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Mladic Trial on Hold; U.S. May Keep Fleet Near Iran; Hollywood Targets Chinese Market; India Battles Water Crisis; 1230; India Battles Water Crisis; Kidnapping Their Brides; A New Look For Christian Dior

Aired July 12, 2012 - 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: Welcome to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We're going to take you around the world in 60 minutes.

Here's what's going on right now:

At least 95 people are dead after a gasoline spill from an oil tanker burst into flames. Now, villagers in southern Nigeria have been scooping up spilled gas with buckets when this fire broke out. At least 18 people were seriously hurt.

A major rescue mission is going on right now in the French Alps. An avalanche, six-foot thick wall of snow, crashed into two groups of mountain climbers in the Mount Blanc range today. At least nine climbers are confirmed dead. Nine others were injured. Several are still missing.

A sliding sheet of ice triggered that avalanche.

In Spain, dozens of people, including 33 police officers, were injured when fighting broke out in Madrid Wednesday. Police used rubber bullets, batons to break up the crowd of demonstrators. They were protesting cuts to government subsidies, sales tax increase and more spending cuts -- plans that the government says they have to implement to prevent Spain from going into default.

The war crimes and genocide trial of Ratko Mladic, he is on hold at the moment. The former Bosnian Serb military chief is in a hospital. His trial resumed just a couple days ago after being suspended in May.

Well, an official at the International War Crimes Tribunal says that Mladic doesn't feel well today, so they stopped the trial, took him for medical treatment.

Hala Gorani -- she is here to talk about who this person is, why this trial really matters.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, it matters because in the case of the former Yugoslavia and the war that ended up in the breakup of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, it really would be the first trial to be completed. Slobodan Milosevic was another accused war criminal -- he died before his lengthy trial ever came to a conclusion.

Who is Ratko Mladic? This is a man who is accused of masterminding and heading the massacre of 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica, which was meant to be this protected enclave for Muslims during the war in 1995.

He's the man who in May, when he knew there were relatives of those survivors, actually did this, Suzanne, he did the sign of the throat slit, and directed it at some of those survivors. This is according to people who were in court that day. Not a nice guy.

This might be a precautionary measure. He's not feeling well. Just to make sure he's in good shape, to face these 11 counts of genocide and crimes against humanity.

MALVEAUX: Do they have any idea? We hear this often, we heard this from Mubarak and other people, you know, when they're in trouble they don't feel well all of a sudden. They're going to the hospital or something. Do we think this is even real?

GORANI: Well, I mean, that's hard to tell. He was taken to the hospital. It doesn't appear as though it's some sort of a very, very severe health situation, that he wasn't feeling well. So, he's there and this is according to the tribunal spokesperson there as a, quote, "precautionary measure".

Just to also remind you of the man himself and how long he was on the run, 16 years. He was only captured in May of 2011. And this is not someone showing any remorse for what he allegedly did during the war.

The Srebrenica massacre is one thing, the other the siege of Sarajevo which lasted months and resulted in the death of 10,000 people. The war itself was 100,000 deaths at the lowest estimate.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable.

And the defense he is mounting now, what is he possibly have to say to explain his side?

GORANI: Well, as the commander, as a military commander, and one who was chosen very early on in his career, the defense team essentially is going to argue that this was war time, that this was not something that was orchestrated as a crime separate from the war maneuverings during that time.

But the prosecution is saying quite the opposite. This was a deliberate ethnic attack on people who were defenseless and who went to Srebrenica because they felt like that's where they could seek refuge. And in the end, thousands ended up dead.

By the way, some of the images we've been showing our viewers are heart-wrenching. 520 people were recently identified and reburied in Srebrenica as victims of this horrific massacre back in '95.

MALVEAUX: In light of the fact that the criminal court doesn't seem to do a lot or has not done a lot in the last 10 years or so, what is the confidence level that he will actually serve some time?

GORANI: Well, that's hard to tell. But the criminal court is learning from past mistakes. For instance, Slobodan Milosevic's trial was dragging on for four years when he died. The challenge for these prosecutors is going to be: (a), you know, mount a case against these alleged war criminals that can be conducted in a swift manner, and (b), set an example to others.

MALVEAUX: All right. Hala, thank you. Appreciate it.

