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Hala Gorani Tonight
Barack Obama Extends America's Longest War; Israel on Edge. Aired 3-4p ET.
Aired October 15, 2015 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JONATHAN MANN, CNN HOST: Tonight no end in sight.
The U.S. President is extending America's longest war. What it means for Barack Obama's legacy.
Then, Israel on edge. Citizens arming themselves. U.N. Peace process coordinator tells us that leaders on both sides have to back away from the
bloodshed.
Plus, prying eyes get a surprise look inside a hidden Iranian missile site. The access is impressive, the timing intriguing.
And later we'll take you behind the lens. Award-winning wildlife photographers explained some unforgettable images.
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MANN: Hello, I'm Jonathan Mann at CNN Center. This is "The World Right Now."
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MANN: Thanks for joining us. It's a major policy shift by a U.S. President who had vowed to end American involvement in Afghanistan. Today Barack
Obama extended the U.S. Military mission there.
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MANN: 982 hundred American troops will remain in Afghanistan through much of next year to focus on training Afghan troops and fighting the remnants
of Al Qaeda. Mr. Obama said the decision was made in consultation with Afghan leaders and U.S. Commanders.
BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be. They're developing critical capabilities, intelligence,
logistics, aviation, command and control. Meanwhile the Taliban has made gains, particularly in rural areas and can still launch deadly attacks in
cities, including Kabul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: The announcement comes amid concerns over the Taliban's growing reach in Afghanistan. The U.N. Assessment reported by the New York Times suggests
the Taliban is now present in more of the country than at any point since the U.S. invasion 14 years ago, have a look at this map.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: While the areas of Taliban control are small, the yellow portions show you where the Taliban enjoys support from the local population and
that's half of the country surrounding most of its major cities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Let's get more now from Washington and CNN's Jim Sciutto is standing by with more details.
Jim, how big of a change is this and how big of a reversal.
JIM SCUITTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For the President it's really an enormous at least, political reversal. Remember, he had promised to end
these two wars, right, in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCUITTO: The withdrawal from Iraq happened and, of course, we saw the advance of ISIS there and now U.S. forces back involved both in the air and
on the ground to some degree. So now in Afghanistan you saw a setup for something similar with the Taliban advances you just described, the assault
and the taking of Kunduz just in the last couple of weeks although Afghan forces have since taken that back, but still it showed their strength.
And you have to think that the specter of Iraq featured prominently in this decision not wanting to see the same thing happened there and the President
said it in his own assessment. H said that the situation in Afghanistan is in his words fragile and deteriorating and with that in mind he's willing
to put U.S. troops at risk, thousands of U.S. troops at risk for longer, certainly longer than he planned. And frankly makes clear he's going to be
passing this on to the next President `cause it's going to extend into 2017 and of course, as of January 2017 the President will no longer be in
office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: It was carefully chosen, fragile and deteriorating. I think you can probably speak more freely. How bad have things gotten in Afghanistan?
SCUITTO: Well you look at the map that is a problem. You also look at ability of the Taliban to carry out major military operations as they did
in Kunduz, taking a major city, a city of 300,000 people in the north.
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SCUITTO: And then also threatening other cities, Gazni, which is only about 80 miles from Kabul the capital, word that that could be vulnerable. And in
addition to that as the President noted that while they are outside of most urban areas they're able to carry out attacks in urban areas, including the
capital Kabul, if not with impunity at least frequently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCUITTO: A lot of loss of life even in the capital despite the enormous security presence there. Those are the facts on the ground, it's been
impossible to ignore, and the fact is the military has been talking about extending this troop deployment for some time, months even, and it's now
that the President has made the decision. But the folks on the ground there have seen the situation deteriorating for some time and they've been asking
for help in effect to try to turn that around
MANN: Jim Sciutto hive in Washington, thank you very much.
SCUITTO: Thank you.
MANN: An Israeli government spokesman says legally armed civilians have a part to play now in keeping the country's streets safe after a surge in
violence.
