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Connect the World

How Will Vatican Respond to Child Abuse Allegations?; Will Rafael Nadal Complete Career Grand Slam?

Aired September 13, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Belgium's top Catholic leader admits he feels powerless over how to deal with allegations of sex abuse following a new report detailing hundreds of previously unreported cases in his country.

With the pope set to make headlines with his visit to Britain this week, isn't it time for the Vatican to provide a definitive response on the scandal?

With the stories that go beyond borders on CNN, this is the hour we connect the world.

Pope Benedict says he feels pain over the latest abuse allegations in Belgium, but is this the week he'll finally offer a global solution to a problem that plagues churches around the world?

I'm Becky Anderson in London for you this evening.

Also tonight, a rain delayed men's tennis final is about to start in New York. We're live at Flushing Meadows to see if Rafael Nadal can make a grand slam Open win.

Plus, the story of the team that made the doubles finals with the support of a fan base often at odds with each other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT PLANT, MUSICIAN: Could I have sung any other way?

I don't know. I don't know how much more expressive you can get than being a rock and roll singer, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And why the all time great rock star, Robert Plant, is your Connector of the Day.

Remember, you can connect with the program online via Twitter. My personal address is atbeckycnn. Log on and do join in the conversation.

The abuse of children was widespread. Now Belgium's Catholic Church must decide what to do about it. That is after a report uncovered hundreds of harrowing accounts of sexual abuse, 13 of which resulted in the victims taking their own lives.

Well, today, Catholic leaders in Belgium admitted that the claims sent shivers through the church. Their initial response, to call on the priests responsible to turn themselves in and a pledge of support for those who had suffered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY RTL/TVI)

ARCHBISHOP ANDREW-JOSEPH LEONARD, BELGIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): We want to commit ourselves to giving the maximum support for the victims. We must listen to their questions in order to restore their dignity and help heal the suffering they've endured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, today's response in Belgium will come as little comfort to victims now desperately trying to rebuild their lives. Many will never get to confront their abusers.

Well, Atika Shubert managed to speak to one woman who did just that. Linda Opdebeeck was just 13 when a priest began to molest her.

Here is her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA OPDEBEECK, CHILD ABUSE VICTIM: He had a little room at school. And when you had a problem, you could go to him. He was very charismatic. He was very friendly. So I was alone at home. I did not have brothers or sisters. I was an only child. I was fat. And I was lonely. And I went to him and I -- I was in this little room. And he listened to me and I had a nice feeling. But a year later, it -- he started to abuse me. I had to be quiet. I knew I had to be silent because he was a friend of my parents, so what could I say?

And he always was telling me that I had to be -- that I had to shut up because something worse -- something bad would happen to me.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean how did you feel that this man who had abused you for years?

OPDEBEECK: How did I feel?

I don't know. I felt empty. I don't know. I was alone. There were three men at the table. And he was just telling that he -- he didn't remember anymore. It wasn't so bad. And I had to feel pity because he was old.

Yes, how do you feel then?

It seems to be that the victims are the abusers and the abusers are the victims when you -- when you hear them speaking about just forgive us and continue your life.

SHUBERT: How did that affect your faith and the way that you view religion now?

OPDEBEECK: I -- I tried to separate my faith and the church, but it's very hard. Perhaps there is a God, but then he has nothing to do with all the men there. No. The church is finished.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ANDERSON: Just one victim of sexual abuse by the church in Belgium.

Well, joining the dots for you on this story, Pope Benedict says he feels "much pain," quote, over the magnitude of the abuse scandal in Belgium.

Whether the pontiff will address the issue during this week's visit to Britain is not yet known. But some Catholic leaders believe the time has come to move on.

Well, last month, Nic Robertson spoke to Ireland's top Catholic cardinal, Sean Brady, who has admitted to knowing of abuses and not informing the police. Cardinal Brady said he's put any thoughts of resigning firmly behind him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM AUGUST 24)

CARDINAL SEAN BRADY, PRIMATE, CATHOLIC CHURCH, IRELAND: I have reevaluated and decided to continue as archbishop of (INAUDIBLE). It was a very difficult time. But I -- I've moved on from there, I think. And I enjoyed a lot of -- got a lot of support in my decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Hmmm.

Well, with one senior member of the Catholic Church moving on and another claiming he feels powerless to act, is it time for the pope to show leadership over the scandal, during his visit, possibly, to Britain this week?

Well, Robert Moynihan is the founder and the editor of "Inside the Vatican" magazine and has interviewed the pope -- Pope Benedict -- more than 25 times.

He joins me live now from Washington.

Victims in Belgium have called the -- the response by the church scandalous.

Would it be out of the question to expect just -- not just a public apology for sexual abuse victims, but concrete steps for pursuing perpetrators which victims simply don't believe they're getting at this point?

