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Obama, Putin Met Face to Face; Could the U.S., Russia Work Together on Syria, ISIS; Afghan Counter Attack Begins to Take Kunduz from Taliban; Trump Unveils Tax Plan as Carson Rises in Polls; Deadly Typhoon Dujuan Hits Taiwan, China; Catching Up with Iraqi Family Rescued from Mt. Sinjar; U.N. Sets Goal to Ensure Every Child Has Primary School Education by 2015; NASA Discovers Liquid Water on Mars; Trump Unveils Tax Plan; Trevor Noah Takes over "The Daily Show". Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 29, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:14] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: The leaders of the U.S. and Russia take on their thorniest difference in a rare and tense face-to- face meeting.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, a key Afghan city falls to the Taliban. What the setback means for the Afghan government.

BARNETT: And NASA says there's evidence of flowing water on Mars, making life on the red planet much more possible than we thought.

A big welcome to our viewers in the states and those of you tuned in from around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

BARNETT: U.S. President Barack Obama will convene a summit today at the United Nations aimed at fighting ISIS and countering violent extremism. On Monday, President Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for 90 minutes to discuss the war in Syria and the situation in Ukraine.

CHURCH: Mr. Obama took aim squarely at Syrian President Bashar al Assad, calling him a tyrant who has brutalized his own people. Mr. Putin says only the Syrian people could decide their president's fate, not the U.S. or France.

BARNETT: Now the meeting between Presidents Putin and Obama is their first in two years.

CHURCH: And senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has more on what happened before they sat down together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(APPLAUSE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before their meeting, President Obama and Vladimir Putin let their body language do the talking, clinking Champaign glasses as the Russian leader practiced his sly smile.

Earlier in the day, President Obama warned the United Nations about what he called dangerous currents that could lead to a darker world, making his feelings clear about Putin's new shadow in the Middle East.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder.

ACOSTA: The president slammed Putin's recipe for defeating ISIS, whose main ingredient is propping up that country's leader, Bashar al Assad.

OBAMA: In accordance with this logic, we should support tyrants like Bashar al Assad who drop barrel bombs to massacre innocent children because the alternative is surely worse.

(EXPLOSION)

ACOSTA: With no end in sight in the battle against ISIS, Putin is essentially proposing a plan B. Instead of supporting the Syrian rebels, like the U.S., Russia wants to back Assad, so it is forming an intelligence-sharing agreement with Iraq, Iran and Syria.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): No one is truly fighting the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria.

ACOSTA: Putin blamed the U.S. for the rise of ISIS.

PUTIN (through translation): We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government.

ACOSTA: As he explained to "60 Minutes," Putin argues the U.S. has miscalculated by taking the wrong sides in the Arab Spring.

PUTIN (through translation): We support the legitimate government of Syria.

ACOSTA: President Obama, who has long said Assad must go, is softening the stance and adding he will work with Russia and Iran.

OBAMA: Realism dictates that compromise will be required to end the fighting and ultimately stamp out ISIS.

ACOSTA: But the U.S. and Russia are still not collaborating, even as Moscow ramps up its military presence in Syria --

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not yet coordinated.

ACOSTA: -- which is why these two leaders are talking face to face in their first bilateral meeting since this encounter more than two years ago, an easier time in the relationship, before Russia invaded Ukraine and became isolated in the U.S., something Mr. Obama wants the world to remember.

OBAMA: If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: For more on the meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents, let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, who joins us live from Moscow.

So, Matthew, it was certainly frosty between Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin at the U.N. G.A. But after the meeting, the Russian president described their 90-minute chat as, quote, "very constructive, business-like, and surprisingly frank." Does this perhaps signal the possibility the two leaders could work together on Syria and fighting ISIS?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It would seem to, wouldn't it? I don't see much alternative but for the United States and Russia to work together when it comes to fighting ISIS and to coordinate over there, the respective military actions in Syria. The United States, of course, is leading a coalition of some 60 countries in air strikes against ISIS. And Russia, at the same time, is backing the other horse in the race, as it were, the government of Bashar al Assad. It is expanding the military presence there and boosting its diplomatic and political support for Bashar Assad as well. So look, they don't have much option but to coordinate and cooperate with each other. They've done it in the past, and did it with Iran and the controversial nuclear program. They can do it in theory over Syria as well.

