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Hala Gorani Tonight
Two Journalists Murdered on Live TV Remembered; New Details About Gunman. Aired 3-4p ET.
Aired August 27, 2015 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:03] HALA GORANI, HOST: Tonight on the program we are remembering two journalists murdered on live television and learning new details about
the gunman who filmed the killings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: And any moment now we expect to hear from the WDBJ colleagues of Alison Parker and Adam Ward, these are live pictures coming to us from
Roanoke, Virginia. We will bring you those comments as soon as they begin.
Also this hour we'll be looking at this; dozens of asylum seekers die on one leg of a dangerous journey through Europe found inside of a truck
abandoned on a highway. I'll ask the U.N's High Commissioner for Refugees what the solution is to this migrant crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Hello everyone, I'm Hala Gorani, we're live at CNN London. Thanks for being with us this hour, this is The World Right Now.
The murder of two journalists in Virginia has caused shock and grief for many. It unfolded in an unprecedented way, happening not only on live
television but also on social media, when the gunman posted his own video on Twitter and Facebook.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Now, a day after people are taking stock, they're coming together, trying to come to terms with what happened.
KIMBERLY MCBROOM, ANCHOR: Please join us now in a moment of silence.
GORANI: WDBJ remembers two colleagues 24 hours after they were murdered on air.
MCBROOK: Alison Parker and Adam Ward were part of our family here at the station and many of you have told us that they were part of your morning
each day as well.
GORANI: Outside the Virginia station a memorial grows larger. Stunned colleagues mourning the loss of two young journalists who'd been known and
loved on breakfast television.
Alison Parker started working at WDBJ last year after previously serving as an intern. She was in a relationship with the station's evening anchor,
Chris Hurst.
CHRIS HURST, ALISON PARKER'S BOYFRIEND: I need the entire world to know that a woman as amazing as her exists and was taken too soon.
GORANI: Photographer Adam Ward is remembered as fun-loving and a go- getter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's especially tragic is not only was he robbed of his life, this world was robbed of the future goals that he would have
achieved.
GORANI: Adam was engaged to one of the morning producers at WDBJ. Tragically his fiancee's wedding dress was delivered to her just hours
after she witnessed the attack from the control room as it took place.
The man who murdered Adam and Alison was a former reporter at their station. Vester Flanagan was known as a difficult employee. After he was
fired two years ago police had to be called to escort him from the building.
After fleeing the scene of the attack, Flanagan shot himself in his car and later died. But before that Flanagan faxed a rambling suicide note 23
pages long to ABC News. He complained that years of bullying and racist comments at former workplaces including WDBJ drove him to violence.
He also cited the June killing of 9 black parishioners by a white man "what sent me over the top was the Charleston church shooting and my hollow point
bullets have the victims' initials on them."
Alison Parker's father says he'll push for new gun laws so no other parent he says will have to face what he's going through.
ANDY PARKER, FATHER OF KILLED JOURNALIST: She was so loved by all and you know my heart is broken. But you know I want to try and do something that
will change that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Alright, Drew Griffin is joining me now with more on this tragic story. And Drew just a note to our viewers we're expecting a news
conference to start any second now so we'll go to it live when it indeed does start. I'm seeing people gather there around microphones in Roanoke.
What more have we learned about this shooter? This killer, Vester Flanagan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are learning that he was unemployed in the last several months, he had been working in Roanoke,
Virginia, as a clerk for a temp agency. His last T.V. job was at this stage that he worked two and a half years ago. And it looks like Hala he
was just stewing there, believing that he was wronged by this and many other people in his life for the past two and a half years. Until finally
47 days ago was when he bought the two glock pistols and then apparently started planning this attack which took place yesterday morning.
All of this written out in that just crazy manifesto which seems to indicate an unspecified an undiagnosed mental illness that was taking place
inside this killer's mind, Hala.
[15:05:11] GORANI: And Drew, we're seeing their employees, members of the newsroom, I see there the General Manager, Jeff Marks walk up to the
microphone. In fact I think we're going to go live now to Roanoke to listen in on this news conference.
JEFF MARKS, WDBJ GENERAL MANAGER: Thank you for allowing us to do this all at once. We're bouncing from interview to interview and earlier today and
it just got so time consuming we were maybe taking our eye off the ball here at the company.
So we wanted to share some thoughts with you and some information. And first I want to answer a question that everybody's been asking today.
