Return to Transcripts main page
Your World Today
Fed Pumps Cash into Roiled Markets; Utah Mine Update; UNESCO to Investigate Slaughter of Mountain Gorillas; Ravaged by Civil War, Sierra Leone Holds Elections
Aired August 10, 2007 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Anxiety spreads, global markets take a cue from Wall Street where investors remain weary over subprime mortgages.
JIM CLANCY, CNN ANCHOR: Still no contact, listening devices fail to detect any sounds in an underground cavity where six miners are thought to be trapped.
GORANI: Sacrifices beyond the uniform. Iraqis employed by the U.S. military say there is no turning back.
CLANCY: And the search for clues. A United Nations team investigating deadly attacks on gorillas at a world heritage site.
GORANI: It is 5 p.m. in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Noon in New York. Hello and welcome to our report, broadcast around the globe. I'm Hala Gorani.
CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy. From Baghdad to Beijing, Tokyo to Toronto, wherever you are watching, this is YOUR WORLD TODAY.
We're going to begin, of course, with a battle that still rages across the world's markets. On one side, the crisis in the United States mortgage sector dragging stocks down right across the globe.
GORANI: On the other side, central banks is pumping billions of dollars, euros, yen back into the market, trying to maintain liquidity in the face of the credit crunch.
CLANCY: All right. Let's take a look at the Big Board here. You can see it's down 65. Now that's doing a little bit better, a bit of a bounce. It opened around 140 points down. It has been down 170 points at various times during the day. Very volatile.
GORANI: All right. Analysts say it could have been worse. In fact, it almost 200 points down at one point in the session. Just before the start of trading on Wall Street, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank moved $19 billion into the market. How will this affect your portfolio? What does this mean for ordinary investors? The sector that is driving the it down now is the same one that once helped prop it up, the subprime mortgage market.
Maggie Lake explains what's behind the meltdown.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For year, the globe was awash in so-called "cheap money," that is, cash easily loaned out due to historically low interest rates. This helped to fund everything from cheap home loans to eye-popping private equity buyouts and corporate stock buybacks. Even as a number of central banks were raising interest rates to try to mop up some of this excess liquidity, the cheap cash kept flowing.
But now we are seeing a reversal. Over the past few months, there has been a tightening of credit, some individuals and companies are finding it hard to borrow money, raising concerns of a credit crunch.
So what's the worst case scenario?
CHARLES DUMAS, LOMBARD STREET RESEARCH: ... is a seize up of liquidity because people basically lose confidence in the ability to place a line of assets they may have in their portfolios. And if you can't sell something, then you can't borrow against it and you're much more reluctant to spend. And of course there are some people who are heading for the exit as fast as they can.
LAKE: The trigger for all of this turmoil is the decline in the U.S. housing market. During the housing boom, billions of dollars worth of home loans were handed out to people with poor credit histories who did not qualify for more traditional loans. These so- called subprime loans helped give families a shot at the American dream, to be able to buy a home they would otherwise be unable to afford.
But the housing market began souring in a big way last year. Low credit quality home owners were unable to pay back their loans. And that is where the trouble started. In April the level of defaults forced mortgage company New Century Financial to file for bankruptcy. In June, investors learned it was not just subprime lenders in trouble.
Wall Street giant Bear Stearns shut two hedge funds, sending shock waves through financial market. In July, rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's announced they would review and in some cases lower credit ratings on millions of dollars worth of mortgage- backed bonds.
Many investors who thought they were buying high-quality debt instead of risky mortgages were affected. On August 6th, American Home Mortgage filed for bankruptcy protection. More than 6,000 employees lost their jobs.
(on camera): Many analysts worry the fallout just beginning, because of the completion way subprime loans are packaged and sold to the public, it's not clear who is vulnerable. The U.S. Federal Reserve and Europe's Central Bank are trying to head off a broader crisis by injecting liquidity into the global financial system, but investors remain wary of just how deep a wound this subprime issue will leave.
Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: All right. We're going to survey now what you may need to know about the very human cost of these foreclosures we've been talking about. Americans losing their homes because they can no longer afford the mortgage payments.
GORANI: OK. It is happening to more and more of them. And this is really what is fuelling the anxiety in the markets. For decades, foreclosures have been a fact of life in the so-called Rust Belt, the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest in the U.S. As plants were closed and jobs moved overseas in some cases, many families packed up and left either before or after foreclosure.
CLANCY: Now the Rust Belt city of Cleveland, Ohio, still boasting the zip code with the highest number of foreclosures in the U.S. But now the crisis has moved into what was formerly seen as booming areas.
