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Connect the World

Elections In Egypt, Greece Will Shape World Future

Aired June 15, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, HOST: And tonight on Connect the World, two critical countries on the brink of change: voters in Greece and Egypt are preparing to have their say in elections that could have global ramifications.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is Connect the World.

SWEENEY: From revolution and a political shift in the Middle East to economic woes in Europe. Tonight, how the ballot box is shaping our future.

Also tonight...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our priority's main concern was just getting out and crossing the electric wire fence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: Bred as a slave: how this man escaped from a North Korean prison camp after 24 years in captivity.

And waiting for that final whistle, we'll bring you the latest from Euro 2012.

Depending on the outcome of Sunday's election June 17 could turn out to be one of those "where were you when it happened days," because Greeks go back to the polls this weekend to chose a government they hope can pull the country back from the brink. It's anti-austerity versus pro-bailout in Sunday's crucial rerun elections, but it is the bigger picture that is the bigger concern.

Greece's uncertainty and potential contagion have the rest of Europe on edge, that is because many see Sunday's vote as a referendum on the euro. Could Greece decide to leave the single currency? And would the markets come unstuck if it did?

On top of all of this, the big money behind the bailout wants Greece to come up with more cuts. And after five years of recession and high unemployment, Greece is in despair.

Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance has spent months showing us what Greek austerity looks like. Lives lived in bread lines, people who used to work full-time now waiting at soup kitchens for help. Desperate parents with no income are handing their children over to orphanages. And now another shock: soaring crime. Matthew joining us live from Athens -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fionnuala, thanks very much. That's right. This election not just about currencies. Of course, the New Democracy Party, one of the main political parties in this country just gave a very big rally here in the center of Athens. In fact, it was 50,000 people there. Nowhere near the size that many people expected to see for such a mainstream party stage in the center of the Greek capital. But nevertheless, Antonis Samaras saying that this is a choice for the Greek people between the euro or the drachma. He's trying to crystallize the debate around this very emotional issue of Greece staying in the euro saying that a vote for the opponents for New Democracy will essentially be a vote that would send Greece crashing out of the single currency.

But as you mentioned, this crisis is not just about choosing which currency Greece is going to adopt. It's also about other issues as well, foremost amongst them in this economic crisis perhaps the issue of security. There is a crime wave that's been sweeping across this country over the course of the past several years. And one of the challenges whoever gets into power is restoring some kind of security to ordinary people's lives here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: This is meant to be a very quiet, very secured neighborhood of the Greek capital. But as you can see, a makeshift memorial has been set out here with candles and flowers and messages for a local resident, a pharmacist. His name was Spiros Pokomesats (ph) who was killed here not that long ago, just a few days ago. One of the messages reads that paradise is welcoming a most cultured person.

Another one there written in Greek says that he was taken from us without reason and callously.

Obviously a lot of anger in this area and across the country about the wave of attacks that have taken place. One of the reasons for that is that this killing took place just literally around the corner from another notorious gun crime, this time against two police officers who were stopped here last year.

You can see people are still lighting candles and laying flowers in memorial to them. There's even a couple of photographs of them. But in neither case, in the killing of the police or of the pharmacist, has anyone been arrested, convicted, or of course even charged.

Athanasios Mouhtis was a friend and colleague of the murdered pharmacist. Athanasios, how concerned are you, how concerned are ordinary Greeks, about security situation in this country in the middle of this terrible economic crisis.

ATHANASIOS MOUHTIS, FRIEND OF VICTIM (through translator): We find ourselves in a very difficult situation with here and security surrounding crime has turned out to be greater than the reduction of salaries and poverty. Crime is worse than an international crisis.

CHANCE: We're exploring the underbelly of the Greek capital and we've come to one of the areas in the south of the city which is infamous for its prostitutes. When you drive down the street you can see the women lined up all along it looking for customers. Of course prostitution, drug dealing, and robbery to some extent has always been a feature of Athens, of a city this big. But what's happened, according to police since the start of the financial crisis, is that the crime has spread out to other areas. And now ordinary Greek citizens living in areas they thought were safe are feeling the impact.

