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EU Releases Migrant Crisis Action Plan; Migration Surge on Mediterranean Route; US Markets Rally; Chinese Stimulus Boosts European Markets; China to Invest in Pakistan; EU's Plan to Combat Human Trafficking; Cirque du Soleil to Be Sold; Google Changing Searches on Mobile. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired April 20, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:05] (NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CLOSING BELL)
PAULA NEWTON, HOST: Markets on Wall Street have surged to a 200-point gain. Don't get too excited, it's a technical bounce. It is Monday, the
20th of April.
After a weekend of deaths, distress calls, and rescues, Europe finally calls for an emergency response to its humanitarian crisis.
As we were saying, a market bounce. Stocks have a strong start to the week.
And speaking of those ups and downs, private equity joins in the acrobatics.
I'm Paula Newton, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Tonight, European leaders say a new action plan will make an immediate difference, they claim, in the deadly migration crisis off their shores.
Now, the ten-point proposal seeks to reinforce operations in the Mediterranean and calls for increased funding. It will be presented to the
European Council on Thursday in an extraordinary emergency session.
Now, 24 bodies have now been recovered from the Mediterranean Sea after a boat believed to be holding as many as 950 people capsized over the
weekend. And more boats were in danger Monday. Greek officials have reported at least three deaths after a ship sank off the coast of Rhodes.
The International Organization for Migration says it received a distress call from a sinking boat carrying more than 300 people in the
Mediterranean. The EU foreign policy chief told CNN on the phone she is saddened the crisis has come to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDERICA MOGHERINI, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF (via telephone): We managed to respond in an -- I think -- impressive way in terms of reaction. My
pain is that because the reaction coming too late after so many people died. I have to say that we have tried to step up our political commitment
to work on migration in the previous month, but sometimes, apparently, you need a tragedy to share the full responsibility of what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Authorities have reported a sudden surge of migrants heading toward European shores over the past ten days. Thousands of migrants have
fled North Africa over the past decade, attempting the dangerous sea crossing from Libya and Tunisia to Italy and Malta.
Now, last year alone, there were more than 170,000 illegal crossings along these sea routes, and that's according to Frontex. Karl Penhaul joins me
now, live from Catania, Italy with the latest.
You know, Karl, as we were saying, this has been a story that's been developing in Europe for, now, a decade. In terms of what's going on on
the ground right now, have you already seen a change with those rescue and recovery efforts over the last 24 hours?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, like you say, Paula, this is a perennial problem, to the point that I saw one of the charities,
one of the NGOs describe this as a "permanent crisis." It's a permanent crisis, though, that does seem to get worse.
Even throughout the course of today, as you rightly say, more emergency calls, more distress calls from migrant vessels who have set sail from
Libya on the way to Italy. And we're hearing from the Italian Coast Guard, more survivors being plucked from those boats and being ferried to the
shore.
Of course, what we're waiting for here in Catania in the next couple of hours or so, the arrival of 27 survivors from that weekend shipwreck.
Authorities are still working hard to ascertain really were there 950 migrants onboard that boat as one of the survivors has suggested?
They're urging caution right now. What they really want to do is interview the survivors as they come ashore and figure out, really, what went on
aboard that ship. But in terms of what is going on right now, we are seeing close coordination between the Maltese government and their navies
and coast guards, the Italian navies and coast guards.
And what they're also doing, as soon as there is a distress call that goes out from any of these vessels is that the call goes out to commercial
vessels and also fishing boats as well to join the search and rescue operation.
It also seems as well that almost no sooner do those migrant vessels set sail from the coast of Libya that people onboard those vessels are putting
in calls to the Italian coast guard, giving out their coordinates, putting out a distress signal, in the hope of getting picked up very quickly,
because they know their vessels are unsafe. They know they are absolute rust buckets, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, it's incredible what some of these people go through when they're on these boats and when they come to shore. How important is it
now that in terms of interviewing these people that were off of that boat, for them to determine exactly what happened here? Because the bottom line
is, we still don't know how many people categorically were on that ship.
[16:05:12] PENHAUL: Absolutely. Let's make no bones about this. These are illegal people-smuggling operations. OK, there's an element of supply
and demand here. The migrants are desperate to get to Europe, and they need help, an intermediary, to get them there. And that is where the
people smugglers fit the bill, there.
But they are making thousands if not millions of dollars off these illegal people-trapping operations. And as they're pushing people on board those
boats, there is no ship's manifest, there is no log of the passengers. We really don't know how many people originally got on those boats. We may
never know their names and their nationalities.
And so, of course, when one of these vessels capsizes or becomes shipwrecked, it makes the process even more difficult to find out exactly
who was onboard. And so, then you have to go to the survivor testimonies.
