again, please?

VERJEE: There are different groups there, Matthew, that make up the protesters. What is their message? What is his message?

CHANCE: Well, I mean, the groups that make up this protest, they have all sorts of difference messages. We've got communists here. We've got anarchists. We've got environmentalists. We've got people who are against the war in Iraq, people who are against nuclear weapons.

So a lot of different people representing a lot of different groups, and a lot of different agendas that they are trying to push to try and get on to the agenda of the G-8 summit. And as I say, largely, this protest has been peaceful.

And if I turn the camera around a moment, you can see, there's still many hundreds of people, thousands, if not hundreds, still lining the streets of the agreed route where they are still just watching these events peacefully. And I think it's still very much a minority of the protesters that are taking part in this -- in this actual confrontation at the moment.

It's still very much the minority. The majority of people are just still walking down through the agreed route.

Now, we talked earlier about police reinforcements. And if I could ask the cameraman to look at that helicopter over there, that's exactly the kind of police reinforcements maneuver that we've been witnessing over course of the last hour.

A Chinook helicopter coming very loud over the crowd, to jeers from the crowd, particularly those of the crowd who are against military action in Iraq and against military action generally. That will be landing in a field just a short distance from here.

The back will open -- please, excuse me -- police reinforcements will be coming off the back of that Chinook helicopter. We've been seeing a lot of those reinforcements arrive over the course of the last hour or so.

Zain, back to you.

VERJEE: Matthew, are any of the G-8 leaders going to be able to see any of this? Are they going to hear any of it?

CHANCE: You know, when they look out the windows of their luxury hotel suite of the Gleneagles Hotel, no, I don't think they are going to be able to see any of these protests at the moment taking place. That's because of geographical reasons.

Gleneagles was chosen as the location for the summit because of its isolation in the Scottish Glens. We're about a mile away now from the gates of the grounds of Gleneagles itself. If they switch on their television sets, though, Zain, they will be able to see in full what we are seeing here right now, which are these protests.

Many people over here putting their fists in the air, chanting, "Power to the people" as they embark on this confrontation with the British police forces here in Auchterarder, outside the Gleneagles Hotel, where the G-8 summit is to begin soon -- Zain.

VERJEE: Matthew Chance amid the confrontation there just outside of Gleneagles summit venue in Scotland. Matthew Chance, thank you.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder -- you are looking at a live picture here -- is arriving at the venue of the summit. Many of the leaders, as Matthew pointed out, aren't going to see those demonstrations, but the message clearly out there loud and clear that the protesters clearly want the leaders of the G-8 summit to take action to make poverty history, to end fighting in Iraq.

Many of them protesting against nuclear armament. Many Africa activists, communists, also, out there on the fields outside the Gleneagles summit there in Scotland. The German chancellor though, Gerhard Schroeder, arriving, and will be meeting the seven other G-8 leaders at the very posh and extremely highly-fortified Gleneagles Golf Resort.

The summit is going to last three days. But Gerhard Schroeder and his counterparts will remain beyond the reach of thousands of protesters and anti-capitalists, activists that are gathering there as you see around the summit venue. On top of the agenda at the G-8 summit, Africa. We are going to bring you more on Africa in our weeklong series called "Africa at Risk."

Later, Christiane Amanpour reports on the hospice of the Missionaries of Charity. The order of Mother Teresa looking after the dying in Ethiopia. That's in about 20 minutes.

CLANCY: Well, as we noted from the very top, there was another event this day in Britain, and it was that stunning Olympic announcement. It was no surprise that Paris and London were the final two choices to host the 2012 games. But the favorite lost, and London is celebrating as a result.

Fionnuala Sweeney is there in London. She has some reaction -- Fionnuala.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Jim.

Indeed, happier scenes at this end of Britain that in Scotland at the moment. We're in Trafalgar Square in central London, just a five- minute walk from the houses of parliament here. And it was here in Trafalgar Square about five hours ago that the tension reached its climax as more than 10,000 people gathered to await that all-important announce from Singapore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY (voice-over): To Londoners, it seemed like the longest wait in the world. The tension too much for some of Britain's Olympic stars. But when the announcement came...

