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CNN Live Sunday

Danish Consulate in Beirut Burned; Jacob Robida's Stepfather Lashes Out; Super Bowl Update; Two Gaza Militants Killed in Airstrikes in Israel

Aired February 05, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All that and more after this check of the headlines.
The man behind the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 was among nearly two dozen prisoners who tunneled their way out of prison Friday in Yemen. Thirteen of them were convicted Al Qaeda fighters. Interpol has issued an urgent global security alert.

In Alexandria, Virginia, jury selection begins in the sentencing phase of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative, has pleaded guilty to his role in the 9/11 attacks, though he was in custody at the time. The government is seeking the death penalty.

In Los Angeles, one inmate is dead and nine others are in critical condition after a riot yesterday at a crowded jail. Up to 2,000 inmates were involved in the melee. We'll have a live update in about 30 minutes from now.

And on Capitol Hill, the attorney general can expect a grilling tomorrow at a Senate hearing on domestic spying. Alberto Gonzales will be asked to amplify his earlier explanations about why wiretaps were made without warrants. Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter calls those rationales strained and unrealistic.

Our top story now, outrage in the Islamic world, anger over sacrilegious images. In Beirut, demonstrators clashed with police and army troops and torched Denmark's consulate. It comes a day after protesters in Damascus destroyed the Danish embassy there. CNN's Beirut bureau chief and senior international correspondent, Brent Sadler reports from Lebanon on the Muslim rage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It took Lebanese security forces several hours to bring the violent protests under control. Firemen are now trying to dampen down the intense heat and flames inside the building that once housed the working offices of the Danish consulate here in the Lebanese capital. Now at the height of the protests, thousands of angry Muslim demonstrators descended on downtown Beirut. Less than 24 hours after demonstrator had attacked the Danish embassy in the neighboring Syrian capital, Damascus, destroying the building, the same tactics were used here. They torched the premises. A 10-story building destroyed not only the offices of the Danish consulate, but also other interests inside that building.

Now the Lebanese security forces were unable to contain the level of violence once it reached its peak. After setting fire to the Danish consular offices, the crowd then turned against commercial interests, attacking dozens of cars, smashing windows and also attacking security forces, particularly internal security force police units, turning at least one vehicle over. Also stones were thrown at a Maronite Catholic Church in a Christian heartland.

Now that triggered violent scuffles between Christians and Muslims in the streets of the capital once divided by what was largely a Christian Muslim civil war that went on for 15 years and that has increased the level of concern about the way that this demonstration skewed from the controversy over the cartoons that the demonstrators say that they were reacting against trying to defend, they say, the image of their prophet Muhammad. But this demonstration in Beirut skewing in a different direction, enflaming sectarian passions on the ground, political and religious leaders now appealing for calm. Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: There have been calls for moderation from many in the Muslim world, including Afghanistan's president. Hamid Karzai told CNN's "LATE EDITION" host, Wolf Blitzer that violent protests were the wrong way to respond to drawings of the prophet Muhammad. Those caricatures appeared in Danish and Norwegian newspapers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: The cautions (ph) must stop coming again and again, must stop appearing and I hope the (INAUDIBLE) governments, the United States (INAUDIBLE) will also take a strong measure because this is a matter of sentiments for one billion Muslims and (INAUDIBLE) together with Muslim. That would be a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: More than 4,000 people in Afghanistan protested against the drawings today. Police in one city fired into the air to disperse a group of demonstrators.

New video of survivors plucked from the Red Sea yesterday where a crowded Egyptian ferry sank Friday in rough seas. More survivors were rescued today, but up to a thousand people are feared dead in the tragedy. One crew member tells investigators a fire alarm sounded soon after the ferry left port, but the captain kept going.

The suspect in a gay bar attack in Massachusetts is dead, wounded in a shootout with police in Arkansas. This afternoon law enforcement officials in Arkansas described how the nationwide manhunt came to a dramatic conclusion after a high-speed chase and crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL SADLER, ARKANSAS STATE POLICE: Investigators now believe that Robida raised a handgun to the head of Bailey (ph), fired and it's believed that she was killed instantly by that gunshot. At that point in time, the defendant raised that same handgun and fired on the officers that were present at the scene. They returned fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Allan Chernoff has been covering this story from the city where it began a few days ago, New Bedford, Massachusetts. He filed this report a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jacob Robida's stepfather lashing out at the media in front of his ex-wife's home where Jacob lived.

