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U.S. Putting More Boots on Ground in Iraq, Syria; Female Fighting Units in Syria; Chicago Mayor Fires Police Chief Following Protests; Mysterious Boats Appear on Japan's Shores; Tour of Prison Oscar Pistorius' Could Return To; Zuckerberg to Donate Company Stock to Charity; Apple IPhone Could Lose Key Feature; Protests in Great Britain over Fight in Syria; U.S. Plans More Boots on Ground in Syria; France Tracking Down Details of Further Planned Attacks; Record Rainfall, Flooding in Southern India; U.S., China to Meet over Cyber Spying Complicating Relations. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired December 02, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:13] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Protesters march through London as the British parliament gets ready to vote on expanding air strikes into Syria.
And weeks of torrential rain in India has caused new and dangerous flooding.
Later, Chicago's police superintendent is forced out amid accusations of wrongdoing in the police department.
Hello, and welcome to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
And we begin this hour with an important decision from British lawmakers. They are expected to vote in just a matter of hours on whether to expand air strikes against ISIS into Syria. Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the House of Commons Tuesday night, urging parliament to reject the plan. The U.K. is already carrying out air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.
Prime Minister David Cameron laid out his case for expanding the air raids just last week. But protesters are not convinced.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't see them as people. We just see them as a country that are, like, umbrella'ed into the name of ISIS. And they're innocent people and innocent children who are being killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't bomb ideas. You can't. I think that sums up this entire debate. I don't think it's a debate. I think this is a no-brainer. We can't bomb Syria.
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CHURCH: The U.S. military is planning to send more Special Forces to help fight ISIS in Iraq. But Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi says there's no need for foreign troops on the ground and any military operation must be coordinated with his government.
Chief U.S. security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, reports.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After frequent White House denials that U.S. troops would face combat in Iraq and Syria --
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SCIUTTO: -- today, the president is ordering dozens of U.S. Special Forces into combat roles involving direct action against ISIS.
ASH CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: These Special Operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture ISIL leaders.
SCIUTTO: The new expeditionary force will number in the dozens. Those support forces will expand its total footprint to about 200.
GEN. JOSEPH DUNFORD, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: This force and the operations this force will conduct will provide us additional intelligence that will make our operations much more effective.
SCIUTTO: Part of their mission, raids like this one in northern Iraq in October, daring joint operations involving Kurdish commandos and the U.S. Army's Delta Force to free these ISIS-held prisoners.
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SCIUTTO: Demonstrating the added danger of direct action, one Delta Force Operator Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler was killed.
This new deployment to Iraq is in addition 209 50 Special Forces the U.S. is deploying on the ground in Syria.
CARTER: It puts everybody on notice in Syria that you don't know at night who is going to be coming in the window. And that's the sensation that we want all of ISIL's leadership and followers to have. So it is an important capability.
SCIUTTO: The expanded U.S. combat role comes in the aftermath of Paris. And, as progress against ISIS on the battlefield has been halting, President Obama declared the group contained in an interview two weeks ago.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them.
SCIUTTO: Today, however, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dunford, appeared to contradict his commander-in-chief.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: We currently contained ISIL?
DUNFORD: We have not.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Have they been contained at any time since 2010?
DUNFORD: Tactically, in areas, they have been. Strategically, they have spread since 2010.
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SCIUTTO (on): Just as the role of U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria has expanded, so have their numbers, rising from just a couple of hundred troops a little more than a year ago, largely to protect the embassy in Baghdad, the consulate in Irbil, and now growing by a factor of more than 10 and coming up on the limit of 3550 troops that the president said he's going to have to raise that upper bar to accommodate this latest deployment. And officials I spoke to did not believe this would be the final deployment for Iraq and Syria.
Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama is urging Russia not to intervene in Syria's civil war. He has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin twice in the last month. This picture is from the climate change summit under way right now in Paris. Mr. Obama said he would like to see Russia focusing on fighting ISIS.
