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Terrifying Moments on the Runway as a Plane's Engine Catches Fire; Frustration and Desperate Refugees Make a Run for it in Hungary; Jailed County Clerk Now a Free Woman; Citizens Caught Between 2 Wars in Syria; Cultural Cleaning at the Hands of ISIS; Parents Reunite with Infant Son after Baby Swap; Queen Elizabeth II Celebrates Milestone. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 09, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:19] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Terrifying moments on the runway as a plane's engine catches fire just as the airline full of passengers was about to take off.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: Also frustration and desperate refugees make a run for it in Hungary.
BARNETT: Out of jail and into the limelight. The defiant, anti-same- sex marriage clerk speaks out.
ASHER: A warm welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Thank you so much for being with us for the second hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Zain Asher.
BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. First up this hour is the United States where passengers leaving Las Vegas got woken only to describe as a heart-stopping experience. Take a look at some of the footage.
British Airways flight 2276, carrying 159 passengers and 13 crew members was about to take off from London when this happened. People on the ground watched in horror as the left engine burst into flames. Pilots aborted the takeoff.
ASHER: Here's the good news. Now within just a few minutes, everyone on board the 777 had evacuated the plane and firefighters put out the fire. Now we know that at least 14 people suffered injuries. We're told those injuries were minor. And we are also told that most of those injuries actually in fact happened as the passengers were sliding down the emergency chute.
BARNETT: Now, of course, this happened at a major airport. So people witnessed this frightening spectacle from many vantage point. One passenger in fact aboard another plane described to CNN what he saw.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRADLEY HAMPTON, WITNESS (via telephone): Looked like the emergency systems deployed as they were designed to do. Obviously the first thing I thought of is how would you react in that scenario? But definitely, the people were running fast and it looked like a lot of people came out at once. So I imagine everybody was trying to get out of the plane as quickly as possible.
We landed from Denver and as we pulled off the active runway, we pulled to a stop and we heard a lot of screaming on the plane as far as, you know, thing off the right-hand side. And looking out the right-hand side, it was the left engine that was completely on fire. A lot of black smoke engulfing the plane.
BARNETT: CNN's Dan Simon spoke with one of the British Airways passengers as he was being hustled on to an ambulance. And listen here as he describes what he experienced was like from inside the burning plane.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY JENNINGS, FLIGHT 2276 PASSENGER: We were just getting speed to take off. And we heard a big thud. I opened up the cover of my window and saw flames on the engine. We suddenly stopped. We sat still for about a minute, just waiting to hear what to do and then we just heard the captain say this is an emergency, evacuate.
It was pretty scary? Yes. I mean, yes, it was just shocking more than anything. I don't think anyone was too hurt. Otherwise, I don't know. But yes, it was pretty scary stuff. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: All right, good thing he is OK. You don't expect this to happen on a trip to Vegas, right. Well, this accident prompted McCarran Airport to shut down one of its runways. The cause of this fire is still under investigation.
ASHER: As migrants continue to flood into Europe, the president of the European Commission is set to lay out a plan for dealing with the crisis in a very short time from now.
BARNETT: That's right. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for a quota system to make sure EU nations take in their fair share of migrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (via translator): We really need to discuss about a joint and over arching asylum policy. And we, Sweden and Germany are of the view that binding quota actually are to be applied so that refugees can be fairly distributed to the European member states. Unfortunately, we are a long way off this target.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Now the United Nations estimates that 850,000 migrants will cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe between 2015 and 2016.
ASHER: No, 850,000 is certainly a daunting number, but it is a number that the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees says Europe should be able to handle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER ON REFUGEES: If Europe would be properly organized, it will be a manageable crisis. We are talking about four or five thousand people per day. In a union that has 508 million people. In Lebanon, we have one third of its population refugee. So I think we need recognizing that this became a very serious crisis in Europe. It is a very serious crisis also largely because Europe is not organized to deal with it, because European asylum system has been extremely dysfunctional and in the recent weeks completely chaotic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:32] ASHER: And they debate the possible quota system and how you have to handle the crisis. On the ground in Hungary, the tempered flared in the migrant holding camp.
