-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com a rocky ride on wall street. the dow plunges more than 300 points monday. today is looking better. what it means for your money and your 401(k), straight ahead. plus, russia's president arrives in sochi to see for himself how prepared the city is to hospitt the winter games. a live report coming your way. and reports of barrel bomb attacks in syria. drums packed with shrapnel destroying entire buildings with just one hit. welcome to "around the world" i'm suzanne malveaux. >> i'm michael holmes. thanks for your company. we're now two-and-a-half hours into trading on wall street. investors have been hoping for a bit of a bounceback after monday's nightmarish finish. the dow dropped, of course, what was it, 300 points. >> 300 points. retirement savings, as well, felt the pain. want to take a look at the big board right now. stocks so far are up. we're talking 97 points. the analysts say the market would show some life if there

was at least some good economic news. we want to bring in our experts here. alison kosik and richard quest. alison, let's start with you first. good economic news today. microsoft, michael kors saying the shares going up. >> earnings may be part of it, suzanne. to be quite honest, the gauge you're seeing, really not based on anything. this is really just the normal bush and pull of the market, especially after a huge selloff like what happened yesterday. sure, the dow is up another 100 points today. but it's nowhere near making up at 300-plus point loss yesterday. and then you look at how it's been so far this year. we're just one month in. the dow is already down 7% this year. overseas, at least for japan's nikk nikkei, dropped 4%. the nikkei is actually in a correction. that's a 10% decline from recent highs. and that's where some -- some say that's where we're headed. but they say, listen, it sounds

bad, but it's really healthy for the market, because it keeps bubbles from forming. suzanne? >> yeah, it's a good point. what about the traders? speaking on the floor there, what are they telling you? >> you know, they're calm about this. but at the same time, they're also a little pessimistic, worried about all of the weak economic data we've gotten over the past month. here is how one analyst put it. listen. >> early weak jobs number and payroll back into december. so the ism number coming in much below expectations, causes a little bit of fear that maybe it's not just a blip in one month of underperformance for the economy. potentially could be long-lasting. >> so the thinking is that stocks at this point are catching up with the economy, and what a tough year it's been to give reason for stocks to catch up. look at corporations reporting fourth quarter earnings. they have been issuing weak forecasts about the road ahead. december's job number was really, really weak. manufacturing is slowing. so you've got all this happening, plus you've got the

fed pulling stimulus money, really a support system, out of the economy and out from under the market. >> yeah. exactly. richard, let's bring you in, mr. quest. the dow didn't just have a lousy monday. 7% down this year. but i suppose last year was a good year. let's keep it in perspective. what -- how do you see it all? >> i think you have to put it into the perspective of last year being a very strong one, 25, 26% up. and what we would traditionally expect to see is the so-called correction. and the correction is a fall of, say, up to 10%. 10% tends to be the barometer. above 10%, and you move into different areas. now what perhaps might be a little heart-stopping and giving of indigestion is the way in which it's been done. we haven't just seen 50 points off there, over a short period of time, you're seeing triple digit losses. and that in itself, michael, is a reflection of the new volatility that's come into the market as a result of high

frequency trading, as a result of all sorts of different mechanisms of trading and stock markets. so we are seeing a new breed of stock market, but it is the same old rules, which says basically after a very sharp run-up, you're going to get a correction. >> and richard, what does this mean? how big a hit are people going to take when it comes to the retirement accounts because of all of this, this volatility? >> well, nobody should be looking at this and getting unduly upset. because, of course, the nature of a retirement account is that you balance it over the lifetime of the account. so from high equity levels at the beginning, when you can take more risk, to more bonds and more secure investments, when you're going to need it. your investment, your i.r.a., your 401(k), they are long-term investment vehicles that you just tweak every now and again. they are not the sports car racing of left and right and left and up and down.