But again, bear in mind, the survivors themselves probably haven't accurately counted how many other passengers were going onboard. And other
thing that I was talking to a representative from the International Office for Migration earlier on today, and what he was saying as well is there is
also a class system among the migrants, and that is because, he says, the people-smugglers are firmly racist.
And so, what you might quite often see is that the black Africans for West Africa or from the Horn of Africa being shoveled into the hold of the
vessels and them being locked in, and then you might get wealthier, richer migrants who are prepared to pay a higher price for their crossing going on
the upper decks.
And so, in the event of a shipwreck, it's the black Africans who are going down with the ship, whereas the wealthier migrants, they stand a little
better chance of survival, according to this officials of the International Office for Migration.
What it all amounts to, though, is possibly no single migrant knows exactly the details of how many people or how many nationalities were onboard that
ship. That is why it's so important to interview as many --
NEWTON: Right.
PENHAUL: -- survivors as you can to build a picture of exactly what went on, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, and their families back home, of course, have no idea what's become of their loved ones. Karl Penhaul, thanks so much.
Pressure is increasing on Europe to address this migration crisis after naval operations were scaled back last year. Italy spent about $10 million
per month on a very expansive search and rescue operation called Mare Nostrum. Now, it wound down at the end of 2014 after criticism of the high
cost and concerns that it actually motivated more migrant crossings.
It was replaced in 2015 by the EU border program called Triton. Its monthly budget -- I want you to take a look, this is just a fraction of
Italy's -- at $3.1 million per month. Clearly not able to do as much, and it covered a much smaller area.
Speaking to a group of NGOs today, German chancellor Angela Merkel says Europe must take action to take on those human traffickers who are behind
these disasters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): First, we must and will do everything to take on and continue the fight against human
traffickers who, in an inhumane way, endanger people's lives and kill them.
Second, we will work intensively on the causes for the flight. And here, we need your knowledge, too.
Third -- and this is the most important point right now which moves all of us -- we will do everything we can to prevent more victims dying an
agonizing death in the Mediterranean in front of our doorstep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Elly Schlein is an Italian MEP and a member of the Civil Liberties Justice and Home Affairs Committee at the European Parliament. She joins
me now from Brussels. Unfortunately, what we're hearing here is that it takes this kind of catastrophe to actually motivate Europe to do something.
What will change right here, right now?
ELLY SCHLEIN, ITALIAN MEMBER OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Well, we were expecting facts right now. As you said, it's been an everyday in tragedy
in Sicily for such a long time, and we cannot wait any longer to have a European solution that we need here.
Of course, this is a story of lack of political will by some European governments. If you think about it, we've been hearing for 20 years about
the common European asylum system and all that we had until today is a common European cemetery in the Mediterranean Sea.
So, what we need here as a short-term response is a real operation, like Mare Nostrum was, of search and rescue, but led by the European Union, of
course. Because as you said before, Triton is totally inadequate, and we've been saying this in this parliament for quite a few months right now,
since the very beginning of this debate.
[16:09:59] It doesn't have the budget, it doesn't have the means, it doesn't have a clear mandate of search and rescue. And of course, the
operation Mare Nostrum could go as far as 172 miles from the Italian waters, and Triton is just going 30 miles. In that difference, in that
space, people have started to die again. So, what are we waiting to act?
NEWTON: But Ms. Schlein, I'm interested to hear from you. You know the criticism here. It's that, look, you can mount a large operation, but it
will just motivate more crossings. It will be a good thing because the seas will cease to be a mass gave, as you say, but will it cause political
problems in Europe because it means more people will make those crossings?
SCHLEIN: I don't think so. That was the argument which some governments and some political forces here asked for Mare Nostrum to be shut down. But
if you look at the data, you will discover interesting things.
If you look at the flows from the very beginning of this year until right now and you compare it to the same period of last year, when Mare Nostrum
was there, you will find that the flows have increased 60 percent this year.
So, it's even a false argument. I don't understand how you can imagine that that is the reason why they leave when you look at the situation in
these countries, the dramatic situation in Syria and Libya that are going worse every day.
So, I think it's just an excuse. But here, it's a matter of jealousy. European governments have always been so jealous of their policies on
asylum. We need to make a step forward and to show that we are a European Union.
You mentioned the costs of Mare Nostrum. It was 9 million euros per month. It's a lot for one member state only, but what about 28 member states? If
you look at the data again, you will discover that today, six member states out of 28 are dealing with 75 percent of all asylum requests.
So, the right question is not, where is the European Union, what is Europe. As you can hear in Lampedusa a lot -- I was there last October -- the right
question is, where are the other 22 governments? What are they doing?
NEWTON: OK, but if we --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLEIN: If we share responsibility --
NEWTON: -- but let's cut the politics -- OK. But let's --
SCHLEIN: -- as the treaty says --
NEWTON: But let's put the politics side for a minute, because we understand you're -- Italy and Malta have been pushing for European action
plan for a long time. But I want to hear from you, what is going to work?
