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Battle for Control in Libya; 'Freedom Project'; U.S.-Korean Military Drills

Aired March 7, 2011 - 08:00:00   ET



I'm Kristie Lu Stout, in Hong Kong.

The battle for Libya rages on, with towns changing hands between rebels and the government hour by hour.

CNN spotlights slavery across the globe. We'll hear from victims in one of the most common forms of exploitation, sex trafficking.

And it's been continuously erupting for 28 years. We'll tell you why scientists are closely watching the latest activity from this volcano in Hawaii.

Now, the fight for Libya has raged for three full weeks, and both sides are paying a bloody price as they battle for control. Rebels who are based in Benghazi have been marching on the road to Tripoli. Now, it passes through Surt. Now, that is the hometown of leader Moammar Gadhafi and a psychologically important location.

Now, rebels had captured the coastal town of Bin Jawad, just 160 kilometers away, but pro-Gadhafi forces have taken it back. And now they are fighting for nearby Ras Lanuf. An area near the oil town has been bombed by a Libyan plane, and rebels have responded with anti-aircraft fire.

Now, government officials have claimed victory there, and also in the western towns of Misrata and Zawiya. Rebels say they still hold Misrata. A doctor there says a total of 42 people died in the fierce fighting, including a 3-year-old child.

Gadhafi's troops suffering the higher toll, but the status of Zawiya is unclear. Now, CNN was not allowed to enter the city on Sunday. It has reportedly been cut off from communications.

Now, our Ben Wedeman has been following rebel forces as they push west, and he filed this report from outside Ras Lanuf.


BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prognosis for 20-year-old Ismael (ph), wounded in battle Sunday morning, isn't good. He was shot during a gun battle between opposition forces and the Libyan army in the village of Bin Jawad. The intensive care unit in the hospital in Ras Lanuf, 20 kilometers to the east, usually doesn't deal with gunshot wounds.

Libyan-American neurosurgeon Rida Masagri traveled from his home in Charleston, West Virginia, to do what he could to help his people.

RIDA MASAGRI, LIBYAN-AMERICAN NEUROSURGEON: It seems to be it's a bullet in his brain. We don't have the facility, we don't have the CT scan to know exactly what's going on. But when he came, he was unconscious, a patient debated (ph). And part of his brain is coming out of his skull, and bleeding with that, too.

WEDEMAN (on camera): What are his chances?

MASAGRI : I don't know.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Ismael (ph) is like many of the young men who have flocked to the (INAUDIBLE) full of enthusiasm. Their only prior experience with war came from video games.

West of Ras Lanuf, anti-Gadhafi fighters wait to move toward Bin Jawad. It's been their toughest battle yet against government forces.

After gaining control of the town late Saturday, they were driven out Sunday morning. Their inexperience and disorganization becoming blaringly apparent.

Faraj al-Ashrash is learning on the job.

FARAJ AL-ASHRASH, ANTI-GADHAFI FIGHTER: Actually, I've learned some stuff in four days because I spent four days right now joining the military. And you can say that the factor of fear isn't here anymore.

WEDEMAN: Yelehi Ali (ph) was, until just a few days ago, busy studying to become a doctor. He's had a sudden career change.

YELEHI ALI (ph), ANTI-GADHAFI FIGHTER: Since nobody was here, I have experience. But I have a strong heart.

WEDEMAN (on camera): You have a strong heart?

ALI: OK. I'm sitting (ph) just for four hours.

WEDEMAN: Four hours?

(voice-over): Professional soldiers are struggling to teach them the basics. "Now there are retired people with experience who are beginning to lead these guys, to organize them," says Captain Mohammed (ph), formerly in the Libyan Special Forces, "because it's impossible to attack artillery with a Kalashnikov."

It's a lesson these men, young and not so young, are learning the hard way.


STOUT: And that was Ben Wedeman reporting from outside Basladof (ph). Clashes under way there right now. And once we can reconnect with Ben Wedeman, we'll bring him to you live, right here on NEWS STREAM.

Now, the European Union is trying to gather real-time information from inside Libya. The EU's fact-finding trip will focus on part on evacuation efforts, as foreign workers like these try to flee the violence. It is the first international mission of its kind since the uprising started three weeks ago.

The U.N. says Libya has agreed to allow its humanitarian assessment team to visit Tripoli. The U.N. chief has also appointed Jordan's former foreign minister as a special envoy to Libya.

Now, as thousands of people pour out of Libya, the U.N. says it needs $160 million to help them. It says aid agencies are preparing to provide food, water, and other necessities for up to one million people.

