As many as 12,000 people have been killed in Syria over the last 15 months and tonight AC 360° is Keeping Them Honest.

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.

Budapest Ferenc Liszt international airport. Credit: Getty / Bloomberg

This month ‘CNN Business Traveller’ looks at how the business travel sector inEurope is revamping itself. Summer 2012 heralds new routes, new trains and a new lease of life for old planes. In the mist of economic turmoil, the continent’s travel industry is undergoing massive change. Show host Richard Quest is inBudapest,Hungary to report onEurope’s evolving landscape.

The financial crisis in the Eurozone has engulfed nearly every industry – and airlines are no exception. When Hungarian national carrier Malev imploded in February, it left passengers stranded and an economy struggling as business travellers were unable to enter the country. Quest speaks to CEO of Budapest Airport, Jost Lammers, about life after the bankruptcy of its hub carrier.

Despite all the difficulties, massive investment has continued across Europe. As the continent’s first privately-owned high-speed train hits 300kph just outside Naples, CNN correspondent Ayesha Durgahee interviews the man behind it, Luca di Montezemolo. di Montezemolo is Chairman of Ferrari, and one of the founders of Italy’s newest and of course, reddest, high speed train. ‘CNN Business Traveller’ puts the luxury, high-tech train to the test on one of their key routes to see if the ‘Ferrari of the railway tracks’ lives up to its cousin on the racetrack.

Also this month, a report from Europe’s airplane recycling centre in Toulouse, where parts and metal are salvaged and put back into the industry; a look at the best ways to sleep at the airport with modern-micro hotel rooms, and a trip underground in Budapest to explore the beauty of the Hungarian capital’s incredible caves.

CNN Go

Graffiti along the 'John Lennon Wall', Mala Strana in Prague. Credit: Getty / Maremagnum

In June, ‘CNN Go’ takes to the Czech Republic’s capital city,Prague, to explore a rich cultural scene which emerged triumphant from the Velvet Revolution. The programme travels around the city to meet Czech people from a variety of cultural backgrounds:

Street artist Jan Zajíček gives a guided tour of the graffiti-sprayed walls of Mezi Vodami; Rebecca King, prima ballerina at the State Ballet, dances a pirouette in the most central point in Europe; and Czech Republic’s first Michelin-starred chef Roman Paulus offers a tour of a teeming food market. Jiří Vortuba, who has illustrated the covers of the legendary novels by Franz Kafka, takes ‘CNN Go’ to his places of inspiration, including the Jewish Cemetery and Charles Bridge. Cristina Pavel, the puppeteer who is making her way to Hollywood, takes CNN behind the scenes at the National Marionette Theatre. Into the night, one of Prague’s hottest musicians Kateřina Dědková of the group ‘Cartonnage’ opens the doors to the Czech Jazz Scene at the Agharta Jazz Centrum.

Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour’s nightly interview programme ‘Amanpour’ showcases the big interview – a leader, a key player – incisive questioning to get at the truth behind today’s headline.

Recent guests on 'Amanpour' have included: Former Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou; President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul; President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso and Former South African President, F.W. de Klerk.

MainSail 

A kitesurfer heads toward the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco Bay, California. Credit: Getty / Skip Brown

Kitesurfing is one of the fastest, most spectacular water sports and one that has just secured Olympic status from 2016. Two gold medals in the sport will be up for grabs at the Rio de Janeiro Games, and MainSail was in Italy when the International Sailing Federation made the radical decision. But just how will Olympic selection change the sport and what will kitesurfing bring to the Games?

Show host and double-Olympic-gold-medallist Shirley Robertson heads to San Francisco Bay to visit a yacht club that has embraced the sport from its earliest days, and now runs some of the most competitive kitesurfing races in the world.

