Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
More Than 1,000 Dead in Pakistan's Heat Wave; Kurdish Forces Battling ISIS In Kobani; Boston Bomber Apologizes For Terror Attack; Search Focusing On Area Hunting Cabins; First Bible Study In Same Room As Massacre; Calls To Remove Confederate Flag; Calais Becomes A Front Line In Migrant Crisis; Queen Elizabeth Visits Frankfurt Today; Doctor Mocks Sedated Patient. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 24, 2015 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Pakistan's intense heat wave has now claimed more than 1,000 lives and relief is not expected for several more days. Plus, migrants chase down trucks on a busy highway hoping to hitch a ride to a whole new life.
And Queen Elizabeth raises some eyebrows for her reaction to a gift during her trip to Germany for her reaction to a gift.
Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
More than 1,000 people have died in Pakistan's brutal record-breaking heat wave. Nearly all of those deaths happened in Karachi, the country's most popular city. Resources are overwhelmed with morgues and hospitals filled beyond capacity.
Pakistan's electricity grid is also being strained with frequent power outages being reported. Earlier CNN correspondent Saima Mohsin visited a morgue and a hospital in Karachi both stretched beyond their limits. But we want to warn you, her report contains scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as we approached the morgue the stench of death surrounded us. Corpses covered in flies left out in the heat. A charity runs this morgue, but it is struggling to provide the service. Daily power outages means the cold room can't be kept cool.
(on camera): I want to take you in to show you the extent of the problem. There is a putrid, pungent smell.
(voice-over): Bodies upon bodies, piled high, 650 people have been brought here in just a few days.
(on camera): I really couldn't stay inside there any longer. That is supposed to be a cold storage unit in a morgue. It's hot and sticky in here. And it seems like even the dead aren't being given the dignity they deserve.
(voice-over): Lengthy power cuts plague the living and the dead. One of the major hospitals has treated up to 8,000 people since Saturday's soaring temperatures struck. The unforgiving heat has spared no one. Young children and the elderly, the most vulnerable.
I felt so hot, I was vomiting, says this old man. I felt weak and my heart sank. My son had a high temperature and then he had a fit, this woman says, I ask her if she has water and electricity in her home. Nothing. We have none of those things, she says.
And the hospital they've turned to for help is overwhelmed. These doctors and nurses tell me the government-run hospital has been relying on volunteers and donors. People are bringing us water, ice, and even medicines. Their frustration was palpable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Saima Mohsin reporting there and she joins me on the phone from Karachi with more details. Saima, I know this has been a very difficult story for you to cover there at the morgue and you've just come away from the graveyard there. Talk to us about the scene there.
MOHSIN (via telephone): You know, Rosemary, the more I cover this story and follow each chain of events whether it's the people being rushed to the hospital as we saw, the ultimate end of the mortuary and further now where we have been to the graveyard.
It's just horrific how unable the city is able to cope with something as simple as a heat wave. There are no rooms for graves. There is just no space. They are trying to eke out space between graves that have been there for years.
I saw one man digging into a grave. He told me that people are flocking to this graveyard because is it the major graveyard in this city. There are dozens of others in an incredibly large city, but it's the bodies are decomposing so fast in this heat.
And as we saw, there's only one major mortuary that has the capacity to provide cold storage and that is failing because of power outages. People need to bury their dead fast. They are flocking to this particular graveyard.
[03:10:11] There is no space and one grave digger told me they are in fact now opening up old graves and burying them in there -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: It is too grim to bear and of course, more than a thousand people dead now, the fear that the death toll will rise. Joining us there, Saima Mohsin from Karachi.
I want to get more now. We have Derek Van Dam here in the studio. It is horrendous when you look at this and of course, the government hasn't done a lot to help people. There is little you can do to really offer some sort of relief.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: On top of that, Rosie, the heat wave is coinciding with Ramadan. So you are fasting from sunrise to sunset, no food or drink and that does not give you any relief from the heat. Five consecutive days of 40 degrees plus.
Three consecutive overnight periods that didn't drop below 33 degrees, that's 91 degrees Fahrenheit so we are talking extreme heat and the temperature just not cooling down at nighttime so it's not allowing the body to get that break it deserves and requires in order to cool your internal body temperature down.