GORANI: Well, the Sun Belt, the U.S. South from California all the way to Florida, in fact, those two states come in second and third in areas suffering the most foreclosures, and that is worrying economists who see it as a result of speculative mortgages and a housing market gone south in more ways than one.
Where do we go from here is the big question? And really, for all of you watching, what to do about stock portfolios? Is it time to panic? Is it time to get scared? Susan Lisovicz joins us now live from the New York Stock Exchange.
What are experts saying about this? For all of those whose investment and maybe even retirement funds are held in stocks, what should they do? Should they worry at this point?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, there's no question about it, we're looking at a very emotional market and that's behind a lot of the incredible volatility that we've seen. There are traders who are saying that they've never seen this kind of volatility before, or they certainly haven't seen it in decades.
But fortunately for most of us, the vast majority of us, we're not trading day to day, we're getting our news day by day and hour by hour, but we are investing for the long-term. And the three major averages, the Dow, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are up for the year. The Dow, in fact, is up 6.5 percent year-to-date.
Now, of course, if we have many more of these sell-offs, it will diminish significantly. I think that what you're seeing though is fear in the marketplace and uncertainty about what more is going to come.
We're seeing now that the subprime mortgage problems are truly global. When BNP Paribas, the biggest bank in France, says that it's going to freeze three of its funds because of their exposure to subprime, you know, things have changed. But we're also seeing central banks inject all this liquidity and hundreds of billions of dollars of liquidity. And I think, Hala, what you're seeing on Wall Street is the sense that the Fed is going to step in even more and it's that going to cut rates at its next meeting or even before. And that's specifically because of what we're seeing.
President Bush has been talking about it, policy makers from the Fed have been talking about it, everybody is watching what they're seeing in the financial markets around the world and they don't like what they're seeing.
GORANI: All right. We -- just a quick question there on home prices. So much of people's perceived wealth is the value of their house. And if you're starting to see situations where the value of the home was artificially propped up because banks were lending money to people who couldn't necessarily reimburse it, what's going to happen there? What does this mean for the economy and for ordinary home owners?
LISOVICZ: Well, that's a good question. That's really one of the fears here. You know, we started seeing this trickle -- the trickling of news coming out that people who had risky mortgages couldn't make their payments, mortgages were rising, home prices were declining, credit restrictions were increasing, and you know, there was always -- we were talking about it, we have been talking about it for months. What kind of hit is it going to take on the U.S. economy?
The U.S. economy is moderating, that's what the Fed wants to see, wants to sort of slow it down, but could it go into a recession? How slow -- how big of an impact is it going to get? I can't answer that question. And there's a lot of differences of opinion as to what kind of effect it will have, but I think that's why you're seeing these unusual interventions by central banks to try to restore some order and some stability in financial markets around the world -- Hala.
GORANI: All right. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, thanks.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
CLANCY: All right. We see the Big Board down there down 46, paring some of the losses. But we're going to move now, look at some of the other stories that are making news.
GORANI: And we begin in the United Kingdom. British authorities are testing a third area for foot-in- mouth disease. Now this one outside the controlled zone where the confirmed outbreaks have occurred already. The testing is being done on farmland in Surrey. And a three kilometer temporary control zone, as it's called, has been established.
CLANCY: In U.S. presidential politic, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani still leading the pack among the Republicans. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll shows he has a firm lead over unannounced candidate Fred Thompson and the former frontrunner John McCain. GORANI: And after warming the bench since July with an ankle injury, David Beckham made his Major League Soccer debut Thursday night. Beckham played for 72 minutes in an exhibition match with FC Chelsea, Football Club Chelsea. This is the first time he has played against another MLS team. Becks' team lost, the L.A. Galaxy, lost 1-0 to D.C. United.
CLANCY: It has been four days since a mine collapse left six coal miners trapped nearly 550 meters or about 1,800 feet below the surface in the U.S. state of Utah.
GORANI: Rescue crews are getting closer to the spot where they believe the men are stranded. They have actually punched a small hole into the mine cavity and have sent a microphone down to listen for signs of life. But so far, nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT MURRAY, PRES. & CEO, MURRAY ENERGY: The fact that we have not picked up any sound, I believe, should not be interpreted as bad news. I would not make that decision and that conclusion yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CLANCY: Rescuers are now working on an enlarged hole through which they could send down food, water and they are planning to send a video camera down there that can view 360 degrees, try to find out what is going on. It's hoped that that is going to reach the miners later tonight.
GORANI: All right. Coming up on YOUR WORLD TODAY, a troubling mystery deep in the jungles of Africa.
