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Around the World
Unrest in Sudan; Bombs in Baghdad; Former Liberian President Charles Taylor's Conviction Upheld in Hague; Possible U.S. Government Shutdown; Earthquake in Pakistan; Human Remains Found on Costa Concordia; Muslim Filmmaker Freed; Chelsea Clinton Addresses Solutions to Homegrown Terror; Killing in the Name of Religion; Thrilling Comeback at America's Cup; Man Grows Nose on Forehead
Aired September 26, 2013 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Welcome back to AROUND THE WORLD. Here are some of the top stories we're covering today.
Sudan, first of all, gunshots have been ringing out in several cities, including the capital, Khartoum, as government forces try to clamp down on violent protesters.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CO-ANCHOR: The unrest started on Sunday. This is after the government announced it was suspending fuel subsidies in a bid to help the economy.
Well, that sent prices soaring. Hundreds have taken part now in those demonstrations.
And in Iraq, a pair of explosions today killing 18 people, wounding 50 others. Both explosions happened at outdoor markets in Baghdad.
Now the first attack was a roadside bomb; the second, a suicide bomber.
HOLMES: Yeah, and this, of course, comes, if you've been following this, the violence has been escalating, really soaring, sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq.
The U.N. says more than 80 Iraqis were killed, more than 2,000 wounded in violence and acts of terrorism last month alone. Terrible toll.
MALVEAUX: At the Hague, international judges upheld the 50-year sentence of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
You may recall, he was convicted of supplying rebels in Sierra Leone in a campaign of terror involving murder, rape, sexual slavery, and forcing young children to become rebel fighters.
HOLMES: Yeah, he was also found guilty of enriching himself, and he did that sizably, with what has become known as "blood diamonds."
Taylor was the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after World War II. He had appealed that 50-year sentence. Today he lost that appeal.
MALVEAUX: And the U.S. government facing a possible government shutdown, as we've said before, this is just four days, if this spending bill isn't passed by midnight on Monday.
Now if it happens, it's first going to be felt by workers who are deemed -- they're called nonessential and they essentially are sent home.
Chances are they get paid eventually, but it takes a while.
HOLMES: Yeah, and maybe not.
The rest of us may not notice much of anything for a while.
Tom Foreman with the consequences.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first thing you may notice about a government shutdown, if one comes, is that there's really not that much to notice because we're not talking about a single grand event, but rather a series of events that simply start with the shutdown.
So, if you go to the airport, it's still going to be operating. The military, customs, border patrol, they'll all be in business.
The postal service, the federal courts, the banks will all be open and, of course, all those local services that are pay for by your local taxes, like schools and police and firemen, they'll still be in business.
Still, "USA Today" did an analysis where they said about 41 percent of the government would shut down. That's got to be producing an effect somewhere.
So let's bring in the next layer here and talk about that. If you go to a national park or a museum or a monument connected to the federal government, you may find that it is closed.
If you need a loan for your business or your home, backed by the federal government, you may find that that becomes a very slow process.
And if you need a new passport or a gun permit, that may also be slowed down.
There may even be a delay in some federal checks, like Social Security, although generally lawmakers try to keep that from happening.
And then there would be the real immediate effect. If you're, for example, a federal worker, you very well could be told, go home, you won't get a paycheck until this is over, and even then retroactive pay, which has happened in the past, is not a guaranteed thing. With all those federal workers missing, if you have to contact a government office to, for example, sign up for Medicaid you may find you can't really do that.
And, of course, a lot of congressional staffers could have time to go to the beach.
Time is really what this is about. If this only lasted a few days, we would probably all stay back here in the green zone, not really that much aware of it, not really seeing that much in terms of the results.
But the longer it goes on, the more economists and analysts say the red zone here, these things, would start spilling over, and more of us would feel the impact and the whole economy could ultimately suffer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Last time we had a government shutdown, remember it clearly at the White House back in the Clinton years.
HOLMES: Yeah. Yeah.
MALVEAUX: Quite a bit of time away.
HOLMES: You were there then. Enjoy it? Down time?
MALVEAUX: A little down time. We were working, too.
The former president, Clinton, of course, asking the question, who does he think in the family could become president, the next one?
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BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The day after tomorrow, my wife because she's had more experience.
Over the long run, Chelsea. She knows more than we do about everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: They're a dynasty.
Decide for yourself. You can actually hear from Chelsea Clinton, coming up next.
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MALVEAUX: Welcome back to AROUND THE WORLD.
In southwestern Pakistan, we are talking about hundreds of people who are dead, twice as many injured. This is after a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake. There are some 21,000 homes that are also destroyed.
HOLMES: Unbelievable. Rescue teams trying to set up medical camps. This is in the remote Balochistan area of Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Red Crescent told CNN, rescuers haven't been able to reach some areas. It's very mountainous. It is very remote.
And, to make matters worse, militants in the area have been firing at an army helicopter, also a military convoy bringing aid. The chopper wasn't hit.