Ivan Watson shows us the situation along Libya's border with Tunisia.


IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The people keep streaming across the Libya here into Tunisia. More than 100,000 people have fled in the last two weeks, and more keep coming.

They are met by Tunisian volunteers who hand out food, who hand out water. And this is important, because these refugees are hungry and thirsty and frightened. Many of them tell us that they haven't had any access to food and water for days, and they've been charged exorbitant prices for transport to try to flee the fighting in Libya.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel very hungry.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But all this, I never eat anything.

WATSON: No food for four days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No food. No food. Never see anything. You see my face?




WATSON: What are the Libyans doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're attacking there.

WATSON: Attacking who?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The foreigners.

WATSON: All foreigners? Yes?


WATSON: Why? Why are they attacking West Africans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because the leader brought some mercenaries.

WATSON: Mercenaries?


WATSON: Why are you here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are human. We should do this.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a student. I should do this. I haven't gone to the facility to study. I'm here for helping people. Just for helping people.

WATSON: This is the first stop for the flood of humanity that's been streaming across the border into Tunisia, a transit center of sorts. Across the road over here is a virtual tent city of thousands of tents, and many of these people are likely to spend days and nights waiting there until their governments or until aid organizations find some way to transport them back home.

Ivan Watson, CNN, near the Tunisian border with Libya.


STOUT: Now, this year, CNN is joining the fight to end modern day slavery. We're calling it "The Freedom Project," and throughout the year we'll be using all of our global resources to shine the spotlight on the realities of slavery and to bring you the voices of the victims.

Now, we start that effort today, our day of activation. And across the day, we'll be live with reporters in 17 cities telling us how slavery touches those country.

And what is slavery in the 21st century? Well, here's a definition. "Slavery occurs when one person completely controls another person. Using violence or the threat of violence to maintain that control, exploits them economically, pays them nothing and they cannot walk away."

Now, the most common form of human trafficking in the world today involves sexual exploitation. Its victims are predominantly women and girls.

Our Dan Rivers investigated a sex trade gang in Romania, and he filed this report.


DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the front line of Romania's battle against battle against sex trafficking. These police videos have never been aired before. The U.N. describes Romania as a global hotspot to sex slave traders.

We've come here to investigate two of them, a father and son, Bogdan and Marius Nejloveanu, who lured women from Romania to the U.K. and then sold them for sex.

The Nejloveanu network began in Alexandria, in southern Romania. They trafficked young women to work as prostitutes in Madrid, but it didn't take long for them to move on to Britain for bigger business in the brothels of Manchester.

I had already investigated the seedy massage parlors in Manchester where the girls were forced to work 12 hours a day by the Nejloveanus. The police there said it was the worst such case they had ever dealt with.

DET. MIKE SANDERSON, MANCHESTER POLICE: I can only describe the exploitation of these girls as appalling. It's appalling. They've actually raped and abused them themselves.

RIVERS: Now I'm in Romania to find out more about the Nejloveanus and the sex trafficking underworld they inhabited. I start in the village of Bezesku, where Bogdan Nejloveanu's mother insists he did nothing wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son is in prison for nothing.

RIVERS: But the Romania police disagree. Stefan Florea helped to catch the Nejloveanus and says Marius lured girls abroad with repeated lies.

DET. STEFAN FLOREA, ALEXANDRIA POLICE: He said to all these girls, "I love you. I want to marry you." And when he and those girls go to Spain, he forced them into prostitution.

RIVERS (on camera): We spoke to one of the 11 young women who was trafficked across Europe by Marius and Bogdan. She lived at the end of this road in abject poverty. One of the most harrowing things though is that she was pushed into the arms of the traffickers by her own relatives.

(voice-over): She didn't want to go on camera, but the authorities did give us video testimony of other women from this area in similar cases which graphically describe the sheer terror endured by victims.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I saw one of them removing the eye of the girl because she wasn't making enough money. Another time, I saw them cutting a woman's leg with a knife and putting salt on it. We were all afraid to run away or tell the police.

RIVERS: The police in Romania say there are many cases like the Nejloveanus, and some are much, much worse.

They help me get rare access to one of Romania's maximum security prisons to speak to the most notorious trafficker in the country. Armande Chinac (ph) got a 22-year sentence related to human trafficking. He was found guilty of killing Maria Buju (ph), a 26-year-old he bought, beat, and left to die in a cellar.

ARMANDE CHINAC (ph), HUMAN TRAFFICKER: I paid $50. And then I took to my home. I have a fight with her, I hit her. I sleep with her, and next morning she don't wake up.