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[02:05:09] OBAMA: Mr. Putin, I don't expect that you're going to see a 180 turn on their strategy over the next several weeks. They have invested for years now in keeping us out in power. Their presence there is predicated on -- him up. So that's going to take some time for them to change how they think about the issue.
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CHURCH: Russia is also at odds with Turkey, which shot down a Russian fighter jet. It says was over its air space last week.
There were a lot of hugs and celebrations in Lebanon on Tuesday after 16 security officers were freed by the al Nusra Front during a prisoner swap. The exchange was brokered by Qatari mediators and happened in the Lebanese border town of Assal. That's where the soldiers were kidnapped last year. They were swapped for 13 Islamists prisoners that the Syrian jihadist group wanted. The ex wife of ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was among. Sujidah al Dulaimi has been divorced for six years. An analyst with the Atlantic Council's Center for the Middle East explains why she was released.
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FAYARD BARI (ph), ANALYST, CENTER FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL: She was released because, I think, A, her intelligence value to the Lebanese security forces ran out. She revealed all that she could reveal and they ran out of other options to retrieve the soldiers who had been kidnapped by al Nusra and ISIS.
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CHURCH: Dulaimi was arrested in 2014 trying to enter Lebanon from Syria.
Authorities in France are still tracking down the details of the other attacks terrorists were planning for Paris. With more information on the intended targets, many the Parisians remain uneasy.
Our Fred Pleitgen has the latest on the investigation.
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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When French police killed the alleged ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, in a raid two weeks ago, sources say they probably also thwarted further planned killings. One alleged target, Paris's Jewish community.
Clarei Koskos (ph) is packing her things, leaving France for Israel. She says fear of terrorism is not the only rope, but certainly a factor.
"Sure, you can walk in the streets, but you could get attacked at any moment," she says. "It depends on the neighborhood you're in. When you're on the subway, you could get harassed just for wearing Jewish religious symbols. You're not necessarily going to get killed, but you could easily get attacked."
Sources close to the investigation tells CNN, after the initial Paris attacks, the cell had further plots, quote, "ready to go" against France's transport infrastructure, schools and Jewish areas.
In January, an Islamist terrorist held up a kosher super market killing five people before being gunned down by police.
I meet Sasha Vandervilt (ph), the head of France's Jewish Students Union, in a Paris cafe. In spite of the recent violence, he thinks jus should never stay in France.
SASHA VANDERVILT (ph), JEWISH STUDENTS UNION, FRANCE: I am very proud of my French identity and this is my country and I do not intend to leave it. I'd rather stay here and fight, fight for my right to be safe from attacks.
PLEITGEN: Another place on Abbaaoud's target list, Paris' main business area.
(on camera): This is a huge commercial area, about 180,000 people work here. And most of them are business people. Now, according to a source, Abdelhamid Abbaaoud wanted his cousin to buy his two high-end pairs of suits and shoes for about 5,000 Euros so that he and an accomplice would blend in when they attacked this area.
(voice-over): Even with the alleged ringleader killed, new information about his possible additional plots is alarming to French authorities still trying to figure out the size and sophistication of the terror network that struck here on November 13th.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Paris.
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[02:09:28] CHURCH: And this just into CNN. Pakistan has executed four Taliban militants tied to a deadly school attack. You may recall at least 145 people, mostly school children, were killed in the December 2014 massacre. Seven people were given a death sentence and another got life in prison from a Pakistani military court back in August for their roles in the attack.
Next on CNN NEWSROOM, record rainfall in southern India. We will have more on the flooding in Chennai after what has already been a very wet couple of weeks. We're back with that in a moment.
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RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Rachel Nichols, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.
Manchester City's parent company has made a big move towards a foothold in the most lucrative corner of the globe. On Tuesday, the football group it sold a 13 percent stake of the company to a group of investors backed by the Chinese government. The CFG Group already has a growing empire that includes Manchester, United States, Australia and Japan. And now a conduit to grow their business into one of the world's most booming markets.
