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Connect the World

Bubba Watson Wins Masters; Russia Meeting With Syrian Foreign Minister Tomorrow

Aired April 09, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tonight on Connect the World, spilling across borders: Syria's violence crosses into Turkey and Lebanon as a UN backed peace plan looks to be in tatters.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.

ANDERSON: It is 11:00 p.m. in Syria, just an hour shy of a deadline for President al Assad to honor a cease-fire pledge (inaudible) day intensifies. Is there any chance the government will stand by its promise?

We're looking at the sight of North Korea's planned rocket launch. CNN gets rare access, but the south is bracing for what could be a far more ominous test.

And--

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) disaster was actually a very unavoidable (inaudible)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Did you know why the Titanic sank? We'll meet the expert whose fascinating theory could surprise you.

Well, tonight a deal in doubt -- violence spreads to other countries, and a deadline looms.

In just one hour, Syria is supposed to start pulling its forces out of cities across the country. And for the very first time, death has followed Syria refugees as they cross the border into Turkey. The Turkish foreign ministry says Syria soldiers fired across the border with fatal results. On top of that, Lebanese television says a cameraman was shot dead by Syrian troops again across the border.

Well, Lebanon's prime minister wrote on Twitter, "We'll inform the Syrian side of our condemnation of this act -- thus demanding an investigation so that its perpetrators are held to account."

We're going to start in Turkey tonight with my colleague Ivan Watson who is monitoring developments from CNN Istanbul.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, it's hard to imagine how any cease-fire can start being put in place on Tuesday given the bloodbath we've seen in Syria over the past several days. On Monday alone, Syrian opposition sources report more than 75 people were killed in violence around the country. Syrian state media is reporting funerals for at least 25 Syria soldiers and security forces.

And there have been two deadly shooting incidents on two separate Syrian borders. On the border with Lebanon, a Lebanese cameraman with Al Jadeeb (ph) TV was killed while traveling in his Jeep along the border as he sustained gunfire. His name is Ali Shaban (ph).

And meanwhile, on the Turkish border, what started out before dawn on Monday as a gun battle between Syrian rebels and security forces at the Bab al Salama customs gate right next to the Turkish border snowballed as some wounded Syrians fled towards Turkish territory and towards the Turkish border.

There is a refugee camp in Turkey within spitting distance of that border fence. And some of the wounded people were running through mine fields to that fence. Syrian security forces started firing into the refugee camp. They wounded one Turkish police officer. They also wounded a female Turkish translator in that camp. And local residents describe to us how they were transporting some of the more than 20 wounded Syrians from the border fence to a nearby hospital.

This is the first cross-border shooting incident of its kind between Syria and Turkey. It threatens to drastically exacerbate already tense relations between these two neighbors with the Turkish government calling on the government of Syrian president Bashar al Assad to step down arguing after the deaths of more than 9,000 people in Syria over the last year. The Syrian president no longer has any legitimacy -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Ivan Watson in Turkey for you, just an hour or so until a Kofi Annan brokered peace plan should go into effect.

Let's remind ourselves of its details if, as promised, the Syrian government withdraws from the protest cities by Tuesday -- and that's become a big if -- the next step would be for all sides to end hostilities within 48 hours. After that, they would enter talks to find a political resolution to the crisis.

Well, Washington isn't very hopeful as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told CNN just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UN: Syria government yet again refused to implement its commitments, make promises and then break them and continue and escalate the killing. Then I think it will be clear to all that there isn't yet a prospect for a diplomatic solution. We still hope that that's possible. We still want to give that a final chance, but I don't think we or anybody else are particularly optimistic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Those are pretty skeptical there, then. One of the crucial international players in all of this is also one of Syria's key allies. Phil Black is standing by in Moscow for a preview of what is a much anticipated visit by Syria's foreign minister to Russia on Tuesday.

First, though, I spoke to Middle East expert and regular guest on this show Fawaz Gerges just before coming on air. He's been skeptical from the start that this peace plan would work. He was quite categorical about that earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAWAZ GERGES, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: Nothing will happen tomorrow, unfortunately for Syria and the Syrian people. Nothing will happen on the ground. There will be no cease-fire observed tomorrow for a variety of reasons.

