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Greece Clears Another Hurdle Towards Bailout Deal; President Obama Heads to Kenya. Aired midnight-1a ET
Aired July 23, 2015 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:07]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Greece clears another hurdle towards a bailout deal but the Prime Minister continues to be hammered from his own Party.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama heads to Kenya today. The steps being taken in the terror hoax are in to keep the leader of the free world safe.
VAUSE: Three astronauts have docked at the international space station. You will see the hatch open live right here and a former NASA astronaut take us all through it, later here at this hour.
KINKADE: Hello, thanks for joining us, I'm Lynda Kinkade.
VAUSE: Great to have you with us I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN Newsroom.
To sort this out, greater law makers have cleared another major legislative hurdle voting in favor of a second set of reforms neither to negotiate the country's third bailout.
KINKADE: That's right. The bill was overwhelming adopted by 230 out of the 300 members of Parliament.
VAUSE: It includes rules for dealing with failed banks and speeding up the justice systems. Conditions required by the Euro zone to proceed with bailout negotiations.
KINKADE: But Benny and Grace are not happy. Thousands took to the streets of Athens in protest. What started out is a peaceful demonstration soon turned chaotic. Some protesters threw petrol bombs at riot police echoing the violence seen at the last week's void on austerity reforms.
VAUSE: The vote came at 4 in the morning in Athens after hours of grueling debate and while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had no trouble of getting the support he needed in parliament, he did face the revolt from some within his own party. Elinda Labropoulou joins us now live from Athens and Elinda, we'll get to the politics in a moment, but exactly what has the Greek parliament approved and what does it now mean for Greece? ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: Well it has approved changes in the Civil Protection Code. So mainly, it took the others to speed up court case is where there's been a huge overhaul and slowing things down and also has approved an EU directive that's bolstering banks and protecting savers with deposits under 100,000 euros. And these were both two steps that were seen by the creditors as essential, simply to begin the next round of bailout talks that are now set to begin tomorrow. So as mentioned earlier, they seemed to have cleared those first initial hurdles for these talks to begin and these are seen as very important steps to getting negotiations started at possibly wrapping them up by the 20th of August when Greece has to make it's next big payment to the European Central Bank.
VAUSE: So that is the next crisis point we're looking towards August 20. How likely is it that these sides are going to come to terms on a bailout agreement or could be back-- could we be back at the same situation that we were just a couple weeks ago?
LABROPOULOU: Well it all depends on how this is done. From what we understand, the next vote that we have, the next agreement that we have will be a more general agreement. They will go through specifics but it will be a vote on the overall agreement rather than specific measures because what we saw in the parliament in the last two weeks is that when it comes down to specifics, there are a lot of - there are a lot of people in - within Mr. Tsipras' party and itself, a lot of parliamentarians that oppose these specific measures. And yesterday's vote was an indication of that. He got very close to the threshold minority, the 120 which is as many as it needs to be able to hold a minority government.
I mean, he did get the over all support. He got the support of 230 MP's but in that vote, 36 voted no or abstained. So that's a very big number for such a new party and at such a crucial time. So there's a lot of question on whether cities will be able to hold together.
VAUSE: And Tsipras remains popular at least for now. There's like going back on pretty much every election promise that he made. He said he will not resign but clearly, this could change very quickly once those austerity measures really begin to bite.
LABROPOULOU: Well, this is partly the concern. That's the big concern for the Prime Minister himself. So just yesterday, he actually urged his own MPs to vote and support. He asked them to stop hiding behind his signature and if they have a better plan, to basically just come out and say it. And this was his way of stopping all these rumors and all these attacks that he's been receiving from his own party and saying you know, if we're going to do this, we have to stay in this together. There is a big party congress coming out in early September and I think if we don't see any clarifications, if we don't see that solidarity before then, we could be looking at changes at that congress.
VAUSE: More turmoil ahead, no doubt. Elinda Labropoulou live of course there in Athens. Thank you.
KINKADE: Africa has the potential to be the next center of global economic growth.
[00:04:58] That's according to U.S. President Barack Obama who just reauthorized a trade law. Now during an event of the White House on Wednesday, the President signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act which aims to boost Africa's economy.
VAUSE: The law allows Sub-Saharan African countries to sell parts like textiles in the U.S. Duty free. The U.S Congress first passed the act back in 2000 and was said to expire this coming September. And the move comes as Mr. Obama is due to visit Ethiopia and Kenya later this week. This trip to Kenya, his father's homeland is his first as president.