And the Citizens were in action on Tuesday in the Capital One Cup quarterfinal against Hull City. We thought going in this might be a mismatch, and sure enough, Kevin with two goals. The first taking advantage of that error by Hull. And he wasn't done. His second was his beautifully crafted kick. Look at this. The keeper, no shot. City wins it, 4-1. And that's nine goals and eight assists in 15 starts.
The NBA has just named the Golden State Warriors' Luke Walton its Western conference coach of the month. He led the team to a record 19-0 start. But the only quirk, Walton isn't the Warriors' official coach. He's the interim while head coach, Steve Kerr, remains out after back surgery. So on the NBA's official record, it's Kerr who gets credit for all the teams wins, but Walton who is enjoying it all, unofficially, of course.
That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Rachel Nichols.
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CHURCH: To massive flooding in southern India now. Over 300 millimeters of rain fell in Chennai in less than 18 hours. The airport was closed because runways were flooded. Train and bus services were severely disrupted.
For more on the record rainfall, we want to get to CNN's Sumnima Udas live in New Delhi.
Sumnima, these are historical and deadly floods. More rain is in the forecast. These are deadly floods. How have authorities been responding and what's being done for people in the hardest hit regions?
SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, you've got the army, the navy, even the air force and the national disaster relief force team. They're all involved, going to the most low-lying areas in Chennai, trying to evacuate as many people as possible. Some 38 relief centers have been set up. Telecommunications has been difficult. It's been next to impossible to get a sense of how many people are involved. The situation is very, very desperate right now. No electricity in much of Chennai. Colleges are closed, schools are closed, the airport has been temporarily shut down in the runway, but also inside the airport. Trains temporarily suspended, buses, as well. We've been seeing all those pictures of people wading in knee-deep and neck-deep water. This has been going on for two weeks, this heavy rainfall. This is monsoon season in Chennai. So it's not unusual for it to rain so much. But what happened overnight? That's 300 millimeters of water, what locals are calling the worst downpour in over a hundred years. That is what has really exasperated the situation. The lakes nearby overflowed, the dams operating at overcapacity. They had to be released so that's what's exasperating the situation in Chennai right know -- Rosemary?
[02:15:02] CHURCH: Yeah. It is monsoon season. Indians are used to dealing with this, but this is worst than they've ever had to confront. What will happen to people in the coming days as more rainfalls? You mentioned those shelters, how easy is it for people to get to those shelters and what all do they get from that? Are they given food and fresh water and other dry clothing for sure?
UDAS: Food, water, all of that provided in these relief centers. Certainly 38 relief centers are not enough for a city like Chennai. This is the fourth most popular city in the country and also, while flooding is usual, is normal in much of southern India, Chennai, we haven't seen much of this. You know, so people are not necessarily used to this kind of flooding. This is a commercial and industrial part. This is often called the financial center of India. This is called the Detroit of India. You've got Hyundai, Ford, huge factories. So this kind of flooding for a city like Chennai is unusual. We'll have to see what authorities do for the people who are involved.
CHURCH: Yeah. Well, we'll certainly be watching this closely as will you.
Sumnima Udas reporting for us live from New Delhi. Many thanks to you.
