. >> coming up shortly, what is to become of mali? terrorist group is extending its grip in the north of the country now. >> london in the grip of olympic fever. stay tuned for that. we have the latest medal results, and we will look at how the public transportation system has been holding up. >> stay with us. >> welcome back. let's get up to date on the olympic action. russias synchronized swimming team have taken gold. >> it marks their fourth consecutive clean sweep of the games, while colombia has picked up its first gold medal in london. >> and there are still a lot of medals up for grabs on day 14, the german air still basking in their glory of thursday's victory on at the sand. >> it was a nail biting final for the german duo who edged out favored brazil to clinch the men's beach volleyball gold. the first time a european nation has won the event. usain bolt stormed to the golden double again, adding a 200-meter gold to his 100-meter victory. and a clean sweep for jamaica with second and third. eton storm to gold in the decathl

northern mali's always been deprived. the tuareg blame both the malian government and the islamists for their misfortune. >> ( translated ): the tuareg are victims just as the north is a victim. we expected that, because you can't have what you want without suffering. you can't get your identity without suffering, without dying, without taking all the risks in the world. >> reporter: refugees gather to listen to the griot-- it's a traditional form of story- telling through music. the islamists have banned musical instruments and singing. here in mauritania at least the tuareg are free to tell their story. how they fought for independence, but got exile instead. >> woodruff: in her final report, lindsey hilsum visits timbuktu to assess the destruction of mausoleums and shrines in the ancient city. >> ifill: finally tonight, a break from real-world worries, as an award-winning author takes us on a fictional journey north. jeffrey brown has our conversation. >> brown: first, i'll tell but the robbery our parents committed, t

there's no rule of law in mali now. on the night of april 1, islamists and local rebels drove into timbuktu. they had seized 87 pick-ups from the army, gifts of an american anti-terrorist program. by dawn they were in control. the maliian jihaddists, renown kidnappers of westerners. the local people are suffering. mobile phone footage shows a teenager being whipped for smoking. mali's capital is desperately poor. but nearly 200,000 northerners have fled here nonetheless. they're staying with friends and families. traders and shop keepers are finding it hard to survive in islamist controlled towns like timbuktu. >> when they come into our shops, they don't ask permission to search our bags. when they find cigarettes they just take them. so now i have to hide the sig res. my customers ask, have you got any secrets? that's what they call them now. they've changed the name. near a town, a few hours' drive from the capital we went to see how what remains of mali's army is trying to regeup. today we have... they're learning t

bbc news, mali. >> and american servicemen was disciplined for to be incidents that provoked outrage in afghanistan earlier this year. this was after burning copies of the koran and urinating on the bodies of dead taliban insurgents. it may involve demotions a cut of pay. the egyptian president has a right in beijing for three-day visit. there are expected to discuss crucial issues facing the arab world including the conflict in syria. the egyptian leader is hoping to boost bilateral ties with the world's second-largest economy as well. plenty more to come in a on gmt.

nearly 5 million people are facing food shortages in mali. the u.n. has accused the rest of the world of failing to respond to the crisis. here is our international development correspondent. >> the lives of this 3-year-old and thousands of children in the mali hang in the balance today. even without conflicts, and drought made them vulnerable. war has pushed them to the brink. this a-year-old should be far taller, but suffers from advanced malnutrition. mccaul is just back from the region. >> there are about $4.60 -- for quit 6 million people who need help, and we do not have the money to help them all. >> the u.n. humanitarian coordinator once the world to do more. she spoke to me on a mobile phone as she toured the country. >> i would like people to see that this has the face of a child to it. so many malnourished children. i would like the international community to give full support. >> the lifeline of the niger river, the main route for aid to the north, is vulnerable to attack. mali faces a crisis which began with an uprising by nomads in the n

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in mali i mean again this was always likely once the united states aligned itself with various radical islamic forces very very groups that are already listed as terrorist organizations and the same thing is clearly happening in syria we've seen that the the civil war which has been clearly few and funded and financed by the united states has now spilled over into lebanon and this as this war continues as it will do. lebanon will almost certainly be engulfed in the civil war so i think these are policies that great powers particularly the united states will into existence because they weaken possible opponents ok and what do you think about that it works to america's advantage and its allies to have these sectarian differences particularly in looking at a syria in the region. well on the one hand i think ryan is right that the u.s. doesn't deliberately want there to be the secretary in conflict but on the other hand the u.s. has other should teach it goals in the way it pursues them actually exacerbates and fuel sectarian conflict so when the u.s. looks at a place like syria they see b

in mali i mean again this was always a likely one see realty this instability is working for the united states we want to get rid of the regime in iran ok this is the end game isn't it so instability works. i think it depends you want instability if you're unhappy with the status quo if you're happy with the status quo like we were in egypt then you don't look upon things like revolutions very kindly but in terms of what's happened in libya and syria the u.s. was late in the game to getting involved i think that's incorrect to blame the u.s. soley for what's happening in those countries the u.s. very reluctantly got involved and we're still not fully involved in look at how long it took president obama to call him bashar assad to resign he was criticized heavily by the syrian opposition for that in fact the syrian opposition continues to criticize the u.s. it didn't take very long at all it didn't take it's over a year ago that they called for bashar assad to step down that's that's that's incorrect so the point and the point is not just that now you know you guys i don't think that the

