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Quest Means Business

China Slowdown Hits Europe; Russian Athletes Await Doping Decision; Terror Attacks in Paris. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 13, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:10]

MAX FOSTER, HOST: Well a rough end to a rough week on the market. The Dow falls 200 points. It is Friday, November the 13th.

Russia's future in the Olympics hanging in the balance. China's growth slowdown hits home in Europe and there are fireworks as the Indian Prime

Minister plays to the crowd at Wembley Stadium, here in London. I'm Max Foster, and this is Quest Means Business.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

FOSTER: Good evening. Tonight, Russian athletes are in limbo as the World Athletics governing body decides whether to suspend them from international

competition. A decision is expected any minute now on whether Russia is banned after this weeks' report on doping said there were massive abuses

throughout Russian sport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: A conference call by the International Association of Athletics Federations, or IAAF began just a few hours ago. They are discussing the

findings by the World Anti-Doping Agency, that there is a deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels of Russian athletics.

The report recommended banning Russia. It could mean Russian athletes are barred from next year's Olympics in Rio.

Our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance is in Moscow, and our world sports Don Riddell is standing by for us at CNN Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Matthew, when do we expect the outcome of this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a bit of an unknown I'm afraid Max. I mean we were hoping it was - it was going to

be in already.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: The outcome of that conference call, of that meeting and that decision about whether or not to ban Russia or what sanctions to impose on

Russia rather as a result of the World Ant-Doping Agency report.

Which you'll remember Russia was engaged in a state supported program of doping of its athletes, all sorts of other abuses that it was accused of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: The Russians for their part have had a chance during the conference call to put across their point of view.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: The position is essentially that we do have problems but we don't accept the thrust of that report. The Sports Minister of Russia, Vitaly

Mutko, has come out and said we'll do everything and anything that the world athletics body says we need to do.

The priority is clearly at this late stage for the Russians to avoid being banned from competing in the 2016 games, Olympics games in Rio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: And the hope is here in Russia that some kind of an arrangement can be arrived at that would allow Russian athletes to do that, Max.

FOSTER: OK, and Don, what sort of challenges is this body facing in coming to a decision?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS: Well, I'm not surprised they're still debating this; they're about three hours in. At one point we thought we'd

be hearing about an hour and a half ago Max but when you consider what's at stake, it's really no surprise that all 27 council members are going to

want to have a say. Because they're not just dealing with one of the biggest you know national sporting bodies, both in terms of competing and

hosting. Russia, hosted the Winter Olympics in 2014, they've got the World coming up -

FOSTER: -- Don, just one moment. We're going to come back to you because we're expecting that any moment. But we've just had some breaking news into

CNN and we want to bring it to our viewers as soon as we've got it.

So several people we've been told have been killed and at least seven others injured at a shooting in central Paris. That's according to our

affiliate, BFM T.V.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: It happened outside a restaurant, in the 10th arrondissements. Firefighters are on the scene to treat the victims. We'll have more on the

breaking news as we get it. But it is certainly looking like a very serious incident.

Don, sorry, can you pick up from where you were and the challenges facing this world athletics body right now and reaching a decision on anti-doping?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Yes, well of course all 27 council members are going to want a say and there is an awful lot to take into consideration. One, the very

fact that Russia has such a powerful world sporting body.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: But two, the crisis that the IAAF itself is going through right at this very point. You must remember that this report by WADA's independent

commission came out on Monday and that broke just several days after the IAAF's former President Lamine Diack was arrested and he is under suspicion

for taking bribes to cover up doping violations. WADA concluding that this whole thing could just be the tip of the iceberg. We don't know how many

more sports could be involved in this crisis. We don't know how many more countries could be involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:05:05]

RIDDELL: So there's an awful lot of pressure on the IAAF under their new President, Sebastian Coe who has been in job for less than 100 days, to be

seen to be getting tough. And I'm sure he is going to be leading the call to clamp down on Russia. But there may be others in that meeting who are

perhaps trying to persuade them to be a bit more lenient on the Russians.