I think from the Kremlin's point of view, Vladimir Putin was probably quite satisfied with this meeting. He said those words because one of the objectives of Putin going to the U.N. and getting this meeting with Obama was to try and underline the fact that Russia is an irreplaceable partner for negotiations in international diplomacy. And that aim has been pretty much realized. He was front and center of the diplomacy at the U.N. G.A. and he will be front and center at the conversations going forward about the resolution to the Syrian civil war.

[02:05:50] CHURCH: But, Matthew, we saw Vladimir Putin seize the initiative at the U.N. G.A. on the issue of Syria, leaving the U.S. scrambling for a bit. Is this the biggest threat to any progress being made, this sense that it is a contest to try to prove who is in charge here?

CHANCE: Well, there's not a great deal of progress that has been made in the past four years. I think what Vladimir Putin is saying, whether you believe him or not, whether you support his position or not, is this situation can't continue. And that Russia is going to act. And he is calling on other countries to act.

And I mean, look, in the end, the relationship between Washington and Moscow has been a practical one. But after a year of isolation, they've unfrozen the military ties, which is really important. Because the two militaries are now involved in Syria to a lesser or greater extent. They want to make sure they don't get involved in an unexpected and unwanted confrontation with each other. So the fact that the militaries are talking to each other now to "de-conflict" -- is the word -- to make sure they don't cross over in air strikes or hit each other is a really important and interesting sign that the intention going forward is to cooperate and to coordinate. I would be very surprised if this turns into a stand-off between these two figures of global politics.

CHURCH: Certainly, a very delicate situation.

Matthew Chance, joining us live from Moscow. Many thanks.

BARNETT: Many other world leaders took their turn addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Monday.

CHURCH: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani criticized Saudi Arabia's handling of the recent stampede near Mecca that killed hundreds of people.

BARNETT: Cuban President Raul Castro praised the warming relations with the U.S. But also demanded lifting of the sanctions imposed by the U.S.

CHURCH: China's President Xi Jinping urged the world community to fight climate change. He pledged that China would shoulder its share of responsibility.

BARNETT: And this was a bit of a standout moment. Zimbabwe's 91- year-old leader there lashing out against countries for pushing for civil rights for gay people. He said gay rights are against his country's values.

We have some breaking news into CNN as it relates to Afghanistan. The military of defense there says a counter attack to retake the city of Kunduz from the Taliban has begun.

CHURCH: The northern Afghan city fell Monday after the Taliban advanced from three directions. At least four civilians were killed in that attack. Witnesses said some 500 Taliban prisoners were freed from the city's prison, but we've heard that police say the prison has been retaken, as well as the police chief's compounds. We'll continue on follow that.

BARNETT: This story is still developing.

Let's bring in international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, who joins us live from London with more on this.

Nic, the counter attack has begun. But how did Afghan security forces lose Kunduz in the first play, even after being backed up by Afghan air supports?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, it's not straightforward, and it begins many, many months ago. You could argue it begins many years ago. But they've increased their strength to the north. They've had it in fights since then. Now, look, when we stand back and look at this, in the past, when the Taliban have been able to make significant gains like this. This is the most significant gain, the biggest town they've been able to take since 2001. It is dig. This is sort of an affluent province. A lot of trade to the north. The main highway runs through there. This is a significant target in price. The reason they've been able to make swift gains like the in the past is because part of the population there is sympathetic to their message and there is there is some evidence to support that. They did fall back to the airport. They felt they lacked good leadership. These are contributing battles. Local populations are not necessarily supporting the government. And the message coming from the new Taliban leader as well is one that is to the private citizens, saying that we won't target you, there won't be judicial killings, just go back to work. You get the impression they don't plan to give up easily but they also say they should protect civilian lives and not damage civilian property. Right now, for a lot of them who live there, if there is a fight to retake the city, who is going to be responsible for the damage? This could effect who they support in the future. So retaking the city is going to be as significant as losing it. How it is handled in terms of how the Taliban are perceived going forward?

