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At Least 38 Dead in Ferry Collision; Alleged Rape Victim Charged With Indecency; Pope's Butler on Trial; Biden Campaigns in Charlotte; Hotels Serve Up New Breakfast Options; The Man taking On Hugo Chavez; Great Barrier Reef Losing Its Coral

Aired October 02, 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 taking you around the world in 60 minutes. Here's what's going on right now.

A journalist who disappeared in Syria almost two months ago suddenly shows up on this YouTube video. But when and where the footage was shot, exactly what is happening here, is not clear. It looks rather confusing. Still, the family of 31-year-old Austin Tice says that they think it proves that he is alive and OK. The video was posted on a Facebook page that supports Syria's president. The State Department thinks Tice was being detained by Syrian authorities in August, but the government has not acknowledged it.

Happening in Africa today, gunmen opened fire at a university in northeastern Nigeria. Now the BBC is reporting that at least 20 people are now dead. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it happened in an area that has been targeted by Islamic militants.

"We are deeply sorry for what happened." Well, that is the response from IKEA. The Swedish retail giant has come under criticism now for intentionally removing photos of women in catalogs that were shipped to Saudi Arabia. The company is investigating why these photos were omitted in the first place. Saudi Arabia does not prohibit the presence of women in marketing materials.

And now to Hong Kong where at least 38 people are dead in the territory's deadliest maritime accident in decades. We are talking about a passenger ferry that collided with another boat last night off Lamma. That is one of the largest of Hong Kong's outlying islands. Police have arrested seven crew members from the boats. And rescue crews, they are still looking for survivors. Ramy Inocencio has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMY INOCENCIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A night of celebration turned to tragedy as water rushed in through the boat's hull.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The boat was completely standing straight up in the water. It was chaotic. All the tables and chairs were everywhere. It was like a slide. Everything was sliding down.

INOCENCIO: This is Hong Kong's worst maritime disaster in more than four decades. Dozens of people died after two boats collided. The boat that sank had more than 120 passengers. Many of them employees and families of a local company, gathered to watch annual fireworks to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China. Many of those treated in hospital were under 12 years old. Other children never made it to the hospital and are among the dead. A surviving passenger described panic as the boat went down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My leg was stuck and I couldn't get it out. I thought, I wouldn't be able to get it out and I was going to die. The water was suffocating me. My friend tugged with all her might and got my leg out.

INOCENCIO (on camera): And this is the scene of the collision. You can see the boat half submerged right behind me. Search-and-rescue operations are still underway. Boats are patrolling the area looking for survivors. There's also a helicopter circling overhead. But in what could be Hong Kong's most fatal ferry accident, investigators are now wondering what exactly happened.

INOCENCIO (voice-over): Hong Kong's chief executive has promised a full investigation.

C.Y. LEUNG, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (through translator): As we continue search and rescue efforts, we will also investigate this incident. We need to understand what caused this.

INOCENCIO: Rescue officials added that low visibility may have contributed to the disaster. Hong Kong has more than 200 outlying islands. Ferry service is a normal and usually safe part of daily life until now.

Ramy Inocencio, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Now a court case that has rocked a nation. A woman who's allegedly raped by two police officers and then charged with public indecency when she filed a complaint. This case is underway in the North African nation of Tunisia.

So now hundreds have taken to the streets of Tunis to show support for this women and voice the outrage at authorities who they say are trying to publicly shame and intimidate this woman. Atika Shubert, she's joining us from London on this.

And, Atika, first of all, explain how this actually started. I understand the woman was with her fiancee in a car, then the police show up.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This happened only a few weeks ago. And according to this women, three police showed up. Two of them put her in the police car and then took turns raping her as they drove around the streets of the capital Tunis. The third police officer stayed with her fiancee to extort money from him. Now, she actually explains this in an interview, but her identity is protected. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ALLEGED RAPE VICTIM (through translator): They raped me for an hour and 15 minutes while driving. At the end, we reached a place next to a school and a factory. I find my car there and the third policeman standing next to it. At the time I asked them to let me go to my car. The policeman told my fiancee, we will fabricate your charge of adultery and you will spend years in prison. Then he said to my fiancee, what can you pay us?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now, the incredible thing is, after having that money extorted from them for about $200 she says they went half an hour later to complain to the police station but only then to be accused of public indecency. And so now she's actually in court fighting those charges.

