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Some Asian Markets Improving But More Volatility; India Markets See Biggest Fall Since 2009; No Dow Stocks Had Anything to Cheer About Monday; 4 Men Awarded for Thwarting Paris Train Attack; North, South Korea Reach Agreement to Ease Tensions; VP Biden Possibly Jumping into Presidential Race; Jeb Bush Defends Use of Term "Anchor Babies"; Bush, Trump Stake Out Positions on Immigration; Obama Outlines Clean Energy Plan; Small Illinois Town Honors Soldier, Family. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 25, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:37] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: After another global selloff, some Asian markets are improving today but it looks like the volatility is coming back.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: North and South Korea reach an agreement and avoid a violent confrontation.

BARNETT: And tragedy on the racetrack. British Indy car driver, Justin Wilson, has died after being injured in a crash.

CHURCH: Hello. I'm Rosemary Church. Welcome to you viewers in the United States and around the world.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

So here's the situation as we see it. It's not exactly a rebound but it's not a rout either. Some markets in Asia are moving slightly higher a day after major indices plummeted, but we are seeing volatility today.

CHURCH: Look at the numbers. A short time ago, the Shanghai Composite was down 4 percent. It is now more than 6 percent down. Look what happened in Japan. The Nikkei has lost nearly 4 percent. It wasn't long ago that we were looking at the numbers and it wasn't even 1 percent down. Really significant. We need to find out what has happened to suddenly see this volatility at this point in the day.

BARNETT: In Tokyo and Hong Kong, there were gains a few hours ago. Those have already been erased.

Monday's Asian slump sent shock waves around the world. In London, Frankfurt and Zurich, stocks closed down. They will open in an hour. And on Wall Street, stocks fell more than 1,000 points minutes after the opening bell and came back only to again end down around 600 points. So a rollercoaster ride all around the world.

Let's get to our Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens.

The markets in Seoul and Sydney gained ground, not so much in China. Andrew, what do you attribute the stabilization we were seeing?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: I think a lot of people woke up having seen such a big selloff globally overnight and thought that this would be a time to get back into the market, a little bit of bargain hunting, perhaps. We're getting a lot of research reports coming out here in Asia saying that the reaction to these Chinese factory numbers, which came out on Friday, which seem to be the genesis of the global selloff, that reaction had been overdone. The Chinese economy is not about to fall off a cliff and it's still unlikely it's going to have a hard landings. On the back of that, people stepped back in the markets gingerly by the look at this, Errol. You can see the Nikkei, particularly, that's a big, big move. The second day of really big moves. First, the Nikkei, which is not known for its volatility. Hong Kong is coming back from its earlier lows. Hong Kong and Tokyo were strongly higher in the early trade. The name of the game is volatility and it looks like it will be with us for a long time. Expect a lot of seesawing going on over the next perhaps few days -- Errol?

BARNETT: And this volatility, Andrew, it seems all began in China. The entire market plunge situation has really weakened confidence in China's ability to manage an economic crisis like this. Do you think that's the long-term damage done this week, no matter what China does in the next few days or so?

STEVENS: Personally, I don't. I don't think the Chinese are going to let their economy get out of control on the downside. I think they have too many tools at their disposal to let that happen. They haven't really let -- gone for it yet. So, they can. And remember, it's important that -- to remember that the Chinese are trying to manipulate the economy away from traditional export investment model to a more consumer-based model and there is going to be pain in that and we are seeing the pain. There are a couple of bright spots and economists point to the bright spots in the Chinese economy. They're saying it's certainly not a hard-landing scenario for China.

It doesn't feel like that for investors in China. Take a listen to what one Chinese investor had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:25:21] UNIDENTIFIED CHINESE INVESTOR (through translation): The institution, security companies, brokers, once they make a profit, they pull out leaving the investors behind crying and wailing. Of course, they are cursing, cursing the Communist Party. We don't feel good about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: That's a really interesting line, cursing the Communist Party. This is one thing -- this is really what the leadership fears above all else is, you know, a loss of credibility amongst the Chinese population. It has set itself up to be the leader in times of crisis that the Chinese people can always turn to for it to make the right decisions and keep the country going strongly. Having this massive selloff on the stock exchange despite earlier efforts by the government to rein it in, which have been, as we now know, a failure damages the credibility of Beijing. And that is one thing they really don't want to be dealing with, the Chinese losing faith in the institutions in the Communist Party itself.

