Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

Egyptian Death Toll Climbs Above 500; 18 Crew Still Missing After Indian Submarine Sinks; Sci-Fi Exoskeletons Becoming Reality; Hannah Anderson Speaks Out On Social Media; A Year After Lonmin Massacre, Violence Still Problem In Marikana; Nigeria Announces Killing Of Boko Haram Number Two

Aired August 15, 2013 - 08:00   ET

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


KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Hello, I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

The death toll rises in a very divided Egypt. Wednesday's security crackdown in Cairo, leaves more than 500 people dead.

Nigeria says it killed the second in command of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram.

And Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli retires from tennis at the age of just 28.

There is an eerie calm in Cairo one day after Egyptian forces cracked down on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy. But Wednesday's toll is still coming to light. The health ministry now reports at least 525 people were killed. It was the bloodiest day since the 2011 revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

But the Muslim Brotherhood remains defiant. It says protests will not stop. Several countries have condemned the crackdown, as has one prominent member of Egypt's interim government. Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei resigned in protest.

Well, the two main pro-Morsy camps in Cairo are now cleared, but now how the violence started depends on whom you ask as Reza Sayah reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The anguished cries of outraged and grief stricken Egyptians. Everywhere you looked, gut wrenching scenes. Along a bloody sidewalk a teenager sobbed as he knelt before his dead brother. Steps away, a woman cradled the body of her dead husband in the backseat of a car.

The bloodshed and despair, the aftermath of one of the deadliest days Egypt has seen in decades. For weeks, Egypt's military-backed interim government had promised to crush this massive six week long sit-in demonstration in support of the ousted President Mohamed Morsy. On Wednesday morning, they delivered with a ferocious crackdown.

Authorities claim initially they used tear gas and water cannons to scatter protesters. They say Morsy's supporters fired first. They were forced to fire back, they say. What followed was hours of gunfire as security forces pushed in. And Morsy supporters pushed back.

(on camera): We're right next to one of the front lines in this fight, one of the many face-offs here where you see Morsy supporters barricading themselves in with a makeshift wall made up of anything they can get their hands on.

And then, to my right here, is the heart of the battle zone, charred debris, tree branches. The aim of security forces is to penetrate this entrance. But at least six hours into this fight they seem to be holding strong.

(voice-over): At a nearby hospital and makeshift clinic there was little room for the mounting casualties. Many have suffered gunshot wounds. At least three volunteer doctors claim security forces stormed the hospital and forced out the medics, effectively leaving scores of bloody bodies in government custody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They put their guns in our faces and said you have to leave in five minutes. And we told them, those are many people (inaudible) people bleeding inside the hospital. And they said, it's not your business and go out now.

SAYAH: By roughly 6:00 pm according to witnesses, security forces had taken full control of the sit-in, demolishing hundreds of tents and torching protesters' belongings. Thousands of angry Morsy supporters, many of them walking wounded, left in despair.

For Egypt's military-backed interim government, it was mission accomplished at a steep cost. But the fury of Morsy backers and the Muslim Brotherhood signaled a movement determined to keep fighting.

Reza Sayah, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJPAL: Many countries are expressing deep concern about the violence in Egypt. Dan Rivers joins us now from Downing Street in London with some of the responses that we're seeing -- Dan.

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, all of the European governments and the U.S. government to some extent are treading a difficult line here between obviously wanting to condemn the violence and the bloodshed while at the same time not going as far as calling the Egyptian interim government a junta as a result of a coup. They clearly are all invested diplomatically and militarily and strategically in the Egyptian military in -- as long-term partners in the region along with Jordan. And so they have a very difficult balancing act in this situation.

David Cameron, for example, and the British position is that they want to intensive diplomatic efforts to continue to reach a peaceful resolution. Here's what David Cameron had to say a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: Looking more broadly at the situation in Egypt, this violence is not going to solve anything. What is required in Egypt is a genuine transition to a genuine democracy. That means compromise from all sides. The President Morsy supporters, but also the military. That's what needs to happen.

We don't support this violence. We condemn it completely. It's not going to solve the problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: The foreign office confirming that the Egyptian ambassador to London was called in for a dressing down, I'd imagine, yesterday. Similar situation in France and Italy with the ambassadors being summoned there.

We're being told here in London that the Egyptian ambassador may hold a press conference later today, so we should get more of an idea of their position.

But as far as France is concerned, well the Foreign Minister Laureant -- sorry, Laurent Fabius said that the current situation will not be resolved by force. France calls on all the parties to reject spiraling clashes and to immediately begin a dialog that includes all Egyptian political forces.