Does this mean that you will rapidly and quickly return people to their homes in Africa? It means that they will not die on the seas, but they
will be returned. I've heard a lot about programs to try and resettle these people. What is the plan beyond saying that we're going to put a
bunch of new ships into the water?
SCHLEIN: We're going to discover more about the plan that Commissioner Avramopoulos presented today on Thursday. We're going to see what the
governments of the European countries really want to do right now to act. I hope we're going to see some facts, as I said before.
But the fact is, I think that you need both short-term answers and long- term answers to the issue. In the short term, we need to act immediately on the emergency in the Mediterranean Sea. And these people, they have a
right -- we have a moral and legal obligation to grant international protection if they are, in some situation, fleeing from wars, from
discrimination of all kinds, or from torture for example.
And of course, there's another issue, which is about -- how do you say? -- illegal migration, which is a total different subject. There's a
difference between illegal immigrants and asylum seekers that have the right to present their request.
So, we have to make those differences very clear in the debate, I think, and we have to develop different solutions to those problems. And on the
other side, we have to fight those traffickers -- human traffickers.
If you ask me, I would say that it's not enough to have a search and rescue operation in the sea. We have to prevent those people --
NEWTON: OK.
SCHLEIN: -- to leave, to end up in the hands of the human trafficker. And to do that, we can figure out some solution, like granting legal and safe
access to Europe, humanitarian visas. Some countries like Brazil are trying solutions like that, and it's working.
NEWTON: Yes, but just to underscore, that's very controversial and something that I'm sure you guys will continue to discuss in Brussels.
Thank you very much, Signora Schlein. Appreciate it.
SCHLEIN: Of course.
NEWTON: And we will be right back with more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.
[16:04:22] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:05:55] NEWTON: The markets in the United States have just settled, and they've posted a big rally. A bit unexpected. The Dow climbed 230
points, nearly 1.3 percent. It's almost enough to make up for that sharp drop on Friday. Now, what we're seeing here is a mix of better-than-
expected corporate earnings and news of more stimulus coming out of China.
US stocks had a good day across the board. As you can see here, the Dow Jones up more than a percent, as we were saying. And 1.25 percent almost
for the NASDAQ, and the S&P, another broad measure there, up almost 1 percent.
Alison Kosik now joins me. You were in the markets today. An unexpected rally, and yet, people are saying, don't get used to this, the markets are
still very volatile.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, volatility really is the name of the game. And believe it or not, some did expect a big bounce back
that we saw today, Paula. Because when you saw that big drop-off on Friday, many said that it was oversold, and Greece was really the reason
for the selling pressure that you saw on Friday.
Don't be fooled, Greece is still a concern on Wall Street, but for today, investors were able to put it on the back burner in favor of those better-
than-expected earnings, specifically from Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley posting a very strong quarter.
And you can mostly put that to the firm's trading desk. It had a better- than-expected first quarter by strong equities, trading results. It saw strong -- strong results there. It also saw strong margins, improving
margins, as its wealth management division improved as well.
NEWTON: In terms of this earnings season, a lot of people have said we really don't know what to expect. How much can it rattle the markets if we
do hit and miss a lot of numbers?
KOSIK: And that's a really big reason as to why we are seeing the volatility. But everybody was sort of shaking in their boots about what
this earnings season would look like because of the stronger dollar, and it's really not shaping up to be as bad as thought.
Let me show you exactly what I'm talking about, because of the 62 S&P 500 companies that reported last week, 76 percent topped profit expectations,
but only 45 percent of the companies beat revenues estimates. That's compared with 58 percent in the last four quarters.
So, the revenue is an issue, but it's not as bad as everybody thought. And where we've really seen that earnings weakness was concentrated so far in
the energy sector, basic materials. But once again, it's not looking as dire as it was first thought.
We are waiting on results from IBM, which are expected to report any minute now. Of course, the strong dollar factoring in there for those earnings as
well.
NEWTON: Yes, and we have to say it: the corporations themselves are very cautious on their outlooks going forward, and that's another problem.
KOSIK: Absolutely.
NEWTON: Alison Kosik, thanks, appreciate it.
KOSIK: You've got it, Paula.
NEWTON: Though Greece is still very much on investors' minds, as Alison was saying, the stimulus in China also boosted markets in Europe.
Germany's DAX was the day's big gainer, up nearly 1.75 percent. The FTSE in London and the Paris 40 pushed up more than 0.8 percent.
According to media reports, the European Union is preparing antitrust charges against Russia's Gazprom. The EU Commission told CNN they have no
comment at this time. It could accuse Gazprom of abusing its dominant position in Eastern Europe.