it's the exact opposite. all you're doing with your retirement investing is just little fine bit of tuning to account for broader economic movements. >> swings and round-abouts. >> well, we are watching the skpebs flows of this. >> yes, and here's the problem. that's exactly the problem. you're watching and you're doing on an hour-by-hour basis. you know, oh, lord, my 401(k) is, you know, $250 less than it was 25 minutes ago. or whatever. and that's -- over time, with a financial adviser, you decide to rebalance the portfolio. what you don't do is sell into a down market, unless you absolutely, totally must. and there is no option, have to. >> knee-jerking. yeah, you're right. i was saying to alison, you go back a couple years, this is still a pretty good market. got to leave it there. richard quest. >> he makes a good point. hard not to watch. but it is the long-term that

ultimately makes the difference. >> exactly. if you're in your late 50s and pushing towards retirement, you move it into bonds and things that are less volatile. >> if you're younger, you're still watching. >> like you. still in your 20s -- i don't know. >> we're watching this, as well. three days away from the opening ceremonies of the winter olympics in sochi, russia. russian president, vladimir putin, we saw him today. he's now at the black sea resort where he met today with the international olympic officials. >> there you go, right there. the list of negatives, though, going into the olympics. it's still there. we're talking about things like security concerns. there are also unfinished hotels, one of our own crew members had an unfinished hotel room, and also those anti gay -- >> it could explain. >> nearly half of the americans, sochi was a bad choice for winter olympics. but some say it was a good choice. want to bring in our senior international correspondent, nick paton walsh from sochi.

you've been there for days and weeks, nick. does it surprise you, first of all, that people are wary of sochi as a venue? >> reporter: not enormously. this place five years ago was in a real state. there has been a huge project just to get it ready to here. you can hear behind me helicopters. three of them that have been doing circles for white a lot of the afternoon. could be because vladimir putin has arrived. as for the anxiety being in the north caucasus in southern russia, pretty much the exception. there has been balance across the east of the caspian sea for a decade now. not the most calm choice. then the big obvious, glaring question. this is one of the only places in russia that doesn't have snow during winter. why would you bring winter games here, suzanne. >> yeah, they stacked some up. stored it from last winter. they're going to be using some of that, apparently. mr. putin, he's never one to shy

away from a photo op. this video of him with leopards. what is that all about? >>. >> reporter: well, at least this one he kept his shirt on. leopard rehabilitation center. went to a leopard rehabilitation center. you can see him in some of these pictures stroking some of the cubs there. i understand from state media, they haven't all been named. the 6-month-old is called thunder. this is a place very dear, first place he went to since getting off the plane. so a big deal for him, clearly. and obviously, it's about showing the soft side. there has been ecological criticism of this site, the damage done to the hillside, perhaps by coming up to a leopard, showing you're not afraid of nature's most savage elements and at the same time want to protect the vulnerable, as well. >> what is a leopard rehabilitation center? what is the point of that? >> reporter: well, across the

former soviet union, there are different types of leopard, which have been in danger for some time. i understand there are some from a gas-rich nation in central asia and others too. brought here, allowed to breed. sometimes released back into the wild. i mean, the snow leopard of siberia, very rarely seen. not seen for almost decades, i think, correct me if i am wrong. but obviously this particular wildlife resort, a bid for the kremlin to show, the softer, jovial side of putin. people talking about security and corruption, rather than the soft, furry animals. >> a different kind of picture he wants to put out. >> as nick pointed out, at least he kept his shirt on. >> nick, thank you. good to see you as always. here's also what we're working on for "around the world." another snowstorm headed to the northeast, a second in just a week. we're going to tell you how much snow to expect to hit. amanda knox's ex boyfriend

says the jury only thinks he's guilty because he was boyfriend. not because of evidence. hear him speak out about his new murder conviction. and this guy says he was lost at sea for more than a year. well now this castaway is speaking out for the first time about his ordeal. surviving on his boat. >> translator: i did not think i would die. i thought i'm going to to get out. i'm going to make it. be strong. [ woman #1 ] why do i cook? because an empty pan is a blank canvas. [ woman #2 ] to share a moment. [ woman #3 ] to travel the world without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. whatever the dish. make it delicious with swanson. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again.