The U.S. is showing its hand now in the increasing tension in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. It looks like the Pentagon is playing offense, not defense.

The Pentagon says it may keep two aircraft carriers in the waters around Iran through the end of the year. It is all designed to keep a strategic Strait of Hormuz open and safe.

American military power has been on display in the air there for a while. The ships were to stay through December. That move could anger, of course, the Iranian regime further.

I want to bring in Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

And, Barbara, it's clear here that this -- that now the Pentagon is considering a major military move. How worried are those that this could actually provoke some sort of Iranian response?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't know -- I mean, they're certainly cautious about it, but I don't think they're too worried that Iran could do anything they couldn't really deal with on the part of the U.S. military. It's all about those oil shipping lanes, of course, keeping them open, keeping the oil flowing in one of the most strategic choke points in the world.

And so, indeed -- yes, the Pentagon is now considering keeping two aircraft carriers on station in those waters for the next several months, and they've beefed up other assets in the region as well.

It's interesting, Suzanne, it comes at a time when the Iranians, at least out on the water, are laying relatively low. The Iranian navy right now being, you know, very well-behaved by all accounts, but the U.S. still proceeding, putting these assets in place, just in case, really sending the message: don't even think about trying to close the oil shipping lanes.

MALVEAUX: Barbara, talk a little bit more about it's not only the aircraft carriers but the Navy is sending these tiny underwater drones in the Persian Gulf that would be used to search for these mines. How do they work?

BARBARA: Right. Well, this is -- this is high-tech stuff because in those Persian Gulf waters, the one thing that Iran has a lot of expertise in is putting underwater mines in place. There's a lot of worry about those.

So, basically, these are undersea drones. They're tethered via a fiber optic cable to a U.S. Navy ship, they go down into the water, and they search around for any underwater mines that might be there. They mind them electronically and then they blow them up.

It's been tested. The Navy feels it will work, but it's also that voice of confidence to even commercial and maritime shipping in the gulfs that the waters can be safe.

MALVEAUX: Barbara, talk about the timing of this, the first drones begin arriving in recent weeks and this was at the same time that the latest round of negotiations with Iran over the nuclear program, essentially failed.

So you have the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, talking to Iran and nothing came out of it. Do they feel like now the military way is the way that is really going to make a difference?

STARR: You know, it's -- there's a lot of signals sending going on on all sides, isn't there? You know, through these nuclear talks, not working out, I don't think anybody really expected them to work out any time soon, and that is always the worry, that if those talks really break down, tensions would then rise.

So again, what you have is trying to put the things in place to send the signal to Iran: don't even think about it, we're here, we're on station.

The U.S., the other Persian Gulf allies, of course, in the region, Saudi Arabia, very much sending the signal to Iran: don't mess with trying to close down the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. The shipping will continue and it will be safe.

I think what they're trying to do is make sure that if the nuclear talks become tense, that nobody thinks that opens a door to do anything about the shipping.

MALVEAUX: All right. Barbara Starr -- thank you, Barbara. Appreciate it.

STARR: Sure.

MALVEAUX: Here's more of what we're working on for this hour on NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL:

Most people picture their wedding as a day of celebration and happiness, right? Well, these brides, they're kidnapped right off the street and forced to get married.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, you are the driver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're planning a kidnapping right now.

How long have you guys been planning this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For about one month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Plus, talk about a close call. Two divers stay calm as a shark swims around them and all they have is a spear and a knife to protect themselves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. We're taking you around the world in 60 minutes.

News, culture even music -- so, what are folks in Kenya listening to? Take a listen.

(MUSIC VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MALVEAUX: Sounds like hip-hop but it's actually Christian Afro hop. Singing the very catch dance song, "Furri Furri Dance" is Jimmie Gait & DK. They're the stars. I like it.

Fishing trip takes a terrifying turn off the coast of Australia. Two spear-fishing divers looking to catch dinner almost became dinner themselves after coming face to face with a great white shark. Their harrowing ordeal was captured on video.

Blake Johnson with Australia's Seven Network has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLAKE JOHNSON, SEVEN NETWORK (voice-over): Nathan Podmall (ph) put a camera on their head to film a spear fishing trip. This is the last thing he wanted to see -- a shark Nathan reckons was at least three meters long. Nathan and his best mate Dave Richards were too far to swim ashore and the shark is between them and their boat, which is 50 meters away.