CLANCY: That's right...
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Right now, let's get you to Emery County, Utah, where the press conference where we're getting the latest information on the trapped miners is under way right now. Let's have a listen.
RICHARD STICKLER, ASST. SECY. OF LABOR, MINE SAFETY & HEALTH: ... resources here that we can possibly think of in order to rescue these miners.
Last night, we reported to you that the two-and-a-half-inch drill hole, drilled into the mine at approximately 10:00 p.m. And that we had dropped a microphone down the inside of that drill steel, down into the mine. The drill steel has a bit on the bottom of it that has holes that is used for blowing air so there's communication between the mine environment and the inside of the drill steel.
We monitored that microphone, and up at 11:00, we reported that we had no response from any miners underground. During that time, we withdrew the miners from underground, we did that before the drill steel drilled into the mine for safety reasons. And we also shut the eight-and-five-eighths-inch drill steel down to have a quiet period so that we could monitor for any sounds coming from the underground operations.
We continue to draw air analysis from that borehole. And we took a total of three samples starting at 12:10 a.m. with a reading of 20.5 percent oxygen. At 1:15 a.m., 20.6 percent oxygen. At 1:25 a.m., we had 20.6 oxygen. So we had three air analyses that confirmed that we had approximately 20.5 percent oxygen.
After that, we saw a change in the air quality readings which gives us some indication that perhaps this two-and-a-half inch hole has drifted. On each side of the area where the miners were working, there are abandoned workings that have been sealed. We reported previously to you that we reached one of the seals on the right side, we sent a rescue team in and we took air analysis.
And the readings that we saw in this sealed area are similar to the readings that we started getting at 1:45 a.m. At 1:45 a.m., we had an oxygen reading of 7.2 percent oxygen. At 1:55 a.m., we had 7.6 percent oxygen. At 2:10 a.m., we had 7.8 percent oxygen. So we had three readings that confirmed the oxygen level. We had zero methane -- virtually zero. It was 0.01% methane. And we had 180 parts per million carbon monoxide.
These readings are very similar to what we saw in the sealed area on the right-hand side of the active area where the miners were working. So we have some indication that perhaps this drill hole has drifted and gone into the sealed area. So we made the decision to withdraw the microphone out of the borehole and to drop a survey instrument down that will survey this bore hole so that we will know the location of the bottom of the borehole.
That will tell us whether or not the borehole drilled into the active area of the mine or the sealed area of the mine. That is currently ongoing. So when we get that information, as we collect additional information and analyze that, it will give us a better idea on the next step to take.
Now there's no reason to lose hope. There are certainly possibilities that these miners are still alive because we don't know for sure where this borehole drilled in. We're trying to confirm that. We don't know a lot of things about the underground environment.
We know that when the drill steel drilled into the mine, there was a void. It appeared that it went through some material and went down onto the ground, the bottom. Now there was also change in what we were doing underground during that time, that we were taking the samples originally the drill steel was down in the loose rubble, the material.
We decided to pull the drill steel up about four feet from the bottom during the sampling process. And that tends to be consistent with the change in the numbers. But that doesn't tell us anything definite either.
So at this point, the thing it do is to continue on our plan, maintain our hope, the family members, while we're all disappointed by the information, we would have hoped to have had more positive information at this time, their spirits are still up, they still have hope. I think we all should continue to have hope.
We have no indication that there's any indication that we should not have hope. So we're going to continue to work as hard as we can, as fast as we can, doing everything we can, to achieve our goal and that is to rescue the miners.
In the meantime, we're also doing everything we can to ensure the safety of the rescue workers. And we're working very hard to be responsive to the needs of the families, to provide support for them. So those are our primary goals that we're focused on at this time.
Did you have any comments, Rob?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll just make a few quick comments, I think the -- Assistant Secretary Stickler did a -- just provided you with an excellent report as to the status of the rescue efforts. Those efforts, obviously, are going to continue. And I can assure you that the individuals involved, whether it be underground, on the surface, those that are supporting the people that are physically here on the property, everyone is giving it their all. And their attitudes are absolutely amazing.
We met with the workers last night when we pulled them out of the mine, and the men and the women that are underground working, are incredibly enthusiastic. They're hustling like you've never seen anybody hustle. And they are anxious and eager to get to their fellow miners and determine their well -being.
Again, Assistant Secretary Stickler did a great job of explaining where we're at right now. The eight-and-five-eighths-inch hole is moving and progressing fairly well. And with that hole we should have some additional flexibility relative to the types of communications devices that we can utilize to assess the status of the well-being of the miners or the conditions in the cavity that we penetrate.
