Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
U.S. Government Shutdown Drags On; Massive Storm Roars Ashore India; Three Red Cross Volunteers Still Hostage In Syria; Appeal From Scotland Yard in Case of Child Missing Six Years; Art of Movement: Tagging Great White Sharks; Bargain Banksy; Value of "Becksy" on London Streets; Art Valuation; Parting Shots: "Fifty Shades of Grey "Actor Drops Out
Aired October 14, 2013 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Meeting postponed: congressional leaders were due at the White House this hour for talks to avert the looming debt default, but just moments ago those talks were pushed back. Tonight, we ask is this the sign of progress or pessimism?
Also ahead, six years on, why the case of missing Madeleine McCann continues to captivate people around the world.
And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 22,000 pounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: How much would you pay for this piece of art?
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: Well, an important night in Washington. A meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders over what is this fiscal crisis that was scheduled for this hour has been pushed back. The White House says that is to give time for leaders in the Senate, the upper house, to continue working on a solution to raise the debt limit and reopen the U.S. government.
Now it comes as some positive sound, that being heard from Capitol Hill.
Senate majority leader Democrat Harry Reid said negotiators are moving closer to a deal after meeting with his Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell. The tick -- I said tick -- the clock, though, is ticking with a deadline to raise the country's debt limit just three days away.
Well, Richard Quest is following the very latest developments. He spent the last few days speaking with international finance leaders in Washington. Joining me tonight from CNN New York.
I mean, the rest of the world looking at the U.S. at present and saying how did things get this bad? What are these U.S. lawmakers playing at at this point?
I mean, this could be devastating if the U.S. economy were to default? What's happening as we speak, Richard?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What is happening, of course, is the prospect of a meeting between McConnell, Reid and the president has now been put off. But we don't know why. We don't know whether it's just to finesse the deal, to make it more accurate, to get more detail into it, or whether there's something else gone wrong.
Now the optimism that we had seen in the last hour was reflected in the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrials did -- having been down for most of the sessions, now started to eek out a small gain.
Look how the red turned to green. And that is purely on the back of the prospect of talks and meetings to try and solve this crisis, Becky.
But the deal that they are talking about, besides being devlishly complicated, just pushes the debt ceiling issue and the budget crisis into early next year. It does not in any shape, form or description solve it once and for all.
ANDERSON: Can you just give me a sense of just how significant a time this is for the U.S.? I mean, if it were to run out of money to pay its bills on Thursday as President Obama put it today that would have a potentially devastating effect on the U.S. economy, not just the U.S. economy, of course. This would have global repurcussions.
QUEST: First of all, it's crucial to understand it is can't pay, not won't pay. The Fed can always print money, so this is an artificial construct known as the debt ceiling, which only came in last century and which prevents the U.S. government from borrowing more money.
Secondly, if they did default, because they -- or even rumors of default, or even tinkered with repayments on bonds, there's $16 trillion worth of those bonds in every bank, every market, every insurance company, every portfolio out there, which is why not surprisingly Christine LeGarde, the managing director of the IMF, was very, very blunt when she put it that if they don't meet this deadline then there will -- there will be ramifications.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE LEGARDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, IMF: There's nothing like a deadline to actually reach the target. And I would hope that that deadline operates in that (inaudible), but that was the view expressed by all ministers in town in Washington for two days who come from all corners of the world for the annual meeting of the IMF. They are concerned, because the U.S. is the biggest economic -- economy in the world, because it trades with all of them, because it has massive financial consequences for them as well, so it's an international concern that was expressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: And those people say that simply not the case, Becky, I think fail to realize what we learn post-Lehman Brothers 2008. This interconnectedness of the global economy and of global market, is so great. And there you were just talking about simple debt markets, credit default swaps, bank debt. If you start talking about tinkering, messing around with the U.S. government debt market -- I mean, China has $1.2 trillion of them. The Japanese have another $1 trillion of them. There are billions and billions held by investors and governments the world around. And that's why the Indian finance minister, Becky, told me he couldn't believe this was happening and he'd never seen anything like it.
ANDERSON: Yeah, and we're going to find out what else is being said around the world about what is going on in Washington shortly. Richard, for the time being, thank you for that.
As the negotiations continue in Washington, economies around the world are becoming increasingly nervous about what is the potential U.S. default as Richard suggested. Global markets are also showing that concern.
European bosses closed the day flat with Frankfurt Xetra Dax and and Zurich's SMI both ending the session in the red, but not significantly so.
In Asia, Seoul KOSPI and Sydney's ASX 200 also fell, again on anxiety surrounding the impasse in the U.S. But believe me, these numbers could get a lot worse if, indeed, these lawmakers can't reach this deal.
