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Hero Train Passengers Arrive At Presidential Palace; Asian Stock Markets Continuing Steep Slide; Anti-Government Anger Boils Over In Beirut; French President Bestows Legion of Honor On Train Heroes. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 24, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:13] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The French president will personally thank three Americans and a Briton for their roles in stopping a potential terrorist attack aboard a Paris-bound train.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And a Chinese market cliff dive, China's main stock exchange ends another trading day with dramatic losses.

CHURCH: Plus a crackdown in Lebanon, the government calls in the army after anti-government demonstrations turn violent.

Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

CHURCH: Let's begin this hour in Paris where three Americans and a British citizen are due to arrive at the palace, home of French President Francois Hollande. Now the men are being honored by French leaders for taking down a gunman and preventing a potential massacre on a Paris-bound train on Friday.

BARNETT: Now at this moment, you're looking at live pictures coming to us from outside the ceremony. We're waiting to see everyone arrive, U.S. servicemen, Spencer Stone, Alex Skarlatos and their civilian friend, Anthony Sadler.

Spoke at a news conference Sunday about the attack and Stone described how he helped a man who was injured by the attack. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPENCER STONE, THWARTED TERROR ATTACK ON TRAIN: Saw that he was squirting blood out of the side of his neck. I was going to use my shirt at first but that wouldn't have worked. Two of my fingers in the hole found what I thought to be the artery, pushed down and the bleeding stopped. I held that position until the paramedics got there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Extraordinary details there. And for more from Paris, let's go to CNN international correspondent, Nic Robertson. We are waiting for the arrival of these three Americans and a British citizen. Four will be honored today.

There are two other gentlemen who were involved as well. They will be honored on another day, but talk to us about specifically what these three American men did because if they hadn't intervened when they did, this would be a very different day today.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It would have been and that's what everyone in France recognizes. We've been on the streets here when these three men were driven along when we were there when they came out of the police station on Saturday after the debriefing the police.

And people were standing at the side of the road cheering. There is an understanding here that what they did prevented a possible massacre on that train. This gunman had an automatic weapon, a Kalashnikov with nine rounds of magazines.

That is 270 rounds of bullets. This train was packed full of passengers around 500 people on the train. It would have been difficult had he not been tackled by these four men, the one Briton and three Americans and the Frenchman as well who tried but failed to bring him down.

If they had not tried to bring this attacker down, then the potential for serious bloodshed and trauma on the train was very high. The president is waiting for these three young Americans to arrive. The full honor guard is behind me.

They will be given the Legion D'Honneur, which is the highest award that can be given in such circumstances in this country. This is something that honors the honor and fatherland. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.

He said with such baubles that people are led. What he means is that people who get this award are leaders and that's how people here are thinking of these three young Americans that they did what other people wouldn't have done and didn't do.

They stood up and saw danger and didn't think of themselves and threw themselves at this man sustaining injury as it happened. Spencer Stone was cut on his thumb. He had a very serious injury to his thumb.

And I'm looking at my shoulder here. A diplomatic car is arriving. And we're seeing if I just look over my shoulder and check here. The president is getting ready to arrive and to ready to greet the arrivals as they get out of the car here.

I just stepped back so we can see who is coming out of this vehicle and we can talk about it a little more. Yes, a lot of diplomats and French ministers are expected here as well, today.

We know that the French prime minister is going to be here. We saw him earlier, the interior minister, the transport minister are going to be here.

[03:05:01] The people on the streets have been shouting and cheering in support of these men. People have been approaching us and telling us that they believe these three young Americans should get this award, the Legion D'Honneur because they did such an incredible job of saving people.

And the French here really -- Monday morning, first thing Monday morning, taking the opportunity to make a big thank you. These young men have been treated essentially like rock stars. They are getting the roll out of the red carpet at the most senior and top levels here in Paris -- Rosemary.

BARNETT: Nic, Errol here with rosemary. We just saw -- we have another camera vantage point. We saw the Belgian prime minister step out of the vehicle there. And indeed, the Belgians have stepped up security at rail networks throughout that country with things like additional patrols.

If it were not for these so-called heroes, we would be having a different conversation about security on euro railways and ways to beef it up. Does that discussion still need to be had in the wake of all this?