I know what I did was wrong.

RIVERS: Chinac (ph) is just one of the 609 people investigated for human trafficking by Romanian police in the first six months of last year.

The sex slave trade is vast and profitable, and its victims are often the most vulnerable in society. The Nejloveanus, like many traffickers, exploited women with mental disabilities, from broken homes, and forced them into a world which scarred them forever.

Dan Rivers, CNN, Romania.


STOUT: Some haunting testimony there.

And as I said, today is the activation for "The Freedom Project" here on CNN. We'll be going live to reporters from Kenya to China a little bit later in the show, and we'll explore the issue of slavery around the world, throughout the year, right here on CNN.

Well, next here on NEWS STREAM, South Korea and the U.S. say that they're only practicing defensive strategies in the live-fire drills going on right now. But North Korea disagrees.

We'll have more on that story coming up.

And China is making moves to show its citizens that it is no Egypt, it is no Tunisia. We'll have the latest on China's efforts to stop any similar protest movement from getting off the ground there.


STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, the South Korean and U.S. militaries are carrying out live-fire exercises in South Korea. Both countries say the drills are defensive in nature, but North Korea disagrees.

We have this report from Paula Hancocks.


PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. soldiers fire at a distant target. Stryker combat vehicles move towards the enemy as infantry fan out into the hills to clear the way ahead. The enemy today in South Korea is imagined, but the threat is real.

This U.S. military drill using live fire is taking place no more than 15 kilometers from the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea. The U.S. insists this is defensive in nature and part of long-planned routine exercises. North Korea disagrees.

Pyongyang has called it a provocation and has threatened to "engulf Seoul in a sea of flames."

COL. ROSS DAVIDSON, COMMANDER, 1ST HEAVY BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM: While some would call it, or could make the argument that, yes, it's a provocation, you could just as reasonably argue that it is in fact an act of deterrence, but also as how of the partnership that is enjoyed between the Republic of Korea and the United States.

HANCOCKS: It was during a South Korean live-fire drill that North Korea shelled the island of Yeonpyeong last November, killing four South Koreans. Tensions have been high ever since.

Within these annual drills, the U.S. and South Korean militaries also prepare for unconventional attacks -- chemical, biological and nuclear.

BRIG. GEN. CHUCK TAYLOR, ASST. DIVISION COMMANDER: The North Koreans have threatened to use weapons of mass destruction. These exercises help us to deter based upon our readiness. And if deterrence fails, to help to prevail in any kind of threat environment.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Some of these men are from Fort Lewis in Washington State in the United States. They've come over just specifically for this live-fire exercise. They're part of a contingency platoon, which means that if tensions escalate here on the Korean Peninsula, and they're needed here, then they can deploy here immediately.

(voice-over): And while the U.S. military says these kinds of drills prepare soldiers for any conflict in the world, training in this specific terrain can only help if they're ever called upon.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Pocheon, South Korea.


STOUT: And it has happened again. Another senior Japanese leader has resigned. Japan's foreign minister had only been on the job for six months when he became embroiled in a donation scandal.

Kyung Lah has the story.


KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More musical chairs for Japan's politics and political instability after the abrupt resignation of Japan's popular foreign minister. In a hastily-arranged Sunday night news conference, Maehara abruptly quit his job. He apologized to the people of Japan, saying he accepted about $3,000 in political donations from a lifelong friend.

The problem, that friend is a Korean national living in Japan. Accepting political donations from foreigners, even in such a small amount, is illegal in Japan. In a country where political resignations are the norm, where a national political career is measured in months, not years, Maehara's sudden resignation is still a stunner.

The rising star was unapologetically pro-U.S. and pro-market policy. Many expected he would be the next prime minister.

Well, the current prime minister, Naoto Kan, says he tried to get Maehara to stay on the job. "I told him he doesn't have to resign and strongly urged him to stay on the job," says Kan. "But he made the decision on his own." Until Kan names a replacement, chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano will temporarily double as foreign minister.

Maehara's resignation is top news in Japan. The national press talking about what this means to the political agenda of Prime Minister Kan. A consensus of pundits here, it's not good news. The prime minister has been on the job less than a year, there have been six prime ministers in five years, and now Kan is facing increasing pressure to call a snap election or resign.

Now, meanwhile, Japan's lawmakers are trying to pass a budget to tackle the developed world's highest budget deficit, all amid political turmoil.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.


STOUT: Live from Hong Kong, you're watching NEWS STREAM. We'll be back right after this.


STOUT: And that is the iconic Star Ferry in Victoria Harbor.