Egypt is critical for the west, not only as the most populous Arab nation in the Middle East, but also because of the Suez Canal, in which about 8 percent of the world's seaborne traffic passes through each year, about 4 percent of the world's oil goes through there. Of course, it's neighboring Israel as well. So a lot of complicated picture that strategically for western countries to think about.

RAJPAL: Yeah, extremely complicated for those on the outside looking in. And those diplomatic efforts that you were talking about, Dan.

When it comes to perhaps reaching out to those in power in Egypt, who are they meant to be negotiating with when the man who was democratically elected by the people of Egypt has been ousted?

RIVERS: Well, quite. I mean, essentially they -- you know, they don't particularly want a Muslim Brotherhood government in place, but equally they don't want a military dictatorship either. The problem is that they keep on sort of urging, you know, resolution and for genuine democracy, but it seems that the Egyptian people, you know, do want the Muslim Brotherhood to govern them.

So they're in a difficult position, because obviously they feel that the Muslim Brotherhood's policies and tendencies are extreme and are at odds with what they hold dear in the west. So it is a bit of a contradiction. You know, having to talk to a sort of interim government which is essentially ousted the democratically elected president.

Of course, this is all complicated, as well, by the fact that there clearly were some pro-Morsy supporters who were engaged in firing on government forces. Now, to what extent they started it and how many there were is very, very difficult to say, but there are images that have been around on state run TV in Egypt and photos as well of what appear to be protesters, certainly in plain clothes, men in plain clothes, clutching weapons behind barricades.

So the Egyptian interim government's position is that they were fired upon by some of the protesters and therefore they had no option but to retaliate. But of course here in the west they'll feel that the use of force was completely disproportionate to the threat they faced and this ended up resulting in what the Muslim Brotherhood are calling a massacre.

RAJPAL: All right. Dan, thank you very much. Dan Rivers there live for us from Downing Street.

Egypt's government declared a month-long state of emergency late on Wednesday after a day of violence. Well, that edict bars people from gathering without prior permission. It also lets police jail them indefinitely.

The move evokes memories of life before the revolution. For almost 30 years, Egyptians lived under a state of emergency during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak. But his successor did it to. In January, Mohamed Morsy declared a 30 day curfew for Port Said, Suez, and Ismaliya. He said those areas were also in a state of emergency.

Well, Wednesday's violence was not limited to Cairo. Fionnuala Sweeney shows us what happened in Alexandria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Outrage in Alexandria: hours after the clashes in Cairo, thousands of angry pro-Morsy protesters also took to the streets of Egypt's second largest city where some set fire to a local government building while others threw chairs and papers from the windows. Smoke could be seen across the city as cars burned in the streets. Cameras watched as crowds overturned a police car.

Protesters confronted a line of police as they blocked a major street. The standoff quickly escalated as security forces were seen firing tear gas at the crowd. Some protesters held up bullet casings for TV cameras, claiming they'd been fired upon by police.

In another section of the city, more protesters marched and chanted. Many carried posters and banners supporting the ousted president and vented their anger at the Egyptian army.

One emotional woman says, "I am asking the army to move. Morsy must return to his palace."

Another screams, "an injustice has been done to Islam, to Egypt and to the people. May god bring justice."

At least one person was reportedly killed in the violence, a handful of others injured. And like Cairo, Alexandria is also under a curfew overnight.

Fionnuala Sweeney, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJPAL: India's navy looks for answers after an explosion and fire on a military submarine. We'll bring you a live report from Mumbai next here on News Stream.

Plus, Nigeria's military strikes a blow to Boko Haram reporting it has killed one of the leaders of the Islamist extremist group.

And after the storm: Utor packs a punch in southern China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJPAL: You're watching News Stream. I'm Monita Rajpal.

Here, you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

Now we started with the aftermath of Wednesday's violence in Egypt. A little later, we'll tell you about how one team turned to social media to speak out about her kidnapping ordeal.

But now we want to take you to a naval disaster in India. 18 sailors are feared dead after an explosion and fire onboard a Navy submarine.

It happened in Mumbai's dockyard early on Wednesday.

At last report, divers had entered the sunken vessel and were still trying to locate the men. CNN's Mallika Kapur joins us now from Mumbai with the latest on those efforts -- Mallika.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Monita, you're right. Navy divers have been able to enter the vessel. They were able to enter it late last night. But they still have not been able to see those 18 people who are still trapped inside the submarine.

The navy says that it's very difficult for them. The conditions around the submarine are very, very difficult. It's dark, so visibility is a problem. The spaces inside the submarine are very tight and very cramped.

Also, because of the explosion, things have been displaced, so none of the equipment is where it's supposed to be.