The shark circles the boys three times in three minutes. With incredible control, the two divers stay calm, then, the shark turns towards them. A spear gun each and a knife are all Dave and Nathan have as weapons. Climbing out of the war, never felt so good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(LAUGHTER)

JOHNSON: They were in the water ten minutes on Saturday.

DAVE RICHARDS, DIVER: In the water, it looked massive, but, you know, on-site, wit you probably three and a half, four meters, maybe more.

JOHNSON: Dave says jabbing the shark with their spear guns was all he and Nathan could do.

RICHARDS: I think if it wanted to, it could have made a meal out of us really.

JOHNSON: Blake Johnson, Seven News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Here's more of what we're working on for this hour of NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL: People in Pakistan are refusing to get the polio vaccine, all because of Osama bin Laden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: After the U.S., what is the biggest movie market in the world? It is China. But not surprisingly, Hollywood wants a bigger piece of the action, but filmmakers there are running into Chinese sensors who want to control the message.

Eunice Yoon, she is looking at this in-depth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lights, camera, action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

YOON: A gambling scene of China in the 1930s shot at a moneyed movie capital. No, we're not talking about Hollywood, but Beijing, home to one of the biggest studios in the world.

"Chinese movies can be just as good as any," says this executive.

China is now the second biggest movie market behind the U.S. Eight new screens open here every day, attracting top Hollywood filmmakers like James Cameron, whose 3-D blockbuster, "Avatar," was a box office smash here.

JAMES CAMERON, FILM DIRECTOR: It's the increase in the standard of living and the growth of the middle class here. The cinema experience is perceived as something special.

YOON: Hollywood is struggling back home. So studios are fighting for a future here, producing movies like "Iron Man 3," and "Looper," a film full of A-list actors shot with Chinese partners.

DAN MINTZ, CEO, DMG ENTERTAINMENT: What you're able to do with these kinds of films is you're able to say, hey, I'm here. I'm not just using China as a distribution point. You're actually saying come into our process.

YOON: The problem is China wants to control the rules of the game.

(on camera): Beijing has grown wary of Western influences here and it's keen to get China's view and its history on the silver screen.

(voice-over): Already in China, movies are censored, including "Men in Black 3," where censors chopped out these scenes, showing Chinese as alien villains. The concern is Beijing's heavy hand could creep into co-production, even lead to sub-censorship among Hollywood players hoping to capture the market here.

"A negative portrayal of a Chinese character can be shown if it's an intrinsic part of the story," he says. "But if the movie intentionally belittles the Chinese people, then, of course, we would censor that."

Despite some recent loosening, Beijing also restricts the number of foreign films, as it aims to build its own version of Hollywood. Some say the growing tide allow China to cherry-pick U.S. techniques.

CAMERON: The question is: can the Chinese film industry grow to an extent that it makes movies directly for the rest of the world? You see what I mean? It becomes a direct competition to Hollywood.

YOON: For now, a tall bet for a government still obsessed with crafting its own script.

Eunice Yoon, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: London calls in thousands of troops for the Olympics after realizing the security plan is not going to be enough.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. We're taking you around the world in 60 minutes.

With the London Olympic Games two weeks away now, officials realize there are not enough guards. They are 3,500 short. Now, Britain's military will have to fill the gap.

I want to bring in Jim Boulden from London.

Jim, you've got game organizers that pay this private contractor millions for security and now they say this isn't enough, this isn't going to do it.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's amazing. This is a big publicly traded security firm here.

We see them everywhere. We see them in Wimbledon. We see them in big events, and they were hired to bring in some 14,000 security guards.

Well, they trained 4,000 of them and they're on-site but they say the training for a further 9,000 is still not finished, if you can believe that. We're only two weeks away from the opening ceremony.

MALVEAUX: So, Jim, what happens now? Do they just have to get them up to speed really quickly here or they might not have the kind of security that they need for the games?

BOULDEN: No, they will definitely have the security they need, but because there are 13,000 soldiers already being deployed for the Olympics around the country, the government has decided to bring in another 3,500 troops to be able to bolster that.

