will be $968 billion not raised, and this from wade. obama has put bush policies on steroids as far as i'm concerned. we got bush-whacked twice. keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn. thanks as always for your comments, and that does it for me today. thanks for joining me. snam >> reporte -- cnn "newsroom" continues right now with ashleigh banfield. if you thought the supreme court had the last word on health care, you might not have been paying attention because republicans are trying once again to kill the affordable care act. it is just the 31st time that we've had a whack at this thing. will it be the charm? also today, repairing the washington monument is one tall order. even taller than anyone thought. what an ex-can do in seconds can

take years to fix. and sanjay gupta joining us live this hour in cambodia where children are dying after 24 hours of hell. how will they fix this? where is the solution? hi, everybody. we start with house republicans renewing their efforts to overturn the affordable care act. you know the thing they call obamacare which was upheld by the supreme court but there's always tomorrow. you're looking at one of the hearings on capitol hill dealing with health care. a whole lot of debate going on tomorrow, because that will set the stage for a vote tomorrow. what you're looking at now, the house ways and means committee. not long from now the house oversight committee is going to tackle the very same subject. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash is in washington live. it's hard to believe that there have been 31 attempts to either

tweak, yank, pull, dissect or destroy this thing all together. what is the point of tomorrow's vote? >> reporter: well, they obviously have fresh public debate about this which, as you mentioned, was the supreme court decision so they figure why not do it one more time to make the point. more clearly thanks to the supreme court decision, that the major component of this health care law, the mandate, is, according to the supreme court, a tax. as we've been talking about ashleigh since last week or before, the republicans feel they are in pretty good shape with that. listen to what the house speaker john boehner said though in response to your question. >> the american people do not want to go down the path of obamacare. that's why we voted over 30 times to repeal it, de-fund it, replace it, and we're -- we are resolved to have this law go away, and we're going to do everything we can to stop it. >> reporter: >> now, ashleigh one question you might have, one question i

had is are people out there listening, do they care, do they want the house of representatives to do this over and over again even though they know it won't go anywhere? as you can imagine republicans say yes for the most part and democrats say no, but the key voting bloc that everybody is looking at, independents. we pulled up our latest poll to see what they think. independent voters, 56% say they believe all provisions shouldy repealed. 42% say keep provisions in place. 56% of that key voting bloc, not a huge majority but 6% for these swing voters in these swing districts to make all the difference. >> dana, the "new york times" is quoting a top republican adviser, a consultant, who said that any time the republicans are debating taxes and the economy they are winning, but any time the democrats are debating health care they are winning, so what does that mean for democrats today? do they go on the offensive, or do they go on the defensive?

>> they are insisting they are absolutely going on the offensive. they have been pretty disciplined with their supreme court decision and that response is whether it is the democratic candidate for senate in massachusetts when i was interviewing last week or the democratic candidate out in, you know, out in idaho, what they have been saying is republicans are fighting yesterday's battles. we need to move on. we need to focus on jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs because that really is what voters care most about. whether or not democrats are going to actually feel pressure to go with republicans and vote with them on this repeal, the last time there was an actual full repeal vote, there were only three democrats crossed over, but i'm guessing that if democrats feel that it is politically important for them to cross over in order to save face back home, they will be free to do so, according to the democratic leadership. >> only two of them did it the first time around. fascinating to find out what happens again. i say fascinating. only had 31 cracks at this, but it will be interesting nonetheless. dana bash in washington, thank

you very much. let me move on to this. president obama taking his middle class tax cut pitch to iowa. he's going to arrive this hour in the state that got him his first presidential campaign or got his presidential campaign off the ground. it's a state he carried by ten points back during the general election, and today he goes to cedar rapid, that little dot up there on the right of your screen. cnn's dan lothian joining me from the white house. dan, explain this to me. the swing states that he's visiting are actually doing pretty well economically, so how does the president take this message that he was touting yesterday, the tax cuts only for those up to 250,000, and how does he sell is in cedar rapids to those who make over 250,000 and namely the small businesses that are complaining about this? >> reporter: well, right. look, first of all, us a point out, you know, iowa is one of these battleground states that's doing quite well. the unemployment rate there is just about 5%, well below the national average of 8.2%.

we also saw a good unemployment numbers, if you put it that way, in -- in pennsylvania and also in ohio where the president visited last week at around 7.5%, but what you're seeing is that even though the unemployment rate is low in these various battleground states, the race remains neck and neck. it's basically tied up in the latest pollings in iowa between the president and mitt romney so there's something else that the president is trying to push to break through, and that is tax fairness, and he's selling it this way, that what he is pushing for will help the middle class, and it shows that voters really like this message. it really resonates with them, so that's why you see the president really pushing this, and not only just the president going to these battleground states but also surrogates and then the president sitting down, doing these local tv interviews as he did yesterday, so that he can appeal directly, directly to the voters via a local tv

interview. meanwhile republicans are pushing back saying, look, the president is saying what he's doing is helping the middle class but this is not the time in this economic environment to raise taxes on anybody. they say it will only further impact everybody and they say the president's policies up to this point will hurt the middle class. >> will we be about to be introduced to a couple named jamie and janet mclaughlin who make $82,000 a year and i'm sure the couple will be happy that the country knows what they make a year. >> they will be sitting down with an iowa family that is a middle class family. they have one child and another child on the way, and this is a family that will benefit, the white house and the campaign says, from the president's policies and have benefited in the past as well. so this family offering up their personal experience to help the president in his campaign effort in a critical battleground

state. >> all right. dan lothian, thank you for that. live from the white house this morning. mitt romney and his gop allies are not exactly watching from the sidelines. heck no. it's a campaign already. got four months to go. the candidate speaks next hour in colorado. once again, a surrogate party chief reince priebus is pre-butting, doing a pre-beautal to the president's remarks in the same city that the president is visiting, cedar rapids, iowa. i think we now know that's bracketing, not march madness, political bracketing. the romney remarks will be the first on-camera remarks since the president laid down the whole tax cut challenge. though he did speak on the radio about the small businesses and the high brackets. >> small businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed not at a corporate rate but at the individual tax rate so successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically, and that will kill jobs. that will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in america.

>> our jim acosta is watching team romney from d.c. as well. so this has been a bit of a one-two punch i think for the obama campaign as they have been laying out this whole tax policy at the same time that they have been butting it up against you know mitt romney is in that 1% and how he is going to offset? >> he has a town hall in colorado in a little while from now in, a couple of hours. wouldn't it be nice to live in a swing state, ashleigh, and have all the presidential candidates coming through your hometown? >> no, thank you, jim acosta. i like my television commercials with celebrex and all the rest i don't want to see all the campaign ads, they are nasty. >> you did hear mitt romney use the term kick in the gut. i would imagine he'll use it later today at this town hall in colorado. he's been talking a lot about the middle class and what he's saying in response to the message on the bush tax cuts is

what the president would do is actually harm the middle class because it would raise taxes, he says, on people who own small businesses, and small businesses will not hire people as a result of this. you know, another interesting thing, ashleigh, that mitt romney said in another interview with a radio station in iowa. he started to lay out what his alternative would be to what the president wants to do with tax rates. he says that all of those tax rates should basically stay where they are for an indefinite period of time, is the fraszing he used, to put in a new tax system which would basically lower rates with all americans and he would offset that by changing some of the tax loopholes that are enjoyed by wealthier americans so it's interesting to see the republican contender talk a little bit about what he would do assin alternative to what the president is proposing. >> also, jim, isn't he changing the narrative somewhat today as well by setting up a new website? i think they are calling it

