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Connect the World
Another Nail-Biter on Wall Street; Violence in Britain Spreads; Citizens Organize against Looters; Tiger's Fortunes; Hope Amidst Devastation in Somalia; Hospital Workers in Bahrain Persecuted for Treating Protesters; Dangers Growing for Medics on Battle Fronts; Adventurer Ed Stafford's Walk Along the Amazon; Parting Shots of Golf Ball-Sized Hail in Nebraska
Aired August 10, 2011 - 00:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: There's been yet another choppy session on Wall Street. In the last few moments of trade, you can see, the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 500 points, really falling very fast in the last few minutes of trade, nearly 5 percent down, 10713.
We're just waiting for the closing bell and the final numbers. We've had the closing bell. We're just waiting for those numbers to settle down a bit.
Another very, very choppy day.
What has spooked the markets this time?
It's a big question.
I'm Max Foster in London.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.
Also tonight, as the world's central bankers battle to keep our economies above water, we'll ask, do they have any options left?
Plus, stay calm, stay united -- a British father pleads for an end to the violence which killed his son.
And we're on the front lines of the famine where Africa's young are facing a struggle to survive.
These stories and more tonight as we connect the world.
Up first, another nail-biter on Wall Street trade, but this time, a devastating finish. Markets closed just moments ago, posting huge losses as debt concerns drifted over from Europe. In fact, there was a sea of red on both sides of the Atlantic.
Let's start with the Dow. It plunged around 522 points -- the numbers are still settling down, as you can see -- wiping out Tuesday's impressive gains and then some. And workers -- worries around the weak global economy and Europe's debt crisis came rushing back, the same old story.
These concerns had an equally devastating impact on Europe itself. Banking shares led the sell-off, but sank indices across the board.
France was especially hard-hit. As it unfolded, there was speculation that it may lose its AAA credit rating, but nothing confirmed on that. It's all about rumor.
These wild swings we're seeing every day now eat away at investor confidence. And that lack of faith, in turn, triggers even more volatility. We've seen it again trade.
Is there any end to the market madness?
Felicia Taylor joins us now from New York to talk about trade's route -- Felicia, are you feeling like a psychologist rather than a business reporter these days?
(LAUGHTER)
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Max, I think that was actually a really good characterization of what we've been doing a little bit. I -- I literally have been on the phone for the last 24 hours talking to traders around the world, trying to get a sense of what their feeling is as to why the market is feeling so dismal trade about what is going on around the world.
So we -- we've had rumors circling in the marketplace as to whether or not France has a credit weighting -- credit rating that is to be worried about. We don't have any confirmation on that. That kind of uncertainty certainly translates into the financials and we saw that across the board.
We've had Bank of America down 10 percent again. Citigroup also down 10 percent. Pretty much across the board, all the bank stocks in this country were down trade and, frankly, pretty much everything was down trade.
The problem is, is that now that we've had word from the Federal Reserve and we got a taste of what they were talking about, but not really any reassurance. We got some nibbles as to what they were going to be able to do.
But, you know, frankly, what's left in the toolbox?
What are they going to be able to employ down the road that's actually actually going to help the economy?
The economy has to right itself in terms of job growth and simply growth. We've seen all the major banks in this country now downgrade what they've said in terms of what we're going to see for the rest of the year in terms of growth, now not 3 or 2.5 to 3 percent, but 1.5 percent in terms of growth rate.
And that's what's the problem. We've gone back to fundamentals and that's what the market is reacting to. The Federal Reserve statement is done. Now we're back to looking at what really matters, and that's the future in the U.S. economy.
FOSTER: Yes, let's just get a sense, Felicia, stay there, because I'm going to ask you about this. We're going to get a sense of just how volatile these markets are right now.
Take a look at this graph. It shows the Dow over the last 48 hours alone. This dip here was on Tuesday. It's when the Fed announced its decision to hold interest rates. Initially, it didn't go down well, as you can see. The markets sank.
But things turned around, shooting up. And this back half of the graph is really what's been happening over the last 24 hours.
So it's so volatile, you can see that's a range of around 600 points - - Felicia, is this unprecedented?
We've had volatility before, but it does seem very extreme right now?
TAYLOR: It does. And I -- I'll tell you, this isn't really something that I've seen since -- I hate to put this -- I hate to say this -- since 1987, I mean because we're not really triggering this on any one particular news peg. And that's what we had in 2008. We had a financial crisis in 2008. We knew and understood what was going on.
This is about the global recovery. We're not really sure where things are going. And that amount of uncertainty in the marketplace is what's causing these kinds of volatile swings.
But I will tell you -- and I want to reassure people that there is that panic in the marketplace. That is definitely not what's happening.
What's happening in terms of these volatile swings is simply reacting to headlines. So anything that crosses the tape -- and you can't fight the tape. That's one of those well known sayings in the market. But that's what the market is reacting to.
So once we go back to the fundamentals and we start seeing economic headlines, that's what the market is going to react to.
So we can be assured that there's going to be volatility, but also be safe in the -- in the knowledge that it's not panic out there. People aren't just selling to get out of the marketplace. They are looking for safe havens. Certainly gold is one of those places. They are looking for real asset growth. So you can take a look at some of the -- the other commodities, like silver, rice, what, where you can expect to see some sort of price inflation on that respect, as well.
But I -- I don't want people to think that there's panic in the marketplace because that's not what's happening at the New York Stock Exchange.
FOSTER: Just nerves, I guess.
All right, Felicia, thank you very much, indeed, for that.