At the same time, the security firm is vowing to still be able to bring these other people on as well.

So, we might have extra security in the end. But think about it, these soldiers, some of them have been in Afghanistan, they expected to be on break and they weren't expected to be used in the Olympics. So, they have to be trained as well and they've got two weeks.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable. I mean, obviously, 14 days left here.

There are folks I understand, Jim, in east London, upset that the government is now putting these surface-to-air missiles on their apartment roofs to cover and to help this security measures.

How is that playing out with them? I understand that they even took them to trial?

BOULDEN: Exactly. We found out about this, what, about two months ago that they were looking at some of the taller towers in east London, think of an airplane coming in from the east through to the west, they might be used for terror attacks. They thought we need to put some batteries on top of these towers, some in the parks as well.

And they were taken to court, the ministry of defense, but they lost that. You can imagine with two weeks to go, it would be hard to find another location for the anti-plane missile batteries. They are definitely going to be on top of some of the towers, some of the residential towers in east London.

MALVEAUX: Now are the residents reacting to that? I know they weren't happy before. They have to live with the fact that they have this huge hardware on top of them. Do they feel like they're a bull's eye in some way?

BOULDEN: Yes. In some ways, they feel they could become the target because you think these 24/7 missile batteries with four or five guys on top of the building ready to fire. But there are going to be jets brought back into the U.K. to monitor the skies for the first time in a long time. It's going to be a lot of extra security like that.

And, yes, these residents are just going to have to live with it. They don't have a choice now.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jim, we're going to keep our eye on all of that. Two weeks away from the Olympics. Good to see you.

It's an Olympic first, actually. Check it out -- Saudi Arabia planning to send female athletes to the games now. This is a decision, a rare concession for a kingdom that places severe restrictions on women's rights. You have one runner and one judo competitor that will be there, they're going to be there. They're going to attend and compete.

But Saudi Arabia also imposing a couple requirements. The athletes they have to dress modestly and also be accompanied by a male guardian.

Here's more of what we are working for this hour on NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL: people in Pakistan refusing to get the polio vaccine all because of Osama bin Laden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The United States is condemning the destruction of two more homes in the West African nation of Mali.

International outrage has not stopped Islamist militants from attacking the historic and religious landmarks there. Witnesses say earlier this week, Islamists ordered people to leave the area and started destroying the tombs of Timbuktu. Those tombs were hundreds of years old.

Mitt Romney taking his campaign for the White House overseas. He's reported planned a $68,000 a plate fund-raiser in Jerusalem for later this month. He will meet with Israel's president and prime minister. Romney has promised to do what he calls the opposite of the Obama administration on issues related to Israel.

A Caribbean republic of Trinidad and Tobago says it regrets the loss of 20,000 leatherback turtle eggs. Those eggs -- they were crushed by bulldozers moving stand from the nesting area. Officials say the work had to be done to redistrict a river eroding the beach.

Environmentalists -- they are trying to save the remaining eggs from dogs and vultures.

It invades the nervous system. It can cause paralysis in a matter of hours. Plus, it mainly affects children under the age of 5. Well, for years, there has been a global drive to eliminate polio. It has been successful in many countries.

But recently, it has suffered a setback in Pakistan. Why?

All stemming from the killing of Osama bin Laden in the city of Abbottabad. Now, the CIA used a team giving vaccinations to gain information about the al Qaeda leader. As Reza Sayah shows us, many families don't trust these vaccination programs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is 17-month- old Ikram. She probably will never be able to walk on her own. Doctors say they'll probably spend the rest of her life paralyzed, a victim of polio. When the other kids play, she cries, because she wants to play with them but she can't even move her mother says. Here's what makes this tragedy worse. Doctors say she could have lived a normal, healthy life, if someone would have given her a polio vaccine that cost less than a dollar soon after she was born. The father of two says he rejected free polio drops for his children. The U.S. pays for these campaigns to destroy Muslims and make them slaves, he told us.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That incident of the doctor (inaudible) affect our polio program, not only our polio program but the rest of the health related community.

