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Your World Today
Pakistan Turmoil; Doctors in India Operate on Girl With Eight Limbs; New Poll One Year Ahead of Presidential Election
Aired November 06, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Call for defiance. Pakistan's ousted chief justice asks lawyers nationwide to defy the president's emergency rule declaration.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Extraordinary surgery. Doctors in India operate on a young girl with eight limbs.
HOLMES: One year to go on this off-year Election Day. We'll take a look at the prospects for next year's U.S. presidential candidates.
GORANI: And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe there is a black market in kidneys for foreigners?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. And that's precisely the reason why we have come up with this program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: ... kidneys for sale? The Philippines considers unprecedented legislation to boost its economy.
It is 10:30 p.m. in Bangalore, India, 1:00 am in Manila in the Philippines.
Hello and welcome. Our report is seen around the globe this hour.
I'm Hala Gorani.
HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes.
From Bangalore to Budapest, Manila to Mexico City, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
Let's begin with a call to rise up against emergency rule, which marks the second day of street protests in Pakistan as a different kind of challenge to President Musharraf emerges, far from the chaos.
GORANI: Here's a look at the state of emergency in Pakistan, now into day four. HOLMES: Club-wielding police arrested more lawyers protesting the lockdown of Pakistan's judicial system. The deposed chief justice, under house arrest, urged all attorneys to defy police and protect the constitution.
GORANI: Meantime, the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, is now in Islamabad trying to draft a strategy for ending the crisis with other opposition leaders.
HOLMES: And amid all of this, Islamic militants seized a remote town near the Afghan border. Outnumbered security forces reportedly surrendered without a fight.
Well, General Pervez Musharraf says that kind of extremism is what forced him to declare a state of emergency in the first place.
GORANI: Critics though point out that judges and lawyers are the ones being shoved into jails. They say President Musharraf's real motivation is protecting his grip on power.
COLLINS: And as Emily Chang now reports, international calls are growing for him to restore democratic rule.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More violence on the streets of Pakistan as police beat, kicked and arrested lawyers outside courthouses in Lahore, Islamabad and other cities. The country's judicial system is now on lockdown with one in four lawyers in custody or detained in their homes and no courts open to free them.
There's no word when the state of emergency will be lifted. The Pakistani cabinet is meeting today to discuss when elections will be held.
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTANI PRESIDENT: I can assure you there will be harmony. There will be harmony, confidence will come back into government, into law enforcement agencies.
CHANG: A spokesperson for former prime minister and political rival Benazir Bhutto called President Pervez Musharraf's declaration an act of terror. Critics say he is desperate for power.
MARIA KUUSISTO, SOUTH ASIA ANALYST: I think that what Musharraf didn't sort of plan would be the follow-up from the state of emergency. And he is now sort of waiting and seeing what will happen in the streets, how the politicians will react.
CHANG: President Bush condemned Musharraf's actions but emphasized he remains an ally.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At the same time, we want to continue working with him to fight these terrorists and extremists.
CHANG: For now, holding cells across Pakistan are bursting with political prisoners, and the world watches to see what happens next.
Emily Chang, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Let's get an update on the ground now in Pakistan. Zain Verjee has just arrived in Islamabad a few hours ago.
Zain, let's begin with the latest on these lawyers. As that report mentions, lawyers are really the ones getting the rough end of the stick here. What's going on?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN STATE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. They're the ones being targeted here in this crackdown.
We're hearing now that more than 3,000 lawyers have been arrested. We're learning, too, that they're being brought in on terrorism charges and their cases are being brought before anti- terrorist courts.
Lawyers across the country are not going to the courts themselves because the courts are in lockdown. Thousands of human rights activists and political activists have been arrested. So have opposition leaders.
There's been a major crackdown on the media as well, Michael. Local TV stations are completely off the air. International channels like CNN and the BBC are also off the air. Eight journalists, we're hearing, have been arrested -- Michael.
HOLMES: You have been on the ground for just a short time, but long enough, I suspect, to get a sense of the street, the mood on the street.
VERJEE: Well, there's a sense of uncertainty, certainly, Michael. And a sense of real tension here in Islamabad.