DAVID ROBIDA, SUSPECT'S STEPFATHER: I raised him as a little boy. We don't need none of this. He wasn't as bad as you guys put him to be. You're ruining my daughter's life? What am I going say? You're ruining my daughter's life. You got my ex-wife scared to death. She don't want all this. People thinking she's some bad mother. She's not.

CHERNOFF: As word spread that Jacob Robida had died in the hospital following yesterday's shootout with police, a few family friends arrived at his home, none of whom would comment. Online at Myspace.com where Robida had a profile, CNN communicated with a friend of Robida's who said she had seen him last week and wrote, quote, he had problems and hung out with the wrong people who were really racist and homophobic. Jake had gay and black friends, but these people would always talk about killing black people and laughing about it.

Down the street from the Robida home at Dillon's restaurant, staffers remember a quiet boy.

KATHY ROSONINA, DILLON'S RESTAURANT: (INAUDIBLE) he used to wear black trench coats and the whole black outfit, but you can't judge someone by what they wear. It's just a phase and obviously it was a little deeper.

MICHAEL PROLETT, DILLON'S RESTAURANT: I noticed him wearing a long black trench coat, you know what I mean. He looked a little funny to me, you know?

CHERNOFF: You ever talk to him?

PROLETT: No, I never spoke to him.

CHERNOFF: Local police are continuing their investigation, trying to determine if anyone assisted Robida in his alleged assault that wounded three men at Puzzles, a local gay bar.

CAPT. RICHARD SPIRLETT, NEW BEDFORD, MASS POLICE: We want to really find out what happened after the incident occurred at Puzzles and we were trying to trace back his steps if anybody was involved in hiding him out, helping him and all that. CHERNOFF: Some neighbors are glad that Robida is gone.

MARY ANN SULLIVAN, NEIGHBOR: I heard he was armed and dangerous, I guess I didn't believe how dangerous he could be. And now I'm relieved.

CHERNOFF: But a bartender at Puzzles remains anxious.

PHILLIP DAGGETT, PUZZLES LOUNGE BARTENDER: I'm still remaining in fear just because of the circle of friends that he had and I feel as if he almost opened a door to the group of friends that share the same beliefs and same animosity that he had for them to follow in his footsteps.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And that was CNN's Allan Chernoff reporting from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Athletes and fans are arriving in Torino, Italy and the 2006 winter games begin this week. Ahead, a look at massive security efforts taken by this hillside village.

And just in case you didn't realize it, the Super Bowl is today. Our Larry Smith is there in Detroit covering it all.

LARRY SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Fredricka, coming up we've got contrasting styles, contrasting cities, contrasting owners, but it will all combine for a fantastic Super Bowl XL. We'll have a preview coming up on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, the biggest TV show in America begins soon. It's a full-blown package of glamour, glitz and drama. Even some rock 'n' roll and in between commercials, of course, they'll play a little football. CNN's Larry smith is in Detroit for the extra large event known as Super Bowl XL. Larry.

SMITH: That's right, Super Bowl XL in Roman numerals. The Rolling Stones at halftime, a little something for everybody tonight as the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Seattle Seahawks. And what a game it shapes up to be. The Pittsburgh Steelers trying for their fifth-ever Super Bowl championship. I can tell you right now, I'm outside gate C and I just made a count before the commercial. I counted like 16 Steelers fans and two Seahawks fans. Maybe this is the Pittsburgh entrance, I don't know, but we'll see inside. We do expect a pro-Steeler crowd inside.

Let's get to the game though, Jerome Bettis, here is here in his hometown, a 13-year veteran, a possible future hall of famer. He's waited his entire career to play in this championship game and he is finally here tonight and trying to again bring home a championship for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Meanwhile on the Seahawks side, Sean Alexander, the leading rusher of the season, in fact, the NFL's most valuable player and what a storybook season it would be for him to win the MVP and get the Seahawks their first-ever Super Bowl championship in their 30 years in existence.

The weather thankfully about to no longer be a factor as we're all heading indoors for kickoff here in just over an hour, but a couple of inches of snow fell overnight. Very brisk temperatures right now, about 30 degrees and a very sharp wind out of the north about 12 miles per hour, wind chill down in the teens, so a very chilly afternoon, but still thousands of fans walking the streets all day today.

