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AROUND THE WORLD

No Winners; Furloughed Workers Back; Federal Government Reopens; Plane Crash in Laos; Bomb Blast in Myanmar; Car Bomb in Iraq; Video of Kenyan Mall Terror Attack; Pork in the "Clean" Bill to Reopen Government

Aired October 17, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: -- that the American people are completely fed up with Washington.

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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama has a message for Washington: The way business is done has got to change.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: No kidding. Plus, investors around the world reacting to this deal. Some mixed messages. A lot of uncertainty. Watching the markets.

MALVEAUX: Also, terrifying moments when gunmen storm a mall in Kenya. The surveillance tapes as shops are run for their lives.

Welcome to AROUND THE WORLD. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for your company today.

Many breathing a sigh of relief as hundreds of thousands of federal employees get back to work. Now for 16 days this familiar scene was missing from the Washington, D.C., landscape, flow of foot traffic into and out of the D.C. metro.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Almost 15 percent of people in Washington, Maryland, and northern Virginia work for the U.S. government. Well, today, their offices are open again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're happy to be back at work.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'm happy you're back at work, too. It's nice to -- what's your name?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, that's the good news for all of those federal workers. The bad news is, it's not perm. The late-night deal passed by Congress, of course, funds the government only until mid-January. MALVEAUX: So that means there is a good chance we could see this whole thing happen again. The president spoke from the White House, just a short time ago, warning folks about that reality.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's been a lot of discussion lately of the politics of this shutdown. But let's be clear, there are no winners here. These last few weeks have inflicted completely unnecessary damage on our economy. We don't know yet the full scope of the damage, but every analyst out there believes it slowed our growth.

We know that families have gone without paychecks or services they depend on. We know that potential home buyers have gotten fewer mortgages and small business loans have been put on hold. We know that consumers have cut back on spending and that half of all CEOs say that the shutdown and the threat of shutdown set back their plans to hire over the next six months.

But probably nothing has done more damage to America's credibility in the world, our standing with other countries, than the spectacle that we've seen these past several weeks. It's encouraged our enemies, it's emboldened our competitors, and it's depressed our friends who look to us for steady leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: We are all over Washington today as the U.S. government is rumbling back to business. This is after 16 days of this partial shutdown. Want to bring in our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. He's with us. Also Dana Bash on Capitol Hill.

And, Dana, we've heard the president very clearly here saying, look, you know what, there are no winners here. That America's standing in the world, essentially damaged. How does the Republican Party, particularly those in the House, how are they responding to this today?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly heard him say that there are no winners and losers, but they are not feeling that that was really his message, because he took the time to scold Republicans for, as you just heard, the damage that they did to the economy, from his perspective, to the U.S. image around the world and, of course, to the political difficulties that already existed in this country, making them much worse.

So the response that I'm getting from some members of the senior Republican sources, some members of the House leadership, is not very good, saying that they just think that he is - that he had a chance to unite the country and instead he did the opposite with his message there.

Now on the substance of what he was asking for, that is a whole different question. First and foremost, on what got this country -- the country into this crisis right now, which is the debt and the deficit and the questions about spending, there are talks starting today, which is a good sign. That's something we haven't seen in a very long time, Suzanne. That Senate Budget chair, Patty Murray, a Democrat, House Budget chair, Paul Ryan, a Republican, and their teams, got together for the first time this morning. So, you know, you got to start talking to get somewhere. So that is definitely a good sign. And these two people insist that they are determined to get something done.

Of course, we should also point out, that there are going to be politics tugging at both of them, particularly Paul Ryan, who voted no on this deal last night and wants to, I think it's fair to say, make sure that he is in a good place with the conservative base to keep his options open for future office.

MALVEAUX: All right, Dana Bash, thank you.

HOLMES: Dana, thanks.

And, Jim Acosta, let's talk to you now.

The sort of Tea Party radicals, if you like, who kicked all of this off, they electorally are safe. They're not going to lose their seats because of redistricting and the like. They're more about ideology than pragmatism or bipartisan. What chance they're going to change their minds at all when we get to January and it's talk time again?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, I mean, first of all, let's be careful about using the term "radical," because a lot of those folks feel like they're standing on principle today, even though they didn't come out on top in this. But to get to your question as to why this might not happen again, Michael, I think that it is safe to say that the Republican Party is going to have a moment here of reflection. They realize, even people inside the Tea Party movement, that this did not go over well with the American people, that they lost not only on policy, but on strategy, that their intent to bring down Obamacare essentially just did not work and really sort of showed kind of an amateurishness when it comes to how to get thing done in Washington. And I think that that's going to cause some self-reflection.