BARNETT: Yes, and it is understandable. You've got hundreds of people low on food, low in supplies, running out of hope. Many of them just picking up their families and belongings and taking off running from the camp.
Our Arwa Damon was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A frantic dash after breaking through a police line.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
DAMON: "Stay together," this man shouts, carrying his daughter as they charge into the corn field. No one knows where they are going, just that they need to get far away.
They had spent hours, for some, days, waiting at a holding area that was supposed to be temporary and just couldn't take it anymore. Stumbling over uneven ground, shouting out the names of the war zone they fled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Syria, Iraqi.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
DAMON: Jubilant, breathless, defiant, and desperate to move.
(on camera): People are in quite a bit of a panic. They are worried that the police are going to come and potentially use violence to try to get them back into the camp. And you can hear the sirens right now. It's causing people to run even faster, especially those with the kids. They are the ones that are really struggling to get away.
(voice-over): Fumbling through thick undergrowth. The police close in, forcing the refugees to scatter. Split into two groups, families lose each other but this is no time to stop. Drained of what little energy they had, the police eventually catch up but the refugees keep going.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
DAMON: A sister and brother lose their shoes, rocks digging into their tiny feet, but they don't complain. Their mother carries the youngest. Unable to comfort him, she ignores his cries.
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
DAMON: After hours of walking, the police finally block their path. Again, they try to push through --
(PEOPLE SHOUTING)
DAMON: -- crushing bodies, screams, babies crying. The police eventually convince them to stay. They bring food and much-needed water. Negotiations lead to a compromise. Buses to take them elsewhere for the night and then, in the morning, they are told, a train to the Austrian border.
A breakout, driven by sheer mental, physical, emotional exhaustion, having travelled this far unable to cope with waiting any longer.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Hungary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: And there was even a shocking moment captured on camera while all of this was unfolding as the refugees fled. Other camera crews recorded really an appalling scene.
Take a look at this. A Hungarian camera woman appears to kick and deliberately trip refugees running through the field. You see it right there. At one point, she even trips a man who is carrying a young child.
ASHER: Yes, a lot of people were talking about this. So the far right television station that she works for said that she's going to be fired. They're going to let her go.
In a statement, it echoed what so many people are saying on social media. "The camera operator's behavior was completely unacceptable." And that is what the station she works for is saying.
BARNETT: Now Australia's prime minister is stepping up his country's commitment to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and help stem Europe's migrant crisis as well.
ASHER: That's right. At a news conference, Tony Abbott pledged to expand his militaries' fight against ISIS. The group he says is a major cause of the refugee crisis. He also said Australia will take in 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Today's commitment to take refugees on a permanent basis will be one of the largest commitments made to date anywhere in the world. But hundreds of thousands of people are in camps and they need urgent assistance. So in addition to these new resettlement places, the government is also announcing that we will directly pay for the support of 240,000 displaced people in countries neighboring Syria and Iraq through the UNHCR and other agencies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:10:15] BARNETT: And Abbott says this new program will focus mainly on refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and in Turkey.
ASHER: Meantime, in the U.S., the CEO and two other top executives of U.S.-based airline, United Airlines, are out. That's in the wake of an internal investigation triggered by an ongoing federal probe. So the company announced the resignation of chairman and CEO Jeff Smisek in a statement on Tuesday.
BARNETT: The government has been examining United's dealings with the former chief of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey including adding a flight convenient to a home he owns in South Carolina. United says it's cooperating with the government investigations.
Now facing a sharp drop in the polls, drop in popularity, we're talking about here, is former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She has admitted for the first time now on television that using a private e-mail server to conduct government business was a mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I could have and should have done a better job answering questions earlier. I really didn't perhaps appreciate the need to do that. What I had done was allowed. It was above board. But in retrospect certainly, as I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts. One for personal, one for work-related e-mails. That was a mistake. I'm sorry about that. I take responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Well, Hillary Clinton slips in popularity. On the Republican side of the U.S. presidential race, a rival to frontrunner Donald Trump is suddenly getting a lot of attention and moving up in the polls. Can you guess who I am talking about?