ROBERT MOYNIHAN, EDITOR, "INSIDE THE VATICAN": Well, I think this is a -- an issue that Benedict has been focusing on, perhaps more than any other of the top Vatican officials. Before he was elected pope, he said that filth had crept into the church and everyone was rather shocked that he used that word.

We're dealing here with a question that the church, in some ways, had desired to sweep under the rug for years and decades. And of all the officials, I think Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, was the one who indicated that he would try to do something.

ANDERSON: Right.

MOYNIHAN: And there are specif -- there are specific cases where he did act, where he has acted. And I think he's continuing to act. I do -- watching this program, I, too, feel a sense of horror and shame and I'm wrestling with it myself, because I have to write about these matters. Yes.

ANDERSON: What about public apologies, concrete steps about pursuing perpetrators, proposals on compensating victims?

It may be that -- that he feels just the way that you have described. But what victims and the rest of the world wants to hear is more.

MOYNIHAN: Well, I think that he has said that he wants all cases to be justly dealt with. He doesn't want cover-ups. And it's a culture which did cover-up. And it did present a facade. And I think he is taking the one billion member Catholic Church, with an enormous hierarchy of thousands of bishops and 400,000 priests and he's turning the culture of that in a different direction. It's a huge oil tanker, really.

And I think he's doing that. Maybe the world feels he's not doing it quickly enough.

ANDERSON: And from the victims, a confused message from the church, to all intents and purposes. This is a global problem. And it surely deserves a response from the very top.

Is it naive to expect that the pope might provide that this week?

MOYNIHAN: Well, it's clear that this trip to England is a cathartic trip. It's a moment when he could, at a very special moment in this trip, say something a -- apologetic about the way the church and members of the church have been acting in such horrifying ways. I would not exclude it. But we must recognize that this is an ongoing situation for -- for years and decades. This trip to England has another point. It's a visit to the people of England and it's a visit to the queen of England and it's a visit to beatify John Henry Newman. And it's, nevertheless, I think, because of the cathartic and terrible crisis, I think it's possible that he will choose a moment during this trip to address it correctly.

ANDERSON: You wouldn't be surprised, during this trip to England, and, of course, Scotland. Let's not forget that, going up there for the mass in Glasgow, as well, starting there on Thursday. CNN will be covering much of that trip here.

And we thank you, sir, for joining us this evening to discuss it.

Well, around the world, what is the Catholic Church doing to tackle the scandal?

Well, last month, Germany's Catholic leaders unveiled tough new rules for dealing with abusive priests. Among them, church officials are now required to report any plausible allegations to prosecutors and defenders have to be removed from jobs involving work with kids. The new guidelines do stop short of the standards of the U.S. Catholic Church. The 2002 U.S. rules effectively banned priests found to have committed abuse from further work with the church.

And in Austria, the Catholic Church has set up a compensation fund for victims of sexual abuse. At least 200 cases have come to light in the country since March.

Well, sports news is up next. But I do want to leave you with some of the blog comments that we've had into CNN.com and whether the Vatican is doing enough to prevent church abuse.

Have a read of these.

We'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, this I am calling the penalty goal of the week. And it proves just how much replays sting.

It was during a tournament in Morocco and it's big penalty kickoffs after a 1-0 draw. Goalie Khalid Askri did manage a save. But as it turns out, celebrated just a little too early, costing his team, FAR Rabat, the game. The winners, Maghreb Fez, who now move on to the quarter finals.

You're back with CONNECT THE WORLD here on CNN.

Well, one match the world will be watching closely tonight is the U.S. Open men's finals, which is just about to get underway. Rafael Nadal could become the youngest player in the Open era to complete a grand slam. He's facing Novak Djokovic for the 22nd time on the ATP Tour. Rafael leads that head to head, 14-7. So let's see what the Spaniard's chances are.

World Sports' Candy Reid is standing by for us at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

I am assuming that his chances are quite high.

Are you going to break down the match ahead of it for us?

CANDY REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll give you a go.

Thank you very much, Becky.

I can tell you, also, that it's a beautiful day in here in New York, unlike Sunday afternoon, when the match was supposed to be played. That weather was better for ducks. It was raining all of the time.

So we finally got some good weather. It's about 75 degrees or so Fahrenheit, 23, 24 Celsius -- perfect, indeed. And after that day off, well, that was good news for Novak Djokovic. It gave him an extra day's rest after a big match against Roger Federer, which he won in three hours and 44 minutes. He said after that match he was exhausted and he was happy to do a rain dance in order to get a little bit more time. He got his wish.

So he will try and beat Rafael Nadal to win his first U.S. Open title. Djokovic has never beaten Nadal, though, in a grand slam.

