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Your World Today

DaimlerChrysler Dissolves Unsuccessful Merger; Remote U.S. Operations Target Insurgency; Australian Court Awards Large Judgment to Bullying Victim

Aired May 14, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Smoke eaters battling a huge blaze in the southeastern U.S. and what forecasters call a race against time.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And can you put a price on the damage done by bullying? An Australian court says someone needs to pay for this boy's pain.

It is 6:00 p.m. in Berlin, 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning in Sydney.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Hala Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy.

From Berlin, to Lake City, Florida; Kabul to Sydney, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

In name at least, it is the end of the road for the world's fifth largest automaker, DaimlerChrysler, as the transatlantic merger dissolves.

GORANI: Well, the German-based company is selling almost all of its struggling Chrysler unit for just a fraction of what it paid for it.

CLANCY: Now, the deal is putting private equity -- a private equity firm into the driver's seat of a major U.S. auto maker. And this for the first time in U.S. history.

GORANI: Frederik Pleitgen has more on the divorce from Berlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN BERLIN BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): It was once called a marriage made in heaven. Today, they finalized the divorce settlement.

DIETER ZETSCHE, DAIMLERCHRYSLER CEO: In the past weeks and the course of exploring our options, we determined that DaimlerChrysler, as currently structured, would not provide the best framework for the long-term competitiveness of Chrysler.

PLEITGEN: Nine years ago, the signatures on this document merged Daimler and Chrysler into what was supposed to become one of the most powerful auto companies in the world. But after several efforts at restructuring the ailing Chrysler brand, the company was still losing money. Analysts say selling the company was a good move by Daimler management, putting an end to a sorry chapter in the German company's history.

"It was a huge mistake to ever have acquired Chrysler. That's why it was very important to sell the company now, even at a fairly low price. Chrysler was always underperforming and never made the turnaround."

Most importantly, analysts say, Cerberus has agreed to take on billions of dollars in pension and retiree health care costs at Chrysler. Some unions call the takeover worrisome. They fear layoffs and cost-cutting programs at Chrysler and the challenges for Cerberus are considerable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've still got a lot of work to do. They have to make more cheaper models, they have to go away from the gas guzzlers. So, you know, there is a big job to do.

They've still have to instill the confidence of the U.S. buyers to actually buy the cars. But back in American hands, back in American ownership, I think Chrysler has a better chance of going forward successfully.

PLEITGEN: Investors in Germany are happy about the divorce. DaimlerChrysler's stock rose on the German stock exchange after the announcement.

(on camera): German analysts say the move was long overdue. Daimler alone, they say, has far bigger potential to make big profits than with Chrysler at its side.

Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, the biggest question for at least the shareholders and a lot of people in the United States, their employees this day, is what it is going to be Chrysler's future now with this private buyer, Cerberus, behind the wheel? The New York-based equity fund no stranger to the auto industry. But let's get some more of the details from Ali Velshi outside Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Ali, fill me in. I mean, bargain price, bold bid. How does an equity company headed up by the former U.S. Treasury secretary spend $7 billion on this?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jim, these equity -- these private equity firms have been snapping up company after company. This is really -- the last 12 months has seen this all around the world.

There's so much money there because the alternatives don't make a lot of sense. Because of the housing market suffering and because of bond prices around the world being low, people are looking for things to invest in. So there is a lot of money out there.

This is run by the former U.S. Treasury secretary, John Snow, as you mentioned. And private equity firms don't answer to shareholders. They have their own investors. They don't put out quarterly reports, they don't have analysts following them.

Part of the problem with DaimlerChrysler is that the investors were saying the return on investment from Chrysler was no good. It wasn't as good as the rest of the business, so they had to spin it off. Whereas a private equity firm doesn't have to deal with that. People invest in them because they like what they are doing in the long term. This company is going to have the ability to be nimble and turn Chrysler around as it sees fit.

Now, one of the things is that also means it's able to cut costs. So, while there aren't any job cuts associated with this particular deal, Chrysler made that announcement a few months ago, 13,000 job cuts. And we don't know what the future will hold.