‘MainSail’ also meets one of the pioneers of kite surfing, Don Montague, who is taking kite power to a whole new level. Montague believes there is great potential for kites in ocean sailing and is on a mission to set an ocean speed record on a kite-powered boat he designed himself. On a windy day on San Francisco Bay he gives Robertson the helm to see just how fast she can go.

I would be more aggressive with our Arab League partners. I’m not sure arming is the right answer here mainly because of we’re just not exactly sure who the bad guys are, who the good guys are right now in Syria. So you don’t know who you’re giving weapons to.”

He continues, “Well, you know, a big part of it is, [Syria is] Russia's last toehold in the Middle East and I think there is attachment to the notion that… [Assad’s] going to win and they're going to have the toehold in the Middle East through Syria.  We need to change that dynamic.  I think we need to convince our Russians this is not in their best interests, that some of this slaughtering of women and children is going to get on them as well, and that's just not the place they want to be in the world. And they need, again a little public pressure, a little bilateral effort from the United States and others, other European allies, I think can turn Russia on what's happening.  I don't think they want to be on the wrong side of a slaughter in a town like Houla.  We need to put the question to them, where do you want to be when this is over?  We'd like you to be with the rest of the world.  They also have huge weapon sales going into Syria, another big problem we have to deal with.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.

John Berman, who served as a correspondent for ABC News and regular contributor to Good Morning America, joins CNN as an anchor of the morning program Early Start and will contribute reports to various CNN programs including The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, it was announced by Ken Jautz, executive vice president of CNN.

CNN’s Early Start, which premiered on January 2, 2012 with hosts Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin, airs weekdays at 5 am to 7 am, ET/PT.

“We are so fortunate to have this talented and seasoned journalist join our morning show and become a regular presence on our air throughout the day. John is a skilled reporter with a passion and personality that shine through, whether he’s covering the political season or his beloved Red Sox,” said Jautz.

“John is an exceptional journalist who brings with him the perspective of having covered many of the last two decades' most significant stories. His coverage of the past four Presidential elections, experience as an embedded journalist in Iraq, on-site reporting during the 2006 war in Lebanon, plus his pop culture interest and acumen, make him a strong asset to our team,” said Mark Whitaker, CNN Worldwide executive vice president and managing editor.

“It is a pleasure to join the prestigious global news leader CNN. I am looking forward to being a part of the morning team and to contributing across CNN's lineup,” said Berman.

Berman joined ABC News in 1995 and was head writer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings from 1997 to 1999. During that time he traveled with Jennings to cover the Columbine school shooting in Colorado and to Cuba for Pope John Paul II’s historic visit. Berman was part of the World News Tonight team recognized with a 2004 Edward R. Murrow award for best broadcast.

In addition to his coverage of the presidential election seasons from 2000 through 2012, Berman reported on the Indian Ocean tsunami from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and the steroids scandal in American sports. He has also served as regular contributor to World News with Diane Sawyer, 20/20, Nightline, and ABCNews.com. A native of Carlisle, Mass., Berman graduated from Harvard University, where he was president of Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively-syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

Madden thinks” what is really going to matter is who has a better vision for this country going forward, who has a better plan to put the American economy back on work.” And that “I don't think that there are a whole lot of people right now sitting at home with 23 million people out of work, with unemployment over 8 percent, consumer confidence going down, I don't think there are a whole lot of people talking about the issue that the media's talking about and that Donald Trump keeps bringing up.”

Link to the full interview below –

He says a “perfect solution isn’t on the menu”.

He also attributed the lack of high-level defections of military officers – as has been the case in other Middle East and North African nations which have experienced recent democratic revolutions – to fear and the Syrian government's effective network of spies systematically embedded in its armed forces.  Below, is an excerpt from the Amanpour interview:

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST:  ...let me ask you very, very bluntly:  one of the reasons the rest of the world says they can't go to help the Syrian people like they did in Libya or Kosovo or wherever is because the air defenses are very sophisticated, because the military is very sophisticated.  Now I have you here, what is the state of the air defenses there?

