Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Outrage Spreads Across the Arab World; U.S.; Libya Promise to Hunt Killers; Labor Unrest Continues to Sweep Across South Africa's Mining Sector; Somalian President Survives Assassination Attempt After Two Days on the Job

Aired September 13, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I looked at that -- at the text of his speech at the convention. I expected there to be some new ideas in there. There are no new ideas.

He's got -- he's out of ideas, he's out of excuses and we are going to make sure in November you put him out of office.

(APPLAUSE)

Now there are five things, there are five things in my plan that will get America working again and keep it so strong we can have a military that's second to none in the world. And let me tell you what those five things are. You may have heard them before but if you haven't, you've got to memorize them. I'm kidding.

Number one, number one, we have an ace in the hole. We have a chance -- we have a special advantage --

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You're listening to Mitt Romney out of Fairfax, Virginia, trying to give a moment of silence to the crowd there on the campaign trail for the four who lost their lives in the consulate, the U.S. consulate in Libya. A heckler prevented him from doing so but certainly making a turn, if you will, a pivot from the kind of tone he took before when -- actually criticizing President Obama and his handling of what has taken place.

I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Of course, we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes.

Here's what's going on right now:

The anger is spreading fast since the attacks on the U.S. consulate at Libya that happened on the anniversary of September 11th. We are now seeing protests and violence in the streets in several countries.

So, we're talking about Egypt, Yemen, Iran, Israel. It doesn't even stop there.

This morning, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Muslims everywhere that the United States had nothing to do with the YouTube video that seems to have sparked the violent protests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Egypt is where the latest violence against the U.S. started. Egypt may be where the U.S. faces its biggest challenges. You've got angry crowds protesting for a third day over a film that insults Islam.

Now, demonstrators -- they threw rocks and Molotov cocktails, pushed through the barbed wire fencing outside. This is all outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo. And police responded by firing tear gas. You can see that happening there.

Ian Lee, he's joining us from the Egyptian capital.

Ian, this is three days that you've got these kind of demonstrations. First of all, do we expect that Friday, on a day of prayer, it's going to be much, much bigger and more violent?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's definitely going to be a lot bigger, Suzanne Malveaux. The Muslim Brotherhood is calling for mass demonstrations in Egypt. They're calling for peaceful demonstrations and they are encouraging the people to stay away from the U.S. embassy.

But usually on Fridays, we see a lot of people when there are calls like this going to Tahrir Square.

MALVEAUX: Right.

LEE: We have right now, if you can see behind me, we have people who are battling with the police in the square, so it's likely if they were to join in the square and these battles continue, we might see a larger confrontation tomorrow.

MALVEAUX: Ian, tell us what you're seeing and what you're hearing. It sounded like gunshots behind you. But describe the scene. What is it like in Tahrir Square?

LEE: Well, it's really this road that leads from Tahrir Square to the U.S. embassy. If you should just heard that --

MALVEAUX: Ian, can you tell us what those sounds are?

LEE: Those are -- yes, those are tear gas canisters that are being fired. There's volley after volley of tear gas.

Really when you look at the numbers of protesters of police, the protesters outnumber the police it looks like 10 to one. So the police really have just the tear gas to kind of keep the protesters at bay because they're vastly outnumbered and they're really -- they don't seem to have the equipment they need to really put down or contain or move out these protesters further away from the embassy, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Ian, we had talked to somebody, an Egyptian who's a journalist who was on the ground there who was too afraid to go into Tahrir Square saying essentially she feared for her safety.

What is it like down there? Is it dangerous?

LEE: Well, I was just down there a little while ago and it is very dangerous. You know, you have flying tear gas canisters, you have flying rocks, at times you have Molotov cocktails and you also have a very energized, disenfranchised youth who are down there, who are very angry and they're going at these police, while the police are shooting tear gas at them, they're still running up at the police throwing rocks and everything. Very energized, very angry youth down there.