JACQUES ROGGE, IOC PRESIDENT: The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of London.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazed. I never thought it would happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's brilliant. I think we deserve to win. We put the best bid in. And I can't wait for 2012.

SWEENEY: Jubilation, too, among British Olympic gold medallists.

KELLY HOLMES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST: It's going to motivate, inspire so many youngsters in different generations. Something that's going to last a lifetime.

SWEENEY: London was never considered the favorite, but Londoners knew it was always going to be a close race with their historic rival, Paris. A strong bid and last-minute lobbying by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who flew to Singapore to press the flesh, paid off.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not often in this job that you sort of punch the air and do a little jig and embrace the next -- the person standing next to you. So, you know, I think that's between me and them.

But, no -- so it's a fantastic thing. And I'm absolutely thrilled. Obviously I am.

SWEENEY: He left Singapore before the vote, racing to Scotland to host the G-8 summit, leaving behind him a very happy British delegation, including a royal former Olympic athlete.

PRINCESS ANNE, FMR. OLYMPIC ATHLETE: I had every confidence in the team. And I'm delighted for them, that we have succeeded. And I do have every confidence in them for the future.

SEBASTIAN COE, BRITISH OLYMPIC TEAM: I always felt that London had an outstanding chance of taking the prize as long as we decided what it really was that we wanted to say about ourselves, and what it was we really wanted to achieve. And it was my natural instinct to make our -- to make our strategy based around sports.

SWEENEY: Much of the east end of the city, sometimes called the forgotten London, will now be regenerated. A point not lost on the IOC voting members.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: And, indeed, that endorsement from the IOC has made a lot of Londoners extremely happy this day. But once the partying is over, the mammoth task of building those Olympic facilities begins. The organizers have seven years to do it -- Jim.

CLANCY: Fionnuala, it is not nice to gloat, but after the unkind remarks of President Jacques Chirac of France saying that English food was, well, in a word, bad, is there a little gloating going on in London today?

SWEENEY: Well, that was a reference to a comment that he made to Gerhard Schroeder, the German chancellor, and Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, which was overheard accidentally by a journalist, in which he said, "How could you trust anybody whose food is so bad?" And then he went an to say that British food was worse than the Finns'.

Now, it so happens that there are two voting members of the IOC on that board who are Finnish. And who knows -- there were only four votes in it -- which way their votes went in the end.

And so while I'm hearing from our colleagues in Paris that the French have been rather altruistic in their defeat, unfortunately, the same can't quite be said of Londoners, who we've been talking to in Trafalgar Square have slightly been gloating. In fact, I've been hearing that there have been some sing-songs involving the name "Chirac" heard around the square this afternoon -- Jim.

CLANCY: Fionnuala Sweeney, with the neutral Irish viewpoint there from London. Thanks, Fionnuala. Well, reaction in Paris, as Fionnuala was telling us, ranges from the graceful acceptance, to, well, some signs of sour grapes. Sighs and boos greeted the announcement in the French capital. French athletes who had lobbied for the game said they were disappointed with the decision.

French NBA star Tony Parker went a little bit further, saying the IOC as an Anglo-Saxon bias. Added one French track star, "Luckily I practice a sport where the best wins."

Well, up next, is it a case of chicken little and the sky is falling when it comes to global warming?

VERJEE: Well, the U.S. wants no part of a global pact that's said to reduce pollution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I think there's a better way forward. I would call it the post-Kyoto era.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Is global warming a real threat to the world? We are going to talk to two experts when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: You're looking at a live picture now coming to us from near Gleneagles, Scotland, where G-8 leaders are meeting. They're going to be discussing, of course, global warming. They're going to be discussing aid to Africa.

And you can see, like shifting troops on a battlefield, the police moving in, juxtapositioning themselves against protesters. Some of the protesters have managed to break through their lines along that road.

In doing so, they have been met with police dogs and baton- wielding officers wearing helmets who have pushed them back repeatedly. Some missiles have been thrown, some barricades pushed around. But we have not seen things more serious than that.