First, because the Syrian authorities were unlikely to pull out their army and security forces from urban cities. The Syrian authorities insist on the rebels being disarmed. They insist that the rebels should lay down their arms before the government pulls out its forces from -- point one.

Point two, the rebels basically are a de-centralized movement. This is a people's militias and factions and groups, multiple rebel factions. There's no command and control. Who is going to give the rebels orders to basically observe a cease-fire?

Plus you have a trust deficit. There is no common ground between the Assad regime and the rebels. Both sides, the big point here, Becky, both camps have locked themselves in for the long-term, a protracted bloody conflict.

ANDERSON: Let's have a look at what Kofi Annan also said in the past 24 hours. I quote "I ask all states with influence on the parties to use it now to ensure an end to the bloodshed and the beginning of a dialogue."

The Russians, of course, have held a consistent position on this throughout the dispute and have effectively neutralized the security council. There's a meeting Tuesday with the Syrian foreign minister in Moscow. Why or how have the talks might be Russian position change Fawaz?

GERGES: I think, Becky, two points about the Russian position. Russia is one of the most pivotal powers in the Syrian. It is one of the reason to ask me. One of the reason why the Assad regime accepted the Kofi Annan peace proposal, because once the Russian government supported the Kofi Annan peace plan, the Syrian government had no choice. Point one.

Point two, is that without Russia's support the Syrian authorities would feel no pressure to basically make concessions to the rebels.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Fawaz Gerges speaking to me early. Syria's foreign minister then gearing up for what is a big meeting in Moscow.

CNN's Phil Black joining us live from the Russian capital.

Phil, with the Syrian crisis now crossing borders it seems this hour, if any thing this crisis is intensifying. What is the narrative likely to be in Moscow on Tuesday?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, for Russia this is another key moment in this crisis, another key test to show that it can come up with some sort of constructive resolution, because remember for months it has been shielding Syria in the security council. But all that time still demanding that Syria stop the violence. And Syria has shown little sign that it is in fact listening to its bigger, more powerful and highly significant ally.

So now as the deadline looms on this peace plan, which Russia has supported very strongly. This will be a test of Russia's ability to show that it can get Syria to live up to its obligations under this plan, which Syria has promised to do.

But in recent weeks there have been signs of irritation from Russia towards Syria, criticism of its actions. The fact that it has been reacting slowly, making mistakes. The Russian minister Sergei Levrov has said very clearly that it is Syria's obligation to act first under this plan.

And while all of this may show some irritation from Russia towards Syria it does not in any way represent a significant change in the Russian opinion. It is opposition, it is still very much of the view that the opposition carries significant blame and that those countries who are lining up behind the opposition are taking away its motivation to sit down and reach an negotiated settlement. And so those countries, the west, other Arab nations, the so-called Friends of Syria, according to Russia, they still bear significant responsibility for the ongoing violence, Becky.

ANDERSON: And Phil, just an aside here, has the Russian position changed at all since the presidential elections?

BLACK: It's not expected to, no. I mean, the feeling here very much has been that the position all along has in fact been the position of prime minister and now president-elect Vladimir Putin, someone who has been very strong in this regard, someone who very clearly, very vocally objected to the west and the UN resolution authorizing force in Libya. And so it is not expected that he's going to change in that view.

But it's worth noting, though, that some analysts believe that Russia is in effect preparing for the possibility of regime change, of the Assad regime collapsing. There has been the view that perhaps they are hedging both -- hedging bets both ways now, but some analysts have actually said that all along, Becky. And they say that is because of the very clearly stated view of Russia that it is not backing the regime, backing Assad personally. There's not demanding that Assad stay. What it is insisting is that no member of the international community has the right to demand Assad must go.

And so it is through that position, through that language, that some analysts believe that Russia all along has been extending a branch, if you like, to the opposition should the regime fall and should a new Syria with some sort of opposition government take force, Becky.

ANDERSON: Interesting. Phil Black is in Moscow for you tonight. Phil, thank you for that. Our top story this hour. The Syria crisis escalates across borders leaving a planned cease-fire increasingly in doubt. It's less than an hour before a pledge to withdrawal of troops from Syrian cities. But today Assad's government reportedly intensifying attacks, this time into Turkey and Lebanon.

What role Russia now, if any, in settling this bloody dispute?

