A milestone in Afghanistan

With the Afghan war marking its eight-year anniversary this week, Frederik Pleitgen went on a training exercise where German troops try to instruct members of the Afghan army on how to work together to take a defended position. It definitely gives you a sense of how much of an uphill battle (pardon the pun) the NATO troops are facing:

Over the weekend, Atia Abawi reported on one of the deadliest attacks on Americans in the entire war:

Yesterday, Atia gave an overview of the mission so far:

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Dan Rivers with a follow-up on the devastation in Indonesia after the earthquakes of last week. The search for survivors has been called off, and although schools are re-opening, the losses are horrific:

Arwa Damon tours what was once a busy market. The ceiling collapsed in an instant, burying untold numbers of people:

That's it for this week...

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South Pacific Disasters

The South Pacific has been pummeled by natural disasters for the past week, with huge death tolls in several countries. On Friday, both Arwa Damon and Dan Rivers reported on rescue efforts in Padang, Indonesia:

Saturday morning, Arwa had a longer piece from the site of a collapsed school in Padang:

(You can follow Arwa on Twitter @ arwadamonCNN.)

Dan Rivers took to the air and got a look at the scope of the destruction:

(You can follow Dan on Twitter @ danieljerivers.)

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For this week's look at BackStory on Domestic, Michael Holmes brought a report from John Vause about covering the celebration of China's "National Day" marking 60 years of communist rule. It's a good look at what it sometimes takes to get a story -- in this case, 10 hours of effort:

(You can follow Michael on Twitter @ holmesCNN.)

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Kevin Flower is the Jerusalem bureau chief, but on Friday he got in front of the camera to report on the "proof of life" video of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, whose kidnapping by Palestinian militants in June of 2006 was a major contributor to the Israel/Lebanon war later that summer:

Kevin also did a second report for The Situation Room, showing more of the PoL video as well as footage of some of the 19 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for the video:

(You can follow Kevin on Twitter @ KevinFlowerCNN.)

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Sunday on Christiane Amanpour's program, the first focus was on the nuclear agreement with Iran that will have them reducing their uranium stockpile by selling much of it to Russia and France.

Christiane spoke (via translator) with Iran's top diplomat at the Geneva talks, Saeed Jalili. (He emphasized that the not-secret site they have was revealed earlier than was legally required. Nice way to gloss over the SECRET site, huh?)

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Also on to talk about the agreement were Mohammed Marandi, a professor at Tehran University who said that Iran wants US opinions towards Iran to change, and Ray Takeyh, a former Obama administration adviser who said that the US wants Iran to be more transparent, to lower their stockpile of uranium, and to have on-going dialogue rather than episodic.

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The rest of the program focused on the situation in Somalia, including a report from Sudanese journalist Nima Elbagir in Mogadishu. Insurgents now control three-quarters of the city and are encouraging fighters from other countries to come to Somalia and join them.

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Ken Menkhaus, a former UN adviser in Somalia, thinks al Qaeda would be at risk if they based there, that Somali militants would not tolerate a large force of outsiders.

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Another report from Nima Elbagir about the situation for civilians. About one-third of the residents of Mogadishu have fled the city. Refugee camps line the road running north from the city, but the radical Islamic group that controls the area does not tolerate foreign aid groups coming into the area. Half the Somali population, nearly 4 million people, are completely reliant on aid. Oxfam calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

(You can follow Christiane on Twitter @ AmanpourCNN.)

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Morgan Neill was in Zurich, Switzerland; Dan Rivers was in Manila, Philippines; Mohammed Jamjoon was in Baghdad. Suzanne Malveaux was in for Wolf Blitzer.

TUESDAY: Awra Damon tweeted that she was heading to Viet Nam, although bad weather prevented her arrival there.

WEDNESDAY: Don Lemon was in for Kyra Phillips; John Roberts was in for Campbell Brown.

THURSDAY: Ed Henry was in Copenhagen, Denmark; Matthew Chance was in Geneva, Switzerland; Ted Rowlands was in Leone, American Samoa; Dan was in Padang, Indonesia; Candy Crowley was in Atlanta; Ali Velshi was in Chicago.

FRIDAY: Bureau Chief Kevin Flower reported from Jerusalem; Arwa was in Padang; Dr. Sanjay Gupta was in Tromso, Norway, north of the Arctic Circle (above); John King was in Washington. Christine Romans was in for John Roberts; Jim Moret was in for Larry King.