[02:11:08] BARNETT: Let's talk about that a bit, Nic. The Taliban did free more than 500 inmates. That makes the situation on the ground that much more unsafe. There are reports that those prisoners telling reporters that they are going home. But how long could it take to recapture this town?

ROBERTSON: There is a force of maybe. And we don't have these things accurate. We have an estimated 7,000 police and army there in the town. Typically, the police locally and often times the army is brought in from other parts of the country. That makes the police more liable to local pressure in the villages from the Taliban. They live there. Their families are there. The army are not. And the government says it is bringing in more reinforcements, which it should be able to do. The great thing, if you will, that NATO brought the Afghan army was massive logistics support over the past decade or so. As NATO has drawn in its forces, that logistical support is not there. We're talking about the ability to rush in large number of troops to provide food and water to sustain them, ammunition to sustain them in battle.

Right now, numerically, the Taliban should be outnumbered. The kill will be how much damage the government is prepared to do to push the Taliban out. Is the Taliban prepared to stand ground and perhaps contribute to that damage and, therefore, lower the estimates in the eyes of the people? That doesn't seem to be what the Taliban are trying to do. This is part of a political campaign on their part as well. So it could be done quite quickly looking at the number. But I think we're going to have to watch how it plays out. The army by its retreat yesterday and the police by their retreat as well, have really shown there are question marks over the government's ability to impose its writ in Kunduz at least in the short term right now.

BARNETT: All right, Nic Robertson live in London for us with the breaking news out of Afghanistan, officials retaking that town after the biggest Taliban gain, as Nic mentioned, since 2001.

Nic, thank you. Donald Trump has unveiled his highly anticipated tax plan. Coming up,

why it would allow some Americans to tell the IRS, I win.

CHURCH: Plus, the latest on the deadly Typhoon Dujuan after battering Taiwan and now moving over mainland China. We'll have all the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:16:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: I'm Richard Quest with the top business headlines.

The NASDAQ closed down 3 percent for its worst day in more than a month. The Dow lost 313 points and the S&P 500 fell 2.6 percent. The stocks of the biotech sector were the worst performers.

German prosecutors say they've opened a probe on the former Volkswagen chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, who resigned because of the scandal. He is being investigated for allegations of possible fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GERMAN PROSECUTOR: Based on public complaints which have been filed, we have started an investigation into fraud allegations in relations to the V.W. emissions scandal. The complaints were against Dr. Martin Winterkorn. The investigation will seek to determine whether reasonable suspicion exists against him or other employees in positions of responsibility at V.W.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: It all come as a German newspaper is alleging that top Volkswagen managers knew about the emissions manipulation as early as 2007.

Shell says it will stop offshore drilling in Alaska. Cheap oil prices are squeezing profits. A key exploration well did not uncover as much oil or gas as hoped.

Glencore's stock has fallen nearly 30 percent to a record low. The firm has been hit by persistent concerns over low prices in industrial metals.

Those are the headlines. I'm Richard Quest, in New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: U.S. stocks took a hit on Monday on fears over China's economy and of uncertainty of the timing of any U.S. interest rate hike. You see the red there. At this moment, that sell-off seems to be continuing in Asia. This is a live look at the markets. The markets in Tokyo and Sydney have closed for the day. As you see there, Tokyo's Nikkei is down more than 4 percentage points. Followed by Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 3.6 percent. The S&P 500, ASX 200 down 3.27 percent. Right now, the Shanghai Composite as you see is down roughly 2 percent.

CHURCH: Some big losses there.

All right. Back to the United States now. For months, U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has talked about his plan to "make America great again" -- his words. Now, he has released a tax plan that promises drastic cuts for most Americans.

CHURCH: Keep in mind, this come as rival, Ben Carson, surges in the polls.