Now, with protests rocking much of the Middle East and North Africa, similar calls for a pro-democracy uprising in China have fizzled. And as our Stan Grant reports, at the country's annual legislative session, the country's leaders are taking steps to show that China is no Tunisia or Egypt.


STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the full power of China's one-party state on display. The Communist Party leaders, none of them elected, yet ruling over the most populous nation on earth. Authority (ph) here comes from the top down. But it's the rumblings from the ground up that has the party concerned.

(on camera): The big theme here, the gap between rich and poor. It goes to the very stability of China. Premier Wen Jiabao has made no secret that is the major challenge of the next five years.

(voice-over): "We are keenly aware," he says, "that we still have a serious problem in that our development is not yet well balanced, coordinated, or sustainable."

The National People's Congress, China's parliament, is the party's chance to outline its blueprint for the country's future. This year, the stakes are higher.

China is on alert. Revolt on the streets of the Middle East has the government spooked here. Whispers of the Jasmine Revolution in China have sparked a crackdown. More police on the streets, nipping in the bud any prospect of protests.

Journalists have been physically attacked. Dissidents and human rights activists, under house arrest, or constantly under surveillance by security officials.

All of this for an uprising that has not even happened. And according to some analysts, not likely to happen.

PROF. TENG JIMENG, BEIJING FOREIGN STUDIES UNIVERSITY: I think China has very different political and government dynamics. I mean, Chinese leadership change, and change roughly every once a decade. And the Chinese leadership seem to be -- are very much enlightened in terms of to deliver that very economic rewards towards its own people.

GRANT: So, why the fear? China treads similar fault lines -- the rich/poor divide, rising food prices, often hard-line rule. People power has overturned governments in Tunisia and Egypt. The leaders here look at the Middle East and see their worst nightmare.

TENG: The Chinese are very much aware of a chaotic situation, and particular a chaos out of their own -- the political landscape. And so, to us, it is chaos. It represents the kind of upheaval that destroys.

GRANT: Yet, for all China's growth, hundreds of millions lifted out of poverty, the party remains nervous. If it needed any reminder how precarious its hold on power may be, look to the Middle East.

Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.


STOUT: And since that report from Stan first aired earlier today, we have learned that some of our viewers in China had this happen to their screens. This video shows Stan's reports blacked out at the words "China is on alert." As you will see, about 10 or 15 seconds later, broadcasters replaced it with other programming.

Now, meanwhile, in France, the corruption trial of former President Jacques Chirac begins today. He is accused of using public money to pay political party salaries when he was mayor of Paris. Now, if convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Chirac denies any wrongdoing.

Now, still ahead on NEWS STREAM, the victims of modern day slavery. Now, CNN is using our global reach to tell their stories.

EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Eunice Yoon, in Beijing. I'll tell you more about the dark side of China's economic growth.


STOUT: Now, this is the day of activation for CNN's "Freedom Project." We're shining a spotlight on modern day slavery.

You may not be aware of it, but there are victims all over the world. Now, the kind of slavery we see today is part of a multibillion-dollar industry.

Now, rarely do you see people in chains. So common in images of the past, but the concept remains the same. Victims cannot walk away.

Isha Sesay gives us this look then and now.


ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Slavery," a word that evokes powerful emotions and conjures differing images.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the atrium (ph), sir. Excellent.

SESAY: To some, it can be the heroics of Hollywood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What have we here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A gift from the governor of Sicily, sir.

SESAY: To others, it's the bitter reality of a more recent history, from the ravages of colonialism to families toiling away in the fields of the American South.

KEVIN BALES, CO-FOUNDER, FREE THE SLAVES: The picture they have in their mind are slaves in Alabama, in chains, in a cotton field. But, you know, even at that time, when people wore chains, it was pretty rare, because you can't get good work out of people when you chain them up.

SESAY: Though the chains are certainly gone now, slavery is still very much with us.

LISA KRISTINE, PHOTOGRAPHER: There's an image that I have of a fellow walking with the bricks, and all you see is this haze of dust. And to me, it really captures the everyday life for these people.

SESAY: Lisa Kristine is a professional photographer who has traveled the world documenting slavery.

KRISTINE: I want to blow the lid off this thing and to show what is occurring in the world.

SESAY: Kristine works with the American-based charity group Free the Slaves. Kevin Bale is its co-founder.

BALE: The rule of thumb that we use any time we're confronting a case of slavery, and saying, is this slavery? We say, can these people walk away?

SESAY: According to Bales, there are more slaves today than at any point in human history. Part of the reason, he says, is simple economics.