ROBERTSON: I think it needs to be had and certainly that's the feeling that we're getting here that people feel it needs to be had. It is certainly that is being addressed and authorities are very aware of and concerned about, the prime minister of Belgium arriving, as you say.

The Belgians have begun their own investigation into what they call a terrorism incident even though the man accused said he was on the train for robbery and found the weapons in a park in Brussels. He got on the train in Brussels.

The station in Brussels a lot of attention being paid to security there but all across Europe. It's not like getting on a plane where you go through multiple layers of security. Trains are easier to get on and obviously after an incident like this, that will be examined.

But we have seen in capitals like Paris we saw the French after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack here in January significantly step up security. There is increased security and surveillance and stations. There are increased security patrols at stations and places where there are large numbers of the public present.

But what security forces tell us across Europe at the moment, they are stretched in terms of dealing with the number of potential threats.

BARNETT: Nic Robertson is live in Paris for us outside the palace. And Nic, we will stand by as we wait for those arrivals and reconnect with you as soon as this ceremony gets underway. It is sure to be the highlight of these men's lives for sure. We'll see you again soon.

But we want to turn to another big story we are following today. Trading has just ended for the day on the Shanghai stock exchange and really not a moment too soon.

CHURCH: Yes, indices across Asia closed way lower. The continuation of a selloff that began last week, look at those numbers. You can see there, the Shanghai Composite in China down more than 8 percent. It got down close to 9 percent at one point, there. And then you can see, Hong Kong's Hang Seng down more than 5 percent and in Australia and Japan, a loss of more than 4 percent.

BARNETT: Truly deep losses everywhere. We are joined now by CNN's Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong and also Isa Soares, she joins us live from London.

The London Stock Exchange opened for trading just a few minutes ago. Isa, let's begin with you because as you look at the Asian markets and everyone pulled down by what is happening in China. The same was happening in London at the end of last week. How do things look so far today?

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bleak, Errol, absolutely brutal. If we can bring up the European markets, they have been open for about 8 minutes or so in a sea of red. Traders are getting up to go to work, don't bother. Stay at home.

Look at that, the FTSE down almost 3 percent. The Xetra DAX down almost 4 percent. CAC as well 3 percent. Zurich SMI 3 percent. This is really a brutal stock opening here for Europe and these numbers we have been looking, the FTSE erased a lot of the gains for the year.

The Xetra DAX which at one point this year, Errol, was up has seen all of its gains disappear. This has been going on over weeks now. We saw the numbers last week from China, Shanghai, they were down.

But this is getting worse and worse and investors here really trying to take some cover from what is happening. But it seems like there is no end in sight.

Because those numbers are coming out of China, concerns about China slowing down still pretty much causing ripple effects in Europe.

[03:10:06] Many people concerned. Is this a correction or are we going to see more of this? I was asking people in the business view last week what is your biggest concern here? You know there are so many elements, oil, China, the fed, where do you stand on this?

Everyone said China, China and oil. This is their biggest worry right you. It seems they just don't know what sort of direction to take and this is the biggest concern.

CHURCH: I want to go to Andrew Stevens now in Hong Kong. Andrew, it's interesting when we look at the numbers there, I mean, we were talking earlier and the stock market there in China had slipped nearly 9 percent.

Then we talked about it moved to about 6 percent and your interpretation of that was that China had intervened. Talk to us about what you think happened there. ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Well, I think that they did come into the market and they -- I suspect they may have been met with met with a lot of selling and they decided they had to let this go.

It's interesting. This has been a story throughout the summer, the slow-motion crash of the Shanghai composite down 40 percent from its peak. And the government started off, Rosemary, by really intervening hard, making a lot of news and not very popular -- certainly not in terms of open markets, taking measures to try and stop this fall.

And they were successful. They put a platform under the initial fall and the market came back a few percent and there is a feeling that the government is becoming more hands off in this market. They realize they have bigger issues to confront.

And the big issue obviously is the Chinese economy. They have to worry about how they get the Chinese economy moving again. The numbers last week suggested that the economy is growing more slowly than most people think.

There is a realization globally that the economy is slowing down and policymakers looking at how to help the China economy rather than specifically the stock market. The thing about the China stock market is that it's quite a small part of the overall economy.