BARNETT: I'm going to guess it's Ben Carson despite here in the script and --
(CROSSTALK) ASHER: You are smart, yes.
BARNETT: Am I right?
ASHER: Here's what's Dana Bash report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ben Carson back on the campaign trail for the first time in 11 days.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some people hate rats and some people hate snakes, I hated poverty.
BASH: Carson's absence from the public eye didn't seem to hurt him, just the opposite. Over the past two weeks, his popularity has grown. Second in Iowa at 22 percent, third in New Hampshire at 11 percent, and second place behind Donald Trump overall in the latest national poll.
CARSON: It's something about America.
BASH: And yet the unconventional candidate is not in Iowa or New Hampshire or any GOP contest state, but the liberal bastion of San Francisco.
CARSON: I'm not going to be a traditional politician so I'm not going to do things like traditional politicians do.
BASH: Meanwhile, Jeb bush who ended the summer slipping in the polls is starting to spend some of the big dollars he has raised to try to climb back up.
FMR. GOV. JEB BUSH, (R-FL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As governor, I cut taxes.
BASH: His first Bush television ad pitches himself as an outsider but one with a record.
BUSH: If you want more D.C. politicians or more self-promoters, you got options. I'm offering something different -- leadership, ideas and a proven conservative records.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having trouble sleeping at night?
BASH: Even as Donald Trump is out with another Instagram video mocking Bush as low energy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeb, for all your sleeping needs.
BASH: In response to that, the Bush campaign recycled part of a Trump clip from the video last week raising Hillary Clinton.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary has always surrounded herself with very good people. BASH: As for Trump, the man who took the top spot despite eyebrow raising comments like questioning John McCain's war hero status. He said the new biography he, quote, "Always felt that I was in the military," according to the "New York Times" because he was sent to military school for behavioral problems, that despite never serving in the military and draft departments doing Vietnam.
Here he was on the subject a few years ago.
TRUMP: Success is a very important thing. It certainly been very important to me. And I can tell you that one of the great choices I ever made in terms of success was the choice of going to NYMA, New York Military Academy. I loved it. It was terrific training. It was tough but it was good.
BASH (on-camera): And on Wednesday, Trump will come here to Washington and appear with one of his competitors. But one he has had a political bromance with, Senator Ted Cruz. They're going to rally on the steps of the Capitol's Congress against debate on the Iran nuclear agreement. That is the president now has enough senators, 41, supporting him and blocking Republican efforts to scuttle the deal.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Late-night television is a rite of passage in U.S. politics. And Jeb Bush was one of the first guest on the new CBS late show starring comedienne Stephen Colbert.
ASHER: That's right. The U.S. presidential contender has faltered just a little bit in his campaign and political analysts were curious to see how Bush handled the one-on-one with the quick-witted Colbert.
BARNETT: Now the county clerk in the U.S. who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples is now free from jail. She steps up to a microphone. What she told her supporters coming up after this break.
ASHER: Also ahead, a little bit of sibling rivalry at the U.S. Open. We'll have that story in just a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARNETT: A county clerk in the U.S. is now a free woman. Five days after she was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same- sex couples. Kim Davis has been celebrated by some religious conservatives who say the government shouldn't force public servants to issue licenses in violation of their religious beliefs.
ASHER: Now the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country last June. Aleksandra Field has more on Davis and what's next for her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it worth it, yes or no?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Davis.
KIM DAVIS, JAILED FOR REFUSING TO ISSUE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LICENSES: Thank you all so much. I love you all so very much.
FIELD: Freed from jail, cheered by a crowd of supporters.
[01:20:10] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Bible tramps man's law everyday. The Bible is the word of God and it is greater than the law.
FIELD: A small Kentucky town now at the epicenter for discontent with the Supreme Court's historic ruling making same-sex marriage legal coast-to-coast. A county clerk, now a cause celeb for the religious far right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seems like the minority rules now, instead of the majority of this country.
FIELD: Her supporters saying her rights are being trampled.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If somebody needs to go to jail, I'm willing to go in her place.
FIELD: Two Republican presidential candidates visited Kim Davis before her release, Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee.
