Conrad Black's Rise as a Media Mogul; War in Iraq: Critics Say Government Has Been Given a Chance; The Beckhams Arrive in L.A.
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: His lordship caught with his hand in the till? The verdicts are in for a media tycoon accused of swindling millions.</s>REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: The bill is passed.</s>CLANCY: Political theater or a setback for the White House? The U.S. House of Representatives approving a bill to withdraw American troops from Iraq by next year. First among equals? Critics charge the latest papal statement as a barrier to ecumenism. The Vatican says it's just keeping it real. Plus, a league of their own. The U.S. bracing for the Posh and Becks phenomenon. How will this glamour couple fair in the Hollywood limelight? It is midday right now in Washington, 9:00 in the morning in California. Hello and welcome to our report broadcast around the world. I'm Jim Clancy at CNN Center. From Rome to Chicago, Capitol Hill to Sunset Boulevard, wherever you're watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY. He's a British lord who lived the high life, and his newspaper empire informed the great and the good. Now Conrad Black adds a new title to his long list of accomplishments -- felon. A U.S. jury in Chicago has convicted him of fraud and obstruction of justice. We'll have details in just a moment, but first, Charles Hodson has this look at the man and his empire.</s>CHARLES HODSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Conrad Black's rise as a media mogul began in the 1960s. Back then, he started buying up small Canadian newspapers. By the 1990s, he was in charge of a media empire that stretched from Europe to the United States, owning some of the world's most prestigious newspapers. Among them, Chicago's "Sun-Times," "The Jerusalem Post," and the U.K.'s "Daily Telegraph". No wonder then that at the height of his powers, Conrad Black was very much respected.</s>ANDREW NEIL, BRITISH PUBLISHER AND BROADCASTER: Oh, Conrad was larger than life, is larger than life. He cut a swathe across social London and tried to do the same in New York as well. Had already done it in Canada. He was a big man with big ideas who liked other big people. He saw himself as a master of the universe.</s>HODSON: But his fall from grace was as dramatic as his rise. In November 2003, he was forced to resign as chief executive of Hollinger International, accused by the board of directors of siphoning off millions of dollars of cash into his own pockets.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the features of this trial has been to basically -- you know, to say Black wanted to have more money than he had available to him, and so the allegation was that he was taken money from the company. And that became -- clearly, it became unsustainable. You know, the financial weakness in Lord Black's empire just began to mount, and he sold off business after business to try to get on top of what was sort of mounting debts and mounting problems, and he could never quite get away. He could never quite do that and get away with it, you know, and stay in one piece.</s>HODSON: This case is one of many stacking up against Conrad Black, and he faces losing his fortune. One of his key assets, a huge beachfront mansion in Florida's Palm Beach enclave, worth around $35 million. All this at stake. But experts say it's the loss of Black's reputation that will hurt the most.</s>CLANCY: Charles Hodson joins us now live from London for a little bit more on the guilty verdicts and what lies ahead for Black. Charles, who is going to celebrate today? Conrad Black had many friends, but he also had many enemies.</s>HODSON: I think those possibly who were under his thumb, some would say under his jackboot, his employees, will have said serve him right, because he was, I think, a man who was an overbearing character, and who intended to inspire a great deal of dread and no particular liking. And I think actually, probably, to the extent that this is a victory for the rule of law, then I think we probably all should celebrate, because it is good for us to see that those who put their hands in tills, be it small time or big time, do end up behind jails. What do you think, Jim?</s>CLANCY: Well, you know, that's certainly one of the considerations here. And people look on, and a lot of people saw this case as the jury seemed to be taking a long time, and they really wondered, you know, is this man going to serve hard time for the disappearance of millions and millions of dollars?</s>HODSON: Yes. I mean, I think one of the things that one shouldn't forget is that in actual fact, he's been found guilty of three cases of fraud and one of withholding evidence. But there were a further nine counts on which he has been acquitted. So, whether you think that this means that it was -- you know, the good old Scottish verdict, to not probe (ph) and really too hard to bring charges and make them stick against somebody like that in a complex case, or whether your think that the jury really genuinely thought he was not guilty, very hard to say in -- certainly in the U.S., or, for that matter, the U.K. system -- Jim.</s>CLANCY: All right. Charles Hodson reporting there for us live. The Conrad Black case. We'll bring you any updates as they come. Well, now to Washington and the tug-of-war over time. The time needed to continue the fight in Iraq. The Bush administration pushing for more patience. U.S. congressional critics pushing for some kind of deadline for withdrawal. Senate Democrats trying to attach a troop pullout timetable to a military bill under consideration. The House voted Thursday to pull more -- pull most U.S. Troops out of Iraq by April 2008, just hours after a report came out that showed mixed progress in the war with developing the Iraqi troops and the political situation in Iraq, how far is it moving forward. President Bush said, though, he will veto any effort to set timetables for troop withdrawal. He's getting sport on that front from a top commander in the field.