A little bit earlier in the day, in one of the towns, some wind screens were smashed by protesters. That about the most serious property damage that has been done.

We are going to continue to monitor the situation there with the protesters. But we want to take a look at some of the issues that are involved. Africa certainly tops the G-8 agenda, as we've been reporting.

The climate change also a hot topic there in Gleneagles with the United States, in what some would argue was the hot seed on that one. Under fire for sot signing on to the Kyoto treaty in global warming, the president, U.S. President George W. Bush, addressed the matter on Wednesday during a brief stopover in Denmark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: And I recognize that the surface of the Earth is warmer and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem. Kyoto didn't work for the United States, and it frankly didn't work for the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: All right. Joining us to expand the debate on global warming, Patrick Michaels from the Cato Institute, who's written the book "Meltdown," and Dan Becker of the Sierra Club.

Gentleman, the president's saying let's not talk about cutting greenhouse gases, let's talk about the technology that can counter the effects of this. Don't impose artificial limits.

Dan Becker, does that work?

DAN BECKER, SIERRA CLUB: Well, I think it's very good that the president has finally quit the flat Earth society on global warming. But he hasn't yet joined the G-8 to take action to cut the pollution that is building up around the Earth that is causing the problem.

In his energy bill, for example, he does the opposite of what he said in Copenhagen today, when he said we need to diversify away from fossil fuels. His energy bill increases our dependence on fossil fuels. And that the White House rejected efforts to have cleaner cars and clean energy be part of his energy bill.

CLANCY: Patrick Michaels.

PATRICK MICHAELS, CATO INSTITUTE: Well, the president is right. Kyoto doesn't do anything about global warming. If all the nations in the world did what they said they would do, the change in temperature would be less than a tenth of a degree of Celsius that would be exerted. You couldn't find it. But it would cost a fortune.

The president's idea is rather elegant. It merely says, instead of taking people's money away from them, now, in a completely futile attempt to do anything about the Earth's temperature, let them keep their money and invest in the technologies of the future.

CLANCY: But Patrick, I mean, isn't that a stall tactic?

MICHAELS: No, absolutely not. Look, no one knows what the future is going to be like in terms of its technology. But I guarantee you this, it will be more efficient. And you will get there quicker and more efficiently if you allow people to invest in it, rather than taking their money away in a futile attempt to stop warming.

CLANCY: Dan Becker, the United States was the only country that didn't sign up to Kyoto. All the other countries, let's say they implemented their things. Well, why haven't we seen an end to global warming here? If it's not working, if the strategy of just cutting greenhouse gases isn't going to work, isn't it time to try something else?

BECKER: Well, first of all, I don't buy that the strategy to cut greenhouse gases isn't working or won't work. What we need are cleaner cars.

The biggest single step we can take to curb global warming and our oil dependence is to go further on a gallon of gas. We need cleaner energy, we need renewable energy. And we need switch from the most polluting, coal and oil...

CLANCY: That would seem to be what the president is saying.

BECKER: Well, he's saying some of it, but he's not doing any of it. Most of what the president is trying to do is increase our dependence on fossil fuel, not decrease it.

Pat actually drives a hybrid car, as I do, that gets almost 50 miles to the gallon. That's the kind of technology that the president won't endorse, that he's refused to really push. He wants to offer a little tax break, but he won't require that the auto companies that aren't making these vehicles start to make them.

Even Pat Michaels, who doesn't believe that global warning's a serious problem, drives a hybrid car. The president could drive a hybrid car. All Americans, all people in the world should have better technology available.

CLANCY: OK. That's one solution.

MICHAELS: Can I get a word in here? Do you mind?

CLANCY: Sure, Patrick.

MICHAELS: The reason I could afford that car was because the government didn't take away my money in outrageous energy taxes. And that's precisely Bush's point.

People who are going to invest in the technologies of the future have to have money to invest. Kyoto takes away that capital.

So if you really care about global warming -- and I think it is an overblown issue, way overblown, especially in England, having read the papers in London last week blaming a hailstorm on global warming -- but if you believe it's an important issue, you want people to be able to invest and not take away that capital.

CLANCY: All right. Gentlemen, what is going to work for the G-8 now?