And again, with the directional drilling device that we're using on this hole, it gives us a much better probability, much higher probability of hitting exactly where we have targeted to hit.
With that, I'm sure you can understand and appreciate that there's a lot going on today, we have a tremendous amount of work to do here this morning. There's a tremendous amount of activity on top of the mountain and underground, and we need to get back to work and do our jobs here.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) it appears there's a possibility you're saying that the microphone went down into the place the miners would not be?
STICKLER: That's exactly correct. And that's why we're doing the survey inside the drill steel to determine where the bottom of that hole cut into the mine.
QUESTION: What's the survey device? STICKLER: It's a survey instrument.
QUESTION: What do you mean?
(CROSSTALK)
STICKLER: I'm sorry, I don't have that kind of detail at this time. What it does is goes down and every so often, it takes coordinates, and those coordinates then are plotted and the engineers can determine exactly where that hole is located from top to bottom.
QUESTION: Can you explain why the great difference in the oxygen readings between the first time and the subsequent time?
STICKLER: I can't explain exactly why. It could have had something to do with pulling the drill steel off of the bottom. It could have been leakage and dilution in the sampling process. There are a number of possibilities for which we don't have answers at this time. We had three samples that gave the same results. So we had confirmation. And that's the best information I can tell you.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
STICKLER: No, normal oxygen is 21 percent, roughly. Once you get down to 15 percent, you start having effects and at 7.5 percent would not support life very long.
QUESTION: What causes the borehole to drift?
STICKLER: What causes the bore hole to drift? Well, as you're going down through the strata, you're going through different layers of material, and also the geology is not consistent. And that, plus the pressure of pushing down will cause the drill steel to want to bend.
The advantage of the two-and-a-half-inch hole was it was fast. The disadvantage is it's not as accurate. We can't steer it, we don't have good control over it. As Rob mentioned, the eight-and-five- eighths-inch hole has a shoe on the down hole motor, they can steer it and guide it, so we're looking for much better accuracy, and when that hole goes in, then I think we'll be able to get more information and know more about what the situation is here.
QUESTION: Barring any glitches on the big drill, what's the soonest that it would punch through?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want to speculate as to when it might punch through.
QUESTION: What's the rate?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're moving at a better rate than we were moving yesterday. And when you're talking about rates, you have to factor in, again, the mountain, you have to factor in breakdowns, and I'm not going at this time speculate. I'll tell you that we're making good progress, as the assistant secretary reported. We're plus 1,200 feet right now and we're making good progress.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) that you are going to hit the target with the big drill though? I mean, that's not really a question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a better chance of hitting our target for the directional drill, that's correct.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) with the higher oxygen readings, did you all have some faith that you had actually hit a cavity with this earlier reading and then the drill began to drift?
STICKLER: The drill would not drift after it cut into the mine. The drifting would have occurred during the drilling process. And certainly when we had over 20 percent oxygen, that was a positive sign.
QUESTION: Is it possible that there would be different oxygen levels at different -- are you saying at different heights inside the cavity that there is different readings (OFF-MIKE)
STICKLER: Yes, depending on the specific gravity, whether it's the oxygen or the other gases, they will layer, but the distance of about four feet, you know, I can't see any reason for variation in that.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we really have a lot of work to do here today, we've got a lot of critical decisions to make. I need to get back up on the hill. Thank you.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you've been listening to the assistant secretary of labor there, Kevin Strickler (ph) out of Utah -- well, I don't know how comforting this news really is except that he was kind of trying to give a synopsis of just where they are in trying to bore a hole. They're going to retrieve now the microphone that they have dropped down below to try to detect or hear any signs of life from the six miners, which they did not.
However, he says they've also be doing air analysis and over the course of the past couple of days, it has been a pretty consistent 7 percent of oxygen level, but I thought he said it would be nice if they heard or they could detect at least 15 percent in oxygen level, but the good news, no methane gas.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Just barely a 0 percent detected of methane gas there and they are currently at 1,200 feet. HARRIS: The other piece of this, Fred, that was interesting, is I think we have a better sense now of how difficult a task is ahead of them as they try to bore down. The first hole where the microphone -- the borehole, the microphone sent down into the one borehole about two-and-a-half inches, right? That's very small, you can imagine that, of course.
And then the second hole, so you send the microphone down the first borehole, it looks like that it may have shifted at some point and may not have hit its mark. There is a target here that they're trying to hit where this cavity is where they believe the miners are. And if there's any drifting at all, and it looks like that was the case with the microphone, so that may not have hit its target and so we're not getting the kind of readings, and hopefully what they were looking for is some sound of life, some proof of life, that didn't happen.
