Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

3 Americans to Receive France's Highest Honor; Asian Markets Down; Dispute Over Garbage Collections Leads to Violent Protests in Beirut; Deadly Typhoon Goni Continues Trek in East China Sea, Dramatic Cool Down in Parts of U.S.; North, South Korea In High-Level Talks in DMZ Amid Tensions; Stocks in Asia Continue Steep Slide; Death Toll Could Rise in Air Show Crash in England; Britain, Iran Restore Diplomatic Relations; Migrants Continue Journey into Serbia; International Surrogacy A Booming Business. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 24, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:06] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: An awful start to the week for global stocks. Markets in Asia are down across the board and the horizon doesn't look better anywhere else.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, how a dispute over garbage collection led to this in Beirut overnight.

BARNETT: And three Americans and a British national credited with helping to stop a potential massacre get set to receive France's highest honor.

CHURCH: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. We're with you for the next two hours. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin in Paris where, one hour from now, French President Francois Hollande will present his country's highest honor to three Americans and a British citizen who foiled a potential massacre on a Paris-bound train.

CHURCH: U.S. Servicemen Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and their friend, Anthony Sadler, gave their first news conference together Saturday saying they had no choice but to confront the heavily armed gunman and talked about all the attention they've received.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER STONE, HELPED STOP GUNMAN: It feels pretty crazy. Never thought I would be here in this position. So it's unreal.

ANTHONY SADLER, HELP STOP GUNMAN: Me, personally, I'm still waiting to wake up. This all just seems like a movie scene or something. Like he said, the word to describe it is pretty unreal. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: The latest on all of this, let's go to our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, who joins us live from Paris.

Nic, the Americans seem humble about the incident but the suspect's lawyer saying Ayoub el Khazzani is dumbfounded by the terrorism charges but, by all accounts, he seemed prepared for a massacre. What do we know?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: According to his lawyer, he is saying that, oops, no, he wasn't on the train for terrorism, which is what is widely believed here. He was actually getting on the train to rob people. And the weapons, well, he found them in a bag with a mobile phone in a park close to the train station in Brussels where he got on the train. That is not washing here, Errol. The belief is this is connected to terrorism but the French officials are not saying that publicly yet. But this is a man who had connections to radical Islamics when he was in Spain last year. When he moved to France in 2014, the Spanish authorities alerted the French authorities. The Belgium authorities were already investigating people he was associating with, radical Islamists he was associating with there earlier on this year. The fact he had been alerted to the European counterterrorism bodies, the fact that he was alerted to them put him on a list when he flew to Turkey saw months ago, that alerted that he was on his was to Turkey. He was believed to have associated with French an ISIS group in Turkey, the same group that's believed to have been trying to get a young Algerian student earlier this year to attack a French church. That plot was thwarted by the French police.

So what his lawyer is saying is not something that sits particularly comfortably with everything else that the authorities know about this man -- Errol?

BARNETT: So that suspect is now being interrogated. Officials keen to confirm the potential terror links if they exist. But what's the local reaction been to the story? It makes the Americans look like heroes and European rail security look woefully inadequate.

ROBERTSON: Standing here, it's bucketing down with rain. But there is an expression that says it's not going to rain on my parade. For these three young men, their parade is going to be so strong here, with the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, the interior minister, the transport minister. Pretty much any minister that is associated with any aspect of what they have been involved in is going to be turning out to give them the highest honor of the country. They will be awarded the Legion de Honor. This was something instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte back in 1802. Its motto is "Honor and fatherland." It's a very high tribute for these men. The words of Napoleon Bonaparte, at the time -- and he was highly criticized for creating this particular medal -- he said, "It is with such baubles, men are led into war." These three young men, and the fourth, the British man, Chris Norman, who will also receive honors with them today, got up and essentially led the charge. And they are seen as heroes. We have been on the streets here, we were there when they drove out of the police station in northern France to come back to Paris, people were cheering and applauding them there. And people have come up to us and said they deserve to get this honor here today. It's from the top, the president, all the way down to the people on the streets here in France. They really believe these men averted what could have been an absolutely horrific killing spree by this gunman -- Errol?

[02:05:24] BARNETT: It truly is incredible. We do expect these so- called heroes to arrive this hour and, of course, we'll cover the awarding ceremony next hour.

And, Nic, we will reconnect with you as all this unfolds.

