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Roy Hodgson Emerges as Surprise Candidate for England Football Manager; London Community Residents Mixed over Possible Missile Battery Placement during Olympic Games; Conflict Between Sudan and South Sudan; Myanmar Progress; Chinese Dissident Believed to be Under U.S. Protection

Aired April 30, 2012 - 08:00   ET

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

PAULINE CHIOU, HOST: Welcome to NEWS STREAM.

I'm Pauline Chiou in Hong Kong.

Inside an attack in South Sudan, dramatic pictures as tensions rise between neighbors.

We follow the hunt for African warlord Joseph Kony.

And is this the next manager of England's national football team?

On the brink of war, the deathly border conflict between Sudan and South Sudan is intensifying. There's new evidence that Sudanese helicopter gunships and fighter jets dropped bombs on ground forces in Bentiu over the weekend. A group of journalists was traveling to the front lines and witnessed that airstrike.

ETV's Robyn Kriel has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN KRIEL, ETV REPORTER (voice-over): We've been promised a story. This is close to the front line of the border clashes with the north, and the South Sudanese commander here is willing to talk. But another story is about to break around us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run! Run!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run! Run!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come. Come down.

KRIEL: "It's coming," these soldiers shout.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come. Come. Come.

KRIEL: Sudanese warplanes are streaking in and we have just seconds to find cover.

(GUNFIRE)

KRIEL: Inside a small trench, we try to make ourselves invisible, as at least half a dozen bombs drop around us. We wait for the sound of the planes to fade, then we make our escape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in. Get in. Get in.

KRIEL (on camera): We were just three kilometers from the front line when we heard incoming fire from what the soldiers say were gunships and MiGs. We were then forced to take cover. And once the firing -- once there was a lull in the firing, we decided to head out in our vehicle because it was simply too dangerous and we didn't know what to expect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go. Go. Go. Go.

KRIEL (voice-over): One of the planes actually chased our car for five kilometers before veering back to resume its bombing. Later, we're told four soldiers were injured, so we got off lightly this time. Because this is a nightmare visited almost every day on the people and troops in this region, dozens have been killed, and among the survivors, nerves are shattered.

LT. GEN. OBUTO MAMUR METE, SOUTH SUDANESE ARMY: But of course it's human beings. How long are we going to tolerate this? We're actually breaking to this war by (INAUDIBLE).

KRIEL: It's hard to describe the feeling of utter terror, how helpless you become when you're being bombed from the air. We couldn't escape quickly enough, but as we head away from this killing zone, these troops were heading in, ready to brave death from the air to try and defend their homeland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Earlier, ETV's Robyn Kriel, who filed that report, spoke to CNN from South Sudan. She says the airstrike is heightening concerns about the possibility of all-out war. And the South Sudanese military is already promising retaliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRIEL: Well, when we got back from that firefight, when we were back in town, we met a lot of soldiers that were walking towards -- that were walking towards the division that -- where the -- the headquarters for this region for its (INAUDIBLE). They've been told that they were asked to come in, even those who were not on duty, to mobilize. And when you hear that Omar al-Bashir has claimed a state of emergency along his borderland, and then you realize that troops here are also mobilizing, and you heard from that lieutenant general that we interviewed that they're not going to take this lying down, that they're going to retaliate, he said to us that although President Salva Kiir of South Sudan has told them to wait and is calling for peace, that they cannot take this slaughter along their borderland. Four people were injured as a result of those bombings that we -- that we know of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIOU: Turning now to Myanmar, where opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she will take her seat in parliament after all. It could happen as early as Wednesday.

She and her National League for Democracy Party have been boycotting parliament over the swearing in oath that required them to protect the constitution. Instead, they prefer to say abide by the constitution. President Thein Sein's government did not appear willing to make those changes. Still, Suu Kyi says she will take the oath at the request of her voters.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is the latest high-profile official to visit Myanmar. In a landmark speech to parliament he expressed his support for the changes and reforms made so far by the government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: I have no doubt that Myanmar will quickly catch up with its Asian neighbors and our fast-changing world. And I have no doubt that Myanmar has within it a vast potential to become a 21st century model for peace, democracy and prosperity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIOU: And those reforms appear to be loosening some controls on the news media. Our Paula Hancocks speaks to local journalists there about the changes they're seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Morning rush hour in downtown Yangon, and the newspaper sellers are out in force. Sales have soared in Myanmar in a belief that what you read today may not be the whole truth, but it's more of the truth than you've ever been allowed to read before.