Even official crime figures speak volumes. Armed robberies they say like this one in March caught on security cameras more than doubled last year. The Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection says murders have risen significantly too, fueling the sense of public insecurity which police are trying to play down.

ATHANASIOS G. KOKKALAKIS, SPOKESMAN, GREEK POLICE: It is not a nightmare yet. Of course we have problems. Of course we have some quarters that increase the criminality, but we still got -- we made a security -- a secure community until now.

CHANCE: For now, perhaps. But many Greeks are alarmed at what more economic chaos in their country may bring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Well, Fionnuala, one of the things that police say is driving this crime wave is the fact that so many Greeks are taking out their savings from banks and keeping them in cash in homes providing a big bonus for criminals that break into people's homes and can now get big returns. And so it's all very insecure. And people are very, very concerned about it, Fionnuala.

SWEENEY: Matthew Chance reporting live from Athens. Well, also in Athens a short time ago, I spoke to hedge fund manager Jason Manolopoulos who wrote Greece's odious debts. And I started by asking if he thinks Sunday's vote will be a turning point on whether Greece stays part of the EuroZone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON MANOLOPOULOS, AUTHOR: First of all we have to see who wins the elections. Will it be New Democracy or will it be Syriza. But even if these people win and they're able to form a coalition government, the question is are they able to implement the reforms? We have lots of new measures coming in June/July, 12 million new measures plus the old measures that have been put on hold from last year. So do these parties have it in them to implement these?

If you look at their track record over the past three years they've done very little. And their whole policy is around the memorandum i.e. amend it, cancel it, renegotiate it, extend it, not about how you can make Greece into a sustainable, productive economy, how we can reform our business sectors, what's gone wrong with Greece. So I think it's going to be very hard for Greece to suddenly overnight change.

SWEENEY: So, when you look at it then in the medium to long-term do you see Greece staying part of the EuroZone given what you just that line has to take place first?

MANOLOPOULOS: Well, a lot of things have to happen in the next three to six months that hasn't happened previously. And with the same people in power essentially I think it will be very difficult for them to implement those. And also we have to take a look at the architecture of the euro. We have 22 percent unemployment in Greece and 6 percent in Germany. What theory would say is that Greece would, unemployed Greeks would leave and go to Germany to get jobs. That's not happening, because we don't have labor mobility. Why don't we have the labor mobility? Because we have culture barriers, we have language barriers, you have your selling your house in Greece to be able to move to Germany.

So the euro as itself in infrastructure is not working as it should be.

Also, it's not a political union. We don't have fiscal transfers. If you're in the U.S. and New York is in a net contributor to Alabama's budget nobody knows or cares about it. But in Europe it's a big fuss.

SWEENEY: Do you get the sense at all that we might collectively be being prepared for a soft exit from Greece from the euro? That if is going to happen by the time it happens in the time frame you're talking about maybe three to six months, beyond that, that we'd of all accepted it and that the damage or the shock value would not be so great?

MANOLOPOULOS: Well, there's an existential question about the euro. Should the euro stay in this shape or form? Now over time, the EuroZone could get more prepared, but at the same time the problems keep on adding i.e. we had Greece and with Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and now Italy could be next. So we have these issues. Vis-a-vis Greece, Greece is not a big problem for Europe with 20, 30 billion it's primary debts could be covered for the next two years. So you can buy lots of time for Greece with a small amount of money.

But what happens on the Greek side? What are we going to do with all these unemployed people? What is Greece's strategy? Are we going to invest in tourism, in high end medical services, in shipping? You know, you can't have you know just all these people being unemployed for longer and longer. If you're unemployed for more than one year your cash savings start to dwindle. And sooner or later we're going to have huge social unrest here.

SWEENEY: Well, that's -- that leads me to my next question. I mean, how cohesive do you think Greek civil society is? And as a Greek listening to what is taking place on the ground beneath you, demonstrations, what is your sense of where the civil society in your country is headed?