MALVEAUX: And, Ian, let's be clear here. Who are they angry with? Are they angry with Americans? Are they angry about this anti-Muslim film?

Or are these young people who are angry pause they're out of work, because their government is not working for them? What are they protesting?

LEE: Well, on the surface it is a mix between the film and angry at America. You hear them chanting, you hear them chanting slogans against the United States, but you also hear them chanting slogans against the video. So it is a mix of both. They're associating this film with the United States.

But if you do talk to Egyptians around the square who will tell you they're against what they're seeing, they say this is not what they want for Egypt, they want stability and this does not bring stability. And they tell us -- the people we're seeing in the square right now are unemployed youth that really have no jobs, and nothing else to do. So that's why they're gathering in the square and attacking the police.

MALVEAUX: All right. Ian Lee, thank you so much.

We want to go to Libya now. Sources tracking militant Islamic groups in the eastern part of the country, they say the attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was most likely carried out by a pro-al Qaeda group.

Jomana Karadsheh has the latest from Tripoli.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN REPORTER: As it becomes more apparent that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was a pre-planned coordinated attack carried out by Islamist radical groups, militants operating in the eastern part of the country, the big question is what will the Libyan government do next? We heard strong words of condemnation coming out of Tripoli, here. The president of the General National Congress, that is the Libyan parliament, yesterday saying they will not allow the youth of Libya and this territory by these groups to stage attacks against Western targets.

But the big question is will they actually do anything beyond these words? We have seen attacks in recent months targeting Western interests in and around the city of Benghazi, but little was done to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, although the government now is vowing that they will bring those responsible for Tuesday's attack to justice.

But the government does know who these groups are, they're aware of their presence in and around the city of Benghazi. These are groups that are linked to al Qaeda. These are extremist militant groups that are known to have bases around in the eastern part of the country.

There will be no doubt a lot of pressure from the United States on Libyan authorities here to take firm action against these groups. Also a lot of pressure on the people here in Libya, who say -- most of them who say they do not accept what these groups are doing and they are a threat not only to Western interests here but also to the people of Libya and the future of this fragile nation.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Tripoli.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Jomana just mentioned Libya and U.S. authorities are searching for a pro-al Qaeda group they say is responsible for the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Now, they believe it's the same group that attacked the U.S. consulate and office for the International Red Cross in Benghazi only a few months ago.

Our CNN national security analyst, Peter Bergen, he's joining us from London.

And, Peter, you have reported on al Qaeda extensively. You have even interviewed Osama bin Laden back in 1997.

What do we know about this particular group in Libya and in the eastern part of Libya and their association with al Qaeda?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, one way to answer that question, Suzanne, in 2007, the U.S. military recovered a trove of documents in Iraq, basically the sort of Rosetta stone of al Qaeda in Iraq. And when they looked at these documents and analyzed them, they found that 40 percent of the foreign fighters coming into Iraq were coming from Libya, which was kind of an unexpected thing to find.

And so, historically, Libya has provided quite a lot of suicide attackers to al Qaeda, and the group that is sort of deemed to be behind this attack is probably one of these sort of splinter groups from al Qaeda central.

MALVEAUX: How strong is their presence there in Libya? And who leads them, do we know?

BERGEN: You know -- I mean, there's a sort of umbrella group, according to the Libyan -- former Libyan jihadist, Noman Benotman, called Ansar al-Sharia, which basically means "supporters of Sharia". I think a lot of this is relatively secretive. This is not obviously an organization that operates in a very overt manner.

My guess is that, you know, we're talking about a few hundred people at most. It doesn't represent the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who were taking up arms against Gadhafi. They have -- as the reporter in Libya indicated, being able to do some attacks on Western targets. My guess is they're going to come under extreme pressure right now.

MALVEAUX: Peter, I want to show our audience really the pattern here of what we have seen in the past here. We are talking about protests breaking out and we've seen the same kind of reaction from some of these incidents that have offended Muslims.

