Return to Transcripts main page

Your World Today

Lebanese Army Battles Islamic Militants Holed Up In A Palestinian Refugee Camp; Heavy Artillery Fire Blasting The Camp

Aired June 01, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR, YOUR WORLD TODAY: A man quarantined with a rare form of tuberculosis says he had one shot to live and he apologizes to those he put at risk.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR, YOUR WORLD TODAY: Artillery fire act echoing across northern Lebanon and the Lebanese army moving in on militants barricaded in a refugee camp.

SESAY: A message from a missing man. Video tape of an abducted journalist includes demands from his captors. And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: certainly, I see no evidence at all of any hoaxing or trickery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: A dark shadow moves under the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake. New images raise hopes of those who believe in the legend end at Loch Ness.

SESAY: It's 5:00 p.m. in Glasgow, 7:00 p.m. in Gaza City. Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe. I'm Isha Sesay.

CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. From Taipei to Tripoli, Los Angeles to Loch Ness, wherever you are watching this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

His voice cracking, his mouth covered up with a mask, the man that triggered and international health scare said he can't expect forgiveness, but never meant harm.

SESAY: Andrew Speaker is speaking out about his decision to fly overseas, despite having a very dangerous strain of tuberculosis.

CLANCY: The U.S. attorney says he has a tape to prove he was not properly warned.

SESAY: Ed Lavandera is in Denver, Colorado, where Speaker is quarantined.

And Ed what's he been saying?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he continues to say in a wide ranging interview with an American broadcast network, broadcast this morning in its entirety, talking about in a very contrite, and at times a very defensive posture, he talked about how he was sorry for the confusion and the angst he may have caused the people that he may have traveled along with. You can hear a little bit now of what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW SPEAKER, TB PATIENT: I don't expect those people to ever forgive me. I just hope they understand that I truly never meant to put them at harm. I never meant to hurt their families or them. And I just hope they can find a way to forgive me for putting them in harm, because I didn't mean to.

LAVANDERA: The backlash against Andrew Speaker has been rather intense. In many circles here in the U.S., on Internet pages, he's been called no less than a terrorist in many situations, and a traitor. And so many people angry at him for putting these people at risk.

His family has said, over the past 24-hours, that they are still struggling to figure out why this reaction has been so intense. And they're still struggling to come to terms with that. They say that every indication they got from the health officials here in the U.S. was that he was not contagious, that the tests he had undergone before leaving for Europe did not show him to be contagious. And he was to believe that he was not a risk to anyone. And that's why he continued on with his wedding and honeymoon trip through Europe, and then coming back here to the U.S.

But this is the hospital here in Denver that he will call home for quite some time. He has undergone a battery of tests, yesterday, those tests are obviously continuing. We're waiting to hear the results of two tests in particular. A CT scan and a lung X-ray done yesterday afternoon, we understand. And that will be the information and the test that really give doctors a better idea of how they will combat and how they will start fighting the rare form of tuberculosis that Andrew Speaker has.

And this could involve surgery at some point. It's not exactly clear. But it will also involve a very complex cocktail of antibiotics, perhaps as many as five that will be very intense. And every indication that we've gotten so far that Andrew Speaker will be here at this hospital, in that very room where you saw him do that interview from, for weeks, if not months.

SESAY: Well, Ed, the key thing here is, in that interview, he's reaching out to the people he put at risk, asking for their forgiveness. What do we know about efforts to track all of those people down that were on those flights with him?

LAVANDERA: That's still part of the process that is continuing. Some people have said that they have been contacted, they have been undergoing some tests. Of course, the real concern is those people who were sitting on that aircraft in the immediate vicinity, those people are the ones that -- are the ones that they are trying to reach out to the quickest. SESAY: And, Ed, the key question that everyone is asking themselves is, whether he was told categorically that he must not travel. And that seems to be in contention. He says he wasn't told. They just said it was preferred that he didn't. What's the other side? What are the medical authorities saying?

LAVANDERA: In that interview that Andrew Speaker conducted, he said he was told that he was not a risk to anybody. And they -- that he was told that they would prefer that he not travel. The kind of continued and pressed on, they said, are you saying that just because you have to say that, because you are trying to cover yourself, even though we're not a risk? And he says they have a tape to prove this, that the have the CD officials say, yes, that's something we had to say to cover ourselves.

