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NEWS STREAM
Iraqis Turn To Whisper To Voice Fears; Michael Schumacher Is Released From Hospital; Iraqi Prime Minister Vows To Hunt Down ISIS; Israeli Prime Minister Expects Palestinian Authority President To Help Bring Back Kidnapped Teenagers; 100 Days And No Sign Of MH370; Kurdish Peshmerga Push Back Against ISIS; Will U.S., Iran Work Together in Iraq?
Aired June 16, 2014 - 8:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.
Now pushing back -- Iraq's prime minister vows to crush Islamist militants amid fears of a sectarian massacre.
Plus, out of his coma -- Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is released from hospital to continue his recovery.
And a historic and controversial debut as goal line technology comes into play for the first time at the World Cup.
We begin tonight in Iraq where carnage and chaos are spreading across the country as sectarian violence incites fear of an all-out civil war.
Now government troops are attempting to contain Sunni insurgents closing in on the Iraqi capital. Iraqi TV reports more than 200 ISIS
insurgents were killed in air strikes just north of Fallujah. And this comes after the militant group claims to have massacred hundreds members of
Iraq's security force that had been captured.
Iraq's foreign minister says he will do whatever it takes to stop the ISIS forces.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We will march on every inch with all our weapons and with all our will and faith so
we can liberate and cleanse every inch of Iraq from its southern most point to the furthest point in the north.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Let's take a moment to show where all this is happening. It began on June 10 when ISIS militants seized Iraq's second largest city
of Mosul. And then the next day, they captured parts of Baiji. Tikrit also fell that same day, that's when they began an offensive of Samarra.
And then on June 12 and June 13, we saw three more cities fall to the Sunni insurgents.
And the worry now is that the militants will march on Baghdad, Iraq's capital and its largest city.
And because of this threat. Washington is now considering turning to Iran in the fight. Now there are a lot of moving parts here, so let's get
straight to northern Iraq now and a city situated between Mosul and Kirkuk.
Now CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon, she is there. She joins me now live from Urbil. And Arwa, first let's talk about the
Peshmerga. I mean just how capable is the Kurdish fighting force in this battle for Iraq? And the battle against the insurgents?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, at this stage the Peshmerga, which is the Kurdish fighting force, has proven to be
the only entity in northern Iraq capable or willing to stand up to ISIS and its various allies as they moved through the northern portion of the
country, managing to prevent them from entering the critical strategic oil rich city of Kirkuk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, ISIS is located in those buildings that we can barely see beyond the tree line.
Can you see that Raj?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cars over the over on the road?
DAMON: Yeah. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me see.
DAMON: ISIS has a dug in position behind the small dirt berm in the distance, the Peshmerga tell us. And they are ready should ISIS try to
advance.
We're about a 15 minute drive from the oil rich city of Kirkuk at what was a small Iraqi army outpost. Reduced to a damaged and burnt out shell
after the Peshmerga fought and drove ISIS out.
The Iraqi army abandoned this and other positions even before ISIS arrived. But ISIS is continuously testing the Peshmerga's resolve all
along Kirkuk's western front.
"They have attacked, and we've pushed them back," the unit's commander General Shirko Fatih Shawani tells us. "Up to 200 fighters at times," he
says, "armed with all the weapons and vehicles the Iraqi army used to have."
At the checkpoint, we try to ask people if they saw ISIS down the road. The first two cars say there is nothing.
Hard to tell if people are afraid. Let me ask them.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
The family in this car says, yes, just five minutes away.
"It was fine. They just asked for our IDs."
The family is from Samarra, leaving home and everything behind, having heard that Kirkuk is, relatively speaking, safe in part because of the
foresight of the local government. Security in the city was never reliant on the Iraqi military.
GOV. NAJMALDIN KARIM, KIRKUK PROVINCE: First of all, the Iraqi army was given vast areas to control. And they were having significant problem
even taking care of themselves. And a lot of them were deserting. We just really didn't trust them that they could do this.
DAMON: And that was even before the ISIS offensive. The governor knew the city needed better defenses.
As terrorist groups regaining and strengthen capacity, the governor felt the need to further fortify the city, ordering this trench dug at the
end of 2013. And there are still plans to build a fence, set up border posts and video surveillance.
The city limits are controlled by the Peshmerga, the only force in the north keeping the brutal ISIS onslaught at bay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAMON: And, Kristie, with the U.S. moving more assets into the region, we asked Kirkuk's governor if he thought the Americans should
launch air strikes. He said inside Iraq that would prove to be incredibly challenging, potentially even counterproductive, since ISIS and its Sunni
allies are embedded within the civilian population.