And also because the explosion caused so much heat that several parts of the vessel of the submarine have actually melted and they're deformed.

So it's very difficult for the divers to move around and to be able to pull open doors.

Also, there are the vessel has been flooded with a lot of sea water. And at the moment, the focus is on pumping water out of the vessel. They're hoping that once they are able to do that, the vessel becomes lighter. It will float to the surface and that should speed up rescue efforts.

The main focus is very much on getting to these 18 people who are still trapped inside. And the navy says it's working around the clock to do just that -- Monita.

RAJPAL: And right now they don't know whether or not these 18 sailors are dead or alive.

KAPUR: That's right. There has been no official confirmation of, you know, the number of people who are dead. But, you know, chances are very bleak that anybody has survived. We're coming up to a day-and-a-half of these people having been trapped inside the submarine, which is badly, badly damaged. There's been no communication from inside the submarine at all, ever since the explosion took place.

And the prime minister this morning, he -- when he addressed the nation -- it is independence day here in India. And in his annual address to the nation this morning, he did refer to this tragedy on the submarine and he said that we pay homage to the brave hearts who lost their lives. So even he implied that all the 18 soldiers have lost their lives, but there has been no official announcement of a death toll just yet.

RAJPAL: All right, Mallika, thank you very much. Mallika Kapur there reporting to us there live from Mumbai.

The Nigerian military says it has killed one of the leaders of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. His name was Mamadu Bama. According to the army, he was second in command. And his father was Boko Haram's spiritual mentor.

The military says both men were killed earlier this month. Boko Haram has carried out a number of attacks in Nigeria over the past few years and is suspected of a massacre on Sunday at a mosque. Gunmen killed 44 worshippers at that attack.

Let's take you live now to CNN's Nima Elgabir who is following the story for us from Kenya. She joins us now live from Nairobi with more on this latest development -- Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Details emerged, Monita, of the horrific mosque massacre which is being blamed on Boko Haram militants. The Nigerian military now releasing details of their fight back, which includes these -- the death of the two Boko Haram commanders -- Abu Saad (ph), as he's known, and his father.

But this, of course, all comes as Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, releases a pretty belligerent video message. Take a listen, Monita.

(BEGIN VIDOETAPE)

ELGABIR: The latest video message from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. Pausing throughout to burst into laughter, Shekau claims responsibility for a recent spate of attacks across the northern Nigerian states of Borno and Yobe.

The Nigerian government and its allies, Shekau says, have failed to contain Boko Haram, which adheres to its interpretation of strict Sharia law.

"We've killed countless soldiers," he says. "And we're going to kill more. Our strength and firepower is bigger than that of Nigeria. Nigeria is no longer a big deal to us. As far as we're concerned, we will now comfortably confront the United States of America."

The Nigerian military say a week before this message emerged, they had killed Shekau's second in command Mamadu Bama, something Shekau makes no reference to here, but military sources say they believe that could be behind this latest show of belligerence.

This message was released around the same time that news broke of worshippers being gunned down in a mosque in Borno state. It's not known who carried out the attack, but police sources told CNN it bore all the hallmarks of the militant group.

In the last four years that Boko Haram has waged its campaign of terror, the group has targeted churches, government buildings, aid organizations, even schools. It's also attacked Muslims that it accuses of collaborating with the government.

Since May, Borno state has been under a state of emergency, including a complete communications blackout, as Nigerian authorities hunt suspected militants.

But local authorities tell CNN, with no end to the violence in sight, some residents are taking matters into their own hands by arming themselves against the militants. This, with the video message from Abubakar Shekau ringing loud. Whether Muslim or Christian, he says, we shall continue to kill anyone who stands against the will of Allah by opposing Sharia law.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: Those Nigerian military operations across the three states that Boko Haram claims as its base are still continuing -- Monita.

RAJPAL: All right, Nima, thank you for that. Nima Elbagir there live for us from Naibori.

Typhoon Utor is no more, but the damage is far from done for China's southern coast. More from Mari Ramos after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJPAL: Welcome back to News Stream.

It came, it went, but it left a lot of damage in its wake. And now another tropical storm, though, is in the process of emerging. But this time, though, this one is in the Atlantic.

Mari Ramos is at the World Weather Center with all of that and much more -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Monita.

Yeah, you know, this had just formed in the last hour. We've been tracking this one off the coast of Africa. And the National Hurricane Center has announced that Tropical Storm Erin is now here. And you can see it. This is the coast of West Africa. There's the Cape Verde Islands. So we are way out here in the Atlantic Ocean.