BARNETT: Certainly true for that man and perhaps many others. A rollercoaster ride.

Andrew Stevens, on that journey with us, we'll check in with you again next hour from Hong Kong. Thanks.

CHURCH: Let's cross over to India now for a look at the markets in Mumbai.

Mallika Kapur joins us on the line.

Mallika, India's financial markets saw their biggest fall since 2009 on Monday. How are things looking now?

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were looking a lot better at the start of the trading day, Rosemary. The market opened higher this morning. The main index was up .5 percent this morning but things have changed over the last half an hour or so. And now we are seeing the main markets the Bombay Stock Exchange and Sensex down 1.3 percent. So we are seeing losses again and this is pretty much mirroring what is happening across the rest of Asia. Again much of the other markets we saw early gains but we they have come off in the last half hour or. So we are keeping a close eye on the currency market as well. The rupee has hit a new low. But it's pretty much flat compared to what it was yesterday. But it is close to a two-year low. The rupee holding flat but the markets down roughly more than 1 percent at the moment.

CHURCH: So what are financial analysts in India saying about what happened Monday and how things are likely to look going forward across India?

KAPUR: What they are saying is, they're calling it a temporary tantrum by the Indian markets and they are saying that India was not spared the mayhem. There is no doubt about that. We had the biggest single day drop. The Sensex was down 6 percent yesterday but India is in a better position to deal with this crisis than a lot of other major economies are. And that's simply because domestically, the fundamentals in India are quite strong. There is growth. India is still showing robust growth. Inflation has been cooling over the last couple of months. India has large foreign exchanges. There are commodities in the falling oil prices. That is helping India a lot. All those factors are making people here think is it a temporary tantrum. It is falling in sympathy with other global markets but the fundamentals look strong. But they are hoping there won't be serious damage to the Indian economy but it's if this is a start of a global recession, Rosemary, then all bets are off.

CHURCH: Yeah, a temporary tantrum. Let's hope it's more than.

Mallika Kapur, joining us on the line from Mumbai, many thanks to you.

BARNETT: Let's get you more information now on what was a wild day on Wall Street. There were cheers as the closing bell rang on Monday.

CHURCH: But none of the stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average had anything to cheer about.

Richard Quest goes behind the numbers to show us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:09:53] RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Not one stock in the Dow was up. Even though during the course of the session there were moments when several did rise. Look at the stocks that showed the biggest losses, ExxonMobil. Oil is now under $40 a barrel. This is going to hit their profits hard. ExxonMobil is down 4.7 percent. Tech stocks like Twitter, which is already close to its IPO price is down 2.7 percent. These are the stocks that people avoid in times of crisis. Proctor and Gamble massive consumer-facing company selling consumer goods around the world. But Proctor and Gamble down 3.7 percent, even though in a crisis, we still need soap and tooth paste. It shows the depth of what we were seeing today when folks like P&G are the worst affected. Bank of America was one of the most- traded shares on the market and was down 5 percent.

Put it all together. When you look at the way the Dow Jones Industrials closed, volume was up to 90 percent higher than you expect at this time of the year. There was real selling and real market movements in a market that still hasn't quite decided where to close.

Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now, of course, we'll have much more on the market story throughout the day. But you can also follow the markets on CNNmoney.com. And read about how this compares to dives we've seen in the past.

CHURCH: Let's turn now to France where four men, who helped disarm a gunman on a Paris-bound train, have received Frances' highest honor. We brought it to you live on this show 23 hours ago. French President Francois Hollande awarded the Americans and a Briton the Legion of Honor on Monday, hailing them as heroes.

BARNETT: Martin Savidge looks at how these men managed to stop the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The high-speed French train leaves Amsterdam at 3:15 in the afternoon for a three-hour trip to Paris. On board are three American friends enjoying a European vacation together. Two hours later, the train makes a stop in Brussels where alleged gunman, 25-year-old Ayoub el Khazzani, a Moroccan native, gets on board. Minutes later, a shirtless el Khazzani emerges from a bathroom between cars 11 and 12 in first class. He makes his way back to car 12 where he is confronted by Mark Moogalian, also an American from North Carolina, who teaches English in France. Moogalian manages to wrestle the assault weapon from the gunman, but Khazzani shoots Moogalian in the neck with a pistol and grabs the rifle back. It's that gunshot that alerts the three American friends. It's 5:50 p.m.