Well central banks around the world are doing their best to try to prop up markets around the world and reassure investors over fears of another recession. They're not always happy about it. But in the U.S., the Federal Reserve, the chairman there, Ben Bernanke, about to keep interest rates at an all time low until at least 2013. He's offering reassurance there.
The Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, was speaking trade. He also signaled that interest rates would hold, as it cut its growth forecasts for the economy. So he's trying to offer stability to the markets here.
The Swiss National Bank -- that's an interesting one, because the franc is seen as a safe haven. It's pumping cash into the money market in the hopes that it will ease the record high price of the Swiss bank -- the Swiss franc, because it's -- it's really flown in the last few days.
And if we go over to the ECB, well, they -- the European Central Bank is continuing to buy Italian and Spanish bonds, as we understand it, trying to lower the high borrowing costs for those countries.
Now, U.S. President Barack Obama is meeting with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke trade to discuss ways to stabilize the economy. But realistically, what more can the Fed and other central banks around the -- the world do at this point?
Well, Richard is the man to ask -- because, Richard, they're pretty frustrated at having to act in the way that they are.
But they're doing what they can, aren't they?
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": They are. And if you take the two -- the twin tracks of monetary and fiscal policy, monetary policy is just about tapped out at the moment. Interest rates were already at record lows. We've had two bouts of quantitative easing in the U.S., the possibility of QE3 on the horizon.
And on the fiscal side, that's what budgets and government spending. Governments are tapped out. Anybody running an unrealistic budget deficit is punished by the market, by the bond market, as we've seen with Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece.
Now, that sounds depressing. But there are things that can be done to ameliorate the worst effects of all of this. The Fed hasn't really done them yet. It's hinted at them.
So for instance -- and I don't want to get too technical, too, but the Fed could shift its reinvestment of bonds as they become mature and they could go for longer dated bonds, thus helping to ease out the -- the yield curve.
They could also make more money available through liquidity schemes. There's lots of little touchy things, touchy feely things, that they could do. And, ultimately, they can shift the rate of interest that they pay on deposits.
FOSTER: And I just want to ask you about the -- you say the monetary policy has been shifted as -- as far as it can, but we were hearing rumors trade, weren't we, from Swiss analysts that the Swiss interest rate could actually go negative?
QUEST: Yes. And not the first time we've had that. That's because, of course, what's happening with the Swiss franc, it is a safe haven. The Swiss economy is run extremely well. It has strong exports.
But those pharmaceuticals and chemical companies are now squealing hard and, therefore, they want to bring down the value of the Swiss franc.
FOSTER: A quick word on France.
Should we be worried?
QUEST: No.
FOSTER: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: -- rumor.
FOSTER: It's just rumor?
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE).
FOSTER: Just rumor?
QUEST: No. No. The AAA for France was reaffirmed by all the major agencies.
FOSTER: There's that.
QUEST: SocGen said any rumors are unfounded.
FOSTER: OK. It shows how murky everything is, doesn't it?
It's unbelievable.
OK, Richard, thank you very much, indeed.
Coming up, police flood the streets across Britain, trying to keep rioters at bay for a second night.
Then, Tiger talks -- what is golf's greatest saying about the losses he's suffered and his plan to come back?
And later, on the front lines of famine -- CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is live from the Horn of Africa for us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIK JAHAN, SON KILLED IN LOOTING: Last night, we lost three church members of our community. They were taken from us in a way that not father, mother, sister or brother should have to endure. Today, we stand here to plead with all the youth to remain calm for our communities to stand united.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: A father's plea after a night of violence left his son, two others dead in England's second largest. A fight back is underway in Britain. That's the message from the prime minister, David Cameron, as the country enters a potential fifth night of violence -- looting and rioting in major cities. A massive police deployment has restored order to London, with more than 700 people arrested since the rioting began.
But with 16,000 officers on the streets of the capital, departments in other cities have been stretched thin.
And violence flared in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool overnight.
The prime minister vowed to give police whatever tools they needed to bring the situation under control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITAIN PRIME MINISTER: We needed a fight back and a fight back is underway. Whatever resources the police need, they will get. Whatever tactics the police feel they need to employ, they will have legal backing to do so. What -- we will do whatever is necessary to restore law and order onto our streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Mr. Cameron will reiterate that point on Thursday, when he convenes an emergency session of parliament to address the rioting.
Well, Britain second biggest, Birmingham, saw the worst violence in the last 24 hours when the young men were killed in a hit and run whilst trying to protect their property. Tonight, it's a community on edge.
And CNN's Dan Rivers is there.
What can you tell us -- Dan?
DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max, it's calm here at the moment. I've just been talking to the police here. There are no reported incidents right now in Birmingham.
But it's fair to say it -- it has been pretty tense here. We're at the scene of where those three young British-Pakistani men were mowed down and killed by a car in the early hours of this morning here (INAUDIBLE) time. They were out trying to protect a garage, a petrol station, a gas station, from looters. And while they were out trying to protect those businesses, a car careened off the road and killed them.
One man, the driver, we understand, has been arrested and is being questioned by the police.
But there were concerns that this would inflame tensions here between the black and Asian community. At the moment, though, things are calm. The police are out in great numbers in this half of -- of Birmingham on the -- on the Dubley Road (ph).
So so far, no signs of trouble. But there are about 1,000 police officers that have completely swamped this area.
FOSTER: And, Dan, you talked about the racial tensions there. It is a fundamentally different city, isn't it, a different setting to this violence from where you were yesterday in London?