Back in 1998 there was a fatwa that was issued against Salman Rushdie for writing Satanic verses.

You have in 2005, allegations of Korans being desecrated at Guantanamo Bay. 2005 also, the Danish cartoonists received the death threats for creating this controversial cartoon as Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban with a bomb in it.

And 2011, Muslims in Afghanistan rioting after Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, burned a Koran.

And then most recently, 2012, protests in Afghanistan after U.S. troops burn Korans used by Taliban prisoners.

In the United States, you have free speech and you've got hate speech. In this case, there seems to be no room for interpretation.

Why are we seeing the kind of violent response and violent reaction to these incidents? Explain that to us.

BERGEN: Well, I have a piece which just came out on CNN.com which examines this history a little bit. I mean, one point that I think is important is that extremists on both sides have tended to amplify -- obviously Muslims around the world are -- you know, denigrations of the Prophet Muhammad they are very sensitive about.

But, often, there's -- you know, a particular Muslim extremist group will take a particular incident, for instance, you mentioned the Danish cartoons that came out in 2005. Well, it took four months for there really to be protests. A group of two Danish clerics went around the Middle East essentially amping up this problem and this issue and in fact really exaggerating it because they included pictures of the Prophet Muhammad in this dossier they had presented which was not being part of the original Danish cartoon package.

That's just one example of many where Muslim extremists or, I mean, even Muslim political leaders use this for political gain. On the other side, you have people like Terry Jones in Florida, the pastor, who is obviously using this for his own advantage and amplifying the problem by his actions and statements.

MALVEAUX: All right. Peter Bergen, thank you so much. Appreciate your perspective, as always.

President Obama no longer willing to call Egypt an American ally. We're going to tell you why there is so much tension now between Cairo and the White House, and what it means for the future of the country with the largest population in the Arab world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Demonstrators target the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and another day of protests over an anti-Muslim film. Well, the violence highlights this fragile relationship between the United States and now this new Egyptian government. It's a relationship that has huge implications throughout the region.

I want to bring in Hala Gorani of CNN International to talk a little about this.

And, Hala, first of all, I want you to hear what President Obama said in describing the relationship now between Egypt and the United States. This is a Telemundo interview that aired on MSNBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I don't think that we would consider them an ally but we don't consider them an enemy. I think it's still a work in progress. But certainly in this situation, what we're going to expect that they are responsive to our insistence that our embassy is protected, our personnel is protected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Hala, when I heard that, I mean, that's an extraordinary statement there, because that is something that, you know, our relationship, the United States' relationship with Egypt has been really one of our strongest allies in the region for decades now, even if it was under a dictator. What does this mean when we se these violence on the streets, when we see this storming of the U.S. embassy, and now, the president saying this is a work in progress.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: This is a big change in the rhetoric from the United States and it's underlined also by the read-out of the phone call we got from the White House between, Suzanne, President Obama and President Morsi. This is the first big test for the United States with an elected Islamist president.

There was a lot of criticism that President Morsi of Egypt condemned the film before he condemned the violence and the attackers who stormed the U.S. embassy in Cairo. As we've been seeing over the last few days, this violence is ongoing. Now, if I look at the readout and there's a big difference between the readout of the president's call with the Libyan president versus the Egyptian president. The Egyptian president, here we have President Obama underscored the importance of Egypt following through on its commitment to cooperate with the United States in securing diplomatic facilities. As far as the Libyan president's phone call with President Obama, President Obama said he expressed his appreciation for cooperation with the Libyan government.

So there you have two different relationships developing. But the most important one is still with Egypt. Egypt is by far the most important Arab country. It is one that the United States needs as far as Israel is concerned. What happens in Egypt tends to have an impact on what happens in other countries.

So, this is really going to be the big test for the United States now going forward. This relationship is a work in progress, the president said. I think many Egyptians would tell you that their own president is a work in progress. Everything is new here, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: I want our viewers to understand what this relationship is, how significant this is. Egypt has the largest population in the Arab world. It was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid, gets $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year.