But keep in mind, you know, we have this deal now that keeps the government running until January 15th. It puts off another potential default until February 7th. If we get back into the same sort of situation three months from now, four months from now, there could be a price to pay for Republicans going into the midterm elections. Democrats would very much like to take back the House. I think part of what you heard from the president today was sort of putting the Republican Party on notice, that he is also eyeing changes here in Washington and not just policy ones.

But I think what the president was also trying to say this morning, Michael, is that he wants to get back to work on some of these issues like a farm bill. You know, who would have thought that a farm bill couldn't get through the Congress? It couldn't get through the Congress because of all of the partisan ranker going on. He wants to get immigration reform done. But this was very much a lecture from the president of the United States and it is one, as Dana mentioned, that was not received well by Republicans. But then again, there are some Republicans inside the party who say, you've heard about the "hell no" caucus. Now it's the "I told you so" caucus. John McCain, some of these other folks says, I told you so, this wasn't going to work. And they may not be so stunned by the president's words this morning. They might be saying, you know what, he's right.

HOLMES: Yes, it will be interesting to see. Jim, appreciate it, as always. Jim Acosta, Dana Bash, thanks so much.

MALVEAUX: And the big problem, too, is like - the big question, whether or not he's going to be able to get anything done in the two years that remain. We're talking about immigration reform. We're talking about immediately the budget.

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE).

MALVEAUX: And, of course, also the farm bill.

HOLMES: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Because all these things are going to be essential for the economy.

And, of course, the markets, they're not doing well. It has little to do, however, with the debt deal. So right now the Dow down about 55 points. IBM and Goldman Sachs dropped because of disappointing quarterly reports, however.

HOLMES: And that could have something to do with that drop. Those companies, of course, have a big impact on the market because they're actually the second and the third heaviest weighted companies in the Dow. And also a lot of people saying that after the Dow was up yesterday, there was a little profit taking today, too. That certainly happened in Europe.

MALVEAUX: On Wednesday, the stocks surged more than 1 percent on just word of the deal, the reopening of the federal government and to avert a possible default. But internationally, the U.S. really not faring so well. The dollar is trending down. This is against other world currencies.

HOLMES: Yes, we're going to get a little bit more on international reaction with Richard Quest in about 30 minutes. A lot of the European bourses down. It was a bit mixed in Asia. But we'll talk about that with Questy.

MALVEAUX: Questy.

HOLMES: Yes, Questy.

MALVEAUX: Sixteen days of a partial government shutdown, of course, had a steep cost. Standard & Poor's estimates that it took $24 billion out of the economy and, as a result, the rating agency predicts that the U.S. economy will grow only 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter this year.

HOLMES: Yes, compare that to the 3 percent growth rate that was predicted before the shutdown. Now to give you an idea of what $24 billion looks like, it's more than you and I make. The annual median household income, $52,000. So that means $24 billion could cover 461,000 annual household incomes.

MALVEAUX: That is a lot.

Here is more of what we're working on for AROUND THE WORLD.

Thousands of federal workers now heading back to the office today, but the future is still very uncertain. We're going to hear from them next.

HOLMES: But not everything is suddenly open for business. Guess what? There's a backlog of paperwork to get to. We'll tell you why you might want to check before you head to a national park this weekend.

MALVEAUX: Also, it was the biggest meteor to cross the sky in more than a century. Check that out. It kind of scared some folks, however. Well, now we're getting an up close look at what is believed to be a piece of that space rock.

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MALVEAUX: Hundreds of thousands of federal workers, they're now back on the job after being furloughed for more than two weeks now. And that means national parks, monuments, museums now reopening. And tourists, well, they're flooding back into Washington.

HOLMES: Yes, Rene Marsh is at the National Air and Space Museum. Now, tell us, what is the mood there, workers, tourists, are they upbeat or are people still a little annoyed by all of this?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael and Suzanne, it really depends on who you speak to. You speak to some federal workers as they're walking through the doors at work today and some of them say they are very happy to be back and they're saying, finally, we get to get back to work. And you speak to others, they're happy, but they're still a bit angry at the lawmakers because they didn't prevent this shutdown from happening in the first place.