RIVERS: It is, yes. And there are dynamics and a history here that - - that is different to elsewhere. This is a very mixed area between the black and Asian community. They -- there have been problems and tensions in the past. But I think it's fair to say that the two communities have co-existed, you know, peacefully and got on well on -- you know, mostly.
But obviously, with the -- with the death of his -- the three deaths that have occurred just hours ago, that has really put this area in the spotlight. And there are a lot of very angry young Asian men now out on the streets who are clearly incredibly upset with what's happened.
They were concerned that they would, you know, perhaps try and go off and -- and seek some sort of revenge. So far, we're glad to say that that hasn't happened. And it is raining heavily here now and that may help to - - to literally, you know, cool things off, because a lot of people have now, you know, gone inside because of the bad weather. So that may -- that may work in the police -- police's favor in trying to just calm this whole situation down.
FOSTER: OK, we'll see.
Dan, thank you very much, indeed.
A lot of this violence, of course, erupts at nightfall. And that's happening at the moment.
Now, after three nights of violence and destruction, groups in some British neighborhoods, on Tuesday, didn't wait for police to protect them. And they don't hold back, either, unleashing their anger on the rioters themselves.
CNN's Atika Shubert reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): London is fighting back. As this video from "The Guardian" newspaper shows, the Turkish community managed to scare off dozens of would-be looters before the police showed up in their neighborhood. Young Sikhs stood guard outside their temple in West London. And in the north of the city, angry local residents chased after any suspected looter, anger that verged on mob violence.
Riot police faced off not with looters, but local residents.
STEVE KAVANAGH, LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE: The ones that helped us are the community representatives who go and speak to people from their community and get them away and get them home, not people who threaten violence on anyone coming into their community.
SHUBERT: (on camera): Londoners may want to reclaim the streets, but police are warning them not to go vigilante. Instead, they say locals can help by going online.
(voice-over): London police have set up a Flicker page with photos of looting suspects, appealing to the public for help identifying them. That has inspired Netizens to set up their own pages, like "Catch A Looter," also using hash tags to out Twitter users that have admitted to looting.
Others are using social media to get the city back on its feet. Riot Cleanup is organizing neighbors and equipping them with brooms in the hope community solidarity will speed recovery and keep the violence at bay.
Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, the violence over the past week comes as this country faces tough budget cuts and austerity measures. The government has insisted that the riots have nothing to do with that and that the general public appears to agree.
In a poll out trade by Yugoff 40 (ph), 42 percent of people said the riots are caused by criminal behavior and 26 percent said gang culture is to blame. Only 5 percent thinks -- think unemployment is the problem.
Two guests joining me now say there are other factors to play in here, as well.
Symeon Brown is a youth leader here in London and Gavin Poole is the executive director of the Center for Social Justice.
Thank you both for joining us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
FOSTER: Symeon, how would you explain what's going on in London, at least, which is the area that you know?
SYMEON BROWN, YOUTH LEADER, FOUNDER, HARINGEY YOUNG PEOPLE EMPOWERED: I think -- and this is where I would differentiate some of the riots -- because, what we've seen is a mutation.
In Tottenham, what we saw was a peaceful protest calling for accountability and transparency in the (INAUDIBLE) --
FOSTER: Tottenham is where it all started on Saturday night, right?
BROWN: (INAUDIBLE) again.
FOSTER: -- in reaction to the death of a local man?
BROWN: Exactly. And this was a part of a wider movement calling for police accountability and transparency due the number of the police -- of deaths in police custody. And then what we saw was it escalates and many young people who had that grievance, grievances that had developed over -- over generations and that is has neglected memory, suddenly -- suddenly looked at the police and removed their legitimacy, removed their consent, I think I should say. And they stood up and they -- they pretty much started a -- a riot.
And what we saw was that this was -- it's -- actually, it's escalated and mutated into many opportunists hijacking the situation now.
FOSTER: Well, that's surprising, because you're talking about escalating grievance, but actually, the opportunism seems to be such a huge part of this, just wanton violence, attacking stores and nicking stuff.
Are we complicating it too much by putting more into it and talking about these social problems in the background?
BROWN: What I would say is that there is a context. Many of the people that we've seen take to the streets, they didn't just come from anywhere. They have existed on the fringes of our society for a long time. And in this space, they had their own hierarchy, their own norms and they're pretty much way outside the sphere that we're operating in.
And I think this is what --
FOSTER: And society hasn't noticed?
BROWN: What we're talking -- what we are talking about is our divided society. Suddenly, the people on the periphery, who we didn't think much about, have exploded rather than imploded. And what we are dealing with now are the very, very, very, very isolated and the marginalized. And we need to have a discourse and debate about citizenship, about social inclusion, and really about trying to -- to bridge the divides in -- in our nation.
FOSTER: Gavin, I know that you pretty much warned that this was going to happen. You've been researching this for many years, of course.
But a lot of people seem to just be saying that, you know, whatever the social reasons, this is a -- just an attack and people are just attacking shops and just trying to make the most of the short-term. This isn't a long-term problem.
But you've warned before, so what's your perspective?
GAVIN POOLE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: Yes, we have. And I think there's a couple of things to distinguish it in the current situation.
There -- there is no doubt there's some opportunism going on and there's some criminal behaviors, with some people just actually joining in and helping themselves.
I think one of the key issues, though, as just quite rightly that Symeon has pointed out, is that there's a group or there's an element which have been marginalized and excluded from mainstream society.
And what the work of the Centre for Social Justice --
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: That does not excuse the violence.
POOLE: No, this is not an excuse. What we knew -- what we've been seeing over the last couple of days is, OK, let's deal with the issue now. Let's get control of that. The dust will settle --
FOSTER: OK --
POOLE: And then get --
FOSTER: So come down hard and then addresses the issues?