There is a lot at stake here. Who stands to lose the most if this thing deteriorates?

GORANI: Look, at this point, President Morsi is making a political calculation, just as U.S. politicians make political calculations when they make public statements. In the case of Morsi, he believes that this is working for him domestically, not to appear too close to the United States, to automatically condemn the film before condemning the violence against the U.S. embassy, that this is something that is going to play well at home.

But I think what people need to understand is where this violence comes from. It's so much more than violence surrounding a film that probably most of the people in the streets of Cairo haven't even seen. It's a lot about political and economic frustration.

You look at the average sort of profile of the protester -- young, probably out of work, some of them are football hooligans. This is a post-revolutionary period where everything is chaotic and you're going to have these expressions of anger that are attached to random events. And then because the conditions are the same in other countries of the Arab Spring, the same type of violence erupts elsewhere.

The question is going to be how to contain it and the answer is probably economic, but also political participation. Everything needs to settle down at this point.

MALVEAUX: And what's interesting too, Hala, is when you talk about the economics of all of this on the Hill, Capitol Hill, there are members of Congress who are really saying, look, should the United States be giving that kind of aid, that kind of money to Egypt now when you look at the instability of that country. It will be fascinating to see how that kind of spills out -- whether or not those folks who are on the streets are getting jobs, or getting assistance or help.

GORANI: And just one point. Youth unemployment in Egypt, just to put it in perspective, is 25 percent, according to many accounts.

MALVEAUX: Right.

GORANI: But that's an underestimate here because it doesn't account for underemployment, which brings you to 50 percent.

MALVEAUX: Wow, all right. Hala Gorani, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Saudi Arabia is weighing in on the violence that is now sweeping through the region. The country's official news agency published a statement, it was just a short time ago, saying this, that the country "denounces the violent reactions that took place in a number of countries against American interests, and the irresponsible group in the United States for producing a film that insults the Prophet Muhammad."

The statement also offers condolences to the United States and the victims of the attacks.

The U.S. made -- it's possible that Libyans, of course, they are trying to get rid of a dictator, so why is there so much anti- Americanism that is spreading? Well, we're going to talk about that and Libya, what it's like after Gadhafi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: U.S. embassy in Cairo is surrounded by angry protesters. Many of them scattered today when police showed up in armored cars and fired tear gas.

This is Tehran today. This is a loud crowd of students gathered at the Swiss embassy that represents American interests in Iran. They are shouting their anger at the United States.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MALVEAUX: And this is the U.S. embassy in the capital of Yemen. People set cars on fire, climbed the walls, destroying everything they could. And, of course, the most devastating in Libya, a consulate protest this weekend ended with a rocket attack that killed the American ambassador.

Public outrage against the U.S. especially in Arab countries is soaring this week. I want to bring in Michael Holmes from CNN International to put this in perspective here.

There's a wide area that seems than spreading and this is bubbling just underneath the surface. Is there a commonality here among all these different countries? MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: No, they're all different but this movie was the catalyst, if you like. That brought out a lot of people on the street.

I think Hala made an important point. You know, there are others who are latching on to this movie and the protest of this movie to make other points. In Egypt, there are anti-Morsi people out on the street. There are people angry about the economy.

In Yemen, you had supporters of the previous president out there, Saleh out there.

How did those people get to the U.S. embassy in Sana'a? That was extraordinary to me. It was one of the most heavily defended buildings in the country. You have a map of the countries we're talking about there.

But, you know, there were people in Libya, the Islamists in Libya, there were others who were latching on to that movie. That movie was the catalyst and just helped everything erupt the same way that the Arab Spring went bap bang, bang, bang.

MALVEAUX: I want to bring back that map, so we can just get a sense of, really, how wide this. All those different countries that involved, we see these anti-American protests. I want to get to the bottom of this.