(Only posting Mon-Fri right now because WITW will be moving back to Saturdays later this week and will cover the prior Saturday-Friday.)

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"Amanpour." debuts; Iranian missile sequel

Iran launched more missiles overnight, and Domestic briefly took the International feed so that Reza Sayah (in Islamabad) could explain the meaning behind the tests:

Atia Abawi reported Sunday on the latest American/NATO deaths in Afghanistan as well as an unsuccessful suicide attack that targeted a very popular member of the government:

This morning, Rob Marciano gave us a look at the typhoon that caused massive flooding in the Philippines, followed by a live report from Dan Rivers in Manila:

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Christiane Amanpour's new program finally debuted on Domestic this weekend -- here's a rundown of this week's show:

Her first guest was Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai (in Kabul). They discussed the disputed election results (the election committee has now given Karzai the 50% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff), General McChrystal's request for more American troops to be sent to the country, and Christiane also played a portion of an interview she conducted with him in Kandahar in December of 2001 one week before he originally took office. At that time, he felt that the country would be peaceful and stable, which did not happen because the focus of the international community turned elsewhere:

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The next guest was Special Envoy to Afghanistan/Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who said that the comparisons between Afghanistan and Viet Nam don't hold up because Viet Nam was no threat to the US. He declined to say whether he agreed with the request for more troops but did answer regarding why the strategy is not yet in place:

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Christiane's third guest was Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who says that the new administration in his country has successfully turned the tide of public opinion so that the public now sees the fight against terrorism as their fight. (I would have thought it was more the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the recent spate of suicide bombings that did that, but whatever.) He also says they are not reluctant to take on terrorists, including the Afghan Taliban who find sanctuary within Pakistan:

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Quick -- name the current head of NATO. Well, if you can't, Christiane interviewed him next, so you can get to know the former prime minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmusse. His first decision as PM was to send troops into Afghanistan. He says, "We have to do more now so we can do less in the future." Christiane then asks him a great question:

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The final interview of the program was an exclusive with Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. He believes that it is time for the international community to lift the sanctions imposed on the country, but when asked why the election went so badly, why white Zambabweans are being forced off their land, etc, he was, shall we say, less than forthcoming.

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Christiane closed the program with some words about what future shows would be like:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Joe Johns was in Raleigh, North Carolina; Wolf Blitzer and Michael Ware were both in New York.

TUESDAY: Kyra Phillips was in for Rick Sanchez.

WEDNESDAY: John Zarella was in Honduras; Sanjay Gupta was in New York in the morning and in Philadelphia in the evening.

THURSDAY: Ed Henry and Brian Todd were both in Pittsburgh for the G-20 (although only Brian got tear-gassed!)

FRIDAY: Betty Nguyen was in for Tony Harris; TJ Holmes was in for Rick; Rick was in New York and filling in for Campbell Brown.

Wow, that was a long post.... See you Thursday!

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The Reach of al Qaeda

Dan Rivers has gone to Jakarta to cover the terrorist bombings there, and Friday he reported on the latest developments for The Situation Room, followed by Tom Foreman using Google Earth on the Magic Wall to show where the hotels are situated :

Peter Bergen also appeared on TSR to discuss the group believed to be behind the bombings as well as the hunt for OBL:

Sunday morning, Dan updated new information from Jakarta:

By the way, congratulations to Dan for being nominated for a news Emmy for his coverage of the Myanmar cyclone last year -- if you recall his work, it was not only dangerous because of the desperate situation of all the flooding and injured people but also because the local government was hunting him down to arrest/expel him.

Also on Sunday, Ivan Watson reported from Afghanistan on the crash of a helicopter, and also showed some amazing footage of his travels with the Marines in Helmand province:

Arwa Damon is doing the current rotation in Baghdad, and had this report about how Iraqis now feel about Saddam Hussein:

Wolf Blitzer talked to Bob Woodward about the political implications of the wars, especially the new focus on Afghanistan:

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Where in the World...?

MONDAY: Sanjay Gupta was in Port au Prince, Haiti; David Mattingly was still in Pensecola, Florida. Wolf Blitzer hosted coverage of the Sotomayor hearings, Tony Harris was not on at all.