What --
POOLE: Yes, sir. Because the issue is going to take years to sort out. We've been sleepwalking into this for a number of years. Siesta (ph) has been trying to highlight it now for six years, since we published "Breakthrough Britain." And what we're saying is, social breakdown and brokenness is everywhere in the UK --
FOSTER: Social breakdown --
POOLE: -- but it's --
FOSTER: -- what's that, families?
POOLE: OK, we've looked -- we've identified five key areas, but this leads to brokenness in society.
The first one is the breakdown of the family. The second is the education, lack of work and a lifestyle on benefits, high levels of addiction and high levels of personal debt.
And if you start building a picture where people have three, four, five of those in their life, they are down. They're at the bottom end of society and they are never likely to come back up without any specific interventions like the Centre has been talking about.
What we would say is people need to look at this. It's not so much about financial reform, which this government is going on, which we endorse. But you need to do it in hand with a social reform.
And what we've been saying is let's strengthen families. Let's rebuild relationships. In the areas and the communities that lots of these young people -- they've started up, up in Top -- Tottenham, have come from a society where there's a lack of role models, there's a lack of fathers.
They're probably third or fourth generation where the family has completely broken down. They have no idea what it's like to parent a child effectively. They've lost control of their children by the time that they're teenagers.
So when we hear media commentators or adults on the street to the police saying, "parents, get hold of your children, know where they are, actually, these parents don't know where their children are. And sometimes they're not really interested to know where their children are. But they're out on the streets.
And as Symeon has said, they've exploded out in the communities where we have conveniently parked them, into social housing, where we've ghettoized these communities --
(CROSSTALK)
POOLE: -- and they've exploded into mainstream society.
FOSTER: OK. Now, Symeon, it sounds quite academic when Gavin talks about it like that. But the people that you deal with, a typical person, does that relate to that person that you deal with?
BROWN: What I would -- what I would say is that I agree that there are certain communities, a certain section of the communities who are, I would say, they are very much in their own realm. They very much have their own space. They have their own rules, their own -- their own hierarchy.
Then they're away from -- they're away from the -- the --
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: Because their parents are away and this amalgam of problems?
BROWN: Well, what we've seen is -- is generations that are socially excluded.
And when I say socially excluded, what do I mean?
We have a -- a society where the route is you go to school. You go to school, you get your education. You either become a professional or you go into higher education. Therefore, you get professional qualification, you get your mortgage. It's a specific route the way that we work things.
You might volunteer at your local church or you will do things.
They had their own sphere. They were put out of education, where, therefore, they can't go that route. Or, for very different reasons, they don't have those -- those strengths.
We've seen the family, we've seen the community, we've seen key institutions that support individuals to flourish and grow really back down in these spaces.
And what we need to do is we need to begin to engage, mobilize and rebuild these spaces.
FOSTER: OK. Symeon, Gavin, thank you both very much, indeed.
And we'll hear from David Cameron and the politicians in an emergency meeting in parliament tomorrow. And they're going to have to address it now, aren't they?
Thank you both for joining us.
Now, not all young people in Britain are rioting, of course. And one young man is determined to prove it, along with 200,000 of his new friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM PEPPER, OPERATION CUP OF TEA ORGANIZER: I set up a page to -- just to say we're not rioting. So I called it -- I first called it The Anti-Riot Page. And basically what the page was, was I wanted everyone to join me at 8:30 with a cup of tea and send a picture of themselves in drinking a cup of tea. And that's it. That's all I wanted everyone to do.
And, I mean, I'm -- by the middle of the day, I had 20,000 people. By 8:30, when the pictures was being posted, I had 100,000 people. And this morning I have 200,000 people.
So I mean it's crazy the amount of people that have got involved. And it really like, when you look through the photo aids (ph), it really gives you this kind of feeling that we're all together and, you know, kind of a bit more united. And you see everyone with their cups of tea. And it's really interesting just to look through the page.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: What a clever guy, a great idea.
If you want to join Sam's tea party, click on the link on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/cnnconnect.
Now, counting down to golf's PGA championship in Georgia, but don't talk to Tiger about timing. The former number one loses another sponsorship deal. All the details coming up in 60 seconds, with "WORLD SPORT'S" Don Riddell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, RANKED 30TH IN WORLD RANKINGS: You know, I'm not going to speculate on -- on Steve. Those are obviously his feelings and his emotions and history decision to say what he wants to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Tiger Woods there not saying very much on the issue of his ex-caddy, Steve Williams.
You'll remember Williams described his win with Australian Adam Scott as the best of his career.
Woods is gearing up to try to put an end to his title drought when the PGA championship in Georgia the tees off on Thursday.
Another sponsor crashing out is not what he needs. In the last two years, he's lost a lot -- his number one ranking his winning swing, his fitness at, at times. And his caddy, his wife and now, yes, another endorsement deal.
Swiss watch maker, Tag Heuer, has called time on its 10 year relationship with the former number one. "WORLD SPORT'S" Don Riddell joins me.
He's in the CNN Center -- it's a blow financially, of course, Don, but is it more than that?
DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean it's one more thing Tiger has to deal with. It means that a lot of people are talking about him but not his golf and not his (INAUDIBLE) or what's left of it.
So I mean it's -- it's not good for his image, is it, I mean to have yet another major sponsor walking away from him?
Max, in the last four years, or -- or rather, four years ago, he had an incredible portfolio. SI.com estimated that he was worth about $128 million then. And $105 million of that was coming from endorsements.