REPORTER: Health officials here say thousands of Pakistani families have yet to vaccinate their children without good reason. But with help of local religious leaders and aggressive awareness campaigns they're making progress, they say, convincing more families the free vaccine can save them a lifetime of hardship and pain, children like Ekra and her family endure every day. We're trying our best, her mother says. We've left her in god's hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Joining us from Geneva, Dr. Bruce Aylward. He is the World Health Organization's chief of polio eradication. Doctor, thank you for joining us. First of all, clearly a noble and good cause to get rid of Osama bin Laden, but tell us how that raid hurt the war on polio in Pakistan?

BRUCE AYLWARD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Well, first I think we need to put in context the whole eradication program. There's been a 20-year effort to rid the world of one of the most devastating diseases that we've ever known and it's been incredibly successful. We're down to just three parts of three countries as you mentioned and anything at this point that could in any way undermine confidence of -- undermine confidence of parents or caregivers or vaccination in general is going to complicate our ability to convince people that they need to have the children vaccinated to protect them from this devastating disease. So anything. We have many, many incidents like this, unfortunately, around the world, wherein something happens that then triggers a concern about safety of vaccines or acceptability or anything in this is going to complicate matters. It hasn't been a setback but it's a risk.

MALVEAUX: How do you do that? How do you gain the confidence of the people back in Pakistan who say, OK because you look at what they're saying there, a lot believe that this could be sterilization, that this is, you know, trying to manipulate their society, what do you do?

AYLWARD: Well, the first thing you need to do is understand the problem and the magnitude of the problem. Let's be very clear. In Pakistan, the proportion of people or parents that actually refuse vaccination is actually very, very small. It's smaller than in most western countries. And it's only -- it hovers right now between 1 percent and 2 percent. It's a very small problem to begin with, compared to about 5 to 10 percent rejection rates often in industrialized countries. But the key at this point is really looking at what are the underlying concerns? Often it's an issue of trust. Who's actually supporting these campaigns and what people often fail to realize is that the financing for these campaigns come from a broad range of countries, many predominantly Muslim countries are some of the strongest supporters of the campaign as well. We then need to make sure who's delivering the message and who's delivering the vaccine are people that are actually trusted by and part of the communities themselves. This has been a huge effort, not only here, but in other parts of the world, to ensure that the right people are involved in explaining the importance of vaccination and ensuring then that the campaigns are run in a way that's acceptable to the local communities as well.

MALVEAUX: And doctor, really this year only three countries, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan that still have polio as a problem there. Why -- we understand now why it exists in Pakistan. Why Nigeria and Afghanistan?

AYLWARD: Well, in all three of these countries, we've got common features and in particular, a weak health system, a very weak public services, in at least parts of these countries. And then it's further complicated, as you saw in Pakistan, by the security issues there and also in Afghanistan, northern parts of Nigeria now also. It's really a combination of factors. Long-standing problems with infrastructure and sometimes more acute security issues. So, the refusal issue is actually a very, very small part of the problem. In Pakistan, for example, if we look at the children who are missed right now by the polio campaigns, nine out of ten of those children are missed because of what we call operational problems, meaning the campaign was poorly planned or there wasn't enough vaccinators or the parents never, frankly, got a chance to refuse. The vaccinator didn't get to their door. The big emphasis right now is on making sure that the places are properly mapped, properly planned, appropriate vaccinators get to every single house and when they get there they can answer the questions, the concerns that parents might have.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dr. Alyward, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

Clean water, something we take for granted here in the United States, but India, it's one of the many countries where finding just safe drinking water can be a daily struggle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just next to this filthy water filled with trash and sewage is where the neighborhood queue's up every single day and they do so because this is a tap the government turns on three times a day. Without it they wouldn't have access to clean drinking water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to newsroom international. We take you around the world in 60 minutes. Here in the U.S., wash your hands, get a drink of water without much thought, but in India, not so much. Take a look at this map. Here's how the size of India compares to the United States. But there are more than 1.2 billion people in India, that is three times more people than we have here. And access to clean water there, it is a daily struggle. Sara Sidner takes a look.