But for now, at least, the union is supporting this deal, thinking it is at least the best deal for the workers. And if you are a DaimlerChrysler shareholder you are having a good day, too.

CLANCY: Well, OK. Now, as we look at all of this, people will say it's got to be the strategy. You say this private equity firm is going to be a lot more nimble. But, you know, you have to be nimble with a plan.

And they depended -- this company has depended on heavy trucks, huge SUVs, gas guzzlers, if you will. Can they really reshape themselves? Is that even possible?

VELSHI: The beauty of the car industry, Jim, is that nobody hasn't studied this. Everybody has looked at it and sort of sees what the bottom line is.

The bottom line for Chrysler and for Ford and for GM is to build more cars than people want to buy, whether it's by design or because of reliability. Chrysler has taken some steps in that direction.

It is the master of the minivan in the United States. It does the Chrysler 300 well. It sells small SUVs well. But, you know, with gas topping $3 a gallon in the United States, it has got to move away from its truck strategy. It's got to make what is either the biggest or second biggest purchase that people ever make, buying a car, into an experienced that they hold dear.

So we know what it needs to do. It's whether or not it can actually do it. And Cerberus Capital Management thinks that it can.

CLANCY: Ali Velshi there in Detroit for us.

Ali, as always, great to have you with us. It is an interesting time, because a lot of Americans are going to be looking at this, can an American or private group do this, will the unions go along?

GORANI: Absolutely. And it's always a big question. And it really comes down to, when you are on that showroom floor, what car do you pick, a Toyota, a Honda, a Volkswagen, a Chrysler? That's the big question.

If you were to buy a car today, what kind would you get? Why are you attracted to a certain make versus another?

CLANCY: Send us your comments to yourviews@cnn.com. Tell us what you think. Include your name and where you're writing from as well.

We're going to read some of them right here on the air.

All right. Let's look back on the international scene, where some serious questions still need to be answered. That after a deadly shooting along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Now, it either happened during or after a meeting of U.S., Pakistani and Afghan military representatives who had gathered precisely to talk about the recent violence in the volatile Paktia province. A NATO spokesman says one NATO soldier was killed, four others wounded.

The nationalities of the casualties, specific nationalities, not yet released. There are Conflicting reports over just who carried out this shooting and why. We will bring you details as they come in.

GORANI: You see it on the map there, the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It's very long. It's also very volatile. And it's also critical in the U.S.-led military effort there.

CLANCY: There are no big battles there. Some of the scene of major fights, but a lot of small skirmishes, and little victories as well.

CLANCY: Nic Robertson reports on the U.S. counterinsurgency warriors there on the front line. In the battle for hearts and minds as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hugs and smiles. American commanders show up at a far-flung police station bringing its new chief. Closed to the Pakistan border, U.S. troops are pushing deeper into an area renowned for resistance, and they want to show they are here to help, giving radios and Hilux pickup trucks.

LT. COL. MIKE HOWARD, U.S. ARMY: Today we brought in a police chief. If you look over there, you'll see a big antenna sticking out. They've got a new radio. You saw four new Hiluxes sitting over there. So all these things are signs of progress and signs of hope. ROBERTSON (on camera): This area is so remote, everything must be flown in over the mountains. Each delivery adding to key counterinsurgency tactics designed to deny Taliban-type groups sanctuary here.

HOWARD: Part of winning a counterinsurgency is taking a population away from an enemy. Because again, small enemy, very big army. They can't defeat us. What they can do, though, is mobilize this population against us.

ROBERTSON: When troops moved in here about eight months ago, the base was rocketed almost every day. And their local drivers were intimidated. Some had heir ears cut off. They had to split the base up for safety. And they've had to stop using those local drivers.

The rocket hit the trees coming in here, and the shrapnel came in.

CPT. MATTHEW GOODING, U.S. ARMY: Exactly.

ROBERTSON: Yes.