In 2007, he had Nike, AT&T, General Motors and Gatorade in his portfolio. General Motors ended their association with Tiger before the scandal in 2009.
But if we fast forward to now, Gatorade is gone, AT&T, as has Accenture. They've all left. Now Tag Heuer, as well. And in 2010, Tiger's estimated income dropped to less than half of what it was back in 2007.
Nothing seems to be going right for Tiger, Max. He's only completed six tournaments this season. He hasn't looked like he's going to win again. He hasn't won a tournament in nearly two years. He hasn't won a major in over three years. And he's slumped down to number 30 in the world.
And there must be sponsors like Tag Heuer who are looking at Tiger Woods and thinking, you know, even forget the scandal --
FOSTER: Yes.
RIDDELL: -- he's not even the player he once was. There are 29 other players in the world that are better than him, more exciting than him probably more marketable than him right now.
FOSTER: It's a -- it's a risky business, though, isn't it, sponsoring people?
Because we're all faulty. They always have to take these things into account.
But he had such a clean image, though, didn't he?
He was so successful. But there's risks involved. And I guess, as you say, they're taking their money elsewhere.
But we've had experience with this before.
RIDDELL: Yes. It is a risky business. And I -- but I think, you know, the -- the Tiger Woods scandal really did make a lot of these big money sponsors probably look at a lot of the athletes they were sponsoring and thinking, are they as squeaky clean as -- as we would be led to believe?
And as you say, the risk is that one day we will find out that they're not.
But you're right, you know, people are people. They make mistakes. They perhaps don't always do as they promise. And then from a -- from a marketing and a branding point of view, you've got a problem.
FOSTER: OK. Don, thank you very much, indeed.
We won't feel too sorry for him. He's got plenty in the bank, financially, at least, anyway.
"WORLD SPORT" in an hour with Don with much more on that.
Coming up after the break, though, hope amidst devastation -- Sanjay Gupta reports on the efforts to save one 6-year-old child from starvation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, when the doctor talks about death by starvation, I can tell you, it's neither quick nor it's painless. When you come to a place like this, you see it just about everywhere. You can hear it sometimes, as well. And you can also smell it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: You're back with CONNECT THE WORLD on CNN, the world's news leader. Let's check the headlines this hour.
A dizzying plunge on Wall Street erases the Dow's best day of the year. Blue chip stocks sank 519 points today over concerns about Europe's debt crisis. That erased all the gains from Tuesday's rally and then some.
Tensions are high in England's second-largest city, Birmingham, after a night of violence, including a hit and run that killed three people trying to protect their property. So far, London is quiet for a second night after a massive police force was deployed to restore order.
Reports say Syrian troops are withdrawing from Hama after a military assault that's lasted more than a week. But some eyewitnesses say tanks are still in the center of the city. Elsewhere, activists say at least three demonstrators were killed today in homes.
NATO says it has killed the insurgents who shot down a military helicopter carrying US and Afghan personnel. Thirty-eight people died in the Afghanistan crash over the weekend, including 22 elite Navy SEALs.
The United Nations is warning that one in ten children aged five and under in Somalia could die in the next 11 weeks. This week for the first time in five years, the UN refugee agency is airlifting supplies to the Somali capital, Mogadishu. We're have more on that in just a moment.
3.7 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia. Children are among the most vulnerable. The UN has declared five areas of the country to be famine zones. They include three areas in and around the capital, Mogadishu. Seen here in blue, they were confirmed last week.
This map also shows where the famine was first declared after a prolonged drought. Those regions are Bakool and Lower Shabelle.
Now, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is at a refugee camp on the Kenyan side of the border with Somalia. Many of the people there are starving, some with the -- with small children have walked for days in hope of food and aid. Here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the middle of a famine, the sickest of the sick come here. Like Ahmed.
He's six years old, and he just spent ten days walking under the East Africa sun, his tiny, prone body, robbed of nutrition for too long. His doctor can only hope he arrived in time.
GUPTA (on camera): What happens to a child like this if you weren't here, if he wasn't at this facility?
HUMPHREY MUSYOKA, DOCTOR, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: This child -- probably in a few weeks or so, we'll have lost this child.
GUPTA: One --
MUSYOKA: We --
GUPTA: Yes. We would lose this child.
MUSYOKA: We would lose this child.
GUPTA: When the doctor talks about death by starvation, I can tell you it's neither quick nor it's painless. When you come to a place like this, you see it. Just about everywhere. You can hear it sometimes, as well.
You can also smell it. It's in the air, it's this acrid sweetness that is a reflection of the body literally starting to digest itself.
GUPTA (voice-over): Little kids, like Ahmed, simply stop growing. They become stunted in time. And the tools to save him are basic. It's not like they have much choice, but they do work.
GUPTA (on camera): I want to show you something else that I think is very important, here, and this is what doctors use. A simple measuring device to try and determine if a kid needs acute medical care.
You can tell if a kid is malnourished simply by using this. This is Ayan (ph), she's eight months old. You simply take this, you put it around her arm about ten centimeters down from her shoulder, and you measure. Just measure this.
And if the number comes back below 11, that means a kid is in real trouble. In Ayan's case, you can see here, the number is actually about 9.5. That's part of the reason she's getting these feedings through an NG tube into her nose.
GUPTA (voice-over): Ahmed's was 10.5. One in five kids will not survive with a reading that low. It's grim duty for Dr. Musyoka, the only doctor caring for all these children.
GUPTA (on camera): I have three kids, you have a five-year old.
MUSYOKA: Yes.
