Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Protests in China Turn Violent; South African Strike Ends; Mohammed Lampooned in French Magazine; Jesus Married?; Denzel Washington and His Work with Children; Violence on the Turkish Border; Uncovering Life in Burma; Drug Addicted In Afghanistan

Aired September 19, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Stay tuned right now for "NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL."

(MUSIC PLAYING)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Welcome to the NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Suzanne Malveaux, and we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. Here's what's going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): A chaotic scene outside the embassy in Beijing.

U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke was surrounded by protesters. They have been demonstrating outside the Japanese embassy next door, demanding that Japan relinquish control of an island chain claimed by China in the waters between the two countries.

Some of the protesters moved into the street, blocking Ambassador Locke's car. Some threw bottles. Chinese police and military forces pushed the demonstrators back. The ambassador was not hurt.

Turkish media says Syrian opposition fighters took control of a border crossing at the Syrian-Turkish line. Rebels have been trying to secure border crossings to create safe havens near Turkey, a country sympathetic to the Syrian opposition movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Workers at a platinum mine in South Africa have ended their labor strike. The deal comes after protests left 45 people dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): The miners accepted an agreement that will boost pay as much as 22 percent. A spokesman for the mine company called it groundbreaking, and workers say they're happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm happy about now. No, no, no, just because the solution is coming. Yes, I'm happy, the solution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we have something, (inaudible) at least, half a loaf is better than nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A French magazine is the latest target of Muslim anger over depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. The satirical magazine, "Charlie Hebdo," published cartoons today, featuring a figure resembling the Prophet. The French Muslim council calls the cartoons insulting. The controversy in France follows a week of deadly protests over an anti-Muslim video produced here in the U.S.

And the cartoons threaten to add to an already tense situation. Jim Bittermann is following the developments from Paris.

So, Jim what is the magazine saying about why it published the cartoons and what it hopes to actually accomplish?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the magazine is based on outrage. Basically it comes up every week, and it tries to satirize the news of the previous week, and the news of the previous week was dominated by the protests against that U.S. video.

So it was satirizing the reaction in the Muslim world to the U.S. video, and as a consequence, has crossed a line, at least as far as the Islamic community here is concerned. But the magazine doesn't see it that way. They say it's not a provocation. It's just what they normally do, and you don't have to buy it if you don't want to.

And this is what the cartoon -- one of the cartoonists that work for the magazine, who, by the way, is under 24-7 constant protective surveillance because he has been threatened over the months since an attack on the magazine back in November. In any case, that's what a cartoonist told us a little bit earlier today.

WHITFIELD: And so, Jim, you know, while the cartoonist is now under surveillance, what about the publication in and of itself? What kind of precautions or protections are being offered for that publication just to keep things under control? Just in case?

BITTERMANN: Well, the police have -- there already was some security around the cartoonist -- the cartoon building where the magazine is published, and that security has been stepped up overnight because of the publication this morning.

There's been other security measures taken by the French government because they are worried about reaction, clearly, around the world. They have asked that French embassies and schools be closed on Friday, and in 20 different countries, and they'll stay closed until at least Monday, and the idea is that there could be problems.

They've also told French citizens abroad to avoid crowds and they've turned to the security folks, both in the embassies and in the governments where the embassies are located, saying, look, your job is to protect the embassies, so be on the lookout and don't let anything untoward happen.

But clearly they are worried about something developing. And one thing is sort of related but not related, and that is that on Saturday some of the protesters here were planning a demonstration against the U.S. embassy here because of the video, last week's video and, in fact, the government has said that protest cannot take place. They've forbidden it to take place.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jim Bittermann, thanks so much, from Paris.

Now let's go to Asia now, where street protests in Beijing took a frightening turn for the U.S. ambassador to China. Gary Locke's car was surrounded by dozens of demonstrators outraged over Japan's claim to a group of disputed islands. CNN's Stan Grant is in Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The incident plays out right in front of the U.S. embassy. That's just around the corner from the Japanese embassy, the site of wide-scale protests in recent days. Now you can see a small group of Chinese protesters carrying Chinese flags; police are moving alongside of them, and they move in front of the embassy.