Relations between China and Pakistan just got a lot closer thanks to a $46 billion golden handshake from Beijing.
[16:19:19] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:20:53] NEWTON: The Chinese president Xi Jinping has signed a new economic deal with Pakistan. China is set to invest $46 billion into
Pakistan's infrastructure over the next 15 years. That's roughly the equivalent of one-fifth of Pakistan's annual GDP.
Some experts call the deal a game-changer for Pakistan. As Andrew Stevens reports, it's all part of China's plan to expand its global economic
influence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No expense was spared as Pakistan welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Islamabad.
From the red carpet to a military revue to addressing Pakistan's parliament, to being awarded a top civilian honor, Pakistan was keen to
make an impact. It comes from an already close friendship between the two countries rather than a need to impress.
NAWAZ SHARIF, PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN: Our friendship is higher than mountains, deeper than oceans, sweeter than honey, and stronger than steel.
STEVENS: President Xi calls the trip "like visiting a brother's home." But the visit has significant implications for both countries. For
Pakistan, $46 billion worth of investments over the next 15 years in the country's creaking infrastructure. Energy and transport the key targets
there.
Along a new corridor that stretches from the port city of Gwadar near Pakistan's border with Iran all the way through to Kashgar in China's far
west.
SHARIF: This corridor will benefit all provinces and areas in Pakistan and transform our country into a regional hub and favorite for commerce and
investment. It will also enable China to create a shorter and cheaper route for trade and investment with south, central, and west Asia and the
Middle East and Africa.
STEVENS: The deal also a security issue for China. As the world's biggest oil importer, the corridor will serve as a pipeline for crude and gas from
the Persian Gulf, a more secure route than shipping it through Southeast Asia.
All this just the latest move in China's ever-expanding economic footprint. President Xi's vision, resurrecting the fabled Silk Route, a trading bridge
between East and West across land, and in the 21st century, across the sea as well.
In reality, Xi's vision is more silk maze than silk route. Three separate planned routes crossing China, Central Asia, and Europe, one of which will
be going to Pakistan. And along it, those $46 billion worth of development projects.
There may be one other strategic reason for the deal, say analysts. China wants more from Pakistan in the struggle against homegrown extremism.
China worries that Islamic militants from Pakistan's lawless tribal regions are crossing the border into China to support China's own separatists,
based in the Xinjiang province.
XI JINPING, PRESIDENT OF CHINA (through translator): The Chinese side highly appreciates Pakistan's side's outstanding contribution to the
international counterterrorism efforts. It has agreed to strengthen communication and coordination on Afghanistan in order to jointly push
ahead the Afghan reconciliation process and play a constructive role to achieve Afghans' peace and stability.
STEVENS: And China wants all the help it can get from its neighbor and ally.
Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: When we come back, Malta's interior minister explains the EU's plans to combat human trafficking amid a migration crisis.
[16:24:44] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:27:01] NEWTON: Hello, I'm Paula Newton. Coming up in the next half hour of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, the Cirque du Soleil is falling into Chinese
hands after some financial acrobatics.
And Google is about to upset matters with a massive change to how it gives you results.
Before that, though, these are the top news headlines we're following this hour.
The European Union has promised more funding for migrant rescue programs in the Mediterranean Sea after a ship carrying hundreds of migrants capsized
over the weekend. The EU has released a ten-point action plan promising direct and substantial measures to help migrants in the region.
Speaking to CNN, Malta's prime minister says the security situation in Libya, where man of the migrants come from, now needs to be addressed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH MUSCAT, PRIME MINISTER OF MALTA: In our opinion, the key to some sort of short-term solution to this humanitarian crisis is Libya. If
Libya's not secure, if Libya doesn't have its borders properly managed, then the problem will persist.
So, everyone is talking about yesterday's tragedy, where 700, 900, we don't know the exact number of people who were killed, who died two days ago.
But really and truly, five days before, another 400 people were found dead. No one is talking about that.
This will happen again next week, the week after, and the week after again unless we get our act together on Libya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Yemeni officials say Saudi-led airstrikes have killed at least 46 people and wounded hundreds more in the capital, Sanaa. The airstrikes
were aimed at a military brigade and weapons depot and caused massive explosions. An interior ministry official says hundreds of homes were
destroyed.
Ethiopia is to declare three days of national mourning after a 30 of its nationals were allegedly killed by ISIS. Government officials have
condemned the brutality of the killings and vowed to continue to fight against terror. A video of the killings was released by the media arm of
ISIS over the weekend.
The lawyer for "Washington Post" bureau chief Jason Rezaian says he's been charged -- an Iranian court has now charged him with espionage. Rezaian
faces other charges, three and all, all of which could lead to lengthy prison sentences. The "Post" is calling the accusations ludicrous and is
demanding his immediate release. Iran has not confirmed the charges.