SESAY: OK, Ed Lavandera, there in Denver, Colorado. Many thanks.

CLANCY: Another major story that we are following with live pictures, we want to take you to northern Lebanon where violence really escalated at this Palestinian refugee camp on Friday.

SESAY: Live look at the scene, as Jim said, near Tripoli, where the Lebanese Army says at least two of its soldiers have been killed. It still remains somewhat unclear what triggered this latest round of fighting, but the Lebanese military says Islamic snipers fired first, prompting the latest bombardment.

You see the smoke rises there from that Nahr el-Bared Camp.

CLANCY: Yeah, it's really widespread. As we look across this camp, you get an indication there -- these, again, live pictures, as they come in. This is happening right now, north of Tripoli, Lebanon. That's the second largest city in Lebanon, the northern-most city there. This isn't all that far from the Syrian border in Lebanon.

It's pulling out now, and we can see more of this camp and what's been going on. Today, Isha, we've been hearing a lot more tank fire. And they brought in naval gun boats. This is right off -- this is right on the seashore. That's the Mediterranean. They brought in gun boats that are also shelling some of these positions. Fighting has gotten very serious.

SESAY: It certainly has. What we don't know at this stage is whether this is all indicative of a time push to enter the camp. Of course, that agreement in existence for the Lebanese --

CLANCY: Let's listen.

(BOMBING, GUNFIRE)

Our Correspondent Brent Sadler is there, nearby. And he's witnessing this, as well. Let's bring in -- Brent in, and see if we can get some details on what's been going on today.

Brent, can you hear us? BRENT SADLER, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. Let me set the scene for you hear. For about the best part of 12 hours, government forces have been pounding with heavy artillery, mortar fire, and tank fire, supported by at least one naval gun ship, pouring shell fire into sections of this Palestinian refugee camp, where militants belonging to Fatah al Islam, a well-entrenched. They've been putting up a fight against the Army.

Two soldiers, so far, killed in this heavy exchange of fire. As I continue to report, I can see on hills behind the camera, the muzzle flash of heavy artillery pieces, 155 caliber, which continue to open fire at the end of this very dramatic day. I can confirm from political sources close to the military that the army has already put soldiers inside the camp on the perimeter of the camp.

And here, again, you can hear that heavy artillery flying over our heads and aiming to the northern end of the camp and the southern end of the camp, which seem to be militant strongholds -- Jim.

CLANCY: Brent, the determination of the army in all of this, to root out Fatah al Islam, have they actually made some inroads? I know they called on them today, to surrender, but have they been able to make any arrests of these guys?

SADLER: Well, the problem that the military has is that the militants, maybe as many as 200, have had time to prepare themselves for a possible, much wider armored onslaught against this camp. If that would happen, Jim, that would be a radical departure. Because for 40 years, there's been an accord that's held, that essentially gives the Palestinians in 12 refugee camps, throughout Lebanon, their own self-security.

So, the Lebanese central government has never gone into these camps. The militants have had time to prepare, it's understood from intelligence reports, suicide bombers, and land mines, booby traps and dynamited buildings. The army could have a tough battle if it gets into hand-to-hand street fighting.

What we are seeing is this heavy artillery, and the rattle of constant, heavy machine gun fire, trying to create the situation, where the militants are forced to surrender, but they have repeatedly pledged, Fatah Islam's leadership, that they will fight to the death, if necessary -- Jim.

CLANCY: Brent Sadler reporting there live with the smoke-smeared skies above the Nahr el-Bared Refugee Camp, over his shoulder.

Brent, as always, thank you.

SESAY: A very tense situation there in Lebanon. We shall continue to monitor that for you, of course.

Let's check some other stories making news around the world this hour.

CLANCY: And we are going to begin with the release of a man who is known in the U.S. as Doctor Death. Jack Kevorkian leaves prison after eight years, still convinced that people have a right to die.

But he says he isn't going to be breaking any laws. The 79-year- old doctor was sentenced to between 10 and 25 years for second degree murder. He got some time off for good behavior.

SESAY: Russia and Britain are clashing over London's investigation of the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Russia says Britain is politicizing the investigation. Britain says the case is purely a criminal matter. Litvinenko was poisoned in London last year.

CLANCY: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticizing Spain ahead of what is meant to be a fence-mending trip. She says Madrid should do more to support dissidents in Cuba. Relations between U.S. and Spain have cooled since Spain withdrew troops from Iraq in 2004.

