true. >> pamela brown reporting for us. thanks everyone for watching. "around the world" starts right now. hello everyone. welcome to "around the world." i'm fredricka whitfield in for suzanne malveaux. >> and i'm michael holmes. thanks for your company today. first, word in just in the last few minutes, literally, look at pictures coming from southern beirut, lebanon. southern beirut is a stronghold of hezbollah, if you like. we don't know much about this explosion yet other than it has just happened. bodies have been seen according to some reports from witnesses being quoted on arab media. you can see there a large fire burning as well. there have, fred, this again you don't want to jump too far ahead, but hezbollah in the complicated patchwork that is the middle east has been involved in the civil war in

syria fighting on the government's side. the rebels said a month or two that if that involvement continued, they would strike hezbollah on their turf. again, we don't know the cause at the moment, but a large fire there. >> still unclear who's responsible, what the reason behind it. again, you mention this neighborhood, this suburb of beirut, is a stronghold of hezbollah. and you can see this taking place. clearly a lot of people around whether they're all trying to assist in any kind of rescues, or whether this just happened to be a busy -- a very busy portion of this community. we've seen that there have been ambulances on the ground there trying to respond. and you can see right there an awful lot of people who have come out to either assist or try to get some clarity as to what's taking place. >> and mohamed jamjoom is based in beirut for us. he joins us now on the line. not wanting to jump too far ahead, is this an explosion and

there are casualties, but it is a complicated political situation, not just in that part of the country but that part of the city. fill us in on what you know, mohammad. >> michael, we've gotten reports from hezbollah media office that just about half an hour ago there was a large blast in a southern suburb of beirut. this is a stronghold for the militant shiite group hezbollah. the spokesman i was talking to said that they believe there could be several casualties. they don't have a casualty count just yet. the television outlet for hezbollah has said there are at least nine wounded, two possibly critically. pictures show a very dramatic scene. a lot of devastation. huge plumes of smoke. many cars there set ablaze. nobody has yet claimed responsibility for this attack, but there was a similar attack in early july in the same neighborhood. and the consensus opinion that's

really starting to emerge at this hour here in beirut is that this was an attack directed at hezbollah because of their involvement in the syrian civil war. it's a very complicated story here how the syrian civil war is affecting lebanon. lebanon is a tiny country that neighbors syria. the sectarian lines in this country mirror the sectarian lines in syria. so it's a country that's really polarized as far as who supports president bashar assad and who is against him. and because hezbollah has sent in thousands of fighters to syria to support president assad, many sunni groups have become upset and many feel hezbollah has become a target because of their helping the syrian regime in the syrian civil war. as i said, nobody has yet claimed sponsibility. but the neighborhood where this happened is a very heavily guarded neighborhood. it's a hezbollah stronghold. there's fierce security there at

all times, especially now, especially after the attack that happened in july. so even though nobody has yet said they've done this, many people here wonder if possibly sunni militants could have been behind it, if possibly free syrian army brigades could have been behind it. there are many questions yet to be answered. the biggest question right now, were there any people killed in this attack, how bad is the devastation. and clearly just from the scenes that we're seeing on television here there is rising anger in that neighborhood. and one of the live scenes i saw moments ago there was a man that that had a rifle, shot it into the air. it looks like the mob was getting particularly angry because this happened. so a lot of worry in lebanon right now about this, if this will cause greater fallout. you have to remember one more thing, michael, this is a country that experienced its own brutal civil war for 15 years between the years of 1975 to 1990, it's very fragile, it's very fractious. when things like this happen here, many people worry that this could be a return to the dark days when violence really ruled this country in a way that

many people thought it never could. >> one hopes that does not happen again. mohammad jamjoom in beirut, thanks very much. we're monitoring this obviously a huge explosion. and the thing in lebanon too with its own sectarian divides and more than one, multiple sectarian divides in lebanon, peace there really is a veneer. it's sort of place when it's peaceful, it's beautiful and lovely. but it's a veneer that can crack at any time and often does. what mohammad's mentioning about the hezbollah fighters who actually literally physically fought in syria on the side of president bashar al assad, there were elements of the rebel forces wlo didn't just make a veil, they said if you keep this up we will strike at you on your turf. we don't know the cause of this one at the moment, but obviously eyes are going to be pointing in that direction. >> yeah, what if there's a connection or not, but again, this is the second similar kind of explosion taking place there in the same neighborhood in