Is it really anti-American that people are expressing their feelings or is it dissatisfaction within their own government? Is it just letting off some steam here? Is it about this movie?

Does it have anything to do when you look at the wide area of anti- American sentiment, does that really express it? Is that accurate?

HOLMES: Well, it is accurate. I think, as I said, it's a little bit of all of the things that you described. The movie started it off. There are local issues involved that people are angry about with their own leaders, but there also is an anti-American sentiment in the region.

You know, American influence in the region has been on the wane, let's face it, for some time now. And people in the region, for example, they know we used to back these dictators that were overthrown by the Arab Spring. People remember that. They know that we backed Mubarak and other regimes.

MALVEAUX: But we also backed the revolution. I mean, that's something --

HOLMES: Well, Libya is a different angle.

MALVEAUX: Take a look at those different countries, I mean, that we were a part of actually helping the rebels liberate themselves from those dictators. This is a very small group?

HOLMES: Yes, in Libya it is. I mean, Libyans are very pro-American. You know, I spent nearly three weeks with the rebels when Nafusa Mountains, we came down off the mountains and across the plains and liberated all these plains.

They loved us being there. They were praising the Americans. They had American flags. They had cavalry flags as well and French flags.

They like us, all right? This is a small group that did this in Benghazi. We don't even know who it is. Were they al Qaeda linked were they the militias.

I always talk about the militias when we come back to talking about Libya, because these guys who got together to overthrow Gadhafi are now running various parts of the country themselves. That's created a vacuum where extremists can operate.

You know, the transitional government had to use these people for security in these various areas, but now they have morphed into self- governing mini armies around the place. There's a term the Somalization of Libya.

We talked about Somalia, which is a group of little...run by different -- Libya could become that. That creates instability in the whole Maghreb area. You're talking about other countries worried about that as well.

MALVEAUX: Michael, you actually warned us about this, I remember, because you and I have been talking about this quite a bit and you said all those guys and those the trucks, armed, the militia groups and who knows what's going to happen in that power vacuum. So we are actually seeing what could possibly happen.

Got to leave it there.

HOLMES: It hasn't gone away.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you.

It's a new rise of anti-American sentiment that's stronger in some countries than others. So far, the violence protesting an online film has not spread to Afghanistan. That's where we want to go live here.

Anna Coren, she's in Kabul.

And, Anna, first of all, President Karzai did a couple of things to try to quell the possibility of violence there. He cut of access to YouTube. Everybody noticed that and then also denounced the film that is considered very offensive to Muslims.

Has that worked?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, I think the general Afghani population are not yet aware of this video, which is quite interesting, considering we are seeing this unrest unfold throughout Libya, Egypt and now Yemen.

But there is real concern that this could develop into real protests here tomorrow after Friday prayers. And that's, of course, when the Muslims go to the mosques and the imams. Some may talk about this video, some may talk about the unrest that is unfolding. And from there we could see a wave of protests.

Now, the reason there is such great concern in Afghanistan about what could take place tomorrow is because of what took place last year, back in March when Pastor Terry Jones burnt the Koran. As a result of that, violence really sparked across the country. Seven U.N. workers were killed, six civilians were also killed, 90 were injured.

So that is what we could potentially see her tomorrow without being alarmist, but that is the real possibility and President Karzai is extremely concerned.

MALVEAUX: And I was just, about a year ago, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I was in Kabul when the U.S. embassy came under attack as well as the international NATO headquarters. Terrorists used this abandoned building, essentially, that was within eyesight of the embassy to launch their attack. This was a firefight that lasted on the ground almost 24 hours here. And, you know, it was suspect expected that there could be something on the anniversary of September 11. I know there's a lot of nervousness and concern now. What kind of security are they setting up around the U.S. embassy as well as the NATO, the international forces?