(voice over): Captain Matt Gooding shows us where rockets fired at their base instead hit the local school. To avoid losing local support, the U.S. military quickly paid for repairs. The U.S. was also quick to help the mutilated drivers. Counterinsurgency tactics, Gooding says, are working.

GOODING: And yes, we'll start the meeting off talking about security and talking about how you help the people that were -- were victims. And then the meeting will turn into the future -- reconstruction, education. And now you still -- you know you've got their support because you're still talking about it. You're still talking about the future.

ROBERTSON: Commanders say they are also winning over influential religious leaders, even as handfuls of foreign fighters and others join attacks on troops.

GOODING: I don't know what their ideology is. I just know that they've had a safe haven here in this remote province for 20, 30 years. They kept out the Russians. They kept -- they even kept out the Taliban.

ROBERTSON: Outside Gooding's tiny base, destroyed Russian military vehicles left after their failed 1980s occupation, are a clear daily reminder of the cost of losing local support. The gamble is no less today.

HOWARD: You really don't have a choice in counterinsurgency. You have to go where the people are. I keep saying, if you don't, you are doomed to failure. There's just a million ways you can give a counterinsurgency away. That's one of them, by not going where the people are.

ROBERTSON: Without significantly more troops, counterinsurgency tactics are the only option, even as the U.S. military concedes they can give no guarantees the tactics will work.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Hamdesh (ph), Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: An update now on a story we are following off the U.S. state of Alaska.

All 248 passengers have been evacuated from a cruise ship there. About 90 kilometers off the coast of the capital Juneau, the ship, which you see it there, built to resemble a Mississippi River paddle boat, started taking on water after hitting rocks.

Nearly 50 volunteer boats, including a tugboat, a barge -- and these are new pictures, by the way, you are seeing on your screens -- and Alaska State ferries are assisting the rescue. Crew members are still aboard. They are working to get the ship moving again under its own power.

Coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, Iran and the U.S. engage in a little saber rattling.

CLANCY: That's despite their apparent agreement to meet in Iraq and discuss security issues face to face.

We will also explore how Americans feel about Iran.

GORANI: Also ahead, the search for missing U.S. soldiers in Iraq and who might be behind their disappearance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen to your kids. You know? If something -- if you can see any change in the way they are behaving, you know, check to see if it is bullying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: What an Australian court had to say about a case of bullying.

All this and much more still ahead on YOUR WORLD TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GORANI: Welcome back. You're with CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

CLANCY: That's right. We are seen in the U.S., as well as more than 200 countries around the world. And we are trying to give you some perspectives on the stories that are really moving this day, even before they make the literal move.

More tough talk from the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, aimed at the U.S. Now, Sunday he called for U.S. troops to leave the Gulf region as he arrived in the United Arab Emirates. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney had stopped in Abu Dhabi just a couple of days earlier.

Monday, Mr. Ahmadinejad stepped up the rhetoric then, threatening retaliation if the U.S. attacks Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They realize if they -- if they do such take (ph) and error, then the retaliation of the Iranians will be a severe one. They will repent that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Well, hardly the first time that President Ahmadinejad has said almost literally that same thing. But the rhetoric is coming from both sides.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney telling Arab leaders in the past few days that the U.S. would keep Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating their region. Despite all of the back and forth, the U.S. and Iran have agreed they're going to hold talks in Iraq very soon, face to face.

Now, Americans overwhelmingly oppose any U.S. military action in Iran.

GORANI: Let's bring you the latest interesting numbers from a CNN-Opinion Research poll.

Now, 63 percent of those polled said that they are against any military action against Iran. Thirty-three percent favor military action.

Asked their opinion of Iran, Americans responded this way: 46 percent feel Iran is an enemy, 36 percent believe Iran is unfriendly, and 12 percent consider it friendly, and 3 percent think of Iran as an ally.

Now, an unusual case about a very common problem, and that is bullying of children.

CLANCY: It happens in schools all across the globe. Its victims are usually left to suffer, and suffer in silence.