This is expected to continue moving generally to the west, northwest over the next couple of days, but it is moving in to an area that is favorable to development. And we pay a lot of attention this time of year as we head into August to these storms that form way out here in the western Pacific (sic), because they have a long time as they cross the Atlantic to intensify and to become really strong hurricanes. So that is why a lot of attention is paid to these storms, even though they're way out here. You can see the islands way over here.

So we're still several days away. I just kind of want to put this on your radar, so to speak. We start kind of paying attention to see what's going to happen with Tropical Storm Erin.

Let's go ahead and head to the other side of the world. And we are here off the coast of China in the South China Sea. You can see a lot of moisture here still left over from what was Typhoon Utor. Still bringing a lot of rain here, but look what it did as it was making landfall.

Let's go ahead and roll the video. Look at that though.

Palm Trees are so resilient when it comes to typhoons. But you can see these bending over as the power of the winds was moving through here, really not a good time to be outside. Anything that is taken up by the winds can become a projectile and can actually one of the things that causes the most damage, you know, is those things that kind of get lifted up by the winds.

You can see the rain falling sideways at times in these pictures, just a fury of the winds, in some cases up to 150 kilometers per hour, that was moving the waves as well, in some cases, as high as six meters.

Look at the weather map over here. Some of the rainfall totals are pretty impressive. 197 millimeters of rain in this location. They also had winds up to 160 kilometers per hour. It's pretty impressive there.

And then well far to the south, we have another location that had winds, that had rainfall over 170 millimeters of rain. That shows you the scope and how large the storm actually is affecting millions of people across parts of China.

Now the rain has been tremendous, as I showed you, but we are expecting even more as we head through the next 24 hours and the remnants of the storm kind of just linger about over the same general area. In some cases, the red, that indicates 25 centimeters of rain. The blue is widespread areas up to 8 centimeters. The threat for flooding, of course, and mudslides remains in a very widespread area.

I want to show you something different, though, because the rain, unfortunately, is not making it to areas that are in drought. What do you do when you're in a terrible drought like this? In this picture, you see people digging deeper in a well.

Let's look at the video, because I want to show you what they're doing in another village in China. Look at this Monita, it looks almost medieval in some cases, but they are really having to search for water. Their village has ran out of water completely. They are searching in places they have never looked at before inside caves. They're hoping that they're able to find some sort of water that they can drink that is clean and that they can take back to their villages. Amazing pictures here. This is an ongoing story. This drought continuing to affect millions across parts of Western China.

Back to you.

RAJPAL: Yeah, that is really sad there. Sad images there, too, Mari. Thank you so much for that.

Well, as we've been talking about the drought there, the summer has been unusually hot across parts of China, Japan and South Korea. Authorities have issued a number of heat warnings, telling people to do everything they can to keep cool and to stay safe. Paula Hancocks reports now from Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: South Korea has been sweltering, and are near record temperatures for weeks now. So the children here in Seoul have figured out a way to stay cool. This particular square in downtown Seoul is packed with children at any hour of the day, all of them running through the fountains to try and cool off. They've even got a few tents there so that the children can change into drier clothes.

But, this heat wave is not fun for everyone in South Korea. The government is telling people to stop using elevators and to turn off the air conditioning.

The country's power grid is under severe strain. It was already struggling with technical problems and the shutdown of some nuclear reactors.

Schools have delayed the start of the academic year, factory workers are being given longer holidays to try and lower electricity consumption, and 10 people so far have died from this heat wave.

In neighboring Japan, the death toll has risen to 52, a third of those in the last week alone.

The city of Shemanto (ph) in the south has experienced the highest temperature ever for Japan, 41 degrees Celsius, or 105.8 degree Fahrenheit.

And there are heat warnings across central and southern China. The city of Shanghai recorded its hottest July in at least 140 years. And this month isn't looking any cooler.

Some without air conditioning are resorting to sleeping on balconies.

Officials in China are hoping the heat will ease in the next few days. But here in South Korea, no one is willing to predict a break in the weather.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJPAL: Governments around the world are speaking out against the events that unfolded around this time yesterday in Egypt, leaving hundreds of people dead. We'll bring you some of that reaction ahead.

And a year has gone by since South African police shot and killed a group of miners on strike. We'll take a look back and tell you what, if anything, has changed since then. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJPAL: I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. These are the headlines.

State run media say the Egyptian government admits at least 525 people died Wednesday when security forces stormed the camps. These are pictures of the funerals for some of the 43 police officers killed.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is paying tribute to the 18 sailors feared dead on a submarine in Mumbai. On Wednesday, an explosion started a fire on the navy sub, causing it to partially sink. The cause of the blast is not yet known.