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MANN: Police and soldiers have tightened security across the nation after repeated stabbings and other attacks that killed eight Israelis and wounded
dozens more. Security forces have killed some of the alleged Palestinian assailants at the scene, dozens of them in fact. A coalition of human
rights groups accuses Israel of being "too quick" to shoot and kill.
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MANN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the meantime says the Palestinian authority President is inciting some of the violence with what
he calls lies about a Palestinian boy accused in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.
He says Mahmoud Abbas called the boy innocent and claimed that Israel executed him.
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MANN: Israel released some video to prove that the 13-year-old Ahmad Manasra is alive. He's in fact being treated in an Israeli hospital.
In an address to the Palestinian people Wednesday, Mr. Abbas accused Israel of, "executing our children in cold blood," including Manasra. Prime
Minister Netanyahu had this to say a short time ago.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: First of all, he's not dead. He's alive. Secondly, he's not innocent; he tried to kill, murder, knife to
death an innocent Israeli youngster, 13 years old, riding a bicycle.
This Palestinian terrorist is now being treated in Hadassah Hospital in Israel. The only way that we can fight this big lie, all the other lies
that are hurled at Israel and spread in the Palestinian social network and from there to the world is to tell the truth.
MANN: Israeli police released this surveillance footage from Monday's attack. They say Ahmad Manasra, was hit by a car after he and his cousin
stabbed two Israelis. Manasra's cousin was shot and killed by police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Israeli police say many of the Palestinians involved in recent attacks are young and don't appear to have ties to established militant
groups. Ben Wedeman takes us to the streets of Israel now to show us how people are trying to stay safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Almost two weeks of lone wolf attacks and once again Jerusalem is on edge. Daily city residents
either witness scenes like these or see them on T.V.
For those who lived through previous waves of violence there's a sense of Deja vu.
YISCAH SMITH, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: I remember riding on the buses then and it's a similar feeling as now. It's almost like we're looking like this
around us more, not knowing if that really would help but just more conscientious when we're walking, when we're talking like right now I'm
more aware with my peripheral vision.
MANN: (inaudible) served in the Israeli Special Forces for more than 20 years and now runs a company providing weapons training for security guards
and ordinary people.
SHARON GAL: The civilians that come over here are under a lot of pressure. People want to protect themselves, protect their families. They feel they
cannot walk without a weapon in the streets because the attack can come from anywhere.
MANN: The Israeli government has made it easier for citizens to obtain weapons licenses. Less lethal means of defense are available but they are
selling out. (Alon) The do have you any pepper spray?
(ALON LUNBERG) No, I don't have. It's empty.
MANN: All sold out?
(LUNBERG): Sold out. Don't have it in are the right now. Maybe next week maybe. We can open it and you can if somebody attacks you spike it. It's a
self-defense tool. It's good for a woman, for girls. It's cheap and it's very easy to use.
MANN: Such things may help adults but the sense of vulnerability, especially for the young, is more difficult to address.
NAOMI BAUM, PSYCHOLOGIST: You have to acknowledge that it is scary - it is scary. I'm scared, you're scared, we're all scared but we don't let that
fear paralyze us.
MANN: Psychologist Naomi Baum has been treating trauma victims for almost 20 years. Her advice to parents.
BAUM: Try to keep routine as much as possible, regular meal times, regular bedtimes, reading books doing all the things that you do with your children
within your level of comfort.
MANN: A level of comfort that falls with every new attack.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
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MANN: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he'll visit the Middle East soon to try to help calm the situation, but prospects for peace look even
dimmer now than ever. A short time ago I spoke with the Nickolay Mladenov, U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process about one
source of tension and anger. Fears among Palestinians that the Israeli authorities are going to change or restrict access to the holy site that
Muslims call the noble sanctuary known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICKOLAY MLADENOV, U.N. SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR MIDDLE EAST: Well, I'm afraid that this fear is way beyond just the Palestinian community here. It
is shared by many in the Arab world and I think as a top priority for everyone who wants to see tensions resolved and tensions lowered is to make
sure that all of these rumors are proven to be not true. Prime Minister Netanyahu has on a number of occasions stated that he will uphold the
status quo. It's important that, again, communication between the parties is restored to make sure that Muslim worshippers are allowed full access to
their holy sites, that this is done in accordance with practice that has been in place for many, many years and decades, that this is in line with
the role that Jordan plays, the special role that the Jordanian state plays in this.