Now you can also see Chinese military appear on the scene as well. This video appears to have been shot from a high vantage point just in front of the embassy. Then we see the ambassador's car come into view. Now, the protesters move forward and surround the vehicle, blocking its path.

At that point the police move in, trying to disburse the protesters. Now, this goes on for several minutes until one of the protesters tries to grab a hold of the U.S. flag on the front of the car. There's some pushing and shoving.

Very soon after, you see projectiles, including bottles, being hurled at the car itself. This whole incident plays out over several minutes, until finally you see the Chinese military also come into the picture, trying to force the protesters away.

Now, the whole incident has been addressed by the foreign ministry here in China. They concede that an incident did take place. They're playing it down.

HONG LEI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): The Chinese government has always abided by the Vienna Convention to protect the safety of foreign institutions and personnel in China. The relevant incident was merely an isolated case. Relevant Chinese authorities are investigating and will handle the result properly.

GRANT: Now the ambassador, Gary Locke, has been unharmed and the incident eventually passed, but this just shows how tense China is at the moment over this islands dispute involving Japan and China.

It seems some Japanese businesses having to close their operations for several days, concerned about the safety of Japanese people inside China, but it's also now put the United States front and center.

The Defense minister, Leon Panetta, has been in Beijing for top-level talks, trying to reassure China that the United States is staying neutral on this dispute and wants to see it negotiated calmly.

But right now, of course, with the U.S. involved in this, this just goes to show how tense this situation is, coming particularly at a time when China is now emerging as a hot button issue in the U.S. presidential election -- Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And as Stan just mentioned, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is talking with Chinese leaders about those rising tensions in Asia. Today he met with China's vice president , Xi Jinping, in Beijing.

Let's bring in CNN's Michael Holmes right now.

This is a very difficult situation because you're talking about the U.S. military ally is Japan, trade ally is China. So how is Leon Panetta managing juggling all of this today?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Very carefully, I think, you could say. It's a real balancing act. You know, he is having to appear not to take sides in the situation, in fact, saying outright that the U.S. is not taking sides in this issue, while at the same time trying to calm the rhetoric of which there has been much.

You know, Japanese-Chinese tensions are often there. They're historical. They go back to invasions in World War II and the rest. Panetta does not want this to spiral out of control.

A lot of people are worried that, you know, if somebody gets a hair trigger, this could actually lead to some sort of conflict on some level, and the U.S. doesn't want to get dragged into that, so it's a very difficult position for them to be in.

WHITFIELD: What is the position of China? What is their contention about these disputed islands? It's in the China Sea, but what is it that they're claiming they know they have the right to?

HOLMES: Well, as I say, it goes back historically. Japan claims that they've had them since the late 1800s and that they've always been Japanese territory since that time.

The Chinese say that they're theirs. They -- it's complicated, again. The U.S. gets involved again here, because when U.S. was occupying Japan at the end of that, when we gave everything back to Japan and formally left, we actually ceded those islands back to Japan in a formal sense.

China doesn't agree with it. You've got oil and natural gas reserves there. It's not so much about the island, but about the seas around them and what's under those seas. That's part of it, the oil and natural gas. But also there's just a territorial issue here, you know.

And the other thing the U.S. is facing at the moment is China being worried about growing U.S. influence in the region. Part of what Mr. Panetta was doing in Japan was unveiling another missile radar defense system setup, second one, on Japanese soil.

The U.S. has been strategically repositioning itself into the Asia Pacific region more troops and more, you know, sort of naval activity there. China doesn't like that. Mr. Panetta has been saying, hey, it's not about you. No threat to you. China saying, you know, we're a bit concerned about it.

