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Your World Today

Bush-Putin Meeting Comes Amid Missile Shield Dispute; Nationalists Turn Their Sights on al Qaeda Fighters; Immigration Reform: Senate Rejects Move to End Debate; Bono Comments on G-8 and Africa

Aired June 07, 2007 - 12:00   ET

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

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Some consensus on climate change. Eight world leaders agree to a center piece of the G8 summit.
And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONO, MUSICIAN-ACTIVIST: People love a cockfight. You know? It's like, this is just a complete distraction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A rock star and activist lashes out in frustration. Bono says Russian-U.S. tension over an anti-missile system is overshadowing an anti-poverty campaign.

VASSILEVA: Seeing a new side. Members of an anti-American guerrilla group find themselves fighting for the same goal as U.S. troops in Iraq.

FRAZIER: And out of jail maybe, but not out of trouble. The hotel heiress still has to serve a sentence, but in the comfort of her own home now.

VASSILEVA: It is 6:00 p.m. in Heiligendamm, Germany, 8:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the globe.

I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier.

From Los Angeles to London, Toronto to Tokyo, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.

Well, on the first full day of business at the G8 summit, there's progress to report on at least two fronts.

VASSILEVA: A simmering dispute between the U.S. and Russia may be cooling a bit, while an ambitious plan to reduce global warming gets the go-ahead. FRAZIER: Leaders are now in their second working session. A little bit earlier they agreed to substantial cuts -- that's the language -- substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. A decision that the host, Angela Merkel, calls a huge success.

VASSILEVA: But the big news right now is what came out of that one- on-one meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents, George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin. They've been locked in a testy dispute over Washington's plans for a missile defense system in Europe.

Let's bring in Ed Henry for an update. He's in Rostock, Germany, near the summit site.

So, Ed, it seems like there was a breakthrough.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ralitsa. A really dramatic development. It also seems like President Bush came out on top in this dispute, because tensions have really calmed down, just as Mr. Bush has been urging in the last couple of days.

You could see it in the body language when Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin came out after a meeting that lasted more than a hour. Mr. Bush smiling a bit more, Mr. Putin seeming a bit stiff. And also, Mr. Putin dropping the bellicose rhetoric we had heard in recent days.

You'll remember he threatened to aim nuclear weapons at Europe if the U.S. did not scrap plans for a missile defense program housed in Europe. And, in fact, rather than demanding that the program be scrapped, Mr. Putin came to the table with a proposal to amend it and actually let this program go forward just with some changes.

Let's take a look at what Mr. Bush had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He expressed his concerns to me. He is concerned that the missile defense system is not an act that a friend would do. He made some interesting suggestions.

As a result of our discussions, we both agreed to have a strategic dialogue, an opportunity to share ideas and concerns between our State Department, Defense Department and military people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: So you can hear right there the talk of cooperation and moving forward together.

Here's the actual proposal from Mr. Putin. He wants to base the radar for this missile defense system in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic near Russia. That would be an alternative to housing it in the Czech Republic, as Mr. Bush has wanted.

The reaction from the White House so far, the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, saying they think this is a positive development, they want to study it. And as you heard Mr. Bush there, he was saying, let's take a look at it. And the mechanism for that is the U.S. and Russia now agreeing to put together some sort of a working group that will put together cabinet secretaries and cabinet ministers from each country in the weeks ahead to try to study the proposals on each side.

But the bottom line here is Mr. Putin seems to be saying he will let a missile defense program go forward for the U.S. That's a lot different from what he said just a couple of days ago, when he wanted to end this thing altogether -- Ralitsa.

VASSILEVA: Absolutely.

What about climate change? There seems to be some movement forward on that issue, too.

HENRY: That's right. There is some movement forward, but clearly not as much as the host of this summit, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, wanted.

She is hailing this deal among the G8 as a huge success. But the deal only says that the eight nations "will consider seriously" Merkel's push to basically have global emissions by the year 2050. As White House aides are pointing out, this does not have specific targets to actually reduce those greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged to reporters there's still, in his words, an immense amount of political detail that needs to be worked out in the years ahead for this to really be a breakthrough of any kind. It's really just essentially the G8 saying that they want to move forward to continue to study this and move towards cutting global emissions, but not really having the specific targets that Merkel and others wanted.

