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AROUND THE WORLD

New Royal on the Way; Search for Victims in China Quake; Woman Claiming Rape Pardoned in Dubai; Pope Francis Visitz Brazil

Aired July 22, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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


SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: It was being called the great Kate wait. It's now almost over. The Duchess went into labor overnight and is at St. Mary's Hospital in London to give birth.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Her husband, Prince William, is with her and has one very important job today, maybe a phone call.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

KATIE NICHOLL, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Prince William is under strict instructions to telephone the queen as soon as the birth will happen. He will make that call on a specially encrypted phone.

(END AUDIO FEED)

MALVEAUX: We're going live to London in a moment to begin our coverage about historic protocol in place once the baby actually arrives.

HOLMES: Plus, Pope Francis on the road to Rio. He arrives in Brazil in just a few hours. We're going to have a live report from here on the pope's mission to reenergize the country's Catholics during World Youth Day.

MALVEAUX: And at least 75 people are dead, more than 580 are injured. This after a strong earthquake in northwest China. Now, rescue teams, they are scrambling to reach the hardest hit area in a remote mountainous part of the country.

Welcome to AROUND THE WORLD. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company.

Let's get back to that big story today, the royal baby. Kate, the duchess of Cambridge, went into labor overnight. Now, she went to St. Mary's Hospital around 7:30 this morning local time, which is about 2:30 a.m. Eastern.

MALVEAUX: So, as you can imagine, of course, hoards of media have been outside the hospital, in some cases for up to a couple of weeks now just waiting and watching. Well, our own royal correspondent Max Foster there.

Max, Michael and I have been teasing you for weeks now saying you probably feel like you're giving birth to this child yourself, right? HOLMES: And it's the hottest day of the year in London too, so you're hoping this comes soon as well.

The queen is at Buck Palace, Buckingham Palace.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HOLMES: She's probably not going to go to the hospital, though, right?

FOSTER: No. She - all Buckingham Palace said, business as usual, so that implies the queen was due back anyway. But, of course, she needs to be the first person notified outside the hospital, so she's braced (ph) I'm sure. By my reckoning, she actually came to the hospital about 6:00 a.m. local time, which means she's been in labor for more than 11 hours. So thought for Kate at this point.

This is fairly normal. We don't know how long it will last. Nature will take its course. She did say she did want a natural birth. So we're not expecting any c sections or anything like that but, you know, these things are never predictable at the same time.

What we're really waiting for is another official update. And that doesn't come in the form of e-mails or press notices. It comes in a physical form. A palace aid appearing on the steps behind me with an envelope. That's going to be the indication that a baby's been born.

MALVEAUX: And, Max, how do they keep this a secret here? I mean I imagine that there are people, maybe a few people, maybe the doctor who knows perhaps what the sex of the baby is.

FOSTER: Well, they - the duke and duchess, last we heard, were -- was that they didn't want to find out the sex of the baby and they were going to keep it as a surprise. And also a good strategy when they know that everyone was asking them about the sex of the baby, if they didn't know, then actually it's an easier answer, isn't it?

But we will find out the sex of the child when this notice goes to Buckingham Palace and is unveiled. And that's going to be the first time we have a sense of that at all. In the hospital, a big team, as you say, and a substantial sort of team when you consider that all the consultants from the hospital are there. There are two royal obstetricians. But they've all signed confidentiality agreements. Nothing leaks. This has been a very, very well planned pregnancy.

HOLMES: Yes, and, of course, I mean, this will be the first royal birth that's been in this sort of Internet age. And after the sort of easel and the handwritten note outside Buckingham Palace, when that goes up, I think there's going to be tweets, aren't there?

FOSTER: There will be. There will be the notice and that will be broadcast live. So we'll have that and you'll be able to see it. At the same time, we'll receive an e-mail. And then, after that, we're told it will go out on social media. So, yes, I mean they've tried to combine the old with the new. I mean there is a bit of theater around the whole moment with the notice going to Buckingham Palace. They accept that. But also, in the modern age, of course, they can get the information out so quickly. Why not do it on their own Twitter account as well.

HOLMES: Yes. You know, nothing like a bit of tradition that it is for modern times.

Max, good for you. Hope you - it's not too hot there as you continue your marathon. But, yes, a thought for Kate after all those hours in labor. Max Foster, thanks so much. We'll check in later.

MALVEAUX: Yes, William and Kate, they're a very hip, modern couple, of course.

HOLMES: Yes.

MALVEAUX: So tweeting makes sense, you know?

HOLMES: It does.

MALVEAUX: I mean it's interesting we - you have a little board out there at the palace. But, yes, you know, send a tweet.