WHITFIELD: What about China's vice president, Xi? What's been his role? Because you know, he was missing for a while. Then he kind of reappeared. But then it's also presumed by many that he might be the next president of China.

HOLMES: In fact, he is likely to be. And, yes, this mysterious disappearance that, which we discussed on the program a few days or last week or something, yes, he just vanished for two weeks.

And you know, when somebody of his stature, who normally meets foreign leaders, just disappears, the rumor mill in China just goes nuts, of course. There was talk that he had cancer, that he had a heart attack, that he had fallen out of favor and was no longer going to get the top job.

And then all of a sudden he pops up again and everything seems fine. Mr. Panetta says -- I think he said, frankly, my impression was that he was very healthy and very engaged. The theory now according to one important source is he hurt his back swimming and was on rest and recuperation. You would think they would tell them that, you know, tell the people that since they pay --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- lots of secrecy.

HOLMES: Lots of secrecy. Yes.

WHITFIELD: So it was a little respite sort of for him.

HOLMES: Sort of a little lie-down.

WHITFIELD: All right. Michael Holmes, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Here's more of what we're working on this hour for NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): A remnant of Asian paper shows Christians from the second century thought Jesus had a wife. In just a few minutes.

Also Denzel Washington, the winner of two Academy awards, will be joining us live. He is talking about his commitment to help children.

And rebels in Syria take control of a border region. All that next.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In Syria, progress for opposition fighters: Turkish media report rebels were able to seize a border crossing in Tal Abyad at the Syrian-Turkish line. Rebels have been intent on securing border crossings and safe havens because of Turkey's support for the opposition movement.

Elsewhere in the country, violence continues to rage. Opposition groups say more than 60 people were killed today, including 30 in Damascus and its surrounding suburbs. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from neighboring Lebanon.

So, Nick, how significant is the Tal Abyad victory for the rebels?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's significant because it's symbolic. They want on to seize key (inaudible) structures like border posts like that because they want to carve out, if possible, some sort of northern safe haven for Syrian rebels.

But to be honest, Tal Abyad isn't specifically frequented by Syrian refugees. And we have in the past seen how the Syrian regime like to reverse these symbolic victories by taking back places like that. But today the scenes of battle closing schools on the Turkish side of the border, we understand from Turkish officials, and scenes of jubilation amongst the rebels themselves, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And what can you tell us about Amnesty International reports of indiscriminate bombing by Syrian government forces?

WALSH: Well, we'll seen over the past few months how the Syrian regime have been shelling residential areas across the country. The question is what has been their target? Have they been going for Syrian rebel military objectives there?

Now Amnesty International have done a quite detailed report into attacks over the month in 26 different places. Now, in 25 of them, they say there was no rebel military target to be seen at all in that area, and that inaccurate heavy weapons were used, some just bombs just dropped from aircraft flying overhead.

But significantly they said that in one of those 26 cases there was, in fact, a rebel military target that they were going for. Interestingly, it appears the Syrian regime used a more accurate kind of weapon to launch that attack, a Russian-made rocket.

That suggests to Amnesty, at least, that, perhaps when they're going for rebel military targets, they want to be accurate but when there's shelling or residential areas, they actually want to be indiscriminate. That perhaps it's deliberate, that there's no specific target. They just want to terrify people living there. Absolutely horrifying for civilians on the receiving end.

As are you seeing today, 100-plus people, it seems now, killed in the violence continuing in Syria, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: And, Nick, tell me about the significance between a meeting between President Bashar al-Assad and the Iranian foreign minister today.

WALSH: Well, this is part of an Iranian move over the past few days to try and get some sort of momentum going for their bid to negotiate a settlement out of this particular conflict. They've been talking to the Turkish, to the Egyptians as well, and now, of course, in Damascus, to try to continue these discussions.

They saw they want to find a solution that's acceptable to all sides. But to be honest, it's going to be very hard for the Syrian rebels to tolerate anything born of Tehran's mind because, of course, they see Iran as a key backer of their enemy, President Bashar al-Assad, and very much caught up in supporting their enemy.