Kelly Zuber, News Director about the pins.
KELLY ZUBER, NEWS DIRECTOR: Yes, we're wearing ribbons today and we'll continue to wear those as long as we can. They represent Adam and Alison
being maroon represents Virginia Tech and Adam's love for Virginia Tech. And the teal was just Alison's favorite color. So one of our reporters,
Nadine Maeser put these together for us and we appreciate her efforts and it really helps solidify our feelings about them and show everyone how we
feel.
MARKS: Thank you. A lot of questions have been asked about the employment situation of Vester Flanagan, also known as Bryce Williams. So I wanted to
put it together in a statement and we will distribute copies of the statement. And I want to thank the WDBJ7 team for coming out and joining
us for this because we're all in this together.
I'm going to read the statement and would be glad to take questions and - about anything regarding what happened yesterday.
Vester Flanagan was employed by WDBJ7 as a reporter between March 2012 and February 2013. He applied for the position using the air name of Bryce
Williams. As part of WDBJ7's standard policy and protocol for background checks we received only positive references.
Flanagan's job performance and his interaction with his co-workers led his manager to place Flanagan on a succession of performance improvement plans.
Only slight improvement was noted each time. Flanagan was placed on a final warning in December 2012, for failure to check his specs in a news
story and for generally for poor news judgment.
In January 2013 he accused one of the news photographers here of making trouble for him by questioning a decision to go on private property in
pursuit of a story. At that point in a meeting with our manager and HR. he raised some concerns with HR or perceived unfairness and those accusations
or concerns were immediately investigated and found to be without merit.
Shortly after that he confronted an anchor in the hallway, an anchor who was assigned by a producer to review one of his stories and he was not
happy about that. At that point management made the determination that it was the appropriate time to separate him from the company.
On February 1st of 2013 two news managers and the HR manager notified Flanagan of the decision to terminate his employment. He reacted angrily
telling them that they would have to call the police because he was going to make a stink and was going to be in the headlines.
The HR rep then called 911. Employees have been notified to give Flanagan space to clean out his desk. Once at his desk Flanagan attempted to reach
the Corporate CEO without success. At that point the police arrived and escorted him from the building.
On the way out he handed a wooden cross to the news director who was at that time Dan Dennison, and he said "you'll need this." He also made a
derogatory comment to Adam Ward, the news photographer whom we lost yesterday as he left.
The only contact between WDBJ7 and Flanagan after that were routine calls to HR about termination benefits. Shortly thereafter Flanagan filed a
complaint of harassment and discrimination with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. WDBJ7 responded that his claims of mistreatment
were unfounded and the EEOC denied the claim based on all of the evidence that we provided.
He later filed a civil action in local court in Roanoke. That action was dismissed. In two and a half years since the termination WDBJ7 employees
reported seeing Flanagan in public places and there were no confrontations. He was never seen following employees and he did not attempt to enter the
offices of WDBJ7.
[15:10:12] All claims of mistreatment were investigated by senior management via HR representative Monica Taylor who is here with Kelly and
me today and with our legal counsel, Victor Cardwell of the firm of Woods Rogers. All of these investigations determined that no reasonable person
would have taken any of the cited instances as discrimination or harassment.
I wanted to summarize this in one page for you to make sure that you have the timeline and everything we think was pertinent to his employment. That
all ended two and a half years ago and we are still at a loss to figure out what happened to him in those two and a half years.
Most of our time we are spending focused on the results of his actions yesterday, the loss of Adam and Alison, and our bond with the community
which has been so strong for the last 30 hours or so with everyone from the community that we can imagine coming and shaking our hands and reaching out
to us, and us reaching back through our media, through WDBJ7, and our web and mobile outlets to make sure that we continue to serve the public as is
our mission.
That's what I have for you at the moment but I'd be glad to take questions and Kelly would as well. And I'll bring in Victor if it's too complicated
for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeff, there's a report in the Guardian that Flanagan (inaudible) need to get medical - mental health (inaudible).
MARKS: Yes, we made it mandatory that he seek help from our Employee Assistance program, many companies have them. They provide you know
counseling and other services and we made it mandatory that he do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did he get that help?
MARKS: At least on one occasion right. He complied with what we asked him to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know whether he was on any medications.
MARKS: I do not know that. We'll start here and then there.