KINDKADE: But there are security concerns about his visit that have triggered the U.S. Military into action. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the details from Washington.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Al-Shabaab Militants in East Africa now posing new worries for President Obama's trip to Kenya. CNN has learned in just last week, the U.S. military has conducted nearly half a dozen secret air strikes in Somalia against Al-Shabaab forces. Intelligence showed an attack against Kenyan troops there was eminent by the al-Qaeda, Africa Affiliate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: This sends a very clear message to Al Shabaab not to try to attempt anything against the President.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: The U.S does not believe Al-Shabaab can get anywhere near the president, but there are other reasons to worry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONES: What's most likely is not an attack against a U.S. Government Official like the president but an attack that happens while the president is there. What Al-Shabaab is likely to do is go for a soft target.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Like the Nairobi Mall Attack in 2013 where 67 were killed. It just reopened. Or this April attack when nearly 150 people were killed in an Al-Shabaab assault at Garissa University. The Pentagon trying to confirm if one of their recent drone strikes may have killed the planners of that attack. U.S. officials tell CNN, in recent days there is growing social media and internet chatter among the Somali- based militants about the president's visit. They all know he is coming, one official with access to the latest intelligence tells CNN. A Kenyan flight bulletin outlining some details of the president's trip has been released including when airspace in Nairobi would be closed because of the arrival and departure of Air Force One. But officials are brushing it off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But the details of the President's schedule that are critical to keeping him safe, our details have not been disclosed publicly at this point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Al-Shabaab has lost fighters, territory and financing in recent years. But one thing that they have not lost is their ability to conduct attacks. In fact, the number of attacks by Al-Shabaab has been growing steadily. And that is why there is so much concern about what the people of Kenya are facing as the president of the United States is about to arrive.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
KINDKADE: And for Mr. Obama going to Kenya is, in some ways a trip home. His ancestral village, Kogelo is located in Kenya. And it's where's his father, whose name he shares is buried.
VAUSE: We don't know yet if Mr. Obama will actually visit the village. His half sister and grandmother have a foundation there. And they sat down and spoke with the CNN's Brooke Baldwin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's run the White House for seven years. Can you describe the most proud moment you've been with your brother.
AUMA OBAMA, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S HALF SISTER: Getting into the White House.
BALDWIN: Getting into the White House.
OBAMA: Yes.
BALDWIN: Getting in?
OBAMA: Just getting in. He got in twice. I'm proud of that. I'm seriously proud of that, yes.
BALDWIN: Do you see him recently break out into amazing grace? Have you seen that video?
OBAMA: I did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA: Amazing grace ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
A. OBAMA: I'm surprised he sang so well. It was amazing. It was amazing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
B. OBAMA: I would ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: What is it making the fact though that now the name Obama is so globally recognized?
A. OBAMA: She says when big things happened, people are named after big events. She says that my dad used to tell about my brother. He would always tell us, "you know, that son of mine who's in America is going to do great things. You're going to see it". And she's seeing now, she's seeing, and he's going to uplift your name as well and she's saying that's what's happening.
BALDWIN: Still now beyond Nairobi, the question looms, will he come here? But what if he doesn't come here? How disappointed will people be?
OBAMA: I think they're very realistic about visitation with my brother and the job that he has. I would say it's just another job. He's a government official really if you look at it in a more sort of a sense.
[00:10:00] He's doing his job. He's here for work.
BALDWIN: Just a government official.
A. OBAMA: Yes.
BALDWIN: The man is the president of the United States of America.
A. OBAMA: But it's still a job, it's a job. So, that comes first. Whatever else happens is a bonus. So - And we're very respectful of that. We always have been. So, I have no worries about that and the community knows that.
BALDWIN. Did they get it?
A. OBAMA: They get it. They do get it because that's what it's - at the end of the day they know that, Barack is an American. He's not a Kenyan. He is a loo (ph) descent but he's an American.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: U.S. Defense officials are giving new details about a military confrontation between Russian bombers and U.S. fighter jets on the Fourth of July. They say bombers, referring to this one were intercepted and turned away just over 60 kilometers of the U.S. Pacific Coast.
KINDKADE: The Russian bomber pilots also communicated with their American counterparts saying over an emergency channel, "Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence day." The U.S. Defense official said they're not classifying that statement as a threat. At least 19 people are dead in a second day of bombings in Baghdad, 16
people including security services and civilians were killed in one blast at a security checkpoint, 30 others were wounded.
VAUSE: A second bombing killed three people. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks which happened in Shiite neighborhood. ISIS took credit for killing 20 people in suicide bombings first on Tuesday.
KINDKADE: We're learning new details about what you might call a rising power behind the throne in North Korea. Leader Kim Jong-Un is apparently continuing his campaign of purges and executions and taking out key figures in his military.