Now here's a little prediction for you, score, 28-24. I'm not going to pick a team because they're so even, I can't do that, but you've got to love these two teams and the way they come together. The ownership of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the way they're shaped, the generations old ownership of the Rooney family, Iron City beer, Three Rivers, the blue collar image. For Seattle you've got Paul Allen, the Microsoft billionaire and what he's done with this team since he bought the franchise. Seattle coffee, Puget Sound, grunge rock, let's get them all together tonight and play some football. It should be an outstanding game. 28-24 is the score, that's what I'm going with but no idea who is going to win. Let's go back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. I'll go with that, 28-24. I like that. And I'm not picking a particular team, either. All right, I don't know any better. All right, thanks a lot, Larry.

SMITH: OK.

Other news across America today, takes us to Alabama. Congregations of several country churches held makeshift Sunday services two days after suspicious fires destroyed or damaged their sanctuaries. All say they will rebuild. We expect Federal agents to hold a news conference in the next hour. A $10,000 reward has been offered in the case.

In upstate New York, what goes around comes around. Penny Brown was having lunch at a restaurant when she began to choke. Then 17- year-old kitchen worker Kevin Stephan stepped in. A volunteer fireman, he performed the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life and here's the amazing part. The woman had saved Kevin's life when he was 10 and he was choking. She had performed CPR on him when he collapsed at a baseball field after being hit in the chest with a bat.

Why are Iranians writing letters to their president and do they expect an answer? Our Christiane Amanpour takes a special look at life in Iran, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A new round of diplomatic maneuvering in Iran nuclear standoff. Iran's foreign ministry says diplomacy may still resolve its present stalemate with the International Atomic Energy Agency. An industry spokesman told reporters today Iran has not reached a dead end. Yesterday Iran's president ordered the country to end its voluntary cooperation with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency. That move followed an IAEA vote to report Iran's nuclear activities to the U.N. Security Council. A top U.S. intelligence official says Iran will likely continue its nuclear program despite the threat of sanctions.

As Iran's nuclear ambitions play out on the world stage, there is a different story playing out on the streets and in the living rooms of that country. In one of the best of CNN's stories from last week, Christiane Amanpour hears some of the questions Iranians have for their president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bandar Abbas is Iran's biggest commercial port, but many of its people are poor, after three decades of economic mismanagement. Iran's new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come here today to promise that he'll change all that, an important message, especially now that he's confronting the west over Iran's nuclear program.

TRANSLATOR: Our neighbors, Pakistan and India have nuclear technology. So why is the United States barring us from having it?

AMANPOUR: Most Iranians agree, but they also want to tell their president about their troubles at home. Today, these special mail boxes have been set up so they can send him their personal letters. Tell me why you're sending letters to the president.

TRANSLATOR: Because we really think he'll deal with our problems, she says. He's ready to listen to our complaints and resolve them like our job and housing problems.

He may or may not help us, says this woman, Zora, but his presidency is enough for us and we thank God. Partly because of his humble background, partly because of his fundamentalist Islamic faith, the president has many supporters here like this local government official.

TRANSLATOR: I want Iran to be developed and Iran that will fight global arrogance, a fully pure Iran and our president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is really doing that.

AMANPOUR: But there are skeptics looking on like Ali. Ali says that we've been hearing this for 25 years.

TRANSLATOR: That's not true. For 25 years we have seen progress.

AMANPOUR: Ali's letter to the president is an invitation to come and see how the city's poor are coping.

TRANSLATOR: You say you are one of us, so please spare a moment to come and see how we live. There are 11 people at my house and I am the only breadwinner.

AMANPOUR: Ali lost his job two years ago, but somehow he has to provide for all those who depend on him. President Ahmadinejad said that he has come to help the poor, people like you. Has he done it?

TRANSLATOR: We haven't seen anything tangible so far. Mr. Ahmadinejad, instead of dealing with our problems is confronting other countries like the United States and Israel. This will only worsen the situation, not make it better. Today, when I saw you I just wanted to spill out all my troubles because nobody in this country listens to me.

AMANPOUR: But president Ahmadinejad's fiery rhetoric does draw crowds. His speech in Bandar Abbas the night we visited was packed as he continued his trademark attacks on the U.S. And despite threats of harsh, economic sanctions which could drive the country further into poverty, he defiantly pledged not to be bullied into abandoning Iran's nuclear program.