And I think that is a number -- important messages need to be sent on that, but these messages need to be backed up by action, not just words and I
think this is really the starting point of where a de-escalation will happen.
In the longer run what this situation needs is not just security measures. It needs a political perspective. People who have felt under pressure, who
have felt the loss of hope over many, many years. There's been no peace process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Well, again, can I jump in?
MLADENOV: . Their future is uncertain, they need the people to throw it back to them.
MANN: Forgive me, can I jump in on that thought because you're talking about a political perspective and the idea of a peace process. Did
President Abbas you think make two very important and unwise comments? He went to the United Nations last month and said that the Oslo process as far
as the Palestinians are concerned is dead. He went on television this week and accused the Israelis of executing a youngster who is very much alive.
Is there anything to be said about either one of those comments from your perspective?
MLADENOV: Well, I think it's very unfortunate that these situations happen, but you must understand the situation on the ground is extremely tense on
both sides. People across this land are really fearful. They are fearful because of the stabbing attacks that have happened. They are fearful
because of the reprisal that has happened after that. And, in fact, I think it's important for everybody, on all political sides, to really, really
tone down the language.
We've seen over the last couple of weeks how both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas have been able to do that, and in their statements they
have been much more moderate that be before. And I would strongly take this opportunity to encourage all political and religious leaders on both sides
to work together in order to de-escalate the environment. That's the starting point, because without that it's very difficult to talk about
politics, it's very difficult to talk about longer-term solutions if -- if the tension continues.
MANN: Nickolay Mladenov, U.N. Special Envoy. This is "The World Right Now." Coming up.
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MANN: A rare sight inside an underground Iranian missile facility we have never seen before.
Also ahead, CNN sits down with the daughter of Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Why Ivanka Trump says her father is
misunderstood. All that and more.
This is The World Right Now.
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MANN: Welcome back. The Blade Runner, South African track star and convicted killer Oscar Pistorius will be out of prison in less than a week.
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MANN: The country's parole board approved a request for him to be moved to house arrest next Tuesday. Pistorius you may recall was given a five-year
sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He shot her on Valentine's Day 2013 saying he mistook her for an intruder.
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MANN: Iran has broadcast some extraordinary images of an underground missile facility, a rare moment of openness for Tehran. The footage comes
just days after reportedly test fired a long range ballistic missile. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It looks almost like a scene from an action movie. Dozens of ballistic missile launching systems
inside a gigantic cave. But the video shows Iran's missile program is very real and very big as the head of the elite revolutionary guard's aerospace
division says. The missiles and various rangers are mounted on launchers in all bases and are ready to be launched he told an Iranian state T.V.
reporter, and added that is if enemies make a mistake.
The video was published only days after Iran test fired a new generation of ballistic missiles Tehran says are capable of reaching targets in Israel,
possibly breaching the U.N. Resolutions, the U.S. Believe.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We've got strong indications that those missile tests did violation U.N. Security council resolutions
that pertain to Iran's ballistic missile activities.
PLEITGEN: But why the sabre rattling so shortly after the nuclear agreement that many believe will help improve relations between Iran and the west.
Iranian hard-liners and the powerful conservative clergy and in the military say they fear American influence on the country could expand and
warn their followers at recent Friday prayers.
We will never allow America to enter into our culture into our economy or for the great Satan to influence our policy, the supreme leader's military
adviser said. Anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric have increased with Iran's supreme leader even saying that Israel will not exist in 25 years, a
quote now on posters around the capital.
