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Syrian Rebels Outnumbered in ISIS Fight; Trump Does Jury Duty; Bangkok Bombing Examined; Search for Missing Indonesian Aircraft Locates Wreckage; More than 300 Documents on Clinton Server Contain Classified Information; Amazon Work Environment Questioned. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired August 17, 2015 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:01]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Searching for clues in Bangkok after a deadly blast in the heart of the capital.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Trained, armed, and well-funded, but incredibly out-numbered, a CNN exclusive report on the American- backed Syrian rebels.

VAUSE: And the Donald goes to court. The Republican Presidential front-runner reports for jury duty, but somehow looks like another campaign stop.

CHURCH: And we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

VAUSE: Great to you have with us, I'm John Vause. This is CNN Newsroom.

It's just past 11:00 a.m. in Bangkok, Thailand where authorities are trying to find who's responsible for a deadly bombing in a popular tourist area.

This video shows crowds of pedestrians during evening rush hour as the bomb exploded on Monday.

CHURCH: At least 22 people are dead, including three Chinese nationals. More than 100 people are injured. CNN spoke with witnesses who saw the blast and the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANJEEV VYAS, BLAST EYEWITNESS: At first, I really couldn't understand, because my ears were ringing, and I thought I was on a movie set. And it just looked like any other Hollywood movie. But then I was like, this has to be a bomb because of the devastation I could see in front of my eyes. At first I thought maybe it was an accident. Two cars collided and probably something just exploded, but no, what I felt was enormous.

OLIVER HOLMES, THE GUARDIAN SOUTHEAST ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Many people were very badly injured and I saw three on the ground right next to the shrine. Many people would have gone into the hospital right next to the blast scene, and the issue is that once that hospital filled up, the wounded were taken to different hospitals, so it's quite hard to get a count. But it's a very, very crowded area. Often there are tourists there. Often there are people from China, tourists who come to that shrine specifically, as well as people who just go around that day and night. It's a business district, there are hotels, there are malls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Police say they believe it was a pipe-bomb. They also say they got a warning about an attack, but it wasn't specific about where or when the bomb would go off.

CHURCH: Live now to CNN's Anna Coren who is following developments from Hong Kong. So Anna, who did this and why remains a mystery so what leads authorities chasing to try and find who carried out this attack.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we just got off the phone from the Thai police, and they say that they are looking for a man who was seen on CCTV around the time or just before the explosion. They're not saying that he's a suspect. But they say that they are looking for him. We're trying to obviously get more details from the police. But they certainly do say that this man is connected to the bombings in some, some way. But, as we know, this bombing unleashed carnage, and according to the head of police, that is exactly what it was designed to do, create fear, panic, terror in Bangkok, which as we all know, Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Asia if not around the world. So really, this has not just shaken the city of Bangkok, the country of Thailand, but for the international tourists who come in the thousands, the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. People will seriously be reconsidering traveling to Thailand, traveling to Bangkok. But we know from police, as you say, this was a pipe-bomb that was planted at the Erawan Shrine. It went off around 7:00 p.m. which as we know is one the busiest times of this intersection. If you've ever been to this area, it is one where there are five-star hotels, there shopping centers. There's obviously this Hindu shrine, which is interesting, considering Thailand is mainly a Buddhist country. It is very popular among Thai's to go there and pray. It's also a very popular tourist destination. So among the 22 that are dead, there are a number who are foreign nationals. As for who has done this and why, obviously, we're going off this latest information from police that they are looking for this man, no specifics of his nationality or who he may be associated with, but we know that Thailand has a history of political violence, political instability, certainly military coups. The military came into power in May of last year after so much political unrest. And since that time back in May, it has been relatively peaceful in Thailand. There have been a number of bombings, but nothing on this scale. And I think that is what has really shaken up Thailand, John.

[00:05:11]

VAUSE: What is the security situation right now across Bangkok -- security forces actually moved in, is there some kind of crackdown under way to ensure this doesn't happen again?