Additionally, a lot of the Sunnis fighting alongside ISIS do not subscribe to its ideology, but are rather working along that logic of enemy
of my enemy is my friend. They are Sunnis who are going to need to eventually be brought back into the political fold.
But given how intertwined the Iraqi and Syrian battlefields are at this stage, he was suggesting that perhaps the U.S. should consider
striking ISIS targets in neighboring Syria, Kristie.
LU STOUT: And more background about ISIS. I mean it seems, Arwa, out of nowhere that ISIS has turned into this major terrorist force taking
control of parts of Syria, now Iraq.
Now in terms of the money, in terms of financial backing, how do they get here?
DAMON: Well, they have quite a fair amount of funding that is coming in from a number of different sources. There is, of course, the outside
funding and then if we look at Syria, ISIS reportedly controlling several critical oil fields there having access to its resources and of course
money from sales of that oil, crude oil as well as natural gas revenues.
And then if we just look at Mosul. When the Iraqi security forces deserted there, ISIS getting their hands on a vast number of American made
Humvees, other military vehicles, weapons, ammunition, but also reportedly a significant amount -- hundreds of millions of dollars from the central
bank branch that was based up in that area.
When it comes to ISIS's emergence, Kristie, this group did not originate from nothing. We need to take a look quite some years back at
the history of al Qaeda in Iraq, quite operational during the U.S. occupation here, especially back in 2006. Al Qaeda in Iraq then expanding
to become an umbrella organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq.
As the U.S. was withdrawing in 2008, they said that they felt as if they had that organization largely on its heels. But it managed to
capitalize on the security vacuum left behind by the Americans, capitalize even further on the growing Sunni anger towards Prime Minister Nuri al-
Maliki's predominately Shia government, his polarizing polities expanding from Iraq into Syria, gaining even more ground, credibility and support.
They are now coming back into the Iraqi arena.
So while it might seem as if this all came out of nowhere, ISIS has in fact been growing, morphing and increasing its capabilities and strength
significantly over the last few years.
LU STOUT: Much needed context there from our Arwa Damon reporting live from Urbil in northern Iraq. Thank you, Arwa.
And as Arwa just mentioned, this conflict, it all boils down to ethnic and religious divisions inside Iraq. You can see here the country is split
between Sunni and Shiite Muslims who are Arab as well as ethnic Kurds in the north.
Now ISIS, which is a Sunni militant group, is trying to capitalize on the resentment Iraqi Sunnis have against the Shiite dominated government.
But that divide goes well beyond Iraq's borders. And you can see that here, the majority of Muslims in this part of the world are Sunni. The
countries in gold are where Sunnis dominate.
And the countries that have majority Shiite population are Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran and Iraq. And Iran is Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's
biggest ally in the region. And speaking on CNN's State of the Union, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said fighting ISIS in Iraq requires a
regional coordinated effort.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: The Iranians can provide some assets to make sure Baghdad doesn't fall. We need to coordinate with
Iranians and the Turks need to get in the game and get the Sunni Arabs back into the game, form a new government without Maliki...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Now, the U.S. and Iran have a history of frosty relations, but two senior U.S. officials tell CNN that the White House is exploring
the possibility with direct talks.
Now Reza Sayah joins us live from the Iranian capital of Tehran with more on this. And Reza, just how willing and ready is Tehran to help the
Iraqi government here?
OK, our apologies for that obvious technical disruption there. We'll try to reinstate that connection there with our Reza Sayah there in Tehran.
Once we do, we'll bring him back live later in the program.
Now meanwhile, the Russian state owned energy provider Gazprom says it has cut off its natural gas supply to Ukraine. This is after the two
countries failed to resolve a pricing dispute.
Now recent political tensions between Ukraine and Russia have hindered negotiations over the gas dispute. Now Russia has been accused of using
gas supplies as a political tool, but it's not just Ukraine that would suffer here.
Now the rest of the rest of Europe relies on Russia for roughly one- third of its gas. And half of that, half of it, is piped through Ukraine.
But, as you can see here, there are several other routes by which Russian gas can reach Europe. And a Gazprom spokesman today said that
supplies to Europe would not be interrupted.
Now seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher is no longer in a coma. His manager said that he has been released from the hospital in
France and will now continue his long phase of rehabilitation.
Now Schumacher suffered severe head trauma in his skiing accident last December. He was placed into a medically induced coma and was being
treated at a hospital in Grenoble, France.