It's dominated by small players, not many people, relatively speak, actually play the market at all. The government is much more concerned now about dealing with the broader -- the real economy, if you like.

CHURCH: Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. Isa Soares there in London. Many thanks to you both. Appreciate it.

Well, a 2,000-year-old temple in the 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 that ISIS took control of back in May.

BARNETT: Now this latest attack on Syria's ancient artifacts comes just days after the militants beheaded the man who had been in charge of Palmyra's Antiquities Department for more than 50 years.

CHURCH: Lebanon's prime minister is threatening to resign, warning the country is on the brink of collapse. Beirut is cleaning up after anti-government protests turned violent for a second day. An army spokesman says that protesters threw rocks and firecrackers and injured 31 police officers.

BARNETT: Earlier, the army deployed armored vehicles to patrol the streets and while the demonstrators were spotlight rotting uncollected garbage. Nick Paton Walsh reports that public anger at the government goes much deeper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stench at the heart of Lebanon's dysfunctional government had been intolerable for months, but eventually it burst out into the heat of summer streets, piles of trash growing daily, the collection of which as basic task that the government could not 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 is something that Lebanese couldn't pretend wasn't happening.

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.

Ninety nine people injured. The Lebanese Red Cross said, and also 35 police, officials added. So Sunday night at 6 p.m. they returned, thousands of them. Peaceful at first, but a small minority at the front clashed with the police, who knows who started it.

[03:15:07] But police used water cannon to push them back and then anarchy began. Some protesters tried to breach the barricades, threw rocks at the police, even a road sign. A motorcycle was set alight. Police retreated partially.

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's 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: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, tough words from South Korea as marathon negotiations with North Korea go on for many hours in the DMZ.

Plus details on the disturbing way sex traffickers in the U.S. are marking their victims.

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BARNETT: We want to get you live to Paris where there is about to be some excitement. Three Americans are arriving at the home of French President Francois Hollande. The men are being hailed as heroes for taking down a gunman and preventing a potential massacre on a Paris- bound train on Friday.

They will be presented for the Legion of Honor medal for their acts of bravery. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is there as we watch, you see the three Americans walk up. Nic, tell us what you are seeing and hearing. WALSH: Well, we're hearing the shouting of the honor guard and shouting of questions for the three men. But what we are seeing, Spencer Stone, his arm still in a sling, leading the three of them up in the green shirt, Alex Skarlatos, his friend, and with them as well, Anthony Sadler.

It looks like they have been joined by family members there. About to go in here and meet the French president and the Belgian prime minister we saw go in earlier.

But this the French nation through the offices of the president as well as the prime minister, foreign minister, interior minister and the transport minister, here to pay their highest honor to these three young Americans and the British Chris Norman, who helped them tackle this attacker on the train.

They are going inside now. No doubt the French president will have words for them in private. He also called President Obama and thanked the American nation for the action of these men.

The belief and the understanding here in France is that without their swift action, without their unflinching decision to get up and tackle this gunman, the death toll on the train could have been far, far worse -- Errol.

CHURCH: Nic, Rosemary Church here. As we watch these live pictures of the three American heroes, there's also a British businessman, Chris Norman who will join them. But talk about the stark contrast between how these three Americans responded and what people are saying there in France about how the train employees reacted.

WALSH: Well, there has been criticism of the train employees. An actor on board the train who in the carriage just behind where the gunman began his attack knew something was wrong and saw a number of train employees rush to the very back of the train and lock themselves in a compartment there.

[03:20:07] He realized there was a danger on the loose. He was there with his wife and children and he broke the glass surrounding the communications cord to rip it and try to stop the train. He cut his hand very deeply doing that.

But despite banging on the door to try to save his family, the workers on the train didn't open the door. We have heard other accounts too. The three young Americans and the British man as well when they pinned the attacker on the ground, the guard grabbed one of the Moroccan's arms to pin him down.

And the train company says that their staff has acted well in this situation and they helped and stayed on board afterwards and helped passengers.

So there is a sense that perhaps some of the train staff could have acted better, certainly no one is questioning the actions, the swift actions of these young Americans. They bought first-class tickets and boarded the train and were in a carriage. The Wi-Fi wasn't good and they decided to move into the appropriate carriage they booked on and they just sort of dropped off to sleep.