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I declare to the big powers of the world that Iran and the Iranian government will follow the path to achieve peaceful, nuclear technology.

AMANPOUR: Later, back in the capital Tehran, the president held a press conference. You have said over and over again that your priority is to serve the people. We've been talking to some of the people, particularly in Bandar Abbas which you just visited and they tell us that they've heard these slogans over and over again and their life doesn't change and they get poorer.

AHMADINEJAD (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I don't know which people you (INAUDIBLE). If you mean the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who are there chanting slogans in support of the government, the president and his programs, it's obvious they are with us, but if you mean imaginary people that you have interviewed, so be it.

AMANPOUR: But there's nothing imaginary about poverty in Iran. This is southern Tehran, an Ahmadinejad stronghold. He based his presidential campaign around the promise to make life better for Iran's poor, but if Iran is further isolated, if sanctions are imposed, he'll have a hard time delivering. Iran itself says that 20 percent of its people live below the poverty line, while many outside sources say it could be double that figure. This man Masoud (INAUDIBLE) has made a documentary to show how grinding poverty has driven some to what an Islamic Iran is all, but unthinkable, prostitution. Why did you make this film?

TRANSLATOR: My main reason for making this film was to raise the issue of social justice.

AMANPOUR: Although he's a staunch supporter of Iran's Islamic system, he says he's trying to improve it by showing its failings, but the film was banned last year, although he claims millions of Iranians have seen bootleg copies. Tell me about one of the women you met, one of the girls. Why were they doing it?

TRANSLATOR: Some were prostituting themselves to make a living, but others were doing it to get money for their tuition fees in private universities.

AMANPOUR: Some people think we do this work for pleasure, she says, but it's because of poverty. Back in Bandar Abbas, poverty is also driving Ali to despair. Tonight, like every night, he'll cruise the streets using his own car as a taxi. On a good night he can make $8, but gypsy cabs like his are illegal and if he's caught he'll get a $10 fine.

TRANSLATOR: This dilapidated car is my only source of income and I have nothing else. I see absolutely no light for the future. I don't see a better tomorrow.

AMANPOUR: Christiane Amanpour CNN, Bandar Abbas, Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A deadly prison riot near Los Angeles. Straight ahead, we'll take you live to the north county correctional center for the very latest on the situation there. CNN LIVE SUNDAY will be right back, but first, a breakthrough in brain power and what it might mean to the paralyzed, to people who have lost their ability to move, but not their ability to think. Welcome to the future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was one of the people that, whenever anybody did something nice for me I would send them a thank you card just silly things, just writing what's going on in our lives, and I can't do that anymore. My family thought I was nuts, but I used to go out and shovel snow. It was just invigorating and I do miss that. When I first was diagnosed, I thought I would start keeping a journal. I like to blog, because I'm able to write my feelings down and I would like for people to see that life can be still lived with a disease, such as mine. Most times I have to use my left hand to move my right hand on the mouse. One of my concerns for the future is that I'm not going to be able to write my blog, because I won't have the functioning at all from my hands.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Rosemarie was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease about two years ago. Rapidly she is losing the ability to move or even speak. But there's nothing wrong with her mind. What if she had the ability to write her blog to control her computer simply by thinking about it?

This man believes the future is now. Dr. Lee Hockberg (ph) of Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the nation's top neurologists. His focus, a mind boggling clinical study called brain gate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The goal of the brain gate neural interface system is to determine whether someone with paralysis is able to use their own thought or their own intention to move to at first to control a computer curser on a screen.

O'BRIEN: It all begins with this tiny chip. Attached to the part of the brain that controls movement, it detects electrical activity and sends those signals to an external device, a process which then interprets those brain waves and feeds them into a computer, literally turning thought into action. Twenty-six year old Matthew Nagle (ph) was the first patient to participate in the brain gate clinical trial. Paralyzed from the neck down, watch what he accomplished purely through the power of his mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next, turn on my television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was able to use that computer cursor to change the channel on the television set.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm going to channel up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To open and close simulated e-mail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It says you're doing a great job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was also successful in opening and closing a prosthetic hand just by thinking about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open. Close. (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very hopeful that these technologies will be able to help people with paralysis in the future to control their environment more directly and I hope one day to be able to move again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The great majority of people live three to five years after diagnosis. Some people live 10 years. There are some that live 20 years, which I plan on being one of those people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories. A terrorist mastermind convicted in the killings of 17 U.S. sailors is back on the loose. That announcement made today by Interpol which said 23 convicts escaped from a prison in Yemen through a tunnel built in secret.