As we were driving from the airport to the location where we're at, we did see some security forces on the streets. There are barriers all over the place. But additional barers have been put in place around the residence of the prime minister, as well as the president. There were major security forces in and around the hotel areas as well. So, in the city, the troops are here and they're on alert -- Michael.
HOLMES: And finally, one of the -- one of the things that we have been hearing certainly with local media, but also international media, is restrictions on what can be reported and when and where.
Have you come across any of that already?
VERJEE: Yes. There are a number of criteria that has been put out in some of these restrictions.
They include things like, for example, media people, journalists, can't do things like put out militants' statements and give them any air time or print time. And things like not criticizing the president, the head of state -- General Musharraf, in other words. Also not criticizing senior members of the government and army officials. That's a restriction too. There are severe penalties, including huge financial sums, as well as certain amounts of time in jail, as much as three years -- Michael.
HOLMES: All right, Zain. Thanks very much.
Our own Zain Verjee there on the ground in Islamabad -- Hala.
GORANI: Well, we have been asking you to send us pictures and videos of the turbulence in Pakistan as you, our viewers, have been experiencing it. The situation obviously tense, as we heard just now. We've gotten a few reports on some protests at a university yesterday.
Emad Nadim, a student at Lahore University, sent us this video. A group of students marched in protest over the state of emergency in Pakistan.
Another student, Zahra Sabri, sent us this video, saying the students clashed with police. She says three faculty members were arrested and are being currently held, according to her, without charge.
HOLMES: Let's turn now to northern Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber detonated near a group of lawmakers who were touring a sugar plant. The interior ministry says 30 people were killed in the attack, but some reports put the toll much higher, as high as 100. Well, the blast apparently targeted those lawmakers on that visit to the sugar plant to highlight economic growth in the area.
Italian police, meanwhile, say 20 people suspected of helping recruits suicide bombers have been arrested in Europe, 11 of them in Italy. They say the recruits were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. They say that during the arrests, they found al Qaeda manuals for the production of explosives, detonation devices. They also found various poisons.
GORANI: Now to a rare and risky procedure. A team of doctors in India is operating on a little girl born with four arms and four legs. This is complicated, of course, and the operation could take up to 40 hours.
Anjali Rao has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANJALI RAO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): She's two years old and has all the energy of a healthy toddler, but Lakshmi is not your average 2-year-old. Born into a poor family in India's northeastern state of Bihar, she has an extremely rare medical condition.
Lakshmi is actually an ischiopagus conjoined twin, which means she has two bodies fused together at the pelvis extending in a straight line with one head and eight limbs. Lakshmi's father, a farmer, says that when she was born, the family was terrified they wouldn't be able to care for her.
She was born during the Hindu holiday season of Diwali and gradually villagers began to revere her as an incarnation of her namesake, Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. He says, "Everyone started worshipping her. We also worshipped her." He tells us, "After all, the whole village was doing so."
Lakshmi's first months were difficult. She developed infections and fevers and needed urgent medical attention. After months of searching for a surgeon willing to take the case, they were referred to an orthopedic surgeon in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, who agreed to assemble a team of specialists to do the surgery for free.
DR. SHARAN SHIVRAJ PATIL, SPARSH HOSPITAL: Unlike the routine surgical procedures we perform day in and day out, this is a special situation. There are many, many issues. Many, many specialists have to be involved in this.
RAO: On Tuesday morning, a group of 36 doctors begin a marathon operation which they expect to last at least 40 hours.
PATIL: The first aspect is to disentangle, get rid of this parasitic twin -- the whole torso, the limbs of this parasitic twin -- away from Lakshmi. Equally important will be the reconstruction of the pelvis, of the bones in the pelvis, anywhere from 20 to 30 percent chance of losing the baby.
RAO: Now, Lakshmi's mother waits. Before the surgery, she said she had just one message -- "Please pray for my daughter and pray that the operation is a success."
RAO: Anjali Rao, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone, to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.
GORANI: And a special welcome this hour to our viewers joining us from the United States.