CNN's Joe Johns has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The economy is what do I well.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump back in the spotlight tonight, unveiling his much-anticipated tax reform proposal.

TRUMP: I think you will see we have an amazing code. It will be simple. It will be easy. It will be fair. It is graduated. As you get up in income, you pay a little more.

JOHNS: Under Trump's plan, individuals making less than $25,000 and couples earning less than $50,000 would pay no income tax and send back a one-page form to the IRS saying, I win. That's where the wealthiest Americans, such as Trump himself, singles earning more than $150,000 and households making more than $300,000 would see their tax rates cut from nearly 40 percent to 25 percent.

TRUMP: This is actually a tax reduction. A big tax reduction, including for the upper income. I believe that the economy will do so well, that even though they won't be getting certain deductions, which aren't fair for them to be getting, that they'll end up doing better.

JOHNS: Trump's tax proposals resembling the plans of two of his rivals, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, who also call for lowering the tax income bracket and reducing rates for businesses. The billionaire candidate says any lost revenue would be offset by growing the economy and ending tax loopholes for wealthy hedge fund managers. But no specifics were provided to judge that claim.

[02:20:11] TRUMP: I actually believe they'll do better. I think the economy will grow. It will grow rapidly. And will have something very special.

JOHNS: Trump's policy rollout comes as Ben Carson surges in the polls, now running neck and neck with the real estate mogul.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm just going to be who I am. If people like that, that's great. And if they don't, so be it.

JOHNS: Carson climbing to 20 percent in the latest NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll, essentially tied with Trump at 21 percent.

Also moving up, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio, tied for third at 11 percent apiece. Rubio, who has become a fresh target for Trump, swinging back.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not interested in the back and forth to be a member or a part of his freak show.

JOHNS: Rand Paul also getting in on the action.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How could anyone in my party think that this clown is fit to be president?

JOHNS: Carson's rise comes even as he continues to face questions about his controversial remarks last week that a Muslim should not serve as president.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, STATE OF THE UNION: You're assuming that Muslim Americans put their religion ahead of the country.

CARSON: I'm saying if you accept all the tenets of Islam, you will have a difficult time abiding under the Constitution of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This interview is over.

TAPPER: OK.

JOHNS (on camera): Even though that interview was cut short by the Carson campaign, his comments about not wanting a Muslim in the White House have not hurt Carson in the polls or the pocket book. The campaign says he raised about $600,000 after he made it.

Joe Johns, CNN, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Donald Trump sat down with CNN's Erin Burnett to talk about his tax plan. We will show you part of that interview a little later this hour.

BARNETT: Now some other news. A deal that would shut down the U.S. government on Wednesday appears to be imminent. The U.S. Senate voted to limit debate on the so-called Stop-Gap funding bill. The agreement set aside a bitter feud over whether to provide government funds to Planned Parenthood, a woman's health group that provides abortions, among other services. That means the measure to continue funding the government will come up for a vote and likely pass before the Wednesday deadline. The Stop-Gap measure is intended to provide time for lawmakers from both political parties to strike a longer-term budget deal.

CHURCH: Meanwhile, U.S. House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, is pledging to change the culture of Washington. The California Republican announced on Monday that he wants to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He said he can do what outgoing Speaker John Boehner couldn't, control the conservatives.

Well, officials say at least two people are dead and more than 300 injured after Typhoon Dujuan hit the island nation of Taiwan on Monday. Dujuan dumped nearly two feet of rage in parts of the country. More than half a million people are without power and the heavy rain is expected to cause flooding and landslides. Dujuan has made landfall on mainland China. The storm has weakened but Chinese officials are not taking any chances. They're preparing for the worst.

And the storm has already dumped an incredible amount of rain over Taiwan.