Jamaal al Badawi was sentenced to death for the attack on the USS Cole. Israeli air strike in Gaza killed two Palestinian militants.

The dead are identified as the top rocket maker of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad and one of the group's field commanders. Israel says two had been involved in the rocket attacks on Israelis.

Tight security awaits tomorrow's expected start of sentencing procedures for Zacarias Moussaoui. The French Moroccan terrorist pleaded guilty last spring to taking part in the 9/11 conspiracy. He was jailed shortly before the attacks after raising suspicions at a flight school in Minnesota. The government wants Moussaoui put to death.

Authorities in Massachusetts say Jacob Robida may have had co- conspirators in his hatchet and knife attack in a gay bar south of Boston. Robida died today after a gun battle in Arkansas that left a policeman dead. A woman found good in the car of Robida has been identified now as Jennifer Bailey of Charleston, West Virginia.

The nation's largest jail system is locked down today after a race-related riot involving hundreds of prisoners. Authorities say one prisoner was killed and more than 100 injured. CNN's Kareen Wynter Castaic, California, about 40 miles from Downtown Los Angeles. Kareen?

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it was an absolutely incredible scene at this Southern California correctional facility yesterday. In fact, official his to use tear gas and non- lethal forms of explosive devices just to get things under control here. Forty-five-year-old Wayne Tiznor, an inmate was killed in that riot and investigators say they're now focused on finding his killer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER (voice-over): Overturned mattresses, debris-filled hallways, this is what's left following a massive chaos. We're inside a Southern California maximum security jail just hours after a deadly weekend riot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a racial turf war.

WYNTER: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says as many as 2,000 inmates were involved. Two hundred of them reportedly engaged in serious fighting. Inside dormitories at the Wayside North County Correctional Facility. Instead of improvised weapons, officials say the inmates used their fists, heavy metal objects and even threw bunk beds from a top level of the facility.

A medical triage unit was set up outside the complex to treat the wounded, dozens of them, while teams in riot gears stormed the jail with tear gas. A 45-year-old black inmate, a registered sex offender, was killed in the riot. The L.A. County sheriff read a letter written by an inmate, evidence he says of racial tension.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No disrespect but if blacks come into any dorms we will fight. We do not want to go against the sheriffs. Please separate us by race.

WYNTER: Officials say the attack may have retaliation for recent stabbing last week by a black inmate on a Latino gang member. Sheriff Backa says while it's against the law to segregate inmates they may have to do that to create a safer environment. Until then, the facility remains on lockdown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: Investigators say it appears Tiznor died of blunt trauma. An autopsy will provide more conclusive results. Fred, it was just last month, Tiznor was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender.

WHITFIELD: Kareen Wynter. Thank you.

Well, the hunt is on for 13 convicted al Qaeda terrorists when escaped from a Yemeni prison. Interpol has identified one of the escapees as the mastermind behind the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr has the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The escape of the 23 prisoners from a Yemeni jail including 13 convicted al Qaeda terrorists is a major embarrassment for the Yemeni government which had been trying to convince the Bush administration it had broken the back of the al Qaeda network in the country. A U.S. government official with direct knowledge of the situation tells CNN a national manhunt is underway.

(voice-over): Yemeni security forces, including elite counter- terrorism units, have been deployed to try to find the prisoners including the mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000.

(on camera): The official calls the escape a major setback for gem Yemen, but the government is sharing information with the U.S. about the situation.

(voice-over): The U.S. Navy had been planning to bring another war ship into Yemen for a port call, the first time since the bombing of the USS Cole, but now that plan may be on hold.

(on camera): Interpol has issued aye an urgent global security alert for the escapees saying they pose, quote, "a clear and present danger." Reports indicate the men may have escaped by digging a tunnel but sources are also saying it appears they must have had some help from either inside or outside the highly-secure prison in which they were being held.

There is great concern they may be headed into northern Yemen, an area where the government has little control. Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The cartoon controversy has sparked fresh violence in Lebanon. Thousands of protesters torched the Danish consulate and damaged a Catholic Church in Beirut today. Lebanon's interior minister has resigned but it's unclear whether he stepped down because of the violence.