COREN: Yeah, look, obviously, everybody extremely -- everyone's on an extreme high alert. Security forces have moved in and are fully manning the city of Bangkok, obviously searching areas, tourist areas as well. There were reports after this initial bombing that there were other bombs, two other bombs. They brought in sniffer dogs, looked around the shrine and didn't establish any further bombs, but obviously that is a concern after something like this, that there could be further attacks that could be copycat attacks, depending on the people's motives, on who was, in fact, behind this, but obviously waiting for more information from police. They're not saying as to who this could be blamed on. Obviously, we know there is that Muslim insurgency in the south of Thailand, but attacks have mainly been directed to that specific area. They haven't moved to the capital. And then of course there is that conflict between the red and yellow shirts, which paralyzed the streets for months and months in 2010. Those red shirts clashed with police, and they were more than 90 deaths. So really, Thailand is a country where violence is not uncommon sadly, even though it is such a popular tourist destination. There is this undercurrent in Thailand. But as to who is specifically responsible for this specific attack John, we just don't know.

VAUSE: The story continues to develop. There is new information coming out all the time. Anna Coren, live for us in Hong Kong, thank you.

CHURCH: The Syrian air force has carried out another attack on a suburb northeast of Damascus one day after deadly shelling there. This video shows the aftermath of the strikes on a market in Duma on Sunday.

VAUSE: Activists say as many as 82 people were killed, hundreds more wounded. It's one of the bloodiest attacks in the four-year-long civil war. U.N.'s humanitarian chief was in Syria when the strikes happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN O'BRIEN, U.N. EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR: I was absolutely horrified and desperately distressed for the loss of life, for the numbers of injured. And it was absolutely crucial that we recognize that this is unacceptable, illegal form of war. It's true of the shelling that took place from Duma back into Damascus by the other side of the argument, its true cutting offer the water to 70 people in Damascus for three days. You can't use cutting off water as a weapon of war. So when the shells hit the marketplace in Duma, it is simply unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And elsewhere in Syria, the United States has spent millions to vet and train rebels to fight ISIS there.

VAUSE: But so far this program has only produced a handful of recruits. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh interviewed one of these rebel fighters for this exclusive report. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what nearly $1 million worth of pro- American Syrian rebel looks like. These are the first pictures of the mere 54 moderate fighters the U.S. has painstakingly vetted, trained, and equipped with these fancy weapons, but there aren't nearly enough of them yet to worry ISIS. In fact, some of them were recently detained by Al Qaeda after a firefight, leading to claims the $41 million program was a failure. So one of them, Abu Iskander in Syria, is speaking out.

ABU ISKANDER, NEW SURIAN FORECES REBEL: Nearly 17,000 Syrian men want to join, but the training is very slow. We need it to be faster, 30 days instead of 45 days, more trainees. For example, our training in Jordan did 85. We should have done 500 there and another 500 in Turkey. We are thankful, but it needs to happen faster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These men are a central part of America's anti- ISIS strategy, inescapably vital. The planes can bomb and the drones can watch but without allied Syrian rebels willing to go on the ground and clear out ISIS, and install mother of societies, everything else is pretty much pointless. And, as of now, inside Syria, there are just about 40 of them. Here they are entering Syria recently after training days before being attacked by rebels from the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra front. Some of those detained have now been released. And despite the awful start, Abu Iskander is determined to fight on.

The Americans follow him, using a GPS on his wrist and in his vest when he targets air strikes for them.

ISKANDER: I got to the front planning for ISIS and I give locations for the war planes to bomb. We have advanced satellite communication devices to target any place on the frontlines, whether we see it or not. There are daily drones and they are on the sky as I talk to you right now. I speak to the Americans every hour, a total of four hours a day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hurdle in recruiting for the Pentagon is that their unit is only allowed to fight ISIS. Not most Syrian rebel's first and worst enemy of the Syrian regime. But in spite of this restriction, Abu Iskander, all the same insists he will also fight the Assad regime.