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if you can believe that. from wyoming east to maine to d.c., all the way up the east coast. >> unbelievable. just keeps on coming. i don't think that's the last, either. snow not the only problem. there is also going to be a lot of ice. that's what i hate. that's for large parts of virginia in particular. jennifer gray joining us from the weather center. jen, folks are just recovering from the other storm. >> i know. >> when is this going to hit? >> crazy. it will not let up. they get one or two days oh to breathe and then another one on its way. and it's already starting to come together here, wichita, kansas city, springfield, st. louis, all getting snow. ice for most of arkansas arc. look at all of these winter storm warnings in effect. we have ice storm warnings in effect for the ohio valley that does include the northeast. again, new york city, boston, you are going to get it again. and that is going to be be on wednesday. let's show the snow accumulation. this is through wednesday morning. and you can see st. louis, indianapolis, pittsburgh. we could see 6 to 8, 8 to 10

inches in some places. and then this is the ice accumulation. look, it includes places like cincinnati, pittsburgh, we could see 3/4 of an inch of ice. you know what happens, those power lines really get weighed down, could see power outages. then the storm moves over to the northeast. throughout the day on wednesday. by wednesday evening, we could see up to a foot of snow outside boston, albany, new york city. not quite as much. could see 4 to 6 inches. we're also talking about ice accumulation with this storm in the northeast, as well. and so when we're looking at half an inch of ice possible in places like new york city and up the i-95 corridor, guys, travel this weekend is -- or travel the middle part of the week, wednesday, is going to be really, really tough. >> wow. i mean, you know, i'm always counting on you for my travel. can you travel to d.c. over the weekend? >> i would go early, because we're going to be talking about another system moving through this weekend. the end of the weekend. so they just keep coming, one

after another. >> wow. amazing. it's great, isn't it? when you want to go somewhere, all you have to do is ask jen. >> and then we get stuck. you've got no excuse. >> thank you, jen. appreciate it. a story we have followed for some time. amanda knox. her ex-boyfriend, that unanimous right there, says he's returned to italy to fight the new murder conviction that he and amanda knox face. his name is raphael. he and amanda knox were found guilty for a second time of murdering meredith kercher in 2007. he got 25 years in prison. amanda knox got 28 1/2 years. prosecutors said they and a third man who is actually in jail for the crime killed meredith kercher because she refused to take part in a sex came. >> he has always said he's innocent, and last night told anderson cooper he has been

unfairly targeted simply because he was knox's boy friend at the time of the murder. >> you all know that the focus was only to amanda. to her behavior, to her peculiar behavior. but whatever it is, i'm not guilty for it. why does it come with me? why do you put me on the corner and say that i'm guilty, just because in their minds i have to be guilty because i was her boyfriend? is -- it doesn't make any sense to me. >> do you hold amanda knox responsible for the situation you're in now? >> actually, they -- they focused all their attention on her. and i don't -- i cannot understand really why. but on the other side, i am not responsible for that.

so i'm not -- i'm not saying that amanda is responsible for all of this situation. but they focus on her, and they accuse her all of the time. but i have nothing to do with all the circumstances and all of the accusations. >> knox is, of course, back in the u.s. in seattle. she says she would never willingly go back to italy. and there is an appeal process under way. >> watching that. buckingham palace just announced queen elizabeth will visit with pope francis. the two will meet in the vatican and accompanied by prince phillip. they were invited by italy's president and will have a private lunch with him before their audience with the pope. how nice is that? >> that is exciting. with, how did he make it? that man there showing up on the pacific island, the marshall islands, claiming he had been adrift for more than a year. well now he's talking about how he survived on the open water

for so long. that story coming up.

if this is true, it would be an amazing story of survival, would make a heck of a book or movie. this is this fisherman from mexico, claims he spent 13 months adrift in his boat in the pacific ocean after a storm blew him off course. >> he says he survived on turgs turtles, birds, rain water and faith. authorities in the marshall

islands say at the moment they've got no reason to doubt his story. they can't prove he was wrong. rafael romo with more details. >> translator: he speaks slowly and makes long pauses between words. he's visibly weak and complains of constant headaches. speaking exclusively to cnn in the marshall islands, 37-year-old jose alva registrationo says he was caught in a violent storm on a small fishing boat off the mexican pacific coast. they got lost, he says, just before christmas 2012. >> translator: i didn't think i was going to die. i always thought i was going to make it out alive. i told myself, i had to remain strong. >> reporter: the castaway says he survived by eating fish and turtles he caught while his teenage companion, who he says, refused to eat, died four weeks into the drift. weeks turned into months and his