VAUSE: And with a shrinking inner circle, it seems the North Korean leader is now relying on two women, Bryan Todd explains.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A seemingly, routine tour and photo op for North Korea's young dictator reveals a tantalizing clue of who's left in his inner circle. As Kim Jong-Un a locomotive complex recently, North Korea's government news agency reports his younger sister Kim Yo-Jong was with him. She's 27 years old, increasingly seen as a rising star. Said to be Kim's closest adviser. Kim Yo-Jong is believed to be taking on key roles in her brother's security agencies gaining huge influence over who gets appointed to top post. And that's not all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEN GAUSE, NORTH KOREA LEADERSHIP EXPERT, CNA: Kim Yo-Jong supposedly now has her fingers on the royal economy where money that is coming directly into the Kim family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: That's not only black market currency, cigarettes and medicines. But legitimate business like building statues in Africa according to analysts. They say Kim Yo-Jong's influence is becoming more like that of their aunt, Kim Kyung-Hui, sister of their late father, Kim Jung-Il. Kim Kyung-Hui had enormous power until Kim Jung- Un turned on her husband Jang Sung-Taek and had him executed in 2013. Now, it falls to Kim Jung-Un's younger sister to help him navigate the dangerous halls of power in Pyongyang.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GAUSE: He is a person that Kim Jung-Un would reach out to and expects to have his back inside the blood sport that's politics inside the regime.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: But because she's so young, Kim Yo-Jong likely needs her own protector. Analyst Ken Gause says that's likely the role of another shadowy older sister, Kim Sol Song. She is the purest of the pure, Gause says, because she's the only one among Kim and his siblings ever officially recognized by their grandfather, North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung. Kim Sol Song is said to possibly been mentoring her younger siblings, helping them build relationships and sever their ties to their father's old cronies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALBINA HWANG, PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: Kim Jung-Un cannot afford to have any kind of swing to his loyalty by those that might automatically look to the older, more experienced leaders of he past. He's clearly much more young and robust than his decrepit 80-year old generals. And so Kim Jung-Un has to make sure that they look to him for leadership and not his elders.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Who's the target of Kim Jung-Un's deadly purges? A U.S. official tells us, he's focusing on replacing top military figures. But analysts say he's got to tread carefully and not create too many enemies along the way. And he seems to be increasingly relying on his two sisters to help him do that.
Bryan Todd, CNN Washington.
VAUSE: Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman is still on the run but "El Chapo" as his "no I can still make it to a child's birthday party" at least in the pinata version.
KINDKADE: He certainly can, and it's a very big kid with some Mexicans, the El Chapo Pinata is being sold alongside one of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump in a trash can. The clear reference to Trump's controversial remarks about Mexico's sending rapists and criminals to the U.S.
VAUSE: It's a big hit.
[00:15:00] Guzman's elaborate jailbreak has inspired musicians to write ballads about his escape.
KINKADE: That's right, some of the songs characterize him as a foe cure despite his notorious reputation as the head of a brutal drug cartel. Songs always seem a little too cheerful.
VAUSE: Yeah, to say the least. Takes your break here, when we come back, a story of spacecraft with three astronauts on board has docked with the International Space Station, we will watch live as they open the hatch and join the ISS crew and a retired astronaut will be with us.
KINKADE: Plus wildfires are threatening vineyards and farms in Southern Europe. We'll see if the weather will bring some relief.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everybody. A forest fire burning in Southern Croatia is forcing the evacuation of some residents. Firefighters are dowsing the blaze from the ground and the sky but flames have destroyed vineyards, forests and livestock.
The fire has reportedly also surrounded the entire village. Croatian State TV says there have been no injuries and no fatalities.
KINKADE: And hot dry conditions are fueling wild fires throughout Albania.
[00:20:00] The country has seen unusually high temperatures hovering at 40 degree Celsius.
On Tuesday, a forest fire caused an explosion near a former army missile base.
VAUSE: Another fire burnt 40 hectares of forest and pastures so far in the reports, so if any injuries there, I don't know.
Let's go to our meteorologist, Ivan Cabrera joining us at the grown up desk right now.
IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
VAUSE: OK, so we got a lot of fires everywhere, we'll have hot dry conditions especially across parts of Europe.
CABRERA: It's a Mediterranean Climate. I mean this is what you expected. This not - that this is, well...
VAUSE: Unusually hot or not?
CABRERA: It is above normal.
VAUSE: There we go. I rest my case.