The Nigerian military says it has killed the second in command of Boko Haram, a violent Islamist extremist group. It says Mamadu Bama was killed earlier this month in Borno State, that's where a gunman killed 44 people at a mosque on Sunday. Boko Haram is suspected of carrying out that attack.

Convicted U.S. soldier Bradley Manning has offered an apology in court to his country. He said he's sorry for leaking tens of thousands of pages of classified documents and that he's ready to face the consequences. It is the first time Manning has publicly expressed regret. He could be sentenced to 90 years in prison for his crimes.

A day after that deadly violence broke out in Cairo, Egyptians are counting to cost. Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're outside Amaan mosque (ph). It's only about 500 yards from where one of the main crackdowns happened here on Wednesday. And as you can see, many of the bodies from that crackdown were brought here to this mosque.

Now one of the things, of course, that's been very controversial since the crackdown happened is the death toll. The Muslim Brotherhood tells us that at some point, as many as 500 bodies were inside this mosque. We can't independently verify any of that, because when we got here some people had already come here to pick up the bodies of their relatives for burial.

Clearly, there are many, many people here who are mourning their relatives. Some of them broke out in tears, a lot of people clearly very emotional as you can see. They showed us (inaudible), they showed us (inaudible) tear gas canisters.

One of the things that's absolutely clear is that scenes like this are going to continue to fuel the flames here in Egypt.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJPAL: Take you live to Cairo now. And Ian Lee joins us there for us.

And Ian, we've been reporting in the last few hours at least there has been an eerie calm, I should say, an uneasy calm in the capital right now. What's the mood like today?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're exactly right, Monita. There is this eerie calm here in Cairo today. You don't see the kind of traffic that you would no a normal business day here in Cairo. And really, that is just from the aftermath of what we saw yesterday, the deadly clashes between pro-Morsy supporters and security forces.

We're still getting more numbers. The death toll keeps getting updated with higher numbers. It started out around 200 or so this morning. It's already doubled since then.

So we're expecting probably more -- more of the numbers to increase as we just saw in Fred's piece that there are bodies at this mosque. We don't know if those have yet been counted in that official death toll. So that could increase.

Also today, we saw the funeral procession of the police that died also in yesterday's clashes. Over 40 police officers were killed in that clash. And they held their funeral today too with the bodies being transported on fire trucks and quite a large funeral procession.

But Cairo is bracing for further clashes today as both sides have said they will not back down, Monita.

RAJPAL: Ian, we are getting some reports right now, and I'm not sure if you have any information on this, or if you'd heard anything right now, but there are some reports that are suggesting -- or indicating, that a government building may have been stormed by hundreds of people right now potentially -- again unconfirmed -- potentially supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

What are you hearing about this?

LEE: Well, what we're hearing is that what state TV is reporting. And that is that the Giza government building was stormed by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now Giza is in the Cairo -- greater Cairo area, just right across the Nile River. And that's what we're hearing right now.

And this kind of goes with a trend that we have been seeing here since yesterday where different government buildings have been attacked by people who support the Muslim Brotherhood, pro-Morsy supporters, attacking buildings not just in Cairo, but really around Egypt and not just government buildings, but also churches and Christian schools and shops.

So, this -- we can't independently verify that right now, but it does kind of go along with -- what a trend that we have seen.

RAJPAL: Based on the events of the last 24 hours, Ian, and of the last few weeks, even the last month I should say, it seems as though the country, after having taken a giant two steps forward two years ago, and then of course the election -- the first democratically elected president in Mohamed Morsy, they've taken, again, five steps back.

LEE: Well, it really does seem like that. And this is going to be quite a problem for Egypt moving forward. They need a sort of reconciliation between the different political factions. And that's something that is going to be even more difficult as you have yesterday's clashes.

Egypt cannot move forward to free elections, legitimate elections, if the -- if a big section of the country, of the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters feel disenfranchised, they do not participate.

This has to be an inclusive government. It has to be inclusive moving forward. Yesterday was a big step back for that. There were inroads made to have a reconciliation, but it doesn't seem likely that that will happen in the near future.

RAJPAL: All right. Ian, thank you. Ian Lee live for us there from Cairo.

Well, after the Egyptian military ousted President Morsy last month, the United States did not call it a coup. How will Washington respond to this latest development? Well, Dan Lothian is traveling with vacationing President Barack Obama. He joins us now from Edgartown in Massachusetts.

Dan, we understand that there is a reluctance from Washington to even label what is happening right now in Egypt, even though they are condemning the violence, there's this reluctance to really get involved.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you were just talking about the fact that the White House will not call it a coup. Yesterday, White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest was pressed on this issue, as are other White House aids in recent weeks, as to why the White House will not call it a coup. And they say, you know, it has been determined that it would not be in the best interest of the U.S. to call it a coup.