But recent polls show a majority of Iranians want better relations with western countries. Business leaders in Tehran hoping international
investment will increase thanks to sanctions relief as a result of the nuclear agreement which was ratified by Iran's parliament Tuesday by a
large majority.
Despite the strong messages sent by Iran's armed forces so far the momentum brought on by the nuclear agreement doesn't appear to be fading.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN London.
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MANN: Coming up, a nurse is back in the hospital months after what looked like a complete recovery from Ebola.
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MANN: Surprising new information about how long the virus can stay a threat, even when the patient seems healthy.
Plus, how do Germans feel about the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees pouring across their border? A new poll could put more pressure on
German's Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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MANN: Welcome back. This is what's happening in the business world right now. The Dow Jones industrials are up snapping a two-day losing streak with
help from the financial sector, some good results there. And from inflation readings, inflation looks firmly under control.
Let's have a look at Nasdaq where the numbers are up as well. Take a look at latest numbers, up just a touch but good results. S&P up as well.
Europe, good numbers again. The three-day losing streak finally coming to an end helped by casino stocks going up and Unilever as well, two big
concerns, both showing good numbers.
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MANN: In the meantime, the world's biggest automaker is recalling 8.5 million diesel vehicles across Europe fitted with software to cheat
emissions tests.
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MANN: That news as German transport authorities order VW to recall more than 2 million cars in Germany alone. The German car giant struggling to
recover from the scandal, it designated more than $7 billion to cover the costs of the recall but some analysts think the number will grow.
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MANN: A new study confirms what doctors had feared; that the deadly Ebola virus can still live in survivors. The study results come after a Scottish
nurse thought cured of the disease became critically ill with the virus again this week.
Our Diana Magnay reports from London.
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DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nine months after making what seemed like a full recovery from Ebola Scottish nurse Pauline
Cafferkey is in critical condition in London's Royal-Free Hospital with complications related to the virus.
Cafferkey contracted Ebola when she was volunteering in Sierra Leone last year spending three weeks in isolation before being declared Ebola-free in
January. She spoke then of how unpredictable the virus can be.
PAULINE CAFFERKEY: You don't know what way it's going to go. Obviously at back of my mind, I've seen all of the what could happen and potentially
could happen to me and did happen to me.
MAGNAY: Scientists don't know why the virus stays dormant in a small number of survivors but they know that it does.
HUGH PENNINGTON, MICROBIOLOGIST: We know that the Ebola virus or at least the virus genes of Ebola can hang around in patients who have recovered
from the infection. And it looks as though this is what's happened in this particular case.
MAGNAY: In December last year two months after he recovered from Ebola U.S. doctor Ian Crozier started to experience pain and blurred vision in his
eyes.
IAN CROZIER, DOCTOR: As my sight started to go bad it became clear that this was a very different animal and that what was and whatever had been
unleashed in my eye was not going away quickly. And one morning as this progress evolved I woke up and realized that my blue eye had turned - had
turned bright green.
[15:25:17]
MAGNAY: Tests showed that his eye cavity was riddled with Ebola, though there was no trace of it in his tears or on the surface of the eye.
Scientists don't know where else the virus may persist. Certain chambers in the body where the immune system can't reach, like the central nervous
system or cavities in the joints. A study published on Wednesday found Ebola present in semen nine months after infection and in Liberia there has
been one suspected case of sexual transmission from an Ebola survivor to his partner.
And it's possible that the virus lingers elsewhere in bodily fluids less easy to test.
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MAGNAY: It's not clear what role the Ebola virus is playing in Pauline Cafferkey's illness, it's possible that she has other complications, a
post-infection issue maybe made worse by the presence of Ebola.
A challenge for doctors writing the rule book on a virus which may transform and mutate in the months that it lies dormant.
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MAGNAY: Last month Liberia was declared Ebola free and in Guinea and Sierra Leone there have been just a handful of cases, a massive reduction at tail
end of this epidemic.
But as Pauline Cafferkey's relapse shows the virus can still linger, a malignant presence in the bodies of survivors who thought they'd passed
the worse.