ISKANDER: The second rule in the training project is that we fight whoever fights us. The Assad regime is fighting. We will take new errors from ISIS and we'll have to take Assad. Are we going to sit still and not fight Assad? Make a no fly zone in Syria then we want to teach Europe. But we will stay in our homes. We don't want to cry on TV. We want the Assad regime to be stopped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the vetting, the detentions, the confused aims, one thing is clear, his unshakeable enthusiasm for the fight against ISIS and the regime that lies ahead. Nick Payton Walsh, CNN Gazanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: These rebel forces as we heard they are facing several challenges, including attacks from Al Qaeda-affiliated groups. For more on this, let's bring in CNN Military Analyst, Colonel Rick Francona, he joins us via Skype from Port Orford in Oregon. Rick, welcome, of course the big criticism is the very small number of rebel forces that have actually been trained by the U.S., only 54 fighters at a cost of $41 million or so. And the training is slow-going, and the return is pretty slim as we've seen. What needs to be done to improve this effort?

RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, as Nick mentioned, the problem is the vetting, and we saw that the vetting even broke down with this small number, this initial cavalry of 60 which turned out to be 54 that went back to Syria. Many of them were captured, wounded or defected to the Nusra, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. So the vetting is a very big problem. Even though there are 17,000 waiting to be trained, we've got to really increase the volume of training the base of training. He did mention that 45 days is too long.

CHURCH: Yeah, and of course we heard also that only about 40 of these trained rebels are now on the ground in Syria. I mean, they are grossly outnumbered. How many more are needed to make this work? And talk to us about why the training is so slow. As you say of course, the vetting process, but there must be -- some of these rebels less than eager to actually be involved, presumably.

FRANCONA: Well, there are a lot of people that are willing to fight. But they just don't know how to. And just because they're brave and they can carry a weapon doesn't mean that they're capable. So they've got to take this down to the basics. Go through the 30 days, 45 days, whatever they're going to do. But the numbers are very, very small. We need many, many more. The problem is -- there's been a lot of criticism about that. But I think what we're going to find is using the Kurds is going to be very problematic with the Turks, and we right now have made some kind of deal with the Turks to use air bases. So we are working with this small group of Syrians, Syrian Arabs who are going to fight ISIS, but you know their real goal is to fight Assad. And this is a big, big problem because you have a very confused situation on the ground. But if Nusra and the Islamist groups and even the guys that we're training can join together, that makes it a three-way fight instead of what we have now as a five-way fight. Syria is just a basket case right now. And I think we're only doing band-aids.

CHURCH: Well put. Colonel Rick Francona joining us there with your analysis, always a pleasure to talk with you, many thanks.

FRANCONA: Thanks, Rosemary.

VAUSE: There are new developments out of Indonesia. Search teams on the ground have reached the plane crash site in the country's remote Papua region. Officials confirm the debris is from the Trigana Air Service Flight that went missing on Sunday. Helicopters are on the way to the area. Searchers on the ground report counting as many as 38 bodies. A reminder, 54 people were onboard that flight which went down over the weekend. In CNN Newsroom when we come back, a civic duty which many Americans

really try hard to get out of, but not candidate Donald Trump, he showed up for jury duty and we'll tell you all about his day. It's Trump's world, we're all living in it.

VAUSE: And why Washington sent a sharp message to Beijing about its anti-corruption program. We are back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:14:12]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Donald Trump's strong opinions and forceful talk are pushing him ahead in the Republican race for the White House.

VAUSE: And for a moment, it seems Trump might be voicing his opinions as a juror in a New York courtroom. Jeff Zeleny has more on the Donald's jury duty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump arrived for jury his civic duty in black a limousine, reporting for jury duty today in New York. A Trump-sized spectacle outside but far quieter inside, as captured on Snapchat by a prospective fellow juror.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We had a great time. The potential jurors were wonderful.

ZELENY: A break from the campaign trail, where Republicans are rendering a winning verdict on Trump. He's leading another national poll, solidifying his role as the GOP front-runner. In a whirlwind weekend stop at the Iowa State Fair, he said he would spend $1 billion of his own fortune on the campaign.