obamonics, outsourced obamanomics. >> a couple things going on. one thing mitt romney did do and the romney campaign is going after the president on this. they are trying to turn the tables on the president with the attacks on outsourcing. the obama campaign has been running these ads accusing mitt romney of outsourcing jobs when he was xwh n charge over at bain capital. i will tell you, ashleigh, there are independent fact-checkers out there who have raised some questions about the accuracy of those ads and whether or not mitt romney was actually at bain when some of that outsourcing went on. there are some indications out there that he was not there at the time, that maybe he was just having a financial interest in bain when that outsourcing was going on, but another interesting thing that's going on, ashleigh, they have been going after the republican contender about his offshore holdings, the swiss bank account, the investments in the cayman islands, this new company that's been disclosed in bermuda, and mitt romney addressed some of that for the first time in an interview with

an iowa radio station, and here's what he had to say about that. >> i realize that the president's failure to -- to actually reignite the economy makes it hard for him to discuss his own record, and so he's going to try to attack me on every personal basis he can come up with with regards to any foreign investments. i understand and you understand, of course, my investments have been held by a blind trust, have been managed by a trustee. i don't manage them. i don't even know where they are. those -- that trustee follows all u.s. laws. all the taxes are paid as appropriate. all of them have been reported to the government. there's nothing hidden there. >> so it's interesting, ashleigh, to hear mitt romney say it's the blind trust that's been managing these assets so he doesn't really know where all of his investments are at this point. the president went after mitt romney last night in a local interview with a tv station in new hampshire saying that romney should be an open book about his investments, so this is going to

be going on back and forth for quite a while, ashleigh. >> yeah, if it's not the offshore acounts, it's the tax current or it's what bain did or didn't do or the job cuts. it's like the attacks have been fast and furious. oh, wait, that's his attack on the obama administration, so there's that. >> let's not go there. i don't have time. >> okay. jim acosta, thanks. good to see you. by the way, remember mitt romney will speak in colorado 12:35 eastern time. president obama is going to land in iowa later this hour. he's going to hold a rally. 1:50 eastern time. we'll bring you both live events. ♪

[ male announcer ] ok, so you're no marathon man. but thanks to the htc one x from at&t, with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days.

just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

right now doctors are racing to figure out what is killing dozens of children in cambodia, and the mystery illness, its speed and its deadly effects are starting to really baffle the top health experts in the world. almost every single child hospitalized with this disease has died after 24 hours, something our sanjay gupta has called 24 hours of hell. dr. gupta is in phnom penh, cambodia, where he's getting a firsthand look at the increasingly dire situation there.

>> by means are we at the conclusion of our investigation. >> reporter: an investigation into the mystery of what's killing some of cambodia's children at a frightening pace. >> the majority of these cases and mostly under the age of 3, were seriously ill, and many of them had died within 24 hours of admission. >> reporter: i mean, that's pretty frightening i think for people to hear. >> absolutely. >> reporter: there's a lot of diseases in this part of the world, many parts of the world, but to kill that quickly. the backdrop is important here. this hospital treats thousands of children suffering from dengue fever, had a layeria, and tuberculosis every week. and remember, this is a part of the world where bird flu and sars originated. still, right away dr. rickner knew this was different. >> it's a big picture for us. we've never seen this in

cambodia before. >> reporter: he's the head of the hospital and he allowed us into the icu where the patients are treated. >> give you an idea of how this was, even as the doctor got called away to see a another child in shock. that's where we're going right now. the doctor says 66 children came to the hospital with the mystery illness. for 64 of them, it was 24 hours of hell before they died. you heard right. all but two died. for many of these children it started off rather mild, a mild fever, but then things progressed quickly from there. for example, in this boy's case who is 2 years old, we don't know what's causing his encephalitis but this is what happens. the fontanel starts to bulge and the eyes, as you can see over here, become dis-conjugate from there. from there it becomes merciless and goes from the head, to the brain, to the lungs. >> you can say the lungs here

and five hours later you see the lungs. >> reporter: in the last few hours of life this unknoll illness completely destroyed the child's lungs, and there was no way to stop it. >> never seen anything like this before? >> no. this is the first time at the end of april and makes us very worried. >> reporter: something called entero virus 71, something typically associated with hand, foot and mouth disease was found in more than a dozen patients, but that's only adding to the mystery. >> reporter: would the virus lead to this? >> never, never, never. >> reporter: so it has to be something else? >> i think so, but we cannot prove, but we must look for. >> reporter: and that's where the investigation goes next. cambodian health officials and the w.h.o. say they are now looking into whether expired medication, the wrong medication or inappropriate medication such asteroids could be a blame. steroids can also make a relatively harmless infection suddenly much more severe.

>> yes. that is definitely a possibility. >> and dr. sanjay gupta is live with us now from phnom penh, cambodia. sanjay, it's sews disturbing to see those tiny little kids in the hospital beds knowing that the -- that the death rate is so extraordinary. what on earth are they going to be able to do with that last bit of information that you told us regarding medication, whether it's the wrong medication or outdated medication? how are they going to investigate this? >> reporter: well, you know, it's very difficult, ashleigh, to find this via a blood test, for example. even the blood test that found the entero virus we were just talking about was difficult to perform so finding a medication, probably even more challenging, so what's happening is it's real investigative work, ashleigh. they are going out to some of the areas where the children lived, trying to figure out did the children get a medication. if so, is there something in common between all these children and then investigating that medication. it could be just simply a wrong

medication was given, or it could be that it was a bad batch in some way, but that's sort of the leading hypothesis by the doctor you just met there, dr. richner. he believes the virus alone couldn't account for this. he believes it's some kind of toxic interaction with the medication so that's where they are looking, ashleigh. >> since we last spoke yesterday, we discussed the possibility of it being a contagious virus in this respect, it doesn't really look like it, but why this area? why just cambodia? why is it centralized here? >> reporter: you know, you've had various outbreaks around the world over the years. in fact, it probably was in california in the late '60s that you first saw an entero virus 71 outbreaks like this and then outbreaks in taiwan and china. so i think that does happen, and it just happens sporadically. we're not entirely sure what brings it on, but what's a little bit different here is just how quickly the virus is affecting these little kids. i mean, and infecting their

lungs like you saw in t picture there. that's the confusing part of this there. the entero virus exists. why it's become so virulent and deadly is harder to figure out. >> just so troubling, as you said, with the little kids being the ones who are infected. dr. sanjay gupta, excellent, excellent work in phnom penh for us live. i want to just add to dr. gupta's report that the world health organization says that the kids who w.h.o. have been infected with this mystery illness. they range in age from 3 months, really tiny kids to 11 years old, but the bulk of those who have died have been under the age of 3 years old. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs.

a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

looks like a pop lash washington landmark is going to stay closed a little longer than we all expected.