Thomas Kean is the editor of "Myanmar Times," a private-run newspaper printed in Burmese and English. The edited copy has to be sent to the censors before publication and comes back marked with red pen.

THOMAS KEAN, EDITOR, "MYANMAR TIMES": I wouldn't say you can't have articles about the military, but they're going to be looking at it very closely.

HANCOCKS (on camera): And crossing out quite a lot?

KEAN: Yes. Yes.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): But he says censorship is far less strict than just two years ago and expects the new media law being drafted to abolish the pre-censorship system within the year.

KEAN: Any country that pretends that it has a democracy, you know, you need a free press, you need media that can point out to the government what it's doing well, what it's not doing well, to keep a check on business interests, which is obviously a big issue in Myanmar.

HANCOCKS: But publications are expected to be subject to review after they hit the newsstands.

It's printing day for the biggest selling weekly, "7 Day News." It costs kyat, or around 75 U.S. cents. Its circulation has doubled in just the past 12 months.

Thaung Su Nyein started the paper 10 years ago. He says the last year has seen far more freedom for the press, but some topics are still off limits.

THAUNG SU NYEIN, EDITOR, "7 DAILY": We wouldn't cover normally, like, very negatively about what the government is doing and military affairs.

HANCOCKS: They're not censored online, but they are closely monitored, leading to self-censorship.

NYEIN: If we feel that a particular story could get us in trouble with the authorities, then we wouldn't put it on Facebook or our Web site at all.

HANCOCKS (on camera): This photo was published less than a year and a half ago, when Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, but the censors didn't like it. They said it was too big, and so they shut the newspaper down for a week.

(voice-over): This is less likely to happen today. Suu Kyi is now a member of parliament and much has changed, but no one will say it will never happen again. Like all changes being cautiously welcomed in this country, the emphasis is on the word "cautious."

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Yangon, Myanmar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Coming up on NEWS STREAM, U.S. and Chinese officials are not saying much, but a blind activist who escaped from house arrest is reportedly holed up in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and that could test the diplomatic limits of the two superpowers' relationship.

U.S. Special Forces are helping in the hunt for one of Africa's most notoriously warlords. Is the net closing in on Joseph Kony?

And a surprise choice for players and fans alike, the next possible manager of England's national football team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: Welcome back to NEWS STREAM.

A high-level U.S. delegation heads to China later on Monday, but this trip comes during a major diplomatic test for the two countries. Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is believed to be under U.S. protection at the moment. He escaped from house arrest a week ago, and this is a big embarrassment for Beijing.

Government censors are blocking news about Chen, and there has been almost no coverage by state-run Chinese media.

CNN's Stan Grant tries to find out more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Somewhere behind these walls may well be the answer to China's great guessing game. Where is Chen Guangcheng?

Within minutes of pulling out our camera, security at the United States Embassy in Beijing pounced.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you can't take photo here.

GRANT (on camera): I understand we can't take photo, but is Chen Guangcheng here at the embassy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know -- I don't know whether he is here.

GRANT (voice-over): The blind human rights activist has been in hiding after escaping house arrest in his provincial village and fleeing to Beijing. Now a close friend and fellow campaigner says Chen is indeed here, given refuge at the U.S. Embassy. "When Chen Guangcheng first fled to Beijing, we had to keep moving him from place to place to ensure his safety -- and we agreed the U.S. embassy is the only absolutely secure location in town."

Hu Jiao (ph) is seen here in these photos with Chen in recent days. Chen also meeting Hu's wife. They're among a group of supporters who have aided Chen's dramatic escape. Hu himself is targeted by Chinese authorities and would only speak to CNN away from his cameras. But even then, within hours he was detained, questioned and later released.

He Peirong is another friend of Chen's seized by cops. She spoke to CNN by Skype just before disappearing, telling how Chen Guangcheng says he has no desire to flee China.

"When I asked him if he would go abroad," she says, "he said he wants to live freely in his own country. He said he hopes to take my hand and take me to his village one day."

(on camera): More details are emerging about just how Chen Guangcheng managed to escape. Now, according to activists who know what happened, they say that for months, he had lulled his captors into a false sense of security. He was spending more and more time asleep on his bed. They got used to his absences and then dropped their guard.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Under cover of darkness, it is said that Chen made his break. He climbed over a wall, and then this blind man managed to cross a creek. Along the way he stumbled, he injured himself, but finally managed to meet a car at a secret rendezvous point, and they brought him to Beijing.