TRUMP: I make $400 million a year. So what difference does it make? What I want to is I want to make the country great.

ZELENY: Trump's also offering new red meat for conservatives, a hard- line immigration plan. His six-page proposal calls for an end to birthright citizenship, a provision in the 14th amendment to the constitution that grants citizenship to those born in the U.S.

JEB BUSH, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I appreciate the fact that Mr. Trump now has a plan, if that's what it's called.

ZELENY: So far, criticism like that isn't sticking, as Trump and other outsiders are turning this race upside down, leading an insurgency against their establishment Republican rivals. A new Fox News poll shows Trump leading with 25 percent, followed by Ben Carson at 12, Ted Cruz at 10, and Jeb Bush falling into fourth place. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has led the way in Iowa for most of the year. Today, he was heckled by labor activists at the state fair.

SCOTT WALKER, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not intimidated by you, sir or anyone else out there. I will fight for the American people over and over and over and over again.

ZELENY: But Walker and other top Republicans are being tested by an anti-establishment electorate, driving their poll numbers to single digits.

BUSH: Oh, I'm so worried. No, none of this long haul.

ZELENY: A long haul now overtaken by Trump, on land and in the air. Trump offered children free rides aboard his helicopter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you Batman?

TRUMP: I am Batman.

ZELENY: Those rides on that $7 million Trump helicopter will surely never be forgotten, but it's an open question whether all the people who turned out to see him at the State Fair will turn up and support him in February when the Iowa Caucuses officially start the 2016 voting. The people I talked to were intrigued. Some said they would support him for sure, others said they liked how he was shaking up the race, but they needed to wait and see. He also did not get picked for jury duty. He will be back to the campaign trail this week. Jeff Zeleny, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And on the other side of the political equation, investigators are combing through the personal email server of U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton used while Secretary of State.

VAUSE: They are searching for classified messages she may have sent or received on the unsecured server. They say 305 emails have caught their attention so far. Hillary Clinton saying she did nothing wrong and says this controversy is completely political.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And you know what it's not about emails or servers either. It's about politics. I will do my part to provide transparency to Americans. That's why I've insisted 55,000 pages of my emails be published as soon as possible. I've even offered to answer questions for months before Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, says the email investigation is not simply political. And he tried to imagine using Clinton's defense in a scandal he was recently caught up in.

VAUSE: That scandal became known as bridge gate. His staffers have allegedly used their authority to snarl traffic in a town where the mayor refused to endorse Mr. Christie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Can you imagine if after the bridge investigation began, I came out and said oh by the way, I've done all my business as Governor on a private email server and I've deleted now 30,000 of those emails. But trust me none of it had to do with the bridge. Give me a break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The latest on the U.S. Presidential race, go to our website, CNN.com.

CHURCH: Washington is issuing a blunt warning to China to stop its hunt for ex-patriot fugitives in the U.S.

VAUSE: Jim Schuler reports it's the latest strain between the two countries ahead of a visit by the Chinese president due next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, U.S. officials made clear China posting foreign law enforcement agents on U.S. soil is prohibited and criminal.

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Foreign law enforcement agents are not permitted to operate within the United States without prior notification to the attorney general. And it's a criminal offense actually under U.S. law.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As first reported by the New York Times, the Chinese government has deployed inside the U.S. to influence Chinese nationals to return home and face justice. Hundreds or senior officials have already been arrested and charged inside China right up the highest level of the Chinese leadership. And though many have fled to countries like the U.S. with their families and their money, China's broad anti-corruption drive is now extending the hunt to U.S. soil.

BOB BAER, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: The Chinese government, Chinese intelligence has been at this for years. They primarily use commercial cover. They use students here. They've been spying on the United States for decades. They're very good at it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is just the latest case of China aggressively pushing its influence far beyond its borders. China has been building and militarizing islands in the South China Sea, 600 miles from its shores and in waters the U.S. considers international territory, leading to tense confrontations in the sky, which we experienced first hand aboard a U.S. surveillance aircraft in May. U.S. officials have all but publicly blamed China for the massive hack of the Office of Personnel Management, one of the worst ever against the U.S. government. Hackers obtained personal data of more than 20 million current, former, and prospective federal employees.