Well, the number of world leaders urging those guys in Washington, guys and girls, to reach a deal grows by the day. Here for more on the global concern is Peter Morici. He's a former chief economist at the U.S. international trade commission. He joins me now from CNN in Washington.
You'll have probably no more idea than we do at this point why these talks with the White House have been delayed.
But talk me through what you think might be going on at this point, Peter.
PETER MORICI, FRM. CHIEF ECONOMIST, U.S. INTL. TRADE COMMISSION: Well, basically they're dickering over two different concepts. One is how long to reopen the government. The Republicans would like to reopen the government on a long-term basis. The Democrats only want a short period of time, because they'd like an opportunity to deal with sequestration, those cuts that automatically go in place if there isn't progress on, you know, bringing the debt under control.
On the other hand, the Democrats, you know, would like to deal with it with regard to the debt ceiling, though, the Democrats would like a very long- term solution. The Republicans want to keep it close so they can keep this kind of pressure up on the president, the kind of pressure that Richard just described, to basically start to deal with the long-term budget problem. That's where the conflict is.
ANDERSON: Let me tell you, from -- watching from the outside looking in, as it were, I've spoken to a lot of people around the world who have said what are these U.S. lawmakers playing at?
Mr. Obama himself the president, has lambasted the Republicans for holding Washington -- and I quote him -- hostage. The Republicans in turn are playing the president's refusal to negotiate what is his budget solution until the government is reopened.
I know that you veer on the Republican side of things. You're not going to agree with me, or President Obama that Washington is being held hostage by Republicans at this point, but that is certainly how it looks.
MORICI: Oh, I can understand why it would that way. From the Republican point of view, the president has refused to negotiate these past many months on the issues that lead us to believe we will have very big deficit problems over the next decade akin to Italy. For example, he's refused to discuss even raising the retirement age, which is absolutely necessary to make Social Security, you know, solvent.
But, you know, the Republicans for their part really did take the government hostage. They were offered a very good deal on the budget. You know, they basically aceded to, you know, Congressman Ryan's budget cap, recognizing that the Republicans hold the House. And they couldn't take yes for an answer.
You know really the bottom line here is that both sides think they can get everything they want. And now neither side will get anything. And we're going to go through this all over again. This is not a conclusion that we're going to get in the next couple of days, but just a delay.
ANDERSON: All right, well let's not forget that the American government is partially shut down. And while talks go on, of course, thousands of Americans are already feeling the pinch.
I just want to get a sense from -- for our viewers of what some of them had to say to me. And then we're going to come back to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Donna Harris (ph). I am a small business owner at Salon Plaza (ph) in Rockville, Maryland. As you can see, the sign on my door says closed, not because I want to be closed, but due to the shutdown of the government, my waiting area is empty. My chair is empty. And my employees are not working.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got all federal employees. If we don't get paid, they shouldn't be paid. Whatever benefits we have, they should have. Whatever retirement we have, they should have. I dont' think they should get any -- I think if congress got treated like we got treated, they might work a little better.
So if they were missing their pay today, they would have fixed it by midnight last night.
JOHN T. SEYMOUR, DISABLED VETERAN: I face being homeless if we don't get our disability checks. It's that simple. You have this conflict in your house that's going to cause us to lose our house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Just some of the thoughts of Americans at present.
The warnings from leaders around the world are coming thick and fast. The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim said, and I quote, it could be a disastrous event for the developing world. And that in turn will greatly hurt the developed economies as well.
He's talking to the debt default -- the possible debt default here.
And this from China's state-run Xinhua News Agency. And this is really important, viwers. They say it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world.
When you hear that sort of statement from China, Peter, how does that sound to you on that side of the pond?
MORICI: Well, the Chinese like to do these things, because they don't understand a democratic process. We essentially in the United States have the equivalent of a minority government in Europe right now, because although the president was elected and he won a very strong majority, the lower house is controlled by the Republicans who also got elected in our most recent cycle. And the Chinese like to deal with (inaudible).
With regard to the president of the World Bank, he owes his job to the president of the United States. Him, along with Christine are showing a bit of solidarity.
My feeling is, is that this only becomes a problem if the United States indeed does default and that simply doesn't have to happen.
ANDERSON: But like you and Richard have said...
MORICI: Richard's right, we can print the money.
ANDERSON: Yeah, but you've suggested, also, that you just kicking the can down the road.
And I argue with you here, you've been slightly sort of tough on the Chinese, I think, tonight. Just stating what is the bleeding obvious, as it were, a befuddled world should start considering building a de- Americanized -- what I think is probably only fair when they watch what's going on in Washington.
My point to you tonight is that this is damaging not just to the U.S., to Washington and Americans that we've heard from tonight, this is incredibly damaging to the reputation of the United States of America. Its bonds, its Treasuries, its stocks around the world isn't it?