FOSTER: Don, appreciate your time. Matthew, obviously the view within Russia, we've hear over the last couple days is that an all-encompassing

sanction against Russia is unfair against those who didn't dope in Russia. Is it as simple as just banning Russia?

CHANCE: Well, I think that's the thrust of the Russian defense anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: That they're not saying they don't have a problem here. They're actually acknowledging that at least to a greater extent than they were

before the report was released. But they're making the point and they're hoping that this is going to be accepted by the other members of the

athletics body, that you know it's unfair to punish athletes who haven't been cheating, athletes who are clean.

They're in favor, they say, of the harshest sanctions against athletes who are found to have be guilty of doping and to be unclean. But it's the

question of what happens to those who weren't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Banning the federation would mean that none of the athletes would be able to take part. And it's a dilemma really as Don was saying for the

Federation itself. And Russia makes this point that Russia is not the only country in the world that has a problem with doping.

It's often you know saying that it's unfairly villainized or victimized for wrongdoing where other people are perhaps doing just as - just as much,

just as badly. And that's something the Athletics Federation has to bear in mind as well. Because if it's really tough on Russia, and says you're not

competing in the Olympics, what it will it say to the countries whose federations have also been tainted, or will be tainted by doping scandals

in the future?

FOSTER: OK, Matthew in Moscow, Don in Atlanta, thank you both so very much indeed.

Just bringing you some breaking news. We want to recap the news that we've just got into you because we've just had it confirmed several people have

been killed and at least seven others injured at a shooting in central Paris, that's according to CNN affiliate BFM T.V.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: It happened outside a restaurant in the 10th arrondissement. Firefighters are on the scene, they are treating the victims at the moment.

That's all we have at the moment but we will have more for you on there breaking news as soon as it comes into CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: We want to bring you that latest breaking news we've just had into us. Several people being killed, seven others injured in a shooting in

Central Paris, according to CNN affiliate BFM T.V.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: It happened just outside a restaurant on the 10th arrondissement. Now firefighters are on the scene, they're treating victims; we have very

little more information at this point. This has just happened and we are getting information as it comes into us. But those are the latest images

we have and of course we're monitoring there. If we listen in for a moment with our affiliates.

[speaking in foreign language ]

FOSTER: We have a translators monitoring that and we are speaking to the authorities on the ground.

Those are the only images we have so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: While we work to confirm that, our other top stories that few people really know the realities of doping like Victor Conte. And we're

referring here to the doping scandal in athletics which is currently being discussed by the governing body and a response to that.

Now in 2005 he pleaded guilty to helping some of the world's top athletes use steroids and now he says regulators are more interested in protecting

sponsors than keeping sports clean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Conte was the founder of the controversial lab called Balco. 10 years ago he was sent to prison for giving steroids to athletes. Like the

Olympic champion sprinter, Marion Jones, and he told me earlier that Russia should be punished to send a message to the rest of the world.

VICTOR CONTE, FOUNDER, BALCO: Well, I'm hoping that there will be appropriate consequences for Russia. It would be really a shame to have

this report come out and for the first time, shed some light on the fact that state sponsored doping still continues throughout the world and I

believe in many countries. But it's an opportunity to make sure that - and make a statement. I would like to see Russia be penalized and I do

personally think that it's appropriate that the track and field athletes, the whole Federation should be banned from participating in the 2016

Olympics in Rio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That's every single Russian athlete that could qualify?

CONTE: This is pretty much top to bottom in my opinion. And I do believe that a statement needs to be made and will there be you know athletes that

are not guilty of using performance enhancing drugs that may be penalized? There may be. But I think for the greater good, there needs to be a strong

deterrent and a loud statement made that state sponsored doping, a country as a whole, there needs to be consequences similar to what the individual

athletes would receive. And effective the beginning of this year, that's a period of four years.