(voice-over): Chen had been under heavy guard for the last 18 months. The self-taught lawyer angered Chinese authorities by campaigning against alleged forced abortions and sterilizations. He spent more than four years in prison, convicted of disrupting traffic and damaging property during demonstrations. Since his release, he's been in lockdown.

This is what happened when we tried to visit Chen last year with Hollywood actor and "Batman" star Christian Bale.

(on camera): We've been stopped. We've been stopped.

(voice-over): Now Bale has released a statement to CNN. In it, he says, "An innocent family has been horrifically tortured. While it gives hope that, for now, Chen Guangcheng is safe, his family is not. As a world leader, China must now show its wisdom and compassion, and remind the world of its rich cultural history by permanently freeing Chen Guangcheng and his family and never allowing thuggery and corruption to tarnish China's reputation again. China's citizens deserve more."

(on camera): If indeed Chen Guangcheng is here behind the gates of this U.S. embassy, then this threatens to become a political tug-of-war between China at the U.S. At the moment, neither country is making any public statements, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Beijing this week, and in the past she has championed Chen.

Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Coming up, the hunt for a warlord. We're in Central Africa on the front lines of a major search for Joseph Kony.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: It could be a political coup for Egypt's Islamists. The country's military rulers are expected to announce a new cabinet lineup within the next 48 hours. The Islamists that led lower house of parliament had threatened to suspend its session to protest Egypt's military for allegedly ignoring calls for the current civilian government to be dismissed.

While members of the cabinet could be shown the door, campaigning for Egypt's presidential elections officially begins today. Voting is scheduled to start on May 23rd.

The hunt for one of Africa's most notorious warlords has new momentum. The Internet hit "Kony 2012" helped to focus worldwide attention on Joseph Kony. Tens of millions of people watched that YouTube video about his Lord's Resistance Army.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, accused of killing and maiming villagers, abducting children and turning them into soldiers or sex slaves. Well, no one knows exactly where Kony is, but the net may be closing. The United States has deployed about 100 troops to Central Africa to help regional forces track down leaders of the LRA, and as one American official told "The New York Times," the "Kony 2012" video has stepped out the pressure.

CNN's Nima Elbagir reports from the Central African Republic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lush forest of Central Africa. For decades, this impenetrable bush provided cover for Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, emerging only to rape, loot and abduct.

Here in Obo, in the Central African Republic, Madeline Sembechalanio (ph) is considered one of the lucky ones. She was abducted by LRA soldiers as slave labor, but once they had reached their base camp, she tells us they released her into the forest. Miraculously, though exhausted and terrified, she was able to make her way home. Many of those who were taken with her were never found.

Abductions like Madeline's (ph) are all too common here, but some people in the region now see reason for hope. Since last October, with the help of a small contingent of U.S. Special Forces, soldiers from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and CAR, the Central African Republic, have pressed a regional manhunt for the longtime Ugandan warlord who's wanted for alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

To protect his security, we agreed not to identify this Special Forces captain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any time a hunter comes in from the field, someone comes in with information, then we'll all meet together, we'll talk about it. We help our partner nation forces ask the right questions, like the who, the what, the when, the where and the why to get all the information about the incident, and then build a common operating picture so the (INAUDIBLE) tracking teams out on the field are able to go out and chase down Kony.

Kony is definitely still a threat. He's been on the run. He's on the decline and in survival mode, but he is still dangerous, and he's going to be dangerous until the LRA are eliminated.

ELBAGIR (on camera): And that's what you guys are working towards?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, ma'am.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): It is, however, as many involved with this operation have told us, a long road ahead. And even though villagers say they do feel a little safer, for now the attacks continue and will do as long as Kony is still out there.

(on camera): It is still incredibly insecure here in Obo, in the Central African Republic. Many of the people we've been speaking to tell us that, in spite of the presence of these (INAUDIBLE), many of them are still too afraid to sleep in their own beds. They say that they sleep outside in the yard, they hide in some of the undergrowth around their houses, because their biggest fear is that the LRA will come for them in the night.

(voice-over): But claiming (ph) people's lives from that fear, giving them reason to believe there is an end in sight, is as much as part of the mission here as capturing Kony.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's working together, it's cooperation. It's organizing so where everyone has the same operating picture and they're able to go out after Kony and know that Kony's reign is going to be over soon.