Now to tell us more, we're joined now from London by Ben Wyatt. He is the executive producer of the CNN racing program The Circuit.
And Ben, thank you so much for joining us on the story.
Michael Schumacher, he has left the hospital. What's the latest?
BEN WYATT, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, CNN'S THE CIRCUIT: That's right, Kristie.
I think this is move many had hoped for, and some had feared may never come. But there was a statement released by his management this morning
that said Michael Schumacher is no longer in a coma. As you said, he's left the medical center in Grenoble that's been looking after him since
last December.
And the University Hospital of Lausanne confirmed to CNN a short time ago they've admitted the 45-year-old, but have no further details of the
treatment he will undergo there.
The statement also said the management would like to thank the medical staff and well-wishers who have helped Michael through this time, but have
asked for understanding that his recovery, this long phase rehabilitation that you mentioned there, will now take place away from the public eye.
LU STOUT: And what does all this mean in terms of Michael Schumacher's condition?
WYATT: Well, I think this is a sensitive area and it's quite difficult to know the details at this point. He was placed in a coma at
the end of last year in order to try and reduce that swelling on his brain following the accident. He then had two operations subsequently to remove
blood clots. And since January, doctors have been reducing the sedatives they've been giving him in order to slowly reawaken him. He's now
clinically awake, but to what level he is conscious we don't know and how fully he will recover we don't know either.
And I think given the management and his family's wishes for his recovery to take place in private, it may be some time before we get any
real detail on this level of recovery.
LU STOUT: Because it will still be a long and hard fight for him and his family ahead. Ben Wyatt on the story for us. Thank you, Ben.
Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come, a gruesome attack in Kenya. Gunmen storm a coastal town torching buildings and cars and
murdering dozens of people. We look at the latest in a string of violent killings in the country.
The disappearance of three Israeli teenagers is straining relations between Israel and a new Palestinian government. We go live to Israel for
a closer look at how the kidnappings are affecting the region's complex political climate.
Also ahead, we're going to give you the latest on the World Cup. All the action in Brazil, how Sunday's three big games went down and what we
can expect in Monday's matchups.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now gunmen in Kenya have carried out this brutal rampage that left at least 48 people dead, that's according to the Kenyan Red Cross. Now the
victims in the town, they were shot or even hacked to death, buildings and vehicles were burned. No one has claimed responsibility.
But Kenyan authorities suspect the terror group al Shabaab. It is the latest in a string of deadly attacks that the group is accused of carrying
out. And it is the deadliest terror related incident in Kenya since the Westgate Mall attack last September. At least 67 people were killed then.
Now CNN's Nima Elbagir covered that violent attack. She joins us now live from London. And Nima, what was the size and the scale of this new
and very deadly attack in Kenya?
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it sounds, Kristie, like it was extraordinarily well organized. Eyewitnesses speak
about up to 50 men coming in in cars and on foot and hacking away at bystanders, rushing into hotels where people had gathered to watch the
World Cup football games, burning cars. It just sounds like a scene of absolute carnage.
And today, in Mpeketoni, people are still shell shocked, we understand. Many of those still trying to come together to gather the
dead, a lot of bodies, we've been told, by local officials still trapped in some of those burned out hotels.
And the perpetrators -- well, there's no trace of them.
Local authorities accept that perhaps, as they put it, they were slightly slow in their response. And by the time they managed to give a
convincing chance. The perpetrators have disappeared.
Mpeketoni is only about three hours from the border with Somali. So suspicions are naturally turning to the al Shabaab militant group and it's
vowed since that Westgate attack to continue to wage war on Kenyan -- on Kenyan citizens as well as the Kenyan government within Kenya's borders
until the Kenyan army withdraws from Somalia, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Scenes of carnage in that coastal town in Kenya. I understand that this town was raided for a number of hours before there was
any response from security forces. Why is that?
ELBAGIR: Around four hours, which is obviously extraordinarily concerning for those not only who live there, but for those who rely on
Kenya's tourist industry. Mlindi (ph) at large, Mpeketoni the mainland isn't generally perceived as a tourist hotspot, but it's not far from areas
that are like Lamu Island and Manda Bay.
This is very much an absolute necessity for Kenya's economy that tourism continues to grow. And if anything, tourism has been shrinking.
Back in May, the UK actually evacuated its tourists from Mombasa Island after they issued a raised terror threat there.
So this is a problem that's been growing for awhile.
But moving away from the economy, just the reality of life for people since Westgate is having to live with the fact that the government hasn't
answered any of those questions about how the attack could have happened, who did it, how it can be stopped in the future. These are all questions
that just three months short of the one year anniversary of Westgate, people still don't have answers to, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Nima Elbagir reporting. Thank you.