However, Becky, you said that record, Nadal 14, Djokovic 7. Well, those seven wins for Djokovic have all come on hard courts. So that's a good sign for him. Rafael Nadal, though, he's the top seed in defending the wood and really the favorite here. He's never won the U.S. Open either. But he has won the other three grand slams. So if he wins this time, he'll become the seventh man to complete the career grand slam. He's also unbeaten in 20 grand slam matches, having won the French and Wimbledon. And that makes him the favorite to beat.

He hasn't lost a set coming into this match and he's only been broken twice, Becky. That's the key to the match, I believe. If he can continue to serve that well, Djokovic really doesn't have much of a chance -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Is he looking as good as you've ever seen him?

REID: Absolutely. There's no doubt about that. He looks a little bit leaner to me. You know, we're used to seeing the Rafael Nadal muscles, aren't we?

But he's tall and lean and ready and he's just so refreshed. I mean he hasn't lost a set, as I said, coming into this match. He's been on court a few hours less than Djokovic overall. He didn't have a five setter against Roger Federer in the previous round. He had a three set match over Mikhail Youzhny, which was very routine, indeed. He looks like the best player in the world. It's no wonder he's ranked number one. He thoroughly deserves it -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Yes. Good stuff.

All right, well, enjoy the game.

We look forward to the results.

REID: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Candy Reid there for you at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Well, let's not forget the men's doubles finals, which were played on Sunday, starting with the winners, Bob and Mike Bryan, twin brothers. You may remember them as our Connector of the Day just a few weeks ago.

And the runners-up, the Indo-Pak Express, as they're called, who have also got an incredible story to tell. They're a very unlikely pairing -- an Indian and a Pakistani. They were hoping to ease their countries' tensions over Kashmir with a message of peace through sport.

Well, let's bring in one of the show's big thinkers on the region at this point, Anand Giridharadas.

He sent us his thoughts on the players from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANAND GIRIDHARADAS, CONNECT THE WORLD PANELIST: It is, perhaps, fitting that the Indo-Pak Express, as the duo has been dubbed, lost to a pair of identical twins. India and Pakistan can be seen as twins, as well, but they are fraternal twins with a common culture behind them, but also from their foundings, very, very different ideas of what a nation is and ought to be.

But tennis is, in some ways, only the latest incarnation of what has become a kind of regular but quite fruitless phenomenon, sadly. These are two countries with deep cultural connections despite their nuclear rivalry. And they have tried for years this so-called people to people diplomacy. But it's the people in charge of conflicts, abuse and these encrusted political establishments that get in the way.

Just -- just today, there's news from Indian-controlled Kashmir of violence and death caused by the -- the spreading kind of rumors that Korans are being desecrated in the U.S. And, again, you have ordinary people who are stoked by leaders to do terrible things as soon as news comes out. And it counteracts and perhaps overwhelms the efforts of -- of achievements like the Indo-Pak Express's achievement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: One of our big thinkers there speaking about today's violence in Kashmir, which has left 18 dead and 80 wounded. Pro- independence mobs have been defying an around the clock curfew to stage protests against the now canceled plans in the U.S. to burn the Koran. The protests are a part of a larger quit Kashmir campaign launched by groups opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir.

We are 60 seconds away from your Connector of the Day. Tonight, you're going to be hearing from a true rock legend and you don't want to miss it. So get your pedals on and get back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: (voice-over): For many fans around the world, Led Zeppelin is much more than a band, it's an obsession.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: With some of the greatest guitar riffs in rock history, the group has often been cited as the founders of heavy metal.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: And despite splitting in 1980, their fans continue to span the globe.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: But for lead vocalist Robert Plant, Zeppelin was only the beginning.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: Following the band's breakup, Plant has gone on to become a successful artist in his own right and has worked with musicians from all genres, including a 2007 collaboration with bluegrass siren, Alison Krauss, that earned the duo five Grammys.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: Plant's most recent album, Band of Joy, follows in this same country vein, as he teams up with some of Nashville's greats.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: Kicking off the musical boxes one at a time, Robert Plant is your Connector of the Day.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ANDERSON: Yes, he is.

Well, the new album is a world away from the crunching riffage you would expect of the Led Zeppelin front man.

So why did the rock legend decide to swap heavy metal for country music and rhythm and blues?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLANT: There is no change. It's all change. You know, the king is dead, long live the king. It's just about making music and hearing songs that suit me for my time now and making them stick.

ANDERSON: Were u fed up with rock?

Or was it just a natural progression for you?

PLANT: I don't think any group that I've ever been in has been just totally one thing. So as long as there's a beautiful landscape of -- of variety and different sort of, if you like, the root stock of all music comes from every -- you know, to create any kind of genre, you have to lean on all sorts of different sources. So I've always done that and so have my contemporaries. It's -- it's just development. It's great.