It's going to be very hard to see if this Iranian move could bear any particular fruit, and I think many see the visit to Damascus today as frankly a show of support for the Assad regime and, in fact, the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, saying the meeting went, quote, "excellently." Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.

A reclusive nation uncovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no standard child age, you know, for anyone (inaudible) when they work. It's where they do work. They may be expecting to go to school, but they can't afford it, so this is their reality.

WHITFIELD (voice-over): 'They Call It Myanmar." It's a new historic film, shot secretly over the last three years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL, where we take you around the world in 60 minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): Greece may have an economy in turmoil, but they're still making music. Take a look at what's the number one tune this week.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): That's Demi, singing her smash hit, "How Many Thousands of Summers."

All right. It's been a trip overshadowed by scandal, but Kate Middleton, well, she never lost her smile. (MUSIC PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: Or rhythm, even managing to show off her dance moves at a farewell ceremony in Tuvalu. The Duchess and her husband, Prince William, are heading home now after a nine-day goodwill sweep of Southeast Asia. The British royal couple was embroiled in a privacy war involving photos of a topless Catherine. The couple won a court battle this week against a French magazine.

It was wheels up this morning for space shuttle Endeavour. The spacecraft is headed from Florida's Kennedy Space Center to its retirement home in Los Angeles.

The move comes as NASA ends its 30-year-old shuttle program. Endeavour is flying atop a modified 747. It will make stops in Houston and New Mexico and it will dip to 1,500 feet at times just to give those of us around kind of a closer look of the shuttle on its way to its retirement community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. He's been involved with the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America for the last 52 years. Academy award-winning actor, Denzel Washington, joins us live to talk about a plan to help kids.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Denzel Washington is known around the world for playing heroic characters in many blockbuster films, including "Glory" and "Unstoppable," but this Oscar-winning actor says the real- life heroes are the men and women who are helping to improve young lives every day through the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America.

That organization provides children with an extra support system for their education and personal growth and sports. Denzel Washington has been associated with the club since he was a little tike some 50 years ago.

Well, he is now a national spokesperson for the organization, and he is joining us live from Washington.

Good to see you.

DENZEL WASHINGTON, ACTOR: Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: So you also have a special announcement you're going to make about the Boys' and Girls' Clubs and one of the special recipients.

But before we get to that, I want to talk about your connection to the Boys' and Girls' Clubs and how it really helped shape you in large part as a very young little tike, as I mentioned. You explained that you were in kindergarten when you saw a Boys' and Girls' Club being built in your hometown of Mount Vernon, New York, and then what happened?

WASHINGTON: And then I -- as I remember, I begged my mother to take me down there, and she did, and I have been a member ever since.

WHITFIELD: So did you understand at the time what the Boys' and Girls' Club was all about, what would happen when you were to go there as a kid?

WASHINGTON: No. Not really. I mean, it probably was that I heard that, you know, you could go in there and play and they had games. They had a brand new gym and things like that.

You know, one of the great things about the Boys' and Girls' Club, especially -- or as I remember it in those days, is that you thought it was all about fun, but you were actually being taught a lot of life lessons and even through sports, you know, sportsmanship and how to accept defeat and how to be a gracious winner and things like that.

So we never were, like, sat down and like you must learn to be, you know -- it didn't feel like that. It felt like fun, and it was a safe place and it was a place where you could compete. You could meet kids from other neighborhoods that you never met before, and I loved it. I mean, they used to have to kick me out.

WHITFIELD: So you really feel like it shaped you in a big way?

WASHINGTON: Absolutely. Absolutely. When I was, I think in the third grade, we were -- I was on a track team at the club, on the relay team, and I was like the fourth fastest guy.

And a new guy came in that was faster than me, and Billy Thomas, who was the coach of the team, he knew something was wrong with me, and I said, well, I'm worried about this other kid.