HOLMES: Well, it is the first Tuesday in November, Election Day in the United States traditionally.
GORANI: Absolutely. Today Americans are voting in local elections, but next year at this time they'll be going to the polls to choose a new president.
HOLMES: Who's it going to be? Well, still too early to tell, of course. But if polls are any guide, we could be looking at a Giuliani/Clinton match-up at this time next year. GORANI: And at least week's Democratic debate, Senator Clinton's position -- or, rather, positions -- gave her Republican opponents plenty of ammunition for this impromptu impersonation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, gee, I can't figure out what to think. Let me see. Ah, let me see. Oh, wait, wait, wait.
First, don't pick on me by asking that question. That's a "gotcha" question. Do not pick on me for asking that question.
Now, let me see what I think. Let me see.
First put up your hands and tell me what you think. Then I'll tell you -- what do you think? Are you for it or against it?
(LAUGHTER)
GORANI: GIULIANI: OK. You're not going to tell me. So, I'm for it. I'm for it.
I'm against it. I'm for it and against it. And I want to be your president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Giuliani and Clinton may be the frontrunners now, but who is to say they'll still be out ahead this time next year when, of course, it counts?
GORANI: In fact, the latest poll shows them both slipping a bit, especially on the Democratic side.
Political analyst Bill Schneider crunches the numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Hillary Clinton got a lot of criticism for her performance in the debate last week.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are you asking me, did I hear things last night that would raise questions for voters? I did.
SCHNEIDER: Is there any evidence of damage among Democratic voters?
Clinton is still leading the Democratic field, but her lead over Barack Obama has slipped a bit, from 30 points in October to 19 points now. Clinton's momentum had been building steadily month by month since the spring. Last month it reached 51 percent. Now, her forward momentum has halted. Rudy Giuliani continues to lead among Republicans nationally, though at 28 percent, Giuliani still doesn't get as much support from his party as Clinton does from hers.
The only noticeable change in the Republican race is that Mike Huckabee, the fifth place contender, has reached double digits.
Whatever damage Clinton suffered among Democrats, she still has a slight lead over Giuliani, six points, among all voters.
If Republicans nominate Giuliani, some conservatives are threatening to put up a third-party candidate who believes abortion should be outlawed. Is Giuliani concerned?
RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My analysis of it is that that is more an attempt to try to keep the nomination from me, as a -- you know, as a tactic. It's an illegitimate one. People have to think about that and consider it.
SCHNEIDER: Here's something they might consider: 18 percent of voters say they would support an antiabortion third-party candidate against Clinton and Giuliani. Almost all of those votes would come from Giuliani.
In that three-way race, Clinton's margin over Giuliani would jump from six points to 16 points.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right. Bill Schneider joins us now live from Manchester, New Hampshire, with more on the race for the White House.
Now, this doesn't guarantee, Bill, of course, that these two frontrunners will end up as the nominees for their respective parties, does it?
SCHNEIDER: Nothing guarantees anything in politics. I looked at the record though of how the polls have done a year out, and there's something interesting. They have typically not predicted who the Democratic would be in previous years. In fact, they got it wrong in every year except 1984, when they predicted Walter Mondale.
But the polls have usually been right in predicting the Republican nominees. Republicans usually have an orderly succession, whereas Democrats have a free-for-all.
What's interesting is, this year it looks different. The Democrats look like they're having an orderly succession with Hillary Clinton, and the Republicans are having a free-for-all. So this year could reverse everything.
GORANI: And Giuliani, as we saw there, so many and a very large chunk of Republican voters would say, I would support an anti-abortion third party. This is very much splitting the right, isn't it, in America? SCHNEIDER: It certainly is. And conservatives are saying to Republicans, you nominate Rudy Giuliani and we can bring him down. And Republicans can answer to conservatives, OK. If you do that, look who you'll be putting in the White House, Hillary Clinton. That's what this debate is all about.
GORANI: All right. Bill Schneider, thank you very much.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HOLMES: All right. And remember that CNN.com your source for all the developments in the U.S. presidential race.
GORANI: All right.