So the microphone comes out of that hole, and now you send down this piece of survey equipment, this survey instrument, I'm thinking as I hear it that maybe it's the camera that's going down in the second hole that we know. But no, just some kind of survey equipment that...
WHITFIELD: It takes coordinates.
HARRIS: Yes. To take...
WHITFIELD: So it's not really clear to me exactly what that means. It doesn't sound like a visual, but to take coordinates.
HARRIS: No, it doesn't.
WHITFIELD: I wish there was an opportunity for a little Q&A on that one so that he might be able to elaborate. However, the assistant secretary stressing they have no indication of not holding out hope. So that's bottom line. Even though progress seems to be snail's pace, they want to impress no one is losing hope. I'm trying to retrieve, get to these six miners with hope that they are still alive.
We're going to continue to monitor the developments there out of Utah. Much more when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: Hello, welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY, especially to our viewers in the United States, among the 200 countries and territories around the globe.
GORANI: That's right. Welcome, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. Here are some of the top stories we're following for you.
The Dow Jones has been see-sawing wildly. It was down almost 200 point, now all of a sudden we turn our heads and it is up almost 15 points. The Federal Reserve Bank pumped some $19 billion back into the markets. Most markets around the world were down overnight after shocks of the crises in the U.S. mortgage market, made their impact felt there.
CLANCY: Rescue crews in Utah are hoping they'll soon be able to drop a television camera down into that coal mine where six workers have been trapped since Monday. Officials reached the area with a small drill overnight. Thus far, though, workers dropped a microphone into the mine, it hasn't picked up any signs at all. But at a news conference just moments ago, officials said they have not detected methane gas down there, which is a good sign.
The United Nations has confirmed it is sending a team to the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate gruesome killings of four endangered mountain gorillas.
GORANI: Now we have photos taken from the scene in the Verunga (ph) National Park, that is where rangers found the remains of three females and an alpha male silverback in late July. Now it is unclear who killed the gorillas, or why. The U.N.'s Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, will not only --
There are the pictures. You see, there, these are the corpses of four endangered species gorillas killed.
Now the U.N will investigate the killings and also work with Congolese authorities to try as much as possible to prevent future deaths.
CLANCY: There was no apparent motive for this slaughter but poachers and rebels have target mountain gorillas in the past, certainly.
GORANI: Right. Last year, Anderson Cooper had a chance to meet the majestic creatures at the Virunga National Park. And he filed this report. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360 (voice over): After hiking for more than an hour, the rangers find a nest where a family of gorillas spent the night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bamboo shoots.
COOPER: Nearby, they find food.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are the bamboo shoots.
COOPER: Recently eaten by the gorillas. A few feet away, in a small clearing, we get our first sight of the mountain gorillas. They're playing together.
(on camera): There's nine gorillas in this group and every gorilla group is headed by an adult male called a silverback. That's the silverback, right over there, because of the distinctive coloring on his back. A fully grown silverback can weigh about 500 pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His name is Umba, we think he's about 22, 24 years of age. He's the only silverback in this group.
COOPER (voice over): Patrick Mehlman is a gorilla expert with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and Conservation International.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's just testing us. He's just testing us. It's OK. He's just trying to pass now. Just let him pass. As long as he doesn't feel like we're doing anything threatening, he'll just walk right by us as he did.
COOPER: Gorillas are highly susceptible to human diseases, so visitors are only allowed one hour with the mountain gorillas, but it's more than worth the trip.
(on camera): Visiting the mountain gorillas is probably one of the most incredible and intimate experiences you can have with an animal in the wild. When you're this close to the gorillas, when you see their eyes, you see intelligent they are and how similar they are to human beings. Each one really has a unique personality. Each one is an individual.
(Voice over): Despite the obstacles mountain gorillas still face, they are in some ways a success story. In recent year, their numbers have been slowly climbing. For other gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, so-called lowland gorillas, the picture is much bleaker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lowland gorillas have indeed suffered from the effects of the civil war, because you've had several armies and all of these armed rebel groups moving through the habitat. And there are occasions when they'll just take out their AK-47s and have target practice. That happens.
COOPER: That happens, and likely will continue to happen, until a government takes hold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that makes protecting gorillas a priority.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: All right, that was Anderson Cooper reporting there, on an earlier trip into the Congo. Joining us now is Claire Richardson, the president and chief executive officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
You were there with Anderson?