MALVEAUX: And what about these police officers? Where are they?

SHUBERT: Well, they too are fighting the charges of rape against them. But what's amazing is that her story is being called into question first and it's really her version of events that's being questioned first.

MALVEAUX: And, Atika, explain this to us because people might remember Tunisia from the Arab Spring. I mean this is where it all started. A guy set himself on fire. There was a big protest that happened. And there was a lot of hope that this was a country that was really going to be good, not only for society at large, but also for women and their rights.

SHUBERT: Well, there was a lot of hope. But this is really part of the challenge of the Arab Spring. There's a new sort of moderate Islamist led coalition that's in power now and they're really struggling with the draft constitution that really -- many women's rights activists say -- says goes backwards. Prior to the Arab Spring, it was part of Tunisia's constitution that women had equal rights. Now this new draft constitution has taken away some of that saying that women aren't equal, they are simply complimentary.

Now, it's just a draft constitution at this stage, but this case has really become a flash point and it has become one of the thing that people will be looking at to see whether or not this new government in power can actually deliver on the expectations of the revolution.

MALVEAUX: All right, Atika Shubert, an amazing story of transformation that is happening there and certainly a lot of questions about whether or not they are going to be able to allow women to have equal rights in that country post-Arab Spring.

Thank you very much, Atika. Appreciate it.

Here's what we're work on for this hour.

The Pope's former butler now on trial, accused of stealing hundreds of secret papers from the Pope's apartment. He says he was trying to protect the Pope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAOLO GABRIEL, FMR. BUTLER OF POPE BENEDICT: I love my wife and my son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A man, his wife and his son all being deployed to Afghanistan, even though tens of thousands are going the opposite way home. Watch this emotional report.

And the beautiful great Barrier Reef off Australia, now in big trouble. A new report says it lost half its coral in just 30 years. We're going to take a look at why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Some stunning accusations in a Vatican courtroom today. Pope Benedict's butler is on trial for leaking hundreds of secret documents to an Italian journalist. Paolo Gabriele admits taking these papers, but on the stand he said he did it because the Pope was being, in his words, manipulated. So he also accused Vatican police of keeping him in a tiny, constantly lit room for weeks.

I'm joined by John Allen. He is CNN's senior Vatican analyst.

Some serious allegations here by this butler. But, first of all, what was the point of saying he had been put in this room under this intense light? Is he saying that he's being tortured in some way? That there's something that's happening to him as this trial goes on?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Hey, Suzanne.

Well, presumably what's going on here is that, like any defense attorney, the legal team representing Gabriele in this process is trying to create sympathy for their client. And one of the ways they're trying to do that is to suggest that some of that testimony that he gave to Vatican investigators during the preliminary investigation over the summer may have come under duress and, therefore, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Now, what the Vatican will tell you, Suzanne, is that some of these conditions, such as keeping the light on all the time and having people go in and out of his cell a lot to check on him was largely because they -- he was under a sort of suicide watch. I mean they were -- these were obviously extraordinary circumstances. The guy was under enormous pressure. They were worried that he might try to harm himself. And so they will argue that some of the conditions he is describing were not intended to harm him, they were actually intended to keep him safe.

You know, this is kind of the standard opening skirmish, I think, that goes on in virtually any sort of criminal trial.

MALVEAUX: Right. So, John, the butler is now saying that he handed over these documents because he was trying to expose corruption that was in the Vatican. How does the church respond to these allegations?

ALLEN: Well, basically what they will say is that some of the documents that came out as part of this massive Vatican leak scandal, and we're really talking about hundreds of pages of documents that have been collected in a thick book by this Italian journalist, Nutsi (ph), that some of them are exaggerated or taken out of context. Other of them document real problems, but they are problems that are by now several years old and that Benedict XVI is working to fix them. In some ways, Suzanne, the irony of this scandal --

MALVEAUX: What are those problems? I mean what do these documents actually say?