GUPTA: How do you do it? How do you see these kids who are suffering so much?
MUSYOKA: It's difficult, especially seeing the kind of suffering they're going through and that translates to your own kids. But what keeps you going is that you have to come and do something for them to survive.
GUPTA (voice-over): Ahmed was one of the estimated 600,000 kids on the brink of death by starvation. But today, that may have changed. Ahmed may have been saved. He made it here just in time.
GUPTA (via telephone): I'll tell you one thing now is that there are 2,000 people coming in a day, so right after Ahmed, a lot more people are going to need care.
The aid is here, Max. It's been coming slowly , but there are persistent concerns that you may have heard this week from the World Food Program says that as things stand now, they are likely to run out of funding, they are likely to run out of food in the next three weeks.
FOSTER: It's such shocking pictures, Sanjay, that you've managed to gather, but what's actually happening to those children's bodies as they're lying in those beds?
GUPTA: Well you know, Max, there's no dignified way to talk about starvation and what it does to the body. You can see the images, certainly, but the body starts to try and find energy and calories anywhere it can after food gets cut off.
First the liver and the fatty tissues are used to get that energy. That's why someone really starts to develop that very gaunt appearance.
After that, it's the muscle, trying to get protein from the muscle, so the muscle starts to waste away, including the heart muscle, which makes someone very listless and fatigued.
They also have this concern that the blood pressure will drop, their pulse will drop, their body temperature will drop. Again, there's no dignified way to really to talk about it, Max.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much, indeed, for bringing us that very important story and shining a light on it. And you can hear more from Sanjay right after this program, at 10:00 London time on a special "BackStory" on the crisis in Somalia.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Next up, in the line of fire. A new report reveals medical workers have become fair game in war zones. In just two minutes, we'll bring you all the details and ask what has caused this disturbing trend.
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FOSTER: Putting their own lives at risk to save others. What you're seeing here are medics under fire as they rush to treat an injured rebel fighter in Libya.
All this week on CONNECT THE WORLD, we're looking at the danger medical workers are facing in conflict zones around the world. And according to a new report released today, those dangers are growing.
Doctors, nurses, ambulance officers, and medical facilities have long been protected under the Geneva Conventions, but according the International Committee of the Red Cross, those laws recognizing the neutrality of medical workers are increasingly being violated.
In a moment, you'll hear from a doctor who conducted the study. But first, Atika Shubert takes us inside Bahrain, where dozens of hospital workers are being persecuted for treating protesters during the Arab Spring.
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(CROWD CHANTING)
SHUBERT (voice-over): Scenes of chaos inside the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Bahrain's capital, Manama. Earlier this year, it became the focal point of uprisings as Shia protesters rallied against the government.
(CROWD CHANTING)
SHUBERT: In February, the tiny Gulf state became one of the latest countries involved in the Arab Spring. Thousands took to the streets, inspired by the pro-democracy protests that swept across Tunisia and Egypt.
My colleague, Nic Robertson, filmed these scenes as it became clear that this medical complex was at the very heart of the demonstrations, with doctors treating injured protesters.
(CROWD CHANTING)
SHUBERT: Dr. Vivienne Nathanson, head of ethics at the British Medical Association, says in such situations, it can be difficult for doctors.
VIVIENNE NATHANSON, HEAD OF SCIENCE AND ETHICS, BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: If you have, after the beginnings of the protest, a lot of injured, then inevitably, their families, their supporters, their friends, will come to visit them, will bring them there, indeed. And they will be concerned and they will be talking to the media because the media is everywhere.
So inevitably to an extent, there is a media center there. The question, then, is how much can you distance that from making the institution itself a part of that movement? And it is very difficult.
SHUBERT: Bahrain claimed that the hospital served as a coordination point for protests against the government. But medical workers say that was not the case. For Dr. Nathanson, every dispute comes with a unique set of allegations.
NATHANSON: There are always accusations that in some fields of conflict, people are working in hospitals but actually they're only helping the rebels or using it as a center for disseminating anti-government propaganda or whatever the person who is targeting it doesn't like.
Whether that's true or not -- and if it is true, of course, it is a breach of neutrality by the people working there, the key is that it's not been proven and it doesn't make any difference, because the answer would be to stop people from doing that, but not to indiscriminately target all health care centers.
SHUBERT: Forty-seven doctors, nurses, and other medical workers were detained and put on trial, accused of supporting the protests and trying to overthrow the state, allegations they denied.
Lieutenant General Louis Lillywhite, the former surgeon general of the British army, said that although he wasn't there and some issues are still in question, the hospital should not have become an issue.
LOUIS LILLYWHITE, FORMER SURGEON GENERAL, BRITISH ARMED FORCES: From what I see, the hospital got drawn into the conflict. And that was the cardinal error.
And the hospital should have been completely -- should have been a neutral area, which was designated and reserved for the treatment of those who were injured. And it should, of course, have treated any injured who were presented to it.
SHUBERT: Today, the trials continue, with medical workers and human rights groups saying the defendants were tortured and forced to make false confessions. The Bahrain government denies this.
Many say medical workers are all too often caught in the middle of battles between angry protesters and authorities. This footage form YouTube shows what appears to be an ambulance worker in Syria shot in April as forces cracked down on protesters.
CNN cannot confirm who fired the shots, but it's increasingly clear the extent to which medical staff have been caught up in the violence of the revolutionary wave.
Across the region, in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, health care workers have been injured and threatened as they try to treat the wounded. Dr. Vivienne Nathanson says attackers need to remember the primary purpose of hospitals.