If you would like to know more about the candidates, the parties, the election process -- and what about the issues -- abortion, immigration, Iraq and now Pakistan -- to see how all these are playing into the political race, go to CNN.com/politics.
HOLMES: Well, the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, has announced plans that Egypt is going to build nuclear power plants to generate electricity. Egypt, just one of several countries in the already volatile Middle East that want to move into the nuclear arena. But how will that change the complex balance in the region?
Aneesh Raman takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN SR. MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When Egypt's longest-serving president shows up to greet the party faithful, you would think Caesar was walking into the forum. And so it went Tuesday, as Hosni Mubarak outlined his latest vision for Egypt, saving for the end a long-ignored goal.
"Egypt," he announced, "is going forward to build nuclear power plants for the sake of our security."
It is a major reversal. After the 1986 disaster in Chernobyl, Egypt publicly shelved any nuclear ambitions. But now they're back and the timing is worrisome.
In the past year, around a dozen Middle Eastern countries have said they want nuclear energy. Among them, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and now Egypt. All say the reason is alternative energy for when the oil runs out.
Dr. Mohamed Shaker is an expert on nuclear proliferation.
DR. MOHAMED SHAKER, EGYPTIAN COUNCIL, FOREIGN AFFAIRS: It would take us 30 years to have the -- enough power to replace the weakening of our reserves in oil and in gas.
RAMAN: But it's hard to ignore another reason, Iran's nuclear program, which has its Middle Eastern neighbors fearing they'll be left behind. Everyone says they want peaceful nuclear energy, but nobody knows who will be running these countries in 10 or 20 years. Who will control nuclear programs that could veer towards military aims?
It's why some want an end to the race before it even begins.
SHAKER: I am personally -- I'm in favor of establishing a nuclear, a regional nuclear fuse cycle where you don't have to build all what you need to be a cycle that would -- all countries of the region would -- the Arab countries would participate in it. And they could check on each other under the program.
RAMAN (on camera): What are the chances of that happening, do you think?
SHAKER: I don't know.
RAMAN (voice over): Because among other things, it's a tough sell for a region fraught with mistrust.
(on camera): It all puts the United States in a tough bind, backing, as they have already done, allies like Egypt in their pursuit of nuclear energy, while at the same time isolating Iran and trying to keep the Middle East free of nuclear weapons. Critics argue it's a mixed message and say the U.S. is putting out the fire of proliferation with a bucket of kerosene.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
Ahead this hour, a not so gnarly ban.
HOLMES: Yes, this is getting a lot of people angry. Why surfers, they're not going to be flying British Airways, not inf they want to catch some waves on their own planks.
GORANI: Also, will it be clashes of the policemen in one Middle Eastern town?
We'll bring you that story after this.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from around the globe, including this hour the United States. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.
HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes. The top stories we're following at this minute.
Lawmakers facing off with police again in Pakistan. This time in the city of Multan where hundreds of police blocked a thousand lawyers from staging a rally. Some 3,000 lawyers have been arrested since the president declared a state of emergency on Saturday.
GORANI: A delicate surgery continues in India, on a little girl named Lakshmi (ph). It could take up to 40 hours. She was born with four arms and four legs. Her parents named her after the multi-limbed Hindu goddess.
HOLMES: Members of Afghanistan's parliament are condemning a suicide bombing that claimed some of their on. Six lawmakers among those killed in the northern city in Baglan (ph). The interior minister say 30 people were killed. Others reports say the toll was much higher.
GORANI: The trade in human organs is nothing new. People have often paid top dollar for body parts when a loved one's life is on the line. To that end, the Philippines is trying to take the trade off the black market making kidneys, for example, a legitimate export. Some say it's entrepreneurship. Others say it exploits the country's poor, plain and simple. Hugh Riminton examines the ethics of the organ trade.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the desperate shanties of the Philippines, the scars of a strange epidemic. Like so many others here, these men have sold a kidney.
"I just did it because, you know my family needs the money," says Ricky Villegas, "And I didn't have a job. So, I just gave my kidney away."
Each received about $2,000 U.S., eight times his annual income.