actually could be another year before we get a chance to visit the washington monument again. can you walk around it. you just can't go up. a 5.8 magnitude earthquake closed the monument back in august of last year. look at pictures. imagine being that person down at the bottom there, wondering what is going on. crews have been repairing it ever since this crake. sandra endo joins us now to tell us more about this. >> reporter: the washington monument has been closed since last august, 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck this area, and the monument has been undergoing extensive investigations. engineers have been determining the safety and structural integrity of it, and they determined that this 555-foot tall monument will need extensive internal and external repairs. we are talking about sealing

cracks and removing loose stones and reinforcing joints and beams inside the monument and nine inside panels near the top are cracked, and those each weigh nearly 2,000 pounds, so that's what we're talking about in terms of the magnitude of this, and the national park service says this attraction obviously is a big draw here to the nation's capital. it lures in 700,000 tourists each year, and, o course, now those tourists may have to wait until 2014 to actually go up inside the monument. here's what the national park service had to say about that. >> i mean, it truly is a monumental task. this is certainly an icon not only of washington but of our entire nation so that's why we've done this very meticulous analysis and have some of the best experts in the united states working on the project, and, you know, we don't want the monument to be closed one day longer than it needs to be, but

we also have to make sure that we repair it correctly so that it will be here for all time. >> reporter: and the price tag for the repairs, $15 million. half of that pretty much is from a wealthy donor. the other half good old taxpayer money. ashleigh? >> let's give credit where it's due, david rubenstein is his name, a wealthy washington businessman. wish i had friends like that. sandro endo, nice it see you. >> by the way, the washington monument has been repaired three times recently if you're counting and the most recent work was done between the year 1997 and the year 2000. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions.

rewarding you, every step of the way. ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org. on medicare and social security [ dog ] we found it together.upbeat ] on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it.

and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you. morning, boys. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you, nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. afghan soldiers who are wounded in the battle often wind

up at a military hospital in kabul and all too often their suffering is only compounded and even exploited at a hospital. this afternoon u.s. lawmakers are going to hold a hearing on the abysmal conditions that have been brought to light by a u.s. doctor and thenater by pentagon inspectors. cnn's barbara starr has an exclusive report. but first, a warning. some of the images are very difficult to watch. >> reporter: afghan soldiers starving, lying in dirty beds with festering wounds, denied painkillers. all of this at the kabul national military hospital, a hospital the u.s. paid more than $200 million to help the afghans run. >> things as simple as dressing changes are not done. patients become infected, and they die. >> reporter: these days a world away skyler geller, a retired air force doctor, tends to his tennessee farm.

>> this will be kind of a little haven. >> reporter: from february 2010 to february 2011 he oversaw training of afghans at the hospital. these are photos were taken by his american military staff. >> there are patients that are starving to death because they can't buy the food. they have to bribe for food. they have to bride for medicine. patients were beaten when they complained about no pain medicine or no medicine. >> reporter: and you're not supposed to worry about that? >> that's what we're told. >> reporter: pentagon officials do not dispute that the photos from 2010 show hidden but deliberate abuse from afghan staff, but they insist after a u.s. inspection conditions have improved significantly. in this memo to congress, geller alleges two senior u.s. generals who oversaw afghan training, lieutenant general william

caldwell and his deputy brigadier general patton in 2010 delayed bringing in pentagon investigators because of their political concerns over the looming mid-term u.s. elections. geller says caldwell was angry. his staff wanted the inspector general to investigate and that patton ordered a delay out of concern it would embarrass the obama white house. >> and hen he said but we don't want to put that request in right now because there's an upcoming general election, and we wouldn't want this to leak out. >> that's just not acceptable. >> congressman jason chaffetz's oversight committee is investigating the allegations. >> it didn't just come from one high-ranking military official on the ground or two. we have several of them who have stepped forward that said, yes, indeed this is the case. >> reporter: geller says he wants the truth to come out.

>> the biggest frustration is our own leadership's response and how slow that was and how inadequate that was. >> barbara starr joins me live now. barbara, i'm not sure which is worse, the unbearable suffering or the fact that the u.s. has pumped millions and millions into this hospital. i get it. it's been ten years that we've been at war in this country, but this is absolutely -- it's -- it defies logic. what is happening in terms of congress being held accountable for this? >> well, this is what the hearings are going to take a look at, ashleigh, or at least that's what we're told. they want to talk to the pentagon about how did this happen, what are you doing to fix it? who knew? who knew what, when? you know, fundamentally, can

they even provide basic medical care for the afghan troops? one of the things on the table is the whole notion that two u.s. generals when they knew about it delayed an investigation into it because of their political concerns. i should say we reached out to general caldwell and general patton, and they declined to comment on this. >> and there's the political fallout because the pictures are out. who knows what that will do in terms of the local response in afghanistan. barbara starr, thank you at the pentagon. a subcommittee hearing that barbara was talking about, it's going to start at 3:00 p.m. eastern, and if there's any news that breaks out of it you bet your bottom dollar that you'll be hearing about it right here first on cnn.

mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

do you think it's only young people who abuse alcohol and drugs? you might want to think again because there's a new report out from the institute of medicine that says there aren't enough mental health and substance abuse experts who are trained to treat older people, and that if this doesn't change, it could really put a major strain on our health care system so why is this a big deal? because between 14% and 20% of the nation's elderly have one or more mental health issues or problems stemming from substance abuse, misuse or abuse actually together. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is live in atlanta to tell us more about

this. i'm absolutely perplexed by this, elizabeth, because it's not like we didn't know that the baby boom was coming. >> exactly, and now the question is did we prepare for it and this institute of medicine report, ashleigh, the authors put it in very strong, very southern terms, and it's really worth even quoting from it. this is what they wrote in the institute of medicine report. the you had aor said the burden of mental illness and substance abuse disorders in older adults in the united states borders on a crisis, borders on a crisis so we know that this is a real problem, and you're right. i mean, we weren't as prepared for it as we should be. >> so i think i'm learning a new term here, geriatricans and the fact that i've never heard it is exactly the issue we're talking about. are there enough geriatrican interest there students looking into this discipline? >> there aren't enough students looking into this discipline. it doesn't pay well. you don't get paid well, relatively speaking, for taking

care of elderly people so i'm going to give you two sets of numbers which will show you this shortage in very stark terms, and the first is the number of elderly. right now in the united states, every year when you look at people who are turning 65. 3 million to 4 million new elderly people in this country, 3 to 4 people are turning 65 in this country every year, and on average they have 40 doctors visits a year, so there's a high need. let's look at who is filling that need. fellowships for geriatricians, 60% remain unfilled. very unpopular with medical students, partly because it doesn't pay very well. >> so, as i understand, it's also a bit of a paperwork problem in terms of just the filings and the payment codes. can a lot of this be fixed with some tweaking? i mean, we've got observing' coming and somewhere in the thousands of pages is there something that exists that helps this? >> there's something in

obamacare that may help trying to get what we're talking about, trying to get more loan forgiveness and people will go into more specifics liar geriatrics. let's talk about medicare funding. the way it works, medicare pays quite well for hospitalizations. if you e up sick enough to go to the hospital they will pay for that, but, of course, the point is we don't want people to end up in the hospital, and we were speaking with the head of geriatrics, and he told us this really horrifying story. he had a patient with psychiatric problems, and she would be calling 911, and she would end up in the hospital, and they would pay for that, but they wouldn't fully pay for a social worker to go visit the woman. they wouldn't pay for the visit which is cheap and wouldn't reimburse that but would take care of her if she's in the hospital. not a very smart use of funds. >> proactive versus the reactive. i can't believe i haven't heard

of that term, geriatrician. maybe this is an area where salaries will go up. >> thanks. >> for more information about this story go to our blog at cnnhealth.com. [ male announcer ] let's say you need to take care of legal matters.

wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense.