Yesterday protesters in Syria set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies. Newspapers in both countries published editorial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad which is banned under Islamic law. Iraq's Transportation Ministry is cutting all ties with Denmark and Norway over the images. A ministry official says all contracts with Danish and Norwegian companies will be terminated immediately.

The White House and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan are among several international leaders who have asked for calm and respect for the religion in the region.

Is it possible to rock out in Iran? Our Christiane Amanpour goes deep underground to find modern music. That story straight ahead.

And later, keeping the 2006 Winter Olympic Games safe. Is Torino, Italy, ready for the challenge? We'll take a close look. CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Another look now inside a changing Iran. Many Iranians embrace the growing conservative nature of that country. Others worry about a shrinking number of freedoms. In another look at one of the best of CNN, chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour goes underground in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): There are two Irans, two kinds of people. Here, the Islamic hard-liners whose defiant message dominates public prayers that are held every Friday.

And here, a hidden nation of people who are both fearful of the hard-liners and desperate for a dialogue, not a screaming match with the world. We went looking for some of those voices and we found them underground, literally, squeezed between this high-rise and a highway, young musicians who are rarely heard outside this sound-proof bunker.

They must play in the shadows because in the Islamic Republic of Iran, it's impossible for rock groups to get a permit to play in public.

(MUSIC)

AMANPOUR: These guys call their band "127" and they've only been seen a few times on campus.

(MUSIC)

AMANPOUR (on camera): How many times have you been able to perform publicly here?

SORAB, MUSICIAN: Five times.

AMANPOUR: Five times in how long?

SORAB: In five years.

AMANPOUR: In five years?

SORAB: It makes it once per year.

AMANPOUR: Is that enough?

SORAB: No. We'd rather play every day.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): But that's not likely to happen under Iran's new Islamic fundamentalist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He wants only traditional Persian or classical Western music on the government airwaves not what he calls indecent, obscene, western music and this suits the president's many hard-line allies just fine.

We came to this mosque to hear from them. These are the Basijis, Islamic militants, the unofficial enforcers of fundamentalist ideals in neighborhoods all over Iran.

(on camera): Why are young pop groups here not allowed to perform in public?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What they are playing is propagating European and American things. So we demand that Mr. Ahmadinejad confront this kind of music. This is an Islamic republic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are Iranians. We have given a lot of martyrs. We to stand up for the blood of those martyrs.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): Any hope the West might somehow influence change in Iran seems to be fading. With the new president, religious hard-liners are consolidating their hold on power and on people's lives, in fact, the cultural freedoms enjoyed by filmmakers, artists and journalists under Iran's previous reformist president are slipping away.

SCHARKHIZ, NEWSPAPER EDITOR (through translator): There is now tough press censorship, not a single daily newspaper has been allowed to open.

AMANPOUR: He should know, at end of the reform era, many of his newspapers were shut down by Iran's conservatives.

SCHARKIS: A large number of journalists, writers, artists have packed their bags to leave the country. But those who can't do so have to accept whatever Mr. Ahmadinejad imposes on them.

AMANPOUR: So for many people, life under the conservative government has become a constant game of cat and mouse and it's been played out on the Internet. Home of Iran's bloggers. There are over a million blogs in the Farsi language, making it the world's largest Web community and the sites range from the political to the personal. This man runs his own Web site about media technology.

(on camera): Are you able to go anywhere on this Internet? Can you go to any site you want?

MUSTAFA, WEBMASTER: No. We can't access sites that are pornographic or immoral, but also a number of political Web sites written in Farsi are banned like Voice of America News.

Access denied.

AMANPOUR: Access denied to VOA News.

Now that the conservatives have won, do you think it will would have an effect on your blogging, on your freedom on the blog?

MUSTAFA (through translator): What's happened after these last elections is that the bloggers have been put off politics. So young people in Iran are now more interested in recreation.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): And they can find it right here on the ski slopes north of Tehran. An astonishing two-thirds of the Iranian population is under 30 and whatever hopes the West may pin on them, for now, it seems they want to escape politics and the hard-line pressures, escape to fun, sun and snow.

AMIR SADRI, SNOW BOARD MANAGER: From what I've seen they just want to be free and have a good time. We can see boys and girls freely skiing together, sitting down together, listening to the same music. We're happy and have smiles on our face and this is one of the first times that it's happened in a ski resort in Iran.