And I know in the case even back with Duane Chambers, that one of the penalties is you're not allowed to compete in the next upcoming Olympic

games.

FOSTER: How do we learn from this and catch athletes again? Because I think you've been quoted as talking about how athletes are always one step ahead

of the regulators. And this has been a classic example of that, hasn't it?

CONTE: Well, I believe that the problem is that WADA as an organization, I don't believe it was really founded to protect clean athletes. I believe

that it was founded to protect the financial interests of the sponsors.

And those who receive the majority of the financial gain from the Olympic games, I believe there's a lot of genuine interest in catching these

athletes because it is bad for business. You talk about the cheaters staying one step ahead of the testers. Yes, there are some substances that

may be undetectable but for the most part they're using drugs that they do have tests that's will detect. I just don't believe they are really trying

to catch these athletes.

There's a lot of things they can do that they're not doing that would certainly increase the rate of positive test that's are reported.

FOSTER: That was (inaudible). We have more breaking news coming into us from Japan this time.

There's been a 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the southern coast of Japan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But at the moment, no reports of any tsunami warning. We're keeping across it, that's the first information we've had but obviously 7 is a

severe earthquake. It obviously depends on depth and the type of area and how many inhabitants there were there. We're trying to get as much as

possible for you as it comes into us.

[16:15:03]

FOSTER: We're also monitoring breaking news out of France this hour. Several people have been killed and at least seven others injured in a

shooting in central Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: According to CNN affiliate BFM T.V. happening outside a restaurant in the 10th arrondissement. Firefighters on the scene they're treating

victims, we'll have more on that breaking news as well as we get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Mario Draghi and the European Central Bank are already considering a new dose of stimulus for the economy many people think.

This Friday, disappointing new GDP figures came out making further action by the ECB all but certain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Third quarter growth in the 19 Eurozone countries came in to just 0.3%, and that's weaker than anticipated. And a slowdown from the second

quarter as well. Germany, Europe's biggest economy is losing steam; it grew just three tenths of a percent. Economists believe demand for German

exports is waning in China and developing economies. The Volkswagen scandal as well taking its toll.

France was one of the brighter spots though in this report. A boost in consumer spending helped to get the economy there growing again after a

flat quarter.

Portugal heading in the opposite direction. Once a bright spot in Europe's economic recovery, it saw no growth last quarter, (inaudible) certainty

after the government collapse just this week could spell danger for that economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Earlier I spoke to Vicky Pryce, she is the Chief Economic Adviser of the Center for Economic Business Research here in London. I started by

asking her what was happening in France and Germany.

VICKY PRYCE, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC BUSINESS REASEARCH: Well the interesting thing about both countries is that they

had been doing reasonably well in terms of trade in the past but they've now seen a slowdown in demand from the Chinese. In particularly Germany

which had benefited hugely from growth in the emerging markets now seeing that market in fact disappearing. Or certainly slowing down very, very

significantly.

And what it has been doing recently is in fact it has been exporting more across the Eurozone. So it's been making up for it by selling more to

advanced countries, rather than the emerging nations. But that can't carry because there isn't much growth in all those places, there isn't really a

boost in domestic demand in sort of the last few months either.

So whatever Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank has been trying to do, what we are seeing is that the Eurozone is still reasonably

depressed. Many countries are seeing negative growth right now.

FOSTER: And thank goodness the Euro is still cheap because the figures would have been even worse.

PRYCE: Well absolutely, Germany in particular had benefited from a weak euro for quite some time. And of course selling to the Chinese sort of

helped from that point of view because their prices were reasonably sort of acceptable to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRYCE: But now, of course, we're seeing the Chinese currency itself being devalued so that is a problem for the Germans in terms of how they can

carry on being competitive.

It's going to be a real issue because demand is simply not being pushed. Domestic demand is not being pushed given that there is fiscal contraction

in a number of countries. And we're seeing negative growth in places like Portugal for example or at least zero growth and will move to negative

pretty soon, and of course places like Greece.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: In terms of light at the end of the tunnel then, all eyes on the Fed.