u.s. officials are closely watching two russian military ships that are on their way to syria, and more specifically that spot right there, the port of tartous. the russians say any weapons and manpower on board are only to reinforce their naval base there and that they, quote, have nothing to do with the crisis in syria. a russian official said just

yesterday that russia would not deliver any new weapons to the country while the situation inner issia remain unstabled and there's billions in contracts that still need to be fulfilled. that's a big deal. all this at a time when special envoy kofi annan is in baghdad today, his latest effort to push the resurrection of the peace plan to end the violence in syria. mr. annan is planng to meet with the prime minister to talk about the escalating crisis there and, of course, the impact on the neighboring countries like iraq and others, and all of this coming after kofi annan met with the syrian president. pictures tell the story, bashar al assad with him. they are trying to hash out a compromise, and then there's this. a -- an official that's close to the russian government has told cnn's christiane amanpour that russian officials told him they would not oppose at least officially intervene against any kind of military action the countries take against syria. they wouldn't prefer it, but they would not oppose it or do anything to stop it, and they

went so far as to add it wouldn't actually affect the u.s. relationship with russia as well. another step in the noose tightening around bashar al assad's neck. and now to the south egypt's parliament, defiantly holding its first session since being dissolved and since the presidential election. do you remember they were struck down by the country's military rulers hours before the polls opened in egypt's historic election and it was the man who won the vote mohamed morsi who gave the order to start back up. can you say controversy? cnn's ivan watson is live outside near to those parliament buildings and ivan, essentially, these parliamentarians, those who prefer to come back to work and actually sit in a session for the first time this morning had to actually pass by riot police and barriers to go into that building and -- and yet they did pull it off. >> they did, and the riot police

let them through really for the first time in nearly a month. so basically what you had here were the generals and the judges said no. the president said yes, and in the end you had the first meeting of parliament, an elect the parliament, i might add, in nearly a month and even so some of the parliament members actually, ashleigh, were not totally comfortable with the meeting. take a listen to what one man had to say. was in a good day today that parliament met again? >> well, it's -- it's -- yes and no, because there is such a big confusion within the egyptians because of all those who are -- again, it's this decree. some of them say it's not legitimate. some of them they say, you know, we have the full right. >> reporter: and what you have now is a meeting that lasted less than an hour, ashleigh, and the speaker of parliament basically said we're going to try to take this case to reopen

the parliament to a court, to the court of appeals. what we're seeing now is competing court cases, in different branches of the egyptian judiciary, the constitutional court, the court of appeals, the administrative court with different groups, the muslim brotherhood on one side and for the most part the secular army generals and their allies on the other launching competing court cases against each other as part of kind of a politicachess game over who can get the upper hand. at least they are doing this in court, and they are not fighting out in the streets, and we've seen far too much fighting in cairo over the last year and a half. >> yeah, let's hope that strain continues, but i suppose a good question might be if essentially the -- the new president is breaking the law of the land, or at least what the supreme court has determined to be the law of the land and convened parliament, could he be arrested? could mohamed morsi actually be arrested, and would that be disastrous in terms of what we

just talked about and that's the possibility of violence? >> reporter: we saw a warning of that just a few hours ago. outside the administrative court building, there were some 27 court cases lodged against the president, mohamed morsi, and you might add he's only been inaugurated about two weeks, less than two weeks ago, and outside the front of that court building, ashleigh, were hundreds of supporters of the muslim brotherhood and morsi, and that crowd was angry. they were throwing water bottles. they were cursing. one man who came out of the courthouse, and i saw the riot police putting on their helmets and armor. i thought we'd start seeing tear gas. in the end the judges decided to postpone the verdict on hose 27 court cases and the crowd peacefully dispersed, but it was a warning of what could happen if someone tries to press charges against this recently elected president. >> quiet now but keep an eye on things. ivan watson live from cairo. thanks so much for that.

an international story for you and a bit of a mystery and kind of a weird mystery at that. let's just say she's the lady in black. she's seen here sitting to the left of north koreaiac's new leader kim youngun, dressed in black. is she his wife, his lover, possibly his sister? going to a concert with him? being touted around at official events. here's the weird thing. nobody knows who the lady in black is. it's kind of the way it goes in that country. they never really talked about the significant others of the leaders there. in fact, north korea is such a closed society we just don't know for sure what his age is or if he is even married. what we do know though is this young woman has been seen at his side at several recent official functions. so there's that.

( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. ♪ [ female announcer ] life is full of little tests, but bounty basic can handle them. in this lab demo, bounty basic is stronger than the leading bargain brand. everyday life. bring it with affordably priced bounty basic. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge.

well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different.

i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! busy week for business. earnings week this week. and also banks in spain accepting a bailout. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange to talk about the effects on the u.s. economy. up arrows, down arrows, how are we doing? >> hi, how are you doing? we're seeing a mixed showing right now. the dow is up 22 points. the nasdaq, s&p 500 down a bit.

you know, gains were pretty strong at the opening bell but they kind of fizzled out on worries about how second quarter earnings season is going to turn out. alcoa reported yesterday after the bell kind of with lackluster earnings. so wall street is a bit concerned about how that april through june quarter is going to turn out. ashley? >> all right, alison, thanks so much, keep an eye on things. alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. we mentioned the spanish banks and boost they gave to the markets. beside the $37 billion infusion spain gets the next three years or two to get the government's financial house in order. that's important. oh you too! ooh, hey america's favorite cereal is... honey nut cheerios ok then off to iceland! ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

the famous air show is going on in england right now, already grabbing a new $7 billion contract for some of their planes. really this is just an excuse to show you extraordinarily cool video. this is the massive airbus a-380 luxury plane and it's doing tricks. not the kind of tricks they do with you on board. that is awful cool, isn't it? look at that thing banking. as part of their sales presentation and it's just not that often you get to see a 600 ton plane doing a 360 like that on purpose. i wish we could hear the sound down below, what they'd be saying. man, that is awesome. she is a fashion icon from a

designer dynasty. donatella versace. she opens up about her brother's murder years ago and her personal and professional struggles ever since that happened. here's alina cho with a backstage fashion pass. >> reporter: it's nearly show time at paris' ritz hotel. why are they here? this is an event. how does it feel when you wear versace? >> you feel very sexy, very glamorous. >> reporter: they've come out for a fashion show. what will go down in history as donatella's return to the ritz. >> you never came back. >> it was too painful for me. >> reporter: painful because it was here at the ritz in july, 1997, that her brother, giani, the man who started the versace label, showed his last collection.

nine days later, he was gunned down on the steps of his miami mansion by andrew cunanon. >> after the show, two days after, i would never see him again. >> reporter: they were close as can be, she his muse, he the creative force, who popularized the notion of dressing celebrities for the red carpet. the first to pay high salaries to models creating the supermodel. when killed, donatella took over so the brand versace would live on. >> i need to find my own voice. >> reporter: there are highs and lows. j-lo in this versace gown brought a lot of attention. the company lost money. donatella struggled with drug addiction. versace lost its way. then lady gaga came along.

gaga opened versace to a whole new generation. young buyers who don't remember giani versace. donatella did a collection for h&m and gave her the strength to return to the ritz. and the clothes reminiscent of her brother's designs. and yet all her own. >> no one knows a woman's body like donatella versace. >> i look at donatella as really like a hero in sort of a way. >> reporter: in 2011, versace became profitable again. emotionally, how do you feel? >> it's difficult, but i'm very happy. gianni would be very happy. >> reporter: alina cho, cnn. >> the top names are in paris for fashion week showcasing

their latest kdesigns. hear more from the top designers and get an exclusive backstage pass from paris. alina can get it. alina cho. saturday, 2:30 p.m. eastern time. don't miss it. thanks for watching "newsroom," everyone. "newsroom international" starts now with my colleague, suzanne malveaux. hi, suzanne. welcome to "newsroom international." i'm suzanne malveaux. we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. here's what's going on right now. two russian warships with mar e marines on board heading to the syrian port of tartus. u.s. intelligence officials have been keeping a close eye on these ships for the past couple weeks. the russians say any weapons and personnel on board are to reinforce the facility at tartous. meanwhile, there are more attacks under way in syria. opposition group says 37 people have been killed already today.