However, in Karachi, the most populated city in the country, has seen some relief even though it is minimal, we'll take it. A couple of degrees thanks to an onshore wind that's coming off the Arabian Sea. You can see the temperatures are just above average. We should be 33 degrees this time of year.
But this is a far cry from the 40-degree plus weather we have been experiencing for the past several days and notice the overnight lows dropping below 30-degree mark as well. So we'll take what we can get.
Here is the onset of the monsoon. It still has not reached Pakistan just yet. We are desperately waiting for the monsoon rains and winds to help cool us down. Let me show you why because the area that have seen the monsoon weather settle in already places like New Delhi and to the south we have seen that cooler weather settle in.
That has brought the relief from the excessive heat that was experienced about two weeks ago in the northern half of India. So that is what they've seen and we are desperately waiting for that to spread across Pakistan.
Look at the heat wave into this region where we factor in the humidity levels, it feels like 46 degrees in some locations, 48 degrees in (inaudible). Temperatures are in the upper 30s. But when you factor in the humidity level it starts to feel oppressive.
People are make due with whatever they can find, Rosemary. I mean, we are selling ice on the sides of the road, handing out water to family and community members, anything they can do to bring relief from this heat wave.
CHURCH: Yes, it's going to be a few days before --
VAN DAM: It is. We have a couple of days of more heat, but we should start to see that monsoon settle in, in the next week or two.
CHURCH: All right, thanks for that. Appreciate it, Derek.
We're following some developing news now. A car bomb has exploded in the Syrian city of Kobani near a Turkish border gate. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the militants are fighting kurdish YPG forces.
The monitoring group says dozens of people have been killed or wounded but an exact count is not known at this point. A Kurdish YPG official tells Reuters ISIS militants staged an attack from three sides of the town. Also in Syria, ISIS fighters have reportedly attacked government forces in the city of Al-Hasakah. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting is still going on and the government has launched air strikes in the area.
The group also says ISIS militants detonated a car bomb at a military check point and have taken control of several neighborhoods in the southern part of the city.
NATO is more than tripling the capacity of its response force. The secretary-general announced the force will have 40,000 troops up from the current 13,000 in Stoltenberg said the move comes in response to Russia's involvement in Eastern Ukraine and Moscow's decision to increase its nuclear arsenal.
The multinational alliance has been conducting military exercises recently. Russia's Foreign Ministry has accused NATO countries of sliding toward confrontation.
France is fuming following new spying allegations from Wikileaks. The report cites U.S. government documents indicating the NSA eavesdropped on French President Francois Hollande, his two predecessors and other top French officials from at least 2006 to 2012.
U.S. President Barack Obama called French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday to try to smooth things over and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry echoed the president's assurances that these claims are not true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:10:13] JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is an old Wikileaks document. I don't even know what date is specifically that it starts at or refers to. I'm just telling you point blank, we are not and will not target the conversations of any friendly president, anybody I know of and certainly not President Hollande or the French Ministry. That is not happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And later, Mr. Hollande gathered his defense council to discuss the allegations. And the Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Jane Hartley to explain the report. But it's clear the French are still miffed over these revelations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is out of the question that we accept that the president of the republic, the three successive presidents of the republic be wiretapped including their private conversations and anyone can understand that. That's the watch word and that's how it should be between allies. There should be a certain degree of trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Well, meanwhile, France's parliament gave its final approval to a controversial surveillance law. It would give French intelligence the right to collect data from phones and the internet without a warrant.
It's aimed at fighting terrorism, but critics say it gives the government far too much power. France's highest court still has to OK it before it officially becomes law.
Eurozone finance ministers will pick up negotiations on Greece's debt crisis in the coming hours. Wednesday's talks ended with no sign of a deal. The clock is ticking, of course, for Greece. It has just a few days now to work out an agreement to secure more money before its next debt payment. Otherwise, it will default.
For the latest, we want to go to Elinda Labropoulou who is live in Athens. Elinda, of course, as we mentioned, time is fast running out here as more talks are set to resume to find, or at least try to find, a solution to Greece's debt crisis. So how likely is it that a deal will be made by that deadline?