SESAY: Now, CNN has learned the Palestinian prime minister is urging his security agencies to redouble their efforts to find Alan Johnston. Johnston is the BBC reporter who was kidnapped in Gaza City back in March. Well, earlier video of the journalists surfaced for the first time since his abduction. Ben Wedeman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At last, word from Alan Johnston, missing in Gaza since the 12th of March.

ALAN JOHNSTON, BBC JOURNALIST, ABDUCTED: First of all, my captors have treated me very well. They've fed me well. There's been no violence towards me at all. And I'm in good health.

WEDEMAN: There's no indication of when or where the recording was made. It was posted on a Web site, known to be affiliated with Islamic radicals. Little is known about the Jashell (ph) Islam, the Army of Islam, the group claiming to hold Johnston.

Along with Hamas' military wing, it claimed to have taken part in the June 2006 capture of Israeli army corporal Galid Shalit, who Israel believes is still in captivity. Security experts advise hostages to cooperate, to read whatever they are handed.

JOHNSTON: In three years, here, in the Palestinian territories, I witnessed the huge suffering of the Palestinian people. And my message is that their suffering is continuing, and that it is unacceptable.

WEDEMAN: Later, Johnston begins a sentence --

JOHNSTON: To my family -- my family --

WEDEMAN: And then silence and a bizarre statement. BBC refused to take this message to his family. And when he gets to his kidnapper's demands --

JOHNSTON: My captors say that in order for me to go free, they want --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language )

WEDEMAN: Then we hear a voice demanding the release of a Abul Katada (ph), a Jordanian-born cleric detained in Britain for suspected links with terror organizations.

The speaker also demands release of other prisoners held by what are described as "infidel states".

British officials aren't commenting on the demands and are calling for Johnston's immediate release.

GORDON BROWN, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER: We are investigating the video as a matter of urgency. We are in touch with Mr. Johnston's family. And we are doing everything in our power to secure his release. And I call on those people that are holding Mr. Johnston to release him as a matter of urgency. They are not serving their cause by detaining him in this unfair and unjust way.

WEDEMAN (on camera): It almost goes would saying that Johnston's message was made under extreme duress. But it is for the first time since the 12th of March, the best indication he's still alive. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: And now to one of the burning questions of the week. Is it, or isn't it the Loch Ness monster? What do you think?

SESAY: Oh, I'm not giving my judgment just yet. Some new video has surfaced. Nessie watchers say the images are the finest, Jim, the finest ever captured. We will have more on this story later this hour.

CLANCY: But for now, what do you think about that? Is this real, or is this a hoax? I don't know what to tell you. But I want to hear what you think. Send us an e-mail. Yourviews@cnn.com. One word, Yourviews@cnn.com.

SESAY: We'll have more on that story and read some of your responses a little later on this hour on the air.

CLANCY: Twenty-four hours a day for 95 days.

SESAY: A team of dedicated athletes hits the long road. We find out how far they will go to raise awareness for a global problem.

CLANCY: President Hugo Chavez pulling the plug one of Venezuela's most popular TV networks.

SESAY: But these TV journalists are not going quietly. How they are using the Internet to get their news casts out.

CLANCY: And, of course, more on Nessie. We've been talking about this amateur video, and Scotland's most mysterious resident.

SESAY: We take a closer look at what's below the waters of Loch Ness, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

SESAY: We're covering the news the world wants to know and giving you some perspective that goes deeper into the stories of the day.

CLANCY: Well, the U.S. presidential candidates converging right now on the key battleground state of New Hampshire.

SESAY: The state primaries are still a long way off, but both the Republicans and the Democrats are holding debates there in the coming days.

CLANCY: Our own Correspondent Dana Bash gives us a closer look at New Hampshire's influence in U.S. presidential politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Merrimac Restaurant's walls offer a history lesson. Snap shots of presidential ambition.

CONNIE FARR, RESTAURANT OWNER: This is Gary Hart, when he first, in 1982.

BASH: Owner Connie Farr relishes her part in a proud tradition.

FARR: We've been very privileged. It's not every day you get to shake hands, sit down and have a bowl of soup or a cheeseburger with a president of the United States.