and out of egypt, kind of hard to believe this picture we're about to show you here. i want you to take a close look. this is actually a baby in a handbag. an egyptian couple tried to smuggle their baby past airport security in the united arab emirates. an x-ray revealed the 5-month-old was on the screening belt. police say the baby did not have a visa so the parents tried to smuggle the infant in the carry on luggage. those parents, of course, being questioned. thankfully the baby is in good condition. in england that is the olympic torch being greeted by queen elizabeth and prince philip at windsor castle. that happened earlier today. the torch has been making its way across the uk. the past couple weeks. it's going to end up at the ceremonies later this month. the queen had some questions about the torch works. in cambodia, young children are dying from a mysterious

disease. few who get it survive. 66 kids right now have gotten this unknown illness since april and 64 have died. the disease causes the lungs to fail very rapidly. it is painful and it kills quickly. it is 24 hours of hell. cnn now has exclusive access to the hospital where these kids are now being treated. here's our own dr. sanjay gupta. >> we by no means are at the conclusion of our investigation. >> reporter: an investigation into the mystery of what's killing some of cambodia's children at a frightening pace. >> the majority of these cases, and mostly under the age of 3, were seriously ill and many of them had died within 24 hours of admission. >> reporter: that's pretty frightening i think for people to hear. there's a lot of diseases in this part of the world, many parts of the world, but to kill that quickly.

the backdrop is important here. the hospital treats thousands of children suffering from dangerous fever, malaria, and tuberculosis every week. and remember, this is a part of the world where bird flu and sars originated. still right away, this doctor knew this was different. >> it's a new picture for us. we've never seen this in cambodia before. >> reporter: he is the head of the hospital and allowed us into the icu where the patients are treated. give you an idea how busy this is. even as we were talking, the doctor got called, another child in shock. that's what we're going to see right now. 66 children came to this hospital with this mystery illness. for 64 of them, it was 24 hours of hell before they died. you heard right. all but two died. many of these children, it started off rather mild. a mild fever, but then things progressed quickly from there.

for example, in his case, he's 2 years old, we don't know what's causing his encephalitis. this is typically what happens. the fontanelle over here starts to bulge and the eyes over here, from there it becomes merciless, from the head, to the brain to the lungs. >> see these lungs. age 2 and five hours later -- >> reporter: in the last few hours of life, this unknown illness completely destroyed the child's lungs. and there was no way to stop it. never seen anything like this before? >> no, this is the first time, and this make us -- >> reporter: something called enterovirus 71, typically associated with hand, foot and mouth disease was found in more than a dozen patients. that's only adding to the mystery. the enterovirus lead to this? >> never, never, never. >> reporter: so it has to be something else? >> i think so, but we cannot

prove. that we must look for. >> reporter: and that's where the investigation goes next. cambodian health officials and the w.h.o. say they're now looking into whether expired medication, the wrong medication, or inappropriate medication such as steroids could be to blame. steroids can also make a relatively harmless infection something much more severe. >> yes, that is definitely a possibility. >> dr. sanjay gupta, he's joining us from cambodia, and sanjay, it's just tragic when you see what is taking place with those young kids and those babies. i understand the next batch of tests they're doing to see if certain drugs might have actually caused this, is that a hard thing to figure out, to determine? >> reporter: it is, suzanne. very hard. in fact, as you heard there in the piece, even to find the enterovirus 71 was quite a challenge and they found that in 15 patients of 24 who were tested, but there were f 66

patients total. you get an idea just by listening to those numbers how difficult this is. they don't always have the samples. they don't always have the testing. some of this is going to be pure investigative work, suzanne. by that, i mean instead of trying to find evidence of the medication in blood samples, they may, in fact, go to where these children lived, try and find out what medications they were prescribed and see if there's something in common between all these children. they don't know if it was a bad batch of medications, prarnerha or just the wrong medications, as the doctors from the world health organization were sort of alluding to. >> you see the kids suffering like that and it's very clear this happens quickly. do you have a sense of how long it would take before you get the kind of information that you need, these lab results to come in? >> reporter: well, they say it should happen sometime this week, but, you know, again, it's one of these things where if it comes back positive and there's an answer, that's great, but if it doesn't, you know, it doesn't tell you anything. it doesn't tell you that there

wasn't medications, it doesn't answer any of the questions. the actual, you know, going by foot to these places where the children live, that could obviously take much longer. what they're trying to do now is tell parents and obviously caregivers if children have any of these symptoms to come directly to the hospital, to not get any medications on the outside so they can monitor everything the children are getting and hopefully try and stave off just how lethal this particular virus is. >> and sanjay, should people in cambodia, should they be worried for their children, or people traveling to cambodia? >> reporter: suzanne, i don't think so. and this is also part of the puzzle. you know, in some ways you'd expect enterovirus, this particular virus to be contagious. so, you know, if you had a child in the household, for example, a sibling might get it or somebody else living in the household or other people in the community. that's called clustering. and they haven't seen that as of yet. so i think for people, you know, i think this is sporadic.

it's just coming up in isolated cases. i don't think people are at risk. that does not appear to be any evidence of that clustering going on. >> sanjay, thank you so much. appreciate it as always. excellent reporting. now to egypt. it's 6:00 in the evening right now, but there is a full-blown power struggle that is under way. newly elected president mohamed morsi called parliament back in session for the first time in a month. this is a courageous move. it's challenging the country's military members to dissolve the embassy. ivan watson is live outside the egyptian parliament in cairo. first of all, explain to us, why would the president do this at this time, make such a bold move two weeks into the presidency? what is he trying to accomplish? >> reporter: he seems to be trying to assert himself against the military rulers, and you have to also remember that the parliament consisted of mostly his islamist allies. it was dominated by his party, the muslim brotherhood. so here he's trying to bring his

supporters a gift, bring the parliament back in and end the legislative vacuum in the country. the generals and the judges said, no. the president said, yes. and in the end, parliament did meet for the first time in nearly a month. the riot police let the lawmakers go into the chambers peacefully. they didn't stop them. the meeting lasted less than an hour, suzanne, and it was resolved with a decision by the speaker of parliament to try to lodge some court cases to defend the president's decision. >> where do they stand now? i mean, clearly this is a standoff between the president and the military. and there was no violence. thank goodness there was no violence. but where did they end this? >> reporter: it's not over by any means. it looks like there's a bureaucratic battle now unfolding between competing branches in the government and a lot of this looks like it's being fought in the courts.