MORICI: Oh, yes. Our brand is being hurt. Part of the problem is the way it is being portrayed by the president and the way Republicans are behaving. There's problems on both sides that contribute to this. But our brand is being hurt. And it really hurts our ability to accomplish our foreign policy goals, which I think have been beneficial to the world as a whole.
The Chinese, we got a little bit of player hate there, as we say in the United States. They're frankly jealous of us and they will remain so for just about forever.
You know, after all, who would replace the United States? They Chinese? I don't know that we would want a Chinese-led world.
ANDERSON: Fine.
Well, we will see what the lawmakers tonight can decide on, or what they certainly will tell the rest of us when they meet with Obama. That meeting, as we know, is delayed, but should be upcoming within the next hour or so. For the time being, Peter, we thank you very much indeed.
Still to come tonight, cameras are rolling as a powerful blast lights up the night sky in Damascus.
We'll have the very latest on several bombings in Syria as well as news about seven Red Cross workers kidnapped over the weekend.
And the case that has resonated around the world. We'll bring the very latest developments in the disappearance of British pre-schooler Madeleine McCann.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, 10 bucks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 50 pounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Think you know fancy? Well, think again. How much Londoners would pay for some mysterious looking graffiti art. That, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: This is CNN. I'm Becky Anderson. And you are watching Connect the World. Welcome back.
Let's get you some other news today. And the International Red Cross says it is doing everything possible to win the release of three aid workers still held hostage in Syria. Seven in all were kidnapped in Idlib Province on Sunday, four were freed a day later. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the kidnappers belong to an al Qaeda-linked rebel group.
Now the workers were seized while heading back to Damascus after a four day medical mission.
Well, the death toll is rising from a weekend stampede. In India, authorities now say at least 112 people were killed near a Hindu temple in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Thousands of -- tens of thousands of prilgrims were crossing a bridge when panic broke out over rumors that the bridge was about to collapse.
Some victims were crushed to death, other drowned when they jumped or fell into the river below. Well, a stampede outside the same temple in 2006 left dozens of people dead.
Well, elsewhere in India, people are returning to their homes to survey the damage after a cyclone pounded the east coast. The power storm killed at least 21 people. Authorities say the death toll cold have been much worse. Sumnima Udas explains how India's largest evacuation in history did help save countless lives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There was immense fear as millions of people in eastern India braced themselves for the most powerful cyclone in at least 14 years. The last time a similar storm hit was back in 1999 when 10,000 lives were lost. And this entire city was completely flattened. But this time around, as you can see, people are already back from the shelters trying to rebuilt their lives. And the damage and the loss of life nothing compared to what it could have been.
The difference is, this time around the government was well prepared and very proactive. Two to three days before the cyclone hit they evacuated almost a million people to shelters on higher ground.
Here on this coast, on this popular beachfront holy city of (inaudible) thousands of people have already returned, many of them to enjoy this sunset, to watch the ferocious waters. Locals here say early on the cyclone had completely swept away the beach. Many of these people's livelihoods completely destroyed. Many of them, of course, have little stalls selling souvenirs in this holy town. But now the vendors have returned and so have the tourists.
Sumnima Udas, CNN, Pouri (ph), India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, that is the story in India.
Let me get you back to the story in Syria tonight. Four aid workers have been released by an al Qaeda affiliated group, we understand. Three, though, are still missing.
Mohammed Jamjoom is following devleopments for you from Beirut and he joins us now.
What do we know about those who have been released and those indeed who are still being held?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we know from the Red Cross that four aid workers that were kidnapped yesterday that were among the seven that were kidnapped have been released. Those include three Red Cross workers as well as one volunteer for this Syrian Arab Red Crescent. They were kidnapped along with three other aid workers yesterday in Idlib Province. They had been out in the field for -- since October 10 trying to distribute medical supplies in Idlib Province.
Now Idlib Province is a majority rebel held territory. Kidnapping have become more ripe there the last several months. Kidnappings of journalists as well as aid workers.
Now the Red Cross says that they have no intention of shutting down their operation. They have not yet released the identities or the nationalities or the ethnicities of those who are still remaining kidnapped or those that have been released. They say of paramount importance is to secure the release of the rest of their team. They are demanding the immediate release and the safe release of the rest of them.
As of yet, nobody has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, but as you said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is an opposition group, has blamed the kidnappings on the ISIS, that's an al Qaeda affiliated group. They say they're behind the kidnappings, but nobody has claimed responsibility.
The Syrian govenrment, for their part, yesterday, has stated that armed gunmen had opened fire on the car that the aid workers were in and had been kidnapped then after that -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Meantime, evidence that the war in Syria continues with more bombings today.
JAMJOOM: Yeah, rarely do you have a day where it's really highlighted not just how dire the humanitarian crisis has become in Syria and the fact that even aid workers are being harassed and kidnapped there, but also just the day to day violence of the civil war.