CABRERA: But this is what they're going to get hot dry summers and you get wet mild winters. This is the kind of climate we're in here. But the fires are going, the temperatures are not helping 35 to 40 degrees is what we've been dealing with in the last several days and they're going to continue to battle these with very uncomfortable temperatures here.
The winds are not going to be out of control, we don't have any storm systems that are going to be rolling through. In fact, it is the lack of storm systems that is causing all these. Big area of high pressure just kind of sitting here, air sinking, air compressing, air warming and we are talking about the pattern not breaking.
You want some rain, you go to the North and there you have the storm track here, portions of Northern France and heading up towards the U.K. That's where we have areas of low pressure that are going to be riding that blue line you see there and that's our jet stream there and we're going to continue with rain to the North.
Along with the cloud cover and the rainfall, you get temperatures that are very pleasant into the mid 20s. You go a little further South, where we have the lack of cloud cover and the lack of rainfall, (inaudible) Zagreb here 37 degrees. Once again, as we head this through later this afternoon so the hot weather continues.
Average temperatures, yes, into the mid and upper 20s but when you get into a pattern like this where the high just gets stuck here, we continue to get temperatures higher and higher each and everyday. And so, we've been talking about highest it have been into the mid and upper 30s. And as I see it, that's the way it's going to go over the next several days so we'll have to watch that closely. Specifically, where we're fighting some fires, there are the temperatures we're doing - we're going to do a little better by the time we get into Saturday but still, above normal temperatures in the mid upper 30s essentially with overnight low temperatures in the upper teens to lower 20s.
There's Rome into the mid 30s. If you have plans that take you into portions of Central Italy, get ready for some hot weather along with Belgrade with temperatures into the upper 30s, going to stay hot as we head it to upcoming weekend. So the three things we look at, at humidity, that's going to be low, the temperatures, that's going to be high, those are two bad things but he wind is not too bad so there is that.
VAUSE: Well, yeah, one good thing two bad.
CABRERA: Which prevents more spreads.
VAUSE: Yeah.
CABRERA: So if we get the strong winds, you get fire popping up all over the place here, so hopefully we'll get containment very soon.
KINKADE: How for the winds slow down?
VAUSE: You like a good space story, don't you?
CABRERA: Of course.
VAUSE: We have one.
(CROSSTALK)
CABRERA: I'm watching it live on NASA, are you kidding?
VAUSE: Waiting for the hatch?
CABRERA: Yes.
VAUSE: Stay with us.
KINKADE: It's about to set -- about to happen, moments away. We're going to take you live to the International Space Station. We have three astronauts from the United States, Russia and Japan are about to open the hatch from the Soyuz Spacecraft.
VAUSE: The Expedition 44 team will join the three men currently aboard the station including NASA's Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko, they're part of a one year mission to study the long term effects of human health in micro gravity also the effects, apparently, they get a lot of space headaches.
KINKADE: To walk us through this, I want to bring in retired NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao. He served as commander of the International Space Station on the Expedition 10 mission.
Leroy, thanks for being with us.
LEROY CHIAO, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT (via Skype): Great to be with you.
KINKADE: Now, after the two month delay, this spacecraft has finally docked with the International Space Station. We'll get to the delays in a moment. First just tell us what this mission is all about.
CHIAO: Well this is a routine crew exchange so we usually have a Soyuz flag go up every three months or so, to exchange half of the crew. In this case, it's a staggered exchange because, you know as you mentioned, there'll be two crew members who will be onboard for almost a full year. And so, this one finally got off the ground as you mentioned two months late but thankfully got to the International Space Station and had a very successful docking today.
KINKADE: And the reason for that delay, there were several failed missions, a number of cargo spacecraft that didn't quite make it. Just explain what happened, what did investigators find out about those failed missions?
CHIAO: Sure. In October we saw the failure of a Orbital Sciences Rocket that was taking cargo to the ISS. The failure was pinned on the first stage engines which actually happen to be refurbished Russian rocket engines. And then earlier this year, we had a Russian rockets, a program in the ship failed very similar configuration to the Soyuz that launched today.
And it got into orbit but unfortunately, there was a separation problem and the Soyuz, the progressed spacecraft actually was tumbling and so it was unrecoverable and lost. And then most recently, SpaceX suffered a failure just a few weeks ago, where a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon Cargo Spacecraft bound from the ISS exploded just before stage separation between the first and second stages.
[00:25:05] And so, in the case of the Falcon 9 failure, the SpaceX failure, they're now releasing information that seems to point to a broken stripe inside of the fuel tank, that a allow of helium tank to go shooting towards the top of the rocket causing structural failure, so they think they've got it nailed down but it's not totally a done deal yet.