GORANI: But in Australia, the family of one bullying victim decided to sue. And won.

Joe O'Brien has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE O'BRIEN, REPORTER, ABC NEWS (voice over): Ben Cox is now 18. He is so severely scarred from bullying, he can't work and faces a miserable future.

ANGELA COX, BEN'S MOTHER: I still don't have my Ben back. Like, Ben will never be, like, the son, like, you hoped for.

O'BRIEN: In 1994 when he was 6, he was enrolled at Woodberry Public School near Makland (ph), in the Hunter Valley (ph). He suffered a series of attacks from an older boy in a different class.

COX: And they got to the stage where Ben actually got his tooth punched out. He got whipped with a tree branch across his back. And the following morning (ph) he got strangled.

O'BRIEN: Mrs. Cox called the police, but that only brought more problems. The bully said to Ben Cox, "It's funny how the police came to my house. And if they come again, I'll threaten to kill you." Medical reports show the teenager is now suffering from a range of psychiatric disorders.

(on camera): Justice Carolyn Simpson found that the school's response to the bullying was dismally inadequate. The staff had made no attempt to deal with a serious problem and grossly failed in their duty to Ben Cox.

(voice over): One teacher at the time said bullying built character, and another said some pupils always left schools anyway. Justice Simpson said, "His adolescence has been all but destroyed. His adulthood will not be any better. He has no friends and is unlikely to make any."

The Education Department has offered an apology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident doesn't reflect well on the department 13 years ago. But there has been a lot of change, you know, since that time.

O'BRIEN: The ruling may encourage other victims to come forward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The implications are that pupils in our school systems who are the subject of this type of conduct can expect to recover substantial damages.

COX: Listen to your kids. You know? If something -- if you can see any change in the way they are behaving, you know, check to see it is bullying that's happening.

O'BRIEN: While it said sorry, the Education Department is still considering appealing against the decision.

Joe O'Brien, ABC News, Sydney.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: And it should make a point there. It was a $1 million settlement, a judgment there at the end coming from the judge.

Speaking of money, Wall Street is reacting to the breakup of that transatlantic merger.

GORANI: Coming up, DaimlerChrysler reaches the end of the road. A look at what needs to be done to save a troubled U.S. automaker. It lost more than $1 billion a year.

CLANCY: Also ahead, more evacuations may be coming as wildfires approach more neighborhoods. We're going to look at the efforts to contain blazes in two states in the U.S.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries or territories around the globe including here in the United States.

GORANI: Well, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY. Welcome, I am Hola Gorani.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy and these are some of the stories making headlines this day. The troubled marriage that produced the world's fifth largest automaker, well on the rocks. German-based Daimler- Chrysler is selling a majority stake in its struggling Chrysler unit for about $7.5 billion. That's a fraction of what it paid nine years ago. The deal gives a private security firm, Cerberus, ownership of a major U.S. automaker for the first time.

GORANI: An incident on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has left one NATO soldier dead and four others injured. The NATO soldiers were ambushed after attending a meeting with Afghan and Pakistani military representatives called to discuss the recent violence along the border. NATO says the group was fired upon by unknown assailants.

CLANCY: There has been more tough talk from Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on a stop in the United Arab Emirates. He threatened server retaliation if the U.S. attacked his country. Mr. Ahmadinejad was responding to equally tough talk from the U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney who pledged in the Gulf to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

GORANI: Now back to one of our top stories. That multi-billion dollar divorce between auto giants. Daimler and Chrysler have been heading in different directions for years. Daimler-Chrysler earned more than $4 billion in 2006. The Chrysler group, though, lost roughly $1.5 billion and said it expects to lose money this year as well. It is because of their cars and because of their costs and other reasons as well. Jonathan Mann has some insight.

Jonathan?