ANDERSON: Talk me through just a couple of the songs, if you will, a couple of your favorite songs.

PLANT: Well, there's a song called "Even This Shall Pass Away," which is a poem by Theodore Tilton from the 1860s about the -- the vision of mortality. It was once known as the king's ring -- a beautiful poem about the inevitable. And -- and I just found it so fetching against a very peculiar sort of tangential rhythm track that, I mean, that's -- that was an interesting moment for me.

ANDERSON: Georgia asks: "How does this album rank compared to your albums of the past?"

PLANT: Well, I think probably, I mean such a big, wide question. Each record it involves different personalities, it would take a different color and a different time and there would be peaks and troughs. I think with this particular combination of players and singers, especially for the voices, the results were very quick. It felt very fast and very fluent and -- and very rewarding, you know.

So maybe it's -- this is probably the easiest record I've made for -- since I was a child.

ANDERSON: Justin Mitchell asks a good question. And he says: "What was the most memorable concert you have performed and why?"

PLANT: I played in 2003, I think it was, in Eficane (ph), which is 60 miles north of Timbuktu. And we went north and we played amongst the Tuareg and the Mauritanians and Senegalese. And to actually sing my songs in amongst that -- in that environment, amongst those people, and to see the effect of it, it, you know, music has no boundaries. There's no lang - - there's no need for any common language. It's just feel. And that was a particularly overwhelming moment for me.

ANDERSON: Jonny Plant asks: "What is your favorite Led Zeppelin song, out of interest?"

PLANT: Ah-yee, wow! I don't know. I mean it depends on what day it is. I would probably think "Kashmir."

ANDERSON: Mark has got a question for you about your vocals and says: "Did your decision to change music paths" -- and I know that you aren't necessarily saying that you have, but this is his question. "Did it have anything to do with the voice changes you felt?"

PLANT: When you sing with other people, you've got to sing in the -- the same place. And I mean when I was working with arts and crafts, it was you can't deviate from -- there are moments when you can be absolutely expressive. But a lot of the time, you're locked into these great vocal moments. And for me, that's the great vacation of my time now, because I never did that before.

But, yes, I mean, obviously, I don't -- I don't -- I mean I don't have any particular need to, you know, summon the Vikings from the fiords at the moment.

ANDERSON: And I don't know he was suggesting that your voice is only just broken, by the way.

PLANT: No, no.

ANDERSON: The next question. Denis has written to us. He says he's a huge fan and asks: "What brought you into singing and how did you end up choosing rock initially?," he says.

PLANT: Well, I suppose, really, I was looking for a way out. You know, I was a grammar school boy and I was doing three hours of homework a night. And I was, you know, at that time, 1961 or whatever it was, I was 13 and I -- I -- on the one hand, you had Eddie Cochran and Elvis telling us of another world; and, on the other hand, I was doing trigonometry...

ANDERSON: (INAUDIBLE).

PLANT: -- and Latin and algebra. And I thought, well -- you know, I was very interested in history and foreign languages, but -- so I really looked across -- you know, and I don't know, it just -- could I sung any other way?

I don't know. I don't know how much more expressive you can get than being a rock and roll singer, really.

ANDERSON: Eric Da Fish, he says his question is silly, but play with him: "Do you still have the same jeans you wore in "Song Remains the Same," and, if you do, can you still fit into them?"

PLANT: Yes. I still have the Landlubbers. I have a lifetime supply. And you would never know that there had been a small parcel put in the back and the front.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ANDERSON: And in case you were wondering, he had no interest in answering any questions about the possibility of a fully fledged reunion with the remaining members of Led Zeppelin. Thirty years on, I can honestly say Robert Plant seems to be having more fun than ever.

Well, our next Connector of the Day is a musical legend who's been churning out the hits for almost five decades, from classic songs such as "Walk On By," to "Anyone Who Had A Heart," Dionne Warwick has entertained audiences across the globe. Off the stage, she's also used her fame to raise awareness in the fight against AIDS and the plight of countries suffering from famine.

Well, who do you want to see as a Connector of the Day?

It's your part of the show, of course. Send us your ideas. Head to the Web site, CNN.com/connect, and do remember to tell us where you are writing in from.

We're going to take a very short break at this point, 28 minutes past 9:00 in London.

We'll be right back with the world headlines after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: A very warm welcome back. It's half past the hour. You're with CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson in London. Just ahead, it's a new week, and we have a new challenge for you. This week, we want to know how you can connect the Arab -- United Arab Emirates and Panama.

Also ahead, Israel is the only country they've ever known. Yet, hundreds of children there could soon be deported. We're going to take a look at a controversial new effort to preserve the state Jewish identity.