initial resolve, he says, quickly started to fade. >> translator: twice. i thought a couple times about killing myself. i grabbed the knife. when food and water ran out, i got depressed and would contemplate killing myself. >> reporter: authorities are trying to determine if the story is true. the trip from the west coast of mexico across the pacific to the national islands is roughly 5,600 miles or 9,000 kilometers of open ocean. although such an amazing ordeal isn't unheard. three mexican fishermen survived a similar journey in 2006. in an interview in his hometown in el salvador, his parents said they never lost hope. >> translator: my heart would tell me that my son was not dead. but i would think about it so much, that i had started to lose faith. >> reporter: his father says he felt all along that his son was alive. >> translator: god willing, my son is not dead. god willing, my son is alive and we're going to see him again one day. i'm very happy after learning that he's alive and that we will have him back home soon.

>> reporter: he hasn't seen his family since he left to work in mexico eight years ago. last time he saw his daughter, she was 4 years old. there are still many questions about how a man could survive by himself for more than a year in the open sea. when asked about what kept him alive, he raises his right hand, points up and says -- it was my faith in god. >> rafael romo joins us. we talked about this yesterday. we were all very skeptical yesterday. and -- but seeing your story, you say you're a -- it's more believable this go-round. what changed your mind? >> he gave us a 30-minute interview. and you can hear -- first of all, he's very weak. there's long pauses between words. and at some point, he was like, i have this headache. so he's not -- even though he doesn't look emaciated, he is definitely not 100% recovered. number two is that his story seems to match what he had

originally. so he's been consistent. and based on a case we were talking about before, 2006, that it took three fishermen nine months to get from the coast of mexico to the marshall islands, it's entirely possible that somebody would survive for that long. there are still many questions, and yes, of course, people are very well within the right to question his story. but i guess personally, i have moved from complete skepticism to a point where i can say it's possible. it could have happened. >> maybe. >> yeah, it could have. yeah, it could have, too. no, you're right. and he not going anywhere yet, recovering for a bit, eventually, hopefully back home. >> still being treated in the marshall islands. it's probably going to take about a week before he leaves that pacific nation. >> all right. raphael, thanks for that. r rafael romo. >> good news and bad news in the world of politics. it depends who you are, where you sit. hillary clinton or chris christie. we're going take a look at the new numbers, up next. i always say be the man with the plan

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president barack obama is getting out of the white house today. he's out and about, trying to push the domestic agenda. he's been at a maryland middle school talking up the new connected program, designed to expand internet access in schools. >> some of america's leading tech companies are pledging about $750 million towards that effort, which includes expanding bandwidth and providing tablets and laptop computers.

>> technology can help. it's a tool. it's just one more tool. so today the average school has about the same internet bandwidth as the average american home. but it serves 200 times as many people. think about it. so you've got the same bandwidth, but it's a school. it's not your house. only around 30% of our students have true high-speed internet in the classroom. >> and this afternoon, the senate is expected to pass the long-awaited farm bill. it is nearly $1 trillion -- that's with a t -- dollars. while called the farm bill, more like a food bill. it sets eating and farming policy, including what we grow and what you know about your food. >> yeah, it's controversial in some areas. some key provisions of this bill include the $80 billion food stamp program. it continues, but will be cut by 1%. that's going to impact some

families. farmers are going to get cheaper government crop insurance and meat and chicken sold in the u.s. will now include details on where it is from, where it's slaughtered and processed. and in politics, what a difference actually two months can make, although it's changing constantly here. let's face it, a new cnn poll says that new jersey's governor chris christie's numbers have faded, hillary clinton have increased. so in a possible 2016 match-up, and we are talking about 2016 -- >> i know. >> a couple years away. christie trails. among registered voters nationwide. two months ago, christie led by two points. >> now for the gop nomination, former arkansas governor, mike huckabee, familiar name there, 2008 candidate, he is on top of the list. 14% of republicans and independents who lean towards the gop say they would likely support huckabee if he runs.