Thousands of runners have taken part in today's Boston Marathon. The race comes two weeks after a jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of all 30
charges in relation to the bombing at the race in 2013. Three people were killed and hundreds more injured.
[16:30:01] Returning to our top story tonight, the EU has just released plans to systematically capture and destroy ships being used to transport
migrants to Europe. Smugglers bought old cargo ships for about $150,000. Passengers on the boats pay about $3,000 for that trip. Traffickers are
able to make -- let me underscore this figure -- they can make up to $3 million for each journey.
So, is this simply a result of a spike in humanitarian issues in Africa and the Middle East, or is it a failure of European policy? Hala Gorani has
more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, @HALAGORANI: The Italian search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum saved an estimated 150,000 people over the year it ran. It cost
more than $13 million a month and came to an end last November when the Italian government said that without more help from the E.U., it could no
longer afford to fund it. In its place, the European Union set up Operation Triton which has a budget of less than a third the size of Mare Nostrum.
As part of Europe's border control agency Frontex, Triton's mission is to patrol and secure Europe's borders rather than focus on search and rescue
like Mare Nostrum did. Triton vessels only patrol up to 30 miles off the coast of Italy whereas Mare Nostrum operations went right to the coast of
Libya. While Mare Nostrum rescued 94 percent of migrant arriving in Italy by sea,
so far Triton has only rescued around 20 percent with merchant ships now playing a larger role.
Humanitarian groups say this reduced capacity is already having an impact on the number of deaths. According to the International Organization for
Migration, up to 15 times more migrants have died in the first four months of this year compared with the same period last year.
FLAVIO DI GIACOMO, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION: Because the Coast Guard is carrying out an exceptional work -- larger work. But in the
moment in the Mediterranean there are not the same means which were used last year by Mare Nostrum.
So it is urgent (ph) that a life mechanism similar to Mare Nostrum should be put in place as soon as possible.
GORANI: The concern among E.U. member states was that Mare Nostrum's proactive search and rescue operations served as a pull factor to migrants
-- encouraging more people to take their chances on the treacherous Mediterranean journey.
But the end of Mare Nostrum has not stopped the numbers from rising. So as the humanitarian crisis escalat4es, foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg
are promising they will do more. But will it be enough?
FEDERICA MOGHERINI, E.U. FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHIEF: This means for sure a stronger Triton and Poseidon with more funds, with more coverage, with more
links to rescue obligations and to address search and rescue in a more structured long-term way.
GORANI: While politicians discuss the root causes of the exodus, the void left behind by Mare Nostrum is being measured every day in human life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Malta's interior minister was at today's talks where the new 10- point plan was drawn up. I spoke to him on the phone and asked what key issue the E.U. must focus on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARMELO ABELA, MALTESE INTERIOR MINISTER: I think that the most important issue is to destroy and stop the actions of smugglers. Basically this is a
criminal thing going on and now it has been going on for months and years, and I think that this is a priority and it should be done as soon as
possible --
NEWTON: But --
ABELA: -- to stop the smugglers from sending these people to death.
NEWTON: But what kind of strategy will the E.U. have in place? I mean if it was that easy, you would've done it already and you know that a lot of
these smugglers are in Africa -- they never get on these boats, they never are within your grasp.
ABELA: I think we need to first and foremost agree amongst E.U. member states and what kind of action we need to take. And I think to say
something positive about today's meeting between foreign and tolifer (ph) ministers is that everyone spoke the same language and everyone agreed that
we should do something on the issue of smugglers. Now the next point will be what kind of action and I'm hoping that next
Thursday when the European Council where you have the prime ministers and leaders of the European Union meet, my hope is that some kind of action
will be spoken and agreed.
NEWTON: And in the 10-point plan you outlined at the program against piracy off the coast of Somalia has been successful -- it's really cut that
down. You think something like that needs to happen off your shores. Why not before though? Why are we talking about this now when we've been
covering this issue for more than a decade?
[16:35:09] ABELA: Well, it would be -- other operation that you mentioned was mentioned even during the meeting as we pointed out there concerning
(ph) the 10-point pager (ph) as well, so it was mentioned as an example. The second point that you mentioned that we have been talking about these
issues for decades, this is the position of our country. Malta has been saying that we need to pass from declarations, from a statement, from
condolences to action (AUDIO GAP) and I think maybe hundreds of people had to die, unfortunately, to serve as a wakeup call (AUDIO GAP) state (ph).
And we (AUDIO GAP) agreed that we (AUDIO GAP) the first thing to do is to control the smugglers' activity.
NEWTON: That's quite a stark bottom line you told me that around that table there isn't any action until hundreds of people drowned yet again.