Spencer Stone had dropped off to sleep. His friend, Alex alerts him to let's go and without thinking they rush forward to grab this man and their friend, Anthony Sadler comes in behind them. They are trying to pin him down and get the Kalashnikov away from him and he pulls an automatic pistol.

They managed to get that away from him then he pulls out a box cutter and it's that box cutter that almost severs Spencer Stone's thumb off of his hand. He went to a hospital and spent several hours in surgery where tendons and nerves he said were re-attached to try to save the use of his hand.

His arm as we saw when he went there is still in a sling. What these men have done, and what we are hearing from people on the streets believe that they should be honored by the nation, by France because of what they did.

The highest honor they can be given is the Legion D'Honneur. This is the nation's highest honor it can give for honor in fatherland something instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.

At the time he was criticized for this award, but he said and he put it roughly in these words, it is with such baubles men are led. Men are led into war. No one, he said, goes into battle by themselves.

This is an award for people who lead and who should be followed. And that is very much how people think of these three young men here at the moment. They did something. They led when no one else was moving forward.

And there are a lot of people in this country today who feel proud for what they did and hope that they could act in the same way. What Napoleon Bonaparte talked about in baubles, and awards, this Legion D'Honneur is what people would follow. People would like to believe they would follow in these men's footsteps to save so many lives in such a courageous way.

BARNETT: We are listening to Nic Robertson who is at the palace. You are seeing live pictures from inside where three Americans and one British national are set to receive the Legion D'Honneur in the next few minutes.

Nic, you were speaking about Napoleon creating this award saying no one goes into battle alone. We are looking at Anthony Sadler right now. But Spencer Stone visibly injured with a damaged eye and injured hand as well. While we watch these men rightly receive the honor they deserve, where is the suspect behind all this, the man they took down?

ROBERTSON: Well, he's not so far away, actually. He is being questioned by the French external security here. No coincidence as well we saw the Belgian prime minister go in earlier. The Belgians have launched a terrorism investigation. The French is investigation underway. The gunman got on the train in Brussels. He had spent time in France and --

BARNETT: All right, we're going to interrupt for a moment as the French president shakes hands with the Americans and the British national before delivering a statement. You could imagine, Rosemary, this is one awesome day for all of them that they will not forget.

CHURCH: It is amazing. They got on that train as travellers and now they are heroes across the globe. Let's listen to what the president has to say.

[03:25:01] FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Dear prime Minister of Belgium Charles Michele, I thank you for your presence. It confirms the solidarity between our two countries in fighting against terrorism.

I want to also say thank you to the prime minister of France and also the lady -- the ambassador of the United States, Jane Hartley, and also the representatives of the United Kingdom and also of the leaders and prefects of (inaudible), who had to face this difficult situation and also the emergency services who had to deal with this issue, both at the state level and at the regional level.

Also, the emergency and health services who acted quickly to help a French-American passenger, who is currently in hospital, and we are supporting him as he goes through this.

I also want to thank the CEO of the SNCF and also to thank all of those people who worked on the railways in France and Belgium. Today we are here to render homage, to celebrate four people. Four men, who by their courage, saved lives.

Who showed and gave us an example of what it is possible to do in these kinds of dramatic situations, Christopher Norman, Anthony Sadler, Alexander Skarlatos and Spencer Stone.

Last Friday you were in the train between Amsterdam and Paris. You were three friends discovering Europe heading by train to Paris. You, Christopher, you were going home after a business trip, three Americans and one Englishman.

That you were -- by chance, you were all in the same coach. But Friday -- last Friday night, an individual decided to create havoc in a -- and to attempt murder in a coach. He had enough weapons to create ultimate carnage and this is what he would have done had you not overpowered him, taking extraordinary risks, including risking your own lives.

First of all I want to think of the French passenger who was the first to cross the path of the terrorist as he was living the toilets, having already decided he would shoot people, our French compatriot launched himself against this man and then let -- and let the others know.

It's not possible to give his name today, but I want to say thank you. Then Ayoub El Khazzani at that point had walked into Coach 12 and he had started to shoot harming the man I was talking about who is in the hospital.

A Franco-American who is still having to find courage to overcome his injury because he, too, got in the way. At this moment, Mr. Spencer, you decided to intervene. You threw yourself against this gunman who was trying to load his gun.