We want an update from our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

Pedram, of course, we want to hear what has happened in Taiwan and what is in store for China.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. We still have a long day ahead of us over the next 12 hours. Look at the rainfall. We know upwards of 700 millimeters or 28 inches. You think about from the time folks in Taiwan went to bed until they woke up. It was more than what London would see in an entire year. If you're watching in look, you get about 12 inches every year in a good year. It would take them two years to see what happened overnight in the past 24 hours. In recent years in Los Angeles it there has been a drought so would it take five years to get to what occurred in one night across portions of Taiwan. An interesting statistic. You look at the mountains. We know we have about 300 mile that rise to about 300 meters in height. Roughly 9800 feet high. When you think about this, this back's tropical cyclone graveyard. This particular one, a category 1 equivalent. One of the areas directly impacted as the storm made landfall, the mountain really shreds the system apart. The conditions there downgraded to a category 1. But I want to dissect the storm system. We know in the northern hemisphere, based on how storms rotate in this part of the world and the forward progression of the storms. The area I'm standing in. That's the area the strongest wins will be expected. Offshore of the island, this island had the highest wind gusts ever observed in Japan. Last time they had winds this strong were in the 1960s. That was on the top of Mt. Fuji. By the way, about the speed you would have for a commercial airliner as it is taking off at your local airport.

So here's the storm system. The typhoon is still sitting there, 11:00 a.m. local time, falling apart quite rapidly. It is a mountainous region but it will produce on the order of 200 meters to 300 meters of rainfall. That on top of what has already occurred in recent days. A recipe for a disaster life threatening scenario, especially when you consider the population, when you put them together, you're talking about a lot of people in a small area and a lot of rainfall to go around -- Guys?

[02:26:15] BARNETT: All right, Pedram. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next hour.

The daughter of the late actor, Paul Walker, is suing Porsche, claiming defects on one of its cars contributed her to father's death. According to the lawsuit, the Porsche Correa GT lacked adequate side- door reinforcement bars and had defective fuel lines. The automaker says it hasn't yet seen the lawsuit. Paul Walker and his friend were killed in the car crash in California two years ago. Police determined it was speed that caused the accident.

CHURCH: A German newspaper reports that Volkswagen managers knew diesel emissions were being manipulated as early as 2007. That's based on a letter from the electronics firm, Bosc (ph). It says it delivered software that showed diesel cars running cleaner during testing than during actual driving. Volkswagen is accused of using that software in millions of vehicles to cheat on smog tests. The company wouldn't comment on the new report but says, quote, "The manipulations are not excusable."

BARNETT: Now, a potential breakthrough in the search for life on Mars. We'll have the details on NASA's announcement about flowing water on the red planet just ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm looking forward to this. We're going to meet some old friends that we encountered in very dramatic circumstances more than a year ago. And they're right up here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And a special reunion after a desperate and chaotic rescue from ISIS. The emotional story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:19] BARNETT: Welcome back to our viewers from the United States and those of you watching from around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. We want to update you on the main stories we are watching.

The Afghan government says a counter attack to retake the city of Kunduz from the Taliban is happening right now. The provincial capitol fell on Monday. An Afghan interior spokesman tells us the prison, a police compound, and a local neighborhood have been secured. He also says, quote, "A big military operation to clear all Kunduz city is about to start."

BARNETT: New video coming in from China as the deadly Typhoon Dujuan has made its way to the mainland in the last few hours. Meanwhile, officials on Taiwan says at least two people were killed and more than 300 injure after Dujuan hit the island nation on Monday. More than half a million people are said to be without power. And the heavy rain is expected to cause flooding and landslides. CHURCH: A Houthi-controlled news agency says Saudi-led air strikes

killed at least 131 people at a wedding in Yemen on Monday. The group says the air strikes were in Taiz Province in the southwestern part of the country. Saudi Arabia says it doesn't have any operations in that area and denies the report.

BARNETT: Last August, ISIS launched an assault on Sinjar province in Iraq targeting the Yazidi minority, you may remember. Activists say 3,000 Yazidis were killed and more than 5,000 kidnapped, many of them women.

CHURCH: That attack also triggered an exodus as hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes.