Diana Magnay, CNN, London.
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MANN: Still ahead, extending America's mission in Afghanistan.
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MANN: The U.S. President changes course saying Afghan forces just aren't ready to battle insurgents alone but what does that say about President
Obama's leadership? We'll put the question to a CNN global affairs analyst.
Also ahead capturing nature with a camera. How these award winning images are shining a light on the world's wildlife.
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MANN: Welcome back. The American military mission in Afghanistan has been extended again.
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MANN: The Afghanistan government has just released a statement welcoming Thursday's announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama. 9,800 American
troops will now remain in Afghanistan through most of next year.
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MANN: An Israeli government spokesman says legally armed civilians have a part to play in keeping the streets safe there after a surge in violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Police and soldiers have tightened security across the country after repeated stabbings and other attacks killed eight Israelis. No new attacks
were reported Thursday.
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MANN: Reality star and former national basketball association player Lamar Odom is fighting for his life in a Las Vegas hospital. Today he was visited
by his teenaged children.
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MANN: Odom was found unresponsive in a legal brothel in the U.S. State of Nevada. His ex-wife Khloe Kardashian is reportedly by his side.
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MANN: Europe's football body UEFA says it supports President Michel Platini's right to defend himself against allegations of corruption.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Platini is being investigated by FIFA over an alleged disloyal payment by Sepp Blatter. He we given a 90 day suspension. UEFA is calling
for the case to be concluded by mid-November.
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MANN: Let's bring you more now on our top story. U.S. President Barak Obama's decision to extend the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: It is a big change in policy for Mr. Obama ending the 14-year long war was one of his campaign promises. In 2009 soon after taking office
President Obama increased the number of U.S. forces in the country to 55,000. Months later Obama approved what was dubbed the surge boosting that
number to nearly 100,000.
The surge continues until late in 2012 and then thousands of U.S. troops began going home. The U.S. officially ended its combat mission in 2014.
Since then though Obama has had to delay the drawdown repeatedly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: What does that say about the American President as Commander in Chief?
Well we're joined now by David Rhode, a CNN Global Affairs analyst and an investigative reporter for Thompson Reuters. We should also mention that he
was kidnapped and held captive by the Taliban.
Thanks for being here. This is an important milestone for Afghanistan, but I wonder if we can turn the telescope in the other direction and if you can
give us a sense of what it says about Barack Obama as Commander in Chief.
DAVID RHODE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: To be blunt it's a huge setback. You know, he wanted to end both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the
honest truth is that pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq proved to be a failure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RHODE: ISIS emerged, there are many factors that created is but clearly the U.S. troop withdrawal didn't help. And then this is again happening in
Afghanistan. I think he fears that Afghanistan will collapse in the U.S. troops leave. So a key sort of part of his belief in terms of getting us
out of these wars and then if you leave the U.S. troops, if you pull them out these countries would remain stable, that has just been proven not to
be true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Is he more ambivalent about his role as Commander in Chief than his predecessors have been? Reluctant to use military force and yet unsure, as
you have pointed out about exactly how to avoid or withdraw military force?
RHODE: I think he's ambivalent about the use of military force, particularly large American ground invasions. He's been very decisive and
there was a real an increase in the use of drone strikes, you know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RHODE: He famously ordered the raid to kill Bin Laden but he came in with a mandate that the George W. Bush strategy of large American ground invasions
didn't work and this is the problem.
The Bush approach isn't working but Obama's, you know, idea isn't working either so I don't think it's that he's sort of a weak Commander in Chief,
it's just his philosophy, his belief that the effective way to fight terrorism was to pull all the U.S. troops out. You know and it was a
belief that having American troops sort of created oxygen that fed the insurgencies and if we got out of these countries they would stabilize but
again that's not working. And you know as a country, the U.S. Europe, you know the international community, what is an effective approach to
countering terrorism? I mean, we've had two Presidents, you know, 16 years, and there's no clear successful strategy as far as I can tell at this
point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: And you mentioned the drone strikes. When you add it all up, the drone strikes, the use of what's been reported as cyber warfare against
targets like Iran. The idea that other nations could help or even lead the U.S. when it comes to approaching American enemies. Multilateralism, no
unilateralism, I think even in one of your pieces you've called it the Obama doctrine. Are you saying it's simply been a failure and we can make
that judgment already?