SIDNER: Mother of six (inaudible) uses as little water as possible do her chores. The only way she gets water is by filling up heavy buckets from a neighborhood spigot and lugging them home. She worries what she brings home isn't safe to drink. We get sick two or three times per month, she says. I can't afford bottled water. Her 7-year-old daughter (inaudible) isn't feeling good now. My stomach aches and gurgles she says. Just next to this filthy water filled with trash and sewage is where the neighborhood cues up every day and they do so because this is a tap that the government turns on three times a day. Without it, they wouldn't have access to clean drinking water. This neighborhood just on the edge of the capital has never had water piped to its homes. Besides this spigot, people here get water from illegal ground water pumps installed by those who can afford them. And this guy. Who exhausts himself every day running his water supply business. There is no sanitation here, just so many complaints, he says. So I thought, let me get a water filter and supply clean water to these people. In order to help them and make some money.

He charges about 18 cents per bucket. A price business owners can afford to pay each day, but few others here, when many make less than $2 a day. India has struggled to maintain enough clean drinking water for the masses. The country has 17 percent of the world's population, but only 4 percent of the world's renewable water sources. Demand is growing, while issues such as leaks and pollution farther strip away the supply. T.M. Vijay Bhaskar is an official with India's department of drinking water and sanitation. He says rural India has a whole range of issues depleting its water.

T.M. VIJAY BHASKAR, INDIA'S DEPT. OF DRINKING WATER AND SANTIATION: Because the rural drinking water is dependent on ground water, ground water levels are going down because exploitation and irrigation by farmers and by industries, we are forced to dig deeper and deeper for drinking water. And as you go deeper and deeper you find more and more contaminants, it may be arsenic, it may be fluoride, it may be other, now we are finding nitrates, iron, salinity. Now uranium has also been found in some places.

SIDNER: While the government implements programs to combat some of the problems its biggest cities are struggling too. This year an acute water shortage has hit the capital. New Delhi relies on other states for much of its water supply but has found itself in a tug of war to get it. There are still entire neighborhoods where these trucks bring in the only water supply. As soon as the truck is visible, thirsty crowds emerge. (Inaudible) fills as large a bucket as possible because the truck only comes to her neighborhood three times a week. At times, there are scuffles and we have to return empty handed, she says. When every drop of water matters, the fight is ultimately for survival. Sara snider, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Sarah, joins us from New Delhi. Sarah, we know that normal rains known as the monsoon were delayed in New Delhi this year and now coming back. Does it help change the situation at all?

SIDNER: Just slightly. Yes, when you have enough rain it helps to replenish the ground water, but the truth of the matter is, is that this country is so short on drinking water that the affect that it has especially in the early part of monsoon isn't that great when it comes to drinking water, particularly. I should also mention that the monsoon is still in extremely important part of India's agricultural sector. About 55 percent of the arable land, the land you can grow things on is rain fed. Without it it can really cause even shortages of food never mind drinking water. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: How do they deal with this? I mean it seems like there is so much energy, so much labor just to get water.

SIDNER: Yes. The difficulty is, and you'll look at the numbers, the difficulty is that a lot of people, particularly children, have major issues because of waterborne illnesses. It's one of those things in this country that kills babies, that wreaks havoc, obviously on the health sector because a lot of people getting sick and having trouble keeping down food, becoming dehydrated. The kids in the neighborhood we showed you early on, every single one of them we talked to, every family, had sent their child to the hospital at least a few times a year, because of stomach illnesses that they really think comes from having water that is just not fit to drink. It causes a lot of problems and as you might imagine costs the country a lot of money because when these people all go to the hospital, the hospital care for the poor is free, but the hospitals are jammed with people and waterborne illnesses is a real problem in this country.

MALVEAUX: Sarah, you talked to so many of those families there. What is the one thing they say is most important in addressing this need for clean water?

SIDNER: I think the thing is they want the government to listen to their needs and to fulfill their demand to have what most people feel is a right, not a privilege. Which is drinking water. You can't live without it. It's for survival. But India has a real issue. We were talking about a huge area with very little water that is drinkable and the biggest issue really is that there are all these problems with leaking pipes, for example, and pollution is a real issue here, that their water is depleted year in and year out and the population is only growing. The demand from the agricultural sector is only growing. You're going to see more and more problems if something isn't done to try to correct this and at least get the balance a little more correct and have more and more people give them access to clean drinking water. A real difficulty the government grappling with and certainly the citizens of India.