CNN's Ivan Watson has been reporting on the plight of the Yazidis and he caught up with one family he first met during a desperate rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON (voice-over): It was a rescue from hell. In the mad dash to climb aboard a flight to safety, families scrambled to stay together. These desperate people spent nine days trapped on a barren mountain under siege from ISIS militants who chased them from their homes.

(GUNFIRE)

WATSON: Amid the chaos and gunfire, terror frozen on the face of a girl in purple, 14-year-old Aziza Hamed.

More than a year later, we found Aziza and her family in this refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan.

(on camera): I'm looking forward to this. We're going to meet some old friends that we encountered in very dramatic circumstances more than a year ago. And they're right up here.

Dunia, how are you?

WATSON (voice-over): Aziza and her older 18-year-old sister, Dunia, are here along with their elder brother, Thabet, his wife and three children. Their situation now much better than the unfinished construction site where they lived for the first seven months after ISIS made them flee their homes.

The girls tell me they go to school here and they say the camp has started to feel like home.

(on camera): Aziza, you've gotten a little taller than Dunia since I saw you last.

WATSON (voice-over): But it does not take long for terrible memories to resurface.

(on camera): What's making you sad right now?

"When I see you," Aziza says, "I remember what happened." AZIZA HAMED, RESCUED FROM ISIS (through translation): We saw ISIS

with our own eyes, how they were capturing people. If we drove down the wrong road that day, we would have ended up in ISIS hands, but we took a different road and made it to the mountain.

[02:25:09] WATSON (on camera): In the year since their narrow escape, their father's health has deteriorated, and he can no longer walk. No one knows what happened to two elder brothers, who were captured by ISIS last year and haven't been heard from since. And another brother, 23-year-old Karem, smuggled himself to Europe on the migrant trail taken by so many other people fleeing the Middle East.

(on camera): Hey, Karem.

KAREM HAMED, RESCUED FROM ISIS: Hello.

WATSON: Hey, how are you? Where are you?

HAMED: Deutscheland.

WATSON: Germany?

HAMED: Yeah.

WATSON (voice-over): I ask Karem if he misses Iraq.

HAMED (through translation): No, that's gone. Iraq is gone for me. I lost it. I want to build a new future for myself. There's no future in Iraq.

WATSON (voice-over): That hopelessness, shared by so many people we talked to in refugee camps in northern Iraq, where people like Aziza and Dunia's older brother, Thabet, still struggle to deal with the trauma they endured.

"I just want to start a new life," he says, "And I want my family to stay safe and to stay together."

One of the few times 15-year-old Aziza really smiles is when I ask her what she'd like to do to the men from ISIS who attacked her family.

"I would stomp on their heads and kill them," she says.

This girl may have escaped to live another day, but her innocence has been forever lost.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Dahak, Iraqi Kurdistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: They've been through so much.

CHURCH: They certainly have.

BARNETT: Great report by Ivan there.

15 years ago, the United Nations set out to ensure every child would have a primary school education by 2015. But that hasn't happened.

CHURCH: World leaders at the U.N. just signed off on new sustainable development goals to ensure it happens in the next 15 years. Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is now chairwoman for the Global Partnership for Education.

Linda Kinkade asked her if the education goal is achievable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA GILLARD, FORMER AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It is achievable and we have made a lot of progress since the year 2000. The number of kids at primary school age who are not in school has been cut by around 40 percent so that's progress that should be celebrated. Absolutely. With the new sustainable development goals, we are lifting ambition as well as to the task to get them in school. So there are around 124 million students of primary or lower secondary age who are not in school.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just give us a snapshot of your strategy.

GILLARD: Well, our work is with developing country partners. We work with 60 nations around the world. So it is a very wide geographic spread. We work with developing country governments to make sure that they've got a full plan for schooling. And we make sure that plan is owned by the community, not top down, but it's had engagement from teachers and from civil society representatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Julia Gillard there. And be sure to check out the full interview with the former Australian prime minister at CNN.com.

BARNETT: A cool story. A Martian mystery is solved. NASA scientists have confirmed that liquid water exists on the red planet and it still flows from time to time. Researchers analyzed dark streaks on Mars' surface which grew during the summer and vanished in the winter.