. >> brown: and from the west african nation of mali, lindsey hilsum has a story of music, architecture and art, all threatened by the country's new islamic rulers. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: "it was just another regular day in damascus." the words of a resident of the syrian capital where on this day, shelling and clashes were intense. government forces backed by tanks and helicopters attacked an area just outside the city and the last of the united nations military observers left, unable t

democracy is a crucial issue, especially in mali, where al qaeda is rising. secretary addressed that during a speech today. >> by some estimates, this could set back mali's economic progress by nearly a decade. it certainly created a vacuum in the north in which rebellion and extremism have spread, threatening not only people's lives and the treasures of the past but the stability of the region. >> it's a fair assessment. other stops on the secretary's trip include south sudan, uganda and kenya. >>> customers of mf global who lost their money will likely get most of it back. that's what trustees overseeing the process told the senate agricultur committee today. they said that customers in this country have gotten 80% back of what they lost. that's good news but we watched the hearing. and there was outrage that no one from mf global has been charged with anything yet, including its famous ceo jon corzine, former a senator, governor of new jersey and ceo of goldman sachs. >>> it's been 363 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to ge

. >> to mali now, with the united nations had of humanitarian affairs has given his best efforts to deal with food shortages there. we have been talking to a family of refugees. >> the road to government [inaudible] not far from here, al qaeda- linked extremists roam the vast desert area, and forcing sharia law, smuggling drugs, and kidnapping for ransom -- enforcing sharia law. western journalists traveling here need military protection. the risks are high. more than 430,000 people have now fled the north. this family fled in fear for their lives. >> i was afraid. it was not safe to go to the market anymore. there was so much shooting there. some of my neighbors were killed by stray bullets. to make matters worse, i was pregnant. in the end, we knew we could not stay there any longer. >> violence was a constant threat. her brother was robbed at gunpoint. "it was terrible there. we could not go out at night at all. there were checkpoints. i was the driver, and my boss' car was stolen from me by rebels. >> most fleeing the violence stay in camps. >> it has been hard. hard on everybody her

talk about is that many of those who fought in libya now went to the area and are now fighting in mali for example were we have no sort of a civil war you know some really extreme muslim took over the north a part of mali many of those fought before that and worked with weapons everything were trained in the bia so we see sort of the fallout of this war and libya in the neighboring countries is there a chance that the type of situation we see right now in libya it could be repeated in syria as of today the situation for me in syria looks much worse than in libya because i mean the whole environment you know with the middle east conflict. is one problem the other problem is that right now there seems to be so many other countries. who of their own interest was in syria supporting one side or the other turkey with a kurdish problem so they are supporting the movement just to prevent the kurds within syria to have their own you know autonomy then you have the gulf states supporting the rebels you have russia supporting it you have the cia on the ground you have german spy ship something i

in countries like mali, there were no borders that i could observe.ng about al qaeda and telling horrible stories of what was happening in their villages, villages abandoned. is there anything the u.s. can do? >> i think there is. i think we know over the last several years what we shouldn't do. that is put large numbers of boots on the ground. this is really the work of special operations forces and intelligence units which have a capacity to work with and by and through local government actors whether that's through mali and the syrians but working with locals. >> thank you. >>> our fourth story "outfront," chick-fil-a. ceo has been in the news about his recent remarks against same-sex marriage but it's his personal well the and political contributions that make headlines tonight. dan cathy have joined the ranks of the world's richest. "outfront" tonight matt out front is man who tracks this and knows everything this is to know about these guys who has suddenly emerged on the national stage. as important power players. so how much are dan and donald

we were in a mali refugee call .r you what he said and get your reaction to that. erin, cnn, omar? >> translator: yes, this is omar, hello. no, no, listen. i do not speak to a woman. if you would like to speak to me, give me a man. it is necessary to respect our religion. we do not speak to women, do you hear me? [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: no, we do not speak with women. >> so when you hear that conversation, you know that man, you were intimately connected with that man. do you know that voice? who is he? >> well, i do indeed. it was the voice that gave it away. this guy who you tried to interview is the guy who grabbed us. he was the, quote, mission commander. grabbed us near the capital of niger in mid-december 2008. and i would recognize that voi anywhere, anytime. i would also recognize wha he said to you. the fact that he wouldn't speak to you as a woman. and one day he said this to us. he said, my idea of the best way to die would be to strap on the martyr's vest and enter a meeting of the un

now they were grabbed near the border of mali.is ordeal in his book "a season in hell," and i spoke with him about it yesterday. >> one sunday evening about 5:30, a truck passed us going very, very fast. slowed in front of us, cut us off. before the two trucks had come to a spot there were aks pointed at the face of our driver and two guys leaping out of the back who hauled us into the back of the truck in front. and then we began a -- what i call in my book, our descent into hell. a five-day, 1,000-kilometer journey all off road, due north, into the middle of the sahara desert. >> and did you know who they were? did you know that these were -- i mean, guess what did you think they were, al qaeda, someone else? >> well, no, i didn't know. and as soon as they threw us into the truck, they threw a smelly old blanket on top of us, told us to shut up. >> right. >> 12 hours later, we stopped just before dawn, and i was walking up and down in front of the century, and he looked up from making a little pot of tea and said, have you figur