You're watching News Stream. And coming up next, we'll bring you the highlights from the World Cup over the weekend and what to look forward to
today. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.
And it is day five of the World Cup and things could become even more interesting. To kick things off, two European heavyweights from Group G,
they will lock horns -- we're talking about Germany and Portugal.
And then later in the day, we'll see Iran take on Nigeria in Group F. And then finally, Ghana will come face to face with the U.S. team in Natal.
Now over the weekend, new goal line technology made its debut at the World Cup. Now it's meant to help referees, but as Alex Thomas reports,
some say it's confusing for players and for fans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: After more than 80 years of World Cup history, football finally introduced goal line technology to stop
embarrassing high profile mistakes when deciding whether or not the ball had crossed the line.
But the first time GLT was used, it did not prevent confusion and debate. A Karim Benzema goal had France 1-0 up when Benzema again went
close to scoring. His shot rebounded off the post before being cleared by the Honduras goalkeeper. Goal line technology instantly signaled a goal on
the referees watch and a virtual reconstruction showed that while the ball did not cross the line at first, it eventually did before the keeper could
scoop it away.
While millions of TV viewers across the world could see these pictures clearly, neither team manager was able to and they were left arguing on the
touchline.
In the end, Benzema scored again to seal a 3-0 victory for France. The second goal didn't make a difference to the result, but World Cup
organizers FIFA will be frustrated that after bowing to public pressure and employing German company GoalControl to eliminate these sorts of
controversies, there was still confusion when it was finally put into practice.
Alex Thomas, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: A new study says the 2014 World Cup will be the most social sporting event ever, that's according to projections from the Adobe digital
index, the study of online marketing. And it looks at sites including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google+. Now Adobe says the conversation
is more global than even the Olympics.
And as the World Cup continues in Brazil, so do the protests by those angry about the money being spent on the tournament.
Now Fred Pleitgen got a closeup view of one confrontation between the activists and police.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Clashes erupted here late in the evening in Rio as a demo tried to make it to the Maracana
Stadium where a World Cup match was being staged. The riot police was deployed very quickly. They started using tear gas as the protesters got
very close to the Maracana Stadium. They also used stun grenades as well to try and disperse the crowds.
Right now, the crowds have started running away. This was a demonstration that started out very peacefully. It wasn't many people,
maybe about 300 that were protesting social issues here in Brazil. It was also against the World Cup, which they feel doesn't benefit the people of
this country. And then at some point the violence that we saw.
The clashes were not too violent, though. They were fairly minor. But again, the police deploying tear gas very, very quickly as the
protesters moved in to the venue where the World Cup match was being held.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Wow, scenes of confrontation there in Brazil.
You're watching News Stream. And still to come, Sunni militants continue their push toward Baghdad. We'll take you back to Iraq after the
break.
And Israel's prime minister tells the Palestinian president he expects him to help bring back these boys.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream and these are your world headlines.
Now in Iraq, as Sunni insurgents move on the capital Baghdad, Iraqi TV reports at least 200 ISIS militants were killed in air strikes. And CNN
has learned that an amphibious U.S. warship has entered the Persian Gulf with 550 marines on board. It could be used to evacuate American citizens
from Iraq.
The Kenya Red Cross says 48 people were killed in a violent rampage in the country's south. Now attackers shot and hacked people to death in a
coastal town there. Now one has claimed responsibility, but Kenyan authorities suspect the terror group al Shabaab.
Michael Schumacher is no longer in a medically induced coma. His manager says the seven-time F1 world champion has been released from the
hospital in France will now continue his long phase of rehabilitation. Now Schumacher suffered severe head trauma in a skiing accident last December.
Now more now on our top story this hour, the rapidly moving crisis in Iraq.
Now U.S. marines move into the region as ISIS militants are pushing toward the capital city. Now senior international correspondent Nic
Robertson is there. He joins us live from Baghdad. And Nic, now online, are these chilling and very, very disturbing photos and video apparently
showing the executions of scores of Iraqi security forces.
What do you make of these files?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that in the days leading up to this, ISIS released video from Tikrit that showed
dozens, hundreds of men , they said, were Iraqi security forces being led away. These latest pictures appear to be shot in Iraq. You can tell that
from the buildings, the terrain. You can tell it as well from the location that does appear to be Iraq.