For more on this incredible series of storms, let's turn to our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
As mentioned, this is monsoon season. No surprise in the rain there, but it just keeps coming and the amount is just extraordinary, historic. What is in the forecast there in terms of when this might come to some end?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It doesn't look like it's ending in the next seven or so days. That's what's unfortunate about this. You see this area with a tremendous flooding in place and I tabulated the numbers when it comes to how much rain has come down in the last several days. It has rained 39 of those last 40 days in Chennai. The amount of rainfall is 100 percent above what is considered normal. Over 50 millimeters of rainfall over this region. But it wasn't just the first of December, the past 24 hours of the rain that came down over this area. The norm of rainfall over this time of year. Because the beginning of the year, certainly the dry season, towards the latter portion of the year, peak monsoon season. Over the past 24 to 48 hours, that rainfall amount has been a staggering number, getting up to upwards of 1200 millimeters. Four times what is considered normal. That is over four feet of rainfall that has come down. Really, there is no relief in sight when it comes to thunderstorms. Heavy rain is expected over this region. This will persist and final indication does put a couple hundred millimeters over this point. As we talk about early December, that's when the withdrawal of the monsoon begins to lock into this region of southern India. Again, not unusual to see rainfall, but the amount of rainfall is more than four times what is expected, even in the wettest time of the year, which is what is leading to the problems right now, bear in mind.
CHURCH: This is so tough for people to deal with. And, of course, no opportunity for anything to dry out this time, at least. We'll keep an eye on this, too.
Pedram Javaheri, joining us there. Many thanks.
JAVAHERI: Thank you, Rosie.
[02:19:47] CHURCH: Cyber spying has been a major complication in U.S./Chinese relations. But now top ministers from both countries are meeting in Washington to hash out their differences. The details, still to come. Stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. High-level Chinese and U.S. security officials are about to begin their second day on a meeting on cyber spying in Washington. The issue has become a major sticking point between China and the United States. Last year, espionage charges were filed against five hackers working for the Chinese military. The suit claims they hacked several U.S. computers culling information that would give state-owned industries in China a competitive edge. U.S. officials have blamed Beijing for a massive hack into records of more than 22 million federal employees. Overall, hacking has cost American industry hundreds of millions of dollars and sparked major mistrust between the U.S. and China.
At a meeting earlier this year, the leaders of the two countries decided that a mutual understanding on cyber spying should be a top priority.
CNN's Matt Rivers joins us now from Beijing with more.
There is a slight delay, everyone, so do be patient with us.
Matt, what is expected out of these meetings in Washington?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can tell that these meetings are evidence of the fact that cyber security was a top issue for presidents Obama and Xi when they met back in September. These meetings came about directly as a result of that state visit.
And as for what's expected, this is really the first time that both sides are sitting down at the table. On the U.S. side, at the top, you have the U.S. attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security taking part. On the Chinese side, you have the minister of public security as well as several high level members of the Chinese government. And this is really the first time they're going to be sitting down and talking substantively about this agreement. We haven't heard from the U.S. side as of yet after Tuesday's meeting. But here in Beijing, local time this morning, we did get a statement from the minister of public security where he laid out a couple of relatively vague terms, things that were discussed during Tuesday's meetings, one of which would be a hot line that was agreed upon to by both countries to discuss pressing cyber security issues. The other was some level of agreement of cooperation when it comes to law enforcement and when it comes to investigations into cyber security issues, as well as training that might be exchanged between both countries. And finally, the minister of public security said there would be another round of dialogue set to June of next year. That's dialogue is ongoing for the rest of the week.
[02:25:54] CHURCH: Matt Rivers joining us there. Many thanks to you.
Hackers have made off with personal information belonging to millions of children. They broke into educational toymaker Vtech's computers raiding the profiles of about five million parents and six million children. The hackers retrieved children's names, birth dates and other personal data. On Monday, Vtech suspended 13 of its websites and notified affected customers. The company says it has taken measures to defend against further attacks.
Still to come, ISIS fighters are scared to meet these Kurdish women on Syria's front lines. The reason why, just ahead.
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[02:30:13] CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to our viewers around the world and hello to our viewers just joining us in the United States. Let's update you on the main stories this hour.
The British parliament will start debate Wednesday on whether to expand U.K. air strikes on ISIS into Syria. Prime Minister David Cameron supports the move. But thousands of protesters marching outside parliament voice their opposition. U.K. war planes are already hitting ISIS targets in Iraq. A vote is expected Wednesday night.