southern beirut. we'll keep you posted. meanwhile this taking place while egypt is reeling from its bloodiest day since the 2011 revolution. and it is a crucial u.s. ally that is now commenting by way of its leader. we're talking about president obama now responding. >> yeah. the day after all that violence, i mean, we can say relative calm because it is a very tense day after the carnage and gunfire. [ gunfire ] >> u.s. facing a real dilemma over how to respond to the

crisis in egypt. just a short time ago president obama said egypt is on a dangerous path. >> yeah, he said the u.s. is canceling joint military exercises scheduled next month. those exercises take every two years and due to start next month. he also called for an end to the bloodshed. >> and to the egyptian people, let me say the cycle of violence and escalation needs to stop. we call on the egyptian authorities to respect the universal rights of the people. we call on those who are protesting to go so peacefully and condemn the attacks that we've seen by protesters, including on churches. we believe the state of emergency should be lifted, that a process of national reconciliation should begin. >> the crisis in egypt being compared to a hornet's nest. the u.s. trying not to stir it up too much because the u.s. not popular in that neck of the woods on either side of this conflict. the challenges are daunting. >> in fact, egypt gets about

$1.3 billion of u.s. taxpayer military aid each year, and it is the strongest arab ally in the region. >> yeah, wolf blitzer joining us now from washington to talk about the obama administration's diplomatic dilemma. the u.s. has of course tiptoed around calling this a coup, this overthrow. now we see the escalation in violence. what the president said at the end of the day really when it comes to those listening overseas, not much. >> well, the u.s. can speak to the egyptians at very high levels. and they've been trying to do exactly that over the past several weeks. it really hasn't made much of a dent apparently. what chuck hagel, the defense secretary, has been saying to the leader of the egyptian military general urging calm, clearly egyptian military wanted to go in yesterday and crush those demonstrators, those who supported the ousted president mohamed morsi. but at the same time there was some brutal violence on the streets. so there's limited u.s. options

right now. the president did not end u.s. military aid to egypt, certainly did not go that far. he didn't say it was a coup. he said, yes, there was military intervention that removed mohamed morsi, but he wasn't exactly all that democratic, the president suggested, he was taking steps that would avoid the inclusiveness, the full democracy that the u.s. wanted. he did go ahead and cancel next month's scheduled joint exercises, which sends a message to the egyptian military. those exercises supposed to go forward, as you know, every two years. and it does send a message, but certainly the president's trying to walk some sort of middle ground, not going too far but also expressing deep u.s. concern. >> i suppose when you look at the sub text here, wolf, that u.s. military aid, it isn't a check. it's mainly military hardware and it's u.s. contractors who get the actual dollars. and it also doesn't compare much when you look at egypt gets from

other gulf states, other arab nations. the u.s. gets blamed by both sides and really has a much reduced influence in the region anyway. is all of that fair, wolf? >> well, certainly you make a good point because since morsi was removed, the united arab emirates, kuwait, saudi arabia, they've really come forward and announced billions, maybe 10 or 15 billion worth of aid to egypt. they like getting rid of the muslim brotherhood leadership in egypt. they never liked getting rid of president mum bark. they thought the u.s. went too far making that point. the $2.3 billion in military aid is not compared to the other countries. having said that, the money does go to purchase f-16s for the egyptian air force, battle tanks for the army, other sophisticated equipment the egyptians get from the united states for free for all

practical purposes and these are state-of-the-art high-technology weapons which the military likes. and most of those top generals spent a lot of time in the united states other over the years training in the united states. so the one institution in egypt most closely aligned with the u.s. over the years is the egyptian military. >> all right. clearly the u.s. aid is just kind of a drop in the bucket compare today what saudi arabia and the uae are delivering and perhaps particularly in this conflict as we see it right now, wolf and michael, the use of jets really is irrelevant. >> but also i think -- and wolf can speak to that too, there's a political aspect of this, isn't there? that there's going to be a bunch of contractors who wouldn't be happy if that went away. good point. wolf, thanks so much. good to see you. the streets of cairo are relatively calm compared to recently. the government says it will stay in place for a month, it bans