HUCKABEE: The courage of her convictions was more important than simply even her own freedom. And she was willing to go to jail for what she believed.
FIELD: Davis says she cannot issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of her religious beliefs. Her repeated refusal led a federal district judge to jail her, ordering her deputy clerks to do the job. They are complying.
And because of that, the same judge ordered Davis released from jail, instructing her not to interfere.
(on-camera) What happens at this point if a same-sex couple goes to that office this week? Will Kim Davis allow them to pick up a marriage license?
MATT STAVER, ATTORNEY FOR KIM DAVIS: Well, Kim Davis has never changed her position. She will do her job. She won't violate her conscience. So whatever the consequences of that are, Kim Davis is not going to violate her conscience.
FIELD (voice-over): Davis is waging her fight on three fronts -- arguing an accommodation should be made for her religious beliefs by either of the courts, the Kentucky State legislature or the governor, Steve Beshear who instructed all clerks to issue licenses to all couples after this ruling.
GOV. STEVE BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: I don't see that the religious freedom law has been trampled on. What you had here was a public official who voluntarily ran for election to that office. She decided she could pick up the duties that she would perform and not perform some of the others.
FIELD: The clerk says she will go back to work this week, but she won't do the whole job.
(on-camera) Is she prepared to go back to jail for this?
STAVER: Kim Davis has thought a lot and prayed a lot about her decision and she is prepared for the consequences of both doing her job and not stepping down. And at the same time not violating her conscience.
FIELD (voice-over): Alexander Field, CNN, Grayson, Kentucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Now Kim Davis finds herself at the crossroads of a country undergoing changes in culture, law and U.S. presidential politics. I asked CNN political commentator Ryan Lizza to weigh in on the impact of her case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Maybe it's surprising at how little resistance of this kind there has actually been since the Supreme Court decided this. I think a lot of people predicted there would be a lot more resistance.
But there are small patches and very conservative places in the United States where people are arguing that their religion makes it impossible for them to follow this law. Now as the judge pointed out in Kentucky, that's not legal. She's an elected official. She has to do this. The Supreme Court has already settled this issue. And so, you know, I think you are going to see isolated cases like this until people move on. But to a certain segment of religious Americans, this does resonate what she is doing.
BARNETT: And the fact that you call it isolated is kind of the key aspect here. You have one other Republican candidates, Governor Mike Huckabee, he emceed the event and he said, quote, I'm not willing to spend the next years in tyranny under people who think they can take our freedom and conscience away. I mean, the U.S. constitution makes it clear. The government isn't to endorse any religion and to be frank, Christians are overwhelmingly represented in government anyway. So what is this tyranny they speak of exactly?
LIZZA: Yes, and there's a little bit of a sense of victimization among some white evangelicals in the United States that they are now a persecuted minority, which to be frank is not really the case. And, look, once you get presidential campaign going and you get American politics involved in these issues and in the Republican Party, in the early states that matter in our nominating process, evangelical conservatives represent a larger than typical percentage of the electorate, specifically in a state like Iowa. So there is an incentive for people like Mike Huckabee to go down and associate themselves with this case. And that's what you are seeing here. You are seeing politicians exploiting this issue in Kentucky to boost their credentials among Iowa and Iowa religious conservatives.
[01:25:11] BARNETT: Right. Well, you see the incentive, but there is also a risk, isn't there? I mean, it is hard to see this issue or Kim Davis has a figure head fade away anytime soon. But won't Republicans have to decide eventually if this is the issue they want to draw attention to. I mean, evangelicals, most important, but Republican -- you know, this is a civil rights issue for Republicans and Democrats, as well.
LIZZA: This issue is --
(CROSSTALK)
BARNETT: Kind of risk at being on the wrong side of it.
LIZZA: Absolutely. This issue is settled in the United States. It is settled by the Supreme Court. It is now the law of the land and it is settled in public opinion.
Public opinion on gay marriage is approaching 70 percent in this country. In a decade from now, there will be just a tiny minority that opposes it. That's the trend line in polling if you look at it carefully. And so if you look at some of the more sophisticated candidates, frankly, even on the Republican side, they are not associating themselves with what Kim Davis did which of course was illegal.