You're watching Connect the World here on CNN live from London.

Still to come, an election bid causing anger. Egypt's leading presidential candidate says a victory by Hosni Mubarak's former spy chief will bring protesters back to the streets.

In (inaudible) he's just won the Masters and he's making headlines across the world, but who is Bubba Watson and where did he come from? We're going to introduce you to golf's surprise new hero. That's next.

And, crossing the cultural divide -- later, we're going to meet the prima ballerina who left London for Beijing in search of a new form of dance. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: This is CNN and Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson, 15 odd minutes past 9:00 in London. Welcome back.

A new intelligence report says North Korea likely has an ulterior motive for its controversial rocket launch this week. And a report from South Korea says it's very likely Pyongyang will use the international uproar over the launch as a cover to conduct a nuclear test. Well, Pyongyang insists the launch simply marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Communist state's founder Kim il-Sung in an unusual mood the government allowed journalists allowed to see the launch preparations.

Stan Grant was among them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN GRANT, CNN INTERANTIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Well, this is indeed a rare opportunity to get this close to an actual satellite launch site, especially here in North Korea. This area has been kept very much under wraps away from the eyes of the world, but today of course this has changed. You can see the media around me here, the number of people who have been invited here to tour this site.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Yeah, rare access indeed. We're going to have more of Stan's report later in the program. Look, first, though at some of the other stories that are connecting our world.

Tonight, the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate in Egypt's presidential election says a victory next month by Hosni Mubarak's former spy chief would set off another wave of protests. Former military intelligence chief Omar Soliman entered the presidential race at the last minute on Sunday. The Brotherhood's Khairat el-Shater quickly accused Soliman of trying to steal the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAIRAT EL-SHATER, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): To think that the Egyptian people would choose Omar Soliman without forgery, it's not possible. The only way he will win the elections is by forgery. If there is a 1 percent chance of forgery in the elections and he wins that way, then all the Egyptians, not just the Muslim Brotherhood, will take to the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Tonight, the widows of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden are currently under house arrest for living legally in Pakistan. They were captured after the raid that killed bin Laden last May. Now the women and their children are set to return to their own countries of Yemen and Saudi Arabia next week.

These images show them inside the Islamabad home where they are in custody.

French police are on the lookout for a suspected serial killer. Four people have been killed with the same gun in a Paris suburb over the last five months. Now the last victim was a 47-year-old woman shot last Thursday in (inaudible). Last month, self-declared militant Muslim killed seven people in Toulouse. But police say so far there's nothing to connect the victims of the killer in Paris.

Well, the Afghan president is praising Sunday's deal with the United States over controversial special operations raids. Afghan authorities will now have the power to approve and lead all raids. NATO raids on private residences have caused huge resentment amongst Afghans, especially when they're carried out at night. But U.S. officials say they are vital for capturing insurgents.

A Bahrain government spokesman says a Shiite hunger strike is fine, even though his family is being barred from seeing him. Abdulhadi el- Khawaja was jailed last year in connection with the anti-government protests. Well, began his hunger strike 61 days ago. His daughter spoke with him on Saturday and said he was having trouble breathing. He's holding dual Danish citizenship, but Bahrain has refused to hand him over to Denmark.

It could take several more days to save miners trapped under ground in Southern Peru. Nine have been trapped by rock fall in a copper mine since Thursday. Government officials say a fresh cave-in has complicated what is the rescue operation there. The miners have been receiving oxygen, food, and water through a tube which has also allowed them to stay in contact with those above ground.

We are going to take a very short break. Now when we come back, he's the unlikely winner of golf's latest major, what Bubba Watson is likely to do next here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Your watching Connect the World live from London. Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson for you.

Now golf fans have a new hero today. And his name is Bubba. Yes, Bubba Watson won the Masters on Sunday in what was a thrilling playoff. It was his first major. And he won it with a shot that is the stuff of legend.

Let's bring in my colleague Don Riddell who is at CNN Center.

I've got to admit, Don, I didn't see this real-time, but I couldn't get enough of it when I saw it earlier on today. Let's see it again.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This is just absolutely breathtaking, Becky. I mean, when you're watching a playoff and you've got two players involved and when one of them puts it deep into the trees you think oh my god he is finished. But not Bubba Watson, he put it miles into the trees and into the pine straw on the right, but he's a lefty, so that meant he was able to hook it all the way back round onto the green. That was about 160 yards out. He put it, Becky, within about 10 feet of the hole.