BASH: New Hampshire can be the gateway to the presidency, but is known just as much as derailing campaigns. In 1968, a disappointing finish here convinced President Lyndon Johnson not to seek re- election. Another career ender in 1972, Democratic front-runner Ed Muskee teared up in the snow, attacking a newspaper publisher for criticizing his wife.

ED MUSKEE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's proved himself to be a gutless coward.

(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)

It's fortunate for him, he's not on this platform beside me.

BASH: The Granite State voters expect lots of candidate face time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Usually, we've done a little homework on their records, and, so, we can ask them questions and challenge them, and so on. But I think it makes a good training ground for the candidates. BASH: And can elevate unknowns to contenders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A friend of mine had a coffee, for Jimmy Carter, in her living room. And we all said, who is Jimmy Carter? The peanut farmer? We went into her living room and Jimmy Carter was there. And I thought, wow, this guy is really impressive.

BASH: Some of its lore comes from memorable public events.

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: You asked me if you -- I am paying for this microphone.

BASH: New Hampshire made Bill Clinton the comeback kid, helping him survive accusations of draft dodging and philandering with a second-place finish. Yet it doesn't always propel winners. In 2000, John McCain beat George W. Bush in a landslide and still lost the nomination.

(on camera): But to borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, "Here we go again." It's record in picking winners may be mixed, but its place at the head of the presidential primary calendar guarantees that New Hampshire, and it's legendary stops like this, gets another chance at adding to its storied tradition. Dana Bash, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, stay with us for the full coverage of the upcoming debates in New Hampshire.

CLANCY: That's right. They are going to get under way on Sunday, June 3rd for the Democrats, and then, on Tuesday, June 5th for the Republicans. Both debates beginning at 2300 hours, Greenwich Mean Time. That's 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Also, our own correspondent, our own colleague, Colleen McEdwards is going to be there in New Hampshire, bringing us a little international perspective to what comes out of the debates.

SESAY: Still ahead a study in contrasts.

CLANCY: Bahrain's economic boom, apparently not trickling down to all of its population. We'll have more on the simmering tensions between the majority Shia and the ruling Sunni classes, when we come back.

SESAY: Also, an enduring legend. Could this be new evidence that a monster is hiding in the deep waters of a Scottish lake?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(NEWSBREAK) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from more than 200 countries and territories around the globe, including the United States.

CLANCY: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY, I'm Jim Clancy.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. He are some of the top stories we're following for you.

The Lebanese army says at least two of its soldiers have been killed in the latest battle at a Palestinian refugee camp. Fighting flared up again early Friday near Tripoli. The government is using tanks, heavy artillery, and gun boats in their attempt to crush the Fatah al Islam militants.

CLANCY: The tuberculosis patient who touched off an international health scare is apologizing to passengers who shared two flights with him. Andrew Speaker telling a U.S. television network that health officials did not warn him that he was contagious or a danger to anyone before he left for Europe. Speaker has a rare, hard to treat form of tuberculosis. He's now hospitalized in a special facility in isolation in Denver.

SESAY: More than two months after his abduction in Gaza, there is finally word from BBC reporter Alan Johnston in a video given to Palestinian television by the Army of Islam, Johnston says his captors are treating him well. CNN has not been able to verify the authenticity of the tape or determine when it was recorded.

Well, this is the first anyone has seen or heard of Alan Johnston in 81 days. His abduction is part of a troubling trend. Stephen Frazier has some insight.

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The abduction of Alan Johnston highlights something that a lot of us have missed. Suddenly, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Gaza has become one of the riskiest places on earth for reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL SIMON, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: The status of neutral observer that journalists once enjoyed has broken down not only in Iraq, where journalists are frequent targets, but in Southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces fired on media vehicles during the invasion last summer; and in Gaza, where journalists have been abducted in recent months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: He mentioned Iraq there. The number of journalist kidnapped in Gaza still much lower than in Iraq.

According to CPJ figures, 48 have been abducted in Iraq since 2004. Only half of them have been released, many of them were ultimately killed. During that same time, 14 journalists have been kidnapped in Gaza, far fewer. Still though enough to make Gaza the second most perilous place in the world for working press and it's getting even more dangerous. Where once abducted journalists were used as bargaining chips in local disputes, now the captors are making more political or ideological demands.