ALEK SKARLATOS, STOPPED GUNMAN ON TRAIN: The gunshot was probably the first noise I heard and then that was followed by breaking glass. So the gunshot was one of the -- the first thing that came to our attention. I didn't know it was a gunshot at the time. It was the first thing I heard. It was behind me. I didn't know where he was aiming it.

SAVIDGE: 22-year-old Oregon National Guardsman, Alek Skarlatos, fresh from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, is the first to react, shouting, "Get him." His buddy, 23-year-old Spencer Stone, a martial arts enthusiast and in the Air Force, leads the charge towards the suspect.

SPENCER STONE, STOPPED GUNMAN ON TRAIN: Ran down, tackled him. Alek grabbed the gun and I put him in a choke hold. He kept pulling more weapons, pulled out a handgun, took out a box cutter and started jabbing at me with that. We let go. All three of us started punching him when he was in the middle of us. I was able to grab him again and choke him unconscious while Alek was hitting in the head with the pistol or rifle, I can't really remember.

SAVIDGE: Stone is severely slashed by a box cutter nearly losing his thumb and suffering injuries to his neck and head.

SKARLATOS: He had a lot of ammo. His intentions were pretty clear.

SAVIDGE: That's when the third American, Anthony Sadler, helps tie the suspect up, aided by British man, Chris Norman. Despite his injuries, Stone starts to render first aid to Moogalian, who is bleeding badly from his neck.

Meanwhile, Sadler uses his phone to capture the chaotic moments. Then Sadler goes car to car spreading the news to terrified passengers the danger is over.

10 minutes after the first shot, the train was diverted off the main line and re-routed to town of Arras, about 115 miles north of Paris. The gunman is taken into police custody. These pictures show what appear to be more magazines, suggesting the attacker planned to reload numerous times. The injured and wounded were taken to area hospitals.

All indications, the quick-thinking Americans, aided by others, prevented what could have been a massacre on a train moving at close to 200 miles an hour.

Martin Savidge, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:15:24] BARNETT: Still Incredible.

CHURCH: It is an amazing story.

BARNETT: And there will be a parade back home for some of those Americans.

CHURCH: Yes, welcoming home the heroes.

BARNETT: Other stories now, the world of motor sports is mourning the loss of British Indy car driver, Justin Wilson, who died from severe head injuries sustained at the Poconos Race Way in the U.S. on Sunday.

CHURCH: Also he was struck in the head by the nose cone by another car that crashed. He remained hospitalized in a coma after the race accident before dying Monday evening.

Wilson was remembered by one of his fellow drivers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED CARPENTER, INDYCARE DRIVER: I think he exemplified, you know, what the reason that we all love doing this. He fought so hard to get back. And as challenging as today is and yesterday was, you know, he's doing what he loved to do and what we all love to do. And why we'll all be back competing in his honor in the near future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Wilson is survived by his wife and two young daughters. He was 37 years old.

BARNETT: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, North and South Korea have reached a deal to ease hostilities that put the two nations on the brink or armed combat. Details on the agreement after this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:41] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. After two days of rare marathon talks, North and South Korea have reached an agreement to ease tensions on the peninsula.

BARNETT: South Korea has now stopped its propaganda broadcasts over the border as part of the deal and North Korea expressed regret over recent landmine blasts that wounded two South Korean soldiers.

Our Kathy Novak joins us now live from Seoul with more on the agreement.

Kathy, you can almost hear this global sigh of relief but what are we learning about what it took to get this far? These talks went on for days. For North Korea to even admit regret is significant. How did we get here?

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did go on for days. I think they were talking for about 43 or 44 hours. And what we are hearing is the statement that we got from the negotiator on the South Korean side. And the sticking points as we know throughout have been these two things. On one hand, North Korea was demanding that South Korea stop broadcasting through these loud speakers on the border. South Korea was demanding an apology for landmine explosions. And we heard President Park Geun-Hye saying that she was demanding this apology. One would imagine that what was going on was a way to satisfy both sides so they could go home and say we got what we wanted and no one had to lose face and they had to find a delicate way to do that. They came to the agreement to be able to express regret. It is unusual to hear this expression of regret from North Korea and it seems to underscore how angry North Korea was about these propaganda speakers that it saw as extremely insulting to the leader and regime. But on the other hand they didn't want to back down in terms of giving an apology. In terms of being able to express regret. It can say it is regretful that the landmines happened without taking responsibility for it.

