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Connect the World
Photographer Critically Shot At Liberation Newspaper In Paris; Rare Storm System Causes Destructive Tornadoes In Midwestern U.S.; Border Security Remains Challenge For Kenya; Warsaw Hosts Climate Change, Coal Summits Simultaneously
Aired November 18, 2013 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MAX FOSTER, HOST: Tonight, going on an illicit journey. Nearly two months after the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, a new CNN report shows just how easy it is to slip into Kenya from Somalia. We ask Kenya's interior minister what his government is doing to protect its porous borders.
Also ahead, news bird's eye view of the devastation left by Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and celebrities tell us why they're getting involved to help the survivors.
And...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is going to take me hours. Oh, dear. Here we go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Becky tries on the amazing new suit that lets you walk in the shoes of the elderly.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World.
FOSTER: We start, though, tonight with an exclusive report out of Kenya. Nearly two months have passed since Somali militants stormed Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, an attack which left 67 people dead. Since then, the Kenyan government says it's increased security along its border with Somalia. But in this exclusive report from CNN, Nima Elbagir tells us -- takes us along the regional smuggling route and finds us -- she finds out just how easy it is for people to slip into Kenya.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the border between Kenya and Somalia. Now we can't show you this for security reasons, but either side of this border is a pretty substantial security setup and that has only grown in size and scrutiny in the aftermath of the Westgate attack in Nairobi.
But this isn't the only route into Somalia. Hacked out of the outgrowth, this is where traffic flows. The panya routes, so-called rat routes, used by smugglers to cross back and forth undetected. Branching brazenly off from the government roads, they're certainly a smoother ride in spite of the Kenyan government's efforts to beef up border security.
Up through these smuggler's routes, we've managed to enter Somalia from Kenya. And without any checkpoints, without being asked for ID, without seeing any sort of government presence.
Night falls and it's rush hour on the panya route. People and goods ferried back and forth. Everyone is too afraid to stop for long here, even to help the stranded families we see along the way.
Many are escaping the uncertainty back home in Somalia, but some are seeking to enter Kenya undetected for their own ends.
The panya routes end in the Dadaab Refugee Camp, currently the target of the Kenyan government's post-Westgate anger. Authorities believe that during the build-up to Westgate, al Shabaab operatives traveled from Somalia, through the panya routes and hid among the refugees in the camp. And it's from there the Kenyan authorities say that they and other undocumented people made their way through government checkpoints and deeper into Kenya, often hiding in plain sight.
This is one of the public buses plying their trade on the road between Dadaab and the Kenyan capital. We wanted to see for ourselves how this works. So we board one of the buses and ask the conductor about the fare. He gives us a price. We say we don't have documentation and the price goes up from about $12 for both of us to $230.
The conductor says it will buy me and my companion the use of fake Kenyan IDs and a safe trip.
Don't worry, he says. You're not alone.
We count out the cash and he hands us IDs from a stash he's been handing out through the bus. That's all it takes.
We don't need the IDs, but others on the bus do.
As we arrive at Garissa, the main town in northeastern Kenya, we're told to line up at the checkpoint.
Just out of the hidden camera's view, security officers scrutinize thumb prints with the help of a magnifying class, comparing them to the IDs, fake or real.
We overhear a woman take a Kenyan police officer aside. Bluntly, she tells the officer she has no valid papers. All the passengers, including the woman with no documentation, are waved back onto the bus to continue their journey to the country's capital.
I show my official papers and join them.
The Kenyan government has now signed an agreement with Somalia, hoping to clear Dadaab by voluntarily repatriating its residents. But will that be enough to protect Kenya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, after he journey on the smuggling route, Nima sat down with Kenya's interior minister in his first interview since the Westgate mall attack.
Let's go live to Nairobi now where Nima joins us now.
Nima, so what did he have to say when you described how easy it was to move along those routes?
ELBAGIR: Well, we put our findings to him, Max, and he didn't seem to be surprised. He acknowledged to us that his government believes that corruption had played a role in Kenya's insecurity. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH LOE LENKU, KENYAN INTERIOR MINISTER: We have noted that that is a challenge. And we have studied a process that we think will ultimately give some good results. Coming to the police, we have also started a vetting process. The process just begun last week, this vetting process, that will see a number of corrupt officials removed from the system.
People are noticing that there is a new requirement for service in terms of integrity. And that those who will not meet that threshold will not be allowed into the service.