BALES: The slave of the past, say in Alabama in 1850 would have cost in today's money $40,000 to $50,000 for a very average person who just knew how to work in the fields. That kind of slave today can be purchased in a number of countries in the developing world for anywhere between $10 and $50. If they get injured, they get sick, it's cheaper to buy a new slave or acquire a new slave than it is to treat the ones you've got.

KRISTINE: They say that we are his slave. We have to do whatever he want to do.

SESAY: Somali Mom (ph) knows better than most how victims of slavery are treated, she was once a slave herself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day in the brothel is beatings, having clients, no water to clean.

SESAY: Mom (ph) escaped. Today, the Cambodian woman rehabilitates other young women forced into prostitution across Southeast Asia.

This girl arrived at a women's shelter run by Mom's organization several years ago after she says she was brutally raped by several men. She's just one of the 7,000 young girls that Somali (ph) has taken in over the past two decades, children she cares for as her own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know I have my little girl. She's -- today she's seven years old. She had been sold four years old to the foreigner pedophile. Today she got HIV/AIDS. One day she'll leave me. She said mommy when you go out to tell the man, please, a few minutes of their pleasure they kill me. I don't want to die.

SESAY: For Christine, the realization of the scope of modern day slavery, like the slabs these boys from Nepal are forced to carry, weighs very heavily.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The image of the boys with the slate on their backs was late in Nepal in the Himalayas. And literally carrying these huge pieces of slate. In fact, the slate was almost as big as their tiny bodies. There's some sweetness and deep sadness to it that they don't know anything else and they are forced to do that.

SESAY: Isha Sesay, CNN, Atlanta.


STOUT: Now we are using our global resources to tell the stories of those affected all over the world. Now to start with, we'll speak with our reporters in five countries on three different continents.

Now slavery exists everywhere. And we will show you what it being done to help end this horror.

Now let's begin in China. Eunice Yoon joins us live from Beijing -- Eunice.

EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, there is an unseemly side to China's economic growth and that is the abuse and the virtual enslavement of workers. People are being swept into the factories in order to try to meet production demands and that some of the most vulnerable people are the mentally ill and the mentally challenge, that there have been some cases recently of mentally challenged people who have been sold into the factories, forced to work without pay, beaten and sometimes even fed dog food.

There's another huge issue that China's been grappling with and that is human trafficking, especially of women. Because of the growing gender gap, women have been sold as sex slaves, also into marriages. And children also are being trafficked, not only here in China, but also overseas.

The government has been trying to get on top of this issue, but the NGOs here say that the government should be doing so much more.

Let's cross over to David McKenzie who is joining us live from Nairobi, Kenya -- David.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Eunice. Yes, well while the problems are severe in Asia certainly Africa bears the brunt of modern day slavery in many ways. Kenya is both the transfer point and a source point of modern day slave, many of them are coming from the rural parts of Kenya, from the coastal parts of Kenya and they are being trafficked, trafficked most for domestic labor. They go the Middle East predominantly, to the UAE, to Yemen, to Saudi Arabia especially.

And while they're lured by the promise of good jobs and good salaries, often when they get there -- and I've spoken to many women who have -- women who have dealt with this scenario -- when they get there, they find that they're passports are taken away. They don't get any salaries. They don't have any freedom of movement. They're treated like dirt by their owners. And often, the only way they can get out is by escaping to their embassies. A terrible scenario for African women who are trafficked to the Middle East.

Now here's my colleague Leone Lakhani in Abu Dhabi.

LEONE LAKHANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now modern day slavery takes many former, as we're hearing. Now the exploitation -- the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women is a problem across the world, even in a more conservative societies of the Middle East like the UAE. Now last year, 35 cases of trafficking for the use of sexual exploitation were brought forth to authorities in Dubai.

Now that number seems small, but there are reasons for it. First of all, it's a taboo topic here in this conservative society. Many women don't feel they can come forward with reports of sexual abuse, because of the stigma attached. There's also the concern that many of these women are here illegally. They don't have their visas or the correct documentation. And human rights groups do acknowledge that the governments in this region are trying to address this problem, setting up shelters, setting up health centers for these women, but they are more critical of another group of people, the plight of the low income migrant workers.

Now, that again, is not under the classical definition of slavery, but human rights groups do say that this is a group of people that often get exploited in this region. Hundreds of thousands of workers travel to this region every year in search of higher paid, better life. Often, they're living conditions are pretty dire and their working conditions also not very good. And that is the ongoing challenge for the people in this region.

Now on to my colleague Matthew Chance in Moscow.