(On camera): It is illegal to sell a kidney in the Philippines, but it is not illegal to donate one. Nor is it against the law to receive a gift from the grateful recipient. Into that loophole falls a thriving trade in human tissue. One village official has told us that in these few streets alone, hundreds of people, most of them men, have already sold a kidney.
(Voice over): Agents, illegal middle men broker the deals for around $1,000 for each donor they find, but the donors we found are still poor. Leo Coca built a house with his money, but it burned down. No insurance in these streets. Fire also claimed Ricky Villegas' kidney cash before he even recovered from the operation. Joey Ebanyez (ph) was 19 when he sold his kidney to help his sick mother. His share of the money was gone, he says, in three months.
The recipients of their kidneys were foreigners. In two cases, Chinese. The other, a Saudi. Some Philippine officials want to change the law now to make it easier, not harder, for people from around the world to get hold of their people's organs.
(on camera): You do believe there is a black market in kidneys for foreigners? DR. REYNALDO LESACA, PHILIPPINE NATL. KIDNEY INST.: Yes. And that's precisely the reason why we have come up with this program.
RIMINTON: Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca is the head of HOPE, the Human Organ Preservation Effort, at the Philippine National Kidney Institute. He's drafting a new law that could be in effect early next year, making healthy human kidneys an official Philippine export.
(on camera): Do you think at the end of it, it will free up, make simpler the process by which Filipinos can donate kidneys?
LESACA: I believe so. I believe so.
RIMINTON: It becomes an accepted path, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the economy?
LESACA: That's correct.
RIMINTON (voice over): With the rich world aging, but with many young, poor Filipinos, the confronting question is this, are children being raised for little more purpose here than as incubators of organs marked for sale?
Doctor Lesaca says medical ethicists here approve, but there are many others around the world where selling an organ is almost always illegal, who oppose the move. He insists his main concern is for the donors.
LESACA: We're giving better or more donor protection, which, in the past worldwide has been a big problem. It is pushed aside, been exploited, not taken care of.
RIMINTON: All three of these men now tell me they have regrets about selling their kidney.
"I tell people it is a sin against God," says Ricky Villegas. "It is karma," says Leo Coca (ph). "Something is given by God and you sell it, that is why we lost everything. Hugh Riminton, CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Disturbing stuff. The Philippines is just one link in the organ chain that stretches really right across the world.
GORANI: All right, what is fueling the trade? Analysts say, of course, it is a matter of supply and demand. Waiting lists in richer countries are growing far faster than the actual supply of organs. The wait time for a kidney in the United States and Europe is about three years. It is expected to rise to 10 years by 2010.
HOLMES: The World Health Organization says kidney transplants are the ones most commonly performed; more than 60,000 every year. Out of these, the WHO estimates that 10 percent are performed as cases of transplant tourism.
GORANI: Iran is the only state in the world that operates a legal market in organs for the benefit of its citizens, but this could change as we saw there in Hugh's report as other countries look into options.
HOLMES: They look like the police, they and act like the police. And to some extent they are police. But the Palestinians patrolling the streets of Gaza have only limited powers. That has many residents angry, as our Ben Wedeman tells us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They rush to their car and head for the streets, eager to show there's a new order in Nablus. Instructions go out over the radio, show that cameraman the best face of the Palestinian police. And 300 Palestinian policemen have deployed here to bring the law back to this often lawless West Bank city.
Nablus was a battlefield during the darkest days of the second Palestinian intifada. Many of the suicide bombers who struck Israel came from Nablus. Their attacks followed by massive Israeli incursions. Israeli forces still enter Nablus on a regular basis, frequently sparking clashes. Self-appointed vigilantes or armed gangs took advantage of the disorder to set up protection rackets. Now, the police are out in force, stopping cars, checking papers.
"There was a time when everyone ignored the law," says Sergeant Aza Abda Raheem (ph). "But that's over. There will be no return to anarchy."
In the market of the old city, vegetable vendor Ahmad Awadi (ph) sees an improvement.
"People are safer," he tells me. "The streets have been cleaned. Women can go out. There's no more chaos."