Yes, it has been a loophole and an avenue for insecurity and that is where we had to fill up that gap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELBAGIR: He also told us, Max, for the first time that the Kenyan government believes that the network involved in this attack was able to move freely in the East African region. He said there is compelling evidence that some of those attackers actually started off in neighboring Uganda in Entebbe. And he said that that's why it's not Kenya alone that can combat this. He said they're working with regional partners to try and put a stop to any future terror attacks -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Nima thank you very much indeed for that.
Still to come tonight, a gunman on the loose in France's capital. We'll give you the latest on the manhunt in Paris.
Then, a potent tornado outbreak in the U.S. Midwest is wrecking havoc. We'll put up a live report from the region.
Plus, a climate fit for protest in Warsaw, two very different summits take place in the Polish Capital.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me, Max Foster. Welcome back to you.
Now a manhunt is underway in the French capital after two shootings at a carjacking. A man armed -- opened fire in the lobby of the newspaper Liberation on Monday morning. A 27 year old was shot twice in the chest and is in intensive care. Later, a man fired a gun outside Societe Generale's towers. And a driver reported being carjacked in the same area before being forced to drive to the Champs Elysees.
Jim Bittermann is in Paris joins us now live.
An extraordinary day for you, Jim, as all these pieces of information came in.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a really wild day, Max, in fact. And it ended right here on the Champs Elysees, at least as far as the police know. That's where the gunman disappeared. He carjacked a driver and ordered the driver to drive him here and then he disappeared into the crowds.
But what happened before that is now pretty well known. The fact is, it's also connected with a fourth incident that took place earlier on Friday before the weekend. Basically this gunman, and they think it's the same person, on Friday went into the offices of BFM, our sister television network here in France, and threatened to shoot several people. A -- actually fired the shotgun, the pump action shotgun he had and it didn't go off.
And he left the two cartridges behind. And that's one of the reasons why the police are connecting that incident with these incidents today, because apparently the same shotgun shells were used on Friday as were found today at the scene.
Now today, the shooting was much more serious, because the gun went off and a hung assistant photographer who had just reported for work in the morning at Liberation was very badly injured.
The Paris prosecutor talked about the extent of his injuries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCOIS MOLINS, PARIS PROSECUTOR (through translator): The man shot the assistant photographer twice in the chest near the heart. The victim was transported close to a hospital immediately. And is currently in intense services.
And now the police has declared this to be an attempted assassination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: And in fact it's an attempted murder at this point. The young man went through six hours on the operating table. His condition is very serious. And he's in intensive care.
There may be other charges coming down the line, including kidnapping in connection with that carjacking that took place, Max.
FOSTER: Any sense of the motive here, Jim?
BITTERMANN: Well, you know, I think that the president himself, President Francois Hollande, put a motive on it whether that's the real one or not. But he associated this attack on Friday at a newsroom, or a news station BFM, and the attack today at a newspaper as being both related to an attack on the free press. And he said this is a free country, we have to find this guy. You cannot have attacks on the free press in a free country.
So at least for the president -- the president all -- the number of the people in the cabinet beneath him, this is something related to an issue regarding the news media and this -- that is perhaps the reason that these attacks took place, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Jim, thank you very much indeed for that.
Now, in other news, the Dow Jones the S&P reached record highs on Monday after six straight week of gains. They both stalled within the following half hour, but for awhile the S&P broke about 1,800 for the first time in history and the Dow managed to climb above 16,000.
And you can get a much more analysis on Quest Means Business coming up on CNN in the next hour.
To Russia now and startling new video showing the tragic crash of a Russian jet in the Republic of Tatarstan.
The Boeing 737 nosedived into the ground followed by a huge explosion at the airport in Kazan. All 50 people on board were killed. The cause of the crash isn't known.
In the U.S. at least six people have been killed after a series of tornadoes hit the Midwest on Sunday. It's unusual for a storm system like this to erupt in November. It's more common in the spring. The reports of dozens of tornadoes in the region, most of them in Illinois and Indiana.
Let's cross to George Howell who joins us from Kokomo in Indiana.
Thanks for joining us.
We've seen these extraordinary images, but I can see from behind you the damage is pretty severe.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, absolutely.
And, you know, I have to tell you the wind gusts, they come in, they still come in today -- a lot less severe than what we saw yesterday, but certainly the wind when you consider all of the debris that's here, not helpful as people here in Kokomo, Indiana as they start to rebuild.
But again what we saw yesterday, Max, whether it was a tornado or whether it was the result of straight line winds that has yet to be determined. What we can say is that there is extensive damage in this area. And also the silver lining here is that no one was seriously injured. And Max, no one was killed.