I'm at the Smithsonian Museum. The Air and Space Museum specifically. And throughout all of Smithsonian's museums, some 3,500 federal employees, they were furloughed. So, today, they returned to work. But beyond the museum, you have many other federal agencies reopening today. And those workers are coming back, some of them with a feeling of, you know, a bit of a burden on their shoulders because they know the backlog that's waiting for them on their desks.

But you know who else is pretty happy that things are getting back to normal in Washington, D.C.? The visitors. People who come to see these monuments and also come to visit these museums. This morning, just about a couple of hours ago, those doors opened here at the Smithsonian. We saw a steady stream of people coming in. And I spoke to a couple. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: How does it feel to be inside today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better ask him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How's it feel?

MARSH: How's it feel to be inside today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awesome!

MARSH: It's awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is my husband's birthday gift. Our trip to D.C. He wanted to come to D.C. And this - this museum, the Air and Space Museum, is one of the many highlights that he wanted to see, to visit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got lucky.

MARSH: Well, happy birthday to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, happy birthday to him. He had a chance to come in and see the inside of this museum. Many families, they say they've been here on vacation for some four days, nothing much to do. On their final day, that family that you saw there, they get to go into the museum. The shutdown is over.

Back to you guys.

MALVEAUX: All right, Rene, thank you. We appreciate it.

Air and Space - and one of my favorite museums there. And, of course, the president, he said this morning, directly a message to those furloughed workers, you are important, thank you.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes, so-called nonessential, yes.

MALVEAUX: Yes, you are important, thank you. A lot of young people working in Washington back to work today.

HOLMES: Absolutely. Indeed.

Now while those furloughed workers begin returning to their jobs, not everything back to normal. Not quite yet.

MALVEAUX: That's right. More than 400 national parks, well, they were closed during the partial government shutdown. And many of them, it's going to take a while, actually, to reopen. It is because they've got to clean the parks, make sure that they are safe for people to, you know, take part.

HOLMES: Yes. And if you've ever watched the dangerous catch or whatever - "The Deadliest Catch" or whatever it's called, that great show, the Alaskan crab season started Tuesday, presumably filming, too, on the next season. Because of the partial shutdown, crabbers couldn't get permits. Now, they may start flowing today, but there's a backlog of requests. So, some crabbers are going to have to wait.

MALVEAUX: Yes, they're just going to have to wait.

The National Zoo in Washington, it's reopening, but not until Friday. I guess tomorrow. Well, at least, however, the panda cam back up and running.

HOLMES: Oh, thank goodness. Oh, thank goodness.

MALVEAUX: One of our producers told you, I know she's happy about that.

HOLMES: Oh, yes.

MALVEAUX: You can get your panda fix. No privacy for the pandas. What about the pandas? They might want some privacy.

HOLMES: You can't even -- it's voyeurism. I don't approve. Poor pandas.

MALVEAUX: It is back and running.

We're going to have more on the shutdown, the debt ceiling debate coming up, but first, serious news, the Kenyan mall attack leaving at least 67 people dead.

HOLMES: Yeah, now CNN has exclusive video of when the terrorist group al Shabaab entered that mall and began shooting.

We're live from Nairobi when we come back.

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HOLMES: Some other stories making news AROUND THE WORLD right now.

Some bad news out of Laos, investigators looking into the possibility that wind shear is to blame for Wednesday's plane crash that killed 49 people.

There were remnants of a typhoon in the area. The weather was terrible when the Lao Airlines plane was approaching landing at Pakse Airport.

MALVEAUX: Officials believe a sudden gust of wind caused the piloted to lose control. It crashed on or near an island in a nearby river.

In Myanmar, one person is dead, two others injured after three, three explosions rocked the northeastern part of the country, also known as Burma. They are the latest in a string of recent blasts. One person was hurt Monday when a homemade device went off at a high- end hotel that is pretty popular with international tourists.

HOLMES: Yeah, there was an explosion last week that killed two people as well. It not known yet whether those incidents were connected, but disturbing for a country that's really just coming into its own now.