But what we understand about these pictures is that they do seem to offer a very, very chilling message to the rest of Iraq about how brutal
ISIS intends to be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Chilling images inside the country on the brink of another civil war. The radical Islamist terrorist group, ISIS
apparently capturing dozens of Iraqi soldiers dressed in civilian clothes, lining them up for execution. The bloodshed leaving no doubt about their
brutality as ISIS seizes Tel Afar, another major city in Iraq.
The terrorists possibly gaining control over its army base which would mean more armored vehicles, weapons, and ammunition up for grabs, some of
the weaponry provided by the U.S. Asking his identity be concealed, CNN's Arwa Damon interviewing an Iraqi colonel who says his unit alone left
behind 25 Humvees, 10 sniper rifles and 20 rocket launchers when they fled.
ISIS already well into Baquba overrunning another army base just 37 miles northeast of Baghdad. The terrorists edging closer than ever to the
capital.
GRAHAM: If Baghdad falls, if the central government falls, a disaster awaits us of monumental proportions.
ROBERTSON: The U.S. partially evacuating Baghdad's embassy and beefing up security. The imminent threat from the north leaves the Iraqi government
desperate for soldiers calling on volunteers. Hundreds of civilians, young and old, marching through the streets of Baghdad, now having to defend
their country. With minimal resources or little control on the ground, the Iraqi military uses aerial strikes to target ISIS positions in Mosul,
Iraq's second largest city.
AYAD ALLAWI, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF IRAQ: Now it's more dangerous than before. This one definitely would not be restricted to the boundaries
of these countries, it will spill over to Europe and the terrorism could spread to the world at large.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: Well, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to take control of the whole country. Again, the ministry of defense here
says it has killed some 200 ISIS fighters.
But in the videos that have been released showing those attacks from helicopters by the Iraqi government on ISIS locations, we can see buildings
being destroyed, but we're not seeing the fighters on the ground that the government says that it is killing.
At the moment, it does appear the government is rallying its forces, but ISIS at the same time has not given up and is still making headway in
its push to take more control, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Meanwhile, there in Baghdad the United States is evacuating not all, but some of its embassy workers. So what is the thinking there in
the Iraqi capital about just how vulnerable Baghdad is?
ROBERTSON: The sense is, and you talk to people on the street here, they don't really feel that ISIS is going to come rolling into this city,
but what we're seeing here is hikes in the price of food, cooking gas, things like that not because there are shortages, but because there are
rumors, there's price gauging, there's an effort by the government to stop that. There's a frustration by people here, because they don't know what's
going to happen. There isn't fear. There is increased security checkpoints around the city.
For the United States, what it's doing is moving staff to Amman in Jordan, to Basra in the south, which is relatively stable, to Kirkuk in --
rather to Urbil in the north of Iraq, which also is relatively stable.
The U.S. embassy is perhaps one of the most secure buildings inside Baghdad at the moment, multiple rings of security in the secure green zone.
So itself very secure. And also we know now the U.S. has moved into the Gulf an amphibious assault ship, 550 marines on board that that could help
with evacuations and such like they have the airlift capability, the V22 vertical takeoff Osprey helicopter aircraft.
So, there is certainly a recognition that assets need to be placed in case of an evacuation. The reality is that people on the ground here at
the moment don't think that's going to be necessary, but they're making the precautions in case, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Understood. Nic Robertson reporting live from Baghdad, thank you.
Now the crisis in Iraq, it brings up the possibility of Tehran and Washington cooperating, to join forces to battle the Sunni militants.
Now CNN's Reza Sayah, he joins us from the Iranian capital with more on this. And Reza, just how willing is Tehran to help the Iraqi government
here?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Hassan Rouhani, Kristie, has said that Iran is prepared to help, but he also adds
that Iraq hasn't called for any help at this point.
But what's remarkable is over the past couple of days there's been a lot of talk about a what if scenario. What if Iran and the United States
cooperated militarily and politically to quash the Sunni insurgency in Iraq? The speculation and the talk heated up when two U.S. officials told
CNN Washington is considering talking to Iran about Iraq. And today, CNN confirmed that UK foreign secretary William Hague talked to Iran's foreign
minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about Iraq, that could be a precursor to Washington and Tehran talking together. It hasn't happened yet.
But if that alliance happens, it would be a watershed moment, because of course these are two countries that have been bitter enemies for much of
35 years. No diplomatic relations. A few years ago, in fact, Washington suggested military action was on the table as a way to curb Iran's nuclear
program.
But when it comes to what's happening in Iraq today, these two countries have some compelling and urgent common causes. You look at Iran,
the insurgency in Iraq is happening very close to Iran's border. Iran is a country that takes a lot of pride in its internal security. This is region
that's plagued by militancy, but Iran has done remarkable job of keeping stable and keeping the suicide attacks the militant attacks out. They want
to keep it that way.