But just in case you thought these new cops on the block call the shots, think again.
(On camera): These policemen are out on the streets of Nablus --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: We want to get you to the White House now. The president is speaking on import safety, holding a press conference live now.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... to ensure the safety of our imports. For many years, we've relied on a strategy based on identifying unsafe products at the border. Problem is that the growing volume of products, coming into our country makes this approach increasingly unreliable.
The working group recommended that we adopt a smarter and more effective approach that focuses on prevention, building safety into products from the very beginning of the supply chain. Under this approach, we will focus on stopping dangerous products from reaching our border in the first place. For example, by ensuring that food and consumer products meet our standards for safety before they leave their home countries.
Today, the working group presented me with 14 recommendations for areas where we can begin implementing such an approach. And I appreciate your hard work. For example, we will establish new incentives for importers that follow strong safety practices and demonstrate a good track record. We'll increase our training of inspectors in foreign countries so they can stop dangerous goods at their borders instead of ours.
We'll work for higher and more uniformed standards for high-risk foods and consumer goods and work to increase penalties for those who violate U.S. import laws and regulations. Secretary Leavitt will provide you with a more detailed briefing on these recommendations in a few moments.
In conjunction with these import safety measures, the food and drug administration is today unveiling a food protection plan. This plan addresses both imported and domestically produced food and will strengthen the FDA's ability to coordinate with other federal agencies to protect our food supply. Identifying risks all along the food supply chain, this plan will help to prevent the problems from arising, respond effectively if they do, and improve communication with industry and our public.
A key feature of both our import safety plan and our food protection plan is a recommendation that the FDA be granted new authority to recall the unsafe food products. Specifically, the FDA would be empowered to order a recall when a company refuses to recall their product voluntarily, or moves too slowly in removing the unsafe product from the market. With this authority, FDA will be in a better position to act quickly if any problem occurs.
Steps I have announced today will require wide ranging cooperation between federal agencies, foreign governments, the private sector and consumer safety organizations. Some steps can be implemented by the executive branch, and we will move forward with these measures. Other will require legislation and we'll work with Congress to enact the appropriate laws.
All these steps will require a commitment by all involved to make the safety of our children, and our families, the highest priority. I thank the members of the working group for their continued efforts on this important issue. American people expect our system of import safety to be strong and effective, and we will continue to work to make sure that it is. Thank you.
(END LIVE FEED)
LEMON: All right. The president there talking about how -- what he is working on to improve product safety in the country as well as food safety, saying that he is working with food and consumer product safety companies to try to get a handle on that, also saying that higher standards need to be met.
The U.S. needs to have higher standards and also incentives for importers also need to be done in order to get them to bring in safer products into the country; and also increasing penalties from those importers who bring in products that are not safe. He said he's working with the FDA to give them new authority over recalls so that they can remove tainted food products from the shelves. And also said he will work with them for new legislation on all of that.
We'll join CNN International in progress, get you back to them. Then we'll have more on that at the top of the hour right here in the CNN NEWSROOM for now, we send you back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.
GORANI: Of course, but this hour, as well, we welcome our U.S. viewers.
HOLMES: Yes, let's go to U.S. politics now, or return to it. The Republican Party is struggling, really, to redefine its in the soon-to-be post George W. Bush era.
GORANI: Not too long ago, they were the dominant force in U.S. politics, controlling both houses of Congress as well as the White House.
HOLMES: Now, only about a quarter of the U.S. electorate identifies themselves as Republican.
GORANI: As John King tells us, Republican leaders are telling us it's time to re-brand the party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): One year to Election Day and the Republican Party is looking for much more than a new leader.
GOV. MARK SANFORD, SOUTH CAROLINA: It takes time to damage a brand and takes even longer to rebuild it.
KING: A good brand builds trust. The consumer knows what to expect. It's critical in the marketplace, and in politics.
SANFORD: The Republican Party, I think, has really been hurt with regard to its brand on the degree to which it will walk the walk on government spending and government taxes.
KING: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford sees a party that has lost it's way on pocketbook issues. Others see a threat to the GOP's social conservative branding.