Obviously there's a lot of pressure to do so, because that would impact the more than a billion dollars in aid to Egypt, which by the way, continues to be under review.

Right now, the president continues on his vacation here in Martha's Vineyard. We have not heard from him, although the White House did put out a statement condemning the violence. The president is getting regular briefings on the issue there. In fact, his national security adviser, Susan Rice, is vacationing here with the president so she is briefing him on an ongoing basis.

But it has been secretary of State John Kerry out front, the face of the administration condemning the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: And we call on the government to respect basic human rights, including freedom of peaceful assembly and due process under the law. And we believe that the state of emergency should end as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: So what will the U.S. do next? What we do know is that there have been high level conversations between U.S. officials and Egyptian officials. Of course you know there was that delay in a shipment of F-16s to Egypt, but it's unclear at least what the next move will be. Right now it does appear that this more than a billion dollars in aid, which I pointed out is under review now, that that appears to be the biggest stick, if you will, that the U.S. has in influencing some change there and this ramping down of the violence in Egypt.

But if officials have other options on the table, they're not talking about them, Monita.

RAJPAL: Dan, what's this aid for?

LOTHIAN: Well, it's all kinds of aid, but including military aid, military assistance. And as you know, there's been a lot of pressure from not only Democrats, but also Republicans -- in fact, Senator John McCain has been talking about how this aid should be revoked until there is some shift to a democratically elected civilian government there in Egypt.

So there's a lot of pressure on the Obama administration to sort of come out, label this a coup so that could immediately trigger the revocation of that billion dollars plus aid to Egypt each year.

RAJPAL: All right. Dan Lothian there. Thank you so much for that.

Well, one year after police opened fire on a group of striking miners in South Africa, there has been another shooting death at the same mine. A South African local union representative was shot dead there on Monday.

This Friday marks one year to the day that police shot workers at Lonmine's Marikana mine. 34 people were killed.

Now the company says police are investigating Monday's death. Nkepile Mabuse is following the story. She joins us now with the latest from Johannesburg -- Nkepile.

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Monita, speaking to people who were directly affected by that tragic incident that unfolded on the 16 of August, many of them say 12 months down the line nothing much has changed. In fact, some analysts here in South Africa are saying that the underlying issues that lead to that tragic event have not been dealt with.

You mentioned earlier that the violence continues in the Marikana region. This violence blamed on labor union rivalry. I recently tracked down the family of one of the men who was killed during that incident. And they say life for them has become painfully harder.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MABUSE: He became known as the man in the green blanket, an outspoken leader during a wildcat strike at Lonmin platinum mine last August that shocked South Africa and shocked the world.

Police say most of the mine workers were armed and dangerous. But at the time, 34-year-old Mfememi Nauki (ph) told CNN theirs was a peaceful protest for improved pay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): As you can see, we are not fighting. All we want is for the employer to respond to our demands, so that we can go back to work.

MABUSE: Nauki (ph) never made it back to work.

(GUNFIRE)

MABUSE: He and 33 of his colleagues died in a hail of bullets in a clash with police a few hours after that interview. Many say the scene was reminiscent of the dog days of white minority rule known as apartheid.

The government set up a commission of inquiry, but it's work has been marred by delays. A year after that dramatic shooting, I've come to the Eastern Cape where most of the victims lived. What I find is raw pain.

Nauki's (ph) family says his five children, wife, siblings, nephew and niece all depended on his pay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First our parents died, then our eldest brother died. He was our last hope.

MABUSE: Who helps you now?

UNIDENIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I get a grant from the government for looking after my dead brother's daughter.

MABUSE: Labor unions say the average mine worker supports at least eight dependents. Last year, many were given hefty pay hikes after the chaotic period of labor unrest. But as production costs rise, companies say they've been forced to scale back operations, meaning fewer job options.

At this miner support office in the Eastern Cape I'm told poverty is on the rise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Most people here are uneducated, many drop out of school to look for work, but there are no firms or factories that are hiring. The mines are their only hope.

MABUSE: Following the bloody tragedy at Lonmin mine, the company says it helped the families of the deceased with burial costs and has pledged to educate the children of its dead workers. But many more here say they're in desperate need of jobs and of hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MABUSE: Monita, a short while ago, we received a statement from the National Union of Mine Workers saying they're not going to be attending a ceremony marking the deaths of those mine workers on the 16 of August, because they say that a rival union has basically hijacked the event.

It just goes to show that the tensions between these labor unions is so serious, Monita, and many people are worried that until this problem is resolved the violence will not stop -- Monita.