U.S. President Barack Obama says he doesn't expect Russia to change its strategy in Syria anytime soon. Mr. Obama is urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to focus on fighting ISIS rather than supporting Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
The U.S. is sending more Special Operations forces to fight ISIS in Iraq. They will join about 50 commanders already authorized to fight ISIS in Syria.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter says they will be able to conduct raids, gather intelligence and capture ISIS leaders. Carter testified Tuesday before the House Armed Services Committee where he faced some pointed questions.
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ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: It puts everybody on notice in Syria. You don't know at night who is going to be coming in the window. And that's the sensation that we want all of ISIL's leadership and followers to have.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Are we winning, Mr. Secretary?
CARTER: We will win.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Are we winning now?
CARTER: We're going to win.
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CHURCH: Now, if the United Kingdom votes to begin air strikes in Syria, they would become the tenth coalition country to do so. Britain and eight coalition countries launched air strikes against ISIS and Iraq, including Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the U.S. Canada's new prime minister says his government is ending air strikes, but will remain in the coalition.
Some of those same countries are also conducting air strikes in Syria, along with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Emirates. Second, Russia is conducting air strikes in Syria in support of the Assad regime. Iran has sent more than 1,000 of its elite Revolutionary Guard forces to support Syrian army troops.
And in Syria, Kurdish fighters have been on the front lines as they try to stop ISIS from advancing. Many are poorly equipped, but are determined to keep fighting.
CNN's Ben Wedeman met a female Kurdish unit and has their story.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 20- year-old Ethan (ph) loads rounds into her heavy machine gun. She's part of an all female Kurdish unit on the grounds here in the war on ISIS here in northeastern Syria. We met her and her comrade at a forward position.
When I asked if ISIS ever gets near their position, she responds with a laugh.
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(on camera): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(voice-over): "If they do," she says, "we won't leave one of them alive."
At the hands of what in the past was called the gentler sex, ISIS may have met its match.
"They think they're fighting in the name of Islam," says this 20-year- old, "and they believe if someone is killed by a girl, a Kurdish girl, they won't go to heaven. So they're afraid of girls."
She uses the word "girl," but these are tough women. Her name, by the way, means revenge.
(on camera): At the moment, this position on the front line is quiet, but the commanders say it's just a matter of weeks before they intend to push forward against ISIS.
(voice-over): A few years ago, the commander traded in construction material and now he leads the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish, Arab and Syrian fighters.
The U.S. Defense Department announced Tuesday it's deploying additional forces, boosting the less than 50 President Obama authorized in October.
That should be welcome news to Rajava (ph), who feels the assistance, until now, has been modest.
"The help we received," he says, "has been ammunition for Kalashnikovs, heavy machine gun is, for mortars, but we haven't received any weapons."
His forces, including these women fighters, recently drove ISIS out of the nearby town of el Hul (ph). For more than a year, ISIS held sway here. Signs of its rule remain in the police station. And arrow points to the room where complaints could be filed. In the small prison, pieces of foam were the only comfort for the unlucky inmates.
In front of a wall dabbed with the words "Islamic State," still stands the platform where ISIS publicly whipped transgressors.
[02:35:36] The town's Arab inhabitants have yet to return. Some fled with ISIS. Others wanted nothing to do with ISIS and ran away and they're eager to move back.
Rasan Shepherd (ph) lives under ISIS rule for over a year. His family fled, but he stayed with his flock.
"You couldn't do anything," he tells me. "The smoking was forbidden. Women had to be completely covered. You couldn't go anywhere without permission."
He can smoke again in hopes to soon be reunited with his family.
Bed Wedeman, CNN, in eastern Syria.
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CHURCH: Back in the United States now, the mayor of Chicago has forced his police superintendent to resign. Gary McCarthy's dismissal comes after a video was released, showing a white officer shooting a black teenager to death. Now, the Illinois attorney general wants a federal investigation of the Chicago Police Department.