AMANPOUR: Amir Sadri is managing Tehran's snowboarding challenge.

SADRI: We try to take the barriers for a little bit and make changes to the norms.

AMANPOUR: For instance, at this unusual nighttime ski show. There's a deejay and he's allowed to blast his music because it's a techno version of an ode to one of Islam's most important religious figures.

Everyone here is trying to feel out the limits of President Ahmadinejad's administration.

(MUSIC)

AMANPOUR: Playing hit and run with the censors is practiced to perfection by Tehran's actors and artists.

This director is navigating on tricky territory in a Bertolt Brecht.

"To maneuver through all of the red lines here you have to be a good acrobat. The most important red line is that a man and a woman can't have sex out of wedlock. So I had to change the text in the play."

Like many in Iran today, she's resigned to seeking refuge in the work she loves.

HAJIAN, DIRECTOR: Because you are an artist so you need the art. So you try to make it in any situation.

AMANPOUR: But the situation has just become much more challenging. As we heard from the regime's true believers at the mosque.

(on camera): You know a lot of people are afraid that some of the freedoms that came with the Khatami government, in fact, many of the reforms will go away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What they are doing what everybody wanted. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When Mr. Ahmadinejad came to power he gave us our ideals back. The ideals we fought for more than 25 years ago in the revolution.

AMANPOUR (voice-over): But with President Ahmadinejad on a collision course with the outside world, opposition leaders like Reza Khatami, the former president's brother, are worried that the people will pay the price.

(on camera): If the West puts a lot of pressure in Iran, what will the result be?

REZA KHATAMI, OPPOSITION LEADER: In the long term it is not beneficial, not only for Iranian people, and also for the western countries. It caused much more fundamentalists in Iran. You can isolate the government of Iran, but it doesn't mean that you should isolate the Iranian people. I think opening the doors is the best way, not closing the doors.

AMANPOUR (on camera): Tonight, as the lights go out on this performance, no one can predict how Iran's bigger drama will end. Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Tehran.

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WHITFIELD: The Torino Olympic Winter Games are just days away. A behind the scenes look at the effort to keep athletes and fans safe straight ahead. Stay with CNN.

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WHITFIELD: In our security watch today, the Torino Winter Games. The games begin Friday ask as CNN's Alessio Vinci reports, the Italians aren't taking any chances.

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ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There will be one security agent for every six athletes. A total of 15,000 men to secure the sprawling Olympic area including several stadiums in the city of Torino and three different mountain resorts hosting alpine competitions.

COL. ROBERTO ANGIUS, ITALIAN ARMY: The main difficulty is to check everyone, every place, everywhere.

VINCI: The Interior Ministry has more than doubled the number of police officers normally in Torino and for the first time in Italy, police will use the u.s.-made scooters known as Segways. The army is already patrolling each site even as work is still underway to prepare the venues. About 1,200 of the soldiers are alpine troops equipped and trained to intervene on skis and move fast on snow.

COL. GIOVANNI MANIONE, 3RD ALPINE REGIMENT: The paratroopers are in charge with the security, properly named. We are in charge with the safety of the slopes so should anything happen, the first aid is in charge of my regiments.

VINCI: Officials would rely on a wide network of 21 command centers like this one. Each able to communicate instantly with a central security headquarters set up especially for the games.

(on camera): Security officials stress there is no cause for alarm and that so far there have been no specific or serious threats. That said, Italy remains a possible target because an attack against the Olympics would give terrorists worldwide attention.

(voice-over): Officials say American and Israeli athletes are always the biggest concern.

GIUSEPPE PETRONZI, ITALIAN STATE POLICE: We are paying specific and particular attention to these kind of athletes. It doesn't mean that we don't pay attention to the other.

VINCI: But the Olympics are not the only target in mind of security officials. National elections are scheduled just two months after the opening ceremony and Italy to be could be a target of terror groups because of its deployment of troops in Iraq after the war. To date, the government has spent more than $100 million on Olympic security and the games haven't started. Officials say money is always better spent on prevention, but they do expect the final bill to be even higher. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Torino.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Remember to stay tuned day and night for the most reliable news about your security and stay tuned tonight because there's much more ahead including an in-depth report about improvised explosive devices. The complications and dangers involved in locating them in Iraq. CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues after this.

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