He's renowned as a shot maker. He's a bit of a (inaudible). He can play any kind of shot. He's self-taught. He's never had a lesson in his life. And that was the biggest moment of his life. He was very, very emotional as you can see at the end. This is a tournament and a major that just means everything to him.

Let's listen to what he had had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUBBA WATSON, MASTER'S CHAMPION: I had an opening, I guess you'd say. I had to hook it about 40 yards. Some pine straw, so I knew that it was going to come out the right way, it was going to come out solid. It wasn't like heavy rough or anything. So he told me the yardage. We had 135 to the front. And we pulled out 52 degree, our gap wedge. And had 160 something hole. And I just hit it as hard as I could and then hook it.

And I couldn't see it because of the crowd rushes and everything. And I can't see anything. And hear the big roar up by the green. I get out to the fairway and finally he said that's you, that's close. My caddy said, that's you that's close up there. And I said, man I couldn't find it I was looking everywhere. And so finally I found it about I don't know 10, 15 feet from the hole.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Becky, Bubba Watson is a devout Christian. Of course, yesterday was Easter Sunday. And he must feel like all this Christmases are coming at once, because only two weeks ago he and his wife adopted a new one-month-old baby boy. And I mean, life doesn't get any better than this, does it?

ANDERSON: No. And it's probably too easy to call him blubbering Bubba Watson. You can totally understand the emotion.

Am I right in saying, Don, that this is a man who has never had a golf lesson in his life?

RIDDELL: Yeah, absolutely, so he says. And I don't see why we shouldn't believe him. His dad put a golf club in his hand when he was a kid and he just kind of took it all from there.

You know, we know that professional golfers these days are just surrounded by entourages. You know, they have mind coaches, swing coaches. He does it all himself. This is video I took of him at the Ryder Cup two years ago. He's an absolutely phenomenal trick shot artist.

I mean, most of us wouldn't have a hope with shots like that. There he is with a driver. It's the wrong driver and it's back to front. And look what he does with that, absolutely incredible.

And he just has every shot in the book. He hits the ball further than anyone else. It doesn't matter that it goes off line every now and again, because he's so good at recovering from the positions he gets himself into. I think he's got a great future ahead of him.

ANDERSON: What a character as well, Don. What's he like as a guy?

RIDDELL: He's a pretty serious guy, but he can be a lot of fun, too.

You know, earlier in the show you said what's he going to do next? Well, I can tell you he's not going to go and buy himself a new car, or at least I don't think he is, because he bought his dream car when he won his last tournament, which was the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard. Do you remember that show when we were growing up? He now owns that car.

ANDERSON: What a man.

All right. Listen, that's the Masters, always great to watch as an event. Let's move on.

Baseball, and a manager named for his brash statements in trouble for some comments about, get this, Fidel Castro. What is going on here?

RIDDELL: Yeah, well this is just an incredible story in baseball. And it's an absolute PR nightmare for the Miami Marlins. They've rebranded themselves. They've moved to a new stadium. They got themselves a new coach, a new manager, Ozzie Guillen. There he is. And in an interview with Time magazine, which was released last week, he was quoted as saying I love Fidel Castro.

Now that's obviously going to be controversial. But when you think that the fanbase that you have in Miami, in Florida contains an awful lot of Cuban-Americans, Cuban exiles, that hasn't gone down at all well there. The Cuban community is absolutely livid. And it's forced Guillen to go back to Miami tomorrow where he says he's going to issue a very personal apology to the Cuban community.

This is what he says he's going to do tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OZZIE GUILLEN, MIAMI MARLINES MANAGER: I feel sad. And in a couple of days, you know, trouble in my stomach, not because of what I did, just because I hurt a lot of people. And I'm going to make it clear, especially for me, I want to get the thing over with. And I told the Marlins I want to fly as soon as I can, and tomorrow is a day off. I don't nothing (inaudible) Miami clear everything up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Becky, this apology cannot come soon enough. The Marlins must hope that it's good enough.

ANDERSON: Yeah, just keep the microphones away from him. Stick to baseball and a baseball bat. My goodness. What is he thinking?

