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Your World Today

IRA Renounces Violence; The Survivors Remember; Terror Suspect Held

Aired July 28, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRY ADAMS, SINN FEIN LEADER: To move into a new peaceful mode, it's historic and represents a courageous and competent initiative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The Irish Republican Army says it will turn away from armed resistance to engage in the political process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does remain possible that those at large will strike again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A race against time. London police pressing on, trying to prevent another terror attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we need much more people involved in the response because it is so big.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: A desperate cry for help in a devastating humanitarian crisis in Africa.

CLANCY: It is 5:00 p.m. in Belfast, London and Niger. I'm Jim Clancy.

VERJEE: And I'm Zain Verjee. Welcome to our viewers throughout the world. This is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

We're following two major stories out of the United Kingdom today. Both involving terrorism.

CLANCY: One, a terror campaign that appears to be ending. And another, the intense hunt for terrorists still at large.

VERJEE: Well, authorities have arrested nine more people into the probe into attacks on London's transit system, even as they press the search for the three remaining men who tried and failed in the second bombing attempt this month. This as the Irish Republican Army swears off its violent past and says it will seek political change through peaceful means.

We have reporters on many fronts today covering this. We want to go first...

CLANCY: First to Belfast, and today's historic declaration by the IRA. A long-awaited pronouncement which just went into effect in northern Ireland within the last hour.

Let's go over now to Robin Oakley, who joins us now from Downing Street -- Robin.

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Jim, this was the big moment of breakthrough that British prime ministers have been searching for, Tony Blair has been searching for eight years. What he wanted in every previous round of negotiation was an act of closure from the IRA.

There was never the real hope of peace in northern Ireland, British prime ministers felt, until the IRA and its political wing, Sinn Fein, foreswore the use of violence in some circumstances. They had to abandon the pose of having the armor-like rifle in one hand, and the ballot box in another. This is the final renouncement of violence that they are looking for from the IRA.

The problem will be verification, because the IRA was ready to make this offer last December. The DUP, the hard-line ousted Protestant party led by Dr. Ian Paisley, rejected the offer then because the IRA decommissioning of arms was not going to be accompanied by photographic evidence.

Now the IRA is saying once again they'll have the act witnessed by a Protestant clergyman and a Catholic clergyman. But there's no talk of any other means of verification. The big question is whether the ousted unionist parties will, therefore, accept this and will start to move towards power-sharing with Sinn Fein -- Jim.

CLANCY: Robin, so much of this has been a real war. There was -- I think it's Sean Kelly who was an active IRA member. He was jailed in connection with horrific bombings some years back on the Shank Hill Road.

He was pardoned -- or he was released under the Good Friday Accord. But then he was re-jailed.

Now, he just got out of prison, what, 24, 48 hours ago? What kind of a role did all of this have to play? It seems there's a lot more going on here than just the unilateral announcement.

OAKLEY: That looks like one of the behind-the-scenes concessions to the IRA and Sinn Fein, for Sean Kelly to be released. That's something that has enraged the unionists.

They have described this as pandering to the republicans. And Rejempi (ph), the leader of the Ulster Unionists, said that this was putting political expediency before justice. So that is a move that will certainly irritate the unionist community. And that unionist community will also be saying, just how far do the IRA promises go?

When they instruct their volunteers to desist from all other activities, as well as handing over their arms, does that really mean that overnight they are going to wipe out the punishment, beatings, the protection rackets, the drug running, the money laundering that has been going on by some IRA volunteers, as they call them, in the communities across northern Ireland? The unionists want answers on that. They want more promises, more specific promises on the question of crime. They want more transparency on the IRA's offer to get rid of its arms.

But, at the same time, this is a moment of hope. And Tony Blair is indicating that he will be pushing the Ulster Unionist parties towards doing a deal on power-sharing, provided that in the months to come, the IRA shows on the ground, with its actions, that it really means those words it has delivered today -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Robin Oakley, senior European political editor, joining us there from 10 Downing Street.

Thank you, Robin -- Zain.