Nic Robertson live from Paris.

CHURCH: Now to another big story we're watching. It's turned into a brutal day for investors in Asia. The selloff that began last week over fears of China's slowing economy is still going strong.

BARNETT: Let's take a look at the numbers live as they come into us now. The ASX, the Nikkei, the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite all suffering heavy losses. The Shanghai Composite down more than 6 percentage points.

CHURCH: Let's go to CNN's Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens, who joins us live from Hong Kong.

Andrew, the numbers are not look good for China. The Shanghai Composite was down at one point nearly 9 percent. If you say, losing 6 percent is a little better. But many analysts are asking why China didn't step in over the weekend and stop the market from falling? Why didn't it? Any explanation there? And what's China's options once it does take action?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: What we might be seeing right now is the Chinese authorities stepping in and taking the edges off those massive falls today. Rosemary, as you point out, at one point, the Shanghai Composite was down 9 percent. It's now down under 6 percent. And that would suggest that the government is very active in buying. I don't think this is people looking for bargains. I think this is government-led. And the government did at the weekend say that it would allow its pension funds, its state-owned pension funds to invest in the local stock market. They can invest up to 30 percent of all their assets. These are big funds, $330 billion worth of funds. We may be seeing some buying there.

Why the government didn't do anything at the weekend that remains a mystery. The government -- and you talk to analysts and they say, the consensus view is the government is much more interested now and focused on the broader China economy, less so the market. They lost the fight with the market, if you like. They tried a lot of things early on. This has been a slow burn for the Shanghai market. It's down 40 percent since its peak back in June. And the authorities have been trying to stem the losses. They didn't do anything this morning. You saw this selloff. Perhaps they are backpedaling and focusing more on the economy. If that's the case -- and it does look like it, Rosemary -- expect to see some more action like interest rates, like allowing the banks to put more money into the economy by easing the reserve requirement ratio. This is the amount of money they have to have at the central bank. We'll see some of those measures. Why they didn't happen immediately over the weekend we don't know, but certainly -- look at those numbers -- Shanghai did some intervention there. We expect more intervention on the broader economy.

CHURCH: Interesting. We'll be watching that very closely. So what is going on here? Are we watching a correction or is this a crash?

STEVENS: I think it's a crash. I think if you look at the big picture, it's a slow-burn crash. This market, I should add, and underline it in big, thick, black lines, this is not the market as we know it. These are the China markets which are heavily skewed now. A lot of companies are not trading at all. The government has stepped in to soak up a lot of the buying when people want to sell. It's a very skewed market. And remember, it powered ahead in the year leading up to June the 12th when it peaked. It was well up over 150 percent. From that peak, it has absolutely been tanking down, as I say, 40 percent. This is a crash coming from a high base. It's a very, very odd market. It's not -- the stock market in China is not played by big institutional players, but mostly small investors. They are not sophisticated. This is not a sophisticated market. And you get this massive volatility. And that's what we've been seeing all summer. It does expose the government, Rosemary. They were cheerleading at the side, pushing the market higher, allowing people to borrow more and more money to put in the markets and then they had to step in and try to stem the losses, and they haven't been that successful.

[02:10:00] CHURCH: We're watching this uncertainty and seeing the numbers there edging down toward a 7 percent loss. We will see what happens.

And our Andrew Stevens keeping a very close eye on that from Hong Kong. Many thanks to you.

BARNETT: Now to other stories we're following for you. A huge cloud of black smoke is rising near Tokyo's Haneda Airport. This is from a fire that's been burning at a steel factory nearby.

CHURCH: A government official tells CNN that air traffic is not affected. At least 16 fire engines and a helicopter are at the scene as crews work to put out the flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(EXPLOSION)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: And this blast tore through a U.S. Army warehouse about 14 kilometers southwest of Tokyo. And Army spokesman says there were no hazardous materials stored at the site.

CHURCH: No one was injured at the exPLOsion. Local crews got the fire under control and there is no danger of it spreading.

BARNETT: Lebanon's prime minister is threatening to resign, warning the country is on the brink of collapse. Anti-government protests in Beirut turned violent for a second day. An army spokesman says protesters threw rocks and fire crackers and injured 31 police officers.