MANOLOPOULOS: Well, I think if you look at the rally here, there are very few people. What that means is that I think the Greek populous is sick and tired of the old parties and that we'll see a shake-up and then in the next coming months. I don't think PASOK will be in the same shape or form. And maybe New Democracy will morph into a new party. And then we'll have two new parties, one left and one right that will go in and dominate the political scene. So that's one thing.

And from the Greek populous, some people have admitted that, you know, mistakes were made and part of it is a Greek problem, but other people are just, you know, content in saying it's only the foreigners fault, you know the bad memorandum, the bad, you know, measures that have been implemented, not how did we get here?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: And tune in this Sunday when Richard Quests hosts our special coverage of the Greek elections starting at 5:00 pm in London on CNN.

And as our guest just highlighted, youth unemployment is at a record high and not only in Greece, but also in debt stricken Spain. And that some observers wondering if a future full possibilities, the kind that previous generations have enjoyed is disappearing for today's young professionals.

We spoke to a Spaniard with an engineering degree who has had to uproot three times to find work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IGNACIO MUNGUIA, SPANISH EXPATRIATE: My name is Ignacio Munguia. I'm 26-years-old, Spanish. I lived almost all my life in Spain, studied engineering there. I did my last year of University in Greece -- well, I just loved the country so I wanted to stay there. I had a chance to stay six months doing (inaudible). Then after that it was really important to find a job both in Greece and in Spain. So then I started (inaudible) and I ended up in The Netherlands.

I was just looking for a kind of (inaudible) programs, big corporate, big international companies. There is no such program in Spain. All the jobs I was looking for in Spain, they were kind of operational and kind of let's say more simple jobs. But they won't give an answer if I sent a CV or tried to call, they would just not even answer.

And yeah I was looking for graduate programs for different companies. And I just found a program ING which happens to be in the Netherlands. And I thought it was challenging enough and a good thing to do and I didn't think twice. I just applied. I got it. And at the end in Spain the problem is that if I compare the job opportunities in Spain and the Netherlands and other countries the kind of jobs to reach everything to apply here in the Netherlands. If I tried to apply to a similar job in Spain they will ask me for six years of experience or eight years of experience, or an MBA or something like that. I don't have those qualifications.

Well, if I really had the opportunities, if I could find a job as good as I have now of course I would come back to Spain. I mean, I'd like to be at home. I would always, for a long time I would always choose Spain if I had the opportunity, but I just don't have it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: One man's quest for work in Europe.

Coming up on Connect the World, we'll preview another big election that could be pivotal this weekend: Egypt makes the final decision on a new president just days after court ruling turned the political system on its head.

Tales of life inside a North Korean Gulag. This former prisoner tells us why he informed on his mother and brother leading to their execution.

And Sweden and England are battling it out for the win they both desperately need in Euro 2012.

And that and more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SWEENEY: Your watching CNN. This is Connect the World. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney. Welcome back.

Just hours from now, polls will open in Egypt for a landmark presidential runoff, but for many voters the excitement has been eclipsed by deep concerns of the country's democratic future. Military rulers formally dissolved the freely elected parliament today after a court ruled it was invalid. The court also tossed out a law passed by the parliament that would have kept Ahmed Shafik off the ballots this weekend. He is Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister and the former air force general. Shafik will face the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi in the presidential runoff.

Well, a military council has been in charge of Egypt ever since Mubarak was overthrown last year. It's only strengthened its power ever since. And with the parliament gone, for now at least, the military has taken over legislative duties. It is also expected to hand pick an assembly to write the new constitution. That was supposed to have been the parliament's job.

The new president will be elected in a vacuum of civilian leadership. Some critics say the position will be more like an emperor, leaving Egypt worse off than under the previous dictatorship.

Many Egyptians are outraged by the turn of events calling it a military coup. The Muslim Brotherhood is urging them to take their anger to the ballot box.