CLARE RICHARDSON, PRES, CEO, DIANE FOSEE GORILLA FUND: I was, I was there at the same time.
CLANCY: But let's make sure we know, those -- the gorillas we saw there were not the ones that have been killed now.
RICHARDSON: The ones that Anderson visited were the group right next to the group that was decimated.
CLANCY: Right, what we heard there, rebel activity has died down for the most part in that area, has it not? What could the possible motive be for someone doing this?
RICHARDSON: It's a mystery. Because there have been incidents of gorilla infant trafficking. There are rumors that go out to people who really live at a very, very poor level, that they can get a lot of money for a baby infant gorilla.
But this does not appear to be the case here. This seems to be a random and somewhat wanton slaying of four adult gorillas. It's still a mystery. There is no clear indication. I talked to our staff in Congo about a half an hour before I came here, there's still no clear indication of the perpetrators. Whether it's local people, rebels, militia, we don't know. And the Congolese authorities are mounting their own investigation.
CLANCY: But what everybody does know is the fact it's that serious. This cuts the gorilla population by, what, 1 percent? You say it's only three or four gorillas.
RICHARDSON: That's 1.6 percent of the total population --
CLANCY: And it's it, on the planet.
RICHARDSON: And, three reproducing females. So, I mean, they're loss to the future of the population is enormous. Any loss is serious, but to lose three females of reproductive age is really tough.
CLANCY: OK. We should make clear now, as you look at these, it's not that that the gorillas were staked out an killed like this. They were just shot, this was used to carry the gorillas back.
RICHARDSON: That's correct. Those are distressing pictures. But they're very heavy, you have to do that in order to get them down so that the vets can do an autopsy.
CLANCY: Now, you know, people talk about well, we can make it safer, do something to make it safer. What can be done to make it safer? Because one of the problems is, as you well know, is as the tourists go in there, these gorillas lose their fear of human beings. And that's one of the thing -- let's be honest -- that contributes to their loss.
RICHARDSON: They are habituated to the presence of humans. And that's why they are particularly vulnerable.
But the biggest issue is the lack of resources. The Congolese guards put their lives on the line everyday. They don't have enough money. What has happened now has been a really remarkable effort by all the engeers (ph) in the region, they have come together under the leadership of the Congolese national parks. They have a new leader, in the Virunga Park. His name is Director Mushenzi (ph), he seems to be very dynamic, very action oriented. We have formed a totally separate emergency bank account that the partners will feed into, and it will go directly into putting more guards into the park.
CLANCY: We should note, 150 guards killed over the past 10 years? RICHARDSON: Exactly.
CLANCY: During the civil war?
RICHARDSON: Exactly.
CLANCY: A real tragedy. If we find something out about it, that can make things safer. You have a fund name?
RICHARDSON: Have a fund. The website is gorillafund.org. If you go on and donate to the emergency for the Congo gorillas, we will make sure that money goes straight into the designated bank account in Congo.
CLANCY: All right. Claire Richardson, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to come her and visit with us a little bit, and tell us a little bit about the gorillas.
Thank you for your interest. It's a tragedy.
CLANCY: It is.
GORANI: All right. Now, moving on, a West African nation, once ravaged by civil war is starting a new chapter Saturday. That's when voters in Sierra Leone will choose leaders in a much anticipated election. It's a reason for optimism in a country that still bears the scars of a brutal 10-year conflict. Betty Nguyen explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sierra Leone is a picturesque place where West Africa meets the Atlantic Ocean. It's home to more than 5 million people, many of whom are still trying to dig themselves out of poverty.
Here in the nation's capital, children spend their days searching through piles of trash, just as the pigs do. Those lucky enough to find scrap metal will only earn a penny per pound.
Ranked the second poorest country in the world by the United Nations, the scars from a decade of civil war are still visible. Haji Jakar (ph) had his arm hacked off by rebels in 1999.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said to him -- to them -- I said, "Don't cut off my hands. Don't amputate my hands. I'm your brother." He said, "No, I'm not your brother."
NGUYEN: Amputees are a reminder that about a million people were murdered, maimed, or raped in a political game of power and intimidation.
Much of the world knows of these atrocities from the Oscar- winning movie "Blood Diamond". But what you don't see in the movie is how these amputees refused to let the rebels rob them of the political voice once the war ended in 2002.
With no hands to vote, Jakar (ph) shows us he used his toes to cast his ballot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe I will write my X.
NGUYEN: But with a new set of arms and a new presidential election on Saturday, he can't wait to vote the old-fashioned way. In fact, the enthusiasm surrounding the election has spread like fever, creating an excitement that borders on euphoria.