VERJEE: Jim, the Irish Republican Army's announcement was greeted with guarded optimism by the White House. It says, in part, "This IRA statement must now be followed by actions demonstrating the republican movement's unequivocal commitment to the rule of law and to the renunciation of all paramilitary and criminal activities."

As with any long arms struggle, there are countless victims and survivors. Bill Neely talked with some of those left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL NEELY, REPORTER, ITV NEWS (voice-over): The raw statistics are staggering. More than 3,600 dead. One in every 400 people in northern Ireland murdered. In Britain, that would have meant a death toll of 140,000.

Thirty years, tens of thousands injured. But statistics don't tell the half of it. It was a slow slaughter, peppered with massacres and atrocities from which whole generations are still recovering.

(on camera): One of the worst atrocities, now almost forgotten, happened here in the tiny village of Claudy, where, on a summer's morning, something happened that scars this village to this day.

(voice-over): Nine men, women and children were killed by three bombs.

GORDON MILLER, LOST FATHER: I can remember everything, every detail. It never left me. I don't think it ever will leave me.

NEELY: Gordon Miller lost his father, David, who was helping the injured when the third bomb exploded. MILLER: Total carnage. Body pieces everywhere. People screaming, shouting.

NEELY: The pain is caught in bronze today. The bombers thought to be from the IRA were never caught.

MILLER: There were maybe over -- European or growing (ph) our own. I just can't (INAUDIBLE).

NEELY: From the son who lost his father and can't forget, to the father who lost his son and can't forgive. Michael McGoldrick's son and namesake graduated from university and was shot three days later by loyalists.

MICHAEL MCGOLDRICK, LOST SON: I remember reading something that if you don't forgive them, you dig two graves. I forgive them. I got on with my life doing positive things.

I didn't dig two graves. I didn't die when Michael died. I'll see Michael again.

NEELY: Michael McGoldrick was one of more than a thousand victims of loyalist killers. The man who ordered his death began killing two avenge the King's Mills massacre, when 10 Protestants were shot.

BEATRICE WESTON, LOST SON: Oh, just coming from their work. I'm sure they never for one minute thought that they would be stopped, you know, and took out and shot.

NEELY: Beatrice Weston lost her son, Kenneth.

WESTON: When they were killed 27 years ago, everybody would have said, well, at least if those 10 people gave their lives for peace, that's one consolation.

NEELY: But there was no consolation, no peace. The tit-for-tat killing went on.

JEAN LEMMON, LOST HUSBAND: You can't forget. We'll never forget. I know I won't.

NEELY: Jean Lemmon's husband Joseph was shot dead. She has her own message for the IRA and all killers.

(on camera): What would you say to them all?

LEMMON: Well, I would just say to them all to get their stuff destroyed. And once the last gun was destroyed, I would say it was over.

NEELY (voice-over): One man who has moved on, and moved out, is Steven Ross, a survivor of the IRA bomb in Enniskillen that killed 11.

STEVEN ROSS, SURVIVOR: I remember the split second it happened. The noise was absolutely horrendous, and the next recollection is having been pulled from the rubble.

NEELY: Steven's face had to be held together. Sixteen years on, and peace, he says, isn't just the absence of war.

ROSS: For people's attitudes to change there will be peace in northern Ireland. If people's attitudes to each other change there certainly will be peace. But it really is the people in northern Ireland, not the politicians and the terrorists that can bring peace.

NEELY: Steven survived Enniskillen and married. That day, the Oma (ph) bomb exploded, killing 20. And Oma (ph) became another place who's name stands for slaughter.

There were so many. The role call of a war that never had the name. Bloody Friday, Bloody Sunday, so many bloody days. And now today the promise that they're over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oma (ph), Enniskillen, Claudy, LaMont (ph) all sad occasions in the history of this. But let's not have another one tomorrow.

NEELY (on camera): Just about everyone who lives here or who grew up here, as I did, knows someone who was murdered. Usually many more than one. It's a small place with a lot of bad memories, which needs more than just words to give it real peace.