Also ahead, preserving endangered languages. Nowhere on Earth are more tongues spoken than in New York. Yet, many could soon fade away forever. We're going to take a look at the efforts to keep these dying languages around the world alive.

Those stories are ahead in the next 30 minutes. First, I'm going to get you a very quick check of the headlines here on CNN.

A new report from the human rights group, Amnesty International, charges that tens of thousands of prisoners in Iraq are being held without charge, and sometimes being severely beaten. US and Iraqi officials are denying the allegations. The report says Iraq is holding as many as 30,000 detainees without trial.

At least 14 people are dead after a passenger plane crashed in southeastern Venezuela. There are, though, survivors. At least 21 have been taken to nearby hospitals. The plane went down 12 minutes after takeoff, about 10 kilometers from the Guayana airport in Bolivar state. Government officials say at least 57 people were onboard.

More pieces of the so-called Plan C drill arrived in Chile, where 33 Chilean miners have been trapped for 39 days. The drill may be able to burrow a hole to the miners faster than any other method. We hope it works.

Those are your headlines. Up next, it's time for your part of the show. It's Global Connections.

We are well into our series on Global Connections here on CONNECT THE WORLD. And I have to say, your submissions are really impressive. If you haven't seen it before, this is where we pick two countries that may appear to have very little in common. You tell us what connects them. Some terrific personal stories have come in over the past two weeks. Let's see what you can do with the newest pairing.

This week, the two countries that we've chosen for you are relatively small in terms of size, but each is home to a construction marvel. In one case, it's a passage that links one ocean to another. The other, a building that reaches from the Earth to the heavens.

We start in the United Arab Emirates. At the beginning of the year, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai officially earned the title of the tallest building in the world. All 810 meters of it. It won't be nearly as tall, but in 2010 Abu Dhabi will host the only extension of the world-famous Louvre Museum. The UAE has the highest net migration rate in the world, so high that more than 85 percent of its population is from somewhere else.

Halfway around the world sits Panama. It's famous canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans can cut shipping distances by more than 12,000 kilometers. Talk about a nature-lover's paradise, Panama is home to nearly a thousand species of birds. That's more than the United States and Canada combined. Clearly, residents there are doing more than just bird watching. The World Bank describes Panama as one of the fastest-growing and best- managed economies in Latin America.

So, that's what makes them unique. We need you to build the Global Connections. And it can be anything. Shared history, cultural ties or, like I said earlier, your own personal stories. Those are the ones we like the most. We'll tell you how you can contribute in a moment.

First, let's take a closer look at the UAE and Panama. For that, tonight, we're joined by someone who has what many of us might consider a dream job. Tom Hall is the travel editor for the Lonely Planet guidebook series of books.

Tom, we're connecting the UAE and Panama this week. It's quite a challenge.

TOM HALL, TRAVEL EDITOR, LONELY PLANET: It is. It's a challenge for a travel geek like me. I'm sure you're listeners can rise to that challenge, though. When I first looked at this, I thought, what do these places have in common? One is very humid, lots of rains forests, Panama, of course. And the other is a desert. There's very hug cultural differences, too. So real, sort of -- pearl luster.

ANDERSON: When you had a go, then, at this challenge, what was it that surprised you the most?

HALL: One of the surprising things about it was that the varied history that we found. So, when we're looking at Panama, Panama is home to Scotland's only ever attempt at having a colony in the 1690s. The Scottish Darien colony didn't really work very well.

The UAE for hundreds of years not thought as being a terribly significant place at all until the discovery of oil late 50s and 60s, and then, became a very important place. So, really surprising and different histories there.

ANDERSON: All right. I'm going to allow you to make just one connection, because I want the viewers to do this, and we get loads -- we get hundreds of response on this, and we're only in the third week. So, Panama, the UAE, give me just one connection.

HALL: Birds. You touched on it, birds. If you look at the crest of the UAE, you'll see a falcon, the tie for falconry, very old, classic pursuit in that part of the world. In Panama, you'll find a harpy eagle on the country's crest. And that really suggests the national bird is there.

Also, all those bird species you talked about, so I'm going to go for flying, flapping things, links things they do together.

ANDERSON: Good stuff. All right, Tom's done that one, so you can't have that one, viewers. Well, you can, even if you want. You want to send us an iReport or just blog to us, cnn.com/globalconnections is where you find out how to take part. We're already getting dozens of submissions, many of them note how Panama and the UAE are each regional hotspots for business.

So if you live in one but have been to the other, or maybe have a company that operates in both, those are the sort of stories that we really want to hear. These are the personal stories. That address, again, is cnn.com/globalconnections. Tom, we thank you for that. Tonight, for you watching at home, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Thirty-eight minutes past the hour, here in London, at least. This is CONNECT THE WORLD, I'm Becky Anderson.