(ANDY, ABC): Jeff it's (Andy) (inaudible) with ABC.
MARKS: Hi, (Andy), it's been a while.
(ANDY): (Inaudible) is there anything in terms of a change in the laws, or a change in rules or things (inaudible)
MARKS: Well you know almost every reporter I've asked that of, I've asked the question back. First of all yes there are probably things we can do.
We can probably, you know screen more but by and large we get great employees here. One's going to slip through the cracks every now and then.
I'm very proud of our hiring record, and we have a very elaborate program to screen employees at our parent company Schurz Communications, Inc. so I
don't know the answer to that question, nor do I think that I'm likely to come up with it in the first day after the disaster, (Andy).
Yes sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that there -- members of your staff ran into him after he was terminated (inaudible). You said there was no
confrontations but to be clear was there any indication he still held some kind of grudge against the company.
MARKS: It never fed back to me that that was the case. It was a sighting but it wasn't - it wasn't even a conversation, I think. I think I never
heard even of a conversation.
Yes sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) yesterday after this incident, have they been out today or?
MARKS: Why don't I ask Kelly to answer that?
ZUBER: We did not have live teams out yesterday nor do we have them out today just in abundance of caution. And I know a lot of other news
organizations around the country are wrestling with that. We'll evaluate that as we go and we'll also consult with our staff and see what their
comfort level is with this.
[15:15:07] Law enforcement has actually reached out to us and said you know hey if you're doing a live shot somewhere let us know and we'll be
there, we'll help you.
So we appreciate that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While you're up there can I ask you guys at the morning show (inaudible)
ZUBER: I have - I have the greatest news team. I - you know I love each and every one of them and they have performed so well. I have watched
anchors and reporters half an hour before a news cast be crying in the newsroom and then get on that set and deliver the news to the people of
Southwest and Central Virginia. They have had to talk about their colleagues, and you know deal with some difficult situations. I give you
the example of our meteorologist this morning found a candy wrapper while on the air that Adam Ward had always eaten and had left somewhere.
And it's those kinds of little things that are just kind of getting to us now. My sports director just said to me I lost it when I saw - when I
walked out and saw his car in the parking lot and it had - saw clothes in there.
Every little thing, it's not the big things that get to us, it's the little ones. But the performance of this staff has been incredible. They cry,
they hug, and then they get the job done and that's all I can ask of them right now.
MARKS: Yes, sir. Hold on. Let me go over here and then over here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. What did you say about the community before (inaudible) and give us examples of ways that the community has
stood together with you all.
MARKS: Well we've had service - church services held and there are more planned. We have had people come with flowers, there's another bouquet of
flowers arriving. We have had countless deliveries of food which we really appreciate. Our people have - well this newsroom moves on its stomach, OK.
And the people here have appreciated that.
I have 819 emails, I have all my voicemail boxes are full and it's all with people reaching out. And there are two communities. One is this community
here which we so love and strive to serve. The other is the greater journalism community and we have heard from organizations on every
continent. I just talked a little while ago to Scott Pelley who offered to do anything he could. And we are just gratified by the support from the
world of journalism and broadcasting as well in trying to do our job.
Yes sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)
MARKS: We work very hard to try to reflect our community. Diversity does not just refer to race, diversity refers to education, age, height, ethnic
background, all those things that make us a (inaudible) a mixture of people. We do not tolerate any attitude of illegal discrimination,
harassment or anything that makes the workplace other than a safe place to work.
We have terminated employees for violating that standard and we would again. I am absolutely certain that nothing like that happened in this
case and that it was in the imagination and perhaps the preconception and pre-planned attitudes of the fellow in this case.
Yes.
TOM (Inaudible): Tom (inaudible), with ABC News.
MARKS: Hi, Tom.
TOM: The manifesto I think it mentions being degraded by a cameraman (inaudible) Are you familiar with that incident? Was Adam the cameraman?
And do you think that may have had significance in the location of the shooting?
MARKS: I have no idea what the significance of the location of the shooting was, so I can't comment on that. I know that there were a number
of incidents he cited, I don't recall that one specifically, and I don't recall whether Adam was the photographer on that. I do know from
everything we've said and we've learned that Vester's behavior annoyed a lot of people in the newsroom not just photographs, producers, other
reporters, anchors and managers. And that he - so he could have been berated but it was almost certainly in response to something he was doing.