TUESDAY: Ed Henry was in Warren, Michigan. Wolf hosting the hearings, neither Heidi Collins nor Rick Sanchez were on at all.

WEDNESDAY: Stan Grant is in Islamabad. Wolf hosted the hearings, Fredericka Whitfield was in for Rick, who was in Miami.

THURSDAY: Arwa Damon is in Baghdad (above). Carol Costello was in for Kiran Chetry. AC360 was two hours long.

FRIDAY: Dan Rivers is in Jakarta. Carol was in for Kiran; TJ Holmes was in for Tony; Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs; John King was in for both Larry King and Anderson Cooper.

SATURDAY: Ivan Watson is in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

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Saturday's Scoop

Christiane Amanpour did an interview with The Women on the Web where she discusses the crisis in Iran, the role of women in the Iran conflict and many other topics. Click here for the article.

We received the following note as a comment on last week's blog. Thank you to the person who posted the comment! Here is the goodbye letter Alessio Vinci wrote to CNN

Dear friends and colleagues,

It's never easy to say good bye to a company like CNN; let alone when you have been working here for 20 years.

Nevertheless, I have decided to accept an offer to continue hosting a leading news and current affairs show on Italian Television. The decision was made all the more arduous by the fact that I'm leaving behind an amazing group of people with whom I have shared innumerable assignments around the world.

After such a long time at CNN, there are countless people to whom I will always be immensely grateful - at a professional and personal level. I can't possibly mention them all here.

But there are a few who I'd like to thank: Eli Flournoy and Kim Norgaard, the two guys with whom I started off back in 1990, when my accent was so thick I never dreamed I'd ever be allowed on-air!

Parisa Khosravi - who has believed in me from the very beginning and Tony Maddox who has always been understanding and supportive.

Finally, Hada and Alessandro with whom I shared my last few years.

The good thing about my new job is that I will always be based in Rome, with virtually no travel involved. That means, anytime any of you wish to come and visit I will always be here.

The best way to reach me is at:

[email address redacted]

Thank you all, once again, and please do stay in touch.

Ciao from Rome,

Alessio

Congratulations to Dan Rivers, CNN's Bankok Correspondent, on the birth of Amelie Saffron Elizabeth Rivers (6lb 3oz)

Programming Note Reminder: Don Lemon will be hosting "CNN Presents: 'Man in the Mirror" today and tomorrow at 8pm, 11pm, and 2am.

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Remembering Tiananmen

While the eyes of the world were on Cairo today, CNN has also been looking back at a watershed event that occurred 20 years ago: a pro-democracy demonstration by hundreds of thousands of students in Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing. It was a protest that grew slowly and impossibly over the span of a few weeks, until a brutal and bloody crackdown wiped it out. The iconic image above was taken on June 5th, as the tanks rolled in and one solitary man stared them down. It was an image that many of us will never forget, and that many in China have never been allowed to see.

Today Kyra Phillips spoke with Alec Miran, a CNN producer who was there in the weeks leading up to that showdown. Old footage shows his fight to keep CNN on the air as Chinese officials tried to shut them down on May 20th, as the protests were still building:

On International's BackStory yesterday, Michael Holmes introduced coverage of the anniversary and a report by Emily Chang, who attempted to film a conversation with Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime Florcruz in the Square about what happened in 1989. They were stopped, but with smiles and offers of help rather than tanks and bullets. Twenty years has brought progress; perhaps the next twenty will bring more:

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Cal Perry had one of the earliest reactions to the President's speech from the American University in Beirut:

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On Tuesday, Dan Rivers filed an incredible report from Peshawar on the Taliban's intimidation of all Western-influenced businesses in the region. It is a look at a society crumbling in the face of brutality, and it promises to get much worse:

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Refugees, nukes, a DMZ, smuggling, thieves... yikes!

A very busy week on the international front. Here's some of what the CNN teams are covering...

Monday, Dan Rivers reported from Islamabad on the fighting in the Swat Valley as the Pakistani army tries to oust the Taliban, as well as the mass exodus of residents to refugee camps:

Tuesday, Dan reported on the horrific conditions the refugees are describing in the home region:

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After North Korea conducted another nuclear test early Monday, Morgan Neill (currently covering the Tokyo bureau) reported on Japan's reaction to the test:

Wednesday, as Japan officially downplayed the test, Morgan spoke to a woman of North Korean decent who lives in Japan about the reaction she feels from her fellow countrymen:

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The same day, a piece from Zain Verjee gave us a look at the Korean DMZ:

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Wednesday, Paula Hancocks gave us a look at one of the smuggling tunnels used to move food and goods (and weapons) from Egypt into Gaza:

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Cal Perry is wrapping up a rotation in Baghdad and today he gave us a look at the infamous Thieves' Market before heading back to Beirut:

That's it for me this week. See you Monday!