Let's go to Cairo now and get an update on election eve. Ivan Watson joining us live. What is the atmosphere, first of all, like in Cairo this evening, Ivan?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know it's the night before an election and I think the move to dissolve the recently elected parliament less than 24 hours before Egyptians are to go to the polls to elect a president left a lot of people here dumbfounded even by the turbulent standards of the last year since this revolution took hold here.

The spokesman -- one of the spokesman for the campaign of the main Muslim Brotherhood candidate for president, he called this a slow military coup this latest move to dissolve parliament. But as you mentioned, the Brotherhood is still urging its supporters to go to the polls. And that message that this was a coup, that claim has been echoed in some of the Egyptian press and by intellectuals as well. But it's also been welcomed by some Egyptians that we've spoken to who were very distrustful of the Muslim Brotherhood and while some harbored some suspicions about the former regime of Hosni Mubarak and the candidate Ahmed Shafik who is a former Mubarak prime minister who is running for office on Saturday and Sunday, many of these people also did not shed any tears when hearing that the Muslim Brotherhood dominated parliament is being dissolved -- Fionnuala.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The previous regime never cared about me, but the Muslim Brotherhood have given me this medication for my leg. I'm neither a Salafist nor a Muslim Brotherhood member, but they take care of me and even ask about me in my house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now Fionnuala, that was one man we spoke with at Friday prayers today. Many of the Egyptians that we talk to who were praying, afterwards they said you know they were going to stand by the decision of the court. They didn't want to challenge the court because if you tackle and destroy that pillar of Egyptian society and the Egyptian state it will only lead to further chaos. And Egyptians have certainly seen more than their share of chaos over the course of the last year and several months.

SWEENEY: Well, indeed. And speaking of chaos, how much are the military prepared to risk the kind of chaos they saw on the streets last year? And what in the final analysis, Ivan, is the worst fear about the Muslim Brotherhood?

WATSON: Well, as far as the military goes, there has been a lot of concern about the decision made by the minister of justice to allow officers to arrest civilians on the streets, basically, which many have argued is reinstating emergency or martial law, which had just been lifted. And that fits in with the argument that some critics of the military are making that this is a kind of slow or soft coup that it is imposing.

When you talk to the revolutionaries of Tahrir Square who attracted attention from around the world. Some of them just say that they're exhausted, they're not ready to go out and protest yet again against this latest what has been perceived as a power play.

And then of course you have the Muslim Brotherhood which is arguing, OK, listen, we're not going to fight this. The only way to combat this move by -- apparent move by the military and the former regime is at the ballot boxes. And a spokesman for Mohammed Morsi's campaign says he's confident that Morsi will win, that their polls are showing him ahead with 45 percent of the vote.

SWEENEY: All right. It's almost election day in Cairo. Ivan Watson there. Thank you for that update joining us live.

Well, we're going to take a short break now, but when we come back going where few women have gone before. Fighter pilot Liu Yang prepares to become China's first female in space.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SWEENEY: Hello and welcome back to Connect the World. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney.

Here's a look now at some of the other stories connecting our world tonight.

For the first time in its 10 years history, the International Criminal Court has a woman and an African running the show. Gambian born Fatou Bensouda was sworn in as chief prosecutor this morning, pledging to lead the fight against the world's worst criminals. She takes over from Louis Moreno Campo whose term ended last Friday. One of her first tasks will be resolving a standoff with Libya which is currently holding an ICC envoy in detention.

The mysterious forest boy in Germany is a hoax. He arrived in Berlin last year calling himself Ray and claiming he had been living in the forest with his father for five years. Ray spoke only English, said he was under 16 and that both his parents were dead. But he is actually a 20-year-old Dutch man named Robin. His real step-mother identified him from police photographs.

China's first female astronaut is preparing for launch and on Saturday fighter pilot Liu Yang will join two male astronauts to take off from a remote location in the Gobi Desert. Liu said she's proud to represent the millions of Chinese women as Eunice Yoon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: China is preparing for a historic space launch this weekend. The planned a Saturday liftoff is going to mark a milestone for China's space ambitions and send its first female astronaut into space. According to authorities Liu Yang will join a three person crew on a long march carrier rocket to board the Shenzhou 9 space craft. The launch time is set for 6:38 pm local time at a satellite center in China's northwest.