So three separate rocket failures, three separate causes, fortunately, they were able to clear the Soyuz booster to allow today's flight to happen, and for this crew to reach the ISS.
KINKADE: So given those failed missions, they must have been in a lot of concern around the launch of this latest mission?
CHIAO: Well yes. Anytime it's anytime you have mishap(ph), of course, there's concern. And so, you know, everybody did the right thing, they kind of grounded the fleets. They delayed this launch until they could clear the release, the Soyuz rocket and figure out the root cause of what happened with that progress resupply ship.
Make sure wouldn't happen with this Soyuz launch before they clear their flight. So that's why we solved the two month delay.
KINKADE: We're just looking at some live pictures of the control room. They're waiting for the hatch of this spacecraft to open and the astronauts to board the International Space Station.
Now this Russian spacecraft, we know that singer, Sarah Brightman was due to fly on this spacecraft later this year. And she was composing a song with her ex husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber, to sing up in space, that's not going to happen. She has delayed that trip due to family reasons. This obviously a lot of interest in space tourism but there are still -- it's still a major risk, isn't it? It's a pretty risky travel.
CHIAO: Well there is risk involved. I mean, you know, anytime you impart enough energy to a vehicle to accelerate into 17,500 miles an hour, and send it up about 400 kilometers, you're going to have some risk.
And so, you know, you're never going to limit, totally eliminate risk from space flight, just as you're not going to eliminate -- totally eliminate risk from getting in your car and going to work in the morning.
Now, of course, space flights, it's a little riskier than that. But you know, we managed the risk as well as we can, we learned from accidents, and find the root causes, and try to make sure that doesn't happen again.
And so we are in a custom state of improvement as far as trying to get reliability on rockets and spacecraft.
KINKADE: Leroy Chiao, we really appreciate talking to you today. We were hoping that the hatch would open during our chat hasn't just yet, but we will go back to his pictures (ph) when it happens.
Thanks very much for joining us.
CHIAO: My pleasure getting to be with you.
VAUSE: And the other good thing about this is that, you know, all the politics have carry on between the United States and the Russians right now, and the Ukraine and all the rest of it and those...
KINKADE: They're working together with this.
VAUSE: Exactly, working together in space it's a sun of hope.
KINKADE: We've got a Russian and American and a Japanese man.
VAUSE: And a Japanese, yeah, absolutely. That's good to see the Russians and the Americans doing something together.
KINKADE: Absolutely.
VAUSE: Yeah.
KINKADE: Holding hands in space.
VAUSE: Takes your break. When we come back, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump will visit the U.S. Mexican border, the same border crossed by people he described as rapist and criminals.
Plus, we'll take you for a ride along in illegal smuggling route in Kenya, see first hand, why it's become such a security nightmare.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:30:00]
VAUSE: Welcome back everybody, thanks for staying with us. You're watching CNN Newsroom, I'm John Vause.
KINKADE: And hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. These are the headlines this hour. After a grueling night of debate, Greek law makers overwhelmingly passed the second set of reforms needed to obtain the country's third bailout.
The bill includes rules for dealing with failed banks and speeding up the justice system. Conditions required by the Eurizon creditors to begin bailout negotiations.
VAUSE: Live to mission control where we're waiting for the hatch to open up of the International Space Station and the astronauts aboard that station are preparing to greet three colleagues from the United States, Russia and Japan.
The Soyuz spacecraft docked with the ISS a short time ago. The expedition 44 crew will join those three astronauts, already onboard including Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko, who are spending a full year in space.
KINKADE: Your new security concerns about Barack Obama's trip to Kenya this week.
CNN has learned the U.S. has been bombing Al Shabaab militants in neighboring Somalia ahead of the president's visit.
His officials don't believe they'll get near the president but worry they may strike vulnerable targets during his trip.
VAUSE: Well Kenya is also a hotbed for smuggling.
KINKADE: That's right. At one time, the so called Panya routes to Somalia were little know back roads but now they used by militants and our security nightmare. CNN's Nima Elbagir has details from Northern Kenya.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESONDENT: Death traps, crisscrossing through the bush. They're known locally as "Panya", the rat routes, essentially a backdoor in Kenya.
We've been told that these other routes that Al Shabaab using to travel back and forth into the country and we have to put on our protective gear.
Thank you.
Behind us, that's the official route. But this, this is the smuggler route. It takes you from Somalia into Kenya, backout again. No government presidents, no checkpoints, you can bring in what you want and who you want.
Two years ago, we traveled these same tracks, we'd come back to see if anything had changed. It's even busier than before.