CHURCH: The army deployed in armored vehicles to patrol the streets. While these demonstrations were sparked by rotting, uncollected garbage, Nick Paton Walsh reports that the anger at the government has been simmering for quite a while now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stench at the heart of Lebanon's government had been intolerable for months but eventually it burst out into the heat of the summer streets. Piles of trash growing daily, the collection of which the basic task the government couldn't organize. They had other sins, like not being able to decide on a president for 15 months, collapsing water and electricity systems, corruption. But this was something Lebanese couldn't pretend wasn't happening.

(SHOUTING)

PATON WALSH: So the protests began building until Saturday night when hundreds were in running street battles with police and army who, in a response even the government accepted was totally excessive, fired live ammunition into the air to disperse them, tear gas, water cannon. 99 people injured the Lebanese Red Cross said, and also 35 police officials added. So Sunday night, 6:00 p.m., they returned, thousands of them. Peaceful at first, but then a small minority at the front clashed with the police. Who knows who started it. But police used water cannon to push them back. Then anarchy began. Some protesters tried to breach the barricades and threw rocks at the police, even a road sign.

(SHOUTING)

PATON WALSH: A motorcycle was set alight. Police retreated partially.

(SHOUTING)

PATON WALSH: Then later, the tear gas began, a thick cloud of it, endless, it seemed. Protesters forced to flee. As night moved in, the clashes still continued. Black smoke over the center of what remains of state power in Lebanon. And the bad smell of the rot in the state, mixed now with tear gas and thick smoke as Lebanese ask what will put the fires out?

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: A 2,000-year-old temple in Syrian city of Palmyra is in ruins after being blown up by ISIS militants. The head of Syria's antiquities program says the inner part of the temple was destroyed and the columns around it collapsed. The entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which ISIS took control of back in May.

CHURCH: This latest attack on Syria's ancient artifacts comes days after the militants beheaded the man who was in charge of the antiquities department for more than 50 years.

BARNETT: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, a war of words shifts between Seoul and Pyongyang. We'll have more on the demands from South Korea as the marathon negotiations continue in the DMZ.

CHURCH: Plus, a deadly typhoon continues its trek up the East China Sea. Coming up, where the storm that won't stop is headed next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:18:23] CHURCH: Typhoon Goni hammered the Philippines over the weekend leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. It delivered heavy blows, unleashing floods, landslides and even tornados. More than a dozen were killed and thousands were forced to evacuate.

BARNETT: Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us to give us the latest on this.

It has taken a few lives and carries the potential to take more, doesn't it?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's so important to know that this storm never made landfall in the Philippines. It shows you the indirect impact of heavy rainfall, the flooding that took place. The wind was not the main concern with that storm system. It kind of skirted the Philippines, never made that direct landfall, but indirect impacts are significant as well. But the damages you talked about, the tornados, this is coming out of Ishigaki Island in Japan. We are getting this video in the last couple minutes. Several tornados in this region as well. As we often see land spawning cyclones and trees being ripped apart in this region. We know power outage is also significant in this region. The wind speeds were in excess of 250 kilometers an hour. The seventh highest wind gust ever recorded in Japan occurred there in the last 24 hours. The rainfall in the Philippines, 700 millimeters came down in Baguio. That amount of rainfall in 36 hours is more than what you expect in 12 months in London. 30 inches in 36 hours is a big deal for a lot of people. Here we go with the rainfall that came down, the wind speeds, 250 KPH, 160 miles an hour. The concern is this storm system weakens gradually. A strong category 2 equivalent when it makes landfall in Kagoshima in the next 24 hours.

But look at this. Autumn in the air across parts of the United States. A dramatic cool down in parts of the U.S. As well, we have had reports in southern Canada of flurries in Calgary. But temperatures low. In International Falls, 47 degrees. You take a look at this, in October, is when you should be that cool. October 4th for Rapid City what is the norm and the high temperatures moving to the south. Chicago about 74 degrees in the afternoon hours. And believe it or not, the cool air by Wednesday makes it into the southern U.S. In Atlanta, Georgia, the temperatures could be in the upper 50s in the morning hours in two and a half to three days' time. The cooler weather going to arrive for a lot of people where it has been a long, hot, dreary summer. It doesn't mean it's going to last.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

[02:21:19] BARNETT: There's the catch. Cool that it is coming but --

(CROSSTALK)

JAVAHERI: It will be brief, but it starts like this and sticks around in a month and a half or so.