Today, a huge carbombing also in Idlib Province, close to where those aid workers were kidnapped. You see here the aftermath video of the carnage that happened.
This was an explosion that took place outside of a marketplace in Idlib where families, they were going to buy gifts and supplies for Eid, which is a religious holiday that starts tomorrow -- supposedly, or supposed to be one of the most peaceful times of the year. That didn't happen this year.
Now we're told that at least 20 people killed as a result of that bombing, but the fear is that those numbers will go up.
And this on the heels of two carbombings yesterday in Damascus. Last night, actually these carbombings captured live during an interview that was going on by an Iraqi TV station of a political analyst in Syria. The bombs went off as the man was talking. He then left his seat. Really going to show just how volatile the situation has gotten even in the capital -- Becky.
ANDERSON: News out of Syria today with Mohammed Jamjoom. Mohamed, thank you for that.
Some breaking news now on CNN. U.S. officials telling us that alleged al Qaeda figure Abu Anas al-Libi has arrived in the United States. Now he'll face charges following his recnet arrest in Tripoli. For more, senior international correpsondent Nic Robertson joins us live from New York.
What do we know of the details at this point?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we believe that he arrived in over the weekend, that he will be appearing in a federal court here and that he will be facing charges linking him to the 1998 attack on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. There was certainly a big question about how long the United States might hold him aboard the U.S. navy vessel. They picked him up in Tripoli, the Saturday in Tripoli, in Libya from his house, the Saturday before last.
And he appears to have only spent about seven days aboard that naval vessel, indicating that perhaps the information that he had to offer up in a more broader context, his involvement in al Qaeda now, what al Qaeda might be doing in North Africa, thigns have sort of key imminent security concern, that seems to have been quite a short period of time. His family has maintained that he is no longer a member of al Qaeda, that he hasn't been actively been involved in them. The Justice Minister and other govenrment officials whom I met with in the last few days in Tripoli, Libya, told me that he had even come to the government to try to sort of get his name cleared because he was saying that he was no longer an al Qaeda member, knew that hew as on the FBI's most wanted list.
So this short period before being brought into the United States does seem to indicate that perhaps he hasn't been able to offer much up, or has given everything he could as quickly as he was captured.
But certainly this will begin his legal process here. Libyan officials have been saying they do trust the U.S. justice system, that he should get a Libyan legal defense expert with him in the United States.
But perhaps key to all of this is the way that his capture in Libya last week essentially sparked the kidnapping of the prime minister of Libya last week by an armed militia. That all went away very quickly, but it plays into the instability there -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson reporting for you from New York this evening.
This is Connect the World live from London. 24 minutes past 8:00 here. Coming up, Novak Djokovic has the perfect response to losing his number one tennis ranking.
And then an appeal from British police as they release new images of a man they want to talk to in the missing Madeleine McCann case. That after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. This is Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson.
Those (inaudible) double gold medal winning performances at London 2012 were many people's highlight of last year's Olympic Games, and now the Somali-born Brit has written a book about his achievements. It's titled "Twin Ambitions." And Amanda Davies is here with us to talk a little Mo. What's he been saying.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's had a lot to say. Great title, of course. He's one of twins. He's got twins. He's a double-double world champion. It's been fascinating hearing from him.
Alex Thomas went along to talk to him today. And he said he did used to get himself into a fair amount of trouble until he moved into a house with some Kenyan athletes. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MO FARAH, 2-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I was younger. I just finished Uni (ph). I wanted to do kind of my running and then my agent Ricky Simms (ph) had said to me -- you know, he saw my talent. And then he said to me why don't you see the Kenyan guys and learn from them and try and maybe see what they do and stay in the same house with them.
I saw them, what they were doing -- eat, sleep and train.
And then one day I said to myself I was coming back from late night and with my friends hanging out, going to cinema, and going out. I came back late and they were all sleeping. As they're leaving about 8:00 as you usually do, it's 6:00 they woke up in the morning, early morning and they go for their run.
And that's when I realized you must be able to just do eat and sleep and train. And there's no more to it. You can't go out, hang out with your friends, go to cinema, you can't go out clubbing. You can't do what you love to do if you want to be an athlete.
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Why did you suddenly realize you had to change your lifestyle?
FARAH: To be honest, in terms of like having something to fall back in and education wasn't grea,t so the only thing I had really is to run and I had to make running work, because I remember being at school and teachers always saying to me, Mo, listen, I know you're missing a lot of lessons to do this, but you know -- education is as well as important as your running. You have something to fall back on.
At the same time I couldn't see myself having -- getting a decent job and working in an office. I just can't do it. I just can't concentrate more than five seconds I just -- I'm just like -- for me, I had to stay active, you know, running.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIES: I love that, Becky. He says he can't concentrate for 5 minutes at school, but he can concentrate pretty well for 27 minutes on the track, can't he? But there's a lot more of that interview coming up on World Sport in a couple of hours.