ELBAGIR: CAR has been believed to be Kony's main hiding spot for the last few years, but the Ugandan armed forces spokesman told us they now think he moves between CAR and Sudan. Although there might seem to be unity in the pursuit of the LRA, not all the regional countries have joined in the chase, and that, the Ugandans believe, is part of the problem.

COL. FELIX KULAYIGYE, UGANDAN ARMED FORCES SPOKESMAN: This strategy has (INAUDIBLE) for the last four years, five years -- four years now. When the pressure is too much here, he runs across the border, because he knows we are not allowed to go after him. Now he's back.

Of course (INAUDIBLE) is still dry, so food is hard to come by. Whenever pressure is high, he (INAUDIBLE) Sudan. It hampers the operation very much, because when you are closing in on the guy he jumps across. And yet we have no permission to go after him.

ELBAGIR: A Sudanese government spokesman told CNN Ugandan intelligence on this matter is completely incorrect. There are now around 100 Special Forces soldiers stationed across the region with no exit date. The hope is that they will not only help bring the long regional nightmare to an end, but also have an impact in the longer term.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad to be here. I think this mission is a very worthwhile one, and it's going to be stability to a region that has been without stability for a long time. And if we can do anything to help reduce the atrocities and make the locals feel safe, then I think it's definitely worthwhile.

ELBAGIR: Nima Elbagir, CNN, Obo, the Central African Republic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: And coming up next on NEWS STREAM, new violence flares across Syria. Explosions and gunfire ring out in a flash point northern city, and the capital as well.

We'll have a live report for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: Hello. I'm Pauline Chiou in Hong Kong, and you're watching NEWS STREAM.

These are your world headlines.

Sudan has declared a state of emergency for areas on its border with South Sudan, as rising tensions threaten to escalate into all-out war. This comes as a group of journalists traveling with the South Sudanese army say they came under fire from Sudanese forces. The journalists were unharmed, but four soldiers from the South were wounded.

In Myanmar, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she will now swear an oath in parliament, ending a boycott which delayed her taking a seat in the legislature. There was a dispute over the required wording of the oath, but Suu Kyi has decided to take the oath anyway at the request of her voters.

This crowd in Bahrain is calling for the release of several opposition activists. Instead, the court ordered new trials. Among the defendants, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on a hunger strike for more than two months. On Twitter, his daughter said all prisoners of conscience should be let go immediately and argued that a retrial doesn't really mean much.

In Syria, more reports of deadly explosions, this time in the northern city of Idlib. The violence continues as additional U.N. monitors trickle into the country.

Our own Rima Maktabi is monitoring the situation from CNN Abu Dhabi.

Rima, what more have you found out about those explosions?

RIMA MAKTABI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pauline, two suicide bombs went off just after daybreak in Idlib. Now, Idlib has been known to be the city where there has been a lot of unrest over the past year and anti-Assad protests. However, it's been calm for the past few days because of the presence of two U.N. monitors in the city.

Despite all that, the explosions took place early in the morning, and the government is reporting eight people killed, whereas activists are saying 20. But in total, there has been around 100 people injured.

So it's quite a significant explosion. And usually such suicide bombings rarely happen in Syria over the past year -- Pauline.

CHIOU: Rima, you mentioned the UN monitors on the ground and there will be about 300 sooner or later. Now the leader of these monitors says that they can't solve the problem alone until both sides cooperate, so what exactly will it take to get that cooperation to happen?

MAKTABI: We will need to give the monitors more time. The total number is 300 and they are not there yet. Definitely these monitors are unarmed. They don't have the tools to investigate what's happening on the ground. And it's a bit of a game of hide and seek. When they somewhere, nothing happens, but when they leave explosions, suicide bombings and clashes erupt.

So this is quite significant. It will take time for these monitors to know what's happening on the ground. And the problem with the Syria uprising is that there are many paramilitary forces on the ground. It's not a traditional battle between an army and a militia. There are many gunmen belonging to both sides.

So the government sides and to the opposition side that no one knows who is really playing on the ground. It's a very challenging mission for the UN observers just as the head of the UN committee said.

CHIOU: And special envoy Kofi Annan awhile had negotiated this ceasefire, but it seems like that's really not even a factor anymore, is it?