MALVEAUX: Is the government listening to the people? Are they hearing this? Are they seeing what is happening here?

SIDNER: Oh, they are well aware of the issues that they're facing when it comes to not having enough water. They're well aware of the diseases and the waterborne illnesses and what it costs the country. The difficulty is getting on the ground and putting in infrastructure that tends to be very expensive and trying to push some of these projects through because they're so far behind, they have a lot to do. I have to tell you this, in living here, I don't use, for example, my tap to brush my teeth because a lot of people get sick using their own tap water. A lot of bottled water going around for those of us who can afford it.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Sarah. Appreciate that.

Usually a bride plans her wedding day, right, down to all the details? But these brides, they don't even know they're getting married.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Translator: Actually we are almost done with everything. We just need to get a bride and bring her here.

Translator: Be careful not to let her run away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: In Kyrgyzstan, some women are literally kidnapped off the street and forced into marriage.

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MALVEAUX: Here's the scenario. A boy sees a girl, wants her to marry him, does he ask? No. He kid naps her instead. That is the story playing out across Kyrgyzstan.

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REPORTER: Bride kidnapping is a traditional way of getting married, that supposedly dates back to the horse days. How it works is, a guy wants to marry a girl, gets a few of his friends together, they grab the girl off the street, then drive her back to his place and his mom and aunts try to convince her marrying their son is the right move. Even if he's a total stranger.

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MALVEAUX: Kyrgyzstan is located next to China. Two-thirds of its people live in rural areas that are predominantly Muslim. And western concepts of marriage proposals are rejected there. Well, that is where Thomas Morton visited. He is a correspondent for the online news source Vice. He's joining us from New York.

Thomas, I mean it's really -- you see this and you can't believe it, really. I mean it's almost hard to believe and it's hard to watch too. You actually followed one of these grooms on a joy ride with his friends to capture a woman that he wanted to marry. Tell us what happened?

THOMAS MORTON, VICE CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Well, we had met this groom through an organization who was trying to prevent bride kidnapping, ironically enough. And they were kind of OK with this wedding because he knew the girl. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. But it was still -- she had no idea he was going to, um, I would say pop the question, but basically throw her in a van and then take her to his parents' house and try to marry her. So it's one form of the kidnapping. Sometimes it's total strangers just picked up off the street and other times it's people that have been dating for a long time and would otherwise get married normally but the guy decides to take matters into his own hands.

MALVEAUX: So why is this happening? I don't understand this. Why this kind of forced kidnapping of this woman? Why not just ask her? Pop the question, as you said?

MORTON: Well, the rationale that we (ph) were provided, that its traditional. That it's this ancient old, you know, from when there were nomadic horse people custom to, you know, grab a girl, throw her on your horse and take off with her. But we spoke with a professor at the university in Bishkak (ph) who has kind of traced the record of this and is trying to like establish whether -- how accurate it is. And basically his theory is that this custom developed in the 1950s, like when they were still in the Soviet Union, and it was an anti like gender equality sort of movement, was for guys to kind of take back their rights as men. So it's all about machesmo (ph) and the tradition is kind of a smoke screen.

MALVEAUX: So these -- yes, these girls, do they have any recourse here? I mean what can they do?

MORTON: Well, it's technically illegal. It's also against like Islamic law. As you said, most of the country's Muslim there. But the problem is, police -- and this happens more or less out in the countryside -- police don't know or they don't care. It's, you know, it's accepted as tradition and so there's really nothing they can do. And if they -- if they're kidnapped and they refuse to marry the groom and they leave, they can be shunned, like not only by, you know, the grooms family, obviously, but by their own family. And women, you know, end up going to battered women shelters. There are women that have committed suicide over these forced weddings. It's (INAUDIBLE).

MALVEAUX: Is -- what is being done? You say this is illegal in this country and this doesn't even comport with Islamic law? What are they doing to actually help these women out?

MORTON: Well, there's organizations, like the one we worked with, who are trying to educate just people out in the countryside. Basically tell them, hey, this is, you know, this -- don't do this, please. This is illegal. It doesn't -- as you said, it doesn't comport with your religious beliefs. Like it's not actually a real custom, we don't think, so you guys need to stop doing it.