Ed Lavandera shows us what's led up to this.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six seconds, that was the time it took for Officer Jason Van Dyke to leave his vehicle and open fire on Laquan McDonald, killing him on the spot.
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LAVANDERA: It is the six seconds that have rocked the city of Chicago with protesters citing distrust and a lack of transparency within the Chicago Police Department. The dash cam video released last week by order of a judge revealed some discrepancies regarding what happened the night McDonald was killed, including the initial claim by police that the 17-year-old lunged at officers.
PAT CAMDEN, SPOKESMAN, CHICAGO FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: Going at one of the officers, at that point, one of the officers defends himself.
LAVANDERA: It's a claim the McDonald family attorney does not support. MICHAEL ROBBINS, ATTORNEY FOR MCDONALD FAMILY: The video shows Laquan
walking away and he was not threatening anybody and he certainly didn't lung at the police officer. This was originally presented as an act of self-defense.
LAVANDERA: The Chicago Police Department initially claimed McDonald was shot in the chest. An autopsy later revealed he was shot a total of 16 times, nine of which were in the back.
Another issue, there's an 86-minute gap in surveillance video from Burger King. The dash cam video shows McDonald running through the parking lot. The Burger King manager alleges the surveillance video was reviewed by police, then they deleted it, erasing pivotal evidence, according to the manager. The police say the video was not tampered with, but the manager says, in part, "I was just trying to help the police with their investigation. I didn't know they were going to delete it."
Former Chicago police superintendent, Gary McCarthy, quickly swatted down those allegations.
GARY MCCARTHY, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's absolutely not true. And I think the state's attorney addressed that today. There were apparently technical difficulties but, in no way, shape or form is there any evidence that it was tampered with.
LAVANDERA: But perhaps the darkest cloud of controversy continues to be how the Chicago Police Department seemingly went to great lengths and cost to try to make sure the public would never see the video.
(CHANTING)
LAVANDERA: First, there was the $5 million settlement paid to the family. Critics say that was, in part, to keep the video from ever being released. Then the questions emerging about why the Chicago Police Department continues to employ Officer Van Dyke for a full year before pressing charges. Van Dyke had plenty complaints against them, 10 of them for use of force.
The police only suspended him the day before a judge's deadline for the release of the dash cam video.
ANITA ALVAREZ, COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: I felt compelled in the interest of public safety to announce these state charges today.
LAVANDERA: For some in Chicago, that was too little too late.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Chicago.
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CHURCH: Now to a mystery on Japan's shores. At least a dozen wooden boats have been found over the last two months carrying decaying bodies. The Coast Guard is trying to figure out where the boats came from and what happened to those on board. Some clues are pointing to North Korea. CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us live now from Seoul, South Korea, with
the latest.
Paula, the big question, of course, is who were these people in the ghost boats, presumably from North Korea.
[02:40:03] PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, there are some clues that we've heard from the Coast Guard. One of the boats, for example, had some Korean writing on the side, which said "Korean People's Army," which is the North Korean military. So that is a sure fire way of knowing the boat at least was from North Korea. There was a piece of cloth that was believed to be part of the North Korean flag and also the fact that these boats were basically very old. They are wooden. They are very basic. And as you can see, not really sea worthy. That would point to North Korea, as well. And the fact that it is so geographical close to Japan.
The assumption is that it is from the North, but why are these boats coming now? And over the past couple of months, we have seen an influx of these boats. We understand there have been 34 this year, 65 last year, 80 the year before. So it's not a new phenomenon, and a gruesome task for the Japanese Coast Guard. They say on some of the boats, that the bodies may have been deceased from a week ago, but others, the victims may have died up to three months ago and these bodies may have been drifted on the ocean.
CHURCH: I know you have had an opportunity to speak with North Korean defectors on this issue. What have they been saying about this?