ALLEN: Is that the problem isn't so much the content, it's the reality that it happened and that it was orchestrated by one of the Pope's closest aides.

MALVEAUX: So, John, what do these documents actually say? I mean review this for us for those who have not been following this story. Essentially, is there any smoking gun in these documents? What do these documents allege?

ALLEN: Well, it's a wildly diverse set of material. I mean some of it is almost comically silly. One of them was an anonymous memo written in German purporting to document a plot to kill the Pope hatched by an Italian cardinal over a business dinner in Beijing. Most people don't take that one terribly seriously. More serious would be the documents about money, in particular alleging corruption in the Vatican bank and also corruption in the administration of Vatican finances.

In effect, what Vatican officials have said about that is that some of it is real, but that it's dated, and that right now they are working to put in place fixes. So they'll say this is a snapshot of a moving picture that is already in a different place today.

MALVEAUX: All right. We'll be following this very closely and finding out what the butler -- what happens to the butler next. Thank you very much, John. Appreciate it.

The U.S. government has reportedly been holding secret meetings about the growing threat of al Qaeda in north Africa. We're going to look at how serious that threat is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: The fight against al Qaeda has the U.S. increasingly focused on North Africa. "The Washington Post" reports that the White House has been holding secret meetings to examine this threat and considers for the first time whether or not to launch unilateral strikes in the region.

Want to bring our national security analyst, Peter Bergen, who joins us from Washington.

Peter, you know the area very, very well. We've seen Mali, Tunisia, Libya, a lot of problems that have developing with al Qaeda and terrorists. Do you believe that the administration is now looking at that area in a very different way and that there's an increased threat?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, "The Washington Post" piece certainly indicates that there've been secret meetings to kind of consider the possibility of strikes in the region and I think that sort of speaks for itself.

The administration doesn't want to be caught flatfooted as it was with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen which -- where the threat was sort of underestimated and, of course, there was the Christmas Day 2009 attack that was traced back to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

But, Suzanne, I mean, arguing against this, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is the sort of name that the group uses, hasn't really shown any real ability to attack in the West as yet.

They have certainly kidnapped Western tourists, as you mentioned. There are indications they were involved in the attack on the Benghazi consulate, but no indication that they planned that attack in advance. Some of their men may have been involved in the operation.

So, I mean, I think part of these secret meetings are -- you know, they're due diligence to look at this group, but, you know, as yet, I mean, their ability to act outside North Africa I think is -- we haven't seen it.

MALVEAUX: It's limited.

I want to play some sound. This is from the DNC, the Democratic National Convention, in September where the president unequivocally said that al Qaeda is being defeated. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, just days after that, that's when you have this attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the ambassador and three others are killed. Now, al Qaeda called it a gift, here. Do you think that the United States is vulnerable to al Qaeda? What is their reach here when it comes to North Africa?

BERGEN: Well, I think it depends. You know, I mean, the Benghazi consulate was clearly not adequately defended, you know. American embassies in other North African countries, I think, would be a much harder target.

So, you know, this group did attack the U.N. building in Algiers some years ago which is, you know, somewhat defended, so they do have some capacity, but I think we need to be careful, you know. This is not al Qaeda central suddenly capable of attacking the United States.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

BERGEN: This is more a group that has traditionally been kidnapping Westerners, sort of targets of opportunity. Clearly, they're expanding in Mali. And I think the White House is doing the right thing by taking the threat seriously. Go ahead.

MALVEAUX: And, Peter, finally, just -- we know just looking at the big picture here Islamists have been suppressed for decades by Arab dictators who've been secular. Well, now, you have all these dictators who've been overthrown and you've got militants who are rushing to fill this void, this vacuum here. What is the state of play?

BERGEN: Well, you can make an argument that it's not an accident that so many members of al Qaeda are Egyptians or Saudis or Yemenis. They came from countries that were, that are, that have been dictatorships.