[15:35:05]
RHODE: I think large parts of it have failed, yes, and the White House is you know very careful to say there's not an Obama doctrine but the things
you listed, multilateralism, drone strikes, you know a smaller U.S. footprint around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RHODE: We're a part of this philosophy and it you know was seen as a credible approach. I think many people are surprised by the rise of ISIS,
surprised to a lesser extent. I think people knew the Taliban would be tough, but, yes, I think it's correct. I think, you know, we're seeing that
pulling out all troops isn't an answer. A political mistake .
MANN: .I'm going to jump in `cause it's not just ISIS. We're talking about the rise of Putin in Russia, the determination by Bashar al Assad in Syria
to hold on. Are the President's critics right are America's enemies emboldened by this as a sign of weakness?
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RHODE: I don't think -- I wouldn't go that far and I don't think that you know, President Obama is responsible for the rise of President Putin. Even
if there had been a more bellicose American leader I don't think any American President would have been willing to send American troops into
Ukraine to stop Vladimir Putin. It's a very different thing to go to war with Russia. There's a lot of talk about that in the campaign.
So - but I do think in Iraq and Afghanistan pulling out the troops has failed and drone strikes alone aren't enough to stop these insurgencies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RHODE: I would agree that those approaches haven't worked.
MANN: We have just a moment; President Bush left us the legacy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Is President Obama going to leave the ongoing
military presence there at the very least as part of his legacy now?
RHODE: It is and maybe one of the mistakes that President Obama was saying that the end of the war would mean all U.S. troops coming out of countries.
He has reduced the number of troops, you know, it was 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan and now there's only 5,000.
So maybe an approach is saying there will be some American troops that went on for years in the Cold War in Korea and Germany, just sort of saying to
the American public we need 5,000 or 10,000 troops in certain countries around the Middle East to counter terrorism instead of promising we can
just end the war completely and have no troops in these countries at all.
MANN: That is the way it looks. David Rhode, thanks so much for talking with us.
RHODE: Thank you.
MANN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing growing pressure to end her open door policy for asylum seekers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: She is meeting with other E.U. leaders at a summit in Brussels on the migrant crisis as thousands of them continue to pour into Europe. At home
she's facing a growing rebellion within her own party.
Germany's lower house of parliament has just approved rules to curb the influx and speed up deportations. The upper house is to take up the measure
on Friday.
A growing number of Germans are not happy about the huge flow of migrants and refugees across their borders. Have a look at these polls by YOUGOV.
40% of Germans now say the number of asylum seekers is far too high, that's compared to 31% in February. Just 20% say the number of asylum seekers is
acceptable and only 9% say their country can take in a lot more asylum seekers. That's down from 15% in February.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Chancellor Merkel pursued her open door policy on asylum seekers with the catch phrase "we can do this."
Atika Shubert takes us to the streets of Berlin to find out if that message still resonates with ordinary Germans.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They call her mama Merkel. For some she is the embodiment of European wealth and generosity,
the leader who opened the doors for Syrian refugees to Germany and beyond.
But for her harshest critics Mama Merkel is a withering dismissal of weak leadership in the face of a crisis that threatens to end Europe's free
borders.
We took to the streets of the capital to find out what Germans really think of Mama Merkel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just said that everybody is welcome, that's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming from New Zealand where we're not taking too many refugees in, we're actually really -- we're in great admiration of
what she's doing and how many people she's opened the doors for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea behind this cause is to help which is always good. But I don't think it's a good idea to tell the people to come over,
we want you, you know, and then after four weeks we start to close down. What's the idea behind it? So there doesn't seem to be a plan.