It's really only the candidates who appeal to a very narrow evangelical base of the party that are deciding to keep this fight going. But if you look at it like Jeb Bush or some of the others, they don't want a part -- they don't really want to be a part of this. They know that if they win the nomination in a general election, this will not be an issue that benefits them.
The country has -- the polling in this country has moved so fast on gay marriage. It is really settled but you are seeing some pockets of resistance in very conservative places.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: CNN commentator Ryan Lizza there speaking with me earlier.
Now we want to check a sport headline for you. Tennis superstar Serena Williams is now one step closer to one of the sports rarest feat, a grand slam. Just a few hours ago, she beat her dearest rival her sister Venus in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open. They described playing each other like playing the mirror because they are so similar.
ASHER: And just nothing like a good sibling rivalry for good television.
BARNETT: Yes.
ASHER: Now the sisters played their hearts out. It was certainly intense. It was very close. Neither side gave an inch and Serena ended up winning two sets to one. But if Serena wins the tournament, she will be the first player in nearly 30 years to win all four majors in a calendar year. She will face Italy's Roberta Vinci in the semi- finals on Thursday.
BARNETT: Now refugees from Syria aren't just trying to escape a single war. They are actually fleeing from several. Next, we'll look at what is being done to end these conflicts. Stay with us here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:16] BARNETT: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you so much for staying with us. I'm Errol Barnett.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Let's give you the headlines.
More than a dozen people suffered minor injuries when a British Airways plane caught fire in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fire broke out in the Boeing 777's left engine just as it was about to take off for London. All 172 passengers and crew evacuated the plane but the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
BARNETT: A county clerk in the U.S. is now a free woman five days after she was jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. The judge's ruling said Kim Davis could be released on the condition that she does not interfere with issuing licenses to all legally eligible couples. Davis plans to return to work this week. It's not clear exactly what she'll do when she gets there.
ASHER: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his country will take in 12,000 additional refugees fleeing the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. He also said Australia will now take part in coalition air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria.
BARNETT: As many of you know, the air strikes are just one part of the heavy fighting across Syria.
ASHER: There is also bloody combat between Syria's government and rebels as well, and caught in the middle, hundreds of thousands of citizens.
More now from Hala Gorani.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The refugees from Syria now desperate to reach Europe are fleeing not just one war but several. There's the war by ISIS to install and expand what it calls an Islamic caliphate, and the war between the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad and rebels seeking to overthrow it, and wars between rebel groups, as they fight to gain control of key areas. Caught in the middle of all of these, millions of civilians, just trying to survive.
So what is being done to end these wars? In the fight against ISIS, a U.S.-led coalition has launched more than 2300 air strikes in Syria. Nations that have taken part in the strike include Bahrain, Canada, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. Now France is talking about joining in.
FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translation): It's our responsibility and my responsibility to urgently respond and to make choices. France is ready to take part and to play its role.
GORANI: On Tuesday, France said it had flown its first reconnaissance missions over Syria.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH MINISTER: Riyad Kahn (ph) was killed in a precision --
GORANI: And the U.K. admitted this week it had launched drone strikes at targets in Syria, despite a 2013 parliamentary vote against military action in the country.
CAMERON: We were exercising the U.K.'s inherent right to self defense. There's clear evidence of the individuals in question planning and directing armed attacks against the U.K.
GORANI: Meanwhile, the Syrian civil war is taking a heavy toll. A few weeks ago, more than 100 civilians were killed in air strikes by the Syrian regime in the Damascus suburb of Duma. And activists say more than 300,000 people have been killed in four years of war.
What about pressure on the regime? The United Nations envoy to Syria says four nations are key.
STAFFAN DE MISTURA, U.N. ENVOY TO SYRIA: In order to conclude the conflict, urge Russia, America to continue dialogue and conclude it and, about all, put enough more pressure on those who can make a difference, Iran and Saudi Arabia. For god's sake, sit together, do something about what otherwise will implode the whole region.
GORANI: What have the U.S. and Russia been talking about? The U.S. has been warning Russia not to escalate its involvement on the side of the Assad regime. Russia is denying preparations for a major military deployment.