[15:20:03] And I would defend the actions of every person who was in the newsroom when he was here because I saw the way he behaved and if anything
he - well let me just leave it at that. I saw the way he behaved.
GORANI: All right, Jeff Marks is the General Manager at WDBJ, he's been addressing reporters, Drew Griffin is still with me. Addressing reporters
there, clearing up a few things about the shooter in this case. Drew, you've been listening as well to this news conference, he was giving
details about Vester Flanagan, his termination, how he was asked to attend a what was called an Employee Assistance Program.
What have we learned here?
GRIFFIN: Well that he did in fact attend that and he didn't take kindly to the advocacy he was getting. We have follow up internal emails where he
didn't respond positively to what was being said in terms of trying to get along with colleagues. And even after those sessions or that session he
was still having problems with colleagues.
But I think the thing to keep in mind for all of us is all of this information that we're talking about Hala is two and a half years old, so
this was in the past. And he had separated from the station. The General Manager there says he wasn't even aware of a conversation that this shooter
had with anybody from the company within the last two and a half years, other than initially just trying to check what his benefits were post
termination.
So whatever it was that sparked this sudden urge of violence he had came two and a half years after he was let go from this, his last television
station he worked.
GORANI: All right, Drew Griffin, thanks very much. We're seeing Kelly Zuber there at the microphone, the News Director of the station. Earlier
she said that employees were wearing pins to remember and honor the victims in this case Alison Parker, and Adam Ward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: We have more on this story to come tonight as people pause to remember the victims of the Virginia shootings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Others were forced to see much more of it than they wanted to or were expecting when they logged onto their social media accounts. We will
explain what happened online a little bit later.
Plus, also this story; dozens of asylum seekers die in the back of a truck in Austria, off the road.
Much more on Europe's migrant crisis when we come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(END COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: More now on the migrant refugee crisis in Europe. Day by day desperate people are taking more extreme risks to try to find a safe haven
in Europe. Increasingly those journeys are ending in tragedy.
The latest heartbreaking example is in Austria where police found the remains of dozens of migrants in the back of a truck on a highway.
[15:25:06] The gruesome discovery comes as European leaders met not far away in Vienna to try and work out how to handle the crisis. Ian Lee has
the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A grisly discovery on the side of an Austrian highway Thursday, a refrigerator truck with up to 50 dead
migrants, the cause of death unknown.
Austrian police now searching for the driver, a difficult task as the truck appears to have been abandoned for at least 12 hours.
HANS PETER DOSKOZIL, BURGENLAND POLICE CHIEF: The truck is being examined at a refrigerated facility where the loading bay will be opened up and then
we can establish how many bodies are inside. This is work that will last until tomorrow morning.
LEE: The truck came from Hungary where camps like this contain thousands of migrants streaming into the European Union. The tragedy proving that
once in Europe migrants aren't out of danger, their desperation leads them to take risky routes paying dangerous smugglers who have shown complete
disregard for human life.
WERNER FAYMANN, AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR: (As translated) This shows again how necessary it is to save lives by fighting criminality and trafficking.
This also shows again that we have to take responsibility and grant asylum to people who are fleeing their countries.
LEE: EU and Western Balkan leaders are meeting in Vienna to discuss the migrant crisis. The EU pledged 1.5 million euros to help Macedonia and
Serbia who are pressing the EU to come up with a plan to prevent migrants from illegally entering their countries, either side able to agree exactly
how to move forward.
FEDERICA MOGHERINI, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: There is no magic solution, there is no magic events that can solve issues from one day to the other
but the road we can follow to start making things work is very well known.
LEE: But while European leaders debate how best to deal with the crisis, the migrants continue to risk their lives in the hundreds of thousands.
Ian Lee, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Before they make it to Vienna, here's the route through Eastern Europe that migrants are taking. Many of them are refugees fleeing the war
in Syria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: And you can see how far they've travelled crossing through Turkey and then onto Greece eventually making their way to Serbia and then
Hungary.
Arwa Damon has been following this route, this very route over the past week and she joins me now live.
Exactly where are you Arwa:?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Hala, we're just outside of one of the processing camps not too far away from the
Serbian/Hungarian border inside Hungary. Refugees will spend a few days here before they are then moved on and every single step of the way along
this journey through every single country they meet difficulties, hardships, by the time they get here they are exhausted. And they don't
quite know how to maneuver the system. And for many of them Hala, it is actually this portion of the journey, navigating their way through Hungary
that is the most difficult and in many cases the refugees tell us where they are treated the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: Exhausted children slump on their parent's shoulders, others like nine year old (inaudible) bravely declare that no, he's not tired.