Surprised to see us, some spot the camera and turned back. One man stops to threaten us with rocks. When our producer approaches, he comes down and after admit, this is his regular route, ferrying people back and forth to the Southern Somali poor town of Kismayo, no passports, no questions.
In this junction isn't out in the middle of nowhere, it's only 20 kilometers from a major military base, and the Dadaab airstrip. And yet, out here, you wouldn't know it. There is no government presence, just clear access all the way to Somalia.
In spite of an increase security drive for the government, Al Shabaab's attacks and ambitions have been spilling over into Kenya with deadly frequency. Once little known back roads, the Panya are now a security nightmare.
In Nairobi, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior tells us they're doing everything they can to fight this, but it's not easy.
MWENDA NJOKA, SPOKESMAN, KENYA INTERIOR MINISTRY: There is a border that is being -- a border that is being constructed along the Kenya- Somali border. It's a long border. It has been put as for a long time because as previous government have not taken serious action to ensure that there is proper control.
[00:35:02] We've established a border patrol police that was a - that's a specialist police unit. With the specialist, we are equipping them the specialist equipment, we are not denying that there is a problem with that ago.
ELBAGIR: On the Panya routes the sun begins to set. Night falls as we wind our way directly into the hunt of Dadaab town, no check points, no security searches and no one, the wiser. Nima Elbagir CNN, Northern Kenya.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KINKADE: And be sure to join us on Friday when Nima Elbagir visits Garissa University in Kenya, that is the school where Al shabaab militants killed 147 people back in April. Nima will join a survivor returning to the site of the massacre for the first time.
VAUSE: And we shall break. But when we come back, Donald Trump making headlines for his trash talk in the U.S. presidential election and now he's defending another stunt giving out a U.S. senator's personal phone number.
KINKADE: Plus we'll show you a new jacket design to make life on the road a little easier. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back. Donald Trump takes his presidential campaign to the U.S. Mexican boarder today. This should be interesting because the trip comes just weeks after Mr. Trump caught undocumented Mexican immigrants, rapist and criminals.
KINKADE: He really stay mogul has been dominating headlines ever since he announced his candidacy for president last month. His brushed tough talk on a legal immigration and his skating attacks on his opponents have generated a lot of publicity.
VAUSE: This week he gave out the mobile phone number of one of his rivals Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
KINKADE: Still Trumps message seems to be resonating with primary voters and his sitting comfortable at the top of the DOP (ph) field.
VAUSE: A new poll though suggest that may not last his viewed unfavorably in three crucial swing stakes CNN's Anderson Cooper sat down with the outspoken business man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[00:40:04] DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I get called by these horrible names Lindsey Graham who I don't even know. I didn't start it with Lindsey Graham. I couldn't careless about Lindsey Graham. He's registered at I think zero in the poll by Rick Perry from Texas, who is up in my office a few years ago. I just posted a picture of him shaking my hand looking for money and looking for support. And he was up, you know, people say, "Yeah I call it hypocrite."
But they are saying horrible things like, I don't even know these people and they are saying this, now am I suppose to, you know, just say, "Oh, it's OK for them to say one guy, I guess it was Lindsey Graham called me a jackass. So, am I supposed to say, "Oh, it's OK if I'm called a jack -- I'm called a jackass, you have to fight back. The country has to fight back. Everyone's pushing our country around we can't allow that Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER: Is it presidential though?
TRUMP: I think it's presidential to fight back.
COOPER: To give out somebody's phone -- to give out a personal phone number.
TRUMP: Well, that was a long story. I mean, you have to see the whole story, the way it morphed. OK? That was a whole story, where he wanted to get on "FOX & Friends" and he called me up out of the blue. I never met the guy. Then he wanted to come in for campaign contributions. He gave me -- first off -- and then he starts hitting me years later. And I happen to have this crazy phone number. And I held it up. I said, this guy was over here. And actually, as you probably know, the room was packed. It was standing room only. In fact, they had other theaters. There was overflow crowds. They had also to closed-circuit television into other rooms. The place went wild. We all had a good time.
COOPER: But is that presidential?
TRUMP: I think so. I think its fine.
COOPER: Is that something as president? When you're opposed by somebody in Congress, you would give out their personal phone number?
TRUMP: I was hit by somebody unfairly. I was called names by somebody. So he was up to somebody that's hitting me saying, what a bad guy I am, was up in my office asking for money and asking if I can get him on television.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So, when -- if you're a president of the United States, you're going to be hit by half of the country that's probably not going to like you.
TRUMP: It's true. That's true.
COOPER: Are you going to call them dumb and stupid?
TRUMP: No, I think it's a little bit different. Right now, I'm trying to do something to make the country great again. Politicians will never make this country great again. Now...