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chrysler has always been the scrappy little one of the big three American automakers and it's been falling into trouble and fighting its way back out for decades. But the odds tend to be stacked against it and over the long haul Chrysler faces a rough road ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHOLNN FREEMAN, WASHINGTON POST: The American business is a very tough business. The American car makers are -- the market is just completely under siege by Toyota, Honda and some of the other foreign automakers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: There are a few crucial elements to Chrysler's woes. First of all, the cars themselves. Chrysler has been making the wrong kind. Too many gas guzzlers like pickup trucks while gas has been getting more and more expensive. And the vehicles themselves weren't good enough. In 2006, the average new Chrysler had 12 percent more problems than a typical Toyota purchased in the U.S., according to a poll of U.S. car buyers by J.D. Power.

Then there's contracts. U.S. autoworkers have some of the best factory contracts in the world. Chrysler says that hourly wages, restrictive work rules and other contract terms give Japanese automakers, like Toyota, an advantage of as much as $30 an hour per worker. The biggest problem, though, may be health care costs. Chrysler spends more than $2 billion a year in health care for its roughly 80,000 employees. It has an estimated $18 billion long-term debt for health care costs coming up ahead for its retirees. GM and Ford got better deals from their unions, Daimler-Chrysler did not.

So, what can the new owners do? Can Cerberus save Chrysler?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have strong financial backing from a group that wants us to grow long term. We have a plan already in place for the recovering transformation of the company. Our pipeline is full of exciting products. We have the United Auto Workers president came out in support of the deal. So this is a very bright day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANN: But the UAW, the United Auto Workers, needed some convincing. Everyone that looks at this deal says Chrysler will need to go to work on union contracts and health care. The savings the new owners will want are going to come from the pockets of their workers and their pensioners.

Hola?

GORANI: Right. And some would say that's just a bit unfair. Some would say just make sexy cars that people want to buy rather than cut into the healthcare programs of your own workers.

MANN: The truth is that they will have to do on both. Let's assume they can do that with the unions, the cars. The problem is, as everyone knows, U.S. car buyers don't want to buy Chryslers.

GORANI: Why not?

MANN: Have you driven one lately?

GORANI: No. MANN: The truth is that when J.D. Power does it annual poll of who is buying what and how they feel about it, Chrysler is not doing well when it comes to dependability. It is not one of the top ranked brands. In fact, it is the only U.S. automaker that isn't among the top ranked brands. And it only has one vehicle that people do really like. That's a van, the town & country. So, if you are looking for the kind of car you may be looking for if you are thinking about a Toyota or Honda.

GORANI: Right.

MANN: You are not looking at Chrysler.

GORANI: The Toyota, Honda, VW, all these other brands that are not American and are doing rather well, financially are beating Chrysler in the show room.

MANN: And Chrysler says the problem isn't the quality of the cars. It is the perception of the cars. Chryslers are getting better, they've been getting better for years and people don't know it. If you are watching TV in the United States and reading magazines is a whole advertising campaign stressing that Chrysler cars are engineered beautifully and say the cars are up to scratch. People don't know it and ought to give them another look. It does not matter what you are watching on TV or what you are reading in a magazine, sooner or later you will come across their pitch because right now what they need to do is they need to fight their own reputation if they are going to recover.

GORANI: And become trendy, perhaps along with other foreign made cars. Thank you, Jonathan Mann, with that insight.

Well, that really flows into our question of the day quite beautifully. If you were to buy a car today, what kind would you get and why?

CLANCY: Send us your thoughts to yourviews, one word, yourviews at CNN.com.

The latest on the massive search under way for three U.S. soldiers believed kidnapped by al Qaeda-linked-insurgents after an ambush over the weekend. Hugh Riminton, joins us now live from Baghdad to bring us up to date. Hugh, how many troops involved in this and any word of progress?