BARNETT: We had escalating tensions, talks and an agreement. And apparently the sides will talk again but the possibility of reuniting Korean families is also on the table and also incredibly significant.

NOVAK: Absolutely. That is one of the things in the speculations as we waited for these men to emerge from this meeting. The speculation was there must be other things they are talking about. We know these propaganda speakers and the apology over the landmines were the red lines for both sides but there are other things that have plagued the relationship between North and South Korea for many, many years. One of the things that was speculated about was economic sanctions. That has not come up in the statement. But family reunions that is a very significant point. That is something they said they will discussing again coming back together next month with the view to having these family reunions at the end of September when the Koreans mark their thanksgiving.

BARNETT: Kathy Novak with a bit of good news today. Great to see you. Thanks. CHURCH: In U.S. politics, Democratic presidential front runner,

Hillary Clinton, could soon face a new challenger.

BARNETT: There are fresh signs that Vice President Joe Biden is considering jumping into the primary race. And a Democratic source says that Biden has President Obama's blessing.

Joe Johns reports on what is pointing to a Biden run and the obstacles he may face.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Biden arrived at the White House today with a lot on his mind. His weekly lunch with the president in the Oval Office taking on new meaning with speculation swirling about whether he will run.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Everybody is pretty interested to find out what decision the vice president is going to make. The president has indicated his view that the decision to add Joe Biden on the ticket as his running mate was the smartest decision he had ever made in politics.

[02:25:06] JOHNS: A Democratic source in touch with Biden's associates tell CNN the vice president is now leaning more towards running for president than against it.

The buzz about a possible Biden candidacy intensified after he traveled from Delaware to Washington this weekend for a secret meeting with influential liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She's a leading voice in our party for progressive values and progressive issues, and I'm not surprised that Joe Biden and others will seek her counsel.

(CHEERING)

JOHNS: So far, the Massachusetts Senator has refused to endorse Hillary Clinton, saying this last week --

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I don't think anyone has been anointed. What I want to see is all of the presidential candidates lay out where they stand on key issues.

JOHNS: Biden associates see a possible opening because Clinton has been battling trust issues with voters over his e-mail controversy.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you wipe the server?

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Like with a cloth or something?

JOHNS: The latest CNN/ORC poll shows 53 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Clinton while 44 percent view Biden that way.

Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders, sees Clinton's numbers as helping him.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the evidence is pretty clear, we are gaining. And what the polls indicate is that Hillary Clinton's support seems to be receding a bit.

JOHNS: Biden still would face major hurdles if he got into the race this late, raising enough money and quickly starting up an organization. In the last few weeks, he has been talking to advisers and supporters about whether a run is realistic. Biden has been told he needs to make a decision by October 1st. One plan would have him announce his intentions the first week of October.

(on camera): The official message from the vice president's office is he has not made a decision about running for president, and any speculation to the contrary is false.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And on the crowded Republican side, two candidates are separating themselves on immigration. Ahead, where Jeb Bush and Donald Trump stand. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:27] BARNETT: Welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church.

We want to take a look at our top story right now and take a look at the markets in the Asia-Pacific region. We've seen some positive movement but a lot of volatility. Let's look at the Shanghai Composite in China. It's nearly a 7 percent loss. As it opened, it was a 4 percent loss. Something has happened, all this volatility. And the other market we are keeping a close eye on is Tokyo's Nikkei. That has lost nearly 4 percent. That was in positive territory not long ago. As was Hong Kong. That has lost nearly a percent there. We are seeing all this volatility now. Very important. Keeping our eye on that.

BARNETT: And U.S. financial markets look to recover today from their biggest single-day drop since 2011. The Dow closed down 588 points on Monday.

CHURCH: The market plunged more than 1,000 points within minutes of the opening bell. And here's a look at how the day played out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We begin with breaking news on Wall Street. Dow futures down some 600 points this Monday morning ahead of the opening bell.

(BELL RINGING)

HARLOW: All right, the markets are open. You see the big board up there. In just a few moments, we will see how the selloff, looks like it's accelerating, the Dow down 100 points at the open. We're seeing the Dow Jones Industrial Average off 800 points. It was off more than 950 points just a moment ago.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: When you see a 5 percent move in a market in the stock market in a single day, it's very, very rare to see this. This is a lot of selling coming from all around the world. Now we're down 6 percent, more than 1,000 points here.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: At the moment, this market having been down between 600 and 800. It's looking for its direction.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: It's just too early to tell how low we're going to go at this point.