senator rand paul second at 13%. christie tied with former florida governor jeb bush, with 10%. >> all right. so we've got to bring in wolf to talk about all of this, to make sense of all of these poll numbers. and wolf, you know, it's a little ways away from the election. but what do you think of this? do you think that the numbers indicate that christie is being hurt more by the scandal than clinton is with her problems with the fallout of benghazi? what do we make of this, back and forth? >> among the republican base, certainly among independents, and potential democrats who might switch and vote for christie, his numbers have really gone south over these past few weeks since the so-called bridgegate scandal erupted. he's in trouble if he wants to run for the republican presidential nomination. he was pretty good shape a couple months ago. now not so much. we'll see how he does in the course of the next several months as this investigation, the u.s. attorney in new jersey looking into this scandal. see what evolves. last night, as you know, he was firm in insisting he knew nothing about it, unequivocal.

kept referring to that word. as far as hillary clinton is concerned, among the democratic base, some of those other so-called scandals, whether benghazi, some of these other issu issues, don't seem to be hurting her at all. by far, she is the front runner. certainly hers to lose if, and still a big if, if she decides to run once again for president of the united states. she is way ahead of the field right now. look at those numbers right now. 70% among democrats' choice. and remember, we're two years away from the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary in january and february of 2016. so there is still a ways to go. but she's in pretty good shape. >> i suppose a week is a long time in politics. goodness knows what could happen over the next two years as this all shakes out. when you look at a number like that, wolf, 70%. that is extraordinary. what message does that send to the other potential democratic candidates? you know, biden, martin o'malley, cuomo? those sorts of names? what is the message to them? >> it gives them serious pause.

if they -- if they are thinking of running for the democratic presidential nomination, because it would be a huge challenge, they would face. having said that, at this point, in the 2007-2008 cycle, the junior senator from illinois, barack obama, he wasn't even up there. he wasn't registering at all, because nobody was focusing in on him as a potential democratic -- it was only later in the year, in 2006, that he started to make some moves and formally begin to move towards an announcement. look, there is it still a long way to go. politics is a crazy business, as all of us know. so let's see what happens. and one of the wild cards i keep referring to this, because it's something we should pay attention. she is in great shape right now, hillary clinton. but she did have a health scare a year or so ago when she had a blood clot in her brain. let's just see how her health is. if she is healthy and strong, she will run. she still would like to be, i have no doubt, the first woman president of the united states. >> yeah. and great point too, wolf, on barack obama not even on the

radar at this point when he was about to run. so good context, as always, wolf blitzer. thanks so much. >> thank you, wolf. we are watching this, as well, horror scenes from neighborhoods on the front lines of the civil war in syria. activists say that barrels packed with explosives have been raining down from military aircraft. we've got a live report on the devastation, straight ahead. for safe, effective relief

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just some horrible images coming out of syria. this after the government's latest air raid. this is happening in aleppo. we've talked about these things before. of but they are particularly nasty weaponry, barrel bombs, packed with explosives. and dropping down on a major

city. >> on rebel-held areas of aleppo, human rights groups say more than 150 people have been killed in that northern city, just in the past three days alone. mohamed jab june has the details. we have to warn you, some is hard to watch. >> reporter: dread and helplessness in the terrifying aftermath of a bombing. a little girl's body is pulled from the rubble. scenes like this too shocking to comprehend, too agonizing to process, have become almost common in aleppo. the results of barrel bombs, activists and medics tell cnn, though there is no way to independently verify their claims. in the video here, traumatized residents scramble to find survivors. one young girl's leg sticks out from the rubble. no one knows if she is alive or dead. then, a sign of hope. she moves her feet.

they dig her out alive. tragically, activists say, she died later at the hospital. they say this sickening documentation proves yet again how war crimes are committed by the regime of al assad and barrel bombs one of his cruelest weapons. drums packed with explosives and shrapnel delivering death and destruction from above. they can level entire buildings with one hit, as activists say they did here. the regime maintains it is only targeting terrorists and rejects war crime allegations. in aleppo, since saturday, activists and medics say the bombardment has been constant. amid the chaos of this scene, the panic, as thick of the smoke, alarms and explosions continue to go off. flames engulf a building as rage engulfs the crowd. let that son of a bitch come over here and see what he did, screams this monday about

syria's foreign minister. let him come see how women and children are being killed. and then this man, so overcome with anger, he is shaking. is this your political solution, he asks? is this the political solution you talk about while syria is being destroyed? with death all around him, he references a deadlock in diplomacy, peace talks that yielded nothing for his people. as delegations met in geneva, condemning the use of barrel bombs, activists say the killings continued. here the lifeless body of one child is being carried off as another child watches. women while in agony, armed only with the knowledge that nothing here can shield them from the hell raining down upon them. >> and mohamed joins us now from neighboring lebanon. mohamed, when you look at weaponry, these things being dumped out of helicopters and the size of the explosion, just horrible. and this death toll continues to