MAKTABI: It's not a factor. Activists are saying since this ceasefire plan was put in place on April 12, which is like two weeks ago, activists are saying 700 people have been killled. Over the past year we've been hearing our (inaudible) months about 40 to 50 people killed on a daily basis. However, after the ceasefire plan, we've been hearing about probably a dozen every day. But yet, still, the number of casualties is still high. We are seeing suicide bombings that are usually very fishy and they -- no one is claiming responsibility. So definitely the violence in Syria is taking a more serious turn.

CHIOU: Rima Maktabi, reporting live from CNN Abu Dhabi, monitoring the situation in Syria. Thank you very much for that update Rima.

Now we turn to London where residents of one neighborhood were really shocked to find out that they can actually play a key role in protecting the upcoming Olympic games. Here's what happened, they received leaflets over the weekend informing them that surface to air missiles could be placed near their apartment.

With more on this extraordinary measure we go to our Atika Schubert who joins me from CNN London.

Atika, what's the general feeling among residents about this?

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can imagine there's a bit of concern. I mean, over the weekend they were just enjoying this (inaudible) when they got these leaflets that said there could be the possibility of these high velocity missiles being stationed literally above their heads. You might be able to see, I'm not sure if you can, actually see the shot, but there's a tower at this apartment building where what used to be an old water tower in a factory and is now apparently the perfect place to see the open skies above the Olympic Stadium. And this is why the Ministry of Defense says they have cited this area as the possibility for this launchpad of missiles.

But as you imagine, residents are concerned, because it means turning their homes into a sort of an impromptu military base. And this is something that's -- yeah, they're very worried of as you can imagine.

CHIOU: Does the Ministry of Defense even consult the 700 or so residents that live in this complex about what they planed to do?

SCHUBERT: Well, they had been told that this was a possibility before, but that this was only one of many sites in east London. So the next thing they heard were these leaflets that were given to them over the weekend, which basically said, you know, there's a very good possibility that this will happen and that they should not be concerned about any security issues. In fact, it would be safer with these military activities here and it wouldn't make them a target for any sort of attacks during the Olympics.

But, you know, it was still pretty much a shock to residents here to find out that there could be missiles launched from their rooftops.

CHIOU: Yeah, I can imagine. I certainly would be shocked.

Now the Ministry of Defense is saying that these surface to air missiles will be there for two months. Is that something the residents can stomach for two months or are they planning to really fight this?

SCHUBERT: Well, I think it depends. Some of the residents are, you know, they feel like it's inconvenient, however, they're not too fussed about it, others are sort of outraged at the way its been handled, the fact that they feel like they've just been told it's going to happen without really being consulted.

So there is still some move by the residents here to try and fight this. We'll see -- and of course the Ministry of Defense does have several other options, so we still have to wait and see whether or not this is really going to happen.

CHIOU: OK.

Very interesting story. Thank you very much Atika Schubert there live in East London.

Well, coming up next on NEWS STREAM, the derby to end all derbies. We'll have a live report on the Manchester match, hyped as one of the biggest in the Premier League's history.

And a surprise possible choice for manager of the English football team. We'll have all the sports updates coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: U.S. President Barack Obama has a lot on his plate, but in this image here, he's enjoying a relaxing moment and that's because he's showcasing his stand-up comedic spills. At the annual White House Correspondent's Dinner over the weekend, Mr. Obama teased at the Republican candidates who want his job. And he gave a humorous hint about we can all expect if he's reelected. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My name is Barack Obama, my mother was born in Kansas, my father was born in Kenya. And I was born, of course, in Hawaii.

JIMMY KIMMEL, TV HOST/COMEDIAN: It's an honor to be here. You know, if you told me when I was a kid that I would be sitting on the same dais as President Barack Obama I would -- I would have said the president's name is Barack Obama?

OBAMA: I know at this point many of you are expecting me to go after my likely opponent, Newt Gingrich -- Newt there's still time, man -- but I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to attack any of the Republican candidates.

Take Mitt Romney -- he and I actually have a lot in common. We also both have degrees from Harvard. I have one, he has two. What a snob.

KIMMEL: Mr. President, remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow, that was hilarious.

OBAMA: If I do win a second term as president, let me just say something to all the -- let me just say something to my conspiracy oriented friends on the right who think I'm planning to unleash some secret agenda. You're absolutely right.