ABELA: Well, I mean if you look at what happened, history is telling us that in spite that we spoke in the media and we spoke during meetings about
that we are sorry, we give our condolences that people died. But what action did we take as Europeans?
So there was this election (ph) or concrete action really to stop the criminal activity going on. And that's why today at least a ray of light
appears where all member states are agreeing about doing what we have to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: South Africa's Zulu king has denied allegations he fueled ongoing xenophobic attacks in the country. He says his call for foreign nationals
to leave were taken out of context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOODWILL ZWELITHINI, ZULU KING, VIA INTERPRETER: Like I have said last week, that if these reports about me calling for war were true, then this
country would be in ashes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, several people have been killed in a wave of anti-immigrant attacks across South Africa. Thousands others have been forced to seek
refuge. Now a photographer for the British Newspaper "The Sunday Times" James Oatway managed to capture on camera one of those xenophobic attacks
in Johannesburg. Diana Magnay has the details, but we warn you, you may find some of the images disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are some photographs which capture a story or a moment -- in this case, the truly evil face that
is xenophobia in South Africa. This photo series was taken by photographer James Oatway who's a senior
photographer at "The Sunday Times" here in South Africa, and he was down in the Alexandra Township here in Johannesburg early on Saturday morning to
photograph some of the looting that has taken place overnight -- looting of Somali shops -- and he actually walks into this situation.
You heard a commotion and he ran towards it and saw that it was a gang of four men who were attacking another man -- Emmanuel Sithole -- a
Mozambican, one man hitting him repeatedly with a wrench and then another man stepping in to stab Emanuel repeatedly.
This whole process lasted some two minutes. Oatway came as close as he could four or five meters, and he feels that his presence did stop the men
from finishing the job. One man tried to walk in with a butcher's knife and then he was pulled away
and the four ran off. Oatway then tried to take Sithole to the local clinic but the doctor wasn't
there. The clinic said that he was a foreigner too so he was scared to come to work, and by the time that Oatway has managed to take Emanuel to
hospital, it was too late and he died. When I spoke to James Oatway, he said he felt devastated at the level of cruelty and depravity that he'd borne witness to and that he hadn't been
able to do more.
JAMES OATWAY, PHOTOGRAPHER, "THE SUNDAY TIMES": This kind of level of violence is deeply disturbing to me and it's shocking and I'm just -- I'm
sickened by it. I'm really disappointed. I'm sickened and I'm extremely angry. I'm angry with the men that did this and then ultimately I'm really
upset that, you know, our efforts weren't successful in saving Emmanuel's life.
MAGNAY: Everyone is talking about these pictures. It's as though these more than anything else have woken the nation up to the horror that is
Xenophobia -- President Zuma himself saying that when he saw them, he asked himself what the world is thinking about us when they see these.
Police say that they've arrested three of the suspects including the man holding the knife. A fourth suspect remains at large. Diana Magnay, CNN,
Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[16:40:02] NEWTON: And we'll be right back with more of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: The circus that redefined the very term and became an international entertainment phenomenon is being sold by its creator.
Cirque du Soleil grew from a loose (AUDIO GAP) of fire breathers and stilt walkers in Canada to a powerhouse that's performed in dozens of countries
around the world. I mean, it's just an incredible show -- unlike anyone had ever seen before.
Now more than 30 years ago, Cirque got its start after a grant from the Canadian government of just $1.5 million. Now it's being purchased for a
reported $1.5 billion by investors from the United States and China. Now, earlier I spoke with Patrick Leroux from Montreal. He studied Cirque
du Soleil as a professor of playwriting and dramatic literature at Concordia University. I asked him if the sale is going to be a game-
changer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK LEROUX, PROFESSOR, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: I think it probably will be. At this point we've got this company that started off in rural Quebec
with very few artists and over a very few years became a global powerhouse, producing numerous shows in Vegas, shows across the world.
And over the past few years you sense that things have been more difficult. They had to rethink their business strategies in regards to the downturn --
the economic downturn in the U.S. and specifically in Vegas. They needed new capitals. They also needed potentially new strategic
partners, and they have these I think with this new acquisition.
NEWTON: But when we talk about strategic partners, what do they hope to do? Is the expansion in Asia what they're getting at or are they going to
refashion their shows? I mean, these are huge productions and a few of them haven't done too well over the years.
LEROUX: Right. Soleil has basically established its own very clear brand -- 75 perform -- up to 75 performers on stage, shows that basically allow
us to dream, to dream big, shows that also have very strong narratives and in a sense perhaps they had reached the point where North America they had
saturated -- potentially saturated -- the market or we're looking towards an eventual saturation.