COOPER: As president, you would change your tone?
TRUMP: I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Elected officials released Donald Trump's financial records on Wednesday.
KINKADE: Presidential candidates are required to report their earnings to the past. Here, Trump claims his worth more than a $10 billion.
VAUSE: OK, here's proof that some travelers will do almost anything to make the leaving hell of airline travel a little more bearable. It's a fashion travel start up company and they've created the ultimate travel jacket pack with 15 build in features included are, a neck pillow, gloves, pockets for all of your gadgets even one for your drink.
KINKADE: It's not a bad idea. Potential investors appear to be interested. So far they pledged almost $1.5 million on kickstarter.com. The jacket comes in a few different styles. Win breaker, sweat shirt even a blazer.
VAUSE: OK. Let's go back the International Space Station right now. We have live pictures the hatch is opened and the three astronauts who departed Earth earlier today's on the Soyuz spacecraft have docked with ISS and the hatch has been opened. And they will join the other three astronauts who have been onboard the International Space Station.
This mission was to later has been to have them back in May but there was some problems with the Soyuz spacecraft. But now it appears everything is going quite smoothly and we're waiting for essentially the ISS, the International Space Station, took up to a full complement of six they've had three there since June 10 because of the problem through this Soyuz rockets.
KINKADE: Yes, so we're going to have to go unfortunately, they are still trying to open that hatch and get onboard the International Space Station. We will bring you more at the top of the next hour thanks for joining us I'm Lynda Kinkade.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. World Sport is up next. When we back in 15 minutes another hour of CNN Newsroom.
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CABRERA: Well, what we need is a break in the pattern here and unfortunately, we're not going to get it. What that means is we're going to stay with the rain to the North and the very hot temperatures to the South.
There will be a few showers and thunder storms developing. But the trend here continues to be very hot temperatures. In fact, we've been in the 35 to 40 degree range over last and several days. And now things getting serious for our friends here across portions of the Southern Europe or fires are now breaking out and the warm temperatures, low humidity certainly not going to help things out along with some wind by the afternoon fires themselves certainly can produce their own weather and that's when we get some very nasty conditions down with the South. Temperatures remaining here into the mid 30s and that's the weather going to be over the next few days.
[00:44:58] As I mentioned, there is rain, there is storminess to the North, that, we'll continue to see. In fact, the track is set and we'll have these lows that continued to move along it and that means rain for Paris over the next 24 to 48 hours with more rain continuing to the North and East. What you're seeing her is developing through the afternoon across the Alpine Region showers and storms is bubbling up there but otherwise nothing organized. Further down to the South temperature in the 30s and 40s and in Iran finally getting a break from all that very heavy rainfall you've had over the last several days.
Now, things are beginning to get a little bit more out of control dryer weather on the way.
KATE RILEY, SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CNN World Sport. I'm Kate Riley, good to have you watching with us. So it's that time with year once again, when Europe's top football clubs are using pre-season friendlies to get ready for the new campaign. Treble winners Barcelona, open their pre-season toll against Steven Gerrard and the L.A. Galaxy. Gerrard faced his former Liverpool teammate Luis Suarez. It was a fitting stage for their reunion. It was in front of record crowd more than 93,000 at the Rose Bowl. Suarez open the scoring after beautiful overhead flick by Marc Bartra.
On the Uruguayan he put it away. It was some beautiful link out play despite the absence of Barcelona's Messi and Neymar. Early in the second half, Sergi Roberto smashed the loosed ball into the back of the net. L.A. did grab a late goal and finished 2-1 to Barcelona.
Now in the meantime, Manchester United beat San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 in California. And after half an hour, United open the scoring after some lovely build up play one muscle with the chicken. And then there was an embarrassing back pass from the San Jose defense. And just five minutes later allowed Memphis Depay to pick up his first ever goal to the club even the United Won at 3-1. Boss Louis van Gaal singled new signing Bastian Schweinsteiger for criticism. This is what he have to say, said "I think the first match he played very well. But he played bad. And players can play bad when you only have six days training in your legs and you have to play 45 minutes, everybody thinks it is easy to step but in reality it's not."
So United States best rivals Liverpool are also in pre-season friendly mode. Found receive some good news ahead of the new campaign in Malaysia. Liverpool have officially signed Christian Benteke from our Aston villa for $50 million. Now, the 24 year old will give them a goal threat which, of course, they lost after Raheem Sterling departure to Manchester city and the news comes after the players received a turbulent welcome as they arrived in Kuala Lumpur head of their match against the Malaysia 11 (ph).