If everything goes as planned, the Shenzhou 9 will dock with a Chinese space lab that has been in orbit since last September.

Technically the mission isn't seen as significant, however this is going to be the first manned space docking for China and only the third worldwide behind the United States and Russia. China has big ambitions for space exploration. It hopes to build a space station and eventually conduct its own mission to the moon.

Eunice Yoon, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: And still to come on Connect the World it's still all to play for in Kiev as Sweden and the Three Lions fight it out in Euro 2012.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SWEENEY: A warm welcome to our viewers across Europe and around the world. I'm Fionnuala Sweeney and these are the latest world headlines from CNN.

Greece is gearing up for an election that could have a major impact on the eurozone. Sunday's rerun vote could ultimately determine whether the euro -- or the country, rather -- stays in the euro. Some candidates for strong support are calling for a new deal with Europe. They say the strict terms of the bailout are making matters worse for Greece.

New protests in Egypt on the eve of a landmark presidential runoff, many people outraged by a court ruling that effectively dissolved Parliament. Another controversial ruling allowed Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, to remain on the ballot this weekend. He faces the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi.

US president Barack Obama has announced an immediate end to deportations of some young illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors and have lived there for at least five years. They will now be eligible to apply for work visas.

Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi thanked Norway on Friday for its support in promoting democracy in her home country of Myanmar. Suu Kyi arrived in Oslo to deliver her Nobel lecture more than two decades after winning the Peace Prize.

"Stop war-mongering and feed your people." That's US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's advice for North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un. And it came at a conference in Seoul, where the US reaffirmed its alliance with South Korea amid continued tensions with Pyongyang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, US SECRETARY OF STATE: This young man, should he make a choice that would help bring North Korea into the 21st century, could go down in history as a transformative leader.

Or he can continue the model of the past and eventually, North Korea will change. Because at some point, people cannot live under such oppressive conditions, starving to death, being put into gulags and having their basic human rights denied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: Well, North Korea has always denied the existence of gulags but, based on testimony from former prisoners and guards, human rights groups believe that as many as 200,000 people are languishing in prison camps across the country. Matthew Chance spoke to one escapee, a man who says he was bred as a slave.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The graphic image of a young man being tortured over flames.

Here, his finger is cut off at the knuckle as punishment for dropping a sewing machine.

But these are more than just pictures. Shin Dong-Hyuk claims their memories he sketched from his life inside a North Korean prison camp.

SHIN DONG-HYUK, PRISON CAMP ESCAPEE (through translator): My first memory from the Camp 14 is when I was five years old. My mom took me to somewhere, and I didn't know what to expect at all. That was a scene of a public execution.

CHANCE: Shin is the only known person born in a North Korean gulag who's escaped. His body, he says, bears the scars of the slavery, starvation, and brutality he suffered before he escaped in 2005 at the age of 24.

CHANCE (on camera): Tell us the story about how you lived your childhood and how your parents ended up at this camp.

SHIN (through translator): I was born through a reward marriage system, which was made available to exemplary prisoners in prison camps, and I was meant to live a life as a criminal. And we were basically treated as sub-human beings, like animals.

Using the term that people on the outside world use, I would describe my life in the prison camp as that of a slave.

CHANCE (voice-over): Shin's story is now a bestseller, documented by "Washington Post" correspondent Blaine Harden in "Escape from Camp 14." It tells of how he survived, often at the sacrifice of other prisoners, including his own family.

CHANCE (on camera): I read in the story, here, that you -- you informed the authorities about your mother and your brother attempting to escape. Why did you do that? Why would you report on your own family? Try and explain that to us.

SHIN (through translator): That was the most shameful story that I had, that I wanted to hide from everybody. I was 14, young, and immature, and I thought that was the right thing to do, according to the rule of the prison camp.