He's from Deir ez-Zor in Syria, one of his relatives from the ISIS capital of Raqqa. It's famous he jokes.
A dark humor is all many have left in the face of all they have endured both in their homeland and much to their dismay here.
We tried to cross yesterday but the Hungarian police were being very harsh so we got scared comments uncle (Pelzer). As night falls the human highway
trudges on under the moonlight on a journey to Western Europe.
Waiting in groups some will try to smuggle through, most hand themselves over to the Hungarian authorities through one of the few openings in the
fence.
This was not a demarcated border, now a razor wire snakes its way menacingly throughout. This is Hungary's attempt to control the record
flow of refugees making it even harder to evade capture, something many dread. Worried it will hinder their asylum applications in Western Europe
and fearful of dismal treatment by the Hungarians that they have been warned about. Something many end up experiencing first hand.
Waiting for hours under the beating sun with little water, no shelter, and no translator that we saw to tell them what's going on. Eventually they
are bussed here to the processing center which takes a couple of days and is hardly set up to accommodate the numbers coming through.
[15:30:00] On Wednesday some of the refugees refused to be finger printed and were tear gas by the Hungarian police when a scuffle broke out. And
according to the refugees, beaten.
Out the window at the bus station these refugees who were there that day say for four days under the rain in Macedonia was more bearable than the
torture we've been through here. It's a prison and they won't respond to us, they just say go back to Syria.
No-one's really told them exactly where they're going or what they're supposed to do when they get there so everyone's very confused and asking
what's going on.
People just want to get out of Hungary it is their gateway to Europe but so far their experience has been more of a nightmare than a dream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON: And Hala for many of these people who are from the war zones or Iraq and Syria they really believe that when they reached to Europe they
would find themselves in a place where at least human rights would be respected. Where at least they could live something of a dignified or have
a dignified existence. But so many of them that we've met along the way say they are sorely disappointed.
GORANI: All right, Arwa Damon is live in Hungary near the border with Serbia, we'll be right back.
(BEGIN COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(END COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: A look at our top stories; in Virginia the General Manager of the television station where two murdered U.S. journalists worked said that his
company did its best to provide help for the fired employee who later turned gunman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Moments ago he along with his colleagues stood outside the station to pay homage to the victims. They all wore ribbons to symbolize the lives
of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. The gunman had posted a rant on social media accusing some employees of the company of treating him in a racist
manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Police in Austria say dozens of migrants have been found dead in the back of a truck close to the border with Hungary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: The vehicle was abandoned at the side of the road near the town of Parndorf. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said leaders at a Balkan
summit had been left shaken by the discovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Also ISIS is claiming responsibility for an attack that killed two senior army commanders in Iraq today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi attended the funeral procession in Baghdad. Six other security force members were killed when ISIS attacked a
military base near Ramadi with rockets and suicide car bombs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: The shooting in Virginia wasn't only horrific, of course it was a murder. But it was shocking in a way we've never seen before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[15:35:05] GORANI: The gunman filmed himself killing his victims and then posted the video on Twitter and Facebook. We're not showing you that video
on CNN. For more let's bring in CNN correspondent Samuel Burke, he joins me now live from New York.
And Samuel it was posted online for a while before it was taken down and people without really wanting to or expecting it in some cases saw the
video, explain why.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was one of the stunned people that saw it this way as this was all unfolding. In the job that I'm in I always go
and look at people's social media pages as these names start to emerge so I was actually on the killer's twitter page and all of a sudden this video
started playing without me even clicking play as is the nature of Facebook and twitter now, they have these auto play video features which we all see
and many of us use. And all of a sudden I was seeing his first person perspective of the video recorded of the actual moment when he killed our
fellow journalist. And a lot of people saw these videos and they're asking how can I stop them from auto playing.
Now Twitter said they had the video down within 8 minutes, Facebook said they took it down as soon as it was flagged but people still want to just
turn off this feature after what they saw yesterday. So I actually just want to walk you through how to do this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURKE: Starting with Facebook you just click on the upper right hand corner, you click settings, and from there you go to the video section and
under the video section you click right there you see on screen where it says auto play you can turn it from on to off. Some people do this because
they're annoyed by the videos they don't want to use their data plan or in this case they're just afraid of seeing something like this again.