(voice-over): In northern Ireland, some say, nothing is ever really over. But tonight, after so many lost lives here, they are hoping all this is finally over.

Bill Neely, ITV News, Belfast.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: We're following a developing story really that's touching three continents from the U.S. to Britain and to Africa. All involved in the fight against terrorism. A key suspect wanted by both Washington and London has been reportedly arrested in Zambia.

Here's our Kelli Arena in Washington -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPT. CORRESPONDENT: Jim, U.S. sources tell CNN that Haroon Rasheed Aswat, a man wanted in connection with the London bombings, is in custody in Zambia. In a statement, the British foreign office would say that the British have been seeking access to a British national since Saturday. British investigators believe that Aswat was involved in some way with the London bombings, that he was some kind of facilitator for the bombers who killed 52 people on July 7.

CLANCY: All right. Didn't -- we've heard the name before. Didn't his name come up before the July 7 attacks in London? Wasn't the U.S. asking to question him?

ARENA: Yes, Jim. We can also now report that, according to our sources who are familiar with that investigation in London, Aswat is also wanted by the U.S.

He was almost captured, we are told, in South Africa about a month before the London attacks. Sources say that Aswat was under surveillance in South Africa, that the U.S. wanted to take him into custody by rendition. But because Aswat is a British citizen, the South Africans contacted the British government, who balked.

Aswat got away. Weeks later, 52 people were killed, as you know, in those London bombings. And as we reported before, Aswat was an unnamed, unindicted coconspirator in a case in Oregon in which the U.S. government charged that there was a plot to build a jihad training camp.

Now, in connection with that case, the U.S. has issued an arrest warrant for Aswat. It is currently under seal in the southern district of New York. The charges relate to a case against the London-based Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri. He is currently detained in Britain -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Aswat, just a little -- try to go back and fill in a few details. His links to the London bombing, there had been reports, published reports that he had telephone conversations with some of those people that were involved in those suicide bombings on the London metro system.

ARENA: That's right. Officials here caution we don't exactly know what, if any, his role was.

The allegations are that he was involved in some sort of a support role, whether that was material or money or logistics, some sort of way. He has been -- he has been called by some press reports "a mastermind." We have been cautioned that that is premature at this time, that more needs to be done. But this man being in custody is a big break in this case -- Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Kelli Arena there reporting from Washington.

Haroon Rashid Aswat, a British citizen of Indian descent, now in custody in Zambia -- Zain.

VERJEE: Jim, to the London terrorism investigation now.

Police are interrogating one of the four suspected bombers in last week's botched attacks. And they have made nine new arrests in south London. We get the latest now from Jonathan Mann, who joins us from London.

Jonathan, more on those arrests?

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zain, you've been reporting on two different kinds of developments today. And the contrast between them couldn't be more dramatic.

On the same day that the British public have been told that the IRA is giving up its weapons, they got a glimpse of the new kind of weapon that they are going to be facing. A picture I think we can show you know that's on the front pages of the newspapers across the country here.

A plastic bottle of a kind you can find in just about any kitchen or kitchen store, filled with explosives. Detonator cables clearly coming out the top, and nails or tacks affixed around it with plastic wrap.

This is one of the bombs that the July 7 bombers left behind when they went on and killed 52 people. This is one more indication of why the police are trying so hard to make sure that they can catch whoever else is involved with that cell.

And as you mentioned, in Tooting, a neighborhood in southern London, nine predawn arrests at two different locations. None of these nine men who were taken into custody are believed to be among the three bombers who are still sought in connection with the bombing attempt a week ago. But police are continuing their investigation.

Now, Scotland Yard is sharing minimal details with us, but they aren't minimizing the risks that this country faces even now. Here's what Sir Ian Blair, the man in charge here, had to say a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIR IAN BLAIR, LONDON POLICE COMMISSIONER: The second attacks on the 21st of July should not be taken as some indication of the weakening or the capability or the resolve of those responsible. This is not the B team. These weren't the amateurs. They made a mistake. They only made one mistake, and we are very, very lucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: It was three weeks ago today that the bombers struck and killed 52 innocent people. It was one week ago today that the transit system was struck again, though each of the bombers failed in their attempt.