Secondly, I had a fantasy that if I report such a big crime to the authority, I would be rewarded with enough food so that I don't starve. That proved to be a fantasy and not true.

Thirdly, in prison camps, the concept of family that exists in the outside world doesn't exist in prison camps. You just call your mother a mother and father a father. But I had never felt that kind of attachment and love that people outside of prison camps feel towards them. So, they were just one of many criminals in a prison camp.

CHANCE (voice-over): North Korea denies the existence of gulags, and its tight restrictions on media make Shin's story impossible to verify. But United Nations and US State Department acknowledge there is evidence of forced labor camps in the country.

One recent report from the US-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea has also pinpointed the camps on satellite images based on testimony from 60 former prisoners and guards.

Shin, too, has a map, marking the route of his escape from Camp 14 to China, an escape he planned with a fellow prisoner, known as Park Yong Chul.

SHIN (through translator): Park came to the textile factory in the prison camp where I worked in 2004. He started sharing his stories, what he ate, what he saw, what he did outside of North Korea. I started to imagine what life outside of North Korea would be like.

Of course I was afraid that during my attempted escape, I would be shot to death or arrested and executed later. But at the time, my strongest wish was to eat the kinds of food that Park told me about, as much as I want for one single day.

CHANCE (on camera): Tell us about what your plan was. How difficult was it to pull it off?

SHIN (through translator): Our priority, main concern, was just getting out and crossing the electric wire fence. It was January 2nd, 2005. We were working in the mountains, and that was the closest place to the electric fence, and it snowed a lot that day. So, we decided to carry out our plan.

CHANCE: But of course, Park didn't make it. He was electrocuted, wasn't he? During the escape.

SHIN (through translator): Park started crossing the electric wire first, and at the time I thought he was crawling under fence and I followed and I crawled on top of him. After some time, because Park wasn't following me, I realized that he might have been electrocuted, but I couldn't afford to go back and check on him.

CHANCE (voice-over): These are the scars Shin says he, too, suffered from the electric fence. Despite his injuries, he managed to find, steal, and bribe his way across North Korea into China. He now works as a human rights advocate in the United States, driven, he says, by overwhelming guilt that he survived.

CHANCE (on camera): How do you think this experience of leaving North Korea, leaving the prison camp, has changed you?

SHIN (through translator): I can wear good clothes, I eat good food three times a day. So, physically, I would say that I am comfortable. But mentally, I still feel like I am living in a prison camp. I still have nightmares.

I think about my mother and brother, and I started feeling guilt and remorse, which were feelings that I didn't have at the time. And I think about the colleagues I had at the prison camp. These memories keep coming back to me, so mentally, I would say I'm still in prison camp.

CHANCE (voice-over): Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: This is CONNECT THE WORLD on CNN. Up next, Mother Nature introduces herself to Euro 2012. Lightning and heavy rain win out as Ukraine and France try to play football.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SWEENEY: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Welcome back, I'm Fionnuala Sweeney. Now, the weather played havoc with Friday's matches at Euro 2012. The first match between co-host Ukraine and France were delayed almost an hour by inclement weather, and that forced the second match between England and Sweden to kick off 15 minutes later than planned.

For the latest, let's bring in "World Sport's" Alex Thomas, who joins us from CNN London. Alex is anchoring our expanded coverage of sport at this hour. Alex?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fionnuala. Day eight of Euro 2012, and that will bring an end to the second round of group matches. Group D under the spotlight this evening.

As you say, we saw a match between France and co-host Ukraine earlier. Let's take a look at the scores from that game and the one still in progress. France won 2-nil. England beating Sweden 3-2, but that only tells half the tale. For the rest of it -- what a topsy-turvy game -- we can cross live to Pedro Pinto, our man on the ground in Warsaw, Poland, for the very latest. Pedro?