And finally, the G8 is agreeing in this language to accept the U.S. offer to have another meeting in the U.S. later this year to study all this. But again, it's more meetings, but not really action -- Ralitsa.

VASSILEVA: Ed Henry in Rostock, Germany.

Thank you very much.

Well, anti-capitalist protesters near the G8 summit tried to get their message across to world leaders by both land and by sea. In one such demonstration, riot police used water cannons to turn protesters away from a perimeter fence that surrounds the whole summit site. Others held peaceful gatherings and blocked roads that led to the summit location.

Police say they sympathize with the protesters but will not tolerate violence.

And several Greenpeace boats breached a perimeter in the Baltic Sea near the summit resort before being chased away by police boats. The environmental group wants the summit to set clear goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

FRAZIER: Now to the war in Iraq, where success, of course, is measured in very small steps. And there's some positive surprises that pop up from time to time.

Karl Penhaul reports on an expanding rift between Iraqi nationalist insurgents and al Qaeda fighters and how the U.S. his hoping to exploit that rift.

We'd like to warn you though that the report about this contains graphic video which some of you may find disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is the masked face of an insurgent backlash. Nationalist anti-American guerrillas and former Saddam Hussein loyalists are turning their sights on al Qaeda radicals.

"God is great. God damn the al Qaeda criminals," they chant.

"The al Qaeda organization has dominated and humiliated Sunnis, Shiites and jihadis. It has forced people from their homes. They can't get enough blood. They killed many honest scholars, preachers and loyal Mujahideen.

Based in Tarir (ph), a small district 40 miles north of Baghdad, they call themselves the United Jihad Council, an alliance of battle- hardened insurgent factions including the 1920s brigade and the Mujahideen army. They say two months of fierce fighting forced even mosques to close. Last Friday marked the first public prayers since the Jihad Council drove out al Qaeda.

This worshipper thanks the masked gunman for taking control of his town. The insurgent greets him with a kiss, then pats him down for hidden weapons.

Inside, the faithful listen to the imam's by now customary rant against U.S. occupation. The message is now mixed with condemnation of al Qaeda and its brutal tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We will fight the oppressors, and with God's support we will defeat al Qaeda. Al Qaeda made us suffer. They killed our clerics, our children and our women. They left their bodies dumped on the ground.

PENHAUL: Underscoring those words, a shallow grave near the mosque gives up its secrets. These Jihad Council gunmen express surprise this victim was not beheaded, but he was handcuffed, evidence, they say, it was an al Qaeda execution.

Until the split two months ago, nationalist insurgents and al Qaeda militants united in their war against the Americans, as in this firefight in the nearby town of Buruts (ph) in 2004.

(on camera): Civilian sources living in the area say the rift came after nationalist insurgents rejected al Qaeda's calls to force extremist Islamic rule. They also opposed the influx of al Qaeda's foreign fighters and the murder and torture of civilians for even the mildest dissent.

(voice over): It's a rift U.S. military commanders in this region are keen to exploit. Similar insurgent infighting was documented in western Iraq earlier this year.

CAPT. BEN RICHARDS, U.S. ARMY: The people have pretty much decided and they've discovered that if they want to have a future, if their children want to have a future, if Iraq is going to have a future, that that future is not with al Qaeda.

PENHAUL: Once divided by common hatred of each other, the U.S. army and these insurgents have for now found a common foe in al Qaeda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: We've be out to some of the villages southeast of the military base where we are now talking to some of those insurgent gunmen, finding out some more of the reasons why they split from al Qaeda and how they hope to collaborate further with American forces here in Diyala province, which has become one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Karl, some of the reasons that you just mentioned in your report there, the imposition of Islamic law and the rough treatment of Iraqi citizens, that's been going on as long as al Qaeda has been there.

Was there any set of events that actually triggered this rift beyond those ideological ideas?

PENHAUL: Well, essentially what the insurgent -- the national insurgent factions that we've spoken to said is that they basically now have drawn a red line between themselves and al Qaeda. That red line firmly traced in blood.