HOLMES: Their little hip to twitisphere (ph). Yes.

MALVEAUX: With the new royal baby comes with a lot of royal history, of course, including what names he or she could actually be known by.

HOLMES: Yes. And here's somebody with the names of both parents in her name. Kate Williams is CNN's royal historian.

So you'd better be in the know. You're at Buckingham Palace. And the baby's name doesn't necessarily and probably won't come out the day we find out about the birth.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN'S ROYAL HISTORIAN: Yes, it's right, Michael. If say the baby's born this evening, the information will come from the palace, as Max was saying. The members of the prince's household will come from the hospital in west London over here. The information will be given to a secretary in here. It will be put on the easel to be displayed to the world, this fantastic news. And the baby's sex, the baby's weight and the time of birth will be on that easel, but not the name. In most royal cases, we don't expect to see the name for at least another three or four days. So those people who've betted across the world, a lot of bets going on in England about the name of the baby, they still won't find out whether they've hit the jackpot or not. So currently the lead names are Alexandra for a girl, George for a boy. So they still running - they're still running high, going strong.

MALVEAUX: You can bet that people are probably placing some bets as well. You know, as third in the line to the throne, does it matter if it's a boy or a girl?

WILLIAMS: It matters a lot. This is the first time actually, Suzanne, that it doesn't because previously girls didn't come to the throne unless they had only younger siblings, sisters, or no siblings at all, like Victoria. So Elizabeth II had a female sibling, Margaret. So what we've got here is a completely different scenario. This child will be queen, will be the future monarch if it's a girl. And previously that wouldn't be the case at all. So it's pretty exciting. And I think this really makes quite a suggestion about the future of Britain, really, can we really continue with the idea that aristocratic titles just go through the male line. We saw that, of course, as a great showdown to now be (ph) those girls can't get the title because they're girls. Is that really going to continue when we can see the woman - a woman getting the top job and, of course, the top palace (ph) in the country.

HOLMES: Yes. And I know they had to take all kind of ancient legislation too about the son and heir, now just becoming the heir.

You know the other interesting thing too when it comes to names is, the way I understand it with the royal family, there doesn't have to be a surname or there could be one of three, I think, Mountbatten- Windsor, and then there's Wales and then Cambridge, I suppose.

WILLIAMS: Cambridge. (INAUDIBLE) exactly, Michael. You know you and I, we have to have surnames to distinguish us in the world of work because we are ordinary individuals. But, you know, the queen, the king, they're not the same. They don't need a surname. They don't get christened with a surname. They simply get christened with their first name because William, Kate, or whatever this baby is called, Alexandra, Elizabeth, George, that says enough. But its surname will probably be Windsor, not Wales or Cambridge, but it could be any of those three. It's up to the baby.

And, of course, also with royal babies, they tend to have four or five names, not one or two, four or five, and they could come to the throne with any one of them. So if Diana is actually in the - in the name, we suspect that Diana may be one of the names if it's a girl. Not number one, maybe three or four. It could, on day, see a Queen Diana on the throne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Awesome.

HOLMES: Interesting, yes.

Kate Williams, CNN's royal historian, thanks so much.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

HOLMES: Great context there.

MALVEAUX: You see the door. Everybody's waiting to see what the announcement's going to be.

HOLMES: Uh-huh. Exactly.

MALVEAUX: And, of course, we're going to bring that to you on CNN. The latest of the royal birth. Our crews, they are in place. Everybody is waiting and watching.

HOLMES: All over the place. MALVEAUX: We're going to bring you more details as they become available.

For now, I want to turn to some other stories making news around the world.

HOLMES: Yes, rescue workers and the Red Cross now scrambling to reach those injured by a massive earthquake in northwest China. Authorities now say at least 89 people were killed and more than 580 were injured. This when the quake struck this morning, sending people running for cover.

MALVEAUX: And victims say they felt shaking for at least a minute. CNN's David McKenzie has the very latest.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne and Michael, it was a powerful, shallow quake that struck northwest China early on Monday morning, creating scenes of panic as people rushed out of buildings and out of their homes. Take a look at the state media footage of the immediate strike of that quake.

The worst affected areas were in a remote region of Gansu province, where entire buildings collapsed and homes heavily damaged. Tragically, the elderly and the very young were the worst affected according to state media because they weren't able to escape the falling debris.

Hundreds of rescue workers have been mobilized to the region and from cities like Beijing to work on the rescue efforts. There's a short window while they may be able to find survivors of this quake, but recent rains and future rains, which have been forecast, could hamper any rescue efforts in this powerful quake's zone.

Suzanne and Michael.

HOLMES: David McKenzie there.