And the source of many of the women trafficked around the world is of course Russia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990's, Russia has become a focus of human trafficking. There are many examples of women who were lured to lucrative jobs overseas, finding themselves trapped in the sex industry in the Middle East or in Europe or in elsewhere.

But Russia is also a destination for human traffickers. Obviously there's a huge sex industry here. Many women from around the country, the region and the world are brought to Russia to work in that industry as well. And so that's a problem where many groups are trying to focus on helping those individuals as well.

But perhaps the under reported aspects of modern day slavery here in Russia is the plight of migrant workers, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands even, of migrant workers come to Russia every year to work on farms, to work on building sites, and they are often deprived of any legal rights. They get their passports taken from them. They have to work in spoiled conditions. And often they don't get any money at all.

Now the government here say they're doing what they can to crack down on these issues of modern slavery, but big problem is many of the groups, the criminal gangs that organize human trafficking have links with local authorities. So it makes the battle against fighting them much more difficult. So we will be covering that throughout the year.

So in the meantime, let's go to New Delhi and CNN's Sara Sidner.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Matthew, here in India, India is said to have the majority of the world's modern day slaves. And one of the big issues here that the government and NGOs are trying to tackle is that of bonded labor, essentially what is known as debt slaves, these are people who have basically become the property of land owners or factory owners, because they have nowhere else to go. They are brought in as workers. They are not paid a wage. And they are told that they have to work day and night. But they're never given anything to help sustain themselves except for food and a place to live. So they have nowhere else to go but that land owner or factory owner who they are very much beholden to. And that is a big issue here.

India has laws that (inaudible) adults in this, we're also talking about children. Because for some of these people, this has gone on for generations. Often time they come from a very low caste in society which means that they are sort of beholden to those who are in higher levels of society. And they don't feel like they have any other real option. They have no education, they have no money. And so they are just in this life for literally generations. The children oftentimes, and we've seen them ourselves, are working right beside their parents as young as five years old. We saw children, for example, making bricks at a brick kiln. And they know nothing better. They want a better life, but they really have a difficulty getting it.

The government every now and then goes in and does raids. They pull people out of this. But where do they go from there? There has to be education. There has to be some kind of money given to these people. (inaudible) function and they'll find themselves right back in the same situation.

Tatia (ph), back to you.

STOUT: All right. Sara Sidner joining us live from New Delhi. And apologies for the minor technical glitches there on your screen.

From India to Kenya, the UAE to Russia, that is just a small sample of the ways people across the world are affected by slavery. And now the number of slaves in the worlds, that figure varies widely -- anywhere from 10 to 30 million people.

Now puts the number at 27 million, with the majority of slaves living in India and African countries. Now Free The Slaves is the non-profit organization with one objective: to end slavery worldwide.

Now take a look at their interactive map which really helps to visualize the global problem. Now green is fewer than 500,000 people enslaved, yellow 500,000-5 million, red Asia-Pacific more than 5 million estimated people enslaved. Take a look for yourselves, just go to

Now the CNN freedom project is a major drive both on air and online. If you're television set take a look at the special section of our web site dedicated to this issue of modern slavery. You'll find everything from firsthand accounts to video reports that includes Becky Anderson's heartbreaking interview with a young girl who says she was forced into sex slavery in Uganda. She now spends her time teaching other children about her past. You can watch that online at

Now we're also asking you to reach out using social media. Now first of all, there's our Facebook page. Just search CNN Freedom Project and find out how you can get involved by uploading pictures and videos. And then there's our Twitter feed at CNN Freedom. You can join conversations about the freedom project by including the hash tag Endslavery -- one word.

So on air or online you can get involved as we spend the next 12 months shining the spotlight on the very serious global issue.

The Freedom Project right here on CNN.

Now for just how long can one volcano keep erupting? Now ahead on NEWS STREAM we will go to Hawaii where this volcano has been keeping it up for years.


STOUT: Welcome back. Now it has been erupting for 28 straight years, but now, today, scientists are watching this volcano very, very closely. Let's get the latest with Mari Ramos. She joins us from the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kristie. Yeah. We're talking about the Kilauea volcano on the Hawaiian Islands.

Now this volcano, like you said, has been erupting for quite a long time -- since 1983 continuously active, making it one of the most active volcanoes in the entire world.

Let me go ahead and show you the area that we're talking about. Let's go ahead and head to the big island of Hawaii right here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Now when we talk about what's happening here, let's go ahead and get closer, the volcano itself has a fissure that collapsed near Pu'u O'o, that's the area that we're talking about here.