</s>MAJ. GEN. BENJAMIN MIXON, U.S. ARMY: What troubles me about this debate -- and it is important and it needs to be debated for sure -- is it seems to me that we should first decide what we want the end state to be in Iraq, and how is that end state important to the United states of America, to this region, and to the world? And then determine how we can reach that end state and how much time that will take. To me, that seems to be the most important thing, because there will be consequences of a rapid withdrawal from Iraq.</s>CLANCY: Certainly not alone with that opinion. President Bush spoke with military commanders and political leaders in Iraq today by way of a video teleconferencing setup. He says with time, the U.S. will help Iraqis live in peace, and he says both nations will end up benefiting.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What happens in Iraq matters to the United States of America. A violent, chaotic Iraq will affect our security at home. An Iraq that can self-govern, provide basic services to its people, and be an ally on the war on terror will mean that all of us have accepted a great challenge and laid the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren.</s>CLANCY: Now, critics of Mr. Bush's strategy shoot back that Iraqi leaders have been given a chance to try to make things work, politically and otherwise, and the U.S. obligation to them is effectively over. Let's get some reaction now to all of this from the government of Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki. Hala Gorani joins us live from Baghdad. Hala, great to see you. What is the official government reaction, or the reaction of some of the lawmakers there?</s>HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. We have some official government reaction by way of a statement from the spokesperson of the government of nuri al-Maliki, which is, of course, supported by the United States. So it's not surprising that they would be rather positive a day after the publication of those 18 benchmark interim reports on July 12th. We were expecting it initially on July 15th. Ali al-Dabag (ph), the spokesperson for the government, said, "This progress report is a framework for strategy. We will continue efforts to work toward benchmarks." Also saying security forces have evolved enough to operate alone in Iraq, not a view shared by many in this country. We also got reaction from a Sunni MP, saying national reconciliation, one of the benchmarks, "It is a hallucination," the Sunni MP told us just a few minutes ago, "to think that it can be achieved in the next three months." Also, a Kurdish MP spoke to us, and one of the messages he had was, listen, it is unfair to put all of the onus on the Iraqi government. The Americans are the ones who are here occupying this country. The burden, therefore, in achieving these benchmarks needs to be shared -- Jim.</s>CLANCY: You know, you have the official government spokesman saying the security forces have evolved, they're ready to work on their own. And yet, some people say that this is precisely the problem. They're not.</s>GORANI: Well, it is precisely one of the many problems here in Iraq. Security forces, as far as the national police is concerned, are infiltrated by militia forces. Today, we learned of the arrest of a police officer suspected, according to the U.S. military, of coordinating logistical support from Iran and directing IED attacks -- I'm reading the precise charge here -- directing IED attacks against coalition forces. Another element of proof that the national police is infiltrated by these militia. And another reason, Jim, why -- and this is very important -- another reason why Sunnis, mainly, just do not trust the national police. And also, an illustration of how the security apparatus in this country is much more locally oriented and controlled by armed groups or militias. Therefore, the idea or the notion or the goal of having a central government with a central security authority simply is not being achieved in Iraq today.</s>CLANCY: All right. Laying it on the line, outlining some of the problems that are faced there and the view from the Iraqi government, our own Hala Gorani. Hala, great to have you there. All right. Becks has gone Hollywood. Football superstar David Beckham, wife, Victoria, and their children arrived in southern California. It was quite a scene. He's about to don a soccer jersey. That's right, soccer -- but I should say football, perhaps, for our European friends -- for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Becky Anderson is at the Galaxy Stadium in Carson, California, along with a global contention of media.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. Six hundred members of the media, and I'm just seeing the English fans arrive. I won't call them thugs (ph), but sounds like what you'd hear on a Saturday afternoon on the terraces in England. Listen, they're going to unveil David Beckham behind me here at a press conference in less than an hour's time. And what the Galaxy owners are hoping is that he will make major league soccer a big deal here in the U.S. He'll effectively make this a grownup game for grownup men. David Beckham says he is here for the football. Others aren't so sure. He'll certainly, though, be involved in the social scene downtown, or uptown or upscale L.A.</s>ANDERSON (voice over): The Beckham family is moving to the see and be seen center of the entertainment industry. And that makes competition for the spotlight extra fierce. So what does it take to be seen as a big star among the glitz and glamour of L.A.? First, you must have a mansion worthy of MTV's "Cribs". Posh and Becks finally settled on a Beverly Hills estate after a series of false starts in the L.A. real estate market. Every time the couple showed interest, the price would mysteriously go up. Second, you need some big-name friends to show you around time. That's easy for the Beckhams. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were seen sitting in the stands at the football star's last match in Madrid. And, of course, there's the celebrity endorsements. No problem for Becks. He's got a multimillion-dollar deal with</s>DAVID BECKHAM, SOCCER PLAYER: I have got no chance for this one.</s>ANDERSON: For that, he has American football star Reggie Bush to show him the ropes.</s>BECKHAM: Am I being "Punk'd"?</s>ANDERSON: So what do Posh and Becks need to be fully immersed in L.A. culture? How about a pimped-out ride? Everyone who is anyone in L.A. has a fancy car. Even if they don't drive it. And no celebrity couple is complete without a short, catchy nickname. Rumor has it TomKat is throwing a house-warming party for B-Posh, V-Dave. Well, maybe we should just stick with Posh and Becks.</s>ANDERSON: Right. Well, you can hear the crowd here. There's a sign up there that says, "Bend it Like Golden Balls." And for those of you who don't know who "Golden Balls" is, well, that is David Beckham. I'm going to get a cameraman to just spin around so you can see it. Those are the English fans who pitched up today here to be Home Depot's center, the L.A. Galaxy Stadium here in Carson City, which is actually in Nevada, if you didn't know that. And they're here to welcome the superstar who is David Beckham. Whether he's going to play a lot of football, whether he can make it through to make this a big game -- and it is football, Jim, it's not soccer -- whether he can make football a big game for big grownup men, well, that remains to be seen. But as I say, he'll be unveiled here behind me in front of 600 of us. That's sort of presidential, isn't it? I don't know -- Jim.</s>CLANCY: I think it's virtually presidential. But not too much for Becks. Becks, thank you. Now, Beckham may bring glamour, attention and excitement to the sport, but soccer is, after all, whether you call it football or soccer, it's really business. So, will bringing Beckham to the United States pay off for everybody? Stephen Frazier joins us with a little bit of "Insight". Hi, Stephen.</s>STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: He is the L.A. Galaxy's multimillion-dollar man. Is he worth the investment? The team and its fledgling U.S. Soccer League are betting on it, counting on fans to open their wallets and spend it on Beckham.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all really excited because Beckham is like our -- Beckham is, like, my favorite player, and, like, everybody like, loves him. So I think it will draw a lot of people to come to Galaxy games and be more into soccer.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it would be worth a good bit of money to -- just for the excitement he'll bring to soccer here. You know?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No team, no member of any team could bring in what he does. As far as jersey sales, putting</s>FRAZIER: Six and a half million dollars a year in sa salary, another $45 million annually in expected product endorsements and profit sharing, which means that some of the $250 million we can't hearing about won't actually be his unless Beckham gives his team a higher profile and higher profits. Right now, he is doing both. At the Galaxy Web site, you can buy a team jersey online. Here it is. It's $80 if it shows Beckham's name and his number on the back. And 250,000 people have already done this. They spent $20 million on a product that they can't see in a store. Sight unseen. Before that, the entire league of 13 teams earned only $150 million a year in product sales. Season ticket sales have jumped enough now to fill half of the Galaxy Stadium. That's a lot of guaranteed revenue. Other teams are reporting heavy advance sales for the date when the Galaxy comes to their towns. More important for the sport, though, television. Fewer than a million households tuned into the last Major League Soccer championship game. Regular season games get about the same size audience at skateboarding competitions and bass fishing tournaments and tractor pulls. But Beckham's skills are perfect for television. His strengths are the penalty kicks or the free kicks, where all of the action is stopped and all of the eyes are on him. Team owners are betting that Beckham will get Galaxy highlights on to the evening sports casts and will get news coverage of the entire league. And MLS has revenue-sharing arrangements that mean that everybody's going to share in the Galaxy's financial success. A lot riding on one team and one player.</s>ALEXI LALAS, L.A. GALAXY PRESIDENT & GENERAL MANAGER: Here is this great gift that we have been given. How are we going to use it in a positive way? Obviously, we want to win soccer games. And that's the most important thing. And we believe David Beckham is going to help us do that. But we also want to drive our brand. We want everybody in the world to know about the Galaxy.</s>FRAZIER: Well, American soccer imported boatloads of international stars back in the 1970s. There was an early pro league, and Pele of Brazil earned a salary that works out to $9 million a year in today's money. And that completely paid off. He routinely attracted 75,000 fans a game. But he and his friends found that none of those fans were new fans, and the sport never grew beyond its base, even though Pele and his mates were playing some awesome ball. Back to you.</s>CLANCY: All right, Stephen. Thank you very much for that. We're going to have to take a short break. But coming up a little bit later here on YOUR WORLD TODAY, we're going to delve a bit deeper into this whole idea of sport and celebrity and how a well-run publicity campaign can reap tremendous benefits. The brain trust behind this racy photo was there, alongside the photographer. He's going to talk about his interviews with the Beckhams coming up. Also ahead, courting controversy. Pope Benedict's plans to undo decades-old reforms raises some eyebrows and the ire of the Catholic Church's liberal bloc. While in Spain, a centuries-old tradition comes under scrutiny. Has bullfighting run its course? Stay with us.