He says, well, you know, Denzel, you got to understand, he doesn't know how to pass the baton yet. He doesn't know how to run the curves.

And what he said to me was your natural ability will only take you so far. Twenty years later or 15 years later I was about to graduate from college. I had started acting for two years, and I decided to go to a graduate program and study more, because I knew my natural ability would only take me so far. I remembered that story, and I applied it to my life as an actor.

WHITFIELD: And clearly, it left an indelible impression, because you remember his name, Billy Thomas, to this day.

WASHINGTON: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: You remember how it shaped and you what it did for you.

So how do you suppose --

WASHINGTON: I remember the name of the kid that joined the team. Reginald Whitfield. I was --

WHITFIELD: Darn, huh?

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: You will never forget that.

All right. Well, it motivated you, so there you go.

All right. So let's talk about this big announcement, and every year a youth of the year is awarded and named, and you are actually sitting alongside the one from Kansas today, right?

WASHINGTON: That's right. That's right.

WHITFIELD: Voila.

WASHIGNTON: Yes. Trei Jordan Dudley, who was just announced a short time ago as the National Youth of the Year. It's a competition among thousands of young people across the country, and it all boils down to one person, and here she is.

WHITFIELD: Oh, so Trei, nice to meet you! So, how do you suppose --

TREI JORDAN DUDLEY, BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB'S NATIONAL YOUTH OF THE YEAR: Nice to meet you too.

WHITFIELD: -- you were selected? I understand you were a member - or you have been a member with the Boys and Girls Club for about ten years, and then now you're actually a young staff member, so to speak. Well, tell me about your commitment and why do you suppose they anointed you?

DUDLEY: Well, like you say, I've been a member since I was in kindergarten, so it's actually been about 13 years now. And once I was not eligible to be a member anymore, as far as being a club kid, I decided to work so I could give back to what the club gave to me. So as far as, you know, just continuing to push forward and let kids know they can achieve anything.

WHITFIELD: So, what did the Boys and Girls Club do for you?

DUDLEY: Well, it gave me a sense of confidence, I guess, and showed me that it was okay to express myself. There were a lot of times where I kept all of my emotions inside because -- I wouldn't say that I didn't think they were important, but that I didn't feel that the people at home really needed hear them because they were experiencing the same things as far as, like, the abuse that was going on.

So, the club gave me, like, that sense of being able to express myself and get those feelings out that I had at such a young age. And it wasn't healthy for me to keep them inside, so to be able to express them is definitely what they gave to me.

WHITFIELD: Clearly, having had that experience, you as a junior staffer can really connect with other young people in a very special way. Do you feel that happening?

DUDLEY: Oh, yes. I always tell people when I first started this process, we were going around giving our speeches to other people, and I actually gave it to the site that I worked at. And I had three girls who were in my group who came up to me afterwards with tears in their eyes, crying, and just wanted a hug because they told me that they were experiencing the same thing. So for me to know that I can be that leader and that role model for them to look up to is really touching.

WHITFIELD: Ah, fantastic. Well, Trei Dudley, what an inspiration you are. Thank you so much. Denzel Washington, an inspiration in your own right as well. And of course, we look forward to seeing in your new flick that you're starring in, "Flight." Right? You are a pilot, and you help save lives.

WASHINGTON: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Excellent. Thanks so much. Appreciate both of you today.

WASHINGTON: Thank you.

DUDLEY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: To a story grabbing a whole lot of attention, a biblical scholar sometime after 100 A.D. Christians thought Jesus had a wife. We have details on the ancient scrap of paper that started this discussion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: There may be no bigger revolutionary rock star than this woman: democracy activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. She's on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers. Suu Kyi spent years battling oppression by Myanmar's repressive military force, and she has been under house arrest for most of the past 20 years. She was freed in 2012.