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's what everyone hopes or at least they say that's what they hope for and we've seen days and days of talks and hours and hours from all sides and efforts uniting.
The truth is that 24 hours ago we were actually closer to a deal than we are now. In the last 24 hours a number of complications seemed to have arisen. We have had a number of issues between Greece and the IMF.
The IMF saying that Greece is talking about too heavy taxation and not enough spending cuts. It seems as talks resume today they are going to try to find another middle ground, some concessions probably from both sides on the table before the euro group resumes later today as well.
From the Greek side, we are hearing that you know, Greece came to the table with a number of proposals that were initially accepted on Monday. Then that seems to have changed and now they're being asked to do more.
They're being asked to cover a number of red lines things to do with pensions, things to do with VAT, these are lines that the Greek government was not initially prepared to cross.
Now from what we are hearing we don't have some of the main issues yet addressed it seems and primarily the issue of debt relief is going to be one of the key points in order to close this deal or not.
Greece has been asking for a sustainable solution that would include a debt relief in these talks, a promise that a conversation about debt relief will at some point start.
That would make Greece's debt sustainable and also something easier for the Greek government to sell to its own parliamentarians. If we don't have that on the table, if we don't have a solution that Mr. Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, can present to the Greek parliament, if there is a deal that will really complicate the political situation in Greece enormously. For the time being this could go either way.
CHURCH: Yes, a lot of people wondering whether the Greek leadership really understands the urgency of this. We'll be watching to see what happens. Elinda Labropoulou reporting live from Athens, many thanks to you.
Well, the Boston bomber speaks out for the first time. Up next, what the convicted killer had to say to the victims of his crimes.
And the investigation into how two other killers escaped leads to the arrest of a second prison employee. The details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:19:00]
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The convicted Boston marathon bomber is now apologizing for his deadly crimes before being formally sentenced to death, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told the courtroom, quote, "I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering that I've caused you, for the damage that I've done, irreparable damage."
After the sentencing survivors of the attack reacted to Tsarnaev's apology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNN JULIAN, BOSTON BOMBING SURVIVOR: I regret having ever wanted to hear him speak because what he said showed no remorse, no regret and no empathy for what he's done to our lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Tsarnaev also told the court that he was guilty in the April 2013 Boston marathon bombing. Three people died there and hundreds were injured. Tsarnaev was also convicted of killing a police officer in the manhunt that followed.
Well, two escaped murderers are still on the run in northern New York and now a second prison employee is charged in connection with their escape. Prison guard, Gene Palmer, is accused of taking frozen meat, embedded with tools, to the inmate's cell area.
[03:20:14] He is accused of taking the inmates to a cat walk area. They used the cat walks in their escape.
It has been 20 days since Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of prison. Authorities are following thousands of leads and they have discovered the inmate's DNA inside a cabin. Jason Carroll reports on what else has been found including a bloody sock.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The search perimeter nearly 75 square miles of rural, dense terrain, 1,000 people, helicopters, and all-terrain vehicles, but the focus still on an area immediately surrounding that hunting cabin in mountain view and a report from a witness who says he saw a man running from his hunting cabin.
MAJOR CHARLES GUESS, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: We have virtually 100 percent assurance that they were in that area. I believe that they were at that point last seen as of 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
CARROLL: Despite David Sweat and Richard Matt avoiding capture for 19 days, there are clues that could help investigators learn more about the escaped killers' physical condition.
GUESS: There are numerous items we recovered from the cabin although I can't specify what those items were we have no definitive information to reveal that someone was injured. Let's face it, a bloody sock could mean someone had a blister or it could mean a lot worst. I'm hoping for the best.
CARROLL: As the search intensifies so too does the investigation into the inmates' escape. Joyce Mitchell, the prison worker now under arrest for her alleged role admitting she stuffed hacksaw blades and other items into a large frozen slab of hamburger meat.
Mitchell then allegedly convinced a guard at the facility, Gene Palmer, to pass it on to Richard Matt. Palmer's attorney says his client had no knowledge there was anything inside the meat.