Asia is a huge new market, a market they haven't been able to get into really. Their competitor, Franco Dragone, who has a show in Macau actually
has been able to get a foothold in China. So I do think at least Fosun's presence -- the Chinese private equity
company -- I think their presence is linked to that. However, I do think that the founder of -- you know -- the guide Guy
Laliberte -- was at the point where he felt that he needed to pass the company on to others and the company's in a new phase now.
[16:45:09] NEWTON: Yes, but Mr. Laliberte, I mean that was a -- that's a big admission for him. He invented this entire genre. We wouldn't have a
circus like this --
LEROUX: Yes.
NEWTON: -- without him. He is still going to have a lot of influence in this company. Is it a big gamble to think that Cirque du Soleil will
change for the better without him?
LEROUX: It is -- it is a gamble. And Laliberte's a gambling man. Everything started off with a gamble. He created this company out of very
little in a part of the world where there was very little contemporary circus -- any circus at all.
He contributed with the people around him to basically reinvent (AUDIO GAP) think of his circus, commercializing to a certain extent a model which was,
I guess, yes existed (AUDIO GAP) but he brought it to the masses. He brought high art (AUDIO GAP) masses so that was I think extremely uncanny
of him. So at this point, (AUDIO GAP) he is (AUDIO GAP) he won't be the sole or the
majority owner. He only becomes an advisor. But his presence -- I mean we saw this morning during the press conference -- I think his presence will
be extremely important, will remain important if only as a mortal reminder of where this company comes from and especially where it can go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: The world's most popular search engine is changing the way it ranks websites. OK, what is this all going to mean? Google says many
searches are now being made on mobile devices and so that on Tuesday it will start giving priority to pages that are what they determine to be
mobile-friendly. Now sites that don't comply will be sent to the bottom of the stack and
that has small business owners predicting mobile-geddon. Samuel Burke is here to explain what this all means. What is Google trying
to do with this whole thing?
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well let's just say mobile- geddon got in because it could be Armageddon for some businesses. Paula, when Google makes even the slightest change in its algorithm, it can have
huge effects. The last time they did something like this, it actually put some businesses out of business. They were no longer able to operate because they lost so
much traffic. But in this case, the changes have to do with mobile like you mentioned. I hate when I have to log on to a website and end up scrolling and zooming to
try and get the text because it's so small -- you know what I'm talking about.
NEWTON: Oh, I do.
BURKE: So Google has example right here of what they say is the problem. You have a desktop site there on the left that's just kind of pushed on to
mobile and it's really not meant for mobile -- that's not what they want. They say this is what they want -- a site that looks nice on a mobile
device -- your phone or your tablet. So really what constitutes a good mobile site? They have three criteria for it really if you break it down. Number one, they say limited amount of
graphics and flash -- flash are those highly-designed, beautiful animations that take a long time to load, so they don't want those on mobiles. That's
number one. Number two, pages that scroll up and down. Think about how you use your
mobile device, Paula. You use your thumb to go up and down -- no scrolling left and right. That's a desktop and they want mobile.
NEWTON: I like the flashy graphics. I don't know what they're trying to get at. OK, so explain to me how high the stakes are here right now for
everything that's going on.
BURKE: It's huge. Like I said, when Google changes something, they can divert so much traffic to or from a page, they can actually cause a
business to surge or go out of business. So companies that have invested in mobile, they'll do very well here because they have the sites that are
already ready to go. But if you're a company that hasn't really put a lot into your mobile
strategy, possibly like Australia. One strategist there says 66 percent of all the websites in Australia are not mobile-friendly. So certain places
are going to suffer more than others. Interestingly, you have places like Africa and Latin America that were late
to the internet game so their sites are already mobile optimized. Because those societies are more mobile, it's easier to get internet on your
devices there than it ever was on desktop. So those places will do very well.
But the stakes are very high for a lot of these companies.
NEWTON: OK, so far we've kind of skirted around the controversy here. Let's dive right in,
BURKE: OK.
NEWTON: -- Samuel. The point is a lot of people accused Google of really playing God with all this. Why do they get to decide, you know, what comes
up on my search?
BURKE: Well at the end of the day, they want what's best for the user -- for us -- because like I said, I don't like to have to put my eye up to the
phone to try and see the text. I want to see something that looks very good.
Now, interestingly, you know they've had a lot of problems with the E.U. Google. The E.U. website is not optimized for mobile --
NEWTON: (LAUGHTER).
BURKE: So tomorrow Google will be pushing the E.U. website down the list.
NEWTON: That probably won't put them in the E.U.'s good books. Did anyone mention that to them?
BURKE: Well not high up in the good books at least.
NEWTON: But the point is they want -- when does it change? Because obviously they have to reevaluate all these sites, right? Because people
will come up with good -- I mean it'll, you know, motivate the E.U. to change.
[16:50:04] BURKE: Listen, this is changing tomorrow. Tuesday is when this goes into effect, so they don't have much time, but things can pop back up.