Well, this afternoon, she will be presented with one of the nation's highest honors: the Congressional Gold Medal. Before Suu Kyi's visit, Myanmar freed more than 500 prisoners. Some of those were political dissidents. It was seen as an act of goodwill, but for many in Myanmar, also known as Burma, fear still lies just below the surface. And a critically-acclaimed new documentary shows their fight for freedom is only just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They may be expecting to go to school, but they can't afford it, so this is their reality.

Schooling -- they put children to work.

How old are you?

UNIDENTIFEID CHILD: 15. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 15?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, 15.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: 14.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you 14? are you 14?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes. Yes, 14.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: This was shot secretly using just a handheld camera by the man who joins me right now, novelist Robert Lieberman. Good to see you.

ROBERT LIEBERMAN, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: Hi, thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: So, Mr. Lieberman, you spent some time there teaching. What prompted you to say I need to start rolling some video here?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I have been all over southeast Asia, and I have always wanted to go into Burma, and I had a chance to work with young filmmakers there, and I grabbed the opportunity. I was working with the State Department.

WHITFIELD: And what is it that you saw m images or the lifestyles of the people that you thought was remarkable, and you knew it would take other viewers of this film aback as well?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I have been all over the world except Asia -- except Antarctica and Australia. I have been everywhere, every continent. And this is the most unique, unique country I have ever seen.

WHITFIELD: In what way?

LIEBERMAN: Well, it borders China, Thailand, India, Laos, but it's not like any of these other countries. It's exotic. And of course wanted to go in. I'm a child of the Second World War. And names like Mandalay and Rangoon, they were just entrancing. So, I was told I couldn't film, so of course, that's for a filmmaker, that's like waving a red flag.

WHITFIELD: Of course. So, the images that we're looking at, we're talking about young children. We heard the audiotape. You know, 14 years old. And this little girl who appears much younger than that who are doing hard labor. You wanted to help reveal, you know, who was keeping this country going. The hardships behind keeping that country going. These are young children.

Did they speak to you beyond telling you their age? What were they expressing to you about what their life is like and what they -- their futures would be? LIEBERMAN: These -- you know, they're majority Buddhists, and there's a kind of acceptance of what has happened. They feel that they're experiencing, you know -- it's sort of karma for the previous lives they've lived.

Yes -- what I tried to do really is to take you into the country and -- it's not just a doom-and-gloom film. It really -- these are remarkable people. They have a highly developed sense of humor, although the educational system has been wrecked. It's 50 years of totalitarian regime. There's still this enormous interest in education, , and I'm hoping that with the United States lifting sanctions now that Burma can move ahead.

But, you know, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now in Washington who my sources tell me is going to have dinner with three presidents: Presidents Obama, Clinton and George W. Bush. This is really a historic visit. It's unprecedented.

WHITFIELD: There are many who -- in Myanmar, or Burma, and other places who would hope that she would have the posture of being a president herself --

LIEBERMAN: It's impossible because under the present constitution, which was a rigged election, nobody who has a member of a family with a foreign passport can run for president. So as a constitution stands right now, Aung San Suu Kyi has two sons with U.K. passports. So she can't become president. And you can't change the constitution because the military holds 25 percent of the seats. So, she's in a tight position, and she's walking a tightrope.

WHITFIELD: Fascinating discussion, fascinating documentary. Robert Lieberman, thank you so much for your time.

LIEBERMAN: My pleasure. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We're going to check the day on Wall Street. Stocks got a boost from good news in the U.S. housing market, and a new stimulus plan from Japan. Existing U.S. home sales soared by almost eight percent in August, and there you're seeing the Dow is up by 53 points there. Pretty superb numbers, say many analysts on housing starts as well. They're up more than 29 percent compared to last year.

Meanwhile, the bank of Japan -- Japan, rather, said it would increase its bond-buying program to jolt a slowing economy.