And, meanwhile, here's more of what we're working on for AROUND THE WORLD.

She reported, she was raped and ended up in jail herself, all because of some strict laws in Dubai about extramarital sex. We've got new developments coming up.

MALVEAUX: Plus, Pope Francis heads to Brazil. While the people's pope will be dressed in civilian clothes with only a few guards, his trip is definitely not low key.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people's pope heads into a country where the people just a month ago launched angry nationwide protests. Fed up with corruption, bad public services and the price tags of global events like the upcoming Olympics and World Cup Soccer.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: And you don't imagine bombs when you think of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, but the U.S. Navy had to dump unarmed ones near the reef after a training exercise went wrong. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Here are stories making news AROUND THE WORLD right now.

In China, a man in a wheelchair allegedly detonated a homemade explosion device, this is inside Beijing International Airport, to draw attention to what he called unjust treatment.

HOLMES: Now this man, a 34-year-old, says he became paralyzed eight years ago after being attacked by security guards outside a police station while he was on a motorcycle. And he had complaints about that. He was taken to hospital after this happened. Injuries to his arm, apparently. Very - fortunately, no one else was injured. No flights were affected.

MALVEAUX: And the U.S. team that will help negotiate new talks now between the Israelis and Palestinians is beginning now to take shape. CNN has learned that Secretary of State John Kerry has tapped veteran Mideast Diplomat Martin Indyk to lead Mideast peace team. Now, the new envoy's role is to - still being finalized as Israeli/Palestinian diplomats are preparing to come to Washington for those talks to resume peace negotiations.

HOLMES: And a Norwegian woman, this is an amazing story, she was sentenced to prison in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates after reporting that she was raped. Well, she has been given a pardon now and will soon be heading home.

MALVEAUX: So we are talking about 24-year-old Marte Dalelv. She was astounded with the charge, especially after she went to the police for help. Here's a bit of what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTE DALELV, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM: And I got to the police station. I told them my story and then he asked me when I - when I was done he said, did you call the police because you didn't like it? And I said, of course I didn't like it, but that's also when I understood that, they don't believe me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Unbelievable story. Nima Elbagir is in Dubai now.

Nima, she had been appealing that sentence, but, you know, foreigners continually get caught out by some of the laws on the books there in the U.A. Some extraordinary things you can and cannot do.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what happens is, people end up falling through the cracks between the perception of the United Arab Emirates. You know, what we see in all those tourist targeting travel ads of sun, sand, sea and shopping, and the reality of the laws that are actually on the statue books, I mean it's obviously extraordinary.

You're not allowed to show public displays of affection between men and women. Women have to cover both their arms and their legs. Public drunkenness, in spite of the amount of -- the sheer volume of nightclubs and restaurants in this town, public drunkenness is prohibited.

And that was actually one of the charges that Marte Dalelv faced after she reported that a man, who was her manager at work, she said he'd sexually assaulted her. He'd forced himself on her. And as you heard her say there, she did what she said she's always been brought up to do, which is go to the police. And that's one of the things that make this story so horrifying.

But I want you to listen to what she told us today when she was told that she was going to get her freedom. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELELV: It's hard to describe but I have my freedom back. I can actually go if I want to. It's my choice if I want to stay or leave. But they've told me, you're not being deported either. You can stay. You can come. You're free to do whatever you want. Yes, it's a fantastic feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELBAGIR: And extraordinary, dramatic turnaround, and one that has been forced by just such a huge outcry on social media, online, internationally.

The Norwegian foreign minister has spoken out very strongly because this is the first time this has happened to a Western woman in Dubai. This is actually the fourth time that women have found themselves, when they went to report rapes, they found themselves charged with unlawful sex, which is effectively sex outside of the confines of marriage.

And although Marte's story ends really rather wonderfully, a lot of human rights organizations are saying that this doesn't really change the realities of how she was treated when she went to report her rape. And it doesn't change the realities of the infrastructure here. Human Rights Watch has actually gone so far as to say the way they treat women when they report rape effectively condones the violence against them, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Nima, from an outsiders point of view, it sounds absolutely outrageous when you hear this kind of story. What happens now, the original claim, or the original charge of rape and her manager who she says did this? Where is he in all of this?

ELBAGIR: The only way that this was made to go away was by a personal ruling by the ruler of Dubai, who's also the prime minister of the Emirates. And effectively, what he's done is issue almost a royal decree which circumvents the legal infrastructure here. And because he did that, it allowed it to wipe the slate clean for Marte, but that also means that's almost as if this none of this ever happened.

So the man that she alleges assaulted her, he's also working free today. And we asked her how that felt, but I think for her, she told my producer that the most important thing was that she was going to get to go home to her mother. None of the rest, she says now, matters.