ANDERSON: What a great guy he is.
Listen, news out of the tennis world.
DAVIES: Yes. There's a bit of fair lot of talk about splits in recent times. Roger Federer split from his coach Paul Annacone. There's talk that Caroline Wozniacki mich have split up with Rory McIlroy, but we're now not sure about that. Some rowing back.
But the big news, really, Novak Djokovic could still finish the year back as the world number one. He's won his second title in two weeks. After victory at the China Open, he went on to beat Juan Martin del Potro in the final in Shanghai, a great three set encounter 6-1, 3-6, 7-6. That's the fifth title of the year. So he's still pushing halfway on the dial all the way. I have to say, it's mostly likely because of Nadal's injuries last year that he will finish top of the shop.
But Novak Djokovic isn't giving up without a fight.
ANDERSON: Oh, he looked a bit angry when he kicked the clock earlier on there.
Good right foot.
DAVIES: It was a great watch, that.
ANDERSON: Was it?
Thank you. Amanda Davies with your sport news. She's back in I think it's two hours from now. It used to be an hour, but we're a little earlier this days.
The latest world news headlines, of course, at the bottom of this hour here on CNN.
Up next, British police release sketches they hope will lead to a break in the Madeleine McCann case.
And if I told you I got a $30,000 valuation on this painting, would you believe me? Well, find out if it's true or not right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: At just after half past 8:00 in London, this is CONNECT THE WORLD. The top stories this hour.
A key meeting between the US president and top congressional leaders has been pushed back. The White House says that's to give time for leaders in the Senate to continue working on a solution to raise the debt limit and reopen the US government.
The International Red Cross says four of seven aid workers kidnapped in Syria yesterday have been released. No word yet on the fate of the other three. Gunmen abducted the workers in Idlib province as they were returning to Damascus after delivering medical supplies.
A huge relief effort underway in eastern India after a powerful cyclone roared through the region. Workers clearing roads and distributing food and tents to thousands of people left homeless. Evacuations are credits with keeping the death toll relatively low at 21.
And British police investigating the disappearance of Madeline McCann have released two sketches of a man they want to identify. He was seen carrying a blonde child, possibly wearing pajamas, the night the preschooler vanished.
Well, it's been six years or more since Madeline went missing from the resort town of Praia da Luz in Portugal. The release of the new computer images comes as the BBC here in the UK prepares to air a reenactment of events leading up to the moment the three-year-old disappeared.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the face of a man who police want to find in connection with the disappearance of Madeline McCann. Six years after the preschooler went missing while on a family vacation in Portugal, Scotland Yard released these computer- generated sketches, called efits, of a man they say was in the area at the time Madeline vanished. Witnesses describe him as a white male, 20 to 40 years old, with short brown hair and a medium build.
ANDY REDWOOD, CHIEF INSPECTOR, METROPOLITAN POLICE: The efits are clear, and I've asked the public to look very carefully at them, and if they know who this person is, please come forward.
MCLAUGHLIN: It's part of an appeal to the public for information that includes a reconstruction of the events that unfolded that tragic night when Madeline disappeared from her bed while her parents were eating at a nearby restaurant.
The appeal is now the focus of an exhaustive investigation that has spanned some 30 countries. They've analyzed phone records and interviewed over 400 witnesses. Police say they now have a better understanding of the timeline in which the kidnapping could have taken place.
JOHN O'CONNOR, FORMER COMMANDER, SCOTLAND YARD: Everything that can be of value is being examined and looked at, things which weren't done before. There's no guarantee that we're going to get an answer to this, but at least everything has been tried. And I think at the very least, we owe the McCanns that.
MCLAUGHLIN: Madeline's parents say they have never given up hope that they will find their little girl alive.
GERRY MCCANN, MADELINE MCCANN'S FATHER: There's been a number of cases over the last few years of children and young women being found after having been taken and held for very long periods of time, so we've always had hope. And as parents, we wouldn't accept Madeline as dead until we see evidence -- clear evidence -- that that is the case.
MCLAUGHLIN: Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Ever since Madeline McCann disappeared on May the 3rd, 2007, every new development in the case has been reported around the world. Let's take a look at where the story is making news today.
In South Africa, "The Mercury" reports, "Fresh bid to find Maddie McCann." Chile's "La Tercera" newspaper reads, "The BBC will reveal unknown details of the Maddie case."
The story also resonating in Cambodia, a headline in "The Phnom Penh Post" says, "Detectives make major public appeal." And in Saudi Arabia, "New line of investigation for missing girl" is the headline in "The Arab News."