HARLOW: The Dow 667 points. Half an hour into the trading session.

I want to pull up the big board again. It's important to put this into perspective. The Dow off 300 points. Nowhere near the 1,000 point drop we saw at the open. ROMANS: The Dow now down 340-some points. That looks sunny and rosy

after an epic 1,000 point plunge.

ALESCI: It appears things have stabilized for now. The true question is where we close today.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're now 200 at 141. Good god, might we erase the disaster of today?

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: There's about a half an hour left in the trading day. The Dow sinking once again. You can now see down 668, after really rebounding.

(BELL RINGING)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to settle in right now about 584 points down at 4:00. That's on top of the 500-point loss that we saw earlier this week.

QUEST: At the end of trading on Monday, the 24th of August, look at the numbers. The madness is over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: You want to take a breath after that.

Our correspondents and experts have told us there are many reasons the global markets took a dip. But it didn't take long for the Republican presidential candidates to blame the Obama administration for the market slide.

First up, Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: I've been telling everybody for a long time China has been taking our jobs and our money. Be careful. They'll bring us down. You have to know what you're doing. We have nobody that has a clue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Donald there.

Republican candidate, Scott Walker, is urging President Obama to cancel a planned state visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mr. Xi is scheduled to travel to the U.S. next month. Walker says the U.S. needs to speak out against China's advances in international waters and hit back at alleged cyberattacks by Beijing. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT WALKER, (R), WISCONSIN GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I called on the president of the United States to cancel the state visit he is providing for the head of China, Xi Jinping. Why? Because, to me, not just because of what they have done to devalue their currency but because of what they're not doing when it comes to upholding those values. Why would we give that state visit to a country that doesn't share our values and allegiances? I call on others to ask the president of the United States to say we're not going to have that state visit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Walker says the U.S. needs to do more to change China's human rights record, which he says includes the persecution of 100 million Christians.

[02:35:02] BARNETT: Meantime, fellow Republican candidate, Jeb Bush, is trying to dig out of a controversy over his use of the term "anchor babies."

CHURCH: The phrase refers to children been in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. Bush insists he is not using the term in a derogatory way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: My background and my life, I'm immersed in the immigrant experience. This is ludicrous to suggest that I'm using a derogatory term. What I'm talking about is the specific case of fraud being commit where had there are organized efforts and it's more related to Asian people coming into our country, having children in that organized effort, taking advantage of a noble concept, which is birthright citizenship. I support the 14th Amendment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: That clarification prompted a Senator from Hawaii to call for an immediate retraction and an apology to the Asian community.

CHURCH: The border issue of immigration is a key point of debate between Trump and Jeb Bush.

BARNETT: Polo Sandoval has more on how the candidates are trying to win support while staking out their positions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUSH: You have to have a deeper strategy than just building a fence.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It didn't take Jeb Bush to go on the offense during his stop at the South Texas city of McAllen. The former Florida governor went straight for fellow Candidate Donald Trump's immigration policy.

BUSH: Mr. Trump's plans are not grounded in conservative principles. It would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It's not realistic.

SANDOVAL: Last month, Trump flew his signature plane down to Laredo, Texas, another border city. He toured the dividing line of the U.S. and Mexico in the midst of a media frenzy. TRUMP: We have a tremendous danger on the border with the illegals

coming in.

SANDOVAL: Trump is needling his fellow GOP candidates.

TRUMP (voice-over): I was down on the border. It's rough, tough, stuff. This is not love. This is other things going on. And I think he will be able to figure that out, maybe.

SANDOVAL: While both Bush and Trump met with local officials, the similarities end there. Not on Bush's agenda, a look at the actual border. Campaign officials say Bush has visited the border before and is familiar with the issues dominating the immigration debate. Today's stop in Texas coming amid rising tensions between the GOP rivals, with Bush tweeting, "His massive inconsistencies aside, Donald Trump's immigration plan is not conservative or reflects our nation's values."

Trump responded at his big Alabama rally.

TRUMP: Jeb Bush very weak on immigration. Wants to let people come in.

SANDOVAL: For all the back and forth, the two have substantial differences on key issues such as birthright citizenship.

BUSH: I think that people born in this country ought to be American citizens.

TRUMP: You don't walk over the border for one day and, all of a sudden, we have another American citizen. It doesn't work that way.