BAER: They're getting much more aggressive, they're stealing more secrets. They're very difficult to catch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And just last week, the Chinese government devalued its currency to boost its economy, a move that has rattled financial markets and undermined U.S. exports. All of this as President Obama prepares to roll out the red carpet next month for the first official state visit by China's new President Xi Jinping. Jim Schuler, CNN Washington.

[00:19:08]

CHURCH: Let's take a very short break here. But still to come, investigators are on the scene of that deadly bombing in Bangkok. A look at what they've found so far.

VAUSE: Also ahead, firefighters battling dozens of raging wildfires across the Western United States. We'll soon get some help from the military.

[00:24:01]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Thanks for staying with us, you're watching CNN Newsroom live all around the world.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. Want to check the headlines for you this hour.

[00:30:01]

Bangkok police say they are searching for a man seen on security camera footage who may be connected to Monday's deadly bombing. At least 22 people were killed, and more than 100 injured at a popular Hindu shrine. Police say they got a warning about the attack but it wasn't specific about where or when the bomb would go off.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: Indonesian search have reached the plane crash in the country's remote Papua region. Officials confirm the debris is from the Trigana Air Service Flight that went missing on Sunday. The bodies of all 54 people on board have been located. There were no survivors. Helicopters are on the way to the area as well.

CHURCH: Investigators say more than 300 documents from Hillary Clinton's personal email server may include classified information. But there's no indication any of the material was marked classified at the time of her email use of it. They are continuing to comb the server for more. The emails were sent or received while the Democratic Presidential hopeful was serving as U.S. Secretary of State.

VAUSE: We have more on our top story, the deadly bombing in Bangkok. Police say its clear tourists were the target here. At least three Chinese nationals were killed.

CHURCH: What is not clear is who carried out the attack. CNN's Asia Pacific Editor, Andrew Stevens is in Bangkok.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: As the sun rose here in Bangkok, this was the scene, the center of the blast site. Police and forensic teams now moving in, looking for any clue that may give a hint as to who was behind this attack and what their motive was, and you can see also, clear evidence beyond the line of police of the impact, the strength of that blast. Big concrete pillars holding up a fence shattered, bent out of shape. At this stage, this area will remain cordoned off while the police and forensic experts do their work, and all the police are saying at the moment is that they believe that this was a tourist area which was deliberately targeted, targeted because it would hurt tourism, which would hurt the economy. But they have no clues as to who or why at this stage. But looking around this area, this is one of the busiest parts of Bangkok, big shopping centers on two corners. The shrine, a very popular site for not only tourists, particularly Chinese tourists, but also to locals, and police say this blast was timed for maximum impact, 7:00 p.m., when Thai's were coming out of their offices and going home, paying their respects at the shrine, mingling with tourists who were also doing the same thing. This is the biggest attack that Bangkok has seen in recent times. There have been street protests for years here. There have been explosions in the past. And there have been fatalities, but not on this scale. People here in Bangkok wake up this morning in fear and in shock, looking for answers, Andrew Stevens, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: We'll take you now to the Indonesian plane crash story. Officials say the bodies of all 54 passengers and crew have now been located, let's go to Cathy Keano on the line now from Jakarta. So I guess Cathy, what happens next? They've located all of the bodies. How long before they can actually retrieve them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well John, we were told that indeed 54 bodies were found at the crash site. The chief of the Search and Rescue Agency in Indonesia told the media that they are in the process of putting the bodies into body bags now and will be evacuated soon from the crash site. Now we know that choppers have been deployed to the area as well. They're all equipped with long lines to hoist down teams to the ground and to put these body bags into the choppers and be brought to Oksibil where the plane should have landed on Sunday, and they will also be brought to Jayapura, the capital of Papua. We expect that they will do this pretty quickly, because you know, weather is a factor in the process. Earlier attempts to reach the site were hampered by poor visibility. We know that there is a window of opportunity for them to evacuate these bodies quickly, John.