COREN: Well, Suzanne, earlier today we went and spoke to the U.S. ambassador, James Cunningham, about obviously what took place in Libya and the security measures that they are now taking to ensure that he, who of course is a target for the Taliban and al Qaeda, and his staff, are safe. He said they are always under threat, as you would know having reported here last year when that siege took place. But he said that he has real concerns about how tomorrow could unfold. I think we have a clip from that interview that we'd like to play. Let's have a listen at what the ambassador had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CUNNINGHAM, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN: After this, I'm going to be issuing a statement condemning the video and the violence that's taken place already and urging the people of Afghanistan, although they're offended by this, not to react with violence. This is not worth human lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: And that is the real message: "This is not worth dying for." President Obama spoke to President Karzai last night and he called for calm. He obviously doesn't want this situation to exacerbate, for the situation to spread to Afghanistan.

MALVEAUX: All right. Anna Coren, thank you very much. We'll be watching very closely to see how that all develops in the next 24 hours.

Despite the violence we're seeing on the streets, the extremists in Libya hardly represent the majority of those living there. We'll talk to one Libyan-American about what all of this means for a country that is still rebuilding after civil war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We've got some breaking news out of Washington. The Federal Reserve announcing a stimulus, a new stimulus. I want to bring in our Ali Velshi to help explain what this means here. Ali, what do we know?

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: This is the QE3, Suzanne, that we've been talking about. The Federal Reserve has announced three key things. First of all, they are going to keep interest rates in that 0 to 1/4 percent band and that means the prime rate sits about 3 percent higher than that. And if you've got a rate that moves around with the prime rate, your interest rates are staying low. They are now pledging to keep interest rates in the United States low until mid-2015. A month ago, we had heard that they were going to keep them low until the end of 2014, so now we know we are going to have low itnerest rates until the middle of 2015.

Here's the part that's important to people who are looking for that stimulus, the QE3. That is the third round of quantitative easing. The Federal Reserve is going to buy bonds, mortgage-backed securities, from banks at a rate of $40 billion a month. They are going to put $40 billion a month back into the economy with the hopes that those banks, those people who held those bonds, now have cash, they will circulate that cash into the economy. They'll be -- they'll lower their lending standards to businesses and people; rates will stay low; and people will take advantage of this cheap money to expand their businesses, to buy things, to spend. That's the hope in this decision.

So these are the important points of the decision. This is the third round of quantitative easing that the market has been looking for. Forty billion dollars a month. And, by the way, Suzanne, no expiration date. They said they're going to do this until they see some result.

MALVEAUX: Why do they think this is important? Why do they think this is necessary?

VELSHI: Well, a couple of reasons. One is that we haven't seen enough movement on the political side of things. So this shouldn't necessarily be the Fed's job to deal with this, but they see unemployment not budging enough, jobs not growing fast enough, so there are different ways to stimulate an economy and one of them is for the Federal Reserve, which has the ability to print money, to put money into the economy, to take bonds that people are holding.

So imagine if you're a bondholder, you know you've got an asset worth value but it's not cash. You can't buy something with your bond. So the Federal Reserve is saying, "Give us your bonds; we'll give you money." That's what they're saying to the banks. And the hope is, doesn't always work, but the hope is the banks will have all this extra money and say, "We're sitting on way too much money. We can make money if we lend this out to people." And they will lend it out. Ultimately, Suzanne, businesses have to think there is demand for their product or service to want to take a loan, but there's some sense that if you make it easier for businesses to get these loans, it will stimulate the economy. That will employ people, that'll create growth - it'll make things better.

MALVEAUX: And we're seeing the Dow Jones going up by 33 points or so. How is the market expected to react to this?

VELSHI: Well, it's interesting. The Dow was only up about 15 points before the announcement. It soared. It was up over 100 points as people were reading it and the in about amount of time it would take to read the statement from the Fed, the market started to go back down again and now you're seeing it settle. So who knows? People of digesting this.