BECKER: What needs to happen right now is that the G-8 issue with declaration that has real concrete steps...

CLANCY: Well can't some nations do one thing and others do anything? Can't the U.S. say that, you know, we'll build the technology for all of us?

BECKER: Well, but we aren't doing that.

CLANCY: All right.

BECKER: We are buying Japanese hybrid cars.

CLANCY: Your point is you've got to put up -- you actually have to do what you say -- Pat.

MICHAELS: OK. My colleague agrees with Mr. Blair, apparently. While, on Saturday, there was a story in the paper where his administration is calling for a rationing of energy.

That's right, ration cards issued to everyone in the country on global warming. If that's what Mr. Becker supports, he's supporting the G-8 right now.

CLANCY: Gentlemen, I want to thank both of you for being with us. I've got to leave it right there. Patrick Michael's and Dan Becker.

BECKER: Thank you for having us.

MICHAELS: Thanks.

CLANCY: The debate on global warming not over yet.

VERJEE: Meanwhile, protesters streaming into towns near Gleneagles. We want to take you back there and back to Auchterarder in Scotland with a little bit more on the demonstrations.

Matthew, what's going on now?

CHANCE: Well, Zain, thanks. Well, since we last spoke, the demonstrations have basically petered out, it seems. Those police advances that we witnessed live here on CNN have produced the required results, and the protesters have basically been cleared away.

We've certainly been moved away from the fields, which panning over there, you can see where they are now. Those are the fields where the confrontations were taking place. And you may be able to make out just beyond those fences there, there are some police on horseback that are surrounding now and lining the agreed routes of this protest in Auchterarder, just a short distance from the Gleneagles Hotel where the G-8 summit is to take police.

These are the riot police. They are still here, but they've basically come down now from higher alerts.

They are basically letting the horses through now. You can se. I'll step out of the way of the camera so you can have a good shot of those -- of those horses filing through.

Just a few minutes ago, perhaps half an hour ago or so, these horses were charging, backing up the riot police here, the protesters that have broken through these fields and tried to penetrate the steel barrier surrounding Gleneagles. That's no longer a threat, say the police who I've just spoken to, and calm has been restored to this sleep, usually sleepy village of Auchterarder on the outskirts of the Gleneagles Hotel grounds -- Zain.

VERJEE: Matthew, just to clarify, really it's only a handful of protesters here that have the potential to turn violent or aggressive. The majority of people there protesting this G-8 summit are peaceful, right?

CHANCE: That's absolutely right. There were many thousands of people that came here to Auchterarder to protest.

We had anarchists, we had communists, we had anti-capitalists, environmentalists, all here with their different agendas. The majority of those thousands of people were, as you say, largely peacefully protesting. But there was this sort of fringe element that took it upon themselves to penetrate the police barriers, to deviate from the agreed route, and to seek confrontation with the police.

That was dealt with by these riot police as we saw earlier. And now, as I say, it's pretty calm here, and the protesters are basically dispersing from Auchterarder as we speak.

VERJEE: CNN's Matthew Chance reporting there. Thanks a lot, Matthew. We'll get back to you should there be any other developments.

Meanwhile, we're going to take a short break.

CLANCY: We'll be back with a roundup of the main stories in just a moment.

VERJEE: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. And here are some of the top stories we're following.

London celebrating an Olympic victory after winning the right to host the 2012 games. They beat out Paris in the final round of voting by the International Olympic Committee. Madrid, New York and Moscow were eliminated in earlier rounds. It will be the first time London will host an Olympics since 1948.

CLANCY: A group headed by a terror suspect Abu Musab al Zarqawi claiming responsibility now for the kidnapping of Egypt's top envoy in Iraq and is now threatening his life. The message posted on an Islamic Web site. The validity of that posting, of course, cannot be confirmed by CNN.

Leaders of the world's wealthiest nations have been arriving in Scotland for the annual G-8 summit. Russian president Vladimir Putin arrived not long ago. He joined U.S. president George W. Bush and others. Global warming and aid to Africa at the very top of the agenda.