On Twitter, something similar, you click your profile picture in the upper right hand corner and then it takes you to a page which has the word
content. And under the content section you click video auto play and you turn it off. And then you save the changes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURKE: It's worth noting Hala that CNN.com uses auto play but on a day like yesterday where we have such graphic footage so it wasn't the social
media footage that he uploaded, it was some of the footage before the gunshots from the live broadcast. There are no ads around those videos and
actually auto play is turned off so you would actually have to click play unlike the social media pages and the people who saw that gruesome footage
yesterday on social media.
GORANI: All right social media was a factor on so many levels in this really tragic story, thanks very much, Samuel Burke, in New York.
Let's return you now to a story we brought you earlier, that desperate journey migrants are taking to try and reach Europe.
Earlier I spoke to Antonio Guterras who is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. I began by asking him what action Europe urgently needs to be
taking now. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRAS, UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: I believe that it is absolutely essential that Europe, namely the countries that are at the
border (inaudible) create adequate reception centers that allow for people to be treated humanely to be resisted, their claims to be analyzed. And if
those countries are not able to do it by themselves the European Union needs to assume that responsibility and at the same time those that are
indeed in need of protection and Syrians obviously, all of them can be considered refugees, they should be then having access to the countries of
the European Union in order to get the protection and assistance they require and to be able to rebuild their future.
GORANI: There are countries that are being generous, relatively speaking in Europe, Germany and Sweden. As a percentage of their population I
understand Germany is willing to consider the asylum applications of one percent, the equivalent of one percent of its population. You have other
countries, France, Spain, Italy, the U.K. that are nowhere near as generous. What would you say to those countries now?
GUTERRAS: I think that everybody should follow the German example and not only in the number of people that they receive but also in the firmness, in
the courage with which the German political leaders, the Chancellor, members of the government have been fighting publicly against (inaudible),
there are demonstrations like the ones we have seen in Germany everywhere. But the same courage needs to be assumed by political leaders not only in
Europe but I would say everywhere in the world where this kind of intolerance unfortunately is condemning so many refugees, so many migrants
to very, very dramatic situations.
GORANI: I spoke to the Macedonian Foreign Minister a few days ago, he said one of the solutions could be creating a safe zone inside of Syria, for
people there fleeing violence and persecution. Do you, as the High Commissioner for Refugees, agree with that solution as a possible way to
manage the crisis in Europe?
GUTERRAS: Well, in any conflict if it is possible to have areas that are safe for people that is a positive thing, but that should not undermine the
right of people to seek and enjoy asylum. We cannot have a safe zone that is a kind of a deposit of potential refugees even because we know that the
experience of safe zones in the past is not always a positive one. (Inaudible) was supposed to be a safe zone and we all know what has
happened.
[15:40:14]GORANI: And Mr. Guterras, many people have criticized countries like the U.K., France, Italy, Spain for not taking in, for not allowing for
the re-settlement of in particular Syrian refugees. But one thing has to be noted, the very rich gulf Arab countries, I'm talking about Qatar, the
UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have not offered any re-settlement places to Syrian refugees.
Do you think that they should be doing so and why do you think they're not opening their borders to these refugees?
GUTERRAS: We have - we have appealed several times not only for the countries of the region that host the refugees, the Lebanon, Jordan,
Turkey, Iraq and Egypt to receive them, to open their border but we have asked all borders to be opened. And in particular I've been mentioning
Europe and the Gulf.
And I think it's very important that all countries that have the possibility because their economies allow it, because they have a higher
level of development, that all countries participate in sharing the responsibility to give an answer to the plight, the tragic plight of the
Syrian people.
GORANI: But specifically I've got to ask you again on these Gulf countries because we're hearing from Arabs as well who say we're asking Europeans to
open their borders for Syrian refugees and our own Arab cousins in gulf countries are offering zero re-settlement places for desperate Syrians.
Therefore, they're saying why should Europeans be expected to welcome the Syrian refugees when Arab countries themselves who have a lot of money
aren't doing so?