CHURCH: Scientists are working to find out where the water comes from. The discovery does not prove there is life on Mars but it does show the conditions could be more livable than once thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM GREEN, DIRECTOR OF PLANETARY SCIENCE, NASA: Our rovers are finding that there is a lot more humidity than we ever imagined.

As we ingest the soils, they're moist. They're hydrated, full of water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Robert Zubrin is the president of the Mars Society. He joins us from Boulder, Colorado, to talk about this. This is an exciting day. But we've known that water existed on Mars

for quite some time. We don't know where it is and where it went. In your view, what is the major announcement that NASA made?

ROBERT ZUBRIN, PRESIDENT, THE MARS SOCIETY: First, they confirmed earlier insights of this kind. We had one of these in 2001 and 2011. Now this is really confirmed. What is more to the point, this phenomenon is all over the planet. This is a general phenomenon. It means the planet has a water table. And in underground water on earth, there is life. There could be life in underground water on Mars.

[02:40:13] BARNETT: So it is possible then that the reason you're seeing this behavior from season to season is because the water is mixed up in the surface terrain. And with the changing temperatures, it gets released. But we don't know exactly where the water is coming from. That still needs to be explored, right?

ZUBRIN: Sure. But here's the point. The water is coming from underground. That's pretty clear. It doesn't rain on Mars. There is an underground reservation on Mars. The surveyor took a photograph of a crater in 2000 and 2005. And between those two shots, a water erosion feature appeared on the side of the crater. Right in our own time, a water erosion feature happened. Water burst out of the side of the crater and dribbled down. And it is now apparent how there could be liquid, there's salt. Just like you throw salt on an icy road and it melts, even though it's below freezing, salt water has a lower freezing point than fresh water. You can have salt water, liquid salt water at the temperatures we find on Mars.

BARNETT: This is all fascinating. The Mars Curiosity Rover detected methane on Mars and that allows for the possibility of life. When you combine that finding with salt deposits, the flowing waters and various temperature, you wonder how could it not have supported even small forms of life at some point?

ZUBRIN: Well, it is clearly capable of supporting life. That methane discovery, that methane is either created by life or it's from a hydrothermal system, which is one that can support life. So we now know that Mars is, in a microbial sense, habitable. The question is, is there life there? That puts to the test the theory that life is a normal development from chemistry wherever you have appropriate physical and chemical conditions. If that theory is true, then this will be life on Mars, but not only on Mars but on planets all over the universe. We know there are planets around most stars. Every star has the right distance for liquid water, near or far, depending on the brightness of the star. If we find life on Mars, it means we're not alone. That's what it means.

BARNETT: Robert Zubrin, the president of the Mars Society, thank you for your time.

ZUBRIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: We'll take a very short break. Still to come, Donald Trump says his own wallet would take a hit under his newly proposed tax plan. Coming up, hear what the plan would do for Americans who don't have his wealth.

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[02:46:01] BARNETT: U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has released his highly anticipated tax plan.

Rosie, let's show them the details.

CHURCH: All right, here they are. Individuals who make less than $25,000 a year, or couples earning less than $50,000, won't pay federal income tax.

BARNETT: Also the highest individual tax bracket, currently about 39 percent, that would drop to 25 percent. Donald Trump says he would pay for these cuts by reducing deductions and loopholes for the very rich.

Here's how he explained it to our Erin Burnett.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If you look at what's going to happen to the economy, the economy will just be absolutely like a rocket. It will go up. This is my prediction. This is what I'm good at. This is my wheelhouse. And I think you'll create tremendous numbers of jobs.

Part of this and as you and I were discussing, I'm going to bring a lot of jobs back into the country. So many other countries have taken our jobs, they've taken our base, our manufacturing. We'll couple that with this tax plan. We'll have a country that will rocket again.

I'll put people to work. I'll be great for business. I'll be great for business. And we're going to have an economy that really is going to be hot.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, OUTFRONT: You, will you pay more money? Will it be millions and millions? Hundreds of millions? How much more will you pay?