All right. Nature's elements come together. Check out this amazing video.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. A tiny piece of paper or shroud is yet again raising the big question of whether Jesus was married. A Harvard professor says she has begun studying a three-inch writing simple that includes a reference to Jesus' wife. The fragment dates to the second century, but the professor, Karen King, is quick to say that it quote, "does not provide evidence that Jesus was married." End quote. Let's bring in Eric Marrapodi of CNN's Belief Blog. So, Eric, if this doesn't prove Jesus was married, is it significant, or in what way is it significant?

ERIC MARRAPODI, CNN BELIEF BLOG CO-EDITOR: Oh, it's hugely significant. I mean, this is adding on to - what Karen King has said is this is adding on to a long historical debate Christians had in the early centuries after Jesus' death over whether or not he was married.

Let's bring this into a little bit of perspective. That scrap we're showing you on the screen, it's about this big. That's the size of my metro card. It's about one and a half inches by three inches. And that word, that phrase, "Jesus said, my wife," is cut off. So what we don't have is the context. Where that fits in with this entire writing sample. And what she is suggesting is that this is part of what's been called the Gnostic Gospels. It fits in with that pattern. These were texts that were written about Jesus that fit into a genre of gospel that did not make it into the Bible for a number of reasons and she thinks this fits in with those. And for her the big historical significance is, it gets back to this idea that Christians were fighting about this very early on one, two centuries after Jesus' death.

WHITFIELD: And so, Eric, what does it say exactly?

MARRAPODI: The specific wording it says that has gotten everyone excited -- there's about four or five partial sentences on there. The one that everyone is getting excited about is "Jesus said to them, quote, "my wife." Now, of course, as you know, Fredricka, in the new testament, there is no mention of Jesus' wife, and scholars have long said he was not married. What Karen King and other scholars have said is that the text is silent. That because it doesn't mention Jesus had or didn't have a wife, that it raises the possibility that he did have a wife. And for a lot of Christians, that's sort of outside of the bounds. That doesn't count because the text doesn't specifically mention it, while it does mention other members of Jesus' family.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MARRAPODI: His brothers, his mother, his father. And it mention that other disciples had spouses, namely Peter.

WHITFIELD: Yes. It's fascinating stuff. Eric Marrapodi, thanks so much for breaking it down for us.

MARRAPODI: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right, their country, well, it's been torn apart by war. Their lives are a daily struggle. So they look for ways to kind of numb the pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a syringe in one hand, a vial of heroin in the other, this 28-year-old man begins a ritual that's been part of his life for the past seven years. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The struggle to get Afghans off drugs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: When you think of Afghanistan, many think of war, but few think about a drug war. In a country known as the opium capital of the world, people use drugs in broad daylight right out in the open, as Anna Coren reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a park in downtown Kabul, huddled under the trees, are a group of Afghans ignored by society. With the syringe in one hand, a vial of heroin in the other, this 28-year-old man begins a ritual that's been part of his life for the past seven years. He draws the liquid out. What's leftover, he drinks. And then he gets into position.

Health workers give him sterile swabs to clean his skin. He doesn't use the crook of his arm because his veins have collapsed. Instead, he chooses the back of his hand. For the next five minutes, he slowly pumps heroin into his veins. He then collapses with the needle still sticking out of his hand.

This is a tragic scene repeated throughout the country with up to one million Afghanis addicted to drugs. That's 80 percent of the population, double the world average. With Afghanistan producing 90 percent of the world's opium, the main ingredient of heroin, drugs here are pure in quality and very cheap.

Twenty-eight-year-old Reza injects half a gram a day, which costs around four U.S. dollars. He started a year ago after being introduced to it by a bad friend. He says he'd like to give up, but at the moment he can't.

"Using drugs made me leave my home, my family," he tells me. "If I didn't use drugs, I would have a family, a good life."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will show you the --

COREN: Burns Visa (ph) runs a preventative drug program for (INAUDIBLE) in Kabul. It's the only clinic that provides methadone, a substitute for heroin, but can only legally cater for 71 drug users.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would describe the drug addiction problem in Afghanistan as enormous and growing.