Looking at their reasons, it seems particularly what sparked these events was the murder -- they say a 7-year-old child burned alive by al Qaeda fighters. They also say the number of women in their villages were killed by al Qaeda.

So that really seems to have offended to the core these insurgent factions. On top of that, other details which they describe as elements of extremist Islam, such as banning smoking in public places, forcing a curfew on civilians, forcing them to be at home after 4:00 p.m. And even in some cases, according to nationalist insurgents, they say that al Qaeda fighters banned Friday prayers -- Stephen.

FRAZIER: Wow, banned Friday prayers.

All right. Karl Penhaul from Baghdad.

Karl, thanks for explaining all of that. Much more on Iraq coming a little bit later. Hala Gorani speaks to General David Petraeus, who is commander of multinational forces in Iraq.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Welcome back to CNN International and YOUR WORLD TODAY.

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

Immigration reform in the United States Congress has just suffered another setback, which is the second one today. Here's a live look at the Senate chamber where a majority of senators just voted against a motion to limit debate on amendments attached to the reform bill. And that means that critics can continue to express opposition.

There will now be several more hours of debate before a second vote a little bit later today. If senators vote no again, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he will shelve this bill for the time being.

Dana Bash joins us now live from Congress to give us a little bit more insight as to what happened.

And what does this mean for this bill?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ralitsa, this is really do or die day for this very controversial, highly publicized immigration reform bill. And it is just as you described it.

What we just saw just a short while ago was the first of two test votes for this bill. That one failed, and here's the reason why.

It is because the Senate majority leader wants to have a final vote on this, which has been debated for about two weeks on the Senate floor. He wants to have a final vote by the end of this week. In order to do that, he wants to limit the number of amendments that senators can offer, senators who aren't entirely happy with the compromise in this bill and want chances to change it.

So, the reason why he set this vote is to try and limit the measures. Republicans voted no because they say, wait a minute, we want to have unlimited attempts to actually change this bill.

So that is why you saw this essentially stall on the Senate floor today. But as you said, Ralitsa, what we're going to see between now and sometime later this afternoon or early evening is additional chances for these senators on both sides of the aisle, really, mostly Republicans in this case, though, who are not happy and want to change the underlying immigration reform bill.

And there will be a second vote later this afternoon, Ralitsa. If that vote fails, then, in effect, this entire immigration bill could collapse. Because Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, has said that he might actually pull the bill from the floor. So that could really change the prospects for this, and it really could have an impact on President Bush, as well as Democrats and Republicans in Congress, because, Ralitsa, the president has made this perhaps his top domestic agenda item, and this is something that came up in the very impassioned debate on the Senate floor earlier today.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I think someone should get word to the president that if this bill going down with the vast majority of Democrats voting for this action to move forward on this, and Republicans vote against it, he and I discussed what the headline's going to be. The headline's going to be: "Democrats Vote to Continue the Bill, Republicans Vote Against It. The President Fails Again".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: If we can't do this, we ought to vote to dissolve the Congress and go home and wait for the next election.

Can we do anything anymore? I don't like a lot of these amendments. I don't like a lot that's in the bill. I was in and out of the meetings, but I was not one of the people that worked on the so-called grand bargain.

Some people are acting now like it was a sinister operation. I don't believe so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So now again what we're going to see over the next several hours is attempts by senators to continue to change the bill. They will be allowed to offer amendments. But then by this afternoon there will another procedural vote. If that fails again, Ralitsa, this whole immigration bill could collapse.

VASSILEVA: A very crucial time there.

Dana Bash watching events for us.

Thank you very much. We'll keep joining you for an update and see what happens.

BASH: Thank you.

VASSILEVA: Thank you.

FRAZIER: Britain's Channel 4 went forward with a controversial documentary program Wednesday which featured photographs taken after the accident that killed Diana, princess of Wales. And they went ahead despite protests from both her sons.

Channel 4's documentary, which was entitled "Diana: The Witnesses in the Tunnel," examined the role that photographers may have played in the crash that killed Diana and Dodi Fayed and their driver.