Now in Iraq, this is a familiar tale, isn't it? A car bomb going off, this time in a refugee compound. This is just east of the city of Mosul in the north of the country. Seventeen people were killed, 7 of them children, nearly 70 other people were wounded.

MALVEAUX: The blast, it caused nearby buildings to collapse. Some are still trapped under the rubble.

The compound is home to an ethnic Shiite minority that has been the target of Sunni extremist group like al Qaeda in recent months.

When terrorists attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, last month, the only way to understand what happened is from the stories of some of those survivors.

But now CNN has obtained access to some of the mall surveillance video.

HOLMES: Yeah, much of what you are about to see is graphic. It is also disturbing. You may want to send the kids out of the room. It's really not suitable for them.

We're reporting on the videos, though, because there really are few opportunities for the public to understand the nature of these attacks and how these killers show absolutely no hesitation about ending life.

Nima Elbagir has been going through hours of this video, preparing a summary of what we can learn from that Saturday in September.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shoppers at Westgate Mall, this is the scene moments before the al Shabaab attack. Suddenly, men, women, children, begin to run for their lives.

This man on the floor thought he'd found safety. Wounded, he gathers the strength to try and crawl for help. Another gunman returns without mercy.

The security camera spotted two other attackers making their way to the top parking lot, walking towards the children's cooking competition held there. Just beyond the camera's view, they open fire.

This edited, silent video obtained by CNN shows what happened during the attack in Nairobi on September 21st. As the attackers go through the mall, you see people desperate, trying to run and crawl to safety as bullets streak by.

A body on the floor gets barely a glance, and another bullet.

This is only a fraction of the surveillance video recorded during this day. Most of it too horrifying to broadcast.

In the supermarket, the hostage roundup has begun. A mother and her two children push an injured child in a shopping cart. A teenage girl follows, her hands in the air. She's bloody. A gunman points the way.

Kenyan authorities say they closely watched the security cameras as the attack was happening. The hostage-takers are spotted on the phone. Authorities believe they are receiving instructions from outside the mall. Here, one of them even appears to look for surveillance cameras.

Only four attackers are seen in the video. There are long periods of time where they appear almost relaxed. At one point, the attackers take turns for prayers.

Elsewhere in a mall restaurant, a Western man, gun in hand and what appears to be a plainclothes Kenyan police officer take position to try to protect the staff and customers cowering behind the counter.

And this was just the first day of what would become a four-day nightmare for Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And Nima joins us now from Nairobi.

It is horrible to watch. It really is.

I mean, I know that you've got more information on that woman with the child in the shopping cart. Fill us in on that and what this video tells us about those gunmen.

ELBAGIR: Well, Michael, I guess it's just a tiny bit of respite from all of the horribleness that we've just been watching.

The lady that you see with her two children, and by the way that third injured child in the cart was a 12-year-old that she insisted on being allowed to take with her.

The gunman finally released them after her and her children pleaded. In fact, her boy apparently called the gunman a bad man and was given sweets, if you can believe it.

She also insisted on taking the teenage girl, so they were eventually released. Of course, they were among the very, very lucky few in this, Michael.

MALVEAUX: And, Nima, you talk about the fact that we see four of the gunmen in the video here, and that there's a lot of video to be shared.

How helpful, how useful is this for Kenyan authorities, those who really want to make sure they have the people responsible, all of the people responsible for this?

ELBAGIR: Well, it definitely gives you a sense of how extraordinarily well-coordinated this was.

And with the intercepts they've been working on, I understand from security sources, they've been able to link this to actually a worryingly broad network, not just Kenyan, but out into the region in East Africa and beyond.

And they actually believe that this could be linked even across the Red Sea into al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula.

So those intercepts are really key, not just in understanding how it could have happened, but in understanding who was involved and how wide that net is going to need to be, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you so much. I mean, it's so hard to watch that video. I know it's useful to investigators, but really difficult when you just see just the total disregard for life. And the guy's, you know, laying down, and he's still shooting him.

HOLMES: It is horrible to watch. It is.

Now for weeks the shutdown drama, well, it was like a bad TV reality show, wasn't it? The bad guy, the good guy, the victims.

Well, now that it's over, we're looking at the winners and losers or perhaps who lost the less.

MALVEAUX: Yeah, well, that's up next on AROUND THE WORLD.

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