Meantime, the protesters are outside, making their presence felt, banging drums, blowing whistles. Some have already clashed with police near the summit side of Gleneagles, Scotland.

Behind all of the talk, the campaigning and the protest, the neglect of a continent has put millions of lives at risk. Christiane Amanpour has pictures from Ethiopia reminding us just how urgently help is needed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is where poverty ends. With a tap on the head, the dying are summoned, lifted to their feet and ushered through the door. Inside, a calm, peaceful place where the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by the late Mother Theresa, minister to the sick.

Here, patients lie two to a bed. Most too weak to stand. Many move nothing but their eyes.

Sister Benedicta oversees the hospital here in the Ethiopian capitol Addis Ababa.

You've been here for 15 years. Did you think it would get better? Did you think that you would still keep seeing these kind of skeletal women, patients?

SISTER BENEDICTA: I have seen them when I came to Ethiopia because of the civil war and farming. But now still I see them. And they are I think more -- at a whole more because of HIV/AIDS.

AMANPOUR: Six hundred adults are here. 90 percent of them are infected with the AIDS virus. And every day brings three, four or even five deaths.

How long is she going to survive do you think?

BENEDICTA: One week, two weeks.

AMANPOUR: Most of the hospice cannot be cured. Only soothed in their final days.

BENEDICTA: They would not come to this home, not 1,000 would come to this home if they would find a better place. If they would find a place where somebody will take care of them, feed them, wash them, care for them, be with them. Often it is only just to be with the person until the end.

You and me, when we die, what do we need? We need somebody to be there.

AMANPOUR: We're standing in the women's ward, haven for the most desperately ill.

BENEDICTA: They have come when it is actually in their very, end stage. They come if they're really cannot move anymore step on the ground. They have their children they leave on the street. They have their houses, their villages in mind. So they come really when it is in the end stage.

FRANCESCA CHURCH: I've always wanted to work with Mother Theresa and to work with the poor.

AMANPOUR: Francesca Church is 18-years old and far from her London home.

CHURCH: ...the family if you're on the television. And you sit in the comfort of your sitting room. And it's -- and there's no way in which you can actually smell the smells and really touch the people and really actually feel what it's like.

AMANPOUR: It's an intense experience for someone so young.

How do you cope?

CHURCH: Faith is the only way that I can cope. And I came here and I think that's one -- that's my one strength is that I know that when these people go, that they're going to God.

That's being (INAUDIBLE) here is that you come into this room. And these people are dying. And there's nothing you can do. You can just love them and do the very best you can, so -- to make sure that their last moments that they thought that there was someone there.

AMANPOUR: Anthony Wall is a 20-year old premed student from Southern California.

ANTHONY WALL, PREMED STUDENT: A lot of these people, they're going to die. And either they die on the street or they die with somebody giving them love and care.

AMANPOUR: His own experience has not been without risk.

WALL: I was trying to flush out an IV. And I got -- blood got into my eye. For about a day, I was thinking, you know, I could get HIV. And that's obviously a danger and a risk that I came willing to take.

AMANPOUR: Luckily, Anthony's OK. He tested negative for HIV.

Here where the sick line up for what little medicine is available, where incense billows in crowded rooms, death is part of everyday life. But hope still endures.

BENEDICTA: There's even a certain serenity in them. And death is a relief or death is a release does not mean a resignation. It means there is something better than what I had here. These people teach us what is heaven, you know? AMANPOUR: So do these people. The more than 500 children who live at the mission. They were either abandoned by their poverty stricken parents or orphaned by AIDS. Police find them on the streets and bring them here into the sister's care. About half of them are HIV positive.

But others are healthy. They look towards a bright future beyond these walls and beyond the extreme poverty of Ethiopia, hoping they may soon be adopted abroad.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, with the Missionaries of Charity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: To the Middle East now. Iraq civilian populations caught in the crossfires of war on a daily basis. Every time insurgents attack, Iraq's emergency service are often the first on the scene to help the victims. But as Aneesh Raman report, the medical teams work in conditions that are far from ideal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When bombs go off in Baghdad, ambulances are meant to arrive first. But often, the sirens sound too late, the result of the unnervingly primitive state of Iraq's emergency services, ravaged by war, suffocating from government neglect.