NATHANSON: You need to think, if I am hurt, if my wife is hurt, if my child is hurt, if my parent is hurt, that hospital will look after them, regardless of who they are or whether they approve of what I do or what they do.
Now, once they start to think about that, people start to say, actually, I need to protest this hospital, because it's going to look after me and the people I love.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, the prosecution of hospital staff in Bahrain is among the many examples, really, highlighted by the Red Cross in its report. Other include kidnappings and misuse of facilities, executions. The violations stretch around the globe. Let's take a look at some of them.
In Sri Lanka in 2009, a hospital in the country's war-torn north was shelled, killing and injuring as many as 500 people.
Later that same year, a suicide bomber attacked Somali medical students at a graduation ceremony in Mogadishu, claiming 19 lives.
According to the report, Iraq has been hit hardest, with over 625 medical personnel killed since 2003, and as recently as April this year, militants in Afghanistan used an ambulance packed with explosives to infiltrate a police training center, killing 12 people.
Now, at risk, says the Red Cross, are not just personnel and millions of patients, but vital humanitarian laws. A little earlier, I spoke to Dr. Robin Coupland, who conducted this study that we've been talking about, and I began by asking him why doctors are now finding themselves in the firing line.
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ROBIN COUPLAND, DOCTOR, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: One of the fundamental dilemmas for health workers anywhere who, when they receive patients are obviously witness to the things that are happening out there on the streets, and so this leaves them with a fundamental dilemma of whether or not to speak out on what they're seeing.
In other words, to become a witness on the scene, and this is a very difficult dilemma because, obviously, you might be prevented from treating your patients because of speaking out.
FOSTER: But if you want medical workers to be left alone in these situations, isn't the answer for them to take, then, the line that they don't get involved in any sort of politics in the same way as aid workers don't more generally?
COUPLAND: Well, certainly, neutrality is important, but you simply can't ignore what is happening. You don't necessarily need to say something at the time, you don't need to say something that's going to put you or your patients or your whole operation in danger at the time.
But there is certainly -- there's a duty on health professionals to try and make the situation better after the event, if that's the only time that they can do so.
FOSTER: What's the solution, here? Because I presume it's a different situation from country to country, but can you come up with a broader convention-type rule which will help solve things for you?
COUPLAND: Well, what is interesting about this particular health problem is that it doesn't -- the solution for this health problem does not lie in the health community. The solution for this lies in the domain of politics, international law, military procedures and so forth.
In other words, the reason we've taken this on is to ensure that the health community, whilst at the center of it, engages others to provide solutions. And those others are the people that are responsible for the security or insecurity of health care in these situations.
FOSTER: What do you think's going to happen, though, if this carries on as it is? I presume medical workers won't want to go into any conflict zones, will they?
COUPLAND: Well, that already happens that the -- there are many places in many countries, I don't want to go into which countries, where health care simply is not available because it -- the insecurity is too heavy.
And we know, for example, polio vaccination is seriously hampered in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We know that certain areas of Colombia, the health care workers do not simply go there because it's too dangerous because of the conflict.
FOSTER: Have they ever considered arming themselves or getting security?
COUPLAND: Some health care workers, obviously, do arm themselves. We don't. That is the Red Cross Red Crescent movement, we do not arm ourselves.
International humanitarian law does permit military medical personnel to carry light weapons for the purpose of self-defense or defense of their patients, but we're not looking at those measures as a solution.
The measure lies with, actually, the -- both states' armed forces, police, and other armed groups in assuring the security of health care in whichever area they're in control of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Dr. Robin Coupland, there, speaking to me earlier.
Now, the Red Cross is launching a four-year campaign to regain the protected status of medical workers and facilities. Until that happens, they remain very much at risk, and one man who is often there to document the dangers is freelance photographer Andre Liohn.
Tomorrow, as we continue our special look at workers at war, we ask Andre why he chooses to capture conflicts through the eyes of health workers and what he hopes to achieve.
From one hostile environment to another. Next up, our big interview with the adventurer known as the Amazon Man. Deadly animals, voracious insects, spear-wielding tribesmen. Ed Stafford was told he wouldn't survive, but he did. We mark the anniversary of his historic feet in just two minutes.
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FOSTER: This week marks the anniversary of an historic journey, a journey that many thought impossible. This time last year, Ed Stafford became the first man to walk the length of the Amazon River. The British explorer spent 28 months dodging danger to complete the feat.
And now, one year on, Becky sat down with Ed and his walking companion, Cho, to find out just how they survived one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth.
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ED STAFFORD, BRITISH EXPLORER: All right, let's go.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was told he wouldn't survive. Still, on April the 2nd, 2008, Ed Stafford set off with friend Luke Collyer on a world first, to walk the length of the Amazon River and raise awareness about its fragile ecosystem.
And he took us along with him. Every step of the 4,000-mile, 6,400- kilometer journey through video diaries and blogs posted from the heart of the jungle.
STAFFORD: We're exhausted, our shoulders hurt, our hips hurt, our feet hurt.
ANDERSON: This was the least of Ed's worries. Just three months on, the former army captain found himself facing the epic journey alone after falling out with his companion.
STAFFORD: We have officially made the wrong decision.
To be fair on Luke, he'd gotten engaged about two weeks before we started this, so his heart wasn't really in it. He was -- his head in a different place, and so -- and then we clashed personality-wise.
We had different ideas on how to lead the expedition and literally got the stage how Luke drank his coffee in the morning would really irritate me. But yes, sadly, Luke left, yes.
ANDERSON: His adventure had just become more dangerous.