VAUSE: So exactly where is this crash site? How far is it from where the plane was meant to land?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The plane crashed into a mountain just 14 kilometers or about 7 nautical miles from Oksibil Airport. It was supposed to have landed there at about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. It's an elevation of about 8,000 feet or over 2,000 meters. It's quite high. And we're told that conditions there are very, very extreme. It's a very mountainous area. The terrain is very treacherous, and the other thing that they have to face here are the weather patterns that are very hard to predict. You have this area of the country where tropical weather, but you also have equatorial glaciers, moisture from the ocean, all these factors creating very unpredictable weather in the region, and that's something that rescue teams there will have to work around, John?

[00:35:25]

VAUSE: Ok Cathy, sad, but not unexpected news. There were no survivors from this weekend plane crash. Cathy Keano on the line there with the very latest from Jakarta, Rosemary?

CHURCH: A South Carolina nuclear site was locked down Monday after possible explosive residue was detected. It happened at the savanna riverside in western South Carolina, which produced key components for nuclear weapons during the cold war. Authorities initiated an emergency response after electronic and canine scans indicated the possibility of explosive residue on a delivery truck. The lockdown was lifted late Monday evening.

VAUSE: The hacking at the Internal Revenue Service is twice as bad as first thought. In May, the agency said a criminal syndicate stole the tax forms of 104,000 people, but after a review, the IRS revised that number to 220,000. Letters are being sent out to taxpayers warning of the potential identity theft offering free credit protection and identification number for future tax filings.

On CNN Newsroom when we come back, it has been days now since the deadly blast in China and residents in Tianjin are demanding answers from their government, a live update on the toxic chemicals left behind and the clean up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:39:01]

CHURCH: Chinese authorities are still trying to clear dangerous chemicals from the site of last week's explosions in Tianjin. The residents there are concerned and want the government to do more. Will Ripley is in Tianjin and joins us now live with the latest. So Will, talk to us about the situation on the ground there, what people are saying to you, and what about the air and water quality that stands today?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It continues to be a concern, Rosemary, especially because we had some rain showers move through this area earlier, and the big fear is that chemical experts have been saying that the rain well, it may actually clear out the air a bit, it could increase contamination levels on the ground, because it's believed and in fact we saw yesterday there are some unknown chemicals that have been scattered about in areas they were propelled by the explosion, they landed within approximately a 3 kilometer radius of the blast site itself. And the reaction with some of these chemicals when mixed with water could be quite dangerous. So as a result you see emergency shelters like this that had thousands of people at one point, we're only about I would say a couple kilometers from the blast zone. It pretty much has emptied out. There are a few people staying here, mostly volunteers working here in case anybody needs emergency supplies. But most people have moved towards downtown Tianjin, which is many kilometers away, more densely populated and believed to be safer than the immediate area. But they're testing the air, the water, and the soil and continue to say that levels are normal and people -- government is saying people shouldn't be concerned, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Will, what more are we learning about the 700 tons or so of sodium cyanide that was stored there at the blast site? What's being said about that?

RIPLEY: It's very concerning. There is a criminal investigation underway as to why such a large quantity was allowed to be stored so close to people's homes, and the fact remains that this chemical, when it's exposed, when it interacts with water, it creates a deadly gas, even a very small quantity could kill somebody very quickly. And so the fact that they've detected this, there's 2,700 Chinese troops on the ground, there are 700 biochemical experts, and they're trying to contain the sodium cyanide as they discover it. So if the barrels are in tact, they ship them away. If there's a larger-scale exposure, they're actually building up structures around them so that it doesn't seep into the air with the rain that's been on and off today.

CHURCH: And what are authorities there in the Chinese government saying about ensuring that this doesn't happen again, that there aren't other instances where chemicals like sodium cyanide and others, other substances like that aren't being stored in these great quantities?