Well, according to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 8 million girls and boys under the age of 18 disappear every year. Maddie McCann just one, yet it is her story that continues to captivate the world. I'm joined now by clinical psychologist Paula Boom, a blogger for the "Huffington Post" and a regular guest here on CNN.
And before we talk about how this story is resonating around the world, just talk me through what Maddie's parents must be going through tonight ahead of the what is a very big night for them. The "Crime Watch" program on the BBC will be sort of re-launching the investigation as it were.
They talked -- there you heard Maddie's father talking about not giving up hope. Is that what you've heard before from parents in cases like this?
PAULA BLOOM, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes. People have to hang onto hope, because every time, even if there is 100 cases that don't turn out well, you're going to hang onto the one that holds on and reinforces the hope that you have.
And so, it's a very difficult balance, though, because you want to hold up hope, but they also have other children in their family, and they need to be able to also be there --
ANDERSON: Sure.
BLOOM: -- for their kids.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Yes, got to --
BLOOM: But it's a very -- go ahead.
ANDERSON: Yes, six and a half years after Maddie disappeared. What do you think it is about this particular case that fascinates people so much around the world?
BLOOM: I think it's that they've had parents that have really been in the news with this and have been advocating and advocating. There are so many kids that go missing, but they don't have parents with the education, with the resources, with the ability to keep things in the news.
I think also it doesn't hurt the way that she looks. She's adorable. They put a lot of very, very tender pictures of her up, and that really calls to people.
The other thing is that ultimately as parents we're very powerless, and this story really specifically kind of taps into that. It taps into the -- this could happen to anyone, and that is terrifying, and I think that that sort of gets people very connected to this, because they're scared. They're very scared that this could happen go them.
ANDERSON: Would you suggest there's almost a sort of parental guilt thing here as well? The parents will freely admit in the end that they went out for supper. They went out for supper to a restaurant which was on the complex --
BLOOM: Right.
ANDERSON: -- in what was a -- a regular Portuguese resort. There's this sort of guilt factor, though, isn't there?
BLOOM: There's a sense of guilt and a sense of, again, we as human beings, one of the most difficult things for us is to feel powerless, and there's so many things in our world that we can control that sometimes we believe we can control everything.
And so, they have been trying to take this pain and make some sort of alchemy, some sort of transforming it into power. What parent wouldn't want to do that?
ANDERSON: Yes. I'm not suggesting the McCanns are guilty here. What I was suggesting --
BLOOM: Right.
ANDERSON: -- and you picked me up rightly so on that -- is that there was this sense by all parents that they may have --
BLOOM: Yes.
ANDERSON: -- in the past --
BLOOM: Right.
ANDERSON: -- gone out for supper themselves in a restaurant -- perhaps right next-door to where their kids were.
You've suggested that Madeline's sort of fairly angelic appearance may have something to do with the fascination of this case. Just walk me through how these sort of cases might be helped or hindered by media magic, moxie magic, as it were?
BLOOM: It's not a pretty thing to admit about us as human beings. We like to think that we think of all children equally, but a lot of times, it's children who look like us, and many times people who are in power, they're looking like they could have a child that would look like Madeline, right?
And a lot of times, I know in this country, there's -- in the US, we see a lot of data about how children of color get much less coverage than children who are white. And so, I think that it's a harsh reality to admit about ourselves, but I think to not own that is not a good thing.
ANDERSON: And very briefly, Madeline's parents have been under a lot of scrutiny.
BLOOM: Yes.
ANDERSON: They never gave up, they've spent an awful lot of money, and they've devoted their lives to trying to find their daughter. Is that normal?
BLOOM: Well, I think that if you have the capacity to do it. Is it normal to be able to continue on hope, even when you feel like, maybe as an outsider you look at this and say where are they even getting a glimmer of hope? What data do they have that would support the fact that she's OK?
Well, the fact is, is it a possibility? Yes. And that's what they're hanging onto, and that's what they're doing. But there are other people who may not have the resources and may not have the sophistication, may not have people behind them helping them with this. Because this is a huge, huge thing that they're doing here.
ANDERSON: As Madeline's father suggested in our report, they are holding out hope because there are many examples of children having been found years after they disappeared, and we wish them the absolutely best. For the time being, we thank you very much, indeed, for joining us.
Live from London, this is CONNECT THE WORLD at 41 minutes past 8:00. Coming up, why -- we find out why scientists have been catching the world's deadliest creatures just to let them go again. That after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. Now, there is no fish more fearsome in the world's oceans than the Great White shark. Fossil records show that the species has been around for more than 12 million years, yet still we know almost nothing about this giant predator.