TRUMP: I will probably end up paying more money. But at the same time, I think the economy will do better so I'll make it up that way. But I will end up paying more money. I believe, in the end, I might do better because I really believe the economy is going to go boom.

BURNETT: You're betting on growth.

TRUMP: Beautiful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We'll see.

During that interview, Trump also admitted that his rhetoric on the campaign trail is "probably a little childish" -- his words -- and he says this, quote, "this is a campaign."

(CROSSTALK)

BARNETT: All right, folks, the show is now his. Coming up, a closer look at the new "Daily Show" host, Trevor Noah. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAVAHERI: Good day to you. Pedram Javaheri, and this is CNN "Weather Watch."

(WEATHER REPORT)

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[02:51:51] CHURCH: Welcome back. "The Daily Show" has begun a new era with Trevor Noah as its host. The 31-year-old won the top spot after being a contributor for just eight months.

BARNETT: That's right. During his premier, Noah discussed other candidates and he thanked his predecessor, Jon Stewart, who hosted this program for 16 years. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: Why didn't they give the Americans a host? Again, Comedy Central tried, and those people also declined. So once more, a job Americans rejected is now being done by an immigrant.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you, Jon.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

NOAH: Thank you for believing in me. I am not quite sure what you saw in me but I'll work hard every day to find it. And I'll make you not look like the crazy old dude who left his inheritance to some random kid from Africa.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And he has a great story. His childhood was very challenging.

BARNETT: That's right. He was born a mix race child in apartheid South Africa. Our David McKenzie joins us now from Johannesburg for that part of the

story.

David, as South Africans wake up, feeling more prideful, they can also talk to you about what his mom was like because you spent some time with her.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His grandmother, actually. Errol and Rosemary, yes, there was a bit of nervousness, I have to say, in South Africa. People yesterday going to social media, asking the question, will Trevor Noah succeed? I think there is a collective sigh of relief. As you say, an amount of pride about him taking this huge stage in America. People in South Africa are very aware of "The Daily Show" and Jon Stewart's reign there.

We went yesterday to visit his grandmother. Trevor Noah, for the first part of his life, lived there with his grandmother. He often says in his comedy, which is often very biographical, that he was born of crime. He had a white Swiss father and a black South African mother during the height of apartheid. His granny was very excited to hear how he has done, but she was not surprised necessarily. She said, all through growing up, he was a big joker. And in her words, "very naughty, indeed" --

(LAUGHTER)

-- Rosemary and Errol?

CHURCH: And you know, David, Trevor Noah really draws from his experiences, the good and the bad, doesn't he, from his life there in South Africa? And that plays out on the stage and, certainly, in the show that he will be in. This is going to be big for him. It is hard to follow in the foot steps of Jon Stewart.

MCKENZIE: Very hard to follow. And it seems like he took a safe route, referring back to Jon Stewart a great deal. Not doing anything too edgy. A couple jokes fell flat. The general consensus, it wasn't a disaster. It is on all the main papers and online, and everybody is talking about it. Trevor Noah in his South Africa career, he might be 57, not very well known in the U.S. Many of his friends and comedians we've talked to said he had a progression from being, in their words, a vanilla comedian. Then over time, once again, the trust of his audience, really pushing the boundaries on issues of race and South African identity and global affairs. So many believe this is a starting point. Over time, he might find his voice. But here in South Africa, it is a day of a local kid does great. And people are extremely excited -- Rosemary and Errol?

[02:55:45] CHURCH: It will be interesting to see how his comedy develops but also how the American viewers read him.

BARNETT: Hopefully, they'll become accustomed to him.

CHURCH: It is tough when you're not an American and you're doing a show like that.

Our David McKenzie joining us there from Johannesburg.

MCKENZIE: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: We'll watch very closely.

And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. More news from all around the world after this short break.

BARNETT: We'll also show you the fight on a baseball pitch that has landed a Major League player in serious trouble. Stay with us for that. We're back in a moment.

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