rise. as you point out in your story, the geneva talks achieving nothing. is there any chance that this will be raised if there are more talks and if so, is that likely to achieve anything? >> reporter: well, if and when there are more talks, michael, certainly this will be one of the priorities on the agenda, trying to stop these barrel bombings from taking place. i say if, because it's still very unclear if there will be another round of peace talks. the last round, it took months of wrangling before the opposition and the regime agreed to actually go. now, after the second round of peace talks ended, the regime of bashar al assad has still not definitively agreed to attend a third round of peace talks. so first we have to consider if they will happen. and even if they do happen, the fact of the matter is, the expectation that anything coming out of these talks are set very low. the last time out, we reported several days there was enormous

pressure being put on both sides to come to some sort of an agreement to get aid to one of the most besieged areas of syria. yet no aid was ever delivered. they couldn't ever come to an agreement. so prospects for this actually making an impact on the ground in syria very low. and that's what's really the most disturbing thing of all. >> and mohamed, it's so -- it's just so disit tushing to see these images and the people there screaming. it's hard it to get a sense of whether or not there is any kind of hope that is still in the community. has this destroyed people's hope? i mean, does this change the equation here? when you've got barrel bombs just indiscriminately, you know, released on neighborhoods and children and people suffering and killed like this. >> reporter: it's a very good question, suzanne. and, yes, it has destroyed hope. the people that i speak with, whether they be in aleppo, where these barrel bombs have been dropping constantly for the last four days, or in places like

homs, they don't see any resolution. they don't have any hope things will be better. they are urging the iternational community to come up with some sort of a solution to their suffering. but really, they feel this terror from the sky, this death and destruction that rains down upon them, all day long -- to give you one example, on saturday, when there were so many barrel bombs dropped in aleppo, we were told by a medic that in the course of four hours in one neighborhood, 17 of these devastating bombs dropped. 90 people were killed that day. most of them women and children. it's been over 100 since then. and it seems to only be getting worse. >> amazing. >> i can't imagine. >> that volume of that sort of explosion is like having a 500-pound bomb come in. mohamed, thanks for bringing this our attention. a horrible, horrible situation. if you want to help the millions of syrians who are now living as refugees in neighboring countries, or displaced within their own country, log on to cnn.com/impactyourworld. >> i mean, we are certainly

hoping that everyone can make a difference in the lives of these people who are just -- it's devastating. three years now syria's civil war, just do what you can. >> and you've got an opposition that can't agree amongst themselves. >> fighting amongst themselves. >> just no hope at the moment. all right. meanwhile, here's more of what we've got to come here on "around the world." the deadly volcano that erupted, claimed at least 15 lives, left a community in ruins. >> we're going oh to take to you indonesia's ground zero up next. plus, an alarming report on the future of cancer rates around the world. up next. i'm only in my 60's.

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>& search teams back on the scene of indonesia's deadly volcanic eruption, trying to find more victims and potentially survivors. 15 people are now confirmed dead. >> this is after plumes of ash and as we mentioned yesterday, this ash can be hundreds of degrees hot. spewed a mile into the sky, and then rained down on the people below. and this all happened in a matter of minutes on saturday.

it's in north sumatra. sama mohsin takes us there. >> reporter: searching for any survivors or people who might have come back to dangerous exclusions on the outskirts. this whole village completely deserted, a ghost village, eerily quiet and absolutely everywhere, there is ash all over everything. take a look at this, a crop of tomatoes here, completely caked in the ash. and everywhere when a breeze blows or there is a gust of wind, it lifts up. i can taste the ash in my mouth. i can feel it all over my skin. this group of houses completely collapsed under the weight of the ash when it fell. and if you take a look, it's incredibly thick. really dense on top of this structure. 30,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