FOSTER: That is extraordinary. And is that due to the awareness systems around there? What was the reason that no one was hurt in these extraordinary scenes?
HOWELL: Certainly. And you know, we heard from the governor here, Mike Pence, who came by to say after he toured the devastation here he really gave credit to the emergency officials who got the word out in times. Also gave credit to the local news affiliates here in this region who also -- you know, they track this storm system. They told people to take shelter. The governor says because of those systems that were in place, many people heeded that warning and got out of the way of the storm.
FOSTER: George in Indiana. Thank you very much indeed for that.
George Zimmerman, the man acquitted in the murder of Trayvon Martin is back in police custody. He was arrested today in central Florida after deputies responded to a disturbance call.
It's one of several brushes with the law since his acquittal. He's been stopped. He's been stopped for speeding twice now and wasn't charged after an alleged domestic dispute with his wife.
Now this week we're focusing on Poland for you where the capital city is hosting two very different environmental summits. The international coal and climate meeting open today to protest it's hosted by the coal industry, but the demonstrations were not just against the use of coal.
Just a short distance away, the United Nations conference on climate change is also taking place.
The irony of staging the two summits in the same city at the same time hasn't been lost on the protesters.
Paula Newton joins us now from Warsaw -- Paula.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, a provocative move by the Polish government. They agreed to hold these climate talks. They're going on just behind me here. And then they have invited the world's coal industry to have a summit at the same time. Poland is one of those nations still heavily relying on coal. And it really is stepping forward with that attitude -- the rich against poor countries saying, look, we are not going to shoulder all the costs of climate change.
Having said that. The UN secretary, that's at the helm of these climate talks, Christiana Figueres, she addressed that coal conference and told them that it was time that they modernize, that they move on, that she didn't expect them to eradicate the use of coal, but that they needed to move forward with new plans.
Now, Christiana Figueres after she addressed that coal summit, she sat down with us. And I asked her just about that contentious conversation still going on between rich and poor nations here at these climate talks behind me.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINA FIGUERES, UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE: Look, there is no doubt, there is no doubt that developed countries independently of whatever announcements came out this week, there is no doubt the developed countries have to take a lead. They have to take a lead on mitigation, that means reducing their own emission. And they have to take a lead on helping countries both with finance as well as with technology.
NEWTON: But they seem more reluctant to take that lead than they did five or six years ago.
FIGUERES: Look, we're in a process that is preparing the 2015 agreement. And we need to be mindful of that process. Some countries are reacting to their situation and their conditions and their circumstances right now.
But in the end, all countries need to be mindful of the long-term process and to collaborate with each other.
NEWTON: Why do you think climate skeptics have been able to get so much traction on the issue in the last four or five years? It's really significant. If you look at what was going on in 2008, 2009...
FIGUERES: It is not significant. I honestly feel that the battle on the science is completely won. There is no doubt after the fifth assessment report, there is just no doubt.
NEWTON: So why do countries keep backtracking on targets, then?
FIGUERES: Let us differentiate two things, OK. I don't hear any single country questioning the science. I don't even hear people from the coal summit questioning the science, so the battle on the science we can set aside. That battle has been won and it is time to focus on what are we going to do about this.
And that is what I hear happening here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Well that's what she says is happening.
Now she is a sharp lady, but she has such a huge challenge in front of her. On and on and on it's gone for years, we've been covering these climate summits. And the big year is supposed to be 2015 when they're supposed to come up with an agreement. So many issues ahead before they can get there -- Max.
FOSTER: Paula, last week we spoke to the Philippine delegate who got very emotional as the news came in about the disaster back in his country. But he was using it in a way to explain what could happen if there was more climate change. I mean, did it have a big impact on the tone there?
NEWTON: I think some people say certainly it reminds people that although this is a talk shop behind me that there's a real issue of humanity here and what's happening to people around the globe with perhaps likely being more dramatic outcomes from climate change.
But you heard Christina Figueres saying that the science debate was over. I'm not sure that's true. And I think that while it's been incredibly sad to see what's going on in the Philippines, when this conference opened there were certainly more of an impact. Now going into the second week, you have countries -- notably Japan, Canada really stepping away from certain targets. And you wonder in the coming years, despite what we see in places like the Philippines, whether they will be able to get a significant substantive agreement by 2015.
FOSTER: OK, Paula, thank you very much indeed. Much more from you this week.