(on camera): This is the epicenter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, this is the center of...

RAMAN (voice-over): This dark, claustrophobic room is the nerve center of Baghdad's emergency dispatch. You'll find no radios to call drivers, no police scanners alerting of incidents. Just two employees using land line phones which often don't work, and one TV where the news is the main source of accident incident.

(on camera): This seems really small.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really small. Very, very, very, very small.

RAMAN (voice-over): Dr. Saba Jabar (ph) heads Iraq's emergency responders. His is a life of frustration, confronting nonsensical realities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you have, it is decreased. But (INAUDIBLE) increases, some things are present.

RAMAN: He has 40 ambulances, but says he needs 120. Worse yet, none have radios.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show me one ambulance with wireless radio, it is equal ten ambulances without wireless radio. RAMAN: Over $1 billion U.S. have been allocated to the Ministry of Health, but little has trickled down to the frontlines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The work is difficult all the time. The people who work with them, they have many problems.

RAMAN (on camera): Given the situation on the ground these days in Iraq, even the ambulances they have are in constant need of repair. This one, for example, arrived on the scene of a suicide bombing only to be bombed itself. It is now completely unuseable.

(voice-over): This is no job for glory seekers. Ali Shakir is a medic making $115 U.S. a month. Sometime he and his driver pay for their own fuel, their own repairs. Each ride is risky. They are a target to everyone, insurgents and suspicious soldiers. Fake ambulances are sometimes used to transport weapons.

ALI SHAKIR, MEDICAL WORKER (through translator): We are in the middle of two fires. The Americans and the security forces from one side, and the terrorists from the other.

RAMAN: Untold threats, but an obvious choice. Theirs is the most noble of tasks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We deal with human beings. This is very important. Our work is something very important. If you don't support the life or reserve the life of the human, or the patient, or the accident -- or the victim, what the hospital do?

RAMAN: There is no giving up in this line of work. It is, in the end, about life and death. For Dr. Saba and his staff, the mindset is not regret of lives they could be saving, but focusing on those capable of rescue. With what little they have, they will continue to do whatever they can.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Still ahead here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, the controversy over the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

CLANCY: Someone has shut it down. Of course, others, including the U.S. president, defend it. We'll get a firsthand account from our own Ben Wedeman and a live report. That's next. `

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CLANCY: Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY.

We are going to monitor now some of the stories that are making headlines in the U.S. An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity now says his government is going to be asking the United States for hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund next month's Gaza pullout. The money would be used to relocate Jewish settlers, many of them originally from the United States, and the military installations there, to new locations in the Negev.

A judge could decide as early as today whether two reporters will be sent to jail on charges of contempt. "Time" magazine's Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller of "The New York Times" face as many as four months jail time. They have refused to reveal confidential sources in a federal probe into the leak of a CIA agent's identity.

It could be a one-two punch for the Gulf Coast, where Tropical Storm Cindy is sweeping ashore. More than 250,000 homes and businesses are without power, and coastal roads have been flooded. Cindy has now been downgraded to a tropical depression. Tropical Storm Dennis, though, lurking in the Caribbean, where it's growing stronger. Forecasters expect it to reach the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend.

VERJEE: The Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba's been at the center of controversy for some time. Human rights groups are calling for the facility to be shutdown because of the alleged mistreatment of detainees. U.S. President George W. Bush defended the facility and extended an invitation to those who doubt his statements.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want you to remember we are in a war against these terrorists. My most solemn obligation is to protect the American people from further attack. These people are being treated humanely. There's very few prison systems around the world that have seen such scrutiny as this one. And for those of you here on the continent of Europe who have doubt, I suggest buying an airplane ticket and going down to look, take a look for yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: So, that's just what correspondent Ben Wedeman did. He traveled to Guantanamo Bay's detention facility in Cuba to see for himself. He joins us now by videophone.