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four thousand odd troops, those figures have not diminished at all plus every other asset they can bring to bear on this including aerial assets, including unmanned drones, everything they can possibly bring to there they have got in there. But they are up against a very tough enemy. Major General William Caldwell, the spokesman for U.S. military, says their intelligence confirms that this is al Qaeda or an al Qaeda affiliated group that has taken the three soldiers in an ambush just outside of Mahmudiyah, a farming area to the south of Baghdad, notorious for insurgent activity. And an al Qaeda linked website within the last couple of hours has come out taunting the U.S. military effort. It says in part, searching for your soldiers will only bring you exhaustion and misery. It says your soldiers are in our hands. If you want to see them safely again, do not search for them. The word is from the U.S. military, they will continue the search. They say they are being helped by the Iraqi public. They say public information, tips have come through which helped them with operations against a number of targets of interest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIMINTON (voice over): Searching against the clock, against a terrible foe. If the three missing U.S. soldiers are alive, as long as they are live, analysts say the al Qaeda based Islamic state of Iraq holds a powerful card.

PETER NEUMANN, KING'S COLLEGE: If they have the strategic audacity to pursue this over a number of weeks, make demands that divide the international community, then this could be bringing America to its knees.

RIMINTON: Four thousand U.S. troops with Iraqi army backup continue to search around Mahmudiyah in a Sunni insurgent stronghold long known as the "triangle of death." The U.S. military says its commanders are quote "intimately focused and every asset is engaged on finding the soldiers and getting them back."

MAJOR GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ: You know, in the United States military we have a thing called the soldiers creed. It says I will never leave a fallen comrade.

RIMINTON: People who have studied Iraq hostage taking say the al Qaeda style is to view their captives as assets to keep while they are useful and kill once the desired effect has been achieved.

NEUMANN: Al Qaeda of the various insurgent groups of Iraq, they are the most fanatical and very unlikely that they can be bought off with money or they can be persuaded to compromise on other terms.

RIMINTON: The best hope is that the soldiers' location is found soon and the raid that follows, luck is running their way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): Now, the al Qaeda website knows of course, that the United States does have this policy of leaving no one behind. They are taunting the U.S. on that, saying you would rather have your entire army killed than have one crusader, so-called, in captivity. Some other information coming out from General Caldwell about the nature of the attack itself, the delay that some people say seem to be too long. More than -- almost an hour, to get the first quick reaction force in there to where these two humvees had come under attack. They say that the first unit encountered two roadside bombs just getting there, the second unit trying to get in there, also encountered a roadside bomb. Some insight into the conditions that they are facing. General Caldwell says four of the deceased were found in their humvees. The other was found a short distance away. The other three, as we well know, still unaccounted for as night falls once again, Jim.

CLANCY: Hugh Riminton, reporting to us there, live from Baghdad. Thanks, Hugh.

GORANI: Police in Pakistan say a senior supreme court official has been gunned down in Islamabad. The motive is unclear but comes during growing anger and protest over the president's suspension of the nation's top judge. And, now after a weekend of violence, a general strike has much of the country at a standstill.

Andrew Stephens has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEPHENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Paramilitary forces patrol the streets of Karachi. The government has told these troops to shoot on sight to prevent more violence. Over the weekend, political clashes left dozens of people dead. The fighting is between supporters of the President, General Pervez Musharraf, and those opposed to his decision to suspend the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry. In addition to shooting at their opponents, mobs have burnt vehicles and stores.

ISHRATUL IBAD KHAN, GOVERNOR OF SINDH: They are allowed to take cognizance of any offense that has been committed and to arrest the culprits, miscreants, who are creating, who are damaging, who are inciting violence and who are causing damage to loss of life and property.

STEPENS: The Karachi violence began when the suspended top judge came to the city to address a bar association meeting. Because of the upheaval he was unable to leave the Karachi airport and he returned to Islamabad.

It has been two months since the president suspended the chief justice for allegedly misusing his powers. He has become a rallying point for Pakistan's opposition movement.

Chaudhry's case will be heard before the supreme court. General Musharraf says he will respect the decision of the court.

Andrew Stephens, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Alright, coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, still burning after a week.

CLANCY: That's right, we are going to tell you about the wildfires in the states of Florida and Georgia in the U.S. still raging over a wide area. We will tell you about the desperate efforts to bring them under control and save homes in their path when we come back. Plus. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are getting about $8,500 to be have this baby. When I first heard the news, I thought I had won the lottery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Japanese companies hope to revert the country's dwindling population trend. Bonuses for babies, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello everyone and welcome back. You are watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN international.