Live from London, this is Connect the World. Coming up, how drones are being used to get a better picture of the extent of the damage in the Philippines.
Plus, a scathing report on Qatar's labor standards has Doha on the defensive ahead of the World Cup.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The organizers of the Qatar 2022 World Cup have come under fire again. This time for the treatment of migrant workers as they ramp up construction for the tournament.
On Saturday, human rights group Amnesty International released a report accusing the host nation of systemic abuse and mistreatment of immigrant workers. Leone Lakhani has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEONE LAKHANI, CNN CORREPSONDENT: As the Gulf state of Qatar prepares to build the mammoth project needed for this FIFA World Cup in 2022 it's once again under the international spotlight. A new report from Amnesty International finds that worker abuse is rife in Qatar's construction sector.
SALIL SHETTY, SECRETARY GENERAL, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: I met a group of 70 workers, mostly from Nepal, Sri Lanka, southeast Asia. And they reached a point where they don't even have any food to eat because their payments have not been made for 10 months. So a major problem of the delay of payments -- you know, that's the kind of primary abuse. And once that happens, there's a spiral after that, because then they've lost their ID cards, which means they can't get health care. They can get arrested by the police. They have to get exit permits to leave the country. The sponsors then have to give them the exit permits. They don't give it to them.
And don't forget that in most of these countries when you arrive your passport is confiscated.
LAKHANI: One manager referred to workers as animals.
Based on the findings, Amnesty lists a series of recommendations to improve working, living and safety standards, but it also recommends a reform of the entire system.
Now any worker in Qatar, foreign worker in Qatar operates under what's known as the Kafala (ph), or sponsorship system which ties a worker to an employer.
Now under this system, workers can't change jobs or leave the country without permission from employers.
In response to Amnesty's allegations ahead of the human rights department at Qatar's foreign ministry says there are laws in place to prevent the mistreatment of workers.
Moreover, the committee in charge of Qatar's World Cup plans says any company working on these projects will be contractually obliged to abide by guidelines to protect the welfare of workers.
But human rights groups say much more needs to be done to enforce those laws and all those who violate the laws must be held accountable.
Now they say Qatar can use this as an opportunity to set an example for the rest of the region where similar accounts have also been reported.
Leone Lakhani, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, staying with the World Cup. And things are starting to fall into place for next year's tournament in Brazil with the final 32 team lineup to be determined later this week.
In Tuesday's marquee matchup, Portugal will take a 1-0 lead into their second leg against Sweden in Stockholm. The two teams are separated by a single goal from Portuguese superstar Chrstiano Ronaldo. So everything is very much still to play for.
Meanwhile, 1998 World Cup winners France have it all to do in Paris as they head into the second leg against the Ukraine, trailing 2-0.
Switching gears to tennis, and one country that's celebrating already is the Czech Republic who successfully defended their Davis Cup title Sunday against a Serbian team which included world number one Novak Djokovic.
The Czech Republic became only the fifth country to retain the David Cup since 1981.
The latest world news headlines just ahead. Plus, how is Canada's controversial mayor responding to the pressure? We cross to Toronto for the latest.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOANNE FROGGATT, ACTRESS: Hello, I'm Joanne Froggatt from Downton Abbey. Later in the show, you'll find out what I'm doing here at the BP tower helping out with the deck Philippines telethon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Some, familiar faces take to the phones, raising money for the Philippines.
And, I'll speak to former British former secretary David Milliband on the emergency efforts he's overseeing in the Philippines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: This is Connect the World, the top stories this hour. A manhunt is underway in the French capital after two shootings and a car jacking. A man was shot in the chest when an armed assailant opened fire in the lobby of the newspaper Liberation on Monday morning. Later, a man fired a gun outside Societe Generale's towers and a driver reported being carjacked in the same area.
The Dow Jones and S&P reached record highs on Monday after a sixth straight week of gains. They both stalled within the following half hour but for awhile they simply broke above 1800 for the first time in history and the Dow managed to climb above 16,000.
Operators on Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have started removing fuel rods from a damaged reactor. The dangerous task is considered a milestone in the $50 billion cleanup project that's still going more than two years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Embattled Toronto mayor Bob Ford has been speaking to CNN. Today, he is again facing a city council whose members are attempting to remove more of his powers after he admitted smoking crack. Ford has been defiant both with the council and under questioning by CNN's Bill Weir. Take a listen, you can hear one of his supporters in the background.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But do you realize how you're perceived around the rest of the country? Around the rest of the continent?
ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO: No.
WEIR: Have you seen the late-night comics at all?
FORD: That's all right, they can make fun of me. The people here in this city -- they can laugh at me all they want.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They do --
(CROSSTALK)
FORD: They don't know Rob Ford. These people know me, they've known me for -- I was born and raised here. I'm 44 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They all smoke, all those rich people. Keep them out of --
FORD: And born and raised in Rexdale and went to school here. I know everybody. I'm no-nonsense. There's no phoniness. I am what I am, and I'm sincere, eh?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly. You're real.
FORD: Am I polished? No, I'm not polished.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're real, Ford, you're real. That's what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: As you heard, there, despite the protesters and council members demanding his resignation, after weeks of controversy, Rob Ford's still not short on support. Nic Robertson is in Toronto. He joins me now for our Ford update.
Nic, he's playing this card, isn't he, where he's an authentic man? And he's sticking by it. Does he have any support there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he does. It's working for him in some quarters. But it's not in others. And the council chambers is one of those where it isn't working. They're trying to remove those additional powers from him today, take some of his budget, take some of his staff.
But you know what's been happening here over the last three and a half hours? It's still playing out. I'm looking at his brother, the councilor Doug Ford, speaking there. They're in uncharted territory. Lawyers to advise the council have been called in. One of them said, oh, I've only been given this case in the last hour and a half. They're unprepared, they don't know which way they're going.
The changes that they want to make to the mayor's powers have been changed and revised as we've gone through the day. We just got another update on that in the last few minutes, but there's been theater in there, too.
The mayor was on a walkabout. When he went to shake hands with supporters in the public gallery, take a look at what happened when he was doing that. The audience turned against him. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD (chanting): Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And I don't know if you can see in there, Max, but what's happening, Rob Ford, the mayor, gets joined by his brother, the councilor, Doug Ford. They both start shouting and pointing back at the audience. That seems to be in their nature. They're fighting this, and they won't give in. And his brother, when I talked to him earlier in the day, told me that this is all unconstitutional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CILP)
CROWD (chanting): Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!
DOUG FORD, BROTHER OF TORONTO MAYOR ROB FORD: What is happening today is an overthrow of a democratically-elected mayor illegally. This is what you see in third-world nations. You don't see this in Canada. You don't see this in the United States. You don't see this in the UK. We're talking about a third-world nation overthrow here.
ROBERTSON: Why doesn't he, to avert this situation, take your advice, their advice, to step back and get some help for a short time and come back. Doesn't that avert the situation?
D. FORD: You know something? No. It wouldn't avert it because the ship's already left the dock, and there's no rule --
ROBERTSON: But you admit that your brother did allow the ship to leave the dock by not taking the opportunity --
D. FORD: Personally --
ROBERTSON: -- when it was presented?
D. FORD: -- you know something? Personally, he's made a mistake. We will rehash this for the next hundred years, folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: I don't know about rehashing it for the next hundred years. They're still hashing it out here right now. There was a move before to try and get a doctor to come and speak to the council to say that he's looked at, talked to the mayor, done a medical examination on the mayor and found the mayor fit to continue. That's the level of detail and contentiousness they're getting into here, Max.
FOSTER: It's extraordinary. Thank you very much, indeed, Nic.
Now, it's been more than a week since Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, flattening homes and destroying large parts of the country. We now know the death toll has risen to almost 4,000, with at least 1600 still missing and tens of thousands injured. To give you an idea of just how powerful the storm surge was, I want to show you this video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(RUSHING WATER AND WIND)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Now, it looks like a tsunami, the wall of water slamming into the eastern coast of Samar Island, wiping out trees and houses. An aid worker shot the footage from the top floor of a boarding house and survived to tell the tale.
The damage on the ground is still so great that aid organizations have started using drones to survey the damage. Karl Penhaul has more from Tacloban.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been ten days since the super typhoon ripped through the Philippines, and as the death toll continues steadily to mount, new video is emerging showing how a huge tidal surge dragged away homes and people.
But it's only if you take a video camera into the air that you can begin to get a handle on the true dimension of this disaster. Look around you, and imagine how it must have felt standing here on Magallanes Street in Tacloban City as a towering wall of water raced in from the ocean.
But take a look. The pictures speak clearly for themselves. Wherever you look, international organizations and government rescue teams are hard at work, pulling away debris, still looking for bodies of the dead, trying to bring relief to the survivors.