GUTERRAS: I've been myself in the gulf and advocate for Syrians to be received and it's true that in some countries there has been an effort to
grant the Syrians that are already there a number of rights. But it is true we would need to have re-settlement not only into Europe, not only
into North America, we would need to have also re-settlement into the other parts of the world where Syrians can be received and can prosper and of
course the gulf countries are countries in which the language and the economy would facilitate that re-settlement.
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GORANI: Antonio Guterras, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. This is the World Right Now.
Still ahead.
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GORANI: A warming watery world NASA says the earth's sea levels are rising fast and we should be concerned. I'll speak with a scientist at NAS after
this.
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GORANI: There are fewer than a hundred days until a crucial conference in Paris being called a last chance to overt a climate change catastrophe.
CNN will be looking ahead to that conference as part of our 2 Degrees Project. Why 2 Degrees?
[15:45:12] Scientists say that 2 degrees Celsius is the edge of the cliff for climate change. If global average temperatures rise more than that it
could bring on disaster.
Now think super droughts, rising sea levels, fiercer weather but if a temperature rise can be kept to below 2 degrees then scientists say the
world might be able to overt the very worst effects of climate change.
Now new research from NASA shows the earth's sea levels are rising faster than previously thought.
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GORANI: One major contributor to the rise is the melting of the Greenland ice sheet which you see here. It is nearly the size of Alaska and has lost
a whopping 303 giga tons of ice per year over the last decades - last few - last decade I should say. It's hard to tell exactly how fast it will melt
in response to warming temperatures in future but this graphic from NASA shows us how they think Greenland's ice might change.
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GORANI: Let's talk through these new findings. I'm joined now by Josh Willis, he's an oceanographer and climate scientist at NASA. Josh joins us
live from Pasadena, California, thanks for being with us.
Let's talk a little bit about this Greenland graphic Josh. Explain the significance of what we're seeing.
JOSH WILLIS, OCEANOGRAPHER AND CLIMATE SCIENTIST, NASA: Well Greenland has been losing ice rapidly for the last several decades.
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WILLIS: And in about the last 10 or 15 years we've had really high quality satellite measurements that show us just how much mass the continent is
losing - the island is losing. And it's quite startling.
In 10 or so years Greenland's lost a trillion tons of ice and this has gone towards rising sea levels which can be felt around the world.
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GORANI: All right and there are also other animations based on very precise satellite imagery. The same type of graphic of the arctic region,
and again it's showing something worrying.
WILLIS: Well the arctic ocean is covered in sea ice which is actually frozen sea water. And usually it's covered year round.
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WILLIS: But in the last 30 or so years we've seen an incredible decline in the amount of sea ice during the summer. In fact it's about half what it
was 30 or 40 years ago. But not only is the extent shrinking but also the thickness of the ice is decreasing as well. So we've really seen some very
dramatic changes in the arctic.
GORANI: So we're seen potentially some dramatic sea level changes as well. I need to ask you this as one of the prominent scientists looking into
this, these rising temperatures and the effect on melting ice et cetera. What needs to be done urgently to try to limit the damage here?
WILLIS: Well the planet is heating up very simply because of the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. And
this has been driving climate change for about the last 150 years and it's time to turn off the faucet. We've been dumping CO2 into the atmosphere
for a long time now and we're beginning to see some pretty big changes. So if we want to avoid the worst of the impacts of climate change we really
have to very soon figure out a way to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and find alternative energy sources.
GORANI: All right well many scientist have been sounding the alarm, Josh Willis, thanks very much an oceanographer and climate scientist at NASA,
joining us from Pasadena.
WILLIS: Thanks for having me.
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GORANI: Over the next few months CNN will focus on stories that could have a dramatic impact on our environment. Our 2 degrees initiative will
spotlight news like NASA's freshly released research, examine the issues, look at solutions as well leading up to the COP21 Summit. It is going to
be held in December in Paris. CNN.com/2degrees.
A quick break coming up. A literary controversy. Fans line up for copies of the latest book in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series.
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GORANI: How the author behind the new novel is causing controversy, we'll explain after this.
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[15:51:00] GORANI: Usain Bolt does it again.
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GORANI: The Jamaican sprinter defeated his American rival, Justin Gatlin in the 200m sprint at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing. His
posted time was 19.55 seconds easily breezing past Gatlin by about two tenths of a second.
Bolt won the 100m earlier this week defending - defeating Gatlin by just a hundredth of a second.