people from gathering without permission and allows police to jail them indefinitely. >> the battle just got rid of similar laws. the egyptian health ministry says meanwhile 525 people were killed in the violence yesterday. more than 3,700 wounded. those numbers could rise. in fact, the muslim brotherhood estimates are much higher than that. they put on display there you can see about 100 bodies wrapped in blood-stained sheets at a mosque. they say those bodies have not yet been counted by authorities. >> and they say the protests will continue despite the bloodshed. one senior member of the islamist group says nothing will stop their "glorious revolution." so streets around cairo are littered with debris from the violence and chaos. and this all started when the egyptian security forces stormed two camps occupied by supporters of the ousted president mohamed morsi. >> yeah, frederik pleitgen joins us now.

fred, i know you've been out and about, you took some of those photographs at the mosque there of some of those bodies. give us a sense of where you were and what you're seeing. >> reporter: hi, michael. you're absolutely right. the mosque is actually right behind me. you're right, i was inside that mosque earlier today. and it is one of those places where a lot of those bodies were brought to. now, muslim brotherhood told us as many as 500 bodies were inside that mosque earlier today. when we were arriving we still saw well over 100, and a lot of them were charred, the cloths were all blood-stained. and there were a lot of people in there grieving. you could just tell that the tension in there was building as the time went by. so clearly those people there were grieving, but they were also very, very angry. the sense that you get here on the streets of cairo right now is that, yes, they are a little more quiet obviously than they were yesterday, but it seems as though the muslim brotherhood was in a state of, i would say chaos and disarray, obviously after those camps were taken

away by the military, after the military moved in with that crackdown. but now it seems as though they're regrouping. just a couple minutes ago you had a demonstration right in front of that mosque. there's still some of that going on. if we pan over there, there's a crowd gathering over there right now. they're actually carrying a body. if we stay on that you can see the crowd is carrying one of the bodies away out of that mosque right now. that's something we've been seeing quite a lot of is people going into the mosque, finding their loved ones and taking them away. it's going on constantly here. and you can feel these people regrouping. they're very, very angry. there was a demonstration of about 3,000 of them a little earlier today right here. so far we haven't seen the military move in here. i saw one military vehicle actually go through this area. it was immediately pelted with rocks. and the members of the military were firing in the air to clear the street. so as you can see a lot of tension. and of course also, michael, a lot of grief here in this part of cairo, which is of course a stronghold of the muslim brotherhood. and the people here of course are supporters of mohamed morsi.

michael. >> great sense of apprehension where you are, fred. thanks so much, frederik pleitgen on the streets of cairo. >> the crisis in egypt puts the u.s. between a rock and a hard place. >> ahead, we're going to be talking with "daily beast" columnist about the dilemma the u.s. faces in egypt. and meantime here in the u.s., the markets are shaky. so far today the dow dropped 200 points in early trading now standing at 15,150. we'll of course keep a close watch on your money throughout the day. >> meanwhile, here is more of what we're working on this hour for "around the world." some career advice for you. if you're going to solicit drugs while you're on twitter, don't do it while you're at work. >> oh, my goodness. that didn't stop one mechanic, or a once-mechanic in canada. and remember this image, who could forget one amateur's attempt to save a fresco of christ. >> here in the state has become a moneymaker. >> for her, right?

>> for her, yes.

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an aspiring mechanic in the toronto suburbs was so bored at work that he decided to go online and tweet a little bit and tweet about his need for weed. >> yeah, let's bring in paula newton to explain how a tweet, especially a really, really dumb one, can get you fired. >> you might be thinking how do we come up with this stuff, but no, it all happened. we're not going to name him. we're calling him the aspiring mechanic, which is what he called himself on twitter. he's at mr. lube car maintenance franchise in canada. he tweets, any dealers in vaughan want to make a 20 sac chop? two grams of marijuana for somebody who doesn't know, he's so efficient gives the address, come to keele langstaff mr. lube, need a splif or two to help. well, police basically one of the regional police forces outside toronto retweets it