As for Mitchell's relationship with the escaped inmates her attorney again denies it.
STEVE JOHNSON, JOYCE MITCHELL'S ATTORNEY: She has indicated to me and to my knowledge to the police that she never had sexual relations with David Sweat. That's all I'm going to comment on because she has indicated that, I believe, on multiple occasions or denied that on multiple occasions.
CARROLL (on camera): And Richard Matt, did she mention anything at all about Richard Matt?
JOHNSON: I'm not going to get into Richard Matt.
CARROLL (voice-over): Her attorney also saying he is reviewing 20 hours of interviews Mitchell has given to police.
(on camera): What is she seemingly -- what has she admitted to at this point?
JOHNSON: I'm not going to comment on that. That's something she has talked to the police. She may be in a position to continue to give help, assistance to them and I don't want to be in a position of harming her plea bargaining opportunities.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Cadyville, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: In Charleston, South Carolina, worshippers displayed their resolve, faith, and defiance on Wednesday. They resumed bible study in the same room where nine people were murdered last week at Emanuel AME Church. Wednesday's lesson listed on the church's website was called "The Power of Love." We have certainly seen that.
Meanwhile, thousands of mourners spent Wednesday inside South Carolina's state house viewing the open casket of the church's pastor, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was a state senator.
A public viewing will be held again Thursday at Emanuel AME and then another church nearby. President Obama will deliver the eulogy at the state lawmaker's funeral on Friday.
More now from CNN's Ryan Young on the memorial surrounding Pinckney's passing including some that are laced with controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): State Senator Clementa Pinckney's body arrived at the South Carolina state house as hundreds lined the streets to pay their respects at the slain lawmaker and Mother Emanuel reverend.
His body lying in state inside the capitol while outside the symbol of the old south still flies on the state house grounds. Pinckney's casket passed under the confederate battle flag. The same one have raised by gunman, Dylann Roof, who took Pinckney's life and those of either other African-Americans just one week ago.
GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY, SOUTH CAROLINA: It's time to move the flag from the capitol grounds.
YOUNG: After Governor Nikki Haley's statement, South Carolina lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to open the debate to remove the flag from capitol grounds once and for all. But the vote to actually take down the flag has yet to occur and by any measure its passing is not a sure thing.
Hailey's office acknowledge in a statement that she, quote, "does not have the authority to remove the flag herself today or any day and rather than violate that law, she will continue to work to change it."
[03:25:10] As the debate over the future of the confederate flag overshadows the mourning in South Carolina, calls for taking down the flag are spreading across the south.
Alabama's Republican governor ordered the confederate flag to be removed from the state capitol grounds joining Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, who have also sought to diminish the presence of the controversial symbol.
Even in Boise, Idaho, the Mississippi state flag, which prominently features the confederate symbol was removed from a display of state flags at city hall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It stays until the people of South Carolina say it should come down.
YOUNG: But in South Carolina taking down the flag is expected to be an uphill battle as some lawmakers are already trying to shift the focus of the debate. CNN spoke to the Republican Representatives William Chumley on Tuesday.
WILLIAM CHUMLEY, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: These people sat in there and waited their turn to be shot. That's sad. Someone with a means of self-defense could have stopped this and we could have less funerals that we are having.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you turning this into a gun debate? If those nine families asked you to take down that flag, would you do it?
CHUMLEY: You said guns, why didn't somebody just do something? I mean, you got one skinny -- person shoot a gun (inaudible).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Ryan Young reporting there. And we've also just learned that the U.S. National Park Service has asked its bookstore and gift shop vendors to remove standalone confederate flag items from their shelves. One of the biggest merchants has already agreed and a spokeswoman says she expects all 70 vendors to comply.
France is turning into the front line for a growing crisis in Europe. Hundreds of desperate migrants are trying to reach the United Kingdom while Britain is considering to stop them.
Plus dramatic video as al-Shabaab militants attack government soldiers. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. We do want to check the headlines for you this hour. A car bomb has exploded in a Syrian city of Kobani near a Turkish border gate.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the militants are fighting a Kurdish militia. The monitoring group says dozens of people have been killed or wounded, but an exact count is not known at this time.