People here didn't really know what to expect when another Thursday rolled around. What they got was this: the largest police deployment in the transit network in its history. Police just about everywhere so they could be seen both to protect the public and to reassure them.

Where things stand now is that there are 20 different people who are being held in connection with the attacks. There is one man who's believed to be among the four bombers who tried and failed in their attacks one week ago today. And there are at least three people who are believed to still be on the loose, having tried to carry out attacks, and police fear, ready to attack again -- Zain.

VERJEE: Is there any indication, Jonathan, that those suspects in custody, the men being detained and questioned, are cooperating?

MANN: We don't know much. What we do know is that an enormous amount of information has been given to the police by the public. Thousands of phone calls have come in. And every step of the way, and the most recent time, I guess, about 12 hours ago, the police come forward with a statement to show more pictures to the public and ask for more help. And those pictures have been invaluable.

People have been calling in, recognizing some of the people that they see. And so police are learning things they are not sharing with us. And what's clear is they're learning a lot from the public. And at every step of the way, they are asking the public for still more help -- Zain.

VERJEE: Reporting from Scotland Yard, CNN's Jonathan Mann.

There's much more ahead here on YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.

CLANCY: Coming up next, the mixed bag of news from NASA. Discovery makes the connection to the space station, but the rest of the fleet now grounded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Let's take a look at some stories making news in the United States.

Space Shuttle Discovery commander Eileen Collins and her crew have docked with the International Space Station. It's the first shuttle station rendezvous since November of 2002. Discovery's crew is in no known danger, but NASA has once again grounded the shuttle program because a chunk of insulating broke away from the fuel tank during Tuesday's launch.

A coalition of Muslim groups in the United States has issued a fatwa against terrorism and extremism. The religious ruling was issued by an association of Islamic legal scholars. The leader of the council said those who kill innocent people are criminals, not martyrs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUZAMMIL SIDDIQI, FIQH COUNCIL OF NORTH AMERICA: The Fiqh Council of North America wishes to reaffirm Islam's condemnation of terrorism and religious extremism. Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives.

There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilian life and property, to suicide bombings, or any other matter of attacks is halam (ph), prohibited in Islam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Investigators looking into the disappearance of an Alabama teenager in Aruba nearly two months ago are draining a pond near the hotel where Natalee Holloway was last seen. Also, an appeals court is to rule on whether DNA samples taken from three suspects can be used as evidence. CLANCY: Well, market watchers keeping an eye right now on Daimler-Chrysler.

VERJEE: Big news from the automaker has some checking their portfolios. Details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Well, the U.S. markets moved higher at the opening bell. Are they able to sustain all of that? Let's check in and find out. Valerie Morris joins us from New York City.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

CLANCY: Well, after a short break, we're going to be back with a rundown of the main stories of the day.

VERJEE: Including more on the dramatic announcement by the IRA.

And also, we'll bring you the latest on the London terrorism investigation, where police have made nine new arrests in south London. The details are just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, and welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Jim Clancy.

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

The IRA says it is renouncing armed conflict as a political weapon in Northern Ireland and is ending more than 30 years of violence. Its declaration is supposed to take effect this hour. The British and Irish government say they welcome the IRA pledge as a decisive step toward a permanent peace. But Unionist leaders express skepticism.

CLANCY: Nine more arrests this day in the London terrorism investigation, all of them coming in south London. Police still hunting down three of the would-be July 21st bombers after the arrest earlier of one suspect in those failed attacks. The man, Yasin Hassan Omar, is now being interrogated at a high-security police station in London.

Emphasizing the urgency of the London terror probe, British police are warning that the three fugitive bombing suspects could try to carry out new attacks. Robyn Curnow has more on that now for us from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police say it's the biggest manhunt since World War II. Three would-be bombers are still on the loose, and although a fourth is in custody, police warn the threat to the British public is still very real. COMMISSIONER IAN BLAIR, METROPOLITAN POLICE: It does remain possible that those at large will strike again. And it does also remain possible that there are other cells who are capable and intent on striking again.