Allow me to close with a quick preview of the secret agenda you can expect in a second Obama administration. In my first term I sang Al Greene, in my second term I'm going with Young Jeezy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIOU: Well, we may have uncovered a secret in sports. England's national team could be on the verge of finally getting a new manager. Don Riddell joins us now live from CNN Center with much more on that. So Don, who seems to be the top choice?

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pauline, everybody thought it was going to be Harry Redknapp, of course, instead it seems as though the next England manager will be Roy Hodgson. The Football Association say they've approached West Brom seeking permission to speak with their manager. And that interview is expected to be conducted today.

If Hodgson accepts the position, he'll succeed Fabio Capello and lead England into the European Championships which kick off in just over a month's time.

Well, if Hodgson does indeed get the job, it would undoubtedly be the pinnacle of a long and nomadic career. Hodgson has managed in eight different countries over 35 years. And just look at all the different clubs and teams that he's managed along with the national teams of Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Finland.

Now you could argue that his time with the Swiss was the highlight of Hodgson's career. He led them to the second round of the 1994 World Cup. While he's had plenty of success in smaller leagues like Sweden.

Hodgson's -- there you go -- best spell in club management was probably with Fulham. He led the London club to seventh best ever Premier League finish. And they reached the Europa League final as well. But Hodgson's two biggest jobs have both ended in disappointment.

This was his time at Inter Milan. He was appointed coach of Inter in 1995 and he left two years later after a disappointing league campaign and losing the EUFA Cup final. And his time at Liverpool lasted just eight months. At one point in his reign, the club sat in second last place.

Let's get more reaction on this news now from England. Amanda Davies is outside Manchester City's Etihad Stadium. Amanda, what do we know?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. Well, this was billed as a manic Monday in Manchester. It hasn't let us down so far, has it. It was always going to take a pretty big story to knock this evening's events behind me at the Etihad off the back pages. And Roy Hodgson has certainly don that. This is the Telegraph's sports section, "England turns to Hodgson, FA face backlash over Redknapp."

Now of course a lot of people over here expecting Harry Redknapp, the current Spurs boss to get the job. Back page of the Daily Mail, "Roy for England: Hodgson is a shock FA choice. Fan backlash begins. So will he turn it down?" That of course in reference to Roy Hodgson's experiences at Liverpool.

It's made the front and back pages of the Sun, though, "What are the Hods on that? FA go for Hodgson not Harry Redknapp."

Well, at this point I'm going to introduce you to my dad, David Davies. Not often that I get to say that. More relevant for this, though, is the fact that he was a former FA executive director. Thanks for joining us.

Everybody expected it to be Harry Redknapp: the media, the fans. Why do you understand that now it's looking like it's going to be Roy Hodgson.

DAVID DAVIES, FORMER ENGLAND FA MANAGER: Well, you say looking like, my understanding is that probably within 24 hours, perhaps 36 hours, Roy Hodgson will be announced as the next England manager.

Now they've had what they call -- and it has been -- a discrete recruitment process. No they haven't interviewed other people, but they have done a lot of research, they say, and a lot of referencing, talking to people around the game. And they have concluded that Roy, particularly with his international experience, your viewers watching, you know, in Scandinavia will know him very well, in Milan will know him very well. Of course he's been manager of the Swiss national team and also manager of the Finland national team as well as various clubs here in England. They have decided that that's what they want and that his credentials are the very best.

Has Harry Redknapp who is absolutely, you know, the public's choice overwhelmingly and the media's choice overwhelmingly, has he a right to be upset this morning? For sure he has. Anyone -- I -- we've all been turned down for jobs. Has he a right to be upset, yes he has. Has he had proper consideration? Should he have been interviewed, well that's really for the FA to answer. And I think they'll get the chance to answer in the next 24 hours.

A. DAVIES: It seems to me -- seems to be a feeling that this is once again the FA getting it wrong, isn't it?

D. DAVIES: Well, have we always got it wrong? I would argue that guy was involved in the recruitment of Kevin Keegan and Joran Ericsson (ph), for example. But, you know, the FA has to make a judgment. Ultimately the buck stops with them. Very much these days being led from the front by their chairman David Bernstein and they believe that they've got the right choice, their first choice.

The big question is how are the players going to react? The FA will hope and believe that Roy will have the best chance to bring out the best in the current crop of players who, you know -- if at any stage, the expectation of the England team was going to be below, you know, orbit, this is the time when it is. And they will also hope that Roy Hodgson will work with them for the future, for more future generations at the new national football center.