Well, now a team of scientists is tagging Great Whites to find out how they migrate across the oceans. In this week's Art of Movement, our Nick Glass joined those scientists in the Atlantic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK GLASS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're onboard an expedition with Ocearch to learn more about the movements of the Atlantic Great White shark. All morning, a helicopter had been scanning the sea, and they had news for the team onboard the Contender.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Norman, go ahead, this is the Contender.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via radio): If you can see me circling down here, I've got one very tight to the beach.
GLASS: Finally, it took the bait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just ate it. Just ate it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get it all together!
GLASS: Back onboard the Ocearch, the excitement was mounting. Suddenly, we could see a shark fin, and the fish being brought to us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
(SHOUTING)
(UNDERWATER STRUGGLING)
GLASS: The scientists have just 15 minutes to attach tags and carry out tests. She was given an ultrasound, blood and tissue samples were taken. She was weighed and measured: 2,300 pounds, 14 foot, 2 inches long.
A GPS tag was drilled and bolted to the side of her dorsal fin, and something called an accelerometer attached to the base. She's only the fifth shark ever to be fitted with one.
NICK WHITNEY, SCIENTIST, OCEARCH: It's basically giving us every single movement the shark makes on a second-by-second basis. So, we can tell the tail beats, we can tell how strongly they're beating their tail, how quickly they're beating their tail.
GLASS: At Harvard University in Boston, we got a more detailed explanation of why sharks are such brilliant swimmers.
GEORGE LAUDER, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Now, this shark here, if you feel the surface of the shark, you can feel the roughness. It's smoother in one direction and it's a little more rough in this direction. Sharks are --
GLASS (on camera): It does feel like sandpaper.
LAUDER: It does feel sandpaper. And the surface structures that you're feeling are quite small. They're about the thickness of a human hair. Each individually, like the human tooth, they're made of dentine, they have enamel, they have a pulp cavity.
So your teeth actually are made with the same genes that makes the individuals bumps on the surface of a shark. A shark with a roughened surface structure will swill through the water with less drag than a shark that was absolutely smooth.
GLASS (voice-over): You could say that in a sense, Great Whites are pretty much all teeth.
GLASS (on camera): You can see thousands and thousands of television documentaries about the Great White shark, but nothing -- absolutely nothing -- prepares you for this, to actually see one in the flesh, and at this distance. They're about to put it back in the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This shark is named Katherine. Good luck, old girl.
GLASS (voice-over): Katherine didn't want to swim out the way she came in. She was coached around by the tail and slipped away with $10,000 worth of scientific equipment attached.
(APPLAUSE)
GLASS: In the past month alone, she's been circling Cape Cod, covering almost 200 miles. Where she goes next is a mystery, but we will find out. Every move she makes, every dive she takes, someone will be watching her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Amazing stuff. Well, coming up after this short break on CONNECT THE WORLD, is it a Banksy or a Becksy? And does it matter if you can get the same price either way? A look at the world of art valuation up next.
And a book which sent pulses racing. The movie version getting off to a lackluster start. Drama in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" camp. The details after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Spray paint, stencils, sidewalks, and street corners. If you recognize any of these trademarks, you probably have known the works of graffitist Banksy. A once unknown street artist from the UK, he's now one of the most sought-after artists in the world. His face and real name are a well-kept secret, but his pieces often fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A handful of shoppers in New York got the bargain of a lifetime this weekend when they picked up some undervalued originals. A Banksy pop-up shop in Central Park sold his pieces for -- get this -- around $60 each. Something of a markdown from their estimated worth of $32,000. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEXT: 11:15 AM
12:30 PM
3:30 PM -- First Sale. A lady buys two small canvases for her children. But only after negotiating a 50 percent discount.
4:00 PM. A lady from New Zealand buys two.
5:30 PM. A man from Chicago is decorating his house. "I just need something for the walls," he says. And buys four.
6:00 PM - close. Total taking for the day: $420.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, most of the world missed out on that deal, and there is no going back for it. Banksy said the shop was a, quote, "one-off." Well, we decided to do a little spray painting of our own, went out in London to see how much people would pay for an original "Becksy."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM DUNNAKEY, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER: Well, this is the finished product. Let's see how much people here in London are willing to pay for it.
DAVID HAYE, BOXER: Let me think a bit. How about 22,000 pounds? I've just got a gut instinct that it's worth a lot of money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sort of like 150.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten bucks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty pounds?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten pounds?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Ooh! People can be so cheap! You saw one of the guys there, David Haye, who just happened to be walking past. He's called the Hayemaker, in fact. He's a boxer. And he offered 22 grand for this, which is about $30,000. It cost us less than $12 to make.
Joining me to discuss the sometimes misunderstood world of art prices is Harry Smith, managing director of Gurr Johns, an art valuer based in London. I know that you've valued several pieces of Banksy art, in fact, in the past. I know you're not a Banksy specialist per se, but why would his work be worth any more than that, for example, which today apparently is worth 22 grand?