Here is a brief timeline: in 2004, CNN producer, Riad Ali (ph) was seized in Gaza City. He was let go the next day. His captors never said why they took him. Six journalists were kidnapped in Gaza in 2005. Most of them released the same day in which they were taken. The next year, six more journalists were abducted, again most were released quickly. But one case was something of a turning point, Fox News reporter Steve Santani and photographer Olaf Weig (ph) were held for 13 days. And they were seen on this video made by their abductors saying that all Muslims being held in American prisons must be released. Santani and Weig (ph) were let go, but those demands were never met.

Now, to 2007, and the old rules are out. One journalist was taken, held for a week and released. But Alan Johnston has been held much longer than any of the others. Demands for prisoner exchange were issued very quickly. That is new but they haven't been addressed because there are no negotiations. And that is also unique. All, a striking departure for this part of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN DAMESTOY, REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS: The model of Iraq is spreading around the world, and especially in Gaza. More and more, journalists or even human -- excuse me, ONG organization around the world are kidnapped, killed, exactly the same way of what's happening in Afghanistan or in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRAZIER: Alan Johnston's case is also different because of the powerlessness of the Palestinian government to secure his release. He is a hero in Gaza because he tells its story around the world. His photograph is in almost every Palestinian house there.

But even when authorities have managed to win the release of hostages, they have never apprehended or brought to justice anyone responsible.

SESAY: Well, Stephen, isn't it encouraging just to know from this video that Alan Johnston is still alive?

FRAZIER: Yes, we can take a lot of comfort in that. He sounds terrific in the video. He sounds terrific. But we have no clue when this was made. There's no reference to recent events, or anything like that. Plus, people who study these tapes say they are troubled by the way in which Alan Johnston was interrupted when he started to address his family. The audio was cut then and he was never permitted to do that. And experts are troubled by that.

SESAY: All right, Stephen, thank you. FRAZIER: Thanks, Isha.

CLANCY: Up next, from posh skyscrapers to corrugated shacks.

SESAY: In Bahrain, the dividing line between the haves and the have- nots is so clear you can practically touch it.

CLANCY: But as is so often the case in the Middle East, things aren't as simple as they appear.

SESAY: Coming up, we go deeper to find out why they say some of the problems go far beyond the money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Hello, everyone, and welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY right here on CNN International.

SESAY: We're seen live in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe.

CLANCY: All right, you still have time to send us your thoughts about the Loch Ness Monster. Some new video has surfaced. We're going to show that to you now. You know -- is this or isn't it the notorious Loch Ness Monster? You know I have suspicious, I tell you, because it's the beginning of tourist season and then the new tape surfaces.

SESAY: Well, you know, that's the question. Is this monster real or is it a hoax? Let us know your thoughts by sending an e-mail to YouViews@CNN.com. We'll read some of the responses a little later this hour on the air.

CLANCY: Yes, we're already getting some very interesting responses.

SESAY: We are; very interesting.

OK, an abundance of oil has given Bahrain one of the world's fastest growing economies.

CLANCY: But not everybody is sharing in the wealth. Our Hala Gorani is in Bahrain this month, hosting "INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST." And as part of her coverage, she went out to do a story on the divisions between the country's rich and poor.

SESAY: But as Hala quickly discovered, Bahrain's problems aren't just about money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story for this edition of "INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST" was supposed to be about poverty in the Persian Gulf. In a city like Manama in Bahrain, visitors usually see this: skyscrapers piercing the blue sky, expensive cars, once a year, the exclusive Formula One race on Bahrain's brand new racetrack. But drive out a few miles and you sometimes see this: decrepit housing, run down and dirty streets in mainly Shiite villages that have not benefited from Bahrain's economic boom.

The plan was to report on poverty in Bahrain, but almost immediately, it becomes obvious. This is a story about long-standing tensions between the majority Shia and the ruling Sunni class here.

Inside this house, I talk with the head of a Shia family who says two of his sons are unemployed. The presence of our camera gets everyone going. The mother chimes and then a young Shiite man, so candid in his tirade against the Sunni prime minister, I'm taken aback.

(on camera): How do you see your future?

YOUSSEF ALI HASSAN KHAMIS, SITRA RESIDENT: My future, it's like (UNINTELLIGIBLE). That's what I think.

GORANI: So not good?

KHAMIS: There is no future. In our own country, there is no future. Let him to listen, let him to know, what is this life? This is bad life. Really, it's bad life. We need something good for us.