A. DAVIES: David Davies, dad, thank you very much.

We do understand that Roy Hodgson is due to be meeting with the FA at Wembley in the next hour or so. He always said after his experience at Liverpool that he wasn't going to take a job again where the fans weren't fully behind him. If the back pages this morning are anything to go by, Don, the FA might have a job in explaining him.

RIDDELL: Fascinating stuff.

Amanda, of course, you were sent to Manchester to cover a football match tonight. So let's talk briefly about that. A potential Premier League title decider?

A. DAVIES: Yes, just a little one this one. It's being billed as the biggest football match in Premier League history, not just because of the 50 million pounds that the bookmark makers are expecting to be laid on it, that would be the biggest amount laid on any other football match ever, bigger than World Cup finals.

On paper, you'd have to say it seems to be City with the momentum. They're the ones who have closed that gap on United atop the table from eight points just two weeks ago. It goes -- we go into this game this afternoon with just three points the difference. And City, of course, have that better goal difference.

But they're up against a United side with all that experience of a title run. And of course with Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm. It's being billed as United against City, as the Reds against the Blues, for the right to be called legends or losers, that's how the local paper, the Manchester Evening News, is going about it. It's really, really a tough one to call, though.

What we do know it's a 168th meeting of these two sides. And it promises to be a one to remember Don.

RIDDELL: Absolutely, Amanda. And of course we've got Carlos Tevez playing for City against his former club.

So many ingredients to what should be a fascinating encounter. Amanda Davies, thanks very much.

Pauline, that's all we got time for. Back to you in Hong Kong.

CHIOU: All right. I can tell it's going to be a busy sports day for you, Don. Thanks so much.

Well, coming up next, it's no longer just time on your wrist, we'll show you a new gadget that just might convince people to actually put their smartphone down. Really? Coming up next on NEWS STREAM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: You can follow Mari Ramos on Twitter, but better yet we've got her here in person for the forecast. She's at the world weather center.

Mari, we're going to start with some weather in Europe that's less than pleasant I hear.

MARI RAMOS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh my gosh, it's been such a mess there across Western Europe with this area of low pressure that has been sticking around for quite awhile already. And now we're starting to finally see it move away, but it's still been quite windy.

Let's go ahead and first of all show you the pictures from the UK. The rain has been relentless. Just in the London metro area alone, they've had, what, almost 40 millimeters of rain since Friday night through Sunday evening. That's pretty significant. So there were a lot of roads that had a lot of standing water in it. Rivers that continue to rise. And so many of these rivers and creeks across southern parts of the UK are near flood levels. So there's more than 130 flood advisories that have been posted across portions of the UK. Extremely dangerous to drive under roads that are covered in water, you never really know how deep that water can be. It doesn't take much to actually make your car fly away. The wind was also a big concern. You saw those downed trees there in that region.

This is the culprit right over here. Come back over to the weather map. That right there is our area of low pressure. This like I said has been here pretty much since Friday and now it's starting to very slowly kind of trail away back over here toward the west.

Now as it continues to spin away, we're still seeing some strong winds, a little bit of a break right now across parts of the southern UK, but more rain expected later this afternoon and tonight. But quite a bit of rain coming in across France and Spain and back over towards Switzerland beginning to move now into Germany, even. And some of these storms have been quite strong.

In Southern France, in Toulouse, reports of a tornado. There you see the super cell right there. Look at the pictures, you'll see the funnel cloud.

No reports of serious injuries with these tornadoes. Pretty scary stuff, though. It was in populated area. There was some damage to some structures and to some buildings, mostly walls that came down, brick walls that came down, but there were no reports of any kind of serious injury. And we were very fortunate with that.

Winds estimated between 120 maybe to about 150 kilometers per hour with that tornado.

And there's some strong storms popping up again today. You can see them pretty much again along those similar areas, moving into southern France, western France over here and back over toward the east. And the rain continuing to trail to the north. We'll be watching this area of low pressure as it continues to move away. And the weather slowly starts to improve here across the west.

Let's go ahead and check out your forecast.