PRYCE: Well absolutely because of course if the interest rates there go up, the dollar will get stronger and that might help the Euro up to a

point. But it just goes to show how dependent Europe has been on external trade. And all the were forecasts recently have been downgrading what will

happen to world trade which could well decline next year on the latest data that we've seen. And that of course means that the next trade contribution

for growth in Europe has been negative and that's a real, real problem for all these countries.

FOSTER: So is it inevitable then at the December European Central Bank meeting there has to be some sort of new stimulus.

PRYCE: OH, I think we're going to see Draghi announcing either that possibly it's going to carry on for longer in terms of QE, quantative

easing. Second that he might in fact widen the types of assets that he acquires in the future which will have perhaps a more direct impact on the

economy.

And third, what we might see is that the monthly amount of spending that he makes by whatever it is that he is going to be buying, silver and

(inaudible) and all sorts of other things in the secondary market, might increase for a period. To see whether in fact it can stimulate growth.

Because after all we have no inflation in Europe at all, in fact we have deflation of the odd months and in some countries we've had deflation for

nearly a year.

FOSTER: OK, Vicky Pryce speaking to me earlier.

Breaking news out of France this hour, several people have been killed at least seven others injured in a shooting in central Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: We're joined by Christian Malard. He's in Paris, he's from France 3 of course. What can you tell us, Christian?

CHRISTIAN MALARD, FRANCE 3 CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is very amazing what's happening right now. According to the details we have got, we have 3

different shootings in restaurants at the same time in the same area of Paris, very central popular area, not too far away from La Bastille, Rue de

Charonne, there is in one restaurant.

[16:20:07]

MALARD: And it's not too far away by the way where the Charlie Hebdo a big time killing happened last January. It's in the same district, Boulevard

Richard Lenoir. So it is very confusing because according to the details we have got, we have several shootings at the same time in different

restaurants.

One Rue de Charonne, and one restaurant very well-known called the Bataclan. And all this is not that far away distance from this famous

stadium, Stade de France, where tonight we have a big football game between France and Germany.

And everything has happened, the Bataclan, several shootings at the same time. One Rue de Charonne, Rue (inaudible) near Boulevard Ricahrd Lenoir,

and it's very amazing.

Well we cannot draw conclusions, of course because it's just happening. But let me say this, in this area of Paris, we have some kind of population

that the police is really looking after very often. We have several maybe fundamentalist area not too far away. Are they involved? I don't know,

it's too early to say.

But what I know is that it is a very sensitive area of Paris where we have also definitely extremist people who have been looked after very closely by

the police. So we are just, it is happening really right now. And don't ask me, who we get -- are we sure that it will be such and such kind of the

population was involved in these shootings. But - which is amazing. It's a popular area. Where the population sometimes, you know Rue de Charonne for

instance, we have the latest news I can see is we have 12 people on the ground, 12 casualties which are no doubt are dead or injured.

All these explosions definitely have been heard not too far away from the Stade de France. It seems we have dead people and a lot of injured people

right now in this 10th and 11th district of Paris.

FOSTER: OK, Christian we'll be back with you as you gather more information. We can now though speak to Lilya Melkonian from France too.

She is near the scene of one of the shootings as we understand it. Where are you Lilya?

LILYA MELKONIAN, FRANCE REPORTER: Hello, hi, I am actually on one of the scenes. There are a lot of trucks here, policemen. They are actually

evacuating the neighborhood. There's one wounded person being evacuated right now in front of us and there is a lot of police officers.

Obviously there is a lot of confusion. People are leaving -- evacuated from their buildings. A lot of Police officers running around. It is still going

on actually here. People are -- police officers are actually turning around in the neighborhood. I'm not sure how many casualties there is on this spot

but a lot of police officers are actually moving on the second spot right now which is not very far from here where the second shooting has taken

place.