As to the fact that these dictatorships are falling, I think in the long-term is good because I think it actually reduces the amount of militancy in the region, which isn't to say that we won't be complicated in countries like Libya going forward.

But, at the end of the day, I think a more democratic Middle East is going to be -- reduce the appeal of these kind of jihadi militant groups, which really are the fruit of the authoritarian regimes.

MALVEAUX: All right, Peter Bergen, thank you, as always. Appreciate your analysis.

It is always hard when loved ones head off to war, so you can imagine when several family members are deployed. Well, that is what one Montana family -- they are actually facing this.

Kyung Lah takes us to their home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dinner time means family time at the Skillman household, from who's chopping, to who's stirring, to who's sitting around the table and who soon won't.

How hard is this for your family?

MASTER SERGEANT DAN SKILLMAN, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: I'm not real sure. I don't really think it's hit them yet. I really don't.

LAH: A grandfather to three girls, his other title is Master Sergeant Dan Skillman, U.S. Army Reserves. He deploys to Afghanistan in just weeks with his wife, Master Sergeant Lola Skillman, and their oldest son, Jaymes, a sergeant.

Husband, wife and son will be gone nine months as reserve support at Kandahar. Despite the 29 years that Lola has served, this will be her first time deployed to a warzone. Are you scared at all?

MASTER SERGEANT LOLA SKILLMAN, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: Yes. Some people say, no, they are not scared. They are ready to go do this. But I think in the back of everybody's mind it's a little bit terrifying.

LAH: At the Skillman home, where the unpaved road meets the Montana big sky, they know about sacrifice for country. Her father was awarded the Purple Heart during Word War II. Dan's father joined the National Guard. Dan deployed for a year in Iraq and Jaymes almost didn't come home from Iraq when a grenade hit his vehicle.

SERGEANT JAYMES SKILLMAN, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: The war is not over. We still have a job to do. Suzy, she -- right now, she just thinks I'm going to work and, you know, I won't be back for a long time.

LAH: Suzy, his four-year-old who can't quite pronounce ...

SUZY SKILLMAN, DAUGHTER OF JAYMES SKILLMAN: Afghanistan.

LAH: ... much less comprehend where daddy's going.

D. SKILLMAN: And it is very hard to talk to the family about what if they don't come back. But that's what everybody knows about going war. So, you try to talk about it, but how can you?

LAH: The U.S. military doesn't have a specific policy about the deployment at the same time of an entire family unit, in this case, parents and a child. The military says it also does not keep track of how many cases like this are out there, but ask anybody around here and they'll tell you this is something they have almost never heard of.

COLONEL MITCHELL MALONE, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: We have so many American heroes in this country that serve every day. It's enormous, the amount of sacrifices that our American families make here and abroad and they do it for selfless service for the country.

LAH: The military is called a brotherhood. The Skillmans prefer to call it family ...

D. SKILLMAN: I'm going with my wife and my son.

LAH: ... here and there.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Helena, Montana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: That's an amazing story.

Want to go to Vice President Joe Biden. He's campaigning in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is 15 electoral votes up for grade. Let's listen in.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They put two wars on a credit card, refusing to pay for them. I introduced the legislation to pay for the war.

Number two, they added a new prescription drug entitlement that they didn't pay for and then they added a $1 trillion tax cut for the very wealthy on top of that.

Now, they -- they're the facts. The end result of all that was, by the time we were elected, they had in eight years doubled the national debt, that clock, doubled it and, in addition to that, they had the slowest job -- private job growth since World War II under this policy.

And by the time the president sat down behind the famous desk, The Resolute, in the Oval Office, within a week of sitting down, his economists -- our economists told us, Mr. President, you're going to have to deal with a $1 trillion debt this year because there's nothing you can do about it. The budget was passed back October.

And, so, ladies and gentlemen, so much for their credibility on the debt, but what did it produce for us? It produced the Great Recession, all these things they did, and doubled the national debt and these massive tax cuts that absolutely eviscerated the middle class.

Now, they still we're really urgently want to deal with it now. Basically, I think my opponent says something like, you know -- I don't know. He said something about he was -- regrets or -- I don't know. Something he -- wished he hadn't voted that way, OK?