Bottom line is markets have been very, very strong lately (A) in anticipation that this is happening, so this might be an example of "buy on the rumor, sell on the news". This is what the market wanted. But it's probably priced into the market, so who knows what happens. You know, as you know, the market is entirely disconnected from the rest of the economy right now.

MALVEAUX: All right. Ali Velshi, thanks for breaking it down. Appreciate it.

Americans and Libyans are expressing outrage today over the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Four U.S. staffers, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed when an armed mob stormed the complex on Tuesday. Well, Libyan and U.S. officials suspect a small group of jihadists are responsible and they believe the attack was not connected to a protest over an online movie ridiculing Muslims.

Joining us from New York, Libyan-American writer and activist, Najla Abdurrahman. Najila, first of all, your family is there in Libya. You've been talking to them. What are they telling you about what is taking place there?

NAJILA ABDURRAHMAN, LIBYAN-AMERICAN ACTIVIST & WRITER: Well, everybody so far has expressed absolute condemnation, grief, over what happened. Ambassador Stevens was well respected and well liked in Libya and everybody is just stunned about what happened. I'm keen to emphasize that this attack in no way represents Libyan sentiments or feelings towards the Americans or towards the American government.

MALVEAUX: Is your family afraid of what is taking place there? When we see these pictures, it looks very violent. I know it's a very small group, but it does look rather frightening and alarming, what's taking place there. How does your family feel about it?

ABDURRAHMAN: Well, generally they feel pretty safe. They're in Tripoli at the moment. It's interesting because when you're actually in Libya, and I just got back from spending three months there, on a day-to-day basis, you feel quite safe. However, things like this underscore the security situation is actually a lot more tenuous than people can be deceived into believing and that the government needs to gain control over these various groups.

MALVEAUX: Would you say that in Libya, amongst the people there, that Americans are well liked?

ABDURRAHMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely, no question. I mean people came out into the streets yesterday in Tripoli and Benghazi to demonstrate and to emphasize that they reject wholeheartedly what happened, that this doesn't represent their values and that they appreciate what Ambassador Stevens was doing for Libya and they appreciate American support in the region or in the country.

MALVEAUX: Does your family feel like they have the power to speak out, to speak publicly in support of Americans, in support of the ambassador, in light of this group that went after him?

ABDURRAHMAN: Absolutely, because this group represents the fringe of Libyan society. I mean, when you're speaking about numbers, it's almost negligible. The problem is they're vocal and they're dangerous and it's not even clear who these people actually are. But I can't emphasize enough, this is not just an American problem, this is a Libyan problem. This is something that we've been dealing with in Libya, these sort of fringe groups who use violence to impose their own attitudes or their own beliefs on Libyan society. I mean, it's been happening over the last few weeks with the destruction of the mosques and the tombs throughout Libya, which has been universally condemned. So it's not just an American problem; it's a Libyan problem too.

MALVEAUX: And, Najila, I understand that you actually had a chance to meet the ambassador several times, that you got a chance to know him. Can you tell us what he was like?

ABDURRAHMAN: I had the chance to meet him on a couple of occasions, to speak with him very briefly. He was a kind man. He was very warm, very affable. He was known in Libya for liking to go out and mix with the people and talk to ordinary Libyans. He used to walk around Tripoli alone or with one other person and it was kind of a point of pride that he could do that. And so it just makes it all the more devastating that this happened.

MALVEAUX: What do you say to people here who obviously look at the United States and their efforts to help the Libyan people get rid of Gadhafi, to liberate their country, and see what is taking place now, that these four Americans were killed and you say it was a small group. But what do you say to them who think, "Why do we get involved? Was that even worth it?"

ABDURRAHMAN: We apologize. I mean, the President of the Congress apologized, several government officials apologized. Frankly, this was a failure of the Libyan security to protect guests on Libyan soil. And so there is no excuse for what happened.

MALVEAUX: Najila, we wish your family safety and good will and we appreciate your coming on. Thank you very much.