Don, always a pleasure, thank you for that. Don Riddell is at CNN Center.

Everything else so far as sport is concerned, of course, in an hour's time with World Sport. An awful lot of soccer -- football as we call it this side of the pond tonight. All good stuff. And Don, back with you in an hour. That's 10:00 local, London time.

Still to come on Connect the World, despite a rare openness with reporters concerns intensify over North Korea's imminent rocket launch.

And she's one of the best known ballerinas of her generation. Find out why Tamara Rojo left her dance group behind to embark on what was a journey of discovery to Beijing.

And--

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After that, it was just Titanic CSI all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: We're going to talk to the man who spent 25 years, yes 25 years investigating the famous disaster. Find out what startling discovery he's made. That up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: A very warm welcome to our viewers across Europe and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson in London. These are the latest world news headlines from CNN.

It's 30 minutes from midnight in Syria and a deadline looms. There's growing concern that Bashar al-Assad's regime may not keep to a peace plan and withdraw Syrian troops from protest cities. Violence in Syria is escalating, and now it's all over the borders of Turkey and Lebanon.

North Korea's regional ties are under further strain as the secretive nation prepares to launch a rocket. Now, an intelligence report from South Korea says Pyongyang is likely planning a new nuclear test.

The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate lashing out against plans to put a former spy chief to run in Egypt's presidential race. Khairat el-Shater says Egyptians will return to the streets in protest if Omar Suleiman, seen here, wins. Both the Brotherhood and Suleiman personally had earlier pledged not to run.

Relatives and supporters are growing more concerned about the health of a hunger striker in Bahrain. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is protesting his life sentence in connection with anti-government demonstrations.

Those are your headlines.

South Korea's intelligence report says North Korea will likely use the outcry over the rocket launch imminently as an excuse to conduct a nuclear test. Pyongyang insists the rocket has a peaceful purpose. As Stan Grant shows us, the government went so far as to invite journalists to take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, this really was an extraordinary visit for us, for such a secretive country to invite the eyes of the world's media to get up close to such a sensitive site was absolutely unprecedented.

And why? Because of the simple message that North Korea wants to send the world: this is not a missile test. In their eyes, this is a satellite launch.

GRANT (voice-over): This is what North Korea has been keeping hidden from the world. Not anymore. A long-range rocket, 30 meters long, or maybe 100 feet, that much of the world suspects will launch the next phases of the reclusive country's missile program.

North Korea insists there is nothing to fear. It's not a missile test but, in fact, a satellite launch for scientific research. To prove it, they've taken an unprecedented step, opening up the launch site to the eyes of the international media.

For Pyongyang, this also represents a propaganda coup in the year the country celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Kim Il-sung.

"This is a spiritual moment as the North Korean people struggle to open the gate to a prosperous and powerful future," this man says.

But the United States and its allies see it very differently. A country still technically at war taking yet another stop closer to perfecting a missile that experts say could reach American shores.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am very disturbed.

GRANT (on camera): He can -- he can deny that? He can deny that it's -- that it's a missile technology?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If you look for yourselves with your own eyes, than you can judge whether it's a ballistic missile or whether it's a launch vehicle to put a satellite into orbit. To show that -- that's why we've introduced -- we've invited you to this launch site.

GRANT (voice-over): We certainly get the grand tour, today shown all around the site, the control center, even the actual satellite that will be launched into space on the rocket. One independent European analyst visiting the site says he sees nothing to be concerned about, but --

CHRISTIAN LARDIER, SPACE ANALYST: I don't know what they want to do in the future, but today, what we see is a space launcher.

GRANT: To travel to the site at Tangachai-ri is to get an all-too- rare glimpse through the window of what's being dubbed the hermit kingdom.

GRANT (on camera): We're going to get on this train, here. We'll be traveling for about five hours until we actually get to the satellite launch site itself.

GRANT (voice-over): From the carriage of our train, a barren landscape, people scattered working the harsh fields of a country where many people struggle even to eat. Not an issue North Korean officials were keen for me to pursue.

GRANT (on camera): Is it more important than food?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, what was the question again?

GRANT: Is space technology more important than feeding your people?

(MAN SPEAKING KOREAN)

GRANT: We don't want to answer that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll have a chance to record the interview.