Still talking about your weather across Asia. And I want to show you some of the temperatures that are very -- essentially hot is what I'm trying to say. Here across parts of India and Pakistan temperatures hovering into the 40s in some cases during the heating of the day. So this, unfortunately, is something that is going to continue. We're seeing no respite from it over the next few days. Pretty warm also as we head back over toward Bangkok. Very dry conditions. Be aware of brush fires and grass fires, very dangerous. Try not to do any barbecues or light anything, throw cigarette butts out, the conditions are very, very dry across this entire region.

It's 29 in Hong Kong even at this late hour, Pauline. So definitely looking at some warm conditions there. It what happens when it dries out.

17 in Beijing. And looking at temperatures that are on the warm side again right now even for you in Seoul at 22. So that's a pretty significant as well. And you're seeing here a little bit of a break through the Korean peninsula and Japan after the rain has moved through.

Here comes our next weather system. That's going to bring you some rain showers over night across the Korean peninsula. Back to you.

CHIOU: Yeah, I can vouch for the weather here, Mari. It's pretty humid and muggy tonight. All right, thanks so much for the forecast.

Well, we want to show you some gadgets, actually one particular gadget, that's pretty cool. It's a watch with a difference. It displays email, it connects to your smartphone. And of yes, it also tells the time. CNN Money Laurie Segall introduces us to the Pebble Smartwatch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY: Everybody is talking about a watch called Pebble. Now it's not your normal watch. It's actually an extension of your smartphone. We spoke with the founder who gave us an inside look.

So tell us about this watch that everybody just keeps talking about.

JAY KLESITZ, PEBBLE WATCH FOUNDER: So we've designed Pebble to be pretty much the perfect smartphone companion. It works with iPhone and Android and it lets you do a bunch of cool stuff. It's similar to how some people carry around a Bluetooth headset, we've basically designed a Bluetooth, you know, watch.

A lot of people run with their phone or they cycle with their phone. And they just keep it in their pocket. What we want to do is unlock some of the information that's stored on your phone and display it on your wrist. So if you're going for a bike ride and you're using one of the cycling apps, instead of having to figure out a way of like latching your phone onto your handle bars, you can just glance down at your watch.

SEGALL: And let's talk about your story, because you tried to get venture capitalist money. And you weren't able to raise money. And you put this on a crowd funding site and you became the record -- the record amount funded. You have $6 million in funding, 44,000 backers. I mean, why were people so drawn to this?

KLEISITZ: We're trying to figure that out. It's been about two weeks in. And it was a bit of a shock. So we were just like five guys working on a project in Palo Alto. We posted on Kickstarter. And, you know, the response was overwhelming within the first two hours. We had over $100,000 sort of watch sales at that point.

SEGALL: And that was your goal, right?

KLEISITZ: Yeah, we originally thought we were going to do $100,000 in about a month. So to see that come in two hours meant that something clicked and we had to immediately sort of adjust to that. One of the first calls that I made was to our factory saying hey guys I think we're going to be making more Pebbles than we thought initially.

SEGALL: What really is that effect completely sets you apart, because this kind of stuff has been tested out in the past.

KLEISITZ: Yeah, people have tried to make smartwatches. A couple of our competitors have come out with smartwatches. No one has come out with an iPhone watch yet. So I think we're the first to do that. And I think that's another reason why people are sort of picking up on the Kickstarter project is iPhone and Android are the two smartest smartphones out there and we support both of them. That's one of the things.

And I really think it's about instead of marketing it as like this grand future plan of all kinds of stuff, we really just tried to show video. You know -- the video was just us. We filmed ourselves using the product using Pebble. And we just wanted to show people what they would be able to do on day one with Pebble.

SEGALL: So what's -- let me ask you, once this Kickstarter campaign is over, how do you maintain this momentum? And how do you kind of turn this into a business?

KLEISITZ: So we have a lot of expectation. I think in the last two weeks we've built a lot of buzz around Pebble. Our job over the summer is to deliver on that. So we're going to be like heads down just focused on making an awesome watch for people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Well, that was Laurie Segall of CNN Money. And Laurie mentioned that the Pebble watch is the most funded project ever on that crowd sourcing site called Kickstarter. And it's not even close. Take a look at this graph here. It has attracted over $7 million in funding. And there are still 18 more days to go before the fundraising is closed. So the number of course will only rise. And it's already attracted twice as much funding as the next project which is an adventure game by developer Double Fine.

Now interestingly, the other three projects on the most funded list here after the watch are all games.

And we're out of time right now. That is NEWS STREAM, but the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is coming up next with Andrew, Nina, and Alex.

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