there are currently dozens of competing court cases, both against the president and defending the president for his decision to reinstate the parliament. and as long as they're fighting in the courts and they're using lawyers and judges have to decide this, that hopefully means that it won't devolve into riots and running battles in the streets with tear gas and rubber bullets and molotov cocktails being thrown which we've seen an awful lot of here in cairo over the last year and a half. >> secretary of state hillary clinton, she's in the region, and she's saying that, look, you know, democracy, it's a messy business here, but at least they are talking. you bring up that point as well. the people on the ground there, are they worried this is going to escalate into something that is going to end up on streets and the violence in the streets? >> reporter: i think there are concerns, and especially right now as we speak, the famous iconic tahrir square is filling up with supporters of the muslim

brotherhood. they've called for a million-man march. we've seen scattered muslim brotherhood protests around the city right now. and some of them got kind of heated and escalated and there were fears that there could be some kind of clashes that erupt there. i think egyptians are very leery of more street fighting after the turbulence of the last year and a half. the muslim brotherhood seems to be trying to flex its muscles in a warning to the military rulers that it can get people out in the streets, that it should not be ignored, and that's a power play as both sides continue their negotiating and competition in places like parliament and the courthouses and probably in the backrooms where a lot of this is being decided. >> very risky power play. ivan watson, thank you very much. appreciate it. 18 months of political upheaval, of course, is driving egypt's economy now into the gutter. we're going to go live to luxer,

it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. we want to see how this power struggle, the political struggle is affecting egypt's bread and butter. we're talking about the tourism. that's in just 30 minutes. plus, she is called the paris hilton of russia. her empire includes a fashion line, perfume, tv shows, but she is also now a leading activist of the russian opposition. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that... had made you smile. [ announcer ] beneful. play. it's good for you.

try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. all right. so you probably heard of paris hilton but have you heard of sonya, she has half a million followers on twitter and she has now become leading voice in the

russian opposition. "the new york times" magazine calls her the paris hilton of russia and the stiletto in putin's side. wow. holly gorani is joining us to talk about this, this upcoming superstar. the comparison to paris hilton, hard to ignore. >> right. when you see these videos of her in the reality shows and variety and entertainment shows in russia, see why she's kind of a pop culture phenomenon in the country. she's only 30 years old. and when you talk about paris hilton and the comparisons, it's because as far as the business empire that she has a hand in is concerned, there are similarities. there's an entrepreneurial side to her. there's also that activist side. "forbes" by the way, suzanne, says she's worth $2.5 million. she has a fashion line. she writes columns for magazines. has investments in radio and television shows and started her

own political talk show on television in russia, suzannsuz >> it's interesting because apparently she's now using her wealth, using her popularity, putting all of this to fight now president vladimir putin and the power, the regime that's actually in power now. this is someone who had racy photos and was kind of an interesting person to follow. now totally embroiled in fighting the government. >> well, this is what's interesting. it's because her father was a mentor to vladimir putin who of course, as you know, started his third term as president of russia a few months ago. but now this same woman, ksenia, has been the subject of interrogation by putin's government forces. she's now projecting herself as part of the opposition movement. she's become a target, she says, because of her speaking out at rallies for the opposition. see some of them there on your screen. her boyfriend, suzanne, is one of the leaders of the opposition and their goal is to free their people, they say, and see an end

to putin's rule, who they say is not entirely democratic. she's even made fake television ads mocking putin. now, keep in mind, her father is the mentor to putin. her youtube videos have more than 2 million views. so like many young people these days and similar to the movement with barack obama perhaps in 2008, she and young people in russia are using the internet to push their social movements. it's going to be very interesting to see how this beautiful, young 30-year-old blond bombshell that's on shows like "big brother," you know, how she ends up perhaps politically motivating people in the anti-putin movement in russia. >> you know, hala, i thought something was really interesting that i read, that the new u.s. ambassador to russia recently appointed, one of the first things he did was to contact her and make sure he was following her on twitter and set up a meeting with her. it goes to show how powerful this young woman really is. >> and how much of a following she has. half a million followers on

twitter and on television stations everywhere it seems these days. >> all right. hala, excellent story. interesting. a slice of life in russia. thanks again, hala. we'll be watching her, see what happens. maybe she could end up being russia's first female president. you never know. thanks, hala. this happens o soccer fields across europe. swearing, some tough talk, right? but now one player is on trial for an alleged racial slur. attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security,

you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org.

the racially charged case, that's playing out in london courtroom with one of the world's biggest soccer stars on trial and perhaps the game, itself. john terry, a former captain of

the english national team, he is white. he's charged with hurling a racial slur at antoine ferdinand who is black. it happened at a match last october. i want to bring in matthew chance from london who's been inside of the courtroom here. matthew, if something like this happened here, the united states, an american soccer game, the player might get fined by the league, take his lumps in the media. that kind of thing. this guy, john terry, is actually facing a criminal trial. tell us what is happening in this sport across europe that actually brought them to this point. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, i think that's an indication of just how seriously the british legal system takes allegations of racial abuse. this could have been dealt with by the english football association, sort of governing body of the football leagues in this country. after a complaint from the member of the public who saw this, what he thought was a racial abuse incident taking place, it was reported. the prosecution here, the

prosecutors decided there was enough evidence for it to go to court. that's why we're here now. the allegation centers around a match, as you indicated, last october, october 2011, during a sort of on-pitch tussle between these two premier league highly paid players in which they both traded abuses. but as part of that, john terry allegedly said the word black and that in conjunction with some very sexually explicit swear words as well. that stepped over a line in a major way. remember, on the football pitch, there's lots of abuse thrown around between these guys as they engage in this sort of high-contact sport. this very much stepped over a line. that's why there's this criminal prosecution under way right now. >> matthew, we know john terry in the trial doesn't deny making these awful remarks but he's pleaded not guilty. so how does he explain that? >> reporter: well, the trouble

is for john terry, i suppose, the remarks were actually sort of filmed by the many television cameras that were recording the game. he's not actually heard saying it but they've had lip readers inside the court. he can be seen mouthing this very offensive phrase. he hasn't denied mouthing it, but this is really the case. what john terry says is that, first of all, he was accused by antoine ferdinand of making this racist abusive remark to him. he then repeated it, he says, out of sarcasm in an attempt to deny is and to move on. that's essentially the basis of john terry's defense. >> explain to us, give us a little bit of context, if you will, for this. we know european soccer have been fighting racial intolerance for years and you have kids of some of the players wearing t-shirts and arm bands saying united against racism. these kinds of slogans and stuff and things on score boards at games. do we think that's working? is it actually trying to counter this culture?

>> reporter: i think there's definitely an effort under way to try and tackle it. racism's been a problem inside european football for many decades. and, you know, the accusation is amongst many, you know, critics, that the football associations elsewhere in europe, in places like russia and poland and spain and italy, that enough is not being done to tackle racism. in fact, the english football association has really been leading the way in many ways. in trying to, as it says, kick racism out of football. i think this is an example of that. already, remember, john terry has been stripped of his england captainsy pending the outcome of the trial. if he's found guilty he may be stripped of his chelsea captain, may face a substantial fine, not from court but the f.a. in england. >> sounds like they're trying to make an example of him as well

and try to change the culture of the sport. matthew chance, thank you very much. good to see you. when you book a plane ticket, you pack your bag, head to the airport. you think that's it. have you ever wondered about the plane you're actually on? who worked on it? is it top notch? we're going to look at the priorities and the bentleys of the air. matters. pioneers in outsourcing us jobs supports tax breaks overseas. insourcing. industry and favors bring jobs home. it matters. this message.

welcome back to "newsroom international" where you take you around the world in 60 minutes. here's what they're listening to out of india. hottest song of the summer. skyrocketing. number one. take a listen. ♪

i don't know. that's kind of catchy. singing tumhi ho bandhu from the hollywood film cocktail. the farnborough air show, boeing and airbus show off cool new planes and more important to the rest of us, of course, airlines decide what kinds of planes we'll be flying in for years to come. i want to bring in richard cress out of london. talk about this. you have the farnborough, paris, alternate years. they have these big shows. last year airbus made a splash. the sales of the a-320 plane and this year boeing is announcing a couple deals for the 737 max? >> i can feel you're moving into deep waters, malveaux. careful here. >> i'm studies, for god's sake. tell me about this.