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Mullah Matchmaker

Reza Sayah is still reporting from Tehran, and on Friday did a piece about a mullah who has set up a matchmaking service so that young Iranians can find a mate while still observing Islamic law:

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Zain Verjee reported on the auction for some items that belonged to Mahatma Gandhi. The auction was controversial because the Indian government felt the items should rightly belong to the people of India:

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A look at how the economic crisis is affecting the global economy, specifically unemployment. First, Ben Wedeman in Jerusalem, Anjali Rao in Mumbai (and the graphics department REALLY wants us to know where Mumbai is!), and Dan Rivers in Bangkok:

Matthew Chance in Moscow, Jim Boulden in London, and Emily Chang in Beijing:

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Where in the World...?

SATURDAY: Randi Kaye was in the NewsRoom for Fredricka Whitfield.

SUNDAY: Randi was in for Fredricka again.

MONDAY: Jill Dougherty was in Jerusalem with SecState Clinton. Roland Martin was in for Campbell Brown.

TUESDAY: Paula Newton reported from Kabul; Stan Grant was in Lahore to report on the attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team; Jeffrey Toobin was in San Francisco.

WEDNESDAY: Fredricka was in for Tony Harris.

THURSDAY: Sanjay Gupta was in Los Angeles; Kitty Pilgrim was in for Lou Dobbs.

FRIDAY: Jill was in Geneva; Kitty was in for Lou; Anderson Cooper was off and Ali Velshi hosted a "Money Summit" program in place of AC360.

That's all for me today... if you're in the US, don't forget to "spring forward" tonight!

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Still a Lot of Problems Out There...

Friday, the Obama Administration made it crystal clear that hunting down al Qaeda is still a top priority to this country, with two air strikes into the Pakistan Tribal Areas. Barbara Starr reports from the Pentagon:

Sunday on GPS, Fareed Zakaria had a panel of three guests that, as he put it, "know more about Pakistan and Afghanistan than almost anyone" -- Rory Stewart, Barnett Rubin, and Steve Coll talk about the way forward for the US in that region. The interview is nearly ten minutes long so I broke it into two parts. Part 1:

And Part 2:

On Friday, Campbell Brown had a discussion about the order to close down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. First, a report from Nic Robertson about a detainee who was released and now appears in an al Qaeda propaganda video, followed by a panel to discuss what to do with the rest of the prisoners who remain locked up. Two of the panel members are well-known to CNN viewers -- Peter Bergen and Reza Aslan -- but the third, Jed Babbin, clearly doesn't know the etiquette of panel discussions. Again, cut into two parts due to length. Part 1:

Part 2:

Then on Friday's AC360, Peter spoke with Anderson Cooper:

Peter also spoke with Erica Hill on today's American Morning:

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Dan Rivers has a very disturbing report about Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar/Burma but being rounded up by Thai authorities and dumped back out at sea. It's pretty horrifying stuff, although it seems like most things that involve the Thai authorities these days qualify that way. This one aired in two parts on NewsRoom Sunday, with Don Lemon speaking with Dan via broadband after the piece finished. Part 1:

Part 2:

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Okay, just so that not all the news is grim... Stan Grant reports from Abu Dhabi on a completely green city being built there, and I don't mean the emerald kind of green:

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Finally: I just love this new promo:

That's it for me this week!


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International news

I didn't plan on another Michael Ware-centered post today, but...uh...I forgot it was Saturday and had to scramble a bit! I hope you can forgive me!

First up is a recap of the final chapter in the new Status of Forces Agreement:

Then on Thursday, Michael did a report on more than 1,000 contract workers who have been held as virtual prisoners in Baghdad. It is an appalling story, and one the world needed to see:

Friday morning, Michael was on briefly to update the story:

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I thought I'd share a couple of clips from BackStory, the International program that gives viewers a look behind the scenes of news gathering.