Iran's Shia led government has very close ties to Iraq's Shia led government. They have a lot of political sway in Iraq. And again they
want to keep it that way.
And then you take the U.S. They've obviously invested a lot of blood and treasure in Iraq. They don't want the U.S. backed government in Iraq
to be in jeopardy.
So you look at some shared interests. And coincidentally, Kristie, this week the U.S. will sit across the table from Iran in the nuclear talks
in Vienna. And certainly there's the possibility of officials going off on the sidelines and discussing Iraq.
LU STOUT: The U.S. is considering direct talks with Iran. If it happens, as you put it Reza, that would be a watershed moment. But the
United States is very wary. It's wary about Iran's influence in Iraq. You just mentioned the political sway Iran has inside Iraq. Just how much
influence does Tehran have over affairs there in Iraq?
SAYAH: Well, these two governments are very close. There's a lot of analysts that say Iran and Iraq are so close that they describe Iraq's
government as one of Iran's proxies. And that's why Iran is concerned. They don't want to lose their sway in Iraq.
But when it comes to the possibility of these two countries working, it seems that there could be some benefits, you know, on both sides.
Certainly the U.S. doesn't want this Sunni insurgency to escalate. And when you go to the nuclear negotiations, when you talk to the proponents of
a nuclear deal, the proponents of Iran and the U.S. restarting diplomatic relations, they point to places like Iraq where a relation could mutually
benefit both.
But at the same time, this is a very complicated region with complicated alliances. There's a lot of U.S. allies, such as Saudi Arabia,
Israel, that do not want to see Iran and the U.S. have improved relations.
So a complicated region and a relation between the U.S. and Iran, cooperation between these two countries would therefore be complicated too,
Kristie.
LU STOUT: Reza Sayah joining us live on the line from Tehran. Thank you, Reza.
Now foreign companies should leave Pakistan immediately. Now that is the latest warning form the Pakistani Taliban.
Now the group has promised a damaging response to the military's offensive in north Waziristan. Over the weekend, Pakistan's military
launched air strikes to eliminate the terrorist group holed up in the restive tribal belt. And this comes just a week after the Taliban attacked
the country's largest airport in Karachi. Meanwhile, residents caught in the crossfire are leaving their homes for safety.
Now in China, state media reports that three people have been sentenced to death for their alleged roles in a bold attack on Beijing's
Tiananmen Square. Now the incident last October, it killed five people and wounded dozens. A vehicle plowed through a crowd, it rammed into a bridge
and then burst into flames.
The attack has been linked to Islamic separatists in the Xinjiang region. Now they've also been blamed for a recent spate of cross-country
violence, including a brutal mass stabbing three months ago at a train station in Kunming.
Now the Israeli prime minister is talking tough to the president of the Palestinian Authority. Now Benjamin Netanyahu, he phoned Mahmoud Abbas
on Monday and told him to help bring back three missing Israeli teenagers. They disappeared from Jewish settlements in the West Bank late last week.
Israelis military has detained more than 150 Palestinian suspects in the search for the missing boys. Prime Minister Netanyahu is pointing the
finger at Hamas, which denies kidnapping them.
Now Mr. Abbas has condemned the alleged abductions.
Let's get more now from our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman. He is live in Gush Ezton in Israel. And Ben, Israel, it seems,
has really stepped up the arrests here. Who are among the 150 Palestinians detained?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just spoke a little while ago with a spokesman for the Israeli army who said that they -
- that the number, that 150 or 140 includes among others Abdel Aziz Duake (ph) who was a member of the civilian wing of Hamas. He was the speaker of
the Palestinian parliament before it was scrapped.
In addition, there are other members of the military wing as well. In addition to that, there are just plain criminals. They are looking for a
sort of across the board for anybody who might have any possible connections with this kidnapping.
Now what's interesting is that even though the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pointing a finger at Hamas, today there is circulating a
leaflet that claims to be from the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, that is the military wing of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
that leaflet, which we cannot verify it at all, but it claims that the three boys are safe in their hands not in the Hebron area, which is just
south of here on the West Bank, and that they will be exchanged in release for all of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and of course that is
thousands of people.
Now in the course of these Israeli searches, there have been clashes in Ramallah overnight. An Israeli unit entered the Jalazon (ph) refugee
camp, which is north of the city. There they clashed with Palestinian youth, one 23-year-old Palestinian was killed. He was buried today outside
of Ramallah.