I don't want to miss -- I don't want the press saying I misquoted him, but he -- but he said, I did that, but I kind of wish I didn't. Whatever.

All right, but, now, they're serious. Now, they're serious. man. OK, let's see how serious they are. They tell you that they want to get it under control, but they're unwilling to do a single solitary thing to get it under control. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan have spoken out against our -- the president's $4 trillion debt reduction package, a trillion of which we've already passed, reduced spending a trillion dollars so far over the next ten years.

They voted against every bipartisan plan out there. A lot of very serious people, Democrats and Republicans and economists, have gotten together and there was the Simpson-Bowles when -- by the way, you've got one great guy in Mr. Bowles here.

MALVEAUX: Vice President Biden out of Charlotte, North Carolina, on the campaign.

Now, breakfast is going to start looking a little bit different for travelers. Three major hotel chains are changing what they serve. We're going to tell you what's on the menu.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: There's a revolution brewing over hotel breakfast. The dreary buffet that greets many guests in the morning could be a thing of the past soon enough.

No one could be happier than our Richard Quest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I loathe the hotel breakfast buffet and I don't care who knows, congealed eggs and the relentless getting up and sitting down. Hotel groups recognized the problem with breakfast. It's the one research shows we really care about, a key decider that we'll come back.

BETH SCOTT, VICE PRESIDENT OF FOOD, HILTON WORLDWIDE: We need to change our approach and our philosophy of how we provide the most important meal of the day to the guests.

QUEST: Now, after two years of research, Hilton are re-launching breakfast along with a planned revamp of the Hilton New York.

SCOTT: Guests are like, you don't need to tell us how to eat. We know how to eat. Just give us fresh healthy food and we'll figure out what we want. We all don't like the scrambled egg sitting in the dish.

QUEST: You tried ...

SCOTT: I tried.

QUEST: ... to get rid of the scrambled eggs, right? What happened when you tried to do that?

SCOTT: Yeah, our guests were not very happy with me.

QUEST: Overruled, Hilton has taken it back to basics, less variety, better quality.

Hyatt went further. They handed almost total control to the hotel chefs and insisted on seasonal local produce and sustainable farming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've asked our chefs talk to their local farmers and ranchers and find out what it is that they can source locally.

QUEST: But the Wall Street Andaz's a luxury-player brand. They've even opened up their own farmer's market.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Each chef at the Hyatts here in New York come here on Wednesdays and Thursdays and buy their produce from here. We expected costs to go up. Ironically enough, we've costs are going down.

CHRISTINA GOLDIE WILLIAMSON, SENIOR DIRECTOR, CHOICE HOTELS: We're talking about not the CEO in the corner office. We're talking about the vast majority of business travelers who stay in a mid-scale hotel. QUEST: Stand back. A free breakfast is essential to budget travelers. Three quarters of hotels offer it and, while the offerings remain perhaps simple, Choice have dramatically expanded the items.

WILLIAMSON: They wanted more hot items. Americans love their eggs and meat for breakfast. They also wanted some healthy items.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Richard Quest is joining us from London. Richard, so, how was that waffle? You made that waffle. Was that pretty good?

QUEST: It was and I can tell what I found fascinating because I travel, I know, a couple of hundred days a year and what research shows -- and here's the core point -- what research shows is that people often choose which hotel they will stay at on the strength of the offering of breakfast. And more than that, they actually -- breakfast is the single most important meal that any hotel will offer you.

Sounds so obvious, Suzanne, until you realize it and put it into practice and that's why this is a true revolution at the breakfast buffet.

MALVEAUX: It looks more appetizing. Richard, you know, you and I travel a lot. Do you ever see people in their pajamas who show up to these buffets? I always thought that was kind of weird.

QUEST: No and I can honestly tell you I've not tried that one, but I'm still -- I'm still launching a single-handed, global, international, worldwide campaign against the breakfast buffet @ RichardQuest. It's something that should be removed, as something cruel and unusual punishment.