FOSTER: Is there a restaurant there? As we understand it from Christian, there are three different scenes of shootings so you're at one of them.

Does it look like a restaurant to you as well in that area?

MELKONIAN: It is -- it is a very popular neighborhood with a lot of restaurants. We are Friday night, a lot of people come out in this

neighborhood. A lot of students come here. It is a very popular to go out on a Friday evening. So it's very crowded at this time of day, at this time

of the evening. So there is a lot of restaurants, French restaurants, popular restaurants. And apparently it is very crowded at the moment of the

attack and there are now actually evacuating. I believe it is because they haven't caught the people responsibility for what happened yet. So

apparently they're evacuating for security reasons. They are changing the security perimeter here and they're evacuating people.

FOSTER: Do you understand that there are three different scenes of shootings that are in Paris tonight?

MELKONIAN: Yes. Apparently there has been three different scenes of shootings. Very close to each other actually. The neighborhood, it's the

10th neighborhood of Paris, it's to the north of Paris, not very far from the south of France, north of Stade de France, north of Paris.

Stade de France there has as I understand also been an explosion there during the football game. So yes, the shootings here and the bombing

apparently has been taking place also in a bar or restaurant north of Paris. The situation is still developing here. I can't tell you more about

this.

FOSTER: And how are they situated around the Stade de France? Is the Stade de France central to these three scenes?

MELKONIAN: No. the Stade de France is north suburb of Paris. The shooting here is more central Paris, I would say. Plus there are (inaudible) is not

very far from here, this is where all the demonstrations, solidarity demonstrations for (inaudible) shootings happened. A lot of students come

here. It's a very, very popular neighborhood. So Stade de France is not very close from here but it's more up north of Paris.

FOSTER: And what sort of reaction are you getting from people there? From the people moving from the scene? I mean absolute shock.

MELKONIAN: They're of course in shock. A lot of people heard the gunshots. It took - it happened for one minute they tell me, it was really fast.

There was a few shots actually, not just one. So they're under shock. They're leaving their apartments. They're being evacuated. Most of them are

on their phones telling their loved ones that they're fine but they're of course under shock.

FOSTER: In terms of as you say that particular part of Paris, this is you know an area of vibrant night life isn't it? There are a lot of people

there. Obviously they've been cleared out now but a huge amount of concern about the number of casualties because it was such a busy period of the

evening.

MELKONIAN: Yes. So obviously I see -- I can see like maybe 20 ambulances here right now. I'm not sure how many are injured. I see people being

evacuated. Of course Police gives us very little access to what is happening, they're now pulling me, pushing me away from the security areas

so I can't see how many people have been shot. I saw, I actually saw one man being evacuated, having been shot but I can't tell you how many have

been injured here on this spot.

FOSTER: How were you alerted to this? What was the first you heard?

MELKONIAN: Sorry, I'm sorry I have very bad connection here.

FOSTER: How were you alerted to this? What was the first you heard about this? And what was the first thing you saw when you got down to the scene

of this shooting?

MELKONIAN: Well the first thing I heard about was the bomb being at Stade de France. We were actually heading to cover this breaking news at Stade

de France. And we heard that the French President had been evacuated during the soccer game because it's a big game tonight, France vs. Germany, and

the French President, Francois Hollande was at Stade de France watching the game.

So the first news we had was that the French President had been evacuated because of two bombs that had exploded in the bar next to Stade de France.

And then we heard there were gunshots here in this neighborhood in the 10th arrondissement area, so we ran here to see the shooting, and now it's been

- it's happening in other spots so I'm going to now run to the second shooting spot to see what's going on there.

FOSTER: So they're very much in the same area, aren't they? But - so you had one and then you heard about two more. There must be a huge amount of

concern that there will be more. So what sort of reaction are the police giving to this? What sort of advice are they giving people?

MELKONIAN: Well it's the evacuations are still ongoing, we see a lot of police officers coming back and forth, moving from one spot to the other.