If you adjust your site, you can get your site back up at the race (ph). If you have a website, go and check who's your host and see if they have
something to convert your page from a desktop to a mobile site. A lot of hosts do have that technology and it can be very easy to change.
NEWTON: Yes, and maybe these companies should follow my advice and don't Google yourself. Thank you, Samuel, appreciate it.
BURKE: Anger among Indian farmers. A new law could make their struggling farms an easy target for big businesses.
In India, farmers --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And we're bringing you some live pictures coming in to us now from Catania in Sicily in Italy. And what is happening here is the survivors
are finally coming ashore -- those who survived that devastating capsize in the waters off of Libya.
You'll recall that now really European leaders don't know -- it could be as many as 7, 8, 900 people that perished. What's critical here is that
authorities want to be able to interview these people -- of course after they've been checked out medically.
They want to understand exactly what happened, who they paid to get on those boats, how many people were there, the conditions under which they
came aboard and a reminder too that, you know, they had to be saved by a merchant ship that was in the area.
They only managed to find a couple of dozen survivors and at this point in time, authorities still trying to understand exactly how many people
perished. They will say that the E.U. having an emergency meeting has come up with a 10-point plan which they will revisit on Thursday.
We will continue to bring you more on this story on CNN. Now in India, farmers are protesting against a proposed new law which would
make it easier for businesses to buy their farms. Thousands attended a rally led by the opposition leader on Sunday. The tough job -- tough job -
- and meager profits are pushing many farmers to the edge. Mallika Kapur speaks to a woman whose husband took his own life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BABY CRYING OUT)
MALLIKA KAPUR, MUMBAI-BASED CORRESPONDENT FOR CNN: Baby Kanhaiya looks at pictures of his father and cries out for him.
BABY KANHAIYA, CHILD OF YOGITA KANHAIYA: Da-da.
YOGITA KANHAIYA, WIFE OF FARMER WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE, INTERPRETED BY KAPUR: "It hurts," she says. "These photos are all that's left," says his
mother. Her husband, a cotton farmer, committed suicide in December.
KAPUR: He consumed poison, pesticides?
Y. KANHAIYA, INTERPRETED BY KAPUR: Her answer -- "Yes."
KAPUR: Why do you think he did that?
Y. KANHAIYA, INTERPRETED BY KAPUR: "He was so much in debt," she says. "He wasn't getting any money from cotton."
KAPUR: Eight years ago her father-in-law, also a cotton farmer, took his own life too.
A record surplus of cotton in the global market means farmers are getting less money for their crop.
Murali Dhidkar, a cotton farmer, says, "I'm getting around $50 a quintal. Just a year ago, it was double that."
MURALI DHIDKAR, COTTON FARMER, INTERPRETED BY KAPUR: Dhidkar says, "Over the last year, the cost of everything else has gone up -- seeds,
fertilizer, pesticides cost more."
KAPUR: So farmers including himself have to keep taking loans. They are steeped in debt.
I'm in Vidarbha, India's cotton-growing belt where cotton cultivation is the only source of income for most farmers, and when that doesn't work out,
the consequences are dire.
[16:55:07] MALE: The farmers are killing them self.
KAPUR: According to a farmer lobby group, one farmer kills himself every eight hours in this area.
KISHOR TIWARI, LEADER, FARMERS ADVOCACY GROUP, INTERPRETED BY KAPUR: Kishor Tiwari says, "Narendra Modi has been speaking about India shining,
but he isn't ready to see India dying."
KAPUR: Tiwari says Prime Minister Modi broke an election promise of ensuring farmers a 50 percent profit over production costs.
Though the local state government compensates families of suicide victims with a relief package, this mother says it's not enough and it'll barely
cover her medical costs. And you're pregnant -- eight months?
Y. KANHAIYA: Hou (ph).
KAPUR: Once the baby is born, she says she'll look for work. She has debts to pay, two children to raise. It's not the future she imagined for
her family. She hoped it would've looked more like this. Mallika Kapur, CNN, Vidarbha, Western India.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: And we'll be right back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Some earnings news to bring you this hour. IBM has reported a 12 percent fall in first quarter revenue as it shifted its focus on cloud
computing. Now, it's the 12th quarter in a row that revenue has fallen and the company
said it does expect to be hurt by the strong dollar in the year ahead. We should say IBM trading in after-trading hours slightly lower
Now, markets in the United States meantime rallied during Monday's trading session. The Dow climbed 208 points higher -- nearly 1.2 percent. It was
almost enough to make up for that dramatic drop on Friday. Now, investors were embracing a mix of better-than-expected corporate earnings and news
that China was ramping up its stimulus program.
[17:00:01] And that's it for "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" for tonight. I'm Paula Newton. Thanks for watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
END