With a tangible solution so far away, so, too, is the day that civilians won't feel the need to flee this country to survive.
Hala Gorani, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:35:26] ASHER: The attacks waged by ISIS against heritage and history, such as the destruction of the ancient temple Palmyra amounts to cultural cleaning, and that's according to UNESCO chief, Irena Bokova. BARNETT: Christiane Amanpour travelled to the Louvre Museum in Paris,
home of some of the richest collections of Islamic and pre-Islamic art.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IRINA BOKOVA, UNESCO CHIEF: It is a tragic event. You see the beauty of these engravings. It was the biggest and the most important of antiquities. I think Palmyra, like no other city in the antiquities, represented the diversity of cultures.
CHRISTIAN AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is this something you see them moving on now? Is there another part of this incredible complex in Palmyra that is at risk now?
BOKOVA: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I think all of it is in danger. And also and the most hidden tragedy of what is happening is all the excavations that are going around. There is so much there and we don't know what will be taken out of the ground.
AMANPOUR: And what they will blow up next.
BOKOVA: And they may blow up next, because they said we haven't seen anything quite like that. It's a very deliberate systemic destruction.
AMANPOUR: It's not an accident that these, you know, the totalitarians who attack art, whether it is the Taliban who blew up the 1500-year-old sculptures, whether it is the Nazis who, you know, plundered the art in Europe during World War II, and now it is these. It is dangerous when people start to attack art. It gives a symbol of what they will do to people.
BOKOVA: Yes. I think really that I'm convinced that this is part and parcel of the humanitarian crisis. People, real human beings, have tendencies, they have memories, they have history, they have pride. They want to delay this. There was no history or culture. I think all of the extraordianry treatment of humanity has to be preserved, and that's why I think what we call cultural cleansing of antiquities, something really --
AMANPOUR: Cultural cleansing?
BOKOVA: Cultural cleansing.
(CROSSTALK)
AMANPOUR: -- ethnic cleansing and --
BOKOVA: Exactly.
BOKOVA: You persecute people and minorities. You persecute Christians, the Syrians, all of this extraordinary diversity of the Middle East. You persecute them. You politically want to destroy them. You chase them, displace them. And at the same time, you want to deprive them of their history and memories, as if they did not exist. So this is cultural cleansing, and we have to stand up against this.
AMANPOUR: Irina Bokova, thank you very much indeed.
BOKOVA: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Time for a quick break here on CNN. When we come back, two babies switched at birth. Now they are finally back in their birth mothers' arms after three months. More on the emotional reunion coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:41:46] BARNETT: A shocking story from Central America. A British father and his Salvadorian wife have been reunited with their infant son some three months after taking another newborn home from the hospital.
ASHER: An incredible story. The doctor involved what been arrested.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's every mother's worst nightmare. You have just given birth and you go to sleep. You wake up and your baby looks different. You later find out it's not your baby at all.
(voice-over): These pictures captured the end of that nightmare. A mother and father reunited with their baby. Hours before, a very different scene. A question no mother should have to ask.
"Doctor, Doctor, where's my baby, she says?"
Authorities say her baby was switched at birth in El Salvador. In May, Richard Cushworth, and his wife, Mercedes, were overjoyed. She had given birth to a baby boy named Jacob.
(on camera): The couple said it resembled the lighter color of his father. The baby the hospital gave them to take home had a darker coloring. The hospital said the color change was natural, nothing to worry about. But the couple was suspicious. DNA tests showed the baby belonged to someone else.
(voice-over): Authorities ordered genetic tests for four babies born at the hospital on the same day. They found two matches, including Jacob. The two misplaced babies were returned to their rightful, genetic parents.
"There are no words to express what a heart feels to have our baby at home." The family said in a statement, "Thank you for all who joined our pain and fed our hope."
How this happened is the subject of a criminal investigation. Police arrested and released the gynecologist responsible for Jacob's birth. A judge ruled the case can proceed. He is not allowed to leave El Salvador and said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Keep our focus in Asia now. Massive fires across Indonesia, many of which were set intentionally, creating a dangerous situation for neighboring countries and millions of people.
Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is joining us with that -- Pedram?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is a perennial story we see in the Sumatra, an island in western Indonesia, where we have farmers, their cheap way of setting fires to open farming areas and the smoke travels farther downstream. In places like Singapore and Malaysia, you get major problems. You may know Singapore is well known for its cleanliness. It is often called the fine city. Interesting things are illegal. Chewing gum is banned for sale. If you put it down on the ground, it is $1,000 fine. Not flushing a public toilet, if you are caught, $150 fine.
(LAUGHTER)
ASHER: Why are you looking at me?
(LAUGHTER)
JAVAHERI: Just having fun.
(CROSSTALK)
JAVAHERI: Oh, my goodness.
But this has become a problem for people down the street. These fires are taking place. I want to show you the thermal signatures of the fire. Hundreds of them across Sumatra. So much the density looks like it has taken over the island. The smoke and wind pad earns going west towards easterly direction. You see the satellite imagery. Hazy conditions in a city that takes pride for being incredibly clean. Unhealthy air quality. Officials having to cancel flights. People, just stay indoors. Way too dangerous to be outside. Visibility reduced. And look at the firefighters trying to battle the flames here. Farmers trying to clear land, which is illegal, for the farming ahead of the growing season. But the wind has shifted a bit. We have tremendous unhealthy categories of air across portions farther to the southeast. Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, it's on a moderate scale right now.
Quickly, leave you with what is happening with regard to the haze, sand and dust as well. Massive sand storms from Sunday in to Monday and Tuesday. Look at the satellite imagery. Take over portions of Syria, Lebanon and Cyprus, as well. Two fatalities occurred because of the severity of the storms and 750 people hospitalized for respiratory illnesses associated with this. [01:46:05] BARNETT: Saw those pictures, you understand why.
JAVAHERI: We know, of course, the migrant path is in this area as well. The air quality is not helping the situation.
ASHER: We will keep an eye on it. Thank you so much, Pedram. Appreciate it. BARNETT: Thanks, Pedram.
ASHER: Time for another break here on CNN. When we come back, an historic break for Queen Elizabeth. We will tell you about her royal milestone after the break.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS WORLD ANCHOR: Hi, there. I am Patrick Snell with your CNN World Sports headlines.
Wayne Rooney has become the first England player to score 50 goals for his country, breaking his old-time record in the process, going into the Euro 2016 qualifier with Switzerland, a game which England won. Rooney locked on 49 goals with Sir Bobby Charlton. But his second- half penalty eclipsed Charlton's record. Rooney has now scored in seven straight competitive England games, which is a post score record and landmark strike. Also a 300th for club and country. The defending European champion, Spain, traveling to Macedonia Tuesday in their qualification match. It was a good night for one of Rooney's Manchester United teammates. A high profile name in goal. And he was recalled to the team and played competitively for the first time in four months. Spain getting the win they want courtesy of an on goal from a Macedonian player.
Meantime, from one former football to the other. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, coming off a defeat in court over his handling of the Deflategate scandal, says he is open to changing his role in how the league disciplines his players. On the "Mike & Mike" radio show in the u. s. Goodell saying he would consider changes with a potential of setting up a panel or discipline officer to handle player punishment.
You are back up to date. Thank you for joining us. That's a quick look at your global sports headline. I'm Patrick Snell.
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[01:50:16] BARNETT: Today marks an historic moment for the British royal family as Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-serving monarch in British history.
ASHER: What a milestone. She's reigned for 63 years, ascending to the thrown at 25 years old. Now, at age 89, she is surpassing the record of her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria. Earlier, I spoke with CNN royal commentator, Victoria Arbiter, and we
with talked about the queen's milestone and how this historic milestone will not be celebrated as you may expect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VICTORIA ARBITER, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: There is this element of celebration going on across London. For the queen, it was a solemn occasion. She was very quick to say she wants no fuss. She originally planned to spend the day privately.
Her reign started upon the death of her father. For her, she is not interested in competing with ancestors. She doesn't want to seem to be celebrating the death of Queen Victoria and her having the longest reign. She finally caved to public pressure to be seen. She will be opening a railway line in Scotland. Doing what she does best and going home.