So I think it's - I hope it's the last gunshots that we, the third one is the last one. But I'm not sure they have really localized what happened

here yet, so I'll tell you more maybe later.

FOSTER: And when you - you referred earlier to possible bombs, was that just the sort of sounds that people were hearing? Or were you talking there

about shots? To clarify for us, the sounds that were heard.

MELKONIAN: The -- people heard gunshots. That's what they were telling me, yes.

FOSTER: OK, and as we look at the scene here, they've cleared the streets pretty quickly actually haven't they? So it seems as though the situation

is under control at the three scenes that we know about.

MELKONIAN: I got here about 15 minutes after the shooting, it took them about 5 minutes after I came here to evacuate the neighborhood. And they're

still doing it, and they're still going to the other shooting spots. So yes. It happened all really fast.

FOSTER: OK, we appreciate your time. We'll let you carry on with your reporting and get back to us. We're also going to join now Seth Porges,

he's in Paris. He joins us on the phone. What do you know Seth?

SETH PORGES, PARIS REPORTER: Yes, so I was just at the scene. It happened directly in front of an apartment I'm staying in in Paris. And I come

outside and there is a large gathering of people. And immediately I was not sure of what was going on. And then more and more people started coming as

if sort of attracted by the activity and the gun fire. And then a large number, and I mean dozens of police officers, and absolutely dozens of

firemen start coming around scurrying, closing off the roads.

Police running around, hiding behind vans with guns drawn. It looked like - I first thought it was a scene of an action movie or video game, I've never

seen anything like it. Police hiding behind vans with guns drawn, people standing on ledges trying to snap photos, I'm sure if you look on twitter -

there's some more ambulances go by now - if you go on twitter or instagram, you'll probably find a lot of photos.

[16:30:09] I heard various reports that it was either in a car or a restaurant. There's a lot of rumors flying around right now. It appears

to be calculated just by the details of it here. So somebody was -- or multiple people but they were gun down.

And what people are saying is that the collision (inaudible) which is basically an AK-47 machine gun which is pretty serious, obviously.

FOSTER: Three different incidents as far as you're aware?

PORGES: I have -- all I know is about what I saw and what I'm hearing. So, I don't know about any of the other instances. I stepped outside of my

apartment just as it went off. I did not see the gunshots myself because there were literally probably 10 seconds (inaudible) at those guys.

I asked what happened and people told me that it was five, maybe six gunshots that went off in quick succession. A couple of more question, it

appear, there was probably an automatic weapon, an automatic weapon that did that, and that there are probably fatalities, it sounds like and so.

FOSTER: But did you see what they were targeting?

PORGES: No, I didn't. I had no details on that. It happened right on, they came out of Saint Martin, near Labra Public neighborhood. It's a

really bustling night life area, and the streets are very, very crowded right now. People -- it's a night time in France right now. People going

to -- it's a Friday night too. So, people go into bars and clubs and restaurants. I mean, there are a lot of people outside in the area which

makes any sort of risks obviously amplified.

Lots and lots of people out here and bizarrely, you know, many are drawn to this activity when they should be getting very far away, and then also.

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: Just describe the sound that you heard as well?

PORGES: . of course as well that the shooter is out there. He's on the run. So, if anybody happens to be in the area which is just they get

indoor or get as far away as they can.

FOSTER: Absolutely. That would be our advice and listen to the police obviously on the ground there. But just describe the sounds that were

heard at the scene where you were again?

PORGES: Well, I didn't hear the gunshots. They happened minutes before I stepped outside. But talking to people and I asked quite a few, it

appeared, there was a rapid succession of -- I heard reports anywhere from like three to seven shots, so somewhere around there. And it appeared,

they were very, very quick adjusting an automatic weapon, googling immediately to see if anything was being posted on Twitter.