This area is a hotbed for militants fighting for a separate state, and intra-fighting between various sectarian groups. Pakistan has sent more than a thousand troops to try to help out.
MALVEAUX: Off the coast of Italy, human remains now have been found. This is on the Costa Concordia.
Divers, they are trying to recover the remains in the wreckage of the luxury liner now you see there.
The discovery might explain what happened to the two missing passengers from the crash that happened a year and a half ago.
That search taking place after the ship was turned upright. It was quite an extraordinary feat.
The ship's captain is still facing charges.
HOLMES: On trial right now.
And in Southern California, the man who made the film "The Innocence of Muslims," remember that, sparking hatred and protests in the Islamic world, well, he's soon to be a free man.
You can see him there, covered up as authorities arrested him a year ago, Nakoula Basseley.
Nakoula was arrested on bank fraud charges, not directly related to the film.
Nakoula's an Egyptian-American and he has been in a halfway house since June.
MALVEAUX: And Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, of course, doing a lot these days.
She's a reporter for NBC, and the 33-year-old has just been named the co-founder of NYU's Multifaith Leadership Group. She's also vice chair of the Clinton Foundation and pursuing a PhD.
HOLMES: Yeah, got plenty of time, obviously.
Piers Morgan talked to Chelsea about a lot of things, including the problem with homegrown terror.
Here's part of what she said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR, "PIERS MORGAN LIVE": There is an issue now with the radicalization of homegrown terror, whether it's in America or Britain or anywhere, we don't know where all these terrorists came from, but that looks like to be a pattern. We saw it in the Boston marathon and other crimes.
You have this disaffected youth, this unemployed youth. You also have a youth that can be susceptible to being radicalized.
How do you think -- you've got bags of experience with your parents in this area -- but how do you think the best way for a country like America can actually deal with this kind of problem?
CHELSEA CLINTON, THE CLINTON FOUNDATION: The greatest risk factor, arguably, is an unemployed young man, to any social system, to any society anywhere in the world.
And so ensuring that young people feel like we are collectively investing more in their future than in kind of either harboring past grievances or in kind of protecting the status quo is, I think the best antidote to that.
And in some ways I think Kenya was attacked because they have been transcending historic tribal barriers and strife. They have come a tremendous way since the 2007-2008 election violence and have been repudiating kind of the historical forces that were trying to keep Kenya back.
And so I think because young people sit up in the last election and said we're not going to have a violent election, we are going to have free, transparent and open elections, we are going to move our country forward, sadly we see the backlash.
And I have no doubt that young women, like Peggy and young men will keep fighting for the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Sounds an incredible like her mom, actually, really that voice, quite interesting.
You don't want to miss this. This entire Piers interview with Chelsea Clinton, that is tonight at 9:00 Eastern.
HOLMES: Indeed.
Now remember the gunman in Kenya told Muslims they could leave that shopping mall and then they killed those who weren't Muslim.
Sadly, as it has been for centuries, religion continues to be used or abused as a reason to kill.
When we come back, terror in the name of religion.
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HOLMES: In Kenya, the gunman who attacked the Westgate Mall asked people if they were Muslim. And if they said yes, they were let go. If they said no, they were shot.
MALVEAUX: It is actually just one of the horrors from the Nairobi shopping mall attack that happened this week. Our Atika Shubert, she looks at the killings, the attacks being carried out around the world in the name of religion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was two days of death and terror. Islamist militants brutally attacked Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Mall, while explosions targeted two funerals in Iraq, and a suicide bomber ripped through a church service in Pakistan. More than 250 killed in less than 48 hours, all in the name of religion.
MICHAEL BURLEIGH, HISTORIAN: Religion actually gives you, first of all, the feeling that God is on your side. So it's not just you meeting out violence, you're doing it on behalf of God.
SHUBERT (on camera): Religious violence is on the rise. Just take a look at this map from the Pew Research Center. Countries in red and yellow have the highest incidents of sectarian violence. Note in particular, the Middle East and North Africa. The number of countries mired in sectarian strife has doubled in the last three years. But also, Russia, battling an Islamist insurgency in Chechnya, and a surge in violence creeping across Asia, especially Pakistan, with more religious violence than any other country. In fact, according to the report, about 75 percent of the world's population, more than 5 billion people, live in a country with high to very high incidents of religious violence.
SHUBERT (voice-over): From the crusades to al Qaeda, holy war has been waged across the centuries. But in the 20th century, secular political movements had kept a lid, sometimes brutally, on religious tensions. But now, with seismic shifts, such as the Arab Spring, sectarian violence has flared again. In Iraq, for example, the centuries-old battle between the two rival sects of Islam, Sunni and Shia, has resumed, spilling over into neighboring Syria.
And it's not limited to Muslim majority countries. In Myanmar, the easing of military rule has resulted in militant Buddhists attacking and killing members of the Rohingyas Muslim minority.