RAJPAL: What kind of leadership, then -- adding to that Nkepile -- what kind of leadership, then, has the -- Jacob's Zuma's government shown in this?

MABUSE: Jacob Zuma's government has been criticized here in South Africa for not showing leadership. I mean, this is 12 months down the line. People are still dying in the Marikana area. The labor unions tell us that up to 20 people have been killed in that area since the dramatic shootings that we saw on the 16 of August. So many people would say absolutely no leadership has been shown -- there have been movements within government to try and get the labor unions to sign peace agreements, to talk to one another, but the killing continues.

So, results are not showing on the ground, Monita.

RAJPAL: All right. Nkepile, thank you for that. Nkepile Mabuse there live for us from Johannesburg.

Now the women's champion at Wimbledon is calling it quits. Coming up on News Stream, we'll tell you about Marion Bartoli's tearful announcement and why she's retiring at just 28.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJPAL: The American teenager who was abducted and held hostage for a week by a family friend has spoken out about her ordeal online. Hannah Anderson answered questions on the social media website Ask.fm. Casey Wian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 16-year-old Hannah Anderson is sharing details about her kidnapping on social media. She fielded questions on the site "ASKFM" about her abduction by the man she knew as Uncle Jim, James DiMaggio. A user asked, did you want to go with DiMaggio? She replied, no, not at all. Why didn't you run? He would have killed me. Why didn't you tell your parents he creeped you out? In part, he was my dad's best friend and I didn't want to ruin anything between them.

Hannah shed new light on the night she was kidnapped, the same night her mother and younger brother were murdered. Their bodies burned in DiMaggio's house. How did he separate you from your mom and brother? He tied them up in the garage. How did he keep the fire a secret? He had it set where it would catch on fire at a certain time.

Hannah also wrote DiMaggio threatened to kill her if she fled and brought her at least in part to help carry equipment in the wilderness. Some questions from subscribers were brutally blunt. Did he rape you? I'm not allowed to talk about it so don't ask questions about it, thank you. Are you glad he's dead? Absolutely. Some experts question the wisdom of Hannah's online chats.

WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: This is a 16-year-old who is totally traumatized. She is in a state of trauma and so she is not thinking. Sometimes in a numb state you're doing things that you don't really consider the consequences.

WIAN: Hannah even posted a selfie and engaged in lighter conversation typical of a teenage girl, but even some of that seemed painful. What design did you get on your nails? Pink for my mom and blue for Ethan. Those who know her tells CNN Hannah spent some of Tuesday helping to plan their funerals.

Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJPAL: We want to update you on a story that we were talking with Ian Lee about just a few minutes ago here on the show. These are some of the first pictures of an Egyptian government building that the Egyptian state television says was stormed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. We were talking about the headquarters of the Giza governance. It's a building that's on fire right now. There were reports that were suggesting that hundreds of members of the -- or supporters I should say -- of the Muslim Brotherhood had stormed this building. And now what we are seeing is -- obviously this building on fire.

We don't know if it was packed at the time. We don't know how full it was at the time. Not a lot of details coming out.

But those are the pictures and the information that we're getting right now is from the Egyptian state television. And these are the first pictures coming out right now of a fire, of a building that's the headquarters of the Giza government building no fire right now.

Again, reports suggesting that it's the members -- or supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood that may have been involved.

Again, CNN has not independently confirmed this. We will -- when we - - of course we will pass it on to you once we do. For now, we're taking a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJPAL: Turn now to a surprising announcement in the world of sport. She just achieved a dream, winning Wimbledon last month. So why is tennis player Marion Bartoli retiring now? Well, Alex Thomas is following the story for us from CNN Center. He joins us live.

Alex, you know, I guess perhaps she wanted to go out on a high?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORREPSONDENT: Yeah. Perhaps, Monita. That's part of the reason. But yeah what a shock, a real, real surprise that France's Marion Bartoli has said au revoir to her professional tennis career after 13 years in the sport. And she announced it during the Cincinnati masters after losing in the second round there.

And it was a very tearful Bartoli in front of not many journalists, because this was a much lower profile tournament than the Wimbledon championship, the grand slam title she'd lifted just a month-and-a-half ago. And this is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION BARTOLI, TENNIS PLAYER: It's never easy. And obviously there is never a time to say it, you know, whatever. But that was my -- actually that match of my career, and I -- it's time for me to retire and thank you and call it a career. You know, I feel like it's time for me to walk away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS: So that's it, at the age of 28. Just a month-and-a-half after the greatest achievement of her career, winning that Wimbledon title having lost in the final in 2007. She went one better when she beat Sabine Lisicki on the famous grass courts in that part of southwest London.