BARNETT: I'll take it in the meantime.

CHURCH: Absolutely. Thanks.

BARNETT: Pedram, thanks. See you again soon.

CHURCH: Tough words from South Korea's president, who is demanding an apology from North Korea for landmine explosions that wounded two of their soldiers recently. South Korea responded by blaring propaganda broadcasts across the border and says it won't stop until Pyongyang apologizes. North Korea denies responsibility for the explosions.

BARNETT: Meanwhile, delegates from North and South Korea have been in high-level talks in the DMZ for many hours.

Our Anna Coren is following those negotiations from Hong Kong and joins us live to talk about them.

Anna, the fact that these talks are being held itself is encouraging but any word yet on what is being achieved or if the meeting has everyone ended?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Errol, we have called to the Blue House in Seoul and Panmunjom Village in the DMZ and no word yet on whether these talks, last night's talks have ramped up, if they are continuing. It's a marathon effort by both sides. It perhaps shows there is no breakthrough at this stage, which is anticipated. These things normally take days to reach some sort of a resolution. But we're getting mixed messages. The South Korean Defense Ministry is saying that Pyongyang has moved 70 percent of their submarines off bases and doubled artillery along the DMZ. As far as they are concerned, that is an antagonistic stance. And they see this as the North Korean trying to buy some leverage for these negotiations. In saying that, the South Koreans are holding military exercises with the Americans. It's something they do every year. There are about 80,000 troops involved. They, too, have high-tech weaponry and resources and troops at their disposal. But as you say, South Korea's president, Park Geun-Hye, came out demanding an apology from the North Koreans for what she calls "armed provocation." Not just what happened last week between the two sides when North Korea fired at the loud speakers that were blaring pro-democracy propaganda messages at the North, to which the south retaliated, but to the landmine explosions that crippled two South Korean soldiers earlier this month. Park Geun-Hye is saying unless they receive an apology for those explosions that those loud speakers will continue to blare this message, which infuriates the North Koreans. They are petrified that their soldiers will be brainwashed and somehow defect to the other side. Obviously, this is all part of the negotiations that are taking place to really try and decrease this military standoff -- Errol?

BARNETT: It's so interesting that the two nations in a technical state of war, the skirmishes happening over the past few years but these talks are underway.

We'll keep connecting with you, Anna, in the hours ahead to see if any progress is being made.

Anna Coren in Hong Kong.

Rosemary?

CHURCH: A South Korean Defense Ministry official tells CNN that North Korea is showing two faces in the negotiations.

CNN's Kyung Lah explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:25:00]KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is North Korea's public face, a stab at peace with it's old enemy, South Korea, sending two envoys into negotiations at the DMZ to cool the latest crisis on the peninsula.

UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: But here's North Korea's other face, an about-face from peace.

UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: "Let us destroy the warmongering South Korean puppet military," announces the anchor on North Korean television, broadcast at the same time as the second round of negotiations between the two Koreas begin. That's followed by news clips of military youth holding up a sign that reads, "Death to U.S. imperialists," followed by them signing a pledge to destroy America.

This is typical on North Korea's only television channel. But usually, there is some variety in its overzealous programming. Not today.

(SINGING)

LAH: Music videos show Kim Jong-Un being mobbed by his devoted military. This soldier weeping, overwhelmed to be so close to the supreme commander.

(MUSIC)

LAH: Music features all military orchestras. No children or civilians playing today.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: The big movie? A brave North Korean commander faces off with the shifty U.S. commander at the DMZ, the Americans encroaching on North Korean land --

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LAH: -- using snipers to ambush and kill North Korean troops. The message, the Americans and South Koreans cannot be trusted.

Fiction playing out in reality at the DMZ. North Korea doubled its artillery forces on the front line says South Korea's Defense Ministry. 70 percent of the DPRK submarines left their bases, apparently activated. All this is happening as the North requested the peace talks from the South.

It's why North Korea watcher, David Kang, says this about the peace talks.

DAVID KANG, NORTH KOREA WATCHER: I don't see any reason that this is any different or the beginning of a major breakthrough. I see this as yet another of the small cycles of skirmishes that we see between North and South Korea. They just happen with depressing regularity.