(LAUGHTER)
HARRY SMITH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GURR JOHNS: Well, I wonder whether that's really worth 22,000, but --
ANDERSON: How dare you?
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: Banksy -- Banksy has built up his name. He's built it up through mystery. He's often thought to be something of an art anarchist. He likes to make fun of the art market. I think he would have had a tremendous time in Central Park.
ANDERSON: And what about those people who got this art for, what was it? A tenner? Somebody paid like 60 bucks? Somebody said he needed something for his room in his flat in Chicago. These guys are going to walk off with stuff which is actually worth an awful lot of money. Why is it worth a lot of money?
SMITH: Well, because the -- Banksy's built up an aura around himself, and he's -- it's a part of it, a sort of anarchistic branding.
ANDERSON: Yes. Would he have enjoyed -- you say that he'd have enjoyed what happened this weekend.
SMITH: I think --
ANDERSON: It was a stunt, though, wasn't it?
SMITH: Of course. But most of his work is stunts of some sort or another, and he would have -- what he would have liked to have done is to have shown off the weaknesses of the art market generally that you can put a great work of art on a street wall and nobody will notice it.
ANDERSON: So, he sees in you guys sort of --
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: Absolutely.
ANDERSON: -- people like you who spend all their lives valuing -- putting a valuation on what is a painting on a wall or a piece of art installation. How do you put a price on art? What makes one piece of art worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and others nothing?
SMITH: Well, to some extent, it depends on what has been sold in the past. So, we look at an artist's work when he's starting out and there's no track record, he becomes very difficult to value. But once there's been repeat sales, then we have a good balance, we have good records to go on, we can judge relative quality against other works --
ANDERSON: It's the herd mentality, isn't it?
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: Very --
ANDERSON: Lemmings to the death, as it were.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: There's some herd mentality element to it, certainly in contemporary art.
ANDERSON: Catherine the Great once said when she was buying up this incredible collection for the hermitage back in the 18th century, she said it's not about the artist themselves, it's about who's been -- who's prepared to buy, and she was prepared to buy back then.
There are new cohorts of people these days. It's less about the art and the artist, isn't it, and more about who's got the cash at any one? Who's flush and who wants what?
SMITH: Well, certainly the modern art market is very much dominated by new money. And the old-fashioned collector who spent years learning his subject, they're very much not to the fore anymore. But --
ANDERSON: Which are you?
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: I'm just an opportunist.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: Who comes along and takes advantage of every facet.
ANDERSON: What's the market like at present? What would your advice be to anybody who is thinking about dipping their toes into the market?
SMITH: Well, avoid the -- the sort of Banksy sight market, and even --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Avoid that, is that what you're saying?
SMITH: Even the Becksy market.
(LAUGHTER)
SMITH: Buy good quality. Buy the very best you can afford of its type.
ANDERSON: Yes.
SMITH: That's always been the mantra for art advice, and it's definitely the right thing to do.
ANDERSON: And shouldn't you buy what you like? What you want to see on your own wall as well?
SMITH: Of course. Art is a -- can be quite an expensive purchase, and you've got to enjoy it.
ANDERSON: What do you have? What do you have on your wall, out of interest? What's your favorite?
SMITH: I've got some 20th century British art, which I like very much.
ANDERSON: Excellent. But we won't say where you live. Not going there. Thank you, sir.
SMITH: That's a pleasure.
ANDERSON: Harry Smith for you tonight. How much would you offer me for that? I want to show you again, because I think it's absolutely marvelous. How much would you offer me for this one-of-a-kind painting? The team at CONNECT THE WORLD wants to hear from you, facebook.com/CNNconnect. You can tweet me, as ever, @BeckyCNN, your thoughts please, @BeckyCNN.
It is the end of the show. In tonight's Parting Shots just before we go, it's a grey day for fans of Charlie Hunnam. The actor who won the role of Christian Grey in the movie adaptation of "Fifty Shades of Grey" is out of the picture. Filmmakers say he didn't have enough time to prepare as he is also filming a hit TV show.
So now there is a war of the replacements, led by die-hard fans of the erotic novel. High on the list is Matt Bomer. Remember him? He's from "Magic Mike" fame. A petition on Change.org -- please! -- protesting the original cast choices has racked up almost 90,000 signatures, let me tell you.
Up next, "Vampire Diaries" actor Ian Somerhalder. A Facebook page dedicated to him getting in the cast of a thousand -- sorry, hundreds of likes. Another name in the ring is Chris Hemsworth, the Aussie mentioned in thousands of Facebook and Twitter posts about the role. Get in touch if you care.
I'm Becky Anderson, that was CONNECT THE WORLD. It's a very good evening from London, a very good Monday evening, and we thank you very much, indeed. From the team here, it's a very good evening. Thank you for watching. The news follows.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