Police in hospitals in Pakistan say the death toll from the country's record-breaking heat wave has topped 1,000. Nearly all of those victims are in Karachi, the country's largest city. Hospitals and morgues are filled beyond capacity. The electricity grid is struggling to keep up with demand, resulting in frequent power outages.
Now to Brussels where Eurozone finance ministers are set to pick up negotiations on the Greek debt crisis in the coming hours. Wednesday's talks ended with no sign of a deal. Greece has just days now to work out an agreement to secure more money before its next debt payment or it risks default.
We want to show you some incredible new video of a fire fight between Kenyan Security Forces and Al Shabaab fighters. In it you can see militants sneaking up on an army base in Kenya before fighting erupts.
(VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Authorities believe this is the same battle where Thomas Evans, a British Jihadist died fighting for Al Shabaab back on June 14th. He is seen on camera the day before that attack.
Europe's migrant crisis is moving closer to the United Kingdom and it has Britain very worried. Nearly 500 migrants were caught trying to cross the channel tunnel from France on Wednesday. Many were trying to exploit the chaos caused by striking French workers.
As Hala Gorani reports many are take desperate and illegal measures in hopes of a better life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Running after trucks on a busy highway. Migrants storm a road in Calais, making a desperate dash for open vehicles to hide in. A police siren sounds, dispersing the small crowd and with batons, officer force them off the trucks.
Chaos and desperation just a few hundred meters from the entrance to the channel tunnel, most of the migrants here are from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eretria and all say they have nothing left to lose.
(on camera): You are willing to take the risk to jump on one of these trucks? It's dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's dangerous. We are going to die and here we're going to die even.
GORANI (voice-over): The attempts to hitch a ride almost seem pointless at times. Trying to open doors of cars loaded on a truck, these two men apparently wondering if they could fit under this vehicle.
(on camera): The desperation we see here is leading people to try just about anything to make it across. They will jump on board the truck, sure, but some will actually hold on to the undercarriage of the vehicles.
They say they'll do anything because Britain holds the promise of a better future, something they tell me they are just not finding here in France.
(voice-over): The 25-year-old Said is from Afghanistan.
(on camera): Why do you think life is better in England?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because England gives more opportunity because you can work there. In France, you cannot work.
GORANI (voice-over): Lory drivers here are largely patient. We saw them calmly inspect their vehicles for passengers. But this man, whose truck was overrun by migrants was in no mood to carry an extra load today.
Inside, migrants come out from every corner. The driver bangs on boxes with a metal crowbar. Others emerge, but did more climb on to the truck than came out? Hard to say.
[03:35:07] Amid all the chaos, moments of humanity, a driver hands a migrant a bottle of water and gets a thumb's up as a thank you. Today, authorities have started building a fence near this makeshift camp to keep illegal migrants from storming the highway.
Eventually it will be several kilometers long. But until then, these scenes will be routine, the ferry strikes on Tuesday highlighted a crisis that's been ongoing here for years.
In the distance, men lie flat on the roof of more trucks. Will they make it? Will they get caught? Either way, they're willing to take a life-changing risk to find out. Hala Gorani, CNN, Calais.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Meanwhile, leaders in the U.K. and France are speaking out about the problems plaguing the migrants. British Prime Minister David Cameron called Wednesday's events at the channel tunnel unacceptable. He is vowing to strengthen border controls. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We have been looking at putting more personnel and indeed sniffer dog teams on that side of the channel to make a difference and there's also more work being done in terms of installing fencing not just around the port at Calais, but also around the Euro Star and Euro tunnel entrance.
All these things can make a different and we should work with the French very closely. There is no point either side trying to point the finger of blame at each other. This is a strong partnership we have in place and we should keep it that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But the deputy mayor of Calais doesn't seem to be on the same page as Mr. Cameron. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILIPPE MIGNONET, DEPUTY MAYOR OF CALAIS: Most of the time when we talk to migrants they'll say the same, they want to go to England. And our British friends are now becoming more than hypocritical. They say it is your responsibility where they know that migrants being there want to go to England. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: For years Calais has been a gathering place for people without documents trying to find a way into the United Kingdom.