It showed a very detailed black and white image of the accident scene, but did not show her face. That was obscured by a gray square. So far, reaction to this decidedly low key in Europe.

VASSILEVA: Well, she makes news when she goes to jail, and she makes just as much news when she gets out of jail. After being incarcerated for less than a week, Paris Hilton headed home.

The heiress had checked into the Los Angeles jail Sunday night. She had been expected to serve a sentence there for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

But early on Thursday, police officials announced Hilton is being released for medical reasons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WHITMORE, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT. SPOKESMAN: ... that you might have.

After extensive consultation with medical personnel, including doctors, here at CRDF, it was determined that Paris Hilton would be reassigned to our community-based alternatives to custody's electronic monitoring program. And what that means is this: she's has been fitted with an ankle bracelet and has been sent home, and she will be confined to her home for the next 40 days.

Because she has agreed to this through her attorney, her sentence is now back up to 45 days. She has served already five days, so that's 40 days. She will now be under the supervision of the L.A. County Probation Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: And these are live pictures from our affiliate KTLA. Helicopter pictures of the home of Paris Hilton in west Hollywood, where she's expected to arrive at any moment now.

We are watching that home. There are a lot of cars down there, a lot of interest, of course, where she's expected to arrive to serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest.

FRAZIER: Apparently there's some kind of comment that she was not eating the food that they were provided there in the jail. That's why her health was deteriorating.

Well, let's turn now to Harvard, where students seeing a big business opportunity on their graduation day.

VASSILEVA: We'll tell you why some are selling their tickets for today's commencement. Also coming up, comparing score cards. U.S. voters reveal their first impressions on Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls after the New Hampshire debates.

FRAZIER: And the most famous anti-poverty activist in the world, Bono, urging world leaders to keep their promises on aid to Africa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: All right. See you at 1:00. Thanks, Jacqui.

And near Atlanta an early morning fire sweeps through a liver Riverdale motel. At least five people were killed, at least five injured, including two firefighters. The hotels records were burned in the blaze so it's not clear if all the residents have been accounted for. The cause of that fire is under investigation.

We'll have much more on that shocking murder case out of the Kansas straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM at the top of the hour. In the meantime, YOUR WORLD TODAY continues after a quick break. I'm Kyra Phillips. We'll see you in about 30 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

VASSILEVA: This is YOUR WORLD TODAY. I'm Ralitsa Vassileva.

FRAZIER: I'm Stephen Frazier.

Here had some of the top stories we've been tracking at this hour. On the sidelines of the G-8 summit, the U.S. and Russian presidents have now agreed to cooperate on a missile defense system for Europe rather than contest it.

Vladimir Putin told George W. Bush he would drop his objections to U.S. plans if the radar part of the system were installed in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic instead of the Czech Republic. Mr. Bush calls that proposal interesting.

VASSILEVA: German police used water canons to break up protesters outside the summit site of the G-8. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested as they tried to block roads around the 12 kilometer security zone. Some also attempted to infiltrate the summit site on the Baltic shore by boat but were thwarted by police.

FRAZIER: As world leaders work to hammer out some kind of an agreement on efforts to reduce greenhouse gases at the summit, global warming is already being felt in many parts of the world. VASSILEVA: We take a look now at the impact climate change is having on two countries on the opposite sides of the globe. We begin with Nick Peyton Walsh in Tajikistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATTON-WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven thousand feet up, climate change is stripping the landscape bare.

This is the Zarafshan Valley in the north of Tajikistan. It's one of the remotest places on earth, but it's at the heart of a problem facing the leaders of the G-8 as they meet. In May, 10 years ago, the snow lay thick here. But now the spring melt has a permanent effect.

"I'm saddened as there's no water and less ice than there used to be. I worry the lands won't have enough water to grow grass for the goats."

As the snowfall lessens, these glaciers are also seeing historic change, retreating by 20 meters a year.

(on camera): Tajikistan's glaciers provide much of the water for the region. At this time of year their melting but year on year they're also receding. And officials and aid workers are worried it will cause water shortages in the future for the country and its neighbors.

KARL NILSSON, U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: These mountains, they provide the entire Central Asia with water. So anything that happens up here will, of course, have an effect on the life of people on the economies of countries for the coming years.