HANCOCKS: Well, there's a split, really, as to whether or not these are defectors that haven't made it to safety or whether or not they are potentially fishermen who just strayed too far from the coast. One defector I spoke to did say that Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean leader, has a real push on for an increase in fish production, an increase in the amount of fish being caught. Not just for domestic production, but to sell the fish. They exported to China for some hard cash, which North Korea is in dire need of. So the fact that these boats, very few of them have decent engines by the looks of it that could get through choppy water. They rarely have GPS systems so it could be easy for the fisherman would be lost and the fishermen feel pressured to try harder to get more quotas and to fulfill their quotas and push them out into more dangerous waters. That's one of the scenarios being touted at the moment.
Of course, the other option is it may be defectors on board these ships trying to escape the hardships of North Korea. And there are pressures for that. There have been defectors that have escaped the country by boat -- Rosemary?
CHURCH: Still so many unanswered questions on this.
Paula Hancocks, joining us from Seoul, South Korea. Thanks to you.
It's just after 8:30 in the morning in Paris, day three of the COP21 climate summit. Most of the heads of state have returned home leaving thousands of representatives to hash out details and figure out just how to limit global warming and not rise above two degrees Celsius.
U.S. President Barack Obama says he is optimistic a binding agreement can be reached.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, everybody.
If you add up all the pledges and they were all met right now, we would be at an established 2.7 centigrade increase in temperature. That's too high. We wanted to get two centigrade or even lower than that. But if we have these periodic reviews built in, what I believe will happen is that by sending that signal to researchers and scientists and investors and entrepreneurs and venture funds, we'll actually start hitting these targets faster than we expected.
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CHURCH: Republicans in the U.S. Congress are pushing back the past legislation to block the president's latest environmental measures. Mr. Obama says he will veto their resolutions.
I want to turn to South Africa now, where the decision for Oscar Pistorius' appeal will be read on Thursday at the Supreme Court. Pistorius is the double amputee Olympian sentenced last year for the shooting death of his girlfriend. He was released from prison in October and under house arrest.
David McKenzie was taken on an unprecedented tour of the prison Pistorius could return to.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're heading into South Africa can's most notorious prison, once home to Olympian Oscar Pistorius. They say they want to set the record straight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is -- we don't have a famous offender. We don't have a famous --
MCKENZIE (on camera): Prison officials cannot remember when they last had the group of media through this maximum security facility.
(voice-over): It's the first look at Oscar Pistorius' private cell in the hospital wing. In the bathroom, they modified in his block. He spent nearly a year here for killing his model girlfriend. He was released under house arrest.
If he loses his appeal, he could be heading back.
[02:45:12] (on camera): What the prison boss told me is that they wanted to show us this because it's not exactly a five star accommodation. But the truth is South African prisons are hugely overcrowded.
(voice-over): In this part of the country alone, prisons are overcapacity by more than 10,000 inmates. Sometimes up to 50 squeeze into a single cell, sharing one toilet and a basin.
They wouldn't let us show the prisoners.
(on camera): You have a famous prisoner here, Oscar Pistorius? What do you think of him being in this prison?
(voice-over): And the ones they allowed us to talk to weren't allowed to talk about Pistorius.
(on camera): Did Oscar Pistorius get special treatment?
UNIDENTIFIED PRISONER: No. It was just --
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The commissioner says, as far as he can remember, Pistorius is the first double amputee they've had to deal with and required protection.
David McKenzie, CNN, inside the prison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We'll take a very short break here. When we come back, Facebook's billionaire founder and his wife plan to donate most of the stock they own in their company to charity. See what major event inspired the couple to give it away.
Back in a moment.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Couple days back on your Advent calendar. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri here for "Weather Watch."
(WEATHER REPORT)
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[02:50:17] CHURCH: Grammy winning singer, Pink, is UNICEF's newest ambassador. UNICEF provides humanitarian assistance to children in developing countries. And in her new role, Pink will raise awareness about UNICEF's critical mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PINK, SINGER: Being a mom opens up your heart to being able to feel more and want to go help more and it's easier for you to look at your own 4-year-old and imagine the devastation that goes through other mom's heads when they can't see their children.