It was you, Spencer, you were the first, if I can say, to jump on this man. You pushed him over and you, Alexander. You helped Spencer to take his weapon, to take his Kalashnikov.

You disarmed him this first time. You -- he then got out a pistol and then a -- which you got off him and then a box cutter, which he hurt Spencer and you managed to get this off him. And you -- all of you together, to help him.

Christopher, you tied him up with another passenger of the train, Eric (inaudible), going home, as well. Also stood up to the moment and helped. And then there was also the guard, who raised the alarm.

[03:30:06] And ensured that you could -- that helped ensure that the police and -- could get to the situation as possible. You, Spencer, although you were injured, you made sure that you looked after the man and you know doubt saved his life of this Franco-American citizen.

Once the alarm had been raised, the train was diverted to Arras, the train station there. The terrorist was arrested, all the more easily because he had been tied up. The injured could easily be taken care of, with -- by our hospitals, with great efficiency, which we should be proud of.

So we have four men. So they stood up to the situation with others. Not save their own lives but also to save everybody else, to save other lives because in that train, in that tally there were more than 500 passengers.

And you have to remember that Ayoub El Khazzani had up to 300 rounds of bullets arsenal of cartridges. He could have created a terrible massacre, devastation. I want to thank you for what you have done.

And it was on Friday that the whole world was able to admire your courage, your calm, your sangfroid, your sense of responsibility, this solidarity which allowed you, without weapons, unarmed, to overpower this individual who was armed to the teeth and you were ready to do anything.

Your heroism should be an example for all and a source of inspiration because faced, confronted with the evil which is here, which is called terrorism, there is one thing that is good.

It is the humanity of us all and which you demonstrated that day, Anthony Sadler, you said what can -- you were asked what can you remember, what was the lesson of Friday? And you said in a moment of crisis I would like that people understand that you have to do something. Yes. You have to do something. There is always something to be done when confronted with aggression. Even when it seems that it is so much more than you, that it is barbarous, unthinkable. There is something to do. And it comes down to the public power of the people and public power -- to take the responsibilities necessary, particularly in the case of the railways.

There are going to be meetings with the interior minister, with the heads of public transport and we will take the measures that are necessary. But over and above the necessary measures that need to be reinforced, there is always that one -- there is always the responsibility about that lies at the feet of the individual.

What a man or a woman can do in these kinds of circumstances. You have shown that confronted with terror, you showed the power of resistance and you -- and in that way you have showed us a lesson in courage, in goodwill and in hope.

Spencer, all three of you, you are soldiers, but on Friday you were just simple civilians. You certainly behaved as soldiers but you also behaved as responsible men. You risked your lives to defend an idea of liberty and freedom.

Today I think of all the soldiers who are fighting against terrorism here in France and all around the world. And today, they are -- and they are united against terrorism. And today, I want to say you also honored those soldiers.

And all of the other passengers who got up, who stood up against them, who didn't have your training and experience of danger, who had never seen a Kalashnikov before in their life, but they, too, stood up and faced this man. And in their own way, they fought back.

[03:35:04] And when you are confronted, terrorism, you don't give up. You don't give in to fear. You work together. When we are confronted with terrorism our societies are not feeble and they are not -- and they will never be feeble or weak when they are reunited together.

And will never be feeble if there are men and women prepared to do what you did. On Friday night, these men of different nationalities, English, French, American, and they created a human community, that of the best to overcome the worst.

Today, Alexander, Spencer, Anthony and Christopher, the French Republic wants to thank you today and it will do the same for those others who showed exemplary behavior.

I'm thinking and I've said it several times, the wounded passenger in Lille because unites us as well. He is French and American and he is an English professor.

I know also wondering about the distinctions. So I thought in order to show the gratitude of the French Republic, I felt it was important to give you the highest honor, the Legion D'Honneur, to say -- to show how grateful we are.

I did not want three of you, the Americans, to go back to your country without receiving this honor. It is the Legion D'Honneur which rewards your courage but also, the extraordinary act of humanity that you undertook that day around 6:30 on the train, Amsterdam-Paris in France to save the lives and to save humanity itself.

Thank you. So here they are. Please come forward.

CHURCH: Rewarding courage, the words of Francois Hollande, the president of France saying the French public want to thank you today, referring there to the three American men and the British businessman you see there in frame and by doing that, giving them the highest award in the land, Legion D'Honneur.