MALVEAUX: I think with the breakfast, too -- I think it's a great idea. People probably look at the gym and that bar, as well. It'd be interesting to see like how all of this fits into one's stay there, but you always eat breakfast, right?

QUEST: Tomorrow night -- tomorrow at this time I will be happy to show you the Richard Quest in-room work out where you can work off that breakfast.

No, it's seriously true. We've got the exercises that you should do when you're in your hotel room and you can't be bothered to go to the gym.

MALVEAUX: All right, we'll bring you back then. We'll bring you back tomorrow after breakfast and we'll get the work out in. Thank you, Richard.

The photographer who visited the U.S. with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week, well, he is now in hiding seek being asylum here in the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: An Iranian cameraman defects after traveling with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.

Well, the cameraman says that he is afraid for his life, so he stayed behind and applied for asylum after the rest of the group returned to Iran last week.

Reza Sayah is covering the story from Islamabad, Pakistan, and the guy's lawyer, first of all, says his client is afraid of persecution if he goes back because of his perceived political beliefs.

Here's what he told Soledad O'Brien early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL O'DWYER, ATTORNEY FOR CAMERMAN SEEKING ASYLUM: He does not want to continue to live in the regime and he is offended by how the regime treats people, about how it treats its enemies, about how it treats the Iranian people, about the level of persecution there. And he also has concerns about -- now, about his own safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, why is he taking the position that he is taking here? Is he some kind of activist? Has something happened to him? Do we know any details?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: None of that is clear. We don't know the details why this man is seeking asylum. The details we are getting are from his lawyer. They're few and they're vague.

Essentially, the lawyer is saying, when the Iranian delegation came to New York last week for the U.N. General Assembly, some of his political views, this photographer's political views, were discovered by the Iranian government to be against the Iranian government.

According to his lawyer, those political views, those discoveries, put him in danger, put his safety at risk and his lawyer is saying that's why he had to stay back for his safety. He is seeking asylum. It's going to take him about six months to see whether his asylum will be accepted.

In the meantime, don't be surprised if the U.S. government, U.S. intelligence, reaches out to this man because he could have some valuable information about the Iranian government. He is an insider, an Ahmadinejad insider. They probably wouldn't bring him to overseas trips if they didn't trust him, so he could have some valuable intelligence for the U.S. government.

MALVEAUX: I imagine that's quite true because this is somebody who's been right by his side, Ahmadinejad's side. If he is the photographer, I imagine he has seen a lot of what this man does and what Ahmadinejad is capable of. It would be very interesting to know what kind of intelligence they get from him.

Talk a little bit about the family here. I understand that they've actually fled the country. Do we think that they're in trouble?

SAYAH: Well, there are reports that they fled and that's always a concern when it comes to Iranian dissidents, Iranians who seek asylum and, over the years, there have been many photographers, filmmakers, journalists, bloggers, artists who've claimed that they've been persecuted and threatened.

Oftentimes, their families are in danger and the Iranian government has a reputation of being very skillful in applying pressure on these families as sort of payback, so there is a concern for the family and there are reports that they've left. How many of them have left or where that's not clear.

MALVEAUX: Do we know where they are or is that something that they're trying to hide essentially?

SAYAH: We don't. Again, the information is coming from this man's lawyer and he's being very tight-lipped. I think there are indications that, if he talks too much about the family, that will put them in more danger. So there are reports some of them have left the country. It's not clear how many or where they are.

MALVEAUX: All right. Reza Sayah, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Colorful Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez facing now a big challenge. Meet the former tax attorney who is running against him in Sunday's election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Well, some of you may still be deciding whether or not to vote for President Obama or Mitt Romney in the upcoming election. Well, Venezuelan's president doesn't get to cast a ballot, of course, but he's made his pick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA (through translator): If I were from the United States, I'd vote for Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right, it's not really the kind of endorsement President Obama would like. Mr. Chavez recognizes that, as well, so he prefaced the statement by saying he hopes it doesn't hurt the president.