>> careful. you don't know your neos. so, listen, every year, i mean, there's also the dubai show, there's the singapore. there are really two big ones. farn sw farnborough. they alternate biannually. what happens is all the airlines save up their orders and tend to be announced during this period. now, last year it was the narrow aisle, the a-320s, which is exactly not the plane you're looking at there. that is the mammoth a-380 super jumbo, the airbus. but the point is, so far this year at farnborough, it has been boeing that's been making the running, because they've been out with the 737 max and they seem to be selling like hot cakes. we had a big order yesterday from air lease, another big order today from the leasing companies. what does it all mean? it means that the airlines, particularly the u.s. carriers,

are having to buy new planes. they're having to buy new fuel efficient fleets, and the airplane makers, boeing and airbus, are celebrating to try to get as many of the orders as possible. >> tell us about the figure that boeing actually said. they said somewhere in the range of $9 billion in deals. is that right or is that just what they're projecting? >> oh, word that they could make that sort of money. what they are saying is that at list price that, listen, when did you last buy a motor car, suzanne, where you paid the catalog price? every time at air shows, you see these, we saw $43 billion worth of planes and airbus will say, we sold $45 billion worth. and somebody else tells you they paid $100 billion. the truth is, all these companies, if you're buying planes by the dozen, you get a hefty discount. now, one of the great games in

the business is to try and work out how much they paid. i've asked again and again. every time somebody says they bought planes by the dozen, i asked them how much they paid and it is one of the greatest secrets. only a few people in the airline or the plane makers know the real price. >> tell us why, richard, there's actually a delegation from alabama at this show? >> very simple. alabama is the home of airbus' new factory or assembly plant. they will be building the a-320 neo. by the way, neo stands for new engine option. they're really witty, these people, when they come up with these names. the a-320 neo. and they're taking it right into boeing's home territory. boeing already builds, as we know, in the carolinas with the new plant. it builds in washington stand with both everett and renton. it has production facilities all over the u.s. now airbus is saying, well, hang

on, we are going to build, assemble four planes a month actually on boeing's home turf. it's in alabama. they got a great deal. the alabama delegation is up for it. >> all right. hopefully you'll meet a couple of folks there, the alabama contingency. richard, nice to see you. >> thank you. this war lord used child soldiers and turned them into killers. well now he's in prison but he's only going to serve a part of his sentence. we're going to explain why.

he sent children to kill and be killed into a war that left some 60,000 people dead in a democratic republic of congo. today, he has learned his fate. the international criminal court in hague sentenced thomas labonga to 14 years from this. david kenza is joining us from kenya. we're talking about a 14 year prison sentence. minus six years he's already served. do we think this is going to be something that will satisfy folks if he is out in, say, eight years from now? >> reporter: well, certainly if he shows up in the eastern congo after eight years, wouldn't satisfy anyone in this case. but on the flip side of that, suzanne, this was the first time

international criminal court successfully prosecuted a case of war crimes. just to go over these heinous crimes, though, suzanne, he was in charge of a group that recruited child soldiers, girls and boys younger than 15 to go in and fight for his personal gain. an awful ethnic cleansie ining incidents in eastern congo and the volatile border regions of central africa. those children were often drugged. they were given alcohol. they didn't know what they were doing. also allegations that he ordered those children tortured if they didn't do these crimes. those allegations weren't proven, in fact. that's one of the reasons the judge says they're not going for the full 30 years that the prosecution asked for, suzanne. the judge also said criticizing heavily the former prosecutor who's in charge of this case that he spoke to the media saying statements that were untrue and, in fact, withheld evidence from the defense.

so, you know, now the new prosecutor says they might try and appeal this case to try and get more justice as it were for the victims of these awful crimes. >> david, this is the first time you mentioned that the international tribunal has sentenced a convicted war criminal. why is that the case? >> reporter: well, they've been in existence for ten years. there have been other international courts, but this is the first one in the hague and the netherlands, suzanne, which is really set up to try the worst, most egregious cases of crimes against humanity. genocide, war crime, recruiting child soldiers. and these crimes have gone on in the world, obviously, since time immemorial. now this institution was set up to try these victims, to try these perpetrators and to give justice to the victims. ten years, one prosecution. that's a long time and a very low batting average as it were for criminal court. the prosecution has said that these are complex cases, that

they don't have a police force. it's not like a normal court which can send out an arrest warrant with the police force to get someone who's a control. often these criminals or alleged criminals are senior members in government. case in point, omar al bashir, the president of sudan, who has traveled widely in africa and hasn't been picked up in countries even like kenya where i'm standing right now which is party to the laws which means they should have picked him up and sent him to the hague. powerful people doing terrible things. the international court doesn't have the clout, many say, to bring them to justice. but at least this is a first step. >> all right. david mackenzie, thank you. appreciate it. egypt is known for its tourism, beautiful pyramids, camel rides, sightseeing. of course. the bread and butter of the country. tourism is now down. we're going to head to luxor to see if visitors actually feel safe. adjusting to city life was hard for me. and becoming a fulltime indoor cat wasn't easy for atti.

but we had each other and he had purina cat chow indoor. he absolutely loved it. and i knew he was getting everything he needed to stay healthy indoors. and after a couple of weeks, i knew we were finally home! [ female announcer ] purina cat chow indoor. always there for you. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow indoor. our current dividend tax rate will expire this year, sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery.

the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike -- for all of us.

back to our top story. "newsroom international." the power struggle in egypt between newly elected president mohamed morsi and the military took another step today. morsi made the courageous decision to call parliament back into session. and that directly was defying the military and its action to dissolve the assembly in june. we're joined by phone from luxor, egypt, and we know this is a very popular tourist

destination. i've been there before. lots of people who enjoy the pyramids and that kind of thing. what are you seeing when you talk to people there? >> reporter: well, hi, suzanne, how are you good evening, first of all. i have to tell you, i've talked to the people here and i started in cairo asking the question, how do you feel about the decision morsi made? most of the people i've spoken to are very angry. they're distrustful of the president that they say took an oath two weeks ago to obey the laws and turns around and ignores the high court ruling. many are asking if there will be no consequences if they decide to ignore the laws of the land. others actually believe there are backroom deals being cut by the muslim brotherhood and supreme council of the armed forces. there's plenty of heated dialogue everywhere that i go. and a lot of division along religious lines. something they say is more evident since the election. there was a 30-year-old, the only one i could find that supports morsi and he says he's frustrated. that egyptians are being too critical and he wants them to

support morsi and allow him to fulfill some of the promises he made. he said that president morsi said give him 100 days in office and here they are, you know, in his second week in office and they're not giving him an opportunity. >> zoraida, talk about 18 months of political upheaval driving the economy into the gutter. you've been to some of these tourist spots. what are the tourists saying? are they worried about their safety? what are the egyptians saying about the fact people aren't showing up anymore? >> reporter: that's a serious crisis. i sat and talked to a bunch of the tour guides just today and that's the one thing they do agree on, that something needs to be done about tourism in this country. they think that it's an unfounded fear. they think that we in the media have portrayed this as a place that is unsafe to travel to. and they said nothing could be further from the truth. they said there's a time to travel to egypt, it would be now. and i will attest to the fact that everywhere i have gone, there have been no lines, no waiting. i can get into all of the int k