We see that glaciers are receding, and we interpret that as an effect of climate change.

PATTON-WALSH (voice-over): In just another decade's time, shrinking glaciers could cause water shortages in this village downstream, but for now there's plenty of water. Too much, in fact, in some places in the country's south, causing landslides and flash flooding.

Tajikistan Central Asia's poorest country, rugged to the north but arid and flat in the south. Here, cattle churn up what's left of a river bed. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, the country's infrastructure has been struggling to cope.

And that was before the temperature rose by up to 1.5 degrees in just 10 years. There's no clean water in this village. Local fathers furious at the sickness this brings, drinking dirt in a land seen as the water basin of Central Asia.

TB, dysentery, diarrhea, all linked to water shortages brought by climate change. This woman's family know why they're sick.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The water smells of every terrible thing possible. At midday it smells of cow dung because the farm animals pass over it all day. It's thick, dirty, muddy. PATTON-WALSH: She can't afford to leave, but elsewhere, this increasingly inhospitable climate has helped put thousands of people on the move.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VASSILEVA: Well, residents in California are used to hot summers and the devastating wildfires that come along with those searing temperatures.

FRAZIER: Even so, this year it seems as though it's a whole lot worse. Randi Kaye now takes a looks at the extreme weather conditions in Southern California and the effect that's having across the state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Southern Californians call it the perfect storm. Extreme heat, dry brush, power and lots of it. This summer, conditions are ripe.

(on camera): Paint the picture for me of what this summer is going to look like?

BILL PATZERT, NASA CLIMATOLOGIST: It's going to be dry. It's going to be fiery. It's going to be smoggy. And it's going to be steamy.

KAYE (voice-over): Pill Patzert is a climatologist for NASA. He looks at the past to predict the future, analyzing the last 100 years of California temperatures, Patzert found daytime averages jumped 5 degrees. Nighttime averages, 7 degrees.

PATZERT: We're no longer living in a normal world. We're living in a warmer world.

KAYE: So warm, Patzert says, annual extreme heat days, those over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, have multiplied by 12. Each summer brings three to five more heat waves.

PATZERT: Our summers have turned into scorchers.

KAYE: Last summer here temperatures soared well above 100 degrees. The power grid collapsed in some areas like the ever expanding Inland Empire of San Bernardino Valley. In all more than 1 million customers had no electricity for more than a week. This is Southern California Edison's war room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The dark blue line is the actual usage.

KAYE: The company is already cranking out nearly 23,000 megawatts. One megawatts powers 650 homes. But megahomes being built in hotter inland areas are draining the system.

PATZERT: All this population, urban, suburban, industrial development has definitely done an extreme makeover on the surface of Southern California. KAYE: The result? Dominoes falling. More ozone trapped in the atmosphere, more smog, and with the brush literally baking, more fires.

Eight-hundred L.A.'s Griffith Park burned in May. A fire on Catalina Island burned that same week. L.A. County Fire Chief John Todd says the brush fire season, which used to be a few months, is now year- round.

So this certainly is an area of concern?

CHIEF JOHN TODD, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPT., FORESTRY DIVISION: When you've got this kind of vegetation like this with all these small twigs and all this -- all these leaves and stuff, you have a lot of surface area. Not only is it dry, like we were talking about, it's like kindling. If you get wind on this, this will explode and the fire will move through this very easily.

KAYE (on camera): And there's more bad news. Infectious disease experts suggest extreme heat could bring tropical diseases to Southern California. The flu which circulates year-round in the tropics could do the same here. And mosquitoes, look out. They like to bite at night, and the warm nighttime temperatures could keep them very busy. Not exactly life at the beach. Randi Kaye, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Now to another place where it's not exactly life at the beach. The commander of multi-national forces in Iraq says they're seeing improvement in security in Baghdad, but he also points out that there is an uptick in sectarian killings in the country.

Hala Gorani is live with us in Baghdad with this update, giving her comments with the top commander. Hala?