it's not known when they'll be able to come back, because this volucano is still active. with 129 active volcanos across indonesia, the indonesian people and government have had to learn to cope with and prepare for disasters like this. the national disaster mitigation authority has now added 19 more volcanos up the threat level from normal to alert. add that to three others last year on high alert, and this, mt. singabung, an active volcano under dangerous. sama mohsin, cnn, mt. singabung, indonesia. an alarming report by the world health organization saying cancer cases are expected to surge around the world in the next 20 years. >> our own doctor sanjay gupta looks at why this is happening and what the report says about what can be done about it. >> well, the prediction is pretty dire from the w.h.o. overall. if you look at the numbers, they say over the next two decades,

they expect to see an increase, a surge, really, of 57% in terms of new cancer cases. look at the most recent numbers, 2012, 14 million new cancer cases. that's new cancer cases per y r year. they think by the year 2030, that number will go up to 22 million. again, new cases per year. part of this is expected. the population of the world is growing. we're getting older, as well. but i think what has surprised a lot of people, how much of an impact this has been on the developed world as opposed to developing world. there's a lot of recommendations in this paper from the w.h.o. about what we can all do to prevent cancer. and they point out that about half of these cancer cases are preventible. very, very important. half preventible. cutting down on smoking, controlling alcohol use, and weight overall. but also things like vaccines and early detection. again, both in developing world and the developed world. the w.h.o. was also uncharacteristic in recommending certain laws, such as taxes, for example, on products such as

tobacco and even sugary products and also taxes potentially on industry. if they're polluting the environment, which can be a cause of cancer. but again, the take-away for a lot of people was the impact on the developed world almost twice the burden in terms of new cancer cases will be there over the next several years, up to 2025, and how to control that is going to be a real focus. maybe it's more of an investment in early detection screenings and things to prevent cancer in the first place. michael, suzanne, back to you. >> thank you, sanjay. half the cases, if you can believe that. preventible. we can do something about it. >> 12 million to 22 million in a matter of 20 years. >> unbelievable. we are just getting news out of west virginia about that chemical spill last month, where you had 300,000 people who actually could not use their water. well, this case has now become a criminal case. >> yes, cnn has just learned there is a federal grand jury investigation into that spill. we're going to have a lot more on that story still developing in a few minutes at the top of

the hour. and just last summer, he weighed more than 1,300 pounds. he couldn't actually even move on his own. now he is -- we're going to see how he's doing. this is after saudi arabia's king ordered him to lose weight. so we'll see what happens, up next. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah. everybody knows that. did you know there is an oldest trick in the book? what? trick number one. look-est over there. ha ha. made-est thou look. so end-eth the trick. hey.... yes.... geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you know. try align. it's the number one ge recommended probiotic that helps maintain digestive balance. ♪

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of course, many of us try to lose weight, even if it's ten pounds. you can't imagine if you had to lose several hundred pounds. but this is a young saudi man who has had to do just that. >> yeah, with a little -- >> just to survive. >> with a little royal encouragement. there he is there. he weighed -- check this out, 1,345 pounds. 1,345 pounds. back in august. and that's when his story drew international attention. he -- well, obviously, couldn't even move by himself.

we're updated on his progress. >> reporter: he's been dubbed the smiling man. and with reason. obese saudi teenager is under an intense medical weight loss plan, and it's paying off. he's lost more than 700 pounds since august. that's when he was hospitalized by order of the king himself. he weighed more than 1,300 pounds then. he hadn't been able to leave his bed for three years. and had to be taken out of his house with a forklift. now doctors say his health is steadily improving. >> that is good news. we hope he continues. >> yeah. >> that's a tough road to go. and down this goes. frankfurt university destroyed the 1970s building in a controlled debt nation -- there it goes. >> this was europe's highest building ever to be demolished in this way, with explosives. 380. >> tens of thousands gathered to watch this. it's really quite amazing when you see it. the university actually moved to a new campus. >> hope so.

>> new office towers will be built on the site. >> hopefully moved before that happened. >> thanks for watching "around the world." cnn newman starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now, major news on that chemical spill in a west virginia river that made tap water undrinkable for hundreds of thousands of people. now there's a criminal investigation. also right now, target officials testifying up on capitol hill. they say they'll start using a new kind of credit card technology that will better protect your personal information. also right now, more than 2 million jobs. that's what obamacare could cost over time. this according to a just-released congressional report. we're going to get live reaction this hour from a top white house adviser.