She's only 28, three years younger than the women's world number one Serena Williams. And yet Bartoli said she couldn't go on simply because he body was letting her down. She's in so much pain for at least 45 minutes every day after playing. She said my Achilles is hurting a lot. I can't really walk normally after a match. And my shoulder and my hips and my lower back. My body is just done. She said, Monita.

RAJPAL: Yeah, we can never underestimate the kind of impact and the toll it takes on an athlete.

But I guess we were wondering what's she going to do now?

THOMAS: Yeah, she hasn't really said. She just said I'll have to wait, digest the fact that I'm no longer going to be a professional tennis player. The same sort of adjustment that any athlete has to make when they step down from their sport at the highest level.

I'm sure I will find something, she said. And perhaps her future career does lie somewhere in the media. She has been famous for being quite outspoken. People enjoy her bubbly personality that she displayed at Wimbledon.

I actually tweeted here earlier just to see if she could expand on whether it was just the injuries that made her retire, because it just doesn't seem to add up. If you look at the transcripts on the Wimbledon website for one her post-round pressers after winning in the second round. She said she was going to play for many years to come. So this really has come completely out of the blue.

We hope it's nothing sinister or no hidden secrets. We think it's simply that maybe she couldn't cope with the daily grind of dealing with the pain that her body goes through competing at such a high level in her sport -- Monita.

RAJPAL: Yeah, I'm seeing a book deal somewhere in there coming up soon, I guess.

But we do wish her well, whatever it is she decides to do.

Alex, thank you very much for that.

Now, how real are those super suits worn by heroes on the big screen? Well, they are not just for make believe anymore, apparently. Jake Tapper has more on that.

BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the box office smash "Elysium," the difference between Matt Damon being able to save the world and fail is this exoskeleton. It's technology that turns the metallic frame into a costume that boosts you beyond human capability. And of course, Matt Damon is just the latest star to try on a super suit. "Iron Man" and Nintendo's "Metroid" have one. Sigourney Weaver stomped around in this in contraption for "Alien." And of course, "Starship Troopers" paved the way for them all.

With the robust history of pop culture examples, it's no wonder that real life prototypes have also been evolving for decades. Check out this bad boy from General Electric's "Hardy Man" project funded by the U.S. military beginning in the 1960s. According to the manual it could help you lift 1,500 pounds. But it also weighed 1,500 pounds. You would literally need one to lift one. Fast forward to today and the suit has gotten much more sophist sophisticated. There one, dubbed "The Hulk," is built by Lockheed Martin and it helped soldiers' toad up to 200 pounds without significantly weighing them down. Today this super technology is used to help people like Michael Gore.

MICHAEL GORE, CLINICAL TRIAL PARTICIPANT, INDEGO EXOSKELETON: If I have it on and I want to stand up, I stand up.

TAPPER: Though Gore has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since a horrific workplace accident, he can now move around with this new 27- pound device called the "Indego," which enables him to stand erect and move forward without his wheelchair.

GORE: It is an emotional boost to be able to stand up and talk to someone.

TAPPER: Using gyro scopes, microprocessors, sensors and battery technology, today's exoskeleton suits are much more intuitive than their predecessors.

CRAIG MAXWELL, VP AND CHIEF TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION OFFICER, PARKER HANNIFIN: The control of the device actually mimics what you and I do when we walk normally. The next frontier for us will be how we control it so the human/machine interface, do we tap right into the neural network of the brain in order to control the device.

TAPPER: Craig Maxwell is the vice president and chief technology officer for Parker Hannifin, the company behind the technology.

MAXWELL: When you see someone stand up and then you see the reaction of not only their reaction but their family's reaction, many times I have to leave the room because I can feel myself getting choked up over it.

TAPPER: Right now worldwide there are just a handful of patients using the Indego models in clinical trials. All of them are at the Shepard Center in Atlanta. But Indego is not the only model along with Parker Hannifin. Companies like Rewalk and Exobionics are evolving exoskeleton suits at such a pace that the Elysium's 2054 model may be outdated well before the real world reaches 2015.

MAXWELL: It's hard not to imagine a future where we'll be able to restore mobility to the point where a wheelchair will be a thing of the past. The technology is moving very, very quickly so I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the next 10 years.

GORE: Now you got it.

TAPPER: The Paker Hannifin VP also noted that eventually they hope to make exoskeletons that aren't so exo. They want to make them more streamlined so that they can be worn under the clothes, nearly undetectable in the future.

Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJPAL: And I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong. And that is News Stream. World Business Today is next.

END