PEDRO PINTO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alex. It has been a thrilling five-goal match here, and really, Sweden, if this match continues to keep the score it has, will be knocked out of the tournament. England will be in a fantastic position to move into the quarterfinals. The match came alive after halftime, four goals in the second half. It was 1-nil England after 45 minutes.

You talked about France. They were really impressive in a 2-nil win over Ukraine in the net in a match which really nearly didn't happen after the thunderstorm, the incessant rain falling at the Donbass Arena. France now extended their unbeaten streak to 22 games.

Curiously, it was their first victory in a major tournament since beating Portugal in the 2006 World Cup semifinals. So, that drought has come to an end.

A lot of action on day eight, and it's not over yet. Right now, five minutes left for the England-Sweden match to end, England 3, Sweden 2, that's the score right now.

THOMAS: Pedro in Poland, thank you very much. Much more from our main man at Euro 2012 in "World Sport" in three quarters of an hour's time.

Let's talk more reaction, now, on the Sweden-England game, though. We sent Christina MacFarlane to a London pub to soak up the atmosphere. Think of all the tens of thousands, if not millions of fans on the edges of their seats. Christina, what's the atmosphere there like?

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, the Sweden fans might outnumbered fans, but let me tell you right here, right here in London, is where it's at. These fans have been slugging in all evening for the last hour and a half to see this roller coaster unfold in front of us.

They've been in the depths of despair right back up to ecstasy, especially after that walk-on goal. I cannot tell you the amount of noise that erupted here following that.

Well, anything can happen, Alex, in the final minutes of this game, as you can see behind me. Let me tell you that the fans here, now, really believe in their team and they believe in their manager. The belief has come back for this England side and to these England fans.

And there's a feeling, now, that anything could happen. They're already talking about playing Italy or Spain in the quarterfinals. They're already thinking big, Alex.

THOMAS: OK, Christine, many thanks. We know what the expectations surrounding the England football team have been like the down years.

And plenty of expectations around Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in the world of golf, especially as we're in the middle of the second major of the season, the US Open, taking place at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

And that's where we can find our own Patrick Snell, who can bring us up to date on the second round. Patrick?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Alex. Yes, exciting second round Friday, in progress right now. I'm going to give you the big news of the tournament first, is that we're likely to lose our defending champion, here, Rory McIlroy. I'm going to project right now that he will miss the cut. More on that in just a second.

But let me take you straight to the top of the leaderboard and show you exactly what is going on right now as far as that is concerned. It is still the overnight leader, the young American, the 27-year-old Michael Thompson leading the way.

But he has given one shot back to the rest of the field, Alex, at three under par, now. But he still has a nice two-shot cushion, and that could be rather nice if he can just hold his nerve. He started out with a couple of pars, then he dropped one shot.

He's being pursued, though, right now by the 03 champion, another American player, Jim Furyk, who shot an impressive 69 this day. He's tucked in there very nicely at one under par. Tiger Woods is out on the course, he's at one under par, as well, having parred the very first hole.

We're expecting the cut to come at around eight over par, that's bad news for Rory McIlroy. Alex, he had by his own very high standards a pretty disastrous day, although much improved on day one Thursday when he shot 77. He responded with a three over 73, not nearly enough.

And I really was disappointed for him. I felt the concentration going on the last one. He really needed to make at least a par to have any chance at all. He bogeyed. That took him to 10 over par, would you believe? Rory McIlroy at 10 over par.

He's played 150 shots over the course of these two rounds. He's not going to be the only big name leaving us, but Rory McIlroy expected to be cut, Alex, later on this day, Friday.

THOMAS: Yes, dreadfully disappointing defense of his US Open crown that he won in such spectacular fashion 12 months ago. Thanks to Patrick, more from him in "World Sport" in just under an hour's time.

I can tell you, that England-Sweden match at Euro 2012, Fionnuala, just in the dying seconds, England still leading 3-2, very tense, very thrilling, all the sport coming up again in just under three quarters of an hour's time. Back to you.

SWEENEY: And indeed you'll be joined by Pedro, Christina, and Patrick, then, on "World Sport." Thank you very much, Alex.