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, indeed, I spoke to General David Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. forces here in Iraq. And I asked him about a new strategy that involves talking to former insurgents and doing more than perhaps talking, but for the U.S. military to ally itself with some of those who were directly fighting against the Americans not too long ago.

You can see there in some of the video on your screen that General David Petraeus came into our bureau. It was an unannounced visit so we had time to bring him to our camera position and ask him this question. I was mentioning there the new strategy that involves bring in, looping in former insurgents, former members of groups that are fighting against the U.S. military. This is what he had to tell me about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: We've seen the political solution. It's in a place like Anbar Province. Anbar has been completely transformed just in the period, really, since the announcement of the new security plan as tribe after tribe after tribe has flipped to oppose al Qaeda.

That's a political move. In fact, in the counterinsurgency field manual, for example, it says counterinsurgency is 20 percent military but 80 percent political. So as the security plan takes hold and as others perhaps want to join and support the Iraqi government to oppose al Qaeda and other extremist elements, that's what we're trying to help create the conditions for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: And that is one of the strategies, of course, as many Americans -- a majority of which on pose the war in Iraq are not seeing, and that is a decrease in the number of U.S. military deaths. Also General Petraeus mentioned in the last few months we saw a decrease in sectarian killings. Well, that was not the case again in May. So we're seeing an uptick again.

And in the first few days of June, there have been more than 160 bodies recovered across the Iraqi capital. That's a good indicator that sectarian violence in this part of the country is not lessening. Stephen?

FRAZIER: All right. Hala Gorani from Baghdad. Hala, thank you very much.

VASSILEVA: Well, coming up, who won the debates?

FRAZIER: Those folks in New Hampshire have proven pretty savvy about judging presidential candidates. They see them first. We'll tell you who came out ahead in the recent debates on both sides according to them.

VASSILEVA: And later, an angry Bono takes some G-8 leaders to task for not keeping their promises for aid to Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONO, MUSICIAN AND ACTIVIST: I've just come back from Africa and I've just seen what this money can do. This is a school with no roof on it now. This is a hospital, and the doctors and nurses saying, why can't we get electricity? These people are dying on us.

And for here, politics is the art of the possible. And that just -- This is possible. This is really possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: Well, a little while ago we mentioned the continuing debate in the U.S. Senate on immigration reform. That debate continues right now, in fact. Immigration one of the big points during the Tuesday night Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire.

VASSILEVA: Bill Schneider now takes a look at what voters in Granite State are saying after those debates by politicians from both parties. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN ANALYST (voice-over): New Hampshire voters know something about how to score politicians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the Democratic side, I think I had three and a half people in the top tier. The traditional three. Clinton, Edwards and Obama. And I gave half a point to Governor Richardson.

SCHNEIDER: Is the Democratic front runner still the front runner? Probably, says the director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton did extraordinarily well. People felt she was composed and focused.

SCHNEIDER: In the Republican race, one of the debate moderators believes John McCain may have restored his front runner standing in New Hampshire.

SCOTT SPRADLING, WMUR ANCHOR, POLITICAL ANALYST: I believe he did sort of remind New Hampshire voters of that independent, straight- talking maverick-type of candidate that made him so popular here in 2000.

SCHNEIDER: But in New Hampshire, nothing is a lock.

PAUL MANUEL, NH INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: Don't be surprise if you see a Richardson jump ahead on the Democratic side or a Huckabee on the Republican side. It could happen.

SCHNEIDER: Before they can decide on a candidate, Republicans have to decide what they are looking for.

SPRADLING: They have not quite defined what it is they want to stand for for 2008. Is it electability type of primary or is it a return to principle type of primary?

SCHEIDER: One candidate is trying to show he offers both.

MANUEL: Mitt Romney was testing that yesterday with all of the discussion about the future and optimism. But in one phrase he invoked Ronald Reagan and we have to get ready for a new frontier, John F. Kennedy. I thought it was extraordinary he brought those two elements into his campaign.

SCHNEIDER: Republicans are not the only ones looking for more choices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Personally, kind of wish Al Gore was in the mix. I just think he has the experience I would like to see. I don't want to see OJT again.

SCHNEIDER (on camera): OJT? That's New Hampshire shorthand for on the job training. Bill Schneider, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

VASSILEVA: OJT.