But seeing the scale here, you begin to understand how daunting a task that will be. It's a task that could take months, maybe years, to rebuild.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Tacloban, the Philippines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: For more on the international aid efforts to the Philippines, I'm joined by David Miliband. He's a former British foreign secretary who is now president of the International Rescue Committee. Thank you very much for joining us, Mr. Miliband. You've talked -- or your organization's talked of the risk of a major public health outbreak --
DAVID MILIBAND, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Good evening, very pleased to be with you.
FOSTER: How concerned are you about health? What's the big worry?
MILIBAND: We're very concerned about the situation in the Philippines. You've seen the pictures for yourselves. We've got an assessment team on the ground, and they've identified water, sanitation, and health as the absolute top priority.
Obviously, we're in a situation where there's a real danger of various communicable diseases and we need to get in there with -- especially on the water, the safe drinking water front, that seems to us to be a very high priority where the International Rescue Committee's experience can complement that of other aid agencies who are working very hard on the ground.
FOSTER: There seems to be some problem, some delay with aid in the area. There's no doubt that you've all been piling into help and governments are putting huge amounts of money. Who would you blame for this slightly slow pace of aid delivery?
MILIBAND: I think that the "blame," if that's the right word, goes on the sheer ferocity of the storm and what it did to the transport infrastructure. I think that all the aid groups have been working hard alongside the government and some of the military to try to get over some of the transport difficulties. But obviously, with the geography of the Philippines, it's transport that's the key blockage.
I think that the public health danger relates to water and sanitation, and I think that medical supplies are also an issues, and our assessment is that those are beginning, now, to get through. But I don't think anyone could have predicted 230-miles-an-hour winds, and that's wrought the devastation that the pictures show.
FOSTER: That being the problem, how long do you think we've got to prevent a major health crisis?
MILIBAND: Obviously, given the numbers that you gave at the beginning, tens of thousands now in health danger, the rising number of dead, it will be wrong to deny that we're not in a very, very dangerous terrain now. Certainly, our team on the ground are reporting real urgency in getting set with the water and sanitation expertise that we've got.
Obviously, in some parts, there are real food shortage issues. You've heard the appalling reports of children speaking to the TV about that. So I think on all fronts, the next few days are absolutely key.
FOSTER: Mr. Miliband, I know that you're also in Lebanon at the moment on a different story, a country grappling with huge amounts of refugees from Syria. There's been a surge of around 10,000 more refugees crossing the border just the past three days, I understand.
You're working with the government, obviously, to provide some help for these people, but you're going into the winter. Have you managed to understand why there's been this new surge of refugees into the area where you've been?
MILIBAND: I'm in Beirut, where not only has there been 10,000 refugees over the weekend because of intense fighting, but there are also reports now of Syrian government air raids on parts of northern Lebanon, where some of the refugees have been found.
I think that it's really important to say to your listeners that while there was agreement on the chemical weapons issue some time ago, and that obviously improved the situation in respect of chemical weapons, for the civilians on the ground inside Syria and outside, the humanitarian situation has got worse since the chemical weapons deal, not better.
And it's very, very important that the unity of purpose that emerged in respect to the chemical weapons doesn't just stand there. It's got to be transferred into this humanitarian catastrophe that's affecting literally millions of people, 9 million Syrians, now, affected by it.
And a country like Lebanon, where the population is only 4.5 million, 5.5 million, 800,000 refugees have arrived. That's the equivalent of the whole of Britain moving to the United States. It's an enormous strain on this society.
And I've seen in some of the villages and valleys of Lebanon today enormous stress and strain on public health, on housing, and real danger, both for the refugee communities and for the host communities.
FOSTER: OK, David Miliband in Beirut, thank you for your time. And efforts are being held around the world to raise money for the Philippines. Here in Britain, the Disaster Emergency Committee's typhoon appeal has raised 39 million pounds so far, that's almost $63,000 (sic), and they're not stopping there.
Today, celebrities got involved, hosting a telethon to boost donations for the appeal. I went along to take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: We're at the top of the BT Tower. It's a big landmark here in the UK. And what you've got here is banks of celebrities. If you want to make a pledge here in the UK, if you're here, you can ring up and hopefully a celebrity will answer your call.
One of them, if you're lucky, Joanne Froggatt. You'll recognize here from Downton Abbey. You'd better take call.
JOANNE FROGGATT, STAR OF "DOWNTON ABBEY": Excuse me one second. Hello, thank you for calling the DEC Philippines Appeal Telethon. You're speaking to Joanne Froggatt. How much would you like to donate?