CURNOW: Police say Londoners should not be lulled by the fact that last Thursday's bombs failed to explode.

BLAIR: This is not the b-team. These weren't the amateurs. They made a mistake. They only made one mistake. And we are very, very lucky.

CURNOW: A chilling reminder of the threat. Pictures showing un- detonated bombs, some containing nails, that were found in a car rented by the July 7th suicide bombers. Images that underscored the urgency of the police investigation.

Nine men were arrested Thursday morning at two separate properties in south London. They are being questioned by police in a central London station.

Also, in Stockwell, London, three women arrested on suspicion of harboring offenders. Neighbors telling CNN that they believe the would-be Shepherd's Bush station bomber lived there. They recognized him from police photographs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's it.

CURNOW (on-screen): The police relying on the public for help and information. So far, they say they've taken 1,800 witness statements and that they've received around 5,000 calls to the anti- terrorist hotline.

And the police say they're also trawling through 15,000 security camera tapes. The authorities and the public, all too aware of the urgency of this investigation.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Now more on the Irish Republican Army and its statement renouncing violence. The underground group has been on the front lines of a long and bitter conflict in Northern Ireland. Matthew chance takes a look at the war that became known simply as "The Troubles."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For centuries, it's been a troubled land of conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The latest chapter called, "The Troubles in Northern Ireland," has left thousands dead over more than 30 years.

British troops were welcomed at first in the late 1960s as protectors of minority Catholics demanding greater rights. But before long, they were bitter enemies. The provincial IRA was formed, it says, to protect those the British security forces would not.

Throughout the decades of violence, horrific incidents have shocked both sides of the communal divide. The Bloody Sunday killings in 1972, when British paratroopers fired on protesters, killing 14, provoked international outrage, as did the killing by the IRA of Earl Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, in the Irish Republic in 1978. The same day, an IRA bomb blew up 18 British soldiers in the north.

Republican hunger strikers in a notorious Maze Prison, led by Bobby Sands, starved themselves to death in 1981 in a bid to be treated as political prisoners. And the bombing of the British Conservative Party conference in Brighton, in 1985, targeting then- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet, sending shockwaves through the political establishment.

It wasn't until 1994, an IRA ceasefire was called. U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit a year later was euphoric.

There was a brief resumption of violence, but the 1998 power- sharing deal, known as the Good Friday Accord, brought Protestants and Catholics together, finally, in government. It was widely supported, though not by all.

The Omagh bombing was the single worst atrocity since the troubles began. Twenty-eight people were killed, more than 300 injured, including many children.

In recent years, the peace process has faltered. Trust between Protestants and Catholics severely tested over more killings and failures to decommission arms. And for the people of Northern Ireland, the road to peace has been long and hard.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, now to Iraq and the struggles that ordinary people face. In many respects, the Salihs of Baghdad, or just an average Iraqi family trying to move on with their lives in the midst of violence, military occupation, and, really, political uncertainty.

VERJEE: But they're also a symbol of what Iraq could be. Adel Salih, a Sunni, and his wife is Shia, with their children juggling their identities.

Aneesh Raman spent some time with them, and he brings us their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A typical morning in a typical Baghdad household. Adel's up for work at 7:00, his routine six days a week. He makes $180 a month as an accountant. In a country suffering from crippling unemployment, he's one of the lucky few. His wife, Intissar, has already been awake for an hour making breakfast. The two married in 1993. A year later, they had their eldest boy, Farouk (ph), now 11, with Mohammed (ph) and Abdul (ph) soon to follow. For mom, the days start with the worries about the basics.

INTISSAR SALIH, MOTHER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): All Iraqis are suffering from water and electricity. And if it gets cut off, that means today will be a hard day for me.

RAMAN: For dad, there's fear. The boys gather around as he heads for the office. Here, any good-bye, even the most routine, is never easy.

ADEL SALIH, FATHER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): The first feeling, when I go into the street, I think of what might happen, explosions, car bombs, IEDs going off all of a sudden. You leave your home and might not be back.