intechties without any problems. the access is unprecedented right now. also, there seems to be a greater regard for the safety of tourists. you know, you go around, and today actually i saw armed guards in one of the tourist attractions. they say that really is the crisis here and at the end of the day they really would love their president to do something about that. you know, the population is over 85 million people. unemployment rate is at 20%. a starting salary in the government for people who graduate from college is 300 to 400 egyptian pounds. that's $60 or $80 u.s. dollars. they're in dire and desperate need of tourism to be at the forefront right now. >> zoraida, have you talked to the young people who are part of the uprising? why aren't they actively a part of this government? where do they go to? >> reporter: well, you know, they just kind of disappeared 37 actually, it was the elders that i talked to that are very disappointed in the young people because they said, you know what, they started this revolution which is great, right? it's led to, you know, the first

democratically elected president but they say, now where are they? why aren't they running for office? why aren't they represented in parliament? they would like to know that they are leaving a better country for their children. and so they're very frustrated with the youth. you know, they come out, they go to the protests but they said that youth are not taking an active role. >> zoraida, we appreciate your reporting. i know you're reporting and vacationing all at once. we'll have you back definitely. just keep us posted on what's going on over there. really appreciate it. >> reporter: yeah, it's been a great time. thank you very much, suzanne. >> all right. thanks. north korea known for its secre secrecy. we know very little about kim jong-un. when he steps out with this mystery woman by his side, people wonder, well, who is she? his sister, wife? maybe a lover? roc® retinol. found in roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum

to create retinol correxion® max. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold.

welcome back to "newsroom international." we take you around the world in 60 minutes. i want to take a look at what is trending globally right now. #darrell and #lea. darrell lea, a chocolate company there announced it's going into bankruptcy protection. hundreds of employees were blind sided by the news. the iconic company based in sydney has been around for 85 years.

it's also popular in new zealand. mystery woman has been spotted at the side of north korea's dictator seen here. she's been with him on several occasions. south korea media, they're speculating, is it his sister, wife, lover? we don't know much about kim jong-un. he is the young leader of north korea. he's believed to be in his late 20s. he took power after his father died raft yelast year. i want to bring in victor cha, author of the book "the impossible state: north korea past and future." thanks for joining us. we really appreciate it. we know the private lives of north korean leaders tend to be very secret. first of all, what do we know about this mystery woman? >> we know very little about her, suzanne. you know, based on these reports, looks like she's possibly a partner of his. don't know if she's a younger sister. my guess is that they wouldn't put her on display like this unless she was somehow closely tied to this fellow and possibly to the future of the regime.

>> if she is a wife or a partner, what does it say about the succession of the regime? do we know whether or not she would even play a part? >> i think, suzanne, they're putting together, like, bits and bits of pieces of this guy's leadership and the piece that's be missing is how he's going to carry on family name because there really are no more kims after this one. so if they are putting this person on display as his possible wife, that shows there is a determination to continue this hereditary succession long into the future after this generation as well. >> victor, this was interesting because this is a -- he's a relatively young guy here. it seems very lately he's been loosening up a little bit. so he now has said women are allowed to wear pants and platform shoes, earrings. he lifted the ban on french fries and pizza and hamburgers. making cell phones available. that kind of thing. allowing kids to go to the zoos and amusement parks. what do you make of all this? >> well, you know, i mean, the

optimist would say they're finally opening up, they're finally seeing the light of day and realizing they need to join the outside world. you know, it kind of reminds me a little bit about fiddling while rome is burning because this country is falling apart and little things like allowing women to wear pants or allowing kids to eat french fries are not going to solve their bigger probl problems, very clearly. so these, i think, are small steps that he's taking. they tend to be ones that you would associate with someone who's 29 years old. where it leads, nobody knows. >> we recently saw, victor, as well, kind of a weird thing, kind of a bootleg disney performance that occurred there and the fact he was giving away some cell phones, cell phone access outside of the country. is there reason for us to be optimistic? because as you say, there are some very serious problems there. >> yeah, you know, i think the whole bootleg disney thing, i mean, a part of it was it was a

children's day festival. the speeches we've seen with him have been with children. maybe he feels comfortable with younger people, particularly younger children. he isn't that old, himself. whether we can project from that about the future and whether there is a full-fledged reform taking pla, i really don't think, at least from people who have looked at this from the past 25 years, there's not a lot of hope there right now. if we were to see real economic change, that would be a real sign, but right now what we're seeing are very small steps, very piecemeal things that try to distinguish him from his dad in terms of leading. trying to show a youthful part to his leadership. but it's all a little bit strange, if you ask me. >> all right. we're going to keep a close eye on this. victor, thank you for helping give us a little more context here. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. she is famous for her platinum blond hair, black eye liner and of course her high end fashion line. now donatella versace is speaking out for the first time on tv about her brother's murder

and why it took her 15 years to return to the place she last saw him. the medicare debate continues in washington... ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say. get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org.

[ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends july 31st. versace, the name itself says high fashion. since the murder of gianni

versace, the icon who made the label famous with haute couture, the label has fallen on hard times until now. his sister, donatella, overcame the tragedy to rebuild the versace reputation. for the first time on tv she opens up about both while debuting at a paris hotel. alina cho has this exclusive backstage pass. >> reporter: it's nearly show time at paris' ritz hotel. why are they here? this is an event. how does it feel when you wear versace? >> you feel very sexy, very glamorous. >> reporter: they've come out for a fashion show. what will go down in history as donatella's return to the ritz. you never came back. >> it was too painful for me. >> reporter: painful because it was here at the ritz in july,

1997, that her brother, gianni, the man who started the versace label, showed his last collection. nine days later, he was gunned down on the steps of his miami mansion by andrew cunanan. >> after the show, two days after, i say good-bye to gianni at the ritz and never see him again. >> reporter: the two were as close as can be, she his muse, he the creative force. the man who popularized the notion of dressing celebrities for the red carpet. the first to pay high salaries to models creating the supermodel. when gianni was killed, donatella took over so the brand versace would live on. >> i need to find my own voice. >> reporter: there are highs and lows. j-lo in this versace gown brought a lot of attention. but the company lost money. donatella struggled with drug addiction. versace lost its way. then lady gaga came along.

♪ gaga opened versace to a whole new generation. young buyers who don't remember gianni versace. that gave donatella the courage to do a collection for h&m and ultimately gave her the strength to return to the ritz. >> i'm not afraid anymore. i'm not afraid anymore. >> reporter: and the clothes reminiscent of her brother's designs and yet all her own. >> no one knows a woman's body like donatella versace. >> i look at donatella as really like a hero in sort of a way. >> reporter: in 2011, versace became profitable again. emotionally, how do you feel? >> it's difficult, but i'm very happy. gianni would be very happy. >> reporter: alina cho, cnn. paris.

this is the week the major fashion houses show off their spectacular clothes. many of which sell hundreds of thousands of dollars. more with some of the world's top fashion designers the rest of the week on cnn. take a look at alina's special "backstage pass from paris." that is this sunday july 14th at 2:30 eastern. several stories caught our attention today. photos as with well. take a look an this. this boy cooling off in the fountain in athens. temperatures rocketed to 160 degrees in greece today. the heatwave there expected to be this intense for the rest of the week. while in the southern hemisphere it is winter. this group is stating at the ice skating rink. this is bondi beach. this is sydney. popular attraction during australia's annual winter festival. check this out. it's the running of the bulls in pamp loma, spain. people run for their lives in narrow streets.