RIPLEY: China's highest prosecuting authority is promising a full criminal investigation. They're looking into abuse of power, they're looking into criminal negligence, and the central government has launched inspections in other Chinese industrial cities to see if there are other facilities with dangerous chemicals in close proximity to people's homes. Industry has fueled China's growth for many decades, and this is a country that has long been criticized internationally for industrial accidents. Keep in mind 1.3 billion people live here. But last year on average, 186 people a day died in industrial accidents. There was one year back in 2002 when 7,000 Chinese miners died in a single year. So the government as of late has been trying to improve workplace conditions, and this was really a dramatic example -- broadcast through China and social media and to the world. Which is why you saw the President Xi Jinping speaking pledging to learn lessons from this that he said were paid in blood. The number of dead has stayed at 114 but you can see these names. These are some of the people who are missing as of several days ago. The number of missing has gone down to 57. The death toll has remained steady. That is some encouraging news there locating people. But still a tremendous human cost here, Rosemary. People want solutions as this country moves forth from this tragedy.

CHURCH: Of course, our Will Ripley reporting there from the devastation in Tianjin, in China, many thanks to you, John.

VAUSE: For the first time in nearly a decade, U.S. soldiers will actually be joining firefighters battling raging wildfires in seven western states. Soldiers from an army base in Washington State will be trained and sent to the fire lines. And military is also providing aircraft which go large quantities of fire retardant, about 95 fires have destroyed hundreds of homes, burned more than 1 million acres or 445,000 hectares across those seven states. California, Idaho and Washington have seen the worst of it. Let's get the latest on the fire conditions. (INAUDIBLE) At the news desk -- the outlook isn't great.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI: It doesn't look like any rainfall. You look at the whole United States, you look the next seven days, the next ten days, and almost everyone will get some rainfall with the exception of the western side. As you take record heat, you take record drought the way we've placed it across the western U.S., literally a tinder box now across this area. The fuel so high, in fact, the graphic here kind of resembles the drought content that we talked about. This is not showing the drought in the western U.S. but the soil moisture. And the areas indicated in the browns and reds in the left side of your screen there, that's between zero to two percent of what's considered normal. In the proportions Missouri onto South Dakota, Missouri on to areas of Iowa I should say, that's an area where we have blues and greens, that's 100 percent of normal in the soil moisture content. So again, the fuel's tremendously high. You bring up the fires, we have some 76 large fires, and anything above 300 acres as far as grass has been burned is considered a large fire, 6.5 million acres so far consumed that is 2 million acres above normal and about the size of the state of New Hampshire, that's how much damage has been done. Look at this, the air quality alert, how about this going until Thursday as far as how poor the air quality is on the eastern side of Washington and also Oregon state portions of Idaho, and fascinating satellite imagery taken from about 22,000 miles or about 36,000 kilometers up looking down towards the western U.S. since last week. Notice the plume signature. You see the elongated feature there as we stop it for you on Thursday. That's all the fires popping up from 22,000 miles above us looking down. As of Monday afternoon, this is what it looked like on the eastern side of Washington and Oregon State, Northern California also having a lot of fires to deal with across this region. So the heat is there, the moisture is certainly not there, 87 degrees Fahrenheit in Seattle. That's your Tuesday forecast. Portland in recorded history has reached 100, which is about 37 Celsius, only once in history, 99 degrees is in the forecast for the afternoon hours, and notice the heat continues for a couple of day before it cools off. And guys, this is pretty incredible, 24 times this year Portland has hit at least 90 Fahrenheit, that's 32 Celsius. On average, that happens about 11 times. City of Atlanta well-known for heat, they get about 30 times of 90 degree Fahrenheit heat. Portland is comparable to what Atlanta particularly sees. So it tells you how hot and dry.

[00:46:59]

VAUSE: Absolutely. I was in out in L.A. over the weekend. And it was steaming hot.

JAVAHERI: It was hot for everyone.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back, a major online retailer is fighting accusations that it's a brutal place to work. Brutal we tell you. Why Amazon is under fire. That's up next.