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CHURCH: And British actor, Orlando Bloom, was among the celebrities also at the UNICEF gala. He talked about a recent trip that opened his eyes to the devastation many are experiencing.
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ORLANDO BLOOM, ACTOR: I was in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia about three weeks ago. It was a painful experience to witness and almost biblical exodus of hundreds of thousands of people who are in desperate need of our support and are fleeing for their lives, who are also a brave and courageous people who, many of them have left a middle class income type family situation that we can all relate to and, yet, are literally turning their back on their homelands which they love. It's not something that they want to do. They have to do because they fear for their lives. That is a difficult thing to witness.
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CHURCH: All right. We shift now to an extraordinary announcement from one of the richest men in the world. In a social media post, Facebook co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Pricilla Chan, told their followers they expanded their family and are giving away a large chunk of their fortune.
"CNN Money" digital correspondent, Paul La Monica, explains.
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PAUL LA MONICA, CNN MONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing unsurprisingly on Facebook that his wife, Priscilla Chan, has given birth to their first child, daughter, Max.
In a letter to Max, Zuckerberg said that he and Chan are also planning to gift 99 percent of their Facebook stock, worth currently about $45 billion, to charitable causes over the course of their lifetime.
Here is how it's going to work. In a separate SEC filing, Facebook said that Zuckerberg is going to sell no more than $1 billion worth of Facebook shares a year over the next three years. He will control the voting power for that stock. So investors don't have to worry that Zuckerberg is stepping away from his other baby, Facebook, anytime soon.
He said in that letter to Max, he plans to be the CEO for many, many years. $45 billion, the current market value, could very well go up based on how will Facebook stock is doing.
This is a very admirable move by Zuckerberg. It will be interesting to see whether or not other tech executives decide to do something similar with their massive fortunes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: All right. Well, in its quest to be thinner, smarter and sleeker, Apple's iPhone may have to drop one of its key features.
CNN'S Samuel Burke tells us what could be the phone's next casualty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Sorry. I can't hear you. I'm listening to my music. Apple is going to do what?
(voice-over): The latest iPhone is just 7.1 millimeters thick. So if the next iPhone is going to get any skinnier, it's going to have to go on a diet. That might mean eliminating the audio jack altogether, which measures 3.5 million meters and could make the next iPhone up to 49 percent slimmer.
So how will we listen to our music?
(on camera): People who don't want to get tangled up in problems already use blue tooth headphones. Cordless creates another problem, though. You have to keep those charged.
(voice-over): If you don't want to fork out the money for a new Blue Tooth headphones, you can buy this $2 adapter, which will allow you to connect your headset to the iPhone charging port. This might become the new standard outlet for headphones.
Sorry, no listening while charging, then.
Apple does have a history of making drastic changes to its devices and the rest of the tech industry follows suit. In 1998, Apple launched the iMac without a floppy disk drive. Remember those? In 2008, Apple shocked many when the Mac Book came without a disk drive. Good-bye C.D.s and DVDs. And just this year, the newest Mac Book eliminated the standard USB port we all use, opting for the new smaller and faster USBC port.
(on camera): Ear phones are your only option. This beanie comes with speakers inside and connects via Blue Tooth, eliminating the need for audio jacks and cords all together.
Samuel Burke, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:55:26] CHURCH: Very cutting edge.
And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. We'll have more news just ahead. Don't go anywhere.
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[02:59:30] CHURCH: Confronting ISIS. Iraq's prime minister rejects the idea of additional U.S. ground troops while Britain's David Cameron urges a "yes" vote on military action in Syria.
Bring it on. Donald Trump dares his rivals for the White House to attack his front running campaign.
And the U.S. feds are asked to investigate the Chicago Police Department amid growing calls for the city's mayor to resign.
Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