Now I want to go ahead and show you the live webcam from this area, pretty spectacular. This is coming from the USGS. And of course, it's dark in Hawaii right now. The sun hasn't come up. And this is actually what it looks like. And it kind of updates itself every few minutes. Pretty amazing stuff. But if you want to look at it up close, you can only get about a mile-and-a-half. You can get about 2 kilometers away from the volcano. The national park, parts of it, have been closed.

Let's go ahead and roll the video. I want to show you what we're talking about here. Really amazing stuff. Now some of these images taken earlier today. You can see it there. Kilauea, like you were saying Kristie, one of the most active in that eastern rift zone that is so-called, that is where this eruption has happened. They're saying it's actually one of the biggest lava flows that they've had in recent memory, which is pretty amazing as well.

Now they're saying that there's no way to really tell -- look at that, it looks like some kind of special effects sort of movie there. They're saying that there's no way to really tell how long the volcano will remain this active, but they're actually noticing a few more signs coming even from the main Kilauea volcano around a crater I should say, around this area they have recorded more than 150 earthquakes. And that's just in the past 24 hours.

Doesn't it feel like you're looking at some kind of a movie there? It's really amazing what mother nature can do. And like I said, this is happening in Hawaii.

And some of these areas, they haven't had an eruption in over 100 years. So they're saying that this is kind of a new kind of special and they're watching it very, very closely.

Let's got back over to the weather map over here. Let's go ahead and talk about another one of mother nature's really amazing things, and that has been this -- on a sad note, of course -- the situation in New Zealand, in Christchurch. Now they allowed people for the first time this weekend after that massive earthquake almost two weeks ago to go back to their homes. And they're looking at situations like this, coming home to situations like this where almost nothing is left, if anything at all that they've been able to salvage.

Authorities are looking at this very carefully because they're saying how could this happen, how could so many homes collapse. They're saying that as many as 10,000 homes in Christchurch proper may have to be completely demolished, because they are so -- the story in some areas, they won't even be able to rebuild.

You know, Christchurch, New Zealand overall has a very strict building code. And they revised it as early as 1976. So they say that many of these homes that collapsed are newer than 1976. So they are monitoring to see what exactly happened and an investigation is underway.

Weather wise, we had a big cool down over the weekend with the wind coming out of the south. They're kind of turning a bit more to the north right now. That will help a little bit of a warm up. Clear skies and temperatures begin to moderate.

Let's go ahead and check out your city by city forecast.

And Kristie, this is what the space shuttle Discovery looked like earlier today before the astronauts woke up and then got everything packed up and left the International Space Station. Now this is the last time Discovery will be in space. Let's go ahead and listen.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Discovery says farewell to the International Space Station for the final time. This docked mission has now ended. Discovery flies by itself now.


RAMOS: And, Kristie, 30 years Discovery has been flying. Of course, this is the second to last space shuttle mission. Discovery expected to land in the next couple of days at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And pretty amazing, they were docked with the space station eight days, 16 hours and 46 minutes.

They did another fly by just to make sure that everything was fine with the heat shield of Discovery as they prepare now to return to Earth. Back to you.

STOUT: And I'm so happy that we have access to that video and are screening it. Now that is a document, a historic document of what is the final voyage for the Discovery.

Mari, thank you so much for sharing that with us. Mari Ramos there.

Up next, the heat is on Miami as Miami's trio of all-stars look to snap a losing streak. Alex Thomas will be joining us with the highlights.


STOUT: Injuries, controversies, and oh yes an actual match -- just another day at the Cricket World Cup. And Alex Thomas can bring us up to day -- Alex.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kristie, in an attempt to silence vocal criticism, cricket's governing body has issued a robust defense of the television review system. The ICC says it has increased the number of correct decisions by seven percent and has issued guidelines, though, to umpires about reviewing certain LBW calls which have caused the controversy.

The ICC has also decided to allow Owen Morgan to join England's squad as a replacement for this man, Kevin Peterson. KP has flown home early to have a hernia operation. And he also missed the Indian Premier League.

For Australia, Mike Hussey is replacing the injured Doug Bollinger,

There's one Group A match taking place on Monday. Kenya scored 198 all outs from their 50 overs in Delhi. In reply, Canada 24 for 1 a short time ago.

In the NBA, the Miami Heat are developing a dangerous habit of losing tight games against top teams. Dwayne Wade and his star colleagues were on a run of three defeats in a row ahead of the visit of Chicago on Sunday night. And the Bulls were up by 4 in the fourth when Wade drives and misses the wild lay-up only to recover and put in the rebound as he falls down to the floor.