SHUBERT: That concern has dropped her popularity to its lowest point in recent years. For a Chancellor that's been in power for ten years and
possibly hoping for another term, that is not good news.
The problem, too many refugees. Germany now expects as many as a million to apply for asylum this year alone. Up to 10,000 a day are crossing the
border into Germany.
Many initially applauded her warm welcome but with school gymnasiums, festival tents and churches across the country now overwhelmed, many are
wondering how the country will cope.
Merkel insists she is coming up with solutions devoting $6 billion to refugee housing and integration, proposing transit zones in Turkey, Hungary
and Greece to slow down the number of refugees. In the meantime however, Mama Merkel may find Germany is not prepared to provide such a warm welcome
anymore.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:40:11] MANN: Now one group of migrants is looking to make it to the U.K. but came across something pretty unexpected.
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MANN: A polar bear left a Moscow zoo bound for a wildlife park in Great Britain. Along the way the bear's epic journey hit a brief snag in France.
While being transported through Calais, a group of migrants opened the truck, the back of it anyway, and climbed in hoping to catch a ride to the
U.K. They were surprised to find the polar bear inside. Luckily for them the animal was in a special crate and no particular threat.
Several migrants did run off. A few others stayed inside the truck actually until French authorities arrived and the polar bears seemed utterly unfazed
by the whole episode. (Inaudible) was able to continue on to his home in Yorkshire where we are told he's now settling nicely in with no uninvited
guests.
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MANN: This is The World Right Now.
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MANN: Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has been taking heat for his comments about women. Now one who knows him well, his daughter
Ivanka, tells CNN what she thinks about the controversy. An exclusive interview up next. You're watching The World Right Now.
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MANN: Welcome back. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is dominating the polls in South Carolina now. The third U.S. State to the
hold a nominating contest in the race for the White House. A
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MANN: A CNN ORC poll shows 36% of likely Republican voters support the business mogul. Not bad for a millionaire, billionaire for Manhattan in the
deep south. His closest opponent Ben Carson is way back with 18%. Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, and Jeb Bush are following in just single digits.
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MANN: Now we've seen Donald Trump go from political novelty to serious contender for the presidency.
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MANN: Now we're hearing from someone who's seen a side of the man that very few others have. His daughter Ivanka.. She spoke exclusively to CNN's Poppy
Harlow at "Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit" in Washington.
[15:45:10]
Ivanka began by standing up for her father saying he's long recognized the importance of women in the workplace.
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: I think it's incredibly important and I think companies who aren't prioritizing ensuring that women are at
all levels within the organization and there -- this disproportion of men versus women and gender and inequality, you know, anyone who is thinking in
those terms and who's not being very proactive to ensure that there company is being thoughtful about the gender mix is simply going to fall behind.
So I think it will be a self-selecting thing. I think in ten years from now the companies who haven't evolved will not be the companies that they are
today, and, you know, I think, my -- my father recognized this a long time ago. I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I wouldn't have the
ambition, the drive, the passion, the commitment to what it is that I'm doing, both for the trump organization and for my own brand, if he hadn't
encouraged me, emboldened me and given me the confidence that I could do whatever it is I set my mind to accomplish if I had the vision, the energy,
the passion and the work ethic to match.
POPPY HARLOW, HOST: You started Women Who Work. It's an initiative you pushed to empower women at all levels to work and to follow their dreams.
But PEW found that an increasing amount of American women are staying home, from 23% in 1999 to 29% in 2000. Some of that is in part due to rising
child care costs.
TRUMP: Yes.
HARLOW: What's your message in this campaign to those women.
TRUMP: Well so my campaign is about the fact that women are working at all aspects of their life. So I really wanted to create a brand that was
celebrating the fact that women are multidimensional, that we're all really hard at architecting the lives that we want to live and lives that are
consistent with our personal priorities. And I do think there's this unfortunate and prevailing depiction of the working woman as, you know,
wearing a black pant suit and being solely focused on her professional role and that's just not true. And hopefully I can be a small part of changing
the narrative around what it looks like to be a woman who works today, and that's the purpose of the campaign. It's not to tell people they should
work or they shouldn't work.