ASHER: When you think of how much the world has changed since she took over, since 1952, I'm curious how the queen herself has evolved and adapted in that time.
ARBITER: You are using the two with best words to describe the queen. She doesn't change but she does adapt and evolve. As you said, she has seen an array of amazing historic moments throughout her reign, from the man on the moon, that the day of her coronation, conquering Everest, to the social media age. Really, it is in small ways, we with have seen her adapt and evolve. Social media is a prime example. When Prince George was born, they put the news out at Buckingham Palace on an easel, as they have done for many royal babies, but the news went out on Twitter first. So the queen is all about looking at society, what is shaping society, and adapting to meet those needs.
ASHER: In the past six decades, Victoria, how do you think public opinion of the queen has changed?
ARBITER: Overall, I would say it is sort of largely stayed the same. Of course, there have been major dips. Diana's death being the prime example, when her image in particular took a hit. Usually, it is members of the family. Prince Andrew, for example, in recent years, has had a number of sordid stories written about him. The '90s, when there were marriage problems, troubles with the children. But overall, the queen remained steady projectory in her popularity. Polls all this week that have been conducted, she is at the top of the moral leadership poll, the most popular member of the royal family. Really she just goes from strength to strength.
ASHER: I know she doesn't want to compete with her ancestors but it can't be helped. How does she compare with Queen Victoria?
ARBITER: It is the way she is still involved in today's society. Queen Victoria, when Prince Albert dies -- she was married to the love of her life and only married 20 years before he passed away. And she went in to seclusion then. Queen Elizabeth is the most widely traveled monarch in history. She's out and about with the people all the time. Queen Victoria was watching the sun go across the empire. They famously said, "The sun never set on the British empire." The queen has seen the end of the empire and the success of the Commonwealth, which is arguably her crowing achievement. It is a people transition. So I think, in many ways, she has taken what Queen Victoria did and built on it and done it better. But we have to look at Queen Victoria, too. She managed to reign for 63 years, seven months and two days, at a time when there weren't medical advances we have today. So both of them have reason to celebrate.
ASHER: One thing I find fascinating is we don't know the exact minute when Queen Elizabeth will become the longest-serving monarch because the exact minute her father died is technically unknown. Her father was found by the servants sometime early in the morning of 1952.
Victoria Arbiter, thank you. We appreciate that.
ARBITER: Thank you very much.
BARNETT: Let's look at Queen Elizabeth's long reign by the numbers. Her 63-plus years adds up to 33 million minutes, or 23,226 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes.
ASHER: And she's made 97 state visits and doesn't have a passport. I guess she doesn't need one. If you are queen, you don't need a passport.
(LAUGHTER)
And to hold any position for six decades is remarkable.
BARNETT: But as you may be surprised to learn, there are other leaders who ruled longer than Queen Elizabeth.
Max Foster has details.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: More than 63 and a half years on the thrown is a truly impressive British record. In terms of living monarchs, Elizabeth is second to one person, that is King Bhumibol, Thailand's longest reigning monarch. And he became king in 1946. That is 69 years on the thrown.
[01:55:13] Louis the 14th's reign was even longer. In his heels and his furs, this truly fashionable king ruled France for more than 72 years. That's the longest reign in European history.
This, though, is Swaziland's King Sabruza II (ph). He was named King of the Swazi when he was a baby in 1899. He went on to reign more than 82 years. And that's the record when it to comes to verifiable reigns.
But there's a chance that this guy beat his record by 12 years. King Pepi II, of Egypt, here on his mother's knee, was the last king of Egypt's sixth dynasty. Older historical texts say he reigned an incredible 94 years, though we can't be sure of that, because modern texts put his reign at around 64 years, which is just ahead of Elizabeth.
Max Foster, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Thank you so much.
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ASHER: Yeah. King of Swaziland, a little bit over 80 years. Incredible. I learn so much there. Thank you to our Max Foster for that.
Thank you for watching. I'm Zain Asher.
BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett.
Zain is going to go and enjoy her day. Rosemary Church is joining me next.
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BARNETT: CNN NEWSROOM continues. Stay with us.
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