SANDOVAL: Or building a wall.

BUSH: I talked to the southwest governors. No one thinks we should be building a fence as the solution to security.

TRUMP: I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.

SANDOVAL: And how to deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

BUSH: The simple fact is there is no plan to deport 11 million people. We should give them a pass to legal status.

TRUMP: They came over illegally. Some are wonderful people and they've been here for a while. They've got to go out.

SANDOVAL: Over the weekend, Trump was short on specifics on how he would execute that plan.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, GOOD MORNING AMERICA HOST: You declare you're going to do it but don't say how.

TRUMP: George, I'm telling you, it's called management. You can do this. And we can expedite the good ones to come back in.

SANDOVAL (on camera): And Bush's view on immigration could get mixed reaction from fellow Republicans. They could be too moderate for the GOP base. Bush has not backed away of the idea to grant citizenship to the estimated 11 million undocumented people already in the country.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, McAllen, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: The man already occupying the White House, President Obama, makes his pitch for cleaner energy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For decades, we have been told it doesn't make economic sense to switch to renewable energy. Today, that's no longer true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Just ahead, we'll see what role solar power have in his plan for a greener future? We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:42:37] CHURCH: All right. Let's take a look at the Asia-Pacific markets that hour. Sydney and Tokyo have finished trading for the day.

BARNETT: Looking at the Shanghai Composite, it's looking as bad as yesterday when it closed close to 8 percent down. 7.66 percent down at this hour. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which was in positive territory not long ago, pulling back almost a full percentage point.

U.S. President Barack Obama is in Las Vegas outlining his plans for an energy efficient future. Mr. Obama unveiled executive actions to promote cleaner energy, especially solar.

CHURCH: They include commitments to include solar power to include more than 40 U.S. military bases and technology to double the amount of energy solar panels can produce. Mr. Obama is also making a billion dollars in loan guarantees available to encourage new technology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Now is not the time to insist on massive cuts to the investments in R&D that help drive our economy, including the hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that Republicans want to take from the successful job-creating clean-energy programs. It's thanks, in part, to these investments that there are already places across the country where clean power from the sun is finally cheaper than conventional power from your utility, power often generated by burning coal or gas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Obama there.

And joining me from Las Vegas is Danielle Baussan, the managing director of the energy team at the Center for American Progress, co sponsors of the summit.

Thank you for being with us.

DANIELLE BAUSSAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ENERGY TEAM, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Thank you.

CHURCH: You were at the National Clean Energy Summit and listened to what Mr. Obama had to say and his measures to encourage solar power use. And what stood out for you?

BAUSSAN: I think what stood out was that we really reached this tipping point where renewable energy is not just an increasing part of the energy mix but an increasing part of the economy as well and we need to increase access to that renewable energy.

CHURCH: Now we heard there, on that sound grab from President Obama, he talked about clean power from the sun finally being cheaper than conventional power generated from burning coal or gas. Significant progress, he said, attributed to these clean energy programs. Given that, why do Republicans want to cut some of these clean energy programs? How do you explain that?

[02:45:25] BAUSSAN: I think any time -- this is what the president said, so it's not just my opinion. But any time you start to see a shift in how -- in the status quo anywhere but in the energy field in this case, people are going to push back. And some of the people that are pushing back have a vested interest in our dirtier and antiquated energy systems. I think that we're seeing is that people who aren't sure how to react to a new energy source and want to characterize it as being inefficient or unsustainable and trying to protect vested interests.

CHURCH: Those who can't make money out of solar power will not support it. Is that what you're saying?

BAUSSAN: I think there are some people who are entrenched in an older energy, dirtier energy system. And so, it may not be the -- they may not make money but some of their colleagues are the life they know for their energy mix is changing and that makes things more difficult for them.

CHURCH: Why has it taken America so long to embrace solar energy? In Australia, they have been harnessing the sun's power for centuries and utilizing solar panels. What is the major obstacle for the United States? Is it that interest that you were talking about there?

BAUSSAN: I think, in part, we have had an addiction to oil in our country for a long time. And it's interesting because in the 1970s, Americans had their own energy crisis and that was a period where there was a strong interest in renewable energy and people were moving toward figuring out ways to harness cleaner sources of energy. But as oil and dirty energy became more accessible again people shifted gears and started moving away from that renewable energy source and the demand started to fall. We've seen it start to pick up, obviously, certainly in the last eight years. And what the president alluded to is that we reached this watershed moment is that it's not going to shift as the price of oil suddenly goes down as we are seeing today.