And the president saying an example of to us all on a day that could have seen a terrible massacre given the amount of weapons that this suspect had on that train. But he was overcome by these Americans and British businessman and two others involved.

He mentioned there the Franco-American who is currently in hospital. He was wounded in that incident and then the first Frenchman who has remained anonymous in this.

[03:40:10] He was the first one to cross paths with the suspect at the suspect at the very start of this incredible, incredible crisis that ended so well. Nic Robertson is standing by.

Nic, what a day for France, just extraordinary, and we can see, they are so thankful in France because, as we have discussed, this could have ended so differently.

ROBERTSON: More than 500 people on the train and more than 300 bullets for the gun. That puts it in a stark and dark perspective. He said that they were an example for all, a source of inspiration and he really has tried to draw there.

He said we are not weak as a society faced with terrorism we are strong when we stand together. He talked about the French, British, and Americans working together on the train and the strength that that brings.

He said that the security services will get together with the transport services in France and will address this issue. But he also said, and I think he is really trying to draw on the courage and the inspiration that everyone here is seeing from these young men.

That we all have a responsibility, if faced by these -- by something like this we have a responsibility to do something. We drew on the words of Anthony Sadler who at the press conference was asked, what is your message from this?

And he said his message and the French president quoted him and that is if something happens you have to respond. You have to do something. And one of the underlying messages from the French president not just this huge gratitude.

But to point to these men and say this is something that we can all aspire to and be inspired by, these dangers are real and they are potentially very bad. That as a government and as a country we will try to address those dangers but all of us have a responsibility to do something about it.

So the French president here said that he didn't want these men to go back home without receiving the honor. It really has rejigged his schedule to make room for them in a busy week and the Belgian prime minister is here as well.

And speaks to the international cooperation and nature of the threat of the moment, but these three young Americans, the British, Chris Norman as well, being honored here in the highest possible way -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Nic Robertson reporting there live from the palace as we see here in the frame next to Nic, the four heroes being hailed heroes. This would have been a very different day. They are there with the French president, Francois Hollande.

And of course, for those four gentlemen and the other two who were involved their lives will change forever from here on. And of course, they have made quite a mark on the 500 or so people who were on that train because this could have ended as we heard from the president there, as a terrible massacre.

BARNETT: We want to continue to look into all the aspects of this now. And kind of analyze some of the lessons from the incident and the security implications.

We are joined by the international security director of the Asia- Pacific Foundation and an expert on terrorism joins us now live via webcam from London.

Hopefully you heard the ceremony there. The French president saying this is an incredible story. These men who were not armed stopped a potential mass killer. Witnesses say it looked as if Ayoub El Khazzani was well armed in fact but not well trained in how to use his AK-47. What do you make of the man they all took down?

SAJJAN GOHEL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION this is a very important incident that's taken place because it shows the design and the intent of terrorism now, that we're witnessing.

And this is the third effort where weapons have been brought in from Belgium to try and carry out an attack. The first was involved the attack on the kosher supermarket in Paris and an incident two days later in Belgium where authorities discovered a cache of weapons to be used for attacks linked to ISIS.

It shows that there is a pattern emerging and there is a potential constant stream of plots where weapons are going to be utilized from Belgium.

BARNETT: So considering that, what are we to make of the security response? We saw the Belgium prime minister at the event. But how should European nations be rethinking train security in the wake of all of this? [03:45:09] Because the Americans and the British guy who helped out they all seem like heroes while there are reports that train staff were hiding and wouldn't let anybody in. That's quite embarrassing.

GOHEL: It's embarrassing and extremely worrying that you have a situation like this. It's not going to be always the case where you have these gentlemen who risk their lives to save the others on a train or another form of transportation.

This is something that will require urgent reviewing. This was not a domestic train. This is a transnational train traveling across the Netherlands, Belgium and France himself. How was El Khazzani able to take so many weapons on board the train without more security?

This is something that needs to be looked at urgently. This is the change of tactics. They are targeting other forms of transportation notably the train infrastructure in Europe, which is an important artery for Europe itself.

BARNETT: I mean, this is a massive wake up call. You hope in the wake of this some important changes will be made because, you know, American servicemen on holiday won't be on all the trains in Europe. But certainly a good day for everyone involved.