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[00:51:01]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. One of the biggest and most popular online retailers apparently isn't too popular with some current and former employees.

CHURCH: That's what hearing. A New York Times report portrays Amazon as a brutal place to work, but Amazon is fighting back, (INAUDIBLE) reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazon, shipping whatever, wherever, with an effortless click of your finger. But some 100 current and former employees claim it's not so magical for Amazon's white color employee, describing to the New York Times a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog workplace, pushing out workers viewed as weak for getting cancer or having children. A former employee quoting to the Times a saying around the Amazon campus, Amazon is where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves. People claiming to be ex-employees reacted and commiserated across social media. On Read it, one claiming to be ex- Amazon employee writes, when I went to the bathroom, I would hear at least one person crying at least once a day. There are thousands of us in Seattle alone. On glassdoor.com, a networking site where employees review companies, Amazon's positive reviews carried this concern, advice to management, remember that the employees are people and not machines. Amazon's own produced videos called inside Amazon showcase employees who call the job challenging and cutting edge but...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You either fit here or you don't. You love it or you don't. There is, you know, no middle ground, really.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the driving visionary behind the online retailer's seismic success responded to the New York Times article in an email to his more than 100,000 employees, writing, I don't recognize this Amazon, adding Amazon would not tolerate callus workplace behavior. But tech analysts say this behavior has been around at Amazon for years, and frankly, other startups. John Sullivan advises fortune 500 companies and has studied Amazon for a decade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're startled, but it's because they live in a different world. You have to be first like an eBay, like an Amazon, you have to have these kinds of people, and I would say shame on them if they were surprised.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE), CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, now to heartbreaking news out of the USA in Maryland, 51-year-old Lenny Robinson was known as the Route 29 Batman.

CHURCH: He dressed as the superhero, providing moments of relief and laughter to hospitalized children. Sadly, Robinson was killed during a tragic highway accident over the weekend. Jessica Catalia from CNN affiliate, WJZ has more about the man behind the mask.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA CATALIA: As Batman, Lenny B. Robinson loved bringing smiles to little faces, arriving in his bat mobile to visit children in the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're constantly fighting for their lives. This helps them. That's what it's all about.

CATALIA: The 51-year-old died Sunday when his bat mobile broke down along I70.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This other vehicle from Virginia came through and unfortunately struck him which caused his death.

MARILYN ROBINSON, KNEW ROUTE 29 BATMAN: It's just devastating to all of us.

CATALIA: Robinson paid countless visits to patients at Sinai's Reuben Institute for Advanced Orthopedics.

ROBINSON: That was a huge honor that he Sinai Hospital and he loved the Reuben Institute, but most of all, he loved our patients.

CATALIA: A resident of Owings Mills, he started and sold his own cleaning business, years later he would buy the costume and cars and transform into the super hero, a favorite of his three children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though they are his immediate family, I feel like we're all a family here and he was a part of that family. And he was such a big part of it.

CATALIA: Rachel Foote is a RIO patient.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He talks to all the kids individually and gives them words of encouragement.

CATALIA: Robinson went viral three years ago when he was pulled over by a Montgomery Police when he forgot to take off his Batman tag on route to a children's hospital. Robinson called it good publicity for volunteering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even the littlest things that you do to help others can make a huge difference in the life of someone else.

CATALIA: Like the time he visited Elizabeth Gardner at school for a walk to stop bullying. Robinson's memory alive inside everyone he touched.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are very blessed and very thankful to have known him and to have had him for the time that we did and have such a close relationship with him. We just feel completely blessed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yeah, that was Jessica Catalia from our affiliate from WJZ with that sad report.

CHURCH: And you've been watching CNN, I'm Rose Mary Church.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. We'll be back next hour with the very latest on the Bangkok blast, as well as a report on just how realistic Donald Trump's immigration plan might be if you stay with us.

[00:57:14]

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VAUSE: Searching for clues in Bangkok after a deadly blast in the heart of the capital. Plus, trained, armed, and well-funded, but incredibly outnumbered, a CNN exclusive report on the American-backed moderate.