I see more anger, more frustration, more of a sense of betrayal by the Republican leaders in Washington, now than I have in the 45 years I've been involved at the national level.
KING: Whatever the reason, the brand is in decline. Only 25 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans; 36 percent, when independents are asked which party they lean toward. By comparison, 33 percent identify as Democrats, and that climbs to 50 percent when asked independents are asked their leanings. The largest gap in 20 years of Pew Research Center polling.
ANDY KOHUT, PEW RESEARCH CENTER: It's the war. It's the way Bush has -- views about the way Bush has run the country and discontent with the status quo.
KING: All this on the watch of a president whose bold ambition was to build lasting Republican majority.
SANFORD: He's not the only one to blame. I don't want to suggest that. As much as the presidency, if you're the party in power, he's sort of the titular head of the Republican Party, certainly some of the buck stops there.
KING: Picking a new leader is just one step in the rebuilding process.
WHITE AYERS, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: The real challenge for the Republican Party is figuring out how to keep the base happy while, at the same time, reaching out to the independents who voted Democrat in 2006.
KING: But that outreach to independents, while critical to repairing the party's image, is for now on the back burner, with the GOP nomination race so wide open, virtually all of the candidates' time is focused on courting the conservative base. John King, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: So, today is the first Tuesday of November, but it's 2007, not 2008. So, we have almost exactly a year before Americans choose their next president. Let's get a status check on the race from a political pundit. David Mark is the senior editor of Politico.com. He joins us now live.
What do you make of this Republicans needing to re-brand their party?
DAVID MARK, SR. EDITOR, POLITICO.COM: I think you need to only look at the presidential field to see how wide the dissatisfaction is. You don't have any one candidate, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Fred Thompson, or the others dominating this race. Whereas on the Democratic side, you see the Democratic rank and file pretty satisfied with the field they have.
So, I think you see people casting far and wide to find new candidates and figure out what the party is all about.
GORANI: So, David Mark, how will this affect the race, do you think?
MARK: Well, it puts the Republicans at a seeming disadvantage at this point, when you have fewer people identifying themselves with that party than with the opposition that is a severe disadvantage. There is, however, a long time to go. As you know, there's a whole year out before the race. There's a lot that can change before now and then.
GORANI: Also in polls that is pit the Republican front-runner against the Democratic front-runner, you don't have that kind of gap.
MARK: No. You also have to look at the state-by-state polls. We don't have a national election. We have 50 different state elections. In some of these narrowly contested states, the race is going to be a lot closer than we're seeing at the national level. I think it will tighten up a lot between now and then.
GORANI: Where do you think the -- which states do you think will be the deciding states, those where the race is very close and those that will determine, really -- be very important in determining who wins?
There are always a few states that are contested. Look at Ohio, which basically decided the race last time. You have Pennsylvania, Florida. The Democrats, however, are looking to really pick up some big gains, electoral votes, out West, Colorado, New Mexico, maybe Arizona, back East in Virginia. We're seeing a lot of new states potentially in play that have not been contested in the past.
GORANI: And a quick question on Hillary Clinton. Is she sort of losing her luster, losing her lead, appearing like she's not willing to commit on big policy issues?
MARK: There seems to be that perception, because she did have a rather poor performance in the last debate. I think it's way too early, however, to say that she's really lost a head of steam. That's only one debate. The other candidates were aggressive and did go after her. We'll have to see that happen a lot more before she really starts to see support siphoned off from her front-runner status.
GORANI: Well, the thing is, she's being attacked by her own party, those contesting the nomination, alongside her, and also the Republicans. We even saw Giuliani poke fun at her supposed flip- flopping, if I can use that term.
MARK: Both of those were pretty predictable. Republicans, of course, see her as kind of better nuear (ph), target number one, somebody they really want to go after, just as they did with Bill Clinton. Her Democratic rivals, of course, want to claim the nomination from her. So, of course, they're going to go after her as well. Whoever is the front-runner would get this kind of scrutiny, whether it were Barack Obama, John Edwards or one of the other candidates, whoever is up front will begin being ganged up on and targeted like that.