Ryan Minnick are also in Asia. They're preparing to face China's top club Guanzhou ever grand later on Thursday. The Bundesliga giants have been without Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery among others Pep Guardiola says their return for the start of the new season is still in doubt however.
The Russian football association has rejected Emmanual Frimpong's allegations. He was racially abused by Spartak Moscow supporters last week. The striker was sent off after raising a finger to the crowd in respond to what he said where monkey chance. The RFL Disciplinary Committee said they could not find any evidence of such abuse. Now, in response, the 23 year old tweeted this, "Been banned for two games acceptable on my part for the gesture no problems with that. But for the Russian F.A. to say they didn't hear or see any evidence or racism is beyond a joke. Glad it's all over thanks for the support."
For Chelsea fans, accused to refusing to allow a black man on the Paris Metro have been banned from attending football matches for up to five years. A judge in London said the man's behavior was abhorrent, nasty, offensive, arrogant and utterly unacceptable. Video footage show the man racially abusing a black commuter pushing him off a metro train and Chelsea have confirmed to CNN sport they will not make any further comment on the matter.
And what a journey the tour to France can be. Get your tissues ready, stage 17 was a weepy one, more next.
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[00:50:00]
RILEY: Welcome back. He is the worlds a best love tennis star right now. Roger Federer is looking forward to the U.S. open, the big one. The 17 time grand slam champion spoke to us about his recent performance at Wimbledon and his chances ahead of the final grand slam of the year. Now, despite of his advancing is the swift star claims he's feeling better than ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER FEDERER: I think beating Murray in the semis was a big deal for many people because I think he almost went into the match as the favorite. OK, that always depends on who you listen to but I think we both are playing very well at the same time and we've had back problems at the same time as well. So our come back, you know, to the top of the game actually is come at the same time, it's been really, really interesting. And I did serve probably the best of every serve. I thought I'd played better, you know, from the baseline. But it's just over all it was a solid performance from start to finish and to be able to do that against such a good player like Andy and on the biggest stadium at Wimbledon, when it matters was a big deal.
U.S. opens gone unbelievable well for me from 2004 all the way to 2008 then, in 2009, I lost in five sets to the finals against Del Potro and I think ever since I've not been in the finals of that have two times match points against Novak to make the finals. So those were opportunities missed for me maybe but to really feel like I want to get back into the finals before I think of winning even though I feel like I have the game to win. But on our court usually it's now Djokovic that's controls the field al little bit, he's been that successful there. But, you know, I think because of the confidence I was able to build over the last few months and years now again, I feel like I also have a shot at maybe winning. But first I need to get back in the finals because I haven't been there for a while.
I have won at least. I've been chasing it for a while 13 was the tough year with my back, 14 has been, you know, better, 15 has been excellent. So I've been really happy to see that at my age I mean I'm able to improve. I think I've played really good aggressive tennis now, (inaudible) chip and charge, you know, things that I wasn't always doing in the past and maybe, could've, should've done more so. But I think Stephen Edberg, seven(ph). My coaches have done really nice job of explaining me how they want me to play and it seems like it's a reward is there as well, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RILEY: Now Le de Tour to France resumed on Wednesday after a rest day on Tuesday and we had a surprise winner, step up giants, Simon Geschke, who won stage 17. Now it's the Germans best day of his cycling career. His first ever to win after breaking free with 50 kilometers to go to the finish line. Now stage 17 was a stretch of 161 kilometers from Digne-les-Bains to the finishing climb of Pra- Loup, this is arguably the easiest of the four remaining mountain legs even though the stage reached 2000 meters in altitude.
[00:55:04] So glory for Geschke as he records his first stage victory in any ground tour race.
Team sky Chris Froome remains as tour to France leader after holding off several attacks from second place Nairo Quintana. Froome still leads the Colombian by three minutes and 10 seconds. The Britain's teammate Geraint Thomas is now fourth over all after Tejay van Garderen had withdrawn.
As for the stage winner Geschke, couldn't maintain his composure after the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON GESCHKE, FIRST CAREER TOUR DE FRANCE VICTORY: I was not plan to cry live on T.V. but I can't help it, because it's -- I'm not winning -- it's my third victory as professional and see at the tour it's just -- I was dreaming since 15 years of that moment and.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RILEY: Yeah, we don't blame that reaction whatsoever. So the riders have done almost 70 hours in the saddle now. Froome maintains his three minute lead at top the individual time classification. One notable move in the standings is team sky guys Geraint Thomas like I said he's up to fourth after Tejay van Garderen had to pull out.
And that bring this edition of CNN World Sport to a close, I'm Kate Riley.