adds, awesome, can we come too? so you can picture the guy at work starting to panic. and he starts to say, hey, i was just kidding, come on, don't you guys have something better to do with your time. well, no, the police decided this was serious enough that they called his employer and sure enough one of the last tweets from this gentleman is, just got the call of termination. >> oh, no. >> i have to say that before that mr. lube actually tweeted back to police and said thank you to york regional police for your help and great work. this matter has been handled. >> does he get charged with anything? >> he doesn't. this under many different jurisdictions it's quote/unquote a crime, but it was a public service message from police. i can tell you they get these tweets all the time. this was a specific incident. but i'm here to tell you my time as a security correspondent and the stuff i still follow, i'm in court looking at things police retrieve from twitter, facebook,

from your cell phone. look, people, it's not just the police tracking this, it's criminals tracking this. it's everyone that's tracking this. buddy, you should have just gone back to work and worked on the ford, as boring as that was. >> and keep some of your thoughts to yourself, hello? >> this is once in a while because it kind of spiralled out of control. i thought how nice mr. lube tweet the police. >> they should have charged him with stupid. thanks, paula. good to see you. paula newton in town. normally up north of the border for us. >> all right. we've got lots more straight ahead, around the world russia's new anti-gay laws more and more you're seeing signs like this. >> and getting out of the country to save her own children. license and registration please. what's this? uhh, it's my geico insurance id card, sir. it's digital, uh, pretty cool right?

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welcome back. gay rights supporters around the world are asking olympic athletes of the same sex to hold hands when they're in russia for the games next year. not as a show of affection but instead as a sign of protest

against that country's controversial new anti-gay laws. >> so under those rules no one is allowed to support gay rights or provide minors information about ho mo sexual relationships. but discrimination against gay people is nothing new in russia. listen to what a prominent russian television anchor had to say on a broadcast last year. >> translator: i believe it is not enough to impose fines on gays for engaging in the propaganda of homosexuality of adolescence, if they die of car accidents, they need to be burned for unsuitable to anyone's life. >> he said that, he insists though he was simply supporting medical guidelines designed to prevent hiv-men from donating blood or organs. many people say his comments are reflective of the increasingly dangerous atmosphere that does exist for gay people in russia

right now. >> an author of the best seller "the man without a face," the unlikely rise of vladimir putin, she's also a lesbian. and these new rules were so frightening to her she, her girlfriend and their three children fled russia for the u.s. masha is joining us now live via skype from cape cod. so, masha, anti-gay policies are nothing new in russia, but what is it about these most recent laws that frightened you so much that you decided you and the family need to relocate? >> it was something very specific. when the head of the parliamentary committee on the family said that they're going to create illegal mechanism for removing children from same-sex families, we realized it was time to get out. >> and so you actually said and correct me if i'm wrong, the atmosphere in russia at the moment reminds you of nazi germany, that's a very strong comparison. how so?

>> absolutely. putin is trying to mobilize his shrinking constituency against people who are different, against the other. and his logic goes like this, if people are protesting his regime, then they're protesting russia. if they're protesting russia, then they're enemies. if they're enemies, they're outsiders, they're foreigners. he links these protesters to the u.s. state department, he paints them as other. and the quintessential other that they have identified are gay and lesbian people. that's why we have become target number one. we're not going to be the only target of this campaign, but we happen to be the first target. and the clip you just heard is a perfect example of the kind of dehumanizing rhetoric that they're using to show people on the one hand that gays and lesbians are not human. and on the other hand that would pose a danger to the fabric of russian society. and that sort of thing is now on television day in and day out. that's another reason i feel like i need to take my kids out of russia, because they go to

school and the other kids at the school have been watching this stuff. so it's like they go to war every day even if they're going to a couple of the best schools in moscow. >> you started a very public protest campaign last year. were you not afraid that the attention from that would endanger you and your family as well? >> things have really changed in the last year and a half. and that's something when i look back on launching the pink triangle campaign, i really have to think about that. because, yes, i felt that by drawing attention to myself and my family i was doing the best i could to protect us. and i still think that coming out and being public is the best protection we have. no one has ever escaped attack by being quiet and by trying to slip under the radar. but i certainly had no idea it was going to become this dangerous, that things were going to change so much that i was going to start to feel myself like i am a person with a pink triangle rather than a

journalist or anything else. >> it's a very worrying situation. masha, thanks so much, journalist and author of "the man without a face: unlikely rise of vladimir putin." thank you for your time. >> thank you. on to the violence in egypt, it could have a significant impact on the economy right here in the u.s. >> we'll tell you how next on "around the world." ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice! ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪

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updating our top stories for you now as you saw at the top of the program, a large explosion shaking part of southern beirut. lebanon's national news agency now says three people are dead, 20 are wounded. >> this is what we're seeing on lebanese television station, the images you're looking at right now. fire and smoke and of course panic. the explosion happened in a part of the city known as a stronghold for the shiite group hezbollah. >> no word of claim of responsibility at the moment. some eyes turning to the rebels

in syria though. we're watching beirut for more details. we'll pass them on as we get them. meantime, the crisis in egypt could have a major impact on the u.s. egypt gets more than $1 billion a year in u.s. military aid. and it's strongest arab ally in the region. >> poll finds most americans don't want the u.s. to get too involved in this crisis. perhaps not surprisingly. in the united technologies national journal poll, only 16% say the u.s. should do more to end the unrest in egypt. 78% say that the u.s. should mostly stay out of it. >> the crisis in egypt puts the u.s. between a real rock and hard place diplomatically. today president obama warned that egypt is on a dangerous path. >> the president took time-out from his vacation on martha's vineyard to condemn the violence. >> while we want to sustain our relationship with egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot

continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back. as a result, this morning we notified the egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise, which was scheduled for next month. going forward, i've asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government. and further steps we may take as necessary with respect to the u.s./egyptian relationship. >> columnist with "the daily beast" joins us now from washington. good to see you. >> thank you. >> first of all, the u.s. doesn't have much options at this point. i mean, the money itself isn't really cash money, it's goods and u.s. contractors get the cash. >> we give them money to buy our stuff. >> and listening to the u.s. at the moment in the region anyway. so what can they do? >> well, in egypt, yes, leverage is limited. and it's true, the aid is almost

entirely to military. of the aid, only a couple a hundred million is nonmilitary, and we give them money to buy our stuff. so in a sense it's a subsidy to various companies and whatnot. but also keeps a lifeline open to the only people in egypt who now will return our calls who are the military. so i think president obama struck a pretty good balance there between interests and values by making it clear that this sort of thing offends our values. we don't approve of the way it was done. but at the same time he didn't propose anything sort of i think reckless as cutting off aid to egypt, which would be bad for the u.s. economy, bad for workers and corporations and would leave us with even less leverage than we have now, which as you say is limited. >> well, how bad would it be? hypothetically speaking, i mean, the president even said we want to sustain this relationship but. so if the u.s. were to go that far and say we're cutting off all ties, military assistance, financially, period, what do you

propose -- what do you suspect would happen? >> well, i think there are a couple things. first of all, apart from the economic hit that american companies and workers would take because most of that money as i say is given to them to buy our stuff, there would also be very difficult to influence the egyptians at all. and that money is connected directly to the israeli-egyptian peace treaty. so in as far as we care -- >> well, how influential is the u.s. being right now? >> well, everyone has little influence. egypt is sorting things out on its own. and i think that's the way it's going to be. and i think the united states has interests to protect. another thing that people forget about is preferential treatment for u.s. shipping in the canal. that's worth billions of dollars every year in money to the united states as well. so there are plenty of reasons to want to keep reasonable relations with egypt even when

we don't approve of what they do. let me remind you that president morsi did all kinds of outrageous things, like giving a constitutional declaration that gave himself monarchical powers. and there were casualties after the fall of mubarak and morsi and attacks on christians and whatnot and nary a word said. >> hussein, thank you. >> of course that's a mitch bigger stick the military aid the u.s. gives and as we say -- >> yeah. lots of goods and services really servicing the entire world in large part through that as well. >> sadly, the reality is when the u.s. speaks in the middle east now, not a whole lot of people listen. that's just a sad reality of changing diplomatic times. >> all right. perhaps you remember this. maybe if we show you the image you will definitely remember, yeah, that. that botched restoration of a

fresco in spain. >> guess what? now this artistic disaster is turning to fortune for the woman responsible. we got that story coming up next on "around the world." humans. we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back, offering exclusive products like optional better car replacement, where if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask an insurance expert about all our benefits today, like our 24/7 support and service, because at liberty mutual insurance, we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, so we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. plus, you could save hundreds when you switch, up to $423.