(on camera): Unlike the election in 2002, which came on the heels of a bloody civil war, the fear that once ruled the streets of Freetown has now been replaced by peaceful political parties, more reminiscent of a carnival. But call it what you want, it is proof that democracy is slowly taking root.
(Voice over): Opposition party supporters stopped traffic and brought businesses to a virtual standstill as thousands filled the streets dancing and singing. While they looked to the future, Stephen Rapp is focused on the past. He's the prosecutor for the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal. It is his job to go after those who bear the greatest responsibility for the war and the horrors they inflicted.
And former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor is the top prize. He is currently on trial at the Hague.
STEPHEN RAPP, SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE: But justice is a key part of all of this. If you don't have the rule of law, if you have a situation where people can come in and kidnap your daughter and make her a sex slave, chop off your son's arms, rape your wife, destroy everything you've built, you can't develop a future.
That's what happened in this country until you have a rule of law, which we're , I think, helping establish with these judgments, this country can't go forward. And that's why I think this process is so important.
NGUYEN: And justice is certainly what the people of Sierra Leone deserve after suffering for so long. But for now, they'll have to find peace of mind knowing that political change is on the horizon, and the choice is theirs to make. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, Betty Nguyen, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CLANCY: Well, cramming for a competition pays off big time.
GORANI: It does. Coming up, three teens from Mexico dethrone the reigning champions at an international geography bee. That's a live look at the new champions. We'll be speaking to the new title holders after this.
CLANCY: Setting up for a tricky movement in the up in orbit. The crew of the Shuttle Endeavour approaching the International Space Station.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. You're watching YOUR WORLD TODAY on CNN International.
CLANCY: We're seen live in more than 200 countries and territories all around the globe.
Now, let's check one of the questions in a competition that was held yesterday in San Diego. In 1728, and again in 1741, Bering's voyages departed from what large peninsula?
GORANI: What's the answer?
CLANCY: Why it just rolls off the tongue.
GORANI: I say rolls off the tongue. I know the answer to this question, I've known it since -- I was born knowing it. All right. No, no, no, we're going to ask our guests. These are the winners of the National Geographic Geography Bee, I guess is what it's called. Right? The trio of Mexicans, Emanuel Johansen, Angel Alisega-Alonso, were two of the winners.
Congratulations to you both.
UNIDENTIFIED MALES, TOGTHER: Thank you very much.
CLANCY: Great to have you with us. Let me just begin. Do you guys know when Bering set out, where he set out from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, we didn't understand.
CLANCY: You weren't listening. It was the Kamchatka (ph) Peninsula.
Don't worry, I wouldn't have even gotten close to it, would you?
GORANI: I was having issues even understanding the question. That's all right.
You were the two winners, what was the winning question? What was the winning answer? And how did you feel when you won? You dethroned the champions, essentially.
ANGEL ALISEGA-ALONSO, MEXICO TEAM CAPTAIN: Well, the winning question was, like a temple built of stone and -- our (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or our government and the answer was in Abu Simbal (ph), in Egypt.
GORANI: OK.
ALISEGA-ALONSO: And when we won, we felt like very excited.
EMANUEL JOHANSEN, MEXICO TEAM MEMBER: We never expected to be in the finals of this contest. So that was really exciting.
CLANCY: You know, you guys -- you study geography.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
CLANCY: Are there places you read about. Where would you like to go most in the world. Angel, you first?
ALISEGA-ALONSO: I would like to go to Europe. I was there once, but I would like to come back. I would like to go to England and Asia, maybe.
JOHANSEN: Well, I think --
CLANCY: Emmanuel?
JOHANSEN: Yeah, I think all the world is wonderful, so I would like to travel all around the world. But I like U.K. a lot.
ALISEGA-ALONSO: Me, too.
GORANI: What was it like competing against the other teams? Were there any questions that you missed, for instance? And that after you didn't find the answer or didn't come up with the answer, you were just really upset with yourselves?
ALISEGA-ALONSO: Yes, there was like two rounds like the individual ones that we couldn't answer the questions, so we were like kind of nervous.
JOHANSEN: Yeah.
ALISEGA-ALONSO: Because the other teams were very, very strong.
GORANI: What question was that, Angel?
ALISEGA-ALONSO: I can't remember now, sorry.
GORANI: Good. Just block it out of your mind.
ALISEGA-ALONSO: Yeah.