The U.S. will no longer threaten families of American hostages with criminal charges for trying to pay ransom to get their loved ones back. U.S. President Barack Obama announced the dramatic policy shift Wednesday after meeting with families of hostages. The government will be allowed to communicate and negotiate, but it will be prohibited from making any substantive concessions or paying ransoms to captors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I believe that the United States government paying ransom to terrorists risks endangering more Americans and funding the very terrorism that we are trying to stop. So I firmly believe that our policy ultimately puts fewer Americans at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A White House adviser also revealed that more than 30 Americans are currently being held hostage overseas. That includes those held by terrorist groups, drug cartels and criminal gangs.
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama is a signature away from one of the biggest legislative wins of his second term. It comes thanks to Republicans in Congress. On Wednesday the U.S. Senate advanced an ambitious trade bill that was once thought dead in the water.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, was behind the final push for the bill. It grants the president fast track congressional approval of major international trade deals.
Nancy Pelosi, leader of the House Democrats now says she'll support the measure despite voting against its companion bill last week. Here's Republican House Speaker John Boehner on his rare, this rare bipartisan victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BOEHNER, REPUBLICAN HOUSE SPEAKER: I think the relationship between the president and myself and Senator McConnell has been very good, a lot of coordination to get this across the finish line. I'm proud of the work that we've done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The fast trick bill could put presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, in a dicey political spot. The front-running Democrat was an architect of the bill as secretary of state, but she has been more skeptical of big trade deals since she started her presidential campaign. We'll watch that very closely. Let's take a very short break here, but still to come, Queen Elizabeth spent her first day in Germany touring Berlin and paying her respect. Details on where she is headed next are just ahead in a live report. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Former Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega is apologizing for his military rule. He spoke with CNN affiliate, Telemetro, in his first interview in 19 years. The 81-year-old Noriega says he wants to bring closure to Panama's dark military era. He ruled the country between 1983 and 1989.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANUEL NORIEGA, FORMER PANAMINIAN MILITARY DICTATOR (through translator): I'm asking for forgiveness from everyone who feels offended, affected, wronged or humiliated by my actions or those of my superiors in compliance with orders or those of my subordinates in the same state and in the time of the responsibility of my government, civil and military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Noriega was ousted from power after a U.S. invasion back in 1989. He is currently serving a 60-year sentence in Panama for murder, embezzlement and other crimes carried out during his regime.
In just a few hours, Queen Elizabeth travels to Frankfurt on the second day of her state visit Germany. Wednesday, she met Chancellor Angela Merkel and went on a tour of Berlin.
CNN's royal correspondent, Max Foster, is following the monarch's trip and joins me now. So Max, it was a very busy day, wasn't it, that first day for Queen Elizabeth. Walk us through it.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was interesting and it finished really with quite a powerful speech from the queen, unusually powerful and vocal really in a call for unity within Europe.
And this comes as there are so many issues around Europe right now all being talked about the summit later this week, the migration crisis, Britain's membership in the European Union and also crucially whether or not Greece can stay within the euro monetary system. So she spoke out at the end of a very busy day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER (voice-over): One is amongst the most powerful women in the world, the other one of the most revered heads of state. German Chancellor Angela Merkel invited the queen of Great Britain into her private residence and pointed to where the Berlin wall once stood.
[03:45:09] They represent two nations once at war now meeting in an ongoing reconciliation with a dark past.
GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL: And I think it's remarkable 70 years after the end of the second world war.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: The 70th anniversary.
FOSTER: The queen and duke had already paid their respects for the war dead on both sides. The couple both have German heritage. Their job is to stay out of politics and strengthen ties between nations. But politics is at play here behind the scenes.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron among the guests at the state dinner, he wouldn't normally attend a royal tour, but he needs Angela Merkel's support if he is going to succeed in renegotiating Britain's relationship with the European Union. Something he promised during his election campaign earlier this year.
QUEEN ELIZABETH: In our lives, Mr. President, we have seen the worst but also the best of our continent. We have witnessed how quickly things can change for the better. But we know that we must work hard to maintain the benefits of the post-war world. We know the division in Europe is dangerous and that we must guard against it in the west as well as in the east of our continent. That remains a common endeavor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: It was interesting, really, the queen and the palace suggesting she wasn't talking specifically about the European Union, but they will be aware of that is the big talking point right now.