Well, the Venezuelan president also running for re-election himself. The vote's going to be held on Sunday. Rafael Romo is reporting on the man who's trying to beat Hugo Chavez.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: When opposition candidate, Enrique Capriles Radonski, challenged Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to a debate earlier this year, Chavez's reply was. "The eagle doesn't hunt the fly."

For a man who has been in power for 13 years, dismissing the opposition as feeble is part of his political strategy. But the equation might be changing. Capriles, a 40-year-old governor, is taking Venezuela's political scene by storm. He's facing Chavez in next Sunday's presidential election.

While speaking with international media Monday, Capriles blasted Chavez's cozy relations with Iran and Belarus.

ROMO: A 40-year-old governor is taking Venezuela's political scene by storm. He's facing Chavez in next Sunday's presidential election. While speaking with international media Monday, Capriles blasted Chavez's cozy relations with Iran and Belarus.

HENRIQUE CAPRILES RADONSKI, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): What does Venezuela have in common with Iran or Belarus? Isn't the President of Belarus a dictator? You tell me. Isn't it true that here in Venezuela we twice gave our independence hero Bolivar's sword to Gadhafi? Is that the kind of relations that we, the Venezuelan people, want? No!

ROMO: While Capriles was speaking to reporters, Chavez was singing folk songs to his followers while campaigning in western Venezuela.

CHAVEZ: (SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

ROMO: Capriles, a former tax attorney, was the mayor of a Caracas suburb before winning the governorship of Miranda state, which adjoins Venezuela's capital. He was also the youngest leader of the Venezuelan parliament. Part of his appeal, he speaks about solid government institutions and a judicial branch that treats all Venezuelans equally under the law.

Capriles was elected to run against Chavez after the Venezuelan opposition forged an alliance in January. The 40-year-old candidate says he has visited more than 300 Venezuelan towns during his campaign. Capriles stepped onto the national scene during a 2002 riot at the Cuban embassy in Caracas. The Chavez government accused him of inciting the riot and sentenced him to jail for four months, but the courts ended up acquitting him.

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MALVEAUX: Rafael Romo joins us.

Let's just talk about the optics here for a minute. I mean you've got this kind of young 40-year-old. You know, he's healthy, strong, he's a fit guy. And then you've got Hugo Chavez over here, who's been in power for a while. How do they weigh these two? I mean is it a generational thing? I mean how do they split this?

ROMO: It is a generational thing. It's also the fact that Chavez has been suffering from cancer. But also just to give you and idea of how uneven the playing field is in Venezuela, just for the sake of a hypothetical scenario, just imagine that President Obama has a national TV network paid for with public funds that he can use whenever he pleases to campaign. That's exactly what Chavez has in Venezuela. He has a national TV network and also Venezuela law allows him to break into programming, even if the broadcasters are private, if the government decides that it is OK to do so.

MALVEAUX: And he can just -- whatever kind of campaign he wants, he can put it on the air?

ROMO: Meanwhile -- exactly. Meanwhile, Capriles has to go through the regular channels, like candidates do here in the United States. He has to pay for air time. He has to pay for spots. And so just to begin with, that part of the campaign alone is highly, highly unfair.

MALVEAUX: So does he have a chance? Does he have any kind of chance at all?

ROMO: Well, you saw him there campaigning. He's very energetic. He has -- he's traveling by bus, campaigning by bus throughout Venezuela. By his own account, he's visited more than 300 towns. But, again, given the circumstances, it's an uphill battle.

MALVEAUX: Is there voter intimidation that also weighs into this as well?

ROMO: If you worked for the national government in Venezuela, the writing is on the wall. It's not open, it's not public, but everybody's expected to vote for Chavez. The other thing is that if there's a lot of public programs, welfare programs, that people are being told they are going to lose if Chavez loses this election. So it's voter intimidation in two different ways.

MALVEAUX: And we've seen the reports that you've had before where Chavez is like literally giving out houses and all these other prizes and all kinds of things.

ROMO: If you want a house, vote for me.

MALVEAUX: Yes, trying to buy votes.

All right, Rafael, we'll see how it goes on Sunday.