At first, I thought it might just be a simple gunshot. Now, it appears, it might be something more. Googling around, looking on Twitter, it appears

that people were saying it's a collision of AK-47 which makes anything here, obviously, much more serious. And then I became -- found about the

other explosion which apparently is happening in France right now too, which I was not aware of until just a couple of minutes ago.

FOSTER: Yeah. Well, Christian Malard from one of the networks there. He was telling us that he believes there are three separate incidents. So,

obviously, the police have caught up where he's trying to get the facts himself and we will confirm the facts when we have them.

As you say, lots or rumor going around at the moment.

PORGES: One more detail here also is that it appeared to be in like, it's a neighborhood restaurant or a car park in the neighborhood, you know. And

my first instinct, seeing the scenes and hearing the sounds was that, you know, it was not a so-called act of terror or assassination. There was no

just -- something happening in a neighborhood, really. It didn't feel like a high profile situation. That something in a stadium would -- of course I

don't have any facts to back that up, that was just sort of a gut feel from being out here.

FOSTER: Yeah, exactly. But we -- I mean, obviously, a lot of you making comments about the fact that it appears within three instances all

happening at the same time, in the same area, but separate incidents.

We're looking at the image that you took down there, Seth. We can basically see a window that appears to have been smashed. And your

summation, I presume, is that that was the gunshot that smashed that window.

PORGES: I didn't actually post any photos.

FOSTER: Sorry, that's -- so I'm sorry, that's BFMTV.

PORGES: I wanted to avoid doing that. So, it might be, I think another one.

FOSTER: Yeah.

PORGES: But that might be a good judgment.

FOSTER: Apologies. Yeah, we can effectively see a window that's cracked but we don't know the context about. But we know from the people that you

spoke to lately heard gunshots, so the area is being cleared by armed police.

PORGES: It was very chaotic because there were lots and lots of police running around, and then lots of firemen running around. And that kind of

threw me off because I figured if there were -- there are loose gunmen around, you wouldn't have two dozen firemen sort of out in the open. So,

you know, I don't know what that was or why that is occurring as well, or they're simply there for traffic control or something else. But there were

dozens and dozens of firemen.

Perhaps, they were there out of concern that possibly there was a bomb, although I have not heard a bomb go off and I have no reason to believe

there is a bomb in this area. I repeat, I have not heard a bomb go off but certainly gunshots were shot.

[16:35:00] FOSTER: Can you just describe how the police have cleared the area? Because obviously, they are too busy to give us too much information

right now, but we can look at how they're responding. And are they just clearing the immediate the area around the incident or do you see them

clearing a much wider area?

PORGES: Well, I ran away from the area about four minutes ago for personal safety reasons. And when I had left, there was literally no clearing done.

They were attempting to close the roads to cars. When I left four minutes ago, they had not done anything to clear pedestrians. There were a lot of

pedestrians still taking photos, still standing on benches and taking pictures. That might have changed in the past couple of minutes and they

might have begun clearing out people.

It appears that they were probably were concerned with just taking care of the urgent matter on hand. Maybe that's what the firemen were there for.

FOSTER: We are still in the France while Hollande was indeed at the Stade de France tonight, watching a match between France and Germany. He was

gone to the interior ministry as we understand as well. Obviously, to head up the investigation into this, and this really does give a sense of scale

to what the government thinks could have happened here. And I think we're looking at the -- you know, we've got to look at the fact that there were

three separate instance here, possibly more. And, you know, whether or not they are coordinated, it's something that they're going to be looking at.

But that's going to be immediately the front of their minds. But all we know from you is what you saw at the scene where you went to that one

particular incident.

So, I'm sorry to ask again. But could you just describe exactly what you found when you got there?

PORGES: Yes, when I got there, I found a crowd of people. And at first, it appeared that it could have been just some very minor police activity,

maybe a bar fight or something that occurred. And then it became very clear that something else was going on. People started talking. I asked

people what had happened at the time we -- about 30 seconds before I stepped outside, a series of gunshots had gone off.

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