But the problem is, it's been growing in popularity. And there's this movie called "Boz Solkin" (ph), which translates to "Pure Coolness." Sort of like the -- it's like the "Pulp Fiction" of bride kidnapping. It really romanticizes it. And now it's, you know, it's moved from the countryside into the cities. And like even in Cosmopolitan (ph) Bishkak, like women are getting picked off and taken, married against their will.

MALVEAUX: There was one other thing that was really interesting in this story, Thomas, and that was the fact, I guess there's some rare incidents where you have a couple who know each other and they kind of make this fake kidnapping happen. Is that right as well?

MORTON: Sure. Yes. It's kind of like a -- considered another form of eloping. And that's one of the things. It is like a traditional normal (INAUDIBLE) wedding is a big affair, as it is in most countries, and it's very expensive. And so faking a kidnapping is a way to kind of, you know, cut down the costs and quicken the process if you have a problem, let's say, like certain relatives not being for it on either side of the family.

MALVEAUX: All right, Thomas Morton, you can see more on Vice at their website. Thank you. Really fascinating and a disturbing story out of Kyrgyzstan. We appreciate your reporting, as always. Thank you.

MORTON: Thank you, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

Dior rolled out the red carpet for its new designer with 1 million flowers lining the walls of the show. But does the fashion world love him?

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MALVEAUX: Last year French fashion house Christian Dior fired its art director, John Galliano, over his infamous anti-Semitic rant at a bar in Paris. Well, this was Galliano in his glory days. The flamboyant, so-called bad boy who made the label profitable. Well, now Dior is launching a new public image with a new face. Our Alina Cho has more.

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ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it a designer convention. Alber Elbaz of Lanvin, Azadino Lia (ph), Mark Jacobs.

CHO (on camera): I don't often see you at a show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't often goes to shows. In fact, very rarely.

CHO (voice-over): But he came to this. So did Anna Wintour and celebrities like Sharon Stone.

CHO (on camera): Are you looking forward to wearing the clothes?

SHARON STONE, ACTRESS: I am wearing the clothes now and he designs in a way that I personally like very much.

CHO (voice-over): So, who is he?

ANNA WINTOUR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "VOUGE": He's a rock star in his own right.

CHO: He's Belgium Raf Simons, Christian Dior's new artistic director, replacing John Galliano, who was abruptly fired last year following an infamous anti-Semitic rant. Simons' hiring was a year in the making.

CHO (on camera): Why so long, do you think?

SIDNEY TOLEDANO, CEO, CHRISTIAN DIOR: I don't know. I have no idea. You know, just time to find the right fit. Dior is very special.

CHO (voice-over): So special Dior staged a set like no other for Simons' debut. One million flowers lining the walls and a high wattage crowd, including countless top designers.

RAF SIMONS, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CHRISTIAN DIOR: The amount of them made it very intimidating. Also at the same time, very scary.

CHO: If it was scary, Simons didn't show it. And the clothes, just read the reviews. "Had the at audience at hello," "speechless," "perfection." Even the toughest critics swooned.

WINTOUR: He brought a lightness and a simplicity to it that I thought was incredibly refreshing. : Nice clothes are fine, but you can find nice clothes everywhere. What Raf brings is a point of view.

CHO (on camera): Did Dior make the right choice?

WINTOUR: From what we saw, I think it was a brilliant choice.

CHO (voice-over): In designing these custom-made clothes, Simons was most interested in Dior's early years, when Christian Dior himself designed. But fashion being fashion, interpreting the past is the name of the game.

SIMONS: Like cutting off a ball gown which could have been maybe, you know, seven meters of circumference. You know, it becomes a top. It goes with the pants. Hands in the pocket. And it becomes something more, you know, like livable.

CHO: One of fashion's top jobs. Why even those rumored to be under consideration came too.

CHO (on camera): Everyone thought for a while that this job -- this job was yours.

ALBER ELBAZ, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, LANVIN: No, but it's his. It's his and it's gorgeous.

CHO (voice-over): Alina Cho, CNN, Paris.

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MALVEAUX: We're going to have more with some of the world's top fashion designers tomorrow on CNN. And look for Alina's special, "Backstage Pass" from Paris, this Saturday, July 14th at 2:30 Eastern.