So as this goes on, Kristie, there is a real sense of mounting tension throughout the West Bank, Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right, Ben Wedeman, reporting live for us. Thank you, Ben.
Now it has been more than 100 days since Malaysia Airlines flight 370 vanished on route to Beijing. And after the break, we look at how the
loved ones of those on board are still coping. And we hear from the man leading the search effort.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Now Sunday, it marked a grim milestone of 100 days since Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared. There's been no trace of the
plane nor the 239 people on board. The search efforts off the western coast of Australia continue.
Now Andrew Stevens spoke with Angus Houston, who is leading the search. And he says there is still a long road ahead in the hunt for the
plane.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGUS HOUSTON, CHIEF COORDINATOR OF JOINT SEARCH EFFORT: It's going to take a lot of time. And nothing happens fast underwater. We're going
to be searching at very slow speeds and that's just a reality of the environment that we're working in. I have to say that with modern
technology, I think the chances of finding it are much higher than they would have been 20, 30 years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Angus Houston there.
Now the wait for the families has been agonizing. Anna Coren reports from Beijing on how they are marking the anniversary and how some are not
giving up hope for their loved ones.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDNET: Wearing a hand-painted tiger mask, five-year old Jasmine looks straight into the camera and
records a message for her father.
"Papa, I miss you," she says. "I'm waiting for you to come home."
It's been an excruciating wait for the little girl and all the families of the 239 people on board MH370.
One hundred days has passed since the plane vanished from the skies during a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. In Chinese culture,
this is a significant milestone, marking an end to the grieving process. But with no trace of the plane, the families continue to mourn, some
refusing not to give up hope as seen in the above video to mark the anniversary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still have hope. I need to find my father. I want -- I want to bring him back.
COREN: At temples in Beijing, relatives pray for their missing loved ones.
"It's 100 days and we have no idea what to do," says the sister of one of the passengers. "So we pray to Buddha, to the goddess of mercy for
blessings. We have to pray for the heavens to help us."
But some family members, they are demanding answers from authorities.
"We want to know the truth," they yell, disillusioned and dissatisfied with the multinational search effort.
With the search effort currently suspended as authorities reanalyze all data, the operation to find MH370 remains focused solely on the
southern Indian Ocean. While that's little comfort to the families of those on board, the man in charge of the search remains confident of finding the
plane, but says he fully understands the families' frustration.
HOUSTON: They've got no closure. They want to find the aircraft. If I were in their shoes, I'd probably feel exactly the same way.
The Malaysian government has reaffirmed its commitment, promising to leave "no stone unturned."
And while the airline has begun to hand out initial compensation payments of $50,000 to some of the families, no amount of money will ever
take away their heartache and grief.
Anna Coren, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. We'll be back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now all this hour, we've been bringing you the latest on the escalating sectarian violence across Iraq. And along with the fighting,
there are reports that the government has disrupted social media access in its battle to contain ISIS insurgents. So Iraqis are now turning to a
social media app, it's called Whisper, to voice their fears over the growing violence.
Now the U.S.-based startup has so far been able to circumvent service disruptions.
And for more on this, let's bring in Laurie Segall. She joins us live from CNN Money New York. And Laurie, just how are Iraqis using this app to
connect and to communicate during this crisis?
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY: It's so interesting, Kristie, they're using it as almost a bit of a confessional and also in a way that's almost
newsworthy I mean, a lot of them have said, hey, we can't get on Facebook, we can't get on Twitter. Facebook and Twitter I spoke to them, they're
investigating this. But they've almost found this app called Whisper where you almost -- you post these different types of confessionals as a bit of
an outlet. And these confessionals, they're called whispers.
And I want to take you through some of the whispers we're seeing coming from Iraq, the first one someone posted said the U.S. embassy is
evacuating. And you can look at it right there, that's what it looked like. And this was actually reported before the media even picked up on
this, so you can get that idea that that's happening on the ground.
Another one, "we are fine in Baghdad, but we are ready for the worst."
You can look at the background there. You can really begin to understand the fear happening on the ground.
Another one, "waiting our miserable destiny with ISIS progressing towards Baghdad."
And then the last one, Kristie, "I'm trying to escape by my writing."
So you really begin to get the sense of fear on the ground. And this is just a small sample of them, Kristie. You know, what's really
interesting is you begin to see people talk about the culture. One person talked about being homosexual and unable to realize his sexual identity and
worried that something catastrophic would happen before he was actually able to do that.
So it's a slice of culture.