LAH (on camera): What Kim Jong-Un says versus what he does is so confusing and so hard to read, and many here in Seoul view it as behavior as usual, and something that is unlikely to change any time soon.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Officials in England are trying to determine what caused a vintage jet to crash into a busy road. After the break, how witnesses to the tragedy are learning to cope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were in shock. Just -- I just said the planes had an accident. It's really hard to explain really, to a child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:26] CHURCH: A warm welcome back to you all. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Let's check the headlines this hour. Three Americans and a British citizen who stopped a potential massacre

on a Paris-bound train are scheduled to meet the French president in less than an hour now. The men overpowered a heavy armed gunman on Friday, preventing anyone from being killed. That suspect is now in custody.

CHURCH: The Lebanese army is patrolling the streets of Beirut after protests over uncollected garbage turned violent for a second day. An army spokesman says 31 policemen were hurt. The protesters threw rocks and firecrackers. The police shot water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

BARNETT: Stocks in Asia have continued their steep slide that began last week. Trading has ended for the day in Sydney and Tokyo. Look at where the numbers ended. The ASX, the Nikkei, the Hang Seng down more than 4 percent. The Shanghai Composite down more than 7.5 percent.

CHURCH: Khiem Do is fund manager at Asian portfolio, Baring Asset Management. He joins us now live from Hong Kong.

Thank you, sir, for speaking with us.

(CROSSTALK)

KHIEM DO, FUND MANAGER, BARING ASSET MANAGEMENT: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: China's market lost nearly 9 percent at one point. It is at 8 now. It's fluctuating a little bit. What is happening right now across Asia markets? How bad is this likely to get? And when we saw the loss move to 6 percent at one point, there, was that an indication that China had stepped in?

DO: We think that there is a crisis of confidence around the world and that crisis of confidence, regrettably for us, living in Asia, is centered around China. And that started with the downward adjustment of the Chinese currency last week. And that has sparked some fear there could be a massive depreciation and that will cause some deflation around the world. But we think that the market is excessively bearish about that scenario. And we certainly don't think that that will happen. But currently there is some crisis of confidence happening right now.

CHURCH: I do want to ask you, why didn't China take some sort of action over the weekend and offer concrete steps, perhaps, to try to avert these continued losses? And when China does eventually step in? And I did want to ask had we seen the intervention of China, when you look at the losses in the market, what measures are China likely to put into place?

DO: What we believe would be very useful for the China economy, which obviously has been slowing down quite a lot, and also for the Chinese stock market and the global stock market is for the Central Bank of China to reduce interest rates and to reduce the reserve requirement ratio, which is the excess reserve in the commercial banking system in China, which is being held in the -- for safe keep big the Central Bank of China at the moment. So what the market would like to see is for China to continue to ease interest rates and also to cut the reserve requirement ratio. And that will increase liquidity in the economy and also it will increase liquidity to the stock market as well. So that is what we're waiting for. But regrettably, after the past few days, we don't see that and that's the reason for the lack of confidence in the equity market over the past 24 hours.

[02:35:20] CHURCH: What is your advice here? What should investors do in the midst of this global selloff?

DO: Well, it depends on the investors' horizon, investment horizon. If you -- if they are short-term oriented it's best to wait until things stabilize and then buy. But if I may just share with you the fact that a number of our experienced fund managers at Baring and myself have started to buy into our funds. Our funds has a lot of good-quality growth stocks, which have fallen in the past few weeks, actually, and we think that there is great value from a long-term viewpoint in our funds as well as in the stock market. It depends on the time frame. Long-term investors, it's a great time to buy. Short-term, wait for things to stabilize first.

CHURCH: But basically ride this out, right?

DO: For the long-term investors. Whether you are looking at value stocks or growth stocks, some offer very good valuation at these levels. It's not a bad time to pick up some of those, yes.

CHURCH: Khiem Do, many thanks for your analysis and perspective on this.

DO: Thank you.

CHURCH: We do appreciate it.

BARNETT: A little bit of a silver lining there.

Wanted around the world, and particularly in China, American women as surrogate mothers. We'll hear from one woman who became part of a growing trend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Who are the future parents of this child?

AUDRA ANDERSON, AMERICAN SURROGATE MOTHER: A Chinese gay couple. And they are the most wonderful people that I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:22] BARNETT: Authorities in England say it is highly likely that at least 11 people died after a plane crashed at an air show on Saturday. CHURCH: The true scale of the tragedy is still unknown and

authorities are warning the death toll could rise further as they remove debris from the site and investigate why the plane went down on a busy highway.