GORANI: And David, would you dare to -- make a prediction? Is it going to be Hillary?
MARK: I think it's way too early to make predictions. You certainly have to look at her money, her status, and front-running status in a lot of states. But no votes have been cast. Remember, we don't even know when some of these state elections are going to be. There's still a long way to go.
GORANI: All right. I didn't get you to commit publicly. Thank you very much, David Mark of Politico.com.
MARK: Thank you.
Next up on our America votes 2008 coverage, CNN Nevada Democratic presidential debate. Our Wolf Blitzer hosts this is round of political sparring among the Democratic presidential hopefuls. You can see it right here live from Las Vegas. For international viewers that's Friday, November 16th at 0100 GMT. Don't miss it. In the U.S. that's Thursday 15th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, is this baggage discrimination or reasonable airline policy?
GORANI: Up next, British Airways tells surfers, not on our planes. Find a different way to get your surfboards, your javelins, you're poll vaults, to your next destination.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: If you're a surfer and headed for waves, British Airlines is probably not the airline for you. You'll have to leave your board behind.
HOLMES: This is some bad news for surfers who -- usually surfers want to take their own board if they're going overseas to surf. Not anymore. If you're going to be heading out with a surfboard, forget about it. Jim Boulden is here to explain why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): British Airways has been slammed of late for shoddy baggage handling. So, to speed things up, BA is they're slashing the list of larger sporting equipment passengers can check. Surfers have been wiped out. A ban on surfboards has hit the sport like a sneaker wave.
DUNCAN SCOTT, BRITISH SURFING ASSOC.: We send our national teams throughout the world on British Airways because of the support we've had in the past. It came as a great surprise.
BOULDEN: Like many surfer, Duncan Scott likes to jump a flight when he hears of gnarly waves.
(on camera): Until now, if you were on a BA flight all you had to do was zip up your surfboard, put it on your back and simply walk up to the check-in counter.
(Voice over): BA says there are limits to airport baggage systems and weight in aircraft holds. (on camera): I've never surfed before. But I'm surprised to see that the boards aren't as long and certainly not as heavy as you might think. What do you think the problem is with something like this?
SCOTT: That's another question that BA should answer. They say there's handling difficulties with it. As you can see, I can hold this with two fingers pretty easily and I'm happy to carry it all around the world. Whereas if it's golf clubs, first thing you do when you get to the golf course is pay someone to carry your golf clubs.
BOULDEN: But relax, golfers, you're not losing out. Neither are skiers or bikers, divers and bowlers can also still check their equipment. And shooters can still check their guns, and all for free. Who loses out beyond surfers? Well, pole vaulters, hang gliders, kayakers, rowers and wind surfers.
AMANDA VAN SANTEN, ROYAL YACHTING ASSOCIATION: We just hope that we can speak to BA and just learn to understand why they've made this decision and hopefully we can come to some amicable reasoning and way forward to do it.
BOULDEN: BA says with some notice, it will still take sports equipment through specialist tour operators.
(on camera): In surfer's lingo, what do you think B A has done here?
SCOTT: I think BA is on the -- is about to get shore dunked, which is when it all comes down on top of you and leaves you with a mouthful of sand wondering what happened.
BOULDEN: Duncan says he will start to look at low-cost airlines which now fly to many of these breathtaking destinations. Jim Boulden, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A friend was telling me that there was Facebook, the Web site Facebook, that there's now a club on there where they've collected signatures. They're up to 15,000.
GORANI: Yeah, 15,000.
HOLMES: A lot of people are upset.
GORANI: I must say, I'm upset about the pole vault.
HOLMES: Well, of course. You always take that!
GORANI: I always take that around.
HOLMES: I actually I do travel with a surfboard if I'm going back home.
GORANI: Yeah?
HOLMES: But it's about 10-foot long. That's why it's got everybody annoyed about that.
GORANI: But the smaller ones don't seem like that cumbersome.
HOLMES: Silly. Not cool, dude.
GORANI: Not cool.
That's it for this hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Hala Gorani.
HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes. See you later.
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