COREN: The clinic also helps addicts who walk in off the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is his first day that he has not used any other drugs. Normally he's ingested (INAUDIBLE).

COREN: He introduces me to 38-year-old Assadoula (ph), who's been an addict for 14 years. The father of four says his family has had enough.

"I want to use methadone until I forget drugs completely," he says. "I want to be a healthy person, to find a good way to start a normal life."

COREN (on camera): Two years ago there was a real sign the Afghan government and the international community were serious about tackling drug addiction in this country. A methadone program started, but two months later it was shut down. Officials saying they're still trying to work out the best form of treatment.

COREN (voice-over): According to the United Nations, it is, but that means little to the countless number of desperate Afghanis who can't access the methadone program.

Twenty-five-year-old Mesoma (ph) is willing to try a more basic form of treatment. She and her entire family, including her two young boys, are addicted to opium.

"I started to use the drug like a medicine for pain relief after my husband died. But when I became an addict, I had to search for a way to stop this."

They're staying at Mother Camp, an organization founded by a local Afghan woman which tackles drug abuse through counseling.

"I feel shame and say to myself, why did I do this? Why didn't I think of my children, my future?"

A powerful motive that for now is keeping her addiction at bay. But for so many other Afghanis, that battle is lost.

Anna Coren, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, you've seen wildfires before. You've seen tornados. But what about a fire tornado? A fire-nado, if you will. Check this one out. Is this for real? It's a fire-nado in the Australian outback. This incredible scene was captured by an Australian filmmaker who was out scouting locations near the iconic Alice Springs. Well, Chad Myers here to explain all that.

So this is not some strange anomaly. This really does happen?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, it really does happen. I've seen it in western wildfires too.

WHITFIELD: What are the dynamics here? Yes?

MYERS: Yes. The air has to be very still around it for this to get going. But as the air rushes in, because the air around the fire is going up, if the air is going up, that means there's a vacuum down there. There's a hole in the air. So the air rushes into the center, just like a U.S. dust devil, if you will.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

MYERS: And these dust devils, or these land spouts, turn into fires. I couldn't stop watching this video.

WHITFIELD: It's remarkable.

MYERS: It is so impressive. It's one after the other. And then when they zoom out, you can see that it's not just small. This can go up almost -- it seems like it goes up 1,000 feet or so.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

MYERS: And if you're in the middle of this, this is really a very windy system. We're talking winds about 100 miles per hour because it is -- essentially it's a tornado, or would be more like -- it would be similar to what we would consider to be a waterspout.

WHITFIELD: Right.

MYERS: The air is going up over the water, and the waterspout looks like this. But the wind there, that's 100 miles per hour. And you get in the way of that, you're going to knock down trees.

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh.

MYERS: You're going to definitely going to take these embers and throw them miles into the sky, and then miles downwind, if there is any wind at all, and you're going to make more fires with this.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So a fairly common phenomenon there in Australia?

MYERS: No. No. I would say probably not more than five of these a year, I mean, totally.

WHITFIELD: That's still a lot.

MYERS: But the irony is, this guy was out there with a --

WHITFIELD: Considering the potential damage.

MYERS: Yes, with a fantastic camera getting this fire tornado video. It is something. And you see it when you get a lot of intense heat going straight up. That's what happens.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: And even if you go to some of these science centers, they have these make a tornado in the building kind of machines.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: And it's the same kind of thing. Air going straight up and it has to spin. It spins just like a tornado spins. All that (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: It is fierce, but it is also a beautiful thing. Mother nature is something else.

MYERS: So impressive. I wish there was audio, because I would just like to be quite and listen to it.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes, the crackle?

MYERS: Yes. But there isn't any audio. That's OK.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that is fascinating. Thanks for --

MYERS: Good stuff.

WHITFIELD: Yes, teaching us a little science there. I like that.

MYERS: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks, Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Hello, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, breakthrough new surgery that allows a woman to get a transplanted uterus from her own mother.