BURLEIGH: Well, I think that wherever religion is bound up with national identity, then anybody who isn't of that religious group is exposed and could be expunged.
SHUBERT: A disturbing trend leading to fears we may see more horrific attacks like this.
Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: When we come back, Team USA wins the America's Cup in a stunning comeback. And we're going to tell you all about that. This space age catamaran went on to a historic victory. We'll also talk at length about the Australian who was the skipper.
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MALVEAUX: One of Michael's favorite stories and the most -- the world's most incredible sailing races, of course, flying with the wind, the salt air, weeks (ph). It's amazing stuff, right?
HOLMES: It's a historic competition. It is absolutely amazing. The America's Cup. Well, Team New Zealand and Team USA were in the finals. And Andy Scholes tells us how the U.S. pulled off what is being called a miracle comeback. Can't remember a bigger comeback in sports. Check it out.
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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world's most prestigious sailing race produced one of most stunning comebacks in sports history. Trailing 8-1 a week ago, Oracle Team USA won eight straight races over Emeritus New Zealand to retain America's Cup. In a winner take all finale on a San Francisco Bay course, Team USA did what nobody outside its catamaran believed it could do.
JIMMY SPITHILL, ORACLE TEAM USA CAPTAIN: To come back - I mean the greatest comeback in sports history, it says a lot about our team, a lot about the character, the heart, and the fight they've got inside them. Man, it was worth every single part of it. Man, I mean this is the greatest moment of my life. I'm just loving every minute of it and I'm doing it with the team around me. It doesn't get any better than this.
SCHOLES: American billionaire Larry Ellison, who's worth an estimated $41 billion according to "Forbes" magazine, bank rolled Oracle Team USA's back-to-back titles. How important is America's Cup to Ellison? He skipped his own keynote address at Oracle's annual conference earlier this week so he could cheer on his team. He's also spent an estimated $500 million over and 11 years trying to win the oldest trophy in interstate sports and now he's tasted victory in monumental fashion.
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MALVEAUX: Andy's here.
So, is this really Team USA?
HOLMES: No.
MALVEAUX: Tell us about this.
HOLMES: No.
MALVEAUX: Michael and I, we - he begs to differ.
SCHOLES: We shouldn't be getting too patriotic about this one, right? Eleven sailors on the yacht when they crossed the finish line. Only one American. And that's because there's no nationality rule, so Larry Ellison could go out and get the best sailors he could find for his boat. And, you know, the winner of this competition, they get to set the rules for the next competition. And New Zealand, obviously, not happy about this. They said if they would have won, they would have put a nationality requirement in there to make sure that the - you know, all the sailors came from the actual country they were representing because Team New Zealand -
HOLMES: Yes.
SCHOLES: They were all Cubans (ph). No.
HOLMES: A huge - yes, exactly, as it should be. Yes. But we were delighted, by the way, you're welcome, gave you the skipper.
SCHOLES: Yes, you sure - you sure did.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE). And a couple of other crewmen, too. And the tactician was a Brit. An Olympic gold medalist.
SCHOLES: Yes, he came in late in the game. But, yes, he's one of the most decorated person ever to compete in the sport.
HOLMES: Yes. Huge comeback, though. Huge.
MALVEAUX: All right, Andy, thank you. I'm taking the win. I'm taking the win. We got the win. I'm taking it.
HOLMES: Yes, yes, you're welcome.
SCHOLES: Any way we can get it, right?
MALVEAUX: Go USA.
HOLMES: You're welcome. We didn't even get to the finals, so I shouldn't be talking.
All right, good to see you, Andy. Thanks.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Andy.
HOLMES: I love the America's Cup.
MALVEAUX: Now, this is a fascinating story. After a car accident, this man needed a nose transplant. But instead of plastic surgery, his doctors took another approach.
HOLMES: Yes, they grew a nose on his forehead. We will explain that when we come back.
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HOLMES: Now, don't be grossed out because this is actually really interesting. This is trending around the world right now.
MALVEAUX: Yes. This is China, and what might be a medical first here. This is a man growing a new nose on his forehead. That's right. Paula Hancocks is in Seoul, South Korea, and she's actually reporting on this amazing - it's pioneering work. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A man in China will soon have a new face, thanks to an intricate reconstructive surgery. Chinese state media says that doctors successfully grew a nose on the man's forehead and they plan to transplant it to his naval cavity soon. The man lost his nose due to infection from a car accident last year. CCTV says that doctors took a skin tissue expander (ph) and managed to shape the new nose using cartilage from his ribs. It took nine months to grow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Pretty awesome stuff.
HOLMES: Unbelievable.
MALVEAUX: I love it.
HOLMES: And then they'll cut it off, stitch him up and put it in the right place.
MALVEAUX: Pretty amazing stuff.
HOLMES: All right, we've got to go.
MALVEAUX: Thanks for watching AROUND THE WORLD. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