Ben, how free are you to go where you want, ask what you want?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not particularly, Zain. I mean, we have a very specific route that we're taking, escorted by the military here. We've spent a good deal of time this morning at this camp behind me, Camp Delta, which includes around 520 detainees, but, for instance, we are not allowed to speak with the detainees. No direct contact. And once we are done filming, all our video will be reviewed by a representative of the camp. So not particularly free, but clearly they do want to give an opportunity, Zain, to the media to have a look at this facility.

VERJEE: So, with the restrictions that you have, what are your impressions?

WEDEMAN: My impressions are that, obviously, the people running this camp are very interested at putting forward as positive an image as possible of the camp.

Now, today, basically, we were with the guards and the people who run the camp. We haven't had the opportunity yet to speak with the intelligence personnel, the interrogators, who really are at the center of the controversy here. We are hoping to have that opportunity later in the day, or rather later during our visit, which is going to be several days.

Now, I did have an opportunity to essentially eavesdrop on some of the detainees. I heard them in one of the camps, Camp Two, which is where some of the less cooperative detainees are held, just speaking among themselves. It was fairly innocent banter. I heard one man shouting to another in an Arabic accent (INAUDIBLE) to another, "I miss you," and some laughing back and forth, some insults going back and forth.

And we did also have an opportunity to hear some of the prisoners, who clearly sensed that there was media on the scene. One shouting that they are all Muslims here, that they are being mistreated, but this, apparently, is a fairly common claim made by the detainees whenever the media or other delegations show up here -- Zain.

VERJEE: Can you give us some kind of report card on the food, the exercise, the shelter of detainees?

WEDEMAN: Well, for instance, some of the amenities provided to the prisoners depends upon their level of compliance, their cooperation. Those who are not cooperative are punished. Some of their effects are taken away. Their creature comforts are taken away.

For instance, we were in one of the maximum-security blocks here, where they explained that some of the prisoners throw what they call cocktail number fours on some of the guards, which contains urine, fecal matter, semen and spit. And obviously, in those cases they are punished when their thrown -- that is cocktail number four is thrown on the guards.

Now, in other instances -- I mean, the food, for instance it appears, they take great care in providing them with what they want. Some prisoners don't want their potatoes mixed with their vegetables. And apparently number by number, the prisoners are given what they request, their particular likes or dislikes.

And by and large, one could probably say fairly accurately that the prisoners here are probably treated better than most prisoners in the United States, but the whole issue of the legal state of this prison facility is obviously one of great controversy.

And I think I've lost you, Zain.

VERJEE: CNN's Ben Wedeman reporting there, giving us some of his impressions and some of his insights and interactions, direct or indirect, there at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility in Cuba.

CLANCY: That was very interesting. (WEATHER REPORT)

CLANCY: Up next here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, reliving an Olympic moment.

VERJEE: We're going to check the sights and sounds of the stunning announcement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: British Prime Minister Tony Blair says London's Olympic victory made him do a little jig.

VERJEE: There were many people doing little jigs today. It was a day when dancing and cheering and booing and jeering told the story from all sides.

CLANCY: Here's a look now at the hour and the end-up note and focus on the euphoria in the winner's circle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of London.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's not often in this job that you, sort of, punch the air and do a little jig and embrace the next person standing next to you. So, there are -- I think that's between me and them. But, so, you can say it's a fantastic thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just, I can't believe. A bottle of champagne. It's just the first emotion. You just can't describe it. It's all in there. I can't believe it's happening.

BLAIR: You know, everyone pulled together. It wasn't -- I mean, I think, you got some sense of that, because you were out there in that 48 hours we were in Singapore, of this enormous cooperative team effort. And we've got a great chance, now, to develop sport in our country, to have a fantastic Olympics game and then to leave a legacy for the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Besides London, the International Olympic Committee (INAUDIBLE) games are the winner. I would like to tell you that we are very, very pleased of the victory of London. A high- quality bid. People we trust, people we know will deliver superb games.

BLAIR: We did have a very complete package. And I think the other thing that impressed people was London as a city. You know, London is an open, multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural city and rather proud of it. And people of different races and nationalities mix in with one other and mix in well. And we've got a capital city that I think many people do reckon is the greatest capital city at the moment. And the Olympics Games will help keep it that way. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: And that is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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