Strikes are sweeping across South Africa as miners stand up after a massacre.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEUAX: Labor unrest still sweeping across South Africa's mining sector at both platinum and gold mines. Workers are still on strike. They are blocking entrances to mining shafts; they're holding up production as well. As Errol Barnett shows, they are upset about more than just their pay.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERROL BARNETT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Scenes like this, thousands of mine workers walking off the job and demanding higher wages, are become much more common.

(voice-over): Unrest in South Africa is growing after violence was witnessed among striking workers at the London platinum mine last month. Forty-four people were killed in clashes with police there, a scene that evoked painful memories of apartheid rule. Negotiations are underway to end the platinum strike, but people at other mines are refusing to work.

(on camera): Now mass protests are being seen at gold mines. Take a look in the distance here. That mining shaft won't be lowering any workers to their jobs today because for the second straight day, gold fields, where I am now, has halted production. Now, they are the world's fourth -largest producer of gold bullion, but still the workers want higher wages, and they have gathered in this stadium to hear one person speak, the expelled leader of the ANC Youth League.

(voice-over): Julius Malema lost his recent government position after he was accused of, quote, "sowing divisions within the ANC." He's become a vocal critic of the ruling party, particularly in light of the wage disputes.

JULIUS MALEMA, FORMER ANC YOUTH LEAGUE LEADER: How can you expect your leader to represent you? I know they have never come into contact with you like this.

BARNETT (on camera): Just look around and listen. Julius Malema has an eager crowd in these miners. They, like thousands of others, are unhappy with the performance of their unions. And Julius actually just invoked an apartheid-era strategy. He's encouraging these miners to take their strike nationally, to make mines here ungovernable, he says, until their demands are met.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very...because I'm working in underground.

BARNETT: Tuchus Anin Makase (ph), like many of the workers, is upset with his union, complaining it's too closely aligned with the government and more focused on labor stability than the higher wages he's demanding. He says after 18 years working at Gold Fields Mine, he still only makes $600 per month. That's less than $9,000 a year. Like everyone else, he's calling for an $18,000 annual salary.

The unions maintain they always negotiate in good faith and fairly represent the rights of workers. Meanwhile, Gold Fields says it's committed to resolve any grievances with workers through existing negotiating structures, urging employees to follow that process.

But workers like Tuchus Anin say that that process just isn't working. And instead, they're listening to a boisterous young voice aiming to bring the mining industry to its knees.

Errol Barnett, CNN, Johannesburg, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: He's only been president of Somalia for two days, and he's already been the target of an assassination attempt. We'll get the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Only two days into his new job, the president of Somalia survives an apparent assassination attempt. Witnesses say two suicide bombers set off explosives at the gates of the Jazeera Palace Hotel Mogadishu. Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud that was conducting high-level meetings there. At least four government soldiers and one African Union soldier were killed. The al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Russian prime minister says he thinks the jailed members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot should be freed. Dmitry Medvedev says that he thinks the two-year sentences for hooliganism are too harsh. The three band members were convicted last month for a stunt that they pulled in Moscow's main cathedral. Wearing masks, the band launched into a protest against President Vladimir Putin filled with profanity. The band members' arrest and conviction sparked international outrage. At the time of the trial, Putin said the court should show leniency, but he hasn't spoken out since.

Britain's Duchess of Cambridge is in Malaysia today where she delivered her first public speech outside the U.K. Catherine and Prince William, they're in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. It is the second stop of a Southeast Asian tour to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. Kate addressed patients and staff at hospice for the terminally ill.

Deep in the forests of central Africa, scientists say they have found a new species of monkey, but the hunters there are already well acquainted with this little guy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: A new species of monkey caught our attention today. It was discovered in a remote forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Take a look at some of the photos here. This is the Lasula monkey. It's the first new species of monkey discovered in almost three decades. Pretty cool face there.

We'll have more on CNN NEWSROOM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)