It's been called a tangible threat to the future of the state of Israel. But this time, it isn't external worries that have its prime minister so concerned. CNN's Paula Hancocks takes a look at the emotional debate now raging over the ballooning number of foreign workers, and in particular, the fate of their children, who now call Israel home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They say protesting does not come naturally to the Lola family, but today, it's their very future in Israel that's at stake.

BETH LOLA, FILIPINA CAREGIVER: I spent 11 years of my life here in Israel and never thought this time would come that they're going to deport children, really.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Beth is a caregiver. She came her legally from the Philippines to look after an Alzheimer's patient. She says once she gave birth to three-year-old Yaellie (ph), the authorities considered here illegal.

LOLA: You want to go back to the Philippines? And one night, you know what she told me? "Mommy, where are the Filipinos?" I told her, "You are a Filipino." "No, I'm not. I'm Israeli. You are a Filipino."

HANCOCKS (voice-over): The Israeli government decided August 1st that children of foreign workers over the age of five who are at school and speak Hebrew are allowed to stay. Four hundred others are not, even though they were born in Israel.

The government says some of those being deported are born to parents who overstayed their visas or entered the country illegally. Eli Yishai, Interior Minister, says they have to be expelled to preserve the Jewish nature of Israel in the future.

He told Parliament, "When you say a child can stay here, you are calling it a baby visa. If that defines the status of the foreign worker, the foreign workers will catch on." He says, tomorrow, there will be 10,000 to 40,000 children, another 100,000 to 200,000 families.

But Yishai's position is looking increasingly isolated. The prime minister's wife, Sarah Netanyahu, has added her voice to the emotional debate, asking the interior minister to change his mind.

The defense minister, Ehud Barak, has asked the policy only to be applied in future cases, saying a mass deportation is not Jewish, not humane, and will scar the entire Israeli society. Some Israelis have been joining the protests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually, these children are going to be living in this country, they're going to serve in the military, and this kind of act is showing that there's no full democracy here in this country.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Yigal Shtayim has started a Facebook campaign asking Israelis to offer homes to hide those due to be deported.

YIGAL SHTAYIM, FACEBOOK CAMPAIGNER: People write me their home addresses and numbers, and they write me the accommodations they can give, how many bedrooms, et cetera. It's really serious. Hundreds of people.

HANCOCKS (on camera): The countdown for deportation has already begun. Many of those directly involved say that from the first of August, they were given 30 days to pack up and leave. Many of those here tonight are expecting a knock on the door any day now.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Yaellie's (ph) parents are hoping they escape that dreaded knock, and that Eli Yishai will eventually change his mind. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: In an effort to join the dots on this story, in the US, the immigration debate is also in full swing, of course. During the Congressional election year, some lawmakers want to change an amendment that offers undocumented mothers a major loophole. Not for themselves, but for their kids. In their constitution, the 14th Amendment declares all persons born in the US are citizens.

Now, you may remember this story we brought you about a 26-year-old Mexican woman, Lupita, who admits coming to Texas on a tourist visa while pregnant specifically to give birth to a US citizen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUPITA, MOTHER (through translator): I made a decision to have my child born in the United States. I wanted him to have dual citizenship, so one day, if he moves to the United States, he will not have any problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Her son, Hector, who is now three, was born at a public hospital in Fort Worth, where officials tell us an average of 70 percent of the births are to undocumented mothers.

Currently, the United States is one of at least 27 countries that grants automatic citizenship to children born to illegal residents. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the list also includes Canada, Mexico, and number of other Latin American countries.

There are eight nations that have abandoned birthright citizenship in recent years. Most recently, Australia in 2007. The UK, Ireland, France, India, and New Zealand also no longer grant citizenship as a birthright.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD here on CNN. I'm Becky Anderson for you. "It's not like putting jelly in a jar." The words of one expert on the difficulty of preserving endangered languages. Coming up, we're going to take you to the richest language laboratory in the world. You'll see how one alliance is working to keep dying tongues from disappearing entirely.

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ANDERSON: It's one of the world's greatest melting pots, where some 800 different languages are spoken. But many of the tongues heard in New York today may not be around for very long. Some experts say 400 languages are endangered, so they are hitting the streets to try to save them. Katie Walmsley explains.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is called lula kebab.

KATIE WALMSLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Russ Nazrisho and his wife moved to New York, like many immigrants to the city, they wanted to be close to others who spoke their native language.

WALMSLEY (on camera): So you spoke Shughni, Russian, and what was the other one?

WALMSLEY (voice-over): But that was easier said than done. Shughni, a minority language of Tajikistan, is spoken in the US by only about 20 families.