CHURCH: Danielle Baussan, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

BAUSSAN: Thank you.

BARNETT: It is such an important issue.

Many people wondering if this is related to climate change. The U.S. state of Washington is now experiencing its worst fire year on record. More than 250,000 hectares, an area bigger than London and New York combined, have burned in the region.

Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us with what could be the best news in a long time for the draught-stricken region -- Pedram?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, rainfall. Just looked into this in the last few minutes. The last time we had multiple days, upwards of four days in a row of rainfall in Seattle, in particular, back between March 13th to March 16th. We have a storm system entering the picture. The center of circulation right here showing the moisture in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere. Cooler weather is pushing in as well. We are getting to a pattern we have been looking forward to. Above normal possibility for rainfall in the northwestern corner of the U.S. and the temperature trend warms up a little bit. And multiple days of rainfall and temperatures in the 60s. Only one time in Seattle we had temperatures in the 60s. That was 10 days ago. It looks to get there in the coming couple days as well.

I want to show you something quickly. We're watching a couple of tropical features. The worst developed just within the last couple of hours. We are looking at Erica, and remnants of Danny working towards portions of the Caribbean as well. And in Puerto Rico, water rationing in place. Tremendous drought taking place. Good news coming into that region with rainfall in the forecast.

But bad news in Turkey. Northeastern Turkey we go. This is a town with a population of 20,000 people. Eight people losing their lives and two people missing from incredible rainfall that came down.

I want to show you something. As we take you in to the Black Sea, the terrain had everything to do with what occurred here. We had the northerly flow here. The mountain range here within 10 miles, goes from sea level to 6,000 feet high. You put this together and you get massive rains that took place. Upwards of about a months'-worth of rainfall in a matter of a few hours. 10 inches coming down, Rosemary and Errol, in just a matter of a few hours. Pretty incredible over this region of Turkey.

[02:50:07] CHURCH: It's unbelievable when you see the amount of rain. Unbelievable.

BARNETT: It is.

CHURCH: All right, thanks, Pedram

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

CHURCH: The people of a small village in the U.S. state of Illinois get together to honor one of their own with a very special gift. That story after this short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Sergeant Michael Shoemaker is lucky to be alive after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. Army soldier was wounded in an accident.

BARNETT: But people in his community of Harmon, Illinois, thought it was time to honor his service. They did just that with a brand-new home for the soldier and his family.

Tiffany Liou, from affiliate KWQC, has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIFFANY LIOU, REPORTER, KWQC (voice-over): Michael, Braden, Hannah and Harper play in their new home.

(SHOUTING)

LIOU: They are four children of a proud soldier dad, Michael Shoemaker.

MICHAEL SHOEMAKER, U.S. VETERAN: Eighth grade, September 11th, is when I knew I would join the service.

LIOU: He enlisted out of high school and served in Iraq and then toured Afghanistan where he was injured in 2012.

SHOEMAKER: We were moving ammunitions and rounds that weren't supposed to go off. 13 grenades blew up, wounded seven and killed one.

[02:55:12] LIOU: Shoemaker lost his best friend that day. But he survived his own injuries.

SHOEMAKER: I died four times on the table. I promised my wife I would come home.

LIOU: He kept that promise coming home to the wife as kids. And even more so, loving neighbors who wanted to give thanks.

TERRI PORTER, PASTOR, ABIDING WORD CHURCH: We all rallied together and decided we want to honor a hero in our community.

LIOU: Pastor Terri Porter and volunteers built this home for the Shoemakers.

PORTER: It was a labor of love.

LIOU: Saturday, they put on the finishing touch, a line of American flags to the front porch and a ribbon to celebrate this day.

SHOEMAKER: Thanks, everybody, for everything.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

LIOU: The day the Shoemakers had a place to call home.

SHOEMAKER: Thank you. Words can't express the gratitude I have.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Anyways, I think we're keeping a flag out here.

LIOU: Reporting in Harmon, Illinois --

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: You're the best daddy ever.

LIOU: Tiffany Liou, KWQC, TV 6 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A great conclusion to that story.

BARNETT: Yeah, well deserved.

CHURCH: Yes, indeed.

And you have been watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. We are back in moments with more on the volatility in the Asian markets and the opening of European markets. Do stay with us. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)