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how about turning a mistake into real cash money? >> i'd like to do that. an 81-year-old woman in spain is doing just that. her name is cecil ya jimenez and she is responsible for that, a botched fresco restoration. >> the fresco of christ unfortunately turned into a priest now being called "behold the monkey." jimenez is about to sign a very lucrative merchandising deal. >> unbelievable.

erin mclaughlin is joining us. >> that's right. it's been over a year since she unveiled that botched restoration to worldwide ridicule and laughter. the painting was pretty disfigured. so some people thought it was funny, but jimenez looks like is the one that's going to have the last laugh. the painting has since become something of a tourist attraction. over 70,000 people have been to see it in a tiny town in spain. and now a merchandising deal, according to spanish media reports, jimenez is said to ink next week will include cups and postcards and t-shirts. jimenez is expected to get 49% of the profits. >> wow. >> the rest will go to charity. >> that is a great deal. wow. she scored big time. >> wait until you see what she does with the mona lisa.

erin, thanks. good to see you. erin mclaughlin there. guess what, on the other side of the world, there is a shortage, another one hitting venezuela. >> there's a theme going on here. we told you about the toilet paper, now it's cars. we'll tell you what it is that has people paying more for used cars than new cars.

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welcome back. get this, if you're in the market for a car in venezuela,

well, join the cue. >> yeah. a long cue. they're in such short supply there, buyers of new cars are having to wait for years for deliveries. a used car in venezuela is actually more expensive than a brand spanking new one. >> it's hard to imagine. here's rafael romo to explain. >> take a look at this car dlip in venezuela. it's almost empty. used car dealers aren't doing much better either. vanessa vas kwez has been trying to buy a vehicle for weeks. she has the means to buy a car, but has not been able to buy one. >> translator: my car loan was approved two months ago. i went to two different car dealers to buy a vehicle, but they don't have any available. they said all they can do for now is put me on a waiting list. >> reporter: last year 130,000 cars were sold in venezuela compared to almost half a million six years ago. 500,000 is the annual number of vehicles that would satisfy

demand. a severe shortage of cars in venezuela has created a situation that defies logic. used cars are more expensive than new ones. those with cash in-hand are paying a lot more for a used car they can have right away as opposed to a new one that's nowhere to be found. >> translator: you not only have to pay for the cost of the vehicle, but also commission sellers. that's why the reason used vehicles are more expensive than new ones. >> reporter: many venezuelans have given up simply trying to buy a car, even those who owned one in the past. this woman says the current situation has forced her to ride the bus. >> translator: i always had a car, but now with the money i make, i can't get access to a vehicle. it's impossible for me. not to mention that as a teacher i haven't seen a raise in seven years. >> reporter: in an effort to address the problem, venezuelan president nicola maduro approved a law that says a used car can't be sold for more than 90% of the value of the same car when it's

new. >> translator: we need to end the speculation of cars affecting venezuelans. we can't allow that a used vehicle costs twice, three, or four times as much as the same new vehicle. >> reporter: opposition leaders say the government is not the solution, but the problem. socialist policies that have scared away investors along with the currency exchange that makes it almost impossible to buy new cars abroad, they say, have brought both production and vehicle imports to a screeching halt. >> rafael romo joins us now to talk about this. this is becoming a regular thing. we were talking about toilet paper shortages. what's going on now? tell us about the expenses and how it all works economically. >> from the perspective of the opposition, it comes down to the same problem, control of access to foreign currency. a lot of these carmakers need auto parts that cannot be bought in venezuela. they need dollars. the government has a very tight control on dollars. so that discourages production.