(PHONES RINGING)
(LAUGHTER)
FROGGATT: Well enough.
(LAUGHTER)
FOSTER: That wasn't staged, so you know, was it? That was not staged.
FROGGATT: I think that one person hung up on me earlier because I wasn't a member of One Direction, so --
FOSTER: So being a celebrity doesn't always work?
FROGGATT: No, no, not always. Not always.
FOSTER: Has it been fun? What are the funnier calls you've had?
FROGGATT: It has, yes. I think the funniest was a lady saying, "Is this One Direction?"
"No, I'm sorry. It's Joanne Froggatt."
(LAUGHTER)
FROGGATT: Straight down.
(LAUGHTER)
FOSTER: So, they just keep trying until they get One Direction.
FROGGATT: Yes, absolutely, yes.
FOSTER: What is it about what people are seeing the Philippines that has really got to them, do you think?
FROGGATT: Well, I think it's like any major disaster anywhere. Hopefully, there's humanity in us all making us want to help in whatever small way that be, it might just be logging onto website and making a small donation, whatever little you can afford. People giving up their time to generate publicity and everything else. So, I think -- how can you not be affected by the pictures you see on the news, really?
FOSTER: And Jamie Oliver. You threw yourself in, then?
JAMIE OLIVER, CELEBRITY CHEF: Yes. I only work down the road, had the call last couple of days, would I get involved? Of course, it's an honor to get involved, and there's many, many other people in the public eye that are sort of arming phones as we speak.
FOSTER: Yes.
OLIVER: But yes, this is an important appeal.
FOSTER: Have you any idea why Britain seems to be so engaged in this and is giving so much money when the economy's slumping? People haven't got the money, really.
OLIVER: Do you know what I think? We've got a fairly large Filipino in this country. I think they've -- in my experience, they've been the most lovely people, and I think the news coverage here has been fairly prolific. It's been fairly well-reported, and we don't like what we're seeing.
And I think we're coming up to Christmas, everyone's out spending such a lot of money on presents and stuff like that, and we're seeing this on the news, and literally -- tonight, the smallest donation you can give on the phone is a fiver. Most people can afford a little fiver, just to be involved.
I think this isn't about furthering education or anything. This is about water, clean. It's about food. This is about really basic -- this is about life or death stuff. So, it is very, very serious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: All of that organized by the Disaster Emergency Committee in this country, which is a team-up, really, of various different charities. And they've had an unprecedented response to this disaster compared with others like Haiti. Raised $63 million so far since the disaster struck. So, it's really hit a nerve in this country.
Live from London, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Coming up, seeing through the eyes of the elderly. How a new suit makes you feel decades older.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Take a minute to imagine that this is the world that you saw, a blurry mix of out-of-focus surroundings and people just rushing about. For some people in the later years of life, this is what daily life is like.
New research from Barclays Bank suggests that the elderly in the UK are feeling more marginalized. The report reveals that 40 percent of over- 65s now say they don't feel at home in their own country. Half of those feel that everyday services are geared towards young people, and the difficulties range from loud music in stores to small print on forms to crowded queues.
Well, Barclays designed a suit that simulates what it's like to live as an older person. Becky tried it out in the middle of London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest research shows that over 4 million elderly residents in the UK feel that Britain has become an alien nation. This equipment here, when I get suit and booted, will give me a sense of what it feels like to be incapacitated. I want to know what it feels like to be a member of the older generation.
This is going to restrict my spine movements and my pelvis tilt. Problems with arthritis in my fingers --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wrists.
ANDERSON: -- in my wrists and in my knees. Now, I'm going to restrict the movement in my joints. Now, those go around my ankles.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ANDERSON: This is to impair my neck movement. My vision, my central vision, is impaired. I can now see nothing here. A little bit here. I've also got hearing problems. Let's go out and find out just what it feels like to be moving around. Ooh.
Well, I'm coming out of the bank, and I need to get the Tube. The problem is, I can hardly see where I'm going anyway.
What is really odd is already everybody else seems to be moving extremely quickly, and you get this sort of slight sense of anxiety.
All right. I know everybody else is in a rush, but thankfully, I'm retired, so, I don't really need to get anywhere particularly quickly.
This is a really busy thoroughfare in London. This is Holborn. We've very close to the city. These guys are going. I'm going to wait. I'd be interested to see whether I can make it. Here we go.
I don't hear anything too disconcerting. See? The green man's gone already. This is going to take me hours. Oh, dear, here we go.