HARLOW: Your father points to you telling him that he has been on the campaign trail, "really misunderstood on his views about women." He has
said some things that have -- about women that have shocked many people, about Carly Fiorina. He said look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?
About Megyn Kelly's questioning of him on the Fox debate. He said this was blood coming out of her wherever. Ivanka, what was your reaction to that?
TRUMP: Well, I think a lot of the sensationalism around this was orchestrated largely by the media. Look, my father is very blunt. He's very
direct. He is not gender specific in his criticism of people and people that he doesn't particularly like or people that he does like but thinks
they are wrong on a particular issue.
So, you know, I don't think that he's gender targeted at all. Like I said, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't be a high level executive
within his organization if he felt that way so he's always supported and encouraged women and truthfully he's proven that over decades through his
employment practices and hiring practices.
HARLOW: What would a President Trump do for women in this country?
TRUMP: He'd be amazing for women in this country. He would be incredible for women in this country and he's starting to articulate his positions.
It's not my place to articulate those for him. I'm not part of the campaign. I'm very busy and he's kept me very busy working alongside my
brothers and running the organization now that he's taking the step and in terms of his efforts to try and make this country great again.
As he says, though, you know, I'll leave policy to him, but I can speak from my vantage point as a child and also from my vantage point as a
colleague and somebody who works with him. He's been an amazing parent. He's given me every opportunity to succeed. He's been loving and
supportive. He's pushed me. He's corrected me. He's disciplined me, and I think as a parent now myself I appreciate how hard that is more than ever
before.
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MANN: Ivanka Trump. Next, the back story on some award-winning wildlife images straight from the photographers who captured them.
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MANN: Stay with us.
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MANN: An image of two foxes in Canada's arctic, and even there the law of the jungle prevails. It's taken home one of the world's top photography
prizes. The wildlife photographer of the year award requires judges to sit through tens of thousands of entries around the world.
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MANN: But as we learned from the award-winning photographers themselves, there's more to every picture than meets the eye. Take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story behind the picture I think is what makes this image so important to me and certainly to other people here. This moment
was a red fox preying on an arctic fox. The red fox due to climate change is extending its range further north in Canada. Episodes like this will
probably occur more frequently. It's the simplicity of the shot, just the way the symmetry of the two heads of the foxes line up and the tails. It
gets like a shot posed in a studio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can plan as much as you want, but usually the best pictures are a shot that has just that little bit of luck where something
random and unexpected just happened.
I miss so many shots because I -- I might take a picture, look at back of the LCD and then something happens. It was one of the coolest experiences
I've ever had spending time in the dark with mountain goats as they fed with the stars, and it's an extremely complicated picture to -- to take
because there's no moon that night. I couldn't see anything, so composing the picture was a little bit of guesswork.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me personally, all these pictures are special because there is a story. A year ago a walrus which we named buddy came to
an island just outside (inaudible) and I spent days with him. I played with him, and he came like a dog. He loves to cuddle with me and so on and it
was a great opportunity to take neat pictures of this guy.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up in a coastal community where we had a real dense population, and I was fascinated by the eagles as little kids and how
does it look for the fish in the millisecond before he gets dragged up into the water. It took me three years of preparation and failures before I got
that.
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MANN: Three years to take that picture.
And finally, speaking of wildlife, London Mayor Boris Johnson certainly got into the Rugby World Cup spirit while on a visit to Tokyo, Thursday. Have a
look.
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MANN: At a street rugby event he charged down the field driving the opposition before him and then the opposition included a 10-year-old boy.
Fortunately the schoolboy was none the worse for wear and afterwards told reporters that he was proud to play against the London Mayor and some of
the strongest men in Japan.
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MANN: Large man in motion and small boy in the way the physics of it suggest it could have turned out a whole lot worse.
You've been watching The World Right Now, thanks for joining us. Quest Means Business is next. I'm Jonathan Mann.
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