GRANT (voice-over): To a country obsessed with it self-defense and presenting a strong face to the world, this, they argue, is money well- spent. And anyway, as we are constantly reminded, this is a satellite launch. Not a missile test.

GRANT (on camera): And we're already hearing from South Korean intelligence sources that North Korean may, in fact, be preparing for a nuclear test. No word from North Korea, obviously, about that, but if you do look at history, that is a guide, 2006, when it carried out a similar launch, it also followed with a nuclear test. The same story in 2009. Becky?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: All right. Well, we recently spoke with the unofficial US envoy to North Korea. Bill Richardson's made at least 40 trips to Pyongyang since 1990. Now, he says China is a vital player in negotiating with the North.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I just think the next step is to try to persuade China to really, really put pressure on North Korea, because China never really does. They fear an exodus of North Koreans going into China. They're the country with leverage over North Korea because they give them food and fuel.

But it doesn't hurt to talk directly to the North Koreans. They want to talk to us. They think they're the big boys in the region, and continuing to isolate them, even though they give you very good reason, is not the way to go with them.

Because they have nuclear weapons, they have all these missiles, they have 1.2 men in arms, they're hostile, their leadership is uncertain. We have vital interests in Asia, we have 28,000 American troops, the stability of our friends in South Korea and Japan.

So, we have to keep watching them. We have to keep trying. But recognize that if you keep negotiating with them, it is going to be frustrating. But that doesn't mean you stop negotiating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Bill Richardson on North Korea for you this evening.

Well, East meets West. A top ballerina steps out of her comfort zone to learn a whole new form of dance. Our Fusion Journeys series kicks off this evening, next on CONNECT THE WORLD. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Imagine leaving your job behind and going to the other side of the world to see how people in your profession live their lives there. Well, in our new series, Fusion Journeys, we're going to follow six artists, from photographers and chefs to musicians and fashion designers as they travel abroad to find new inspiration for their work.

In our first episode this week, we're going to meet Spanish prima ballerina Tamara Rojo, who is on a journey of discovery to Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA ROJO, BALLET DANCER: My name is Tamara Rojo. I'm a principal dancer for the Royal Ballet. I've been dancing since I was five years old, and I started, really, because I walked into ballet class in my school, and I just fell in love with everything, with the atmosphere, with the music, with the quiet of the room.

Also, the ballet teacher was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, so I just wanted to be like her when I grew up, and I started going to ballet classes and I got hooked.

Dance influences everything I do and everything I see. I can't ever just put it away, from what I eat to how long I go for a walk or how do I look at a painting or a piece of theater. So, dance is my life. It's everything.

So, ballet is an art form that started in the French court. So, most of its structure and of its rules comes from the perception of beauty that the French court had at the time.

It is very easy for me to know at this point in my career what is beautiful from a classical ballet point of view. Also, how to express love or tenderness, and it's very easy to communicate these things to a Western society, because we all live with those rules within us. We absorb them from childhood.

For my journey, I wanted to go to Beijing, and I'm really looking forward to be challenged, because I don't think those rules apply in China at all.

It's going to be a lot more difficult for me to understand the music in the first place. And then, I'm sure that lots of physical movements are going to appear just awkward for me. So, I'm really looking forward to be challenged on those perceptions and, hopefully, to understand them enough that I can reproduce them.

And I hope that by doing so, next time I have to do something like Sleeping Beauty, I'll have to question again if this is really as beautiful as it ought to be. So, I'm going to just go there and be a blank canvas, and then just feed from all of that and be like a sponge, hopefully.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And on Wednesday, we're going to bring you the second part of Tamara's journey as she travels to Beijing to try to create a new form of dance with one of China's leading choreographers.

And you can find a lot more about what is our special new series, Fusion Journeys, at the website, cnn.com, and you can find behind-the- scenes photos of Tamara performing, read about why she first fell in love with ballet. A new series for you here on CNN.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. When we come back, the man who claims he solved the mystery of the Titanic disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM MATLIN, TITANIC EXPERT: I find out that the Titanic disaster was caused by a mirage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Titanic sleuth Tim Matlin explains why he thinks the tragedy was unavoidable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: You're watching CNN 47 minutes past 9:00 at London time. I'm Becky Anderson for you.