GORANI: Alright, 200 countries and territories, of course and this hour, the United States as well.

CLANCY: Large families, well, not a familiar sight in Japan. Many are hoping they are going to become more common.

GORANI: Now, the country's population is declining which will soon cause all sorts of problems for the country. Not least, for the workforce.

And our CNN Asia business editor, Eunice Yoon, reports on how Japanese companies are jumping in to help encourage couples to have more babies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN ASIA BUSINESS EDITOR: In work obsessed Japan, Tomoyuki Moriyama, has an unusual ambition. The I.T. manager wants to have a third child, a rarity in a country where people can barely afford more than one. But Moriyama and his wife have decided to go for it. Thanks in part, to a new company policy.

TOMOYUKI MORIYAMA, I.T. MANAGER, SOFTBANK: We are getting about $8,500 to have this baby. When I first heard the news, I thought I had won the lottery.

YOON: Moriyama's employer, SoftBank, is one of a growing number of businesses here offering staff bonuses to help reverse the nation's declining population. Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world at 1.26 children per couple. Setting the stage for the work force and possibly the economy, to shrink in the coming years.

Moriyama's internet firm is getting its workers to have more kids with the promise of money and mobile phones.

MAKIKO ARIYAMA, SOFTBANK (through translator): We are giving parents from $420 for their first child to $42,000 for their fifth. And their kids get free mobile phones when they turn six.

YOON: Telecom firm, NTT, is shortening hours for workers who have kids younger than 9. Camera maker Canon is offering to pay for fertility treatment. And staff at Mashusta (ph) Electric, the creator of the Panasonic brand, can work from home at least one day a week.

(on camera): Even the country's military is becoming baby friendly. It set up one of the first government nurseries here at its base in central Tokyo.

KEIKO SHIMADA, NURSE, SELF DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): I have three children. Without this nursery, I wouldn't be able to work.

YOON (voice over): But not everyone is willing to take advantage of the new rules.

KUNIKO INOGUCHI, FMR. MINISTER, GENDER EQUALITY: Young people here don't feel they can insist on the entitlement because they know they are putting a lot of pressure to your peers in the office.

Making it tough for people like Moiryama to accept a relatively new concept here --

MORIYAMA: Go on paternity leave, I don't think I would be able to do that.

YOON: A sign that changing the rules here is one thing. Changing the culture, is an even more challenging task.

Eunice Yoon, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Still ahead, it's a race against time in the southeastern United States.

CLANCY: Firefighters there trying to save homes in the path of devastating wildfires. We will have a live report, coming up.

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GORANI: All right. We turn now to the wildfires raging in north Florida. More than 200 fires have scorched nearly 80,000 hectares -- that's 200,000 acres -- in this state. Fire crews are working to contain the blaze, but they're also trying to save homes and businesses as well.

John Zarrella joins us live from Lake City, Florida with the latest on this effort to put out these fires.

How's it looking?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, maybe some good news today. They seem a little bit upbeat, the Forestry folks. And the folks from the Division of Forestry here in Florida, and the U.S. Parks Service. The winds are kicking up a little bit. That's not good news. But they've done all they can over the weekend, building fire breaks, very wide fire breaks. They bring in heavy, heavy equipment, bulldozers and backhoes, and they dig these fire breaks, and then what they want to do is have the fire stay at ground level, not get up into the tops of the trees, and then work its way right to the edge of the fire breaks and then to burn themselves out. That's the plan. That's what they hope to have happen.

Now if the winds kick up too much, then, of course, the embers can move from the treetops over into adjoining tree stands, on the other side of the fire breaks. And then as they put it to us yesterday, they are off and running again with the fires. But so far, haven't heard of any of that happening.