GORANI: All right, and so what was it like competing with these other teams then? The other teams that maybe they had -- they were stronger in some areas that you weren't strong in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so. We can study one area of the geography, but they were like strong in other areas. And well, the United States team is very, very strong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
CLANCY: Let me ask you this. What would you tell young people, what's the reward for studying geography? Like you've won this geography bee, you came up to Sea World. You dethroned the United States, take home the prize, the championship to Mexico, what have you gotten out of it really?
ALISEGA-ALONSO: Well, I think that the most exciting prize is -- well, this is the first time that Mexico wins, so we feel very excited. And I think that the geography is very interesting subject so everybody wants -- I don't know, it's like you must know where you are. And where are the other countries and cultures, I think that's very important, too.
GORANI: OK. Emmanuel Johansen and Angel Alisega-Alonso, again, congratulations.
CLANCY: Congratulations to both of you. And I hope that your dreams take you right around the world wherever you want to go.
ALISEGA-ALONSO: Thank you very much.
Speaking of going around the world, the International Space Station, prepare to be boarded.
GORANI: Well, NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour is getting ready to snuggle up to its temporary new home, we will be live in space after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CLANCY: A spectacular picture from space. This is being taken by the International Space Station. As you see, the Space Shuttle Endeavour there with its cargo bay doors open, it's getting into position, about an hour from now, to begin the whole docking procedure. It's just a few dozen meters from the International Space Station.
Shuttle commander Scott Kelly is going to be sending Endeavour into a backflip before it begins that dock with its temporary new home. The backflip isn't just to show off Kelly's maneuvering skills. Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien joining us now from Washington.
He gives a little bit better explanation of what's going on there, Miles. It is a great picture.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: It is a spectacular picture. Take a look at that. That Space Shuttle Endeavour, about 200 meters, 600 feet, away from the International Space Station.
Let me show you what's in the payload bay, so to speak. This the space hab cargo module, which has a bunch of supplies and equipment for the space station. If you look further down, that's the truss. The S-5 truss which they'll install on the backbone of the space station tomorrow. A couple of spacewalkers heading out for that. And that's an external stowage platform, has some additional tools and equipment, which they'll stow on a later spacewalk as well.
This high-flying maneuver we watched looking down at the earth at space shuttle from the International Space Station, is all about -- well, certainly it's a thrill for us -- but that's not what it's about. It's about giving the space station crew an opportunity to take some high resolution photographs of the belly, the heat shield, of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
This is one of the changes in the shuttle program, post-Columbia, the loss of the Columbia orbiter, of course, after its heat shield was breached shortly after launch. They want to make sure the heat shield is completely intact before they come back home. Take a look at this animation. We'll show what you they're going do. Scott Kelly, the commander at the controls, 200 meter, 600 below, will do this. This is greatly sped up. It's a 10-minute procedure. Oleg Kotoff (ph) and Fredero Kuchikin (ph), the two Russian crew members on there, will take out a 400 millimeter lens and an 800 millimeter lens, and they'll dash off 300 or 400 pictures, as quickly as they can. And they'll beam those back down to Mission Control in Houston.
And they will just pour over those photographs to make sure the heat shield is just fine and dandy. The docking will occur about an hour from now. And then they'll be off to the races on their mission. If all goes well, they're going to plug into the International Space Station this time, it's a new idea, it should extend this mission from a minimum of 11 days now to a full 14 days.
Barbara Morgan is on board, Jim, as you know, the teacher-turned- astronaut. She was the understudy to Christa McAuliffe back in 1996, she was there, watched the Challenger explode, with all of us. Stayed with NASA and the program, there was tremendous perseverance through it all. And has by all accounts, and just looking at her, seems to have adapted well to space. She had a few words, yesterday, she sent down to Earth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA MORGAN, ASTRONAUT TEACHER: When you first get into orbit, it takes a little getting used to. And all of yesterday, even though I kept my head upright, so it looked like a normal ceiling, a normal floor, and normal walls, I felt like I was upside-down the whole time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Yeah, sometimes I feel that way, too, Jim, but I don't have an excuse for being in space. Back to you.
CLANCY: Are they capable of making the repairs to the heat shield if it's needed?
O'BRIEN: This is the interesting thing. They have some rudimentary repair capabilities. But depending on how serious things are, they may make a decision just to stay at the space station. You recall on the last mission, they had a little thermal blanket that peeled back. They actually went out there, with a surgical staples and stapled it back down, so they have proven they can make repairs.
CLANCY: Miles O'Brien, following the events going on out in orbit. As always, Miles, thanks for being with us.
That has to be it for this hour. I'm Jim Clancy.
I'm Hala Gorani. Stay with CNN, a lot more ahead after a very short break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