It's been so exhausting, this whole process of crossing the road. I've planned for some sushi, but I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with the chopsticks.
We'll see what there is in here. Everybody else is using their cars. Is there a fire or something?
Hello! I'm having this. And I've got some money here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like to eat in or takeaway?
ANDERSON: Sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eating in or takeaway?
ANDERSON: I can't hear you, though.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eating in or takeaway?
ANDERSON: Eating -- oh, I'm going to eat in there, thank you. How much is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 4.55.
ANDERSON: 4.55.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can help you.
ANDERSON: OK.
Even picking up these chopsticks, which are incredibly light, I'm sure, they're like a real weight.
Take this bus over here. It won't be there when I get there. I can't run, so I'll just take it easy. So, he can see me coming. Oh, he is going to wait. That's extraordinary!
Well, I've been out for about an hour. Oh! I can hear! And I can see! That is a really, really disconcerting experience. It's very lonely. You feel as if everything's working really fast around you. You feel as if people are very impatient. And you just get this sense that it is a bit of an alien world, actually.
The bus ride was awful. People were pushing past, and then people sort of moved a way. I don't know, maybe that's just because of what I looked like. Anyway, interesting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, do you feel alienated in your own country because of age differences? Tweet me @MaxFosterCNN. Let me know your thoughts @MaxFosterCNN. And @BeckyCNN as well.
Coming up after this short break on CONNECT THE WORLD, beauty and aspiration. Two decades after the fall of Communism in Poland, we meet the National Ballet and find out about their hopes for the future.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: All this week, CNN's On the Road series will be bringing you a greater insight into the customs and culture of Poland. From their underground treasure to their innovation in dance, Paula Newton explores the places, the people, and the passions unique to this Eastern European nation. And Paula joins us now from a very cold capital.
PAUL NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It may be cold, but there are a lot of things to find indoors here, and one of them is the ballet. You know, Max, I know you're far too polite to say, but you know I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to ballet. But I was absolutely riveted by what I saw here at the National Polish Ballet. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (voice-over): Make no mistake. For Poland's National Ballet, this is not about regaining past glory.
KRZYSZTOF PASTOR, DIRECTOR, POLISH NATIONAL BALLET: One, two, three, four -- perfect! Very good!
NEWTON: It's about something much more ambitious: making history.
(PASTOR SPEAKING POLISH)
PASTOR: I'm here because I'm Polish. I'm thinking for everyone in Poland, not only for the ballet dancers, but also in other jobs, one has to be innovative, creative. And I think the art, that's the importance of art, that we should be an avant garde of this creativity and innovation.
NEWTON: Krzysztof Pastor is the ballet's director, a passionate man who has come home. He is a world-renowned choreographer, still resident choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet. But his mission is here now -- creating a dance company that ambitiously reflects Poland's rebirth after years of traumatic wars and repression.
PASTOR: I said to myself once, somebody asked me what I think about what the company should be in the future. And I think it should reflect society, with ambitions to do something innovative again, creative again, and to -- I have to say that I want the company to be dynamic and daring.
NEWTON: Even if, like me, you know nothing of ballet, you will appreciate this: the sheer athleticism is striking. The grace and skill breathtaking.
To hear prima ballerina Marta Fielder tell it, the potential of this dance company could only be fulfilled with Pastor's homecoming.
MARTA FIELDER, PRINCIPAL, POLISH NATIONAL BALLET: We're really happy because we have -- it will be fortunate for us to change something from the old years when everything was so strict and so closed, actually, not open to the world. So, he changed a lot of things of thinking, of showing the dancers how it's supposed to work.
NEWTON: Part of being open and creative means this is an international company. It's now a place where people from outside Poland want to dance and work.
PASTOR: Go attack. Viola.
My mission is to go outside and who that we are a young, dynamic, innovative, creative company. I think that I already accomplished something, but I'm also aware that there's still a long way to go.
NEWTON: Pastor's passion for ballet so poetically captures the new energy here, a bold energy that resonates with ambition and beauty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: It's such a passionate man, so happy to be back. He had said, look, I'll be honest, it has been difficult but incredibly fulfilling for him right now.
Tomorrow, Max, we have a look at Wroclaw, which is a city here in Poland that is gorgeous, which many people may have been to. But we have a very special way we're going to show you this city tomorrow, and I hope you tune in for it.
FOSTER: I look forward to it, Paula, making your way around Poland this week. Thank you very much, indeed.
I'm Max Foster, that was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you very much, indeed, for watching.
END