A lot of fire trucks that are lined up here behind me, waiting to go into a forward command post. Those fire trucks are used for basically what they call structure protection. They don't go in and fight the fires themselves. They go, and they go to homes, and they go to businesses and they help clear away debris and shrubbery and things on the roofs, anything that might catch fire on those structures, so that's what their responsibility is, in case any hot embers happen to make it to where, you know, to where those structures are. Right now we haven't heard of any reports of any fires burning at any structures.

Now a little bit of good news, or a lot of good news actually that came out today. We are not sure if it was a Mother's Day feel- good story, but I guess you can call it that.

We had mother bear, a black bear, who they found on Saturday who was actually at the base of a tree protecting her bear cub, who was up about 65 feet in the top of the tree. Well, they used tranquilizer darts and got to the mother. And they went up in a bucket truck and tranquilized the baby bear. And after he finally fell asleep, he fell out of the tree on a tarp that they had set up out there, and that all happened yesterday morning on Mother's Day.

So the maternal instincts of mom, protecting her baby cub, and then the firefighters out there in the Forestry folks, and Fish and Wildlife were able to capture the bears. The mother bear did have burn marks on her paws. But veterinarians say that both mom and baby are doing pretty good today. They hope that pretty soon they will be able to relief them in a part of the forest that is not scorched by all of these fires.

GORANI: Well, I'll tell you, It is a good thing they used a tranquilizer dart, because those maternal instincts can become quite violent sometimes.

ZARRELLA: Yes, yes, indeed.

GORANI: Now John, a quick question about the weather. The weather, you mentioned winds. What about rain? What about moisture? I mean, that's going to help firefighters. Is it around the corner at all?

ZARRELLA: No. You know, Hala, Florida and South Georgia have absolutely been baking under an intense drought, one of the worst droughts that we've ever seen down here. Lake levels are at all-time lows. Everything's basically turning brown. Water restrictions in South Florida have already been imposed, very strict water restrictions, and not much sign of rain at all. Some showers moved through the area yesterday, but none of them hit the fire area, so it didn't do any good at all -- Hala.

GORANI: All right, John Zarrella, thank you very much, reporting live there from Florida.

Well, with the announcement of the Daimler-Chrysler split, the divorce, separation, whatever you want to call it. We've been talking all about the car industry today, and now we want to hear from you.

CLANCY: That's right. We're going to hear from you, literally. We've been asking if you were to buy a car today, what would you get, and why?

GORANI: Well, Ron from the U.S. writes, "I recently bought my first car, a Honda Civic. My choice was based primarily on safety and affordability, with emphasis on fuel efficiency."

CLANCY: Now Aki from Germany wrote this in: "Having driven American, European and Japanese cars before, I will definitely stay with Japanese cars. They are elegant, reliable and affordable."

GORANI: Well, in the Netherlands we have Idriss saying he'd buy a French-made car. He writes, "French cars are the best in the world. I have a Peugeot, and I'm going to buy a Renault for my wife, so I can enjoy good French engineering."

Not many of those in the U.S., though, I have to say.

CLANCY: No.

We love hearing from you, wherever you are, so keep your responses coming.

GORANI: All right, and be sure to of course mention your name, where you're writing from, e-mail us at yourviews@CNN.com.

CLANCY: All right, we have something a little unusual to show you. The runners probably not hoping to break any records, considering the outfits they were wearing -- Hala.

GORANI: Hundreds of racers put on their best warrior costumes for the samurai marathon in Gunama (ph), Japan.

CLANCY: Now this is the 30-kilometer run, and get this, it Dates back to 1855. That's when a local man started making his samurai troops run up winding mountain paths to bulk them up.

GORANI: All right, sounds like a bit of sadist.

CLANCY: He looks tired, huh.

GORANI: The heavy costumes took a toll on some of the runners, but most managed to stagger to the finish line.

CLANCY: Well, these guys galloped really, they galloped. We've run our race here on YOUR WORLD TODAY. That has to be it for this hour.

I'm Jim Clancy.

GORANI: I'm Hala Gorani. Stay with CNN.

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