Arwa Damon is currently in Mecca to cover the Hajj, and yesterday Isha Sesay spoke with her as well as Mohammad Jamjoom (who covered the Hajj last year with Isha):

And here's something I bet you never expected to see: Nic Robertson attends a Jethro Yull concert in Mumbai:

Many thanks to Délie for uploading these clips so that those of us who can't get the International feed can keep up with the program. If you would like to see more, be sure to check out her site!

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Where in the World...?

SATURDAY: Matthew Chance and Nic Robertson were still in Mumbai; Ed Henry in Chicago covering the Obama transition.

SUNDAY: Dan Rivers reported from Bangkok on the airport protests.

MONDAY: Suzanne Malveaux was in Washington; Candy Crowley was in Chicago; Peter Bergen was in New York; Michael Ware in Baghdad; Gary Tuchman was in Duluth, Georgia to cover an appearance by Sarah Palin at a rally for Saxby Chambliss; Joe Johns was in for John Roberts (and would be Tuesday as well); Betty Nguyen was in for Kyra Phillips.

TUESDAY: Suzanne was in Philadelphia to cover the meeting between P-E Obama with the governors; Dana Bash was in Atlanta to cover the Chambliss vote; Peter was in Quebec (above); TJ Holmes was in for Heidi Collins (Wednesday as well).

WEDNESDAY: Suzanne and Dana were in Washington; Sanjay Gupta was in New York.

THURSDAY: Anderson Cooper was off so that Christiane Amanpour's Scream Bloody Murder could air in that timeslot.

FRIDAY: Lisa Sylvester was in for Lou Dobbs.

That's it for me, have a great weekend!

All content, unless otherwise cited, is © All Things CNN and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.

Help for Haiti

We have had so much coverage of the damage done to the American Gulf Coast by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, but the country of Haiti has been ravaged by four hurricanes. The devastation there is just incredible. People have been without food for days, clean water is practically non-existent, and getting help to the desperate population is very, very difficult.

Last weekend, Don Lemon interviewed Wyclef Jean and Matt Damon, who have recently returned from a trip there with an organization delivering aid. The interview was presented in two parts.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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Tuesday, Dan Rivers did a follow-up regarding the Marriott bombing in Islamabad:

Wednesday, Kiran Chetry interviewed Lance Armstrong about his planned return to the Tour de France:

Last Saturday, Miles O'Brien called in to discuss the unusual preparations for the next shuttle launch. For the first time in many years, a second shuttle is also on the launch pad; but for the first time, the reason is that it may be needed for a rescue mission should anything go wrong:

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Where in the World...?

SATURDAY: Miles O'Brien was in New York and reported on the upcoming shuttle launch; Suzanne Malveaux was in Jacksonville, Florida with the Obama campaign; Nic Robertson was in Jalalabad, Pakistan, where he reported on the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

SUNDAY: Ed Lavendera was in Galveston, Texas as evacuated residents began to return; Suzanne was in Charlotte, North Carolina with the Obama campaign; Dan Rivers was in Islamabad, Pakistan to report about the Marriott bombing.

MONDAY: 

Jeffrey Toobin was in Greensboro, North Carolina; Dana Bash was in Washington in the morning but in Media, Pennsylvania with the McCain campaign in the afternoon; Zain Verjee was in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting; Wolf Blitzer and Larry King also did their programs from New York.

TUESDAY: Christiane Amanpour reported from the UN; Candy Crowley was in Tampa and Clearwater, Florida with the Obama campaign; Dana was in Middleburg Heights, Ohio with the McCain campaign; John King was in Aurora, Colorado to focus on that Battleground State.

WEDNESDAY: Suzanne was in Miami with the Obama campaign; Candy was in Clearwater, Florida with the Obama campaign; Dana was in New York; John King was in Helena, Montana to focus on that Battleground State.

THURSDAY: Suzanne was in Oxford, Mississippi in preparation for the presidential debate; Dana was in New York in the morning and Washington in the afternoon to cover the financial bailout meeting on Capitol Hill; John King was in Marysville, Montana (above); John Roberts hosted Election Center.

FRIDAY: Candy and Dana were in Oxford, Mississippi for the debate; Soledad O'Brien was in Columbus, Ohio with a panel of debate-viewers grading the debate; John King, Michael Ware, and Christiane Amanpour were part of the panel discussing the debate in New York.

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and may not be used without consent of the blog administrator.