Well, stay with CNN for the best U.S. election coverage. Watch "America Votes 2008, Road to the White House," That's a CNN special this Friday during the first hour of YOUR WORLD TODAY.

FRAZIER: We have an update now on a missing pair of trousers and whether a U.S. judge who owns them has a legal leg to stand on.

VASSILEVA: No pun intended. Roy Pearson was seeking $67 million in damages from a dry cleaners. He reduced the matter to $54 million. Just 54.

FRAZIER: Those are nice pants.

VASSILEVA: Yes.

FRAZIER: Pearson is an administrative law judge in Washington. He first sued the owners of a dry-cleaning store two years ago over a pair of trousers that went missing but were later discovered.

VASSILEVA: He's alleging the owners of the store committed fraud by posting misleading signs. Their attorney says it's a ridiculous claim. The entire suit of which the pants were a part cost no more than $1,100. Speechless.

FRAZIER: Now we go from the ridiculous to the sublime.

VASSILEVA: Just a couple of rock stars out to change the world.

FRAZIER: Bono and Bob Geldof hanging out at the G-8 summit in Germany just to remind world leaders that it's cool to keep your promise when it comes to aid for Africa.

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FRAZIER: A couple of years ago at Gleneagles in Scotland, Bono and Bob Geldof led a big push at the G-8 summit underway then, aid to Africa. And a lot of promises were made as a result.

VASSILEVA: Not all of them have been kept, however. Now the rock stars are back, hoping to persuade world leaders to keep their world. Ed Henry reports.

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ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rock star Bono is at the G- 8 summit with pal Bob Geldof, appearing to have a blast as they lobbied President Bush and other world leaders to sign off to more aid to Africa.

But in an exclusive interview with CNN Bono was to furious with the lack of progress at this summit, he did something he never does. He ripped off his famed rose-colored glasses.

BONO: I've just come back from Africa. I've just seen what this money can do. This is a school with no roof. This is a hospital, and the doctors and nurses saying, why can't we get electricity? These people are dying on us.

And for here, politics is the art of the possible. And that just -- This is possible. This is really possible.

We're not -Pollyannas, this is not rose tinted glasses, believe it or not. In fact, I felt like smashing any glasses today. I just want to ...

HENRY: Why? What happened?

BONO: It's just because they're not keeping their promise.

HENRY: Bono said it's foul as a group the G-8 leaders are not living up to a vow their nations made at the same summit two years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland to sharply increase money to Africa.

BONO: They signed in their own handwriting, leaders of the eight richest nations on earth, I asked them to do it in their handwriting. They had never done it in their handwriting before, and they're still slithering out of it.

HENRY: Bono and Geldof there are many reasons for the backsliding, ranging from budget problems to indifference. But, they say, there's another factor. All of the hype about Thursday's meeting between Mr. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin is overshadowing the anti- poverty agenda.

BONO: These people love a cock fight. This is a complete distraction. And I don't think, you know, Russia presents a threat to the United States, or the United States to Russia. It's a distraction. That's the thing about these meetings. You kind of ask what do they accomplish?

HENRY: The activists are hopeful they can change enough minds by Friday, in part because they believe Mr. Bush has delivered more than he promised and may be able bring others along.

BONO: People say -- Europeans say Americans don't care. It's a continent behaving like an island. They're wrong.

HENRY: But why do these two stars who have so much money bother to prick at the conscience of world leaders.

BOB GELDOF, ACTIVIST: Mahatma Gandhi said --

That's because he needs to -- I want to finish. "Gandhi said first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

HENRY (on camera): In a serious moment Bono said he's gotten involved for a simple reason. In his music career it's all about the art of the impossible. Politics he said is the art of the possible, and now he's trying to bridge those two worlds. Ed Henry, CNN, Rostok, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VASSILEVA: And you can stay up to date with the G-8 summit by logging onto our Web site. That's at cnn.com/international.

FRAZIER: No snoring if you don't like what you read there. Don't be like Bono.

That's it for this hour. I'm Stephen Frazier.

VASSILEVA: I'm Ralitsa Vassileva. Thank you for watching.

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