STAFFORD: I'd far prefer to do this expedition on my own, unguided. Without walking with indigenous people through the indigenous areas, you're very likely just to be killed.
ANDERSON: Among the guides, Gadiel "Cho" Sanchez Rivera. The local forest worker agreed to walk Ed through a notorious drug trafficking region for just five days, but was still at Ed's side two years later when the pair finally reached the river's mouth.
ANDERSON (on camera): And Cho, you could've given up at any time. Why did you go on with this guy.
GADIEL "CHO" SANCHEZ RIVERA, ED STAFFORD'S GUIDE (through translator): If I had gone back, what would people have said? So I wanted to continue with Ed.
STAFFORD: Look, this mining road that we're -- that we've been following is absolutely littered with jaguars.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Ed did face many a menace. Anacondas, razor- sharp grass, jaguars, armed tribes, and voracious insects.
STAFFORD: I've got a butterfly in the back of my head, and it's eating me.
ANDERSON (on camera): I read that you, Ed -- and I guess Cho, as well -- suffered some 50,000 mosquito bites on the way. Just one of the challenges that you encountered. Were you counting them?
STAFFORD: No. We had to do a little bit of math. So, literally, we had about ten -- I'd say about five or six mosquito bites on your hand at any one time, so you just did the math. It was ridiculous, it really was ridiculous.
But we stopped reacting to them after a while. Literally, after about two months, we just didn't have any blemishes on our skin at all.
ANDERSON: Were you prepared for what you encountered?
STAFFORD: No, I don't think I was. And I think that made the adventure all the more amazing, really.
I never really thought in 2008, which is when we were walking through the Peruvian areas, that there would still be tribes so uncontacted -- not uncontacted, but so, I suppose, isolated from the outside world, they thought that I was a pelicara, which means face peeler.
And they thought that I was coming -- they thought all Americans, and they thought I was American, came into their villages to kill people and to cut them open and to steal their body parts.
And I just thought that was incredible that they could live in such fear of a myth, essentially, in 2008. But it was very true, and the fear was really genuine.
ANDERSON: Did you stare death in the eye?
STAFFORD: There was one time we were given a direct death threat, and it was over the HF radio system that the indigenous communities have in Peru, and they said if a white person comes through, we'll kill him immediately.
So, we had to come up with a sort of plan B, and Cho said, all right, there's a big shingle island in the middle of the river. Let's paddle across in our little inflatable opposite that. It's about two kilometers long. Sneak around this village, which is caused Pensilvania. And then, when we get to the downstream end, we'll paddle back.
We got to the downstream end and lo and behold, Cho says, "Ed, look behind you," and there's five dugout canoes full of Asheninka Indians coming towards us at high speed. And the guys who weren't paddling were standing up with their bows and arrows drawn.
And women, who were the most scary out of the whole lot, were armed with machetes. And I thought because we'd had that death threat the day before, I thought we were just about to be cut to pieces. We weren't armed, we were never armed, so we were just trapped on the end of this island.
But luckily, they weren't from Pennsylvania, and they didn't end up killing us. But they were pretty angry.
ANDERSON (voice-over): As Ed revealed in his book, "Walking the Amazon," these encounters were not the toughest part of his journey.
STAFFORD: Everyone here keeps saying "Make sure you enjoy the last few days. Appreciate your -- appreciate your time in the Amazon still." They don't understand what it's like to have been walking for two and a half years.
ANDERSON (on camera): You, I believe, fell into quite deep depression at one point. What happened?
STAFFORD: It's funny talking about it now, but I'm quite honest in the book, so I end up having to talk about it, but I think because a lot of my experience beforehand had been with the military and had been with other volunteer expeditions, there'd always been other westerners around me, and there was a lot of banter, and things go wrong, you'd laugh and joke.
It was quite difficult in slight isolation. When I met Cho, my English -- my Spanish was pretty appalling. Because we went -- we were able to communicate in terms of getting by, we weren't able to sort of have a chat or talk about emotions or anything like that.
And so, I felt very isolated, and I don't think I'd really ever prepared for that isolation, because I'd always thought I was doing it with another mate from England.
And so, I think that took me by surprise, and I didn't deal with it terribly well, and I got so focused on the end that I forget to concentrate on enjoying the actual journey, and so it was a quite dark time, yes.
(MEN SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
ANDERSON (voice-over): A dark time that itself was forgotten on August the 9th last year.
STAFFORD: That was the best day for me, anytime. I don't mean to be negative about the expedition, but having spent 860 days walking, we were ready to be out of the jungle by that stage and literally just rounding the corner and seeing the Atlantic Ocean stretch out in front of us, we both just shrugged off our rope sacks and we ran down the beach.
And it was phenomenal. Cho had never been to the sea before, literally, so he'd never even tasted salt water or anything like that. So it was a phenomenal day for him.
And again, because of all the coverage of people like you, it felt like people had actually recognized the expedition, so it was really rewarding.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, Ed and Cho had to deal with all sorts of weather, of course, on their adventure. Luckily, they probably avoided hail the size of golf balls. I'm sure they did.
In tonight's Parting Shots, see the -- seamless transition, there. Do check out this.
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FOSTER: This is in Nebraska in the United States. Can you believe it? You wouldn't want to get caught up in this, pretty painful, I imagine. Caused all sorts of damage. Huge golf ball-sized pieces of ice landing on Nebraska.
And just look at how big the hail is on some of the closeups. That car is getting pretty damaged. I think it was OK in the end.
I'm Max Foster, thank you so much for watching. The world headlines are ahead for you, and also "BACKSTORY" after this short break.
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