RAMAN: But life goes on. Minds adapt. And for three brothers on summer break, the task is universal, playing in the small confines of the back yard.

(on-screen): Every family in Iraq is dealing with the situation in different ways, but most try and find the time, as often as they can, to get away from it all, at secluded parks like this one.

(voice-over): Given the violence, they don't go out often. But here, everything a kid could want, everything a Baghdad mother could, as well.

I. SALIH (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I feel so happy when I see my sons happy. They are growing up and seeing nothing, except war and explosions. They always feel scared. We need to do something to make them forget.

RAMAN: The Salihs live just beyond Fardus Square, the place where Saddam's statue came crumbling down two years ago along with his regime. That day they joined in a celebration.

A. SALIH (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): People thought it was a good thing. They wanted to get rid the former regime, its oppression. But failure has created reactions among the people. They had hopes, but we're disappointed.

RAMAN: Despite the hours Adel spends waiting in line for gas, despite Intissar's brother being wrongfully killed, she says, at a military checkpoint, there is a powerful will to keep going. It wasn't their war, but it is now.

A. SALIH (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): If we are afraid, life comes to a standstill and we help the enemies realize their objectives. They want to paralyze life. We make life. We have to go out to live a normal life.

RAMAN: In many respects, they are an average middle-class family. But in one important way, they are not. Adel is a Sunni, Intissar a Shiite, in a country where the two groups are struggling to unify. For both, the only thing that matters is that they're Iraqi.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called for a meeting of the Arab League at Sharm el-Sheikh next week. Terrorism, of course, would be the main topic. Weekend attacks there killed at least 84 people and wounded more than 200. Mr. Mubarak made that announcement in a nationally televised address. He said he is going to seek a fifth term in the country's first contested presidential election.

VERJEE: Pakistani authorities have arrested a man they believe is linked to the killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl. A police official tells CNN Hashim Qadeer was picked up by security forces at a bus terminal, northeast of Lahore. He was heading for Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

The "Wall Street Journal" reporter was taken hostage in Pakistan in January of 2002. He was later beheaded by his captors. Four men have been convicted in the case. One was sentenced to death. Three received sentences of life in prison. Appeals in their cases are pending.

Record-breaking rains have paralyzed India's financial capital, Mumbai, and killed more than 500 people this week. Flooding and landslides have left many stranded, as roads were blocked and airports closed. The air force is dropping drinking water and other supplies to people across the area.

On Tuesday alone, Mumbai was swamped by 95 centimeters of rain, the most ever in a single day in India. We're going to have more on India's monsoon weather later this hour.

CLANCY: And just ahead, though, on YOUR WORLD TODAY, putting a face on the humanitarian crisis in Niger.

VERJEE: We're going to bring you the personal stories of those most affected by malnutrition and starvation and those trying to help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Let's check in on some stories making news in the United States.

Disappointment and exhaustion shows on many young faces in Bowling Green, Virginia, today. Boy Scouts plopped down on the grass to wait for a speech by President George W. Bush at their big National Jamboree. But he couldn't make it on Wednesday, and in the intense heat, about 300 people suffered from dehydration, fatigue, and light- headedness. This, just days after four Scout leaders were killed while pitching a tent beneath a power line. A former city commissioner recently indicted on corruption charges fatally shot himself in the lobby of the "Miami Herald" building. Arthur Teele shot himself in the head after asking the security guard to deliver a message to an acquaintance of the paper. Teele and an electrical contractor were indicted this month on charges of lying to get more than $20-million contracts at Miami's airport.

In Philadelphia, a reward fund of $10,000 has been set up for information in the disappearance of LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing since July 18th. She was last seen walking to a friend's house after a doctor's office. But she failed to pick up her daughter at the day care center later that day. She is five months pregnant.

CLANCY: All right. Another major story that has been developing this day that involves Washington, Zambia and London. U.S. sources are telling CNN now that, about a month before the deadly London bombings, the U.S. was trying to apprehend, to extradite, through rendition, Haroon Rashid Aswat.