ROMO: Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

It's a diver's paradise, of course, the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia, but its coral is quickly disappearing. We're going to look at what is killing off the reef.

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MALVEAUX: Storms, too many coral eating star fish and coral bleaching. Now, research scientists in Australia, they say these are the three factors most responsible for the Great Barrier Reef's great disappearing act. Now, one of the world's natural wonders has now lost half of its coral in just the past 27 years. Earlier today, John Gunn of the Australian Institute of Marine Science said man's impact on the reef is easily traceable.

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JOHN GUNN, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE: We have in the corals a wonderful library of what we've done to the Great Barrier Reef. There's some corals that live for many thousands of years and we found through some of the sites we do, we can drill holes down into the center of these corals and look at annual growth rings and we can look at when, in fact, Captain Cook (ph) came to Australia and when the first agriculture in Australia happened. We saw a change in the type of chemistry that these annual growth rings in coral were depositing. And so we've seen the chronology of increased siltation, of increased fertilizers, and increased pesticides in the coral record. And as we've seen this grow, we've seen some of these major stresses happen as well. And in particular in the last 27 years, we've seen this very, very sad decline in the coral recovery rate.

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MALVEAUX: Joining us, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

So, Chad, explain to us if anything can be done when you look at the coral and it's disappearing.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A number of things. Cyclones Yasi, Cyclone Larry, big category five storms, went right over the reef. Can't do anything about that, really. So that's natural. That will recover.

But we have these crown of thorns star fish that he was talking about and these are not your pretty star fish that you go to the Bahamas and you see on the sidewalk. These are nasty looking things with big giant thorns on them. They have very, very few predators. And they are taking over the reef. And they eat the coral. That is the issue.

Here it is. Sixteen hundred miles of the Great Barrier Reef right there. That's Australia. Here's what it looks like from space. Almost like more like tiny little islands that don't get to the surface. You dive below to take a look at it. Beautiful, beautiful from space.

He talked a little bit about the coral bleaching. That's when the coral loses its color and loses some of the polyps and some of the -- even the chlorophyll from some of these things kind of goes away because of the warmer water that we've been experiencing, probably manmade. Global warming with that probably as well.

But this. This is the guy. Twenty arms on this. So it's not really a star at all. But it's a crown of thorn star fish. It can be 30 inches across. It throws up its stomach acid on to the coral, then dissolves the rock with that acid and then eats it again. That sounds like a great guy.

But the problem with this here is that because there's been so much runoff from some of the industrial plants and some of the farmlands around here, that that's causing algae bloom. Well, the algae bloom is exactly what the juvenile star fish eat on. And so that's where they believe this big explosion of these star fish is coming from. They need to at least weed them out a little bit. There are just too many and they do eat an awful lot of coral every single day.

MALVEAUX: Yes, it looks like they need to -- need to do something about that. Thank you, Chad. That's really fascinating.

MYERS: You're welcome.

MALVEAUX: Take a look at this. Gathering of Gandhi lookalikes. One of the most interesting pictures of the day from around the world. We're going to explain how this broke a world record.

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MALVEAUX: Several stories caught our attention today. Photos as well. Take a look.

Gandhi was born 140 years ago today. The 1,000 students in India dressed up as Gandhi to celebrate. They get a Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to do so. Gandhi helped India, of course, gain independence from Britain.

A Buddhist monk in Bangladesh looks through the rubble of a burned temple. Well, today, police arrested hundreds linked to burning Buddhist buildings and homes over the weekend.

Toyota unveiled this concept car at an electronic show in Japan. It is called the Smart INSECT. It's pretty cool. It uses facial recognition to greet a driver with flashing headlights. Like your smartphone, it uses voice commands. You can tell it to open the door.

And this photo, a special tribute to my news team. I'd like to thank you for all your hard work, producers, directors, everybody behind- the-scenes and in front. Your efforts lead to our network's Emmy Award, which we received last night for breaking news coverage of Egypt's revolution. Congratulations.

I'm Suzanne Malveaux. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, we are focusing on who's got the advantage in tomorrow's debate, Mitt Romney or President Obama.