Now, we are on the even of what is an historic anniversary. A hundred years ago, the Titanic was preparing to set sail on her maiden voyage. Well, four days later, the unthinkable happened: the unsinkable ship sank.

For the past century, circumstances surrounding the tragedy have been mired in myth and supposition, but in a new documentary, one expert claims he's found evidence of what actually happened that fateful night. I caught up with Tim Matlin to find out why he believes the Titanic case is now closed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON (voice-over): It's no mystery that the Titanic sank because she struck an iceberg. What's long perplexed so many generations is why the deadly hazard was only spotted when it was too late.

Titanic expert Tim Matlin has spent the past 25 years exploring the answers and dismisses many of them as myths.

MATLIN: The most obvious things are, people say that the Titanic didn't have binoculars in the crow's nest, and that's why she crashed. But in fact, this is complete rubbish because the best way to spot ice at night is with the naked eye.

And then, other people say, well, the Titanic was traveling too fast. But in fact, the evidence was that every single ship went full speed, even in ice, in clear weather, and no accidents ever occurred, even with the Mauritania, who was a much faster ship than the Titanic.

ANDERSON: In a new documentary premiering as part of a National Geographic Channel special this month, Matlin doesn't just explode the myths, he also discovers a missing piece of the puzzle. A piece that could only have revealed itself after 1985, when Bob Ballard discovered the wreck.

MATLIN: Actually, when he found the wreck, we realized that it was 10 miles further east than Titanic thought she was. So, that gave me a scene of the crime, and after that, it was just Titanic CSI all the way.

ANDERSON: Matlin has painstakingly read through eyewitness accounts, letters, and even log books of all ships that sailed near the wreck site in the days leading up to and following the disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP - "TITANIC: CASE CLOSED")

MATLIN: This hasn't been seen for 100 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, what's the significance of the Deutschland?

MATLIN: Well, she's part of the Titanic story because she was drifting in the ice for so long that she ran out of coal. That's amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Together with experiments, what he concludes in "Titanic: Case Closed" is this.

MATLIN: I found out that the Titanic disaster was caused by a mirage. Because very cold water in the Labrador current had recently made very cold air low down, but there was still very, very warm air high up. Because Titanic's wreck site used to be occupied just earlier by the 13 degree Celsius Gulf Stream.

And this caused a mirage, which was the opposite of a desert mirage. So, in the desert, when you think you see water on the desert, that's actually when the light is bending up and you see the sky on the ground.

But the night the Titanic sank, the opposite was happening, and light was bending downwards. So, instead of showing you the sky up above, it was showing you object that would normally be hidden below the horizon. And this created a false horizon, which hid the iceberg.

ANDERSON: If this was the case, the question becomes, could the Titanic captain and his crew have avoided the tragedy.

MATLIN: Not really, not without 20/20 hindsight. What I discovered was that they were a well-trained crew in a well-built ship. They were paying attention. They were looking out. They were doing nothing that they shouldn't have been doing, given the very, very clear conditions. But what they didn't know was that there was a superior mirage on the horizon.

ANDERSON: Whether Matlin's evidence will be accepted as part of the Titanic's story remains to be seen.

MATLIN: I have worked with one of the world's leading mirage experts, Andy Young, who has decided that I have proved that there was a superior mirage display at Titanic's crash site. And I've also worked with two other of the world's leading Titanic experts, Sam Halpern and George Behe, and they both very much like my work.

I think human beings always like to know the truth. We like mysteries, but the fascinate us because we want to get to the bottom of them. And I think that it's nice for the survivors -- or at least now, the relatives and descendants of survivors -- to know that rather than just a very avoidable accident, that the Titanic disaster was actually a very unavoidable accident.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, unavoidable or not, the Titanic disaster has been source of intrigue for 100 years. Dan Rivers spoke with the grandson of a man who lived through the ordeal. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Philip Littlejohn has more than just an interest in the Titanic, his grandfather, Alexander, was a first class steward who survived the disaster. He later confirmed to reporters that musicians onboard were playing as the ship sank.

PHILIP LITTLEJOHN, GRANDSON OF TITANIC SURVIVOR: And he said, "Well, the band were playing, but I don't know what tune it was," he said. "All I could hear were the terrible cries for help. They were awful and heartrending."