He is a British national suspected by British investigators of being some kind of facilitator for the bombers who killed 52 people on the 7th of July. We can report that Aswat is wanted in the U.S. He was believed involved in a plot to set up a terror training camp on the California-Oregon border. He was almost captured in South Africa.

But as we said earlier, that was before the London attacks. As we said earlier, Britain refused to go along with an attempt to have him rendered to U.S. custody for questioning. Now, London wants him, as well. They are said to be actively seeking to talk with him regarding the July 7th attacks on the London Underground.

All right, let's take a look and find out what's going on in the world of weather right now -- Zain?

VERJEE: Let's go over to the Weather Center. Femi Oke is there.

Femi, hey.

FEMI OKE, INTERNATIONAL WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hello there. Good to see you both.

Nice to see our viewers around the world.

If you're in Northern India right now, you're probably wearing your waders. An incredible week of rain. Not even a week, a day of rain. Let me show you what it looked just earlier on this week in Mumbai.

It's a city in India on the northwestern side of India. Fifteen million people live there. It almost came to a standstill. The rain water that came down in 12 hours, approximately about three feet.

You could go swimming in it. It's like, the shallow end of a local swimming pool, or about 1,000 millimeters. We have seen deaths, though. These come mainly from landslides, mudslides, building collapses, as well. Let me show you what the monsoon season does, in terms of your weather for India and for Southeast Asia. It starts round about that far southern section of India here into Sri Lanka. And as we move through with the dates and move ever further towards the north, so July the 15th.

The winds have gone about as far north as they're likely to get. And they will just sit, and sit, and sit, and rain all the way through in September. And then they start to recede and go further down towards the south. So this is one of the many scenes from Mumbai.

This made me laugh, though, because it says, "Danger, manhole open." So if they are wading through the water, they just need to watch out for that extra deep bit of water.

Let me just show you how your rainfall is doing as we move through this area. It isn't over yet. Everything that's moving back here is precipitation. If it's white, it's snow. If it's green, it's rain. If it's yellow and orange, this is the real culprit for that really incredible amount of rainfall and it was taking us right up here on our scale, right to the very top. We're looking at the severest of severe rain water there.

So move through the area, of course, more rain in your forecast. As we head out through towards that northwestern side of India, again, very heavy rainfall. Rainfall moving through the Bay of Bengal, up through the Southeast Asia.

Weather front coming out of the Korean peninsula. You'll have cooler air behind. Looking great for the day ahead for Beijing.

We have Tokyo at 30, Manila, 31 degrees in Celsius. Let's swap over toe Fahrenheit. For Bangkok, 95 in Fahrenheit.

Let's take a quick look at the U.S., see how your weather is doing. That little bit of A/C that moved through in the shape of a front now moving through and seeing some really hefty thunderstorms and showers. Humid weather conditions all the way for the Gulf Coast area, up through the southeast, down through the deep south, as will.

The heat is building back in, though, for the central part of the country. And then all the way up the west coast, seeing some beautiful weather here for the Pacific Northwest.

Let me leave you with some temperatures. Get out in front of the TV, and head you back to the news desk.

CLANCY: Femi Oke, thank you very much for that.

Internationally, it's slowly coming in, in Niger, for tens of thousands of people.

VERJEE: Drought and locust invasions last year wiped out crops in thousands of villages. Jeff Koinange visits one feeding center in the southern tip of the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-eight-year- old Soulima Ouseman (ph) looks a lot older than her age. She's a refugee in her own country and says she can't remember the last time she had what she calls a real meal.

"We were left with no choice but to eat leaves and grass in the bush," she says. "But even here, we are still hungry. Please, help us," she pleads.

This nutritional center on the southern tip of Niger has become home for the many suffering and starving who are flooding here, who've lost their sense of hope, self-worth, and dignity.

Hundreds of thousands of others are still in the villages and in the countryside, too sick to walk, too weak to cry out for help. This famine has killed thousands and threatens millions more.