CNN's Ian Lee reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Words are hard to come by for this community reeling after a deadly plane crash on Saturday. A Cold War-era Hawker Hunter jet was performing a loop, its first maneuver of the day, but failed to pull up, crashing into a nearby highway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was obviously too low. And that was it. He hit the ground and there was a lot of flame and a lot of nasty --

LEE: At least 11 people, officials say, were likely killed. The pilot survived the crash after being pulled from the wreckage. A day of fun turned to tragedy for hundreds of spectators, including children.

ANNOUNCER: Everyone stay in your places, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were in shock, just -- I just said the plane's had an accident. And they were asking questions, is he dead? It's really hard to explain, really, to a child.

LEE: An education too soon for 2-year-old Daniel and 6-year-old Matthew.

Emergency personnel continued to scour the scene for clues as well as bodies.

(on camera): As a rule stunts are not allowed to be performed over spectators or neighborhoods, really anywhere where a crash could kill someone on the ground. And with the airport right there and empty space, authorities are going to try to figure out why this plane crashed on a busy highway.

(voice-over): Unsuspecting motorists were the victims. The scale of the tragedy is still unknown.

STEVE BARRY, ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE, SUSSEX POLICE: This is an enormously traumatic incident. A crane will be brought in to lift the wreckage of the Hunter jet on Monday. And as we have already indicated, it is quite possible that we will discover more fatalities.

LEE: As more families learn the fate of their loved ones, the more words will be translated into flowers.

Ian Lee, CNN, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: It has been called a new chapter in relations. Britain and Iran formally restored diplomatic ties Sunday by reopening their embassies.

BARNETT: British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was there to watch the Union Jack being raised at the embassy that was taken over four years ago by protesters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP HAMMOND, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Iran is and will remain a very important country in a strategically important and volatile region. Maintaining dialogue even under the most difficult conditions is crucially important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Mr. Hammond went on to say that Britain and Iran can work together on many common issues include terrorism, regional stability, and migration.

CHURCH: Thousands of migrants are resuming their journey into Serbia after being held up a Macedonia's southern border.

BARNETT: Macedonia tried to halt the flow of migrants last week but is now allowing them to pass through.

Arwa Damon reports on the latest short-term answer to Europe's migrant crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Macedonia on Thursday had declared a state of emergency and shut down its border with Greece. Now, not only has opened it, but is doing everything that it can to usher the refugees and migrants through.

Right now, they are in the process of building a makeshift entrance to the trains that will be carrying the migrants all the way to the border with Serbia. From there, they will continue their journey on foot.

None of this was seen here in the last few days. The migrants, because of the closure of the border, were trapped on the Greek side in what can only be described as disastrous and heart-breaking conditions. It was raining and they were left with little to no shelter and no humanitarian aid to speak of. Now we're seeing authorities are rallying on both sides to try to facilitate the journey for these refugees and migrants.

Now, they are being processed here as well. What the processing means that they are then given a piece of paper that gives them 72 hours to either leave Macedonia or apply for asylum here. The vast majority are continuing their journey on to Western Europe. That is where they want to eventually end up. But the flood of migrants across Europe is truly unprecedented. Not

only are aid organizations struggling to deal with it but various European nations are as well. And this is just one of the many potential breaking points because Europe cannot handle the influx of the migrants, especially since, as of now, there is no long-term solution to resettle them.

Arwa Damon, CNN, on the Macedonia/Greece border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:45:57] BARNETT: And we'll have more CNN NEWSROOM after this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:49:55] BARNETT: Welcome back, everyone. International surrogacy is becoming a booming business, especially in the U.S. But couples from around the world are paying tens of thousands of dollars to have American women give birth to their children. And Chinese couples are doing this.

BARNETT: And we have the story of one American woman who may have already given birth over the weekend for a gay couple in China.

Ivan Watson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): Eight months pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED HUSBAND OF AUDRA ANDERSON: She likes it when he kicks.

WATSON: Weeks away from giving birth.

ANDERSON: You saw that one.

WATSON: But this is not your typical pregnancy.

ANDERSON: I know it's not my baby.

WATSON: The child growing inside Audra Anderson will be going to parents in China.