Coming up next on CONNECT THE WORLD, whoever said the military isn't fun? Firing cupcakes. We'll bring you the sweeter side of the US Army.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SWEENEY: The jewel in the heart of the Black Sea. All this week, we've had our eye focused on the former Soviet republic of Georgia. From the new tourist hub in blossoming Batumi to the hydroelectric industry helping to power the Georgian awakening.

And today, we take a look at the country's fashion industry, which is on the rise, and looking to go global, as Diana Magnay reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lela Eloshvili is putting the finishing touches to her collection, ready for Tbilisi Fashion Week. This is the final dress rehearsal.

Her small team of seamstresses are hand-finishing the last few pieces in the back room of her atelier. She tells me Georgian designers don't yet have the support they need at home to really make their mark abroad.

LELA ELOSHVILI, FASHION DESIGNER, INFORMAL (through translator): When buyers look at your collection, they need quality and quantity. The problem is that Georgia does not have any factories, and in small ateliers like this, you can't produce enough.

In Soviet times, we used to have big factories, and that's why you could get quality and quantity back then. But now, we have to start everything again.

MAGNAY: Post-Soviet Georgia was gripped by war, poverty, and corruption. It was only after 2003, when President Mikheil Saakashvili seized power in what's known as the Rose Revolution the people began really to think about fashion again.

ELOSHVILI (through translator): Before that, everyone wore black. Then, in 2003, Georgians started to travel abroad more. Fashion magazines came into the country, and people began to develop their own tastes.

MAGNAY: Now, even traditional Georgian costume is getting a new lease of life. The shop Samoseli Pirveli opened in 2010, the pet project of a businessman who wanted to raise awareness of the beauty and the variety of the national dress.

ANNA NINVA, FASHION DESIGNER, SAMOSELI PIRVELI (through translator): What was left after Soviet times was just dresses for national dancers. So, we restored the rest by looking at old photographs and museum pieces.

MAGNAY: Ninva was brought in to give these traditional designs a modern twist.

MAGNAY (on camera): Oh, it's very pretty. I love -- I love the back. I feel my inner Georgian coming out. And you can -- you can combine this kind of thing with jeans. It's great!

MAGNAY (voice-over): Tako Chkheidze has run Tbilisi Fashion Week since it began in 2009.

TAKO CHKHEIDZE, ORGANIZER, TBILISI FASHION WEEK: When it's cold.

MAGNAY: She likes to bring international press and buyers to this shop when the show's over. She says you won't find these clothes on a catwalk, but you're beginning to see them on the High Street.

CHKHEIDZE: After summer sale, we start to produce this Georgian traditional things. Everybody starts wearing it, and now it's, let's say, trendy.

MAGNAY: The designer admits the shop's not a money spinner, but with a rich backer, it doesn't need to be.

NINVA (through translator): This was never done for business purposes. This was done for the nation, to return the traditional clothes to Georgians and to provide them with more information about the traditions of Georgian clothing.

MAGNAY: And that's just what young Georgian designers say they need, besides the increasing attention Fashion Week generates each year, more financial backing, some recognition of the talent this country is producing to get an industry in its infancy up and running.

Diana Magnay, CNN, Tbilisi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SWEENEY: Now, an update on the England-Sweden game taking place at Euro 2012. As you can see, there, from the scoreboard, England has just won at full time, three goals to two. This means Sweden is out of the competition.

Now, in tonight's Parting Shots, the Army's top brass -- that is, the US Army's top brass were on show in the Pentagon today to celebrate their 237th birthday with the traditional cake cutting ceremony. And this time, they pulled out all the stops.

This is a tank made of 5,000 camouflaged cupcakes. It has even got a working cannon capable of firing -- yes -- cupcakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One!

(CANNON FIRES)

(CROWD CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: Coming up in this footage, you'll see CNN's Barbara Starr trying to do a live hit while one flies right over her head.

I'm Fionnuala Sweeney, that was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thanks for watching. The world headlines are up next after this short break.

END