AKIL HASHEM, FORMER BRIGADIER GENERAL, SYRIAN ARMY: To be frank with you, it's just excuses.  They know more than me that this is not the truth, and this air defenses and all these arsenal of the Syrian army is not big enough or strong enough.  It is good to face on civilians or light armed freedom fighters, like the FSA.  But –

AMANPOUR:  That's the Free Syrian Army.

HASHEM:  Yes.  But what it says, a superior forward (ph), that will collapse right away.  I'm saying that with all sadness, because this is the army I served like for 27 years.  But this is not the army of the people any more or the country.  It's the army of the regime itself.  It's a group of gangs, doing all the atrocities and the barbaric act in Syria.

AMANPOUR:  Let me just - before I talk about the shabiha and the gangs, let me just play what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of the U.S. military said this weekend about the Syrian military.      (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF:  They have approximately five times more air - more sophisticated air defense systems than existed in Libya covering one-fifth of the terrain.  All of their air defenses are arrayed on their western border, which is their population center.   So, five times the air defense of Libya, covering one-fifth of the terrain, and about 10 times more than we experienced in Serbia.    (END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR:  Well, that was indeed in March.  However, he's describing the military that's arrayed.  So is he just not aware?  Or what?

HASHEM:  As I said before, it's just excuses to give them a chance to delay the intervention, because this is their duty.  They cannot turn their face what's happening in Syria forever and ever.  But let me explain something.  When we balance the forward between two sides, this, you know, the amount of weapons, the amount of soldiers, everything is accounted.  But there is most important thing, the morale.  And the morals (ph) in the Syrian army or the (inaudible) - I don't call it the Syrian army - it's very, very low.

AMANPOUR:  You mean the morale?

HASHEM:  Yes, the morale.  Yes, and then the corruption is eating and killing and destroying every possibility of being a powerful army, because everybody is corrupted.

AMANPOUR:  Well, as you know, one of the main things that people are hoping for, the outsider, they look in, try to figure out what can make a difference here, is for a lot of defections.  There have not been that many defections.

HASHEM:  It's very obvious why.  First of all, the security measures are very, very, very strong in the military and all over Syria.  So every small unit, even a company of 20 soldiers, there is an - there is a person who is the security undercover person, OK?  So while they are monitoring everybody.

AMANPOUR:  So they're spied on all the time?

HASHEM:  Everybody.  And the loyal, before the people who are suspected by disloyalty.  Now everybody - and these people, security people, have the authority to execute right away any high-ranked officer, not because he is defecting, because they think that he is going to defect, by the intention, if they believe, this small soldier who work in the security, if he believes that this officer (inaudible) is going to defect, he can execute him right away, on the spot, without any hesitation and no question will be asked.

AMANPOUR:  And you saw that in your time there?

HASHEM:  I know that because I received every single day over 2,000 to 2,500 messages from all the freedom fighter (inaudible) in Syria, civilian and defectors.  And (inaudible) they said we proved about that.  So I'm talking from a position that I know everything happened in Syria, minute by minute.

AMANPOUR:  Do you think that there will be - do you think the Syrians can liberate themselves, these people who are conducting the uprising?

HASHEM:  I can tell you - I can answer you in a different way.  These Syrians will continue fighting this regime forever and ever.  The only way for this regime to put an end to this revolution is to kill all these cities and towns and department are fighting against him, which is like 15 to 18 million people.  If he kills 18 million people, yes, he will put an end to this revolution.  Other than that, there is no way.  But this will make this struggle so long and this will cause so many other thousands of innocent people being killed.  The only way to stop this massacre, I said that 700 times from seven months, the only way is to intervene militarily in Syria.

The full transcript for this program is available here.

Amanpour airs weekdays on CNN International at 3:00pm with a replay at 5:00pm Eastern in the U.S.  and at 21:00 CET, with a replay at 23:00 CET.

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