The German president, her counterpart can be more outspoken and he certainly said in his speech, Rosemary, that Britain is stronger in Europe, a desperate plea, really to keep the European Union project together.
CHURCH: Interesting and of course, on her second day, the queen is off to Frankfurt. What is going to happen there? What's ahead?
FOSTER: Well, it's about meeting lots of people. It's amazing to see the amount of media coverage here, rolling coverage on the TV networks. All the magazines are very much in support and the newspapers in support of the queen coming here.
Simply calling her "the queen," the world's greatest diplomat, one newspaper described her as and there are large crowds wherever she goes. There will be a walkabout and lunch in Frankfurt as well and an emphasis about the family links as well because Prince Philip will be meeting up with a couple of his relatives at that lunch as well.
He speaks German as well. So the trip so far going well really emphasizing the links between the two countries.
CHURCH: All right, Max Foster following Queen Elizabeth's journey there in Germany. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Finding a gift fit for a queen is no easy feat. That's a lesson that Germany's president learned the hard way. He gave her a painting depicting the Monarch as a young girl on a pony with her father, King George, holding the reins. But the queen was not convinced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEEN ELIZABETH: That's supposed to be my father?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't like it, here's this marzipan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Dear, she was not amused. The horse then Princess Elizabeth is sitting on in the painting was a Shetland pony named Peggy given to her by her father when she was 4.
Next on CNN NEWSROOM, a doctor's jokes in an operating room have cost her big. The story of a half million dollar colonoscopy is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Chinese authorities have seized about 800 tons of smuggled frozen meat and some of it is not only rotten and putrid it's ancient. State media report the meat was headed for restaurants, retailers, and supermarkets in Hunan Province. One batch dated from the 1970s.
It included poultry and beef and was reportedly worth more than $1.5 million. Xinhua reports Chinese officials have detained 21 smuggling groups in the past month. There is no explanation on where the smugglers are getting meat this old.
Three British teens have developed a condom they say can detect sexually transmitted infections. The so-called STI condom is a conceptual design that changes color when it comes in contact with infections such as chlamydia or syphilis.
The teens won a prize at Britain's Teen Tech Awards for developing it. The condom is still in the concept stage, but the teens have been approached by a manufacturer to make it a reality.
Well, a Virginia anesthesiologist was caught on tape making fun of a patient while under he was under sedation. Now her less than professional comments have become his major payday. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As if a colonoscopy is not bad enough for them poking around your colon, do you wonder what they say about you while you are knocked out? A Virginia patient identified only as DB found out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, this guy is something else.
MOOS: When he accidentally recorded his own colonoscopy then sued over remarks made mainly by anesthesiologist, Dr. Tiffany Engam, who addressed him directly even though he was out cold. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After 5 minutes of talking to you I wanted to punch you in the face.
[03:55:05] MOOS: She found his persistent questions annoying.
(on camera): The patient turned on his smartphone before the procedure to record post-op instructions. The phone ended up in a plastic bag of his belongings underneath the table he was placed on in the operating suite.
(voice-over): Dr. Engam joked about steering clear of a skin condition on DB's privates lets it spread. She mocked that he spoke of wanting to be a surgeon, but got queasy watching at a needle stick and she actually wrote a nonexistent diagnosis on the chart.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to mark hemorrhoids even though we don't see them. I'm just going to take the shot in the dark.
MOOS (on camera): But DB got the final shot, for malpractice and defamation, and punitive damages, the jury awarded the patient $500,000.
(voice-over): None of the parties are commenting on the case, Dr. Engam probably thinks she's done enough talking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wheel of annoying patients it goes.
MOOS: Moral of the lawsuit even someone considered a pain in the butt patient should not become the butt of jokes. Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel bad, I shouldn't be so mean.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Makes you wonder, doesn't it? You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. Do stay with us. EARLY START is next for our viewers in the United States and for the rest of you, another edition of CNN NEWSROOM begins after the break. Have a great day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