GORANI: Now are you afraid that if you say this and it appears on camera that...

KHAMIS: I not care about them. Let them see anything they want to see. If I have something good to do, I will do it. I'm not afraid of them.

GORANI: Is it OK if we use this on TV?

KHAMIS: Yes, of course you can put it in Bahrain channels, no problem.

GORANI (voice-over): Bahrain has been ruled by a Sunni monarchy for more than 200 years, first, as a British protectorate, and since 1971, as an independent Gulf state. But these Shiites say the story is not about poverty but about systematic discrimination against them.

Hanging on the walls of this house, pictures not of Bahrain's king, but of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nazralla.

Nabeel Rajab is one of the heads of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. His office was closed by the government in 2004. He says he was beaten and harassed. Rajab is Shiite, like up to three- quarters of the people in Bahrain.

NABEEL RAJAB, BAHRAIN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: The Shiite discrimination, it's not only in government now it's started happening on the companies owned by the government. I think that goes back to they want to make sure that the Shia stays in that very low, very low -- they don't want them to be economically empowered. As always our royal family and government have felt that the Shia could take over the government one day. GORANI: So I visit government officials in Bahrain. The housing minister, Fahmi Bin Ali Ajowder, says those who complain of discrimination are ignoring official efforts to alleviate poverty across sectarian lines.

FAHMI BIN ALI AJOWDER, BAHRAINIAN MINISTER OF HOUSING: Look at how much the government have done and the country in terms of housing from the period 1975 until 2001 developed around 44,500 units. And the period from 2002 until 2006, the government developed and provided service to another 14,000 families. So this is almost everyone in Bahrain. So, if you come and say, well, the government didn't do much, I think it is unfair.

GORANI: Bin Ali Ajowder says that tens of thousands of housing units are being built for the poor right now and that the government must encourage people to work rather than rely on financial assistance.

I'm told that day there will be a demonstration in a Shiite village. Protestors have been gathering every week, I'm told, to demand better living conditions and jobs. Sometimes the demonstrations become violent. Today, it did not. Protestors say Shiites are kept out of top government jobs, that they're not allowed to serve in the Army or the police, that the Sunni dominated government brings people from other Sunni countries, like Syria and Jordan instead of hiring Bahraini Shiites.

Is poverty a result of discrimination? I asked the minister of social affairs about accusations the government does not employ its own citizens.

FATIMA AL-BALOOSH, MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: At the end, businessmen, when they come, they say, OK, we try to employ Bahrainis but they do not stay. They don't like those jobs. They don't want hard working jobs. They prefer having a job in an office.

GORANI: Sectarian frustration has existed for years in Bahrain. In the early '90s, some Shia demonstrators were jailed here.

In the village of Vani Jama (ph), (UNINTELLIGIBLE) says he can't afford to move out of this house on his salary from a nearby slaughterhouse. He shows me the home he shares with his wife and son and the horse he keeps in the backfield. His family used to grow their own food here, until, he says, land was reclaimed by the government to build real estate on the shore.

On the way back to the hotel, we stop at a sports field in the village, shooting hoops with local kids on a broken basketball board.

My story over, I drive back to the glossy Bahrain most visitors usually see.

Hala Gorani, CNN, Bahrain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: And you can see a lot more on this and other stories. Hala Gorani hosts "INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST."

SESAY: She's reporting from Bahrain this month and the program airs Saturday at 7:30 G.M.T. right here on CNN.

There seems to be an illusive creature along the subject of legend.

CLANCY: And now there's new video that's surfaced. A jet black thing there moving fairly fast in the deep waters of a Scottish lake. Is it an eel? Is it evidence of the Loch Ness Monster residing in this lagoon? Well, or is it just a board being dragged behind a boat? You decide. We're going to come back with more on this story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: You can see tension building there in the control room. Is it a myth?

SESAY: Or is it a reality? A man in Scotland says he may have footage of the Loch Ness Monster.

CLANCY: Now, his videotape may raise a few eyebrows but it's also raising hopes that there may finally, finally, be proof of that mythical creature.

SESAY: Well, Tim Lister has more on the purported sighting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could this be new evidence that a monster is hiding in the deep waters of a Scottish loch? Amateur video shot last weekend at Loch Ness shows a shadow moving across its surface. Not exactly conclusive but the tourist who captured these images says he saw a jet black thing about 50 meters long moving fast across the lake.