Things did not go as smoothly for Bolt after the race. As he was walking in the stadium looking up at the crowd Bolt was hit by a cameraman on a
Segway. It appears the cameraman got the worst of that encounter as Bolt sprang back to his feet. He's kind of in good shape, and I think it takes
more than that to knock him out.
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GORANI: And an unconventional clash of cultures happened in North Korea last week. A Slovenian rock band known for Nazi and fascist uniforms and
imagery was invited to play in front of 2,000 officials, diplomats and foreign embassy staff in Pyongyang.
Our Will Ripley tells us how the crowd in North Korea felt about the unusual concert.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is something North Koreans have never seen before, a Slovenian rock group in Pyongyang.
Even stranger because of who this band is. (Inaudible) has long been criticized for fascist imagery in a totalitarian style. The aging rockers
made headlines last week for being among the first western performers invited to North Korea.
Joining the likes of Bill Clinton's half-brother, Roger Clinton, who played here more than 15 years ago.
Today Yang leader, Kim Jong-un seems more open to western culture than his father and grandfather. A documentary crew Laibach on their liberation day
tour. They laid flowers at a statue of the late leaders, and even visited the DMZ.
It was not the show they'd planned. North Korean sensors made Laibach change many onstage videos and cut their 18 song set list down to 9.
IVAN NOVAK, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: You know you can't really sensor Laibach as much as you cut away it's still Laibach.
RIPLEY: The 45 minute performance was an odd mix of mostly covers including a medley from the Sound of Music.
It's one of the few Western movies North Koreans are allowed to see. The audience seemed puzzled more familiar North Korean pop gets a much
different reaction.
When we met up with the band just off their plane from Pyongyang, they called their concert the most significant in Laibach's 35 year history.
NOVAK: We did connect really well with people in North Korea.
RIPLEY: An artistic experiment that even got a standing ovation.
Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.
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GORANI: Swedish author, Stieg Larsson created a publishing sensation with his novel, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels. Millions
of copies of the dark detective thrillers were sold worldwide, made into movies et cetera. But now there's a new novel in the series hitting store
shelves.
While many fans are thrilled others say the book should never have been written at all.
Amara Walker tells us why.
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AMARA WALKER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She's back, Lisbeth Salander, the tattooed young hacker from the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
has returned in a new novel with fans in Stockholm lining up to buy The Girl In The Spider's Web when it went on sale at the stroke of midnight.
It's the fourth book featuring the Swedish heroine who became hugely popular in the millennium trilogy the thriller selling more than 80 million
copies in 50 countries. And became a Hollywood movie starring Daniel Craig, and Rooney Mara.
[15:55:06] But there's a twist, original author Stieg Larsson died back in 2004 long before his books became popular. Now a new author picks up where
the story left off.
DAVID LAGERCRANTZ, AUTHOR: I have this deepest, deepest respect for Stieg Larsson.
WALKER: David Langercrantz, a Swedish Author and journalist was picked to pen the new novel. He says the assignment terrified him at first but he
tried to honor Larsson while adding something of himself to the story.
LANGERCRANTZ: If it would be good book I had to put my own passion in it, my own ideas.
WALKER: One person who says they won't be reading the new novel is Stieg Larsson's long-time partner, Ava Gabrielsson. And Larsson left behind no
will when he died so his multi-million dollar estate including the rights to his books went to his father and brother.
Gabrielsson has spoken out against the new book saying it was just written for the money. Langercrantz said he has the deepest respect for
Gabrielsson but ultimately it will be readers who have the final say.
Nearly 3 million copies of the new novel are now available in more than two dozen countries with plans for another movie already in the works. It
seems Stieg Larsson's story is far from over.
Amara Walker, CNN.
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GORANI: All right, now we've seen of course a lot of grim pictures coming to us from West Africa during the Ebola crisis but for a change Sierra
Leone has something to celebrate.
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GORANI: The recovery of its last confirmed Ebola patient. Lots of singing and dancing. The patient was released from the hospital Monday, it
triggered the start of a 42 day countdown for Sierra Leone to be officially be declared free of the virus. Ebola killed more than 11,000 people since
last year with most of those cases in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
And by the way please weigh in on the stories we've covered today on my Facebook page, facebook.com/halagoranicnn - facebook.com/halagoranicnn, we
always appreciate you dropping by.
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GORANI: This has been The World Right Now, I'm Hala Gorani, Quest Means Business is next.
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