the other problem is, and i was reading about this today is that they have a tight control as well on prices of cars. they're fixing the prices of cars, which means that production is going to be discouraged. nobody's going to want to make a car that costs less than it costs to produce. it's just a roundabout problem. >> how messed up is the economy? >> it is bad. inflation is 20%, last year was 40%. and this is obviously not helping the situation. >> all right. rafael, what next from you on shortages in venezuela? we've done toilet paper, cars, what else? >> thanks, rafael. a world class competition going on right now and the champion is not there. >> she's won the gold and has a world record, but the ruling committee says her sport is for people more disabled than she may be. victoria ireland's heartbreak and her fight to stay in the

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all right. in the swiss alps we're now hearing about tragedy. we're talking about a british stuntman who has died after a wingsuit jump from a helicopter. >> yeah, you may not know his name, but you'll remember what he did. his name is mark sutton. he did that james bond

appearance, that stunt at the 2012 summer yoolympics in londo remember the start of the telecast there. >> yes, well, police believe he crashed into a mountain just 20 seconds after the jump. sutton and another jumper were videotaping the feat for an extreme sporting company. >> early reports say he did have a parachute but it was for landing and he never had time to open it anyway when things went awry. an investigation is underway. mark sutton is just 42 years old. happening in montreal it's world championship for swimming for paralympics. >> and one of the most dominating figures in her sport, held a world medal and is paralyzed from waist down. >> but she was told she cannot take part because of something about her disability.

>> cnn international broadcast visiting from london doing your time here at hq. this is a very sad story. tell us how we came to this point. >> it is sad because remember winning a gold, setting a world record, only 18, got a bubbly personality, very good looking girl. but as i said the international paralympics committee said she can't because her condition isn't necessarily permanent. now five independent medical experts say because she could recover at some stage, her disability is not considered permanent. >> would her medals be in jeopardy then? >> no, she's going to keep all her titles and her records. but she's obviously devastated. on her facebook page she said i'm so heartbroken, i feel numb and completely shocked, being penalized for maybe have a glimmer of hope of one day being able to walk again is beyond sad. >> that seems ridiculous. it's got to be a permanent disability to qualify even if you are unable to walk and you're in a wheelchair.

that just seems absurdly unfair. a couple senators got involved. did that do any good? >> it won't do any good. that letter, the open letter from two senators, but the ipc president, phillip craven, said this could be reviewed if it is termed permanent in the future. and because she's such a famous athlete, it's caused a bit of a stir. >> it's one thing if you're not that disabled or disabled enough at the time of the competition, but they're saying just in case she gets better at some future point. >> i wonder what kind of ripple-effect there might be. whether par athletes, if there was a glimmer of hope, does that disqualify me from any international competition? >> everyone's affected. the whole classification is being looked at in general. >> that seems terribly unfair. alex, good to have you in town.

alex thomas there. all right. let's take a look? what are we going to do now? we're going to take a look at a break. why don't we do that instead. >> take a look at that break. we'll be right back. >> very good break.

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i thought he was symbol something. >> he can be that symbol of greatness. now he's taking a very huge step after saying not too long ago that the internet is completely over, his words, not mine. >> yeah, yeah, anyway, mr. prince -- can i just call you prince? he's just taken a major step. he is tweeting and there is the first one. prince's first tweet, testing, one, two. >> like an audio test. >> and caps, he's yelling at me. >> that's right. he'll soon go to lower case, maybe. his second tweet rather creat e creative, maybe. prince, prince's second tweet. there it is. >> and then he tweeted some food. and a sort of stealthy -- >> well, and the food. >> somebody scolded him on internetiquet internetiquette. a lot of people on twitter but

now that he's joined, the internet isn't officially over. >> that's right. because he's officially now on twitter. >> tweeting. >> it's official now. >> pamela brown, she tweets. >> i do. you know, it's baby steps. i remember when i first started tweeting. >> scares me. i've seen people commit twittercide. i do it a little. >> i think i'm still kind of baby steps. >> yeah, i'm still learning. it's a work in progress. thank you, guys. i'll take it from here. "news room" starts right now. this is cnn "news room," i'm pamela brown in for suzanne malveaux. thanks so much for being here with us on this thursday. and we begin with an eye on the markets. take a look here, the dow is down sharply. it plunged 200 points in early trading and is now down 194. we'll have a live report from the new york stock exchange just