Fear that the language would disappear altogether led Russ to contact linguistics professor, Daniel Kaufman, who has created the endangered language alliance.

RUSS NAZRISHO, SHUGHNANI SPEAKER: If we at this moment, during our lifetime, lose this language, then I think it would be our responsibility.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): The alliance works to find and preserve languages in danger of extinction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, they're speaking their own language.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): Much of its work is done around the New York area. Canvassing the city's diverse immigrant population, Daniel regularly uncovers rare dialects.

DANIEL KAUFMAN, LINGUISTICS PROFESSOR: I love it. I always love meeting new people, and people who I would never, ever come across any other way. And I think in New York, people are actually often looking for an excuse to talk to strangers, and this is my perfect excuse to actually get to know all of the other segments of the city.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): Daniel searches for events around the city that bring linguistic communities together, such as an annual festival in Queens for descendants of the now extinct Gottscheer enclave of Slovenia.

WALMSLEY (on camera): So how important is it to have the community in New York stay together and keep the language alive?

ERNA MEZIC, GOTTSCHEER SPEAKER: Oh, it's very important, especially for our children, our grandchildren to meet other -- because in some way, we're all related.

WILLIAM OSANITSCH, GOTTSCHEER SPEAKER: What we're trying to do is at least keep a history book open.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): But since the people of Gottscheer were exiled during World War II, native speakers are limited to an aging population, and despite their efforts, few among the third generation speak the language, meaning it's only a matter of time before it disappears.

WALMSLEY (on camera): The fact that the grandchildren don't speak the language, does it ever bother you that when your kids die, the language may be gone?

MEZIC: Most likely. Sadly to say, but most likely, that's what will happen.

OSANITSCH: It saddens me a bit. But at the same time, I love America.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): In cases like this, where a language is imminently threatened, Daniel will work with speakers to create a written record. Darfurian immigrant Ahmat Nour comes in regularly to help Daniel transcribe his tribal language, Zagawa.

KAUFMAN: Zagawa's just one tribe, probably one of the biggest tribes in Darfur. But certainly not all people speak it, not even all of the Zagawas speak it. Many of the languages that we do work with, they have no language-learning materials, no textbooks, no lessons, nothing of the sort, no dictionaries. And so anything we do here in New York can, hopefully, be exported back to their homeland.

AHMAT NOUR, ZAGAWA SPEAKER: This is, like, hope. Nobody can take it away from you, nobody can touch it. This is like our culture, our customs.

WALMSLEY (on camera): The Endangered Language Alliance estimates there are over 800 languages spoken around the New York area, and that of those, almost half are considered endangered. Meaning there's an imminent threat that they will die out.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): They must recruit volunteers to help them comb the city's neighborhoods, searching for speakers before it's too late.

KAUFMAN: New York is home to hundreds of different cultures and language communities. And in many of these cases, the languages aren't just being lost here in New York City, they're also being lost back in the home country. So what it takes, really, is a community-based effort in finding out in that way what types of languages are spoken here and by how many people.

JULIETTE BLEVINS, ENDANGERED LANGUAGE ALLIANCE: Every time we lose a language, we really lose a part of the sum of human knowledge, adaptation, and co-evolution.

KAUFMAN: Do you want to take it from here?

WALMSLEY (voice-over): The push to identify and protect dying cultures has ignited a spark in a city that prides itself on diversity. There was a larger than expected turnout. Among them, many endangered language speakers themselves.

NAZRISHO: My wife and I are actually expecting our first baby, and I can assure that we'll make sure that the baby speaks Shughnani.

KAUFMAN: I'm very pleased. It is a bit bigger than I thought. Many people came who I never heard of before, speakers of all kinds of amazing languages. And the momentum is building.

WALMSLEY (voice-over): Katie Walmsley, CNN, New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And save those languages!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: This is not something happening just in New York. Experts estimate languages are disappearing at the rate of one every two weeks around the world. In fact, it's believed that nearly half of the 6800 -- nearly 7,000 different tongues spoken on the planet are now endangered. Busuu in Cameroon is among the 400 languages close to extinction, meaning there are just a handful of speakers left.

Also endangered, Lipan Apache in the southwest US and Chiapaneco in Mexico. Also Wadjigu in Australia. It's estimated that up to 90 percent of the world's languages could be gone by the end of the century.

Languages give people a unique identity, don't they? But it can also be a barrier to developing common bonds. In our increasingly interconnected world, then, we've got to wonder, how important is it to preserve all these dying tongues?

Our next guest says the list of reasons is long, indeed. Greg Anderson is the director of the Living Tongues institute for Endangered Languages, and he joins us now.

