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Indonesia at a crossroads
A tightly-fought presidential race has been underway in Indonesia – the third largest democracy in the world. Two very different candidates are offering up two very different futures.
And it's their personalities rather than their policies that seem to be grabbing the headlines.
On the one side is Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, a former furniture maker who's running on an anti-corruption ticket. On the other is Prabowo Subianto, a military man and former son-in-law of one-time dictator General Suharto, whose rhetoric is putting the country's recent hard-fought freedoms to test.
Author and writer Elizabeth Pisani, has just written “Indonesia etc,” a detailed account of life inside the world's fourth most populous country.
She spoke with CNN’s Michael Holmes, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Thursday.
The grim reality in Gaza
As the shooting war between Israel and Hamas intensifies, what of the Gaza residents who aren't firing rockets, those who don't command or control Hamas fighters and aren't interested in the politics?
Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, spoke with CNN’s Michael Holmes about the reality for the people on the ground.
Click above to watch.
Brazil President: 'My nightmares never got so bad'
By Mick Krever, CNN
Amanpour's full interview with President Rousseff airs Thursday at 2pm ET, 3pm Sao Paolo, 8pm CET on CNN International.
(CNN) - Never in her worst nightmares did Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff imagine such a crushing soccer defeat, she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
"My nightmares never got so bad, Christiane," she said through an interpreter. "They never went that far. As a supporter, of course, I am deeply sorry because I share the same sorrow of all supporters. But I also know that we are a country that has one very peculiar feature. We rise to the challenge in the face of adversity. We are able to overcome."
Brazil, she said, will recover from this "extremely painful situation."
"Being able to overcome defeat I think is the feature and hallmark of a major national team and of a great country."
Israel warns of possible Gaza ground operation as Hamas vows to defend itself
By Mick Krever, CNN
An Israeli ground operation into Gaza “might become necessary,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told CNN’s Michael Holmes, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Tuesday.
On the same day, Hamas Foreign Policy Spokesman Osama Hamdan vowed that Palestinians would defend themselves against any “attacks.”
“If the Israelis continue their attacks, the Palestinian people will defend themselves. Not only Hamas – all the Palestinians,” Hamdan told Holmes.
Abdullah: Half of Afghan ballots are ‘suspicious’
By Mick Krever, CNN
Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah alleged massive fraud in his country’s election in an interview with CNN’s Michael Holmes, in for Christiane Amanpour, on Tuesday.
“Half of the ballot papers used are considered to be suspicious based on standard critereas [sic], universal critereas of free and fair elections,” Abdullah, the country’s former foreign minister, said from Kabul.
Preliminary results from last month’s election were announced yesterday, and showed Abdullah’s opponent, former World Bank official Ashraf Ghani, with the lead.
Ghani on Tuesday said the preliminary results were “legitimate and credible.”
Shavit: Israel/Hamas escalation may be imminent
By Mick Krever, CNN
The latest airstrikes Monday night between Hamas and Israel may presage a serious escalation in violence between the two sides, Ari Shavit, senior correspondent for Ha'aretz, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“This is a very dramatic evening. I do not want to over-dramatize, but the last few hours may have been, God forbid, the tipping point.”
Tensions have already been high, with tit-for-tat violence; a 16-year-old Palestinian was kidnapped and burned alive, itself a possible act of retaliation for the deaths of three Israeli teenagers.
“For the last few days we’ve seen extraordinary attempts to stop the escalation. We’ve seen remarkable restraint on the behalf of the Israeli government – quite surprisingly for many, a right-wing, conservative government led by Benjamin Netanyahu did everything possible not to get into another war or cycle of violence. The same applies to President Abbas.”
“But Hamas – that kept on saying it wants to stop escalation – fired dozens of rockets into Israel in the last few hours, and Israel will not be able to be restrained anymore.”
U.K.: We warned Iraq about extremist threat
By Mick Krever, CNN
Amanpour’s full interview with Ambassador Simon Collis airs at 2pm ET, 7pm London, 9pm Baghdad time on CNN International.
The United Kingdom consistently warned the Iraqi government about the threat posed by ISIS before that group swept across large swaths of the country, UK Ambassador to Iraq Simon Collis told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
“I’m not suggesting that anybody saw quite the speed and scale of the advances that took place, which were in part also a result of the collapse of very significant numbers of Iraqi security forces.”
“But the fact that Mosul was vulnerable was known. The fact that ISIL were already holding territory from last year in parts of western Iraq, in Anbar and elsewhere, was well known.”
“We were aware of the threat and we gave clear advice at the time and throughout about the best way to tackle it, the only effective way to tackle it.”
The UK told Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government that the only way to defeat ISIS was through a “comprehensive counterterrorism strategy,” involving political, economic, and security measures, Ambassador Collis said.
For Sarkozy, ‘takes one to tell one’
The accusations are “grotesque.”
So says the Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, after he was placed under formal investigation over alleged corruption and taken into police custody. It's the first time this has ever happened in France.
Speaking on French television Wednesday night, Sarkozy denied any wrongdoing and said the case against him is political.
"I'm profoundly shocked at what happened,” Sarkozy said. “I don't require any special privileges. If I have made faults, I will accept all responsibility. I'm not a man that flees responsibility."
Sarkozy is accused of seeking insider information about an inquiry into illegal campaign funding.
But, says Christopher Dickey, foreign editor at the Daily Beast, “it takes one to tell one.”
“He may be right about it having some political motivation,” Dickey told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
But “Sarkozy is a man who knows all about political manipulation or attempted political manipulation of judges and prosecutors. He used to call them up in the middle of the night when they were making decisions he didn't like when he was president or interior minister.”
Could the scandal threaten what is widely believed to be Sarkozy's political comeback? And who will make the most hay out of the nation's general political disarray?
Click above to watch Amanpour’s full conversation with Dickey.
Nigeria minister admits bad communication on missing girls, vows safer schools
By Mick Krever, CNN
The Nigerian government did not adequately communicate with the press about the nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala admitted to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
“This is a very delicate situation with an unpredictable group. And I think that maybe this is one of the areas where we have not been able to communicate as well as we can.”
“The president has two daughters,” she said. “These children are our children. But we did not communicate that well.”
Critics say that far from just releasing bad information, the government released demonstrably false information.
Just days after the kidnapping in April, the Nigerian military announced that all but a handful of the girls had been released; that claim was soon disproved, and the girls are still missing.
“I don’t know how that happened,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “The issue now is not whether we are criticized or not criticized unfairly. I think we should forget about all that.”
Scientist who discovered Ebola: ‘This is unprecedented’
By Mick Krever, CNN
The scientist who discovered the Ebola virus said that a current outbreak of the deadly bug in West Africa, in which 467 people have died, is “unprecedented.”
“One, [this is] the first time in West Africa that we have such an outbreak,” Dr. Peter Piot told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “Secondly, it is the first time that three countries are involved. And thirdly it’s the first time that we have outbreaks in capitals, in capital cities.”
Doctors Without Borders warns that the outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia is now “out of control.” The number of cases is still spiking since it was first observed around the beginning of this year.
“With this strain of Ebola, you’ve got like a ninety percent chance of dying. That’s spectacular by any standard – one of the most lethal viruses that exist.”
And the way victims die is far from pleasant.
“Ebola virus infection starts with something that looks like the flu – headache, fever, maybe diarrhoea. But then you can develop very fast bleeding that’s uncontrollable, and that’s how people die.”
Easy to fight
There is no cure for Ebola, but in theory the disease should be easy to fight, Piot said.
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