Sajjan Gohel, international security director of the Asia Pacific Foundation, thanks for joining us from London. We'll be back with more of the day's biggest stories after this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:50:44]

CHURCH: I'm going to say it, pure pandemonium on news of the birth of rare twin pandas.

BARNETT: Dian Cho with our affiliate WJLA has more on the newborn cubs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE CHO, WJLA REPORTER (voice-over): Even though the giant panda cubs weren't on display at the national zoo there was no shortage of excitement as Bao Bao celebrated her second birthday with a special frozen foodsicle cake. Many came to be a part of it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope they will be healthy and grow up to be wonderful pandas and create more and hopefully we'll get more out in the wild and save the habitat.

CHO: This is the video of the first cub during the first exam. They believe the cub they retrieved last night was the second one born just after 10:00 at night. The cub retrieved this morning was born at 5:35 p.m.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We gave her time to see if she would pick both up. CHO: The panda team has been swapping the cubs to give them one-on- one time with their mom while the other is kept warm in an incubator. But the frequency hinges on whether she allows it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now our goal is for each one of these cubs to spend precious time with their mom, nursing and getting all of the nutrients that they need to grow.

CHO: Lou Sanchez was so happy she convinced her parents to book a flight from New York to be here the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was really excited and teared up a little bit.

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CHURCH: Dianne Cho with our affiliate WJLA reporting there. Look at this.

BARNETT: Take a look at this. Live pictures coming in to CNN. The giant panda licking her baby. You can't get enough, just log on to the Smithsonian National Zoo website.

CHURCH: She is being so careful and gentle there, isn't she?

BARNETT: All right, we go on to another story for you, the movie "Straight Outta Compton" is putting music producer and rapper, Dr. Dre back into the spotlight. Now he is apologizing for some past behavior.

CHURCH: Yes, and one of the biggest boy bands in the world is parting ways for the moment at least, let's get all the details from Kim Serafin, the senior editor of "In Touch Weekly."

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CHURCH: Kim Serafin joins me now. Kim, the music bio pic "Straight Outta Compton" is again number one at the weekend box office and "Terminator: Genisys" also took top spot internationally, a great showing for both movies.

KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes, "Straight Outta Compton" number one again, making $26.8 million. This is great news for a film that didn't cost that much to make. It's already made about $111 million so far. So it's doing really well.

There is Oscar buzz around it. There are reports floating that they are talking about a sequel already. This has struck a chord with a lot of people. If you checked out social media you have seen people doing the hashtags straight outta and the posters with means out there.

People with their dogs saying straight outta treats. And "Terminator: Genisys" opened in China. Fantastic news, number one for "Terminator: Genisys" internationally.

CHURCH: I want to move to Dr. Dre who is in damage control right now responding to allegations he physically abused women and now he is apologizing to women he hurt. Will that be enough, though, to stop the damage?

SERAFIN: It's interesting. "Straight Outta Compton" is number one. Some of these reports talking about he was physically abusive to women. The claims did not hurt the movie at all, but he did put out a statement saying that 25 years ago he was a young man drinking too much and in over my head.

[03:55:04] However none of that is an excuse for what I did and I have been married for 19 years and every day I'm working to be a better man for my family.

Apple put out a statement. He has a deal with Beats with them saying they believe he is sincere. I don't think this has really caused a lot of damage but people were questioning why some of this is glossed over in the movie.

CHURCH: We'll see how people respond to that message. And what is behind One Direction's decision to take a break?

SERAFIN: Yes, a lot of sad fans out there. One Direction reportedly is taking an extend hiatus. They will not be doing a tour for the album. They basically want to focus on their own solo projects. That's what they are saying. There seems to be no bad blood between them and the idea is they will get back together.

But the hiatus will be for about a year. We won't get to see them altogether for a year. But maybe this means solo albums produced by all of them. Maybe you will get even more albums.

CHURCH: Still the fans will be upset, I think. They like to see them all together. Kim Serafin, many thanks as always.

SERAFIN: Great, thanks so much.

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CHURCH: Thanks for watching. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Go check out the panda cam. "EARLY START" is next in the United States and everyone else, stay tuned for another edition of CNN NEWSROOM. Have a great day.

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