HOLMES: Nima, thanks so much, Nima Elbagir. Absolutely extraordinary.

MALVEAUX: It's incredible.

HOLMES: People being jailed -- couples being jailed for a kiss on the cheek in a public place.

Never if you're driving in Dubai never do a rude gesture to a driver who cuts you off because that is illegal and people are being locked up for that as well, jail terms.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable.

HOLMES: Yeah.

MALVEAUX: And this is interesting. He's carrying his own bag, Pope Francis boarding a flight for Brazil. This is just a couple of hours ago.

But the "People's Pope" is going to be greeted by more than just fans there. We're going to be live in Rio, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're keeping a close eye on breaking news here. This is out of Cairo, Egypt. Now this is according to Reuters. There's at least one person now who is dead, who's been killed, seven injured. This is fighting, obviously, between those who support deposed President Mohamed Morsy and those who actually are against him.

HOLMES: Yeah, this happening in and around Tahrir Square, we're told, where, of course, the anti-Morsy protesters have been gathered over the last weeks. The opposing camps, according to Reuters, throwing stones, shooting fireworks at each other.

Security forces firing tear gases and with our Reza Sayah, who's based there in Cairo, he's on his way to the scene and we'll let you know what he sees when he gets into it.

MALVEAUX: And Pope Francis, he is on the road to Rio right now. He arrives in Brazil in just a couple of hours on his first foreign trip as the pope.

HOLMES: Indeed, and the first Latin American pope, too. There's millions of young Catholics that are going to be there for World Youth Day celebrations. And the pope, of course, what he's trying to do is reenergize Catholics in Brazil and send the message around the world. MALVEAUX: Our Miguel Marquez, he's in Rio with a preview of the pope's visit. So, Miguel, here you have the first Latin American pope visiting the home continent, of course, and the country of Brazil.

Give us a sense of what is it like. What's the mood on the ground?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, to say excitement is an understatement. We're on Copa Cabana Beach where a million pilgrims are expected to show up to see the pope for the first time publicly.

He'll have other events before this, but this will be the first big event on Thursday. A million of people are expected to show up, and the music -- they've been testing it out with all morning sounds more like carnival here than a papal event.

So there's a huge amount of excitement here, people pouring in from around the world. The airport, I can tell you, yesterday, was packed with pilgrims. Pretty incredible.

HOLMES: Yeah. And, of course, Brazil very important to the church as a whole. It's got the most Roman Catholics than any other country in the world, but interestingly, the percentage of people who identify themselves as Catholic down from 92 percent back in 1970, 65 percent in 2010.

So the pope's visit even more important in terms of that revitalization.

MARQUEZ: Yeah. There's a newspaper poll out saying that that could be as low as 57 percent of Brazilians are now Catholic.

Look, the theme of this one is "go and make disciples of all nations," and they certainly need disciples. They want the young people to come here, the pope even addressing young people and his concerns about youth joblessness, both in Europe and here in Latin America before he gets here.

So he wants to tap in to the youth vote, essentially, and get them to come here, heed the message and go back to their home countries and build the Catholic Church.

MALVEAUX: And, Miguel, we know that people there in Brazil, there's been quite the move to support same-sex marriage. Do we think that the pope is going to address some of the change in society and the culture and what is acceptable there?

MARQUEZ: That is very doubtful. However, he is probably going to get possibly an eyeful because there's one protest scheduled for today. There are probably six at least that we've heard of that may be happening today and Friday.

But he gets into the airport, drives off to the government palace and along the way it's expected there will be kissing among same-sex couples, kissing along the route of the pope, hoping that the pope will address these issues. But I doubt that that issue or issues of women clergy will be addressed in this trip. Suzanne and Michael?

MALVEAUX: And, Miguel, real quickly, do you think he could possibly see that protest? You said it's on his route? Is it possible he could see these same-sex kissing outside of the pope-mobile?

MARQUEZ: Anything is possible. He's going to be in an open-top car, not the pope-mobile that we're familiar with the bulletproof glass, so anything is possible.

Security forces very concerned that he's made that decision to do that, but this is a guy who likes to get out and touch the people. He is the "People's Pope." The people have been protesting lately, so he may get more people than he bargains for.

Back to you.

MALVEAUX: All right, Miguel Marquez, thank you.

HOLMES: Yeah, security forces are worried about this pope because he does like to get out and meet and greet.

MALVEAUX: Loves the crowds.

HOLMES: Yeah.

All right, any moment, of course, we could be introduced to Britain's future king or queen, or at least hear about it, and all eyes are on Buckingham Palace. That's where the announcement will be made.

We've got more on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)