It's just the latest of several thousand reported sightings since a Dr. Wilson captured this image was captured in 1934 and started a phenomenon that's turned into an industry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it.

LISTER: A well-known car company even built an ad campaign around Nessie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my.

LISTER: Loch Ness is now so famous that its promoters want the United Nations to declare these dark forbidding waters a world heritage site, like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Acropolis of Ancient Greece, and the Great Wall of China.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost an iconic tourism destination. But there's no question that it needs to be protected and it needs to be developed and it needs to be taken forward. And we believe, as I said, that by going for world heritage status that will enhance the area and everything that it has to offer.

LISTER: And help sustain a legend or a myth that surely deserves global recognition if only for its persistence.

Tim Lister, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Well, scientists plan to analyze this latest Loch Ness videotape that's there, and they're going to do that. It may take months. One of the people that'll do the analysis, marine biologist Adrian Shine.

SESAY: He's a researcher with the Loch Ness Project. Earlier, I asked him why some Nessie watchers are so excited about this tape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADRIAN SHINE, RESEARCHER, LOCH NESS PROJECT: At least it is a real wake, and it is not a boat wake. I can that. I mean there are other things it could be. Seals occasionally enter the Loch. So they're seldom seen by day. And another possibility is water birds. But certainly, I see no evidence at all of any hoaxing or trickery; and neither, by the way, is it connected to the launch of the bid for world heritage status for Loch Ness.

SESAY: Over the years, there have been so many sightings, if you want to call them, of Nessie, and a number of investigations that have been mounted. Has anything come close to telling you that something exists in Loch Ness?

SHINE: Well, of course, it wouldn't have to be prehistoric. It would simply have to be a little bit unusual. More than 1,000 people, certainly, insist they've seen large animals at Loch Ness. The scientific evidence is a lot less impressive. Although from time to time, both my own expeditions and others have made sonar contact, which we don't understand.

Now, of course, this might simply be that we don't understand them, but these appear strong contacts. They're often deep down. Sometimes they seem to move. And that matter is still unresolved.

The human testimony is, well, very large. But what we are doing, my own Loch Ness Project from the center in Scotland, is to look at special things about Loch Ness, which can sometimes cause monster sightings, very special things about the way the water moves, counter intuitive things, the sort of thing that I will hope will one day make Loch Ness a world heritage site.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: He was quite a character.

SESAY: He was indeed. CLANCY: I liked his beard.

SESAY: We shall see whether we can get you one.

And now it's time to hear from you.

CLANCY: Now, we've been asking, do you think this monster video is real, or is this just another hoax?

SESAY: Well, you've been writing in to us. Nahi from London believes it is real. She writes, "I personally believe that these photos are proof of existence of the Loch Ness Monster. We know relatively nothing about what is in our waters."

CLANCY: Well, Vicki from the U.S., not as convinced. She says, "I don't think the monster is real, but it's fun to think that there is a monster. It's fun to be caught up in the fantasy of it."

SESAY: And Lanre from Nigeria agrees, saying, "It's simply the reinvention of an old fable using modern day story telling tools."

CLANCY: Well, we may never know, but please continue to let us know what is your opinion, is it the monster or not? Send us an e-mail to YourViews@CNN.com.

SESAY: And we'll be reading some your responses a little later on the air. Make sure you include your name and where you are writing from, of course.

OK, we are going to, in the next hour, have a live report from Lebanon. You're looking at live pictures of the intensifying fighting that's taking place in that Palestinian refugee camp, Naha al Barad (ph). Militants there from the Fatah al Islam group vowing to fight to the death. But the Lebanese army certainly intensifying its barrage today.

CLANCY: It started with sniping incidents early in the morning. For our international viewers, we're going to follow this in the next hour. You can right now the sun just going down over the Mediterranean in the background there.

And the fight in this camp just raging on. Tanks have been moved in. There are naval gun boats off the shore in the Med. They are putting artillery rounds into this.

We're going to show you an explosion that happened just a few moments ago. You can see that it has really gotten more intense. The Lebanese army moving into this camp. They have encircled now into the -- moved into the northern end of the camp where we have seen some of the heaviest fighting.

SESAY: Indeed, the heaviest fighting since this conflict began some 13 days ago. We will have a live report from our Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler in the next hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com.