[Hala Gorani, Cnn International Anchor:] Waiting for the winter. Pakistan's top court rules the president presidential election can go ahead, but the results will have to wait until the court decides if the incumbent is even eligible.
[George W. Bush, President Of The United States:] This government does not torture people. You know, we we stick to U.S. law and our international obligations.
[Michael Holmes, Cnn International Anchor:] Lawful and successful. President Bush defends U.S. policies for detaining and interrogating terror suspects.
[Gorani:] And coming clean. After years of denials, a U.S. Olympic track star is poised to admit she was pumped up on steroids. It is noon in New York City, everyone, 9:00 p.m. in Islamabad. Hello and welcome. Our report is broadcast around the globe this hour. I'm Hala Gorani.
[Holmes:] And I'm Michael Holmes. From Yangon to Washington, wherever you are watching, this is
[Your World Today. Gorani:] We'll have all those stories in a moment, but we begin with the latest on the situation in Myanmar. Western leaders at the United Nations are demanding action. Here's the very latest. The U.N. special envoy has presented the findings from his trip to Myanmar to the Security Council. A short time ago, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar met with representatives from the military regime. The government has offered to meet with the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for talks, but with conditions. Diplomats say the regime is willing to engage in dialogue and that this represents a historic opportunity. Let's go now to Richard Roth. He is at the United Nations with the latest on that Richard.
[Richard Roth, Cnn Sr. U.n. Correspondent:] Hello. Ibrahim Gambari, U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, is back. A major briefing for the Security Council. He's telling Myanmar's leaders, despite the tragedy, amid the tragedy, this is a historic opportunity, a window of opportunity for change. He said that he was cautiously, in a sense, optimistic about the offer to talk between the military rulers in Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
[Ibrahim Gambari, U.n. Envoy To Myanmar:] I'm, therefore, cautiously encouraged by the government's announcement yesterday that
[Roth:] The U.N. envoy said it's important for Myanmar's leaders to realize that what's happening there could have international repercussions. The U.S. ambassador even threatened to introduce a resolution involving arms embargoes and other sanctions; however, China made it clear it's very opposed to any sanctions.
[Wang Guangya, Chinese Ambassador To The U.n:] Mr. President we have noticed that the situation in Myanmar is calming down thanks to the joint efforts of all parties in Myanmar and the international community. China hopes that the situation in Myanmar will continue to move in a positive direction. The current situation does not pose any threat to international or regional peace and security.
[Roth:] The U.N. envoy plans to return next month to Myanmar. They're talking right now, Hala, behind closed doors about strategy, but clear it's not a United Security Council, despite the trouble in Myanmar and the Gambari briefing.
[Gorani:] And definitely not a United, permanent member of the Security Council group there. Thank you very much. Richard Roth, at the United Nations Michael.
[Holmes:] Well, despite the hopefulness expressed on the diplomatic front or part of the diplomatic front, haunting questions remain from all of last week's event. One of the most disturbing, what happened to those Buddhist monks who led the protests? Many Yangon monasteries are now empty. Matthew Chance spoke to one monk who made it safely to Thailand.
[Matthew Chance, Cnn Sr. International Correspondent:] They fled terrible threats and bloodshed in Myanmar's crackdown. These trainee monks, some as young as 12, escaped with their lives just a few days ago. We found them studying Buddhist scriptures in this Thai monastery. Some say they have traveled two and a half days to reach the border, swimming across a river into Thailand. "The situation is so bad for monks in Myanmar," 14-year-old Sana Wara told us, "people said it just wasn't safe enough for me to stay." As the military authorities in Myanmar target the Buddhist clergy, Thailand is proving a safe haven, especially for monks like Uh Xintao from Yangon. He told me he took part in the anti- government street protests which began last month and says he witnessed terrifying scenes. "I saw military police enter my monastery, beating the monks and using teargas," he says. "Then some of the monks were tied up with rope. I saw this and I ran." And he's not the first. Behind barbed wire fences on the Thai border, sprawling refugee camps house thousands of refugees from decades of military oppression inside Myanmar.
[Unidentified Male:] So these are the documents.
[Chance:] Fan Ge was a student leader back in 1988, when pro- democracy demonstrations were crushed by the military. Now he's an activist based on the Thai side of the border.
[Unidentified Male:] We don't want to see any more bloodshed. So that's why we are asking the international community, please apply pressure against this military regime.
[Chance:] More pressure these people desperately hope will help get them home. [on camera]: The big concern now for these generations of refugees is what will the international community do to help. For so long, they say, the suffering of people inside Myanmar has been ignored. Matthew Chance, CNN, on the ThaiMyanmar border.
[Holmes:] So, the charges against Bhutto are now wiped clean, it would appear, but they were serious ones. And Pakistan's government wasn't the only one making them. Jonathan Mann with some "Insight".
[Jonathan Mann, Cnn International Anchor:] Maybe Benazir Bhutto was born to lead Pakistan. Her grandfather was in politics even before independence. Her father was prime minister. She has been a political prisoner and prime minister herself, too, twice, but those criminal charges, that she not only led Pakistan, she robbed it. The charges involved alleged corruption that crisscrossed the planet, and many of the accusations link her with her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. The Pakistani government's anti-corruption agency estimates that the couple received alleged kickbacks and commissions worth $1.5 billion $1.5 billion. The Pakistani government has even convicted them, and they were sentenced to prison terms. Bhutto has been out of the country, but Zardari actually spent years in jail. And Pakistan is not the only country that's brought them to court. Back in 2003, they were convicted of money laundering in Switzerland. Bhutto has appealed the conviction and insists every time she's asked that the allegations and the charges are all politically motivated.
[Benazir Bhutto, Fmr. Pakistani Prime Minister:] These are deliberate allegations made to detract attention from the institutionalized corruption of the military. Transparency International, a reputed international group, has said that corruption under the military regime is far greater than it was under previous civilian predecessors.
[Mann:] To be fair, Transparency International's latest survey suggests some improvement, but corruption is widespread in Pakistan and even now Benazir Bhutto is not entirely free of the taint of it. Back to you.
[Gorani:] All right. Thanks very much. Jonathan Mann there with some "Insight". A short break. When we come back, stern remarks from the president today about what it takes to make terror suspects talk.
[Holmes:] Coming up next, we are going to hear from an ex-detainee who says he was tortured, and it is a story he provides in vivid detail.
[Gorani:] And a decorated Olympian is expected to admit the gold medals she won were tarnished.
[Holmes:] Also, a woman who stole songs off the Internet facing the music in a big way. That story also ahead. Stay with us. You are watching YOUR WORLD TODAY.