Soulima (ph) says all four of her daughters starved to death. Grandson, Tijan (ph), is her only surviving relative. But he arrived here suffering from severe malnutrition made worse by the onset of malaria, the biggest killer of children his age in today's Africa.

On the other side of this camp lies 18-month-old Abdelihi (ph). Doctors say he arrived here about a week ago suffering from severe malnutrition and cholera and has little chance of surviving.

Now, this nutritional center is divided into various sections. This one appropriately named the intensive care unit, or ICU, where the severely sick and malnourished are often attended to. Aid workers here tell us many of those who do end up here seldom make it out alive.

Volunteer doctor Vanessa Remi Piccolo (ph) is on her very first mission outside her native France, a mission that she says has taught her enough to last a lifetime.

"It's sad, it's so sad," she says. "Many children are dying, and more will die before this crisis is over." And many others like her committed to saving lives, one at a time, despite the odds.

CHANTAL UMUTONI, MEDECINS SAN FRONTIERES: I think we need much more people involved in their response because it is so big.

KOINANGE: The United Nations says this disaster could have easily been avoided had the world stopped and listened eight months ago when aid agencies raised the red flag.

In the two days we have been here, only one truck partially filled with food has come to this camp holding more than 1,000 refugees. Amazingly, despite their desperate situation fueled by disease and hunger, those who are strong enough manage to show their gratitude in the only way they can. A little dignity and hope restored in a land where both are in desperately short supply.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Maradi, in southern Niger. (END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: So what does the future hold for personal technology?

CLANCY: Well, as Daniel Sieberg, our technology correspondent, tells us, many teenagers in the U.S., at least, are wired to the 'net.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A group of kids enjoy a pick-up game of basketball on a hot summer day in Atlanta, but chances are most of them spend more time tapping on a keyboard than shooting hoops.

(on-screen): How many hours a day, honestly, do you guys spend on the computer?

ABBEY PLATTS, STUDENT: Oh, god, late in the summer, unless someone beats me out of the house, I will end up just glued to it.

SIEBERG (voice-over): That supports a new survey by the nonprofit Pew Internet in American Life Project, which says that 87 percent of U.S. kids age 12 to 17 use the Internet, via computer, cellphone, or PDA. Just five years ago, a similar Pew survey found 73 percent of teens were online.

KIPLING GILLESPIE, STUDENT: Just because the technology allows to us to plug in, because, now that we have high speed DSL and cable Internet access, we're able to do everything much faster, so it's much easier to do.

SIEBERG: We found some plugged-in teens at, no surprise here, a computer camp, the ID Tech Camp, going on this summer in Atlanta. Here, teens and preteens learn everything from robotics to video game creation.

One thing most kids don't need a lesson in, instant messaging.

(on-screen): How many of you guys use instant message every day, just a show of hands?

(voice-over): The Pew survey says 75 percent of online teens use instant messaging and nearly one-third of all U.S. teens use I.M. every single day.

DARSHAN CHEILARAH, STUDENT: I almost always have it open, but I'm usually not chatting, except like maybe half-an-hour or one hour a day.

WILL MCCALL, STUDENT: I'm probably on, at the minimum, 30 minute, but on usual, during the school year, probably about three or four hours.

PLATTS: It's just a convenience. You're already typing. You're already looking at the screen, so you can still talk to your friends without having to try and struggle with the phone like this, you know?

SIEBERG: Despite I.M.'s increasing popularity, e-mail is still the biggest reason teens go online, followed by visits to entertainment web sites, playing games, and getting news. Instant messaging comes in fifth.

(on-screen): What do you guys do typically on the Internet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Play games.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comic games.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flash animation.

PLATTS: Watch flash files, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the comics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, online comics.

SIEBERG: Do your parents know what you guys are up to online most of the time?

PLATTS: Well, usually. I've learned how to delete my history pretty good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All right, there they are telling the truth about they're really doing on their summer vacation.

VERJEE: Daniel Sieberg reporting.

This is YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International. I'm Zain Verjee.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. Thanks for spending a part of your day with us.

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