Chicago gave themselves some breathing space when Derrick Rose knocks down the jumper only for Miami to pull it back to 84 apiece.

And the Heat took the lead when Mario Chalmers drives to the rim here for the easy lay-up.

As the seconds tick down, Luol Dang is fouled and makes both of his free throws to put the Bulls back in the lead.

And they're up by a point with less than 10 seconds to go when LeBron James tries to win it for the Heat. He misses. The loose ball is picked up by Wade, but his jumper also goes wide. And Chicago wins 87-86.

Well, two-time defending champions the Los Angeles Lakers were in San Antonio to face the team with the NBA's best record so far this season, the Spurs. The Spurs are a franchise record 22 straight home wins. Kobe and Co. already lost to San Antonio twice this season, but the Lakers made a fast start here.

Bryant with the fade away jumper to LA 28 points to 13 up in the first quarter.

In the second Pau Gasol with a 3-pointer, incredibly his first of the season -- 21 points overall for him. But Kobe was the Lakers' main man, not for the first time, passing back to Lamar Odom for the lay-up after that fast break.

Bryant had 17 points in the first half alone. And Los Angeles outscored the Spurs in the first three quarters.

Even this accident when Ron Artest was trying to retrieve a loose ball couldn't slow them down. The fan's white shirt may be ruined, but so is San Antonio's winning streak.

Kobe finishing with 26 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds as the Lakers 99- 83.

That's it. Another sports update in a couple of hours' time for you, Kristie. Back to you for now.

STOUT: All right. Alex, thank you for that. A McQueen for a princess. Well, speculation is bubbling over who Kate Middleton has picked to design her royal wedding dress. Now the Sunday Times says it will be Alexander McQueen's creative director. But the fashion house is denying that report. And as for the royal couple, both Ms. Middleton and her fiance Prince William, are keeping quiet on the topic.

Now Ms. Middleton isn't the first royal bride to set off wedding dress fever. Buyers are still swooning over a gown worn nearly 90 years ago by a young woman for her wedding to the future king. And the parallels don't end there as IPN's Nick Glass reports.


NICK GLASS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rummaging around at a vintage fashion auction in Bristol, some very collectible names here -- Ossie Clark (ph), Zonda Rhodes (ph) and Bieber (ph), but the star lot was up on the table. The prototype for the royal wedding dress of 1923, ivory crepe desheen (ph) with a plique (ph) work in seed pearls and silver lame all hand done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's vintage. I've come all the way from Oxford to see it.

I just love this dress line. Looks very severe, but it's offset with the precision beading. And just love the fluidity of this wrap. It's just beautiful.

GLASS: The bride was the 22-year-old Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the groom Prince Albert Duke of York. In her long life, her title would change -- Duchess of York, Queen Concert when her Berty became queen, and finally Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. When you think about it, you can't help but notice the rare parallels with the current royal wedding: the bride is a commoner as she was then, the groom will wear and RAF uniform as Berty did, and like then times are austere and the nation needs cheering up.

And to top it all, the wedding is in late April at Westminster Abbey as it was in 1923.

But what will Kate Middleton wear on her big day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she'll also go for something slim and elegant. I don't think she'll go full (inaudible), previous princess.

GLASS: Back in 1923, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was given a choice of three dresses by her designer, a Madam Handley Seymour of New Bond Street (ph). She chose this one. The finished wedding dress was marginally longer.

An assistant from the auction house kindly modeled for us. The bride wore a wax reef shaped like orange blossom.

On her big day, Kate Middleton may well put her hair up and wear a tiara.

The 1923 dress evidently had a floaty, ethereal feel. It sold for $6500 at auction. You don't yet know who is designing Kate Middleton's dress, but it's fair to assume she'll be spending rather more than that.

Nick Glass, CNN, Bristol, in the west of England.


STOUT: I love how she's modeling it there.

And now take you over and out there we must. Star Wars overlord George Lucas owns the copyrights to many a brand of product. Take, for example, this: a box of Yoda Christmas lights. But now, he wants to own the copyright to this.

Now media reports, they say that Lucas is suing the man who created the replica storm trooper helmets used in his Star Wars movies. The designer created the original helmets from 2D drawings and says he owns the rights to manufacturer replicas because they are his works of art.

Now Lucas successfully sued the designer in a U.S. court, but British courts have ruled against Lucas. Now the case is now in Britain's supreme court and it could impact who owns the rights to props created for movies. Hollywood is hoping the force is with Lucas.

And that is NEWS STREAM. But the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" with Charles Hodson, Maggie Lake and Andrew Stevens is next.