And then also, you know, beginning to understand the fear behind this -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yeah, it's really just fascinating to see the use of this social media app, especially given events and the crisis, this battle for
Iraq and the future of the country happening right now.
Laurie, you recently interviewed the CEO of Whisper. I can only imagine what he's thinking now. But what did he tell you about the
potential and the vision for the app?
SEGALL: It's so interesting, because Kristie this guy is a young guy, he's a young entrepreneur living in L.A. And he put this out. And it was
a lot of people, you know, younger folks posting on this, talking about dating and that kind of thing. And I asked him, well, what could this be?
And he said the potential is for people to be able to have a confessional environment regardless of ethnicity, regardless of gender, make this a
place where people can, you know, safely protest the government, safely, you know, have a voice and not have to worry about the record (ph).
And you're beginning to see that in action.
You know, when I first spoke to him, this isn't the kind of thing that was being confessed on whisper. And we worry about bullying and that kind
of thing on this, but you know, right now during this conflict you get the idea that this is really a safe place for people who are going through a
very tough time to be able to have a bit of a voice.
LU STOUT: You know, it's all about the fundamental human desire to connect anytime, anywhere. Laurie Segall, thank you so much for sharing
that story with us. Due take care.
Now time now for your global weather forecast. And we have these weekend floods that happened in northern Brazil in the World Cup host city
in Natal. Let's get the latest on that with Mari Ramos. She joins us from the world weather center -- Mari.
MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, I think most people were able to see the images of the players, you know, of the matches going
on and the fans, you know, completely drenched in this rain, this happening in northern Brazil.
But over the weekend, the rain was extremely heavy and it did cause a lot of damage, not just those pictures that we saw from the matches, but
also these images around the city.
Some significant flooding. Let's go ahead and roll the video, because it is pretty impressive. You can see the torrent of mud and water just
kind of streaming down the mountainside there and making it very difficult for people to get around in some parts of the city. You can see that
landslide there near that neighborhood.
There were some reports of injuries, no deaths fortunately, but as you can see it was pretty significant stuff.
Now this time of year it does rain, and it does rain -- or it can rain, I should say, very heavily. But it did rain particularly heavy over
the weekend across these areas and that's the kind of damage that we are ending up with.
As we head through the next 24 hours for the people in these affected areas, unfortunately there is more wet weather headed your way, and
hopefully not as heavy as what we had in the last 24 to 48 hours. However, any amount of rain that falls in this area could again cause some
significant problems not just with travel. And you can see right there those streets that just completely collapsed under the weight of the water
and the dirt that fell on top. And then of course you have downed trees, downed power lines, people that are left without drinking water and people
that are left without electricity. That's going to take some time to fix.
Come back over to the weather map. Let's go ahead and talk a little bit more about the weather situation here. Fortaleza, Natal, Recite are
the rainiest cities when it comes to the World Cup host cities. And of course the World Cup bringing a lot of attention to Brazil right now. So
it's a good time to definitely talk about this kind of stuff.
Recite, for example, gets about almost 300 millimeters of rain this time of year. So it is a very rainy place to be.
When we look at the cities right now, everybody is actually looking pretty good as far as the weather situation. Partly to mostly cloudy
skies, some areas of sunny skies, Porto Alegre is the one that had the fog earlier today and now they're looking at just some cloud cover there.
Southeastern Brazil also had some very heavy rain over the last few days. And they even had record rainfall, or record flow, I should say, at
Iguasu Falls (ph) on the border between Brazil and Argentina.
Let's look at Natal one more time and for the match forecast later today. Rain, there it is. The U.S. versus Ghana later tonight. The wind
might be a concern, but we're not expecting lightning, which is always a big concern, of course, in these areas.
Salvador also looking at a chance for some rain here over the next few hours, especially as we head into the afternoon and the heating of the day
gets going.
Curitiba actually doing pretty good. We're looking at a good mix of clouds later tonight. And then winds expected to be light and the
temperature not too bad at 19. But yes, all of these cities definitely very humid, all of the World Cup host cities, as you can see, remain quite
warm, except as we head to the far, far south. Kristie, back to you.
LU STOUT: Mari Ramos there with the complete World Cup forecast. Thank you, Mari.
And before we go, we want to mark the passing of a beloved American disc jockey, Casey Kasem. Now Kasem hosted popular radio shows, including
American Top 40 and Kasey's Top 40 for nearly four decades. Now the tributes have poured in for the man known for his cheerful personality and
his distinctive baritone voice.
Kasem had suffered from dementia. He was 82-years-old.
And that is News Stream. But the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.
END