Now, aside from admitting to stalking people on the streets, our linguist in the last report we saw by Katie Walmsley making a point that you've got to get out there to get in amongst the people to find out just how many languages there are, and how many people really still want to speak these languages. How important do you really believe it is to prevent languages from dying?

GREG ANDERSON, DIRECTOR, LIVING TONGUES INSTITUTE: Well, I would say it's an extremely important task. You have to understand that it's a very complex issue, why people have chosen to abandon languages. In part, it has to do with the false choice that they've been offered. They've been offered an either-or choice. They have to either speak English or their home language, to take the New York example.

This is a false choice, because humans are perfectly capable of being bilingual or multilingual. The issue is that the majority culture here in the United States, and in many parts of the world where we see language endangerment, there's an ideology associated with the use of the major, national language, in this case, English, that says "you have to use our language and not any other one." That's just a belief. It's not based in any kind of reality.

BECKY ANDERSON: Greg, with respect, this is also a generational thing, surely, though I was surprised to see how many youngsters there were in Katie's report. There are major parts of the world where youngsters will just say, "I don't want to speak the language of my mother tongue. I want to speak English."

GREG ANDERSON: Right. The reason that they do this is because young people are very sensitive to peer attitudes. And the peer attitudes are the majority society's attitudes, and those are, "Your language, your identity is bad. Our national language is good."

So they've internalized these, and they can reject a certain part of that, which is the use of that ancestral language.

BECKY ANDERSON: Doesn't death of a language really kill off a culture, ultimately?

GREG ANDERSON: Well, there are certain, of course, things that can be transferred across languages. But a lot is lost in translation, as anyone who's bilingual or multilingual knows. So, all kinds of complex knowledge systems are encoded in a very compact way in languages, and these do not, in fact, translate very well.

BECKY ANDERSON: If it were unrealistic to believe that we will -- effort to save all 7,000 languages around the world, how many do you think can be saved? How many are worth saving at this point?

GREG ANDERSON: Well, they're all worth saving. How many can be saved is a different issue. Actually, Living Tongues Institute has developed a guideline for this for educators and for linguists now and in the future, which we call the global language hotspots list. And these are areas where linguists need to focus their efforts to coordinate the documentation efforts, and also to help support revitalization.

It's important to know that linguists can really only do the documentation part, and provide materials that communities themselves can use to maintain or revitalize those languages.

BECKY ANDERSON: Yes, fascinating stuff. Greg, we appreciate your thoughts, your time this evening here on CONNECT THE WORLD. Greg Anderson for you on languages this evening.

Well, English is widely considered the universal language, but more and more schools are now preaching another must-learn tongue. We're going to tell you about that tomorrow. We're not finished connecting your world tonight, though. We'll be right back after this very short break at 50, 55 minutes past the hour here in London.

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ANDERSON: A change of hurt that couldn't stop the outrage from boiling over. Our World in Pictures this evening focuses on the consequence of this man's threat to burn a Koran. Florida pastor Terry Jones decided over the weekend not to do it, but protestors around the world still taking their anger to the streets as we go through the lens for you this evening.

These women demonstrated in front of the Swiss embassy in Tehran, while men clashed with riot police nearby. The Fars news agency says two Iranian clerics are calling for anyone desecrating the Koran to be killed.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, anger over the Koran-burning threat added to months of unrest against Indian rule. Here we see crowds with an effigy of US president Barack Obama, later beating the burning remains. Demonstrators also torched several buildings, including two Christian schools. At least 18 protestors were killed during the riots, many shot by police.

Outraged Pakistanis also shouted anti-American slogans at the demonstrations today in Peshawar. These are activists from a hard-line Islamist political party.

The threat of one pastor from a tiny, American church triggering outrage around the world, making it your World in Pictures this evening.

And this is a story that has drawn amazing response and debate on our website. Probably not very surprising, really. People discussing both the pastor's original plans and the protests over the weekend. Having a look for you at cnn.com.

Frogist weighs in. "I put those with the Death to America signs in the same league as those saying Death to Islam. I would worry about how burning a Bible would incite a crowd of fundamentalist Christians, too."

From somebody who calls himself Robert1234 on demonstrations in Afghanistan, "The protests are perfectly reasonable. It's just a shame that the frenzy resulting from it brought about injury and two deaths."

And these thoughts from somebody who goes by the name Moody. "There really is no difference between the Bible and the Koran when it comes to the teachings of peace, love, and compassion. However, there is that small minority, terrorists, who distort what the Koran teaches for their own personal agenda. These people's actions do not reflect what our holy book teaches at all."

Get your voice heard on CNN. Head to the website, cnn.com/connect. I'm Becky Anderson, that is your world connected this Monday. "BackStory" is up next here on CNN, right after this quick of the headlines for you.

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