(on camera): Who are the future parents of this child you are carrying right now?

ANDERSON: A Chinese gay couple. And they are the most wonderful people that I know. They are loving and caring. And if I didn't think that, I wouldn't have given them two wonderful children.

WATSON (voice-over): Anderson's surrogate pregnancy is not unusual. A growing number of women in the U.S. are becoming surrogates for wealthy Chinese couples who can't have children of their own for biological or legal reasons. Agencies like West Coast Surrogacy in Irvine, California, are seeing a

large influx of customers from overseas. In fact, 40 percent of their clients are from China.

AMANDA YOU, CHINESE LIAISON, WEST COAST SURROGACY: They can choose. We have basic and VIP plans.

WATSON: It costs around $150,000 U.S. to have a child this way.

Hi, this is Amy.

WATSON: The company's founder says that Chinese clients first started knocking on her door around four years ago.

AMY KAPLAN, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR, WEST COAST SURROGACY: They feel that it's safe here. The laws are completely supportive of their having children here.

WATSON: Surrogacy is banned in China. Parents can still face fines for having a second child, and Beijing does not recognize gay marriage, all reasons that attract would-be parents to surrogacy in the U.S.

And there is an added bonus.

KAPLAN: Coming to the U.S., for one, their child will be a U.S. citizen. I'm sure that has some draw to it.

(MUSIC)

WATSON: There are other American companies trying to get in on this growing surrogacy industry. Unlike international adoption, there are very few rules governing international surrogacy. Some industry insiders are calling for more regulations.

KAPLAN: We have seen agencies who are unethical and have been caught doing unethical behavior. And there is always that fear that they are not following the standards and the guidelines.

WATSON: Here in a small desert town in southern California, Audra Anderson says she is already considering carrying a third surrogate child. She can earn from $35,000 to $45,000 for each baby.

(on camera): Is that a contributing factor, being paid for this?

ANDERSON: Not really. I know that we used part of our compensation to go visit the other family in China.

WATSON (voice-over): Anderson, her husband and daughter visited China for the first time in 2014 to see her surrogate child's biological family. The Chinese family has asked to remain anonymous.

ANDERSON: I got to see the family that I made. And, oh, the twinkle in his eye looking at his little girl, there is nothing better than that. WATSON: Audra Anderson represents a small but significant swing in

international family planning. For generations, wealthy Americans adopted unwanted babies from China. Now a growing number of wealthy Chinese are hiring American women to give birth to their children.

Ivan Watson, CNN, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Actor, director, Mel Gibson, is accused of abusing an Australian photographer. The woman claims that he pushed her, spat at her and was verbally abusive as she photographed him and his girlfriend outside a movie theater in Sydney on Sunday.

BARNETT: Gibson's spokesman tells CNN that the actor was being harassed by the photographer and there actually was no physical contact. Police are now investigating.

CHURCH: The zombie apocalypse hit Los Angeles Sunday night when "Fear the Walking Dead" made its TV debut. It's a prequel to AMC's incredibly popular series, "The Walking Dead," and fans have been anticipating the new show for months. Now, this time, the zombies are running wild on the West coast.

BARNETT: For those who haven't seen the show, you want to know that this will be a spoiler alert. But this won't be the surprise. The premier episode began and ended with the zombie attack. Apparently, in the middle, there was a part without zombies, but that's the highlight.

(LAUGHTER)

[02:55:09] CHURCH: You still don't get the full zombie thing.

(CROSSTALK)

BARNETT: Some people are really into it.

CHURCH: And finally -- boy band fans brace yourself - the group One Direction has decided to go in multiple and separate directions for now.

BARNETT: A shame. The pop group will disband in March to work on solo projects and not tour to promote the fifth album, but the split is not supposed to be a permanent one, just a hiatus, they say. A One Direction source says there is no bad blood between the members and they are all 100 percent behind the decision.

CHURCH: The fans will be upset, I think, at this point.

BARNETT: They will be.

But New Kids on the Block, they got back together years later. There is hope.

CHURCH: Exactly. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett.

We want to show you live pictures from Paris where three Americans and a British citizen are due to arrive at the place, and the French president, Francois Hollande, where they will receive the Legion of Honor Medal after preventing a potential massacre on a Paris-bound train on Friday. Rosemary and I will follow this and bring it to you live after this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:06] CHURCH: High praise.