RIVERS: The eponymous Hollywood blockbuster rekindled worldwide interest in the Titanic. Alexander Littlejohn would have been serving the equivalent of Kate Winslet in the first class dining room and was ordered onto a lifeboat to help women and children as the ship sank.

Philip still has his grandfather's discharge book, a record of his career at sea. The voyage on the Titanic is recorded. Destination: "intended New York," because the ship never arrived.

And this is a gold sovereign, a tip his grandfather placed in his pocket before the collision, along with a steward's salt spoon, the only two possessions Alexander Littlejohn had on him has he was ordered into lifeboat 13.

RIVERS (on camera): How did the sinking of the Titanic affect your grandfather?

LITTLEJOHN: Oh, the obvious effect. There are pictures of him before and after. There is a picture of him on the rescue ship, on the Carpathia, quite clearly still dark hair and dark mustache.

Six months later, he goes back to work, he's issued with a new discharge book, and in the front of that is his color of hair: white. So, between April and October, he went completely white through the effects of shock.

RIVERS: The Titanic loomed large in the public consciousness long after the disaster. So much so, they built several memorials like this around Britain. At this one in South Hampton, 100,000 people turned out to see it being unveiled.

But many of those who survived the tragedy never wanted to speak of it again.

Did he ever talk about it?

LITTLEJOHN: Never talked about it. Like most male survivors, there was a sense of guilt that he had survived when women and children were still on the boat.

RIVERS (voice-over): In 2001, Philip Littlejohn went in a submarine to the wreck of the Titanic, an important personal pilgrimage.

LITTLEJOHN: I wanted to see the ship that my grandfather had left. You look in through windows and think about people inside that wreck.

RIVERS: One hundred years on, this fleeting image of the Titanic is the only moving film of the doomed liner. Her sister ship, the Olympic, got all the attention for her maiden voyage in 1911. Alexander Littlejohn was there somewhere on those crowded decks.

But it was his experience a year later on Titanic that left him with that shock of white hair, an enduring reminder of that cold, dark night in April 1912.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Dan Rivers reporting for you.

In tonight's Parting Shots, we're going to pay tribute to a man who, for decades, was a familiar Sunday night face in American living rooms. Tributes pouring in for US news legend Mike Wallace, who died on Sunday. Sandra Endo reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CLOCK TICKING)

MIKE WALLACE, CBS ANCHOR, "60 MINUTES": I'm Mike Wallace.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was known for his hard-hitting journalistic style and aggressive questioning.

WALLACE: How many blacks are there on your top campaign staff, Governor?

RONALD REAGAN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: I couldn't honestly answer you.

ENDO: But decades before millions of TV viewers watched him on CBS news, Mike Wallace already had a colorful career. He was born Myron Leon Wallace in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1918. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he started his career in radio.

His work as a radio host landed him spots in TV as an actor in a police drama, as a program host, and even in commercials.

WALLACE: Get Golden Fluffo.

And that's some apple pie.

Are you the least bit afraid of what might happen --

ENDO: But his love for news made him drop that type of work in 1963, when CBS News hired him as a correspondent.

WALLACE: I'm wagging my finger at the president of China.

ENDO: His feisty, brazen style made him a good fit for the network's new magazine show, "60 Minutes," which debuted in 1968. Wallace didn't cower to American or world leaders. He said this to Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.

WALLACE: Imam, President Sadat of Egypt, a devoutly religious man, a Muslim, says that what you are doing now is, quote, "a disgrace to Islam." And he calls you, Imam -- forgive me, his words, not mine -- a lunatic.

ENDO: Media critics say Wallace's attack dog style was relentless.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Sometimes he went too far. He pioneered the ambush interview, which has fallen out of favor. He used hidden camera investigations. And so, he really taught generations of younger journalists about how to go get that story.

ENDO: In 2006, he took on a smaller role on "60 Minutes," and by 2008, had triple bypass surgery and retired from public life.

WALLACE: If you had made your living in the early days of black and white television, as I did, you'd know that sometimes it was a little like the early days of flying.

ENDO: But his relationship with CBS viewers spanned decades, and he'll have an everlasting impact on the field of journalism. Mike Wallace was 93.

Sandra Endo, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: That was CONNECT THE WORLD here on CNN. The world news headlines up after this.

END